Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

November 10, 2008 (12:46 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 10 November 2008.

United States & the Americas

Babylon and Beyond – A classic piece of Americana is the eagerness of immigrants to enlist in the U.S. military to show their appreciation for their adopted country. Among the latest to follow this pattern are the Hmong of Southeast Asia.
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld – The U.S. Should Ban Shari’a Finance; The U.S. financial crisis is attributable, in part, to a lack of transparency. If the government adopts Shari’a-based financing, our financial system will be rendered even more opaque. Such a policy also entangles American finance with Islamic law in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause which mandates separation of State from Church or Mosque.
John Thomson – Geovani Galeas and Berne Ayala at first appear to be two engaging men totally outside the journalism and political sectors. Nevertheless, Messrs.Galeas and Ayala are clearly committed to a project which, among other results, bids fair to be a decisive factor in El Salvador’s elections, due in January and March. They discussed their daunting project with me recently in the country’s capital, San Salvador, over mojitos, rum and plates of finger food.
Khaleej Times – A ramshackle church school collapsed in a shanty town on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital on Friday, burying dozens in rubble and killing at least 50, many of them children, rescue workers said.
MSNBC – The State Department is asking officials at the Venezuelan consulate in Houston to leave the country after the South American government moved its offices in that city before receiving permission.
CSM – The US has long had a presence in Latin America to stem the northward drug flow; Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia are the world’s largest cocaine producers. The US still boasts strong partnerships with many countries, such as Colombia and Mexico. But in others, particularly those led by leftists who have risen in collective condemnation of Washington, leaders are increasingly severing ties.
Gulf News – Two disabled police officers, part of a special unit to help the disabled, were shot dead while on traffic patrol in northern Mexico, an official said Saturday.
AFP – The Mexican army made the country’s largest-ever weapons haul, seizing 540 items, from three suspected members of the powerful Gulf drug cartel, defense officials have said.
John Sullivan and Adam Elkus, Defense and the National Interest – Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency; Our southern neighbor is imploding under the weight of a criminal insurgency just as dangerous any crew of bomb-tossing jihadists–an insurgency that may soon envelop our borders.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

RIA Novosti – Twenty people died on board a Russian nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean and 21 others were taken to the hospital, the Navy said on Sunday. The accident occurred late on Saturday during the sea trials of a nuclear-powered submarine as a result of the unsanctioned activation of the submarine’s fire-extinguishing system. The incident is the worst for the Russian Navy since the sinking of the Kursk submarine in 2000 when all 118 sailors died.
Economic Times – India’s already-delayed project to lease a nuclear-powered submarine for a 10-year period from Russia, under a secret deal signed in January 2004 for an initial $650 million, seems to have taken a further hit. The new Russian Akula-II class attack submarine called ‘K-152 Nerpa’, which met with an accident during sea trials in the Sea of Japan off Vladivostok on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring another 21, is apparently the same vessel which was to be transferred to India in July-August 2009, sources said.
Kommersant – The Russian President’s pledge to deploy short-range Iskander-M missiles to the Kaliningrad Region has been no surprise to specialists. First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov mentioned it back last July. In fact it is a matter of rearming the 152nd missile brigade in Chernyakhovsk area, the Kaliningrad Region (the brigade is currently equipped with 18 launch systems of the Tochka-U (Point-U) complex, with their range reaching 120 kilometers).
Russia Today – Unidentified attackers have killed a policeman and injured two others as a result of an ambush in the centre of Chechnya’s capital city Grozny.
RIA Novosti – A senior police officer was gunned down in the Republic of Dagestan in Russia’s restive North Caucasus Region, the republic’s interior ministry said on Sunday. Colonel Ainutdin Gelikhanov, who had worked for the republican interior ministry’s department for combating organized crime, was killed by unidentified assailants late on Saturday in the town of Khasavyurt while returning from a wedding of his relatives, the ministry said.
RFERL – In an unprecedented move, Tajikistan’s Council of Islamic Clerics has called on Tajik women to swap their “foreign-made” hijabs for traditional Tajik clothes. Some Tajiks say the independent religious body has obviously come under government pressure to join its ongoing campaign against the Islamic head scarf

More than 1000 Sons of Iraq completed their first week of Iraqi police basic recruit training, Nov. 6, 2008, at the al Furat Iraqi Police Training Center for their official Iraqi police training as they prepare to become a Shurta (photo by Maj. Michael Indovina)

