http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html
The Sunday Times December 11, 2005
Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.
Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.
The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.
A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: “What next?” That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said.
Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the “point of no return” after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years.
“Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran,” Sharon warned recently. “We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.”
The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that “G” readiness — the highest stage — for an operation was announced last week.
Gholamreza Aghazadeah, head of the Atomic Organisation of Iran, warned yesterday that his country would produce nuclear fuel. “There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment,” he said.
He promised it would not be done during forthcoming talks with European negotiators. But although Iran insists it wants only nuclear energy, Israeli intelligence has concluded it is deceiving the world and has no intention of giving up what it believes is its right to develop nuclear weapons.
A “massive” Israeli intelligence operation has been underway since Iran was designated the “top priority for 2005”, according to security sources.
Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA.
Since Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, “it has been understood that the lesson is, don’t have one site, have 50 sites”, a White House source said.
If a military operation is approved, Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear programme for years, according to Israeli military sources.
It is believed Israel would call on its top special forces brigade, Unit 262 — the equivalent of the SAS — and the F-15I strategic 69 Squadron, which can strike Iran and return to Israel without refuelling.
“If we opt for the military strike,” said a source, “it must be not less than 100% successful. It will resemble the destruction of the Egyptian air force in three hours in June 1967.”
Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the Israeli military intelligence chief, stepped up the pressure on Iran this month when he warned Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course”.
The March deadline set for military readiness also stems from fears that Iran is improving its own intelligence-gathering capability. In October it launched its first satellite, the Sinah-1, which was carried by a Russian space launcher.
“The Iranians’ space programme is a matter of deep concern to us,” said an Israeli defence source. “If and when we launch an attack on several Iranian targets, the last thing we need is Iranian early warning received by satellite.”
Russia last week signed an estimated $1 billion contract — its largest since 2000 — to sell Iran advanced Tor-M1 systems capable of destroying guided missiles and laser-guided bombs from aircraft.
“Once the Iranians get the Tor-M1, it will make our life much more difficult,” said an Israeli air force source. “The installation of this system can be relatively quick and we can’t waste time on this one.”
The date set for possible Israeli strikes on Iran also coincides with Israel’s general election on March 28, prompting speculation that Sharon may be sabre-rattling for votes.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the frontrunner to lead Likud into the elections, said that if Sharon did not act against Iran, “then when I form the new Israeli government, we’ll do what we did in the past against Saddam’s reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquillity”.
TEHRAN MINISTER MET MILITANTS BEFORE NEW OFFENSIVE
Iran’s foreign minister met leading figures from three Islamic militant groups to co-ordinate a united front against Israel days before a recent escalation of attacks against Israeli targets shattered fragile ceasefires with Lebanon and the Palestinians, writes Hugh Macleod in Damascus.
The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held talks with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in Damascus on November 15.
Among those who attended the meeting were Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, and a deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last Monday’s suicide bombing of a shopping mall in Netanya that killed five Israeli citizens.
Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, was also present. “We all confirmed that what is going on in occupied Palestine is organically connected to what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Lebanon,” said Jibril.
Seven days after the talks, Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, sparking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon five years ago.
Full Version: International News and Commentary
Common Ground Common Sense > National & International News > Daily National and International News > International News Archive
EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights
By Justin Stares in Brussels and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.
The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."
The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.
The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.
According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."
But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.
Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."
Washington has been angered by EU protests about the movement and alleged abuse of terror suspects. Yesterday, John Bellinger, senior legal adviser to the US State Department, said the convention against torture, which the US has signed, "would generally apply" to prisoners held by the US.
He said on BBC radio: "Some of the allegations more broadly about all sorts of things are ludicrous. These allegations that we have these activities going on in the hundreds over Europe, and that we are going to take people off to be mistreated, are simply untrue."
By Justin Stares in Brussels and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.
The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."
The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.
The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.
According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."
But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.
Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."
Washington has been angered by EU protests about the movement and alleged abuse of terror suspects. Yesterday, John Bellinger, senior legal adviser to the US State Department, said the convention against torture, which the US has signed, "would generally apply" to prisoners held by the US.
He said on BBC radio: "Some of the allegations more broadly about all sorts of things are ludicrous. These allegations that we have these activities going on in the hundreds over Europe, and that we are going to take people off to be mistreated, are simply untrue."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police report around 36 casualties, 4 in serious condition, from at least four unexplained blasts at Buncefield oil depot and refinery, the fifth largest in UK, which sent a huge fireball shooting 200ft into the sky early Sunday.
December 11, 2005, 11:33 AM (GMT+02:00)
Thousands of people are being evacuated from the surrounding towns and suburbs outside, which is engulfed in flames and black smoke. An industrial state was badly damaged, windows blown out miles away. Nearby Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans and Leverstock Green are under a dense cloud of polluted smoke which poses a major environmental threat. The shocks of the blasts were felt across SE England. Police are trying to stop panic buying of petrol. The M1 intercity highway is closed until further notice.
