Friends of Syria' Ready Assad Ultimatum

Πηγή: abc news
By By MATTHEW LEE and PAUL SCHEMM (AP)
Feb 24 2012

The United States, Europe and Arab countries were set Friday to back a proposal for Syria's president to step aside and allow in humanitarian assistance to end a brutal crackdown against opponents.

American, European and Arab officials are meeting in a major international "Friends of Syria" conference in Tunisia to work out the details for their 72-hour ultimatum end the violence and allow in aid, which will be backed by as yet unspecified punishments.

A draft of the conference's final declaration also states that the Syrian National Council, an umbrella group of opposition organizations, will be recognized as "a legitimate representative of Syrians" and promised additional "practical" support for opposition groups.

"This conference will help the Syrian people, the revolutionaries, I think, they will give us the power as a national council, a political umbrella for the revolution inside Syria and I think they will push the international community to take good steps against the Syrian regime," Haithem al-Maleh, executive director of the Syrian National Council told journalists ahead of the conference.

Former United Nations chief, Kofi Annan, was also named to be a joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to deal with the crisis.

International action over Syria has so far been hindered by Russia and China's continued opposition to any foreign intervention in Syria.

Both nations say they support a "speedy end" to the violence, but they have vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad's crackdown.

Alexei Pushkov, a Russian lawmaker, said Friday after meeting Assad in Damascus that the Syrian president sounded confident and demonstrated no sign he would he step aside. Pushkov warned that arming the Syrian opposition would fuel civil war.

In a statement Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry also called for "an immediate mutual cease-fire" to allow the wounded to be evacuated from Homs, and urged both the government and the opposition to take urgent steps to ease the humanitarian crisis. The ministry also voiced support for Annan's mission.

Western intelligence officials, however, say they believe Russia's patience may be running out with Syrian regime.

Tunisia's official spokesman Adnan Mancer said Thursday that Russia and China must "look to the future of their relations with the Arab world and consider what happens after Assad."

Diplomats said the meeting in Tunis on Friday would demand Assad's compliance. They said that failure on his part would result in tougher sanctions and predicted that his opponents would grow stronger unless he accedes and accepts a political transition that would see him leave power.

If Assad doesn't comply, "we think that the pressure will continue to build. ... I think that the strategy followed by the Syrians and their allies is one that can't stand the test of legitimacy ... for any length of time," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters in London after meeting about a dozen of her foreign minister colleagues to prepare for the Tunis event.

Clinton and others ruled out any overt, direct lethal military aid to Assad's opponents.

A draft of the Tunis conference's final document obtained by The Associated Press backs an Arab League plan that calls for Assad to turn over his authority to a deputy, halt all violence and prepare for internationally supervised elections.

The political transition would be akin to what happened in Yemen, where outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh quit in favor of his deputy after widespread protests.

The draft, which is still subject to change, also demands "that humanitarian agencies be permitted to deliver vital relief goods and services to civilians affected by the violence."

More than 5,400 people have been killed in the conflict, according to a U.N. estimate in January. Hundreds more have died since and Syrian activists place the death toll at more than 7,300. Overall figures cannot be independently confirmed because Syria strictly limits independent reporting.

Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has been under a fierce government attack for nearly three weeks. Government troops continued to shell rebel-held areas in central Syria on Friday, killing at least four people, activists said

To spur negotiations, the Arab League and United Nations on Thursday jointly appointed Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general, to be their special envoy to Syria with a mandate to bring an end to the violence and promote a peaceful political solution.

Annan will work on bringing an end to "all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis," the two bodies said in a statement.

American officials accompanying Clinton to the Friends of Syria meeting said the group would make clear to Assad that his regime has a moral obligation to end the shelling of civilian areas and allow assistance into the country. The burden is on Assad to respond to the demands of the international community, they said.

"The efforts that we are undertaking with the international community ... are intended to demonstrate the Assad regime's deepening isolation," Clinton said. "Our immediate focus is on increasing the pressure. We have got to find ways of getting food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance into affected areas. This takes time and it takes a lot of diplomacy."

Clinton met Thursday in London with Juppe and foreign ministers and senior officials from about a dozen countries, including Britain, Germany, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. More than 70 nations and international organizations are expected at the Tunis meeting.

Several nations have proposed creating protected corridors through which humanitarian relief could flow but it was not clear whether a consensus could be reached on the matter, as such a step almost certainly would require a military component.

U.S. President extends national emergency over Libya

Πηγή: People's Daily Online
By Xinhua
Feb 24 2012

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama decided on Thursday to extend for one year the national emergency over Libya, citing the need to guard against diversion of assets by members of the Gaddafi family.

In a letter to the Congress leaders, the president noted that Washington and its allies are in the process of winding down the sanctions against Libya in response to the "many positive developments" in the North African nation, including the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and his government.

"We are working closely with the new Libyan government and with the international community to effectively and appropriately ease restrictions on sanctioned entities, including by taking actions consistent with the UN Security Council's decision to lift sanctions against the Central Bank of Libya and two other entities on Dec. 16, 2011," Obama wrote.

"However, the situation in Libya continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and we need to protect against this threat and the diversion of assets or other abuse by certain members of Gaddafi's family and other former regime officials," he remarked.

"Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to Libya," he wrote.

Obama declared the national emergency over Libya on Feb. 25, 2011, citing threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy posed by Gaddafi and his government in their "extreme measures" against the people of Libya.

With the move, he ordered immediate sanctions on Gaddafi, his sons and Libyan government officials to counter what he called "a serious risk that Libyan state assets would be misappropriated by Gaddafi, members of his government, members of his family, or his close associates if those assets were not protected."

On March 19, Washington and its NATO allies began bombing Gaddafi's forces. The Libyan National Transitional Council officially announced the liberation of the country on Oct. 23.

The Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan will not be used against Iran - Michael McFaul

Πηγή: 24.kg News Agency
By Anton Lymar
Feb 24 2012

The Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan will not be used against Iran. The U.S. Ambassador Extraodinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia Michael McFaul stated this commenting on the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, Russian media informed.

Reportedly, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern that the U.S. Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan might be involved in a potential conflict with Iran. The Ambassador said that the Transit Center would not be used for the application of a possible military strike against the Islamic republic.

Though, according to the Rosbalt News Agency, the American diplomat said this unofficially, but made only this entry in his twitter account.

McFaul wrote that the Transit Center at Manas was used to support an international operation for stabilization and security in Afghanistan and would only be used for this purpose.

Recall, the agreement on the Transit Center operation expires in 2014. The current President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev stated the agreement would not be extended and the base must be withdrawn from the country.

US Considering Options On EU Carbon Law

Πηγή: AirWise
By Reuters
Feb 24 2012


The United States has not yet decided whether to retaliate against a European Union law forcing the world's airlines to pay for greenhouse gas emissions, a senior US State Department official said.