Middle East

MNF Iraq – A senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader was killed Nov. 6 in the Tarmiyah area, north of Baghdad, during a combined cache-clearing operation by Iraqi Security Forces and Sons of Iraq, supported by coalition forces. Abu Ghazwan was a key link in the network operations for al-Qaida in Iraq and killed during the cache-site raid. Ghazwan commanded numerous terrorists’ cells in the Taji and Tarmiyah areas, and advised and financed other terrorist cells throughout northern Iraq.
MNF Iraq – Baghdad Soldiers detained a known Special Groups leader Nov. 7 in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad. At approximately midnight, Soldiers from Company B, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained the known criminal while conducting a combat patrol in the Risalah community. The patrol returned to the combat outpost with the detainee to conduct additional questioning.
AFP – Four people were killed when a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded in a crowded market in the town of Khalis in Diyala province, according to security officials and medics. Earlier a female suicide bomber exploded in front of a hospital near the city of Fallujah, killing a woman, a doctor and his wife, security officials said. Another seven people were wounded in the blast.
Al Sumaria – It seems that injustice against Iraq minorities mainly Christians is ongoing as six local council seats were reserved for minorities, only half the number proposed by the United Nations. Concerned objections accompanied a series of meetings between Christian representatives and political leaders to deal with injustice and reach fair representation.
Talisman Gate – Al-Baghdadi’s Thirteenth Speech: New Fixation on Christianity; This is a funny one: in a speech released a couple of days ago, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi assumes the role of Muhammad, while assigning Barack Obama the role of Heraclius
Jerusalem Post – Egypt informed the various Palestinian factions over the weekend of its decision to postpone indefinitely a long-awaited conference for solving the dispute between Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian Authority officials said. The decision came shortly after Hamas told the Egyptians that it would boycott the conference, which was scheduled to open in Cairo on Sunday. The decision to call off the “national reconciliation” conference is seen by PA officials in Ramallah as a severe blow to Egyptian efforts, with leaders who have been working hard over the past year to end the crisis between Hamas and Fatah.
NOW Lebanon – The Palestinian political party Fatah handed in a member of the group Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus), Mohammad al-Doukhi, to the Lebanese army on Sunday in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Al-Doukhi is alleged to have connections with the recent Tripoli bombings and militant group Fatah al-Islam.
News Yemen – The Yemeni court of appeals has halved the 10-year prison term of the U.S-wanted Jaber al-Banna. Al-Banna won on Saturday an appeal against a 10-year senescence handed by a primary court over charge of forming armed group to attack oil facilities in Mareb and Hadramout in September 2006. Al-Banna, a Yemeni-American citizen, is also accused by the United States of being a leading figure in the attack on the U.S. warship Cole.

Iran

Fars News – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday nominated Sadeq Mahsouli,a close aide, as Interior Minister four days after parliament sacked Ali Kordan. Mahsouli, currently one of Ahmadinejad’s top aides, was his second nominee for the post of oil minister after his election as president in 2005. But Mahsouli withdrew ahead of the parliament vote of confidence for that position because he had no experience of the crucial oil sector. Like Ahmadinejad, the 49-year-old Mahsouli is a veteran of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.
IRNA – Lebanon developments have always had an effect on the region and world and the resistance by a small country to the Zionist regime is praiseworthy, said head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Alaeddin Boroujerdi told the head of Iran-Lebanon Friendship Association, Rouni Khoury that Lebanon has a higher status in Iran’s foreign policy. “The two countries have had deep-rooted ties since ancient times,” he noted.
Uskowi on Iran – Abadan Naval and Marine Exhibition Part I and Part II
Payvand – Photos: Horse Racing in Gonbad-e Qabus, Iran

