Chinese interest in Iraqi oil

In recent years China has been quite interested in acquiring energy resources overseas, the latest chapter of this quest being Iraq.

Iran elections

Reese Erlich, Stephen Zunes and Trita Parsi all have articles arguing that those who see the CIA and US imperialism behind the protests misread the situation; the protests were independent and could not have been directed by the CIA, which is not omnipotent.

Red Cross report on Gaza blockade

The Red Cross released a damning report Monday on the effects of the Israel-led blockade on the Gaza Strip, describing the 2-year-old measure as having trapped the coastal territory's 1.5 million residents "in despair."

The international humanitarian organization lamented the fact that the blockade, imposed after Hamas seized control of Gaza two years ago, was impeding reconstruction efforts after Israel's offensive in the Strip at the beginning of the year.

"Gaza neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicenter of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction," the report said.

Drugs in Central Asia

McClatchy reports on drugs in Afghanistan and Tajikistan in an article that highlights an important point about US policy towards drugs: combating the drugs trade is often superseded by other foreign policy objectives. In short, the US isn't doing much to fight the drugs trade because some of its important allies benefit from it, therefore it's better to do nothing about drugs and keep the allies.
Excerpt explaining that the West is not pressuring Tajikistan's president to fight drugs because he's an ally, even if many believe he controls the drugs trade:

Despite the public nature of the drug trade and related corruption in Tajikistan, however, the West has done relatively little to pressure President Rahmon.

Some Western officials acknowledge that it's the result of a political tradeoff: No one wants to risk alienating Rahmon on the issue of drug corruption because his authoritarian regime's cooperation is important for preventing Islamic militants from using the Tajik-Afghan border as a sanctuary.

"The Americans want to have a logistics base here, so do you think they're going to pressure the government about corruption?" said William Lawrence, a chief adviser for a U.N. Afghan border-management program based in Dushanbe. "The answer is no."

The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe declined to comment, but a State Department official said that such balancing acts were common.

"There is always going to be a tradeoff based on different foreign-policy objectives, different security objectives, the tolerance for different types of corruption, different levels of corruption," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic protocol. "I don't think the situation in Tajikistan, frankly, is that much different than the rest of Central Asia in terms of these types of tradeoffs."

A second Western diplomat in Dushanbe was more blunt about Western governments ignoring reports on Tajikistan's official complicity in drug corruption.

"We send reports every month to our capitals, very negative, but they don't (care)," said the diplomat, whose country has troops in Afghanistan. "Because it's a so-called stable country leading to Afghanistan, we accept it."

Israeli settlements

Here is a good summary article of what Israeli settlements are, when they started, etc.

Iran elections

Dilip Hiro on the Iranian elections.

Israeli plumber works against occupation in West Bank

The NYT tells the story of an Israeli plumber working in the West Bank with other Israelis to make lives better for Palestinians and to resist the occupation. He is harassed by the Israreli authorities for his work, of course.

Obama like Bush again

The WP reports that the White House is "crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely." Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war.

US abuses of prisoners in Afghanistan

An investigation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has revealed that former detainees at the U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan were beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs.

The BBC’s conclusions are based on interviews with 27 former detainees who were held at Bagram between 2002 and 2006. None of these men were ever charged with a crime. Hundreds of detainees are still being held in U.S. custody at the Afghan prison without charge or trial.

Amnesty International said it was "shocked" by the Bagram claims. It noted that a new detention center is currently under construction at the camp.

Obama moves to fund dissidents in Iran

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30.

This funding may actually hurt Iranian dissidents more than anything, as it gives reasons to the Iranian government to crack down on them by pointing to foreign interference.

The USAID call for applications can be found here.

MEK in Iraq

An article about the Iranian dissident/terrorist group based in Iraq and variously labeled PMOI, MEK or MKO.

It says that some Western politicians are calling for supporting the group in opposition to the Iranian mullah regime. The group is based in Iraq and has been accused by Human Rights Watch of committing human rights abuses towards individuals who disagreed with them.

Americans support Israeli settlements in Occupied Territories

An interesting op-ed in the Washington Post outlines concisely how many individuals and groups in the US fund Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Israel ceding some control to Palestinians

Israel gave some extra control to Palestinian security forces over a few cities in the West Bank. Israel has also eased some of the checkpoints within the West Bank.

The change appears rather small though, as the UN, which has monitored the changes, said Israel's restrictions on Palestinian movement as a whole were becoming more entrenched:

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report this week there were now 613 obstacles in the West Bank, including 68 permanently manned checkpoints – five fewer than a month ago. It said there were other restrictions on the Palestinians, including Israel's West Bank barrier, restricted roads, the permit regime and closed military zones and nature reserves and settlements.

Some checkpoints were no longer permanently staffed or had only ad hoc checks. However, the UN said: "Some of the measures implemented in the past year have contributed to a further entrenchment of the system of access restrictions."

Iraq oil contracts

In a few days, the process of deciding which oil companies obtain contracts for Iraq's oil fields.
The Iraqi government hopes to finish contract negotiations by the end of August.
Most of the world’s big oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum and Chevron, are expected to submit bids. The companies were expelled from Iraq in 1972, after Saddam Hussein nationalized the oil industry.

Iran elections

Asia Times online questions the recent Chatham House study (an article by Kaveh Afrasiabi).