Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

February 13, 2009 (12:39 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 13 February 2009.

United States & the Americas

NY Times – The new director of national intelligence told Congress on Thursday that global economic turmoil and the instability it could ignite had outpaced terrorism as the most urgent threat facing the United States. The assessment underscored concern inside America’s intelligence agencies not only about the fallout from the economic crisis around the globe, but also about long-term harm to America’s reputation.
platts – Until now, the grim economy hasn’t appeared to have slowed gas pipeline companies’ efforts to build new capacity to energy-hungry markets. But that could be changing if what’s happening in Lone Star, Texas, is any indication. According to local media reports, U.S. Steel plans to halt production indefinitely at its Lone Star steel plant, idling as many as 1,200 hourly and salaried workers. Texas Workforce Commission records show that the facility produces steel pipe mainly used by the oil and gas industry.
Toronto Star – Omar Khadr’s Canadian lawyers released a plan for his reintegration in Canadian society and urged the government to formally request the Guantanamo Bay detainee’s repatriation during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit next week.
CNN – Marxist guerrillas in southwest Colombia are believed to have killed a second group of Indians the rebels accused of helping the government, a state governor said. At least 10 Awa Indians were killed this week in Narino state, Gov. Navarro Wolff said late Wednesday. A day earlier, Wolff had reported that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC, had killed at least 17 Awa last week in another remote village.
Reihan Salam – Whatever the contraband being smuggled, the Mexican government has generally looked the other way, mainly because the Mexican government has always been fairly weak. Local police forces, ill-equipped, ill-trained and severely underpaid, are easy targets for the cartels: A well-placed bribe makes all the difference. Efforts to create an effective national police force, one that really could take on the cartels, have proceeded at a maddeningly slow pace. And so large swathes of Mexican territory aren’t really under the control of Mexico City at all, they are ruled by the cartels.
Washington Times – Venezuela has made good on its promise to reduce oil exports, canceling several shipments to the United States in order to comply with OPEC production cuts and bolster its own fortunes by helping raise the price of oil worldwide.
El Universal – A Peruvian congressional committee is investigating in Bolivia the alleged support that some Bolivian groups have allegedly provided to Venezuela’s ALBA houses located in Peru, said Peruvian Congressman Walter Menchola, a member of the Unidad Nacional party, reported on Thursday the Peruvian press. Menchola, along with legislator José Vargas, met in La Paz on Wednesday with the President of the Bolivian Senate, opposition leader Oscar Ortiz, to talk about a likely swap of information in connection with the alleged Bolivian support to the houses of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA)
Miami Herald – French riot police landed in the Caribbean territory of Martinique on Thursday to keep the peace as unrest over the high cost of living escalated and a strike kept shops and some schools shuttered. The turmoil has led about 10,000 tourists to cancel vacations in Martinique and Guadeloupe, another French Caribbean territory hit by a strike, according to the National Travel Agencies organization.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Telegraph – Russia’s ambassador to Nato has claimed that the West’s efforts to rebuild relations with Moscow amount to an ‘apology’.
Russia Today – Only one per cent of all sources of potable water in Russia meet the standards of the highest category of quality without needing extra cleaning. There are not enough water purifying facilities responding to the modern standards in the country, except in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Protecting water from pollution is also not well organised. The rate of deterioration of the waterworks in Russia far exceeds the speed of their modernisation, repairing or replacement. [me: I certainly drank and brushed with bottled water on my trips there]
Military.com – Russia will modernize its icebreaker fleet and station more researchers in the Arctic as part of its push to stake its claim to the vast resources of the disputed polar region, a presidential envoy said Thursday.
Kavkaz Center – Sources in the city of Nazran (Caucasus Emirate’s Ingushetia Province) reported that a fierce gunbattle took place in the city since the morning of Thursday between a mobile squad of the Mujahideen and a gang of Russian infidels. The fighting occurred near “Kamaz Center” district of the city. Four infidels of “OMON” (Special Police Unit) gang from Russia’s Murmansk Province have been eliminated and many wounded during the attempt to storm the residential building where the squad of the Mujahideen was holed up, the sources reported
Russia Today – Four barrels each containing 200 kilograms of explosives were discovered in the capital of Ingushetia, while officials were sifting through the rubble of a previous explosion that had resulted in the deaths of four servicemen. The explosives had been connected to detonators, but had since been neutralized.
ECHR – The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on Thursday ordered Russia to pay 247,000 euros ($320,000) in connection with three cases of abduction in Chechnya. In each case, the Chechen family involved first appealed to the Russian courts over the disappearance of relatives between 2000 and 2003, but turned to the Strasbourg court after concluding the Russian justice system was unable to investigate the crimes properly.
ICG – Far from being a bulwark against the spread of violence from Afghanistan, Tajikistan is looking increasingly like its southern neighbour – a weak state that is suffering from a failure of leadership. The country’s Soviet-era infrastructure is crumbling due to neglect, the country is largely without electricity and its leadership appears to have no idea how to confront a series of major economic and social crises. The new U.S. administration clearly views Tajikistan as possible major participant in its plans to create a new supply line for coalition troops in Afghanistan. But Western security priorities in the region will not be reliably served by an incompetent, venal state near collapse.

