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Pakistan took a first step toward normalizing relations with Israel on Thursday, with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, in Istanbul. In the public meeting, the ministers discussed ways of promoting bilateral ties, but not establishing full diplomatic relations. Shalom and Kasuri will meet again in about two weeks at the United Nations General Assembly, where a first meeting could also take place between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "Pakistan attaches great importance to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza, and has therefore decided to engage Israel," Kasuri said after the meeting....

TEHRAN, Iran Aug 25, 2005 — Iran's top nuclear negotiator called for more countries to join the three European states engaged in talks about Tehran's contentious nuclear program, state-run television reported Thursday. Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said he welcomed negotiations with all members of the board of governors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, plus countries from the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement. "There is a serious question in Iran that asks why nuclear negotiations should be limited to just three European countries," state TV quoted Larijani as saying. He did not single out any other countries...

For two years now, the Bush Administration has willingly taken a back seat to European diplomacy to induce Iran to abandon its nuclear-weapons program. In the last few weeks, the world has been able to see what this non-cowboy strategy has achieved: • Iran's new president has called for "a wave of Islamic revolution." Only a few years ago, this new world statesman was running gangs of street thugs who harassed anti-government demonstrators. His political rise was engineered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, who barred 1,000 reformist candidates from the recent parliamentary elections. • Last week, Iranian police opened fire...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arabs complained Saturday they were being sidelined in talks on the new constitution only two days before the deadline and warned that their community will reject the document if it is submitted to parliament without Sunni consent. "They will surprise us in the final hour," Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four main Sunni negotiators, told The Associated Press. "We will reject it and the people will be angry, the street will be angry and as a result we will be back to square one." But a Shiite politician, Khaled al-Attiyah, was upbeat and said the negotiations were...

A high ranking Kremlin official emphasized Wednesday, "Iran's right to take advantage of nuclear power for peaceful purposes must be internationally recognized," the official Iranian news agency reported today. Speaking to his country's official Itar-Tass news agency, the Russian official who spoke on condition of anonymity added, "Russia believes it is appropriate for the international community to recognize Iran's right to continue its nuclear programs, since that would solve the current crisis and save unnecessary problems." Meantime, IRNA reported that: senior Iranian officials warned the European Union Wednesday to stop pressuring the Islamic republic to limit its nuclear activities and...

A US envoy has suggested the latest round of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, now in its ninth day, could be nearing some kind of conclusion. Christopher Hill was speaking after China put forward yet another draft of a proposed joint statement. Mr Hill called the latest proposal "a very important text... designed to narrow the differences". The North wants security guarantees and aid before it will scrap its programme, conditions the US has baulked at. Both Mr Hill and North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan had earlier expressed doubts that an agreement would be achieved. Six nations - the...

GENEVA (AFP) - World Trade Organization countries met at a vital stage on the tough road towards a treaty to open up global commerce, after almost four years of on-off talks. The 148 member countries met against a background of persistent splits particularly on farm subsidies and services and with a WTO summit in Hong Kong looming just five months away. They are under growing pressure to accelerate the so-called Doha Round negotiations and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, initially not due to attend, is now expected to play a part. India's trade minister Kamal Nath was another top official...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - With negotiations between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders at a halt, both sides are poised to go to political war in a Nov. 8 special election, even as the number of ballot measures dwindle and new calls are made by some to cancel the balloting all together. "We are so deep into it now, I don't see how you can get the toothpaste back into the tube," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. "We are so far down the path, I think we should have the special election and put the whole issue to rest."...

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea on Monday said it won't give up nuclear weapons without receiving anything in exchange and called on the United States to agree at revived arms talks to peacefully coexist with the communist state. Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told visiting former Secretary of State Colin Powell that Washington's moves will be the deciding factor in resolving the latest nuclear standoff with North Korea that began in 2002. "The United States still has the final key to the six-party talks," Roh said Monday, according to a pool report. The North said last week it...

WASHINGTON - Democrats say the courtesy calls they've received from President Bush and his top aide, while appreciated, fall far short of the advice and consent consultations they expect before Bush announces a Supreme Court nominee. Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois got a call Wednesday from White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who is with Bush in Europe for the Group of Eight summit. Card has also called Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Charles Schumer of New York and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, but no names of possible nominees were mentioned, according to their aides. The Democrats...

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - The city voted Wednesday to continue negotiations with a Japanese company that wants to build the first West Coast terminal for liquefied natural gas. During a session that lasted until after midnight, the council voted 5-4 to continue talks with a Mitsubishi subsidiary on a deal that would involve building a pipeline and selling supplies of LNG to the city, said Chris Garner, director of Long Beach Energy, the city's gas utility. No date for the talks was scheduled but Garner said he believed "some kind of business deal" could be crafted by midsummer. In...

