Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

January 22, 2009 (12:42 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 22 January 2009.

United States & the Americas

Ya Libnan – U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in a telephone call on Wednesday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to try to achieve Middle East peace, a Palestinian official said. Abbas was the first foreign leader Barack called . “This is my first phone call to a foreign leader and I’m making it only hours after I took office,” Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina quoted Obama as telling Abbas.
LA Times – Pressing forward on a vow to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a first order of business, the Obama administration circulated a draft order Wednesday calling for review of all 245 prisoners’ cases and closure of the facility within a year. The order, which is expected to be signed within the next few days, followed by mere hours the new president’s appeal to military judges to halt ongoing prosecutions of terror suspects.
Federal Register – Continuation of the National Emergency Relating to Cuba and of the Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Vessels
Treasury Dept – The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) is publishing the names of 3 additional individuals whose property and interests in property have been blocked pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
CIA – Transcript of Director Hayden’s Interview with Fox News
National Post – Canada and India will begin “exploratory talks” on the viability of forming an economic partnership, including a nuclear cooperation deal, and have sought to fast-track the implementation of a foreign investment protection agreement, the two governments announced Wednesday.
Globe and Mail – Defence Minister Peter MacKay predicts U.S. President Barack Obama will seek increased troop commitments for Afghanistan from other NATO allies rather than Canada. And the withdrawal date for Canada’s combat troops remains 2011, Mr. MacKay said Wednesday, regardless of how charming and persuasive Mr. Obama may be in proposing an international rededication to the Afghan mission.
Mehr – An Iranian delegation of experts from the Geological Survey of Iran (GSI) signed a number of memorandums of understanding with six Latin American states, Mir Mohammad Meigouni, GSI international affairs manager said here on Wednesday. Over the 5-week-long trip, the delegation visited officials from the geological organizations in Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador, the Moj News Agency reported.
Miami Herald – Prosecutors say three heads were found in an ice box south of Ciudad Juarez, which lies across from El Paso, Texas. A headless body was discovered in a canal a few miles (kilometers) away. The prosecutors’ statement said Tuesday that the body might belong to one of six police officers kidnapped over the weekend
LAHT – In Venezuela, Government Acts to Crush Indefinite Re-Election Protesters, But Not Stop Violence Against Them; As Chavez continues to stoke more belligerence among his followers, violence and tension begin to take hold in Caracas.
Miami Herald – Exxon has told Brazilian officials it discovered oil in deep water off Rio de Janeiro, near massive fields that could hold as much as 80 billion barrels of oil. State media said Wednesday that Exxon Mobil Corp. did not estimate the size of the find in a filing with Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency.
COHA – Bolivia: Evo Morales Moves to Centre Stage for Historic January 25th Referendum

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

RIA Novosti - Members of Al-Qaeda are active in Russia’s North Caucasus republics of Chechnya and Daghestan, a deputy interior minister said on Wednesday. “Al-Qaeda training centers exist around the world, and in southern Russia they are active on the territory of the Chechen republic and the republic of Daghestan,” Arkady Yedelev told journalists.
Russia Today – Russia has moved a stage closer to having an official opposition. The leaders of the Right Cause party submitted applications with the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday that should lead to their acquiring legal status.
Jurist – Proposed amendments to the Russian Constitution extending term limits for the president and members of parliament officially took effect Wednesday when the text of the updated constitution was published in the state newspaper Rossiikaya Gazeata. Under Russian law, constitutional amendments take legal effect the day they are published in the newspaper.
Itar-Tass – More than ten strategic bombers are used in the exercise of long-range aviation, the first one in 2009, Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Drik, the assistant commander-in-chief of the Air Force, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. He said a heavy bomber regiment of long-range aviation deployed in the Amur region conducts the planned flying and tactical exercise. “This is the first exercise of long-range aviation at the level of regiments this year,” Drik said.
RIA Novosti – Russian missile destroyer Admiral Chabanenko left a naval shipyard in the country’s Kaliningrad exclave on an urgent mission after having hurried repair work carried out, a shipyard spokesman said on Wednesday. “Admiral Chabanenko urgently left the Baltiisk naval base on January 20 after receiving orders for a mission of state importance,” Sergei Mikhailov said.
RIA Novosti – The guided missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, will make an unofficial visit to the port of Messina in Sicily on January 27-30, a Russian Navy spokesman said on Wednesday. Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said the visit was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Messina earthquake and Russia’s participation in the international relief effort. In addition to the Russian vessel, U.S., British, German, Spanish and Danish warships will take part in events marking the anniversary.
Georgian Daily – When a Vladivostok interior ministry official refused to break up a demonstration there at the end of December, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demanded that he be fired, but since that time, President Dmitry Medvedev has spoken out in support of the official who remains in office. Such a split between the two men could quickly become not only a measure of the shifting balance of power in Moscow but also an indication of whether the rising tide of popular anger about the government’s inability to deal with impact of the economic crisis will become a political challenge to the central authorities as a whole.
EurasiaNet – Negotiations with NATO about the transportation of non-military goods for Afghanistan through Tajik territory are at an advanced stage, according to Tajik Foreign Minster Khamrokhon Zarifi.
Blanka Hancilova – 2009 will be a turbulent year for Armenia. In 2008, the strong polarization of the political scene did not allow any solution to the internal deadlock to be found. In 2009, the government of Serzh Sargsyan will be increasingly under international pressure to improve its human rights and democratization record. The global financial crisis will not allow Armenia to sustain its relatively high levels of economic growth, which will put the government under additional pressure.
RFERL – Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrohkhon Zarifi has said that Uzbekistan has not fulfilled its obligations according to bilateral agreements on energy and water signed at a Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Bishkek last year, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports

