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The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements, former US President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was addressing a conference of Irish human rights officials, said the Bush administration's refusal to accept the 2006 election victory of Hamas was "criminal." Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political...

Leadership: In foreign policy, Jimmy Carter proved his presidency the worst ever by subordinating U.S. interests to his vague "human rights" policy. All he did was enable dictators to take him to the cleaners. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Profile In Incompetence: Seventh In A Series More on this series -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carter had barely settled in at the White House in 1977 when he set about establishing his presidency as different. Instead of leading with the pragmatic idealism that marked most successful U.S. presidencies, the former governor of Georgia said he would base his leadership on a new, ill-defined concept of "human rights." Or...

For an event that would turn a page in American history, former president Jimmy Carter has agreed in principle to host former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami for talks during his visit to the United States starting this week. Carter's term as president was dominated by the rupture in relations after the 1979 Iranian revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days until the day he left office. Iranians made the overture for the meeting, and the Carter Center in Atlanta is working on the possible timing, said Phil Wise,...

Former US president Jimmy Carter lashed out at British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being "so compliant and subservient" to the Bush administration in Washington. "I have been surprised and extremely disappointed with Tony Blair's behaviour," Carter told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper as he promoted his new book "Faith and Freedom." "I think that, more than any other person in the world, the prime minister could have had a moderating influence on Washington, and he has not," said the 81-year-old former head of state. He faulted Blair for not having been a constraint on US President George W. Bush's decision...

Former US president Jimmy Carter speaks with DER SPIEGEL about the danger posed to American values by George W. Bush, the difficult situation in the Middle East and Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro. SPIEGEL: Mr. Carter, in your new book you write that only the American people can ensure that the US government returns to the country's old moral principles. Are you suggesting that the current US administration of George W. Bush of acting immorally? Carter: There's no doubt that this administration has made a radical and unpressured departure from the basic policies of all previous administrations including those of both...

Managua, Jul 6 (EFE).- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said here Thursday that he opposes any attempts by foreign powers to influence the Nicaraguan presidential election, set for Nov. 5. The statement was made by Carter in Managua at the end of his four-day visit to the country to familiarize himself with how the electoral process is unfolding. Speaking on behalf of his Atlanta-based Carter Center, the former president said: "Almost all of the Nicaraguans with whom we spoke expressed concern about foreign governments endorsing, vetoing, or funding specific candidates." Carter criticized the position of the U.S. government, which has...

US ex president Jimmy Carter labeled as "completely unjustified" that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has led the acts against US President George W. Bush in parallel to the Summit of the Americas held in the Argentinean city of Mar del Plata, AFP reported. "I think that leading a demonstration against the US president is completely unjustified," Carter told CNN news channel, which aired on live the ceremony closed by Chávez before an audience of 40,000 in a sports stadium. In the ex president's view, Chávez is "a difficult person. I know it for my own experience."

It defies belief. Ex-President Jimmy Carter, who crystallized a fraudulent recall referendum for Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chavez, now says his Carter Center will return to Caracas "to help consolidate peace and democracy." He also says he's got a final report on the Venezuelan recall referendum. (There've been some other final reports but somehow he's got to issue a final final final report) He's up to no good. No one has demoralized Venezuela's democracy more than America's worst-ever president. The only legitimate reason he has to go to Caracas is to beg Venezuelans for forgiveness after that sorry show he put...

...Venezuelans would prefer at this time if the Carter Center stayed away from our country. The role the Center played in the recall referendum, before and after it, left a very bitter taste in all of those like me, who are certain that the outcome was fraudulent. ... Carter ... did not demand that the CNE do the “hot audits” on August 16th. ... There are lies in the reports from the Carter Center, such as that the boxes containing the ballots never left their sight. Thus, Venezuelans in the opposition think the Carter Center failed them completely by being...

Bwahahahah!!! Gasp! Bwahahahahahahah! (tears of laughter, blogger convulsing on the floor subject to one of the biggest laugh attacks recorded in blogdom). (Breathe, breathe deeply, garner composure, start writing again) Today we learn that Jennifer Mc Coy of the Carter Center will brave Venezuela to offer help in consolidating peace and democracy! The nerve! What is in store for us? Are they going to approve the new judicial system whose near uniform composition will ensure "peace" through a "uniform justice" (pun intended)? Will they offer to monitor the 2006 elections to validate yet another "fair" Chavez victory? ... I have...

John Kerry is showing us that he would have been a Jimmy Carter-like President, had he been elected. Playing kissy-face with Batthist dictator Bashir Assad in Damascus, Kerry said: >>>"I think we found a great deal of areas of mutual interest, some common concerns and some possibilities for initiatives that could be taken in the future to strengthening relationship between the U.S. and Syria," Kerry told reporters after meeting with al-Sharaa. "I can assure you that I leave here with a sense that we can improve our relationship. There are significant possibilities, particularly with the elections in Iraq and the...