IPS brings you independent perspective on what is happening in Iran, Iraq and across the Middle East.

IRAQ: Refugees Caught Between Deportation and Death Threats
Ali al-Fadhily*
BAGHDAD – Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis driven out of their country by violence are now faced with detention abroad, or a homecoming to death threats.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40367

IRAQ: Government Fragments Further
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40318

IRAQ: A Tenuous ‘Peace’ in Al-Anbar
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40280

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IRAN: Charges Against ‘Nuclear Spy’ Deepen Political Split
Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN – Charges of spying for Britain persisting against former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian appear to have intensified rifts within the alliance of conservatives and hardliners that made Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran?s President more than two years ago.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40347

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MIDEAST: Darkness Surrounds Spotlight on Peace Talks
William Fisher
NEW YORK – In the aftermath of the Annapolis peace conference, foreign policy analysts and human rights advocates are finding considerable irony in Israel’s Arab neighbours pressing for freedom for Palestinians while their own citizens continue carry a heavy burden of unrelenting political repression.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40350

Olmert Walks Razor’s Edge in Peace Talks – Analysis by Peter Hirschberg
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40322

Why Annapolis Is About Iran – Analysis by Khody Akhavi
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40306

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LEBANON: Democracy Begins to Agree on a General
Mona Alami
BEIRUT – As the constitutional clock ticks away the last few hours of Emile Lahoud’s presidential term, Lebanon faces its worst political deadlock since the end of the civil war.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40363

LEBANON: Peacekeepers Tread Lightly in a Wounded Land – By Rebecca Murray
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40303

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Iran NIE Validates 2003 European Diplomacy
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON – Despite the White House spin that the new National Intelligence Estimate supports its policy of increasing pressure on Iran, the estimate not only directly contradicts the Bush administration’s line on Iranian intentions regarding nuclear weapons, but points to a link between Tehran’s 2003 decision to halt research on weaponisation and its decision to negotiate with European foreign ministers on both nuclear and Iranian security concerns.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40338

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Q&A: “Death Penalty Serves Interests of Despotic Regimes”
Interview with Nedal Naeiseh
CASABLANCA, Morocco – Syria strongly opposed the recently passed U.N. resolution calling for an immediate moratorium on executions and end to capital punishment. But Nedal Naeiseh — Syrian writer and journalist — believes the regime is close to the day when it will join the growing number of abolitionist nations.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40305

For more IPS reporting on the Middle East – www.ipsnews.net/middle.asp

Iraq: Beyond the Green Zone – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iraq/index.asp

Iran: The Parthian Shot – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iran/index.asp

Holy Land/Unholy War – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/israel_palestina/index.asp

Afghan Divide – www.ipsnews.net/afghanistan/index.asp

View From the U.S.: Bush at War – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/warII/index.asp

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