"We're still talking to other countries that were adversely affected by it. We have not decided on any specific course of action yet," US Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats told reporters after a speech.

On Wednesday, countries opposed to the EU law agreed in Moscow on a basket of possible retaliatory actions, raising concern the dispute could escalate into a carbon trade war.

The EU dismissed the threat as hypothetical and said it stood by its law.

The array of potential steps include barring national airlines from participating in the EU scheme, lodging a formal complaint with the ICAO, ceasing talks with European carriers on new routes and imposing retaliatory levies on EU airlines.

A Russian official, Valery Okulov, told reporters on Wednesday each state could decide itself on "the most effective and reliable measures that will help to cancel or postpone the implementation of the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme)."

More than 20 countries, including the United States, India and China, attended the Moscow meeting.

Since the start of this year, all airlines using EU airports are required to buy permits under the ETS, although they will not actually face a bill until next year. In addition, they will at first be handed 85 percent of allowances for free.

Those opposing the scheme have debated the issue within the official ICAO framework and also in informal talks - dubbed "the coalition of the unwilling" - such as the two-day Moscow meeting, which ended on Wednesday.

US commander calls for calm as Afghan backlash over Koran burning intensifies

Πηγή: New York Post
Feb 24 2012

KABUL -- The head of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan called for calm Friday, as demonstrations over the burning of Korans threatened to escalate.

As protesters took to the streets in Kabul for the fourth day and clerics around the country dedicated their weekly sermons to condemning the act, US commander General John Allen stressed the "only way" to "correct this major error" was for NATO to work together with the Afghan leadership "and ensure that it never happens again."

"I call on everyone throughout the country -- ISAF members and Afghans -- to exercise patience and restraint as we continue to gather the facts surrounding Sunday night's incident," he said in a statement.

Demonstrations against the burning of Islam's holiest book at the Bagram Air Field erupted at five locations in Kabul early Friday, senior police official Mohammad Zahir told AFP, adding, "We have no violence so far."

Protests across Kabul and Afghanistan's provinces have resulted in the deaths of two US troops and at least 10 Afghans so far this week. The demonstrations have targeted US and coalition military bases, Afghan government buildings and other symbols of Western presence.

On Thursday, hours after the Taliban called on Afghans to avenge the Koran burning by killing Western forces, an Afghan soldier opened fire on US troops at a base in the eastern Nangarhar Province.

Two American troops were killed before the Afghan soldier escaped into a crowd of protesters demonstrating outside the base in the province's Khogyani district.

A German Army spokesman said Friday that around 50 German soldiers withdrew early from a base in the northern Afghan city of Taluqan due to the unrest, after about 300 people demonstrated peacefully outside. The German forces had been due to leave the small base by the end of March.

The demonstrations erupted after coalition soldiers brought a truckload of Korans and other Islamic books from a Bagram detention facility to an incinerator at the Bagram Air Field.

Afghan workers at the base said they stopped the soldiers from destroying the books, but not before several copies of the Koran had been partially burned -- an act US President Barack Obama described as "inadvertent" sacrilege.

A joint ISAF and Afghan investigation to try to determine why the soldiers tried to burn Islamic materials continued Friday. According to some US officials, the books were slated for destruction because they contained "extremist literature" and prisoners' "clandestine communications."

Western embassies, aid groups and the US military have imposed strict travel bans on staff and warned foreigners to steer clear of protests, while the US Embassy in Kabul extended travel restrictions to northern Afghanistan.

Voluntary guidelines for Web privacy backed by Obama administration

In recent years, lawmakers and advocacy groups have made increased efforts to protects users’ privacy online. Here are some cases that helped stoke the debate about tracking and privacy on the Web.

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Cecilia Kang

Feb 23 2012

The Obama administration on Thursday plans to announce voluntary guidelines for Web companies to protect consumers’ privacy online, a win for Google, Facebook and other Internet giants that have fought against heavier federal mandates.

The White House did not include a much-debated “do not track” rule that would have forced companies to offer users the choice of stopping advertisers from tracking their activities across the Web.

In what it has dubbed the “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” the administration outlined several principles. It said users should have more control over data collected about them and how the information is used; consumers should be able to limit the collection of personal information, especially about children; and users should be able to correct false information about them.

“As the Internet evolves, consumer trust is essential for the continued growth of the digital economy,” Obama said in a statement. “For businesses to succeed online, consumers must feel secure.”

The move by the U.S. government gives Web giants leverage in their negotiations with regulators in Europe, where the companies can now make a stronger case for voluntary rules, analysts say.

The Federal Trade Commission will police companies that agree to the guidelines. The administration said that it will seek legislation to codify the rules and that the Commerce Department will soon bring together companies, consumer groups and academics to come up with more specific codes of conduct.

A recent spate of controversial practices by Web companies have sparked concerns about privacy among state attorneys general, lawmakers and consumer groups.

Google, for instance, announced that it would begin next week to pull data from all of its sites to create profiles of users who have signed into their accounts. The search giant also has been accused of circumventing mobile-device browsers’ privacy protections so that it could track the activities of consumers.

In light of such controversies, privacy groups had urged government officials to adopt the “do not track” mandate, but software developers and advertising firms have decried the technology as expensive and difficult to implement.

In a news briefing Wednesday, White House officials said a consortium of advertisers had come up with anti-tracking software that companies can choose to implement.

“Any ‘do not track’ mechanism needs to be robust and meaningful and cannot be more of the same self-regulatory system,” said Pam Dixon, executive director of consumer group the World Privacy Forum.

The biggest Web firms — including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL — are expected to adopt the guidelines and have agreed to implement the “do not track” browser technology, government officials said. Many of those firms say they offer consumers anti-tracking options.

At the same time, the firms have urged government officials to resist legislation that could hamper their ability to tap the lucrative behavioral marketing business.

The White House report doesn’t specifically address privacy on mobile devices — an area that firms are eager to protect from federal regulation. On Thursday, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft agreed to clearly disclose the privacy policies of app developers at their app stores.

The FTC reported last week that Google, Apple and most mobile app developers do not offer any information about how they collect information about users.

'Iran Cyber Army' hits Azerbaijan state TV site

Πηγή: yahoonews
By AFP
Feb 23 2012

BAKU (AFP) - Hackers calling themselves the 'Iranian Cyber Army' have attacked the website of mainly Muslim neighbour Azerbaijan's state television station, the communications ministry said on Thursday.

In the overnight attack, the hackers replaced AzTV's homepage with the message: "Life is a game. Game over!"

The state airline AZAL was also hit by hackers calling themselves 'Cocaine Warriors from Persia'.

The attacks came a month after anti-Israeli hackers broke into the sites of several ministries and the governing party, leaving messages calling the Azerbaijani authorities "servants of the Jews".

