4 March, 2009 (01:16) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 4 March 2009.
United States & the Americas
- Treasury Dept – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated 11 companies under Executive Order 13382 for their ties to Iran’s Bank Melli. E.O 13382 is an authority aimed at freezing the assets of Weapons of Mass Destruction proliferators and those who support them. Bank Melli has been designated as a proliferator by the United States, the European Union, and Australia for its role in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Additionally, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1803 calls on all Member States to exercise vigilance with respect to activities between financial institutions in their territories and all Iranian banks, particularly Bank Melli.
- AFPS – The “umbrella crisis” in the financial world is complicating an already complicated world, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen shared his top three priorities with students at the Chilean War College. The chairman is visiting Latin American countries to help improve and maintain military-to-military contacts. Latin America is every bit as important as any other part of the world, the chairman said.
- Bangkok Post – The United States government has admitted for the first time that it had a secret jail in Thailand where suspected al-Qaeda operatives were flown in to be interrrogated, including being subjected to “waterboarding”.
- ICG – To keep Haiti on course and avoid further unrest, its government needs to build a broad national consensus, reaching out to parliament and civil society. The socio-economic situation today is worse than at the time of the April 2008 riots.
- MercoPress – Bolivia revealed Tuesday that 35.500 people have contracted the benign strain of the mosquito transmitted dengue disease while 20 have died from the deadly haemorrhagic variant. There are also fears that before the rainy season is over 50.000 people could be infected.
- BNA – An announcement by the Ecuadorian government that it will finally lift a ban on mining and allow companies to resume operations is “positive news,” the president of Aurelian Resources, Dominic Channer, told BNamericas.
- Xinhua – Visiting Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and President Hugo Chavez agreed to boost bilateral commercial ties after holding talks on Tuesday. The two leaders held talks in the Miraflores Place on issues of common concerns in a bid to strengthen friendly and cooperative ties, according to local media reports.
- El Universal – The Venezuelan government condemned on Tuesday Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos’ statements, and branded the official as a “threat to the stability and the sovereignty of Latin American countries.” In a press release, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry described as “reprehensible the arrogant attitude” of Santos, who last Sunday advocated as “legitimate right to self-defense” the attack on “terrorists who are systematically assaulting the population of a country, even though they are not within its territory.”
U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right, and Brazilian Minister of Defense Nelson Jobim, center, walk past a Brazilian ship in the Amazon River in Ipiranga, Brazil, March 2, 2009. (photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Adam M. Stump)
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- RIA Novosti – Russia’s president denied on Tuesday media reports claiming that Washington had pledged to drop its Central European missile shield plans if Moscow helped resolve Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
- Moscow Times – Russia and Spain signed an energy agreement Tuesday that will give Spanish companies greater access to Russian fields and could smooth the path for Russian firms to buy stakes in Spanish companies.
- Itar-Tass – A ferry line between Varna and Kavkaz was opened in the Bulgarian seaport on Tuesday. Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin sent greetings to the ceremony participants. He congratulated Bulgaria on the 113th anniversary of the Bulgarian liberation from the five-year Ottoman rule as a result of the Russian-Turkish War 1877-1878 and stressed that the opening of the ferry line on the Bulgarian national holiday was symbolic. “Bulgaria is not only a strategic partner of Russia, it is also close to us historically and culturally. We are closely interrelated with the Bulgarian people. Thus, it is important to further develop interstate relations,” Levitin said.
- Asia Times – Continuing its efforts to firm alliances in the region, Russia has initiated cooperation with former rival Turkey in a variety of political and economic areas, taking advantage of Ankara’s cooling relations with the United States and the European Union. Washington is waking up to its worst nightmare: strategic cooperation among the powers of Eurasia.
- Ukrainiana – The Verkhovna Rada Tuesday fired Volodymyr Ohryzko, Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, who had recently reprimanded Russian ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin for meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs.
- Kyiv Post – The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has overturned the presidential veto on the Ukrainian law, entitled “Provisional investigative commissions, the special provisional investigative commission and provisional special commissions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.”
- SRI – Nikolay Tokarev, president of Russia’s Transneft, and Nurbol Sultan, head of Kazakh KazTransOil, met in Moscow last week to discuss cooperation in infrastructure projects, Interfax reported. They reportedly discussed the expansion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline and the Atyrau-Samara oil pipeline.
- Georgian Times – Abkhaz separatists begin military exercises along the administrative border of the breakaway region. The preparation works have been already over. The Russian army has deployed tanks and other military hardware to the training field. Russian officers will conduct the exercises.
- Trend – A meeting will take place between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia over the next two months, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzylakov, said on March 3. According to the diplomat, both sides supported this idea.
- MEI – MEI Bulletin for March 2009 focuses on Central Asia and the Caucasus
Middle East
- MNF Iraq - Early Tuesday morning, a joint 12th Iraqi Army Division and Coalition force patrol discovered a large weapons cache in the Mumbar Garhat district of Kirkuk province. The weapons cache consisted of launchers, 120mm shells, 60mm mortars and firing systems, RPK rounds, improvised mortar tubes, blasting caps and several other supporting items. The cache was safely disposed of by a joint US and Iraqi Army team.
- Voices of Iraq – A U.S. soldier was killed on Tuesday in a missile attack on the base in Mosul, the media adviser of the U.S. forces said. A police source had said earlier that eight Katyusha rockets hit the U.S. base in southern Mosul on Tuesday.
- MEMRI – Iraqi media reported that Iran has suddenly taken over the Iraqi island of Umm Al-Rasas, located east of Basra province in southern Iraq. It was further reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry sent messages to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry demanding to annex the Iraqi oil port of Khor Al-Amaya to Iranian territorial waters.
- Haaretz – Israel Navy chief Maj. Gen. Eliezer Marom was spotted partying at south Tel Aviv’s GoGo strip club on Monday night. “I only spent a short time at [the strip club],” Marom said following the report. “I stopped by to say hello to a friend.” Following the incident, Marom wrote a letter of apology to Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
- ITIC – In the past several days, 42 days after the completion of Operation Cast Lead, there has been a surge in the number of rockets fired at Israel.
- NOW Lebanon – Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported on Tuesday that Head of the Defense Ministry’s Diplomatic-Security Bureau Amos Gilad told participants at a Tel Aviv University conference on Lebanon that Hezbollah wanted to turn Lebanon into a major threat for Israel because of Iran’s support. The paper reported that Gilad said Tehran’s goal was to create a balance of terror through the establishment of “Hezbollistan” in Lebanon.
- Daily Star – Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare met with Hizbullah officials before leaving Beirut for The Hague last week, according to sources from the tribunal’s investigative team. Sources from the UN commission probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri told Lebanon’s opposition leaning As-Safir newspaper that Bellemare had met with unidentified Hizbullah officials and denied reports that Hizbullah had refused to cooperate with the tribunal.
- Hizballah – Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem launched the party’s electoral campaign in the Beqaa valley on Sunday saying that Hizbullah considers these elections as important, but not fateful. He also said that the opposition was represented in the cabinet and that foreign ambassadors and officials were “standing in line to talk to Hizbullah and, except for US and ‘Israel’, we have good relations with all. He said 10,000 people were involved in Hizbullah’s electoral campaign in the Beqaa region and that the party has been effectively working on its campaign for three months. “We want the Resistance to pave the way for development and we want development to reinforce the Resistance,” The Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General declared.
- Al Manar – Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri traveled to Tehran on Tuesday to take part in a conference on Israeli “war crimes” against the Palestinian people. MPs Hasan Haballah (Loyalty to the Resistance), Nabil Nicolas and Salim Aoun (Change and Reform) as well as MP Marwan Fares left Beirut on Monday to attend the conference.
- Al Arabiya – The United Arab Emirates has begun implementing a strategic plan to build a new port for exporting crude oil in order to counter Iranian threats to hinder marine traffic by closing the Strait of Hormuz. The emirates of Abu Dhabi and Fujairah started in January constructing a port through which 70 percent of Abu Dhabi’s crude oil will be exported.
Iran
- ISNA – Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman dismissed the statement of the Foreign Ministerial meeting of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council over Iran’s triple islands calling it interference in Iran’s interior affairs. The three islands have been inseparable parts of Iran over the history and the claims that are raised in this regard every while are legally baseless and unfounded and will not harm Iran’s sovereignty over the islands at all, Hassan Qashqavi said.
- IRNA - Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency has officially announced that some 400 uranium mines have been identified nationwide, which will help posterity benefit from nuclear energy.
- Fars – Russia is ready to help Iran in selling its gas to European countries, visiting Russian Energy Minister Sergey Ivanovich Shmatko said on Tuesday.
- Mehr – A top Iranian lawmaker called on Saudi Arabia to take measure to rectify its religious police’s disrespectful behavior toward Iranian pilgrims visiting the holy sites in Mecca and Medina. “We hope that this problem would be resolved before the concerned officials of the Islamic Republic take a decision,” Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters on Tuesday.
- IRIB – IRI Prosecutor General Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi said Tuesday that the only way to prevent any repetition of the Zionist regime’s Gaza crimes was to hand a severe punishment to the perpetrators.
- IRNA – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that he sees bright prospects for Iran-Turkey ties, it was reported on Tuesday. Receiving Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, president Ahmadinejad referred to growing relations between Tehran and Ankara and said the two countries should make efforts to enhance bilateral cooperation to the highest level.
- Press TV – Two Iranians who had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen on the highway linking Herat to Islam Qala in Afghanistan have been released. The hostages were set free in a Tuesday military operation, local security officials said.
- MEMRI – The Iranian media are reporting that a senior official in the Hendijan police, in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran, has been killed in an ambush set by unidentified forces. No opposition organization has yet taken responsibility for the killing.
- NCRI – 1,000 workers of Dena Tire and Rubber Company went on strike over pay dispute with the management since last week in the southern city of Shiraz. On Monday, the striking workers gathered on company grounds demanding their unpaid salaries and benefits for the past three months and an amount owed to them by the management from the last year (Persian calendar year starting March 21). It has become a habit for the mullahs’ regime to steal from what little the workers make toward the end of the year.
- ISNA – Photos: Maranjab salt desert, Iran
South Asia
- Air Force – In Afghanistan, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs dropped general purpose 500-pound bombs, striking a large group of anti-Afghan fighters amassed for an attack on a coalition forward base near Asmar. The strike repelled the attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy force.
- CentCom – Coalition Forces kill four militants near Kandahar; Coalition Forces engaged several militants March 1, killing four, while conducting operations in Maywand District, Kandahar Province, approximately 80 km northwest of Kandahar. Coalition Forces learned through intelligence sources that enemy combatants were using the karez (water irrigation) system in Maywand District to hide weapons and munitions.
- Geo – Two soldiers were gunned down by militants in scenic Swat valley on Tuesday. According to Swat Media Center, soldiers were martyred when they were carrying water tanker.
- Geo – Five people were gunned down at Eastern Bypass in Quetta on Tuesday. The D.I.G. Operation confirmed that five people were killed in firing incident.
- All Things Pakistan – In this still-developing story, unknown gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus near Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, leaving several security officials dead and several Sri Lankan cricketers were rushed to the hospital.
- Sri Lanka MFA – President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan telephoned President Mahinda Rajapaksa today (03 March 2009) in Kathmandu, to strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lanka Cricket team in Lahore today, in which several team members were injured. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama was associated with the President during the telephone discussions. President Rajapaksa who is currently on a State Visit to Nepal, has decided to return to Sri Lanka cutting short his visit by a day, after completing his official engagements, as a result of this terrorist attack.
- Sri Lanka MoD – Infantrymen of the 58 Division have further advanced into the Puthukkudiyiruppu built-up amidst heavy LTTE resistance as terrorists made desperate attempts to hold their last stronghold, battlefield sources in Mullaittivu said. Intense fighting was reported between troops and LTTE terrorists in Puthukudiyiruppu town perimeter yesterday, 2 March, security sources said. Meanwhile, troops of 10 Gajaba Regiment (10 GR) have found an underground bunker in the fringes of Puthukudiyiruppu junction yesterday. The bunker is believed to be used by the LTTE senior cadre, Bahanu, who is said to have withdrawn with his cadres to the rear LTTE defences in the face of heavy military assaults.
- Times of India – Indian involvement in the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team cannot be ruled out, Lahore Commissioner Khushro Pervaiz was quoted as saying Tuesday. India was trying to weaken Pakistan, added Gen (retired) Hameed Gul, a former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He told Geo News that India wanted to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and the firing on the Sri Lankan team was related to that conspiracy.
- India MEA – We are shocked at the audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers at Lahore this morning. We offer our sympathies and good wishes for their speedy recovery as well as, of those other individuals who have been caught up in the attack. Terrorism based in Pakistan is a grave threat to the entire world. It is in Pakistan’s own interest to take prompt, meaningful and decisive steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure once and for all.
- Daily Star – Newly appointed BDR Director General Brig Gen Md Mainul Islam said yesterday video footage taken during the massacre in Pilkhana shows movement of some unknown people wearing BDR uniforms.
- Daily Star – A number of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel, who fled the BDR headquarters at different times during February 25-26, have told The Daily Star how a group of masked Jawans forced them to take up firearms during the first hour of mutiny. “Take up arms, else none of you will survive,” a BDR Jawan from Battalion-24 quoted a masked Jawan, brandishing a gun and firing blank shots into the air, as saying.
- BBC – Police in Bangladesh say they have arrested the alleged leader of a mutiny staged by border guards last week which left 74 people dead. Syed Tauhidul Alam was the “ringleader” behind the mutiny and was arrested along with at least four other men in a Dhaka slum, the officials said.
Far East & Pacific
- Japan Times – Aegis destroyers carrying Standard Missile-3 interceptors will be deployed to the Sea of Japan to prepare for a possible North Korean missile launch, defense sources said Tuesday. North Korea claims it is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit, but Japan’s missile defense guideline allows the defense minister to order an intercept when a rocket to launch a satellite appears likely to fall onto Japanese soil or territorial waters.
- Yonhap – North Korea on Wednesday accused the United States and South Korea of trying to attack the communist state and warned of further retaliations in case of any territorial intrusion. “Our military and people cherish peace and do not want war,” Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a commentary. “But should the enemies invade even 0.001 mm into our territory, we will mobilize all our potential and deal retaliatory strikes that will be hundred times and thousand times more powerful.” The accusation comes as the two allies plan to go ahead with their joint military exercise starting next week despite mounting inter-Korean border tensions. The U.S. plans to mobilize 26,000 troops and a nuclear-powered carrier in this year’s drill to test its ability to quickly deploy forces should North Korea invade.
- China Foreign Ministry – Q: In its 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released on February 25, the US State Department once again criticized China’s human rights. Do you have any comment? A: The Chinese Government attaches great importance to protecting and improving human rights. China’s constitution and laws respect and guarantee human rights… We urge the US side to reflect on its own human rights problems, stop acting as a “human rights guardian” and stop interfering in other’s internal affairs by releasing human rights reports.
- PACOM – Preparations are underway for Pacific Partnership 2009, the fourth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet humanitarian civic assistance missions, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT) announced on his blog March 3. “This year we plan to head to Oceania and bring much needed supplies, medical, dental, veterinary and engineering aid to this region that has such a rich history with the United States,” said Adm. Robert. F. Willard in his blog posting. The mission will visit Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga.
Europe
- German Defense Ministry – Defense Minister Dr. Franz Josef Jung met on Tuesday, 3rd March, in Moscow with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdjukow… Defense Minister Jung thanked him once more for the possibilities of transit of goods for our soldiers in Afghanistan through the Russian territory.
- UK MoD – The final Scottish regiment to serve in Iraq has come home to RAF Lossiemouth to a joyful welcome yesterday, Monday 2 March 2009, where they were greeted by emotional friends and family as well as rousing Scottish music and drams of whisky.