The Hertfordshire police rule out external causes although many witnesses report an aircraft in the area at the time of the blasts. Defense minister John Reid said cagily: The police still believe the disaster was accidental but do not exclude alternatives. No investigation can be held until the big oil depot cools enough for access. This will take days if not weeks.
DEBKAfile adds: Main fuel installations of this size are routinely equipped with systems for shutting down sections to curb the spread of fire or blasts. The magnitude of the explosions that engulfed the entire installation indicate an unusual catastrophe of some kind. Witnesses reported heavy rumbles before the explosion, much as though an aircraft had crashed into the oil installations.
On Dec. 7, an Islamic website ran an excerpt of an earlier videotape in which bin Laden’s No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri called on “holy warriors” to concentrate their attacks on oil targets.
Police report around 36 casualties, 4 in serious condition, from at least four unexplained blasts at Buncefield oil depot and refinery, the fifth largest in UK, which sent a huge fireball shooting 200ft into the sky early Sunday.
December 11, 2005, 11:33 AM (GMT+02:00)
Thousands of people are being evacuated from the surrounding towns and suburbs outside, which is engulfed in flames and black smoke. An industrial state was badly damaged, windows blown out miles away. Nearby Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans and Leverstock Green are under a dense cloud of polluted smoke which poses a major environmental threat. The shocks of the blasts were felt across SE England. Police are trying to stop panic buying of petrol. The M1 intercity highway is closed until further notice.
The Hertfordshire police rule out external causes although many witnesses report an aircraft in the area at the time of the blasts. Defense minister John Reid said cagily: The police still believe the disaster was accidental but do not exclude alternatives. No investigation can be held until the big oil depot cools enough for access. This will take days if not weeks.
DEBKAfile adds: Main fuel installations of this size are routinely equipped with systems for shutting down sections to curb the spread of fire or blasts. The magnitude of the explosions that engulfed the entire installation indicate an unusual catastrophe of some kind. Witnesses reported heavy rumbles before the explosion, much as though an aircraft had crashed into the oil installations.
On Dec. 7, an Islamic website ran an excerpt of an earlier videotape in which bin Laden’s No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri called on “holy warriors” to concentrate their attacks on oil targets.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=94571
Gov't Officials Deny Plan to Strike Iran
10:36 Dec 11, '05 / 10 Kislev 5766
By Hillel Fendel
The Sunday Times in London reports that Prime Minister Sharon is preparing for a possible strike on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran. Israeli officials deny.
Quoting unnamed military sources, the report states that Israeli intelligence warned its government that Iran was operating small enrichment facilities concealed in civilian locations. The Times says that Sharon has ordered the military to prepare for a possible strike by the end of March.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and sources in Sharon's office deny the Times report. "Israel is dealing with the Iranian issue only with diplomatic tools," Shalom said. Sharon staffers said the paper's report is totally untrue.
It is known that Iran will be able to build a nuclear warhead 2-4 year after it receives the technical expertise to enrich sufficient quantities of uranium - known as the "point of no return." No country will be able to bomb the reactor once this point is reached, for fear that the radioactive fallout will harm an unknown number of thousands of civilians.
The question is, when will this point be reached? The Times says that Israeli defense sources believe it will be the end of March.
It has been noted that this is "coincidentally" the time when Israeli elections will be held. MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was asked about the timing on Army Radio today. He said, "I believe that in issues like this that truly are life-and-death questions for Israel, no Prime Minister, including Sharon [of the rival party Kadima - ed.] would take action out of electoral considerations. Neither him nor any other Prime Minister."
Shteinitz said, "I refuse to relate to what Israel can or should do [regarding Iran] on the military plane. Regarding other countries, like the United States, certainly there is a military option against Iran... The Iranians feel vulnerable to an air strike; they have deployed air defenses around all their nuclear sites."
"The Iranian threat is a global one," Shteinitz said, "and not only upon Israel, but against the West and entire world. It is therefore desirable that the enlightened world, led by the US, take care of this threat. The world is doing too little, too late. Iran has passed the half-way mark and is coming close to nuclear weapons. The world has sufficed up to now with diplomacy and rhetoric."
Just last week, Prime Minister Sharon said, "I think it's clear that we cannot allow a situation in which Iran becomes a nuclear power... This is an international problem, and not just ours."
Two days ago, U.S. Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph said that Iran is closing in on nuclear weapon production and that even U.N. sanctions may not deter it. He said the Iranian government is "very aggressive, very determined to develop nuclear weapons." Iran claims it is seeking only civilian nuclear power, but "we know this is not the case," Joseph said.
