About Get Alerts Login
November 20, 2009
Browse by Regions and/or Topics

October 19, 2009

Media Roundup

Get Media Roundup Daily Alert

Search Our Media Roundup Archives

  • Iran Vows Revenge Over Suicide Bombing

    BY: Michael Theodoulou | The National

    Iran’s armed forces last night accused the United States and Britain of involvement in the worst terrorist attack in the Islamic republic in many years and warned of revenge after a suicide bomber assassinated five senior Revolutionary Guards commanders and killed at least 37 other people.

  • Flow of Terrorist Recruits Increasing

    BY: Craig Whitlock | The Washington Post

    U.S. and European counterterrorism officials say a rising number of Western recruits -- including Americans -- are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary training camps. The flow of recruits has continued unabated, officials said, in spite of an intensified campaign over the past year by the CIA to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in drone missile attacks.

  • Israel Worried Fatah May Resume Suicide Attacks

    BY: Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, | Ha'aretz

    Sultan Abu al-Ghneim, who represents Fatah in the refugee camps of Lebanon, gave a speech last week at a Ramallah rally and called on Fatah to resume suicide bombings against Israel, according to the report in the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi. But how reliable the report is remains unclear.

  • Truck Bomb Destroys Vital Iraq Bridge

    BY: Barbara Surk | Associated Press

    A suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck destroyed a key bridge Saturday on a highway used by the departing U.S. military, while separate attacks killed nine Iraqis, most of them security force members, police said.

  • Awakening Leader's Tale Illustrates Iraq's Volatility

    BY: Ned Parker | Los Angeles Times

    Mustafa Kamal Shibeeb is both a powerful local leader and a wanted murder suspect who is caught up in political and tribal battles and score-settling that risk igniting new violence.

  • Pressure Piles on Karzai as Afghan Waiting Game Drags On

    BY: Julius Cavendish | The Independent

    Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has threatened to ignore findings by a UN-backed watchdog that hundreds of thousands of votes cast in August's presidential election were fraudulent.

  • Steps Toward Crafting a Nuclear Deal With Iran

    BY: Kaveh Afrasiabi | World Politics Review

    On Oct. 19, at a multilateral meeting in Vienna focused on nuclear transparency, U.S. and Iranian representatives will meet for the second time in a month in the hopes of working out the modality by which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will inspect Iran's newly revealed enrichment facility known as Fardo, near the holy city of Qom.

  • Suicide Bomber Strikes in SE Iran

    BY: Najmeh Bozorgmehr | The Washington Post

    At least five senior commanders in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and more than 20 tribal leaders and others were killed by a suicide bomber Sunday in the deadliest attack against the Islamic regime in more than two decades.

  • Party Rift Grows Wider in Zimbabwe

    BY: Celia W. Dugger | The New York Times

    The spokesman for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe dismissed the decision made by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party to boycott cabinet meetings as “a non-event” and declared that the cabinet would meet Tuesday as scheduled, the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

  • Barack Obama Opts for Softer Approach to Darfur Crisis in Sudan

    BY: Ewan MacAskill | The Guardian

    The Obama administration will tomorrow roll out a new policy aimed at resolving the Darfur crisis in Sudan, a much softer and more conciliatory line than the president promised during his election campaign.

  • Armenia and Turkey: As Reconciliation Process Moves Forward, Kars Monument Fuels Controversy

    BY: Nicholas Birch | Eurasianet

    Rapprochement was certainly the aim of the man who dreamed the statue up, former Kars mayor Naif Alibeyoglu. First elected in 1999, he invited Azeri and Armenian artists to Kars, signed sister city agreements across the region, and campaigned in 2005 to end a 16-year Turkish embargo on Armenia.

  • EU Group of Three to Attack Kosovo Statehood at UN Court

    BY: Andrew Rettman and Ekrem Krasniqi | EU Observer

    Three EU states will in a UN court case in December argue that Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence was illegal. But EU officials say the judges' decision will not impact Kosovo's "irreversible" new status.

  • The Conscience of Europe

    BY: Erlend Paasche | ISN Security Watch

    One may be forgiven for discarding the Council of Europe as just another ingredient in the alphabet soup of Europe, but in its low-key way it remains a major player – albeit, one in desperate need of reform.

  • Czech President Approaches Exit-Strategy in Standoff

    BY: Andrea Dudikova and Douglas Lytle | Bloomberg News

    Czech President Vaclav Klaus, the only European Union leader who hasn’t signed the Lisbon Treaty, may be forging an exit-strategy from his standoff with Brussels, allowing a resumption of the bloc’s biggest overhaul in decades.

  • Massive Vote-Rigging Exposed in Russia

    BY: Pavel Felgenhauer | Eurasia Daily Monitor

    The timing of Clinton’s visit was unfortunate, since it coincided with the announcement of the results of the shamelessly rigged local government elections on October 11, held in 75 regions of Russia. In these elections, opposition candidates were refused registration, while independent observers reported massive vote rigging and ballot box stuffing.

  • By Air and Ground, Pakistani Soldiers Penetrate Militant Heartland

    BY: Jane Perlez | The New York Times

    The Pakistani military moved deeper into South Waziristan on Sunday, hitting Taliban targets with F-16 fighter jets, as troops supported by helicopter gunships climbed higher into the mountainous terrain, according to military personnel and a spokesman for the militants.

