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US Middle East peace envoy Martin Indyk has resigned following the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity did not provide a reason for Indyk's departure, which had been widely expected after the two sides failed to meet their goal of reaching a comprehensive peace agreement this spring. Indyk will return to the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank, the official said. US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed on Friday that Indyk was leaving his post as top US envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Kerry praised Indyk and thanked him for his...

The US charge d’affaires in Khartoum, Joseph D Stafford, resigned from his post after he converted to Islam, Sudanese local media sources said. Stafford told the foreign ministry that his resignation was made for "personal reasons" but Sudanese sources claimed that the envoy was forced to resign after he turned to Islam. Sources said that Stafford has recorded visits to the headquarters of Ansar al-Sunnah in Sudan and established a close relationship with a number of Sudanese clerics through these visits. The U.S. State Department has not made any statement to confirm or deny the news on Joseph Stafford. After...

(CNSNews.com) – What a difference a year makes. Amid growing awareness of the plight of religious minorities in “Arab spring” countries and other parts of the Islamic world, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday passed legislation creating a special envoy post to focus on the issue.

The German Foreign Ministry on Monday denied allegations that it was attempting to influence Britain’s plans to commemorate the 2014 centenary of the outbreak of World War I. A spokesman for the ministry confirmed reports that it had sent an envoy to London in early August to discuss the centenary ceremonies. But he added: “There was no intervention of any kind in how our friends and partners intend to shape their commemoration of World War I.” The Daily Telegraph reported on Sunday that the visit by Andreas Meitzner, a German diplomat tasked with coordinating European commemoration plans for the centenary,...

Scores of violent Arab students forced the British consul general to make a hasty departure from a university in Ramallah on Tuesday, according to witness reports. Consul General Sir Vincent Fean had travelled to Bir Zeit University near Ramallah to deliver a lecture on Britain's policy in the Middle East and the prospects for peace but was turned away by vehement Arab demonstrators, the Ma’an news agency reported. Video footage showed protesters banging on his car and shouting: "Get out of Bir Zeit!" Although Fean was hurriedly escorted back to his car and escaped unscathed, the protesters manage to break...

JERUSALEM — The United Nations envoy to the Middle East acknowledged in an interview with McClatchy Sunday that he has maintained quiet contacts with the Islamist group Hamas for “years,” despite the international community’s official policy to isolate the group. Robert Serry described his office’s contacts with Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, as “quiet engagements” and said his office was working now, in the wake of a cease-fire agreement that ended eight days of Israeli bombardment of Gaza, “hoping to help the parties get to a more durable solution.” “Because we are on the ground we...

On Wednesday September 12, 2012 blogger Speak With Authority discovered that five days before 9-11, the US State Department sent out a memo announcing no credible security threats against the United States on the anniversary of 9-11. The Overseas Security Advisory Council, who posted the memo, is part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security under the U.S. Department of State. The OSAC memo said: Terrorism and Important Dates Global 9/6/2012 OSAC currently has no credible information to suggest that al-Qa’ida or any other terrorist group is plotting any kind of attack overseas to coincide with the upcoming anniversary of September...

US President Barack Obama has vowed to bring to justice those who killed the US ambassador to Libya during protests against a film that mocks Islam. But he told reporters that the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi would not break the bonds between the US and the new Libyan government. His election rival Mitt Romney criticised his handling of the crisis. Ambassador J Christopher Stevens reportedly died of smoke inhalation after a crowd stormed the consulate. Three other Americans were also killed and the consulate set ablaze, in what the White House described as a "complex" attack. Unconfirmed...

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s new ambassador to Azerbaijan raised eyebrows this week with a gesture interpreted by some as paying homage to the country’s late dictator – a one-time KGB general installed by military coup who oversaw an autocratic regime before handing power to his son. “The new U.S. envoy to Azerbaijan, Richard Morningstar, has honored memory of national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev,” the Azeri news site News.Az reported. “The newly appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States in Azerbaijan visited the monument to great leader in the park in front of the Heydar Aliyev’s Palace....

Diplomatic sources in Cairo said the Egyptian government is willing to receive the new Israeli ambassador whenever Israel wishes to send them. The matter is not dependent on diplomatic or security conditions, Cairo daily Al Ahram quoted them as saying Wednesday. The sources said that that the timing for the arrival of a new ambassador is up to Israel and that the Egyptian government will not intervene in the matter. The outgoing Israeli ambassador, Yitzchak Levanon – who has been in Israel since shortly after a mob stormed the Cairo embassy two months ago – returned to Cairo Sunday for...