- European Union – Javier Solana European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), will meet the Georgian Prime Minister, Nika Gilauri, on Wednesday, 4 March 2009. The High Representative and Prime Minister Gilauri will discuss the latest developments in Georgia and EU-Georgia relations.
- Jerusalem Post – The Netherlands and France have sharply chastised the UN for singling out Israel in the preparatory text for its upcoming “Durban II” anti-racism conference, but said they are not yet ready to boycott the event.
- Eye on the UN – Durban Watch
- EurActiv – In a move that surprised and infuriated some, the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) suddenly decided to switch candidates at the top of its party list for the EU elections last week. EurActiv Hungary reports. Without consulting the party’s only MEP, Péter Olajos, who had been considered favourite to head the list, the MDF leadership decided to nominate former finance minister Lajos Bokros instead, a member of the Socialist cabinet in the 1990s.
- Expatica – Europe has seen a significant increase in anti-Semitic attacks since Israel’s 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip and the onset of the global economic crisis, a report said on Monday. The study by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) showed the number of anti-Semitic incidents in EU countries declined in 2007 and most of 2008 only to see an upsurge since December.
- Expatica – Switzerland’s top central banker, Jean-Pierre Roth, will retire at the end of 2009, the Swiss National Bank said in a statement Friday. Roth, 63, who also chairs the board of directors at the Bank for International Settlements, the bank for central bankers, is also credited with expanding SNB’s international profile.
- ISN – Ueli Maurer, the new Swiss minister of defense, has hit the ground running. Since taking over the office from his predecessor Samuel Schmid at the beginning of January 2009, he has already tackled several important orders of business for his department. What became known as the “Nef affair” in the Swiss press, plus the occurrence of several military training accidents during the same time period, simultaneously took their toll on the public image and general respectability of the army. Repairing these previous inadequacies and rebuilding the public and professional reputation of the armed forces has therefore been one of Maurer’s biggest goals, since coming to office.
Africa
- Garowe – A new batch of African Union peacekeepers arrived in Somalia’s capital Tuesday, days after 11 Burundian peacekeepers in Mogadishu were killed in a suicide bomb attack, Radio Garowe reports. A military transport plane delivered 500 new soldiers from Burundi, which will reinforce a 3,500-strong AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM.
- Shabelle – Mohamud Hassan Guuleed, the spokesman of WFP for Somalia has said on Tuesday that WFP signed a deal with the Islamic administration in Middle Jubba region in southern Somalia. Mr. Guuled who is in Nairobi told Shabelle radio that the agreement was about how the World Food Program agency would work again in Middle Jubba region afer the Islamic administration in the region accused the aid agencies for supplying an expired food for the people in the region that caused to their work in the region.
- Al Bawaba – The Algerian army has killed 16 armed Islamist fighters during an operation in the mountains of Blida province, about 100 kilometres south of Algiers, local media reported Tuesday. The 16 militants belonged to the same group and were killed near Soulahane on Saturday during a search operation that has been under way for several days, newspapers and the state-owned Chaine III radio reported.
- Xinhua – President Omar al-Bahir, addressed a crowd at the inauguration ceremony for Merowe Dam, the country’s largest hydropower project. The 9.7-km dam is the longest one in the world with a total capacity of 1.25 million kilowatt, twice as much as Sudan’s existing power supply.
- MEMRI – Arab and Touareg nomads from northern Mali and Niger have sent a threat via a third party to Al-Qaeda Maghreb, telling the organization that if it does not release the six people it abducted, including two Canadian diplomats, the tribes will launch a war against it. It was reported that the treat came after tribal leaders met with a top Algerian security element in southern Algeria.
- New Times – The Japanese government will soon open an embassy in Rwanda, to facilitate the “good cooperation between the two countries”, the Japanese Ambassador, Shigeo Iwatani confirmed yesterday.
- Rwanda MFA – On Tuesday, 3rd March, 2009 the Government of Japan extended to the Government of the Republic of Rwanda a Grant assistance amounting to 300 million Japanese yen (approximately 1.5 billion Rwf) for the Food Security Project for Underprivileged Farmers.
- Rwanda MFA – Rwandan troops began pulling out of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, after an unprecedented joint operation with Congolese troops against FDLR elements. The actual retreat came after a ceremony in the Eastern North-Kivu capital of Goma between Congolese and Rwandese officials of which included the two armies’ Chief of Staff, thus underscoring their agreement to work for peace, following years of war and regional instability.
- APA – The extradition of the captured Congolese renegade rebel General Laurent Nkunda to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may take some time, according to the Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Tuesday. Speaking during a press conference Tuesday in Kigali, the Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the discussions about his case were still going on between the two countries with their foreign ministers slated to meet next week.
- OGJ – ContourGlobal, New York, signed a contract with Rwanda’s government to extract solution gas from Lake Kivu to generate electricity. The $325 million KivuWatt project is to start generating 25 Mw in 2010 and another 75 Mw 2 years later. Power from a plant at Kibuye, Rwanda, is expected to ultimately supply Uganda, Congo (former Zaire), and Burundi as well as Rwanda. ContourGlobal plans to develop, build, and operate several barges to extract methane from lake water at 350 m. It will process the gas and move it by pipeline to the Kibuye generator, which will more than double the amount of power produced in Rwanda.
- Japan MFA – The Government of Japan has decided to provide a Japanese ODA loan of up to two billion yen to the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania as the “Sixth Poverty Reduction Support Credit.”
- AFRICOM – West Africa has seen an “absolutely shocking” increase in narcotics trafficking, which disrupts local communities and threatens the entire region, U.S. Africa Command’s civilian deputy told Ghanaian reporters March 2, 2009, while visiting a fishing community near the coastal city of Sekondi.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, right, escorts French Minister of Defense Herve Morin through an honor cordon into the Pentagon to discuss bilateral issues, March 3, 2009. (photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly Burgess)
The Global War
- Raymond Ibrahim – Having written at length on various aspects of Islam, it is always my writings concerning doctrinal deceit that elicit (sometimes irate) responses. As such, the purpose of this article is to revisit the issue of deceit and taqiyya in Islam, and address the many ostensibly plausible rebuttals made by both Muslims and non-Muslims. The earliest rebuttal I received appeared last year, days after I wrote an essay called “Islam’s doctrines of deception” for the subscription-based Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst. Due to the controversy it initiated among the intelligence community and abroad, the editors were quick to publish an apologetic counter-article by one Michael Ryan called “Interpreting Taqiyya.”
- Straits Times – China announced on Wednesday that its defence spending would rise by 14.9 per cent in 2009, as it insisted its expanding military power posed no threat to the rest of the world.
- US Navy – Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) from Special Boat Team 20 (SBT-20), completed multiple free-fall parachute jumps Feb. 22-March 6, in preparation for an upcoming deployment. The Sailors jumped out of a plane at altitudes of up to 12,500 feet to maintain their free-fall jump qualification, which they need to be assigned to a Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System (MCADS) detachment.
Sights & Sounds
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29 October, 2008 (00:39) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 29 October 2008.
United States & the Americas
- State Dept – Question: During Secretary Rice’s and A/S Welch’s last meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minster did the subject of foreign fighters, coming through Syria to Iraq, come up? If so, what was the nature of the discussion? Answer: The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq via Syria remains one of our most pressing concerns with the Syrian government. Foreign terrorists are responsible for killing innocent Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces. We raised this issue during meetings with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in New York on September 27 and 29.
- AP – A U.S. military judge barred the Pentagon Tuesday from using a Guantanamo prisoner’s confession to Afghan authorities as trial evidence, saying it was obtained through torture.
- MSNBC – A Yemeni detainee made videos glorifying al-Qaida’s attacks to lure new recruits and was so close to Osama bin Laden the two were holed up together in an Afghanistan hideout on the day of the Sept. 11 attacks, a military prosecutor said Tuesday.
- CSM – The Christian Science Monitor plans major changes in April 2009 that are expected to make it the first newspaper with a national audience to shift from a daily print format to an online publication that is updated continuously each day. The changes at the Monitor will include enhancing the content on CSMonitor.com, starting weekly print and daily e-mail editions, and discontinuing the current daily print format.
- Xinhua – China will send a Venezuelan telecommunication satellite into orbit on the early morning of October 30, according to a spokesman with the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It will be the first time that China has made a commercial space launch for a Latin American country, said the official.
- ISN – Bolivia’s constitutional crisis reflects the country’s restive political and cultural history.
- CNN – Leftist rebels announced Tuesday they have agreed to exchange letters with a self-appointed group of Colombians, including some prominent public figures, to discuss the possible release of hostages the rebels are holding. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) posted the statement Tuesday on one of its Web sites.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- President Medvedev – Naturally, we will continue to work: we will supply weapons and technical equipment solely for the defence of our partners. Not long ago, at the initiative of the State Department the United States once again imposed unilateral sanctions on Rosoboronexport. We have repeatedly said (and I have talked about it) that we believe such sanctions are short-sighted. This is unfair competition, simply an attempt to prevent us from fulfilling defence orders and, most importantly for us, the sanctions have virtually no effect on Russia.
- Kommersant – China resolutely supports Russia’s admission to the World Trade Organization, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao announced today during the meeting of Russian-Chinese Economical Forum in Moscow. China opposes the attempts to make that issue political, Wen Jiabao said, explaining that Russia is able to contribute to the multilateral trading system.
- Rosneft – Due to perfect operating performance and favorable price environment Rosneft’s consolidated operating income before amortization under RAS reached a record of RUB 284 bln. in 1H 2008.
- RIA Novosti – Kazakhstan has postponed the start of production at a major Caspian Sea oil field from 2011 to 2013, the country’s energy and mineral resources minister said on Tuesday. The start of oil production at the Kashagan oil field, which is currently operated under a production sharing agreement, has already been postponed several times. A consortium of foreign companies led by Italy’s Eni SpA initially pledged to start commercial production at the oil field, one of the largest deposits discovered in the past 30 years, in 2008.
- Alexander Cooley – After a decade of relative neglect post-Soviet Central Asia has become a foreign policy priority for the transatlantic community. Both the United States and Europe have engaged with the region in recent years in pursuit of new strategic interests, including maintaining military basing access in support of coalition operations in Afghanistan and securing the export of Central Asian oil and gas to the West.
A Royal Air Force gunner, kneels next to his machine gun, aboard an EH-101 Merlin helicopter, while on flight over Basra, Iraq on Oct. 27, 2008, in Basra, Iraq. (photo by Sgt. Gustavo Olgiati)
Middle East
- Hurriyet – Turkish warplanes bombed Tuesday terror organization PKK positions in northern Iraq with the backing of artillery fire from Turkey, the army said in a statement posted on its website. The jets struck PKK targets in the Hakurk, Avasin-Basyan and Zap regions in northern Iraq, the statement said.
- BBC – Iraq has denounced a raid into Syria at the weekend, saying it does not want its territory to be used as a launch-pad for US attacks on its neighbours.
- Earth Times – The Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement has condemned the US raid in Syria as a “terrorist crime” that violated Syrian sovereignty, Lebanese media reported said Tuesday. Hezbollah, in a statement, also urged the Arab League and Arab states to “shoulder their responsibilities because they are threatened by similar attacks,” according to Voice of Lebanon radio. “US occupation and Israeli occupation pose a threat to the region’s peace and stability,” the statement said.
- NOW Lebanon – Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, during his meeting with MP Saad Hariri on Sunday night, raised the issue of the March 14 alliance’s position on Hezbollah’s weapons. Hariri said that the position was a response to accusations and the campaigns that have targeted the majority, especially from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad when they said that March 14 was an “Israeli product.”
- Olivier Guitta – Time is running out for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He will have to decide in the next few weeks whether his overture to the West is genuine or not. To Assad’s credit a slew of events are pointing to his good faith, but he is still afraid to totally break loose from Iran’s grip. Whatever decision the Syrian president makes will have a great impact on the region.
- USA Today – A top al-Qaeda in Iraq operative killed during a U.S. raid on a Syrian compound just over the Iraq border was about to carry out an attack in Iraq, U.S. officials say. The raid capped nearly a year of debate among the CIA, U.S. special forces and commanders in Iraq about how to handle the Syrian tributary of the Iraq foreign fighter problem, according to a former intelligence official and a current U.S. military official who deals with Iraq. The United States has been asking Syria to hand over Abu Ghadiyah for months or years. Syria rebuffed the U.S. request, saying it was monitoring Abu Ghadiyah’s activities, said a former military official with direct recent knowledge of U.S. intelligence in western Iraq.
- ynet – The defense establishment thwarted an attempt to smuggle military textile goods to the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip on Monday. Defense Ministry administration workers were surprised to discover the equipment under a surface during a routine check of a truck carrying humanitarian aid to the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The goods included coats, sweaters, hats, and camouflage fatigues.
- Jerusalem Post – Fatah and Hamas could begin to reunite as early as November 9, at a National Reconciliation session in Cairo, said Muhammad Shtayyeh, president of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction. Shtayyeh spoke a day after Abbas announced that he had reached an agreement with Egypt on ending the Hamas-Fatah power struggle. The Egyptians are hoping to host the national reconciliation conference for all Palestinian groups in Cairo next month.
Iran
- Press TV – Iran says the country’s military is set to expand its defensive fronts in the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean. The announcement by Iran’s Deputy Army Commander Brigadier General Abdolrahim Moussavi came after the country’s Armed Forces inaugurated a new naval base in the strategic port of Jask on Monday. The Iranian commander added that the country’s Armed Forces have set up an ‘impenetrable naval barrier’ in the eastern parts of the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman.
- IRNA – Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki condemned on Tuesday the US recent attacks on Syria and Pakistan and hoped that the next resident of the White House would correct the current US damaged image worldwide.
- Association of American Universities - Six presidents of U.S. research universities will visit Iranian universities in November on a trip organized by the Association of American Universities (AAU). AAU President Robert M. Berdahl, who will accompany the delegation, said the trip is in response to an invitation by the president of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, which will host the visit. The group will visit Tehran University and several other Iranian universities, as well.
- MEMRI – The Iranian daily Jomhouri-e Eslami has called on Saudi Arabia to shut down the Al-Arabiya television network, saying it is a focus of Satan’s work and a tool for the propaganda that is poisoning the atmosphere against Iran, in the service of the imperialist powers. The paper added that Al-Arabiya has become a basis for support for the Iranian opposition movements.
South Asia
- Stars and Stripes – Twelve militants were killed in fighting after a Black Hawk helicopter was brought down by enemy fire in Afghanistan on Monday, military officials say. The helicopter was on a mission in Wardak province west of Kabul.
- Asia Foundation – Today, The Asia Foundation released findings from its most recent public opinion poll in Afghanistan, which covers the largest population sample ever surveyed at one time in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces. “Afghanistan in 2008: A Survey of the Afghan People” is the fourth poll conducted by the Foundation, which released previous polls in 2004, 2006, and 2007. Collectively, the four surveys establish an accurate, long-term barometer of public opinion across Afghanistan to help assess the direction in which the country is moving in the post-Taliban era.
- Daily Times – Muhammad Omar, a commander of Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, was among the 20 men killed in Sunday’s suspected US missile strike in South Waziristan, officials said. Two lower-level commanders – Waheedullah and Nasrullah – and five Taliban from North Waziristan who had come to meet Omar also died.
- Pak Tribune - Pakistan-Afghanistan Mini Jirga has concluded its first day proceedings with proposals to adopt a joint strategy plan for elimination of terrorism and extremism. According to a private TV Channel report, during the first day proceedings, the “Mini Jirga” discussed and reviewed the strategy for rooting out terrorism from country. The Afghan members of Mini Jirga categorically declared that they would only hold dialogue with those elements who were ready to lay down their weapons, acknowledge the constitution and want to become part of government.
- The News – The US-led Nato forces on Tuesday fired around 11 artillery shells at the Angoor Adda town of the South Waziristan Agency (SWA), resulting in an exchange of fire between the Pakistani and foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.
