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Envoys from Iran and six world powers have agreed to attempt to reach a compromise deal in Moscow over Tehran's nuclear programme. Photograph: Ali Abbas/EPA International talks over Iran's nuclear programme were salvaged from collapse in Baghdad with a last-ditch agreement to make another attempt at a compromise deal in Moscow next month.After two days of intense talks in the Iraqi capital, Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief said: "It is clear that we both want to make progress, and that there is some common ground. However, significant differences remain. Nonetheless, we do agree on the need for further discussion to expand that common ground."It was also evident that the common ground was limited, beyond the desire to keep talks going to forestall the ... Continue reading →
A recent article in the Washington Post has once again spurred speculation about a possible shift in the Obama administration’s Syria policy. Citing a discussion with anonymous administration officials, the paper reported that the US was helping to coordinate an effort by regional allies to supply the Syrian rebels with lethal aid. However, on-the-record comments by administration officials emphasize that U.S. policy remains essentially unchanged, and for once they should be taken at their word. That there was no major overhaul in US policy was evident from the concluding statement of the G8 summit last week, which urged the regime and the opposition alike to adhere to the failed Kofi Annan plan, “including immediately ceasing all violence so as to enable a Syrian-led, inclusive political ... Continue reading →
Snapshot Last month, a supposed power-sharing deal in Iraq ended the country's long political stalemate. But is the victory another case of wishful -- and dangerously naive -- thinking on the part of the United States? Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, third from right, with the Iranian leadership last year. (Courtesy Reuters) Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is rarely seen. The most revered spiritual leader for the world's 170 million Shiite Muslims, he hardly ever speaks in public. Some 90 miles south of Baghdad, in Najaf, the seat of Shiite religious power, people say that in the last few years the 82-year-old Sistani has grown frail and relies increasingly on one of his sons to carry out his duties. "He's a weak old man; soon he might ... Continue reading →
