Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

January 9, 2009 (12:55 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 9 January 2009.

United States & the Americas

Jurist – A judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday ruled that a lawsuit brought by an Islamic charity that alleged it was the subject of an illegal wiretap by the National Security Agency (NSA) may proceed. Judge Vaughn Walker had previously dismissed the suit, finding that the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation lacked a cause of action because the state secrets privilege trumped procedural requirements under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Javno – The U.S. Navy will launch a force to combat piracy in the waters off Somalia as foreign navies try to stem a sharp rise in attacks in the region which threaten key oil shipping lanes, the U.S. Navy said on Thursday. The new anti-piracy force would start in mid-January and be an offshoot of the U.S.-led coalition of naval forces which has been operational in the region since 2001.
canada.com – The Defence Department is building an equipment depot in British Columbia to improve how the Joint Task Force 2 counter-terrorism unit responds to threats on the West Coast. The $10 million depot, located at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in Victoria, will allow equipment for special forces units to be pre-positioned, decreasing the amount of time it would take for JTF2 or other elements of the country’s special operations command to respond to a terrorist incident.
Carnegie - In February 2008, Argentine President Kirchner and Brazilian President Lula da Silva signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, one of seventeen signed agreements related to infrastructure, energy, and defense. Since then, technicians from both countries have worked on defining potential joint projects, such as a “uranium enrichment enterprise” and a “model nuclear power reactor that would meet the needs of the electrical systems of both countries and, eventually, of the region.
LAHT – The national colors of Palestine – red, black, white and green – took to the flagpost outside Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday, replacing Venezuela’s yellow, blue and red, with eight stars in a show of support for the people of Gaza during Israel’s military offensive.
CSM – Chávez restores free home heating oil program to US poor; In an abrupt turn, the Venezuelan president reinstated the program two days after its suspension.
Miami Herald – Venezuela’s annual inflation climbed to 30.9 percent last year — far above the government’s target of 19.5 percent, the Central Bank reported Thursday.
Granma – Wednesday afternoon, President Raúl Castro Ruz received His Excellency Mr. Ali Akbar Mezharabian, minister for industry and mines of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the special envoy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, from whom he brought a message for the Cuban president.
Prensa Latina – Cuban and Ecuadorian President Raul Castro and Rafael Correa held official conversations at Palacio de la Revolucion, as part of the official visit of the South American leader to the island.
Reuters – Mexico has captured one of the founders of the Gulf drug cartel’s brutal “Zetas” squad of hitmen that is behind much of the country’s bloodshed, the attorney general’s office said on Thursday.
Latin Business Chronicle – Latin America set a new record in trade last year – reaching an estimated $2.0 trillion, an increase of 20.3 percent from 2007, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of new data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Alan Riley – Once again the gas has been cut off to Ukraine. Allegations of nonpayment, gas theft and political interference are traded between Moscow and Kiev. So far so familiar, but is the economic crisis going to end this annual fight between the two largest ex-Soviet states? Gazprom plans to build two new major pipelines, Nord Stream and South Stream, which will provide an alternative route for Russian gas to reach Gazprom’s most valuable European markets. However, these pipelines are very expensive to build.
Kyiv Post – Russia has agreed the deployment of monitors to oversee gas supplies to the European Union via Ukraine, clearing the way for the resumption of gas supplies, the Czech EU presidency said in a statement on Thursday.
Gazprom – Protocol on establishment of International expert commission on transit of natural gas through the territory of Ukraine.
Reuters – Russia’s Gazprom did not agree with a European Union proposal to send monitors to check the flow of gas from Russia via Ukraine aimed at restoring supply to the EU, the Czech EU presidency said on Thursday. Czech Minister of Commerce Martin Riman said Ukrainian officials agreed to the plan, but “unfortunately I have to tell you that Gazprom representatives refused this proposal”.
Trend – “The charter to be signed between Georgia and the United States tomorrow, does not provide for the deployment of U.S. military bases in Georgia,” Speaker of the Georgian Parliament David Bakradze said to journalists on Jan. 8. Bakradze said that the most important area in the Charter is the security of Georgia. That will be the first document in which Tbilisi is officially referred to as a strategic partner of Washington.
Georgian Times – The village of Orsantia has been shelled since the morning today. Locals say, the fire was opened from the village Otobaia, currently controlled by Abkhaz separatists and Russian occupants. They shot from the kindergarten they are stationed. Over 15 shells have damaged the gardens of peaceful residents and the high frequency electricity wires, leaving the village without power.
Vladimir Socor – OSCE Mission in Georgia on Its Death Bed; With a sleight of its hand, Russia has run the OSCE out of South Ossetia. The mandate of the OSCE Mission in Georgia expired on January 1, because Russia blocked the routine annual extension of that mandate by the organization. This is only the latest OSCE presence that Russia has terminated with impunity.
Kazakhstan Today – As of December, 26th, in 2008, volume of oil deliveries through the Chinese-Kazakhstan pipeline has exceeded 6 million tons. That is by 25.9 % more as compared to the similar period of 2007.
EurasiaNet – Turkmenistan: Is Ashgabat’s Interest in Nabucco Rising?
IWPR – Opposition leaders in Azerbaijan are furious about government plans to scrap the constitutional bar on presidents serving more than two terms, saying it is a naked power grab by allies of President Ilham Aliev.

