‘United States’

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11:28 pm Sep 2, 2010
Barack Obama: ‘don’t let the chance for peace slip away’
Israel • Palestine • United States

“Speaking ahead of the first direct talks between the two sides for nearly two years, Mr Obama warned the leaders they ‘cannot afford to let it slip away.   Differences between the adversaries are so deep that President Barack Obama’s revival of US efforts to finalise a ‘two-state solution’ that would create a Palestinian state could be wrecked in a matter of weeks.   ‘This moment of opportunity may not soon come again’, said Mr Obama, who was joined by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and George Mitchell, the Middle East envoy.   ‘Now is the time for leaders of courage and vision to deliver the peace that their people deserve’.  Mr Obama, who earlier condemned the ‘senseless slaughter’ of four Israeli settlers, promised to put the ‘full weight’ of the US behind the peace effort.   ‘If both sides do not commit to these talks in earnest, then the long-standing conflict will only continue to fester and consume another generation. This we simply cannot allow’, he said.   ‘We know there will be moments that test our resolve.  We know that extremists and enemies of peace will do everything in their power to destroy this effort’.   As Mr Obama held individual meetings with leaders from the region, it became clear that in the aftermath of the killing of four Israeli settlers by Hamas neither side was able to soften their position.   Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said there was no change to the cabinet decision to end the partial construction freeze on new settlements in the West Bank on Sep 26.   The freeze had been crucial in bringing the Palestinians to the table after they left talks in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating attack on Gaza, the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas militants”

9:50 pm Sep 1, 2010
Middle East talks: “No real desire for change spells little hope of success”
Israel • Palestine • United States

“The mood is gloomy as the Middle East peace talks begin because neither side appears prepared to make the concessions that meaningful negotiations require  No previous round of Middle East peace negotiations has begun with such rock-bottom expectations as the one being launched in Washington.  Neither side expects to be able to reach an agreement unless the US tries to impose one.   And few believe that if Barack Obama does attempt that, Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas will be able to live with it – the Israeli premier because of his fractious rightwing coalition and the Palestinian president because of Hamas opposition and wider despair over years of peace ‘process’ without change.  Both sides prefer to continue the existing situation as long as they do not have to pay the costs that an agreement requires,” argued Nahum Barnea, the Israeli commentator.  Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, was a tad more diplomatic. ‘We are hoping talks will succeed,” he said, “but we are all very pessimistic about the viability of the peace process because of past experience’.  Still, convention – and deference to the US host – requires a polite suspension of belief.  It was the same when George Bush convened the Annapolis conference in 2007 in a belated attempt to make up for ignoring the Israel-Palestine conflict for so long after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.  Scepticism was profound then too – even though everyone, including a Syrian minister, turned up for the group photographs at the launch of another process that predictably led nowhere slowly.  On the face of it, little has changed since. The core issues of the conflict remain the same: West Bank settlements, the future of Jerusalem, final borders, Israel’s demand for recognition as a Jewish state and the Palestinians’ for their ‘right to return’.  Overall, though, the situation is worse”

9:39 pm Sep 1, 2010
“US enters final phase of Iraq war”
Iraq • United States

“The US marks on Wednesday the transition to the final phase of the Iraq war, shifting the focus of the remaining 50,000 American troops from combat operations to preparing Iraqi security forces to protect the country on their own.   President Barack Obama set the tone for changing the role without fanfare, making clear in a major speech on Iraq that this was no victory celebration.   A six-month stalemate over forming a new Iraqi government has raised concerns about the country’s stability and questions over whether the leadership can cope with a diminished but still dangerous insurgency.  Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen will preside over a military change-of-command ceremony in Baghdad later Wednesday that will signal the formal end of American combat operations in Iraq, 7 1/2 years after the March 2003 invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.  Gates, visiting American troops in the Iraqi city of Ramadi,  said history will judge whether the fight was worth it for the United States.  ‘The problem with this war, I think, for many Americans, is that the premise on which we justified going to war turned out not to be valid’, he said.   ‘Even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States, it’ll always be clouded by how it began’.  Claiming that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, then-President George W. Bush ordered the invasion with approval of a Congress that was still reeling from the 9/11 attacks. But Bush’s claims were based on faulty intelligence, and the weapons were never found.  Obama declared an end to combat in an Oval Office speech  and praised American forces for their work.   He acknowledged the ambiguous nature of the war in which American forces quickly ousted Saddam but were never able to fully control the Sunni Muslim insurgency against the Shiite-dominated establishment that even now threatens to re-ignite.  Still, he said the time had come to close this divisive chapter in US history.    ’We have met our responsibility’, Obama said.   ‘Now it is time to turn the page’ “

9:48 pm Aug 29, 2010
“US tells Russia egg recall does not affect poultry”
Russia • United States

“The Obama administration  reassured Russia that its relaunched American chicken imports are safe and unaffected by the US salmonella outbreak that has forced a recall of half a billion eggs.  The Food and Drug Administration letter was delivered to Russian authorities by the US Department of Agriculture office in Moscow, said Sally Klusaritz, a spokeswoman with USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service.  The letter ‘provided information from FDA on the table egg recall’, Klusaritz said.  ’It included assurances that US broiler production is not involved in the (egg) recall’.   Russia has signaled it may take action against imports of U.S. poultry unless it receives more assurance that the birds are not contaminated with salmonella, the head of consumer protection watchdog RosPotrebNadzor told RIA news agency.  The USA Poultry and Egg Export Council [previously] sent a similar reassuring message to Russia, saying the poultry meat and eggs are produced in separate facilities and could not cross-contaminate. [ID:nN24131972] But RosPotrebNadzor said that was insufficient.  The concerns sprung up in the wake of Moscow partially lifting a seven-month ban on US poultry exports it had imposed because the chlorine disinfectant used on American poultry meat violated Russian food safety policy. US producers shipping to Russia now use a different disinfectant”

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