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| Tuesday, February 13, 2007 |
| North Korea agrees to take steps for nuclear disarmament |
North Korea agreed to take steps towards nuclear disarmament under a groundbreaking deal struck in Beijing on Tuesday.
The deal will fetch the impoverished communist state over $300 million (154 million pounds) worth of aid.
Under the agreement, which was reached by six countries in Beijing after nearly a week of talks, Pyongyang will freeze the reactor at the heart of its nuclear programme and allow international inspections of the site.
The proposed plan – put into place by South Korea, North Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia, and China – will only be the first step in locating and dismantling North Korea’s nuclear arms activities, leaving many crucial questions to future negotiations.
“This is only one phase of de-nuclearisation. We’re not done,” Christopher Hill, chief negotiator of the United States, said.
Japan voiced its doubts whether any agreement could be made to stick.
John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations and a conservative, decried the pact as a “very bad deal.” He said the communist state should not be rewarded with “massive shipments of heavy fuel oil” for only partially dismantling its nuclear programme.
“It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world,” John Bolton remarked.
Under the agreement, North Korea must take the steps within 60 days, and in return it will receive 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil or economic aid of equal value.
It will receive another 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent when it takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities, including providing a complete inventory of its plutonium – the fuel used in Pyongyang’s first nuclear test blast in October 2006.
The 1 million tonnes of fuel would be worth around $300 million at current prices for heavy fuel oil, which is used in power stations, shipping and elsewhere.
The steps, for the time being, do not involve the provision of 2,000 megawatts of electricity that South Korea pledged in a September 2005 deal reached by the six countries. South Korea would do so after the completion of de-nuclearisation of North Korea.
The electricity, at an estimated cost of $8.55 billion over 10 years, would be almost equal to North Korea’s current output.
The Beijing talks had focussed on how to begin implementing a September 2005 accord that offered Pyongyang aid and security assurances in return for dismantling its weapons capabilities.
The United States would contribute to the infusion of oil and aid for North Korea. For this, US President George W Bush must win Congressional approval.Labels: International Politics |
posted by a correspondent @ 8:39 PM   |
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| Monday, February 12, 2007 |
| West issues tough warning to Iran over nuclear weapons plans |
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has declared that the international community is determined to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
She said there was "no way around" the need for Tehran to accept demands from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator is set to tell a summit in Munich, the Munich Conference on Security Policy, a gathering of about 250 of the world's top security officials, that Iran wants nuclear power, not nuclear weapons.
Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had frozen about half of the technical aid projects involving Iran.
The IAEA says its move is to comply with the UN sanctions imposed on Tehran late in 2006 over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's speech opened the Munich Conference on Security Policy, which is expected to include Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
It would be Larijani's first meeting with European officials since the collapse of the talks in 2006.
Key figures present at the summit also included Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
"What we are talking about here is a very, very sensitive technology, and for that reason we need a high degree of transparency, which Iran has failed to provide, and if Iran does not do so, then the alternative for Iran is to slip further into isolation," Angela Merkel said.
The conference this year also focuses on NATO's changing role, the Middle East peace process, the West's relations with Russia and the fight against terrorism.
Putin, who spoke after Angela Merkel, criticised the United States for the "almost uncontained" use of force in the world, and for encouraging other countries to acquire nuclear weapons. "We are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations," Putin said.
Meanwhile, European officials are hoping to hold informal talks with Larijani on the Iranian nuclear standoff on the sidelines of the conference.
Earlier, an IAEA report said 22 technical aid projects involving Iran has been suspended to comply with the UN sanctions, which call for an end to programmes that could be exploited by Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
The IAEA gives technical aid to dozens of countries on the peaceful use of nuclear energy in fields such as medicine, agriculture and power generation.
The IAEA has been reportedly under pressure from the United States to take a tough line on Iran.
A senior UN official said the freeze constituted a "substantial cut" in technical aid to Iran.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 9:12 PM |
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| Saturday, February 10, 2007 |
| Hamas, Fatah agree to form coalition govt |
Hamas and Fatah, the rival Palestinian factions, have agreed to form a coalition government.
However, there was no immediate guarantee that the agreement would be sufficient to lift an international boycott on the Palestinian government.
After two days of talks in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the leaders of Hamas and Fatah agreed on a list of ministers for a new national-unity Cabinet and called for a halt to factional fighting that has claimed over 100 lives in the occupied territories in recent weeks.
The deal, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described as "a new era," appeared to have averted a slide into civil war.
Hamas, the Islamic militant movement voted into government a year ago, apparently had the upper hand in the agreement. Ismail Haniyeh, Prime Minister and Hamas leader, will stay on.
An independent candidate, selected by Hamas and approved by Fatah, will be given the key position of Interior Minister, which includes control of the thousands of security forces.
Israel and the quartet of Middle East negotiators -- the European Union, the United Nations, the United States, and Russia -- had insisted that, in order to lift an international boycott, the new government had to meet three conditions: recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence, and acceptance of previous peace deals.
Before the Mecca agreement, it appeared that both Israel and the quartet were reluctant to accept any flexibility on those requirements. However, there was apparently no deal for recognition of Israel; it was agreed only to "respect" past peace agreements.
The new government would reportedly follow an agreement known as the prisoners' document, a programme drawn up jointly by jailed Fatah and Hamas figures in June 2006. It called for a Palestinian state within the land captured by Israel in 1967, with its capital in Jerusalem, and for continued "resistance" to Israel within the occupied territories.
The agreement stopped short of recognisng Israel, but said Hamas should work towards joining the Palestine Liberation Organisation, currently a Fatah-dominated umbrella group which has formally recognized Israel.
Shortly after the agreement was announced, a spokeswoman of the Israeli government said Israel still expected a Palestinian government to meet the conditions set by the quartet of negotiators. She did not say whether her government accepted the deal reached in Mecca.
The Mecca pact comes 10 days before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Jerusalem to chair a meeting between Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas.
Israel's rejection of the new Palestinian government's programme could endanger the chance of restarting peace talks.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 11:28 PM |
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| Tuesday, January 30, 2007 |
| Six nation talks on North Korea's nuke plans to resume on Feb 8 |
The six-nation talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme will resume in Beijing, capital of China, on February 8, 2007.
The negotiations had broken down in December 2006 over the United States' allegations of money-laundering by North Korean companies.
"We believe that the six-party talks is a gradual and complicated process, but it is the best mechanism for arriving at the goal of de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Tuesday at a briefing in Beijing after announcing the date of the talks.
North Korea had abandoned the talks in November 2005 after the US Treasury Department described a China-based bank that did business with North Korea as a money-laundering threat.
China, the US, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia met again in December 2006, but no progress was made.
The US Treasury Department had alleged that Banco Delta Asia SARL laundered money from North Korea and worked with front companies trafficking drugs for the regime of Kim Jong Il. Chinese officials responded by seizing the bank and freezing its assets, and other international banks severed their relationships with North Korea.
North Korea said it would not take part in discussions until the issue was settled.
US Treasury officials are meeting a North Korea delegation in Beijing on Tuesday to resume talks on the freezing of $24 million in North Korean accounts at the bank.
China is not involved in the separate financial discussions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu Jiang said.