  • Questions About Al Qaeda's Next Move

    BY: Greg Miller | Los Angeles Times

    Some are skeptical that Al Qaeda would return to Afghanistan, even in the event of a substantial U.S. military drawdown. Doing so would mean leaving a sanctuary in Pakistan that has afforded significant protection for eight years, despite a barrage of U.S. Predator drone strikes.

  • Cambodia Seeks to Muzzle Opposition

    BY: Bryony Taylor | Asia Sentinel

    After escorting United Nations officials out of the National Assembly, Cambodia's ruling party last week pushed through a draft criminal code that is regarded as yet another barrier to freedom of speech in a country becoming infamous for silencing opposition members and journalists.

  • Hugo Chávez Seizes Golf Clubs in Drive to Defeat ‘Bourgeoisie’

    The London Times

    Officials have moved to seize two of Venezuela’s prime courses, at Caraballeda and Maracay. However, the move has divided local supporters of the President, with many warning of a detrimental impact on surrounding communities.

  • Cyber Insecurity: The Global War on Data

    BY: Shawn Woodley | Diplomatic Courier

    The United States faces mounting insecurity in cyberspace where foreign intelligence services, criminal organizations, and publics are able to penetrate and compromise sensitive government and corporate networks.

  • Europe's Angst Over Afghanistan

    BY: Jackson Diehl | The Washington Post

    As the president and his National Security Council privately debate whether to send tens of thousands of troops to war, America's European allies watch with a mixture of anxiety and anguish.

  • Carrying the Heavy Burden of War

    BY: James Carroll | The Boston Globe

    US troop levels in Afghanistan are going up, along with measures of confusion about whom our forces are actually at war with. Our brave soldiers' backpacks are weighed down by, in addition to gear, the stubborn mistakes of those in command.

  • Remembering Afghanistan’s Golden Age

    BY: Elisabeth Bumiller | The New York Times

    From the 1930s to the 1970s, Afghanistan had a semblance of a national government and Kabul was known as “the Paris of Central Asia.”

  • An Intermediate Option

    BY: Stephen J. Solarz and Michael O'Hanlon | The Washington Times

    Many ideas for "intermediate options" for Afghanistan are gaining momentum in Washington, with McChrystal's request for additional NATO (meaning U.S.) troops at one extreme, and a return to the minimalist counterterrorism strategy associated with Rumsfeld at the other.

  • Russia Worries About the Price of Oil, Not a Nuclear Iran

    BY: Garry Kasparov | The Wall Street Journal

    The Obama administration's foreign-policy goodwill has yet to be repaid in kind.

  • Asean Needs a Culture Shock

    BY: Nazry Bahrawi | The Christian Science Monitor

    Asean countries need to instill a much-needed paradigm shift that will see its people define 'culture' beyond superficialities.

  • Malaysia's Ruling Party Has Out-Islamized the Opposition

    BY: Maznah Mohamad | The Daily Star

    In Malaysia's current political climate, it is no longer possible to distinguish Islamic radicals from Islamic moderates. Despite official boasting about the country's diverse population and commitment to pluralism, Islam and the government have essentially merged.

  • In Somalia, a New Template for Fighting Terrorism

    BY: Jeffrey Gettleman | The New York Times

    Sixteen years after Black Hawk Down, America is back fighting in Somalia. The new formula: Scale down nation building. Build diplomacy. Focus on stopping Al Qaeda.

  • Sudan's State-Sponsored Pyromania

    BY: John Prendergast | Los Angeles Times

    Over the last two decades, I've gone to smoldering village after smoldering village in Sudan and the surrounding region, interviewing the survivors of attacks by militias supported by the NCP. Each time the pattern is the same.

  • The World Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Yemen's Internal Convulsions

    BY: Brian O'Neill | The Daily Star

    Yemen, an ancient and remote place, has long been ignored by the media. Its oceans, deserts and mountains have greeted potential conquerors with hostility, and its confused and confusing politics have kept journalists at bay.

  • Yoani Sánchez: Virtually Outspoken in Cuba

    BY: Larry Roter | The New York Times

    Ms. Sánchez is the first blogger to win one of Columbia University’s Cabot Prizes for journalism that advances inter-American understanding.

  • Mexico's Calderón Takes on Big Labor

    BY: Mary Anastasia O'Grady | The Wall Street Journal

    Eight days ago, just after midnight on a Sunday morning, Mexican President Felipe Calderón instructed federal police to take over the operations of the state-owned electricity monopoly, Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC), which serves Mexico City and parts of surrounding states.

  • The Danger of Obama's Dithering

    BY: John R. Bolton | Los Angeles Times

    Weakness in American foreign policy in one region often invites challenges elsewhere, because our adversaries carefully follow diminished American resolve.

  • How Obama Can Earn His Nobel Peace Prize

    BY: Various Writers | Los Angeles Times

    If it's too early for President Obama to deserve the award, what can he do to make himself worthy? A variety of experts weigh in.

  • Obam's First Year in Office

    BY: John Hughes | The Christian Science Monitor

    Unfortunately the president has discovered that bringing change to the ship of state is as cumbersome and slow as turning a giant ocean liner or oil tanker around.

  • Linking Islam and Terrorism Is Wrong

    BY: Rizwaan Sabir | The Guardian

    The government must stop seeing all Muslims as innately prone to violence if it wants to rebuild trust in the community.

  • Civilian Courts Are No Place to Try Terrorists

    BY: Michael B. Mukasey | The Wall Street Journal

    We tried the first World Trade Center bombers in civilian courts. In return we got 9/11 and the murder of nearly 3,000 innocents.