Peace Like A River

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

21 July, 2009 (01:10) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 21 July 2009.

United States & the Americas

Times of India – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is holding talks with PM Manmohan Singh at his residence in Delhi. They are likely to announce the Indo-US defence pact shortly.
America.gov – The main purpose of Vice President Biden’s trip this week to Ukraine and to Georgia is to strengthen each partnership, a vice presidential adviser says.
Pentagon – DoD News Briefing with Secretary Gates and Adm. Mullen from the Pentagon
Treasury Dept – As part of an ongoing effort to apply financial measures against narcotics traffickers worldwide, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated four drug cartel leaders as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). The four individuals designated today are leaders of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, groups that are responsible for much of the violence taking place in Mexico today.
Miami Herald – About 150 U.S. and Cuban troops worked side by side last week, testing collaboration across a minefield that has long divided the Cold War adversaries. A Cuban Army helicopter flew over this Navy base and dropped 500 gallons of saltwater on burning plywood to extinguish a simulated raging wildfire. American sailors crossed into Cuban-controlled turf to set up a mock triage center run by both nations’ militaries, should catastrophe strike.
LAHT – Three Catholic bishops in the western Mexican state of Michoacan have been threatened by drug traffickers, a church spokesman told Efe. “They asked them to stop condemning the illegal drug activity.”
CNN – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced Monday to seven and a half years in prison for paying his one-time spy chief a $15 million bonus out of the government treasury. Fujimori, who was president from 1990 to 2000, also was ordered by the country’s supreme court to pay 3 million new soles ($1 million) in restitution to the state, according to court documents
Israel MFA – Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos Calderon arrived in Israel on a 5-day official visit on Friday, July 17 2009, as part of a Middle East tour
Columbia Reports – Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah has an active cell in La Guajira, the north Colombian department bordering Venezuela, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said. In an interview with newspaper El Tiempo, Dorit Shavit, director of The Foreign Ministry’s Latin America office said Iran is trying to extend its influence in Latin America and is behind the creation of this particular cell
Press TV – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has made countering Iran’s diplomatic presence in Latin America the cornerstone of his upcoming tour to the region. A statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the visit was meant to “emphasize the high importance” Tel Aviv attributes to Latin America, AFP reported

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

RIA Novosti – The Russian Navy will expand and modernize its Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus in Syria to support anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast, a high-ranking navy source said on Monday. About 50 naval personnel and three berthing floats are currently deployed at the Tartus site, which can accommodate up to a dozen warships.
Georgia MFA – Another important fact is that US Navy vessel Stout visited Georgia for a few days. Joint military exercises were held that indicates clearly that the cooperation between the two countries in the military and security fields continues.
AP – Five militants were killed in a gunfight at a remote military checkpoint near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan, officials said Monday. Law enforcement agencies issued a joint statement Monday claiming the perpetrators of the attack, which happened Thursday, were suspected terrorists with Russian citizenship. The statement said two of the attackers, aged between 20 and 26, were from Russia’s largely Muslim southern fringe

Middle East

Voices of Iraq – The official spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, said on Monday that the government decided to grant the defense minister authorization to sign an agreement on training Iraqi forces between Iraq and NATO
Voices of Iraq – Iraqi army forces on Sunday arrested two Syrian gunmen with arms and maps of Mosul city in their possession, according to a security source. “The men were arrested during a search raid in al-Nabi Younis area, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Weapons, passports and maps of Mosul city were found in their possession,” the source noted, providing no further details
MEMRI – The London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported July 20, 2009, that the Iraqi Defense Ministry issued a communiqué announcing that in a military operation near Kirkuk on July 18, 2009, five senior Al-Qaeda commanders had been arrested
Al Manar – Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah renewed on Monday calls for the nation to embrace the Resistance and the culture of the Resistance, saying that the last few years constituted the most difficult and dangerous phases in which the Resistance’s existence was questionable by some people in the region.
CSM – The political turmoil that has shaken Iran following its disputed presidential election last month is being keenly observed by Lebanon’s militant Shiite Hezbollah, which takes many of its cues – earthly and spiritual – from the Islamic Republic.
Naharnet – The Israeli army announced it had withdrawn a booklet that was being distributed among soldiers in which the author points that the Vatican and Hizbullah share a hatred for Israel. The army said it has “severely reprimanded” an officer for circulating the booklet it described as showing “no mercy to their enemies.”
NOW Lebanon – The Syrian-Jordanian committee in charge of border demarcation agreed to define border points between the two countries as a preliminary step to sign a border demarcation agreement. The Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab al-Yaum reported on Monday that Damascus and Amman will also form committees to resolve all pending issues, including preventing any kind of smuggling across the borders
Jerusalem Post – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make a previously unscheduled trip to Syria on Wednesday, with the Turkish press speculating that reviving talks between Israel and Syria will be the most important item on the agenda. Erdogan, who was last in Syria in December, will be accompanied on his one-day visit by his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu

Iran

Press TV – A senior Iranian energy official predicts that Nabucco gas pipeline member-states will ask Iran to join the project due to the shortage of providers of the plan. Several EU countries and Turkey signed a transit deal for the Nabucco pipeline in Ankara last week to bring central Asian natural gas to the heart of Europe in Austria.
ITIC – Iran tightens its security collaboration with Persian Gulf countries in an attempt to secure regional hegemony. It also strives to moderate the tension with its neighbors and to prevent them from being used as a launching pad for attacks against Iran.
NY Times – As Iran’s political elite and clerical establishment splinter over the election crisis, the nation’s most powerful economic, social and political institution — the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps — has emerged as a driving force behind efforts to crush a still-defiant opposition movement.
Gulfnews – Iran, plunged in post-election turmoil, is also grappling with ethnic and religious tensions in a volatile southeastern province where the authorities have responded to attacks by Sunni rebels with a spate of hangings.
UPI – Iran plans to diversify its export strategy for natural resources to move away from commitments to crude oil as officials predict static market conditions.
Payvand – Photos: Tabriz Bazaar; The Tabriz Bazaar is the one of the oldest and largest covered bazaars in the Middle East and is located in the centre of the city

U.S. troops bow their heads during a chaplain’s prayer during transfer of a fallen comrade at a ramp ceremony on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, July 6, 2009. (photo by Sgt. Ashleigh Bryant)

South Asia

AFPS – Afghan National Army and NATO International Security Assistance Force soldiers killed 10 anti-Afghan fighters in Pech district of Afghanistan’s Kunar province July 17 after receiving small-arms fire while on a routine patrol. A combined Afghan and coalition force searched a compound in Khost province last night to disrupt a Haqqani terrorist network bomb-making cell
LA Times – A roadside bomb killed four American soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, adding to the toll in what has already been the conflict’s deadliest month for Western forces
UK MoD – It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Corporal Joseph Etchells of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday 19 July 2009. Corporal Etchells, aged 22 from Mossley, Greater Manchester, was killed as a result of an explosion that happened whilst on a foot patrol near Sangin, northern Helmand Province
Dawn – More than a month has elapsed since Pakistan announced plans for an offensive on the Taliban stronghold in Waziristan, but security analysts doubt whether an all-out assault is as imminent as many people think.
The News – Security forces on Monday claimed to have killed around 100 Taliban militants in a massive military operation in a cluster of villages in the troubled Maidan area of Dir Lower district. The colossal human loss to the militants was claimed the day the NWFP cabinet approved to fix a bounty of Rs 500,000 each on the heads of five top Taliban commanders operating in the Maidan area of Dir Lower.
Geo – Security forces carried out search and clearance operations in different areas of Swat and Malakand during the last 24 hours. During exchange of fire with terrorists, Major Zahid embraced Shahadat. Reportedly 12 terrorists were killed in exchange of fire with Security Forces.

Far East & Pacific

Yonhap – South Korea’s top nuclear envoy reaffirmed Tuesday that his country will offer substantial financial incentives to North Korea if it takes concrete steps towards denuclearization.
Irrawaddy – Hundreds of marines and army troops have been deployed to two islands in the southern Philippines for a new offensive aimed at eradicating al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants by the end of this year, officials said Sunday.
The Age – Former National Australia Bank senior executive Ahmed Fahour is aiming to build the world’s first Islamic global investment bank following his appointment to Middle Eastern bank Gulf Finance House. The Lebanese-born Australian will take charge of the Bahrain-based bank next month, looking to offer oil-rich Gulf states with investment opportunities ranging from infrastructure and specialist investment products that comply with Islamic rules.
IslamOnline – A first of a kind lexicon in Australia is going to guide politicians, police and public servants on how to speak about Islam and terrorism without implicating the peaceful religion, in a bid to defuse growing anti-Muslim sentiments in the country.

Europe

Scotsman – The terrorist threat level has been downgraded from “severe” to “substantial”, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said today. That means the official assessment of the danger of an attack in the near future has shifted from “highly likely” to a “strong possibility”. Mr Johnson said the country still faces a “real and serious” threat from terrorists and urged members of the public to remain vigilant.
Telegraph – For the first time in more than 300 years, a Spanish minister will set foot on the disputed territory of Gibraltar to attend talks that will not raise the thorny issue of the island’s sovreignity.
Javno – Bulgaria may drift away from the European Union and towards Russia’s sphere of influence unless the government gets to grips with crime and corruption, a a group of European experts advising Sofia said. In a report obtained by Reuters on Monday, they urged the Black Sea country to step up the fight against organised crime and graft, especially involving state officials, and to tighten control over EU aid funds.
Balkan Insight – Tensions are running high in Mostar, in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the murder of a member of a local radical Muslim Wahhabi sect. Local police are continuing their investigation into the incident, which took place last Wednesday when a mass brawl broke out between a group of local Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) residents, who were sitting in a café, and several members of a local radical Muslim Wahhabi sect, who were leaving a mosque after evening prayers.

Africa

Garowe – At least three people were killed in overnight Sunday clashes in the Somali capital Mogadishu after suspected insurgents launched an organized attack on African Union peacekeepers, Radio Garowe reports.
Al Arabiya – Somalia’s hardline al-Shabab militia on Monday raided the offices of three United Nations organizations hours after they banned their operations on accusation that they were “enemies of Islam and Muslims.” The armed group stormed the United Nations Development Program, U.N. Department of Safety and Security and the U.N. Political Office for Somalia in two southern Somalia towns and impounded office equipment.
UN – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored reported bombings along or near the Chadian-Sudanese border and urged both countries to exercise restraint and improve their frayed bilateral relations amid rising tensions in the region.
BBC – The main group of Tuareg ex-rebels in Mali has agreed to help the army tackle al-Qaeda’s North African branch. Both groups roam across the Sahara Desert and correspondents say the deal could prove significant. The agreement was brokered by Algeria’s ambassador to Mali.
Magharebia – While dissident rebel activity had slowed implementation of the Algiers peace agreement, the new talks reportedly hope to improve co-operation in fighting al-Qaeda activity in the Sahel region. As part of the effort to improve security, a 1.5 million euro programme will get under way next week in Kidal to provide socio-economic support to some 10,000 young people in three regions of northern Mali.

U.S. Marines rush towards an M777 105-mm lightweight Howitzer to rig it for lifting by an MH-53E Sea Stallion helicopter as part of Talisman Saber, an exercise in Shoalwater Bay, Australia, July 19, 2009. The Marines, embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, are assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the helicopter crew is assigned to the unit's Air Combat Element. (photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Mark Alvarez)

The Global War

Asia Times – Russia and China remain divided on some major joint projects, including the Tianwan nuclear project and gas supplies to China, the Kommersant business daily noted on June 18. Moscow and Beijing are yet to resume discussions on gas prices, the daily commented. Therefore, despite these pledges of bilateral strategic partnership, including energy cooperation, Russia and China apparently need several years to agree on the terms of major energy projects
ISN – In the energy business it normally pays to be, at best, cautiously optimistic, at worst, cynical. Failure to take either of these qualities onboard can leave you looking wet behind the ears. Despite its recent transit agreement, Nabucco remains a strong candidate for those still needing a towel as the task of finding sufficient gas, political cohesion and financing to access Central Asian and Middle Eastern gas in order to diversify European supplies beyond the Kremlin proves to be a formidable challenge. This will not be quick or easy, and will assuredly be politically ugly.
ME Forum – Many international Al-Qaeda plots have Syrian links. The head of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in Casablanca in May 2003, trained in Syria. The prosecutor in the trial of the terrorists who attacked Madrid in 2004 suspects Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain member Hassan el-Haski of involvement in the train bombings. In May 2004, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s lieutenants and, perhaps Zarqawi himself, held meetings on Syrian territory to plan terrorism in Iraq aimed at provoking sectarian violence. Syria harbored and refused to extradite Suleiman Khaled Darwish, Zarqawi’s second-in-command and, reportedly, a liaison between Al-Qaeda and Syrian military intelligence. (He was finally killed in October 2008 in a U.S. raid on Syrian territory).
Dvids – Pakistan Navy Rear Adm. Muhammad Zakaullah assumed command of Combined Task Force 150 from French Navy Rear Adm. Alain Hinden during a change of command ceremony held July 20 in Bahrain.

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

12 May, 2009 (01:49) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 12 May 2009.

United States & the Americas

AFPS – Citing the need for new thinking and new ideas in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has recommended President Barack Obama nominate Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the new commander of NATO and U.S. forces there. Gates announced at a Pentagon news conference today that he has requested the resignation of Army Gen. David McKiernan, currently the commander in Afghanistan. McChrystal currently serves as the director of the Joint Staff.
Pentagon – Press Conference with Secretary Gates and Adm. Mullen on Leadership Changes in Afghanistan From the Pentagon
canada.com – The Cuban government has abruptly pulled the plug on what would have been a historic visit to Havana by Canada’s junior foreign affairs minister, Canwest News Service has learned
Miami Herald – Venezuelan authorities have seized nearly two tons of cocaine and arrested three suspects in their largest drug bust in months, the country’s top counter-drug official said Monday. Police and soldiers discovered 4,370 pounds (1,983 kilograms) of cocaine during a raid on a ranch in central Miranda state on Saturday.
SOUTHCOM - U.S. Navy ships departed Naval Station Mayport May 8 to conduct Southern Seas 2009. Southern Seas is a U.S. Southern Command-directed operation implemented by U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. Fourth Fleet and carried out by Commander, Destroyer Squadron 40. It involves the deployment of Destroyer Squadron 40, USS Kauffman (FFG-59), USS Doyle (FFG-39) and USS Ford (FFG-54), HSL-43 Detachment 4, which will sail the waters surrounding Latin America and the Caribbean from May through October 2009

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

EurasiaNet – Uzbekistan: Karimov Gives Washington the Air Base It Needs for Afghan Operations; With a helping hand from South Korea, the United States has reestablished a strategic presence in Uzbekistan – sort of. The development provides a boost for US efforts to press an offensive against Islamic militants in Afghanistan, and offers evidence that Russia’s influence in Central Asia is waning.
Yonhap – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was due Tuesday in Kazakhstan for talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and other government leaders on ways to increase cooperation between the countries. The visit comes as part of Lee’s two-nation trip to the region, which included his visit here to the Uzbek capital that began Sunday.
Kremlin – Dmitry Medvedev will meet with President of the United States Barack Obama on July 6–8. Mr Obama will make an official visit to Russia, at Mr Medvedev’s invitation, on July 6–8, 2009.
RIA Novosti – Georgia has detained the commanders of the 1st and 3rd infantry brigades over the mutiny at the Mukhrovani military base last week, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday
Georgian Times – NATO-led exercise begins on Vaziani military base, Tbilisi, Georgia, today. The exercises Cooperative Longbow 09 – Cooperative Lancer 09 are the standart part of the Partnership for Peace program and it has been conducted in Georgia since 2001.
Martha Brill Olcott, James A. Baker III Institute – Russia, Central Asia, and the Caspian: How Important is the Energy and Security Trade-off?
Henryk Szadziewski, Caucasian Review of International Affairs – How the West Was Won: China’s Expansion into Central Asia
ISN – The unexplained shooting of 13 people in Baku feeds speculation about foreign terrorist plots aimed at undermining stability, Boyukaga Agayev reports for IWPR.

Middle East

Australia DoD – Defence will conclude its military commitment to the rehabilitation of Iraq on 31 July 2009 marking the end of a mission that commenced on 20 March 2003.
Al Sumaria – Security sources announced that head of northern Taji salvation council Sheikh Abed Mohammed Hussein Al Dulaimi was killed with one of his bodyguards in a bomb explosion targeting him near Al Hamamiyat region in northern Taji while he was on a fishing trip
Voices of Iraq – An al-Qaeda in Iraq network leader on Monday was arrested during a security operation in Diala province, the Interior Ministry said. Earlier today, a security source from the province said that an Iraqi army force captured 20 persons, including several wanted men, under Operation Bashaer al-Kheir II.
MNF Iraq – Five U.S. service members were killed in a shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad today at approximately 2 p.m. A U.S. Soldier suspected of being involved with the shootings is currently in custody.
The National – The regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan has told three foreign oil companies to prepare to start exporting oil on June 1. The formal notification of the imminent start of exports from Kurdistan’s Tawke and Taq Taq oilfields through a pipeline running through Turkey marks a possible breakthrough in negotiations between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s central government, which had been deadlocked over plans for exploiting the semiautonomous region’s oil and gas resources
Al Arabiya - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt on Monday on his first trip abroad since taking office as Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas announced that a new Palestinian government would be formed within 48 hours. The hawkish Israeli premier will meet Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a week before heading to Washington to meet United States President Barack Obama.
Naharnet – Israel would not pull out of the northern part of the Ghajjar village if Hizbullah wins the June 7 parliamentary elections the daily al-Akhbar quoted the Sunday issue of the Israeli Haaretz on Monday. It added that Israel would consider different solutions that work on guaranteeing the presence of Lebanese armed forces in south Lebanon if Hizbullah’s political opponents were to win the elections.
Press TV – A senior Lebanese security official has declared that the security branch of Hezbollah movement has played a key role in detecting the Israeli spies in Lebanon. Head of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF) Ashraf Riffi added that the recent arrests of the Israeli spies have dealt major blows to Israel’s intelligence service Mossad.
Al Manar – Day after another, more Israeli Mossad-linked cells are collapsing in Lebanon. Indeed, in just one month, six networks formed of tens of Israeli spies and agents were uncovered in various southern towns, and more is to come! Six networks were uncovered thanks to the fruitful coordination between the Resistance’s security, the Intelligence Directorate in the Lebanese Army and the Information branch within the Internal Security Forces (ISF)
Press TV – Syria has accused two British citizens detained in Damascus eight weeks ago of working for a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda.
Washington Post – After a long hiatus, the Syrian pipeline operated by the organization al-Qaeda in Iraq is back in business. The revival of a transit route that officials had declared all but closed comes as the Obama administration is exploring a new diplomatic dialogue with Syria. At the same time, Washington remains concerned by Syrian activities — including ongoing support for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as activities involving Iraq.