"We are prepared to go through these talks as long as it takes for us to get through our agenda," US Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser was quoted as saying on Tuesday in Beijing before the start of the discussions.
North Korea must take "concrete" steps toward abandoning its nuclear weapons programme at the next round of talks, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Suzuki said. "We will strongly seek from North Korea concrete action to give up its nuclear weapons," Suzuki told a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
The Japanese Government will raise, during the negotiations, the issue of North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, Suzuki said. North Korea has admitted abducting 13 Japanese, and it allowed five to return home in 2002. Japan says 17 citizens were kidnapped.
South Korea has called for "proactive and sincere" participation from the parties involved in the talks.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 8:34 PM |
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| Hamas-Fatah ceasefire comes into force in Gaza |
A ceasefire started taking effect in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, after five days of intense fighting between Palestine's Hamas and Fatah factions that left 34 people dead.
However, previous truce agreements agreed upon in recent weeks of factional clashes had quickly collapsed. So it appeared unlikely that the two sides would comply with all the terms of the current agreement, such as handing over all those involved in the killings and abductions.
In the past, Hamas and Fatah gunmen had used lull periods to prepare for the next round of fighting.
The shaky truce deal, struck by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and Rauhi Fattouh, an envoy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, came as a two-month ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians was shattered by a Palestinian suicide bomber in the Israeli resort town of Eilat on Monday, killing three bystanders and himself.
Israeli leaders have hinted that a military response was being considered.
Early on Tuesday, Israeli aircraft bombed a tunnel dug by the Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border. The Israeli military said the tunnel was meant to be used by militants to attack Israel.
In the past, militants had dug such tunnels to attack Israeli army outposts and other installations.
Israel has been observing a truce with the Palestinians in Gaza since November 2006, and the air strike appeared to signal that the suicide bombing at Eilat has put that ceasefire in danger.
In Gaza City, gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the night, but the shooting stopped at about 5 a.m. local time – many hours after the ceasefire deal was struck.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas said the agreement stipulates that all security forces return to their bases, that suspects in the killings are to be handed over, and that all hostages still being held are to be released. Also, all roadblocks set up by the two factions are to be removed.
Fatah spokesman Maher Mekdad said his group would stand by the truce. "Despite all the bitterness and sadness that we are feeling, we will work to make it succeed," he said.
However, the underlying cause of the fighting – the fierce power struggle between Hamas and Fatah – has not been resolved.
Coalition talks have broken down and appear unlikely to resume soon.
Menwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is determined to go ahead with calling early elections, a plan denounced by Hamas as a coup attempt.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 8:32 PM |
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| Palestinian suicide bomber kills 3 in Israel |
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a bakery in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat, killing three bystanders.
This was the first such incident in Israel in nine months.
According to eyewitnesses, the suicide bomber looked conspicuous as he was wearing a long winter coat on a warm, sunny day.
Benny Mazgini, 45, told Israel Radio: "It was very hot, very hot. He had a coat on and it didn't look right to me. I thought to myself: What's that man dressed like that for? A couple of seconds later, I heard a massive explosion."
The explosion sent shattered glass and pieces of flesh flying, Mazgini said.
The suicide bombing marks the first attack in Israel in nine months and the first to ever hit Eilat, Israel's southernmost city.
The attack is the second bombing in Israel since Hamas took over power in Palestine in January 2006.
"This really has rattled Eilat," a television reporter said in Jerusalem. "Eilat has been somewhat insulated from a lot of the violence, especially the suicide bombings, that have hit other parts of the country over the last four years," he added.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asserted that Israel would continue to fight against Palestinian militants. However, he stopped short of threatening a direct retaliation.
"We shall draw the conclusions and learn the lessons and instruct our security people to continue their ongoing and never-ending struggle against terrorists and those who send them," Olmert declared.
The White House, in a statement, condemned "Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, which condone these barbaric actions."
"The burden of responsibility for preventing terrorist attacks rests with the Palestinian Authority government. Failure to act against terror will inevitably affect relations between that government and the international community," the statement said.
Meanwhile, two Palestinian militant groups – Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – have claimed joint responsibility for the suicide bombing. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is linked to Fatah.
However, Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman denounced the violence, saying his party, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was "against any operation that targets civilians, Israelis or Palestinians."
However, the bombing was praised by Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, who described the attack as "a natural response to Israeli policy." "So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate," he argued.
Hamas, the radical Islamic group, controls the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet.
Eilat, located on the Red Sea near the Jordan-Egypt border, is a four-hour drive from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. As a massive barrier separates Israel from Gaza, it is unclear as to how the suicide bomber entered Israel.
At their peak four years ago, suicide bombings had killed hundreds of Israelis in numerous attacks.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 8:30 PM |
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| Thursday, January 25, 2007 |
| Israel's President Moshe Katsav faces rape charge |
Menachem Mazuz, Attorney-General of Israel, has said he plans to charge Israel's President Moshe Katsav with rape, abuse of power and other sexual offences.
The move marks the end of a seven-month investigation that turned into one of several scandals that have hit the government heavily.
Katsav, who as President has largely ceremonial powers, will have the chance to make his case in one final hearing before a decision is made to hand down a formal indictment. His lawyers had earlier suggested he would resign if charged, but reports suggested that he did not intend to resign for now.
The President has always maintained his innocence. If charged, it would be the first time a sitting Israeli President has been indicted with a crime.
Several MPs have called for Katsav's immediate resignation. Limor Livnat, a former Cabinet Minister from the Likud party, to which Katsav belongs, told Army Radio: "The President must resign immediately. There is no room for manoeuvres or backflips."
The case against Katsav is based in part on testimony from several female employees. He allegedly assaulted one woman and forced another to have sex with him in his office. A string of other allegations were also investigated.
The office of Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz said it now had enough evidence to support charges against the President, including rape, harassment, sexual relations involving the abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and illegally accepting gifts.
The incident first emerged in July 2006 when the President himself complained to the Attorney-General that he was being blackmailed by the woman he is now suspected of raping. But once the investigation began, the focus turned on the President himself and the Israeli press was filled with lurid accounts of the case.
Katsav's lawyer has said the President is innocent and that some of the evidence came from employees who were angry at losing their jobs.
Katsav's term as President expires in July 2007, and it may take several weeks before a final indictment hearing is held. His predecessor, Ezer Weizman, had resigned just before the end of his term after he was found to have improperly accepted gifts, though he was not charged.
Haim Ramon, who was forced to resign as Justice Minister, is now on trial for indecent assault, accused of forcibly kissing a young female soldier. The verdict in his case is due at the end of the month.
Last week, prosecutors said they were opening a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over his involvement in the sale of part of an Israeli bank when he was Finance Minister.
At least two other political cases involving Olmert are being studied and may yet lead to more criminal investigations. The Prime Minister has denied any wrongdoing. The President enjoys immunity while in office and could be tried only after his resignation or the end of his term.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 1:01 AM |
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| Lebanon's national strike turns violent |
The political crisis in Lebanon has worsened into violence as opposition supporters have enforced a nationwide general strike in a renewed attempt to bring down the Western-backed Government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
At least three people were reported killed and over 130 others wounded as opponents of the Government blocked roads and rival factions fought each other with stones and sticks.