Middle East

MNF Iraq – Camp Ramadi was officially turned over to the Government of Iraq with a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed by Iraqi Army and U.S. military officials here at Camp Ali, Tuesday.
Guardian – Israel has admitted – after mounting pressure – that its troops may have used white phosphorus shells in contravention of international law, during its three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Haaretz – Israel denied on Wednesday its armed forces used ordnance with depleted uranium during the Gaza Strip offensive, and said that could be proven by any United Nations investigation.
Asharq Al Awsat – With Israel in a fragile cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza to the south, the army of this tiny country bordering Israel’s north is for the first time getting some serious military muscle, including its first fighter jets in decades. The influx of hardware begins with Russia, which is trying to increase its influence again in the Mideast.
Yaakov Katz – Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas and the IDF is concerned that the terror group will try to smuggle long-range Fajr missiles into the Gaza Strip. According to the latest intelligence assessments, Iran, which was responsible for writing Hamas’s military doctrine, has already launched an internal probe to determine how the plan it had created for Hamas failed to cause more IDF casualties.
Jerusalem Post – AP Television News footage showed Palestinian smugglers Wednesday filling a fuel truck with petrol that came through a cross-border tunnel from Egypt. The footage also shows workers busy clearing blocked tunnels and bulldozers carrying out other repairs.
NOW Lebanon – Israel is concerned that Hezbollah will launch a terror attack against an Israeli or Jewish target ahead of the first anniversary of Imad Mugniyah’s assassination, an Israeli daily reported. The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday reported that the latest Israeli intelligence assessments indicated Hezbollah was planning a retaliatory attack for the assassination of one of its top operatives in a car bombing on February 12 in Damascus.
Jason Rineheart, ME Times – So why is Hezbollah done attacking Israel? 2008 was a successful year for Hezbollah politically. It effectively boycotted the government until its political demands were met under the Doha agreement, giving the Shia a significant voice in government for the first time since Lebanon gained independence. With the upcoming 2009 elections, Hezbollah stands to further its gains. Thus, it is not in Hezbollah’s interests to provoke a war with Israel, because it would lose political legitimacy and crucial votes if it sparked another Israeli bombing campaign.
INN – The High Court in Jerusalem reversed Wednesday the decision by the Central Elections Committee that disqualified two Arab lists, Balad and Ra’am-Ta’al, from participating in the February general elections.
Simon Henderson – After months of speculation about the health of the designated successor to King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan, Saudi officials are now openly talking about Sultan’s ill health. The kingdom, a close U.S. ally, the self-professed leader of the Islamic world, the world’s largest oil exporter, and most recently the much-needed source of financial capital for the world’s struggling economy, is heading for a period of changing leadership