- Richard Weitz – Pakistan: Analyzing Civil-Military Relations in Islamabad
- India Foreign Ministry – India conveyed its concern at the humanitarian situation in the northern part of Sri Lanka, especially of the civilians and internally displaced persons caught in the hostilities and emphasised the need for unhindered essential relief supplies. Mr. Rajapaksa briefed the Indian authorities of the efforts by the Sri Lanka Government to afford relief and ensure the welfare of the civilian population in the North. He assured that the safety and wellbeing of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka is being taken care of. As a gesture of goodwill, India has decided to send around 800 tonness of relief material to Sri Lanka for the affected civilians in the North. The Government of Sri Lanka will facilitate the delivery.
- Times of India – The Tamil Tigers’ air wing set a power station ablaze in the Sri Lankan capital and hit an army base on Tuesday in separate air raids, the military said. The bombing runs were the eighth and ninth raids by the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) ramshackle air force of single-engine propeller-driven planes, which have bedevilled the Sri Lankan military since first striking in March 2007.
- ISN – Desertion rates soar in the Sri Lankan army, but as the military closes in on Tiger rebels, its new tactic of amnestying deserters seems to be working to some extent, Anuj Chopra reports from Kurunegala District for ISN Security Watch.
Far East & Pacific
- VOA – North Korea threatened military force against South Korea, Tuesday, a day after South Korean civic groups sent tens of thousands of leaflets into the North by balloon. A commentary carried by North Korea’s official news agency warned of an “advanced pre-emptive strike of our own style” that “will reduce everything… to debris, not just setting it on fire.”
- Times of India – At least seven Muslim separatists and a soldier have been killed in clashes in the southern Philippines, the military said on Tuesday. The two-hour firefight took place near the town of Mamasapano on the island of Mindanao on Monday, said the region’s military spokesman, Major Randolph Cabangbang
Europe
- Elspeth Guild, Sergio Carrera, and Thierry Balzacq – The Changing Dynamics of Security in an Enlarged European Union
- Guido Steinberg, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies – Counter-Terrorism and German-American Relations: A German Perspective
- Daily Spain – Four alleged members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA were arrested early Tuesday at Pamplona and Valencia in the north and south of Spain respectively, national television reported. National radio said those arrested were not armed but apparently belonged to a recently set-up “operational group”.
Africa
- Press TV – Massive explosions targeting military forces in southwestern Somali region have killed three military officers and injured 10 others. The blast on Tuesday destroyed a house in Beled Hawo, second largest city in Gedo region near the Kenyan border, where the officers were attending a meeting, Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported. The officers from Mareehan clan were planning to launch an offensive aimed at recapturing the strategic Kismayu town, partly controlled by anti-government rebels, he said.
- Al Arabiya – Somali Islamists have stoned to death a woman accused of adultery in the first such public killing by the militants for about two years. The 23-year-old woman was executed late on Monday in front of hundreds of people in the southern port of Kismayu, which the Islamist insurgents captured in August, witnesses said.
- MONUC – The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, has condemned in the strongest terms an attack by elements from the (CNDP, National Congress for the Defence of People) on a convoy of United Nations forces as they were maintaining security for civilians along the road link between Goma and Rutshuru.
- Reuters – Congolese Tutsi rebels overran the eastern town of Rutshuru on Tuesday, a rebel spokesman said, in an offensive that has forced tens of thousands of people to flee for their lives. “We have taken the town of Rutshuru and the (adjoining) town of Kiwanja,” rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters. Earlier the head of the government army’s operations in the area, Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, said he would have to abandon the town in the face of a rebel advance that began on Sunday.
- UNODC – A report by UNODC, launched at the meeting, shows that at least 50 tons of cocaine from the Andean countries are transiting West Africa every year, heading north where they are worth almost $2 billion on the streets of European cities. Most cocaine entering Africa from South America makes landfall around Guinea-Bissau in the north and Ghana in the south. Much of the drugs are shipped to Europe by drug mules on commercial flights. According to seizure data, the majority of air couriers seem to be coming from Guinea (Conakry), Mali, Nigeria and Senegal destined for France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Upon arrival, the cocaine is predominantly distributed by West African criminal networks throughout Europe.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Hunter Owens, from Baton Rouge, La., reinstalls an M-61A1 20mm Gatling gun in the gun bay of an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the "Blue Diamonds" of Strike Fighter Squadron 146 aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (photo by Seaman Walter Wayman)
The Global War
- Pentagon – The United States military is the best-manned, best-equipped and best-trained force in the world, but that doesn’t mean a thing if it can’t get to the fight. The 138,000 military and civilian men and women of the U.S. Transportation Command and its service components – the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, the Navy’s Military Sealift Command and the Army’s Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command – “are really the jewel in the crown” of the American military, Air Force Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, TransCom commander, said in an interview.
- US News – Lessons From the Near-Defeat of a Once-Feared al Qaeda Affiliate in Indonesia
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6 October, 2008 (00:26) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 6 October 2008.
United States & the Americas
- Washington Post – A federal judge is considering whether to order a group of detainees held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay released into the United States, in what would instantly become a landmark legal decision in the years-long battle over the rights of terrorism suspects there. The men, a small band of Chinese Muslims who have been held for nearly seven years, are no longer considered enemy combatants by the U.S. government, but they are caught in a well-documented diplomatic bind.
- US DOJ – To provide enhanced support and guidance for the FBI in its core missions, the Attorney General is issuing a new, consolidated set of guidelines for domestic FBI operations. These guidelines provide more uniform, clearer, and simpler rules for the FBI’s operations. The guidelines are designed to allow the FBI to become, among other things, a more flexible and adept collector of intelligence, as recommended by major national advisory bodies and studies
- Xinhua – Mexican police found the bodies of ten murdered victims Saturday in the northwestern city of Tijuana which borders the United States, after dozens of people were killed last week amid escalated drug gang clashes. Investigators said all the victims had been beaten before being executed, and two of them were beheaded.
- LA Times – The Brazilian president has emerged as the chief mediator in the region, riding a wave of popularity and galloping economic growth at home and acting as a counterweight to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.
- McClatchy – As U.S. prosecutors rested their case in the Miami federal trial involving a mysterious suitcase filled with $800,000 sent from Venezuela to Argentina, their witnesses have shed light on the financial operations of the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The revelations include descriptions of a complex web of corruption and bribes within Venezuela and a multimillion-dollar slush fund intended for an international ally.
- NY Times – Military officials have prohibited Raúl Isaías Baduel, a retired general and a former confidant of President Hugo Chávez who is now one of his most strident critics, from leaving the country after accusing him of corruption in connection with his tenure as Venezuela’s defense minister.
- Brazil Sun – The number of deaths in Haiti in the wake of four major storms in August and September has more than doubled to at least 793, reports said. Some 300 people were still missing, Haitian civil defence director, Marie Alta Jean Baptiste was quoted as saying in media reports Saturday in Port-au-Prince.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- VOA – European Union monitors in Georgia say they have observed the dismantling of a Russian checkpoint near the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia has said it will withdraw troops from two security zones inside undisputed Georgian territory by October 10, under a cease-fire agreement brokered by France.
- EurasiaNet – The Kremlin-controlled energy conglomerate Gazprom is pushing back the start date of the South Stream pipeline by at least two years, according to a report published by the Russian business paper Vedomosti. Cost estimates for South Stream are now approaching $20 billion and are continuing to climb. Some experts believe that the rising cost should cause Gazprom to think twice about going through with construction.
- RIA Novosti – A 1,100 km leg of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline was opened Saturday in Russia’s Far Eastern republic of Yakutia. The ESPO pipeline is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels of crude per day from Siberia to Russia’s Far East and then onto China and the Asia-Pacific region.
- Kavkaz Center – Russia has deployed in Ingushetia with via its intelligence service KGB and special teams under the special operations since 2007. After that Russian terrorism against Muslim public uprised, said World Bulletin columnist Fehin Tastekin in his article whish written following his Ingushetia visit. The Moscow Helsinki Group said on September the federal authorities in the Caucasus republic are engaged in kidnappings, torture and extra-judicial killings.
- RIA Novosti – An avenue in the center of the Chechen capital was renamed Sunday in honor of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chechnya’s pro-Moscow leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he was sure that 99% of the Chechen population trusted Putin and the Russian leadership.
- Nosint – A scandal on government-inspired illegal arm supplies to Georgia gathers strength in Ukraine. A parliamentary investigative commission has already revealed facts on supplying arms worth a whopping 200 million dollars to the Saakashvili regime
Middle East
- Star Tribune – An Al-Qaida in Iraq leader suspected of executing a Russian official and orchestrating a recent wave of bombings in Baghdad has been killed by U.S. forces in a shootout, the U.S. command said Saturday. Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi and his wife were killed Friday when U.S. troops surrounded a building in an attempt to capture him in Baghdad’s Adhamiya neighborhood.
- CNN – Eleven people from an Iraqi family, including women and children, were killed Sunday during a raid involving U.S. troops, Iraqi police sources said. The U.S. military said the deaths were caused by a suicide bomber, but the Iraqi police sources said it was not clear how the family died. A U.S. military statement said troops entered a building in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul looking for a terrorist suspect.
- MNF Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces captured six suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq during separate operations in northern Iraq
- Instapundit – Major John Tammes: “While this past Spring I was telling you and your readers of the fight for Basrah and what I observed, now things are much less…dramatic. I suppose that is a story in and of itself. No battles to tell of, no close calls with enemy fire, nada”
- Al Bawaba – Egypt’s foreign minister made a one-day stop in Baghdad, the first such visit in nearly two decades. According to the AP, Ahmed Aboul Gheit held talks with his Iraqi counterpart and Iraq’s prime minister.
- LA Times – Poland turned over control of an area south of Baghdad to American troops on Saturday, making it the latest in a string of countries to leave the dwindling U.S.-led coalition. The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said “the timing is right” for Poland’s departure thanks to a sharp drop in violence that is also allowing the U.S. to withdraw extra troops deployed last year and transfer more responsibility to Iraqis.
- Radio Netherlands – Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said his country will strike back hard against the Kurdish guerrilla movement the PKK, following its attack on a Turkish military outpost near the border with Iran. Fifteen Turkish soldiers and 23 PKK rebels were killed in the bloodiest confrontation between the two sides in a year.
- Hurriyet – The Turkish military says warplanes have bombed PKK separatist’s bases in northern Iraq, the General Staff said in a statement posted on its website. The bombs hit Iraq’s Avasin Basyan region on Saturday after the PKK attack that killed 15 Turkish soldiers on Friday, but added that no ground troops entered Iraq, the statement said.
- Asharq Al-Awsat – Bahraini MPs have threatened to summon their incumbent foreign minister for questioning following his call to set up a regional organization that would include Israel, and the next session of the Bahraini Parliament is expected to be an occasion for a fresh escalation against the minister.
- ynet – Israel and Spain have reportedly been trying to untangle a diplomatic mess of sorts, brought on by a Spanish human rights group, which is demanding seven Israeli officials involved in the 2002 assassination of Hamas operative Salah Shehade, be arrested if they set foot on Spanish soil.
- Jerusalem Post – There are signs that Fatah is preparing to launch a major operation against Hamas in the West Bank in the coming weeks ahead of expected turmoil when Mahmoud Abbas’s term as PA president ends in January, a top IDF officer has told The Jerusalem Post. The IDF has already begun assisting Abbas ahead of the expected violence.
- People’s Daily – A new Palestinian militant group named” Hezbollah Brigades in Palestine” declared its establishment in the Palestinian territories to fight against Israel, a statement by the group said Saturday. The statement, which could not be verified immediately, said the group’s goals are to “carry out Jihad for the sake of Allah and to resist the enemies of Islam.” The statement said the new group was established “after some ofthe factions gave up the militant work against the Israeli occupation,” implicitly referring to Islamic Hamas movement which preserves an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel since June this year.
A scout sniper assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2/6 of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires his MK-11 sniper rifle from a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter while flying over the Gulf of Aden. The snipers train by firing at floating targets from different places inside the helicopter. The 26th MEU is part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group and is deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (photo by Cpl. Aaron Rock)
Iran
- JTA – Republicans blocked Iran sanctions legislation in the Senate. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) exercised his prerogative Thursday to object to consideration of legislation that had passed overwhelmingly last week in the U.S. House of Representatives. The White House opposes the legislation in part because it encroaches on the president’s foreign policy prerogatives, but Senate Republicans – who have voiced support for such legislation – have yet to make clear why they are blocking it.
- MEMRI – Iran Friday Sermon: U.S. Economic Woes ‘Divine Punishment’ – ‘The Unhappier They [Americans] Become, The Happier We Get’; ‘Americans Should Wait To Be Slapped In The Face By Islam, Muslims, And The Islamic Revolution’
- Michael Rubin – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – A Rogue Outfit?
- Uskowi on Iran – General Safavi, the former head of the whole IRGC organization, is now the second most important military man in all Iran. His promotion by Supreme leader Khamanei now includes duties related to the direction and command of the joint chief of staff, military operations and the direction of Iran’s military doctrine.
- Haaretz – Iran’s official news agency says Tehran will not give up uranium enrichment even if the West guarantees a supply of nuclear fuel to the country. Sunday’s IRNA report quotes Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying Iran could not trust Western countries, especially the U.S., to provide nuclear support because they had backtracked on cooperation in the past. Mottaki said Iran would continue to enrich uranium and would provide it to other countries under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- Colombo Page – Sri Lanka will receive the Iranian oil credit facility for another three months at a concessionary interest rate to meet its crude oil requirements, the government said today. The Iranian government has agreed to give an extension of three months as the interest-free oil credit facility to purchase the country’s crude oil requirement is to end soon.
South Asia
- AFP – Taliban militants attacked a police officer’s house in the southern province of Kandahar early Saturday, sparking a three-hour clash, provincial police chief Mutiullah Khan told AFP. In the western city of Herat on Sunday, a suicide attacker blew up an explosives-laden motorbike near an Afghan army convoy, wounding three civilians and a soldier in the convoy, police said.
- NY Times – Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Afghan Heroin Trade
- Robert Kaplan – The rising violence in Afghanistan and fractious political situation in Pakistan have become leading issues in the American presidential campaign and the debates between the candidates. Indeed, after seven years of war in the region, it’s time to ask a very impolite set of questions: If we did, by chance, capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, would Afghanistan still matter?
- Times Online – Britain’s most senior military commander in Afghanistan has warned that the war against the Taliban cannot be won. Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the British public should not expect a “decisive military victory” but should be prepared for a possible deal with the Taliban.
- Times Online – The Taliban might be in control just seven miles down the road in Nad Ali, but earnest civil servants boast of British success in winning over the population and creating five zones of development in Lashkar Gah, Sangin, Musa Qala, Gereshk and Garmser. A day spent in this Foreign Office fantasy land was reminiscent of a propaganda tour I was taken on by the Russians in the dying days of their occupation in the late 1980s. They too controlled the cities and towns but not the roads or countryside.
- NATO – Without firing a shot, ISAF soldiers captured a suspected senior Taliban commander in Uruzgan during the very early morning of 1 October. Mullah Sakhi Dad and one other insurgent were captured at a compound in Tarin Kowt district. Reports have linked Sakhi Dad with the ordering and coordination of suicide bombers in Uruzgan province.
- Khaleej Times – Pakistani villagers collected body parts of at least 20 people, including several suspected Arab militants, killed by a U.S. missile strike on a house in a northwestern tribal area, intelligence officials said on Saturday. A pilotless drone aircraft launched the attack late on Friday in the village of Mohammad Khel, 30 km (20 miles) west of Miranshah in North Waziristan, a known sanctuary of al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
- The News – The local people on Saturday killed three militants in Darra Adamkhel while a rival group gunned down another militant in Sherakai area of the gun-manufacturing town. Tribal sources said volunteers of the tribe were busy in demolishing the houses of militants and their supporters in Ondai area of Salarzai Tehsil when a group of armed militants attacked them. The volunteers, however, repulsed the attack and killed three militants in retaliatory fire.