South Asia

Pentagon – Afghan government officials and Afghan and coalition forces traveled Nov. 6 to the Shah Wali Kot district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province to investigate claims of civilian casualties in recent operations. Results of the joint investigation to date indicate 37 civilians were killed and 35 others were wounded in a battle after a combined Afghan and coalition patrol was ambushed in the village. Village elders told the joint investigation team that insurgents who were not from their village came in large numbers to Wech Baghtu. The elders acknowledged that insurgents fired at Afghan and coalition forces from some of the villagers’ homes while using the homes for cover.
CNN – U.S. forces in Afghanistan will “back off” from firing at insurgents if the fighters are using civilian buildings as cover, the U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan told CNN.
NY Times – Deep in Taliban Territory, a Push for Electricity; A $180 million project to provide electricity, jobs and economic renewal is a rare instance of a fulfilled promise in the effort to build up Afghanistan’s infrastructure.
AFP – Afghan government and international military officials said Saturday that Taliban insurgents had gunned down a district governor overnight and about 30 militants had been killed in various clashes.
Stars and Stripes – The Army’s official report on the July battle in Afghanistan that killed nine paratroops and wounded 27 others is filled with details of heroism, desperation and a calculated risk gone wrong. But for at least one parent of a 173rd Airborne Brigade soldier killed in the battle near Wanat on July 13, not all of the questions have been answered. (For more on the report, see Registan)
Daily Spain – A Taliban suicide attacker rammed a bomb-filled minivan into a NATO military convoy in Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Spanish soliders and critically wounding another. The attack was in western Herat province’s Shindand district.
Press TV – A combination of military air strikes and ground operations have left at more than 35 militants dead in northwest Pakistan over the weekend, officials said Sunday. The deadliest clashes were in the restive Swat valley. Pakistani gunships also pounded suspected Taliban hideouts in the nearby Bajaur district, killing at least 13 insurgents Sunday.
Geo – Seven persons died and 3 others injured when Nato led fighter jets bombed Teerah valley along Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Agency on Sunday.
The News – Sources said about 200 militants laid siege to the Karapa checkpoint of the Mohmand Rifles (MR), a wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), and opened fire on the post with heavy weapons late on Friday. However, the MR personnel returned the fire, killing seven militants and injuring nine others
Dawn – While talking to a foreign-based news network, security officer of Razmik sub-division of North Waziristan disclosed, quoting native people said that 11 peoples who were killed in an American drone attack on Friday night were of Tajik and Uzbek origin.
AFP – Indian security forces shot dead 11 suspected Muslim militants in fighting over the weekend in the disputed Kashmir region, police said Sunday.
Reuters – Sri Lanka’s air force bombed Tamil Tiger artillery and command positions on Sunday, a day after the separatist guerrillas reiterated a call for a ceasefire the government has long said is insincere. Jets struck near Paranthan and Poonaryn, the latter of which is a strategic Tiger stronghold from which it fires heavy weapons to keep the army from coming down the neck of the northern Jaffna Peninsula toward Kilinochchi.

Far East & Pacific

MarketWatch – China unveiled on Sunday what it described as a “massive” economic stimulus package worth over half a trillion dollars in an effort to reverse slowing economic growth in the world’s most populous country. China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said Sunday that the program will “will loosen credit conditions, cut taxes and embark on a massive infrastructure spending program in a wide-ranging effort to offset adverse global economic conditions by boosting domestic demand.”
New Zealand Herald – John Key hopes to form a Government before the special votes are counted so he can travel to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum to represent New Zealand at the end of the month. Mr Key’s National Party cut deals before the election to form a coalition with Act and United Future. The three parties, together, won 65 seats – enough to give them a majority in a 122-seat Parliament.
The Strategist – The rest of the world probably doesn’t know, but yesterday New Zealand held a general election. Readers have asked me why I don’t write about New Zealand politics (as opposed to NZ’s place in the world). There’s several reasons. One is that this is a blog about global affairs – one of my passions – focusing on politics, conflict, security, energy and the environment. No other NZ blogs exclusively cover world affairs, although some, like No Right Turn and Poneke, write well-informed posts about international issues
Taipei Times – Indonesia early yesterday executed three Muslim militants convicted for their roles in the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign visitors, officials and media reports said. Imam Samudra, 38, and brothers Amrozi, 46, and Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, 48, were executed simultaneously by firing squads shortly after midnight Saturday.
Melbourne Herald Sun – Sources involved in the execution process said the three Bali bombers accepted their fate without a struggle when they were shackled hand and foot and led from their jail cells to the execution ground. Amrozi was the least brave, and looked “pale” and afraid, one source said.
Thaindian – Bangladesh and Myanmar massed troops on their tense border over a row over oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal, with China asking them to settle their dispute through talks.Beijing also offered to “contribute in an appropriate manner” to a resolution of their differences. The Bangladesh Navy intelligence has reported that Myanmar has begun mobilising troops near the Naf river. The dispute emerged after Myanmar started oil and gas exploration last week in a stretch of sea claimed by Bangladesh.
Daily Star – Myanmar withdrew its warships, the oil and gas exploration rig and the fossil fuel exploration vessels from Bangladesh waters but tension between the two countries still exists as both the nations mobilised more troops along their border.
Xinhua – Senior leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Zhou Yongkang, on Saturday met with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, vowing to cement bilateral ties.
Phnom Penh Post – Cambodian National Police Chief Hok Lundy was killed Sunday when the helicopter he was riding in crashed in Svay Rieng province’s Romdoul district, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told the Post. Three other people also died in the accident, including high-ranking RCAF General Sok Saem and two pilots, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said.

