The Politically Incorrect Guide to U.S. Interests in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Foreign policy, including the use of military power, isn't an end in itself. It consists of tools and instruments designed to achieve specific and hopefully well-thought-out ends. Those ends -- let's call them interests -- are theoretically supposed to drive a country's foreign-policy strategy. Sounds pretty simple, right? » Read more

Hundreds of Israelis petition IDF pilots: Refuse orders to bomb Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Dan Evens, Tomer Zarchin - August 16, 2012 - 12:00am More than 400 Israelis, including Tel Aviv University law professors Menachem Mautner and Chaim Gans, have recently signed an online petition calling on Israel Defense Forces pilots to refuse to obey if ordered to bomb Iran. The petition calls a decision to launch a strike against Iran a "highly mistaken gamble" that would only delay Iran's nuclear program, without stopping it, and would come "at an exorbitant price." » Read more

Israel's hawks push a war for personal gain ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) August 16, 2012 - 12:00am Bluster on Iran is not just dangerous, it is also deceptive. There is growing evidence that a military strike would fail to achieve its strategic goals. That, however, has done little to deter Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak from their campaign of threats. For these two men, it seems, a regional war is an acceptable risk to promote their own political careers. » Read more

Blast damages women hair salon in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 15, 2012 - 12:00am A women hair salon was damaged in an explosion in central Gaza Strip, a human rights organization reported Wednesday. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said in a statement that unidentified gunmen blew up a hair salon in the Nuseirat camp, damaging the salon's interior, a nearby building and a number of windows in nearby houses. An investigation has been opened into the case, a police spokesman said. » Read more

Tension rises on Israeli-Lebanese border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 16, 2012 - 12:00am Tension has clearly risen on the Lebanese-Israeli border, security sources told Xinhua Wednesday. The sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said the Israeli army had intensified its patrols and observation mission all along the border, while Hezbollah is on high alert and has also raised its readiness. The rise of tension came amid a war of words between the Israeli army commanders and the militant party officials. » Read more

BDS campaign remains dangerous, despite failures ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Kenneth Stern - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am For more than a decade, anti-Israel activists have sought to shoehorn Israel into the nomenclature of apartheid-era South Africa through the use of a tactic named BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions). Apartheid was a universally decried racist system. BDS activists argue that Israel is the second coming of apartheid South Africa and must be treated the same. » Read more

Israeli gov't to raise quota of Palestinian workers to 30,000 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 16, 2012 - 12:00am The Israeli government will increase the quota of Palestinian construction workers allowed to enter Israel within a few weeks, local news outlets reported Wednesday. The reports said the Israeli government agreed to allow up to 30,000 workers to enter its country as a move of assistance to the financially-crippled Palestinian National Authority (PNA). In July, the Israeli government aided the PNA with 180 million shekels (45 million U.S. dollars) in light of its severe financial situation. » Read more

Families of slain Iranian scientists sue Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ali Akbar Dareini - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Families of Iran's slain nuclear scientists have filed a lawsuit against Israel, the U.S. and Britain accusing them of involvement in the assassination of their loved ones. Rahim Ahmadi Roshan, father of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the slain chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, told a press conference in Tehran Wednesday that the families have demanded Iran's judiciary to pursue their complaint through international bodies and bring those behind the killings to justice. » Read more

Israel sees monthlong war after Iran strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am An Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program could trigger a bloody monthlong war on multiple fronts, killing hundreds of Israelis or more, the Israeli Cabinet's civil defense chief warned in an interview published Wednesday. It was the most explicit assessment yet of how the government sees events unfolding in the aftermath of an Israeli attack. » Read more

Existential priorities ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Israelis have had a number of pressing issues on their minds lately, all of which have been placed in the forefront by the media and the political leadership in the past number of weeks. First and foremost perhaps is the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear program, followed closely by the danger of armed jihadists in Sinai, the rise of Mohamed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the impending fall of the Syrian regime and the fate of its enormous arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. » Read more