- Dawn – Security forces said two important militant commanders were killed during an exchange of fire at Sambat in the troubled Matta tehsil here on Sunday. Local people claimed the security forces’ convoy came under fire in Sambat area, around 25 kms northwest of Mingora, after a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) blew up. They claimed two security personnel were injured in the blast but the forces denied it stating none of their men received injuries during the operation. The blast triggered heavy exchange of fire during which the forces claimed of killing two commanders identified as Ayub and Amir Zaib.
- Press Trust – Prominent Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda alias Sunil today “claimed responsibility” for the murder of (Hindu) VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four others, which lead to large scale flare-up in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, on two regional news channels. A Maoist leader, identified as Panda, told the reporters of the two private Oriya television channels at an undisclosed destination, that the Maoist outfit decided to eliminate Saraswati as he was “spreading social unrest” in the tribal dominated district.
- Times of India – At least seven persons were killed when police fired on a group of Bangladeshi migrants who tried to defy shoot-at-sight orders in troubled-torn districts of Darrang and Udalguri even as violent clashes between the immigrant workers and tribal Bodos claimed seven more lives. The clashes that broke out on Friday over stealing of cattle have already claimed 16 lives. With Sunday’s incidents the toll went up to 30.
- Hindustan Times – Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was arrested and indefinite curfew imposed Sunday across the Kashmir Valley ahead of the proposed separatist march Monday to city centre Lal Chowk.
- Al Jazeera – Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka, the Sri Lankan army chief, has called on the leaders of the LTTE to give themselves up as the military continues its advance towards their de facto capital. The call came as fighting near Kilinochchi, the administrative headquarters for the Tamil Tigers in the north of the island, intensified on Sunday.
- Geo – Government forces neared the Tamil Tiger rebels’ main town in new fighting that left 29 guerrillas and five soldiers dead, the military said Sunday. The heaviest fighting was very near the rebels’ administrative capital of Kilinochchi, where 20 guerrillas and four soldiers died Saturday, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. The army says its soldiers are now only just over one mile (two kilometers) from the outer limits of the town, which the government has said it is close to capturing.
- Khaleej Times – Past attempts to take Kilinochchi using large columns of soldiers had failed because the Tigers deployed suicide bombers against them. But a defence analyst who declined to be named said the Tigers still had suicide attackers who could be deployed with devastating effect. Tamil sources say the guerrillas may now move towards the jungles of Mullaittivu, the main hideout of their 53-year-old leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Tigers still control both Elephant Pass and Mullaittivu.
Far East & Pacific
- China Daily – China on Saturday denounced the US government’s decision to sell arms worth of about US$6.5 billion to Taiwan. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the Chinese government and people firmly opposed this action which seriously damaged China’s interests and the Sino-US relations.
- Xinhua – Chinese police have detained six more suspects involved in the contaminated milk scandal that had caused deaths and kidney stones of babies. The six, suspected of producing and selling the chemical melamine, were detained in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China, the country’s key milk production base, the municipal government said on Sunday in a notice.
- Javno – Australian importers have begun withdrawing Kirin Milk Tea made in China after Australian test results showed levels of melamine in the product available in Australia, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) said.
- AP – Hong Kong said Sunday it found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of the industrial chemical melamine than the city’s legal limit in a growing scandal over tainted food made in China. Iran banned imports of all dairy products from China because of the contamination concerns, state radio reported.
- Bangkok Post – Police arrested core leader and ideologue of the People’s Alliance for Democracy Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang when he showed up to vote in Sunday’s election for Bangkok governor. Maj Gen Chamlong is the second of nine PAD leaders to be arrested in less than 48 hours. Chaiwat Sinsuwong was detained last Friday, although Maj-Gen Chamlong is considered more important and influential within the PAD movement. They face several criminal charges including a serious allegation of inciting insurrection by their street protests, which began in Bangkok last May 25.
- Washington Post – It is rare that a politician so completely lives up to his billing. Across Bangkok, the face of Chuwit Kamolvisit, former massage parlor king and self-confessed briber of police, scowls from posters at the residents he hopes will vote for him in Sunday’s election for governor of Thailand’s largest city.
- TIME – Japan, once the world’s biggest donor nation, is stepping up efforts to boost its influence in resource-rich developing countries by creating a super agency that will dispense billions of dollars a year in foreign aid, most of it bound for Africa and Asia — regions where China is rapidly increasing its clout as an aid donor and commercial partner.
Europe
- Czech Republic – Military Strategy of the Czech Republic – 2008
- Jakarta Post – Germany announced Sunday that it would guarantee all private bank accounts, joining Ireland and Greece in taking drastic independent action to ward off financial crisis in Europe’s biggest economy.
- Newsweek – Why Austria’s Far-Right Is So Successful; Austria’s far-right parties may have modulated their tone, but their message is increasingly familiar.
Africa
- Press TV – Clashes between Ethiopian soldiers and insurgents have left 15 civilians dead and 42 others injured in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The fighting broke out in the Medina district south-west of Mogadishu, as insurgents clashed with Ethiopian soldiers near the base of the Burundian peacekeeping contingent in the capital.
- Daily Star – Islamists in a town in southern Somalia have imposed Sharia law in line with their vow to bring back Islamic theocracy to areas where they were ousted two years ago, a spokesman said Friday. The Mujahideen of Southern Somalia, a group allied to the Shabab movement, on Thursday named a 23-member board to enforce the law in Celwaq, about 650 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu.
- IHT – Unidentified gunmen seized six Filipino seamen from a boat plying the waterways of Nigeria’s southern oil delta region, while a British kidnap victim was released in the same area, officials said.
- The Nation – A total of 77 tanks and 15 jet fighters were secretly imported by Kenya last year alone, according to official documents. Two rocket launchers and more than 40,000 automatic rifles and machine guns were also brought in, the United Nations says. Yet the government has not reported its arms purchases to the United Nations, as required by international agreements, the Sunday Nation can reveal.
- IRIN – With blocked roads and destroyed bridges in and around Garoua in northwest Cameroon, the biggest fear for flood victims there is the lack of drinking water, according to the IFRC’s Diallo. In Cameroon, 80 percent of the agricultural land around Garoua was destroyed, wiping out crops. “This destruction of agricultural land constitutes a real threat to families who can no longer raise or rely on food reserves,” said Flora Tene, head of disaster management in IFRC’s Yaounde office. In Chad, Bongor’s mayor Ramadan Djasria told IRIN additional rains will reduce the 2008 harvest. Moderate levels of food insecurity in the affected Moyen Chari region have already increased because of the floods, said a FEWSNET report, by further increasing already-high cereal prices.
Petty Officer 2nd class Jeremy Lytle and Petty Officer 3rd class Daniel Trahan replace the aft anchor light of the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Newport News, moored at Naval Station Norfolk's Pier 3 (photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Xander Gamble)
The Global War
- Defense Update – Traces of Israel’s Mossad activities are hard to find as mysterious incidents throughout the Middle East remain unclaimed. Syrian generals assassinated, killed in bomb blasts, mysterious explosions in Iran’s uranium enrichment plants, disruption of nuclear processing plants in Iran and Syria are all indicating that the secret wars are fought in the shadows.
- Abdul Hameed Bakier – Al-Qaeda Outlines its Strategy Seven Years After 9/11
- Military.com – An American member of al-Qaida pointed to economic troubles in the United States as proof that “the enemies of Islam” face defeat, in an English-language video released Saturday. In a half hour video message, California-native Adam Gadahn urged Pakistanis to unite against their government and U.S. forces, and taunted Americans over their economic crisis, relating it to their military interventions.
- Dipnote – What Are the Implications of the U.S.-India Agreement on Nuclear Energy?
- Daily Star – Afghanistan won a place on the 35-member board of the UN atomic watchdog on Friday, after Syria pulled out of the race for the seat. Syria had been competing with Afghanistan for a spot in the body that oversees the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that had become vacant for the so-called Middle East and South Asia (MESA) group after Pakistan’s one-year term expired.
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17 September, 2008 (00:58) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 17 September 2008.
United States & the Americas
- Javno – Oil prices dropped another 4 percent on Tuesday, extending their steepest two-day slide since 2004 as mounting economic turmoil sent investors fleeing to safer havens. The losses came despite U.S. supply disruptions after Hurricane Ike crashed through the Gulf of Mexico last week and left a quarter of the nation’s energy output idled.
- US Navy – Sailors from USS McInerney (FFG 8) and U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 404 (LEDET) intercepted a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) carrying seven tons of cocaine Sept. 13. Sailors intercepted the 59-foot SPSS in a nighttime interdiction 350 miles off the coast of Guatemala, capturing four suspected narcotics smugglers from Colombia and the large cargo of cocaine before the SPSS could be scuttled.
- COHA – Bolivia: A Profound Breakdown of Communication with Latin America
- ABC – President Evo Morales announced Tuesday that soldiers have arrested an opposition governor on suspicion of directing a massacre of the leftist leader’s supporters as Bolivia’s political crisis continued to unfold.
- Reuters – Honduras, a former ally in of Washington in Central America, told a U.S. envoy on Tuesday to present his credentials as ambassador later this week, ending a diplomatic snub in support of Bolivia.
- CBC – At least seven people are dead and 101 wounded after a grenade attack shattered Mexican Independence Day celebrations Monday in the western city of Morelia. “Without a doubt, we believe this was done by organized crime,” Leonel Godoy told Mexico’s Televisa network.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Steve LeVine – About a week and a half ago, four Russian oligarchs abruptly called off a months-long seige that had BP on the ropes, and gave the British company a settlement that it could have only dreamed of just a day earlier. The company was allowed to keep its 50% holding in the Russian oil company TNK-BP in exchange for concessions that were relatively minor compared with the worst-case scenario — that, with a loss of much of its Russian holdings, BP might have to merge with Shell or some other Big Oil rival.
- EurasiaNet – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Moscow on September 16 was notable mostly for what he did not say. Russia has pressed Azerbaijan to sell a large volume of natural gas to the Kremlin-controlled conglomerate Gazprom. But Aliyev and his Russian hosts did not announce a gas purchase deal following their talks.
- Kommersant – Up to 27 percent of Gross Domestic Product is laundered in Russia each year. The laundering extends to legalization of illegally acquired wealth, to the income concealment and embezzlement, RIA Novosti reported with reference to Marat Musin from Russia’s State Commerce and Economic University. Musin made the respective statement in time of the round table held at Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
- RIA Novosti – Russia is to speed up the construction of a new gas pipeline to the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, Russia’s deputy energy minister said Tuesday. “We are targeting June 2009 as the completion date,” Vyatcheslav Sinyugin said at a meeting with officials responsible for dealing with the aftermath of the recent conflict in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.
- Dawn – Seven people were killed in a clash between Russian security forces and insurgents, local officials said on Tuesday, the latest incident in a wave of violence destabilising the southern region of Ingushetia. The local Interior Ministry in the mainly Muslim region said four servicemen and three gunmen were killed in a special operation on Monday during which a group of insurgents was blockaded in the village of Verkhniye Achaluki.
- RFERL – Turkmen authorities have spoken little about the all-night gun battle in Ashgabat on September 12 that left many dead and caused part of the city to be closed off. While state media reported that police neutralized a drug mafia in the capital, others described the gun battle as infighting between different clans within the security services, and still others connected it to Islamic radicals.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates talks to Multi-National Force Iraq after giving Army Gen. Raymond Odierno command during the MNF-I change of command on Camp Victory, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2008. Secretary Gates is in southwest Asia to meet with Iraqi and Afgan leaders and to preside over the changing of the commanding general of Multi-National Force Iraq. (photo by Tech Sgt. Jerry Morrison)
Middle East
- AFPS – Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno assumed command of Multinational Force Iraq from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus during a ceremony at al Faw Palace. The change of command occurs after incredible progress in the country, said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who traveled to Baghdad to participate in the ceremony.
- Al Arabiya – Syria named its first ambassador to Iraq since the 1980s on Tuesday, two years after the two countries restored diplomatic ties, according to the state-run news agency.
- Asharq Al Awsat – A pro-al Qaeda militant and four other Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in fierce overnight gunbattles in the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials said. The fighting involving Islamist Hamas security forces and mostly members of the Doghmosh clan was the worst among Palestinians in the coastal territory since clashes in July in which more than a dozen died.
- Al Alam – Lebanon’s rival political leaders gather on Tuesday for talks focused on a reconciliation deal amid heightened security concerns. The talks, headed by President Michel Sleiman, will see 14 political figures from the country’s rival camps try to mend fences.
- Washington Post – Attackers exploded a vehicle bomb outside the main gate of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen on Wednesday in what appeared to be a well-coordinated assault that triggered more explosions and heavy gunfire around the compound. Yemen’s official Saba news agency said 16 people died in the incident, including six Yemeni soldiers, four civilians and six attackers.
Iran
- Press TV – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the presence of NATO forces in the Caucasus would only lead to more disasters in the region.
- Asia Times – Ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections next year, Iran is already abuzz with talk of a post-Mahmud Ahmadinejad era. In the highest places where it really matters, though, the president is viewed as the best man for the job, including the way in which he deals with the United States. Reformers face an uphill battle.
- Haaretz – The UN nuclear watchdog showed documents and photographs on Tuesday suggesting Iran secretly tried to modify a missile cone to fit a nuclear bomb, diplomats said, and Tehran again dismissed the findings as forged.
- US News – How Iran Is Advancing Its Nuclear Program; While Tehran defies nuclear inspectors, the U.S.-led sanctions effort stalls out at the United Nations
- IRNA – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is assigned for the Persian Gulf defense, Supreme Leader’s top advisor for the armed forces affairs, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, said on Tuesday. The former IRGC commander told reporters that Army of the Islamic Republic was also assigned for the defense of the Gulf of Oman and Caspian Sea.
- Patrick Clawson – The Islamic Republic’s Economic Failure
Southeast Asia
- GulfNews – Attacks, airstrikes and operations by insurgents, the US and Nato have killed 1,445 Afghan civilians this year, a 40 per cent increase over 2007, the UN said on Tuesday.
- NY Times – The senior American military commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday that in an effort to reduce civilian casualties, he had tightened the rules around when NATO troops here may use lethal force.
- Telegraph – New breed of Taliban replaces old guard; Money and a hatred of foreigners are motivating a new generation of Afghan fighters.
- The News – The paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) and the Pakistan Army troops on Tuesday advanced towards the trouble spots in Bajaur Agency where military officials said 12 more suspected militants, including foreigners, were killed in fresh air strikes and artillery shelling.
- IRIN – Pro-Taliban militants have burnt shops and girls’ schools, which they claim are spreading “vulgarity”, with the result that the lush Swat valley, about 150km northeast of the regional capital Peshawar, with a population of 1.8 million, has seen extensive military operations by the Pakistan army… He said 103 schools had been torched, of which 99 percent are girls’ schools. “Matta, Kabal and Kooza Banday are worst affected, although outside Mingora and Saidu Sharif, no area enjoys the government’s writ,” he said.
- CNN – Three weeks after an apparent misunderstanding sparked a confrontation, deadly Hindu-Christian riots continue unabated in the remote east Indian state of Orissa. By Tuesday, about 20 deaths had been reported, said Praveen Kumar, the superintendent.
- Dawn – Four Indian soldiers and three suspected militants were killed in gun battles across occupied Kashmir on Monday. Police said suspected militants also beheaded a villager suspecting him to be an informer of Indian troops.
- AP – A bomb blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels ripped through a passenger bus in the heart of Sri Lanka’s capital Tuesday, but no one was seriously hurt because the conductor saw a suspicious package and evacuated the passengers in time, the military said.