Iran

Iran MFA – Czech charge d’affaires to Tehran Jan Kouril was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to hear Iran’s strong criticism of the EU’s indifference towards severe violation of human rights in Gaza by the Zionist regime. The Czech Republic is the current chairman of the European Union.
Fars – Iran believes that the presidency term of Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian self-rule government is over and that new parliamentary elections should be held in Palestine, said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here on Wednesday.
MEMRI – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to Mauritania’s leader praising him for his decision to freeze relations with Israel.
IRNA – Iran and Tanzania here on Wednesday signed a deal for mutual cooperation in the field of defense. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar and his Tanzanian counterpart Hussein Ali Mwinyi at the end of the second round of their talks in Tehran.
Washington Post – The Iraqi government this week accused an Iranian opposition group of planning a suicide attack against Iraqi troops, a possible prelude to decisive government action to close the group’s camp in Iraq and expel its members. The Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, on Tuesday denied Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie’s allegation that it was planning an attack. Rubaie, who made the charge Monday during a visit to Tehran, offered no evidence to back up his assertion.
NCRI – A citizen was whipped in public by the mullahs’ judiciary in the holy city of Qom on Friday. A 25-year-old man was tied to a bench and received 70 lashes. Local residents protested the sentence especially when the man’s last name was also exposed by the local judge assigned to enforce the verdict.
Mehr – The national police chief announced on Wednesday that 93 percent of drug confiscations in the world are done by Iranian forces. “93 percent of drug seizures in the world are done in Iran,” Esmaeil Ahmadi Moqadam told a seminar on the campaign against drug trafficking in Kerman.
Press TV – Iranian forces have tightened security along the country’s borders in recent months, killing some 120 insurgents and arresting many others. Border police commander, Ebrahim Karimi, said Wednesday that security clampdowns along the country’s border has claimed the lives of 120 rebels and 19 police members in less than a year.
Rooz – Interview with Robert Baer; He says after the Islamic Revolution, Tehran’s foreign policy toward the United States is based on the idea that “if you mess with Iran, something bad is going to happen in some part of the world…has been a very successful policy”.
Amnesty International – Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop the destruction of hundreds of individual and mass, unmarked graves in Khavaran, south Tehran, to ensure that the site is preserved and to initiate a forensic investigation at the site as part of a long-overdue thorough, independent and impartial investigation into mass executions which began in 1988, often referred to in Iran as the “prison massacres”.

LTTE underground fuel storage found - Dharmapuram (photo from Sri Lanka MoD)

South Asia

Air Force – In Afghanistan, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and F-15E Strike Eagles targeted several enemy fighting positions and machine gun nests with rockets, general purpose 500-pound bombs and guided bomb unit-38s. The engagement supported a coalition ground force operating near Nangalam. Near Balocan, an F/A-18C conducted a show of force and expended flares to deter enemy activity. The Hornet then strafed enemy forces trying to hide in a tree line when they continued to engage coalition ground troops. A Navy F/A-18C supported a coalition ground convoy with shows of force, expending flares, to discourage an enemy attack in the Musa Qala region.
NATO - ISAF forces killed a prominent insurgent leader in the Maywand district of Kandahar Province. Haji Adam, a senior Taliban figure in central Helmand, was killed in a precise air strike. Haji Adam had strong links to senior Taliban leaders Akhter Mohammed Mansour, Mullah Naim Barich and Attiqullah.
VOA – U.S. officials say General David Petraeus and Mr. Karzai discussed how to combat regional terrorism, prevent civilian casualties and gain the trust of the Afghan people during their meeting late Tuesday.
Bakhtar - Three policemen were killed and 7 others were injured as a result of the Taliban attack on the security post in Ballah Morgab district of Badghis Province. Mullah Rahmatullah, District-Governor of Ballah Morgab district of Badghis told BIA. This attack was carried out and the militants clashed with the security guards for one hour. Some Talibans were killed in this incident but their colleagues succeeded in carrying away the dead bodies.
The Star – A Saudi al Qaeda operative suspected of involvement in the July 7, 2005 bombings in London was arrested near Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, intelligence officials said.
Geo – Security forces on Wednesday killed 24 militants, including a senior commander, in Mohmand Agency. According to official sources, security forces backed by helicopter gunships pounded the suspected militants’ hideouts in Pandyali, Lakrao and Safi tehsils of Mohmand Agency.
Geo – Two more schools have were set ablaze by militants in Swat on Wednesday morning. Sources said militants torched a boys school in Mangal Tan area of Charbagh and another in Sher Balim area of Matta.
Washington Times – Bus drivers in northwest Pakistan have begun removing audio and video equipment from their vehicles after Taliban militants threatened suicide attacks against those who played music or movies for their passengers, an industry official said Tuesday.
Xinhua – Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday said that Pakistan regarded its relations with China as the corner stone of its foreign policy and remained committed to further deepening the ties.
Times of India – In what could be a major set back for India’s defence preparedness, Russia has ‘indefinitely’ postponed the delivery of “Akula-II’ class Nerpa nuclear submarine, citing that sea trials were still incomplete.
Sri Lanka MoD – The advancing Task Force -2 troops have captured the Udayarkattukulama tank bund in Mullaittivu, after hours of fierce fighting that ensued with LTTE today (Jan 21). According to latest military reports, TF-2 infantry formations have directed a two frontal assault at LTTE terrorists. Scores of terrorists were killed and many injured during the confrontations military sources said adding that troops are now consolidating defences in the area.

