Pyongyang on track with disarmament
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have verified the closure of all five of North Korea’s nuclear facilities, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced on Wednesday. This marks the completion of the first phase in dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme, agreed upon in February.
Al Qaida resurgence threatens US
A new United States National Intelligence Estimate concludes that al-Qaida “has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability”, by re-establishing its presence in Pakistan, re-constituting its top leadership and recruiting operatives by its association with subsidiary movements in Iraq. President George W. Bush’s top counter-terrorism advisers have blamed this resurgence largely on the hands-off approach of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf vis-à-vis the country’s tribal areas.
Troop expansion lacks depth perception
A proposed expansion of the US armed forces by 27,000 marines and 65,000 Army soldiers over the next five years would not only be hugely expensive - $108 billion from 2007 to 2013 and $15 billion a year thereafter, but would also serve to degrade force quality, argues Foreign Policy magazine. Furthermore, were it not for the Iraq imbroglio, current US force strength would be sufficient for engagement in Afghanistan and defending allies, with a total of 1.2m troops, 500,000 of them combat troops.
As faith in the US policy in Pakistan falters, the Senate yesterday embarked on an all-night session to discuss a Democrat-led proposal for troop withdrawals from Iraq. The measure requires 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster, yet, with their three Republicans in tow, the motion seems set to obtain little more than 50 votes.
The intensification of violence in Iraq is creating political fracture in Washington and narrowing the White House's options, writes Paul Rogers on openDemocracy.
Israel approves Palestinian prisoner releases
Israel’s cabinet committee has approved the release of 256 Palestinian prisoners - none of whom are Hamas members, in a gesture of support for the government of Mahmoud Abbas. Meanwhile, Hamas has criticised the US’s unconditional support of Fatah as an attempt at “trying to impose its agenda on the region”.
Roadside mine kills three Turkish soldiers
Three Turkish soldiers were killed and five others injured on Wednesday, when a roadside mine exploded in southeast Turkey.V
iolence spreads in Pakistan
A suicide bomber left at least 17 people dead and more than 50 others injured on Tuesday outside a district bar council convention in Islamabad, as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) supporters gathered to greet the arrival of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. It is unclear as yet whether the attack was in retaliation to the Lal Masjid incident.
At least 16 Pakistani police are reported killed after their convoy was ambushed in the Lwara Mundi area of the North Waziristan tribal region. On Tuesday, three soldiers and a passerby were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a security checkpoint in Mirali tehsil, North Waziristan.
Musharraf yesterday condemned Islamist extremist violence as contradictory to Qur’anic teaching, deriding the strategy of taking lives as ignoring "that part of Islam which does not suit them". He also professed his determination to see through the aim of creating an “enlightened, forward-looking and progressive country”, as envisaged by founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Mumbai bombers receive death sentence
Three men have been sentenced to death in India for their involvement in the serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993, which left 257 dead and injured hundreds more.
Islamist militants arrested in Bangladesh
Four suspected militants of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) were arrested on Wednesday, 94 miles northwest of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Grenades and other explosives were also seized. JMB seek to introduce sharia law in Bangladesh.
United Nations (UN) human rights investigator Sigma Huda does not have immunity from prosecution in Bangladesh, a UN spokesperson announced on Wednesday. Charges were brought against the U.N. special rapporteur on trafficking in persons in June, amid a Bangladeshi anti-corruption drive.
Xanthis:: Intelligence Reports defends the arrest on Monday of former prime minister and president of the Awami League Sheikh Hasina as a means of verifying facts, while Bangladesh Politics describes arresting such prominent politicians in the name of tackling corruption as merely a “tactic to remove any competition from the political arena for some other interest group to be in power”.
Moros face retaliation for beheadings
Philippine military chief, General Hermogenes Esperon, has said that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has one week to hand-over those involved in the beheading of 10 marines last week, or else they will face retaliation.
RedBlueThoughts tries to ascertain why the Filipino marines are finding it so difficult to defeat MILF insurgents in the Southern Philippines.