Middle East

Al Arabiya – A roadside bomb killed eight Iraqi pilgrims and wounded 46 near a revered shrine on Thursday as millions of Shiite pilgrims converged on the central Iraqi holy city for Arbain, one of the most important dates in the Shiite religious calendar, police said. Police said the blast took place less than 1 km (half a mile) from the Imam Hussein shrine in central Karbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, despite intense security.
Al Sumaria – Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi visited Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani. Following the meeting, Allawi noted that he agrees with Al Sistani’s positive stand about Iraq reconstruction and stability noting that this stand is part of general accord. Allawi did not rule out any coalition with Al Mehrab Martyr list noting that local talks with the Supreme Council are held according to clear criteria and following a joint history stressing the necessity of comprehending that only Iraqis can build Iraq as this nation will not be in Washington, Riyadh or Tehran, however, it will only be in Iraq.
Justin Dargin, OGEL – This article examines the legal and political impediments to the Kurdish Regional Government’s (KRG) exploration and production contracts, which the central government in Baghdad has refused to recognize. The newly established Iraqi national constitution significantly opened as many petroleum-control questions as it resolved.
Al Jazeera – Officials from the Palestinian group Hamas have said that an 18-month ceasefire with Israel will be announced within three days. The officials, speaking in Egypt on Thursday, said the agreement would ensure the end of violence in Gaza and the opening of the territory’s border crossings.
Haaretz – Military censors have permitted Israeli news organizations to reveal on Thursday that two Israeli Druze have been recently convicted of providing military information to Syria. The two Druze maintained lines of communication with two Syrian army officers, providing him with information during the course of the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.
Jerusalem Post – Kadima politicians warned Thursday that it would not sell its soul for a seat in the government should President Shimon Peres ask the Likud to form a coalition. But given that Kadima bested the Likud in Tuesday’s elections by just a single mandate, 28 to 27, and that the left-wing parties did not muster as many mandates as the Right, speculation is high that Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu will be given the task of forming a new government.
ynet – Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu met Thursday morning with representatives of the National Union and asked them to recommend that President Shimon Peres task him with forming the new government, but the right-wing party has apparently decided to keep all options open
The National – Hizbollah and its supporters are hailing the apparent victory of a right-wing coalition in this week’s Israeli elections as a catalyst for further conflict.
JCPA – The Saudi Connection to the Mumbai Massacres: Strategic Implications for Israel
NOW Lebanon – Democratic Gathering bloc MP Antoine Saad told NOW Lebanon on Thursday that the national unity cabinet was “the cabinet of the obstructing third vote,” adding that the opposition had been obstructing the cabinet’s work since 2005, because it did not want a free and independent Lebanon. “There will be no defense strategy if Hezbollah is still determined to keep its arsenal and army,” he said.
Today’s Zaman – The Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) General Staff released a statement expressing concern about increasing suspicion of links between the military and a clandestine terrorist organization called Ergenekon, which is being charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The statement comes shortly after controversy over the release from jail of a retired general suspected in the Ergenekon investigation and awaiting trial, and one day after the release of a recording featuring the voice of the wife of another retired general who is a suspect in the ongoing trial in which the wife refers to two higher criminal courts in ?stanbul as “ours.”
Hurriyet – The Turkish army denied on Thursday claims made by Ergenekon suspect Ibrahim Sahin regarding the current military chief and a senior army officer. The former head of the Turkish Special Forces, arrested in a recent Ergenekon operation, has claimed that Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug was aware the ex-police officer was asked to head up a new anti-terror unit, daily Radikal reported on Wednesday.
Turkish Weekly – Turkey’s president, who left for Russia on Thursday upon an invitation from his Russian counterpart, said that political, economic and cultural relations between the countries, as well as issues relating to energy and military would be discussed during his talks in Russia.
Cyprus Foreign Ministry – The Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Markos Kyprianou left Wednesday for Moscow, on a two-day official visit. During his stay in the Russian capital, Minister Kyprianou will meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mr Sergei Lavrov. Mr Kyprianou will brief his Russian counterpart on the current phase of the talks to solve the Cyprus problem