Iran

ISNA – The Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi has been sentenced to 2-year suspended sentence within 5 years. The appeal court has dismissed the primary court ruling on the charges of espionage for Washington and issued the verdict on the charges of disruption of the national security, her lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told ISNA Monday.
NY Times – Why Iran Freed Roxana Saberi; By The Editors
Daily Star – Iran urged neighboring Iraq on Monday to “pay special attention” to armed groups operating in its border areas, a week after Baghdad condemned Iranian shelling of villages in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. Iran, whose forces often clash with guerrillas in its own Kurdish-populated areas close to the Iraqi border, has neither confirmed nor denied reports its forces had shelled targets inside Iraqi territory.
Iran Focus – Several mortar shells landed in Turkey’s southeast corner Monday after Iranian soldiers bombed Kurdish rebels positions in northern Iraq, a security source said.
IRNA – The deputy head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines called for establishment of Iran-Syria joint bank in near future. Ala Mir-Mohammad Sadeqi made the remark in a conference on trade and investment opportunities inf Iran and Syria in Tehran on Monday.
Payvand – China is Iran’s leading trade partner in Asia, but both countries still seek to expand their economic relations, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday.
Fars – Speaking in a meeting with Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Muthana Hassan, Mottaki stressed, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is always committed to the consolidation of its friendship and deepening of its cooperation with Yemen and, on the same basis, it wants progress, security and prosperity for Yemen.”
Mehr – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei plans to visit Kordestan Province Tuesday morning.

South Asia

UK MoD – The fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan has stepped up a gear after Operation ZAFAR successfully forced a retreat of Taliban fighters from several villages near Lashkar Gah.
Military.com – Afghanistan’s top human rights group said it is investigating whether white phosphorus was used in a U.S.-Taliban battle that killed scores of people, which could further deepen controversy over an incident that has already sparked public anger. The American military on Sunday denied using the incendiary in the battle in Farah province – which President Hamid Karzai has said killed 125 to 130 civilians – but left open the possibility that Taliban militants did.
The Post - Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said 700 militants were killed, 20 security personnel were martyred in the ongoing operation against the militants in SWAT and other areas.
Statesman – A suicide car-bomber killed 12 people including three FC personnel at a security checkpost in Darra Adam Khel on Monday. The bomber killed three paramilitary soldiers and nine civilians when they set off their explosives-laden vehicle in a queue of cars at a check-post in Darra Adam at entry point.
Geo – This has been revealed that 40-45 suicide bombers have entered into various areas of the country. According to sources, these suicide bombers have been sent by the extremists belonging to Bonair. The sources said that the government has directed the law-enforcing agencies to arrange strict security measures to halt the suicide bombers? likely attacks
Daily Times – A Taliban commander close to Baitullah Mehsud was among six people found dead from various areas of South Waziristan on Monday – two months after the men went missing, said local elders. The bullet-riddled body of commander Tikka Khan Burki – Taliban chief for Salayrogha area in upper Kaniguram region – was found in Karwanmanza area of Ladah tehsil.
Pak Tribune – The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Coordination Committee, taking strong exception of the May 12 holiday announced by the government, lashed out at President Asif Ali Zardari for “failing to part ways with the criminal elements”. It threatened that if the Sindh government did not detach itself from the “criminal elements” of the Awami National Party (ANP), the MQM would be left with no option but to quit both the provincial as well as federal governments.
The News – The Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI-F), while denying having endorsed the cabinet decision to go ahead with a military action in Swat, has criticised the use of force in parts of the Malakand Division. “Neither are we part of the cabinet decision nor do we accept Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s announcement to go ahead with the operation in the Malakand Division,” a key JUI-F leader told The News here on Monday.
Times of India – In one of the deadliest ambushes, Maoists blew up a police jeep in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh late on Sunday, killing 12 security personnel and a civilian and injuring 12.
New Kerala – Two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, including the outfit’s divisional commander have been killed in an encounter in Jammu Kashmir, the police confirmed Sunday.
Sri Lanka MoD – 58 Division troops now operating South of Rektavaikkal have advanced further 800m and positioned at the outskirts of the newly declared 2km long civilian safety zone while destroying several LTTE gun installations today (May 11). 11SLLI, 9GW and 10GR infantrymen have forced into several LTTE strong positions overwhelming terrorists and seizing a cache of weaponry, heavy earth moving vehicles and explosive devices.

Far East & Pacific

Yonhap – A senior U.S. intelligence official is on a secret trip to South Korea to gather information on North Korea and related geopolitical issues, an informed source said Tuesday. Joseph DeTrani, the mission manager for North Korea for the White House Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), arrived here last weekend for a weeklong stay, according to the source.
Phnom Penh Post – A Chinese company has been awarded a contract to study Cambodia’s rail network to Vietnam as part of the Singapore-Kunming railway project, government officials said.
Moscow Times – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hopes to sign a long-delayed deal to supply additional nuclear fuel to Japan and to cooperate on making related equipment and building reactors during talks in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Manila Times – Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels have freed a captured government soldier after nearly two weeks in captivity in Mindanao. Rigoberto Sanchez, a spokesman for the New People’s Army, said Private First Class Ronnie Trinidad was freed on humanitarian grounds. “The arrest, safe and orderly release of prisoner of war Trinidad amid the intense militarization in the countryside and the terrorism of the state against the people also indicate that Oplan Bantay Laya II of the criminal US-Arroyo regime is a big failure.”
RSIS – Australia’s recent Defence White Paper has a clear focus on maritime security. However this comes at a high price, both for Australian taxpayers, and potentially also for the region.

Europe

Guardian – The European Union and Turkey have struck a ground-breaking gas pipeline deal unlocking a potential energy bonanza in the Caspian basin after more than a year of deadlock, according to senior EU officials. The agreement, to be signed in Ankara on 25 June, represents a major boost to the EU’s ill-starred Nabucco pipeline project, which is intended to transport natural gas to Europe from central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East, and is the key to breaking the Kremlin’s stranglehold over Europe’s gas imports.
Roman Kupchinsky – Barely nine days after the Hungarian gas trader Emfesz KFT announced that it will begin receiving supplies of 3 billion cubic meters annually from the Zug (Switzerland) based company RosGas AG, rather than the now inactive RosUkrEnergo (RUE) the Russian press reported that Emfesz has been sold to RosGas (EDM, May 5; Vedomosti, May 7). Thus RosGas, a little-known company, now controls 20 percent of the Hungarian domestic gas distribution market.
Michael Jacobson – In April 2009, the U.S. State Department and the European Union released their annual terrorism reports, which paint a varied picture of international counterterrorism efforts to date, with clear progress in some areas and deterioration in others. The reports also illustrate how the rapidly evolving terrorist threat presents an ongoing and significant challenge to the United States and its allies, as terrorists continually adapt to international pressure. One positive aspect of the reports is that Americans and Europeans appear to have similar views on the threat posed by international Islamist terrorism
NCRI – A German court on Monday convicted a 63-year-old businessman of violating export laws by setting up deals to sell Iranian regime16 tons of high-grade graphite that could have been used for its missile program.
Reuters – Somali pirates are planning attacks on shipping using detailed information telephoned through by contacts in London, according to an intelligence report cited by Spanish radio on Monday. The pirates have built up a network of informants in London with access to sensitive data from shipping companies about vessels, routes and cargoes, according to a European military intelligence report that Cadena Ser radio said it had seen.
AKI – Italian police on Monday arrested 37 mafia suspects in and around the Sicilian capital of Palermo. The suspects are accused of mafia association, extortion and aiding the mafia.

Villagers watch U.S. Navy sailors work with engineers from the Uganda People's Defence Force as they grade the area surrounding the Walela Culvert Bridge in Lira, Uganda, May 5, 2009. (photo by Tech. Sgt. Dawn Price)

Africa

Garowe - Islamists in Somalia’s southern port of Kismayo have declared that the ongoing war in the capital Mogadishu will not stop, Radio Garowe reports. Sheikh Abubakar Sayli’i, the Al Shabaab-appointed mayor of Kismayo, told a Monday press conference that the group had sent weapons and fighters to reinforce the armed opposition fighting against Somalia’s U.N.-endorsed interim government.
Shabelle – At least ten people have been killed and more than 50 others were wounded in heavy shelling and fighting between government soldiers and Islamist rebels, witnesses said on Monday. Fierce conflict took place in Yaqshid district in north Mogadishu where the two sides were fighting for the control Yaqshid police station. Witnesses said several mortar shells were into the presidential palace where the Somali president Sharif Sheik Ahmed had held a press conference on Monday.
Sudan Tribune – The Sudan Armed Forces clashed with a previously allied militia in the state capital of North Darfur on Sunday, the UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping operation in Darfur reported today. Sporadic shooting in El Fasher’s main market were the result of hostilities between the Sudanese military and the Central Reserve Force. There were reports of fatalities during the clashes.
Magharebia – Al-Qaeda terrorist Ali Mohamed Al-Fakheri, aka Ibn E-Sheikh El-Libi, committed suicide in his prison cell in Libya where he was serving a life sentence since his 2006 extradition from Guantanamo in 2006, Ennahar quoted a Libyan newspaper as reporting on Sunday (May 10th). El-Libi, 46, who ran an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, was serving a life sentence in Libya since his 2006 extradition from Guantanamo.
Javno – Negotiations have started for the release of a Briton and a Swiss national being held hostage by al Qaeda militants in the Sahara desert, an Algerian newspaper quoted a security source as saying on Monday. Al Qaeda’s North African wing has threatened to kill the British hostage on May 15 unless Britain releases Sheikh Abu Qatada, a Jordanian Islamist it is holding in prison.
ICG – Congo: Five Priorities for a Peacebuilding Strategy
Chatham House – Entrepreneurs of Violence: Rebel Groups and Militias in Africa; This is a transcript of a meeting held at Chatham House on 22 April

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Thomas A. Beltran and a Moroccan soldier load ammunition into an M2 .50 caliber machine gun in Tifnit, Morocco, May 6, 2009. The U.S. Marines and Moroccan soldiers fired the weapons during African Lion, an annual U.S.-Moroccan exercise to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation’s tactics, techniques and procedures. (photo by Master Sgt. Grady Fontana)

The Global War

US Navy – The Navy took delivery of its newest aircraft carrier, USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding May 11. George H.W. Bush is the 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.
Robert Amsterdam – Given Russia’s role alongside Iran and China as one of the countries whose influence is fast growing in Latin America, how is the penetration of Iran into these areas seen by Moscow – as competitors or partners? To discuss some of these questions regarding the Russo-Iranian relationship, Grigory Pasko conducted a Q&A with Pavel Salin, Head of Research for the Russian Center for Political Conjecture
Washington Times – Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, the most wanted terrorist after Osama bin Laden, with a $25 million bounty on his head, is holed up near Quetta, Pakistan, according to a highly placed Pakistani intelligence source
McClatchy – Imported plain cotton pillow cases from France that cost more than $900 apiece and new bulldozers exported to Venezuela that cost $387 each. Such prices seem highly suspect — and could be examples of someone using international trade to launder money. Despite strict enforcement of federal anti-money-laundering laws, criminals are constantly finding ways to transform dirty money — the proceeds of illegal activities — into clean cash, and one of their most important routes is laundering money via international trade.
60 Minutes – Thirty-five years ago, the armies of Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack against the state of Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Militarily, it ended in a stalemate, but in practical terms the war changed the map and the politics of the Middle East. At the center of it all is a little known story about one man who played a major role in the outcome. Strangely enough, he’s a hero in both Egypt and Israel, considered by each of these former enemies to be their greatest spy ever. The question is: who was Ashraf Marwan really working for? And who finally murdered him in London?

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

12 March, 2009 (00:42) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 12 March 2009.

United States & the Americas

FBI – Good morning Chairman Lieberman, Senator Collins, and members of the Committee. I am pleased to be here today. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the FBI’s perspective on the issue of threats from Somalia and their effect on the security of the United States. I will also discuss our assessment of why a number of individuals have left the United States to train or fight in Somalia, and how the FBI is working with our law enforcement and intelligence partners to respond to the threat.
Xinhua – Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held formal talks here on Wednesday to exchange views on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual concern.
US House Cmte on Foreign Affairs – The Summit of the Americas: A New Beginning for U.S. Policy in the Region? (w/ links to testimony)
LAHT – Three suspected members of the Shining Path guerrilla group were captured by the army in Huanuco, a province in Peru’s central mountains, the Armed Forces Joint Command said. Army 3rd Special Forces Brigade troops, working with regional police and prosecutors, captured the guerrillas during an operation on Sunday night.
Xinhua – Venezuela has begun a military operation in the Venezuela-Colombia border to fight against drug trafficking, the country’s state-owned news agency ABM reported Wednesday. The news was announced by Fredy Alonso, general commander of the Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela. The operation, named Centinela, will last long and more military staff and anti-drug officials will be deployed.
CNN – Authorities in Ecuador said they have captured a top guerrilla leader belonging to the Marxist FARC group from neighboring Colombia, news outlets reported Wednesday. Ecuadorian National Police Chief Jaime Hurtado said Wednesday that officials are nearly 100 percent certain that the man captured in a recent drug raid is Sixto Antonio Cabana Guillen, a leader for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym FARC.
NY Times – The vicious campaigning between the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance and the left-wing F.M.L.N. stems from El Salvador’s 12-year civil war, when the two parties were on opposite ends of the conflict.
Itar-Tass – Argentina has signed an agreement with Russia on visa-free travels for citizens of the two countries. The document was signed here on Wednesday by Argentinean Foreign Minister Jorge Enrique Taiana in the presence of Russia’s Ambassador to Argentina Yuri Korchagin.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

RIA Novosti – Four floating nuclear power plants will be installed in the northeastern Siberian republic of Yakutia under an agreement between the Federal Nuclear Power Agency and the local administration, local authorities said on Wednesday.
Reuters – Russian state uranium holding Atomenergoprom said on Tuesday it had bought stakes in uranium deposits located in Kazakhstan from tycoon Vladimir Anisimov for an undisclosed sum through its unit Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ). State-controlled Gazprombank, the banking arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, said in a separate statement it had provided ARMZ with a loan for the acquisition of the assets.
DefenceTalk – Russia has refused to sell its Su-33 carrier-based fighters to China over fears that Beijing could produce cheaper export versions of the aircraft, a Russian daily said on Tuesday. The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said that China and Russia had been in negotiations on the sale of 50 of the Su-33 Flanker-D fighters, to be used on future Chinese aircraft carriers, since 2006, but that the talks collapsed recently over China’s request for an initial delivery of two aircraft for a “trial.”
Olivier Guitta – Playing the Russian Card Against Iran
Robert Cutler – Talk of a Medvedev-Putin rift is no longer only talk, as the economic crisis already pulls the two further apart regardless of their intentions, but any rumor of the conflict producing an open split is highly premature
EurasiaNet – Having already opened a northern route for sending non-lethal goods to American and NATO troops in Afghanistan via Central Asia, the United States is now looking to establish a supply spur in the Caucasus. The potential new supply route was the main topic of discussion during a two-day meeting in Baku that concluded March 10. Representatives of the United States, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey participated in the discussions. No plans were formally announced. US diplomats merely indicated that the talks had been productive.
RFERL – The Azerbaijani opposition has decided to boycott a controversial national referendum on amendments to the constitution, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports.
Georgian Times – Puppet mode of Tskhinvali will allocate land plots for Russian military bases and Russian border guards for 99 years in so called South Ossetia. News agency Interfax reports.
Eurovision 2009 – The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has officially informed Georgian public broadcaster GPB that the lyrics of their song for the 54th Eurovision Song Contest We Don’t Wanna Put In do not comply with the rules of the competition. The EBU Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest has now offered GPB the opportunity to either re-write the lyrics of the song, or to select another song for the contest.
Civil Georgia – Georgia has decided to pull out from the Moscow Eurovision Song Contest after the contest organizer, European Broadcasting Union, offered Georgia to either re-write its song lyrics, poking fun at Russia’s PM Putin, or to submit another song. The Georgian public broadcaster said on March 11 the decision was made not to do either and hence not to go to Moscow.

Middle East

MNF Iraq - More than a thousand Iraqis stand patiently outside of a gated compound. This was the sight in the city of Sudayra in the province of Kirkuk, Iraq, March 2, where the U.S. military made its last payment to the members of the SoI. The Government of Iraq will assume full responsibility of payments April 1. U.S. military members played the role of observers as Iraqi soldiers handled making the payments to the SoI.
Voices of Iraq – The car bomb explosion that occurred earlier today near a school in southwestern Kirkuk city has left one dead and 10 others wounded, including students, according to a police chief.
Asharq Al Awsat – Iranian shelling of Kurdish border villages in northern Iraq left one child dead, a local official told AFP on Wednesday. “Iranian artillery bombarded border villages on Tuesday evening killing a child and wounding his parents,” said Azad Wassu, mayor of Zarawa, 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast of the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. “The bombardment lasted nearly two hours… and targeted the villages of Rezka, Mara and Duwu,” he said.
Al Manar – Two people, including a Lebanese soldier, were kidnapped from their apartment in Tabarja by what media reports said were armed Hezbollah agents, a claim the Lebanese party vehemently denied on Wednesday
Al Jazeera – The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Kuwait have pledged to work together to advance the causes of their region. At the end of a mini-summit in the Saudi capital, the Arab leaders said: “The leaders consider that their meeting marks the start of a new period in their relations which will see their four countries act together in the service of Arab interests.”
NOW Lebanon – Democratic Gathering MP Akram Chehayeb told Free Lebanon radio station on Wednesday that efforts toward Arab reconciliation were ongoing, and it had a common vision on Iran’s interventions. “The closer Syria is to Iran, the more distant an Arab reconciliation will be,” and vice versa, he said.
SANA – Speaker of the Iranian Shoura Council Ali Larijani underlined today the important role played by Syria which stems from its principles towards regional and world events and developments, its commitment to restoring its occupied territories and its defense of Arab issues. During a meeting with Assistant Secretary General of the Al-Baath Arab Socialist Party Abdullah al-Ahmar and the accompanying delegation, Larijani commended the deep relations between the two countries, praising President Bashar al-Assad’s stances in consolidating bilateral ties and upgrading them to match the hoped-for aspirations.
Asahi Shimbun – Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that U.S. President Barack Obama’s government has taken a positive step toward achieving a Middle East breakthrough. In an exclusive interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Assad said he welcomed Obama’s overtures for dialogue with the Muslim world as a sharp break from his predecessor. Assad said Syria would try to persuade Hamas and Hezbollah to enter discussions for a comprehensive peace.
VOA – Sixteen suspected members of an al-Qaida terrorist cell have gone on trial in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The accused were charged Wednesday in a series of attacks against foreign targets, including a failed attempt to strike the U.S. embassy in March of 2008 and the killing of two Belgian tourists, also last year.
Hurriyet – A 1,909-page add-on indictment in the Ergenekon investigation is released and includes 56 additional suspects, 21 of whom are already under arrest. A large number of incidents are being tied to the alleged gang. An add-on indictment in the controversial Ergenekon case was submitted to court late Tuesday, with two former top generals requested to face life sentences.

