Senior Pentagon and intelligence officials have told Congress that it would take Iran several years to build a deliverable bomb, and that they don't believe Iran's leaders have decided to do so.

Obama believes the current strategy of diplomacy and sanctions can still work and that a more explicit military threat is not helpful, the senior officials said. The sanctions, which have included strict new measures to limit Iran's oil exports and isolate its central bank, have begun to severely harm Tehran's economy, and Iran has made offers to renew negotiations over the nuclear issue.

CAIRO — The Islamist party that leads the new Egyptian Parliament is threatening to review the 1979 peace treaty with Israel if the United States cuts off aid to the country over a crackdown on American-backed nonprofit groups here.

The Obama administration and Congressional leaders have already warned Egypt that the United States might cut off its annual aid to the country, which in the most recent budget came to $1.3 billion in military supplies and about $250 million in other subsidies, including some money directed to the nonprofit groups under investigation. At least two senators have introduced legislation that could curtail the aid, and the Brotherhood released its statements on Thursday as the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the matter.

Tehran uses SWIFT's technology to conduct business with its trading partners, to sell its oil, to raise capital for its energy sector, to procure energy-related equipment and technology, and to buy and sell other goods and services. Indeed, 19 Iranian banks and 25 Iranian entities reportedly used SWIFT more than 2 million times in 2010. These transactions, the Wall Street Journal noted in a recent editorial, amounted to $35 billion in trade with Europe alone. And they almost certainly violate existing sanctions laws. Cutting off this source of cash could be hugely consequential for those who seek to peaceably halt the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon.

SWIFT represents one of Tehran's last entry points into the world financial system. In recent years, the United States and the European Union have sanctioned scores of banks, energy companies, and other entities under the control of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) -- which Washington has designated a terrorist organization -- for their connections to nuclear proliferation and terrorist activities. This includes banks like Mellat, Sepah, Saderat, Post, and the Central Bank of Iran.

The State Department has not released details of the new sale, and Congress has not been notified through the regular process, which requires posting the information on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) website. The State Department simply briefed a few congressional offices and is going ahead with the new sale, arguing it didn't meet the threshold that would require more formal notifications and a public explanation.

Our congressional sources said that State is using a legal loophole to avoid formally notifying Congress and the public about the new arms sale. The administration can sell anything to anyone without formal notification if the sale is under $1 million. If the total package is over $1 million, State can treat each item as an individual sale, creating multiple sales of less than $1 million and avoiding the burden of notification, which would allow Congress to object and possibly block the deal.

State Dept notice: This isn't a new sale nor are we using a legal loophole. The items that we briefed to Congress were notified and cleared by the Hill previously or are not large enough to require Congressional notification. In fact, we've gone above and beyond what is legally or customarily required by consulting with Congressional staff on items that do not require Congressional notification.

As if there were not already enough domestic and international scrutiny making life (not to mention neutrality) difficult for Bahrain's BICI, the United States via its inept legislature has succeeded in adding more, by making the proposed U.S.-Bahrain arms sale conditional on its findings. The latter will be revealed privately to King Hamad and presumably others on October 30 and thereafter publicly

In the first place, the BICI is at bottom a U.S. initiative. (I have it on good information that the ruling family had first proposed a Bahraini-staffed inquiry that was rejected by U.S. diplomats on grounds that it would be viewed as inherently biased. King Hamad was personally convinced of the BICI arrangement.)

The Obama administration is lobbying Congress to unblock $200 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority that was frozen due to its bid for UN recognition of statehood over U.S. and Israeli objections.

"What we could do is go to the Security Council and say that a member state of the Security Council, in this case the United States, has blocked our request and therefore we are seeking Security Council support to take the issue to the U.N. General Assembly, invoking Resolution 377," he said. "If that effort succeeds, we will be a non-member state at the United States, not a member state. That's the difference between the two."

Under Resolution 377, the Palestinians would only need nine out of 15 Security Council votes to refer their statehood request to the General Assembly, which can then address the matter immediately (if in session)

מקורבי נתניהו הפנו מסר לממשל האמריקאי ואמרו כי חרף דבריו של גייטס, יש לעמדותיו של נתניהו תמיכה רבה בשני בתי הקונגרס. "יש בישראל ראש ממשלה שיודע לעמוד על האינטרסים החיוניים אבל גם על הכבוד הלאומי שהוא לא פחות חשוב", אמרו מקורבי נתניהו.

