IPS correspondents bring you independent perspectives on what is happening in Iran, Iraq and across the Middle East.

RIGHTS-US: Yemeni Detainees Caught in Bomb Backlash
By William Fisher
NEW YORK (IPS) – In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas day, legal experts and human rights advocates are pushing back against calls from politicians to halt the planned release of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to their home country, Yemen.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49881

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YEMEN: U.S. Poised to Increase Aid
By Charles Fromm
WASHINGTON (IPS) – In the wake of a botched Christmas Day airliner bombing claimed by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the direction of what used to be called the “global war on terror” settled on Yemen this week, with the United States slated to escalate economic and military assistance to the country’s beleaguered government.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49896

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POLITICS: Russia, China Sustain Military Toehold in Yemen
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Russia has stolen a march over the United States in the multi-million-dollar arms market in cash-strapped Yemen, whose weapons purchases are being funded mostly by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49891

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MIDEAST: ‘Prince of Peace’ – Obama or Netanyahu?
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) – United States President Barack Obama?s intended broad Mideast policies are running into the complexities of peacemaking – especially after the ?Prince of Peace? began insisting on the necessity of, sometimes, fighting for peace.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49874

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U.S.: Digging Out or Digging Deeper?
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – As 2009 draws to a close, the big question here is whether President Barack Obama is succeeding in digging out of the hole ? international as well as financial – that he inherited from George W. Bush or digging deeper into it.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49859

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POLITICS: U.S. Arms Feed Yemen’s Gun Culture
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – When Yemen refused to vote in support of a U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution against Iraq during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, a visibly angry U.S. delegate turned to the Yemeni diplomat and said: “That will be the last time you will ever vote against a U.S. resolution.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49860

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TURKEY: Peace May Come to Pass in 2010
Analysis by Justin Hyatt
DIYARBAKIR, (Eastern Turkey) (IPS) – With newfound liberties for the Kurdish minority and the government?s ?Democratic Opening? initiative the prospects for peace in 2010 are brighter than they have been in the last 25 years. The fly in the ointment is the ban in December of the pro-Kurd, Democratic Society Party (DTP).
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49880

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EGYPT: Rooftops Empower the Poor
By Cam McGrath
CAIRO (IPS) – In one of the poorest and most populous neighborhoods of Cairo, Hussein Soliman and his family live in a small apartment that is a model of clean energy living.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49878

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ENVIRONMENT: Fishing in the Sewer
By Cam McGrath*
CAIRO (IPS/IFEJ) – After four hours on the Nile in a rowboat with his two sons, fisher Hussein Abdel Malek tallies the morning catch: a plastic water bottle, an empty juice box, a half dozen plastic bags and two small tilapia.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49861

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U.S. President Barack Obama has inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a tanking economy, and global crises like climate change. IPS reports on the implications of the new administration not just for U.S. citizens, but for the world.
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/us_elections2008/index.asp

For more IPS reporting on the Middle East – www.ipsnews.net/middle.asp

Iraq: Beyond the Green Zone – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iraq/

Iran: The Parthian Shot – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iran/

Holy Land/Unholy War – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/israel_palestina/

Afghan Divide – www.ipsnews.net/afghanistan/

Bush’s Legacy – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/warII/

IPS coverage of terrorism – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/terrorism/

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