Mohammed El-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Friday, "the international community is losing patience" with Iran's nuclear program. Speaking in Oslo just a day before receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, El-Baradei said he hopes that the issue will be cleared up by the time he presents his next report on Iran in March. He still feels that diplomacy must be employed to solve the problem.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz does not agree. He told members of the foreign press a week ago that he does not believe American and European diplomatic pressures on Iran regarding the nuclear enrichment efforts will bear fruit.
"If a military operation is approved," the Sunday Times reports, "Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear program for years, according to Israeli military sources." The paper also quotes IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash as having warned the Knesset this month that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course.”
Gov't Officials Deny Plan to Strike Iran
10:36 Dec 11, '05 / 10 Kislev 5766
By Hillel Fendel
The Sunday Times in London reports that Prime Minister Sharon is preparing for a possible strike on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran. Israeli officials deny.
Quoting unnamed military sources, the report states that Israeli intelligence warned its government that Iran was operating small enrichment facilities concealed in civilian locations. The Times says that Sharon has ordered the military to prepare for a possible strike by the end of March.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and sources in Sharon's office deny the Times report. "Israel is dealing with the Iranian issue only with diplomatic tools," Shalom said. Sharon staffers said the paper's report is totally untrue.
It is known that Iran will be able to build a nuclear warhead 2-4 year after it receives the technical expertise to enrich sufficient quantities of uranium - known as the "point of no return." No country will be able to bomb the reactor once this point is reached, for fear that the radioactive fallout will harm an unknown number of thousands of civilians.
The question is, when will this point be reached? The Times says that Israeli defense sources believe it will be the end of March.
It has been noted that this is "coincidentally" the time when Israeli elections will be held. MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was asked about the timing on Army Radio today. He said, "I believe that in issues like this that truly are life-and-death questions for Israel, no Prime Minister, including Sharon [of the rival party Kadima - ed.] would take action out of electoral considerations. Neither him nor any other Prime Minister."
Shteinitz said, "I refuse to relate to what Israel can or should do [regarding Iran] on the military plane. Regarding other countries, like the United States, certainly there is a military option against Iran... The Iranians feel vulnerable to an air strike; they have deployed air defenses around all their nuclear sites."
"The Iranian threat is a global one," Shteinitz said, "and not only upon Israel, but against the West and entire world. It is therefore desirable that the enlightened world, led by the US, take care of this threat. The world is doing too little, too late. Iran has passed the half-way mark and is coming close to nuclear weapons. The world has sufficed up to now with diplomacy and rhetoric."
Just last week, Prime Minister Sharon said, "I think it's clear that we cannot allow a situation in which Iran becomes a nuclear power... This is an international problem, and not just ours."
Two days ago, U.S. Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph said that Iran is closing in on nuclear weapon production and that even U.N. sanctions may not deter it. He said the Iranian government is "very aggressive, very determined to develop nuclear weapons." Iran claims it is seeking only civilian nuclear power, but "we know this is not the case," Joseph said.
Mohammed El-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Friday, "the international community is losing patience" with Iran's nuclear program. Speaking in Oslo just a day before receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, El-Baradei said he hopes that the issue will be cleared up by the time he presents his next report on Iran in March. He still feels that diplomacy must be employed to solve the problem.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz does not agree. He told members of the foreign press a week ago that he does not believe American and European diplomatic pressures on Iran regarding the nuclear enrichment efforts will bear fruit.
"If a military operation is approved," the Sunday Times reports, "Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear program for years, according to Israeli military sources." The paper also quotes IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash as having warned the Knesset this month that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course.”
Last update - 12:24 11/12/2005
Tehran offers U.S. share in nuclear power plant
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its controversial atomic program.
"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.
Asefi was apparently talking about a 360-megawatt light water nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran, which the head of the country's top atomic organization announced plans to build on Saturday.
Tehran offers U.S. share in nuclear power plant
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its controversial atomic program.
"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.
Asefi was apparently talking about a 360-megawatt light water nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran, which the head of the country's top atomic organization announced plans to build on Saturday.
--------------------
Iran Invites U.S. to Bid on Nuclear Plant
--------------------
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
December 11 2005, 7:48 AM PST
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its atomic program.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wi...,0,252100.story
Iran Invites U.S. to Bid on Nuclear Plant
--------------------
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
December 11 2005, 7:48 AM PST
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its atomic program.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wi...,0,252100.story
--------------------
IRAN: Tehran has exploited the gap between Washington and Europe.
--------------------
By Alan Isenberg
Alan Isenberg writes for Newsweek International. He recently completed a fellowship at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation that focused on Iran's nuclear program.
