A brief world news roundup for 27 October 2009.

United States & the Americas

• Prensa Latina – Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Jaime Bermudez stated today the government may sign a polemic military agreement with the US without passing it to Congress.
• Press TV – Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s younger sister, Juanita, has revealed in her book that she had conspired with the CIA against the rule of his communist brother
• NY Times – The F.B.I.’s collection of wiretapped phone calls and intercepted e-mail has been soaring in recent years, but the bureau is failing to review “significant amounts” of such material partly for lack of translators, according to a Justice Department report released Monday. (read report here in PDF)
• State Dept - 2009 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom
• El Universal – A strong political debate is being held on Monday in the Brazilian Senate, whose Committee on Foreign Affairs will vote on Thursday the ratification of the protocol of Venezuela’s accession into the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), signed in July 2006
• SANA – President Bashar al-Assad received on Sunday a verbal message from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on the Syrian-Venezuelan distinguished relations
• Fars – Venezuela is striving hard to export standard-quality gasoline to Iran at a lower price in a bid to help Tehran overcome US sanctions on fuel supplies to Iran, a Venezuelan diplomat said on Monday.
• Miami Herald – President Hugo Chavez’s government accused Colombia on Monday of using its state security agency to spy on Venezuela while purportedly helping investigate the killings of eight Colombians
• MercoPress – Venezuela said on Sunday at least 10 members of an amateur Colombian soccer team had been found dead after being kidnapped on its side of the border. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez told reporters the men were found with bullet wounds in various parts of the western state of Tachira, on the border between the two neighbouring countries.
• Columbia Reports – Four ELN guerrilla camps have been identified in the Venezuelan state of Tachira, which borders Colombia, claimed the state’s Govenor on Monday.
• LAHT – Five soldiers were killed and two others wounded by FARC guerrillas in the jungle around Calamar, a town in southern Colombia, the army said Sunday. The soldiers were ambushed Saturday afternoon while providing security for peasants hired to manually eradicate coca fields in La Paz

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• Russia Today – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he is not satisfied with Russia’s defense sector modernization rate and high production prices.
• Russia Today – Autumn is the time of year that Russian conscripts are drafted into the army to serve their compulsory year-long service. However, many of them just aren’t fit to serve
• RIA Novosti – French and Spanish troops have left a Kyrgyz airbase formerly used by the U.S. military and now functioning as a center for Pentagon transits to Afghanistan, the center’s spokesman said on Monday
• Russia MFA – Address of His Excellency, the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Mr. Sergey V. Lavrov at the Meeting with the Representatives of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
• EurasiaNet – A senior Georgian official tells EurasiaNet that Tbilisi and Washington are discussing the possibility of Georgia accepting suspected terrorists currently being held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba
• BBC – Georgia has accused Russian forces of abducting 16 of its nationals near the breakaway region of South Ossetia. A South Ossetia government spokesman said the men were detained by Russian soldiers after crossing its border and “carrying out illegal deforestation”.
• Georgian Times – Former vice Premier of the Republic of Chechnya, Ahmed Zakaev asserts that Russian Foreign Ministry plans to hand over the documents to the Un Security Council, as evidence proving the ties of Georgian intelligence with Al Qaida
• Kavkaz Center – Letter of Mujahid to his mother
• Caucasian Knot – in Makhachkala, a mine or a bomb blew up when a militia bus was passing by; a militiaman was wounded
• Today’s Zaman – Following an almost decade-and-a-half stall in Turkey’s active engagement in brethren Turkic countries in Central Asia during the late Turkish president Turgut Özal’s tenure, Turkey has started to build strong and lasting political and economic relations with Central Asian countries
• Hurriyet – Turkey’s prime minister accused Western powers of treating Iran unfairly over its nuclear program, in an interview Monday in which he referred to the Iranian president as a “friend.”
• Soner Cagaptay – Is Turkey Leaving the West?

