Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Jonathan Tobin‘s worried about the US-Iranian nuclear talks dance:
But while prolonging “the diplomatic dance” will aid the president’s re-election prospects, it also very much plays into Tehran’s goals. So long as the talks go on, an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is out of the question. And though some administration officials have made noises about America’s contingency plans for an attack, it’s difficult to see why Iran would take such talk seriously so long as “senior administration officials” are promising them lollipops even before the Baghdad talks start. Once re-elected, the president will, as he has said in other contexts, have the “flexibility” to change his mind about some issues. Iran has little reason to believe they are in any danger as long as they can keep Washington dancing.
Arab Spring Winter
• The Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, died. I’ll link to coverage in the Herald Scotland and The Scotsman. Megrahi was the only person ever convicted for blowing up Pan Am flight 103. All 259 people aboard the flight and 11 more people on the ground were killed in the 1988 attack.
• AP capsule profiles the five main contenders for the Egyptian presidency while McClatchy News profiles a Sinai sheikh who hates Israel and secular Egyptian candidates.
• Syrian uprising spills over to Lebanon. Tim Marshall of Sky News reports on the overnight clashes between militias for and against Bashar Assad.
The fighting was sparked by the assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul-Wahed and a companion at an army checkpoint. Sheikh Wahed was a prominent preacher opposed to Assad. The Daily Star takes a closer look at the murder.
• Dr. Amal Al-Hazzani picks apart Human Rights Watch’s criticism of NATO air strikes which reportedly killed 72 civilians. Had Dr. Al-Hazzani applied this logic to Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone report, he’d be a pariah. Collateral damage is always tragic, but I see a lot less tolerance for it when Israel’s blamed.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• This debate between Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed and Dr. Wafa Sultan is a great example of sunlight being a great disinfectant. Bakri’s brutally frank about radical Islam’s views on tolerance, while Sultan’s response was spot-on.
(Hat tip Israel Matzav)
• Turkish media‘s buzzing with rumors that Israel intends to create a military presence on Cyprus to its protect oil and gas interests.
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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