Iran

Press TV – Iran’s Oil Minister has said OPEC is prepared to accept Russia as a new member if Moscow is willing to join the oil producers’ group. “OPEC is prepared to admit Russia as a new member,” Gholam-Hossein Nozari said Tuesday in the southern Iranian port of Mahshahr.
PR-Inside – Iran on Wednesday said a new partner would take over work on the current phase of its massive South Pars gas fields, accusing French energy giant Total S.A. of bowing to U.S. pressure and «procrastinating» in a project key to the country’s development plans. Director of National Iranian Oil Company, Seifollah Jashnsaz, said Iran was not happy with Total, and that it was determined to develop Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field with or without the French company’s participation.
Al Arabiya – Members of the regional Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) meeting at a summit in Tehran on Wednesday urged the rapid rebuilding of violence-wracked Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip.
Fars – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday welcomed construction of a railway to link Iran to China via Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Mottaki made the remarks while addressing participants in the 10th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization here in Tehran today.
Intellibriefs – 300 Iranian intelligence operatives entered Bosnia between 2004-2007; What makes the article particularly interesting is that it makes the list of 300 “agents” publicly available for download (Original article in Croatian)
Press TV – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says certain parties are opposed to the expansion of Iran-Turkey ties. “The US and Israel are against close Iran and Turkey ties however Tehran and Ankara must make every effort to protect their mutual interests,” said the Leader in a meeting with visiting Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Russia Today – An Iranian children TV show was axed after a girl said her father named her toy monkey after the country’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Members of the Afghan National Army stand on a ridge and watch clearing operations below in the Tangi Valley, Afghanistan, March 7, 2009. Two companies of Afghan National Army troops, partnered with their French mentoring troops, moved side-by-side with U.S. forces in the operations. Afghan National Police led the search of suspects homes. (photo by Fred W. Baker III)

South Asia

AFPS – Afghan commandos, aided by coalition forces, detained 19 suspected bomb makers in eastern Afghanistan, military officials reported. The combined forces conducted an early morning search of a compound suspected of harboring insurgents in Ghazni province’s Andar district. The commandos conducted the search after receiving information from local villagers that the compound served as a meeting place where violent extremists planned crimes against both civilian and government targets.
Michael Yon – Few people realize that New York Times journalist David Rhodes was kidnapped in Afghanistan back in November. There were a few scattered stories early on, but big reporting apparently has been squashed. In December, during a trip with Secretary Gates, I asked a New York Times reporter if she knew the status of the situation. The story had been kept so quiet that she didn’t actually know the kidnapping had occurred. The information came to me from several sources some weeks after the kidnapping in Afghanistan. I sat on the information, but there are a growing number of snippets on the web, and it can safely be said that the word is out. One extremely well placed Pentagon source told me in December that Rhodes is believed to have been moved to Pakistan.
Thomas Joscelyn – A former detainee at Guantánamo Bay has become the Taliban’s chief operations officer in southern Afghanistan. The former detainee, Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, was captured in Afghanistan in December of 2001 and transferred to Afghanistan six years later in December of 2007. Rasoul currently operates in southern Afghanistan using the nom de guerre Mullah Abdullah Zakir, according to an account by the Associated Press. The AP cites “Pentagon and intelligence officials” as saying that Mullah Abdullah Zakir is “in charge of operations against U.S. and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan.”
Daily Times – With the imposition of Section 144 in the province, the Sindh Home Department has imposed a complete ban on all sorts of demonstrations, processions, rallies and public meetings, with immediate effect for 15 days, while also extending the ban on pillion riding for 30 days.
Times of India – Amidst political turmoil in Pakistan, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday dismissed reports of an army takeover of the troubled country once again. Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, according to a press release from the premier’s office.
The Post – Hundreds of political activists and lawyers were arrested in Islamabad and across Punjab Wednesday in a bid to thwart a planned protest march on the capital.
Dawn – Four people were killed in a failed attempt to assassinate a provincial minister in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, police said. Bashir Bilour, senior minister of North West Frontier Province — which is racked by militant violence — was unhurt, police officer Ijaz Khan said.
The Statesman – The government has appointed Qazis for the Shairah courts in district Swat. This was announced by TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad on Wednesday night. He said the government has appointed Qazis for all the five tehsils of the district who will start working from Thursday, adding a notification in this regard also has been issued. The TNSM chief appealed to the Taliban faithful to Maulana Fazlullah to extend full cooperation to the Qazis. (a qazi is an Islamic judge)
Sri Lanka MoD – LTTE’s financial wing chief, Subarathnam Selvatureiy alias Thamilendi alias Ranjith Appa, was killed 10 March in confrontations took place in east of Puthukkudiyirippu, military sources said. Thamilendi was a high profile LTTE leader and he has handled the LTTE’s bank accounts, tax collecting and all financial matters of the LTTE terror organization, military sources added.
TamilNet – The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Black Tiger commandos and Col. Kiddu Artillery formation launched a joint attack destroying six artillery positions of the Sri Lanka Army in the early hours of Tuesday, confirmed an LTTE official in Vanni to TamilNet on Wednesday. Six artillery weapons platforms in Thearaavil, located around 18 km from Puthukkudiyiruppu junction, were completely destroyed in a “precise mission” carried out by the Black Tiger commandos and the Tiger artillery formation, the official said.
Daily Star – The February carnage that played out in the guise of mutiny at the BDR Headquarters bears the hallmarks of terror attacks. One of the brightest army officers who died in the “armed rebellion” was Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, best known for his efficient detection and operations against Islamist militants and terrorists. Some government high-ups pointed to “elements of terrorism” in the carnage, but all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Far East & Pacific

Jakarta Post – Singapore has ceased all negotiations in its controversial Defence Cooperation Agreement with Indonesia, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Wednesday. The Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), signed by the two heads of state in Bali on April 27, 2007, was never ratified by the Indonesian legislature, among other reasons, because of the frequency and volume of military exercises proposed by Singapore and the location chosen for them that was deemed too intrusive by Indonesia.
China Daily – China and Japan will resume security talks after a gap of more than two years by the end of this month, a senior official said Wednesday. The dialogue was suspended in 2006 after bilateral ties hit a low because of Japan’s former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine houses tablets of Japan’s World War II criminals, who invaded many Asian nations including China.
Straits Times – China’s Defence Ministry is demanding that the US Navy end surveillance missions off China’s southern coast following a weekend confrontation between an American vessel and Chinese ships. In its first public comment on the issue, the ministry has repeated earlier Chinese statements that the unarmed US ship was operating illegally inside China’s exclusive economic zone.
news.com.au – Thailand’s Opposition filed an impeachment motion against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva today, accusing him of abusing his power and siding with protesters who hijacked Bangkok’s airports.
Irrawaddy – Thailand’s Cabinet approved the purchase Tuesday of a blimp to help survey the country’s insurgency-plagued southern provinces. More than 3,300 people have been killed in the southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani since early 2004, when an Islamic separatist insurgency flared.
JoongAng – Seventy-six percent of surveyed North Korean defectors say they have witnessed public executions in their homeland, South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission said. However, defectors say the frequency of executions has gone down since 2000, according to the report.
Asia Times – Senior General Than Shwe runs Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, like a Ponzi scheme: early investors in the armed forces’ pyramid are paid with the investments of newcomers, and everyone benefits as long as the pyramid continues to expand. The result is a bloated bureaucracy with little hope of ruling efficiently, even if power should some day pass to a democratically elected government.
Stars and Stripes – Kanagawa Prefectural Police on Wednesday raided operational bases of a Japanese extreme leftist group believed to have been involved with shooting projectiles at Yokosuka Naval Base in September, according to a police spokesman.

Europe

euronews – Germany is in shock after a school shooting which has left 16 people dead. A 17-year-old opened fire at his former school in a town near Stuttgart. Nine students, aged between 14 and 16, and three teachers died at the school, as well as one person at a nearby clinic. After fleeing with a hostage in a car, the gunman was killed in a shootout with police. Two passers-by died in the shootout and two policemen were seriously wounded.
NATO – I was very pleased to hear President Sarkozy’s remarks at the close of the major conference organized today by the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS). It is now of course up to the French Parliament to state its position, but the President has clearly indicated that the process that should lead France to resume its full place has reached its final stage.
Czech News – The armed forces of new NATO member countries could follow the Czech example in their transformation, James Mattis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) and U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) Commander General, said on his first visit to Prague today.
Javno – Croatia’s Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic once again stressed that he firmly believed in the completion of accession negotiations with the European Union by the end of 2009. But judging by what he had to say to reporters about the meeting he had in Brussels on Tuesday, there is no progress in solving the border dispute with Slovenia or a final method of solving the issue.
The Local – A German publishing house is releasing a full-length German translation of the Koran in audio book form on Thursday, coinciding with the opening of the Leipzig book fair. He admitted that the idea was a controversial one. “Muslims say that the Koran is God’s word and should not be translated at all,” he said.
EUCOM - USS Klakring (FFG 42), currently assigned to Commander, Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, is fully engaged in conducting maritime warfare scenarios as part of NATO’s Loyal Mariner (LM) ’09 exercise series.

Africa

Jeffrey Gettleman – When you land at Mogadishu’s international airport, the first form you fill out asks for name, address, and caliber of weapon. Believe it or not, this disaster of a city, the capital of Somalia, still gets a few commercial flights. Some haven’t fared so well. The wreckage of a Russian cargo plane shot down in 2007 still lies crumpled at the end of the runway. Beyond the airport is one of the world’s most stunning monuments to conflict: block after block, mile after mile, of scorched, gutted-out buildings. Mogadishu’s Italianate architecture, once a gem along the Indian Ocean, has been reduced to a pile of machine-gun-chewed bricks. Somalia has been ripped apart by violence since the central government imploded in 1991.
Press TV – Ubeyd Mohamud Mohamed, the security head of former Somali prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, was killed after a roadside bomb targeted his vehicle at Shibbis district in north Mogadishu. His three security guards as well as four other police officers were killed in the incident.
Shabelle – Al-Shabab Islamist group has described Wednesday the decision of the Somali Cabinet to endorse the Islamic Law as hypocritical. Sheik Hussein Ali Fidow, one of al-Shabab leaders said the religion is not something to vote and called for the Somali people to take care of what he called a plot from the government.
MONUC – The United Nations and the Congolese Government have decided to fast-track the implementation of the Stabilization plan for eastern DRC, with the deployment of 332 Congolese police officers in North Kivu.
afrol – The recent attack on Nigerian pipelines has forced the Royal Dutch Shell to halt its main deliveries to many customers, saying the worsening security in Nigeria’s oil rich region, the Niger Delta weighs heavily on the company.

Secretary Gates and Hungarian Minister of Defense Imre Szekers

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, right, escorts Hungarian Minister of Defense Imre Szekers through an honor cordon to discuss bilateral defense issues at the Pentagon, March 11, 2009. (photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Molly A. Burgess)

The Global War

Robert Kaplan – Center Stage for the Twenty-first Century – Power Plays in the Indian Ocean; Already the world’s preeminent energy and trade interstate seaway, the Indian Ocean will matter even more as India and China enter into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters.
Global Witness – Undue Diligence – How banks do business with corrupt regimes; What is less understood is that for much longer, failures by banks and the governments that regulate them have caused untold damage to the economies of some of the poorest countries in the world. By doing business with dubious customers in corrupt, natural resource-rich states, banks are facilitating corruption and state looting.
Military.com – While the Army fights a high-profile battle against suicides, the Marine Corps is quietly upping its effort to combat the malaise following the worst year for suicides in more than a decade. Forty-one Marines committed suicide in 2008 while another 146 tried but failed. If all had been successful, that’s pretty close to an entire infantry company trying to take its own life.
Australia DoD – Studying how insects see and navigate has resulted in a smart weapon seeker and guidance technology, the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, the Hon. Warren Snowdon MP announced. The Bioseeker technology has a range of possible defence applications, including enhancing the capability of the rocket on the Aussie Tiger Helicopter, various air delivered weapons and shoulder launched or mortar based land weapons.

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

10 December, 2008 (00:02) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 10 December 2008.

United States & the Americas

White House – As my Administration has made clear, it is time for Robert Mugabe to go. Across the continent, African voices are bravely speaking out to say now is the time for him to step down. These leaders share the desire of ordinary Zimbabweans for a return to peace, democracy, and prosperity. We urge others from the region to step up and join the growing chorus of voices calling for an end to Mugabe’s tyranny.
CNN – Three of five Guantanamo Bay detainees who said they wanted to confess to charges relating to the September 11 terrorist attacks rescinded the offer after a judge required two to undergo competency hearings, according to a military spokesman.
canada.com – Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff is set to be acclaimed as federal Liberal leader Wednesday, after his chief rival and longtime friend Bob Rae abruptly halted his own campaign to replace Stephane Dion.
Blake Lambert – Canada arguably exists as a luxury parking garage for human souls. Nonetheless, seriousness and functionality are prized here. Unfortunately, national politics this century renders that mantra as myth. While the country is not approaching the dictatorial depths of Equatorial Guinea, it is now one of the least stable members of the G-8.
LAHT – Suspected leftist FARC rebels on Monday dynamited a bridge in the southern Colombian province of Guaviare, cutting off road access to a vast region, authorities said.
IRNA – Visiting Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador said on Monday that Iran’s nuclear program is of peaceful nature and the pressures exerted by big powers as well as sanctions imposed on the country have left no impacts on Iran’s development program.
Miami Herald – Raul Castro’s first official trip abroad since assuming Cuba’s presidency will be to attend a summit in Venezuela. Venezuelan Information Minister Jesse Chacon says Castro will be in Venezuela’s capital on Dec. 14 for a meeting of the regional trade bloc known as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA.
The Latin Americanist – Ex-hostage Betancourt thanks Hugo Chavez; Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt met with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as she came to the tail end of her tour of Latin America.
RIA Novosti – Mexico has welcomed Russia’s return to Latin America following the Russian leader’s week-long tour of the southern continent in late November, the Mexican deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday.
AP – A senior Mexico City police commander who oversaw raids in the capital’s gang-filled Tepito neighborhood was slain in a drive-by shooting outside his home, officials said Tuesday. Victor Hugo Moneda, who led the city’s investigative police, was killed as he was getting out of his car Monday night, the Mexico City prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Press TV – Moscow’s bid to equip Tehran with advanced air defense systems does not violate international regulations, says a former Russian official. In a Tuesday nuclear conference, former Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov dismissed any concern over Russia’s defense agreements with the Islamic Republic.
Russia MoD – Russian Minister of Defence Anatoly Serdyukov sets off on a trip to China between 9 and 11 December. While in Beijing Anatoly Serdyukov is to take part in a meeting of Russia-China Joint Iintergovernmental Commission on Military-technical Cooperation and Security.
RIA Novosti – Russia’s Finance Ministry has denied a report that the country had agreed to write off most of Cambodia’s debt, a Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday.
Nikolai Petrov, Carnegie – The severe economic crisis in Russia is currently spilling over into the political and administrative spheres. However, the government is not responding properly. Instead of improving administration effectiveness, the Russian government is simply reshuffling regional heads. In economics, the Kremlin is putting unneeded burden on businesses and regional governments.
Kyiv Post – Activists from the youth wing of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ruling party held demonstrations against immigrant workers on Monday, demanding they return home and blaming them for Russia’s recent economic woes.
RIA Novosti – A Tajik national was decapitated near Moscow in what is believed to have been a race-hate murder, Russia media reported on Tuesday. Police are currently searching for those involved in the attack on the two men.
Kyiv Post – Ukrainian lawmakers have forged a three-party governing coalition, a top legislative leader said Tuesday, ending months of deadlock that paralyzed the country amid its worst financial crisis in a decade. The new coalition puts back together the fractured alliance of President Viktor Yushchenko and his rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko along with another smaller party.
Kavkaz Center – Police checkpoint was attacked by sniper fire in Zyazikov-Yurt (Malgobek district). The checkpoint was attacked around 1:50 PM, nobody was hurt, a security official told RIA Novosti. One policeman was wounded in Ordzhonikidzevskaya. The policeman was wounded on Zavodskaya street around 12:10 PM in a gunfire attack, a security official told Interfax. One Russian soldier was wounded Tuesday in Troitskaya. The soldier was wounded in an attack on a checkpoint near the entrance to the army barracks around 11:30 AM, a security official told Interfax. One policeman was wounded in Tuesday morning in Nazran.
Ahto Lobjakas – A regular meeting of the three South Caucasus ministers with EU foreign-policy chiefs in Brussels brought no breakthroughs, and instead served to strengthen the impression, gaining ground in Brussels recently, that the EU has reached a high-water mark in its relations with the region. The foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia were in Brussels for their annual working lunch with EU counterparts, which was focused mainly on the details of the EU’s new ‘Eastern Partnership’ initiative.

Japanese Air Self-Defense Force aircrew members wave a final farewell to their American counterparts, Dec. 8, as they depart Iraq on their last mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (photo by Master Sgt. Brian Davidson)

Middle East

NPR – Security companies are the most visible symbol of the booming private contractor industry that has accompanied America’s five-year occupation of Iraq. But the new Iraqi-American security pact going into effect in January will end the immunity from prosecution in Iraq the companies have enjoyed.
Reuters – Violence in Iraq has in the past few weeks fallen to its lowest level since summer 2003 and security gains, while still at risk of reversal, are less fragile than before, General David Petraeus said on Tuesday.
Independent – Britain will begin withdrawing its 4,100-strong force from Iraq by the beginning of March, with almost all troops leaving within a few months, a senior defence source revealed yesterday. The Prime Minister is expected to announce the pullout that, in effect, ends the UK’s engagement in one of the most controversial wars in recent times, in the Commons next January.
Joshua Hammer, The Atlantic – Getting Away With Murder? Why Rafiq al-Hariri’s assassins may never be caught
Al Jazeera – Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said he is ready to meet with Hezbollah officials if they agree to see him. Carter made his comments upon arrival in Lebanon on Tuesday where he will assess whether his Atlanta-based Carter Centre would take part in monitoring next year’s parliamentary elections.
NOW Lebanon – US Ambassador Michele Sison and Major General Charles T. Cleveland, who leads the Special Operations Command of the United States Central Command, attended a closing ceremony held by the Lebanese Armed Forces for the latest session of the Joint Combined Exercise Training programs with U.S. Military Personnel on Monday.
SANA – French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that he was confident of Syria, highlighting importance of the dialogue he opened with it. Speaking in a speech in Paris on Monday on the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, President Sarkozy praised Syria’s positive role over Lebanon as it led to the election of a Lebanese President, formation of a national unity government and preparations for the next general elections.
MSNBC – The leader of an al-Qaida-linked Lebanese group has probably been killed in Syria, according to a statement purportedly posted by the faction on an Islamic militant Web site Tuesday. Shaker al-Absi went on the run last year after his group, Fatah Islam, battled the Lebanese army for weeks inside a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
BBC – Israel’s right-of-centre Likud party has elected a list of candidates dominated by hardliners for next February’s general election. Polls show that if a vote were held now, Likud would defeat the governing Kadima Party.
Spiegel – Amid corruption scandals and stagnating reform, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised in Europe as a modernizer, is seeking refuge in nationalist rhetoric, adopting a tougher stance on the Kurds and moving closer to the country’s military leaders.
The National – A series of reported human rights abuses by Turkish policemen and accusations of a “culture of impunity” that shields wrongdoers in the force from being punished have shaken public trust in the institution so deeply that many citizens are afraid of the officers that are supposed to protect them, critics say.

