Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

February 19, 2009 (1:16 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 19 February 2009.

United States & the Americas

White House – There is no more solemn duty as President than the decision to deploy our armed forces into harm’s way. I do it today mindful that the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action. The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan, and al Qaeda supports the insurgency and threatens America from its safe-haven along the Pakistani border. To meet urgent security needs, I approved a request from Secretary Gates to deploy a Marine Expeditionary Brigade later this spring and an Army Stryker Brigade and the enabling forces necessary to support them later this summer.
Jurist - A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Wednesday reversed an October district court order that would have provided for the release of 17 Uighur Guantanamo Bay detainees into the US. Lawyers for the detainees had argued that the Uighur’s continued detention was improper, but the DC Circuit agreed with the government’s position that admission of aliens into the US was a decision for either the executive or legislative branch, and that the detainees were not denied a statutory or constitutional right by being excluded. (read decision here)
Andy McCarthy – Very interesting: the court here drops a footnote: “The Guantanamo Naval Base is not part of the sovereign territory of the United States. Congress so determined in in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005[.]… The Immigration and Nationality Act … also does not treat Guantanamo as part of the United States.” This, folks, is the line of scrimmage for the coming battle. In Boumediene, the Supreme Court held that alien enemy combatants held in Gitmo somehow had a federal constitutional right to habeas corpus (i.e., civilian judicial review of the lawfulness of their detention).
Newshour – President Barack Obama visits Canada on Thursday, where issues of the economy and war in Afghanistan will likely be discussed. NewsHour reporters traveled to Ottawa to learn what Canadians hope to hear during the visit and examine how the country’s economy is faring.
National Post – Immigration Minister Jason Kenney addressed the international conference aimed at addressing rising anti-Semitism yesterday at London’s Lancaster House, on behalf of the government of Canada. In the full text of his speech below, he explains why he his government will cut funding to groups, who, he says, express “hateful sentiments” against Jews—he mentions the Canadian Arab Federation and the Canadian Islamic Congress—and calls on other countries to also take a “zero tolerance approach to expressions of anti-Semitism in the public square.”
Al Arabiya – Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation slammed Canadian politicians at an anti-Gaza war rally in Toronto calling immigration minister Jason Kenney “a professional whore,” for supporting Israel’s assault on Gaza. Kenney said that groups are free within legal limits to speak their mind, but cannot expect to get tax payer’s money if they say intolerant and hateful things, according to news reports.
Ireland Foreign Ministry – Speaking from Havana during the first official visit by an Irish Foreign Minister to Cuba, Minister Michael Martin said: I am delighted to be here in Cuba today and to have had a most engaging meeting with Foreign Minister Felipe Peréz Roque. We discussed a broad range of topics including the possibilities for developing bilateral relations and trade.
El Ciudadano - Ecuador’s government said Wednesday it will expel a U.S. Embassy official who allegedly disputed the transfer of a senior police investigator amid a growing diplomatic spat over Washington’s aid to the South American nation. It is the second expulsion order against a U.S. Embassy official this month by President Rafael Correa, who has accused American officials of “insolence” for conditioning aid on the right to veto personnel choices.
Prensa Latina – Bolivian President Evo Morales highlighted on Wednesday his visits to Russia and France this week, as well as agreements signed in the fields of energy, culture, defense and drug fight. In remarks to foreign journalist at Quemado Palace, Morales also extolled support given by peers Dmitri Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy to the implementation of the new Constitution in force as of February 7.
MercoPress – The number of deaths from hemorrhagic dengue so far this year in Bolivia has increased to 13, the government reported while admitting that an outbreak of malaria has been detected in three provinces. National epidemiology director Juan Carlos Arraya told the media that 13 people have now died from hemorrhagic dengue, the most virulent form of the disease, while almost 22,000 cases of ordinary dengue fever have been detected, between possible and confirmed.
France24 – Argentina’s government reacted furiously to a joke on Latin American “death flights” allegedly made by Italian Premier Minister Silvio Berlusconi and summoned Italy’s ambassador in Buenos Aires for explanations.
LAHT - A senior state police officer was killed Tuesday outside his home in the southeastern Mexican town of Cardenas, authorities said. Francisco Federico Lopez Brito, who commanded the local garrison of the Tabasco state police, was surprised by heavily armed assailants as he was getting into his pickup truck to go to work.
AP – A man was shot dead as he drove during the night during riots and protests over the high cost of living, officials said Wednesday – the first fatality in a nearly month-old strike that has hammered this French Caribbean island’s tourist industry and paralyzed daily life.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

