World-News

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/09-2

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Iran sanctions: Not just useless but counterproductive

The Nation
by Robert Dreyfuss

06/09/10

The vote by the UN Security Council today to impose a fourth round of UN-backed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program… are a sign that President Obama has no idea what to do about Iran. Hint: sanctions ain’t it. You’ll hear a lot from the Iran-bashing, neoconservative crowd and from the Obama administration itself, especially the State Department, about what a great victory this is. In particular, you’ll hear Obama and the State Department tout the fact that it was Obama’s brilliant effort to win over Russia and China for the sanctions vote that made all the difference. They’ll tell you that Obama contrived to isolate Iran and to persuade Moscow and Beijing to go along with the new sanctions on Iran, when in fact Russia and China succeeded in ensuring that the sanctions imposed by the UNSC are meaningless...

http://tinyurl.com/24vhtkt



Turkey set to freeze ties with Israel

Daily Times [Pakistan]

06/17/10

A Turkish newspaper reported on Wednesday that Turkey would halt military cooperation with Israel and would not send back an envoy, withdrawn after an Israeli commando operation to stop an aid convoy reaching Gaza. The Turkish government has said it is working on a road map for future ties with once close ally Israel, following the May 31 operation in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed. The Star newspaper’s report of decisions taken at a cabinet meeting this week was based on unnamed sources. An aide to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declined to comment on the report...

http://tinyurl.com/2cj37va


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

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The View From Istanbul
http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis192.html

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Kinzer Heralds the Rise of the Middle Powers

Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "As the US continues on the increasingly destructive foreign policy route of isolating Iran and Turkey, it is not only cutting ties with the two most democratic nations in the Middle East, but also ignoring the next big geopolitical trend - the rise of the middle powers - at its own peril, according to former New York Times foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer, who calls for an adjustment of American foreign policy away from rash 'emotional responses' and toward an acceptance of the new reality."

http://www.truth-out.org/kinzer-heralds-rise-middle-powers60473

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Turkey forms committee to probe Israeli raid on Gaza flotilla

Turkey Foreign Ministry announces probe of the IDF's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month; IHH tells European Parliament members it has assembled six ships for flotilla to sail next month.

http://tinyurl.com/2dqp3c3



Israeli Flotilla Attack May Violate International, Maritime Laws

John Quigley, professor of international law at Ohio State University, told IPS boarding a flagged vessel on the high seas is impermissible without the consent of the flag state.

http://www.ipsnews.org/text/news.asp?idnews=51833



Democrats demand flotilla "terrorists" be denied entry into U.S.

A half-dozen elected Democrats called on the State Department to ban every flotilla participant from entering the United States.

http://www.salon.com/news/israel_flotilla_attack/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/06/14/times_square_flotilla


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=foreign+policy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=sanctions
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Stephen+Kinzer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Stephen+Kinzer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Naiman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Dreyfuss
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=margolis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Yana+Kunichoff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Quigley