Far East & Pacific

NY Times – China said Tuesday that it faces threats from independence movements related to Taiwan, Tibet and the western desert region of Xinjiang, and that American arms sales to Taiwan jeopardize stability in Asia. The assessment came in a white paper on national defense released by the State Council, China’s cabinet. (text of white paper)
Asia Times – Compass will be ready by 2015, when this satellite-based toolset will become another important component of the People’s Liberation Army’s formidable and growing arsenal. With the Chinese navy already on patrol far away in the Indian Ocean, China needs complete control of its own GPS satellite fleet to ensure success on land and at sea.
The Australian – Victoria is reviewing its $255million counter-terrorism strategy after a highly critical report by the state’s Auditor-General found the strategy had not been fully implemented and was dogged by bureaucratic bungling and inaction. The roles and responsibilities of government departments and the agencies designated to respond to terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure were unclear, and lines of communication with potential targets in the private sector were not fully operational, the report found.
Jakarta Post – Singapore slashed its 2009 growth forecast for a second time this month, saying the economy could shrink as much as 5 percent, as the city-state reels from plunging demand for its exports.
Korea Times – The South Korean economy shrank 5.6 percent last quarter from three months earlier, the sharpest fall since the financial crisis a decade ago, due to faltering exports and sluggish domestic demand, Yonhap News reported quoting the central bank Thursday.
East Asia Forum – Vietnam began the year 2008 with high expectations. There was exuberance at the admission to the WTO and record growth of 8.5 per cent was recorded in 2007. The government set an even higher target in 2008, aiming for growth at 8.5-9 per cent. Events took a seemingly unexpected turn.
Jesper Koll, WSJ - For the first time in more than 50 years, a single opposition party has gathered enough strength and built sufficient credibility to dethrone Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. And the LDP has only itself to blame for its demise. Consider the current morass: As of this week, public support for Prime Minister Taro Aso’s cabinet has slipped to 18%, the lowest approval ratings since former leader Junichiro Koizumi tried to rip the party apart in 2004.
Michael Auslin, FEER – It’s no surprise that U.S. President Barack Obama has said little about Asia since being elected last November. Compared to America’s economic disaster and the ongoing Middle East crises, Asia may seem a veritable sea of tranquility. Yet turbulent currents are running under the surface, and the costs of either economic or political disruption in Asia could well dwarf anything else America faces. For this reason alone, the new president and his team need a bold engagement with Asia in his first days in office.

Europe

Bloomberg – Germany, Europe’s biggest energy market, was among European Union states to report full deliveries of Russian natural-gas via Ukraine after exporter OAO Gazprom resumed shipments yesterday. Slovakia was the first nation to receive gas, followed by Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia.
euobserver – A major new gas pipe connecting Russia to Germany will be up and running by 2011 Russia predicts, with Paris expected to join Berlin in giving the scheme political backing inside the EU… “The Nord Stream project will now be expedited and I believe that in early 2011 it will able to provide gas,” he added.
Radio Netherlands – The right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders is to be prosecuted for anti-Islamic remarks. Judges at Amsterdam’s appeals court say there is a case to answer and Wilders will now face charges of inciting hatred. This due to both the content of remarks he has made and the way in which they were presented. The court ruled that Mr Wilders had personally insulted Muslims by attacking the symbols of Islam.
NATO – The fourth International Security Conference, or GLOBSEC, will take place on 29-30 January in Bratislava, Slovakia. Organized by the Slovak Atlantic Commission, GLOBSEC is a platform for prominent international and Slovak political leaders, decision-makers, and independent experts to discuss key transatlantic and global security challenges. GLOBSEC’s 2009 conference will celebrate NATO’s upcoming 60th Anniversary, and will herald Bratislava’s emergence as a small but important piece of the transatlantic dialogue mosaic.
Telegraph – In Britain, there were 225,000 redundancies in the three months to the end of November, which is the highest level since the figure began being compiled in 1995. Overall, when the number of people who found new jobs are taken account, unemployment increased by 131,000 during that period to hit 1.92 million. That is the highest level since 1997, the year Labour came to power.
euronews – The German government says the economy will contract by 2.25 percent this year. That is a marked downturn from its projection for GDP growth of 0.2 percent made just last October. And it highlights how quickly the outlook for Europe’s largest economy has deteriorated.
Radio Srbije – The Belgrade authorities believe that the newly formed Kosovo Protection forces are an illegal and para-military formation, Head of the Serbian Diplomacy Vuk Jeremic stated in Ljubljana. He has pointed out that the Serbian leadership will consider those forces a threat to the national security and to the peace and stability in the whole region.