VOA – A European mediator says Russia and Georgia have reached an agreement on how to prevent armed conflict in and around the Georgian breakaway territory of South Ossetia. Other EU personnel say the agreement includes weekly meetings to discuss incidents that could possibly undermine regional security. Officials also say a hotline may also be established linking the adversaries.
Jerusalem Post – Russia has frozen the sale of the state-of-the-art S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday. Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar was reportedly informed of the decision by his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov on his visit to Moscow on Wednesday.
RIA Novosti – The parliamentary faction of the Kyrgyz ruling party Ak Zhol unanimously voted on Wednesday to approve the closure of the U.S. Manas airbase in the north of the country. The Kyrgyz parliament is set to discuss on February 19 the termination of a deal that allows the U.S. to use the airbase after its annulment was approved by the last of three key parliamentary committees on Tuesday.
EurasiaNet – A senior official from US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) has begun a five-day visit to Tajikistan, Russian media outlets are reporting. Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek, who heads the Strategy, Policy, Programs, and Logistics Directorate at TRANSCOM, the deployment and distribution arm of the US Department of Defense, was expected to discuss the delivery on non-military goods to Afghanistan through Tajikistan.
RIA Novosti – The Russian Navy has handed over to Yemen 10 Somali pirates detained several days ago off the Horn of Africa, Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
RIA Novosti – Three police officers were injured in a car explosion on Wednesday in the Sunzha District of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, a local police official said.
EurasiaNet – A $500 million “stabilization” loan from the Kremlin is stoking debate in Armenia about the potential political ramifications of Russian assistance. Armenian leaders, however, are denying reports that Russia has set certain conditions in exchange for the financial assistance.
RFERL – Azerbaijan’s Chechen community wants residency rights so that they can work legally, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports.
Paul Gregory – On January 29, 2009 the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court upheld the October 14, 2008 verdict of the Moscow regional court to terminate the investigation of the Katyn massacre of Polish officers in April and May of 1940.