Marines from the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group

Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit depart the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima for sustainment training in the Middle East. Iwo Jima is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet area of operations (photo by Seaman Chad Erdmann)

Middle East

Al Sumaria – Head of Baghdad provincial council Moin Al Kazemi revealed that the government is considering the announcement of the Green Zone in central Baghdad as the central capital of Iraq’s Republic after joining within parts of neighboring Districts.
CNN – An agreement on a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli-Gaza cease-fire has been reached, Arab and Western diplomats said Thursday afternoon.
Anne Bayefsky – The United Nations war on Israel has never been on the back burner, and its feeding frenzy over Gaza is no exception. The Security Council has now held four sessions. The General Assembly has scheduled an emergency session for Thursday night, and on Friday, the UN’s lead human rights body, the Human Rights Council, will hold a special session to damn Israel.
Press TV – The Israeli army officer from Kfir Infantry Brigade was killed Thursday after Hamas fighters hit a tank with an anti-tank missile while on patrol in the former Neztarim settlement, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Fars - Israeli forces have arrested Iran’s Al-Alam News Network’s correspondent reporting from the occupied Palestinian territory. The man’s lawyer said the Palestinian was also suspected of passing confidential information to unauthorized persons – “a very harsh security offense” – but gave no further details.
Israel MFA – Since the beginning of the IDF operation in Gaza (Dec 27, 2008), four Israelis have been killed and 176 wounded by rocket fire. Over 550 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel.
Al Arabiya – At least three rockets were fired into northern Israel from an area near the Israeli border early Thursday, provoking a response from Israel, which fired back into southern Lebanon.
NOW Lebanon – Hezbollah denied any role in Thursday’s rocket attack carried out from southern Lebanon against northern Israel, a government minister with the militant party told AFP.
Haaretz – Since the aerial attack on Gaza began, Hamas has sought to suppress individuals it believes endanger the group’s fight against Israel and its hold on power in the Strip, as well as public morale. Prime targets include Fatah members, people convicted or suspected of collaborating with Israel, and “common” criminals.
ynet – A map depicting Hamas’ best-laid plans on how to hurt IDF soldiers in Gaza was discovered by paratroopers in al-Atatra neighborhood Thursday. The map was translated on the scene and helped the troops in subsequent operations.
UN - A United Nations agency that is a lifeline for 750,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza suspended food delivery operations today after Israeli strikes killed one of its drivers and injured a second after they had received Israeli clearance on the 13th day of an offensive launched with the stated aim of ending Hamas militant rocket attacks into Israel.
ITIC – Operation Cast Lead – Update No. 9

Iran

Office of Khamenei – Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said Thursday that Israel and America by their gut-wrenching atrocities in Gaza actually seek to annihilate the foundation of resistance in the significant Middle East region and subsequently take rein of its riches and benefits. The IR Leader then warned against the indifferent governments in the region that if the enemies of Islam got success at the stage for sure they would not leave alone other parts of the Middle East. “The Islamic states which have refused to help Palestine should understand the dangerous consequences of their mistakes.”
Reuel Marc Gerecht – Iran’s Hamas Strategy; Radical Shiites back radical Sunnis with the aim of destabilizing the Middle East.
Guardian – The BBC has said that viewers of its new Persian language television channel in Iran will have to decide for themselves whether it is safe enough for them to interact with it when it launches next week. BBC Persian, which will be run by the BBC World Service, is officially illegal in Iran and authorities in Iran have denied the free-to-air satellite channel clearance to have a presence in the country.
NIAC – The full transcript of NIAC’s Capitol Hill conference “Can Obama Untangle the Iranian Challenge?: Prospects for a New Iran Policy” with Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE), Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chairman John Tierney (D-MA), Ambassador James Dobbins, Joseph Cirincione and Dr. Farideh Farhi is now available for download.
IRNA – The works of cartoonists from 30 countries have been submitted to 8th International Cartoon Festival to be held in Tabriz. Announcing this, the head of Tabriz Cartoonist Association added the festival will be held with the theme of “No War” in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan province, on February 17 [me: I note this because of this]
Payvand – Photos: Ashura Mourning Ceremonies in various parts of Iran

