Iran: Rumours and intrigue continued overnight – the Regime’s propaganda machine has been working overtime it seems – including an offensive racial slur against Obama. And Mehdi Karroubi’s party issued a clear signal yesterday that the fight goes on.
We have our morning report on the live weblog, which appeared initially to quote Karroubi’s son Hossein endorsing Ahmadinejad as Iran’s President ,and then our afternoon snap analysis reconsidering the manoeuvres. But all of this is superseded tonight by an EA special analysis: we think Karroubi has chosen to take on “Mr Khameini” and Ahmadinejad, “the head of the government of the regime”.
USA: EA Correspondent John Matlin gives a tongue in cheek analysis, explaining US politics and Obama’s downfall to Marty the Martian.
Israel: Following yet more reports about Hezbullah’s long-range missile plans in Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, Israel’s Yossi Peled has said another war with the terrorist group was inevitable.
On the Palestinian issue, Israel’s Udi Dekel, who headed the negotiating team during the Ehud Olmert Government, has said he doesn’t believe there is any possibility of an agreement with the Palestinians on all the issues: “especially on the problematic core issues”.
However, on a much more positive note, speaking in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, after meetings held between Israeli and American representatives on Saturday night, PM Netanyahu said “new and interesting ideas” were raised for the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. However, he offered no details.
Iran: News from Iran this morning concentrates on the booby-trap bomb explosion in Tehran that killed Professor Massoud Mohammadi. We have the latest, which includes indication that Mohammadi was not involved in Iran’s nuclear programme, and a video of state media’s presentation of the event.
Links to this and other top stories, from EA and other media, are available as always, in our weblog.
Amidst recent coverage of Iran and Twitter, and following yesterday’s contributions on this issue, we have a comprehensive analysis today from Christopher Parsons, which seeks to dispell some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt around the Iranian Government’s use of digital surveillance techniques.
Scott Lucas considers, amidst recent statements by Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohamad Khatami, the way forward for the opposition: “The question may not be how the regime reacts to these statements but how the Green movement(s) respond.”
US/Israel: Israel media suggest that, behind the scenes, Israel’s relationship with the Obama Administration is flourishing, despite Washington’s recent sale of arms to four “moderate” Arab states.
Turkey/Israel: A meeting between Turkish and Lebanese Prime Ministers turned into a platform for sharp criticism of Israel.
Below is the full transcript of President Obama’s address to the UN General Assembly, delivered today. We’ll try to post a video as soon as possible.
Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentleman: it is my honor to address you for the first time as the forty-fourth President of the United States. I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me; mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history; and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad.
I have been in office for just nine months, though some days it seems a lot longer. I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about me. Rather, they are rooted – I believe – in a discontent with a status quo that has allowed us to be increasingly defined by our differences, and outpaced by our problems. But they are also rooted in hope – the hope that real change is possible, and the hope that America will be a leader in bringing about such change.
I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction.
As the advent of the Obama Administration brings back the “multipolar” in international relations, some of its most enthusiastic backers are in Moscow. During the Bush years, President Vladimir Putin publicly criticized Washington’s unilateralism. Sometimes the challenge was rhetorical to the “new bombs” of the US. Sometimes it was much more: when the Bush Administration tried to isolate Russia from NATO’s “impact zone” in Eastern Europe by proposing a missile umbrella in the Czech Republic and Poland, Putin raised the threat of a nuclear attack if Poland accepted a US missile interceptor base on its soil.
The intensity of attention to the “change” in Barack Obama’s rhetoric, especially toward the Israeli-Palestine/Arab problem, has contributed to this transformation. While Washington disowns the policies of the Bush era and puts pressure on Israel for sufficient concessions to start negotiations with Arab states, France has opened its first military base in the gulf region since the 1960s. And Russia becomes one of the first beneficiaries of the “soft power” of the US. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re trying to guage some of the reaction in the Middle East and Iran to Obama’s address in Cairo yesterday, and a quick look at the English websites of al-Jazeera and Press TV provides two sharply differing intrepretations of the Israeli reaction. Israel issued a short statement in response to the speech, and while al-Jazeera believes that it points to a ‘welcoming’ reaction from Israel, Press TV focuses on an apparent Israel ’snub’ to Obama over settlements. One short statement, two very different responses. Both pieces are reproduced below.
“We do not sense any real change regardless of the language of the speech because violence in the region is practiced first and foremost by Israel and by the US armies of occupation, and not by the people who resist,” AFP quoted Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah as saying on Thursday.
Interestingly, a Hamas official is quoted “as saying that while the speech showed ‘tangible change’, it contained contradictions.”
There is a current political story here in Britain which seems to be confusing our friends across the pond: the Mother of Parliaments has got itself into very hot water over members’ expenses.
A number of my American friends have asked me to explain the furore, the public’s mood of disgust and anger. It’s simple, isn’t it? Our politicians can bend the rules and obscure the truth. Orwell’s 1984 has landed in 2009. “Expenses” is “pay”, as the political pigs take over the trough.
Those who have worked in the commercial sector will know that being imaginative with expenses is both an art form and a duel with scrutinising accountants. When I had a company car, a car wash payment of £1.00 was once disallowed on grounds that I should have washed the vehicle in my own time. I argued that this was unfair, arbitrary and wrong. On appeal to the managing director, my claim was upheld. No surprise there: I knew the MD claimed the same expense.
As the advent of the Obama Administration brings back the “multipolar” in international relations, some of its most enthusiastic backers are in Moscow. During the Bush years, President Vladimir Putin publicly criticized Washington’s unilateralism. Sometimes the challenge was rhetorical to the “new bombs” of the US. Sometimes it was much more: when the Bush Administration tried to isolate Russia from NATO’s “impact zone” in Eastern Europe by proposing a missile umbrella in the Czech Republic and Poland, Putin raised the threat of 
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