מקורבי נתניהו הוסיפו כי ראש הממשלה "יוסיף לעמוד פעם אחר פעם מול לחצים בינלאומיים בתקיפות" והדגישו כי נתניהו הוא זה שקרא לפלסטינים מתחילת כהונתו לבוא למו"מ ישיר. "נתניהו עומד על צורכי הביטחון של ישראל ועל הכרה במדינה יהודית", אמרו בסביבת ראש הממשלה. "יש לעמדתו זו של נתניהו תמיכה גם בישראל וגם בארה"ב כפי שהתברר בביקורו האחרון של ראש הממשלה בוושינגטון ובנאומו מול שני בתי הקונגרס".

To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.

Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent.

The tentative agreement calls for at least $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, a new Congressional committee to recommend a deficit-reduction proposal by Thanksgiving, and a two-step increase in the debt ceiling.

If the deal clears Congress, with its new special joint committee to explore deficit reduction, it will ensure that the size and scope of the federal government and the tension between spending and taxes will remain front and center in the Washington debate headed into the 2012 election.

* A small deal: Negotiations between the administration and congressional Republicans uncovered between $1 trillion and $2 trillion in spending cuts that both the Democrats and the Republicans could accept. The Democrats would like to see these spending cuts accompanied by new revenues, but there have been some intimations that the Obama administration could accept a deal with $1.5 trillion in spending cuts and no new revenues. The most specific look we’ve gotten at these cuts came in a slideshow presented by Eric Cantor and leaked to the press.

For months, the Republican leaders have emphatically pledged that there will be no increase in the federal debt ceiling absent huge cuts in government spending and fundamental changes in popular social programs, all without the whiff of a tax increase.

Now, with negotiations stalled and a potential default by the United States government just over the horizon, they are being held to those promises by their own rank-and-file, leaving them in a bind that is defying easy resolution and putting them at risk of being blamed if things end badly.

Recounting how the 1995 government shutdown helped President Bill Clinton win re-election the following year, Mr. McConnell said any impasse that drove down the nation’s credit rating and led to government checks being delayed could have the same result for Mr. Obama.

The House of Representatives, in a culmination of over three months of Congressional frustration with the Obama administration's handling of the Libya intervention, voted against authorizing the war 123-295 and is set to vote for cutting off most of the funding for the mission.

To be clear, the votes today won't actually force President Barack Obama to terminate the U.S. military intervention in Libya. But though the votes are largely symbolic, that doesn't mean they aren't hugely important. The Obama administration realizes the negative impact of a rebuke by the House, and is even resorting to rhetoric that implies the GOP might actually be helping Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi.

But Mr. Obama decided instead to adopt the legal analysis of several other senior members of his legal team — including the White House counsel, Robert Bauer, and the State Department legal adviser, Harold H. Koh — who argued that the United States military’s activities fell short of “hostilities.” Under that view, Mr. Obama needed no permission from Congress to continue the mission unchanged.

Presidents have the legal authority to override the legal conclusions of the Office of Legal Counsel and to act in a manner that is contrary to its advice, but it is extraordinarily rare for that to happen. Under normal circumstances, the office’s interpretation of the law is legally binding on the executive branch.

The Obama administration has decided to provide about $1 billion in debt relief for Egypt, a senior official said Saturday, in the boldest U.S. effort yet to shore up a key Middle East ally as it attempts a democratic transition.

The aid would be part of a major economic aid package that also includes trade and investment incentives, officials said. It is intended to help stabilize Egypt

Economic assistance for Egypt and Tunisia is “fundamental to our capacity to support their democratic transitions,” a senior State Department official said on the condition of anonymity. He said that officials were in the midst of “intense policy formulation” but that the economic package wasn’t finished. Parts of it will need congressional approval.

A U.S. government agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corp., has also pledged up to $2 billion in loans, loan guarantees and risk insurance for U.S. firms investing in the Middle East and North Africa, on top of an existing $2.6 billion.

The dispute between the White House and Congress revolves around implementation of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (CISADA) of 2010, the wide-ranging law signed into law last year. The Treasury Department issued a draft rule last week that lays out how it intends to implement a key provision of the law, which deals with Iran's banking partners in countries around the world. And that rule raised the ire of seven GOP senators, who expected Treasury to enforce the law much more stringently.