Iran

Press TV – Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says that the Islamic Republic does not intend to engage in a war with the US. “We have no intention to involve in a conflict with the US. Iran only intends to stand on its two feet and set a role model for regional countries to uphold their independence and freedom,” Rafsanjani said Tuesday addressing prayers of Eid Al-Adha in Tehran.
Iran Press Service – Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i was again compelled to come down personally in the political arena, acting not as the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic who stands above political lines, but as the champion of a political party fighting for survival. On 7th December, Mr. Khameneh’i once again expressed his full support of Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad during a meeting with Mr. Raphael Correa, the leftist President of Ecuador by the Iranian President as “a young man who works relentlessly day and night with plenty of energy”.
Fars – Davoud Zareian, a spokesman for the Iranian state-owned telecoms operator, said that investors from China, Russia and Indonesia have already voiced interest in acquiring a stake in the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI). This is while Iran’s telecoms regulator is expected to announce the winning technical bid for the third domestic mobile phone carrier at the end of the month.
Eritrea Daily – (Nov 29) An Eritrean website in Tigrigna, asena-online.com, reported that Iran has stationed its troops in Eritrea. Citing sources from inside Eritrea, same website said that using submarine ships heavily armed units of the Iranian army have landed in the Eritrean sea port of Assab. The Iranian troops are slated to be stationed in the city of Assab reportedly under the pretext of protecting the Russian-built Eritrean Assab Oil Refinary.
Payvand – Two days after national Students Day, several hundred students at Iran’s Shiraz University marked the day with a demonstration against government policies, despite attempts to shut it down. One participant at the gathering told Radio Farda that as soon as the event began, security agents from the university “tried to disperse the students by taking away loudspeakers, which eventually led to some physical clashes.”
Press TV – Security forces say they have arrested some elements of a terrorist group in eastern Iran who had a hand in the execution of 16 police officers.
IMINT and Analysis – Below is a link to a video, showing a presentation given by Dr. Frank Pabian at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The concept behind Dr. Pabian’s presentation was to depict the effect of open source imagery as an analysis tool in nonproliferation and the response of potentially hostile nations in the form of improved denial and deception. Dr. Pabian uses the ongoing nuclear issue with Iran to illustrate this issue.
Adventure Journey – Anthon Jackson details his exploits in the land of ancient Persia; Jackson is among first Americans issued diplomatic visa to Iran in almost thirty years

South Asia

CJTF-A – Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces killed seven insurgents in the Nad Ali district, located approximately 515 km southwest of Kabul, Helmand province, Tuesday. The combined forces were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol when they were engaged by militants from multiple fighting positions using small-arms, indirect and rocket fire.
AFPS – Afghan and coalition forces killed two militants yesterday in the Nar Surkh district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, military officials reported. Militants using an illegal checkpoint attacked the combined forces with small-arms fire. Also yesterday, Afghan National Police and coalition forces detained nine suspected militants during a combined operation to disrupt the Haqqani terrorist network southeast of Kabul in Khowst province, officials said.
Dawn – NATO and Afghan forces killed a Taliban commander during a targeted operation just south of Kabul in a province militant fighters have poured into this year, the NATO-led force said Tuesday.
NATO – The Minister of Interior of Afghanistan, Mr. Atmar Mohamad Hanif Atmar, will visit NATO Headquarters on Wednesday 10th December 2008. He will meet with the Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and address a meeting of the North Atlantic Council with non-NATO ISAF contributors.
Pat Lang – The long standing vulnerability of coalition forces in Iraq to “line of communication” (LOC) interdiction on the roads from Kuwait to central Iraq was never exploited to its potential by the inhabitants of the Shia south of Iraq. Conflicted Shia politics, and Iranian unwillingness to bring on that great a crisis were largely responsible for the avoidance of what might have been a catastrophic situation. There do not seem to be similar inhibitions with regard to LOCs leading to Afghanistan. Political and business relationships in Pakistan are entwined in complex patterns that are exacerbating the threat to land based LOCs that extend from Karachi to Kabul through the FATA and from Karachi to Kandahar through Baluchistan.
Geo – A 10-year-old boy was killed and four children were wounded in a suicide attack in Dagar, an area of Buner on Tuesday. The attacker struck during the celebrations of Eid-ul-Azha on a busy street in the town of Buner in NWFP. According to police, the suicide bomber wanted to target a government installation but suddenly his jacket was torn and the bomb exploded.
Geo – Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar has been placed under house arrest as international pressure mounted on Pakistan to act against such “non-state actors” in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks in which Pakistani elements were reportedly found to be involved. Restrictions were imposed yesterday on Azhar”s movements and he was confined to his Bahawalpur home.
Mr. Ahamed, India Minister of State for External Affairs, to UN Security Council – We have requested the Security Council to proscribe Pakistani group Jammat-ud-Dawa since it is a terrorist outfit and should be proscribed under Security Council Resolution 1267.
Mark Silverberg – Pakistan may well be the single largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, possibly beyond even Iran, yet it has never been listed by the U.S. State Department as such, even in the wake of the 9/11 Commission Report and the recommendation of the State Department’s counter-terrorism director. That is because the prevailing attitude within past U.S. administrations has been that such a designation would destroy U.S. influence in Islamabad. That attitude, however, seems to be changing.
Times of India – Pakistan has arrested two key terror suspects India wants and could permit New Delhi to interrogate them if this is done jointly, a senior Pakistan minister said on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera – Indian police have released the names or aliases of nine suspected gunmen killed during last month’s deadly attacks in the city of Mumbai.
World Focus – Q&A: Kashmiri people, history and human rights; Professor Haley Duschinski answers your questions about Kashmir.
Howrah – Five militants of the banned People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) have been killed in an encounter with police commandos in interior Thoubal district of Manipur, official sources said on Tuesday.

Far East & Pacific

Jakarta Post – China on Tuesday distributed a draft proposal on how to verify North Korea’s account of its past atomic activities, the latest attempt to resolve a deadlock that has held up the implementation of a disarmament-for-aid accord reached last year. Verification is the focus of the international talks, which opened Monday in Beijing with North Korea refusing to let outside inspectors take samples – a key method of ensuring that the communist regime is being truthful – from its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon.
Xinhua – Chiefs of the general staffs of the Chinese and Hungarian armed forces held talks in Beijing Tuesday on further enhancing military exchanges and cooperation.
Leslie Hook – Over the next few days the Democrat Party and the Puea Thai Party will be jostling for control of a new government. The fact that this battle is being fought in parliament, rather than in occupied airports, is a positive step, and will result in a more stable Thailand in the short term. But in the long term, regardless of which political party comes out on top, Thailand’s democracy will be the loser.
Reuters – Thailand’s parliament could vote next week for a new prime minister, a parliamentary official said on Tuesday, as both the main party in the outgoing government and the main opposition party claimed they had enough votes to win.
Asia Times – Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, giving up power only once since 1955 for just 10 months, is in danger of losing the next election. Prime Minister Taro Aso’s numerous gaffes have led to dramatic plunges in public support, exacerbated by the government’s inaction on an ailing economy. Internal party criticism, meanwhile, is steadily growing.
Japan Times – The economy shrank much faster in the third quarter than the government initially estimated, after businesses cut spending and slashed inventories in anticipation of a prolonged recession, Cabinet Office data showed Tuesday. Gross domestic product contracted at an annual 1.8 percent pace in the three months ended Sept. 30, the Cabinet Office said, more than the 0.4 percent reported last month.
tvnz – Nepal’s Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda has threatened to walk out of a coalition government, less than four months after his election amid a deadlock with the main opposition party over the future of ex-fighters. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who still goes by his nom de guerre that means fierce, told a meeting in west Nepal this week that his party would take to the streets if the centrist opposition Nepali Congress party did not cooperate with him.
Canberra Times – Australia will provide $1 billion to Indonesia as a stand-by loan to help tackle the global financial crisis if it’s needed, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says. Rudd has held bilateral talks with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Bali, on the sidelines of a democracy forum the two men are co-charing.
stuff.co.nz – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Kermadec islands north of New Zealand, the fourth significant quake in the area in the past three months.

Europe

Guardian – Britain will fall behind eurozone laggard Italy in the global economic league table next year as a deep recession and the weakness of the pound affect the value of national output, a London-based consultancy said. After ranking fourth behind the United States, Japan and Germany in terms of the size of the economy earlier this decade, the UK is set to end 2009 in seventh place, the Centre for Economics and Business Research said. Britain has already ceded fourth place to China and will be overtaken this year by France, the CEBR said.
Ioannis Michaletos – The riots (in Greece) were orchestrated since late summer 2008. There were reports within the Greek police that the riots would commence by the Christmas period at the latest; the location and the justification was not known, but any event could have caused them. This is a copycat case of what happened in France in Octomber 2005. The culprits in the higher level are Islamic netowrks in the Middle East, hand-in-hand with corrupted Western officials that are selling their services for the highest bidder.
EU Observer – Macedonia is ready to start accession talks with the EU and the fact that a 17-year-old dispute with Greece over its name is hindering the process harms not just Skopje, but the EU’s credibility as well, Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Milososki has said.
France24 – Czech lawmakers have put off a debate on whether to ratify the EU Lisbon Treaty by two months just weeks before the country takes on the EU presidency. The Czech Republic is the last to decide on the controversial reform charter.
Telegraph – The European Commission has given its strongest sign yet that Ireland will hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty next autumn.
AFP – A Lebanese man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for a failed plot to blow up German passenger trains which the court said could have triggered “a bloodbath of monstrous proportions.” The regional superior court in this western city convicted Yusef Mohammed al-Hajj Dib, 24, of multiple counts of attempted murder for his part in an attempt to attack two regional trains packed with travellers in July 2006. (see related article in German from Die Welt)
Washington Times – Spain’s government is investigating links between the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombian FARC rebels, following reports by Colombian officials that the groups have trained together and jointly planned assassinations and bombings.
Earth Times – More than a month after it triumphed in a general election, a new government coalition took charge of the Baltic country of Lithuania Tuesday evening, following a swearing-in ceremony at the national parliament, the Seimas. Now the new Lithuanian government can begin to tackle a worsening economic situation in the largest of the Baltic states, under the leadership of 52-year-old Andrius Kubilius.

Africa

Russia Today – Pirates operating off the Somali coast are about to receive another $3.5 million ransom for the release of the Ukrainian freighter Faina. That will bring their total haul to some $40 million so far this year. But does the money stay in their pockets? Some industry experts say pirates are tools in the hands of global players, faced with the collapse of shipping rates.
UK MoD – The Royal Navy’s Rear Admiral Phil Jones took charge of the EU led counter-piracy naval operation, which is to operate off the coast of Somalia. The operation, called Op ATALANTA, is the European Union’s first naval task force, and it has been assembled to ensure the protection of vessels of the World Food Programme delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia as well as protection to other vulnerable shipping off Somalia.
Asharq Al Awsat – Hundreds of passengers on a round-the-world cruise will disembark before reaching waters off Somalia and fly to Dubai to avoid pirates, German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd said Tuesday. The company said the 150-meter (490-foot) MS Columbus and its crew will continue on through the Gulf of Aden.
Garowe – Ethiopian troops have reportedly amassed near the Somali-Ethiopian border, rising military tensions in Hiran and Galgadud regions, Radio Garowe reported Tuesday. An Ethiopian army convoy of 20 military trucks has reportedly reached a village 30km northwest of Beletwein, the capital of Hiran region.
CTB – The transcript of our panel on the Mumbai attacks, held December 4 in Washington, is available here as an Acrobat document. The panel consisted of Contributing Experts Dr. Walid Phares and Farhana Ali, and Dr. David Kilcullen.
VOA – Delegations from the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the rebel National Congress for Defense of the People, or CNDP, gathered for a second day of talks at the U.N. compound in Nairobi.
BBC – More than 200,000 jobs have been lost in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid a collapse in mineral prices as a result of the global economic downturn. There are fears the job losses could reach 300,000 by the end of this month.
Javno – What Next For Uganda’s Rebels? Following Kony`s latest no-show, countries in the region may opt to attack the rebels, currently holed up in eastern Congo.
ICG – Since the coup d’etat that brought President François Bozizé to power on 15 March 2003, the risk of renewed wider violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) has never been greater than today. The opening of an inclusive political dialogue on 8 December – initially planned for June 2008 – has continued to be negotiated inch by inch, but both the regime and the main opposition forces see armed conflict as the ultimate way out of the crisis and are making preparations to return to it.
IRIN – Marrying off Mauritanian girls as young as six years old to men in Gulf states is turning into a profitable trafficking enterprise as a typically rural marriage practice migrates to the city, according to urban families.

Soldiers of El Salvador's Battalion Cuscatlan stand in formation during a ceremony welcoming Gen. Jorge Alberto Molina, El Salvador's minister of defense to Forward Operating Base Delta Dec. 5 (photo by Sgt. Daniel West)

The Global War

UN Security Council – Expressing deep concern over “continuous terrorist attacks around the world”, the Security Council this afternoon called on Member States to renew the degree of international solidarity against the scourge that was manifested immediately after the tragic 11 September 2001 attacks, following a day-long meeting during which some speakers warned that the Mumbai carnage of 26 to 29 November could mark a new stage in the violence.
Virginia Lunsford, Proceedings – A piracy expert surveys the history of the phenomenon and highlights the five factors that are still keeping piracy alive.
Al Arabiya – A trial version of the world’s first Muslim-friendly virtual world was launched Tuesday, catering primarily to Muslims living in western countries who long to reconnect with other Muslims. The site is called Muxlim Pal and allows users to create an online persona, design their own rooms, buy virtual items and interact with others.
DoD IG – Specifically, MCCDC officials did not develop a course of action for the UUNS, attempt to obtain funding for it, or present it to the Marine Corps Requirements Oversight Council for a decision on acquiring an MRAP-type vehicle capability.
AFRICOM – During the Southern European Task Force (SETAF) Transformation Ceremony today, SETAF cased its old colors, ending the airborne chapter of its history, and uncased its new colors, signifying acceptance of a new mission. serving as the Army component in support of U.S. Africa Command.
UN FAO – Another 40 million people have been pushed into hunger this year primarily due to higher food prices, according to preliminary estimates published by FAO today. This brings the overall number of undernourished people in the world to 963 million, compared to 923 million in 2007 and the ongoing financial and economic crisis could tip even more people into hunger and poverty, FAO warned.
Michael Yon – Here is a rare and curious thing: an antique British WB-57 bomber flying over Afghan skies. These planes flew in the 1950s and 60s, performing top of the atmosphere reconnaissance. The U.S. Air Force retired the WB-57 decades ago. But NASA owns two, which it uses for an odd group of missions, including collecting cosmic dust from extremely high altitudes. It seems doubtful that NASA came all the way to Afghanistan to collect cosmic dust, but this would be an interesting region in which to search for traces of nuclear debris, drifting upwards from Iran, Pakistan, various Central Asian states, China, or India.

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

13 November, 2008 (01:04) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 13 November 2008.

United States & the Americas

Dallas News – Jurors will begin deliberations in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing retrial after sitting through nearly two months of testimony capped by two days of impassioned closing arguments. After summations ended Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis told jurors to convene briefly to pick a foreperson before beginning their work in earnest.
Boston Globe – Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas. (see also this post)
M. Zuhdi Jasser, CSP – As President-elect Barack Obama and his administration begin the transition process from the Bush administration, anti-Islamists cannot help but be concerned. Those of us dedicated to stimulating and facilitating long overdue reform within the Muslim consciousness against the growing threat of political Islam cannot help but feel more adrift now than ever before with little legitimate “hope for change” in our policy against Islamists then we have ever had.
AFP – The US Supreme Court Wednesday ruled the US Navy can continue to use long-range sonar in exercises off the California coast, dismissing arguments that the practice was harmful to whales.
SouthCom – USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), along with various embarked units, began humanitarian/civic assistance (HCA) operations Nov. 9 in Guyana, the ship’s fifth and final stop in the Caribbean Phase of Continuing Promise (CP) 2008.
LA Times editorial – A free-trade agreement with our closest ally in South America is good for the U.S. and for Colombia. The Colombia Free Trade Agreement is once again a political football in Washington. Almost as soon as Barack Obama won the election, it came into play. Now it is being punted, fumbled, spiked and maybe even hurled in a desperate Hail Mary pass to Congress as its chief supporter, President Bush, prepares to leave office.
Canadian Press – A school partially collapsed in the Haitian capital on Wednesday, injuring at least five students less than a week after the collapse of another school killed 89 people.
Douglas Farah – For those of us who were covering the conflicts in Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s, there was no group more terrifying than Peru’s Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) an Maoist organization intent on causing rivers of blood to flow in order to achieve the proletariat utopia. After many years and countless dead, Sendero was largely dismantled and its chief ideologue , Abimael Guzman, who ran a horrific cult of personality, was jailed. The group was widely thought to have been put out of business permanently. Now, Sendero, a designated terrorist entity, is coming back. Why?
BBC – Thousands of Colombians have taken part in violent protests to demand the return of money invested in disreputable financial schemes. Police used batons and tear gas to control angry investors in some of the nine cities where disorder erupted.
CNN – Some of the 27 farm workers kidnapped earlier this week in northwestern Mexico are free, family members told local media Wednesday. The men called their families to say they don’t know where they are and don’t have money to get home, family members said.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Kommersant – A new national security strategy is being developed in Russia for the period through 2020, Interfax reports, citing the press service of the National Security Council. “It is an important political document containing the officially acknowledged goals and strategic priorities and measures in domestic and foreign policy,” the press service elucidated.
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. “I don’t think we have said either that Russia used its energy resources as a political tool, but one thing for sure to make sure that couldn’t happen is to work with Russia to expand its supply,” he said.
Moscow Times – With oil trading below $60 per barrel, eyes are turning to see what will happen to gas export prices as Gazprom begins the now-annual ritual of haggling with its customers to the West ahead of the winter heating season. The outcome will hinge on talks with Central Asian producers, who supply a large percentage of the gas that Russia sells on to Europe, and the removal of a contentious intermediary. The likely result, analysts said, is that Europe will be paying less for its gas next year while Ukraine is facing a price hike.
RIA Novosti – Russian Railways (RZD), the national rail monopoly, has reduced its net profit forecast for 2008 to 5.6 billion rubles ($203.7 million), according to documents prepared for Thursday’s government session.
Fars – There is serious speculation that Russia might play a key role in constructing railways between Iran and Armenia as the issue was discussed at a September meeting in Sochi between the Russian and Armenian Presidents. On June 1, 2008 Russian Railways received the concession to run Armenian Railways for 25 years. The idea of building an Iran-Armenia connecting railway emerged in 2006. Armenian Transport and Communications Minister Gurgen Sarkisian says it will cost USD 2 billion approximately.
EurasiaNet – Uranium from Kazakhstan will soon be powering Indian nuclear plants, the Kazakh ambassador to India revealed in a newspaper interview. “Kazakhstan today is the third biggest uranium producer after Canada and Australia. It is expected that by 2010, Kazakhstan will become the largest producer of uranium with production of 15,400 tons annually, which will be equal to 32 percent of the world’s total production,” Umarov said.
Kiev Blog – Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday dismissed its chairman, an ally of President Viktor Yushchenko, after accusing him of violating rules of order in the chamber.
Ukrainian Journal – Russian gas giant Gazprom has agreed to supply at least 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine in 2009, just enough to meet the country’s annual demand for the fuel.
RFERL – Experts argue that, as Moscow touts its efforts to strengthen military cooperation under the umbrella of the CIS and the CSTO, Russia is really pursuing its own goal of expanding its military presence and influence in Central Asia. Under the working title “Creeping Expansion Of Mysterious And Unpredictable China” on one side, and “Concerns About the Aggressive Policies of the United States in the Region” on the other, Russia is strengthening its cooperation in the military-political and military-technical spheres in the framework of such alliances as the CIS and CSTO, especially with the countries of Central Asia.
MEMRI – On November 11, 2008 the Kavkaz Center, which is associated with the mujahideen, posted a film on the Islamist forum Al-Faluja featuring corpses of mujahideen who had died in clashes with security forces in Dagestan in June 2008.

