Problems // Current

Don’t Look in The Closet!

I’ve learned more tolerance as I’ve grown older. Perhaps people act strangely, but... more

CHANLEEPENG
added this
10 days ago
|
0 comments

PUPPY DEFIES GRAVITY!!!

(....but not for long)

remanns
added this
18 days ago
|
3 comments

Author Joy Ibsen at Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, IA; To play piano of comedian Victor Borge

Author Joy Ibsen of Trout Creek, MI will sign her latest book "Unafraid" and host a... more

Yoopernewsman
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

Why You Should Be Happy (Well, Sort Of) Happy When Your Customers Complain

Complaints are actually blessings in disguise for your small business! Read more to know!

theglobalemployer
added this
4 months ago
|
0 comments

Read this... Arab view gets complcated possibly realigned over Iran.

CAIRO — The good-news thinking goes like this: With Mr. Ahmadinejad remaining in office, there is less chance of substantially improved relations between Tehran and Washington, something America’s Arab allies feared would undermine their interests. At the same time, the electoral conflict may have weakened Iran’s leadership at home and abroad, forcing it to focus more on domestic stability, political analysts and former officials said.

“When Iran is strong and defiant they don’t like her and when Iran is closer to the West they don’t like her,” said Adnan Abu Odeh, a former adviser to King Hussein of Jordan.

Of course, such an outcome could also prove to be wishful thinking, political analysts cautioned. Other power centers in Iran, from the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to the military, can have more influence over regional policy than the president. It is also possible that a deeply divided leadership could aim to exacerbate regional tensions to distract attention from its domestic problems.

But the cultural and social differences between Iran and Arab states are so great, there was no sense that leaders feared their citizens would be inspired to rise up. Iran is an important and influential nation in the Middle East, but it is also distant from the Sunni Arab street as a majority Persian country with a majority Shiite population.

“A lot of young people in the Arab world would love to see something like that, but the kind of civil society they have makes it much more natural for this to happen in Iran than in a place like Egypt or Saudi Arabia,” said Ahmed al-Omran, a college student in Saudi Arabia and author of the popular blog saudijeans.org.

Moreover, the dramatic video of Iranians being beaten or shot by Basijis has done incalculable damage to Iran’s image as the region’s most religiously pure and populist state. Iran’s allies in the region, including Syria, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Hamas movement in the Palestinian territories, also seem likely to suffer a blow to their credibility, and perhaps to their financing, if the election crisis is resolved with heavy suppression or an extended standoff with the opposition, analysts said.

“The Arab leaders are watching and they are very pleased,” Mr. Gad said. “The Ahmadinejad after this election will be very different than the Ahmadinejad before this election. He will be weaker.”

There is, analysts acknowledged, a potentially darker sequence of events that could emerge — one where Mr. Ahmadinejad comes out of this crisis even less concerned about domestic opinion than before and more aggressive. Analysts said that could prove difficult for him, though, because of deep splits that the conflict has already caused among the political elite.

The Arab governments aligned with Washington are part of a camp that has promoted an Arab peace initiative with Israel. Iran, they have charged, has worked to undermine the peace process by financing Hamas and Hezbollah and by attacking those in the peace camp. Before the elections, Iran was increasingly flexing its geopolitical muscles, often in disputes with its much smaller Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf region. A former Iranian speaker of Parliament, for example, said that Bahrain was historically part of Iran.

Now, Arab leaders are looking to regain the momentum and slow Iran’s spreading power and influence, analysts said. They are also looking to use the crisis in Iran to undermine political Islam in general. The Arab world is ruled by authoritarian leaders, kings and emirs — and its greatest challenge to legitimacy and control is political Islamic movements like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan.

“Opponents of the Islamist movement go far in anticipating the collapse of the Islamic revolution and the end of the Islamist movements and their political project,” said Mohammad Abu Rumman, research editor at the newspaper Al Ghad in Amman.CAIRO — The good-news thinking goes like this: With Mr. Ahmadinejad remaining in... more

arcticspirit
added this
5 months ago
|
3 comments

London, not Washington, will remain Tehran’s whipping boy of choice in the current crisis

LONDON, England (CNN) — With protests flaring on the streets of Iran, Tehran has... more

arcticspirit
added this
5 months ago
|
1 comment

Iranian women take key role in protests

Negar Mortazavi, who lives in Washington, D.C., stays in touch with Iranian friends... more

arcticspirit
added this
5 months ago
|
2 comments

China Working With US To Avoid Sea Confrontations - And ILLEGAL ARMS SALES

(AP) The Chinese and U.S. militaries will work together to avoid confrontations at... more

arcticspirit
added this
5 months ago
|
0 comments

U.S.-China Military Talks Resume - Sigh of Relief!

BEIJING — Chinese and American officials on Wednesday gave a positive assessment of their military talks aimed at addressing the growing nuclear threat from North Korea and a series of naval skirmishes that have marred relations between the countries.

The two days of dialogue were the first military talks since December, when China broke off annual military exchanges to protest a $6.5 billion arms deal between the United States and Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

Although there were no measurable achievements, both sides agreed to another round of high-level military talks next month intended to ease tensions that have been heightened by China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea.

In the latest episode, a Chinese submarine damaged a piece of sonar equipment being towed by an American naval ship three weeks ago. China later described the collision as an accident.

During other, more aggressive confrontations this year, Chinese fishing vessels have menaced American surveillance ships during routine patrols. The United States insists that the intelligence-gathering missions are allowed under international law, an assertion that China has repeatedly challenged.

China on Wednesday played down the skirmishes, saying that both countries should increase communication to minimize potential conflict.

“Our two sides agreed to work together to avoid such incidents from happening again, since such incidents will surely have a negative impact on our bilateral relations in general,” Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Michele Flournoy, the under secretary of defense for policy and General Ma’s American counterpart in the discussions, echoed that sentiment, saying there was no reason such “accidents” should harm relations, even if the two countries remained at odds over the definition of international waters. “We have to put the safety of mariners first and foremost,” she said in a separate news conference.

During talks about North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions, Ms. Flournoy said Chinese military officials reiterated their support for United Nations Security Council sanctions that seek to punish North Korea for the detonation of a nuclear device last month. “There is very much a shared objective to getting North Korea to change course and return to a verifiable path to denuclearization,” she said.

This month, the Security Council unanimously passed a package of sanctions that, among other things, calls upon member states to inspect suspect ships at sea, or direct them to a nearby port if they refuse. Although General Ma described North Korea’s nuclear pursuits as a “serious concern,” he did not indicate whether China would countenance the search of the Kang Nam, a North Korean vessel en route to the Strait of Malacca that is suspected of carrying conventional weapons.

The United States Navy is monitoring the ship, which may be headed toward Myanmar, but North Korea has warned that interception would be seen as a declaration of war.BEIJING — Chinese and American officials on Wednesday gave a positive assessment of... more