The letter was addressed to David Cohen, the acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department. Cohen took over for Stuart Levey, the previous sanctions chief at Treasury, who moved on to the Council on Foreign Relations last month after more than 4 years on the job.

One administration official said that course was backed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the president himself, but opposed by Dennis B. Ross, the president’s senior adviser on the Middle East.

As the administration has been pondering, Mr. Netanyahu, fearful that his country would lose ground with any Obama administration plan, has been considering whether to pre-empt the White House with a proposal of his own, before a friendly United States Congress, according to American officials and diplomats from the region.

The terms of reference could call for Israel to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. For their part, Palestinians would have to accept that they would not get the right of return to land in Israel from which they fled or were forced to flee. Jerusalem would be the capital of both states, and Israeli security would have to be protected.

Anyone who reads Israel's press these days will find it difficult to do so without chancing upon yet another outrageous example of such incitement. Be it the declaration of Rabbi Dov Lior, a senior authority on Jewish law in the Religious Zionism movement, that the offspring of non-Jews possess "genetic traits" of "cruelty and barbarism"; or an open letter signed by dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis calling on Jews "to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews"; or the wives of those state-sponsored rabbis urging Jewish girls not to date, work with, or perform national service in the company of Arabs;

Could it be that the senators who so rightfully condemn the glorification of violence when it issues from an obscure Palestinian official are simply unaware of the multiple proclamations of such a prominent figure as Ovadia Yosef... Yosef was quoted as saying in 2001, "You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."

Several senators emerged from the briefing convinced that the administration was intent on beginning military action against the forces of Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi within the next few days and that such action would include both a no-fly zone as well as a "no-drive zone" to prevent Qaddafi from crushing the rebel forces, especially those now concentrated in Benghazi.

"It looks like we have Arab countries ready to participate in a no-fly and no-drive endeavor,"

Influential U.S. lawmakers have eased their threats to cut aid to Egypt, reflecting a growing consensus in Washington for preserving U.S. leverage with Egypt's powerful military amid the country's civil upheaval.

The shift comes as Obama administration officials, the Pentagon and powerful pro-Israel groups in Washington urge continued aid to Egypt, about $1.5 billion a year, mostly in military assistance.

and just to make it more clear and concrete.. Please don't talk to me about how the anorexia is good for you, how you're "in control" of it (that implies that you chose this and chose to make me miserable,

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had earlier said "all options are on the table," including aid cuts. But in an interview Tuesday, he said that now "is just not the right time to threaten that."

McCain said he was concerned that a reduction in aid might affect Egypt's willingness to cooperate with Israel.

“If he doesn’t leave, there will not be foreign aid; I mean, it’s as simple as that,” Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, told Bloomberg Television in an interview yesterday. U.S. money “will not go to the Mubarak administration,” Leahy said, adding, “that’s a pipeline that can easily be turned off.”

Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy, who chairs the subcommittee that determines foreign aid, threatened to withhold some of that money if Mr. Mubarak doesn’t move fast enough. The U.S. spends more than $1 billion in aid to Egypt each year.

Law enforcement officials said members of Congress reported 42 cases of threats or violence in the first three months of 2010, nearly three times the 15 cases reported during the same period a year earlier. Nearly all dealt with the health care bill, and Giffords was among the targets.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will take a final vote Saturday afternoon on legislation that would overturn the military ban on openly gay troops.

The vote on ending the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is set for 3 p.m. before senators turn to a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Passage would send the military measure to the White House.

Senators cleared the way for final action with a 63-33 vote earlier Saturday to move the bill ahead.

His legs were cramping during the speech, he said, so he jumped up and down for relief. His voice grew raspier by the hour. Toward the end, he was clutching the lectern with both hands, and it looked as if he might fall if he let go

As Sanders' great oration enters its seventh hour, it is, by its very nature, impossible to summarize. It is a ramble, a rant, a critique, a cry of rage, a wail of despair, and a call to action. And it is amazing. I've heard stories of filibusters in which senators read phone books. And I've watched with disgust as for years Republicans have merely threatened to filibuster, without ever actually being forced to exercise their vocal cords. But here is Bernie Sanders, seven hours in, calling for the biggest banks to be broken up, voice still hale and hearty, and looking like he could easily go another seven hours.