Azerbaijani media later reported that the attacks were believed to originate from Iran and that Azerbaijani hackers had responded by hitting several Iranian sites.

Tensions between Israeli ally Azerbaijan and the Islamic republic have risen in recent months, with Baku arresting several people with alleged links to Iran who the authorities said were planning to attack Israelis in the ex-Soviet state's capital.

AzTV reported the latest arrests on Tuesday, saying police had detained attack plotters with links to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Tehran has responded angrily, accusing Baku this month of collaborating with Israel's spy services and helping assassins who have killed Iranian nuclear scientists -- claims which Azerbaijan rejected as "absurd".The uneasy relations between the neighbours are complicated by the presence of a huge ethnic Azeri minority in Iran, which far outnumbers Azerbaijan's own population of 9.2 million.

US troops now in 4 African countries

Πηγή: IOLnews

By Jason Straziuso

Feb 23 2012

Nairobi - US troops helping in the fight against a brutal rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army are now deployed in four Central African countries, the top US special operations commander for Africa said Wednesday.

The US announced in October it was sending about 100 US troops - mostly special operations forces - to Central Africa to advise in the fight against the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony, a bush fighter wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey, the top US special operations commander for Africa, said the US troops are now stationed in bases in Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.

“We've already seen a decrease in the lethality of LRA activities, which we think is attributable in part to the pressure we and our partners are applying,” Losey said in a telephone briefing to journalists.

Losey said counter-LRA actions will increase in frequency and effectiveness in coming months.

The LRA began its attacks in Uganda in the 1980s, when Kony sought to overthrow the government. Since being pushed out of Uganda several years ago, the militia has terrorized villages in Central Africa.

A top State Department official, Karl Wycoff, said that Kony has shown the ability to mobilize combatants and militant leaders to carry out “horrible atrocities” for the LRA, which he called “some kind of cult,” given that the group has no clear agenda. He said the US effort was not just aimed at Kony but at all the LRA leaders.

However, Col. Felix Kulayigye, the spokesman for Uganda's military, said the hunt for Kony was an important aspect of the anti-LRA effort.

“Kony is the LRA and the LRA is Kony,” he said. “Other than Kony the only other person who had the capacity to sustain the LRA was (Vincent) Otti, who is gone. You get Kony and you have the LRA done.”

Otti, Kony's former deputy, has been presumed dead since the failure of peace talks mediated by South Sudan ended in 2008. Ugandan army officials say Kony ordered his death, fearing he was about to defect.

The LRA's tactics have been widely condemned as vicious. The US troops are helping to fight a group that has slaughtered thousands of civilians and routinely kidnaps children to be child soldiers and sex slaves.

The anti-LRA group Resolve in a report released Wednesday urged the US to encourage Uganda to dedicate more troops and helicopters to their counter-LRA operations. The group also urged the US to fund more transport helicopters and improved communications equipment for Ugandan troops, and to increase intelligence gathering by expanding the use of aerial surveillance.

Losey said there are no drone aircraft currently being used by US troops involved in the counter-LRA fight. US forces are working on improving communications in the region and how to integrate intelligence.

Many of the US forces are stationed in Uganda. Others are based in Obo, Central African Republic; Dungu, Congo; and in Nzara, South Sudan, Losey said. Each of those locations had established bases where troops from partner countries have been based.

The LRA operates in an area the size of California, Losey said.

Libya court 'incompetent' in Gadhafi backers case

Libyan military court on Wednesday declared itself incompetent in the first trial.

Πηγή: Times of Oman
By AFP
Feb 22 2012

Libya: Libyan military court on Wednesday declared itself incompetent in the first trial of alleged loyalists of the toppled regime of Moamer Gadhafi.

"We decided the court is incompetent in this matter," said Ali Hamdi, a judge in the court in the eastern city of Benghazi. A defence lawyer welcomed the decision.

"This proves that justice is doing well and on the right track," the lawyer, Hussein Gheniwa, told.

From the start of the trial on February 5, the defence team had argued against holding a military trial when the majority of those accused were civilians.There were 43 accused present at the hearing.

Most faced charges of "supporting the former regime against the Libyan revolution" in attempts to crush the revolt, "intending to commit criminal acts" and "aiding prisoners to escape."

The accused were rounded up in July last year in Benghazi, cradle of the popular uprising, during a raid by former rebels against a cell of Kadhafi backers.

The ruling National Transitional Council said at the time that several escaped prisoners of war were hiding within the armed group in a Benghazi licence-plate factory.

Rebels had seized TNT explosives and several pickup trucks equipped with machineguns, according to the same sources. The cell was blamed for a prison break and accused of planning to plant car bombs in Benghazi.

Libya ruler admits impotency

Chairman of the National Transitional Council (C) Abdul Jalil talks to protesters in Benghazi who were wounded in the war in this photo. Jalil admits they have made many mistakes during the transition period.

Πηγή: Daily News
Feb 23 2012

Libya’s leader admits his transitional government, fails to control militias who do not lay down arms and commit to central governments, as more than 100 people are reportedly killed in tribal clashes in past 10 days.

Libya’s leader has admitted that his transitional government is powerless to control militias that are refusing to lay down their arms after ousting Moammar Gadhafi, as fierce clashes between two tribes in Libya’s remote southeastern desert have killed more than 100 people over the past 10 days.

Libya’s leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil also warned that remnants of the former regime still pose a threat, and that it will take years for Libya’s new leaders to overcome the “heavy heritage” of corruption and distrust after more than four decades of Gadhafi’s rule.

“We made many mistakes,” he said. “Democracy and taking votes to make decisions in too many incidents led us to these mistakes,” he said. “My vote as someone who entered the council last year is considered equal to the vote of a member who joined the council this February.” At least 113 people from the Toubu tribe and another 23 from the Zwai tribe have been killed in the town of Kufra since fighting erupted Feb. 12, sources said Feb. 21. “We have been under siege for a week. Since the start of the clashes, 113 people [from our side] have been killed, including six children,” Toubu chief Issa Abdelmajid told AFP by telephone. He said another 241 members of his tribe have been wounded.

Gadhafi loyalists form own militia

Abdul Jalil said the governing National Transitional Council has made mistakes, but he also criticized former rebels who have formed powerful militias and local governments that have emerged as rivals to the Tripoli-based central government. “Both are to blame,” he said. “The governmental program to integrate the militias is slow and the revolutionaries don’t trust it.” Abdul-Jalil also said that Gadhafi loyalists have infiltrated revolutionary forces and even formed their own militia. “We call them the revolutionaries after the revolution.”

