Al-Jazeera interviews South-East Asia Expert Larry Jaga in light of rising tensions between Cambodia and Thailand. Cambodia refuses to extradite former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Thailand, citing political motives as the reason for extradition. But political reasons, Jaga notes, could be motivation on both the part of Thailand and Cambodia. Jaga believes Thailand would prefer to keep talks bilateral, while he thinks Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen may enjoy the attention of the South East Asian community if talks should become multi-lateral.
WSJ’s Jerry Seib takes a deeper look into what Iran’s indecisivenessregarding a nuclear deal says about the cohesiveness, or lack thereof,of the Iranian government. Seib believes the waffling to be indicativeof conflicting thoughts in Tehran, specifically reformers, youth andintellectuals pitted against traditionalists and older clerics. He saysAhmadinejad would like to do a deal with the West to gain the supportof intellectuals and Iran’s influential youth, but is facing resistancefrom those who want nothing to do with the West.
“This government is a relfection of the current Lebanon,” said Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri after almost five months of negotiations with his opposition in order to create a national unified government. Some Lebanese citizens hope that the unity government will promote security and stability in the region while others are concerned about the concessions made in order to create the union. Al-Jazeera’s Rula Amin reports from Beirut.