Dan Shapiro, the new American ambassador to Israel, submitted his credentials to President Shimon Peres on Wednesday. That same day, he submitted a declaration of support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: In an interview with Channel 2 television, he downplayed the lack of trust between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama and the latter's rage and sense of insult over Netanyahu's appearance before Congress in May, treating their serial disputes as routine disagreements between friends. Shapiro noted that he was present at all the many meetings between Obama and Netanyahu. So who are we to cast doubt on a videotaped

Israel's ambassador in Spain, Raphael Schutz, who is about to leave his post, denounced the "anti-Semitism and hatred that exist in Spanish society" in a message on the embassy website Saturday. Schutz, who served in the post for a total of four years, referred to his time in Spain as "not very pleasant." (Snip) ''I also take with me the hatred and the anti-Semitism that still exist in Spanish society, and which I experienced personally," he wrote. The outgoing ambassador cited Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008-9 and the lethal flotilla raid in 2010 as especially difficult periods.

Hugo Chavez went on national television to dare Barack Obama to cut diplomatic relations with Venezuela after Chavez rejected Obama’s choice to replace Ambassador Patrick Duddy, who left in July. Chavez objected to comments made by nominee Larry Palmer that suggested that Chavez was sheltering Colombian rebels and Palmer’s criticism of the actions of the legislature, which gave Chavez 18 months of rule by decree in order to ignore the new National Assembly taking office next month, one with enough opposition to block Chavez’ proposals: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dared the United States to expel his ambassador or cut off...

Fox has unearthed tapes of Obama Muslim Envoy Rashad Hussain telling audiences that Muslim Sharia Law should be imposed world-wide. Hussain and Obama first denied any such remarks. Then Hussain said the remarks were from his daughter. Then the White House denied any such remarks could be attributed to anyone in the White House. Today Fox reported that Hussain/The White House tried to go back and scrub these remarks from the record. Today Fox aired the tapes, proving that Hussain is a radical Muslim who encourages the adoption of Sharia Law as a goal of global Jihad. Awaiting the next...

Presented with a transcript of his remarks at a 2004 conference, Rashad Hussain, President Obama's nominee to be special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, issued a statement Friday evening acknowledging having criticized the U.S. government's case against Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Originally, the White House claimed that Hussain denied having made the comments, attributing them instead to Al-Arian's daughter, Laila. But Politico's Josh Gerstein obtained an audiotape of the remarks, in which Hussain said that Al-Arian’s case was one of many “politically motivated persecutions." On Friday evening,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama took a major step toward improving strained ties with Syria on Tuesday, announcing his intention to reappoint a U.S. ambassador to Damascus after a five-year absence. The White House said Obama had nominated career diplomat Robert Ford to the post. The nomination must still be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The United States withdrew its ambassador from Damascus in 2005 after the assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Syria's foes in Lebanon accused Damascus of involvement, a charge Syria denied.

Rashad Hussein, White House official and President Obama’s newly appointed Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, has a history of participation in events connected with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood as well as support for Brotherhood causes, once having called prosecution of the U.S. leader of a Palestinian terrorist organization one of many “politically motivated persecutions.” Mr. Hussain’s official biography states: Rashad Hussain is presently Deputy Associate Counsel to President Obama. His work at the White House focuses on national security, new media, and science and technology issues. Mr. Hussain has also worked with the National Security Staff in...

DOHA (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he was naming a special envoy to a top Islamic body to further Washington's cooperation with the Muslim world. Obama told a U.S.-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital Doha in a recorded video message that he was naming White House official Rashad Hussain as special envoy to the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. "As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo," Obama said. In a speech...

Brazil and Bolivia reacted strongly to the US message to Latinamerica about “flirting” with the Iran regime. Brazil is “minimizing” the Monday visit of a top US Department official and Bolivia said that it is sovereign and practices a “dialogue culture” with all countries. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week warned Latinamerican countries “to think twice” about strategic alliances with Iran, which she described as the “world’s leading promoter and exporter of terrorism”. Last month Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad was on an official tour of Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela. The US and Israel are fearful of the Teheran...

BEIJING – Washington's ambassador to Beijing hit out Friday at negative U.S. media coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to China, saying it failed to take into account important progress on many issues. Although producing no breakthroughs on key issues, Obama's first state visit to the Asian giant that ended Wednesday was heralded by both sides as a success. The trip was the top news story in China, drawing strong interest from the Chinese public who, surveys suggest, are largely positive in their view of the American president.