Members of the Sons of Iraq wait in line to receive their paychecks during an Iraqi government-sponsored payday at Joint Security Station Alawad in the city of Tarmiyah, Iraq, Nov. 10 (photo by Kevin Farmer)

Middle East

MNF Iraq – National Police and Coalition force captured 66 wanted suspects in Mosul Nov. 11. The National Police had warrants for the suspects and detained them in the south Mosul neighborhood of Abu Sayf.
MNF Iraq – Coalition forces continued to thwart al-Qaeda in Iraq’s ability to conduct terrorist operations Tuesday and Wednesday, killing two armed terrorists and detaining 16 additional suspects. Coalition forces dealt multiple blows to AQI leadership networks in Baghdad Tuesday. Two terrorists were killed and five other suspects were detained during an operation targeting one of the city’s terrorist leaders.
Asharq Al Awsat – Iraqi and US forces have arrested the “number one butcher” responsible for beheadings in the volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad, a defence ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. “Iraqi forces received intelligence on a very dangerous terrorist known as the number-one butcher who was responsible for a beheading squad that slaughtered innocent people,” Major General Mohammed al-Askari said.
AP – An Iraqi Soldier opened fire on U.S. troops after a quarrel broke out Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing two American Soldiers and wounding six in a military compound before he was shot to death, officials said.
Khaleej Times – The jihadists of Al-Qaeda in Iraq are weakened but may regain influence, especially if integration of the anti-Qaeda Sahwa forces into Iraq’s security structure is unsuccessful, analysts say. The recently-begun process of transferring supervision of the Sahwa (Awakening) groups from the United States military to the Iraqi government is the key issue, according to Mohammed al-Masri, of the University of Jordan Centre for Strategic Studies.
Asharq Al Awsat – The U.S. military in Iraq is abandoning — deliberately and with little public notice — a centerpiece of the widely acclaimed strategy it adopted nearly two years ago to turn the tide against the insurgency. It is moving American troops farther from the people they are trying to protect. The U.S. is on track to complete its shift out of all Iraqi cities by June 2009. That is one of the milestones in a political-military campaign plan devised in 2007 by Gen. David Petraeus.
Voices of Iraq – President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Wednesday expressed his doubts that the proposed Iraqi-U.S. security pact would be signed, warning of a “civil war” in Iraq if the pact is not approved, as Iraqi security forces are “unable” to control the situation.
Al Jazeera – At least four people, including two police officers, have been killed in a car bomb attack in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, police have said. The bomb went off on Wednesday at about 9.30am (0630 GMT) in Saadun street, one of the main streets running through the capital. In another attack, a roadside bomb blew up at 10am in the Shia-dominated Shaab neighbourhood of north Baghdad, officials said. Seven people, including three policemen, were injured in that attack.
Michael Rubin – It is tempting to believe that U.S. diplomacy can flip Syria. The last rejectionist Arab state, Syria is a lynchpin not only in the Arab-Israeli peace process, but also in efforts to resolve Iraqi insurgency and Lebanese instability. Alas, as audacious as Obama’s hope might be, Syria cannot be flipped. It may be fashionable to blame Bush for the failure to seize a Damascus olive branch, but the real problem has less to do with any U.S. administration and much more to do with Arab history and political culture.
SANA – President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday received a written message from Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki connected with relations between Syria and Iraq and prospects of boosting them , and with the latest developments on the Iraqi arena particularly the negotiations on an agreement regulating the American troops withdrawal from Iraq, in addition to the US. aggression on the Syrian territories. The letter was handed to President al-Assad this morning by Iraqi Foreign Minister , Hoshyar Zibari.
ITIC – Syria’s historic decision to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon and an analysis of its implications
Guardian – Britain is helping to ease Syria back into international respectability with a visit by the foreign secretary, David Miliband, next week that is designed in part to encourage the new US administration-in-waiting to follow suit.
Haaretz – Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday fired a number of mortar shells and at least two Qassam rockets at the western Negev, hours after Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed four Hamas gunmen near the Gaza border.
NOW Lebanon – Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed a congregation of his followers in a televised Martyrs’ Day ceremony speech on Tuesday night. Nasrallah was dismissive of international resolutions which he said “do not protect anyone; what protects you is your army, resistance, and population.” Nasrallah warned against having exaggerated hopes for President-elect Barack Obama, saying that such optimism would lead to disappointment.
Saba – Yemen and China held Tuesday talks on the aspects of security cooperation between the Interior Ministry and the Chinese company Chin Shida specialized in the exportation of military and security products.

Iran

Fars – Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom, Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Ltd. and National Iranian Oil Co. will set up a venture to produce gas from Iran’s South Pars field and liquefy it at Qatar’s Ras Laffan. Each founder will get 30 percent in the project and the remaining 10 percent will go to the trader, probably to China’s CNPC or Korean Kogas.
IRNA – Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Pyongyang on Wednesday that Iran and North Korea had had the best political ties in the past 30 years. “We have had the best possible political ties in the past 30 years and have been each other’s friends in the time of need. Today too, we should have all-out cooperation through a new approach,” said Mottaki in a meeting with North Korean President.
Uskowi on Iran – Sejil Missile Launch – Video
Press TV – A former US national security adviser says the Bush administration’s bid to isolate Iran has ruined chances of Washington-Tehran talks. “What [the US] can do and can’t do with Iran is…pretty much a mystery because we have not been prepared to explore with them what the possibilities are,” IPS quoted Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft as saying on Tuesday.
Sadegh Zibakalam – During the past three decades the rise of militant Islam has in many ways dominated political events in the region. The consequences of Iranian religious radicalism can be observed in the Persian Gulf region, in the Arab-Israel conflict, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Although Iranian Islamic militancy appears to be as dominant as ever, this may not be the case during the next decade.
Carnegie – Any successful approach toward Iran must take into account that real political power resides with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran. On C-SPAN’s Book TV, Karim Sadjadpour discussed his monograph Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader, and policy implications for the United States.

South Asia

Radio France – A bomb-filled tanker killed six people and wounded 42 in an attack on the provincial council office of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Sky News – Two men on a motorbike have thrown acid on a group of schoolgirls in southern Afghanistan, leaving at least two of them needing hospital treatment. A total of six Afghan girls were hit in the chemical attack. It happened as the group were walking to school in Kandahar.
AFPS – Afghan and coalition forces today killed four militants after being ambushed in an area near Afghanistan’s western border, where a Norwegian provincial reconstruction team was ambushed last week, military officials said. Today’s ambush took place as Afghan and coalition forces were en route to a meeting with village leaders in the Ghormach district of Badghis province, where they were going to assess the needs of villagers and coordinate humanitarian assistance.
Cheryl Benard – As new U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus got a firsthand look at the worsening security situation in Afghanistan last week, he heard from some U.S., British and Afghan officials that the best way forward is to engage in peace talks with the Taliban. Such talks have already even tentatively begun. This is a bad idea.
VOA – Afghanistan’s Army is growing at a record rate, and now leads and helps plan nearly two-thirds of the country’s military operations. Army Major General Robert Cone, the commander of the U.S. training program in Afghanistan, says Afghan soldiers are proving themselves in battle and are dedicated to the defense of their nation.
Bakhtar – The Afghan and American forces have arrested a Taliban commander in Khost Province. The Taliban leader named as Laiq Shah was arrested during a patrol in Wurzi area.
MEMRI – Security Officials in southern Afghanistan have confirmed that Taliban militants attacked a vehicle carrying a group of Tablighis or Islamic preachers and killed two of them on Tuesday. The Tablighi Jamaat, with its international headquarters based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, is a revivalist Islamic movement founded in the 1920s by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas. It mainly focuses its efforts on bringing Muslims to their Islamic roots.
This Could Get Interesting – You may recall the breathless media reports last July, about an American outpost in Afghanistan that was “overrun” (not so). Of course, the press focused on our losses, but there’s so much more to the story. Details of the engagement are now publicly available, with the release of the Army’s official investigation findings. You can see those here and here, minus a few sensitive bits that have been redacted.
Bloggers Roundtable – “All in all we are making positive strides in fielding professional security forces that are confident, diverse, and capable of providing security to Afghanistan,” U.S. Army Col. John Agoglia, director of the Counterinsurgency Training Center – Afghanistan, of the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan.
IslamOnline – Ismaeel Khan is one of hundreds of cops in the restive valley of Swat who have recently resigned after being threatened by Taliban militants to either quit or face “dire consequences.” “Around 400 cops, including myself, have resigned from our posts as we all still want to live,” Khan, 42, a head constable in Swat police, told IslamOnline.net. Militants of the pro-Taliban Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TSNM) of Maulvi Fazlullah issued a warning to local policemen last month to resign from their posts.
Telegraph – In January two men strapped with explosives stormed Kabul’s only five-star hotel firing automatic rifles. While one detonated his bomb vest the other stopped short of blowing himself up. Jack Fairweather interviewed Ramazan Mohammed in prison to find out what turned an introverted boy from remotest Pakistan into a terrorist.
Dawn – At least eight Taliban militants and one solider were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of fire in Swat. The clashes occurred in the Kabal district of Swat, when gunmen exchanged fire with troops engaged in an ongoing operation.
PakTribune – Three security personnel and a rikshaw driver were killed and over 10 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a government high school in Machni – an area lying in the outskirts of Charsadda and Mohmand Agency.
Péter Marton – Were disassembled US helicopters, transported by road from Peshawar to Jalalabad, captured by guerrillas in Pakistani territory in June or shortly before the month of June?
The News – The CIA-operated spy planes on Wednesday again intruded into the border areas and continued flying over North and South Waziristan agencies. Official and tribal sources said two US spy planes, one of them black and the other white, intruded into North Waziristan Agency from neighbouring Afghanistan and were seen flying over certain tribal villages, including Ghulam Khan, Saidgai, Dattakhel, Danday Darpakhel, Miramshah, Razmak and Mirali.
CSM – In Pakistan, an American aid worker was killed Wednesday in the latest round of brazen attacks highlighting both the strength of militants and the Pakistani military’s lack of response. According to the Associated Press, Stephen Vance was heading to work in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan when he was shot and killed, along with his driver.
Times of India – Musharraf as a “traitor” and a “foreign agent”, Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has said if the former President comes out in the streets, the public will feed him to “crows and kites”. Khan, while recalling his contribution to the country, also acknowledged that former premier Benazir Bhutto gave him permission to “acquire help from China and North Korea” for Pakistan’s missile programme.
Times of India – India on Wednesday successfully test fired ‘Shaurya’, a medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, to be used by its Army. With a 600-km range, the missile is capable of hitting targets deep inside Pakistan and China.
Colombo Page – The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a unanimous resolution urging the central (Indian) government to press the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE for an immediate ceasefire.

Far East & Pacific

Korea Times – North Korea’s military threatened Wednesday to shut its border with the South from next month. It said the measure was caused by Seoul’s “confrontation activities” despite repeated warnings, but propaganda leaflets sent by civic groups here are considered to be the real reason behind the threat.
Straits Times – The United States said on Wednesday it has arranged to ship another 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea by next month under an international nuclear disarmament deal with the Stalinist nation.
Phnom Penh Post – Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is expected to meet today with his Thai counterpart, Sompong Amornvivat, at the culmination of three days of talks over disputed territory on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. The negotiations follow what officials have called “big steps” made towards resolving a standoff on the border that pitted troops from the two countries against each other in a deadly shootout last month.
Asia Foundation – In the midst of what we can now call an international financial and economic crisis, more than 140 Cambodian senators, parliamentarians, and Government officials — but also students and businesspeople — gathered in Phnom Penh to discuss economic policy reforms and learn from the experience of their neighbor, South Korea. They gathered at a seminar organized by the Cambodian Senate and The Asia Foundation on November 6th in Phnom Penh.
The Star – There are many opportunities for Islamic Finance to lead the financial fraternity into a new growth era, said Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He said Islamic Finance needed to quickly integrate itself with the international financial system and prove itself a viable alternative to the conventional financial system practised in most parts of the world.
Bangkok Post – Fifteen vendors of Klong Toey market were wounded, two critically, early Thursday when a bomb was thrown at the vendors who were gathered at the Klong Toey intersection to protest against the market’s new management company. On Wednesday night, more than 10 men reportedly invaded the market and fired several gun shots into the sky to threaten the vendors.
Washington Post editorial – After the brutal crushing of last year’s Saffron Revolution, the military rulers of Burma sought to deflect international repercussions by promising to stop arresting the monks and other dissidents who had led the peaceful protests. The arrests have continued, and there has been no dialogue. But the regime’s final answer came yesterday. According to the Web site Irrawaddy, 40 opposition leaders have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms by a closed court.
Peter Brookes – Got news for you: The Chinese are eating our cyber lunch. In the last few weeks, the media have been filled with reports of Chinese cyber spies penetrating the computer networks of both presidential campaigns and even the White House, reading unclassified, but clearly privileged, e-mails. Unfortunately, that’s only the beginning of it.
BBC – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has escaped censure over accusations he leaked phone call details to make US President George W Bush look foolish. The Australian parliament voted down the censure motion, which the White House and Mr Rudd had both dismissed.

Europe

Defense Update – While the global defense market continues to expand, Europe stands as an exception, with defense spending a declining priority throughout most of the continent’s capitals. A prolonged period of peace and the lack of a direct territorial threat have created the mindset in European government that whatever security is needed can be provided through finite budgetary allocations.
AFPS – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip discussed Russian behavior and new cooperation on cyber security during meetings here today. Gates, who is here for Ukraine-related NATO consultations, reiterated the U.S. position that nations on Russia’s periphery who want better relations with the West do not present threats to Russia.
ABC – Premier Silvio Berlusconi is offering to mediate between Washington and Moscow to ease tensions over U.S. plans to station a missile shield in eastern Europe.
NATO – The NATO Secretary General visited Berlin and met with Chancellor Angela Merkel. They discussed issues related to the Alliance’s operations and missions and to the political agenda leading up to the 60th anniversary summit meeting next year.
SwissInfo – Weakened by controversy and under attack from adversaries, Defence Minister Samuel Schmid on Wednesday announced he would step down at the end of this year.
Irish Times – In an acrimonious end to his State visit to Ireland Czech president Vaclav Klaus accused Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin of being a “hypocrite”, while a number of leading Irish politicians accused Mr Klaus of an unprecedented breach of diplomatic courtesy.Mr Kl aus, whose country takes over the EU presidency in January, made his comments after Mr Martin accused him of an “inappropriate intervention” on Tuesday night. Mr Martin was referring to the joint press conference held in Dublin by Mr Klaus and Libertas founder Declan Ganley at which they criticised the Lisbon Treaty.
Information Dissemination – Well, the MV Iran Deyanat popped up in the news again today, this time making port in Rotterdam. Not only was the ship deemed unsuspecting of any problems, but it underwent a normal inspection without issue and according to this news report, is tied up to bouy 29 without the necessity of extra security as the ship waits to unload cargo.

Africa

Sudan Tribune – Sudanese President announced an immediate ceasefire in Darfur and called for a campaign to disarm militias which have been ravaging the western Sudan region of Darfur.
AFP – A hardline Islamist group in Somalia on Wednesday took over the southern port of Merka, a key entry point for food aid, further tightening the Islamists’ grip on the war-torn Horn of Africa country.
RIA Novosti – The Russian frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) and Britain’s HMS Cumberland frigate have prevented the seizure of a Danish merchant vessel by pirates off Somalia’s coast, a Russian Navy spokesman said on Wednesday.
Times Online – It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.
Xinhua – The number of deaths from cholera in the district of Guro in the central Mozambican province of Manica has risen to 53, out of 180 cases notified, since the outbreak of the disease about two weeks ago, AIM reported on Wednesday. According to the state news agency, the death toll was so high in Chinda because the area is dominated by a religious sect, the Johan Marangue Church, which forbids its believers from using modern medicine.
Reuters – The bodies of two Congolese soldiers, buzzing with flies, lay sprawled on a road of black volcanic grit in eastern Congo on Wednesday after new clashes in spite of world appeals to stop the simmering war. This is the tense frontline in Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, where Tutsi rebels and government troops face each other just 200 meters (yards) apart in the verdant bush beneath the steaming Nyiragongo volcano.
Independent – Angola has announced that it is mobilising troops to send to neighbouring Congo, heightening fears that fighting in the central African nation will engulf other countries in the region.
Javno – Rebels in northern Central African Republic killed more than a dozen soldiers in an ambush near the Chadian border, government officials said on Wednesday. Various rebel groups operating across the north of the impoverished, landlocked country have become more active as the government has pressed ahead with plans for a national dialogue in December aimed at ending years of instability and bloodshed.
IRIN – The best place to gauge the extent of China’s growing role in Angola is at the Quatro de Fevereiro airport in the capital, Luanda, where crowds of Chinese wait their turn to have their passports stamped. One immigration official complained to anyone who cared to listen: “These Chinese come to Angola and can’t even understand what they’re being asked.”

USS Theodore Roosevelt special patrol insertion and extraction exercise

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disopsal Platoon 222 are lifted from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and transported over the Gulf of Oman during a special patrol insertion and extraction exercise (photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Demetrius Kennon)

The Global War

GSN – The United States has completed installation of a missile defense radar station in Israel that will be operated by the first permanent deployment of U.S. troops in the nation, Haaretz reported yesterday. The detachment would consist of about 120 personnel working under the U.S. European Command. The radar is the same model as the system the United States erected in Japan in 2006.
Jakarta Post – The United States and Russia will begin talks Thursday on finding a successor deal to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that significantly cut American and Russian nuclear arsenals, an official said. The talks will take place in the U.S. and Russian diplomatic missions in Geneva, a U.S. official said Wednesday. They will last until Nov. 21.
Ilya Kramnik – If countermeasures are necessary, Russia will deploy the Iskander theater missile system in Kaliningrad. In addition, according to the Russian president, it also plans to use electronic countermeasures against the missile defense shield. The range of the Iskander in its basic form is 300 kilometers. In the opinion of missile specialists, it can easily be extended to 500 kilometers and more should Russia decide to tear up the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. In addition, the Iskander can be equipped with more than ballistic missiles.
Abe Greenwald – What is Saudi Arabia up to? There are some unignorable indications that the royals are now leaning toward the West as never before. According to a Pakistani diplomatic envoy, Riyadh is now playing an active intermediary role between the U.S. and Pakistan, shuttling aid packages and negotiating with Pakistani militants at Washington’s behest. With Islamabad more ambivalent than helpful in taking out militants who attack American forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. has turned to the Saudis, who seem to have reined in their own domestic terrorists over the past few years.
Annie Jacobsen – According to documents unsealed by a federal magistrate in Miami last week, Harb, who lived in Bogotá and went by the alias “Taliban,” acted as the money man between the cocaine cartels and Hezbollah. Described as a “world-class money-launderer,” Harb’s illegal financial transactions have spanned the globe — from Latin America to Asia — with a cut being diverted to fund terror.

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

29 October, 2008 (00:39) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda 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.