- Daily Star – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled out a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers and said troops were on track to capture the rebels’ political capital by the end of the year. The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, however, said Tuesday that LTTE fighters had again beaten back a government assault in Kilinochchi district on Monday, killing 22 soldiers and wounding 53. However, the ministry said 18 rebels and three soldiers were killed on Monday, during fierce gun battles in the north.
- Daily Mirror – It is difficult to comprehend the motive of India which does everything possible to divert China from eyeing South Asia , is bringing China increasingly close to Sri Lanka on the ground that it is to destroy the LTTE . It is also inconceivable why India which does not brook Pakistan’s domination in South Asia is aligned with Pakistan in relation to the war against the Tamil Tigers.
Far East & Pacific
- Uzbekistan News – North Korea has conducted an engine ignition test for a long-range missile at a new launch site on its west coast, South Korean media reported Tuesday. The test was presumably for the engine of the Taepodong-2 missile, which has a range of 6,700 km, or an improved version of the same missile, capable of flying more than 10,000 km, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, quoting government sources.
- Jakarta Post – A Thai court has issued a second arrest warrant for deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who recently fled to London to escape a string of corruption cases at home. The Supreme Court issued the warrant Tuesday when Thaksin failed to appear in court to acknowledge charges against him in one of four pending corruption cases.
- Xinhua – The six political parties in Thailand’s caretaker government on Tuesday announced their decision to retain their coalition in forming a new government, and to nominate acting prime minister Somchai Wongsawat as new premier for Wednesday’s parliament voting.
- Reuters – Militants shot dead two Muslim rubber tappers in Thailand’s deep south on Tuesday, then detonated a bomb and wounded five policemen and three villagers who had rushed to the scene, police said. Police believed the victims, aged 47 and 28, were attacked because they worked as village defence volunteers. “The insurgents hate any Muslim who works with the government,” a police investigator told Reuters at the scene.
Europe
- Kyiv Post – Ukraine’s pro-Western coalition was dissolved on Tuesday, opening the way to tough talks on finding a viable alternative to govern the country. If the talks fail, Ukraine faces its third election in as many years. The “orange” coalition, made up of groups led by President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, collapsed this month when the president’s allies walked out.
- France24 – Two weeks after the EU approved Italy’s controversial decision to fingerprint Roma people, the 27-nation bloc is holding its first summit on discrimination against the Roma on Tuesday.
- AP – Dutch detectives have recovered five 17th-century paintings, including a Jan Steen, more than six years after they were snatched from the Frans Hals Museum, the museum and police said Tuesday. The Golden Age works, worth millions of dollars, were found after an 18-month investigation by Dutch police who used undercover agents to crack the case and worked closely with Britain’s Serious and Organized Crime Agency.
Africa
- Garowe – A maritime official says armed pirates have hijacked a Hong Kong chemical tanker with 22 crew members in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia. Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau says the ship was seized Monday, making it the 12th vessel to be hijacked in the pirate-infested waterway since July 20.
- Times Online – Years of violence, neglect and misguided policies have left Somalia one of the most dangerous countries and a breeding ground for the pirates attacking one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Today the northeast area of the country, including Puntland, has been carved up by warlords who finance themselves by drug and gun running. This is also the heartland of the pirates, whose main backers are linked to the Western-backed government. Radical Islamists control much of the south, including the key port of Kismayo and the porous border area with Kenya, a staunch Western ally.
- Reuters – Al Jazeera television on Tuesday aired a video showing a Canadian and an Australian journalist kidnapped in Somalia last month, and said the pair were appealing to their governments to work for their release.
- MEMRI – A fatwa by Sheikh Mohammad Al-Maghraoui permitting marriage to nine-year-old girls has sparked an uproar in Morocco, and has already led to lawsuits against the sheikh under the law banning minor marriages in the country.
- Press Association – A British ex-pat has been kidnapped in Nigeria, according to reports. The hostage was seized by five gunmen in the oil hub Port Harcourt on Monday night, but as yet no group has claimed responsibility. The kidnap report came as violence escalated elsewhere in the oil rich country with reports that militants had sabotaged a pipeline overnight in the southern oil region. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that its fighters used high explosives to destroy the pipeline operated by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell.
- UN – A United Nations helicopter in Darfur was able to land safely after being shot at in the third incident of its kind in the war-wracked region of western Sudan.
Reserve Marines from 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, headquartered in Garden City, N.Y., board a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft in Kuwait bound for Iraq on, Aug. 7, 2008. The battalion's expected tour of duty is seven months. (photo by Capt. Paul Greenberg)
The Global War
- Jerusalem Post – Top US counterterrorism officials Monday said al-Qaida is imploding and that its violent tactics have turned Muslims worldwide against the organization. “Absolutely it’s imploding. It’s imploding because it’s not a message that resonates with a lot of Muslims,” said Dell Dailey, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism.
- Rami Khouri – These pressures to disrupt Al-Qaeda have been offset by a continuation of the stressful conditions at the local and national levels in many Arab and Asian societies that nourish these Salafist jihadist movements in the first place. So a more useful matter than addressing “What is Al-Qaeda’s condition today?” is looking at the wider trends in Arab and Asian societies that bolster Islamist radicalism by spurring five related forces.
- Treasury Dept – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated five individuals and two entities under Executive Order (E.O.) 13438 for threatening the peace and stability of Iraq and the Government of Iraq. One of the individuals designated today is a member of Iran’s Qods Force, the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that is responsible for providing material support to Lebanese Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.
- State Dept – I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
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11 September, 2008 (00:45) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 11 September 2008.
United States & the Americas
- Pentagon – The Pentagon Memorial will be open to the public on Sept. 11, 2008, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT. The opening will include a musical tribute featuring the Navy Band and the Sea Chanters Chorus, the official chorus of the U.S. Navy. This will be the first opportunity for the general public to view the memorial in remembrance of the lives lost on Sept. 11 at the Pentagon and on AA Flight 77.
- AP – Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised for the first time Wednesday that Canada’s troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn in 2011, as his minority government looks to win support in national elections next month.
- Mark P. Sullivan, Congressional Research Service – Latin America: Terrorism Issues
- Press TV – Bolivian President Evo Morales has declared the US ambassador to La Paz ‘persona non grata’, accusing the envoy of provoking separatism.
- Xinhua – An attack on a gas pipeline in the south of Bolivia has reduced the country’s export of natural gas to Brazil by 10 percent, said news reports from La Paz, administrative capital of Bolivia, on Wednesday.
- Al Jazeera - Russia has flown two long-range bombers to Venezuela for military exercises, a move likely to cause concern in Washington. Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, said on Wednesday that the Tu-160 strategic bombers had arrived to strengthen military ties and to counter US regional influence.
- CSM – Just as Mexico was becoming the rising star of global manufacturing in the 1990s, China’s even cheaper wages turned that country into the world’s factory. But now, with skyrocketing oil prices, escalating labor costs in China, and an appreciating currency there, companies targeting the US market are doing the math and giving Mexico another look.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- CRN – Russia has officially established diplomatic relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This fact was announced by Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia, at today’s press conference in Moscow.
- Times Online – The European Union’s latest attempt at peacemaking with the Kremlin over Georgia appears to be unravelling (Tony Halpin writes). Russia contradicted claims by President Sarkozy of France that EU observers would play a role in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
- WSJ – Now, Russia is hoping to win hearts by highlighting its peacekeeping efforts in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. It hopes to show that it can provide benefits to countries that keep their distance from the West, particularly those that stay out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
- EurasiaNet – Azerbaijani officials and US diplomats are vigorously denying reports that US Vice President Dick Cheney created a diplomatic incident during his recent visit to Baku.
- Michael Totten – From Baku to Russian-Occupied Georgia
- RFERL – Fears about the future of the Nabucco pipeline project were allayed in the Azerbaijani capital this week when Azerbaijan and Turkey both said they were committed to it.
- RIA Novosti – A cousin of Ingush President Murat Zyazikov, was shot dead in the republic’s largest city on Wednesday, a source in the republic’s Interior Ministry said. Relatives of opposition journalist Magomed Yevloyev, who was shot in a police car last month, recently announced a vendetta against the Ingush president and his family.
- Martha Brill Olcott, Diora Ziyaeva; Carnegie – Islam in Uzbekistan: Religious Education and State Ideology
Middle East
- Al Alam – Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohmmed confirmed on Wednesday that Baghdad planned to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the United States.
- GAO – The redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, a process the Department of Defense (DOD) refers to as “reposturing,” will be a massive and expensive effort. As of March 2008, for example, there were about 173,000 pieces of equipment in Iraq, worth about $16.5 billion, that will need to be returned to the United States. The redeployment process following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a much shorter war, lasted at least 14 months.
- USMC – HIT, Iraq — Marines with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 conducted a patrol to introduce Marines from Company L, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment to key leaders in the area of operations that the battalion will inherit.
- IRG – IRG member David Ucko has a paper published in the October edition of the Conflict, Security & Development journal, entitled Militias, Tribes and Insurgents: The Challenge of Political Reintegration in Iraq [PDF]. The paper provides a valuable case study of the central role played in post-conflict state-building and counterinsurgency by the reintegration of armed sub-state groups into the political process, and focuses on the evolution of the US approach in Iraq since 2003.
- Xinhua – A ranking official of the Druze Lebanese Democratic Party was killed in a car explosion in Baisour town, east of Beirut, local NBN TV reported Wednesday.
- Haaretz – Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed on Wednesday that the security establishment has managed to foil two attacks against Israelis abroad. “We’ve prevented, with the help of international agencies, at least two attacks against Israelis in different corners of the world,” Barak said. “Clearly there is a risk, especially to former high-ranking officers who go to Muslim countries without prior security arrangements.”
A mother holds her son as her husband sails away aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Mahan for a scheduled six-month deployment. Mahan is set to conduct maritime security operations in the Persian Gulf. (photo by Seaman Ash Severe)
Iran
- Treasury Dept – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control today designated the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), and 18 other affiliated entities, for providing logistical services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). “Not only does IRISL facilitate the transport of cargo for U.N. designated proliferators, it also falsifies documents and uses deceptive schemes to shroud its involvement in illicit commerce,” said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
- MEMRI – Lebanese sources have informed the reformsyria.org website that a secret delegation of the Iranian Al-Qods Forces arrived in Beirut last week for high-level meetings with the Hizbullah leadership, for the purpose of coordinating collective activities in Lebanon in light of Hizbullah’s de facto take-over of Lebanon.
- Nosint – A Croatian website has reported that Zagreb recently sold S-300 missile systems to Iran. Croatia is known to have purchased the advanced anti aircraft defense systems following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The web magazine Necensurirano also reported that Libyan warships were docked at the Croatian port of Kraljevica where the missile systems were being loaded in preparation for transfer to Iran.
- Uskowi on Iran – Reports from Washington indicate that Russia will not deliver its advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran this year. The S-300 missile batteries would make air strike against Iranian targets more difficult.
- Times of India – At 6.1, the earthquake that rocked Iran’s main oil port of Bandar Abbas, was rated “strong” but not seen as likely to cause major damage. But the shock took a toll of nerves in many world capitals as speculation that Iran had tested a nuclear bomb spread like wildfire. The hysteria soon died down, but not before the west wondered if its worst nightmare – of a nuclear bomb in the hands of a theocratic Islamic state – had come true after all.
Southeast Asia
- Joshua Foust – Sometime last fall, a new story began making its way out of Afghanistan: the country’s roads are being paved, and with that paving comes newfound security. The claim was repeated by many embedded reporters, both freelance and staff, and for months was a recurring theme in personal accounts of the war. Then, suddenly, it disappeared. What happened?
- Press TV – At least 20 people have been killed after militants threw three hand grenades into a mosque in northern Pakistan during evening prayers. “Militants surrounded the mosque, threw grenades and then started indiscriminate firing, killing 20 people and wounding 30 others,” a senior security official told AFP on Wednesday.
- The Hindu – Pakistan security forces backed by air-force jets and helicopter gunships on Wednesday pounded Taliban hideouts in the restive north-west killing 18 militants and injuring several others. Jet fighters bombed several rebel positions in the Kuza Bandai area of the restive Swat valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and killed 11 militants and injured others.
- The News – Fierce clashes took place between the security forces and militants on Wednesday evening in Rashkai area of Bajaur Agency in which both sides made conflicting claims of losses. Military officials said 24 militants, some of them al-Qaeda-linked Arab nationals, were killed and several others injured in heavy fighting.
- Al Alam – Air force jets attacked a rebel intelligence base deep in northern Sri Lanka early Wednesday, stepping up a punishing wave of airstrikes a day after Tamil Tiger fighters launched a surprise attack on a military base, the military said. The Tamil Tigers claimed the bombs hit a civilian settlement in the rebel’s administrative capital of Kilinochchi, destroying 12 houses.
- Asia Times – Escalating violence in northern Sri Lanka continues to displace tens of thousands and has pushed the government to order all aid workers to vacate battle zones and rebel strongholds. Meanwhile, “warlordism” is rampant in newly “freed” areas and any thought of self-governance for Tamil-speaking people remains a sham.
- Intellibriefs (B Raman) - Even after allowing for the usual exaggeration by the spokesmen of the Armed Forces in projecting the progress made by them, it is evident from independent reports that the LTTE has been forced to fight a defensive battle to retain the territory under its control and to prevent a weakening of its conventional capability due to the loss of its weapons holdings during the battle and its inability to replenish them through smuggling from abroad.
Far East & Pacific
- news.com.au – North Korea’s No.2 has denied reports that leader Kim Jong-il is ill, which a Pyongyang diplomat called a Western “conspiracy”.
- MSNBC – North Korea has quietly built a long-range missile base that is larger and more capable than an older and well-known launch pad for intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to independent analysts relying on new satellite images of the site and other data. Analysts provided images of the previously secret site to The Associated Press.
- The Australian – The Royal Australian Navy is set to move the fourth of its six Collins-class submarines into dry dock because of crew shortages, undermining Kevin Rudd’s plans for a massive upgrade in naval resources to counter a military build-up in Asia.
- CFR – The Muslim Insurgency in Southern Thailand
- BBC – China’s trade surplus hit a monthly record of $28.7bn in August as the gap with the US and Europe widens.
- Strategy Page – In the south (Philippines), rogue MILF gunmen not only fled into the hills when the army showed up, but have sought to sustain themselves by plundering food aid brought in to feed the 400,000 Christian civilians driven from their homes by the MILF attacks last month. The rebels are also seeking to protect themselves from air attacks by using refugees as human shields. The government has ordered the foreign aid workers out of the area until they can hunt down the MILF fighters.
- Saipan Tribune – Some Northern Marianas lawmakers are asking the U.S. government to allow Russian and Chinese tourists to enter the commonwealth without visas, the Saipan Tribune reports. Tourists from those two countries can now visit the Northern Marianas commonwealth without obtaining a U.S. visa. But the federal government is preparing to take over the commonwealth’s immigration and labor departments, and it is uncertain whether any current policies will survive the transition.
Europe
- AKI – The mothers of thousands of civilians killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in 1995 regretted a Dutch court’s ruling Wednesday that the Dutch government is not liable for its peacekeepers’ failure to protect the victims.
- Chosun – Russian news reports say a top defense official has warned that Russia may point ballistic weapons at a U.S. missile defense system in Europe. News agencies Wednesday quote General Nikolai Solovtsyov as saying Russia may take the action if the United States moves forward with a missile defense plan in Poland and the Czech Republic.
- RIA Novosti – The U.S. Air Force will patrol the airspace over the Baltic states from October, the Latvian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. A group of U.S. F-16 fighter jets will replace the current German planes on a rotation basis. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia reached an agreement with NATO on the lease of fighters to patrol their airspace in 2004. Patrols have since been conducted by Belgian, Spanish, Norwegian, German and Danish aircraft.
