Iraq: Finally a Government is Formed (Leland/Healy)

Iraq’s Parliament approved a new government on Tuesday, ending nine months of infighting that threatened to throw the nation into a constitutional crisis but leaving many festering problems unresolved.

The delay in forming a government led to growing unemployment, worsening services and rising cynicism among voters who risked their lives to participate in the March election. But the new government rests on jury-rigged alliances that may make it too unwieldy to address Iraq’s many problems, especially as American troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011.

As he did after the previous election in 2005, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki did not appoint heads for the ministries in charge of security, promising to do so later as he named himself as acting head of those posts.

Click to read more ...

Iran Feature: If a Protest Occurs and No One Notices, Does It Make a Sound?

For some, it is as if the demonstrations on National Student Day --- 16 Azar --- never happened.

You will not, for example, find any reference in Iranian state media to the protests on campuses across the nation. Press TV's top story prefers the relative security of the nuclear discussions, with Iran's National Security Council "call[ing] on Western powers to exercise commitment to agreements they make with the Islamic Republic".

I guess that's understandable --- no one really likes to mention domestic arguments. A bit more surprising that CNN's website forgot to mention 16 Azar.

Click to read more ...

Wikileaks-Iran Video Feature: Twisting the Tale from Arabs to North Korean Missiles

Journalist Gareth Porter speaks with The Real News about the initial handling of the Wikileaks documents on Iran, putting another context on the headline that Arab leaders called for military action against Tehran. (The interview starts at the 3-minute mark.)

Today Porter takes on the Monday article in The New York Times, "Iran Fortifies Its Arsenal With the Aid of North Korea"....

Click to read more ...

Egypt Latest: The Ruling Party Wipes Out the Opposition

For earlier news, see the Sunday-Monday and Tuesday updates:

UPDATE 1825 GMT: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif gives the reassuring statement of the day: the fact that all ministers won their seats proves the government is popular.

UPDATE 1750 GMT: The Muslim Brotherhood have also withdrawn from the second round of the elections.

Click to read more ...

Afghanistan: Oops! "Taliban Leader" in Peace Talks is An Imposter (Filkins/Gall)

NOTE: Not an Actual Photo of the ImpostorFor an intriguing follow-up assignment, consider: How did this story come to the reporters' attention and why?

For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.

But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.

Click to read more ...

Afghanistan Latest: US and NATO Move Towards Perpetual Commitment

Success/withdrawal is dead. Long live the new date for success/non-withdrawal.

The amnesia in most of the reporting on this week's NATO summit on Afghanistan is quite remarkable. No one mentions that, only weeks ago, President Obama's policy was for a total pull-out of US combat forces by July 2011. Instead the assumption --- pushed by the US military --- was now established: troops would remain until 2014.

And now, even more remarkably, the media is pulled along with yet another narrative: "NATO and American officials also warned that if Afghanistan had not made sufficient progress in managing its own security, 2014 was not a hard and fast deadline for the end of combat operations."

It will be a perpetual transition.

Click to read more ...

Iran Snapshot: Loving the American Car (Koscs)

The scene has been played out so many times as to border on cliché. It begins with an impromptu meet-up of two Chevy Camaros, each announcing its prowess with a V-8 rumble. Then, despite good-natured banter between the drivers, an unspoken challenge is made. Finally, a tire-smoking showdown ensues.

One big difference this time: the encounter, which took place at summer’s end, did not begin on the main drag of a small Midwestern town and pursue resolution on a deserted country road. Instead, the Camaros, a pair of pumped-up early ’70s models owned by friends, faced off at the Azadi Stadium Race Track in Tehran.

Click to read more ...

Afghanistan: General Petraeus v. President Obama, Part 542 (Bumiller)

While EA today is looking at the complications of the US counter-insurgency campaign, killing its allies and strengthening the "hard-line" Taliban, Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times is looking at the chatter in Washington, "Some Skeptics Questioning Reports in War Zone".

There's a wicked irony in Bumiller's article. It is pretty clear that her piece is fed by the White House and its allies, fighting back against military "spin", but the Times reporter never mentions how the media effort of US commander David Petraeus --- which has caused the fidgeting in the Obama camp --- was re-launched three weeks ago.

The reporter who trumpeted that the US military was "routing" the Taliban in southern Afghanistan was Carlotta Gall. Her newspaper? The New York Times.

Click to read more ...

Obama's Message En Route to Asia: Time to Make Money

President Barack Obama's Asia tour, with stops in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, has started. 

As a good-bye wave before his trip, Obama's "Exporting Our Way to Stability" was published in The New York Times. The President set Washington's goal for the next five years: a doubling of exports. He added: "To do that, we need to find new customers in new markets for American-made goods. And some of the fastest-growing markets in the world are in Asia, where I’m traveling this week."

Click to read more ...

Iraq Snapshot: The Normal of Gridlock and Death (Shadid)

Ten people died at Aroba Square, near a gold-domed shrine in the capital, where a bomber strolled a little after sunset before he blew himself up.

The day after, no one would know that. Electrical wires dangled, billboards were torn, lights were shattered and windows were broken. But that describes anywhere in Baghdad, a city more neglected than destroyed, living on bitter nostalgia.

The scene was ordinary. And that angered Hassan al-Bahadli on Wednesday.

Click to read more ...