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WASHINGTON, April 11, 2006 – The United States and its allies are pursing a diplomatic course with Iran, and news reports suggesting that a U.S. attack on Iran is in the works "get into fantasy land," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters today. "Let me be clear," Rumsfeld said. "The department's policy is the president's policy." And that policy, as Bush described it yesterday at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies here, is to use a multinational, diplomatic approach to get Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. "We do not want the...

Diplomatic push is planned to curb Iran's nuclear ambition By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 28/03/2006) The world's key powers will seek this week to reach agreement on a strategy that will build up pressure on Iran. This could lead to sanctions being imposed by the summer unless Teheran halts the most dangerous parts of its nuclear programme. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, along with foreign ministers from the United States, France, Germany, Russia, and China will meet in Berlin on Thursday at a gathering designed to finalise a United Nations call on Iran to comply with international demands,...

The majority of the Palestinian Arabs voted for Hamas and the Bush administration acts surprised and shocked. They denounce Hamas and are squirming to find ways to still proceed with a fictional “peace process” based on an ill-conceived scheme called the Roadmap. The Israeli government was very reluctant to have that election take place. It feared a Hamas victory would also legitimize it despite its being a declared terrorist organization. It was Condoleezza Rice who demanded that Israel permit the election and allow Jerusalem Arabs to vote. The word is demanded and not requested because it was reported that Rice’s...

SAUDI Arabia has recalled its ambassador to Denmark, saying the government had not taken enough action over newspaper cartoons seen as mocking Islam and Mohammad. "[We] recalled the ambassador in light of the Danish government's lack of attention to insulting the Prophet Mohammad by its newspapers," a government official said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the Bush administration was considering opening direct contact with Iran as part of a broader effort to gain greater cooperation from Iraq's neighbors in quelling the insurgency that grips large swaths of the country. "We're considering whether that might be useful," Rice said. She told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that any such contact would probably take place between the U.S. and Iranian embassies in Baghdad. Direct US diplomatic contact with Tehran would be highly controversial within the Bush administration, which has long been divided between hardliners who have argued that any...

TEHRAN: Iran confirmed on Sunday that hardline president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad will attend the UN General Assembly in New York in September, dismissing any possible US visa restrictions in the wake of allegations of his role in the US embassy siege. “Yes, Mr Ahmadinejad and the accompanying delegation will go to New York to take part in the UN world summit, he will also meet with the Iranians there,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. Asefi again denied US allegations about Ahmadinejad’s possible role in the 1979 hostage-taking at the US embassy in Tehran following the Islamic revolution, a...

The henchmen of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), are planning to systematically “penetrate” and infiltrate diplomatic and pro-democracy Burmese communities in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. The henchmen of SPDC chairman Gen Than Shwe have been assigned to “penetrate” the US and Europe, and the vice-chairman Gen Maung Aye’s men, Australia and Asia, according to sources close to Rangoon military HQs. Brig Gen Than Tun, the SPDC ambassador to Italy is taking the “penetrating” duties in Europe and Brig Gen Thet Win is to be in charge of Australia. Than Tun carried out his...

London 14.01.05 | Hugo Chavez, the greatest pariah ever to govern our nation, has just frozen diplomatic and trade relations with Colombia. The embarrassing thing for us decent Venezuelans is the reason for this breakage, i.e. the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Title: "Snot Flies in Taiwan-Singapore Row"Singapore is alarmed by the rise of independence forces in Taiwan Taiwan's foreign minister has sparked a diplomatic row by calling Singapore "the size of a piece of snot". Chen Tan-sun was angry over comments made by Singapore's foreign minister, George Yeo, who recently said Taiwan should not press for independence. Mr Chen said: "Even Singapore, a country the size of a piece of snot, can swagger around to criticise Taiwan at the United Nations". He said Mr Yeo only made the comments to please Taiwan's rival, China. "It was nothing but an effort to...

The United States has formally resumed diplomatic ties with Libya after a 24-year break, the State Department says. Details soon..... Breaking on CNN.com

The strange decline in relations between the US military and its one-time Iraqi ally, Ahmad Chalabi, took a new twist yesterday when Iran admitted having had regular dialogue with the former Pentagon favourite. The authorities in Tehran - and Mr Chalabi - were quick to deny suggestions that he had handed US secrets to Iran. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, told reporters that Tehran had maintained "continuous and permanent dialogue with Chalabi and other members of the Iraqi governing council". He added that spying charges were "unfounded and baseless". Mr Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi...