Areas north of Beirut witnessed scuffles between rival Christian groups, while the Sunnis and Shias clashed in the capital.
Roads were blocked with burning tyres and rubbish bins, and the Beirut airport was cut off from the city centre, forcing the cancellation of several flights.
Lebanese troops and riot police, accompanied by fire engines, fanned out at key intersections and trouble-spots along the main roads, but they did not attempt to remove the blockade by force.
Many Lebanese stayed at home for the day, some in observance of the strike call, others because they were afraid to venture out and challenge the opposition roadblocks.
Some Lebanese, however, were determined to overcome the obstacles and reach their workplaces.
The Hezbollah-led opposition, sympathetic to Syria, launched its campaign to topple the pro-Western Government on December 1, 2006, erecting a `tent city' in central Beirut to house thousands of protesters for an indefinite sit-in.
But, the Government, which has nearly equal public support as the opposition has, refused to yield. And, this has created a political deadlock that has so far defied even international mediation.
The opposition is demanding the formation of a national unity government, giving it an increased share of Cabinet seats, before holding fresh parliamentary elections.
The strike came two days before a key fund-raising conference in Paris in which the Lebanese Government hopes to raise up to $7 billion (£3.5 billion) to revive the debt-laden economy and push through a package of economic reforms.
Siniora had urged the Lebanese to ignore the strike and go to work as normal, saying that the opposition's action was intended to jeopardise the success of the donor conference. Though Siniora has planned to fly to Paris on Tuesday, he was forced to delay his trip as it was considered too dangerous to attempt to reach the airport.
The confrontation between the Government and opposition has strained the already tense relations between Lebanon's Sunni and Shia Muslim communities, eclipsing for the first time the more traditional Christian-Muslim divide.
Fears that the strike could descend into sectarian violence were realised in the Beirut neighbourhood of Mazraa when Shia supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal movement fought with Sunni followers of the `Future' movement, which is headed by Saad Hariri, leader of the parliamentary majority and son of Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister many Lebanese believe was murdered on Syria's orders.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 12:59 AM |
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| Bush address brings to fore America's anti-war sentiment |
United States President George Bush's annual State of the Union Address has, quite interestingly, laid open the extent to which the Iraq war has divided the country, as Bush appealed for more time to resolve the conflict.
Even as support for him among the public and Congress – even the Republicans – is waning, Bush argued that whatever the motivations of the members of Congress at the time of the war, there was a consensus in the US that the war had to be won.
"This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in," Bush said. In contrast with previous years, when his pronouncements on Iraq were cheered by Congressmen, his passage on Iraq was listened to largely in silence. The divide was clearest when Vice-President Dick Cheney, the Administration's `hawk' – sitting behind the President – rose to applaud Bush while Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House and a critic of the Iraq war, remained seated.
Elsewhere in the chamber, some Republicans also stood to applaud, but many Congressmen refused to rise.
Bush, in his 53-minute speech, the sixth of his presidency, attempted to regain some of the authority that has ebbed away from him in recent months, especially in the last fortnight over his unpopular decision to send additional US troops to Iraq.
Bush devoted about half of his speech to foreign policy, mainly Iraq, and half to domestic issues.
The other notable point from the foreign policy passage was his repeated jibes at Iran, particularly allegations that it was heavily involved in Iraq.
The most eye-catching of the domestic initiatives was a proposal to try to tackle America's "addiction to oil" by setting an ambitious target to reduce petrol consumption within 10 years by 20%. He set out a plan to achieve this through increased use of ethanol and other bio-fuel alternatives and through car manufacturers making their products more fuel-efficient.
Other domestic initiatives included a proposal to offer temporary status to immigrant workers, which he has proposed before and failed to get through Congress, and health care reform.
However, Bush's address was dominated by Iraq. He said: "Every one of us wishes that this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned and our own security at risk. On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve and turn events toward victory."
State of the Union Addresses are notable for the odd ritual in which members of Congress from both parties jump regularly to their feet to applaud the President, but Bush only got that applause towards the end of the passage on the war when he called for support for the troops going to Iraq.
The mood on Capitol Hill and the country in general is now so predominantly anti-war, and Bush clearly failed to change minds. Though he has two years to run and still has the power to embark on another war – though that is unlikely – the speech may mark the point at which his presidency was effectively over, at least in terms of getting his programme through and being listened to on Iraq.
Members of both Senate and House of Representatives will, on Wednesday, continue with preparations for a resolution condemning the troop increase, backed by Democrats and dissident Republicans. The White House, for the first time, acknowledged on Tuesday that it was going to lose the resolution.
Meanwhile, President Bush's nominee to be the next commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant-General David H Petraeus, told Congress on Tuesday that the situation in the war-torn Iraq was dire and posed "tough days" ahead, but he pleaded for time to begin executing a new strategy.
Petraeus, 54, who developed the Army's counterinsurgency warfare manual, is expected to win Senate approval this week, despite being an architect of Bush's unpopular new strategy. But, as Petraeus fielded questions from Senators of both parties about the deepening dilemma facing US forces, he was forthcoming and occasionally blunt in his assessment of American odds in Iraq.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 12:57 AM |
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| Wednesday, January 24, 2007 |
| It's official: China confirms it shot down satellite |
Finally, China confirmed on Tuesday that it carried out a test that destroyed an orbiting satellite.
Until Tuesday, China had refused to confirm or deny the reports.
China's successful shooting down of an orbiting satellite with a ground-based ballistic missile had caused international alarm.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said a test had been carried out, but insisted that China was committed to the "peaceful development of outer space."
Reports last week, backed by the United States, had said China used a ground-based, medium-range ballistic missile to destroy a weather satellite.
It was the first known satellite intercept test in over 20 years.
Several countries, including Japan, Australia and the United States, have expressed concern at the test, amid worries that it could trigger an arms race in space.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters that China had notified "other parties and... the American side" of its test.
But, China stresses that it has consistently advocated the peaceful development of outer space and it opposes the arming of space and military competition in space, Liu Jianchao told a news conference.
"China has never, and will never, participate in any form of space arms race," he asserted.
American Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine had reported that a Chinese Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite had been destroyed by an anti-satellite system launched from or near China's Xichang Space Centre on January 11, 2007. The test is believed to have taken place at over 537 miles (865 km) above the earth.
The magazine's report was confirmed by US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe last Thursday.
Johndroe had said at the time that the US "believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area."
Japan and Australia also spoke of their fears of a possible new arms race in space.
The test also triggered alarm in Taiwan, which relies on US satellites to monitor Chinese deployments.
Besides, there are already growing international concerns about China's rising military power.
While Beijing keeps its defence spending a secret, analysts say that it has grown rapidly in recent years.
China has now become the third country in the world to shoot down something orbiting in space -- after both the United States and the erstwhile Soviet Union halted similar tests in the 1980s over concerns that the debris they produced could harm civilian and military satellite operations.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 8:07 AM |
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| 10 killed in suicide bombing outside US base in Afghanistan |
In one of the bloodiest suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan so far in 2007, 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 14 others were injured outside a United States military base in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province on Tuesday.
The attacker detonated explosives, strung on his body, among a crowd of Afghan labourers queuing up to enter a NATO base in Afghanistan, located 6 kilometres north-east of the provincial capital of Khost.