Africa
- Global Witness – The direct involvement of armed groups and the national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in tin and gold mining in the east of the country is putting peace efforts at risk, Global Witness said today. As fighting erupted in North Kivu again last week, Global Witness warned that international attempts to keep alive the fragile peace programme are likely to founder unless they address the economic dimensions of the conflict.
- AP – Smugglers threw two children overboard and forced dozens of other African refugees to swim to shore in the middle of the night, leaving more than three dozen dead, the U.N. and an aid group said Wednesday. The bodies of 29 refugees washed ashore near Wadi al-Barakin in Yemen on Tuesday after smugglers forced them to jump into the water, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.
- Daily Star – A South Korean cargo ship with Korean and Myanmarese sailors aboard was seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia Wednesday, diplomatic sources said. Eight Koreans and 13 Myanmarese were on the 15,000-ton ship when it was seized at 0700 GMT.
- Telegraph – The population of subSaharan Africa will not have access to adequate sanitation until the 22nd century unless international efforts are dramatically stepped up charities have warned.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the 'Bounty Hunters' of Strike Fighter Squadron 2 is on ready alert at dusk as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln transits the Indian Ocean. The Abraham Lincoln Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility operating in the western Pacific and Indian oceans. (photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class James Evans)
The Global War
- LA Times – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today the U.S. is “running out of time” to get the war in Afghanistan right and announced that he was developing a “new, more comprehensive strategy” to cover the entire region. Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates both emphasized in congressional testimony that the military and broader U.S. government needed to look at the threat from Pakistan’s tribal regions and the insurgency in Afghanistan as a single problem.
- MEMRI – New Al-Qaeda Video for 9/11/08: “The Harvest of Seven Years Since 9/11″
- VOA – Seven years after terrorist attacks killed several thousand people in the United States, a new global public opinion poll shows that many people do not believe the attacks were the work of the al-Qaida terror network.
- Seattle Times – Lawmakers from Washington state cheered Wednesday as the Defense Department delayed plans to award a huge contract for Air Force refueling planes until the next president takes office. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers Wednesday that he decided to cancel the current round of bidding on the plane – a competition that has stretched seven years – because the Pentagon’s plan to award the contract by the end of the year no longer seemed practical. Gates cited the complexity of the project and the rancor between the two companies.
- NATO – Seven years after the events of September 11, NATO will pay tribute to all victims of terrorist attacks around the world during a commemorative ceremony.
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4 September, 2008 (01:12) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 4 September 2008.
United States & the Americas
- ABC – A U.S. Navy flagship loaded with aid steamed through the Dardanelles on Wednesday en route to Georgia, as the Bush administration prepared to roll out a $1 billion economic aid package for the former Soviet republic. In Azerbaijan, Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States had a “deep and abiding interest” in the region’s stability.
- AFP – At least 61 people have died in Haiti as Tropical Storm Hanna triggered widespread floods in several cities, the civil protection agency said Wednesday.
- OGJ – Iran has invited Brazil to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to a Brazilian senior government official. But Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, accompanied by Lobao Sept. 2 at the inaugural ceremony for the first oil production in presalt rocks off Espirito Santo state, demurred, saying that Brazil has been investing in its refining capacity in order to become an exporter of fuel, not crude oil.
- Telegraph – Mexican police have arrested eight men after discovering a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel complete with air conditioning and a lift being dug close to the US border.
- TIME – Did the Venezuelan President try to smuggle an $800,000 bribe to his Argentine ally? A Miami trial aims to find out.
- AFP – Police have detained three men in Peru who are suspected of seeking to extort money from Spanish businesses in the name of Basque separatist group ETA, Spanish police said Wednesday.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- CNN – A Russian journalist died Wednesday from gunshot wounds sustained the night before — the second Russian journalist fatally gunned down this week. Abdulla Alishayev, a host on one of the most popular Islamic television stations in the Russian republic of Dagestan, was shot in the head and shoulder late Tuesday while he was in his car, police told CNN. Police said he was attacked by two unknown assailants in the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala, and the incident is under investigation.
- CRN – In Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, an attack was made today on Miloslav Bitokov, editor-in-chief of the independent “Newspaper of the South”. He was beaten in the doorway of his own house and hospitalized, as the editorial board of the newspaper reported.
- RFERL – Memorial services were held today in Moscow and North Ossetia to mark the fourth anniversary of the deadly conclusion of the three-day siege at Beslan’s School No. 1. RFE/RL spoke to two Beslan women who are continuing their fight to uncover the full truth about the siege.
- Guardian – Ukraine’s coalition government collapsed yesterday after its two ruling parties fell out over Russia’s invasion of Georgia. President Viktor Yushchenko accused the prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, of attempting a coup and then threatened to dissolve parliament and call early elections. The pro-democratic coalition of the pair has only a two-seat majority. On Tuesday Tymoshenko’s bloc voted with the opposition to strip the president of some powers and boost her own.
- The New Criterion – The Georgian imperative; On the crisis in the Caucasus
- France24 – Turkish president, Abdullah Gul is preparing a groundbreaking visit to Armenia to watch a football game with his counterpart Serzh Sarksyan on Saturday. Both countries have called for closer diplomatic ties despite major historical disagreements.
- ISN – Those who know something about Russia know that Russians like to celebrate their military anniversaries with a due level of remembrance and a touch of sadness, not so far removed from their American, French and British counterparts. For Russians however, these occasions entail a fair amount of drinking and reminiscing about the times of the past that speak of a more glorious and powerful Russia. It is telling when the best Russian vodkas such as “Putinka” are often named for leaders.
Middle East
- LA Times – A U.S. military boat patrolling the Tigris River in the dark drew fire Wednesday from Iraqi security forces who mistook it for the enemy, sparking a deadly gun battle that killed seven Iraqis and drew local anger over American use of firepower against friendly forces.
- Al Alam – A senior member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said on Wednesday that the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization (MKO) had direct cooperation with al-Qaeda terrorist network in the past five years.
- MEMRI – Iranian sources have told the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh that the transfer of control over the centers of the Iranian opposition organization Mojahedeen-e Khalq to the Iraqi government was carried out in the framework of a secret agreement signed recently between Iran and the U.S.
- Threats Watch – Understanding Iraq Through Anbar’s Lens; With Anbar Security Handed To Iraq, A Look At Iraq In Plain Terms
- Fars News – Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi held talks with Iraqi Tourism Minister Qahtan Aljabouri on issues of mutual interest on Monday. In the meeting, the two officials inked a religious tourism agreement and emphasized the need to increase the number of religious pilgrims visiting the two countries.
- Hurriyet – Two Turkish soldiers were killed and nine others were injured in an armed attack carried out by outlawed PKK separatists in an eastern province of Turkey. Four PKK separatists were killed Wednesday in a security operation to catch the perpetrators, the sources said.
- Xinhua – French President Nicolas Sarkozy started on Wednesday a two-day official visit to Syria in efforts to push forward peace in the region and boost bilateral ties between the two countries.
- Haaretz – Speaking at a press conference on the arrival of French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Damascus Wednesday, Assad denied that Syria was promoting a “new regional axis.” However he stressed that all the participants in the summit were leading countries: France being the current president of the European Union, Syria as current chair of the Arab Summit, and Qatar as current chairman of the Gulf Cooperation Council. One of the central issues the two presidents discussed was the Syria-Israel peace process.
- MEI – Despite serious shortcomings — notably in terms of limited financial backing, obsolete equipment, and lack of full political support — the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) are a viable and even a critical nation-building institution in Lebanon, enjoying strong popular backing. Nevertheless, the LAF faces a number of challenges, including how to eradicate past dilemmas, build on its current pillars, and transform itself into a permanent defense establishment.
Iran
- Payvand – Iran’s Central Bank Governor Tahmasb Mazaheri told state-run radio that monetary experts are studying three options: Cutting three zeros off the rial, cutting four zeros, or boosting each rial’s value to one-hundredth of a gram of gold, or about 2,500 rials at current rates.
- NCRI – Four hundred striking workers of Kiyan-Tire factory made good on their promise to take their case outside Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s office in Tehran on Wednesday. Workers jammed the streets leading to his office demanding their unpaid salaries for past six months.
- IRNA – Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is visiting Iran, said he announces without any fear and concern that he supports Iran not the US. Morales, who arrived in Assalouyeh on Wednesday to visit South Pars gas field facilities in Bushehr Province, told reporters, “I have never been a US supporter and my nation has a background of 500 years of struggle against colonialism.” “The huge installations of gas and petrochemicals here impressed me and I admire such progress of Iranians,” Morales added.
- Asia Times – The growing rift between the United States and Russia presents Tehran with options. Iran can seek to neutralize United Nations nuclear sanctions and explore strategic cooperation with Russia and Latin America’s leftist governments. It can also act as Moscow’s junior partner, rallying “rogue” nations in a front against the US.
- BBC – The six Gulf Cooperation Council states have condemned Tehran for opening offices on disputed islands in the waters between Iran and the UAE.
- Max Singer – The papers are full of scary scenarios about what Iran will do to Israel or to the U.S. if Israel attacks Iranian factories producing nuclear weapons. The CIA is reported to be worrying about Iranian attacks on US military forces, on Saudi oil facilities, and a variety of other potential targets of terrorism or missile attack. The extreme discussions of Iranian lashing out seem to assume that deterrence against Iran would be eliminated by the Israeli attack. But why should that be?
An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the "Stingers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 113 takes part in an aerial re-fueling with an Air Force KC-135R tanker aircraft while two F/A-18E Super Hornets assigned to the 'Eagles' of Strike Fighter Squadron 115 fly alongside as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Ronald Reagan is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (photo by Cmdr. Erik Etz)
Southeast Asia
- Canada DND – Three Canadian soldiers were killed and five injured after an insurgent attack on their armoured vehicle while they were conducting a security patrol in Zharey district at approximately 9:30 a.m., Kandahar time, on September 3.
- BBC – Foreign troops based in Afghanistan have attacked targets inside north-west Pakistan, killing at least 15 people, witnesses and officials say. The governor of North West Frontier Province called it an “outrageous” assault on Pakistan’s sovereignty. The attack is said to have involved helicopters in the tribal area of South Waziristan, close to the Afghan border. US-led and Nato forces said they had no reports of any such incursion.
- Washington Times – American forces launched a raid inside Pakistan Wednesday, a senior U.S. military official said, in the first known foreign ground assault in Pakistan against a suspected Taliban haven.
- Pak Tribune – Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s convoy came under attack in Rawalpindi on Wednesday. However, the prime minister escaped the assasination attempt. According to Prime Minister house, two bullets were fired at the vehicle of prime minister. The premier was returning to Islamabad from a visit to Lahore. His motorcade was attacked near the airport.
- AKI – A top Pakistan security official, Rahman Malik, on Wednesday rejected reports that Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, narrowly escaped capture in the tribal region of Mohmand. Malik told a media conference at Government House in Karachi that reports quoting him had been “distorted”.
- The News – The security forces claimed to have killed about 30 militants and wounded another 35 in a ground assault backed by gunship helicopters in the militants-infested Koza Bandai area of volatile Swat Valley on Wednesday.
- NY Times – The scene in Tiangia was repeated in villages throughout the Kandhamal district and several other areas of Orissa, a remote and destitute state in eastern India, eyewitnesses and the police said. The violence, which left at least 16 dead, was among the worst in decades against Christians in this Hindu-dominated nation and appears to have been fueled, at least in part, by the growing gap between India’s haves and have-nots.
- TamilNet – The LTTE on Wednesday recovered further 10 dead bodies of the SLA soldiers, in addition to the 19 bodies handed over to the ICRC, from the battlefield after Tuesday’s heavy fighting on two fronts in Vanni. 45 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and more than 51 wounded in Naachchikkudaa when LTTE confronted the SLA in a stiff fighting throughout Monday night, and on Tuesday, 30 more SLA soldiers were killed and 50 wounded in another front.
- Sri Lanka MoD – Battles in the Wanni front between troops and LTTE terrorists have reached a decisive stage as LTTE are reported struggling desperately to save Kilinochchi, following the loss of its most strategic Mallavi garrison in Kilinochchi, to security forces. This is a decisive stage and is expected of pitched fighting, defence observers stated. The terrorists will come all out and head-on to prolong its imminent loss which is to be followed by the denial of the Mannar-Poonery coast line by the security forces, draining its logistic and arms supply.
Far East & Pacific
- Bangkok Post – Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Thursday dismissed claims he would resign. “Don’t even think I am going to quit,” he said. “The country needs a leader, and the world is watching us.” Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag resigned on Wednesday. A reliable source disclosed that Mr Tej quit in apparent protest.
- James Klein – As the PAD crowd continues to grow throughout Tuesday in defiance of the government — while unions threaten to cut essential services to government offices and to block buses, trains and airports and while independent media continue to broadcast both pro- and anti-government perspectives in equal proportion — Samak and his coalition partners must determine if they have any chance of securing a peaceful resolution of the political confrontation they ignited three months ago when they attempted to amend the 2007 Constitution to both save the PPP from dissolution for electoral fraud and to protect former Prime Minister Thaksin from prosecution for corruption and abuse of power.
- BBC – There is no evidence to support claims that North Korea has begun rebuilding a nuclear plant, US officials say. The US state department said the North appeared to be moving equipment out of storage at its Yongbyon plant, but there was no effort to reconstruct it.
- Manila Times – In a major shift in policy, President Gloria Arroyo announced on Wednesday that she was dissolving the government peace panel seeking to end in particular a festering Muslim rebellion in southern Mindanao.
- CSM – North Korea to become world’s largest recipient of U.N. food aid; To avert a famine, more aid is needed. Half of all families eat only two meals a day, says new WFP assessment. Increasing numbers of North Koreans are now foraging for wild foods, creating “an urgent need” for donations to the UN World Food Program’s aid plan, said WFP regional director Tony Banbury.
- RIA Novosti – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on Wednesday on the construction of a huge suspension bridge to link the Far East city of Vladivostok to Russky Island, where the 2012 APEC summit will be held. The bridge, whose cost is estimated at around $1 billion, is part of a $6 billion project to prepare for the summit.
- Strategy Page – Taiwan has decided not to develop a cruise missile with a 1,000 kilometer range. This would have enabled Taiwan to hit Chinese cities from Shanghai to Hong Kong. China currently has about 1,300 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan.
Europe
- Washington Post – The Irish Republican Army’s once powerful military leadership group, known as the army council, has been abandoned and no longer “presents a threat to peace or democratic politics” in Northern Ireland, according to a report issued Wednesday by an independent monitoring group.
- Spiegel – For decades, the island of Cyprus has been divided between the Turkish north and the Greek south. Now, leaders of the two sides are optimistic that reunification can be achieved. Talks began on Wednesday.
- CTB – In a devastating blow to existing international financial sanctions against terrorist groups, the EU’s highest court has today overturned the sanctions program imposed by the European Union on Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The ruling by the European Court of Justice annulled the EU’s freezing of the funds of Yassin Al-Kadi, a Saudi businessman who has been on terrorist financier black-lists since his listing as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” by the U.S. Treasury in October 2001.
- Human Rights Tribune – The ICC has launched an investigation into the support network for FARC rebels outside Colombia with Switzerland under the microscope. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC’s Prosecutor, has addressed a letter to Swiss authorities requesting that Berne open a nationwide investigation of the FARC networks that are active in Switzerland.
- The 8th Circle – Romania and Ukraine at loggerheads; The dispute over Snake Island, a piece of rock in the Black Sea (about 600×400meters), is an old dispute and not nearly as explosive as the frozen conflicts in Georgia, and a ticking bomb of Transnistria region in Moldova. Nevertheless, from time to time, this lengthy drama surfaces in the news.
