Mar 02

With assassination suspects possibly still on U.S. soil, the Dubai assassins have dragged America into row over fake passports, says Times Online in London.

With police investigations already underway in Australia, Ireland, and Germany, the Obama administration is going to deal with this. WashPost and NYT are still playing the story inside, appropriate  in light of the fact that there has been no official U.S. reaction, but that’s not going to last long.

For the Obama administration, this is where the rhetoric of the president’s Cairo address meets the realities of Middle East decisionmaking. Of course, Israel has the right to defend itself, and of course the U.S. assassinates al-Qaeda leaders every day. But the leaders and the publics of Arab countries (like the United Arab Emirates, where the hit took place) that are open to peace with Israel (and some of whom want U.S. help to deter Iran) are not going to be satisfied by the talking points that go over well in Washington and on cable TV.

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Feb 10

Window dressing for Putinism? Nah, just Art, says Russia Today, one of the country’s most sophisticated English-language news site whose journalism is compatible with Putinism.

Feb 07

From London, they look like a narrow pipeline to the President– FT.com

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Feb 06

The Iranian opposition leader spars with  SPIEGEL ONLINE . To wit:

SPIEGEL: Has the protest movement distanced itself from its leaders?

Karroubi: Mousavi and I have served the people in a number of positions of responsibility. As a result we have a certain amount of influence. But Mousavi does not have an organization behind him. I have a political party, but its work is restricted. The protest is a popular movement that is comprised of people from a wide variety of social classes and which acts independently …

SPIEGEL: … and which is now calling the entire system into question.

Karroubi: The Iranian people have a well-developed political consciousness. I place my trust in reason and people’s experience.

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Jan 27

Obama needs to perform a U-turn–Stephen Graubard in the Financial Times.

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Jan 14

Execution is possible says anti-government roozonline.com (Iran).

Plus: what they’re saying in Europe about the trial of the Bahai leaders.

The continued imprisonment of the leadership has already drawn international protest. But this pressure must be stepped up. The revolutionary court system is secretive; the only chance of justice being served is for the case to be held in open court so proceedings can be independently monitored. The Iranian government will be desperate to keep this abuse of justice quiet. They must be shamed into changing their mind.

Cherie Blair in The Guardian

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Jan 12

Starring the Turkish widow of the CIA bomber helps–Zaman (Turkey)

“… from a tactical perspective al-Balawi deceived the CIA, the Jordanian intelligence agency and the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) at the same time. It is unthinkable that MIT or police intelligence were not aware of the communication between al-Balawi and Bayrak. Bayrak reveals that her husband always said that he was planning to come and build his career in Turkey. Perhaps al-Balawi put emphasis on his plan to come to Turkey to distract the CIA and Jordanian intelligence”

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Jan 11

His uneasy first encounter with a domestic terror spectacular.–Financial Times.

“..the US has not learned to live with terrorism, as it may one day have to. For now, the expectation of safety is unreasonably high. People believe that if the system is well designed and officials do their jobs, the enemy will not get through.”

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Dec 21

Roman Polanski in Europe.

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Dec 21

In Europe it boils down to Megan Fox v. Penelope Cruz–LeMatin.ch. (Switzerland).

Plus: What they’re saying about Cruz’s “Nine”.

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