"The emirates are not acting independently in this matter," said the analyst, Sadollah Zarei, 55, a columnist for the hard-line state Kayhan newspaper.
"Just as Florida pastor Terry Jones, who last month burned Korans, does not represent the United States government, this fatwa does not represent the government of Iran," said Sadollah Zarei, a columnist for the hard-line state Kayhan newspaper.
Several officials said some hard-line state attorneys general would in fact prefer that because no one doubts that Thomas Penfield Jackson, the trial judge, will find Microsoft in wide violation of federal and state antitrust laws.
"In the context of complex political wrangling within Iran's multifaceted state, hard-line state agents move toward universal human rights by actually reclaiming an enlightened heritage and nativizing human rights as the measure of Islam's capacity for mercy," writes University of Washington scholar Arzoo Oshanloo.
There, he persuaded Kim Il Sung, then leader of the hard-line state, to accept the basic terms of an arrangement that became the Agreed Framework, the landmark deal signed in October 1994.
The surprise death of the senior Kim, 69, has massively accelerated a succession process inside the hard-line state: Kim's son, barely known and largely untried, has been dubbed by state media "the great successor to the revolutionary cause".
For years the disturbing answer from the Obama administration and hard-line states like Arizona has been: absolutely.
Mr. Sharon's action and the absence of a moderate like Mr. Mubarak might inspire hard-line states to resurrect attacks on Israel in the communiqué to be approved by the Arab leaders.
But the fact that the plan is on the table did not prevent hard-line states from introducing an annual resolution proposing that all ties with Israel should be severed -- with a different twist.
The action is the latest sign that despite pressure from some European Union nations, including Greece, the commission intends to stick to its hard line against state assistance for airlines, regardless of the industry's troubles.
The ICC has in the past taken a hard line on states wanting to hold war crimes trials on home soil.
