Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

February 24, 2009 (1:05 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 24 February 2009.

United States & the Americas

AFPS – The detention facilities at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, meet all standards of humane treatment and are in compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, the vice chief of naval operations said today.
Pentagon transcript – DoD News Briefing With Adm. Walsh From The Pentagon
Phil Leggiere – The report, titled National Cyber Security Research and Development Challenge: an Industry, Academic and Government Perspective, prepared by Dartmouth’s Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) at the request of US Senators Joseph Lieberman and Susan Collins, for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, includes a set of recommendations for advancing research in cyber security that can be implemented in the next five to 10 years.
Federal Register – 2005 Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Recommendations for the Joint Strike Fighter Initial Joint Training Site at Eglin Air Force Base, FL
Calgary Herald – Widespread declines in all sectors pushed retail sales down 5.4 per cent in December to $33.0 billion across the country – the largest monthly decline in over 15 years, exceeding the 4.5 per cent sales drop in January 1998 when an ice storm crippled part of the country, says Statistics Canada.
COHA – Brazil had a strong 2008 and will continue to rise in the global hierarchy despite setbacks caused by the world financial crisis – New ties to China, Russia, and other quasi-super power nations show Brazil trying to balance relations between Latin America and extra-hemispheric emerging markets
Javno – More than 300 municipal police officers in Zihuatanejo went on strike after grenades were lobbed at their offices over the weekend

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Kremlin – President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon will make a working visit to Russia on February 24, 2009, at the invitation of Dmitry Medvedev.
David Trilling – Tajikistan: After a Dalliance with Washington, Is Dushanbe Getting Back Together with Moscow?
Itar-Tass – Financial crisis will not affect the major parameters of the state defense order and critically important research and development works in the field of defense technologies, General Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff told reporters here Monday. He is taking part in the 9th International Defense Exhibition IDEX underway here.
Kavkaz Center – Today is the 65th anniversary of Stalin’s deportation of the Chechens and Ingush from their homelands in the North Caucasus to the wilds of Central Asia, an act of genocide in which more than half of those sent east lost their lives and one that lies behind many of the recent tragedies in that part of the world. Today, when Russian officials are celebrating Fatherland Defender Day, most Chechens and Ingush, many other North Caucasians, and a significant share of Muslims elsewhere in the Russian Federation are marking with prayers and other actions the 65th anniversary of the Soviet deportation of the Chechens and Ingush.
Dzhambulat Are – Chechnya – Who are they – the leaders of Ichkeria past and present, of the Caucasus Emirate and the armed groups that operate underground? On the new Chechen Grozny TV channel a talk show organized and virtually hosted by the Moscow-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov provided a detailed answer to this question. In the programme yesterday’s intransigent fighters of the Ichkerian and Islamist underground reminisced about their former colleagues. In his role as television producer and presenter Ramzan Kadyrov managed to achieve some remarkable results. Having brought together in one room a few dozen of his recent enemies among the Ichkerian field commanders, he made them systematically trample in the mud not only their former comrades-at-arms, but also themselves. Several hours of shame and demonstrative self-abasement seemed to bring the participants of this collective rite of atonement a peculiar gratification.
Kevin Daniel Leahy – The past two years have witnessed the emergence of Anzor Astemirov as one of the main ideologists of the rebel movement in the North Caucasus. He has grandly claimed responsibility for splitting the movement in late 2007 by conspiring with rebel leader Doku Umarov to establish the so-called Caucasus Emirate. This political achievement, in tandem with other political-military strategies he has helped develop over the past several years, marks him out as an actor of some significance within the often-opaque political structures of the Caucasus Emirate.
Roger McDermott – Kazakhstan’s Defense Policy: An Assessment of the Trends
Georgian Times – Plan of Georgian occupation is worked out in the Kremlin, according to which Russian military forces will enter Tbilisi from Tskhinvali and Akhalgori and occupy North part of the city. Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer stated about it in interview to the paper ‘Kviris Palitra’.
Civil Georgia – Kürsad Tüzmen, the Turkish state minister for foreign trade, will start his two-day visit to Georgia on February 23. Accompanied by dozens of Turkish businessmen, the State Minister will participate in a Turkish-Georgian business forum. He is also expected to meet with Georgian PM Nika Gilauri. Turkey is the Georgia’s major trading partner.
Trend – The foreign ministers of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development-GUAM plan to discuss cooperation in Kiev. The organization unites Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. The GUAM Ministerial Council’s meeting will take place on the day of the opening of the new GUAM headquarters in Kiev on Feb. 26, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Ukraine told Trend News on Feb. 23.