Sanders is not expected to pull a Thurmond. The Senate put together a package last night and this morning that added a few meagre sweeteners for the Democrats (extending subsidies for alternative energy and ethanol that were slated to expire). It will almost surely pass, with most Republicans and enough Democrats. Then, the action moves to the House, where things are a bit iffier but, most suspect, only a bit.

In a rare event, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is holding his ground in the Senate for a traditional filibuster, making a symbolic demonstration against the proposed tax compromise he says would exacerbate income inequality.

But, of course, this resolution is not binding or anything. And it seems many members of Congress aren’t sure what to do about all of this and might just cave when things get complicated and drawn-out and it becomes harder to predict what SCARY THINGS Republican opponents could attack them with in the future. Because, after all, these are Democrats were are talking about. Caving is in their DNA. Cave paintings have been discovered in Europe depicting Democrats cutting off their own limbs to feed to bears they run across.

Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee called the deal a capitulation.

"Everything President Obama has done has signaled weakness and has sent a signal to Republicans that if they block tax cuts long enough, at the end of the day he will pass whatever comes across his desk. That is not how you negotiate," Green said.

Regarding human rights, Asad stated Syria was making progress, but the CODEL needed to understand this issue in
the larger context of Israel's aggression in Gaza, the suffering of Palestinian refugees, and terrorist attacks on Syria.
Asad admonished the CODEL for focusing on 12 individuals without taking into account half a million Palestinian refugees in Syria alone, and the continued suffering of people in Gaza.

In a final bid to put the subject of human rights to rest, Asad stated he was a popular president and that if he were working
against his people, he would not enjoy such popularity.

AbZ noted the Emiratis and the Saudis have spoken to the Chinese, and the UAE expressed a willingness to expand its energy ties (Note: AbZ seemed to be indicating that this was intended as a carrot, but he acknowledged the difficulty of supplanting an Iran-China trade relationship that reached $50 billion last year. End Note.)

MG Yadlin explained that Israel tries to be more precise than the US in estimating Iran's intentions and timeline for obtaining a nuclear bomb. Iran is in the position of wanting to pay only a minimum cost for its current program. It does not want to be North Korea or what Iraq was before 2003. Iran intends to keep resolutions and sanctions at a certain manageable level and continue to produce low enriched uranium until there is enough for several bombs. MG Yadlin stated that Iran could decide to produce a bomb by 2010, but Iran is waiting for the right time in the future and that there are some who will always doubt it despite the evidence.

President Barack Obama's top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board, temporary continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers.

That appears to be the only way, said David Axelrod, that middle-class taxpayers can keep their tax cuts, given the legislative and political realities facing Obama in the aftermath of last week's electoral defeat.

החל מינואר 2011 יכהנו בבית הנבחרים האמריקני לא פחות משלושה יהודים הומוסקסואלים - ברני פרנק, דיוויד סיסילין וג'ראד פוליס. עם זאת, מספר היהודים בבית ירד בארבעה

The problem with a foreign policy grounded in a belief that America is uniquely powerful and virtuous is that it assumes that the rules that apply to other nations do not apply to the US as well. As a result, the Tea Party people are not well adapted to cope with the inexorable rise of new centres of power around the world. They are liable to interpret setbacks and frustrations, at home and abroad, not as a consequence of the inevitable and growing constraints on American power – but as a result of some sort of “stab in the back”, whether by “liberal elites” in Washington, or conniving foreigners overseas. That, in turn, risks leading to an unstable foreign policy that is aggressive, self-righteous and self-pitying in equal measures.

Backers of repeal say they still have a "slim shot" of prevailing in the lame-duck session following the Nov. 2 elections, and after the completion of the Pentagon study, due Dec. 1, into the impact of lifting the ban.

Some Pentagon officials believe repeal would have been a done deal if the political calendar hadn't intruded. Gay advocates agree, and also believe repeal could have happened if -- like dozens of militaries around the world -- the U.S. simply dropped the ban and commanded its troops to follow orders, as it did when President Harry Truman integrated the military in 1948.

"I think you will find it useful to make the case that House Democrats and the president are as good if not better than any Congress or Administration that has come before," Berman wrote.

