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President Obama’s decision to confront Iran with evidence of a secret nuclear production site Friday was the culmination of a deliberate strategy over the past nine months to gain maximum impact from the disclosure by building up to it with other steps on the world stage, the Washington Times reported.

A high-ranking administration official told The Washington Times that while the White House knew about Iran’s construction of a second uranium enrichment plant before Obama took office in January, it waited to drop the bombshell until U.S. officials had conducted extensive diplomatic advance work.

The preparations go back to Obama’s inaugural promise to engage in meaningful dialogue with Iran to two letters he sent to Iran’s supreme leader, which led to Tehran’s agreeing to sit down with negotiators from the U.S. and other world powers on Oct. 1. Obama has lobbied or spoken to key leaders for months, including Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Last week the White House scrapped a missile defense plan that had infuriated Russia, smoothing the way for closer cooperation. That was followed by a progression of moves that played out at the United Nations. Obama gave a broad speech to the General Assembly that included an appeal to strengthen the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He then bolstered the treaty procedurally with the passage of a Security Council resolution at a meeting he chaired, the first U.S. president to do so.

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President Obama on Tuesday urged the Israelis and Palestinians to take concrete steps toward restarting peace talks, after holding meetings in New York City with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In stern remarks, Obama said Israel needs to do more than talk about restraining settlement activity in Palestinian territory. He said the Palestinians need to do more to improve security. He spoke after meeting separately with the two leaders, and before holding a joint meeting.

Obama bemoaned what he called a pattern of "tentative" and often reversible steps toward peace and pledged to press forward toward a two-state solution, saying the issue must be approached with a "sense of urgency."

"The United States is committed to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East," Obama said. "It is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to move forward."

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Havana – Half a million people jammed into Havana’s Revolution Square on Sunday for a concert by Colombian singer Juanes and other mostly Spanish-language pop stars who hope music can do what politics has not – bring together Cubans here and in the United States.
Puerto Rican Olga Tanon, one of 14 artists from six countries on the bill with Juanes, kicked off the show by shouting its central message; "It’s time to change."

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The first high-level European Union delegation to visit Zimbabwe in seven years left the country yesterday, insisting they would not water down EU sanctions aimed at the Mugabe regime.

The EU mission, which followed an appeal from southern African leaders to lift the sanctions, has caused concerns that Brussels would ignore problems in the power-sharing government and reward Mugabe loyalists.

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BARACK Obama’s supporters last year claimed a John McCain victory would usher in a third term for George W. Bush. McCain supporters countered that an Obama win would bring about Jimmy Carter’s second term. Perhaps they meant Gerald Ford’s second term.

Carter didn’t have a second term partly because of his ineptitude in managing an inflation-riddled economy, some of which he inherited from Ford, the man who wore the red "WIN” button in his effort to "Whip Inflation Now.”

Buttons and slogans don’t win elections (Carter beat Ford) or whip inflation. Inflation, though, can cause people to lose confidence in their elected leaders. Obama had better start thinking about the Ford and Carter presidencies if inflation begins to dominate economic news more than does recession.

The libertarian Reason magazine devotes its October issue to the return of inflation, generally defined as an expansion of the money supply rather than an increase in wholesale and consumer prices. For average Americans, however, it’s not the economy, stupid. It’s the inflation in the cost of everyday goods.

While the inflation in health care costs has dominated the news, some economists have begun predicting the dawn of a new inflationary era. June wholesale prices jumped 1.8 percent, twice the amount that analysts were expecting.

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BERLIN (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Saturday to boost new technologies, particularly in the auto industry, in a bid to resolve the economic crisis if she wins re-election in two weeks.

"The job for a new government is to overcome the financial and economic crisis quickly and intelligently," Merkel told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, stressing the need to defend jobs and ensure the recovery of the credit market.

"We will apply ourselves energetically to projects for the future as we have already done in various fields over the past four years," she added.

"I want Germany to remain an innovative country, creative and self-confident," she said, referring to her government’s efforts in protecting the environment, promoting renewable energy and improving medical techniques.

Merkel’s conservative Christian Union bloc is still flying high in opinion polls and she is expected to be able to form a coalition with her favoured partner, the business-friendly Free Democrats.

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