According to Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary, the victims were waiting to pass security checks to enter the base, where most of them worked,
He said the wounded civilians were all evacuated to a NATO hospital in the province.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed that there had been an explosion close to Salerno military base, but said no troops were among the casualties.
A purported spokesman of the Taliban took responsibility for the attack, saying six US soldiers and four of their "Afghan spies" were killed in the attack.
Suicide attacks are a hallmark of the Taliban-led insurgency after the hardline Islamic movement was ousted from power in 2001.
"The suicide bomber was Mohammed Hanif, a citizen from Khost province, who rammed his explosive-packed vehicle into a convoy of US forces," Zabeeullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, was quoted in a statement posted in the militants' website.
This was the bloodiest suicide bombing in Afghanistan so far in 2007.
Nearly 140 suicide attacks took place in 2006, according to US military, leaving hundreds of Afghan civilians and over a dozen of international troops dead, compared to 2005.
This figure shows a five-fold increase in suicide attacks in post-Taliban Afghanistan.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 8:06 AM |
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| Monday, January 22, 2007 |
| Journalist-activist Hrant Dink murdered in Turkey |
Hrant Dink, 53, prominent newspaper editor and a leading figure in one of Turkey's most burning historical debates – the massacre of Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman empire – has been shot dead.
Dink was shot three times in the head outside the office of Agos, his weekly newspaper, Istanbul, capital of Turkey. He died almost immediately.
The murder brought swift condemnation from Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The police are invesrtigating.
Hrant Dink was a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent and had played a leading role in breaking a taboo in Turkey, were debate on the fate of the Armenians had for years been an untouchable subject. He was widely credited with trying to bring Turks and Armenians together, but had been given a suspended prison sentence in 2005 for allegedly insulting the Turkish state.
Armenians say the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenian citizens of the Ottoman empire were a deliberate genocide by the empire's rulers beginning in 1915. Turkey denies genocide and insists that hundreds of thousands of both Turks and Armenians died as a result of war, famine, ethnic cleansing and disease in that turbulent period.
Dink's murder could have serious repercussions for Turkey in Washington. Both houses of the United States Congress are due to debate a motion in the next few weeks that would recognise the Armenian massacre as genocide.
Turkey is fighting diplomatically to prevent this, and the White House has indicated that it would not approve such a motion. But the atmosphere in which the debate takes place will be clouded by Friday's murder.
Dink's murder will have a huge impact in Turkey, too. It is an election year in Turkey and all political parties are beginning to position themselves to capture the nationalist vote, which represents a sizeable portion of the electorate.
Ultranationalists have succeeded many times in shutting off debate on the Armenian issue, including academic debates at universities.
Most Turks are not aware of the fate of the Armenians because Turkish school history textbooks make no reference to it, but a debate has emerged in the past two years with Hrant Dink as one of its most prominent proponents.
The Republic of Turkey was created in 1923 from the ruins of the Ottoman empire.
Dink was known to have received many death threats in recent years, he is understood to have refused police protection.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 3:29 AM |
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| Israel releases $100 million to Mahmoud Abbas |
Israel has transferred $100 million in withheld revenues to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had agreed to the transfer during a meeting with Abbas in December 2006.
The Jewish state had begun withholding about $50 million monthly in taxes and customs duties in 2006 after the militant Hamas movement took control of the Palestinian government following elections.
Israel described the funds transfer as part of an effort to boost the weakened Abbas, a relatively moderate leader belonging to Fatah, the main rival of Hamas.
The $100 million represents less than one-third of the money Israel has collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and refused to part with.
Israeli officials said the money was being channeled to Abbas' office rather than to any ministry of the Palestinian Authority in order to sustain an aid embargo against Hamas, which Israel and much of the West consider a terrorist group.
"The money is not meant to go to the Hamas-controlled government. It is to support the Palestinian people, and Abbas will be distributing it," a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry stressed.
Palestinian officials said the funds would help them pay companies that supply hospitals, schools and farms.
The transfer, one of several modest concessions promised by Olmert during the December 23, 2006, summit, could help the Palestinian leader in his political standoff with Hamas.
Even after many months of negotiations, Fatah and Hamas have not agreed on terms of a power-sharing arrangement that would break the West's aid embargo.
Abbas is soon meeting Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas political leader, in Damascus, Syria, in a fresh bid to break the months-long impasse.
Abbas had earlier announced that talks with Hamas were reaching nowhere and that he would call early elections for the presidency and parliament. But mediators continued to coax the two sides into agreeing on a joint government under terms that could satisfy the West.
Past talks between Fatah and Hamas had got deadlocked over the distribution of ministerial posts as well as Hamas' refusal to recognise the nation of Israel. Western nations demand that the Palestinian government accept Israel's right to exist, shun violence and agree to abide by past Israeli-Palestinian accords.
In another development, Israel's Defence Minister Amir Peretz froze a plan to build new housing for Jewish settlers in the West Bank. The proposal for about new 100 homes had drawn international criticism as also protests from Palestinian officials and Israeli advocates of peace.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 3:28 AM |
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| China's satellite-killer kicks up widespread dismay, debate |
The reported success that China achieved day in destroying its own weather satellite by a `killer' weapon mounted on a ground-based ballistic missile has kicked up a huge debate among military analysts, especially in the United States.
The debate is mainly focused on what message Beijing is trying to send by its `show of strength' and how the US should respond to it.
Defence analysts and experts agree that Beijing might possibly be trying to challenge the US supremacy in space. Washington, they believe,has limited choices to react to the development, which has shocked China's neighbours, including Japan.
For one thing, this is the first time that a ground-based missile has destroyed an orbiting satellite.
The US and the erstwhile Soviet Union has used orbiting `killer' missiles to smash other orbiting satellites, but their attempts to shoot down a satellite from ground-based missiles had failed.
In fact, defence experts could not agree on any specific solution in case China goes ahead with the new programme and also expand it. They, however, made suggestions, including negotiating with Beijing to ban such `killer' weapons and sending to space hundreds of smaller satellites so that that shooting them down becomes impossible.
According to an analysis in the Newsweek magazine, launching a larger number of satellites is an option, but then, producing and stockpiling enough spare payloads and boosters and then getting the payloads activated has proved to be near-impossible vis-à-vis operation and engineering.
The US intelligence agencies believe that China launched the `killer' rocket from its Xichang spaceport and guided it into a high-speed, head-on collision.
However, so far China has neither confirmed nor denied the test.
An article in the New York Times recalled that, at the annual military fair in Zhuhai in November 2006, some Chinese newspapers had carried an interview with an unidentified military official who boasted that China had already completely ensured that it has second-strike capability. He had added that China could destroy satellites in space.
Having a weapon that can disable or destroy satellites is considered a component of China's unofficial doctrine of asymmetrical warfare, the Times said, pointing out that China's army strategists have written that the military intends to use relatively inexpensive but highly disruptive technologies to obstruct the better-equipped and better-trained American forces in the event of an armed conflict, for example, over the issue of Taiwan.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 3:23 AM |
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| Saturday, January 20, 2007 |
| China uses ballistic missile to destroy satellite |
US rattled as China successfully tests satellite-killerA successful test that China reportedly conducted to smash a satellite using ground-based, medium-range ballistic missile has evoked the United States' concern. And, defence analysts fear that this could trigger a space arms race.