Among the points the memo highlights, Obama has "repeatedly talked about the importance of the Palestinians recognizing the quote 'Jewish' state of Israel," as well as the U.S. leading the international effort to pressure Iran about its nuclear weapons program.

The Obama administration had sought exemptions for countries with which it is working closely to pressure Iran. Instead, the bill as passed would give the president the option to “waive” sanctions on a case-by-case basis if he certifies to Congress that national security requires it.

UPDATE: The House passed the bill 408-8 (with 1 not voting).

The bill would provide for the exemption of countries from the sanctions based on certain criteria, on a case-by-case basis, but does not offer any country a blanket waiver. The Obama administration had been seeking exemptions for several countries and foreign blocs such as the European Union that it believes have bolstered international efforts to pressure Iran.

Key European allies, including those who were most supportive of U.N. sanctions, have told Washington they oppose what they call “extraterritorial” U.S. unilateral sanctions that would aim to penalize third-country entities, including their own firms.

The European Union announced their own plan for tough Iran sanctions targeting the country’s energy, and financial sector last week.

About a month after Baruch presented his plan, Congress enacted the McMahon Act, which created the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE) and made secrecy and the non-sharing of nuclear information official U.S. policy.

Everything concerning atomic energy, from uranium ore to nuclear fuel, was to come under the authority of, and remain the property of, the AEC. Secrecy was to be maintained and the death penalty prescribed for passing secrets to a foreign power. The law was crafted to keep the U.S. nuclear monopoly intact and to give the United States an edge in the development of nuclear technology by denying it to others. By giving the JCAE the power of authorization and by shielding its deliberations from public view, the law essentially put the entire nuclear enterprise into the hands of one congressional committee and the five AEC commissioners, who also met behind closed doors.

Those efforts might have some credibility if the Brussels bureaucracy was not actively encouraging European vessels to act unlawfully in the waters off Western Sahara.

In 2005, the EU and Morocco signed a lucrative fisheries agreement. Entering into force two years later, its small print stated that European fishermen may operate in Western Sahara, which Morocco has occupied since 1974, provided that their activities benefit the indigenous Sahrawi people.

To date, the European commission has not only failed to produce evidence that the theft of fish from their waters aids the Sahrawis, it has sought to justify that theft on false premises.

While this grubby power game continues, the Sahrawis who fled to Algeria in the 1970s have no prospect of returning home. Unicef has described how most of the estimated 150,000 Sahrawi refugees know only the sight of their camps

the administration fears that the legislation also could damage relations with Europe, Russia and China, all of whom cooperated with U.S. efforts on the U.N. sanctions.

To avoid that possibility, the administration wants authority to waive U.S. punishment against companies from countries that have cooperated on Iran.

Many lawmakers are wary. Some say the Obama administration, like its predecessors, has been lax in enforcing existing Iran sanctions out of concern for good relations with other world powers.

Meanwhile, U.S. business groups have been complaining that the legislation could punish them by barring U.S. firms from doing business with any foreign firms that have commercial ties to Iran.

The administration is asking Congress for more flexibility, including waivers for countries that are taking their own vigorous measures to put pressure on the Iranian leadership over its nuclear program.

"The dilemma here is it is important to maintain international unity," a senior administration official told POLITICO Friday. "We just have to be careful that any legislation -- as well-intentioned as it may be -- if it splinters the coaltion, then Iran wins."

Key European allies, including those who were most supportive of U.N. sanctions, have told Washington they oppose what they call “extraterritorial” U.S. unilateral sanctions that would aim to penalize third-country entities, including their own firms.

"We don't want Congress to pass legislation that has an extraterritorial effect," a European diplomat said Thursday. "We expect carve outs for EU" countries in the Congressional bill.

Some members of Congress, however, don’t seem entirely persuaded that will be the case.

Both Israel and the United States realize that the new sanctions won't bring Iran to its knees; the key to that is in the complementary sanctions, the ones the Americans intend to impose together with like-minded countries, beginning with the United Kingdom.

These sanctions, unlike the ones approved by the United Nations, could prove paralyzing for the Iranian market, and especially for the Revolutionary Guard.

