| Saudi Arabia hints OPEC oil output limit won't change Posted: 02 Dec 2013 01:12 PM PST  Saudi Arabia is satisfied with current crude prices as well as global supply and demand levels, its oil minister said Monday, indicating OPEC will freeze its output ceiling. "The market is in the best position it can be," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters in Vienna ahead of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday to decide on production. "Demand is great, economic growth is improving," said Naimi, who represents the world's biggest producer of crude oil.
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| Syrian Army goes all-in to take back strategic highway Posted: 02 Dec 2013 09:40 AM PST An offensive by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to restore full control of the Qalamoun area north of Damascus is fully under way, with fierce fighting and shelling reported for the past two weeks at the northern end of the strategically located territory. |
| Rogers Waters defends use of religious symbolism Posted: 02 Dec 2013 09:28 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Now that his three-year world tour for "The Wall" has finally come to an end, Roger Waters wants to set the record straight over criticism he's received from Jewish groups regarding his use of the Star of David symbol in the show and his support for a cultural boycott of Israel.
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| Iraq gunmen kill Sunni fighter, 5 relatives Posted: 02 Dec 2013 08:47 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen broke into the home of a Sunni anti-al-Qaida fighter in a village north of Baghdad on Monday and killed him and his entire family, a total of six people, Iraqi officials said. |
| Turkey moots three-party talks over Iraq-Kurd oil row Posted: 02 Dec 2013 08:45 AM PST  Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Turkey's energy minister on Monday mooted three-party talks with Iraq's central government and the autonomous Kurdish region to resolve a long-running row over the export of oil to international markets. Taner Yildiz's remarks come amid tensions between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Arbil over a litany of disputes, ranging from territorial claims to revenue-sharing, which diplomats often point to as among the biggest long-term threats to Iraq's stability.
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| 15 dead in wave of Iraq attacks Posted: 02 Dec 2013 08:34 AM PST  Baghdad (AFP) - Attacks near Baghdad and northern and western Iraq killed 15 people Monday, the latest deadly violence to rock the country amid fears it is slipping back into all-out sectarian war.
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| Kurds seek autonomy in a federal Syria: top official Posted: 02 Dec 2013 06:51 AM PST  Syria's Democratic Union Party, the country's most powerful Kurdish group, hopes to create an autonomous Kurdish region in a federal Syria, its chief Salih Muslim told AFP in an interview. Speaking during a visit to France, he confirmed that a commission is in the process of preparing a constitution for the northeastern and northwestern regions of Syria that are majority Kurdish. "The goal is not to secede, but the Kurds want a federal system in Syria," he said. Syria's Kurds make up around 15 percent of the population and are mostly concentrated in the northeast and northwest of the country, along the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
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| Syria death toll hits nearly 126,000: monitoring group Posted: 02 Dec 2013 05:17 AM PST  By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - The death toll in Syria's civil war has risen to at least 125,835, more than a third of them civilians, but the real figure is probably much higher, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. The pro-opposition monitoring group also appealed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and "all people in the international community who have a conscience" to increase their efforts to end the 2-1/2 year war. The conflict began as peaceful protests against four decades of rule by President Bashar al-Assad's family, but under a fierce security force crackdown, turned into an armed insurgency whose sectarian dimensions have echoed across the Middle East. The Observatory, based in Britain but with a network of activists across Syria, put the number of children killed in the conflict so far at 6,627.
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| Iraq FM talks to Afghans about security Posted: 02 Dec 2013 05:06 AM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Iraq's foreign minister said Monday he shared his country's failed experiences in negotiating a U.S. security deal with Afghan officials, who have repeatedly delayed signing a similar agreement with America.
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| Turkey stands by Kurdish oil deal, seeks to appease Baghdad Posted: 02 Dec 2013 04:49 AM PST  By Humeyra Pamuk ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Turkey said on Monday it stood by a bilateral oil deal with Iraq's Kurdistan region that bypassed central government but sought to appease Baghdad by drawing it into the arrangement. Reuters reported Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package last week, infuriating Baghdad which claims sole authority over oil exports and is wary of any move that could extend political autonomy in the region. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz met Iraqi deputy prime minister for energy, Hussain al-Shahristani, in Baghdad on Sunday to try to mend ties with a federal government which says independent Kurdish oil exports would be illegal.
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| Clowns help Syrian camp children smile for moment Posted: 02 Dec 2013 03:52 AM PST  At this sprawling desert camp in Jordan, home to thousands of children who fled Syria's civil war, a few found a moment to smile Sunday watching a troop of clowns. Five European comedians working for Mabsutins, ...
