The World
In Unruly Baghdad, Perils and Politics
Friday rolled around, and, despite raised hopes, there was no new unity government ready to be announced by Iraq's prime minister-designate, Nouri al-Maliki. Names for most cabinet posts have been penciled in--and could go any time to the National Assembly for confirmation--but the hang-up has been over the powerful Defense and Interior ministries. Sunni politicians are threatening to bolt if the Shiites seek to keep the incumbent interior minister, Bayan Jabr, who Sunnis say tolerated Shiite militias and death squads operating within the ministry's paramilitary forces. Separately, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, appealed for unity against crime and terrorism. He said 952 people, mostly civilians, were killed last month nationwide in "terrorist" violence, including attacks by sectarian death squads that kidnap and torture their victims before dumping their mutilated bodies in the streets. In one gesture of unity, Iran's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, ordered all Shiite mosques closed for several days in the predominantly Sunni town of Zubayr to protest the assassination by gunmen there of a respected Sunni cleric, Sheik Khaled Ali Obeid al-Saadoun, who had spoken out publicly against sectarian violence.
How Much Pain Is Too Much Pain?
It wasn't quite what the Bush administration had planned, but U.S. officials bowed to pressure from the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations--the other members of the so-called quartet of Mideast mediators--to establish a channel, at least temporarily, to funnel some humanitarian aid directly to Palestinians. The idea is to keep squeezing the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority while trying to soften the economic suffering of the Palestinian public. The World Bank reported that humanitarian conditions have worsened more than anticipated since most western aid was cut off in March, and, after a series of Fatah-Hamas clashes, foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia warned of a civil war among Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip if the Hamas government collapses. Some 165,000 government workers (including 75,000 security personnel)--whose incomes are said to support as much as one third of Palestinian families--have not been paid for two months. Further, the one gasoline supplier, an Israeli company, last week cut off fuel deliveries for lack of payment. Some of the new money may go to independent aid groups for health and education needs, but the Bush administration reportedly opposed Europeans' idea of paying PA salaries for medical personnel and teachers. Washington announced it was sending $10 million in medical assistance.
Better--But Not Good Enough
Go figure. Iran and Venezuela lost out in their bids for a seat on the new U.N. Human Rights Council. Others whose human-rights records are, to put it charitably, a bit less than stellar fared better in the competition over the 47 council seats: Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia. Then again, some that were on the old, discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission didn't even try: Sudan, Zimbabwe, Syria, Vietnam, and Libya among them. Safe to say, they won't be missed. Human-rights advocacy groups declared themselves satisfied that this amounts to an improvement. The Bush administration opposed the new council for not going far enough to ensure credibility, and so the United States was not a candidate, either.
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