US spy agencies said China shot down an ageing weather satellite by slamming into it a ground-based missile about 860 km above the earth.
China conducted the test on January 11, 2007, but Beijing had not informed any country about its intention to do so, US officials said.
So far, the United States and the former Soviet Union were the only countries to have successfully held satellite-killing tests – the last one being some 20 years ago during concluding years of the Cold War.
It is feared that the Chinese technology could be harmful for low-orbit spy satellites of the United States.
US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the US thinks that China's development and testing of the satellite-killer weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the era of civil space.
Gordon Johndroe said: "We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding the actions of the Chinese." However, he did not identify the other states, but media reports said Canada and Australia were among them.
Some analysts believe that China's latest weapon test could put pressure on the US Administration to negotiate treaties for banning weaponisation of space, something which it has resisted till now.
Quoting Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launching and space activity, The New York Times said this is the first real escalation in the weaponisation of space in 20 years. "It ends a long period of restraint," McDowell remarked.
Another concern is that the debris of the smashed satellite could hit other satellites and put them out of action at a time when the whole world depends on satellites for communications. America's particular fear is that the debris could hit its spy satellites.
Some experts even fear that the debris could pose threat to other satellites for years.
The last such test, conducted by the US on September 13, 1985, was later halted fearing that the debris could dent other satellites. But, the US had then shied away from pressing for a global treaty to ban such tests.
Repots say that the satellites presumably in the range of the Chinese missiles include most of the imagery satellites used for basic military reconnaissance, which are vital for the US intelligence set-up watching out for military movements, potential nuclear tests and terrorism.
In August 2006, President Bush had announced a new space policy which called for preserving US rights, capabilities and freedom of action in space and dissuading or deterring others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended do so.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 9:37 PM |
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| Friday, January 19, 2007 |
| Hillary Clinton somersaults, steps up anti-war tirade |
United States Senator Hillary Clinton (Democrat-New York) has made her harshest-ever assessment of President Bush's Iraq war strategy – continuing her determined evolution from the Iraqi war's strongest supporter to one of the Administration's most prominent critics.
Hillary Clinton's increased criticism of the Iraqi war comes as she nears an announcement of her plan to run for President in the 2008 election as well as a period of stepped-up anti-war activity in the Democratic Party. The anti-war campaign is aimed at blocking President Bush's proposal to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
Hillary's long support for the war and her past reluctance to distance herself considerably from the Bush Administration had earned ire from many liberal activists, who would play a major role in the Democratic nomination battle.
On Wednesday, Hillary just stopped short of proposing a timetable for troops withdrawal from Iraq – an idea many activists support.
After returning from a visit to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hillary said President Bush's new proposal threatens the missions in Iraq. In Iraq, she said, more troops are not the answer, but in Afghanistan additional troops are badly needed.
"The President's team is pursuing a failed strategy in Iraq as it edges closer to collapse, and Afghanistan needs more of our concerted effort and attention," Hillary had said.
She said she supports a non-binding resolution opposing Bush's plan, but she would go further ahead by introducing legislation to limit the number of US troops in Iraq. The legislation, Hillary stressed, would establish conditions for the US Administration as well, like certifying that the Iraqi government had disarmed the sectarian militias and made constitutional changes to ensure rights for all ethnic minorities, as well as requiring participating in diplomatic activities with Iraq's neighbors.
Hillary Clinton was also harsh in her criticism of the Iraqi government. She had met Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"The Iraqi government," she complained, " is not committed to taking the steps both militarily and politically that would help them to gain control over Baghdad and other places in the country."Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 10:24 AM |
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| Israel's Prime Minister, Defence Minister under pressure to quit |
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz are under renewed pressure to resign after the Israeli Army Chief of Staff stepped down in the wake of the flawed Lebanon war.
Israel went to war with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas just hours after they killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a July 12, 2006, cross-border raid.
Pressure on Olmert and Peretz is likely to increase ahead of the release of a wide-ranging government inquiry into the war. The investigative panel, focusing on the performance of military and political leaders, is likely to announce its findings in the coming weeks.
An opinion poll published last week showed Olmert's approval rating at just 14%, and his Kadima Party losing if new elections were held.
Army Chief Dan Halutz quit after a series of investigations found that the military mishandled last summer's war – it came to light that the army was unprepared for the war, enabling Hezbollah to escape unscathed.
Three army generals have now lost their jobs because of the war.
The sudden resignation of Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, Israel's top military official, was yet another blow to the Prime Minister, whose popularity has plunged after last summer's war and a series of political scandals.
The anti-fraud unit of the Israeli police has initiated a criminal investigation into Olmert's role in the sale of one of Israel's largest banks. Prosecutors suspect that Olmert intervened in the sale on behalf of two business associates.
Meanwhile, renewed coalition negotiations between Palestine's rival Fatah and Hamas movements have hit a new roadblock – raising the possibility of a new round of political violence.
A poll conducted recently shows that, if Palestinian elections were held now, the Fatah party, led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, would oust Hamas from power. The survey shows Fatah winning 40% of the vote for parliament, with just 23% for Hamas.
International sanctions against the Hamas-led government have crippled the Palestinian economy. In fact, a year after its spectacular election victory, Hamas has reportedly fallen from grace.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army had postponed implementing its latest restriction on Palestinian movement – that is, banning riding in cars with Israeli licence-plates in the West Bank. The proposed ban was to prevent suicide bombers, who have entered Israel in recent years, from using Israeli licence-plates that would allow them to cross army roadblocks without being checked.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not in favour of the Israeli proposal to recognise a Palestinian state within temporary borders, leaving the final borders to be negotiated later. Israel had floated this idea as a way of boosting the stalled peace process.
Palestinians, however, reject the Israeli proposal as a non-starter, saying that temporary borders would be too hard to redraw and that Israel might possess large areas of the West Bank.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 10:22 AM |
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| Wednesday, January 17, 2007 |
| Fidel Castro undergoes three unsuccessful surgeries |
Cuba's supreme leader Fidel Castro, 80, is in serious condition after three failed surgeries on his large intestine for diverticulitis, which was complicated by infection.
Diverticulitis is the inflammation of the pouch-like bulges in the intestinal wall. Peritonitis is an infection of the lining of the abdominal cavity.
Castro had suffered a serious infection that worsened to peritonitis, a Spanish newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing medical sources at the hospital in Madrid where a surgeon who visited Castro in December, 2006, works.
The paper El Pais said Castro`s prognosis is "very serious" and he is being fed intravenously.
A diplomat had said on Monday that Castro has been having problems with the healing of his stitches.
The diplomat also dismissed reports that Castro may have cancer.
United States officials had said they suspected the Cuban leader could be terminally ill with cancer, but they offered no evidence.
Cuban officials in Havana were not immediately available to comment on the reports. The Cuban authorities have consistently said they would not divulge details of Castro's illness.
The first operation, done to extract a part of his large intestine and connect the colon to the rectum, was a failure and the link broke, releasing feces into the abdomen that caused another peritonitis.