Iran

ISIS – Iran could be close to exhausting its supply of uranium oxide while lacking the adequate resources to sustain indigenous commercial-scale uranium processing and enrichment. Our conclusion, echoed in a recent report by Mark Hibbs in Nuclear Fuel, is based on an examination of Iran’s uranium reserves, its stocks of yellowcake (uranium oxide) acquired from overseas sources and, the requirements to sustain a commercial nuclear power program. The absence of activity at one of Iran’s two uranium mines casts further doubt on its claims that it can establish independence in the fuel cycle required for a civil nuclear energy program.
IISS – The November 2008 test launch of Iran’s new Sajjil missile indicated a significant shift in the country’s missile-development programme. The immediate strategic impact will be limited, since neither the range nor the payload capacity of the Sajjil is substantially greater than that of Iran’s existing Shahab-3 missile. However, the transition from the liquid-propelled Shahab to production of the multi-stage, solid-fuelled Sajjil would be important if shown by further tests to be sustainable.
NPEC – George Washington University’s National Security Archive recently released a declassified July 1976 memorandum of conversation between then-Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and West German Ambassador Berndt von Staden that details how the Federal Republic of Germany in 1976 had committed itself to transferring plutonium chemical separation technology to Iran — as well as U.S. objections to this deal. After the fall of the Shah of Iran, this West German-Iranian reprocessing agreement was not implemented.
Mehr – Iran’s ambassador to Manama has said that Tehran will respect the “sovereignty” of Bahrain, the official Bahrain News Agency reported on Thursday. The remarks by Hossein Amir-Abdollahian came as the London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper has attributed statements to former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Akbar Neteq Nouri who had said Iran has “historical sovereignty” over Bahrain.
Press TV – A front man for the MKO has protested against Iraq’s decision to bring to trial the leaders of the terrorist group, calling it ‘illegal’. Alireza Jafarzadeh, a top member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization, appeared on the Fox news TV channel after the Iraqi government promised prosecution for certain leaders of the group.
Payvand – The International Baha’i Community says it is concerned that seven imprisoned members of the Baha’i faith are to be tried for charges including “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic.” Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i community’s envoy to the UN, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that the International Baha’i Community “rejects all the accusations.”

carrying goods home from an Afghan market

Two Afghan women clad in blue burkas and five children wearing a mix of Western and traditional clothing carry goods home from an Afghan market, Feb. 4, 2009. (photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika, who now serves with the 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group of the West Virginia Army National Guard. The unit recently deployed to conduct missions around the country in support of Operation Enduring Freedom XIII)

