Will Karzai break with the west?

Jefferson Morley — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:00:25 +0000

If we don’t negotiate with the Taliban, he will. So says Ahmed Rashiid in FT.com with a bottom line policy recommendation that the wounded White House won’t like:

If Mr Karzai and most Afghans really do want peace talks with the Taliban then that should be Nato’s focus.

Among Israeli Arabs, Hezbollah is more popular than Hamas

Jefferson Morley — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:34:58 +0000

Presumably because they are more of a pain to Israel. From the Pew Global Attitudes Project, these and other nuggets.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is losing popularity at home and abroad.
Even before their disputed elections last year, both Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were generally unpopular. Ahmadinejad’s highest ratings are in the Palestinian territories (45% confidence) and Indonesia (43%), although even among these publics fewer than half express a positive view of his leadership.
There is no country in which even 40% express confidence in Karzai. In Pakistan (10%), Turkey (7%) and Lebanon (7%) one-in-ten or fewer hold this view of Washington’s favorite Afghan.
And there’s a couple of pockets of support for Osama.

World Opinion Search » Hamid Karzai

Will Karzai break with the west?

Among Israeli Arabs, Hezbollah is more popular than Hamas