Middle East

MNF Iraq – Three U.S. Coalition Soldiers and an interpreter died as a result of combat operations in Diyala Province, Iraq, Feb. 23.
The Tension – Violent attacks in Iraq are at their lowest levels since August 2003, a U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday. Army Maj. Gen. David Perkins, director for strategic effects at Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad the downtick in violence marks a 90-percent decrease since the surge of U.S. troops began in 2007.
John A. McCary – The Anbar Awakening: An Alliance of Incentives
Al Sumaria – Iraq Security Forces arrested the General Mufti of Sharee’ah Princes in Al Qaeda Ismail Al Sattar also known as the Blind Mufti who has issued Fatwahs allowing killing civilians and military men. Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf affirmed that in the next days to come Iraq security forces will work on arresting the members of this terrorist cell
Payvand – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will visit Tehran on Wednesday for a two-day visit, Iraqi sources said. The president will be accompanied by four cabinet ministers.
Al Jazeera – Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have locked horns, with accusations of spying for Israel and trying to derail inter-factional talks. The spat comes ahead of “reconciliation talks” between the factions scheduled to take place in Egypt on Wednesday.
NOW Lebanon – Special Tribunal Registrar Robin Vincent announced that the court would request Lebanese authorities transfer the four generals arrested in connection with the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to The Hague. In an interview with Al-Arabiya television on Sunday night, Vincent said Lebanon would also be asked to submit all documents two months after the tribunal begins its work on March 1, 2009.

Iran

Fars – Iran and Venezuela should cooperate with each other in a bid to help African, Asian and the countries moving on the path of divinity and humanity, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday.
IRIB – IRI’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation will leave Tehran Tuesday for a visit to three African countries of Kenya, Djibouti and Comoros, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Monday.
Iran Foreign Ministry – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said Tehran was considering an invitation by Italy to participate in the next G8 summit in Rome on Afghanistan with a positive attitude.Making the remarks during his Monday morning news briefing, he said the invitation extended to the Iranian foreign minister by his Italian counterpart was due to the constructive and effective role Iran played in Afghanistan.He said Iran’s principal approach to the issue of Afghanistan was to always support the establishment of peace and stability in the country which would lead to its reconstruction. Qashqavi said though the G8 summit was to focus on the issue of Afghanistan, it was not clear yet what new plans the US was going to offer for Afghanistan`s peace and stability during the meeting.
IRNA – Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal appreciated Iran’s support for ‘Resistance’ in the region and described its stance as important. In a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Syria Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi, he said that the hegemonistic and capitalist system has undertaken a new strategy to create divisions among Muslim and Arab states.
Mehr – Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will start a tour of Iraq next week at the invitation of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Expediency Council chairman will visit Baghdad at the invitation of Jalal Talabani,” Iraqi ambassador to Tehran Mohammad Majid Al-Shaikh told the Mehr News Agency. Rafsanjani is widely expected to visit holy sites in Iraq.
CFR – As American policymakers and foreign policy experts argue over the proper reaction to Iran’s apparent quest for nuclear weapons, CFR’s Intelligence Fellow Frank Procida asks whether the West should be so sure weaponization is in the offing given its track record on guessing at what motivates Tehran
ISNA – Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Spokesman Mohsen Delaviz said Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant would be pre-launched Wednesday. The nuclear facility’s pre-launch will come with the presence of Heads of Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Sergei Kiriyenko and that of the AEOI Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, Delaviz told Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA). He also said Sergei Kiriyenko along with a Russian delegation is to step in Iran Wednesday and visits different sections of the nuclear power plant.
Rooz – Senior ayatollah Makarem Shirazi who had been invited by the administration to participate in the Ashoora (an event that commemorates the killing of prophet Mohammad’s grandchild in the seventh century AD) declined to go to the event, after learning the night before, that Isfandiyar Rahim Mashai, Ahmadinejad’s daughter in law‘s father and the President’s deputy would also be going to the event, and said he wasn’t going because “Mashai was going to be there.”
Iran Focus – Iranian authorities hanged three men in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, state media reported on Monday.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Jared Tomberlin, left, gets a first-hand view of the land with outgoing commander 1st Lt. Larry Baca on top of a ridge near Forward Operation Base Lane, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Feb. 21, 2009. Tomberlin is assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment and Baca is assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. (photo by Staff Sgt. Adam Mancini)