South Asia

GAO – Afghanistan Security: Corrective Actions Are Needed to Address Serious Accountability Concerns about Weapons Provided to Afghan National Security Forces
AKI – The Taliban’s al-Hamza Brigades carried out the deadly attacks in the capital Kabul on Wednesday that killed 28 people and injured scores, claimed messages posted to various jihadist websites and signed by the Taliban. “Sixteen mujahadeen martyrs from the al-Hamza Brigades executed the Kabul operation on the orders of (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar,” said the message.
Free Range International – Private security contractors have been in news lately mostly due to the ongoing Blackwater saga from Iraq. Afghanistan has had its share of security contractor issues too but the market has never been as big or as wild as the Iraq PSC market. I cannot comment on Blackwater’s operations in Iraq but do know a few of their contractors working Afghanistan. They seem to be above average in the quality department and better yet (the ones I know) are on interesting contracts
Pentagon – The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Feb. 10 in Salerno, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. The soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. Killed were Spc. Peter Courcy, Pfc. Jason R. Watson.
France Foreign Ministry – President Sarkozy was very shocked to learn of (Feb 11) murderous attack on French soldiers on patrol with a section of the Afghan national army in Logar province, south of Kabul. France’s commitment to the cause of peace and security for the Afghan people cost an officer his life, whilst another soldier was very seriously wounded. Their Afghan interpreter was also killed in the ambush.
Australia DoD – In the early hours of Thursday morning, 12 February 2009, soldiers of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) conducted clearance operations through a number of compounds of interest in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. During the conduct of this operation the soldiers were fired upon by Taliban insurgents. The SOTG engaged the insurgents, returning fire in accordance with their rules of engagement. No Australians were injured in the engagement, but a number of people have been killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals including five children killed, and two children and two adults injured.
CSIS – Dr. Anthony H. Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS, testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Afghanistan
CSM – In recent months, however, the US and Pakistani militaries have begun cooperating to try to secure the border by sharing intelligence and coordinating offensives on either side of it. “We’ve gone from almost a stalemate situation in the mountains to gaining an advantage we didn’t have before,” says Col. John Spiszer, the commander of US forces in the northeastern border areas.
Geo – The militants torched one more school in Odigram area, on the outskirts of Mingora on Thursday. One security personnel was killed and another wounded as clashes between security forces and militants continued in the restive Swat valley.
The News – Security forces on Thursday claimed to have killed four militants during a clash following an attack on a checkpost in Shandai Mor area of Bajaur.
The News – Five persons were killed and 12 others sustained injuries during the ongoing military operation in Swat valley on Thursday as people defied the curfew to stage rallies for peace for the third consecutive day
The Hindu – From Italy, Spain and an unnamed Middle East country to U.S. and Russia, the plotters of the Mumbai terror attack tapped local resources including dollar payment transfers and registering Internet domain names in a sinister global plan to numb India’s financial capital that left 183 persons dead. As Pakistan gave the first readout on its probe into 26/11 which saw cyber link coming to the fore, its Interior Minister Rehman Malik said leads also pointed to Europe and the United States for which he said FBI’s help and international cooperation will be sought to crack the case.
Dawn – The head of India’s elite National Security Guard (NSG) that spearheaded the counter-attack in Mumbai’s terror nightmare seems to have sown confusion here by claiming on Wednesday that Al Qaeda was among the groups involved in the attacks. Press Trust of India said the televised remarks had reportedly not gone well with the Home Ministry officials as “it could be seen as sensationalising the attack by bringing in Al Qaeda’s name”.
Times of India - Faced with unrelenting international pressure and incontrovertible evidence put together by India and US’s FBI, Pakistan on Thursday, 79 days after the Mumbai attacks, was forced to acknowledge that the heinous strikes were plotted from its soil. It also acknowledged that some of the perpetrators were from Laskhar-e-Taiba, the jihadi outfit aligned with ISI.
Bhaskar Roy, SAAG – Sharing a 4000 kilometre-long disputed border with China and having suffered a military attack from China in 1962, India cannot but be highly concerned about the aggressive military development in its immediate environment. China Defence White Paper – 2008 have some grave messages for its Asian neighbours which this paper intends to discuss.
Javno – India’s project to construct three nuclear-powered submarines at a southern India naval base is near completion, officials said on Thursday. India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation is also working on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which would be fitted into the new submarines, officials added. The country has plans to lease nuclear-powered submarines from Russia. It already has fighter aircraft and missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Sri Lanka MoD – The Sri Lankan security forces headquarters in Wanni, in response to the worsening plight of the thousands held hostage by LTTE terrorists in Mullaittivu, has declared a new Civilian Safety Zone (CSZ), with effect from Thursday (Feb 12). The new 12km long safe region demarcated along the Mullaittivu western coast is expected to facilitate flow of humanitarian aid and medical supplies for the people stranded with LTTE. The International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) has duly been informed of the new safe zone, defence sources reported.
Shanaka Jayasekara – In recent history there is only one example of an absolute victory over a terrorist group, that too from South Asia. The Indian forces completely destroyed the Khalisntan terror groups in Operation Blue Star in 1984. Today the Khalistan terror groups are limited to a few diapora supporters in Canada, US and UK. Currently, Sri Lanka is at the threshold of being the second example of an absolute victory over a terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The defeat of the LTTE is much a success of the Sri Lankan military as it is a grave miscalculation by the LTTE.