The second operation to clean and drain the infected area and perform a colostomy also failed. The third one was to implant a prothesis.
When Spanish surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido visited Castro in late December, 2006, Cuban doctors were considering another operation.
"The patient required drainage for more than half a litre of fluids a day, which is causing him a severe loss of nutrients," the Spanish paper reported.
Castro, who took power in Cuba in 1959, has not been seen in public since July 26, 2006. He had handed over power to his brother five days later, triggering speculation that he is so ill that he may never return to power on the communist-run Caribbean island.
In a New Year's message issued on December 30, 2006, Castro had told Cubans that he was recovering slowly from surgery and said his recovery was "far from being a lost battle."Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 10:23 AM |
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| Barack Obama emerges rival to Hillary Clinton in US Presidential race |
Senator Barack Obama (Democrat-Illinois) has taken his first step in his effort to become the first African-American President of the United States.
In a three-minute video posted on his website, the 45-year-old Barack Obama said he has formed an exploratory committee to get to assess his chances. The committee allows him to hire staff and raise money.
Obama is expected to announce officially his candidacy on February 10, 2007. It was perhaps the first part of a long-expected showdown between Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's fastest rising star, and Senator Hilary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton. Hilary is the Democratic party's presumed presidential front-runner.
"Obama is clearly the alternative to Hillary Clinton for the Democrats at this point," said Mark Rozell, a political scientist. "There is no other candidate on the Democratic side who has emerged with such fanfare, such high expectations to possibly challenge Hillary Clinton for the front-runner status."
The impact of Obama's decision appeared to have an immediate impact on Hilary Clinton's own politicking. Just back from a trip to Iraq, the New York Senator had on Tuesday cancelled a major news conference, triggering speculation that she wanted to avoid questions on Obama.
Almost striking a bipartisan tone, Obama said he believes Americans want an end to bitter divisions that have consumed US politics since the disputed 2000 election of President George W Bush.
"I have been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics," Obama said. "Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions."
Hillary Clinton, now serving her second term in the US Senate, is expected to announce her own presidential ambitions as early as next week.
She already has, at her disposal, $14 million dollars in funds left over from her Senate re-election campaign and the political organisation of Bill Clinton.
Several other Democratic candidates have already entered the race, including former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich, Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd and Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 10:18 AM |
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| Tuesday, January 16, 2007 |
| Bush bent on defying Congress on new Iraq plan |
United States President George W Bush and other senior Administration officials have vowed to press on with their controversial plans to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, notwithstanding opposition in Congress, including threats to cut off funding for the new troop deployment.
President Bush, in a television interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, was defiant: “Congress could try to stop me from doing it, but I made my decision, and we’re going forward.”
However, Bush admitted that that the US had made errors in Iraq and that Iraq was more unstable now than it was under Saddam Hussein. “I think history is going to look back and see a lot of ways we could have done things better,” Bush said.
He also admitted that the execution of Saddam Hussein had been mishandled, describing the event as “discouraging.” He said he had only watched a part of the execution on the internet, because he had not wanted to watch Saddam fall through the trap door.
However, he stood by his decision to invade Iraq and topple the dictatorship, and his aides had defended his move last week to intensify US action against Iranian agents in Iraq.
Democrats in Congress are expected to introduce a non-binding resolution later this week condemning the President’s Iraq plan. But Vice-President Dick Cheney had said on Sunday that such a resolution “would not affect the President’s ability to carry out his policy.”
Democratic opposition to the plan would just ‘revalidate’ the views of America’s enemies in the region, that “if you kill enough Americans you can force us to quit,” Cheney said in a television interview. “The US,” he declared, “cannot run a war by committee.”
Both Bush and Cheney also sounded defiant on the Administration’s controversial pursuit of Iranians in Iraq.
While Bush warned Iranian leaders that “if we catch your people inside the country harming US citizens or Iraqi citizens, you know we will deal with them,” Cheney declared that the White House was not prepared to moderate its aggressive stance toward Iran, however vocal the criticism from inside and outside Congress.
“Iran is fishing in troubled waters inside Iraq and the threat that Iran represents is growing,” Cheney said.
Meanwhile, the confrontation between the US and Iran over Iraq has escalated as Tehran demanded the release of five “diplomats’ captured in northern Iraq, while the Bush Administration insists that the detainees are elite Revolutionary Guards fomenting the insurgency and warned that America was going to “deal with” Iranian activity in Iraq.
Hours after Bush unveiled a tough new policy on Wednesday to “seek out and destroy” Iranian and Syrian-supported networks supplying Iraqi insurgents and sectarian militias, five Iranians were seized by American forces from the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.
A US military statement said that an initial investigation found the detainees were linked to the Qods force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, “an organisation known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack coalition forces.”
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman denied the claims, insisting that the detainees had been working to build a consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan and had diplomatic immunity.
As part of the offensive against militias, Iraqi soldiers arrested 50 suspected insurgents and seized 2,000 Katyusha rockets in a Shia area north-east of Baghdad. Over 30 suspected insurgents were detained near Abu Ghraib.
RICE PLEA TO ARAB ALLIES: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a tour of the Middle East, asked Arab allies to help support the fragile government in Iraq, on whose success much of President Bush’s new plan to turn the war around will depend.
Rice met diplomats and leaders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Monday, a day after a similar session in Jordan.
The scheduled meetings with Sunni Arab leaders fell on the same day that Saddam Hussein’s half brother and the former head of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court were hanged in Iraq on Monday morning.
The top US diplomat is also meeting on Tuesday with counterparts from eight Arab countries in Kuwait. Moderate Arab governments plan to tell Rice that they will help Washington stabilise Iraq if the US takes more active steps to revive a broad peace initiative between Israel and its neighbors, Arab officials and media said.Labels: International Politics, iraq |
| posted by a correspondent @ 12:47 AM |
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| Israel to expand settlement even as Rice meets Olmert |
Even as US Secretary Condoleezza Rice is on a visit to the Middle East, Israel announced an expansion of settlement in the West Bank Monday.
This has dealt a blow to Rice, who was holding talks with Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert on restarting the peace process in the region.
Israel’s Housing Ministry has invited bids for construction of 44 new housing units in Ma’aleh Adumim, the largest settlement in the occupied West Bank.
The news of the first tenders announced this year came as Rice and Olmert were meeting one-on-one for over two hours at the Premier’s Jerusalem residence.
Palestinians and the ‘Peace Now’ anti-settlement watchdog group warned that the move would jeopardise the international roadmap to Middle East peace – a plan which Rice has been pushing on her tour.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “Israel must make a choice between peace and settlements. It cannot have both. It is defying the international community and undermining US Secretary of State Rice’s peace efforts.”
Announcing the bids for the settlement on the last day of Rice’s trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories “is just spitting in the face of the American Government,” Peace Now spokesman Yariv Oppenheimer said.
The United States, the European Union (EU), Russia, and the United Nations were the authors of the Middle East roadmap, under which Israel was to freeze settlements. The plan has largely been dormant since its launch about four years ago.
Rice has said that the roadmap should be accelerated during her meetings with Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian leaders, after her arrival in the region on Saturday.