Royal Air Force gunner aboard an EH-101 Merlin helicopter

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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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

28 October, 2008 (00:37) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 28 October 2008.

United States & the Americas

State Dept – QUESTION: Did the U.S. military have any involvement on a raid inside Syrian territory? And secondly, did the Syrian Government call in the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires? Did she go see them? What was the message? MR. MCCORMACK: Yesterday, the Syrians did call in, at the level of the Vice Foreign Minister, our Chargé d’Affaires, whose name is Maura Connelly. She went in. She listened to the Syrians. They brought her in there to raise with her these reports of activities in Abu Kamal, which is close to the Syrian-Iraqi border. But beyond that, I don’t have any comment for you.
White House – President Bush Meets with President Lugo of Paraguay
ISN – As the most powerful drug trafficking force in the region, Mexican organized crime has spread far beyond the country in search of supplies for drugs to meet US demand, Sam Logan writes for ISN Security Watch.
BBC – Members of an elite Mexican anti-drug unit passed information to a drug cartel in exchange for thousands of dollars, prosecutors say.
Partnership Africa Canada – In this year’s Diamonds and Human Security Annual Review from Partnership Africa Canada, PAC, an NGO leader in the campaign against conflict diamonds, has turned its attention to evidence of a large and growing trade in illicit rough diamonds, running in parallel with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme that is supposed to eliminate the practice.
Douglas Farah – The report, which reviews the compliance of many nations, blasts Venezuela particularly harshly. Given the documented support of Chávez and senior members of his intelligence apparatus for both the FARC in Colombia and Hezbollah (and the close ties to Iran), the disappearance of 200,000 carats of diamonds of years is a risk. This untraceable revenue stream could become even more important as oil prices continue to plummet.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Russia Foreign Ministry – (regarding US raid into Syria) Moscow has responded with great concern to what happened. We believe attacks that are worthy of condemnation should not be launched on the territory of sovereign states under the slogan of the fight against terrorism.
Xinhua – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived here on Monday for an official visit aimed at strengthening China’s strategic partnership with Russia. During his three-day stay here, Wen is scheduled to hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, Boris Gryzlov.
Kommersant – Chief of the Battle Antimissile Defense Staff of the RF Armed Forces General-Lieutenant Alexander Maslov visits Cuba October 27 through November 3. The parties will focus on improving ties of Russia’s and Cuban military. They will exchange experience related to arranging the missile defense for armed forces and to officers’ training. They will also deliberate on potential training of Cuban military in Russia’s antimissle defense colleges and universities and at the upgraded military facilities of Russia’s make.
RBC – Russian government ratified an intergovernmental agreement between Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan on cooperation in building the Pre-Caspian gas pipeline, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told journalists. The accord was signed by the countries on December 20, 2007. The pipeline is expected to pump up to 10bn cubic meters of natural gas per year from Turkmenistan and around the same volume from Kazakhstan. Construction is projected to start in the second half of 2009 and completed no later than in 2010.

Border Transition Team 4222 trains 2nd Divisions newly formed Quick Reaction Force

Cpl. Sherman W. Smith, infantry adviser, Border Transition Team 4222, teaches a class on combat marksmanship to a squad of the 'Desert Wolves' 2nd Iraqi Border Police Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Division's newly formed Quick Reaction Force, Oct. 23, 2008. Smugglers don't waste time when they cross from Syria into Iraq (photo by Cpl. GP Ingersoll)

Middle East

Independent – Senior US officials claimed last night that the head of a Syrian network responsible for smuggling foreign fighters, weapons and cash into Iraq had been killed in Syria during a raid by US special forces that sparked strong condemnation from Damascus.
McClatchy – A CIA-led raid on a compound in eastern Syria killed an al Qaida in Iraq commander who oversaw the smuggling into Iraq of foreign fighters whose attacks claimed thousands of Iraqi and American lives, three U.S. officials said Monday.
Asharq Al Awsat – Omar Abdul Sattar, member of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) said “the Islamic party has cut all ties with the Americans, and we are waiting for the Americans explanation of the incident as well as the reason for the operation in the first place. What has occurred is a violation of the approved agreements with the American forces.” It is worth mentioning that the IIP has been locked in a bitter rivalry with Sunni tribal leaders who joined forces with the United States against al-Qaeda in Iraq in so-called Awakening Councils that started in Anbar and spread to other Sunni areas.
SANA – Arab League General Secretariat has condemned the US. gunships attack on Bou-Kamal in north-eastern Syria that claimed the lives of innocent civilians. The Arab Writers Union condemned the US. aggression on Boukamal. For its part ,Palestinian Movement of Hamas strongly denounced the US. aggression and stressed solidarity with Syria. Lebanese Foreign Minister, Fawzi Salloukh denounced strongly the US. blatant attack on Boukamal.
Maj. W. Thomas Smith Jr. – I was there in Al Anbar Province’s Al Qaim sector – not far from where the Sunday raid was carried out – in the summer of 2007. And I can tell you for a fact, the borders were then not only impossible to adequately police, but the Syrians would sometimes fire automatic weapons from Syria into Iraq and over known American outposts. Upon learning of yesterday’s raid, I spoke with a few Middle East experts including Dr. Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, for analysis.
Michael Yon – Yesterday, U.S. special operations forces struck positions across the Syrian-Iraq order, inside of Syria, apparently killing nine people, most of whom were non-Syrian Arab fighters on their way into Iraq. Of course there is a great cry rising from the Syrians today. For years, tons of explosives and a long line of foreign terrorists have streamed across the Syrian border into Anbar Province and Nineveh Province, Iraq. I must have spent a total of about nine months in Nineveh, about eight of which were in the capital of Mosul, and another month in Anbar.
Daily Star – Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Future Movement head Saad Hariri have jointly expressed “total adherence and respect for both the Taif Accord and the Doha Accord” after a long-awaited meeting over the weekend, Hariri’s office said Monday. The two met secretly on Sunday in a bid to mend fences between the country’s main Shiite and Sunni parties. Sunday’s meeting – the first between Hariri and Nasrallah in more than two years – came ahead of a national dialogue session next week set to address issues dividing the March 8 and March 14 factions, notably the fate of Hizbullah’s arsenal.
ISW – Updated as of October 2008, this document maps Multi-National Force-Iraq press releases on activity by and against Special Groups. The press releases are plotted by the location of the incident in reverse chronological order.
Talisman Gate – Abu Hamza al-Muhajir’s Interview: Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is the Minister of War for the so-called Islamic State of Iraq.

Iran

Rooz – The commanders of Revolutionary Guards ground forces and Basij operations announced simultaneously that they are forming special new “Imam Hussein” units composed of members of the Basij. The Basij commander of operations, Brigadier General Ahmad Zolghadr announced during the latest military maneuver by the Revolutionary Guards that new special and expert air force, ground force and navy units would be formed from selected members of the “Ashura” and “Al-Zahra” brigades across the country.
Iran Foreign Ministry – Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi on Monday ruled out media report that President George W Bush has sent a letter to Iran to normalize relations. The media have quoted Israeli newspaper Haaretz that President George W Bush has communicated with Iran to normalize relations. Qashqavi said that the speculation aims to cover up US hostile policies against Iran.
Haaretz – A top Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander has said Iran is supplying weapons to liberation armies in the Middle East, a state-run news agency reported – the first official confirmation the country provides weapons to armed groups in the region.
IRNA – Iran has expressed formal protest to Italy for its support for the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi, said on Monday.
Press TV – Iran has deplored the violation of the rights of three kidnapped Iranian diplomats by US forces in Iraq, calling for their release. Addressing the audience at the sixth committee of the UN General Assembly, Ale-Habib proclaimed Tehran’s serious concerns over the organized and continuous violation of Iranian diplomats’ immunity in Iraq. American forces raided the Iranian consulate in Iraq’s Kurdish city of Arbil in northern Iraq on January 11, 2007, detaining three Iranian employees.
MEMRI – In an interview with the Algerian daily El-Shorouq, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, secretary-general of the Tehran-based World Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, said that the Iranian regime opposed the establishment of the first Sunni mosque in Tehran because conditions were not ripe for it.

South Asia

NY Times – A suicide attacker in a police uniform blew himself up inside a police station in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Monday, killing two American soldiers and an 8-year-old boy, Afghan officials said.
US Army – Citizen-Soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard are teaming with soldiers from Latvia and Afghanistan for a nine-month tour in Afghanistan. They are here in the final stages of their training as they prepare to launch the mission next month. This mission is a first for Latvia.
news.com.au – A claim that up to 20 Afghans denied entry into Australia were later killed by the Taliban has sparked fresh calls for a royal commission into the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Edmund Rice Centre director Phil Glendenning says he has documented the deaths of nine of the Afghans, rejected under the Pacific Solution scheme, but believes the number is really 20.
Daily Times – At least 10 Taliban were killed in a clash with troops in Sarsanai village of Matta tehsil in Swat on Monday. Three Taliban were arrested in a search operation in the same village, a spokesman told Daily Times. The Sarsanai operation was conducted ‘as a last resort’, he said, after Taliban attacked two separate troop convoys.
The News – Military authorities on Monday claimed to have killed six more militants in a shoot-out in the restive Bajaur tribal region where the tribal elders said the operation against the militants should continue till the achievement of the objectives. According to officials, the Army gunship helicopters pounded militant positions in Charmang, Nawagai and Mamond areas of Bajaur.
MEMRI – Muhammad Yahya, a brother of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed by unknown persons in the Bannu district of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.
ABC – Shops, businesses and government offices closed across Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday as separatists called a general strike to mark the anniversary of the day Indian troops took control of the region in 1947.

Far East & Pacific

Gazprom – Alexey Miller and Tran Ngoc Canh, President of Petrovietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) signed in the presence of Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian Federation President and Nguyen Minh Triet, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, a 30-year Oil and Gas Contract for Blocks 129, 130, 131, 132 of the Vietnam continental shelf. The Contract stipulates exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons in these blocks offshore Vietnam.
BBC – A new deal between Vietnam and China to resolve land and sea borders has been hailed as a major step forward. Analysts say the deal will help avert fresh conflict between the two sides. The two powers agreed in Beijing over the weekend to finish demarcating their land border this year, and to solve a maritime territorial dispute.
Fars News – Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, plans to barter rice for oil from Iran, the country’s commerce minister said on Monday. ‘Our senior officials plan to go to Iran by the middle of November to discuss the specifications of oil and rice that would be exchanged,” Thailand’s Commerce Minister Chaiya Sasomsab told reporters.
Japan Times – Tokyo stocks renewed their plunge on Monday, with the key Nikkei index falling 6 percent to a fresh 26-year low despite Prime Minister Taro Aso’s call earlier in the day for emergency measures to help stabilize the market.
FEER – It is difficult to estimate the number of migrants who have fled Burma. Some leave for extended periods, while others come and go across its borders in search of jobs. Neighboring China, India and Bangladesh are home to large migrant communities, as is Malaysia to the south. But most go to Thailand, which shares a long and porous border with Burma.
National Geographic – Borneo’s Moment of Truth; The majestic forests are vanishing in smoke and sawdust, but there’s still hope for the island’s fabled biodiversity—if the palm oil rush can be slowed.
Pacific Magazine – Tongan soldiers will pullout from Iraq before the year is out, reports Matangi Tonga. Commander of the Tonga Defence Services Brigadier Tau’aika ‘Uta’atu said that Tonga’s fourth contingent of 55 soldiers who were deployed to Iraq in August would be back in Tonga before Christmas.
Xinhua – One soldier and 13 separatist rebels were killed on Monday in a five-hour encounter in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, a military official said. All of the rebels were followers of MILF sub-commander Ameril Ombra Kato, one of the most wanted rebel leaders by the government,he added.
Manila Times – North Korea threatened Monday to evict South Koreans from a joint industrial complex in protest of cross-border propaganda, as activists launched balloons loaded with leaflets denouncing the communist state.

Europe

Stars and Stripes – In Germany, the 172nd Infantry Brigade loaded tanks, armored personnel carriers and Humvees on trains here Monday for the first leg of a journey to Iraq. The brigade of more than 3,500 soldiers heads to the desert next month for a year-long mission.
Portfolio – An IMF staff mission and the Hungarian authorities, in close consultation with the European Union (EU), have reached broad agreement on a set of policies that will bolster the Hungarian economy’s near-term stability and improve its long-term growth potential.
EU Observer – The freshly appointed UK defence secretary has publicly supported the idea of a European army, a key ambition of the French EU presidency. French President Nicholas Sarkozy, whose country currently chairs the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, wants the bloc’s existing military framework to have a new headquarters and each member state to commit 1,500 troops to rapid reaction forces.
NY Times – Affected by the financial crisis, Denmark, a member of the European Union that has so far refused to abandon its currency for the euro, is finding out how difficult it can be to go it alone.

Africa

BBC – Five Chinese oil workers kidnapped in Sudan nine days ago have been killed, Sudan’s foreign ministry has said. Foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig said the kidnappers were from the Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Sudan Tribune – Darfur rebel movement said today it is not involved in the kidnapping of Chinese oil workers saying some of its members could undertook the move pushed by local motivations. Three Chinese engineers and six other workers employed by the China National Petroleum Corporation in South Kordofan were kidnapped on October 19. The head of the kidnappers, Abu Humaid Ahmed Dannay, who is also a Misseriya, claimed to be the chief of JEM in Kordofan.
Reuters – A powerful Somali Islamist group that boycotted U.N.-brokered peace talks said on Monday it would not respect a ceasefire reached over the weekend until all Ethiopian troops backing the government had left the country. The hardline Islamist Shabaab faction, which launches attacks on government positions almost every day, said the agreement signed between the government and the more moderate but exiled Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) Islamist group was only a ploy to splinter the opposition.
Guardian – Tens of thousands of people were reported to be fleeing heavy fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after rebels seized a key army base near the town of Goma. At least 200,000 people have been displaced in eastern Congo in the last two months amid growing concern about a return to full-scale war. The UN, which has 17,000 peacekeepers in the country, most of them in the east, said yesterday that it had used helicopter gunships against the rebels, who have threatened to attack Goma.
LA Times – One person was killed after hundreds of angry civilians stoned U.N. peacekeeping bases in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, blaming the international body for failing to stem violence in the rebellion-plagued region.

Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group in bilateral exercise in Persian Gulf

A multi-national group of Foreign Navy ships participate in a photo exercise with ships from the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group during a bilateral exercise in the Persian Gulf. (photo by Seaman Chad R. Erdmann)

The Global War

US Navy – USS New Hampshire (SSN 778), the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine and the fifth of the Virginia-class, was brought to life Oct. 25 during a commissioning ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Tactical Life - Combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have proven the value of a well trained, adequately equipped and properly organized special operations capability to the Australian Defense Force, and experience in recent years also shows that special forces are essential during non-combat operations such as disaster relief and peacekeeping.

Sights & Sounds

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

27 October, 2008 (00:51) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 27 October 2008.

United States & the Americas

White House – President Bush Participates in Signing Ceremony with NATO Secretary General De Hoop Scheffer for NATO Accession Protocols for Albania and Croatia
WCBS – A shadowy ex-convict who secretly recorded five men charged with planning to kill soldiers on Fort Dix is expected to testify at their trial this week. Prosecutors say paid informant Mahmoud Omar is likely to take the stand Monday or Tuesday for several days of testimony. While the government will portray his infiltration as key to arresting the men, defense attorneys will attack his credibility.
Xinhua – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday announced the cancellation of his trip to the 18th Ibero-American summit in El Salvador next week due to security reasons. He said intelligence showed some armed groups were trying to murder him, and Manuel Rosales, one of Venezuela’s four opposition governors, is also plotting to assassinate him.
John Otis – During three trips to Russia in the past four months, Chavez has expressed interest in air-defense systems, submarines, military transport planes, armored vehicles, sniper rifles, and a new generation of jet fighter. Putin offered the Chavez government a $1 billion line of credit for some of the military purchases. Meanwhile, Russian energy companies have signed deals to explore for oil and natural gas in Venezuela, and Chavez has expressed interest in Russian technology to develop nuclear energy.
Latin American Post – In a crushing defeat for Argentina’s beleaguered president, the Senate rejected increases in the agricultural export tax that have caused a farmer rebellion, with the vice president siding with farmers and casting the deciding vote.
AP – Soldiers and federal police arrested a reputed leader of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel after a shootout in the border city across from San Diego, authorities announced Sunday.
BBC – Mexico has offered a reward worth $370,000 for information leading to the arrest of the killers of a leading prosecutor and two guards. Andres Dimitriadis headed an investigation into organised crime and drugs trafficking in the state of Morelos, near the capital Mexico City. He was shot in his car in the Morelos city of Cuernavaca on Friday as he drove home.
Press TV – More than ten tons of cocaine has been seized in the Colombian port city of Barranquilla with a street value of USD 200m, officials say. Colombian authorities said Sunday that the huge consignment of cocaine was reportedly bound for the city of Veracruz in Mexico.
ABC – Colombia’s military found and airlifted to freedom on Sunday a 62-year-old lawmaker who had escaped eight years of rebel captivity and fled deep into the jungle with the head of the guerrilla unit that held him.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Moscow Times – Vneshekonombank, which does not even report to the Central Bank because it has no banking license, will soon take charge of $74 billion, or 14 percent of the country’s reserves. The funds channeled to the state corporation will include $50 billion to help companies refinance foreign debts, $17.3 billion in subordinated loans for the country’s largest banks, and $6.7 billion to invest in stocks and corporate bonds that the government sees as undervalued.
RealClearWorld – For the first time since the early 1990s, Russian media is expressing an intense and detailed interest toward a US presidential election. While mindful of the historic race and the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, Russian media covers the election with an eye on the future development of US-Russia relations, trying to figure out which candidate would be more open to improving the relations between the two countries.
IMF – The IMF announced outline plans October 26 to lend $16.5 billion to Ukraine to support a policy package the country has assembled to maintain economic and financial stability.
Kavkaz Center – Sources in the Province of Nokhchicho (Ichkeria/Chechnya) of the Caucasus Emirate reported that an exchange of fire was took place between the apostates and the infidels at one of the roadblocks, controlled by the gang of Kakiyev (“Zapad/West”), near the village of Goragorsk, northern Jokhar, early on Sunday morning. It has been reported that a convoy of Russian infidels was driving near the checkpoint when it was stooped by the Kakiyevans to check the permission for the movement of convoys. Sources have reported about a large numbers of wounded and dead from both sides.
EurasiaNet – In a bid to boost its population, so has the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with the wedding of 700 couples on October 16. Russian-Armenian businessman Levon Hairapetian, a native of the Karabakh village of Vank, financed the ceremonies. Each couple received a payment of $2,000; newlyweds living in villages received a cow. That financial support will continue with each child born: couples will receive $2,000 for their first child, $3,000 for a second child, and increasing sums up to $100,000 for a seventh child. The ultimate aim of the event was to stimulate a baby boom in the territory.
Civil Georgia – A parliamentary commission studying causes of the August war launched its hearings on October 25 with the testimony of Gela Bezhuashvili, the head of foreign intelligence service. Below are the key points of the Bezhuashvili’s testimony…

Middle East

AP – Iraq’s Cabinet delayed a decision Sunday on the draft security agreement that would keep American troops here for three more years, and one prominent lawmaker suggested some parties may be stalling until after the U.S. election on Nov. 4.
MNF Iraq – On Oct. 24, Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured 10 suspected AQI cell members in eastern Mosul. The cell is believed to be involved with improvised explosive devices, vehicle-borne IEDs and small-arms fire attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces. In a separate operation Oct. 24, ISOF captured three AQI members in the Udaim River Valley. Two individuals are believed to be AQI emirs who are allegedly responsible for conducting intimidation attacks in the area. On Oct. 23, Al Qaim Special Weapons and Tactics team captured a suspected criminal in Husaybah. The individual is believed to be a weapons smuggler associated with the Abu Ghadiyah network and distributes money to other criminal cells. In another operation Oct. 22, Iraqi National Police captured a suspected criminal in Samarra who is believed to be the Shaykh of a new insurgent group named Al Muraba Duhn.
Asharq Al Awsat – A leading Iraqi Sunni political bloc, said on Saturday it is breaking ties with US forces in the former rebel bastion of Fallujah. The Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Iraq’s Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, said troops raided the house of one of their members and during the raid a party member was killed and five others arrested.
Babylon and Beyond – Israel’s geographic location, steady population increase and rising living standards place a chronic strain on the country’s limited water resources. Now, four consecutive years of drought are pushing the water problem into a full-blown crisis.
Haaretz – Syrian state-run TV and witnesses said Sunday that American helicopters attacked an area close to the Iraqi border zone, killing at least nine people. Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory. State-run TV later raised the number of dead to nine.
Al Arabiya – A senior Israeli military official on Sunday accused Syria of arming Hezbollah in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution which ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese militia. “Syria has become Hezbollah’s arms warehouse,” military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told minister during the Israeli cabinet’s weekly meeting, according to another senior official.
NY Times – At the gates of a military base just north of Beirut, groups of soldiers drive new American Humvees and trucks, and some tote gleaming new American rifles and grenade launchers. The new wave of aid, the first major American military assistance to Lebanon since the 1980s, is meant to build an armed force that could help stabilize Lebanon’s fractured state, fight a rising terrorist threat and provide a legitimate alternative to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Iran

Fars News – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is often laid low by overwork and exhaustion but has gone on to make a full recovery, the culture minister said on Sunday.
Haaretz – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday he was healthy, countering reports suggesting he was ill and suffering from exhaustion, and that his political future could be threatened. A member of parliament and close associate of Ahmadinejad, Mohammed Ismail Kowsari, told the official news agency IRNA on Saturday that some websites had spread rumors about Ahmadinejad’s health and had suggested it could harm his chances of running for president again.
Newsweek – Western intelligence experts believe that Iran’s nuclear facilities are so deep underground that it would be difficult for Israel to wipe them out, or even significantly damage them, with a quick airstrike. In order to deal a serious setback to Iran’s nuclear program, at least four key sites inside Iran would have to be hit, said one Western official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information.
Payvand – Iranian state media reports former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Friday is questioning why journalists have not pursued a report that the U.S. exploded an atomic weapon in the final days of the 1991 war.
Press TV – Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalifa says that Manama is resolute to purchase gas from Iran. Despite the US concerns, Bahrain intends to push ahead with ‘very important’ and ‘real negotiations with Tehran to import 1bn cubic feet of gas a day.
Times of India – Iran’s parliament will move to impeach Interior Minister Ali Kordan for “dishonesty” early November after he confessed to holding a fake Oxford University degree, the ISNA news agency said on Sunday.