Abdul Jalil said the failure to seriously investigate Gadhafi-era war atrocities, as well as the absence of police and courts, has left the door open for individuals to take matters into their own hands. Even families who were not linked to the Gadhafi regime but fled during the war have been tagged as traitors and forced to leave their houses when they returned. “Misrata suffered the most, but it is also going too far in enmity and expulsions,” he said. “Dealing with victorious soldiers is much harder than dealing with the ones defeated.”

Libya is getting ready for national assembly elections in June. The new assembly will form a government and set up a panel to draft a constitution. However, the country has been plagued by revenge attacks by those who suffered at the hands of Gadhafi’s forces during the brutal civil war. At least 23 people from the Zwai tribe have been killed and another 53 wounded in the clashes, said sources from the Zwai.

Obama to propose lowering corporate tax rate to 28 percent

President Obama’s reelection campaign is raising money and reaching out to voters and volunteers.

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Feb 22 2012

President Obama on Wednesday plans to propose a major overhaul of the nation’s corporate tax code, an election-year gambit that is likely to draw a contrast over a key policy issue with the Republicans vying to replace him.

Obama will propose lowering the nation’s corporate tax rate to 28 percent. At the same time, however, he will seek to increase the amount of revenues raised overall through corporate taxation by eliminating numerous deductions and loopholes that save companies tens of billions of dollars a year on their tax bills, according to a senior administration official.

Today, the U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent is one of the highest in the world, but an abundance of loopholes and deductions means that many companies pay far less than that — or nothing at all. Companies in the United States pay almost half the taxes than companies do in other rich countries, compared to the size of the economy, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In his proposed rewrite, Obama will target oil and gas companies for tax hikes while promising special breaks for manufacturing companies, according to a senior administration official.

The prognosis for the plan in Congress, which would have to sign off on the proposals, is unclear. Many Republicans, including the leading presidential candidates, have favored reducing taxes on businesses well below what Obama is proposing.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has called for a 25 percent tax rate for corporations, is planning to deliver a speech on tax reform later this week, while his rivals for the GOP nomination have advocated tax rates half that.

Despite those disagreements, Republicans and Democrats have expressed broad support for a tax strategy that reduces rates across the board while eliminating special interest loopholes.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is planning to lay out the full details of the plan shortly before noon on Wednesday.

“We are going to propose a broad reform that will lower rates, broaden the base and eliminate and wipe out a very substantial fraction, dozens and dozens and dozens of special tax preferences for businesses,” Geithner said in congressional testimony last week. “We’re doing that because we think there’s a compelling economic case for doing that.”

Obama’s plan to raise additional tax revenue through corporate tax reform is notable because officials had previously suggested that they were hoping that corporate tax reform would neither add to, nor subtract from, annual budget deficits.

Now officials are counting on corporate tax reform to make a modest but still significant contribution to deficit reduction, part of a pattern of Obama adopting a more assertive stance toward raising taxes to help keep spending and revenues in check.

Though he has called for higher taxes on the rich, Obama has not offered a detailed blueprint for overhauling the personal income tax code, which is also full of loopholes and deduction. Such a blueprint is not expected to come before the November presidential election.

The corporate tax plan will include a minimum tax that must be paid by American multinational corporations on their foreign earnings — to prevent firms from sheltering profits oversees. Obama has also proposed ending tax breaks for companies that outsource and giving new tax incentives to firms that move jobs back home.

The corporate tax reform proposal has been a pet project of Geithner’s for over a year and a half. Last year, the Treasury completed a detailed white paper on corporate tax reform, but it was put on the back burner amid the acrimonious debate in Washington over the federal debt.

Several reported killed in second day of Afghan protests over Koran burning

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Kevin Sieff and Sayed Salahuddin

Feb 22 2012

KABUL — A second day of violent protests over the burning of Korans at a NATO base spread across Afghanistan’s capital Tuesday, as demonstrators directed their anger at Western embassies and military installations.

Dozens were injured and at least one person was killed when protesters took to main thoroughfares, throwing stones, burning tires and attempting to storm a fortified compound in central Kabul where hundreds of American contractors live, said Kargar Noorughli, a spokesman for the Afghan public health ministry.

Security officials tried to quell the scattered protests — in some cases by firing on demonstrators — but by early afternoon the unrest showed no sign of dissipating.

Several demonstrators were killed during a clash with police in Parwan province, where Bagram is located, said Shah Wali, the province’s deputy governor.

Protests were also held in Jalalabad, a typically safe city east of Kabul, and outside of the Bagram air base, the largest NATO military base in Afghanistan, where the religious texts were inadvertently sent to an incinerator late Monday night, according to U.S. military officials.

In Jalalabad, hundreds of university students gathered to burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama, one witness said.

Fearing an escalation of violence, officials advised non-Afghans to take security precautions, lest they become targets. Last spring, a case of Koran-burning in Florida provoked an attack on a United Nations compound in northern Afghanistan, leaving seven foreigners and five Afghans dead.

“The embassy is on lockdown; all travel suspended. Please, everyone, be safe out there,” the U.S. Embassy posted on its official Twitter account Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, apologized for the incident and promised that all NATO forces in Afghanistan would complete training in the proper handling of religious materials by March 3.

“When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them,” Allen said in a statement. “We are taking steps to ensure this does not ever happen again. I assure you . . . I promise you . . . this was NOT intentional in any way.”

At a meeting with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter on Wednesday, President Hamid Karzai used the incident to bolster his claim that the U.S.-run military prison at Bagram, called the Parwan detention center, should be handed over to Afghans.

“The sooner you do the transfer of the prison, the less you will have problems and unfortunate incidents,” Karzai said.

A senior U.S. military official said Tuesday that the Korans were removed from the prison library because they had radical or inflammatory messages scrawled in them.

Last month, Karzai demanded that responsibility for the detention center be handed over to Afghanistan by the end of January. He has since extended that deadline until March 9. But U.S. officials continue to say that Afghan institutions are woefully unprepared to detain or try suspected terrorists.

Both Karzai and the Afghan parliament strongly denounced the Koran burnings. Karzai tasked a team composed of religious scholars to begin an investigation.

Nazeefa Zaki, a lawmaker representing Kabul, said parliament issued“a resolution strongly condemning this act and demanded punishment of the culprits.” Several lawmakers urged Afghans and the police to wage holy war against Americans, she said, echoing a sentiment commonly expressed during the ongoing demonstrations.

China building a mightier, more lethal defence?

Πηγή: Rediff News
Feb 22 2012


China would double its military spending to USD 238.2 billion (approximately Rs 12,37,600 cr) by 2015, surpassing the combined defence budgets of India, Japan and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific, a global research group has claimed, prompting defence scholars in Beijing to dismiss the report as an attempt to play up the country's military threat.

China's military spending will reach Rs 12,37,600 cr in 2015 compared with 119.8 billion (approximately Rs 6,18,800 cr) in 2011, 'IHS Jane's Defence and Security Intelligence and Analysis' said.