Africa

Strategy Page – The clan and warlord militias that comprised the TNG are still active, and violence continues all over the country. In Mogadishu there are daily gun battles between various clan, Islamic and warlord militias. This has taken some of the heat off the AU peacekeepers, who tend to keep to themselves, and are more heavily armed than the Somalis. But the peacekeepers are unlikely to get any reinforcements. The UN has been unable to recruit a relief force, so Burundi and Uganda are making plans to pull their troops out of Mogadishu.
Al Arabiya – Ex-Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed will be staying in Yemen, the country which granted him political asylum after he resigned in late December because of a row with his prime minister, a Yemeni presidency source said on Wednesday.
Khaleej Times – Congolese troops shut out UN peacekeepers, Red Cross workers and journalists Wednesday from witnessing a joint operation with Rwandan troops to hunt down a Rwandan Hutu militia
BBC – The authorities in Mali say the army has destroyed the most active Tuareg rebel group’s main base. The defence ministry said a number of rebels and weapons had been seized in the operation in Tinsalak, close to the border with Niger.
Magharebia – Hassan Hattab, founder of Algeria’s Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), issued a fresh call on Monday (January 19th) for members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to lay down their weapons. In the written document, which was released to the Algerian press, Hattab appealed to terrorists to renounce armed struggle in order to benefit from the law on civil concord. Drawing on a verse from the Qur’an and two hadiths from the Prophet Mohammed, he condemned the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Algeria in the name of Islam.
Al Jazeera – Armed men in speedboats have abducted a Romanian crew member after an attack on an oil tanker off Nigeria’s southern coast, security sources say. The MT Meredith, loaded with 4,000 tonnes of diesel, was badly damaged in the attack early on Wednesday.
IRIN – ZIMBABWE: Inflation at 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent; The Zimbabwe dollar now seems to have lost all its appeal, and calls for the adoption of a foreign currency to replace the struggling monetary unit and put an end to the country’s crippling hyperinflation are becoming louder.
Xinhua – The Central African Republic’s new government has been nominated by President Francois Bozize one month after the conclusion of inclusive political dialogues in the capital Bangui, according to information monitored here on Tuesday. The 32-member government headed by Prime Minister Faustin Archange Touadera includes 21 ministers, four ministers of state and seven delegate ministers.
AFRICOM – General William E. Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, reaffirmed his commitment to a security partnership with Madagascar during his first official visit to the island nation on January 20. Ward met with Malagasy President Marc Ravalomanana and other top government officials to discuss potential security assistance programs in this region.

Former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush wave to the crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered on Andrews Air Force Base, Md., to wish them a fond farewell before their final departure aboard Air Force One. They are headed to Dallas, Texas, where they will reside after eight years of living in the Oval Office. (photo by Tech. Sgt. Craig Clapper)

The Global War

Commission on the Prevention of WMD – WORLD AT RISK: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism (from last December)
Roger Altman, Foreign Affairs – The financial and economic crash of 2008, the worst in over 75 years, is a major geopolitical setback for the United States and Europe. Over the medium term, Washington and European governments will have neither the resources nor the economic credibility to play the role in global affairs that they otherwise would have played. These weaknesses will eventually be repaired, but in the interim, they will accelerate trends that are shifting the world’s center of gravity away from the United States.
US Navy – More than 250 Sailors from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 71, the “Raptors,” departed for their maiden deployment with the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group Jan. 17. According to Raptors Command Master Chief (AW/SW) Ernesto Caballero, HSM-71 Sailors prepared the squadron for deployment nearly one year ahead of schedule.
Stars and Stripes - Faced with a shortfall of about 1,600 flight-rated officers, the Air Force is reaching out to pilots, air battle managers and navigators who have left active duty, service officials said Wednesday.

Sights & Sounds

DW – Russian billionaire and ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev already owned Moscow’s top opposition newspaper. Now he’s bought London’s storied and loss-making “Evening Standard” for just one pound, as Matt Hermann reports