Africa
- Garowe – At least 15 people were killed and 25 others wounded Wednesday in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu after insurgents attacked the Villa Somalia presidential compound, Radio Garowe reported. Six mortars hit Villa Somalia and its environs, followed by face-to-face street fighting between government troops and al Shabaab insurgents, according to witnesses.
- France Foreign Ministry – The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs confirms that a yacht with two Frenchmen on board was the victim of an act of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden (off Somalia). France firmly condemns this act of piracy and calls for the immediate release of the people held on the yacht. Our first concern is our compatriots’ safety.
- Telegraph – Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, is to make a “historic” visit to Libya. Miss Rice’s trip to the country, which until 2006 was on Washington’s list of sponsors of terrorism, will be the first by a secretary of state for more than 50 years. She will begin a tour of four North Africa states in Tripoli, in what the US State Department is calling a “landmark” trip, symbolising the opening of a new era in ties with the oil-rich country.
- State Dept – QUESTION: Apparently, according to a specialized website, al-Qaida in Maghreb called its fighter to kill the Secretary during her stay in Maghreb this week. Will they change the travel program of the Secretary? MR. MCCORMACK: There are no changes to her program.
- AKI – An Al-Qaeda cell dismantled by Moroccan police last week had been planning a terrorist attack against United Nations’ peacekeeping forces in the Western Sahara, an Arab newspaper has claimed. According to Rabat security sources cited in the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, members of the Fath al-Andalus cell were planning to attack soldiers from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara based in al-Ayoun.
- AP – More than 1,000 soldiers have left a national park that has been on the front lines of fighting in eastern Congo in a move the park director said was intended to preserve an environment that is home to endangered gorillas, hippos and active volcanoes. However, rebels still occupy a sector of the reserve that is home to some of the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas, officials said Wednesday.
- The Namibian – Namibia’s once rich diamond deposits are dwindling after a century of exploitation, forcing miners to look for the hard stones offshore while the country’s fledgling cutting and polishing sector could shrink as fewer and smaller stones are found. Namibia’s diamond industry is the sixth largest in the world and is the country’s economic backbone, dominated by international diamond giant De Beers.
- Richard Dowden – Colonial powers created African states with arbitrary borders and unsuitable systems of “winner-takes-all” multi-party electoral democracy. As recent elections show, this has been a failure. It is time to develop an African form of democracy.
Sailors assigned to the visit, board, search and seizure team aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain approach Australian Navy ship AORH Sirius during a cross-training exercise with Sirius and HMAS Darwin. McCain is one of seven Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers assigned to Destroyer Squadron 15. (photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Byron Linder)
The Global War
- LA Times – China has given massive aid to Indian Ocean nations, signing friendship pacts, building ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and reportedly setting up a listening post on one of Myanmar’s islands near the strategic Strait of Malacca. Now, India is trying to parry China’s moves. It beat out China for a port project in Myanmar. And, flush with cash from its expanding economy, India is beefing up its military, with the expansion seemingly aimed at China. Washington and, to a lesser extent, Tokyo are encouraging India’s role as a counterweight to growing Chinese power. Among China’s latest moves is the billion-dollar port its engineers are building in Sri Lanka.
- Jerusalem Post – A flight crew in Toronto was tracked by a terrorist cell that Israeli security services fear was planning to either kidnap or attack the crew. Earlier this week, defense officials revealed that two plots by Hizbullah to kidnap Israeli businessman abroad in retaliation to the February assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus had recently been foiled. In June, ABC News reported that Hizbullah sleeper cells had been activated in Canada and were working to strike at Jewish targets in the country. According to the report, key Hizbullah operatives had been tracked moving from Lebanon to Canada, Europe and Africa.
- Richard Barrett, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence – Seven Years After 9/11: Al-Qaida’s Strengths and Vulnerabilities
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27 August, 2008 (00:07) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 27 August 2008.
United States & the Americas
- AFP – Hillary Clinton called on Democrats to unite as one party behind White House nominee Barack Obama, saying that despite an acrimonious primary duel they were on the “same team.”
- LA Times – The Lebanese Shiite militia, linked to deadly attacks in Argentina in the 1990s, may be taking advantage of Chavez’s ties with its ally Iran, terrorism experts say. Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations.
- Press TV – At least eight people have been killed in separate gang attacks in Mexico’s northern Chihuahua state, as rallies are planned against such acts.
- Defense Update – Although Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has no doubt been stirred by Venezuela’s military buildup, he also recognizes the need for his own country to rectify its deficient level of armaments in order to strengthen Brazil’s position as a regional leader. He has increased pressure to make funds available for two ambitious military programs.
- UN – Three more young girls have been kidnapped in Haiti over the past week, the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the impoverished Caribbean country reports, amid mounting UN concern about the continuing spate of child abductions.
- Independent – Savour that frozen margarita in your hand, for soon you might not be able to afford it. Mexico’s tequila industry is about to become the latest victim of America’s growing thirst for ethanol.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Kremlin – Medvedev; “I signed Decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of South Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s independence. Russia calls on other states to follow its example. This is not an easy choice to make, but it represents the only possibility to save human lives.”
- Stephen Blank – While coming under increasing criticism from the West over its truculent behavior in Georgia, Russia looks set to garner support from other Shanghai Cooperation Organization members when the group holds its annual summit in Dushanbe on August 28-29. The gathering will be watched closely by the United States and European Union for insight into Russia’s diplomatic intentions on an array of fronts, especially the Iranian nuclear question.
- RIA Novosti – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Tuesday he had urged Western leaders to accelerate the inclusion of Georgia in NATO and the European Union.
- Michael Totten – Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion. Virtually everyone is wrong.
- Russia Today – Russia’s military says it is bewildered by the build-up of NATO’s naval force in the Black Sea – and scoffed at claims the warships were delivering humanitarian aid. “These ships are very seriously armed,” Nogovitsyn said. “As far as cruise missiles are concerned, they are strategic arms and have a range of 2,500 km. The Black Sea is just a pool for them.” The Colonel General added it’s very hard to believe these ships have arrived just to bring humanitarian aid.
- Azer News – A train filled with crude owned by Azerbaijan’s major oil company, AzPetrol, caught fire near the key city of Gori in central Georgia after an explosion that Georgian officials blamed on Russia. The explosion that ignited the fire occurred at a military base in Skra, where, according to officials in Gori, mines were planted by Russian troops before their pullout from the area on Friday.
- US Army – The commander of U.S. European Command traveled to the former Soviet republic of Georgia to ensure the ongoing U.S. humanitarian effort in the wake of a Georgian conflict with Russia is proceeding smoothly.
- Interfax – The [U.S. Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, C. Boyden Gray] was skeptical about allegations that Russia might use its energy supplies as a means to exert political influence on its neighbors, particularly the Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania.
- Asbarez – Gasoline remained in short supply in Armenia on Tuesday despite urgent fuel deliveries organized by the government over the weekend and the resumption of the country’s rail communication with the outside world via war-stricken Georgia. Armenia received late Monday the first trainload of wheat and other basic supplies since the August 16 explosion that downed a key rail bridge in central Georgia, all but cutting it off from the Georgian Black Sea ports of Batumi and Poti.
Middle East
- Al Alam – At least 34 people were killed and more than 40 others were wounded in three separate bomb blasts across Iraq on Tuesday, officials said. Two of the bombs went off in Diyala province, which has been the site of much of the recent violence and a stronghold of insurgents.
- AFPS – Coalition forces captured two suspected Kataib Hezbollah associates during operations this morning in Baghdad, military officials reported. Kataib Hezbollah, also known as Hezbollah Brigades, is a terrorist group believed to receive funding, training, logistics and material support from Iran to attack Iraqi and coalition forces using what the military calls “explosively formed penetrators”, and other weapons such as rocket-assisted mortars.
- Tina Susman – The attempted assassination of a Shiite cleric in Basra recently has added to locals’ fears that five months after a military crackdown on militias, the gangland-style violence that once plagued the southern oil city is returning. The clergyman, Haidar Ismael, was shot in central Basra on Saturday night and seriously wounded.
- Newsweek – Viewed from the rooftop of a nearby building, the men restoring Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra are mere specks, working at a Herculean task. The once majestic golden dome that terrorists destroyed two and a half years ago remains a rough and dull concrete block ringed by scaffolding.
- Today’s Zaman – At least 11 terrorists and two members of Turkish security forces were killed on Tuesday during fighting in southeastern Turkey, a military source told.
- Gates of Vienna – It seems that two potential customers are vying for Jordan’s nuclear business. Based on the articles below, France and China are both ready to help the Hashemite Kingdom build nuclear power plants.
Iran
- Haaretz – The arms race between Israel and Iran is moving to the sea. In Iran, the production of domestically-made submarines recently began. But of particular interest to Israel is the fact that the submarines will have the capability to launch what the Iranian state media called “various kinds of missiles.” Meanwhile, the Israel Navy has its own plans.
- Financial Times Deutschland – “Ahmadinejad is not in accordance with the will of the people,” said the influential Grand Ayatollah Bajat Sandschani to FTD in the town of Qom, a religious stronghold of Iran. ”This is a major threat, a great danger.”
- MEMRI – In a reshuffle in Iran’s armed forces, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei yesterday named General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan the new commander of Iran’s military ground forces, to replace Brig.-Gen. Mohammad-Hassan Dadras.
- Payvand – The 4th official session of the fourth Assembly of Experts kicked off at the former premises of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Tuesday morning. The two-day session was inaugurated by Chairman of the Experts Assembly Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
- IRNA – As to the objectives of the US presence in the region, he stressed that Washington is willing to acquire the regional oil wealth. Iraq is full of energy resources and is a sensitive region, therefore, the Americans would not overlook it, Rafsanjani, who is also Chairman of Expediency Council, noted.
- Press TV – Iranian archeologists excavating the Kalvarz Parthian castle in Gilan Province have found traces of a devastating fire in the area. The team has unearthed 2200-year-old human skeletal remains, buried under the ruble.
- NCRI – Eleven prisoners hanged in Iran in the past week. Among those executed, there was a prisoner 15 at the time of the alleged crime and another was hanged for a crime allegedly he committed 19 years ago. The mullahs’ inhuman regime hanged nine other prisoners in different cities throughout the country.
- Washington Times – For the sake of the Alaei brothers and the countless innocent Iranian victims of the Islamic regime’s paranoia – and for the sake of all of us – let us hope that our policymakers will not be intimidated by the mullahs’ words and will formulate a policy that aims at their Achilles’ heel – their internal weakness.
Southeast Asia
- United Nations – An investigation by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has found that some 90 civilians, including 60 children, were among those killed during military operations in the strife-torn nation’s western Herat province last week.
- State Dept – We welcome the release of the 2008 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Report and are encouraged by its findings. The report further strengthens our commitment to the current comprehensive counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan. We are especially encouraged to learn that 18 provinces, over half of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, are now poppy free, a significant increase from 13 provinces in 2007.
- Kings of War – The logic of this strategy is found in the lorry owner’s question, ‘Why can’t the Americans stop this?’ The Taliban’s mere ability to threaten convoys shows strength and resilience, and an ability to regenerate itself.
- Al Jazeera – At least seven people have been killed and 20 injured in a late-night explosion at a street cafe on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital which police suspect to be a bomb attack. The incident in Islamabad late on Tuesday came hours after a US diplomat narrowly escaped an ambush in the country’s northwest.
- Intellibriefs – Danger signals: Maoists seek linkages with Muslim extremists
- Nosint – In the strategic direction of Bhutan and central Nepal, the Indian air force has built three major military airports, sufficient to provide deterrence over the central part of Tibet.
- Bloomberg – Sri Lanka’s rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked a navy camp near the eastern port of Trincomalee in the first air raid on a major target since an assault on an air force base in the north a year ago.
- AFP – Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 15 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of seven soldiers in an upsurge in clashes in the embattled north, the defence ministry said Tuesday.
- TamilCanadian – The situation in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate. International aid organizations have stated that thousands of displaced families are forced to live in the open air without any shelter as they fled their homes to escape the aerial bombardment of the Sri Lankan air force.
Far East & Pacific
- Irrawaddy – Malaysia’s top opposition figure ran for Parliament in a special election Tuesday that he was expected to win despite sodomy accusations against him, as he pressed forward with his bid to topple the government.
- Seoul Times – North Korea on Aug, 26 said it has halted disablement of its nuclear power plants as Washington failed to remove it from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
- Global Forum of Japan – The National Diet of Japan passed the “Basic Space Bill” and it has become a full-fledged law at the end of May. Media reports that this law brings about a big change in Japan’s space policy as it lifts the ban on the military use of space and upgrades the space development to national strategy, thereby establishing a system of political leadership.
- Japan Today – Defense Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, a new face in defense circles, is being put to the test with the stalled issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station within Okinawa Prefecture. Unlike his predecessor Shigeru Ishiba, who is known as a military wonk, Hayashi has taken no defense-linked posts in the government or the dominant Liberal Democratic Party since he became a House of Councillors member in 1995.
- Manila Times – President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday said she plans to consult Britain and Sweden in negotiating peace with the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao… In the latest clashes between government troops and the MILF, five were killed, officials said also on Tuesday.
- Jakarta Post – Dozens of anti-government protesters armed with knives, guns and golf clubs stormed a TV station and briefly forced it off the air Tuesday, while tens of thousands peacefully laid siege to government ministries. The protests were the latest effort by the Alliance to force Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s government from office.
- RIA Novosti – Russia’s Pacific Fleet, Naval Aviation and coastal defense troops have launched a joint exercise off the Far East’s Kamchatka Peninsula, a spokesman for the fleet said on Tuesday.
- RSIS – Civil activism is looming over the Samak government. Although the Royal Thai army has remained in the barracks since the 2007 elections, they may become restive again. What is the position of civil society vis-a-vis Thai civil-military relations today? What does the future hold for the Samak administration?
Europe
- Daily Star – France may send special forces back to Afghanistan to bolster its presence there, even after 10 soldiers were killed last week, Defense Minister Herve Morin said in an interview published on Tuesday. “I have … asked the chief-of-staff of the army to prepare some proposals for me,” the minister was quoted as saying in Le Parisien newspaper.
- NATO – Statement by the Secretary General; “I reject the decision of the Russian Government to extend recognition to the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions of Georgia. This is in direct violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions regarding Georgia’s territorial resolutions that Russia itself has endorsed.”
- OSCE – A Benelux flight over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 20 August was the 500th flight conducted under the Open Skies treaty, which allows State Parties to carry out unarmed observation flights over each other’s territories. The treaty was negotiated under OSCE auspices.
- BBC – Britain is to formally present its case to the UN in New York for extending its territorial rights around Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
- Federal Chancellor, Germany – The situation in Georgia has dominated Chancellor Merkel’s visit to Estonia. Meeting with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip in Tallinn, Angela Merkel stressed that it was important for the European Union to show a united front towards Russia. The Chancellor said Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was “completely unacceptable” and contrary to international law.
Africa
- Press TV – Twelve soldiers have been killed in Somalia after insurgents attacked Somali and Ethiopian troops south of Mogadishu, a report says. Anti-Ethiopian groups attacked government forces and their Ethiopian supporters at Shirkole and Gashandhiga bases south of Mogadishu.
- Stuff – Hijackers who forced a Sudanese plane to land in Libya have demanded that it be refuelled so that it can fly on to Paris, Libya’s state news agency Jana has said, quoting the head of the airport at Kufrah.
- ABC – Opposition legislators jeered President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday as he opened Zimbabwe’s parliament, singing and chanting and sometimes drowning out his voice.
- Daily Champion – Gunmen suspected to be militants in the Niger Delta have hijacked an oil service vessel on its way from the deepwater Agbami oil field in Bonny, Rivers State. Spokesman for the Joint Military Taskforce (JTF) in Rivers State Lt. Col. Sagir Musa confirmed the hijack, adding that a crew of eight Nigerian workers was taken hostage.