Middle East

Voices of Iraq – Unknown gunmen on Wednesday killed a leader of the Islamic party in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire at the car of Samir Safwat, leader of the Iraqi Islamic party, while he was leaving his house in al-Zaafaraniya neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Al Sumaria – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani agreed to share power within his Kurdistan Patriotic Union Party to avoid a split which would weaken the party ahead of legislative elections in Iraq Kurdistan.
Asharq Al Awsat – Ezzat Al Shahbandar, a member of the Iraqi Parliament for the Iraqi National List Party that is led by Iyad Allawi revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat “the presence of a plan to topple Nouri Al-Maliki’s government via parliament.” Speaking about the crisis caused by the resignation of Mahmoud Al Mashhadani from the position of Parliamentary Speaker in December, Al Shahbandar said “Al Maliki will strongly be against the appointment of Ayad Al Samarrai as Parliamentary Speaker, who is not standing independently, but is being put forward by the Iraqi Islamic party that holds four positions in the Iraqi government.”
MNF Iraq – Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 54th Brigade, 6th IA Division, discovered an improvised explosive device in the Mansour district of northwest Baghdad Feb. 17. While conducting checkpoint security at approximately 12:30 p.m., IA Soldiers reported finding an IED attached underneath a vehicle at an IA checkpoint. The Soldiers immediately advised the driver to pull the car over and exit the vehicle. Moments later, the IED detonated. As a result of the IA soldiers’ quick thinking, the blast only caused damage to the vehicle and no one was injured.
Haaretz – Setting in motion the process of forming Israel’s next government, President Shimon Peres met Wednesday night with representatives of the Kadima party, to hear their views on whom to charge with the task of building a coalition. Kadima representatives recommended party leader Tzipi Livni for the task, saying that her moderate views could represent a unity government that would strech from the center to the fringes, both to right and to the left. Under Israeli law, the president has to meet with all factions that won Knesset seats in an election, to hear who they recommend for the premiership.
ITIC – Evidence from Operation Cast Lead Shows Hamas Uses Mosques to Store Weapons and as Sites Launch Rockets and Mortar Shells
Naharnet – Egypt has pledged full support to the Lebanese army and expressed readiness to manufacture the establishment’s arms, Lebanese Defense Minister said Wednesday after talks with the Egyptian president, the Kuwait News Agency report. Murr arrived in Cairo Tuesday for talks with Egyptian officials on possible military assistance to the Lebanese army.
NOW Lebanon – The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, due to try the suspected killers of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, said Wednesday it will open its doors in a suburb of The Hague on March 1.
Saba – The Iranian side in the Yemeni-Iranian Technical Committee led by advisor to Iranian Energy and Electricity minister Ali Hassan Zadeh arrived on Wednesday in Yemen. Zadeh said the committee will hold a meeting that will deal with issues related trade between the two countries as well as cooperation in areas such as investment, education, health and development of industry in the two countries.
Armies of Liberation – Second Drone Crashes in Two Weeks; The US could be running the drones with Yemen gov’t permission, or not. First was in Lahj and about a meter wide. This one was on Socotra. Maybe turbulence from the sandstorms blew it down. They are not even suggesting the drones are Iraninan, like they did a year or two ago.
Today’s Zaman – Turkey Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül, who is in Poland to attend a NATO meeting today and Friday, is likely to hear US demands for more commitments in Afghanistan after President Barack Obama ordered in 17,000 more troops on Tuesday to battle a worsening insurgency there. Gönül is attending a two-day meeting in Krakow, bringing together defense ministers from NATO countries in preparation for the alliance’s summit in April.