The United States hopes sanctions will breathe new life into the Iranian opposition, which this weekend will be marking the first anniversary of the elections hijacked by the incumbent government. The Iranian government, for its part, will be trying to exploit the sanctions as a focal point to rally the people against foreign subversives.

The new Jacobins have two classic American traits that have grown much more pronounced in recent decades: blanket distrust of institutions and an astonishing—and unwarranted—confidence in the self. They are apocalyptic pessimists about public life and childlike optimists swaddled in self-esteem when it comes to their own powers.

he movement only exists to express defiance against a phantom threat behind a real economic and political crisis, and to remind those in power that they are there for one thing only: to protect our divine right to do whatever we damn well please. This message will be delivered, and then the messengers will go home. Every man a Cincinnatus.

Buried in the sanctions resolution now being debated in the United Nations Security Council lies the possibility of a new effort to pressure Iran over its nuclear program: a call for countries to “exercise vigilance” in dealing with Iran’s central bank.

In the end, both the energy sector and the central bank were mentioned with somewhat tortured wording in the preamble, with the draft noting the “potential connection between Iran’s revenues derived from its energy sector” and possible financing for its nuclear program.

The final compromise required a telephone call from President Obama to President Dmitry Medvedev to break the deadlock, one United Nations diplomat said. Russia then accepted the wording in the resolution, which bans the sale of all heavy combat equipment to Iran, namely battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, missiles or missile systems.

When Congress passed annual appropriations for Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) in December, it designated that of the $250 million in economic assistance to Egypt, "up to $50,000,000 may be made available for an endowment to further the shared interests of the United States and Egypt." Ostensibly, the entire $1.56 billion aid package that Egypt receives annually is designed "to further the shared interests of the United States and Egypt." So why set aside $50 million in a special endowment for this purpose? Apparently the Egyptian government thinks the process by which the U.S. Congress allocates foreign aid to more than 100 countries is no longer good enough for Egypt -- and it appears that the Obama administration and Congress may agree.

In fact, he has been lobbying hard to prevent the House from using the “G-word” and is clearly never intending to use it himself. Look, I get that this is a really hard diplomatic issue and that the prudent thing to do is to avoid the “G-word”. But could candidates please refrain from making promises of this sort that they have no intention of keeping?

The bill would toughen sanctions laws against non-US companies investing in Iran's energy sector. While the current law has never been enforced, the bill would reduce the White House's scope to grant waivers and would extend sanctions to companies involved in providing Iran with refined oil, including insurance groups underwriting shipments.

Such extra-territorial legislation could violate the US's commitments under the WTO, although Washington could try to invoke a little-used national security clause under trade laws.

At the same time, members of Congress have resisted administration proposals to make the legislation more flexible by inserting an exemption for companies from "closely cooperating countries" in the effort to put pressure on Iran.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday failed to include Iran’s nuclear programme on its agenda for April, underlining the likely slow road to sanctions that Barack Obama, US president, had hoped to have in place “within weeks”.

Japan’s Yukio Takasu, this month’s president of the 15-member council, said no meeting had been scheduled because it was not yet clear “when this might be taken up. It may not be taken up”.

“This is exactly what we expect Prime Minister Netanyahu to get control of,” a senior U.S. official told POLITICO Tuesday evening. “The current drip-drip-drip of projects in East Jerusalem impedes progress.”

The clearest sign of Netanyahu’s rift with the White House, however, may have been his intense focus on Congress, a strategy that has blunted the attempts of many of Obama’s predecessors to pressure the Jewish state.

But while Congress was speaking publicly with one voice, behind the scenes Netanyahu seemed to be trying to drive a wedge between lawmakers and the White House.

Netanyahu, according to this account, pushed members to get a reconciled Iran sanctions bill to the president’s desk soon, even if there is collateral damage and that sanctions would hurt ordinary Iranians, not just the regime.

On Sunday night, the House acted first on the legislation that cleared the Senate on Christmas Eve. That measure devotes $875 billion over the next decade to expanding insurance coverage, with the major changes coming in 2014. An estimated 24 million people who lack access to affordable coverage through the workplace will be eligible for tax credits to buy insurance on new state-based exchanges, while nearly everyone who earns less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level -- an estimated 16 million people -- will become eligible for Medicaid.
Compared with the Senate bill, that measure would offer more generous subsidies to people eligible for federal help buying insurance. Tax credits would be available to families earning as much as 400 percent of the federal poverty level -- or about $88,000 a year for a family of four -- who would be assured of spending no more than 9.5 percent of their income on insurance premiums in 2014.

