- Newsmaker: Iraq's Neighbors Meet in Turkey to Avert War
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz today detailed American charges that Iraq has -brazenly- refused to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. Meantime, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia met in Istanbul to draw up demands that Iraq cooperate fully in order to avoid what Turkey called an impending -firestorm.- Semih Idiz is a columnist for Aksham, Turkey-s leading liberal daily paper. - Reporter's Notebook: The Atlantic's View of the "Real State of the Union"
On Tuesday, President Bush will deliver -the State of the Union Address.- Despite its title, the speech will be rather different from a sober analysis of America-s domestic condition. The Atlantic Monthly has devoted its current issue to the State of the Union. James Fallows, speechwriter for former President Jimmy Carter, says the issue constitutes a striking contrast between the ritual -- and the reality.
Israeli Elections and the Middle East
As Israel braces for the fallout from war in Iraq, Israeli voters will go to the polls next Tuesday. Despite recurrent scandals, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to come out ahead, though not by enough to form a new government. As yet, it is unclear whether his partners will come from the left, the religious right, or from a new, centrist party that calls itself -Change.- At this dangerous moment in Israeli history, will the election bring the country together or demonstrate how dysfunctional its politics have become? We hear more from the leader of the Shinui Party, the editor of the Jerusalem Report, Palestinian Authority official and the head of the Tel Aviv University-s Peace Research Center, and get some US perspective from the director of Middle East Programs at the International Crisis Group.