South Asia

AFP – France played down on Friday the capture by Taliban forces of two French anti-tank missiles seized after the insurgents launched a major attack on hundreds of its troops in Afghanistan. Defense Minister Herve Morin said Western forces in Afghanistan sometimes had to abandon weapons in the field and that the main concern had been to get the troops out of last Saturday’s ambush alive.
Stars and Stripes – The Battle for Afghanistan: U.S. mapping new strategy in response to dire assessments of war
LA Times – In a sign that the U.S. military is scaling back its goals in Afghanistan, senior Pentagon officials are weighing controversial proposals to send additional teams of highly trained special operations forces to narrowly target the most violent insurgent bands in the country.
NATO – Insurgents used two Afghan children as shields while they attempted to emplace IEDs in a road in Farah province Oct. 18. The Marines waited until the children were let go and ran away before snipers shot the remaining two insurgents. The children fled in the direction of a mosque and were unharmed.
Michael Yon – In a war where information can be more powerful than massed forces, the cellphone is a weapon. Insurgents the world over use cellphones to transmit messages, record photos and videos, and sometimes just to chat. They can record video of an attack, and transmit that video within a minute. U.S. and other technologically adept forces use machines to target cell phones. This is no secret. Not to the enemy, at least.
DPWN – At approximately 8.30am (local time) at a DHL office in Kabul, Afghanistan, an incident took place involving a shooting. It is with deep regret, that we have to report that there are fatalities, two of whom are DHL staff.
AFP – A one-time Afghan presidential candidate and relative of the late king was rescued Sunday with the son of a prominent Kabul banker from a well where they had been held by kidnappers, an official said. Royalist politician Humayun Shah Asifi was kidnapped in the city nearly a week ago and the banker’s son Abdel-Latif was taken a few days earlier.
AFP – Suspected US spy drones fired missiles on Sunday into an alleged militant compound in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, killing at least seven people, security officials said. The air strike in South Waziristan, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban activity, was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani soil. The strike targeted a compound about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Wana, the main town in the tribal zone, the officials said.
Yahoo – Pakistani troops on Sunday killed 11 Taliban militants in clashes in a tribal area on the border with Afghanistan which is seen as a safe haven for Islamic extremists, officials said. The clashes in Bajaur came one day after the military announced it had recaptured an Al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold in the area after two months of fighting which left 1,500 rebels and 73 soldiers dead.
Geo – A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden vehicle late Sunday at a paramilitary check-post in troubled northwest Mohmand Agency, killing 10 and injuring 5 security force personnel, security officials said.
The News – Six people were killed and 15 others injured in separate incidents, while a private college was reduced to ashes, in continuing violence in the Swat Valley on Saturday.
RFERL – Pakistan’s military claims to have “turned a corner” in its battle against militants, including Uzbeks, Chechens, and Tajiks, one day ahead of a key meeting of Pakistani and Afghan political leaders and Pashtun tribal elders.
Howrah – A software engineer arrested for his links with terror group Indian Mujahideen has filed an application before a court seeking pardon in the case in return for aiding the investigators, officials said on Sunday. Peerbhoy allegedly was among the main members of the media wing of the terror group and was responsible for sending threatening emails prior to the Ahmedabad serial blasts on July 26 and Delhi blasts on September 13 using wireless internet connections in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai respectively. Peerbhoy has said in his application that he would be willing to aid investigating agencies.
IBN Live – The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in his latest report has painted a bleak picture of India’s defence preparedness. The report, tabled in Lok Sabha on Friday, says half of India’s submarine fleet is in disrepair and a grossly inadequate, three decade-old radar network has left the country vulnerable to enemy attack.
VOA – At least one person was killed and several others wounded Sunday when police and demonstrators clashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Demonstrators chanting pro-freedom slogans had taken to the streets to call for the release of several people who had been arrested during a recent strike.
The Hindu – Denying that the Union Government was extending any military help to Sri Lanka, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said that the Centre only wanted Tamils in Sri Lanka to get equal opportunities. “Only Pakistan and China are extending military help to the Island,” he said.
Bloomberg – Sri Lanka will ensure the safety of Tamils and will allow Indian aid to reach the affected civilians amid an army offensive against rebels, an envoy of the South Asian nation said.

Philippine Air Forces 710th Special Operations Wing and 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Deep Reconnaissance Platoon

Airmen from the Philippine Air Force's 710th Special Operations Wing, also known as the Sky Warriors, embark on a KC-130 airplane along with U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Deep Reconnaissance Platoon during Parachute Operations training, Oct. 18, 2008. The bilateral training evolution gave the Philippine airmen and U.S. Marines the opportunity to improve proficiency and efficiency in conducting parachute operations (photo by Lance Cpl. Joseph Cabrera)

Far East & Pacific

Washington Post – As shock waves from the credit crisis began to spread around the world last month, China scrambled to protect itself. Among the most extreme measures it took was to impose new export taxes to keep critical supplies such as grains and fertilizer from leaving the country. While the world’s attention has been focused on rescuing investment banks and stock markets from collapse, the global food crisis has worsened, a casualty of the growing financial tumult.
Xinhua – Full text of statement of the Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting on the Int’l Financial Situation
CSM – In what the official news agency Xinhua called a “landmark policy document,” the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee agreed last weekend to allow small farmers to sell their right to till the land. The plan is designed to consolidate landholdings, encourage uneconomic farmers to seek other employment, and boost rural incomes. The decision did not privatize agricultural land, which remains collective property.
Intellibriefs – While much of the media attention during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan this week was focused on a free trade deal the two sides failed to agree on, another pact that could have even greater consequences for the region was quietly pushed through. This was a security cooperation agreement under which India and Japan, once on opposite sides of the Cold War, will hold military exercises, police the Indian Ocean and conduct military-to-military exchanges on fighting terrorism.
Khaleej Times – A Thai policeman and two suspected Muslim militants died in a five-hour standoff at a separatist hideout in southern Thailand, police said. The two killed Muslims refused to surrender to about 100 government security personnel laying siege to their hideout in Pattani, one of three southern provinces facing a four-year separatist insurgency, they said.
The Age – In an indication of the scale of the tainted-milk scandal that has rocked China, more than 74,000 of 308,000 households questioned said their children had been fed the products before they were taken off the shelves, the Beijing News has reported. Four infants have died and 53,000 have fallen ill from drinking milk tainted with melamine.
news.com.au – Australians should check official travel advice before deciding about travel to Bali ahead of the execution of the three bombers, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday.

Europe

Kommersant – A scandal concerning Russian gas supplies has been stirred up in Serbia, with Gazprom-controlled reseller Yugorosgaz, which receives a €35 million commission annually, in the spotlight. The scandal may tell on the outlook for the realization of an oil and gas agreement, which has been recently concluded by Russia and Serbia. According to the agreement, Gazprom is due to restore control over Serbia’s energy monopoly NIS.
Russia Today – A new movie opening this week in Berlin is set to spark debate on the morality of war and in particular the treatment of women in times of conflict. ‘A Woman in Berlin’, is based on the book of the same title, written by an anonymous 34-year-old woman in the basement of her bombed-out building during the invasion of Berlin by the Red Army in the last months of WWII. It details the way German women were raped en masse by the occupying forces and explains how the same women survived the attacks the Red Army officers felt they deserved in victory.
BBC – The conservative opposition in Lithuania believes it has won enough seats to form a coalition in the second round of the general election.
Javno – The opening of Germany’s biggest mosque on Sunday is intended to help break down barriers between Turks and Germans and ease sometimes strained community relations, politicians and Muslims said on Sunday. About 8,000 people joined celebrations in the Marxloh suburb of the industrial north-western city of Duisburg to mark the opening of the Merkez mosque, with its 34-metre high minaret and room for 1,200 worshippers.
Times Online – American Nato officers have been renting a villa near Naples for years that belongs, indirectly, to Antonio Iovine, a clan chieftain of the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia. According to an investigation that was published in Corriere della Sera yesterday the villa of Mr Iovine may be only the tip of an iceberg. Italian police sources suggested that there were scores of similar cases in the Naples area of Nato service personnel living in houses that were owned by the Camorra.

Africa

Shabelle – Somali leaders signed a landmark peace agreement in at the conclusion of peace talks conference in Djibouti capital Djibouti later on Sunday. The agreed articles included the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from the residential areas on 5th of November. (See scan of agreement here and here)
Mareeg – Unknown gunmen, covering their faces with masks, have shot dead a female Somali official in central Somalia town on Saturday, according to residents. Duniyo Sheikh was the IIDA women organization representative of Guriel town in central Somalia.
AFP – Renewed brutal attacks and forced recruitment by Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have raised fears that the rebels are destabilising terrain straddling three African nations, analysts say.
Telegraph – Soliders loyal to dissident army general Laurent Nkunda captured the Virunga National Park base and an army barracks at Rumangabo, close to the provincial capital of Goma in the volatile east of the country. The gorilla rangers fled as the rebels advanced on their base, leaving 200 of the last 700 mountain gorillas unprotected.
Reuters – Pirates in Nigeria attacked at least two oil vessels in the offshore waters of the Niger Delta on Saturday, briefly seizing a group of oil workers including seven French citizens, security sources said.

NATO accession protocols for Albania and Croatia to join the NATO alliance

President Bush is joined on stage by Croatian Ambassador to the U.S. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (left), Albanian Ambassador to the U.S. Aleksander Saliabanda and NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer (right), as he signs the NATO accession protocols on Oct. 24, 2008, in the East Room of the White House, in support of the nations of Albania and Croatia to join the NATO alliance. (photo by Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs)

The Global War

CSIS – Frank A. Verrastro, a senior fellow at CSIS and director of its Energy and National Security Program, and Sarah O. Ladislaw, a fellow with the program, have written a new commentary on the lack of a price response to an OPEC production quota cut.
RFERL – The Taliban and Al-Qaeda have enjoyed a long alliance in Afghanistan. To this day, that relationship endures. But will it last? Rifts and tensions between the Taliban and Arab Al-Qaeda, as well as vastly different Islamic traditions, suggest that a basis for separation exists.
Christian Bleuer – Should the Afghan government and the international community seek a negotiated settlement with the insurgency? Recently it seems that every second newspaper op-ed on Afghanistan carries the message that negotiating with the Taliban is the best or only option to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. So I would like to provide the historical context for any potential negotiations with the leadership of the Taliban, particularly its habitual pattern of negotiating in bad faith.
Daily Mail – It was an emotional return for sixty servicemen of an elite regiment as brave troops from the 2nd Battalion returned to a hero’s welcome. There were laughs, tears and cheers as the unit – which is among one of the most battle-scarred since the outbreak of war in Afghanistan – returned to their loved ones. The 60 servicemen and women from B-company are among the last to be withdrawn from the war-torn Forward Operation Base at Inkerman in Helmand province.

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

29 September, 2008 (00:56) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda
A brief world news roundup for 29 September 2008.

United States & the Americas

Javno – Russia cannot be allowed to veto NATO membership for former Soviet states such as Ukraine and Georgia, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview published on Sunday. Rice said Moscow should not be permitted to profit from its military victory over Georgia last month, and said its 15-year effort to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was in danger. “We will not permit Russia to veto the future of NATO, neither the countries offered membership nor their decision to accept it,” Rice said in an opinion piece published in Greek in the Typos newspaper.
Kommersant – Gazprom has invested over $100 million in Venezuela; the extraction of heavy crude has been specified as priority, Interfax reported from Orenburg, where Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev met with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.
Reuters – Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa claimed victory in a referendum on Sunday after exit polls showed he won strong support to push socialist reforms similar to those begun by his allies in Venezuela and Bolivia.
AP – President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

RIA Novosti – Russia will not allow Czech and Polish inspectors at its missile bases but is ready for further talks on the presence of its observers at U.S. missile shield sites in central Europe, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Foreign media reported last week that both the Czech Republic and Poland oppose a permanent Russian presence at planned U.S. missile defense facilities on their territories claiming that the permission could be granted only on the basis of reciprocity.
NY Times – Russia continued its international muscle-flexing on Friday, strengthening its ties to Venezuela through a $1 billion military loan and a new oil consortium as it announced an upgrade of its own military focusing on nuclear deterrence and permanent combat readiness.
RFERL – Russia last week avoided a massive financial crisis by pumping tens of billions of dollars into its economy. A repeat of the 1998 meltdown now appears unlikely, but Russia will need much longer to repair its investment reputation.
CRN – On Thursday, September 25, the regional centre for domain registration closed, on decision of the court, the website “Ingushetia.Ru”, which belonged to Ingush oppositionist Magomed Evloev, who was murdered on August 31, but a similar website named “Ingushetia.Org” has appeared on the Internet.
AP – The opposition won no seats in Belarus parliamentary elections with most races decided, the elections commission said Monday. Opposition leaders called on the West not to recognize the results. The opposition has alleged the vote was rigged and said the results cast doubt on authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko’s commitment to democratic reform in the former Soviet republic, after his promises that Sunday’s election would be free and fair.
NY Times – In a campaign to punish families with sons suspected of supporting the insurgency, at least a dozen homes have been set ablaze since midsummer, residents and a local human rights organization said. The burnings have been accompanied by a program, embraced by Ramzan A. Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president, that has forced visibly frightened parents of insurgents to appear on television and beg their sons to return home.

The amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio transits through the Suez Canal. San Antonio is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet area of operations. (photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Goodwin)

Middle East

Al Jazeera – At least 26 people have been killed and dozens wounded after two car bombs exploded in the west of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. A dozen people died and 35 were hurt after a bomb on board a minibus blew up outside a mosque in the city’s Shurta area on Sunday. A second blast killed one person and wounded another in Hai al-Amil.
MNF Iraq – Coalition forces apprehended three suspected members of the Kata’ib Hezbollah network early Sunday in Naharwan, about 25 km east of Baghdad. Kata’ib Hezbollah is assessed to be a proxy of Iran and its members are believed to employ improvised rocket assisted munitions as well as explosively formed penetrators in civilian areas.
Al Bawaba – Counter-terrorist agencies in Syria on Sunday hunted for those behind a car bomb attack that killed 17 people in Damascus. Saturday’s bombing near a Shiite shrine in the Syrian capital, which also wounded 14 people, drew worldwide condemnation, including from the United States.
Joshua Landis – A friend who recently opened up a hotel in a renovated Ottoman house in the old city of Damascus called and said that he had lost $40,000 worth of business overnight due to the car bomb. All his October reservations have cancelled.
NOW Lebanon – Al Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Sunday that Syrian troops were digging long trenches between Rachaya and Haqel Ashty in the Kfarkouq area near the northern Lebanese border. Syrian troops have remained in this area despite the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in April 2005. The report added that the troops were violating UNSCR 1559 and said that they had entered into the Lebanese territories through the Masnaa Gate northern border crossing in the Bekaa Valley.
NY Times – A car bomb exploded near a bus carrying Lebanese Army soldiers near Tripoli on Monday, killing five and wounding 17, security officials said. Four of the dead were soldiers in the bus targeted in the attack, the second on the Lebanese military in a little over a month.
Daily Star – Turkish warplanes successfully struck 16 targets in a fresh raid targeting separatist Kurdish rebels in neighboring northern Iraq, a senior Turkish general said Friday.

Iran

ISNA – Iran has started the second round of negotiations over Caucasus crisis. Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki pursued Tehran’s initiative on Caucasus crisis in a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov in New York. Mottaki offered further details about Iran’s plan in two major spheres of economy and security. Lavrov for his part welcomed the plan, called “Caucasus diplomacy” or the “3+3 plan”, and emphasized it must be put into practice.
Press TV – Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations has rejected a Security Council resolution against the country as ‘illegal and unfortunate.’ The 18-line resolution adopted on Saturday does not impose new sanctions on the Islamic Republic but reaffirms three previous sanctions on Iran, calling on the country to halt uranium enrichment and increase cooperation with the UN nuclear agency.
MEMRI – Yahya Rahim Safavi, security advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said during International Qods (Jerusalem) day on September 26 that the countdown to the fall of Israel had begun, and that in the future, the map of the region will be drawn without it.
Payvand – National Iranian Tanker Company managing director Mohammad Souri declared on Sunday that the first consignment of Iran’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will be prepared by 2012 and most of which will be sent to China. Iran plans to expand natural gas production by 3 times by 2017 and export one thirds of the outputs, Souri said.