A U.S. Army UH-60A Black Hawk medevac helicopter with Charlie Company, 3-25th Aviation Regiment, Forward Support Medevac Team, flies over an Iraqi town in northern Iraq on its way to Forward Operating Base, Diamondback, near Mosul, in northern Iraq, Oct. 22 (photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Carmichael Yepez)

Middle East

• MNF Iraq – Iraqi Army soldiers arrested 14 suspected terrorists associated with a Mosul-based al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader today
• Voices of Iraq – Casualties from the car bomb explosion that ripped through Karbala on Monday evening rose to three dead and eight wounded, director of the health department said.
• Al Sumaria – In special statements to Alsumaria, Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Al Boulani affirmed that the Ministry has facts reporting that parties responsible for gory Wednesday bombings are the same parties behind Sunday bombings in Baghdad.
• NOW Lebanon – Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday that Tel Aviv informed the UN that it will continue gathering intelligence in southern Lebanon “as long as the government in Beirut is not in full control of its territory.”
• MEMRI – Khaled Toqan, head of Jordan’s Nuclear Authority, said that recent discoveries of uranium deposits would indicate that Jordan would be able to export raw uranium (yellow cake) which is a key ingredient of nuclear fuel.
• EUCOM – Approximately 70 sailors from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet arrived in Israel, Oct. 25, in support of exercise Juniper Cobra 2010
• UPI – Turkish leaders announced they were reconsidering the way forward on a Kurdish initiative following the return of rebels from their camps in northern Iraq.
• Al Jazeera – Yemen has begun the trial in absentia of a leader of a Shia armed group embroiled in a battle for autonomy in the country’s north. Yahya al-Houthi, who’s brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi leads the fighters, who are from the Shia Zaidi sect of Islam, went on trial on Monday on charges of spying for a foreign nation
• Saba – A Yemeni-American military talk session between navy officials in the two countries held on Monday in Sana’a
• News Yemen – Yemen’s navy seized on Sunday a ship loaded with anti-tank weapons off its north-western Meidi port in the Red Sea, reliable sources told News Yemen. “Five non-Arab members of the crew were arrested and handed over to the authorities in Sana’a for investigation,” the sources said. The sources added that the ship might be an Iranian and that it was en route to supply Houthi rebels with arms through Harad outlet.

Iran

• RIA Novosti – Tehran may consider buying uranium for its nuclear research reactor from China, the Iranian foreign minister said on Monday.
• ISNA – Russia is committed to operate Bushehr nuclear power plant according to the schedule, said Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Monday
• Mehr – The director of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization has said the Fordo uranium enrichment facility is protected against any possible military strike.
• Al Alam – Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has rejected reports that Pakistan police arrested some of its officers for illegally entering the country
• MEMRI – Ali Reza Beheshti, advisor to Iranian reformist movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, was attacked and beaten by unknown assailants after leaving a Tehran media conference
• Payvand – Photos: The Underprivileged in Shahr-e Rey, Iran

South Asia

• AFPS – Afghan and NATO forces have removed dozens of insurgents from fighting in Afghanistan in recent days, including a long-sought-after Taliban commander, military officials reported.
• TIME – A dusty, rutted Nadir Shah Hill provides an old and a new metaphor for looking at the wars and warriors of Afghanistan
• US Army -  The first mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicles designated for southern Afghanistan arrived here, Oct. 22 by air transport.
• The Post – The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China will meet on Tuesday with the threat of rising Taliban violence in Afghanistan and ways to rebuild the war-torn country expected to be major topics.
• Dawn – At least 19 militants were killed and six soldiers lost their lives in the South Waziristan military operation during the last 24 hours, a military spokesman said.
• Dawn – At least ten militants were killed in a clash with security forces in Hangu, DawnNews reported. According to sources, militants tried to enter the settled areas of Tora Wari and were stopped at a checkpoint by security officials.
• Geo – Security forces arrested a close associate of Maulana Fazlullah in Swat. Sources said Ali Shah Khan; a close aide of Maulana Fazlullah has been arrested during search operation in Charbagh area. Important documents and CDs also recovered from him
• ICRC – As thousands flee fighting in the south of Waziristan, the ICRC and the Pakistan Red Crescent continue to help people displaced in the north of the country over the last six months. A large percentage have been able to go home, but violence is continuing, and is still forcing many to remain in camps in North-West Frontier Province
• Times of India – Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik said he was “convinced” that India is among “certain hostile agencies” that are backing the Taliban to create instability in Pakistan
• Khabrien – Market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has asked all stock exchanges and securities intermediaries to inform within 24 hours the home ministry if they find any client, whose particulars match with UN-listed terror funding entities.
• Greater Kashmir – Police on Monday said that three militants were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir.  A police spokesman said that a joint party of policemen and troopers cordoned off Shalidar village in Shopian district this morning and launched searches.
• Sri Lanka MoD – The Russian Foreign Minister, who is the first to visit Sri Lanka in that capacity since Sri Lanka and Russia established Diplomatic Relations 52 years ago, discussed a number of wide ranging issues with his Sri Lankan counterpart.
• Colombo Page – Sri Lanka police have arrested a suspected suicide bomber in Nagadeepa, Jaffna last night.

