Links for April 6th

Links from my del.icio.us account for April 6th:

• LRB · Marina Warner: Ventriloquism - Ursula recommends this piece on Edward Fitzgerald's "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam".


• The Bench: The Bush Six: The Talk of the Town: The New Yorker - The British barrister who is trying to get Bush administration officials indicted for war crimes.


• Letter from Tehran: Can Iran Change?: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker - On Ahmedinejad, Iranian politics, and Obama.


• Obama embraces Muslim world - Mike Allen - POLITICO.com - Turkey (an important country in many ways for the US) seems to me to be a bit of a lame choice for his "outreach for Muslims" speech. It has, after all, a strongly secular political culture. Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi, Egypt, Morocco would have been better. This link includes the fullt text of the speech.


• Obama reiterates U.S. support for Palestinian state - "Let me be clear: the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Obama said in a speech to the Turkish parliament.


• LRB · Graham Usher: Taliban v. Taliban - "‘Safe havens’ for a reinvigorated Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida, the tribal areas are seen by the West as the ‘greatest threat’ to its security, as well as being the main cause of Western frustration with Pakistan. The reason is simple: the Pakistan army’s counterinsurgency strategy is not principally directed at the Taliban or even al-Qaida: the main enemy is India."


• AFP: Islamists arrested on Egypt day of protest - Covers small Ayman Nour deadline of one year for reform, MB MPs walk out on PM Nazif, strike failure.