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The West has been, and still is, tempted to try to woo Syria away from Iranian influence, hoping that secular government of Syria could be enticed to align with its Arab brethren against the Shiite theocratic government of Iran. This attempt is understandable and worthy, but Syria has made its choice. The Assad regime has [...]
Archive for December, 2008
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Head of Muslim Brotherhood: Iran Has Right to Nuclear Weapons
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 31st, 2008
The Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, has expressed his support for Iran’s right to have a nuclear weapon. Not a civilian-purpose nuclear energy program. A nuclear bomb. The significance of this statement is hard to overstate. Akef, and Muslim Brotherhood as a whole, routinely make derogatory, offensive statements towards Shiites and viciously [...]
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Funding Hamas
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 31st, 2008
It should come as no surprise to readers of this site that Muslim Brotherhood has been accused by the Egyptian government of funding its Palestinian branch, best known as Hamas. The government also arrested a group of Muslim Brothers that were diverting donations originally made to benefit Egyptians to support the terrorist organization. Muslim Brotherhood [...]
Argentina Freezes Assets of Iranian Diplomat, Says Iran Behind Terror Attack; “Moderate” Rafsanjani implicated.
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 31st, 2008
Argentina has frozen the assets of an Iranian diplomat after a court found he was directly involved in an anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Argentina in 1994 that killed 84 people, as well as a 1992 car bombing of the Israeli embassy that killed 29 people. Iran has long been accused of orchestrating the attack. Unfortunately, state-sponsored [...]
CIA Needs to Get Into “Real World,” Says Former Asia Division Head
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 29th, 2008
Art Brown, the head of the CIA’s Asia Division from 2003 to 2005, is warning that the CIA is not engaged enough in the “real world.” This echoes similar criticisms that have been publicly voiced that the bubble mentality of the agency is hurting the agency. Brown cites three major problems in the CIA: 1) [...]
Will Israel Follow the Rumsfeld or Petraeus Model?
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 29th, 2008
The eruption of the conflict in Gaza, which most observers could have forecasted months ago, should be seen as a lever in the power plays of the various regional actors. This conflict has potential positive and negative impacts for each player involved, and a proper analysis of these dynamics may allow us to peak into [...]
U.S. Not Giving Up on Georgia
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 29th, 2008
Despite the devastating Russo-Georgian War in August, the United States is not backing away from their small Caucasian ally. The government of Mikhail Saakashvili has appeared more wobbly since the August invasion, but thanks to American and European support, has stayed afloat. On January 4, the two nations will sign a treaty tying the two [...]
Tags: Somalia Facing More instability as President Resigns
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 28th, 2008
Somalia’s weak provisional government faces another potential crisis as the President, Abdullahi Yusuf, has decided to resign. This takes place as the UN-backed government has been losing ground to the Islamic Courts movement. This came almost immediately after Somalia’s Prime Minister also decided to resign. With Ethiopian troops withdrawing from the country and the African [...]
UN Must Act in Somalia and Darfur
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 27th, 2008
Even though the United Nations, and more specifically America may have bad memories regarding the African nation, it is time to act. President Obama speaks in broad platitudes about cooperating with the world, and it would be a good step towards fulfilling his promise by pulling the world together to save Somalia. President-Elect Obama states [...]
Contradicting Reports About Fate of Fatah al-Islam Leader
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 26th, 2008
There are conflicting reports about the fate of the leader of the Lebanon-based, Fatah al-Islam terrorist group, Shaker Al-Absi. A Kuwaiti paper that is opposed to the Assad regime is reporting that he was assassinated by Syrian intelligence after he refused to place blame for terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Syria on an anti-Syrian political bloc [...]
El Salvador May Join Venezuela’s Orbit
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 26th, 2008
El Salvador has been a stalwart ally of the United States, sending hundreds of troops to Iraq and keeping them there even as other nations fled. But this small nation may be politically switching to the left, and out of American influence. Just as other Latin American nations have gone to the more radical left [...]
Iraq Showing Religious Tolerance– Celebrating Christmas!
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 24th, 2008
Despite the horrible sectarian violence of the last five years and the intentional targeting of Shi’ites, Yezidis, and Christians by al Qaeda, Iraq is showing one of the finest displays of religious tolerance in the Middle East. Yes, Iraq, a thoroughly Muslim nation, is marking Christmas. This is the first Christmas celebration in the nation’s [...]
Iran Getting AA Missiles May Mark Strike
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 23rd, 2008
Russia is preparing to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, which may mark the last chance that Israel will have to strike the Iranian nuclear program. The S-300 missiles would be the most advanced of its type in the Iranian arsenal, and could easily strike American and Allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. These missiles [...]
Kurds Moving Forward
Posted by Matthew Avitabile on December 22nd, 2008
Not seen by most of the wider world, Iraq’s Kurdish population is quickly modernizing and becoming one of the most advanced societies in the Middle East. For years, the autonomous Kurds have taken responsibility for their own future and have built a democratic and pro-American enclave. In the last five years, while the rest of [...]
Afghanistan: Obama’s War
Posted by Ryan Mauro on December 22nd, 2008
It’s been announced that President-Elect Obama, at the suggestion of commanders in the field, will be sending up to 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan in 2009, turning that conflict into what some commentators are calling “Obama’s War.” Not so coincidentally, this is the exact number of additional soldiers sent to Iraq. And also not coincidentally, [...]