Far East & Pacific

Chosun Ilbo – North Korea has transported a missile to a launch site in Musudan-ri on the east coast using a special covered cargo carriage to make it difficult to track, intelligence agencies claimed Thursday. This 40m-long special cargo carriage is double the length of an ordinary carriage and said to be capable of carrying the first and second-stage rockets and components of the Taepodong-2. But South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies cannot say how large the missile is.
Asia Times – The plunge in oil prices has given China breathing space to reassess its domestic energy program and a strategy for its oil companies that was designed to cope with a higher price regime.
Xinhua – China’s mining giant Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) announced on Thursday it will inject 19.5 billion U.S. dollars in cash into Rio Tinto. The transaction will forge a pioneering strategic partnership through the creation of joint ventures in aluminium, copper, and iron ore.
NY Times – In a spate of arrests announced Thursday, Beijing officials put the blame for a Monday fire that destroyed part of the government’s spectacular new media complex squarely on the shoulders of the state-run television network. The police detained 12 people, including the chief of construction for the new headquarters of China Central Television, or CCTV, and eight employees of the firm the broadcaster hired to put on an illegal fireworks show that the authorities said ignited the blaze. The fire gutted a nearly completed 520-foot-high futuristic hotel that was part of CCTV’s new $1.1 billion headquarters, sometimes described as an architectural symbol of China’s rising power. One firefighter died, and seven people were injured.
East Asia Forum – It remains to be seen how responsive the Chinese will be to such thinking. There is less doubt, however, that Japan – the United States’ long-standing and arguably its most important Asia-Pacific ally – will be watching how this new U.S. policy unfolds with avid interest. So too will Australia, the other key U.S. ally in the region, and one with a record of success in calibrating its relations with Beijing and Washington so as to avoid having to choose sides when Sino-American differences intensify.
BBC – The Philippine government says it has arrested two men suspected of supporting the Indonesian militant group, Jemaah Islamiah (JI). JI is blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people. The Philippine anti-terrorism agency said the men were arrested last month in separate raids on the restive southern island of Mindanao.
Observing Japan – Perhaps the clearest sign that Mr. Aso is in trouble is that Mori Yoshiro, the self-appointed guardian of the past three prime ministers, did not dismiss Mr. Koizumi’s remarks outright. “Mr. Koizumi,” he said, “ought to watch his words, but the prime minister also talks too much.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Mr. Aso.
Irrawaddy – No hero’s welcome awaited the Karen in Rangoon, however. They saw their dream of independence disappear with the departure of the British and the advent of an independent Burma under a government that saw no reason to honor colonial pledges. So began one of the world’s longest civil wars, between Karen rebels and the Burmese army. Years of fighting have destroyed or uprooted countless Karan communities, sending thousands to seek refuge in the jungles of eastern Burma or into neighboring Thailand.
IPS – There are concerns that the behaviour of Fiji’s interim government indicates the possibility of a Burma-style dictatorship emerging in the Pacific nation. “Are we seeing the development of a militarised democracy [in Fiji]?” asks Prof. Brij Lal, a Fijian of Indian descent and expert on Fijian affairs at the Australian National University.
Stars and Stripes – While many military training exercises are marked by long days carrying heavy loads of equipment and long nights swatting at mosquitoes, the Warrior Focus exercise added new dimensions to training that some officials say might herald big changes in the way field exercises are conducted in South Korea

