Sistani calling for UN role
Two great pieces by Juan Cole that pick up on Arab press reports that Ayatollah Sistani is saying that the US-dominated doesn't have the legitimacy to make the determination that full-scale elections aren't feasible inside Iraq for now.
But that he might accept a determination from the UN on this matter.
On Saturday Cole cited a report in the Gulf Daily News as saying that Sistani,
- stands by his ruling that Iraq should go to early general elections on a one-person, one-vote basis. According to IGC member Muwaffak al-Rubaie, however, Sistani has indicated that he would back down on one condition. If Kofi Annan appoints a UN commission that concludes that early general elections are impractical because of security concerns, then he would accept some other mechanism for achieving a transitional government.
Why does all the really interesting stuff have to happen while I'm traveling elsewhere and have huge problems getting online, getting news etc?
Here in Incheon Airport (Seoul) I'm using a computer in the airline's lounge that works mainly in Korean script... Plus, whenever I click on "blogspot" links in the JWN link-list, some Korean-language gremlim gets into the process and brings up Korean-language site instead. I can't even figure out what's happening there. Oh well. On to Beijing soon enough. Who knows what the internet situation will be like there?
Yes, Cole has been at his absolute best. And he's starting to get the recognition he deserves.
Add to his analysis this one from Zvi Bar'el in Haaretz.