Southeast Asia

abc.net.au – Afghanistan’s most prominent policewoman has been assassinated. Malalai Kakar was shot dead outside her home in the southern city of Kandahar, and the Taliban say they carried out the attack.
AFPS – Coalition forces killed six militants and detained eight others in operations in Afghanistan’s Regional Command – East over the past two days. U.S. forces launched multiple operations to disrupt terrorist networks and deny them sanctuary.
Times Online – For a self-confessed and enthusiastic killer of British soldiers there was something strangely naive in the manner of the Taleban bomber. The lightly bearded 23-year-old looked younger than his years, with gentle features beneath his black turban and a habit of asking odd questions. Between the moments of naive curiosity, he boiled with a visceral hatred of Westerners.
Expatica – The commanders of two Dutch platoons in the Afghan province of Uruzgan wrote to the military trade union VBM/NOV claiming that Dutch lives are at risk due to a shortage of equipment, such as armoured vehicles and ambulances. They say existing equipment is poorly maintained.
PR-Inside – A police official says a suicide bomber on a motorbike has attacked an Afghan border police convoy, killing three police and three civilians. Border police official Abdul Razzaq says 17 other people, including two police and 15 civilians, were wounded in Sunday’s explosion in Kandahar province near the Pakistan border.
Asharq Al Awsat – Islamic militants struck back at security forces in Pakistan’s northwest while gunmen Sunday abducted a Polish engineer and extended a wave of attacks on foreigners. Iqbal Khattak, a government official in Bajur, said militants attacked security forces in three places overnight. He said the troops repulsed each attack, killing 11 fighters.
VOA – Pakistani military officials say at least 1,000 militants have been killed in a month-long operation along the Afghan border. Major General Tariq Khan told reporters Friday that at least five militant commanders, including foreigners, were among those who have been killed in the Bajaur tribal region. Khan said more than 60 Pakistani troops also have been killed in Bajaur since the military launched its offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in August.
AP – The death toll from a bomb blast in a New Delhi flower market rose to two on Sunday after a man died from injuries, and investigators hunted for the two motorcycle riders who left the explosive, police said.
Dawn – An Indian soldier and 11 militants were killed in fighting in occupied Kashmir after unseasonably cold weather forced militants out of the mountains, police said Sunday. Seven militants and an Indian army soldier were killed in protracted gunbattles in the forests of Kangan, northeast of Srinagar, army spokesman Anil Kumar Mathur said.
IHT – A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bomber blew up near a vehicle carrying police in a northern Sri Lankan town Sunday, killing a civilian and wounding eight others, the military said. The blast came as fierce clashes between government troops and the rebels killed 10 guerrillas and two soldiers, the military said. Also, the air force used fighter jets and helicopters in a series of bombings on rebel positions in Kilinochchi and Welioya regions.
Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State – Briefing on Sri Lanka

Far East & Pacific

Washington Times – A year after the Burmese government violently cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators, its neighbors and key foreign countries are still unable to agree on how to encourage reforms by the nation’s ruling generals.
canada.com – China’s submarine fleet is now one of the world’s largest with nearly 85 vessels. More than that, old and unreliable boats mostly acquired from the old Soviet Union are being rapidly replaced by modern submarines armed with highly sophisticated anti-ship missiles and radar-dodging cruise missiles able to attack land targets. Beijing is even building at least five ballistic missile submarines, each carrying 12 intercontinental missiles and each missile having three nuclear warheads.
BBC – Japanese Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama has resigned, just four days after taking the job. The resignation will be seen as a setback for new Prime Minister Taro Aso, who took office on Wednesday.
US Navy – Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy returned to San Diego Sept. 25 after completing Pacific Partnership, a four-month humanitarian, civic assistance and theater security cooperation mission, conducted with countries from the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. Throughout the 2008 Pacific Partnership mission, Mercy served as an enabling platform for military and nongovernmental organizations to coordinate and carry out relationship-building work in the Republic of the Philippines, Vietnam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.
Straits Times – Suspected separatists on Sunday shot dead two Muslim village chiefs in the restive Thai south, police said. Both were elected community heads of their respective villages, a frequent target for southern insurgents battling the Thai state.
Korea Times – Eleven Chinese sailors have been detained for illegally catching fish in Korea’s exclusive economic zone in the West Sea and attacking Korean coast guards dispatched to stop them, resulting in the killing of a Korean coast guard, police said Sunday.

Europe

Deutsche Welle – Germany has recalled its ambassador to Iran because a German diplomat attended a military parade in Tehran, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Saturday. The spokeswoman confirmed a report in the news magazine Der Spiegel that Ambassador Herbert Honsowitz had been told to report to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday morning. The magazine said the foreign minister was “very angry” that the embassy’s defense attache attended the parade after ambassadors from EU member states had agreed to boycott it.
CNN – A significant terror trial opened in Manchester this week. Significant because it is the first time anyone in Britain has been brought to trial accused of directing terrorism.
Telegraph – Austria’s two far-Right parties, which campaigned on anti-immigrant and anti-European Union platforms, took almost 30 per cent of the vote to deliver a stunning blow to Austria’s political establishment.
WSJ – Support slumped for conservative allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sunday’s election in the state of Bavaria. The outcome poses a severe problem for Ms. Merkel’s re-election bid in next year’s national vote.
CBS – The U.S. Navy was honored Saturday for its key role in the massive amphibious wartime invasion that helped propel the Allies to victory in World War II. Hundreds of uniformed American sailors and French well-wishers – as well as a few Navy veterans of the war – joined U.S. and French officials on Utah Beach for the inauguration of Normandy’s first monument honoring the sacrifices of U.S. sailors in the conflict against Nazi Germany.
LA Times – In Albania, the “Accursed Mountains” tower high above the Shala Valley, snow clinging to their summits even in the summer. Their jagged peaks hide one of Europe’s most remote areas, where tribal culture lives on even as the modern world encroaches. Here a rapidly vanishing way of life lingers in the traditions of the Kanun, the code of 15th-century prince Lek Dukagjin.

Africa

Khaleej Times – A Russian warship rushed to intercept a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 battle tanks and a hoard of ammunition that was seized by pirates off the Horn of Africa -a bold hijacking that again heightened fears about surging piracy and high-seas terrorism. U.S. naval ships also were in the area Friday and “monitoring the situation,” but there has been no decision about intercepting the vessel. A U.S. Defense Department official said Washington was concerned about the attack.
ABC – A Somali pirate spokesman told The Associated Press his group was demanding a $20 million ransom to release a cargo ship loaded with Russian tanks.
The Monitor – A commercial plane landed in Mogadishu despite prohibition by Al-Shabaab, the Islamist group fighting the government in Somalia, against the use of Aden Abdulle International Airport. Following the attack at the airport, artillery from pro-government forces and also suspected to be from Amisom forces, landed in parts of the city including Bakara Market, the main trading centre in Mogadishu. At least 8 people died at Bakara and scores injured and caused mayhem to shoppers and traders.
African Press Agency – An explosion Sunday in Jijiga, an Ethiopian town along the border with Somalia killed four people and injured 10 others, police confirmed here. According to the Ethiopian Federal police, the explosion was caused by a bomb which was planted on a roadside near a taxi station in the town.
MONUC – In Dungu in Orientale Province, a crowd of hundreds of people attacked the MONUC observation post and the liaison office of the UN agency OCHA, plundering and destroying United Nations material and equipment. In addition clashes were announced on 24 September between the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) and the troops of the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) in Rugari, some 30km from Goma on the Rutshuru road, such as the area of JTN south of Nyanzale.
Al Arabiya – Sudanese forces have killed six kidnappers who had abducted 19 tourists and Egyptians in a remote desert nine days ago, and arrested two, in a gun battle after a high-speed chase near the Egyptian border, Sudanese presidential advisor Mahjoub Fadl Badri told reporters on Sunday.

An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the "Stingers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 113 departs a tanker track in Southern Afghanistan to head back to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, while two other Hornets join a British Royal Air Force L-1011 aerial re-fueling aircraft at sunset. (photo by Cmdr. Erik Etz)

The Global War

Defense News – U.S. European Command (EUCOM) has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent U.S. military presence on Israeli soil. More than a dozen aircraft were required to transport an AN/TPY-2 X-band radar to Israel. (U.S. Missile Defense Agency) More than a dozen aircraft, including C-5s and C-17s, helped with the Sept. 21 delivery of the AN/TPY-2 Transportable Radar Surveillance/Forward Based X-band Transportable (FBX-T), its ancillary components and some 120 EUCOM personnel to Israel’s Nevatim Air Base southeast of Beersheba, said sources.
UNS – What began as a mission to find and eliminate terrorists earlier this year in Iraq ended up being a life-defining moment for one member of 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Spc. Joe Gibson was on a secret night mission Apr. 26, 2008 when he placed his comrades’ lives ahead of his while evacuating wounded American Soldiers and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a suicide bomber. His actions that day saved the lives of fellow Rangers.
ITIC – During the past year Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda leader, waged an intensive media campaign after a long silence. Its objective was mainly to inspire global jihad operatives to increase terrorist activities worldwide.
Daily Times – Using all the political clout it can muster in its closing days in office, the Bush administration managed to score a congressional victory when it successfully persuaded the House of Representatives to pass the controversial Indo-US nuclear co-operation agreement by a vote of 298-117. However, the legislation still has to be passed by the Senate, although it has been already approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sights & Sounds

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Cables, dispatches and memoranda

22 August, 2008 (00:59) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda
A brief world news roundup for 22 August 2008.

United States & the Americas

KPHO – The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a Mesa man Wednesday on charges of making false statements relating to his involvement in fundraising activities. The indictment alleges Akram Musa Abdallah, 54, who is also known as Abu Saiaf, told FBI agents that he was not involved in fundraising for the Holy Land Foundation, an organization that allegedly provided financial support for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.
McClatchy – Eighteen months after leaving office, former President Vicente Fox is taking a page from Jimmy Carter’s playbook and engineering his legacy as a champion of democratic values and government transparency at home and abroad.
Soob – There still remains a rather pressing issue that isn’t taking place on another continent. Quite the contrary it’s taking place right along our own national border and is bleeding across the Rio Grand and into America as Americans are being snatched on US soil, brought to Mexico and held for ransom. It is the slow decay of the Mexican state as drug cartels and Mexican authorities wage what is quickly coming to look much more like a civil war.
Xinhua – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday that his government would begin a strategic project for the oil strip of Orinoco, which includes ambitious plans for energy, agriculture and industrial development.
COHA – Paraguay’s poor were graced with the electoral victory of a former Catholic bishop, Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez, in the April 20th presidential election. Lugo’s established fame and the prospect of broad changes in Paraguay are breaching the boundaries of Latin America to become an issue of worldwide interest. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the first to congratulate Lugo on his victory. Iran’s media praised Lugo by calling him “a man of God and an enemy of the Great Satan.”
Juan Arellano – The news media has started to provide more coverage of the protests taking place in Northern Peru. The newspaper La República writes that the commission headed up by Environmental Minister Antonio Brack did not accomplish much. More and more indigenous groups are joining the cause and guarding important state petroleum and hydroelectric companies. In addition, the federal government declared a state of emergency in the area, which calls for an imposition of order. However, the protests continue.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

CNN – The United States has sent 25 planeloads of humanitarian assistance to Georgia even as aid experts try to determine the full extent of the crisis. The United States is unable to gain access to the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
RTT – The European Union and the United States on Thursday welcomed the release of three Belarusian dissidents, who were regarded as political prisoners by the West.
Joshua Kucera – Which breakaway state will be the next South Ossetia?
IWPR – A journey through South Ossetia to Gori reveals widespread destruction in both Ossetian and Georgian areas.
Robert Amsterdam – If you are at all interested in the Georgia issue, many of these photos are unforgettable.
US Navy – Two U.S. Navy ships and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter are getting underway to transport humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia. These deployments are part of the larger United States response to the government of Georgia request for humanitarian assistance.
OGJ – BP, operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, said shipments of Azeri crude would resume next week—nearly 3 weeks since the line’s closure due to an explosion and fire.
interfax – An improvised explosive device went off near the house of the imam of the Maisky community in Ingushetia’s Nazran early on Thursday.
Steve LeVine – Last week, a Russian court barred Robert Dudley, the CEO of BP’s joint venture in Russia, from running the company for two years. Now BP is trying to figure out how to secure its Russian assets, which account for a quarter of the company’s global production.
CRN – On August 19, Grach Melkumyan, head of the Radio Liberty service in Armenia, was beaten in the centre of Yerevan. People at the Radio office convinced that the attack is directly related to the journalist’s professional activities.
Silk Road Intelligencer – As the nuclear industry enjoys a global revival, Kazatomprom is positioning itself to overtake Cameco as the world’s largest producer of uranium. It said in July that it expects to achieve this as early as next year, rather than in 2010 as originally planned.

Middle East

Air Force – An MQ-9 Reaper dropped a 500-pound bomb against an anti-Iraqi target Aug. 16 in one of the first weapons engagements for the unmanned aircraft system. The Reaper began flying combat sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom July 18 and joined the MQ-1 Predator as another UAS patrolling the sky to protect coalition forces.
Dipnote – Behind the Scenes: Secretary Rice Arrives in Baghdad
Javno – The U.S. military freed a Reuters television cameraman on Thursday after holding him for three weeks in Iraq without charges. The U.S. military said at the time of his latest arrest that he was held “because he has been assessed to be a threat to the security of Iraq and coalition forces,” but did not elaborate.
Saudi Gazette – Gulf Arab countries have denounced Iran’s installation of offices on a disputed island in the strategic Gulf waterway and compared its presence there to Israel’s occupation of Arab land.
AFP – Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salukh dismissed as “ravings” on Thursday Israeli threats to target the country’s civilian infrastructure if the government gives greater legitimacy to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
W. Thomas Smith Jr. – Hizballah, the Lebanon-based Shia terrorist group, which U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says “makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team”, has forged a seemingly unlikely alliance with a group of Sunni Salafist factions in Lebanon. The alliance, signed Monday, was temporarily frozen Tuesday. But sources say the deal still may be on.
Al Arabiya – Jordan said on Thursday it summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest against plans for excavation and construction work near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem’s most volatile holy site.

Iran

FT – Bank Mellat, Iran’s third largest state-owned bank, is getting around US-imposed sanctions by establishing links with small and medium-sized banks that have less US exposure than bigger lenders, its managing director said.
Ali Alfoneh – Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken advantage of Iranian millenarianism in a well-orchestrated power play to bypass the established clergy. While Ahmadinejad’s populism is unlikely to ignite a messianic revolt against the clerical establishment, its manifestations, most notably leaks about the clergy’s involvement in economic corruption, will weaken their authority and allow the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to consolidate further control over the power structures of the Islamic Republic.
Payvand – Iran plans to build a new satellite in collaboration with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Iran’s Aerospace Organization says.
Al Alam – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held talks with visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and gave backing to the emirate’s role in settling regional disputes.

Southeast Asia

Independent – Troop numbers in Afghanistan must increase to contain the surge in violence, says the commander of British forces in Helmand.
Toronto Star – Three Canadian soldiers have been killed by a massive roadside bomb in Afghanistan along a blood-soaked stretch of highway that has claimed the lives of a number of NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.
TIME – For the last few years, Iraq was the magnet for jihadis around the world. No longer. Afghanistan, which was the center of extremist pilgrimage when it was ruled by the Taliban, has retaken that position, according to European intelligence sources.
UNS – An Army Special Forces Soldier died heroically in a June vehicle accident when he gave his life to save a comrade from drowning in Afghanistan, according to the lone surviving Soldier from the vehicle accident. Master Sgt. Shawn E. Simmons, Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey M. Rada Morales and Sgt. James M. Treber, all from Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), drowned June 29 when, under the cover of darkness, their heavily armored vehicle (RG-31) dropped off a narrow, unimproved dirt road and rolled upside down into a water-filled canal.
AKI – As the death toll mounted from the twin suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan on Thursday, the Taliban claimed responsibility and immediately threatened to launch other attacks.
Reuters – Floods caused by heavy rains have swamped hundreds of villages in northern India, killing at least 114 people since last week, officials said. In total, about 660 people have died during this monsoon season in Uttar Pradesh.
Times of India – Six policemen, two Maoists and a passerby were killed in a fierce exchange of fire after heavily-armed CPI (Maoist) extremists attacked the policemen who had come for a routine inspection of the Raniganj branch of Punjab National Bank at Raniganj village in Bihar’s Gaya district on Thursday noon.
Kuna – As many as two insurgents have been killed in an encounter with police in India’s Northeastern state of Manipur.
Reuters – Sri Lankan attack helicopters pounded Tamil Tiger positions on Thursday and troops killed 33 rebels in the latest bout of an eight-month onslaught to corner the separatist group, the military said.

Far East & Pacific

Jakarta Post – A reporter was killed and at least 20 other people wounded when a bomb exploded Thursday night in Thailand’s southern border town of Sungai Golok, police said.
BBC – The UN in East Timor has rejected claims by the country’s president that it was slow to act in the aftermath of his shooting earlier this year.
Hamropalo – Some 50,000 people have been forced to flee after monsoon rains washed away a dam in southern Nepal and were taking refuge in makeshift shelters, schools and temples, an official said Wednesday.
Jawa Report – Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV shows Uncle Waddah clarifying whether or not Jews are the sons of pigs and apes. Australia seeks to ban the station from being broadcast by an Indonesian satellite service popular with local Muslims.

Europe

NY Times – A British court said on Thursday that a terrorism suspect being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had credible arguments that the United States had illegally spirited him away to Morocco and that he had been tortured there.
Gulf news – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday Britain would put more resources into training the Afghan army after a surge in Taliban violence this year and pledged an extra $120 million (Dh440.4 million) in development aid.
Islam in Europe – List of Mosques in Europe

Africa

Mark Hemingway – What’s the worst place in the world? If one were to judge strictly by media hype, Zimbabwe, Somalia, and Sudan would seem to be the prime contenders. Some pieces of terra firma, however, are so Godforsaken and blood-soaked that they are ignored by the media lest they be allowed to trouble the Western world’s already guilt-ridden conscience. This is why you never read anything about Equatorial Guinea, a country of such Dantesque absurdity as to scarcely be believed. [me: this is one of best articles on Africa I've read in awhile]
AHN – Mortar shells landed on a crowded market and mosque in Somalia Thursday, killing 11 civilians as heavy fighting erupted between insurgents who attacked the presidential palace and government forces backed by Ethiopian troops.
Daily Star – Somali Islamists attacked the president’s residence in Mogadishu Thursday, sparking fierce exchanges with Ethiopian and government forces in which six civilians were killed, witnesses said.
BBC – Mauritania’s former prime minister has been re-arrested, a few days after being freed by the new military rulers.
elEconomista – After a century of broken promises, a paved road linking Kenya to Ethiopia is no longer amirage for a desert region choked by remoteness. Hurling up a cloud of blinding white dust, Chinese roadengineers are helping to lay down the first kilometres oftarmac to replace a 530-km (330-mile) forbidding rock track that joins Kenya’s farms and port to landlocked Ethiopia.
Accra Mail – President John Agyekum Kufuor has called for an ECOWAS initiative to combat the swollen shoot disease, a major threat to the sub-region’s cocoa industry.
Oxford Analytica – On Monday, Ecobank will make African history with its $2.5 billion rights issue, in a sign of the dramatic growth of the region’s banking sector.
CFR – Of the ten countries with the highest percentage of educated citizens living abroad, six are in sub-Saharan Africa, where many governments heavily subsidize higher education. Development experts decry the adverse impact of brain drain on the region. But recent research on migration of skilled workers concludes that brain drain might, through remittances and the return of talented workers, be good for Africa.

The Global War

Richard Barrett, ICSR – Speaking in a personal capacity, the U.N.’s highest ranking official responsible for monitoring the activities of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, has just released the results of a comprehensive assessment of the capabilities and intentions of these organisations at an ICSR Briefing in New York. Barrett offered his personal blueprint for defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban with a precise mix of military and political tactics.
UK MoD – A £2bn contract for the future supply of small arms and medium calibre ammunition to the British Armed Forces was signed by the Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems Land Wednesday.
Information Dissemination – Sindh Today brings news with details of the participants for the upcoming Malabar 2008 exercise. For those not familiar, Malabar is the annual naval exercise conducted in the Indian Ocean with the US Navy and the Indian Navy. Last year Australia and Singapore both participated, but this year no additional nations have been announced as participants.
Russia Today – Syria says it’s ready to put a Russian missile system on its soil as a counterweight to U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Noah Pollak – For Damascus, the appearance of having earned another patron will be played to the hilt. For Russia, docking at Tartus is simply another means of issuing a blunt communique to the world, and securing another venue through which to annoy the United States and its allies. It will be interesting to see the U.S. Navy’s response to the presence of a Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.

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