Military scholars Beijing, however, disputed the report on China's defence budget growth, saying it was aimed at playing up China's military threat.

According to an official announcement in Beijing last March, China's defence budget for 2011 was pegged around 601 billion yuan (approximately Rs 4,73,200 cr), an increase of 12.7 per cent from that of 2010.

China's defence budget was increased by 7.5 per cent in 2010 from that of 2009.

The official figure by China was questioned by the international defence analysts who put it far higher.

Professor Ma Gang with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) National Defence University said the IHS Jane's report was sensational and lacked a rational and factual basis.

"The report's prediction that China's military budget will gain an annual increase of 18.75 per cent in the upcoming five years was purely speculative," Ma was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"The facts have proved that China's military budget increase has gone up and down over the past years and will not always keep growing fast," Ma said.

The Chinese government has repeated that its military budget increase over the past decade made up for restrained military construction in the 1980s.

According to China's official record, the country's military budget increase ratios in the past six years were 14.7 per cent, 17.8 per cent, 17.5 per cent, 18.5 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 12.7 per cent.

However, from 1979 to 1989, China's military spending had experienced an average annual decrease of 5.83 per cent, the news agency report said.

Chen Bingde, the PLA's chief of the general staff, has claimed that China's military hardware lagged 20 years behind than that of the US and other military powers.

China's military budget for 2011 accounted only 1.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, in comparison with US' 4.8 per cent and the UK's 2.7 per cent, the report said.

Moreover, the proportion of China's military budget in the country's total fiscal budget had dropped from 8.66 per cent in 1998 to 6.94 per cent in 2009, it said.

Russia to sell silver, diamonds worth over $300 mn

Πηγή: NewKerala
By IANS
Feb 22 2012

Moscow: Russia plans to sell silver worth about six billion rubles (around $201 million) and diamonds worth 5.4 billion rubles (around $181 million) in 2012, a finance ministry source said.

The jewels will be sold by the State Repository for Precious Metals and Jewels, the source said.

"We will sell silver and some palladium. We plan to sell diamonds worth over five billion rubles at an auction," the source said.

The repository also plans to buy up to three tonnes of gold for five billion rubles and diamonds from the country's state-owned diamond monopoly Alrosa for four billion rubles this year to replenish the reserves.

Russia's 2012-2014 budget stipulates state sales of precious metals and jewels worth 11.43 billion rubles and purchases at 9.95 billion rubles in 2012.

Tribal warfare rages in Libya

Πηγή: Winston-Salem Journal
By AP
Feb 22 2012

KUFRA, Libya -- Scores of civilians have been killed since Monday in tribal warfare in southern Libya, witnesses said Tuesday.

Moussa Bazama, an ambulance driver hauling the injured to the coast, said 50 people had been killed by the rockets, mortars and gunfire in residential areas of Kufra, a desert town.

Phone and other communications in the remote region, hundreds of miles from Libya's main population centers on the coast, are sporadic.

Lines of trucks and cars carrying hundreds of families are streaming out of the region on the highway north.

"The situation is extremely bad," said Abdel-Rehim al-Shewih, an engineer in Kufra contacted by phone. "It is about who kills the most every day."

He said shops were closed, no one could walk in the street, and if one tribe takes over one square, the other opens fire and drives it out.

For more than a week, the powerful Arab tribe of al-Zwia has clashed with the African Tabu tribe near Kufra, a border area where Libya, Chad and Sudan meet. The region is a hub for the smuggling of African migrants, goods and drugs.

The two groups are old rivals. The Tabu long had complained of discrimination under former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Since Feb. 11, the fighting has escalated, with smaller Arab tribes joining al-Zwia against the Tabu, residents of the area say.

On Tuesday, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the leader of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, said that Gadhafi's regime loyalists are "seeding sedition" in Kufra. He declined to elaborate on which of the tribes is connected to the former regime.

NTC leaders often blame Libya's problems on remnants of Gadhafi's regime, usually without proof.

Iraq: This Year’s Official Executions Already Surpass 2011′s

Πηγή: Antiwar
By by Margaret Griffis
Feb 21 2012

According to a justice ministry official, the Iraqi government has officially executed 69 people during 2012. Last year, only 68 people suffered the death penalty during the entire year. Four of the recently condemned were put to death yesterday. Two of them were found guilty on terrorism charges, while the other two were common criminals.

Groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights, have recently criticized the increasing number of executions. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Iraq to suspend the death penalty until there is more transparency in the courts.

The numbers only reflect official executions. What has gone on in Iraq’s secret prisonsis not completely known. As recently as November, the Interior Ministry has beenaccused of killing prisoners, and the ministry once harbored Shi’ite death squads.

At least five Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in other violence.

In Mosul, a policeman and a civilian were killed in separate attacks.

A roadside bomb in Qaim killed a petrol station manager and wounded two other people.

A blast killed two people in Yathrib.

In Baiji, two people were wounded in a roadside bombing.

A policeman was wounded during a blast in Baquba.

Iran threatens to use 'all means' in pre-emptive strike on Israel

Mohammed Hejazi, the deputy head of Iran's armed forces

Πηγή: The Independend
By Adrian Blomfield
Feb 22 2012

Iran threatened to launch pre-emptive action against Israel yesterday in the event of an attack on its nuclear facilities.

Mohammed Hejazi, the deputy head of Iran's armed forces, hinted that Tehran could order proxy militant groups in Gaza and Lebanon to fire rockets into Israel.

"We are no longer willing to wait for enemy action to be launched against us," he told Iran's Fars news agency. "Our strategy now is that we will make use of all means to protect our national interests.

"We enjoy the ability to show them all types of confrontation in case of a foolish act by the Zionist regime."

Iran has steadily built up the rocket arsenals of Hezbollah, the Shia militant group in Lebanon, and Hamas, the Palestinian movement whose stronghold is the Gaza Strip, after both were depleted during military operations by Israel in 2006.

The two movements are believed to have tens of thousands of rockets capable of reaching cities deep inside Israel.

The threat comes amid growing concern in Washington that Israel is preparing to launch unilateral military action against Iran's nuclear facilities within months. US and British officials, including William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, have publicly urged Israel to avoid the use of force and instead give American and EU sanctions against Iran's central bank and energy sector time to work.

But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Ehud Barak, his defence minister, have told US officials that pleas for restraint are "playing into Iran's hands", according to Israel's 'Haaretz' newspaper.

Separately yesterday, the country defiantly pledged to press on with its efforts to develop atomic energy as the United Nations nuclear watchdog started a second day of meetings in Tehran to clarify aspects of the country's activities.

Iran has mastered the full nuclear-fuel cycle and the International Atomic Energy Agency supervises its work, Ramin Mehmanparast, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said yesterday.