Iran

Press TV – The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is reportedly considering a year-long request by Iran to join the security bloc as a full member. “Consideration of Tehran’s bid is moving ahead in accordance with standard procedures. I think that a decision on the issue could be announced at a SCO summit in Yekaterinburg [Russia] in June,” RIA Novosti quoted an SCO source as saying.
ISNA – Iran’s Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov started the first round of talks in Moscow. Najjar arrived in Moscow on Tuesday on the official invitation of Serdyukov. Najjar responded by saying expansion of ties with Russia in all fields is among Iran’s priorities particularly within a strategic cooperation framework.
VOA – A top Iranian defense official says Tehran has built an unmanned surveillance aircraft with a range of more than 950 kilometers. The claim, if true, would put the drone within range of Israel.
Uskowi on Iran – New Scientist reported today that Iran’s Safir-2 rocket that launched the country’s first homebuilt satellite into orbit on 2 February was more powerful and advanced than initially thought. “Initially, outside rocket experts thought the Safir-2 was based on scud missile technology…[mounting] a very small, solid-fuelled third stage… to provide the final kick needed to get Omid to orbit,” New Scientist reports. But satellite trackers reported that the final stage, which also reached orbit, appeared “much too bright to be a tiny third stage, hinting that it might be a two-stage vehicle using more advanced technology instead.”
Africasia – Private investors gave a lukewarm response to the sale on Wednesday of a five percent stake in Iran’s state-owned Bank Mellat, the first stage of a planned privatisation, news agencies reported. “As per the plan, five percent of Bank Mellat’s shares were offered on the stock exchange,” the state-owned IRNA news agency quoted Tehran Stock Exchange director Ali Sahrai as saying. The sale of shares in Bank Mellat, one of three Iranian banks under US sanctions, is the first phase of a planned 80 percent divestment, the first privatisation of a state-owned bank in the Islamic republic.
IRIB – IRI’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) is to launch a new ray detector system to show safety of its nuclear industries to the world. He announced launching detection stations in 13 Iranian cities until now adding that the number of these cities would be increased to 50 stations by the next year.
KUNA – UAE has strongly condemned Wednesday the irresponsible statements made by a number of Iranian officials against the Kingdom of Bahrain by way of undermining the established historical realities. According the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the UAE also urged the Iranian side to retract these statements and denouncing them to put an end to such claims.
Bahrain News Agency – The Representatives Council has strongly condemned recent claims by the Iranian officials who allegedly encroached on Bahrain sovereignty, Arab identity and indepednence. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the council described the Iranian claims as baseless, irresponsible and unacceptable.
Payvand – An Iranian firm has won a $1.5 billion contract to build a new town in the southern city of Basra, Hayder Ali, the head of Basra Investment Commission said.
Mehr – The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) stated here on Wednesday that NIOC and the French Total company will sign a $5 billion contract by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20).
Fars – Senior Iranian and Bulgarian officials met here in Tehran on Wednesday to review bilateral ties in different fields and discuss international and economic cooperation.
Xinhua – A bomb exploded on Wednesday in a mosque in the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, a volatile region close to the Pakistani border, local semi-official news agency Fars reported. Local police was quoted by Fars as saying that no casualties were reported, only some damage to the properties in the explosion in Zahedan’s Al-Ghadir mosque. According to initial reports, an unidentified man, who arrived on a motorcycle, carried the bomb and tried to enter the mosque, police officer Salah Asgharpour said. But the man failed to enter the mosque and the explosive device was placed in the kitchen.

paved road in the Deywagal Valley of Afghanistan’s Konar province

Villagers line a new road waiting for the local governor to arrive to officially open a paved road in the Deywagal Valley of Afghanistan’s Konar province, Feb. 6, 2009. The Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team and the 1st Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team spent two years building the seven-mile road, offering Afghans better access to hospitals, schools and markets. (photo by Staff Sgt. David Hopkins)

South Asia

AFPS – Cavalry scouts and Afghan National Army soldiers conduct ongoing dangerous missions along the unpaved roadways in northeastern Afghanistan’s Konar province. “We do about 20 to 25 missions a month,” said Army Capt. Paul Roberts, commander of the 1st Infantry Division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. “We do combat logistics patrol overwatch, night patrols, route [reconnaissance].”
UK MoD – Waves of helicopter-borne troops caught the Taliban by surprise in a meticulously planned assault which has struck severely at the narcotics industry in Helmand which helps finance the Taliban’s insurgency.
Pentagon – The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Hansen, 24, of Tracy, Calif., died Feb. 14 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, Marine Wing Support Group 17, 1st Marine Air Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Iwakuni, Japan.
Xinhua – Taliban insurgents killed two students on charge of spying for the U.S.-led Coalition troops in Afghanistan’s Wardak province, spokesman for provincial administration Adam Khan said Wednesday. “The insurgents abducted and shot dead the two students in Syedabad district Tuesday evening after they spoke with Coalition soldiers in the area,” Khan told Xinhua.
IWPR – If nothing else, Ghulam Yahya Akbari has had a colourful life. The onetime jihadi commander, who had a spell as the mayor of Herat before taking arms again, has fought against almost everyone during his 30 years of warfare. Now his main enemy may be the United States-led Coalition forces, which launched an airstrike against him on February 17. “They tried to hit me but struck a family of Kuchis instead,” said Yahya, speaking to IWPR by telephone shortly after the attack.
Dawn – Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad urged the people of Swat on Tuesday to support efforts for peace so that the region was put back on the path to progress and prosperity. Addressing a large number of people and TNSM workers here, Maulana Sufi praised the people of Swat for putting up a fight for the enforcement of Sharia in Malakand division and Kohistan district of Hazara division.
Geo – Geo news and The News correspondent, Mosa Khankhel has been killed in Matta on Wednesday. According to sources, Mosa Khankhel was shot dead when he was on duty in Matta area. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sherry Rehman has strongly condemned the killing of Geo news correspondent
Gulf News – The ruling Pakistan People’s Party high command has moved to oust prominent political figure Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan from the party, apparently over his role in the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of independent judiciary.
Times of India – The Indian Navy, in a Code Red alarm, has warned that terrorists can exploit lax container security at ports to smuggle in ‘dirty’ nuclear bombs or other WMDs.
Colombo Page – Sri Lanka government today reiterated its stance of no ceasefires with the LTTE rejecting the fresh calls for a truce while the security forces are on the edge of defeating the terrorism.
TamilNet – At least 50 civilians were killed Wednesday around 12:50 p.m. when four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped cluster bombs on Internally Displaced Civilians at Aananthapuram in Ira’naippaalai, according to initial reports from medical sources. More than 70 wounded were rushed to hospital so far and 10 of the victims have died on the way to Maaththa’lan hospital. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an artillery barrage blocking transportation of wounded to hospitals.

