Kabul—Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah,
who quit Afghanistan’s troubled presidential
election race this week, charged Wednesday that
his rival Hamid Karzai’s re-election had “no
legal basis”. Abdullah, who pulled out of a
run-off poll scheduled after more than a million
votes cast in the August 20 election were deemed
fraudulent, said Karzai lacked legitimacy after
being re-appointed by electoral commissioners.
“This decision does not have a legal basis,” he
told reporters in his first public appearance
since Karzai was declared president for another
five years. Abdullah took a swipe at his rival’s
pledge to eradicate corruption and build
national unity following US pressure to clean up
widespread graft.
Cairo—Middle East peace talks must include
the disputed city of Jerusalem, US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said in Cairo on
Wednesday, stressing Washington is determined to
push for a Palestinian state. “There is no doubt
that moving toward a state that reflects the
aspirations and the rights of the Palestinian
people must include all of the issues that have
been discussed and mentioned by President (Barack)
Obama, and that includes Jerusalem,” she said.
“We want to assure you that our goal is a real
state, with a real sovereignty,” she added at a
joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Athens—The
world urgently needs a climate deal out of a
summit in Copenhagen next month to forestall
forced migration that is already occurring in
Asia and Africa, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
said Wednesday. “We are in a critical period,”
Ban told delegates at a United Nations
conference on the economic impact of
immigration.
Baghdad—Iraqi
lawmakers have only a day left to agree on a new
bill that would enable the country to hold key
parliament elections in January, according to
remarks Wednesday by the country’s election
commission chairman. The chairman, Faraj al-Haidari,
said he warned the legislators that if they
don’t approve the election law by the end of
Thursday, the country’s nationwide vote will be
delayed.
JEWISH Americans, who are cannon fodder for the
Zionist lobby in its various manifestations,
have real political power more power if they
choose to exercise it than AIPAC can mobilise by
playing the fear card. On November 9, when
President Obama addresses the Jewish Federations
of North America, he has the opportunity to
speak truth to that power. If I was writing
Obama’s speech for that occasion I would have
him say this: “To make peace in the Middle East
on terms that provide security for Israel and an
acceptable amount of justice for the
Palestinians, I need two irrevocable, good faith
commitments of intent one from the Arab and
wider Muslim world, the other from Israel.