- CSM – For years, African militias have used proceeds from precious natural resources to fund conflicts – a practice dramatized in the 2006 Hollywood film “Blood Diamond.” Now, there’s a new twist: blood cows. Warring rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo are stealing and selling livestock to finance a conflict sparked by spillover from the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 were killed.
Seaman Zach Vineski, from Riverview, Mich., executes evening colors aboard the fast-attack submarine USS Scranton, moored at Naval Station Norfolk's Pier 3, photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Xander Gamble
The Global War
- Amil Imani – In order to understand the clerical rulers of Iran, we need to learn about the genesis of their religious faith, Shi’a Islam, and the pivotal place of the Mahdi. Examination of the vast Islamic literature shows that the present sect of Shi’a Islam has evolved from a mix of cultural, political, economic and religious influences.
- Information Dissemination – The US Navy is deploying the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) this week, the last ESG expected to deploy this year. In a return to the old days, we are going to take a little liberty and speculate (theory) regarding the enabling capabilities of the Iwo Jima ESG as it forward deploys from the Atlantic towards the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East. Like all strike groups, there are special capabilities within the Iwo Jima ESG that aren’t easily visible to the casual observer, so the point of this exercise is to perhaps educate a bit regarding your tax dollars.
- US Marines – Lt. Gen. John F. Goodman, commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, relinquished command to Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder during a retirement ceremony Aug. 22. Stalder comes to Hawaii from North Carolina, where he served as the commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force.
- World Bank – New poverty estimates published by the World Bank reveal that 1.4 billion people in the developing world (one in four) were living on less than US$1.25 a day in 2005, down from 1.9 billion (one in two) in 1981.
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15 August, 2008 (00:05) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 15 August 2008.
United States & the Americas
- State Dept – On August 14, 2008, the United States and Libya signed a comprehensive claims settlement agreement in Tripoli. The agreement is designed to provide rapid recovery of fair compensation for American nationals with terrorism-related claims against Libya. It will also address Libyan claims arising from previous U.S. military actions. The agreement is being pursued on a purely humanitarian basis and does not constitute an admission of fault by either party.
- CBS – A federal appeals court ruled Thursday [opinion] that Saudi Arabia and four of its princes cannot be held liable in the Sept. 11 attacks even if they were aware that charitable donations to Muslim groups would be funneled to al Qaeda.
- US Census Bureau – Minorities, now roughly one-third of the U.S. population, are expected to become the majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54 percent minority in 2050. By 2023, minorities will comprise more than half of all children. In 2030, when all of the baby boomers will be 65 and older, nearly one in five U.S. residents is expected to be 65 and older. This age group is projected to increase to 88.5 million in 2050, more than doubling the number in 2008 (38.7 million).
- IPS – Amidst anticipation and apprehension regarding the imminent political transition, Paraguay is gearing up for Friday’s inauguration of centre-left President-elect Fernando Lugo, known as the “bishop of the poor”, who is putting an end to six decades of Colorado Party rule. More than ideological differences, the biggest challenge for Lugo will be resolving conflicts of interest between the various groups in his government, political scientist Line Bareiro said.
- Javno – Hooded gunmen dressed in black burst into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in northern Mexico, dragged patients out of a prayer session and shot them dead in an attack that killed eight people.
- Oxford Analytica – The Argentine authorities will be hoping to see a rise in investor confidence this week, after announcing on August 10 a new ‘integral financing strategy’ involving plans to buy back bonds maturing in 2008. Around 100 million dollars worth of bonds were repurchased the following day (out of an estimated total of about 1 billion).
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- France24 – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Tbilisi on Friday to secure Georgia’s signature to a fragile peace deal with Russia. This as Tbilisi said Russian tanks were moving deeper into Georgian territory.
- AP – Russia’s foreign minister declared Thursday that the world “can forget about” Georgia’s territorial integrity, and American and Georgian officials said Russia appeared to be targeting military infrastructure, including radars and patrol boats at a Black Sea naval base and oil hub.
- McClatchy – Perhaps more than any other piece of land in Georgia, the road from Gori to Tbilisi on Thursday symbolized the humiliating defeat that Georgia has suffered at the hands of the Kremlin, which was its overseer during the days of hard-line rule by the Soviet Union.
- TIME – From Russia there is only one way to get in and out of South Ossetia. The Transcaucasian Highway, or Transkam, runs from Vladikavkaz, the capital of the semi-autonomous republic of North Ossetia to the 3.5 km-long Roki Tunnel, which opens into South Ossetia. All the men and material that Russia is now using to fight Georgia came along this road. I went up the Transkam on Wednesday to determine if the Russian army was pulling any men or machines out of the fight.
- EurasiaNet – Public sentiment in Azerbaijan is clearly on the side of neighboring Georgia, but the Azerbaijani government is treading lightly, not wanting to do or say anything that might provoke Russia. Baku, which is intent on recovering its own separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, is concerned about how the fighting in Georgia will impact the fates of Georgia’s break-away entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
- Stars and Stripes – The first C-17 was greeted with applause from the waiting group of Georgians. Then, shortly after touching down in Tbilisi, the plane was back in the air and bound for Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to reload. “It’s flying a leap frog,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker, a spokesman for U.S. European Command. In all, about $2 million in humanitarian aid was delivered aboard back-to-back U.S. military flights Wednesday and Thursday, according to EUCOM.
- OSCE – The situation in and around the South Ossetia conflict area remains “fragile” and up to 100 additional OSCE monitors are needed, the Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Heikki Talvitie, told a special meeting of the Organization’s Permanent Council in Vienna.
- ICG – President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has turned Kyrgyzstan in effect into a one-party state, but its surface calm could soon be shattered if he does not deal with its real problems of corruption and economic crisis before winter sets in. A further deterioration in living conditions could spark serious anger among a public already worn down by power cuts, the steady increase in fuel prices and the memory of the previous grim winter. If anger turns to violence, it risks being brutal, destructive and xenophobic – and the remnants of the discredited opposition may not be able to channel demonstrations into a more controllable form.
Middle East
- BBC – Eighteen people have died and another 75 were injured after a female suicide bomber struck in southern Iraq. The female attacker blew herself up while among a group of Shia pilgrims in the town of Iskandariya.
- Bloggers Roundtable – Owing to the combination of forces, and especially the co-location of U.S. and Iraqi troops in towns and villages around Babil, victories have been recently scored against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. In turn, improved security has enabled growth in government and economic systems, Army Col. Thomas James explained.
- Al Arabiya – Syria and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to resume work towards formally demarcating their borders but Damascus said the boundaries of the disputed Shebaa Farms would not be drawn until Israel withdrew from them. Demarcation of the borders between Syria and Lebanon would be a major step towards meeting international demands on Damascus to formalise ties with its smaller neighbour.
- AFP – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday accused Israel of seeking to eliminite the Lebanese Shiite movement’s leaders, in a televised speech on the second anniversary of the summer war with Israel.
Iran
- Hurriyet – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Thursday to discuss bilateral ties, including the enhancement of an energy partnership, and Tehran’s nuclear program. Turkey and Iran failed to reach consensus on an energy deal, but signed other cooperation deals.
- Washington Times – Iranian state radio says three Kurdish separatists and one Iranian soldier were killed in a shootout in the northwest of the country.
- Al Arabiya – A number of Iranians are flocking to Malaysia, attracted by a fellow Islamic country with a relatively low cost of living, instead of pursuing their dreams in traditional exile hubs such as Canada or Sweden.
- MEMRI – The Iranian daily Kayhan, which is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, stated that since January 2008 the Saudi television network Al-Arabiya had been waging a minor and clandestine war on Iran, and that its Farsi-language website served to egg on Iranian opposition groups and as a platform for hostile reformist criticism of the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Southeast Asia
- Newsday – An explosion targeting international troops on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan killed three members of the U.S.-led coalition Thursday, the coalition said.
- AKI – Around 135,000 residents have reportedly fled a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan to avoid clashes between security forces and Taliban militants. Officials said that up to half of the population of some villages in the troubled Bajaur tribal district had fled, although militants were trying to stop people from leaving.
- National Interest - Despite the explosive nature of the crisis and apparent consensus between the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees about the need for additional focus on the area—as well as military forces there—the popular analysis of the situation often fails to appreciate the very basic facts of the issue. At the core of this insurgency is Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which encompasses about 27,220 square kilometers of mountainous terrain and is home to approximately 3.5 million Pashtuns. Ethnic Pashtuns not only strongly dominate FATA and the adjoining North-West Frontier Province, they also straddle the Afghan-Pakistan border, demarcated by the British in 1893.
- Daily Times – The coalition government has offered indemnity and security to President Pervez Musharraf if he resigns, sources privy to the developments said on Thursday. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif has agreed to change his rigid stance against the president, who is likely to finalise a decision in the next few days. The drop scene is likely in a few days, the sources said.
- News Agency of Kashmir – Curfew relaxed in Kashmir, Kishtwar still under seize ; Protests continued, 45 injured in fresh violence across valley; Curfew defied in Uri, Baramulla, Rafaiabad
- AP – A wave of battles across the front lines in Sri Lanka’s 25-year-old civil war killed 14 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers, the military said Thursday. Government jets hit a series of Tamil Tiger targets in the Mullaittivu region early Thursday in support of troops fighting on the ground.
- Red Cross – Tens of thousands of people have fled areas affected by fighting in the Mannar and Kilinochchi districts following an escalation of hostilities between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in northern Sri Lanka. Among those displaced – most of whom headed towards Kilinochchi – are people who have had to abandon their homes several times in recent months. Access to food, shelter, sanitation and clean water is an urgent priority. Although health facilities in the area are struggling to cope with the increased demand, they have so far been able to meet the population’s basic needs.
Far East & Pacific
- Daily Yomiuri – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s announcement Monday that the United States would postpone removing North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring nations came after Washington and Pyongyang failed to reach an agreement on procedures to verify North Korea’s declaration of its nuclear programs.
- Xinhua – Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will meet with South Korean envoy Kim Sook in New York Friday to discuss the nuclear issue of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Thursday. The visit comes amid another visit by Sung Kim, director of the office of Korean affairs at the State Department, to China on the DPRK nuclear disarmament.
- NPR – A series of attacks in the Xinjiang region of northwest China have raised concern about Muslim separatists, who the government says is responsible for the violence. Michel Martin talks to Dru Gladney, president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College, about understanding the religious and political goals of the diverse Muslim community in China.
- Reuters – Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of its surrender in World War Two on Friday, but Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was expected to avoid visiting a shrine for war dead seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of Tokyo’s past militarism.
- Times Online – The New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, was evacuated in atrocious weather from a mountain in the country’s South Island after her mountain guide and close friend died of a heart attack during an alpine camping trip.
Europe
- Irish Times – Warsaw and Washington have signed a preliminary agreement to install 10 American missile interceptors in Poland, as concerns over the Georgian conflict helped break an 18-month deadlock. Prime minister Donald Tusk appeared on national television yesterday evening, announcing that US negotiators had agreed to help boost Poland’s air defences in exchange for it hosting part of Washington’s missile shield.
- Prague Monitor – The Czech Republic has been the largest supplier of tanks, self-propelled guns and artillery to Georgia in the past two years, the daily Pravo reported Wednesday, referring to information from the Russian Defence Ministry published in the Komsomolskaya pravda Russian paper. The Russian paper writes that the Czech Republic has also supplied missile launchers to Georgia. Moscow has accused Georgian troops of having massacred the inhabitants of Cchinvali exactly by these tanks and missile launchers.
- CSM – Russia’s invasion of Georgian territory last week, in addition to reasserting Moscow’s military strength, has complicated Europe’s effort to diversify its oil and gas supplies away from the growing dominance of Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom. The Russo-Georgian conflict is the latest in a series of setbacks for Europe’s planned Nabucco pipeline – its best hope of weaning itself off Gazprom, which set off alarm bells by cutting crucial gas supplies to the continent in the winters of 2006 and 2008.
- Daily Star – Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard is ready to stand trial in Jordan over his controversial caricature depicting the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in his turban, the press reported on Thursday. A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Westergaard for questioning in June after local media outlets sued him over his cartoon, which was republished in at least 17 Danish dailies in February, sparking violent protests in Muslim countries, including the kingdom. “I would like to go to Amman to stand trial. However, what I fear is that I am convicted in advance,” Westergaard told the government-owned Jordan Times in Copenhagen.
- Brussels Journal – I recently wrote an essay regarding how the Council of Europe, in close cooperation with the European Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab League and other Islamic organizations, are working to combat “Islamophobia” in Europe by all means necessary. Now the French blog Galliawatch takes a look at the CoE as well. This should be considered required reading for all those numerous people who still stubbornly dismiss Eurabia as a “conspiracy theory.”
Africa
- Afrol – International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has raised concern with increased hijack and attack reports in recent weeks, off Somali coast. On Tuesday, Somali pirates hijacked a Thai general cargo ship, which is the third in a series with a month.
- Press TV – Around 20 Ethiopian soldiers have been killed by their fellow servicemen in the Somali military in the southern district of El Warego. The region was a scene of heavy fighting between Ethiopian soldiers and Somali troops, Press TV correspondent reported.
- This Day – At the solemn ceremony held at the Perigrino Hall of Government House, Calabar, the Nigerian delegation led by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, exchanged flags with the Deputy Prime Minister of Cameroon, Mr. Ahmadu Ali. That signalled the final withdrawal and transfer of authority in the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
- The Citizen – Debate over the establishment of Islamic courts in Tanzania yesterday split parliamentarians after the minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ms Mathis Chikawe, presented his 2008/09 budget estimates. The opposition MP said their call for the establishment of the courts is based on the fact that there are special issues in Muslim communities that need to be handled only by Kadhi courts.
- AllAfrica – Zimbabwean officials have blocked Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other top party officials from leaving the country to attend this weekend’s summit of the Southern African Development Community. (It was returned.)
- World Bank – An additional US4 million food price crisis response grant for Sierra Leone was approved by the Bank’s Executive Board of Directors, following swiftly on the heels of the US3 million dollars in budget support approved earlier this month to offset lost revenues resulting from the spike in food prices. The grant will be specifically used to support the implementation of an emergency cash-for-work program with the objective of providing temporary employment opportunities for those most susceptible to the crisis.
- Carnegie – The bloodless military coup that overthrew Mauritania’s democratic government poses challenges for U.S. policy in the region. Washington can encourage the military to move toward elections by leveraging its military assistance, and humanitarian and institutional capacity-building programs.
The Global War
- RIA Novosti – The composition of the Russian Air Force is estimated by a number of sources to be as follows: 90 strategic bombers, including 16 Tu-160s (Blackjack) and 74 Tu-95MSs (Bear); 124 long-range Tu-22M3 (Backfire) bombers; 20 A-50 early warning aircraft; Su-25M close support aircraft, Su-24 (Fencer) tactical bombers and Su-34 (Fullback) fighter bombers totaling 800 planes; 725 MiG-31 (Foxhound), MiG-29 (Fulcrum), MiG-25 (Foxbat) and Su-27 (Flanker), including Su-27SMKs, interceptor fighters; around 300 An-12, An-22, An-124 (Condor) and Il-76 (Candid) airlifters and Il-78 (Midas) tanker planes; 650 Mi-8, Mi-17, Mi-24, Mi-26, Ka-50 and Mi-28N helicopters. In addition, it has 1900 anti-aircraft missile launchers, including S-300V, S-300P Favorit, S-400 Triumf and other systems.
- ISN – The US Geological Survey presented the first publicly available assessment of the Arctic Circle’s petroleum resources on 23 July, revealing an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, but technically recoverable, oil north of the Circle. If the report is accurate, the find would account for roughly 13 percent of undiscovered oil in the world – enough to meet worldwide supply for the next three years (at current consumption rates). In addition, the area also contains 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas.
Sights & Sounds
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