"If the oppressed people of Lebanon do not take hostages, then what else can they do? - Iran’s former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, Nov. 7, 1986 In the 1980s, Tehran perfected the art of using hostage-taking as a profitable instrument of advancing its foreign policy. Iran, indeed, has used terrorism as part of its overall policy of exporting fundamentalism and expanding its sphere of influence in the Middle East and beyond. It is no different in Iraq today. Iran’s clerical regime exploits religion to legitimize acts of terror by calling them divine duties. The mullahs promise the perpetrators of such actions...

LONDON - The United States has re-established a diplomatic presence in Libya after decades of mutual hostility, Libyan and U.S. officials said on Tuesday. "Yes, Americans came to Libya to work inside the Belgian embassy in the U.S. interests section in Libya and Libyans will go to America to work in the Libyan interests section there," Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam told a news conference in London. A U.S. official confirmed a diplomat had returned to the Libyan capital. "We presently have one U.S. diplomat in Tripoli to assist the U.S. WMD (weapons of mass destruction) experts," the official...

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The United States has revoked the diplomatic visas of seven Saudis as part of a tightening of visitor controls after the Sept. 11 attacks that involved mainly Saudi perpetrators, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. None of the Saudis was suspected of any wrongdoing other than a visa irregularity. They worked as teachers at an Arab institute outside Washington and were not employed by the Saudi Embassy, meaning they were not entitled to diplomatic visas, the officials said. "They (the Saudi Embassy) got a diplomatic visa for people better suited for a work visa," one...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- The Bush Administration took another major step forward this week in its plan to rebuild Iraq when it persuaded 18 other creditor nations to back off on debts owed to them by the former Iraqi regime. The move is expected to encourage foreign investments and expedite the reconstruction of Iraq's economy. France and Germany, who opposed the war and were excluded from any prime rebuilding contracts, agreed to the measures despite a pessimistic forecast by Democrats who just recently denounced the rebuilding contract restrictions as detrimental to America's foreign policy. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) called the...

Diplomatic bag is used to bring in heroin By Tim Butcher, Africa Correspondent (Filed: 30/10/2003) A row between Britain and Sierra Leone was threatened yesterday after Gatwick customs officials discovered heroin worth thousands of pounds spilling out of what appeared to be a diplomatic bag en route to the West African nation's high commission in London. They found the heroin after the bag, which had arrived at Gatwick from Freetown, burst open, scattering video tapes packed with the heroin. Four Sierra Leonean government officials have been arrested in Freetown and are being questioned in connection with an alleged smuggling ring....

Embassy staff flee SARS outbreak From correspondents in Washington04apr03 THE US has authorised the departure of non-essential personnel and their families from the US Embassy in Beijing and from five consular offices in China as a result of the SARS outbreak. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has killed about 80 people in Asia and Canada. The US State Department said today it had agreed the withdrawal of diplomatic staff from affected areas. It said the move was "due to the risks posed by SARS, the uncertainties of how it is spread, and concerns over our ability to obtain suitable...

PARIS -- He is everything France likes about itself: cultured, literary, eloquent and more than a little dashing. As the government's point man in efforts to slow Washington's drive for war against Iraq, Dominique de Villepin has used his charm to full effect. At the U.N. Security Council, the French foreign minister has faced down Secretary of State Colin Powell in pressing for more U.N. weapons inspections. In a rare move, U.N. delegates broke protocol to applaud de Villepin after his impassioned appeal last week that war should be a last resort. De Villepin, 49, has long had a way...

The Belgian Supreme Court this week accepted an appeal by survivors of the Sabra and Chatila refugee camp massacres in September 1982, ruling that Israelis who do not have diplomatic immunity may be put on trial. The decision applies to those who were senior officers in the Israel Defense Forces at the time - the chief of staff, the theater commander, the divisional commander. It also applies to then defense minister Ariel Sharon, once the immunity he has by virtue of being prime minister lapses. This judicial decision is rather astounding, as the Belgian prosecution also noted in its opposition...