A very strange thing must have happened to Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the US JointAdmiral Mike Mullen Chiefs of Staff (JCS), on his way to his recent talk at Washington's National Press Club.

16

17

After months of negotiations, Lebanon has a new unity government comprising several factions but, as Natalia Antelava reports, many people there now view any government as largely irrelevant.

3

1

By Edward Stourton Analysis, BBC Radio 4 It is not often you find an email from a Grand Ayatollah in your inbox - especially not when the Ayatollah in question is a pivotal figure in one of the great dramas currently unfolding on the world stage.

2

5

Watch the video. This must be condemned. But what could be the reason for such unprecedented(?), unprovoked out-pour against a whole community? Could the reason be religious bias?

1

0

In the wake of Sunday's attack by Jundullah in Sistan-Baluchestan, senior Iranian officials have issued blunt statements against Pakistan.

9

3

Until recently when I heard about Sunni IDPs in Kohat from Parachinar, my own perception was that Parachinar was a 100 per cent Shia town and the Sunnis living there were Afghan refugees.

9

0

Afghan women's rights in jeopardy even after voting rights are violated...A woman cannot vote without her husband's permisson

5

18

What did that comment mean in the Ann Curry Interview with the President of Iran?

if you watch the Ann Curry Interview you should remember the comments about the return of the 12 Iman, and the Mahdi. This is the link to a youtube video that gives insight into that comment.

2

2

I would suggest reading Ilyas Khan's archive. He's got some good insights and reports into the country's history. By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad

1

1

It was the last Friday of Ramadhan. These Cretins just couldn't let peace be and continued with their sectarian onslaught. I hope the majority of Pakistanis finally realize Wahabi/Salafi/Deobandi or any other Sunni extremists are an internal threat.

1

13

"Ardeshir — not his real name — is one of scores, perhaps hundreds, of detainees who have been raped and tortured by their jailers in the past three months in what appears to be a systematic attempt to break their will.

14

18

From the BBC article: Gunmen in north-west Pakistan have attacked a group of Shia students, killing at least four in a sectarian attack, officials and witnesses say.

2

2

From the BBC article: A report by the Human Rights Watch pressure group has detailed what it says is systematic discrimination in Saudi Arabia against Shia Muslims.

2

5

Afghan Democracy and COIN

Despite attempts to impose democracy in Afghanistan the very approach appears to be undermining U.S. counterinsurgency.

10

2

In this article, on his own blog, Per Gudmundson (one of the editorialists from Svenska Dagbladet, the major Swedish conservative newspaper) gives us a glimpse into the twisted world of Shi'a Islamists in Sweden.

19

88

86 people killed in central Baghdad by a wave of bombings.

2

2

An interview with Salim al-Sayegh, the Lebanese Kataeb Party's vice president-- an excellent explanation of the situation in Lebanon, and developments in Iran.

10

5

Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review

11

17

Lieutenant Zaman was more cleareyed. "We're only 85 percent ready," he said. "Fortunately we have a bigger army now and a smaller number of terrorists."

3

1

Despite the withdrawal of US forces, expect a continuance of attacks by extremist Sunni Wahabists/Salafists on Shia Muslims and other minorities, including many moderate Sunnis who oppose them.

1

0

5 Shia mosques are struck by bombings in Baghdad. Under 30 dead so far.

1

1

Current social and political affairs in Lebanon.

5

1

The insurgency in Pakistani Balochistan and the Iranian Balochistan began after the Americans landed in Afghanistan.

5

0

More than two years after their abduction, two of the five British hostages held in Iraq have been confirmed dead. On June 19, the remains of Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst were handed over to the British embassy in Baghdad.

3

1

"Moreover, the dramatic video of Iranians being beaten or shot by Basijis has done incalculable damage to Iran's image as the region's most religiously pure and populist state.

6

1