Europe

Poland Foreign Ministry – The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland has set a reward of 1 million Polish zloty or the equivalent in another currency which will be payable to the person who supplies information that directly leads to or causes in a significant way the bringing to justice of those who are guilty of the killing of the Polish citizen Piotr Sta?czak.
MSNBC – Britain barred a far-right Dutch lawmaker from entering the country Thursday because of his anti-Islamic views, touching off a wide-ranging debate in the U.K. about the limits of free speech.
RIA Novosti – Moldova and its breakaway region of Transdnestr should put aside any thoughts of unilateral solutions in order to restore confidence in the region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. “Coming to a consensus on giving up unilateral solutions and any form of pressure and resolving all disputed issues exclusively through peaceful political means should contribute to the restoration of trust in the region and the implementation of practical steps to meet each other halfway,” the ministry said after talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Transdnestr President Igor Smirnov.
euronews – Ukraine’s Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk has quit, claiming he had become a “hostage to politics”. The announcement was made amid a row over a huge deficit in a budget put together by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
euobserver – Austria, home to banks with massive exposure in eastern Europe, is calling on the EU to offer some €150 billion in a bail-out package for the east and warning of a banking “collapse” across the region that could snuff out the Alpine nation’s banking system. Latvia’s economy contracted 10.5 percent in the last quarter of 2008, according to figures released on Monday, while analysts fear Ukraine is on the verge of bankruptcy. Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania have also been badly hit.
Austrian Times – Vorarlberg military commander Gottfried Schröckenfuchs said the Austrian military was stretched to the limit financially. Schröckenfuchs added the military’s situation would become precarious if the finance ministry made any more cuts in its budget. He said he feared there would be fewer military exercises and less training.
Expatica – A ceremony has been held at the Zeebrugge military dockyard in West Flanders to mark the transfer of two ships from the Belgian to the Bulgarian Navy. In future the frigate F910 Wielingen and the mine-sweeper M922 Myosotis (Forget-me-not) will be known as the ‘Verni’ and the ‘Tsibar’.

Africa

Press TV - Different warring sides in Somalia have been receiving massive consignments of seaborne weaponry amid concerns about a resurgence of violence. On Tuesday night, two vessels carried substantial numbers of arms and armored vehicles to the southern Somali coast. The African troops in Somalia and the country’s transitional government were expected to collect the equipment, said a Press TV correspondent. Mortar attacks by unknown gunmen reportedly turned away the vessel sent for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Governmental agents, however, conveyed the arms to the Transitional Federal Government bases.
Garowe – Islamist hardliners in Somalia have vowed more war against the country’s new government Thursday, as suspected insurgents targeted Mogadishu’s main seaport with mortars, Radio Garowe reports.
Shabelle – The Somali Islamist insurgents in Bardhere town in Geda region have executed another Islamist soldier in the region, officials told Shabelle on Thursday. Reports from Bardhere town say that the Islamic court in Bardhere town has sentenced the man to be executed after he shot and killed another man who was 30 and called Aden Xage in the town before two days by a time the Islamist fighters were conducting operations banning the use of kat (green grass) in the town.
Andrew McGregor – Flush with petrodollars and beset by regional insurgencies and a possible resumption of the North-South civil war, Khartoum has become an important consumer of foreign arms despite a widely ignored international embargo. The Sudanese military is embarking on a massive modernization campaign and appears to have found a willing partner in Russia, which seeks to extend its influence in Africa and find new customers for Russia’s active arms industry as sales to China drop off dramatically. China has also become Russia’s main competition in arms sales to Africa and is frequently able to supply Chinese-built Russian-designs for significantly less than Russia’s arms industry.
ICC – Following press articles published today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) wishes to inform the media that no arrest warrant has been issued by the ICC against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. No decision has yet been taken by the judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I concerning the Prosecutor’s application of 14 July 2008 for the issuance of such a warrant.
AP – The weapons on display are all homemade: menacing-looking hunting knives, lances made of sticks topped with metal spears, long-barrelled shotguns. For decades, people in this Congolese town have made guns. But the industry has become a roaring business as people in this remote northeastern region arm themselves against the fearsome rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
New Times – Another Captain of the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) was captured by the joint Rwanda-DRC forces Wednesday and is reportedly on his way to Rwanda. According to Wednesday’s joint operations communiqué, Pontier Nkeramihigo, alias Richard Amani, was captured in Walikale region, somewhere within one of eastern DRC’s richest mines, Bisie, the largest cassiterite mine in North Kivu.
Ethan Zuckerman – Biti is one of the founders of Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC. He’s been a major thorn in the side of Robert Mugabe’s government and, as recently as last Thursday, was on trial for treason for his alleged role in attempting to overthrow Mugabe’s government and rig last year’s elections. These charges made it significantly more difficult for Biti to act as MDC’s negotiator in talks to form a unity government
Xinhua – Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday pledged to increase aid to African countries, cancel part of their debts, and expand trade with and investment in these countries. The Chinese president made the pledge while meeting with his Malian counterpart Amadou Toumany Toure.
AFRICOM – Mozambican Marines joined sailors with the USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49) to practice Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) and small boat operations techniques, February 10, 2009 as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS).