Iran is exercising its "right to peaceful nuclear energy," he said, adding: "There is nothing to negotiate."

A team of IAEA officials arrived in Tehran yesterday for two days of meetings that provide an opportunity to defuse allegations of a possible military aspect to the country's nuclear program.

The delegation is in Iran for talks, not inspections, Mr Mehmanparast said.

As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran says it has the right to enrich uranium on its soil and maintains it wants atomic power to produce electricity for its growing population.

Analysis: Is Eurozone out of danger?

Πηγή: SBS
Feb 22 2012

After months of dispute and delay, Europe's historic rescue of Greece spawned instant relief across the troubled eurozone, though analysts warned the debt crisis seemed far from over.

The 237-billion-euro rescue, the biggest in Europe's history, "closes the door on a default scenario with serious social and economic consequences" for the continent's sickest nation, said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

Analysts stressed that the deal, achieved after a night of marathon talks, not only averted bankruptcy for Greece but also its departure from the euro -- a potential catastrophe for the 12-year-old currency.

As economically fragile states such as Spain saw their borrowing costs fall on news that Europe opted to maintain debt-laden Greece within the family, even euro-wary Britain hailed a deal too long in coming.

"We have got the euro zone collectively standing behind their currency which is something that Britain has urged them to do," said finance minister George Osborne. "All along the failure to deal with the Greek situation caused uncertainty."

"Hopefully we can all move on now and get the European economy growing."

But the 130 billion euros ($AU161 billion) in loans and debt write-off for creditors worth 107 billion euros -- or 21,500 euros per Greek citizen -- still needs approval in sceptical German, Dutch and Finnish parliaments and comes with strings attached for Greece.

Athens is being asked to quickly rewrite its constitution and make extra spending cuts despite the threat of igniting further fiery anti-austerity protests in a country saddled with around 20 percent unemployment.

Greece too faces a loss of sovereignty in exchange for rescue as the 17 eurozone nations move to coordinate economic policy and tighten integration after a decade of looser decision-making.

As Brussels tightens its monitoring of Greek policy-making, critics have blasted the eurozone for placing the onus on austerity rather than growth.

"Even with this agreement, most of Greece's problems lie ahead of it, not behind," said Sony Kapoor of the Re-Define think-tank. "Greece will almost certainly need another bailout."

"While Greece has overcome one hurdle, the country's troubles will continue to play out for years," said Rabobank analyst Jane Foley.

However Italian Premier Mario Monti, who was appointed to steer his debt-laden nation through its euro troubles, hailed Tuesday's deal as a means of halting contagion from the debt crisis to key economies such as Italy and Spain.

Asked whether the bailout marked the end of two rocky years for the eurozone, private banking supremo Charles Dallara said the euro was not yet over the hump but that the Greek rescue marked a new step in containing the debt crisis.

"I would not want to say that this is a definitive turning point. I do feel that it is part of a turning process," said the managing director of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) which groups private creditor banks.

After the European Central Bank offered liquidity to strained EU banks late last year, with the closure of the Greek deal "you now have the seeds planted I think firmly moving toward a restoration of confidence in the eurozone."

But the head of non-EU Norway's central bank, Oeystein Olsen, disagreed.

"I think it's too early to say the danger's over," the Norges Bank chief told the press. "We should be relatively optimistic but I'm not really certain that we've seen the last of the waves of turbulence ... the debt has not disappeared."

Senior economist Carsten Brzeski at ING Belgium said the eurozone had again bought time while it worked to beef up a firewall to protect peripheral economies such as Portugal against contagion.

"The often-cited Greek can has again been kicked down the road. (The) good thing is that the can is still on the road but it requires a huge amount of stamina and patience to keep it there," he said.

Russia will counter US missile defence: Medvedev

Πηγή: NewKerala
By IANS
Feb 22 2012

Russia will continue with the overhaul of its missile defence unless the US drops its plans for a European missile shield or proposes a scheme for a joint effort, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.

"This does not mean the beginning of confrontation, but it means that we cannot treat their (US) plans indifferently since it concerns our strategic interests," Medvedev said.

In an address to the nation in November, Medvedev had said that if Moscow's participation in the European missile defence project fails, Russia would deploy tactical missiles in the Kaliningrad exclave and halt its disarmament and arms control efforts, including participation in the new strategic arms reduction treaty with the US.

"We will do everything in the direction voiced by me earlier, with the only exception being if our partners drop their plans or propose to us a scheme for participating in the joint development of missile defences," Medvedev said.

Russia delivered Tuesday new S-400 Triumf air defence systems to its Western Military District and pledged to put them on alert duty in a month.

Russia-NATO missile defence talks have stalled as Moscow seeks legally binding guarantees that the US-backed European missile defence programme will not be directed against it.

Washington, however, refuses to provide written guarantees, saying the shield is not directed against Russia but rather rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.

US confident of sorting out Iranian oil issue with India

U.S. State Department, Victoria Nuland

Πηγή: Business Line
Feb 22 2012

The Obama Administration has exuded confidence that it would comfortably sail through the challenging phase in its relationship with India on the issue of purchase of oil from Iran.

“We’ve worked through hard issues before with India, and we’re looking forward to working through this one,” the State Department spokesperson, Ms Victoria Nuland, told presspersons at her daily news conference.

Ms Nuland said the US is talking to India along with other countries such as China on reducing their dependence on Iranian oil.

“Our goal is to continue to work with India to encourage it to do what it can to reduce its dependence on Iranian crude. We will continue those discussions,” she said.

“We have been saying for a number of weeks now, we’re also working with oil producers who might be able to provide alternative sources of supply. This includes a number of countries around the world,” Ms Nuland said.

The State Department spokesperson said the US has been talking with countries around the world about the implications of the legislation with regard to its expectation that countries will increasingly wean themselves of dependence on Iranian oil.

“We’re talking to India, we’re talking to China, we’re talking to countries in Europe, we’re talking to countries in Asia and Africa, et cetera,” she said.

US scientists discover new 'waterworld' planet

An artist's impression of GJ1214b, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere.

Πηγή: Space Dalily
By AFP
Feb 21 2012

An astronaut attempting to visit recently discovered planet GJ1214b would land in hot water -- literally, US scientists say.

Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said they have identified an entirely new kind of planet, dominated not by rock, gas or other common materials, but water.

The planet is "a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere," they said in a statement, after scrutinizing the planet with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

"GJ1214b is like no planet we know of," astronomer Zachary Berta said. "A huge fraction of its mass is made up of water."

GJ1214b was discovered in 2009 by the ground-based MEarth Project. Described as a "super-Earth," it is about 2.7 times Earth's diameter and weighs almost 7 times as much.

Further studies in 2010 led to scientists suspecting that the planet, where the temperature is some 450 degrees Fahrenheit (232 Celsius), was largely covered in water. This was confirmed by Berta and his co-authors using Hubble to study the planet when it crossed in front of its host star.

