Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama, accelerating his reconciliation campaign, held the first direct contact with the Iranian leadership and expressed confidence over its pledge not to develop nuclear weapons. In the first such talks in nearly 35 years, Obama spoke to visiting Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on the telephone on Sept. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL, South Korea — The pattern is distressingly familiar. Russia doesn’t want anyone to believe that its friends and allies are capable of wrongdoing. Remember the Russian experts who examined the sinking of the Cheonan and came up with a report that was never quite released? The reason […]
Special to WorldTribune.com TEL AVIV — Israel’s intelligence community has been tracking any transfer of Syrian chemical weapons to neighboring Iraq or Lebanon. Officials said the intelligence community was monitoring the Syrian CW sector for any transfer to Iranian proxies. They said the Israeli military would not allow any CW supply to Hizbullah. “Israel has […]
Jeffrey T. Kuhner Adolf Hitler is back. Every time the war party wants to attack another country its leader is always compared to the Nazi dictator. This time it’s the turn of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have said Assad is the new “Hitler.” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Sunni rebels rebounded in Syria. Officials said the intelligence community has determined that the Sunni revolt reversed many of the gains of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the spring of 2013. The officials said the rebels, including Saudi-financed militias linked […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The geopolitical chess game over Syria continues as the world enters autumn with the clouds of war swirling in the Eastern Mediterranean. The civil war which has engulfed Syria since 2011 killing 100,000, and now having crossed President Obama’s proverbial “red line” of chemical weapons use allegedly by the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Looks like Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is safe for now. He won’t have to return the bauble he received in 2009 for doing his utmost to curb “nuclear proliferation” and talk nice to Muslims. He can keep the money too. Not too trivial a sum — about […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has encountered vigorous resistance from the military to his plans to attack Syria. Administration sources said the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as many in the U.S. military command have opposed Obama’s directive to prepare for imminent air strikes on the regime of President Bashar Assad. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has named a leading critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to head negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for the establishment of a West Bank state in 2014. The administration of President Barack Obama said Martin Indyk would lead the U.S. team that would coordinate between […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The administration of President Barack Obama has seen the deterioration of U.S. influence in Egypt under the new military-backed regime. Officials acknowledged that the head of the military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi has been resistant to U.S. pleas and even threats to end the crackdown on the Muslim […]