South Asia

Air Force – In Afghanistan, an Air Force B-1B Lancer destroyed an anti-Afghan bunker near Now Zad using a guided bomb unit-31. Personnel in the bunker had been firing on coalition troops. In the vicinity of Shurakian, many coalition aircraft provided air support for an ambushed coalition convoy after one vehicle was disabled by an improvised explosive device. Enemy forces took cover and pulled back from the immediate area when the aircraft arrived. An Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II destroyed an additional IED using a GBU-38 as the convoy prepared to depart.
Geo – FC forces killed 10 militants in an action carried out in Khyber Agency. FC sources said communication system of the militants has also been destroyed in the action besides 15 of their vehicles.
Geo – A police guard Abdul Rahim was killed Monday when he flung himself onto a suicide bomber to prevent him from entering compound of DSP Cantt Tahir Dawar?s home in Bannu, police said. The attacker was trying to enter the home, where judges and senior police officials live and work, when the guard intercepted him
The News – Unidentified armed men first fired at the tyres of a Parachinar-bound passenger coach in the Tut Kas area on Monday and later kidnapped 14 travellers. Sources said the kidnappers left behind three women travelling in the same vehicle while shifted the male passengers to an undisclosed location. Locals said people were being kidnapped on daily basis from the Thall-Parachinar road near the Tor Ghar area, while the administration was looking the other way.
Daily Times – The military operation in Swat has been stopped and the Pakistan Army fully supports the peace deal as an instrument to find a non-military solution to the problem, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Athar Abbas said while addressing a seminar on Monday
Times of India – The Taliban who had kidnapped a top civil official in the restive Swat valley in Pakistan’s NWFP on Sunday, have released the official in exchange for two militants, raising question marks over a peace deal struck between the hardline religious group and the Pakistan government.
BBC – A Taleban chief in north-west Pakistan has spoken of his success in looting wheat, weapons and even tanks in raids on goods bound for Nato in Afghanistan. Haji Omar told the BBC Urdu service that the search by the US for alternative Afghan supply routes showed his strategy was a success.
State Failure – Dera Ghazi Khan, hunting and world politics
Sri Lanka MoD – According to battlefield sources, LTTE terrorists have put-on stiff resistances which were successfully neutralized by the advancing 58 Division infantrymen. The terrorists have built an earth bund running North to South fortifying the Iranapali area, which is considered a key LTTE foothold in Northeast Puthukkudiyirippu, the sources said. Security forces have now encircled Puthyukkudiryirippu town and positioned in some 400m striking distance, military sources said. The 58 Division and Task Force- 8 troops are now leading the two main offensive fronts into the last LTTE stronghold.
TamilNet – Urging International Community to effect a ceasefire and initiate a political solution as a priority than insisting LTTE to lay down arms, the Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), B. Nadesan, made an appeal Sunday to the heads of the Co-chairs countries saying that “when a permanent political solution is reached for the Tamil people, with the support and the guarantee of the international community, the situation will arise where there will be no need for the arms of the LTTE.”
Colombo Page – Sri Lanka government today reiterated its stance of no ceasefire unless the LTTE rebels lay down their weapons and surrender in response to a call for a by the rebels.