Far East & Pacific

Reuters – North Korea said on Thursday it was ready for war with the South, just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was set to arrive in Seoul for talks on defusing the North’s military threat.
Chosun Ilbo – Two Aegis destroyers of the U.S. Navy commanded by Korean-American officers will for the first time take part in a regular U.S.-Korean military exercise in March. A military source on Wednesday said the so-called Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercise will be staged across Korea from March 9 to 20, and two U.S. Aegis ships led by Korean-American naval commanders will take part.
Yonhap – North Korea on Thursday blasted a planned South Korea-U.S. war drill as “war preparation maneuver” and warned that the two countries will pay a “high price” if they go ahead with it. “The war preparation maneuver being made by the United States and South Korea will bring a wind of fire to the Korean Peninsula and they will be forced to pay a high price for this, as it goes against peace and against the times,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency said.
Japan Times – Crude steel production in January plunged 37.8 percent from a year earlier to 6.37 million tons, posting the sharpest fall since comparable data became available in January 1949, an industry body said Wednesday. The global recession blunted demand, sending national output of crude steel to a record low for a second consecutive month, data by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation showed
Jakarta Post – The United States plans to seek more advice from Indonesia to effectively dealing with the military-ruled Myanwar, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday in Jakarta.
China Daily – US arms sales to Taiwan are an “obvious factor” that may cause friction between Washington and Beijing, Chinese analysts said yesterday, responding to Hillary Clinton’s hint that the new US administration may continue the sales. Clinton, President Barack Obama’s secretary of state, affirmed on Monday that there will be no change in Washington’s policy on arms sales to Taiwan.
Irrawaddy – Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the Burmese junta leader, met with Thailand’s Army Chief Gen Anupong Paojinda on Tuesday to discuss the Rohingya boat people issue, the state-run The New Light of Myanmar reported.