The light of the star, filtered through the planet's atmosphere, gave clues to the mix of gasses, backing up the water vapor theory.

"The Hubble measurements really tip the balance in favor of a steamy atmosphere," Berta said.

Further measurements and estimates led scientists to conclude that the planet has much more water than Earth and much less rock. That, together with high temperatures and pressure, likely produce some highly exotic results, including "hot ice," scientists say.

Our solar system contains three basic planet types: rocky, like Earth; gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn; and ice giants like Uranus.

Capitol Hill hearings show rough times ahead for White House over its proposed defense cuts

 In a Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 photo, an RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 30 prepares to land at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, Calif. Officials say Pentagon budget cuts will end the Air Force's long-range surveillance drone known as the Global Hawk, but keep the Navy's version of the unmanned aircraft.

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Walter Pincus

Feb 21 2012

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has joked that he wants a combat badge “with clusters” for his three days on Capitol Hill last week spent fighting off critics of the Obama administration’s fiscal 2013 defense budget.

During his appearances before the Senate and House Armed Services committees and the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Panetta — a former eight-term House member himself — defended the $45.3 billion in proposed trims meant to meet provisions of the August 2011 Budget Control Act.

No member called for deeper reductions. Instead, Panetta faced member after member who questioned the stretching out of purchasing aircraft, or the cancellation of a weapons system, or the changing of pay or health care or retirement costs, or the possible shift of mission or closing of a base or a National Guard or reserve unit.

Panetta confessed Friday afternoon during a town hall meeting at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana:

“I’ve been in hearings for the last three days. . . . I think I should get some kind of award going through that. . . . [Laughs.]

“I mean, I told — I told General [Martin] Dempsey [the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared with him] I need a new, you know, combatant — a new combat badge [laughter] for going to Capitol Hill — with clusters [laughter].”

But there are serious fiscal lessons from this first week of hearings on defense.

First, forget about the sequestration threat to take an additional $500 billion from Pentagon spending in the next 10 years. It’s not going to happen. Congress has to find some additional revenue streams — a war tax, for example — or cut spending somewhere else.

These initial hearings clearly showed that the administration will have its hands full just maintaining the proposed 2013 reductions.

Take the decision to halt procurement of one version of the unmanned, long-range surveillance aircraft, Global Hawk Block 30. The Pentagon will buy 21 and not the previously planned fleet of 31. Fourteen of these unmanned aerial vehicles are in service, four are in production, and three more have been funded at roughly $200 million each.

The administration’s plan is to put the 21 in storage and continue using piloted U-2 aircraft for intelligence and surveillance missions.

Both the Global Hawk and the U-2 have two basic sensors — one for imagery, another to intercept electronic messages. The latter sensors are roughly equal, but imagery on the U-2 is “far superior,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Larry O. Spencer of the Joint Staff. “It would be cost prohibitive to try to get the Global Hawk to be as capable as the U-2,” he said.

“The Block 30 Global Hawk has fundamentally priced itself out of our ability to afford it when the U-2 gives in some cases a better capability and in some cases just a slightly less capable platform,” Dempsey told the House Armed Services Committee.

Panetta repeatedly had to defend his support of unmanned systems when asked about the Global Hawk decision.

Before the House subcommittee, he said, “When you look at the cost effectiveness here, actually the U-2 provides an even better picture at a lesser cost and does the job.” He even pointed out that other elements of Global Hawk — the Block 40 version, which provides a unique ground surveillance capability — are still being procured from Northrop Grumman.

If you think the Block 30 battle is over, think again.

According to the Feb. 13 issue of the San Diego-based North County Times, Northrop spokesman Jim Stratford said “the Air Force has told us that there is no change to the contract and that we are to continue work as contracted.”

Northrop, which disputes the claim that the Global Hawk is too expensive, has the option of making its arguments directly to Congress. “So it really is too early in the process to speculate on any reductions,” Stratford told the North County Times.

Another procurement change that drew repeated questions related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the highly complex, fifth-generation aircraft with stealth capability and highly sophisticated, new offensive and defensive technologies.

About 2,400 are to be bought over more than a decade. It is the Pentagon’s most costly procurement program. The decision was made to slow down production schedules because planes were being built while development work was still being done on key systems. For example, software controlling the F-35’s major war-fighting functions, the most complex ever planned for an airplane, has been delayed so that the last block will not be introduced to the aircraft until at least June 2015.

While 29 F-35s will be funded in 2013, 179 fewer aircraft will be produced in the next five years, saving about $15.1 billion. The 179 will be bought in later years.

More than once, Panetta had to answer questions from lawmakers who argued that when you delay production in large acquisition programs such as the F-35, your costs increase.

Slowing production, Panetta explained to the House subcommittee, would allow the manufacturer to “incorporate the changes that have to be made and make it less expensive when it comes to full production, as opposed to go into full production and then [later] having to make horrendous changes that are going to add to the cost.”

When the same question came up later in the same hearing, Panetta was briefer: “We want to make damn sure that we don’t wind up . . . redoing these planes and adding to the cost. That’s what I’ve got to be careful of, and that’s why we slowed the production of these planes.”

Let’s give Panetta another oak-leaf cluster, but don’t bet he’s going to come out a total winner in this particular war.

IAEA nuclear experts visit Iran - but no nuclear sites

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (r.) and his Omani counterpart Yousef bin Alawi attend a joint news conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Πηγή: CSM
By Ariel Zirulnick
Feb 21 2012

The second visit in a month by members of the UN nuclear watchdog agency is aimed at laying the groundwork for negotiations between Iran and the IAEA.

UN nuclear inspectors in Iran will not visit any nuclear sites during their two-day visit, the Iranian foreign minister said today.

Ramin Mehmanparast said that the team was made up of “experts” – not inspectors, as they have been described in news reports – and that they were there for discussions that would lay the groundwork for negotiations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding the country’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reports.

Iran views its nuclear program – which it insists is for peaceful purposes only – as a “non-negotiable right,”Agence France-Presse reports. The implication is that Iran will not give up its nuclear program, although it may consent to some controls or limits on it.

Iranian state radio reported yesterday that the IAEA team asked to visit the Parchin military complex, suspected of being the site of covert weapon development, and to meet nuclear scientists, according to the Associated Press. The IAEA visit less than a month ago also did not include a visit to any Iranian nuclear sites.

In recent weeks, the tone of discussions about a military strike have escalated. An Iranian militaryleader warned today that Iran would stage a preemptive attack if it felt an attack on its nuclear program was imminent, Reuters reports.

“Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions,” said Mohammed Hejazi, the deputy armed forces head, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

The New York Times describes the recent heightened rhetoric as “a poker game with potentially lethal stakes, as both Iran and its adversaries maneuver for advantage with no way of knowing their opponent’s ultimate intentions.”