Far East & Pacific

China Daily – A high-level business delegation heads to Europe today to sign deals potentially worth billions of dollars on a “wide range of buying interests”. Some media reports put the price tag at 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) while others believe that the figure could be considerably higher – but Ministry of Commerce (MOC) officials said there was no way to arrive at an amount before the contracts were actually signed.
VietNamNet – A ceremony was held at the Huu Nghi (Friendship) border gate on February 23 to welcome the completion of border demarcation and marker planting between Vietnam and China. Addressing the function, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem described the completion of the work as an event of great historical significance in bilateral relations.
Reuters – North Korea said on Tuesday it is preparing to launch a satellite on one of its rockets, which analysts have said could actually be a test-launch of its longest-range missile. “Currently, full-fledged preparation is ongoing to launch a test-purpose communication satellite,” North Korea’s KCNA news agency said.
Chosun Ilbo – North Korea in 2007 deployed ballistic missiles with a range of more than 3,000 km capable of reaching U.S. key strategic base Guam and has increased the number of special forces from 120,000 to 180,000. The Defense Ministry’s 2008 white paper published Monday reveals changes in the North Korean military’s war capabilities over the past two years.
Yonhap – South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan was to leave for Beijing on Tuesday for talks with senior Chinese officials on the latest North Korean missile threat and ways to promote the Seoul-Beijing “strategic cooperative partnership,” Yu’s aides said.
Voice of Russia – North Korea continues to impound a Russian freighter, six days after seizing it as the ship entered North Korean waters for shelter from a severe storm. Unfortunately, there was a missile proving ground in the vicinity. The crew are denied radio or mobile phone contact with their company or families. Back on Friday, Russian consular officers were allowed to step on board.
Japan Today – Prime Minister Taro Aso arrived in Washington on Monday night to meet President Barack Obama at the White House and underscore the importance of the bilateral alliance by reaffirming cooperation over the economic crisis, antiterrorism efforts and global warming. Aso, embattled by plummeting support ratings amid the nation’s worst postwar economic crisis, will announce fresh aid for Pakistan, including low-interest loans, to demonstrate Tokyo support for the United States in fighting terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan, a priority in Obama’s foreign policy.
Bangkok Post – Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Monday said he is ready to step down if an arrest warrant is issued for him, following the news that the police would issue arrest warrants for 21 key figures of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) over the occupation of Government House last year.
Xinhua – Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met visiting Thai Army Commander-in-Chief Anupong Paochinda, and vowed to further promote bilateral military ties Monday.
Irrawaddy – The leader of a Burmese political party has again been tied to drug dealing and money laundering by a former official in Burma’s military intelligence, in a Voice of America (VOA) Burmese program on Sunday. Maj Aung Linn Htut, a former intelligence officer who currently lives in the United States, said during a VOA interview that Kyaw Myint, also known as Michael Hua Hu, the executive vice chairman of the United Democratic Party of Myanmar (UDP), that the allegations took place when Kyaw Myint was a leader of the United Wa State Army’s (UWSA) treasury department in the 1990s. Kyaw Myint now lives in Canada.
Xinhua – At least 11 leftist rebels of the New People’s Army (NPA) and five government soldiers were killed and over a dozen others were injured in a series of skirmishes in southern Bukidnon province of the Philippines on Sunday, the military reported Monday