Europe

Telegraph – Secret enclaves of al-Qaeda extremists based in London, Birmingham and Luton are planning mass-casualty attacks in Britain, according to a leaked Government intelligence report. The document, which was drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence, MI5 and Special Branch, states that “some thousands” of extremists are active in the UK. They are predominantly UK-born and aged between 18 and 30, and many are believed to have been trained in overseas terrorist camps.
RFERL – Poland and Lithuania have recognized they have no power to veto new talks between the European Union and Russia on a partnership pact, setting the stage for a possible early restart to the stalled negotiations.
AFP – A close aide to Rwandan President Paul Kagame was arrested Sunday in Germany on suspicion of participating in an assassination that triggered the 1994 genocide in the east African nation.

Africa

MEMRI – Sudanese Science and Technology Minister Ahmad Omar has announced his country’s intention to develop a nuclear program for research and energy production.
East African Standard – Pirates hijacked yet another ship off the Somali coastline, defying the presence of many vessels patrolling the high seas. The attackers took control of a Danish cargo ship, with 13 crew members, in the Gulf of Aden on Friday as it sailed from the Middle East to Asia.
New Vision – Regional leaders calledfor an immediate ceasefire and the creation of humanitarian corridors in the DR Congo, following a summit in Nairobi. The final declaration also urged the implementation of existing agreements on the disarmament of rebel groups in the region and the amendment of the UN peacekeeping force’s mandate to give it peace-making capabilities.
African Press Agency – Heavy fighting resumed Sunday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between rebels of dissident general Laurent Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and government forces (FARDC). The military spokesman of the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC), Jean Paul Dietrich confirmed the fighting triggered early in the morning at Ngungu, a city located on the border between the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, about 60 km west of Goma.
UN – The recent killing of civilians by armed militia in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “constitute war crimes”, the top United Nations official to the country. UN officials said that local fighters, known as Mai Mai, first attacked the villagers on Tuesday. Fighters from the CNDP then won control of the village and killed those who they thought supported the Mai Mai.
War and Health – Ten months ago, War & Health discussed a little known, but promising, project called Ushahidi. Born from the 2007/2008 electoral violence in Kenya, Ushahidi is a new way to report and gain low-level, real-time intelligence in crisis zones. Today, Ushahidi, in partnership with some NGOs, took a big step forward and deployed their system in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Neil Campbell – On Oct. 29, widespread looting broke out in the eastern Congolese town of Goma. Members of the Congolese Army, whose job it is to protect civilians, helped themselves to whatever they could find. A number of killings and rapes were reported. News that the army is causing havoc among its own people is no surprise. In the North Kivu region a few weeks ago, I saw firsthand just how demoralized and undisciplined these troops are.

Afghan and French soldiers, Teri Rud River)

Afghan national army soldiers walk through the Teri Rud River during a foot patrol with the French Operational Mentor and Liaison Team, Uruzgan Province, Nov. 4 (photo by Cpl. John Rafoss)

The Global War

Asharq Al Awsat – Senior U.S. and European officials met with several Arab leaders Sunday who are worried about the international community negotiating a deal with Iran that would give the Islamic Republic more power in the Middle East, said a U.S. official and a meeting participant.
UK MoD – Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force personnel around the world joined the Nation on Remembrance Sunday, 9 November 2008, in paying tribute to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, and remembering those they have left behind. Her Majesty the Queen led the Nation in the act of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where she first laid a wreath in 1945.
Times Online – Troops operating in Iraq need a break and must not be transferred to Afghanistan when numbers in Basra are cut next year, the head of the Armed Forces said yesterday. In a clear warning to the Government against calls for a surge in British troops in Afghanistan next year, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said that personnel needed time to recover.
State Dept – Remarks After the Quartet Meeting; Secretary Condoleezza Rice in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt; Other Attendees: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, High Representative for European Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Quartet Representative Tony Blair
Benjamin Bahney and Renny McPherson – As debate continues about how to fight a resurgent al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan border, leaders in Washington, Kabul and Islamabad seem lost about what to do next. They are losing time.
TechNewsWorld – The emergence of high-powered satellite imagery changed national security and military intelligence. Once that sort of technology became available to the masses through the likes of Google Earth, the game was changed again.

Sights & Sounds

DW – Few dates symbolize the convulsions of German history more vividly than the 9th of November. It is the anniversary of both the Nazi pogrom against the Jews in 1938 and also the day the Berlin Wall fell in 1989