Wikileaks Afghanistan: "Bad Guys on Our Side"; Dealing with Iran Involvement

Karzai retorted, “My question for you is, do you want a bad guy on your side or working for the Taliban? Where Afghans are in charge, drugs are less but where the international community is in charge, drugs are up.”...

[Foreign Minister] Spanta also shared that Karzai had raised the issue of Iran’s involvement in smuggling weapons into Afghanistan with Iranian President Ahmedinejad, who Spanta said, “denied it, of course, but the point was made.”

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Wikileaks Analysis: Getting Behind the Revelations on Iran and Arab States

Shibley Telhami writes for The National Interest:

One of the highlights of the most recent Wikileaks release has been the focus on Arab attitudes toward Iran. The headlines suggest Arab unanimity in support of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on the Islamic Republic, as long as Arab governments are allowed to keep their heads low to the ground. There was much evidence, and many colorful quotations, to make the case, especially from Saudi, Bahraini, and United Arab Emirates' leaders. And although some of the quotations were jaw-dropping, in truth it was all a bunch of stuff we've heard before. But analysis by the media that followed, and the sweeping conclusion that "Arabs support attacking Iran", is misplaced and ignores significant differences among Arab governments about how to deal with Iran and especially missed the boat on true attitudes of the Arab public.

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Iran Feature: A Cartoon Reply to Tehran's Apologists over Human Rights

This morning a pro-Government website pays tribute to the recent US public-relations tour of Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights section of Iran's judiciary. Posting the transcript of his interview with Charlie Rose of the US Public Broadcasting Service, they hail Larijani's "glimpse of how important supporters of the Islamic Republic regard the rule of law as a governing principle of their political order".

I think Mana Neyestani is far more eloquent with just one cartoon:

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Egypt Elections Analysis: "The Door for a Challenge to Mubarak is Closed" (Iskander)

The door for a challenger in 2011 to President Hosni Mubarak or, if he declines to run, his son Gamal now seems closed. The failure of the opposition parties to win seats and the withdrawal of al-Wafd from this Sunday’s second round of elections [Editor's Note: The Muslim Brotherhood has also pulled out], comes on top of only eight victories for opposition and independent candidate in the first round.

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The Latest from Iran (3 December): A Phantom Bombing

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Power Politics Edition). Keep your eyes on this story....

A group of 16 Iranian political prisoners, including prominent reformist politicians Mohsen Aminzadeh and Mostafa Tajzadeh and journalists Bahman Ahmadi Amoui and Mohammad Nourizad have written an open letter to former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, describing their continued incarceration “in violation of the law” and in the “framework of settling political accounts”.

Addressing Rafsanjani in his role as head of the Expediency Council, the detainees said the treatment of political activists in the Islamic Republic today “bears no sign of the principles of the Revolution and its constitution". They maintain that their charges are fabricated and the “heavy sentences and restrictions that they have been handed are part of a political and security plan by the establishment to completely erase the political opposition”.

The prisoners compared the current situation to the political detentions before the 1979 Revolution, with officials forcing prisoners to give false confessions and then issuing sentences based on them: “The issued sentences in view of level and kind of punishment seem to indicate that they have been set by security officials based on their own ideas and personal preference, and relayed to the judges.”

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Wikileaks Irony: "Authoritarian Governments" Condemned as Site Killed

UPDATE 1120 GMT: The WikiLeaks documents are now available at http://213.251.145.96/cablegate.html. 

In Pakistan, the High Court has rejected a petition seeking a ban on the WikiLeaks website.

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Palestine Analysis: Why Palestinian Divisions Overshadow the Peace Process

Trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place, the Palestinian negotiating team’s most viable strategy would be to avoid peace negotiations with Israel in the short-term and immediately begin negotiating the devastating divisions that dominate Palestinian society. In recent times, it has been foreign mediators, such as Turkey, Libya, Qatar, Yemen, Egypt, and several others, and not the PLO who have attempted to arbitrate the divisions within Palestinian society. In the current climate, in which a unified Palestinian polity appears as the most important condition for restarting effective peace negotiations, the PLO would be well advised to reverse this trend, to take a more pronounced and aggressive role in mediating these internal conflicts, and to focus its attention on achieving the difficult, yet auspicious goal of a unified Palestinian constituency.

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Iran and US Hikers Video: Sarah Shourd's Song for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal

In July 2009, three US hikers were detained along the Iran-Iraq border. Seven weeks ago, Sarah Shourd was released on a financial "guarantee" that she would return for trial, but Shourd's fiance Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are still held, their trial repeatedly postponed (it is now scheduled for 6 February).

This is Shourd's song for her fellow detainees.

LYRICS

We walked across hard land
Into a human trap
They took us for one long ride
You're now in Iran, Iran

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Wikileaks: Today's Guide to EA's Coverage

Analysis

Aluf Benn says "The Fiasco Doesn't Embarrass Israel One Bit".

Features and Documents

1. US officials have "No Confidence in Pakistani Leader Zardari, No Alternative to Afghan Leader Karzai".

2. A year before the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, the US Embassy in Tbilisi documents "The Russian Campaign Against Georgia".

3. In 2009, the US Embassy in Rome intervenes in Italian politics: "Pushing Back Against Silvio Berlusconi, 'The Mouthpiece of Vladimir Putin'."

Wikileaks Special: Pushing Back Against Italy's Berlusconi "The Mouthpiece of Putin"

To tackle the problem [of Berlusconi's affection for Putin] head-on, Post [the Embassy] has deployed a robust diplomatic and public affairs strategy targeting key figures inside and outside government. Our aim is two-fold: educate our interlocutors more profoundly on Russian activities and thus the context for U.S. policy, as well as build a counter-weight of dissenting opinion on Russia policy, especially within Berlusconi's political party.

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