President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has accused the US government of orchestrating the 9/11 attacks to prop up Israel. Speaking at the UN general assembly, just a few miles away from the still open wound of Ground Zero, he prompted a walkout of the US and UK delegations from the chamber. US diplomats dismissed his comments as "abhorrent and delusional". At a time when Iran is being squeezed by sanctions imposed through the UN, Ahmadinejad showed no desire to extend a placatory hand and instead opted to repeat several old conspiracy theories relating to the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001. One theory of what happened on that day, he said, was "the US government orchestrated the attack in order to save the Zionist regime in the Middle East". Addressing representatives of the UN's 192 member countries, the president said there was evidence that the US government had at least supported the attacks, including passports in the rubble of the Twin Towers of men who had been involved with US officials, while no trace of the alleged suicide attackers was retrieved. Ahmadinejad's 9/11 comments will hardly be seen as providing hope for a diplomatic way out of the impasse over Iran's nuclear programme. Earlier, US president Barack Obama had demanded that Iran meet its obligations in international conventions and "confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear programme". The Iranian leader said he remained "ready for a dialogue based on respect and justice" and for a "free debate with American statesmen". But he went on to warn that if the security council of the UN continued to use "intimidation and sanctions" it would destroy its own remaining credibility. The theory that 9/11 was the act of a US agent provocateur, or even of George Bush himself, has long been one of the most prevalent conspiracy theories relating to the attacks. Ahmadinejad compared the almost 3,000 people who died on 9/11 to the hundreds of thousands who had been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
II. PARLIAMENT - EU parliament brands US visa tax "discriminatory"
The US administration's $14 a head 'tax' for visa waivered travellers to America has met with universal disapproval from MEPs. More than 25 MEPs spoke in the afternoon debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday, and not one of them was in favour of the travel fee. Standing in for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Belgian European affairs minister, Olivier Chastel, said the high representative was against the fee, but the best defence of it that he could offer was to say that both the US and the EU want easy transatlantic travel. It doesn’t look like it, countered every MEP. It's an "entry fee" and "one-sided", said Ernst Strasser. It's "discriminatory", added his EPP colleague Simon Busuttil. The entry fee doesn't apply to Poland, Romania, Bulgaria or Cyprus, states outside the visa waiver deal. "For us it is even worse", grumbled a Polish MEP. "To apply for a visa we pay $100 whether you get it or not." Since September 8 travellers from 23 EU member states have to register on an electronic system ESTA, giving personal details and paying the travel fee. Around 900,000 travellers will use it every month, estimated one MEP, paying $4 for administration and $10 to promote tourism to America. The US is imposing its law on EU citizens, complained the MEPS. It’s another unequal treaty, like SWIFT for financial payments and Open Skies for airline slots. There was no prior consultation and there is no trust, they argued. "The US doesn’t need the money. It wants the data," said GUE-NGL MEP Alfreds Rubiks. "It’s a new business model," added senior EPP deputy Elmar Brok ironically. "I will tell businesses in my constituency. You get your customers to pay for the advertising to attract them to your product." Questions came thick and fast in the many short speeches. What about data protection? Will fingerprinting be next? US citizens travel visa-free inside Schengen, so what about reciprocity? MEPs urged each other to use their contacts within the US Congress to stop the measure, due for confirmation in November. The US Administration has been "discourteous to its friends," said one deputy. Interinstitutional relations and administration commissioner Maroš Šefcovic said the Brussels would be considering a range of diplomatic and political reactions in advance of the general affairs council in October and the EU-US ministerial meeting in December. The US ambassador was in the diplomatic gallery and heard the whole debate. That evening he heard the same arguments again at a reception to which he had generously invited the MEPs to further transatlantic relations.
III. KATHIMERINI - Greek PM in flurry of diplomacy in NYC
Continuing a public relations drive in the US aimed at drumming up investment interest and attracting much-needed funding, Prime Minister George Papandreou has also held a series of meetings with regional leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to thrash out longstanding foreign policy problems. Following talks late on Wednesday, Papandreou and Turkish President Abdullah Gul agreed that bilateral ties had improved in recent months following the establishment of a strategic council comprising ministers from both countries that is to convene annually. According to sources, the two men – both former foreign ministers – reported “satisfactory results” from the council’s first session. The leaders also discussed the latest United Nations-mediated drive to reunify Cyprus, which has foundered in recent months as Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and hardline Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu have failed to find common ground. Papandreou reportedly asked Gul to help push forward the peace process. The issue is expected to be on the agenda of talks in October, when Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is to visit Athens. Papandreou also had talks with his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha and agreed that bilateral relations remained good despite the murder last month of an ethnic Greek man in Himara, southern Albania, an attack that Berisha condemned. Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas, who is in the US with Papandreou, expressed clear frustration at the failure of Nikola Gruevski, the prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), to visit New York. He and Papandreou had hoped to meet Gruevski for talks about an ongoing bilateral dispute regarding the Balkan country’s official name, particularly following Gruevski’s recent allegations regarding Greek “intransigence” in the negotiations. “If officials in Skopje invested all this time and energy on solving the problem at hand, rather than trying to score political points, we would be making a lot more progress,” Droutsas remarked.