On Saturday May 4th, the Associated Press quoted a source from U.S. intelligence and foreign allies who avowed havingg enough evidence to prove that several top Al Qaeda operatives are hiding in Iran - with the complicity of the Iranian government. If that is confirmed (and in part it already is), it will be a huge blow to the credibility of those who tell us that Shiite and Sunni fundamentalists could never collaborate with each other. This alliance of rivals has been built as a way to wage a "holy war" on the U.S., Israel and the democratic world at...

West fears nuclear talks with Iran are doomed to failure By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 25/05/2005) Make-or-break talks between Europe and Iran are doomed to failure and US military action will only delay, not halt, Teheran's suspected nuclear weapons programme, a leading think-tank predicted yesterday. In a gloomy assessment, the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies said America had no simple military way of stopping Iran going nuclear. It said the West's best hope was to buy time through diplomacy. IISS expressed alarm at the "erosion" of counter-proliferation measures, saying it could lead ultimately to terrorist groups such...

I really get tired of these kinds of arguments.http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_05/006275.php Look, having six-party talks regarding issues affecting the Korean peninsula has been an overwhelmingly bipartisan project ever since the end of the Korean War. Any effort to pretend that the Bush Administration is the first one to have come up with the concept is wrong. Ridiculously wrong. And even beyond the traditional nature of the demand for six-party talks, they make sense. If you don't have six-party talks, then North Korea will try to push South Korea out of the diplomatic equation altogether and will be able to avoid getting any...

Annan calls for calm as threats overshadow nuclear talks By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 03/05/2005) Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, urged nuclear rogue states to step back from the brink of atomic weapons yesterday. His comments came at the UN in New York after a defiant Iran and North Korea had both provided new evidence of their determination to pursue technology that can be used to manufacture and deliver nuclear arms. Kofi Annan wants ‘a world free of nuclear weapons’ Speaking at the opening of a month-long meeting to review the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Mr Annan said...

Annan talks of 'lynch mob' determined to destroy him By Charles Laurence in New York and Philip Sherwell in Washington (Filed: 01/05/2005) Kofi Annan, the beleaguered secretary-general of the United Nations, has claimed that a "lynch mob" is out to "destroy" him in the wake of the Iraq oil-for-food debacle and other UN scandals. In his first big interview since he was criticised in a report into the discredited oil-for-food scheme, which the UN administered, Mr Annan refused to rule out stepping down in the autumn, a year before his second term is due to end. Some diplomats believe that...

   Pentagon delegation arrives in Taipei for talks with militaryBy Rich ChangSTAFF REPORTER Thursday, Mar 17, 2005,Page 1 A US military delegation arrived in Taipei yesterday, and will discuss the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities with Taiwanese military officials. A member of the delegation, who requested anonymity, told the Taipei Times that the US saw the possibility of China's launching an attack using asymmetric warfare tactics against Taiwan as increasing. "The US is concerned as to whether the PLA would be able to start an asymmetric war against Taiwan and whether there exists a fifth column of infiltrators in Taiwan," he...

Our Best and Bravest A young Marine officer talks about Fallujah By John Hillen February 28, 2005, 8:47 a.m. I went to a presentation by a young Marine infantry lieutenant last week about the platoon he led in the assault on the insurgents in Fallujah a few months ago. It was fascinating stuff for us military types — acronyms were being slung with abandon. Some points were particularly worth noting and sharing: * The intensity of combat in Fallujah: Of the 46 Marines in this lieutenant's platoon, 20 were evacuated for wounds during the three days of fighting and only...

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea has told officials in South Korea it is willing to take part in six-party talks on its nuclear arms program in June, a Japanese newspaper reported. Pyongyang also said in its message, which was conveyed to South Korea by unofficial routes and then to Japan by Seoul, that it was willing to sign a treaty with the United States by October, the conservative Sankei Shimbun said on Monday. North Korea declared on Feb. 10 that it had nuclear weapons and that it was pulling out of the talks, which include Japan, Russia, China and the...

LONDON,Feb 19 (IranMania) - There is no evidence to support the claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said, according to The Washington Post. "On Iran, there really hasn't been much development, neither as a result of our inspections or as a result of intelligence," said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general. ElBaradei called for greater U.S. participation in diplomatic efforts to engage Iran and North Korea in talks about their nuclear programs. "North Korea and Iran are still the two 800-pound gorillas in the room and not much...