As the US and Britain have attempted to dissuade Israel from considering a strike, the Iranian government has boasted of improvements to its nuclear enrichment capabilities, according to the Times. Last week it announced that it was now using domestically produced fuel rods and had installed 3,000 new centrifuges.

Britain's Parliament yesterday debated a motion that would rule out a British strike on Iran, butForeign Secretary William Hague spoke strongly against it, saying it would “boost Iran’s confidence” and make it more likely that Israel would attack.

Meanwhile, US officials have given interviews to American journalists in recent weeks criticizing Israel’s consideration of an attack on Iran – angering Israeli officials, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told CNN on Feb. 19 that it would be “destabilizing” and “not prudent” to launch an attack at this time and said the US has so far been unsuccessful at persuading Israel to give up the possibility of an attack on Iran.

Israel has indicated that if the US wants it to stop making such preparations, the US needs to increase pressure on Iran further. "We made it clear that if we don't increase the pressure on the Iranians now, we might be in a situation in which the question how Iran obtained nuclear weapons would become an issue for commentators and historians," an Israeli official told Haaretz, implying that without more pressure, Iran will achieve weapons capability.

Yesterday, The New York Times published a storylaying out the steps necessary for a successful Israeli attack that made it clear current and former US military officials and exports thought it would be an extremely difficult task, although there were admissions that the US might not have full insight into Israel’s capabilities.

Should Israel decide to launch a strike on Iran, its pilots would have to fly more than 1,000 miles across unfriendly airspace, refuel in the air en route, fight off Iran’s air defenses, attack multiple underground sites simultaneously – and use at least 100 planes.

That is the assessment of American defense officials and military analysts close to the Pentagon, who say that an Israeli attack meant to set back Iran’s nuclear program would be a huge and highly complex operation.

…

“All the pundits who talk about ‘Oh, yeah, bomb Iran,’ it ain’t going to be that easy,” said Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, who retired last year as the Air Force’s top intelligence official and who planned the American air campaigns in 2001 in Afghanistan and in the 1991 Gulf War.

As one of many steps to increase pressure on Iran, the European Union agreed in January to impose an embargo on imports of Iranian oil, scheduled to go into effect this summer. In retaliation, Iran announced a ban on oil exports to Britain and France this week and said it might extend the ban to other countries unless they agree to “guarantees of payments, long-term contracts, and a ban on unilateral cancellation of contracts by buyers,” the Associated Press reports.

Iranian oil exports are much more critical to countries such as Spain and Italy, which get one-eighth of their oil from Iran, and Greece, which gets one-third of its oil from Iran, than they are to Britain or France, The New York Times notes.

Top US economist Irwin Stelzer on Europe’s Greek bailout

Πηγή: Business Talk
Feb 21 2012


IT’S only a matter of time before Greece goes bankrupt and leaves the euro, the leading US economist Irwin Stelzer tells us. Hear his views and listen to informed debate in your weekly business programme from the Yorkshire Post.

Dr Stelzer, a senior fellow and director of Hudson Institute’s economic policy studies group, warns that Greece would be in better shape if it had its own currency and in turn it would strengthen the value of the euro.

Click to listen

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post during a visit to Leeds, he says: “It’s only a matter of time before they (Greece) go bankrupt. They are bankrupt now, it’s only a question of how you recognise it and what you call it. “

US and Nato apologise for erroneous Afghan Qur'an burning

Afghan protesters show copies of Qur’ans allegedly set alight by US soldiers at Bagram airbase. Nato and US officials quickly issued an apology for an error that caused the incineration.

Πηγή: The Guardian
By Emma Graham-Harrison

Feb 21 2012

Officials issue speedy apology to protesters over 'error' that caused incineration of religious books at Bagram military airbase.

US and Nato forces have rushed to apologise for discarding and possibly burning copies of the Qur'an, as thousands of furious Afghans gathered to protest outside Bagram military airbase.

Some carried ancient hunting rifles and others used slingshots to pelt the outer walls of the airbase with stones for several hours, shouting "down with America" and other slogans, despite the bitter cold.

The crowd swelled to between two and three thousand, and police stationed on roads leading to the base turned back other would-be protestors from further away, according to Parwan provincial police chief General Mohammad Akram Bekzad.

Any destruction of, or damage to, Islam's holy book is an extremely sensitive issue in Afghanistan, and has sparked violent and sometimes deadly riots in the past.

As details of the apparent burning emerged, a speedy and unusually heartfelt statement was issued by the top US and Nato general in Afghanistan, apologising and promising an inquiry – seemingly designed to try and contain the spreading outrage.

"I assure you ... I promise you ... this was NOT intentional in any way," General John Allen said in a statement addressed to the "noble people of Afghanistan".

Copies of the Qur'an taken from prisoners at the airbase had been handed over for incineration late on Monday, and were spotted by Afghan workers, according to Afghan and western officials.

It is routine practice to burn waste documents on military bases in Afghanistan, and police chief Bekzad said the copies of the Qur'an were discarded together with many other papers.

A spokesman for coalition forces, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, said the books were sent for incineration by mistake, but declined to further comment pending the results of the investigation.

"The decision to burn had nothing to do with the material being religious in nature or related to Islam … it was an error."

He said coalition forces were not yet sure how much religious material had been sent for incineration and whether any Qur'ans had actually been burned before the Afghan workers intervened.

Haji Ahmad Zaki Zahed, head of the Parwan provincial council, said 17 copies of the Qur'an were rescued after they had been set alight but before the flames fully took hold.

"I talked with five representatives of the workers who showed me the pieces of the holy book, which I saw for myself were partly burned," he said.

When US pastor Terry Jones burned a copy of the Qur'an last year , it triggered deadly protests across Afghanistan.

Nine people were killed and more than 80 injured in a riot in southern Kandahar city, and in normally peaceful northern Mazar-e-Sharif, an angry crowd overran a United Nations compound and killed seven foreign employees, slitting the throat of one.

In response to the latest incident, protesters said they wanted to meet with President Karzai on Tuesday evening or they would return to the gates of Bagram on Wednesday morning.

"I will decide whether to go back to my job when I get the results of the investigation," said 27-year-old protester Rahmatullah Nazari, who has worked inside Bagram airbase for nine years.

He said troops had tried to burn a vehicle with over 1,000 copies of the Qur'an inside, although both western and Afghan officials said the number was much lower. The figure was a reminder that rumours about desecration can also spread as fast as anger.

Nazari said he joined around 200 other protesters when he turned up at 3am for his shift, and found the base gates locked. By 6 or 7am, despite the bitter cold, that had swelled to more than 1,000.

"The people were very emotional, tempers were high. Why did the Americans do this?"