Europe

Guardian – Human rights groups warned last night that the global ban on torture had been undermined by the British law lords’ ruling yesterday that the radical Islamist preacher and terror suspect, Abu Qatada, can be sent back to Jordan to face trial. The judgment revived the government’s hopes of implementing its “deportation with assurances” strategy to deal with nine Algerians and three Jordanians, including Qatada, who have been certified as “international terror suspects”.
ICSR – Recruitment and Mobilisation for the Islamist Militant Movement in Europe
Italy Foreign Ministry – Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini is in Herat this morning, site of the Italian military headquarters in Afghanistan, to pay a visit to our troops at the RAC-WEST base and to meet with Provincial Governor Nouristani. He goes on to Kabul in the afternoon where he will be welcomed by President Karzai and Minister for Foreign Affairs Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
UK Foreign Ministry – Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, held a press conference with Foreign Minister Spanta on 18 February 2009 during a visit to Afghanistan. David Miliband said that he was delighted to be back for his fourth visit in the last 18 months and noted that the UK’s commitment to Afghanistan is long term and comprehensive.
Stockholm News – One former Guantanamo Bay inmate, Adel Abdul Hakimjan, has received a permanent residence permit in Sweden after a decision by the Migration Court today. Hakimjan comes from the Xinjiang province in west China. He is a Uyghur by nationality and fled China in 1999.
Javno – Sweden will play their Davis Cup first round tie against Israel next month in an empty arena because of security concerns, the Swedish news agency TT reported on Wednesday. The decision was taken through a vote of the recreational committee of the southern city of Malmo, where the tie will be staged from March 6-8 in the 4,000-seat indoor Baltiska Hallen. “This is about a high-risk match,” TT quoted committee chairman Bengt Forsberg as saying. “We made the decision to play without a crowd only because of security reasons.”
Military.com – Poland and the Czech Republic enraged Russia by backing a U.S. plan to put missile bases in their countries. Now, as the Obama administration signals a willingness to reverse course ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting starting Thursday, those two countries are fearful of being left out on a limb with their giant neighbor nursing a grudge.
BBC – The lower house of the Czech parliament has approved the EU’s Lisbon Treaty – a key step towards ratification. The treaty has not yet been approved by the upper house, the Senate, where its passage is likely to be further delayed by right-wing opponents. The Czech Republic – current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency – is among a handful of countries that have not yet ratified the reform treaty.
Bloomberg – Greek police said they thwarted a car bomb attack at a branch of Citigroup Inc.’s Citibank in a northern Athens suburb. The makeshift explosive device, comprising five household propane gas canisters filled with fertilizer-based explosives and attached to detonators and mechanical clocks, was destroyed in a controlled explosion, the police department said in a statement on its Web site. The bomb was found in a stolen car parked opposite the Citibank branch in Kifissia.
Greece Foreign Ministry – Today, at 12:30, Foreign Minister Ms. Dora Bakoyannis will take part in Prime Minister Karamanlis’ talks with the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Alief, at the Maximos Mansion. This meeting will be followed by a working luncheon. Tomorrow evening, Ms. Bakoyannis will depart for Vienna, where the Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will take place on 19 and 20 February. On Friday, 20 February, at 12:00, Ms. Bakoyannis will receive Mr. Barciela, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the Foreign Ministry. On Sunday, 22 February, She will depart for the United States. The visit will start in Washington. Let me give you some additional information regarding her itinerary for this trip.

Africa

Shabelle – Eyewitnesses said Wednesday more Ethiopian troops with about 60 military vehicles have re-entered in Bakool region in south western Somalia. The Ethiopian troops entered in Rabdhuure and Yeed Villages in Bakool region, where they have reportedly arrested some civilians in the area. Ethiopia denied that its troops re-entered Somalia, but residents confirmed the returning of the Ethiopian soldiers. It is not known why the Ethiopian troops have returned back to Somalia, but Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian prime minister, said on Friday that Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed could not give him guarantee that Somalia would not plunge into chaos.
Sudan Tribune – Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, the founder of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, said today he visited Israel recently in a move to boost social normalization between the Sudanese and Israeli peoples, pledging for strategic relations between the two countries. The rebel leader confirmed reports published by Israeli press this week about his visit to Tel Aviv. The daily Haaretz had said he paid the visit at his own initiative with some French Jewish, to attend a security conference there. The report also said he met with a senior Israeli security official.
Khaleej Times – Al Qaeda’s wing in North Africa has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings of a Canadian UN envoy and his aide and four Western tourists in West Africa since December, Al Jazeera television said on Tuesday
BBCs – The Kenyan military has started moving a shipment of weapons delivered by the Ukrainian MV Faina by rail to a military base in Nairobi. The arms are being transported by rail to the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi under military security. Kenya says it purchased the cargo of 33 Soviet-era T-72 combat tanks and ammunition for its military.
Egypt Foreign Ministry – Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry stated that Egypt is to participate in the UN peacekeeping mission in east Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), which functions in the region since the eruption of the crisis in the 90s.
SW Radio Africa – There is a well coordinated plan by elements in ZANU PF to push the remaining white farmers off their land, before this practice is outlawed by the inclusive government, Newsreel learnt on Wednesday. Gerry Whitehead, a Chiredzi based farmer, told us police officers and district administrators have been visiting the remaining white farmers and serving them with eviction orders.
Xinhua - The third attempt to take the ministries launched by the Madagascan opposition calmly ended in failure on Wednesday in the center of the capital city. At the end of Wednesday’s operation, “Minister of Public Security” of the “transitional government” appointed by the opposition, Organes Rakotomiantarizaka, called on wives and children of the armed forces to come to the spot Thursday, saying that the armed forces would not open fire at their family.
Asia Times – Rather than over-analyze China’s geo-economic posturing in the wake of President Hu Jintao’s Africa visit, a better approach to unscrambling the driving currents of Beijing’s grand designs would be to focus on the incentives of some of the individuals involved. A look at Hu’s dining companions would be a good start.