Europe

BBC – A Romanian officer has been killed in a blast at a military laboratory dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical research, Romanian officials say. The cause of the blast was not immediately known, but the ministry says it “does not pose any threat to the population” and there was no fire.
FOX – A Spanish court official says 14 people have gone on trial charged with involvement with Islamic terrorist groups and recruiting extremists to fight in Iraq. Some of the 14 are also accused of helping suspects in the March 11, 2004 train bombings in Madrid to flee Spain. The 14 suspects, mainly from Morocco, were arrested in a series of raids over recent years, mostly in the northeastern region of Catalonia.
Military.com – A former British resident who claims he was brutally tortured at a covert CIA site in Morocco has been freed from Guantanamo after nearly seven years in U.S. captivity – an ordeal that could come back to haunt the U.S. and British governments.
Sur – A bomb exploded early this morning outside the Socialist Party headquarters in Lazkao, a town in the northern province of Guipuzcoa, causing extensive damage but no injuries, the Basque regional government’s Interior Ministry said. An anonymous caller, who claimed to be speaking for the Basque terrorist group ETA, called the DYA motorist assistance organization at 1:00 a.m. to warn that the bomb would go off an hour later.
SE Times – Relations with Ljubljana again top Zagreb’s agenda, after Slovenia’s parliament adopted a declaration Thursday (February 19th) on protecting Slovenia’s interests before any NATO enlargement. In effect, the declaration proclaimed that the disputed maritime territories, the source of a long-running argument between Croatia and Slovenia, belong to Slovenia. Some in parliament still want to hold a public referendum on Croatia’s NATO entry, even though the full parliament has ratified Croatia’s protocol on NATO accession
EUbusiness – EU ministers agreed Monday that Russia and Turkey could take part in some meetings of the bloc’s planned “Eastern Partnership,” aimed at boosting ties with six former Soviet states.

Africa

Garowe – Fighting erupted Monday in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu among government forces, as newly elected President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned home, Radio Garowe reports. At least three people were killed and six others wounded as both sides used machineguns and mortars.
Shabelle – The Kenyan military troops in the border between Somalia and Kenya have seized at least seven Somali trucks those were traveling to Kenya, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Monday. Most of the seized trucks were Lorries those were transmitting goods to the Somali refugee camps in Kenya which many Somalis live in and it is unclear why and where the trucks and their passengers have been driven away by the Kenyan soldiers.
Sudan Tribune – Two health workers died in South Darfur on Saturday when the bus they were traveling in was fired on by a camel-mounted troop. Four more civilians were wounded. Arriving unexpectedly at the scene of a robbery already under way, the aid workers serving with Aide Médicale Internationale (AMI) were felled by gunfire from the mounted assailants, according to the UNAMID peacekeeping operation.
Al Arabiya – Nine members of a private security firm were killed when rebels attacked their base near Jijel in eastern Algeria, witnesses and local journalists said on Monday. Three other guards were wounded in the attack on the building used by private security company Spas late Sunday in the town of Ziama
Javno – Congolese soldiers and United Nations peacekeepers will launch a new wave of operations against Rwandan Hutu rebels despite the planned withdrawal this week of Rwanda’s army, Congo said on Monday
Vanguard – More violence occurred in Bauchi (Nigeria) in the wee hours of Sunday in Gudum-Sayawa, a Bauchi suburb, with nine persons losing their lives in the mayhem, while the number of churches torched so far has risen to 13, in addition to houses and cars whose number could not be ascertained at press time. Six of the nine persons were killed by gunfire, while the remaining three were hacked down with cutlasses and left in pools of their blood, as tension gripped the entire city on news that crises have erupted in other parts like Yelwa and Muda Lawal.
IRIN – The Senegalese government has invested millions of dollars in the past decade to revive sesame production, but the sector has been slow to develop. Yet as profits decline for the country’s main cash crops – peanuts and cotton – and Asia’s demand for sesame grows, some producers are reconsidering the abandoned crop.

Boeing KC-135 being towed to its new home on Lackland Air Force Base

The Speckled Trout, a Boeing KC-135, is towed to its new home on Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Feb. 15, 2009. The aircarft arrived at Lackland in June 2008 and was converted into a trainer for aircrews, including refueling boom operators, loadmasters, flight attendants and airborne missions systems specialists. (photo by Robbin Cresswell)