Headlines for 11-27-07

Iran to reject nuclear halt in talks with EU's Solana Iran Tuesday ruled out discussing a suspension of uranium enrichment in this week's talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana aimed at breaking the deadlock over its controversial atomic programme.


Petraeus Sought to Prevent Release of Iranians


Pathetic Ron Paul Brothel Media Smear Fails Another crass and pathetic smear attempt against Ron Paul failed yesterday as some news organisations, including the AP, attempted to link the Congressman to a pimp without making it clear that the entire charade was an idiotic stunt set up by MSNBC?s Tucker Carlson.


US forces kill Iraqi civilians as 'shepherd' bombs police Nine Iraqis, including three women and a child, were reported killed by US fire while a suicide bomber disguised as a shepherd killed seven people in an attack on police, officials said.


Iran's Secret Weapon: The Pope According to several well-placed Rome sources, Iranian officials are quietly laying the groundwork necessary to turn to Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican diplomats for mediation if the showdown with the United States should escalate toward a military intervention.


Russia ready for missile shield talks with U.S.


Iranians say sanctions hurt them, not government Ali Ganjineh, an Iranian petroleum engineer working abroad, has saved enough money to buy a $300,000 house in his homeland. But U.N. and other sanctions prevent him from sending the funds to Tehran, so his planned home purchase has fallen victim to the Islamic state's nuclear stand-off with the West



Iran to host militants for 'alternative' Mideast meet


Russia slams US missile defence cooperation proposals 'The formal proposals we have received and are continuing to study are a major rollback from what we agreed in Moscow in early October' at talks between the two countries' defence and foreign affairs chiefs, Sergei Lavrov said.


Saudis Pour Oil Money into Terror The news that Saudi Arabia is the nation providing the greatest number of foreign fighters in Iraq underscores the lies and duplicity at the foundation of President George W. Bush?s policies in the Middle East.


Unwanted in Syria, hundreds of Iraqi refugees return home


Feature: Palestinian pocket in Iraq chaos The camp has apparently posed no security problems so far for Iraqi border police or for the U.S. Marines mentoring them. Lt. Col. Stefan Bien, from the 2nd Marines, said there have been reports of insurgents recruiting in the camp, which is unguarded, with open access, "but I haven't found evidence of it. I haven't been able to hammer that down."


Kucinich hit for eyeing Paul as VP "Despite his views on the Iraq war, Rep. Paul no more belongs on a Democratic ticket than Dennis Kucinich on a Republican one," said NJDC Executive Director Ira Forman. "Any Jewish Democrats or independents that are tempted toward Rep. Paul because of his stance on the war should be reminded that this Republican representative has a terrible record on Middle East politics, is anti-choice and opposes stem cell research."


The major breakthrough: Bush agrees to arbiter role The substance of the conference bubbled underneath the rhetoric, Daniel Ayalon, the former Israeli ambassador, told JTA. It's importance, he said, was the united front it presented against Iran and other radical rejectionists of peace with Israel. "There's no doubt about the success of Annapolis," said Ayalon, now the co-chairman of Nefesh b'Nefesh, a group that advocates and facilitates immigration to Israel. "It is the achievement of the United States to bring this array of Arab League foreign ministers together with Israel. There is a strong American interest and Israeli interest and regional government interest in changing the dynamics and isolating Iran."



The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act by Philip Giraldi One would have thought that the systematic dismantling of the Constitution of the United States would have been enough to satisfy even the most Jacobin neoconservative, but there is more on the horizon, and it is coming from people who call themselves Democrats. .....Through their proven access both to the media and to Congress, the agenda will undoubtedly be shaped by the usual players including David Horowitz, Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, and Frank Gaffney who see a terrorist hiding under every rock, particularly if the rock is concealing a Muslim. They and their associates will undoubtedly find plenty of terrorists and radical groups to investigate. Many of the suspects will inevitably be "anti-American" professors at various universities and also groups of Palestinians organized against the Israeli occupation, but it will be easily to use the commission formula to sweep them all in for examination. If we were supposedly attacked on 911 for 'our freedoms', then how much sense does it make to take those freedoms away? Wouldn't that mean that the terrorists have won? Another Orwellian twist courtesy of the neoconservatives. Up is down, left is right, black is white.


Democrats' foreign policy? Call them soft neo-cons despite their noisy anti-war base, most leading Democrats quietly are backing away from their talk about bringing American troops in Iraq home on rigid timetables. Victor Davis Hanson is a neocon who evidently believes that neocon policies in Iraq are now working, a laughable notion. By the way, neocon is defined best here, by one noted paleocon.


Syria's quest to regain Golan takes new shape "These projects are a message to Israel. The refugees will no longer be scattered in slums and camps all around Syria. Soon they will live here and stare right at their Israeli occupiers,"


Violent Politics Play Out in Packed Refugee Camps As a persistent political deadlock looms over Lebanon and presidential elections run beyond time limits imposed by the constitution, tensions are rising in Lebanon's many Palestinian camps, home to more than 400,000 refugees.


Syria says Arab ties with Israel only after pullout "To phrase it clearly and decisively that this (normalization) comes after the total Israeli withdrawal from the 1967 Arab land," he said in a speech obtained by Reuters.


Cleric: Lebanese wives may fight back A Muslim woman is allowed to fight back in self-defense if she is hit by her husband, Lebanon's top Shiite cleric declared Tuesday in a ruling rare for the region's male-dominated Islamic society.


Iran builds new longer-range missile Iran announced on Tuesday that it has built a new missile with a range sufficient to put Israel and US bases in the Middle East within easy reach, amid rising tensions over Tehran's contested nuclear drive.


Australia ranked third most desirable Behind Iceland, Norway and Australia come Canada and Ireland. But the United States has slipped to 12th place, from eighth last year.