South Asia

CJTF-101 – Afghan National Army and Coalition forces detained five suspected militants, including the targeted Haqqani commander, during operations to disrupt the Haqqani and Taliban terrorist operations in Khost and Kandahar provinces, Wednesday. ANA and Coalition forces netted four militants in the first operation, including the targeted Haqqani commander.
Australia DoD – Claims that up to nine Afghan locals living in the Baluchi Valley were injured during clashes between the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Taliban insurgents, are being investigated by the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Defence has commenced a formal investigation into the claims after reviewing its recent operations and identifying that the ADF could have been involved in the incident.
VOA – NATO and Afghan officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up near foreign troops in the southern province of Kandahar, killing three people. Afghan authorities say three civilians were killed when the bomber detonated explosives as troops patrolled a busy street on foot Thursday in Maiwand district.
IRIN – Maryam, 14, was raped by a man in the Yakawlang District of Bamyan Province, central Afghanistan, five months ago. Her mother and brother used razor blades to cut the girl open, take out the foetus, and bury it alive to hide the disgrace, according to Habiba Surabi, the governor of Bamyan.
Geo – Unknown people destroyed a CD center by causing an explosion in Chamkani area in the outskirts of Peshawar.
AFP – Gunmen Thursday shot dead two government employees in a tribal area in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, where Taliban militants are active, an official said.
Daily Times – The Pakistan Army took over security operations in Hangu and imposed curfew in the city on the ninth day of Muharram. Troops were deployed on the rooftops of all high-rise buildings in the city and in the nearby hills for monitoring security. Locals said they were asked to stay indoors until the curfew was relaxed. Meanwhile, unidentified armed men abducted two men at gunpoint from Naryab area of Hangu on Wednesday, locals said.
India Defence – The US is in preliminary talks with India over the sale of missile shield systems to help New Delhi guard against nuclear threats. They said US defence officials had conducted computer simulations with their Indian counterparts to demonstrate the capabilities of such technology. Experts from India’s Defence Research Development Organisation have also watched two live launches of missiles used in the shield system.
Sri Lanka MoD – Troops of 58 Division following the liberation of Murasumoddai last afternoon (Jan 8) have started eliminating LTTE hideouts in the North of A- 35. Army commandos operating on the forefront engaged a terrorist group detected in the North of Murasumoddai around 11.30 AM. Meanwhile, troops of Army 57 Division following the liberation of Kilinochchi are now advancing eastwards dominating the area between A-35 and the North of Iranamdu tank.

Far East & Pacific

Xinhua – China is urging the United States to take actions to repair military ties seriously damaged by a U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. “China-U.S. military ties lag far behind overall relations. The United States should take concrete measures to repair them,” Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, told the visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Thursday.
Radio Free Asia – China passed an energy milestone in 2008 as its oil imports equaled domestic production for the first time, according to industry reports. In separate estimates, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and its PetroChina subsidiary said the country’s crude oil imports rose to 189 million tons last year, the same level as domestic oil output, official media reported. The figures mean that China now relies on foreign sources for half of its crude oil consumption of 7.6 million barrels per day.
China Post – A high-profile Chinese lawyer demanded on Wednesday that the government open its books to the public in an unusually direct display of the legal activism that the Communist Party sees as a growing threat to its rule.
Washington Post – The White House raised anew the possibility that North Korea has an active program to enrich uranium, an issue the administration had played down in recent years as it sought to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs.
Zachary Abuza, Middle East Quarterly – Jemaah Islamiyah Adopts the Hezbollah Model
Canberra Times – An Australian warship may be set to join an anti-pirate taskforce operating in the seas off Somalia. The plan, being considered by the Australian Defence Force, follows an upsurge in pirate activity in which Somali pirates have seized cargo ships and demanded millions of dollars in ransoms for their release. The United States has expressed a strong desire for Australian involvement in a new multinational counter-piracy taskforce, which was formed on January 1.
Japan Today – New high school history textbooks will keep describing the mass suicides during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa as ones in which people were ‘‘driven into suicides amid the Japanese military’s involvement,’’ rather than saying the military ‘‘forced’’ them to kill themselves, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
Phnom Penh Post – Thailand’s new foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, will visit Cambodia this month, setting the stage for renewed negotiations over the two countries’ disputed border, officials said Wednesday.
Irrawaddy – The Burmese military government’s lucrative income from selling natural gas abroad is likely to suffer dramatically from falling prices triggered by the global financial crisis, an expert on the country’s economy has predicted.