IV. SETIMES - UNMIK, Kosovo government disagree over north
UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier on Wednesday (September 22nd) criticised a government report on northern Kosovo, saying it contains factual errors and a series of groundless statements. "I am sorry that the authors did not consult me or the UN officials in charge while preparing the report. If they had done so, they would have had the possibility of publishing an accurate report," Zannier said. The document, by the Office of the Co-ordinator for Implementation of the Strategy for Kosovo North, concluded that the UNMIK administration in Mitrovica is impeding the Serb-dominated area's integration into the rest of the country. It claimed UNMIK has allowed parallel structures to continue governing in the north. The head of the office, Ylber Hysa, dismissed Zannier's reaction and promised to provide new facts about what he described as UNMIK's damaging performance in northern Kosovo.
V. RIANOVOSTI - Russia to increase support of UN peacekeeping activities
Russia plans to increase its support of UN peacekeeping activities around the world, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN Security Council summit in New York. "We [Russia] intend to further increase our practical contribution to the UN's peacekeeping and peace-building activities," Sergei Lavrov said. Speaking about the settlement of conflicts, Lavrov, said present-day conflicts must not be resolved by force. "The solutions [for conflicts] must be searched for in the political and diplomatic dimensions by involving all parties in dialogue and negotiations and without isolating anyone. The events of August 2008 proved where a unilateral withdrawal from peacekeeping formats and a reliance on force leads to," he said. Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states two weeks after a five-day war with Georgia in August 2008, which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Lavrov also said there was a need for ample financial and intellectual investment to prevent conflicts as well as for the stronger UN potential in the sphere of preventive diplomacy and mediation. All peacekeeping operations, he continued, must not be obtrusive and interests and the priorities of the parties involved in a conflict must always be taken into account.
VI. CHICAGOTRIBUNE - Textbook Bias? State Education Board to Vote Friday
The TEA tells me this controversial issue was brought to the board by a citizen from Lubbock in July. That citizen asked members to look at the way various religions are represented in textbooks used in Texas. They did and now the country is waiting and watching. Textbooks that teach our children, do they have a pro-Islamic/ anti-Christian bias? Well, members of the Texas Education Board say some do. They plan to vote on a resolution condemning those books tomorrow. Part of the resolution reads like this: "WHEREAS pro-Islamic/anti-Christian bias has tainted some past Texas Social Studies textbooks... WHEREAS pro-Islamic/anti-Christian half-truths, selective disinformation, and false editorial stereotypes still roil some Social Studies textbooks nationwide." The resolution says some textbooks have devoted more lines of content to Islam than to Christianity. Parents we spoke with on the issue seemed uncertain. This is a non-binding resolution. So if it passes essentially the board is making a statement making their position on the issue clear. Eight board members need to vote in favor for it to pass.
VII. ALMASRYALYOUM - Coptic bishop says controversial Quran statements were 'misunderstood'
Bishop Bishoy, secretary of the Coptic Church's Holy Synod, delayed delivering a scheduled speech at a conference held in Fayoum Wednesday evening in order to consult with his aides after hearing that the local press intended to publish a printed copy of his speech. Bishoy insisted that what was written in the printed copy of his speech had been "misunderstood." “My question as to whether some verses of the Quran were inserted after the death of the prophet is not a criticism or accusation,” he said. “It's merely a question about a certain verse that I believe contradicts the Christan faith.” He went on to point out that, in meetings with officials at the Egyptian embassy in Cyprus, he had asserted that dialogue between friends could serve to resolve longstanding disputes. “How could this be interpreted as attacking the Quran?” he asked. Sources at Al-Azhar, for their part, said that Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb would issue a “strong” statement on Saturday in response to Bishoy. The grand imam, said the sources, had been both "offended and astonished" by the bishop's statements, given that religious leaders should support calls for national unity rather than incite sectarian strife. The Muslim Brotherhood movement and a number of Islamic scholars have accused Bishoy of attempting to alter the meaning of certain verses of the Quran.