Secretary Gates escorts Lithuanian Minister of Defense Rasa Jukneviciene

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, right, escorts Lithuanian Minister of Defense Rasa Jukneviciene through an honor cordon to discuss bilateral defense issues at the Pentagon, Feb. 12, 2009. (photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Molly A. Burgess)

The Global War

Air Force – A panel of experts provided insights on persistent conflicts throughout the world to more than 300 participants in the 20th Annual Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict symposium here Feb. 10. Although Iraq and Afghanistan dominate the headlines, much of the “fight” General Farrell referred to is occurring elsewhere. About 55,000 military members of U.S. Special Operations Command are spread out in more than 60 countries, assisting local governments, providing humanitarian aid and training soldiers and police, Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of Special Operations Command, said.
AFPS – When he thinks about the future and evolution of the U.S. military, characteristics of special operations forces comes to mind, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here last night. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told an audience attending the 20th Annual Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict symposium banquet that the lethality, precision and small footprint that makes Special Forces lighter, faster and more agile is the direction in which the U.S. military is heading. “All of our military has to adapt those of kinds of qualities and characteristics,” Mullen said. “That’s where [the military] is, and that’s where we’re going.”
Bloggers Roundtable – Colonel Laurie G. Moe Buckhout, Chief, Electronic Warfare Division, Army Operations, Readiness and Mobilization (HQDA G3/5/7) joined bloggers and online journalists to discuss the Army’s new Electronic Warfare (EW) 29-series career field for officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel. “The war in Iraq began to make us understand better that there are a lot of targets that we need to go after…IEDs were just the tip of the iceberg,” explained Buckhout.
Paul Cruickshank – Two years later, Abdessattar would become a martyr. This past December, Malika would be arrested in a vast counterterrorism operation in Belgium, with authorities calling her “an al Qaeda living legend.” Utter devotion led them there. I first came into contact with Malika el Aroud four years ago when I obtained a rare copy of her self-published memoir, Soldiers of Light, while I was helping to research a book and CNN documentary on Osama bin Laden. I found her e-mail address, but it would take six months of phone calls before she would agree to meet with me for an interview.
CNAS – In THE GAMBLE: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, CNAS Senior Fellow Thomas E. Ricks documents the inside story of the Iraq war since late 2005. Using hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reporting, Ricks—working in the tradition of his highly lauded bestseller Fiasco—examines the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the surge was launched, and a very different war began.
IMINT and Analysis – Worldwide SAM Site Overview

Sights & Sounds

Africa Today – *In Kenya, a controversial vote to create a special tribunal on last year’s post-election violence is defeated in parliament *The new Zimbabwean finance minister tells us the governor of the reserve bank’s position is now untenable. *And, Liberian President in a no-holds-barred appearance before her country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.