Europe

EUbusiness – Hungary and Germany came to Serbia’s rescue on Thursday as Belgrade’s old ally Russia inched towards resolving a gas dispute with Ukraine that has caused a Europe-wide energy crisis.
Xinhua – Currently, there are three major export routes for Russian gas to be transported to Europe. One consists of pipelines going through Ukraine. After Ukraine, they extend westward to Slovak, the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria, southward to Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. The second route, known as the Yamal-Europe pipeline which bypasses Ukraine, runs to Germany via Belarus and Poland. The third one, the Blue Stream pipeline, passing through eastern Ukraine, goes underneath the Black Sea and leads to Turkey.
euobserver – The Czech EU presidency is preparing a contingency plan for one of the most sensitive areas in the EU institutional set-up in case Ireland rejects Europe’s new treaty for a second time later this year.
EurActiv – Slovenia may call for a referendum over Croatia’s accession to the European Union if a long-standing border dispute between the two countries is not quickly resolved to Ljubljana’s satisfaction.
Czech News - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg today supported the admission of Turkey to the European Union and denounced the prejudices many west European countries allegedly have against the Turks, at a meeting with foreign journalists, the French news agency AFP has reported.
euronews – The number of people registered as without a job in Spain topped three million for the first time ever in December. And the Madrid government is warning that unemployment will get worse this year as the global economic crisis continued to hammer the country’s formerly property-driven economy.

Africa

Garowe – A much-anticipated regional election in Somalia’s self-governing State of Puntland ended peacefully on Thursday with the democratic election of Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed “Farole,” Radio Garowe reports.
Xinhua – China and Sudan signed here on Thursday a certificate of handing over ten water wells drilled by Chinese companies in the arid western Sudanese region of Darfur.
RSIS – Two conventional wisdoms about Africa have been overturned in recent months with potentially dramatic implications for continental development and security: The first has to do with commodity prices. The second is the seeming retreat from Africa of investors and entrepreneurs from China, which is surprising.
BBC – The Congolese president, the head of the Rwandan army and a UN mediator have held talks to try to resolve the conflict in eastern DR Congo.
New Vision – LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony is in Garamba jungles and has not escaped the allies’ snare to sneak into the Central African Republic (CAR). He said notorious rebel commander Okot Odhiambo was sighted with a small group of rebels heading to CAR. “People saw a commander in red being carried on a stretcher. He was Odhiambo. He was probably injured because he was in the camp when we attacked,” he stated.
Xinhua – Kennedy Malama, health director of Zambia’s Eastern Province, says the province is on alert to combat any possible cholera outbreak following the cholera outbreak in neighboring Malawi, Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) reported on Thursday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates hosts an honor cordon arrival ceremony for Georgian Defense Minister Vasil Sikharulidze at the Pentagon, Jan. 8, 2009 (photo by Cherie Cullen)

The Global War

Roger McDermott – Russia arms to Iran: A mistimed gambit? Reports originating from within Iran, alleging an agreement by Russia to supply Tehran with modern air defense systems, have sparked mixed reactions from official sources in Moscow.
USIP – US policy toward Afghanistan will require a fundamental change in order to achieve long-term stability in that country, according to The Future of Afghanistan, a new U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) collection of essays written by some of the world’s top South Asia analysts. “A focused, coherent, and long-term approach to Afghan and regional stability is necessary to get Afghanistan out of its vicious cycle of insecurity, insurgency, impunity, and corruption” says the Institute’s J Alexander Thier, who edited the volume.
ICOS – Chronic Failures in the War on Terror – From Afghanistan to Somalia
Straits Times – THE head of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and his lieutenant have been killed, a US counterterrorism official speaking on condition of anonymity said on Thursday. The pair are believed to be Kenyan national Usama al-Kini, described as Al-Qaeda’s chief of operations in Pakistan – who officials say was behind the September 2008 suicide attack on Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel – and his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. The two are also on the FBI’s most wanted list for links with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa.
Washington Times – A proposed joint venture in Libya between two energy giants, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Gazprom, is posing an immediate headache for the first U.S. ambassador to take up residence in Tripoli in 36 years.
Congressional Budget Office – Long-Term Implications of the Fiscal Year 2009 Future Years Defense Program
US Navy – Members of the U.S. and Maltese military conducted joint training aboard USS Barry (DDG 52) Jan. 6 focusing on visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) tactics.

Sights & Sounds

MNF Iraq – Multi-National Force-Iraq Spokesman MG David Perkins; Brig. Gen. Ali-Zouin Al-Juboori, Iraq Election Security Committee and Ministry of Interior; Usama Al-Ani, Vice Chairperson, Independent High Electoral Commission; and Judge Qasim Hassan Sajet, Chief Electoral Officer, Independent High Electoral Commission, speaking with reporters in Baghdad, discussing Iraq’s upcoming Provincial Elections.