Far East & Pacific

• Yonhap – North Korea has completed the construction of its largest and most sophisticated missile base on the west coast, laying the groundwork for improved intercontinental ballistic missiles, senior officials here said Monday.
• Chosun Ilbo – In response to U.S. pressure, the government wants to boost the civilian support unit in Afghanistan and could send troops to protect them.
• The Australian – Australia has sought to defuse recent tensions with China, arguing it is “clear-eyed, not starry-eyed” about the relationship and is ready to increase defence engagement in the spirit of confidence building. In a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith outlined the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in what he described as the Asia-Pacific century, urging both nations to show mutual respect.
• Xinhua – Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Monday opened the nation’s parliament, the Diet, for the first time since his party swept the Aug. 30 election, calling for politicians to listen to the electorate and for politics to change
• Daily Star – Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested two majlish-e-shura members and four other operatives of banned Islamist militant organisation Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), busting their dens in Narayanganj, Jamalpur, and Bagerhat early yesterday.
• Asia Times – The failure of Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of rice, and the Philippines, heavily dependent on imports of the food stuff, to agree on rice tariffs has dealt a blow to efforts by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to forge a free-trade area along the lines of the European Union.
• US Navy – USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) and the embarked U.S. 7th Fleet staff arrived in Port Kelang, Malaysia, Oct. 26. for a scheduled port visit as part of the ship’s fall deployment to further positive relations with regional partners
• RSIS – Malaysian politics is at yet another crossroads. The ruling coalition fears losing power. Yet the opposition alliance is in no position to take over. New tensions are emerging on both sides. What will emerge out of this new catharsis?
• Irrawaddy – At least 10 bombs exploded in the Laogai area, the Kokang capital in northern Shan State, on Saturday, an area now controlled by Burmese government troops, according to border sources
• WSJ – Mongolia’s prime minister said he intends to resign, raising questions about the future of the coalition that rules the resource-rich country, which has been one of the world’s most promising new mining destinations

Europe

• Ukrainian Journal -Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, two of Ukraine’s most popular political figures, over the weekend formally announced their decisions to run for the presidency in January 2010.
• RFERL – Foreign ministers of the three South Caucasus countries today met with an EU troika of top officials in Luxembourg. The routine meeting takes place yearly under the aegis of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements the EU has with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The EU is offering all three countries an upgrade to an Association Treaty, which could eventually bring with it free trade and visa-free travel, but would not open the door to EU membership
• euobserver – A clutch of far-right political parties have cobbled together an alliance of convenience to represent their interests in the European Parliament, the leader of Hungary’s extreme nationalist grouping, Jobbik, announced in Budapest over the weekend
• IslamOnline – Spanish Muslims launched Saturday, October 26, an independent, self-regulatory body to train imams in the southern European country.
• IPS – Switzerland’s Muslim community is witnessing a xenophobic campaign by the political right-wing ahead of a vote next month on the banning of Islamic minarets.
• Balkan Insight – The presidents of Turkey and Serbia, Adbullah Gul and Boris Tadic, have agreed in a Belgrade meeting on Monday that the two countries relations constitute a “strategic partnership”.
• CSM – With Bosnian mothers from Srebrenica shouting from the steps outside, the opening day of Radovan Karadzic’s much anticipated war crimes trial lasted just 25 minutes. The Bosnian Serb leader accused of genocide and war crimes did not appear, as he earlier warned, saying he needed more time to prepare. He was apprehended 15 months ago, on a Belgrade bus in July 2008, posing as a bearded new age healer named Dragan Dabic
• Lithuania Ministry of Defense – New rotation of peacekeepers will depart for Afghanistan from Alytus