USS Seawolf, JS Oonami, USS John C. Stennis

The Seawolf-class submarine USS Seawolf, front, the Japanese destroyer JS Oonami, left, and the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis steam in formation during a photo exercise in the Pacific Ocean, Feb. 12, 2009. (photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter M. Wayman)

The Global War

Times Online – The CIA is secretly using an airbase in southern Pakistan to launch the Predator drones that observe and attack al-Qaeda and Taleban militants on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan, a Times investigation has found. The Times has discovered that the CIA has been using the Shamsi airfield — originally built by Arab sheikhs for falconry expeditions in the southwestern province of Baluchistan — for at least a year. The strip, which is about 30 miles from the Afghan border, allows US forces to launch a Drone within minutes of receiving actionable intelligence as well as allowing them to attack targets further afield.
Guardian – MI5 provided the CIA with material to interrogate Binyam Mohamed, the former UK resident at the centre of torture allegations, even though it had no idea where he was being held and in what condition he was in, it emerged yesterday.
Refugees International – As President Obama works to stabilize Iraq, he must be sure to comprehensively address the Iraqi refugee crisis. Five million Iraqis have been uprooted by conflict, forced to leave everything behind. They have sought refuge within Iraq, Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries. They are running out of resources with little opportunity for employment; access to food, heath care, education and other essential services is extremely limited. The conditions for Iraqis to return home safely do not exist, and millions of Iraqi refugees are unlikely and unwilling to return to Iraq in the foreseeable future. The U.S. administration must lead international efforts to meet the long-term needs of displaced Iraqis. Failure to assist Iraqis will have dramatic impacts on security inside Iraq.
Newsweek – Lessons In Survival; The science that explains why elite military forces bounce back faster than the rest of us.
PACAF Pixels – The Air Force Live blog noted a feature article by Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down. He writes in the March 2009 “The Atlantic” on some of the difficult decisions that face the future of U.S. Air Dominance. Several Airmen from Elmendorf Air Force Base were interviewed as part of the research for the feature. On The Atlantic’s website, the feature article is accompanied by this five-minute overview video, “View from the cockpit.”
NATO – Noble Manta 09, NATO’s largest annual anti-submarine warfare exercise, takes place in the Ionian Sea to the Southeast of Sicily from 13 to 27 February 2009. Eight NATO nations provide 6 submarines, 9 surface ships and 13 aircraft – including ship-based helicopters – to take part in the event.

Sights & Sounds

Jacqueline Shire and Jeffrey Lewis: When Wonks Collide – Just your everyday nuclear submarine fender-bender… Russian and American satellites crash in orbit!… Is Iran getting better at developing a nuclear weapon?… Iran’s centrifuges: monitor or eliminate?… Debating whether sanctions can work as arms control… Particle power: evidence of N. Korean uranium enrichment?