She had made it clear since the start of her tour that she is bringing no US proposals to jumpstart the peace process, saying, no plan can be ‘Made in America.’ But she stressed that “the United States is absolutely committed to helping find a solution” and to building on “the momentum that is currently in the Palestinian-Israeli relations.”Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 12:46 AM |
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| Monday, January 15, 2007 |
| Greece blames domestic outfits for attack on US embassy |
Authorities in Greece have blamed domestic militant groups – that have carried out bombings against police and government buildings despite a crackdown on terrorism before the Athens Olympics in 2004 – for the rocket-propelled grenade attack on the United States embassy in Athens on Friday.
Athens police said that so far there has been no evidence connecting the attack to any international terrorist plot.
Police are examining the authenticity of two calls claiming responsibility from the group Revolutionary Struggle, which has carried out six bombings since 2003. This shadowy group has denounced the United States in past statements, citing treatment of prisoners at the US military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
“It is very likely that this is the work of a domestic group," Public Order Minister Yron Polydoras said. “We believe this effort to revive terrorism is deplorable and will not succeed," he asserted.
On Friday, a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into the US embassy in Athens, causing limited damage and no injuries, but reviving fears of a resurgence of the far-left.
The shoulder-fired missile narrowly missed a large blue-and-white US seal on the embassy’s facade and damaged a third-floor bathroom, near the ambassador’s office.
US Ambassador Charles Ries has described the attack as "very serious" and said no warning had been given.
“There can be no justification for such a senseless act of violence," Ambassador Ries told reporters outside the embassy.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that the United States saw no early signs of international involvement. The Pentagon, US Defence Department, received a report on the attack, but no request for any action, a US military official said.
The blast which occurred at 5.58 a.m. on Friday shattered windows in nearby buildings. Traffic in the downtown area came to a standstill for three hours as police blocked streets around the building to gather evidence.
The Greek government said it was seeking permission from the courts to view video from traffic cameras which, under Greek privacy laws, is officially excluded from the police investigation.
The attack on the US embassy resembled methods used by members of the far-left terrorist group named ‘November 17’ that had eluded police from 1975 to 2003.
Public opposition to the US policies – in particular the invasion of Iraq – has been strong in Greece since Washington provided support for a 1967-74 military dictatorship.Friday’s attack was the third against the US embassy since the mid-1970s.
'November 17' had carried out a similar rocket attack against the US embassy in 1996, causing minor damage and no injuries.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 7:58 AM |
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| Saturday, January 13, 2007 |
| Bush warns Iran, Syria against aiding Iraqi rebels |
United State President George W Bush, in his speech to the nation, has warned Iran and Syria, charging them with taking “deliberate action” against the US forces in Iraq and enabling transfer of aid to Iraqi rebels. Bush said the US will take action against “Iranian proxies” in Iraq and vowed to find and destroy the networks supplying these groups with weapons and training. The President also said the US would work “with others” to block Iran from developing nuclear arms and dominating the region.
The Bush Administration had recently leaked details of clandestine Iranian operations in Iraq, as well as what the President described as direct assistance for insurgents who are targeting American soldiers.
He stressed that success in Iraq would come only “after Iran and Syria are addressed.” However, at a briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, had said there were no plans for military operations inside Iran. General Pace told reporters that “we can take care of the security for our troops by doing the business we need to do inside of Iraq.”
Both Syria and Iran were quick to condemn Bush’s warning. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said “the US decision to send more troops to Iraq is a continuation of the occupation and would only contribute to the insecurity, danger and anxiety in Iraq, and will not help solve the problems.”
Syria’s Vice-President Farouk al-Shara remarked that President Bush’s decision to reinforce the US forces in Iraq would only “add fuel to the fire.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said those calling for dialogue with Syria and Iran fail to realise that these countries are seeking to undermine stability and that talks with them are unlikely to yield results.
Condoleezza Rice, who scheduled to visit the Middle East this weekend, explained that it is the Bush Administration’s policy to cooperate with moderate states interested in stabilising Iraq as well as the Middle East. She was referring to President Bush’s statement that the US would “work with others” to block Iran from developing nuclear arms and dominating the region.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told the House Armed Services Committee that the US troops were trying to crack down on the spread of Iranian-supplied explosives into Iraq. Thereby, he explained, the Administration is “making it clear that those who are involved in activities that cost the lives of American soldiers are going to be subject to actions on the part of the United States inside Iraq.” Labels: International Politics, iraq |
| posted by a correspondent @ 5:50 AM |
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| Monday, January 08, 2007 |
| US confirms kidnapping of American citizen in Iraq |
The United States embassy in Baghdad on Saturday confirmed the kidnapping of an American citizen, who has been working in Iraq as a private security contractor.
“I confirm the disappearance of the American. He is a private security contractor,” US embassy spokesman Louis Fintor said.
On Friday, the American and his two Iraqi interpreters were kidnapped from Al-Haritha, north of Basra, local police said.
The three were travelling in a car when three other cars full of gunmen ambushed them and kidnapped them, according to the police.
The kidnapping raised to six the number of private security contractors now held hostage in Iraq, after four Americans and an Austrian were kidnapped on November 16 from Safwan, near Basra.
Their captors had released a video earlier this week in which they appeared healthy but showed the hostages asking for the release of all detainees in American-run and British-run prisons in Iraq.
Several Islamist and nationalist resistance groups operate in Iraq, along with illegal political militias, corrupt security force units and criminal gangs who seize hostages for ransom.
NEW ASSAULT PLAN: Iraqi forces, backed by the US troops, will begin a neighborhood-by-neighborhood assault on militants in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad this weekend. This is a first step in the White House’s new strategy to contain Sunni insurgents and Shi’ite death squads, key advisers to the Iraqi Prime Minister has said.
The first details of the plan, which is fresh attempt to bring peace to Baghdad, emerged a day after US President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke for nearly two hours by video conference. Both leaders are expected to detail their vision of a new strategy in the coming days.
The aides of Al-Maliki would not disclose the scope of the planned assaults nor where they were specifically planned.
The Iraqis, however, continue to disagree with the US on key issues, including Al-Maliki’s unease over the introduction of more US troops.
Another point of contention is Al-Maliki’s repeated refusal of the USdemands to crush the militia of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful supporter of the Prime Minister.
Analysts fear that any serious campaign to curtail the extreme chaos and violence in Baghdad would put not only the American forces but also Al-Maliki’s Iraqi army in direct confrontation with Al-Sadr’s Mahdi army.
The militants are gaining more and more ground as they kill Sunni residents of the city and drive others from their neighborhoods.
In his discussions with Bush, Al-Maliki continued to press for a rapid US withdrawal from Baghdad to bases on the outskirts of Baghdad, an Iraqi official said. The Prime Minister, he said, has claimed that his forces would be ready to assume control of security for the whole country by summer.Labels: International Politics, iraq |
| posted by a correspondent @ 7:21 AM |
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| Palestinian power struggle: Hamas gunmen kill security commander |
The Palestinian President and Prime Minister agreed on Friday to set aside hostility for the time being and withdraw their forces after a senior security commander and four of his bodyguards were killed in one of the bloodiest battles in weeks of internal fighting.
The President and the Prime Minister have been locked in a violent struggle for power.