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| Iran to reassert authority at OPEC after nuclear deal Posted: 02 Dec 2013 03:08 AM PST  By Peg Mackey and Alex Lawler VIENNA (Reuters) - Bijan Zanganeh returns this week to the same Vienna hotel suite he last occupied eight years ago as Iranian oil minister, ready to prepare OPEC for what Tehran hopes will mark its return as the cartel's second biggest producer. Emboldened by its nuclear deal with the West, Iranian oil negotiators led again by industry veteran Zanganeh, will seek to reassert Tehran's authority in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at a Wednesday meeting. Western sanctions imposed in 2012 on Iran for its nuclear program have cost it dearly, losing it billions of dollars in oil revenues and market share in OPEC - largely to its main regional political rival Saudi Arabia, and neighbor Iraq. With its exports still shackled by sanctions for at least another six months, Iran poses no immediate threat to the status quo.
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| Hamid Karzai: From Afghan Hope to Afghan Villain Posted: 02 Dec 2013 02:45 AM PST  When he visited Washington in 2002, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was treated like a rock star. He sat in the balcony of the House chamber as then-President George W. Bush praised him for his role in the liberation of Afghanistan. "America and Afghanistan are now allies against terror. "And this evening we welcome the distinguished interim leader of a liberated Afghanistan: Chairman Hamid Karzai."
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| Healthcare.gov, Obama's cratering popularity, and the Democrats' big 2014 problem Posted: 02 Dec 2013 02:25 AM PST  If only President Obama could do the kind of quick repair job to his flailing administration that has been done over the last few weeks to the markedly less wobbly Healthcare.gov. Anyone who thinks Team Obama is breathing a sigh of relief, who thinks the administration is out of the woods, needs to know this: The administration has quietly canceled a big December ad campaign to encourage Americans to visit the site, out of fear that a new wave of visitors would cause it to crash. The New York Times said Sunday that "the administration gave itself a passing grade." It's hard for Obama supporters to deny the truth in these trend lines.
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| Analysis: Saudis have few options as they push tougher foreign policy Posted: 01 Dec 2013 11:35 PM PST  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia seems to have few viable options for pursuing a more independent and forthright foreign policy, despite its deep unease about the West's tentative rapprochement with Iran. Upset with the United States, senior Saudis have hinted at a range of possibilities, from building strategic relations with other world powers to pushing a tougher line against Iranian allies in the Arab world and, if world powers fail to foil Tehran's nuclear ambitions, even seeking its own atomic bomb. Russia is on the opposite side to Riyadh over the Syrian war and China's military clout remains modest compared with the United States'. Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh from 2001-03, said there would be limits to any Saudi alliances with other powers.
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| Why the military is becoming a lean, green fighting machine Posted: 01 Dec 2013 11:11 PM PST  One of the deadliest mission types in Iraq and Afghanistan isn't what you'd expect. It's not rescuing comrades under siege, extracting high level terrorists, or securing areas like Afghanistan's Helmand province — it's helping carry fuel to fellow troops. Between 2003 and 2007, over 3,000 American soldiers were killed during fuel supply convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan. The experience of those wars taught the military a brutal lesson: Its dependence on oil is deadly and – with the cost of delivering gas to remote regions of Afghanistan at $400 a gallon — financially unsustainable.
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| What happens if the U.S. disengages from the Middle East? Posted: 01 Dec 2013 10:05 PM PST  To some observers, President Obama's decision to sign off on an interim deal to freeze Iran's nuclear program sends an unmistakable message to the Middle East: The U.S. is backing away from the region, and in a big way. "Obama has now announced that the United States cannot be relied upon to stand up to Iran," says Michael Doran, a Middle East adviser to President George W. Bush. "Therefore, Israel and our Arab allies will be forced to live by their wits." Obama has made it plain that he thought his predecessor was far too fixated on the Middle East and its surrounding hot spots, to the detriment of U.S. national security interests.
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| Why Obama will likely be most remembered for his foreign policy Posted: 01 Dec 2013 10:04 PM PST  A week ago, when the Obama administration announced it had come to an agreement with Iran to dial back the country's nuclear enrichment program for six months, the deal was met with much fanfare, as well as a good bit of criticism. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that Americans favor the accord by a 2-to-1 margin, despite the opposition from Congress. So far, the deal looks like yet another win for President Obama in the foreign policy arena. During his first term, Obama signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, which decreased strategic nuclear stockpiles by about 30 percent and renewed inspections of both countries' arsenals.
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