Africa

• Al Arabiya – Hyenas, rape, kidnappings – there is no shortage of dangers for women in the grim refugee camps of northern Somalia. But it is still better than the horrors they fled: civil war battles in Mogadishu, drought in neighboring Ethiopia, inter-clan warfare and what they say was state-sponsored ethnic persecution and killings.
• Shabelle – two rival Somali clans have reached peace agreement in Aden Yabal district in Middle Shabelle region, officials told Shabelle radio on Monday.
• Mareeg – Al-Shabaab militants have flogged young teenagers in Jowhar town, 90 km north of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said on Monday. The Shabaab accused the teenagers of wasting their time in playing football.
• Magharebia – French and Mauritanian army troops began joint training exercises in Atar, Nouakchott daily ANI reported on Sunday
• Ennahar – According to local security sources, the terrorist who surrendered to the services of the national gendarmerie last week in the province of Saïda was the assistant of the emir of “Katibet Ennasr,” one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the west since the time of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
• Sudan Tribune – The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forces in Raja County of Western Bahr-El-Ghazal state has managed to free 46 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Darfur abducted by Ugandan rebel Lord Resistant Army (LRA).
• Reuters – Sudan’s opposition parties walked out of parliament on Monday after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s party refused to back down over its plans to allow the intelligence service wide powers, parliamentarians said
• Xinhua – Sierra Leone’s tribunal on Monday sentenced three former rebel leaders a combined 117 years in prison for war crimes
• BBC – All Somali visitors and refugees arriving in Uganda are to be registered in response to militants threatening to attack the capital, Kampala. Somali community leaders living in Kampala said they would help to root out any insurgents.
• The Namibian – A US$7 billion mining deal between Guinea’s repressive military regime and a little-known Chinese company underscores China’s full-throttle rush into Africa and its willingness to deal with brutal and corrupt governments
• AllAfrica – Severe hunger looms over the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, says the 2009 Global Hunger Index. The index indicates that DRC tops the list of 29 worst hit countries, followed by Burundi, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Chad and Ethiopia.
• Bua – South Africa and Russia will this week work to further strengthen their bilateral political and economic relations when delegations from the two countries meet. The two countries will on Monday and Tuesday co-chair the 8th Session of the South Africa – Russian Federation Joint Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) in Cape Town.

The 2nd squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, Strykehorse, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Soldiers fire the Javelin missile during a combined arms live fire exercise at media day during Exercise Yudh Abhyas in Babina, India, Oct. 26. YA09 is a bilateral exercise involving the Armies of India and the United States. (photo by Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Jackson)

The Global War

• Stars and Stripes – Call it combat as shift work, a new paradigm of commuter warfare that is blurring the historical understanding of what it means to go off to battle. And the strain of the daily whiplash transition between bombs and bedtime stories, coupled with the fast-increasing workload to meet relentlessly expanding demand, is leading to fatigue and burnout for the ground-based controllers who drive the drones
• Javno – A top Chinese general Monday defended Beijing’s rapid military modernization, including the development of advanced weapons that threaten US forces in the Pacific, as aimed at meeting its minimum defense requirements.
• George Friedman and Peter Zeihan – Russia, Iran and the Biden Speech
• BNET – Russian Rather Then US Helicopters For Iraq and Afghanistan Raising Eyebrows

Sights & Sounds

AEI – Should Israel Attack Iran? Law, Policy, and Foundations for the Debate

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Heritage Foundation – Past and Present: Estonia and U.S. Partnership

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BBC – The head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service Sir John Scarlett, talks for the first time about the interrogation of terrorist suspects and MI6’s role in the run-up to the war in Iraq

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Middle East Forum – “The Muslim World Needs Reform” A briefing by Wafa Sultan; Islam is intrinsically destructive—that is Dr. Sultan’s message. She began by discussing how she came about this conclusion, which is the story of her largely autobiographical book.

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