Thursday’s violence in Gaza, coupled with an Israeli raid in the West Bank that killed four Palestinian civilians, forced Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah to hold emergency talks, despite the acrimonious accusations the two have traded in recent weeks.
“We are going to end all armed displays in the streets,” Haniyeh said after the meeting. Abbas did not comment.
Previous peace deals had quickly collapsed thanks to the political deadlock.
Hamas, the Islamic militants, controls the government but the moderate Abbas wields power as a separately elected President.
The emergency meeting between the competing President and the Prime |Minister took place a few hours after Colonel Mohammed Ghayeb, head of the Abbas-allied Preventive Security Service in northern Gaza, was killed when Hamas gunmen attacked his home with rockets and grenades.
The violent skirmish outside the house raged for much of the day in whichfour of Ghayeb’s guards and a Hamas gunman were killed. Over 30 people,including eight children and Ghayeb’s wife, were wounded.
Late on Thursday, Fatah militants had attacked Hamas offices and vehicles in several places in the West Bank.
It was earlier on Thursday that Israeli forces crashed into the West Bank town of Ramallah, the first major army raid since Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas had agreed two weeks earlier to try to ease tensions between the two sides. In the two-hour raid, complete with heavy gun battles, dozens of cars were smashed and vegetable carts overturned. Four Palestinians lost their lives 20 others were wounded in the fighting.
Olmert, who met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a few hours after the raid, apologised for any civilian casualties but insisted that the operation was meant to protect Israel from terrorist attacks.
The Olmert-Mubarak summit, intended to promote new Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, was overshadowed by the violence.
At the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, the site of the summit, Mubarak condemned the raid and said “the security of Israel cannot be achieved through military force but by serious endeavours toward peace.”
Abbas remarked that Israel’s peace promises rang hollow in the light of the raid and demanded £2.5 million in compensation for the damage to shops and cars in Ramallah.
Israel’s Cabinet Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defence minister, criticised the raid’s timing, saying: “I don’t think this operation should have been carried out on the day of a visit by the Israeli Prime Minister to a country in which we have a supreme strategic interest. Our relations with Egypt are more important to us than anything else.”
Israel was apparently targeting Rabih Hamed, who escaped with serious injuries. A news agency photographer too was critically wounded by the gunfire.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 7:15 AM |
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| North Korea readying for another nuclear test? |
Activity has been spotted near a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that Pyongyang is about to test another nuclear device, South Korean officials said on Friday.
ABC News had earlier quoted a United States Defence Department official as saying that North Korea appeared to have made preparations for a second nuclear test. Its first nuclear test, on October 9, 2006, had invited worldwide condemnation and punitive sanctions from the United Nations.
“We think they’ve put everything in place to conduct a nuclear test without any notice or warning,” ABC, the US television network, quoted the official as saying. A US official responded by saying that he had no reason to believe that North Korea was preparing for a test.
In fact, there is a lot of uncertainty within the US Administration onwhether Pyongyang had any intention to conduct another nuclear test.
The US monitors North Korea through its satellites and also spy planes that fly along the fringes of the communist state’s airspace to look out for any suspicious movements.
Another government official in Seoul, capital of South Korea, said vehicle and personnel movement had been spotted near the site of North Korea’s first test. There were no signs, he added, of cables being laid or electronic monitors being installed, which might indicate an imminent test.
The ABC report said though intelligence was inconclusive, the preparations now taking place were similar those taken by North Korea before its October 9, 2006, test. Many analysts opine that the first test was not fully successful.
The two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China had failed in their latest round of talks in Beijing last month to make any progress in suspending the North’s nuclear programmes in exchange for aid and pledges not to attack it.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry had revealed last week that North Korea has probably extracted over 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium since 1994, with more than 30 kg obtained since 2003 while it was engaged in the six-country negotiations.
Meanwhile, North Korea has hailed its nuclear test as “an auspicious event for the nation” in editorials in the official media to welcome the New Year, adding it would further boost the country’s military strength.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 7:13 AM |
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| Thursday, January 04, 2007 |
| US says Iraq screwed up hanging of Saddam Hussein |
We would have hanged Saddam differently; had nothing to do with the execution, says US General.
A senior General of the United States military said on Wednesday that the US forces had left all security measures at former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s execution, including searching witnesses for mobile phones, to the Iraqi authorities.
An unofficial video of the hanging, apparently filmed on a mobile phone, showed Shi’ite officials taunting Saddam just before he was hanged, sparking anger and anguish among his fellow Sunni Arabs as well as concern among moderate Shiites and Kurds.
Asked at a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday about criticism of the hanging, US military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell said: “It was not our decision as to what occurred but we would have done it differently.” “We had absolutely nothing to do with the facility where the execution took place,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has promised to cooperate fully to investigate how Saddam Hussein's execution could be filmed on a mobile phone.
Footage showed the former dictator being taunted by masked guards in the moments before he was hanged.
The Iraqi government’s promise comes as the US military admitted it had left security measures at Saddam's execution to the Iraqis and that it “would have done things differently.”
A court official said he was nearly forced to stop the proceedings because of the jeering and chanting of the name of Shi’ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
The scenes have sparked outrage among Saddam supporters. Hundreds of Sunni Arab mourners from his hometown have flocked to the village of Awja to visit his grave.
The mourners chanted slogans for Saddam and carried his photos while visiting the burial site. Several later took to the streets, expressing anger and grief.
An Iraqi government official today said that preparations were being made to hang two of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants on Thursday.
Al-Arabiya satellite television and Al-Furat TV, run by Iraq’s major Shi’ite Muslim political organisation, also reported that Saddam’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim, a former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, would be hanged on Thursday.
The government official said the exact place and time of the hangings had not been set. The two men were originally scheduled to be hanged last Saturday along with Saddam Hussein.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 2:09 AM |
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| Tuesday, December 26, 2006 |
| Iran rubbishes UN sanctions |
Soon after the UN Security Council decided to slap sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme, the United States too has called for a tougher international action against Tehran. The UN sanctions has clamped a ban on supply of nuclear materials to Iran and freeze the country's assets abroad.
Meanwhile, the US state department has opined that UN resolution was not enough. Adding that the Bush Administration would persuade the global community, especially nations like Russia, to impose stronger penalties individually. This according to the US would include stopping banks lending to Iran.
However, the sanctions have been rubbished by Iran, with Tehran reacting defiantly to the unanimous vote by the Security Council imposing the sanctions. Tehran said that the country would press ahead with its uranium enrichment programme, insisting that the Security Council could not limit what it described as Iran's peaceful nuclear activities. Saying that the sanctions imposed on it are illegal, Iran added that it was being punished for exercising its right to nuclear technology.
The UN resolution demanded that Tehran end all uranium enrichment work, which can produce fuel for nuclear plants as well as for bombs. The resolution, under Chapter Seven of Article 41 of the UN Charter, makes enforcement obligatory but limits action to non-military measures.
Meanwhile, Russiahas said that the resolution did not authorise the use of force. Saying that the sanctions sent a strong message to Iran about the need to comply with the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia has however watered down its statement in a bid to take account of its concerns over provisions like freeze on the assets abroad of specific Iranian individuals and organisations. Russia, it may be noted, is building a nuclear power station in Iran.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 2:29 AM |
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