Lloyd's of London, the insurance market, will cut its cover for refined oil shipments to Iran if the US passes wide-ranging sanctions legislation.

Lloyd's told the Financial Times it would comply with the legislation, versions of which have been approved by both houses of Congress.

Lloyd's is telling underwriters they would be wise to review their contracts to look for ships heading to Iran

"The administration is still working with congressional leaders to make sure that they don't do anything on the time schedule which the administration disagrees with," said Mark Kirk, a House Republican and one of the champions of the legislation.

The Obama administration is pushing to carve out an exemption for China and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council from legislation pending in the Senate and the House that would tighten sanctions on companies doing business in Iran, administration and congressional sources said. ...
"We're absolutely flabbergasted," said one senior official from a foreign country friendly to the United States. "Tell me what exactly have the Chinese done to deserve this?" Japan and South Korea, which are U.S. allies, have raised the issue with the Obama administration.
One foreign official complained that the administration's efforts would encourage China to water down U.N. sanctions on Iran as much as possible and then push Chinese firms -- should the U.S. law pass -- to invest more in Iran's oil and gas sector.
Several diplomats said that until now, China has refused to even engage in discussions about possible sanctions.

he Turkish government, in a spat with the country’s nationalist army, may play the foreign-insult card to bolster its domestic strength. But ultimately the Turks are unlikely to weaken their relationship with America lightly.

Berman “announced way in advance he was” scheduling this, one Washington Democratic foreign policy hand said. “They are basically asking ‘Please stop me.’ And they did not hear a word from the administration, I am being told,” until the night before.

The episode demonstrates the need for beefing up the NSC legislative affairs shop, the Democratic sources said

Administration officials said at this point, the key thing in terms of mitigating damage to the U.S.-Ankara relationship and efforts to advance Turkey-Armenia reconcilation would be that there is no further full Congressional action on the Armenia genocide resolution, e.g. that it not come up for a vote in Congress.

According to one local NGO source, USAID took the decision after the Egyptian Education Ministry refused to make students attend seminars on means of combating H1N1, fearing that such gatherings would only increase the probability of the virus spreading outside schools.

The source went on to explain that funds would be provided under an umbrella program that aimed to support the civil rights of "marginalized communities" including women and children as well as "minority groups"--an indirect reference to Egyptian Copts.

The U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a report released earlier this month that Iran is one of the biggest customers for North Korean arms, acting as a possible go-between for Syria's arsenal... A report from Jane's Intelligence Review in February says commercial satellite imagery of another Syrian site, al-Safir, depicts what are thought to be the defining characteristics of not only chemical weapons manufacturing, but also of heavy construction activity near a missile base.

A concurrent Senate resolution, S.Res.71, is still pending.

at bottom, the Jackson model is a good one. Get set for a long fight, try to reach across party lines, have confidence in the American people, and be immune to the criticism of "the best and the brightest." If Scoop were alive, he'd be shaking his head in chagrin over our current foreign policy--and telling his troops to saddle up.

Along with two other Bahais, he was executed in 1981. Authorities brought another Bahai along to watch so he would learn his lesson, Payam Maveddat said.

But easy passage would not make the sanctions any easier to carry out. As the Bush administration discovered... Iran has enormous leverage over companies and countries dependent on its oil production. As Mr. Burns warned, “If Americans are the only ones sanctioning, those sanctions will not succeed.”... The legislation would impose sanctions on any company that sold or delivered gasoline to Iran, cutting it off from selling to the United States government and seeking to freeze its financing or shipping insurance. But many experts fear that true enforcement would require patrols off the Iranian coast, and that could lead to confrontations with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards... Mr. Obama’s aides, in return, worry that the Israelis are trying to force action too soon by shortening their estimate of how long it would take Iran to manufacture a weapon. In fact, no one knows how quickly it might be able to do so, but it has already solved many of the technological problems.

ince many activists assume that hundreds of thousands of Darfurians are being “killed”, they have been pressuring the US government to fund violence prevention plans and international peace-keeping troops, often at the expense of providing humanitarian aid and funds for peace-making.

Hebrew version: http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1090003.html