December 11 2005
OVER THE last four years, and especially under radical new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has done its best to live up to President Bush's 2002 declaration that it is part of an "axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday...-sunday-opinion
IRAN: Tehran has exploited the gap between Washington and Europe.
--------------------
By Alan Isenberg
Alan Isenberg writes for Newsweek International. He recently completed a fellowship at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation that focused on Iran's nuclear program.
December 11 2005
OVER THE last four years, and especially under radical new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has done its best to live up to President Bush's 2002 declaration that it is part of an "axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday...-sunday-opinion
--------------------
Sunni Factions Plot Their Return
--------------------
After this week's vote, the minority group may seek alliances with Kurds and secular Shiites to try to take back more power.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer
December 11 2005
BAGHDAD; At the office of the federation of Iraqi tribes, the scene is something of a throwback to the Saddam Hussein days.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,5797338.story
Sunni Factions Plot Their Return
--------------------
After this week's vote, the minority group may seek alliances with Kurds and secular Shiites to try to take back more power.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer
December 11 2005
BAGHDAD; At the office of the federation of Iraqi tribes, the scene is something of a throwback to the Saddam Hussein days.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,5797338.story
India's Tech Sector to Receive Billions of Dollars in Investment
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
11 December 2005
India's reputation as a rapidly growing technology hub has received a boost with several global IT companies announcing plans to invest billions of dollars in the country's high-tech sector. Software giant Microsoft is also promising to focus its research in India on developing low cost computers.
Bill Gates
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled plans during a visit to New Delhi this month to strengthen his company's presence in India by investing $1.7 billion during the next four years.
The company will also increase its workforce from four thousand to seven thousand.
The announcement came days after computer chip manufacturer Intel Corporation said it would invest more than one billion dollars in India in the next five years.
Both companies will spend a substantial part of the money on research and development.
In October, communications equipment maker Cisco Systems announced it would invest more than one billion dollars and triple its staff.
A host of technology companies have been lured to India in recent years by its pool of highly skilled but low-cost software professionals, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The Microsoft chairman told Indian businessmen that the country does offer "fantastic manpower."
But Mr. Gates said more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide in India, where many people cannot afford computers.
"Ironically in the case of the shoemaker's children not having the best shoes, if we look at the use of IT in the country, there is still far more that can be done…there will need to be increased investment in IT," Mr. Gates said.
Microsoft is promising to contribute to that effort by focusing research in India on creating low-cost products that would be within the reach of millions of poor people.
"India is the place where a number of the breakthroughs that are necessary will take place…. It is with that mind we created our fourth research center ….we said the theme of that would be low cost computing," Mr. Gates said.
Among the possibilities Mr. Gates suggested were making a mobile phone work as a computer, or developing computers that respond to speech.
Business analysts say global IT companies are also lured to India to tap the potential of its increasingly affluent 300 million middle-income consumers.
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
11 December 2005
India's reputation as a rapidly growing technology hub has received a boost with several global IT companies announcing plans to invest billions of dollars in the country's high-tech sector. Software giant Microsoft is also promising to focus its research in India on developing low cost computers.
Bill Gates
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled plans during a visit to New Delhi this month to strengthen his company's presence in India by investing $1.7 billion during the next four years.
The company will also increase its workforce from four thousand to seven thousand.
The announcement came days after computer chip manufacturer Intel Corporation said it would invest more than one billion dollars in India in the next five years.
Both companies will spend a substantial part of the money on research and development.
In October, communications equipment maker Cisco Systems announced it would invest more than one billion dollars and triple its staff.
A host of technology companies have been lured to India in recent years by its pool of highly skilled but low-cost software professionals, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The Microsoft chairman told Indian businessmen that the country does offer "fantastic manpower."
But Mr. Gates said more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide in India, where many people cannot afford computers.
"Ironically in the case of the shoemaker's children not having the best shoes, if we look at the use of IT in the country, there is still far more that can be done…there will need to be increased investment in IT," Mr. Gates said.
Microsoft is promising to contribute to that effort by focusing research in India on creating low-cost products that would be within the reach of millions of poor people.
"India is the place where a number of the breakthroughs that are necessary will take place…. It is with that mind we created our fourth research center ….we said the theme of that would be low cost computing," Mr. Gates said.
Among the possibilities Mr. Gates suggested were making a mobile phone work as a computer, or developing computers that respond to speech.
Business analysts say global IT companies are also lured to India to tap the potential of its increasingly affluent 300 million middle-income consumers.
Israel Threatens Trade Sanctions Against Palestinians
By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
10 December 2005
Berger report (Real Media) - Download 262k
Listen to Berger report (Real Media)
Israeli troops at border with Gaza
Israel has frozen a Gaza border security agreement with the Palestinian Authority and is warning of tougher action. Israel wants stronger measures to curb Palestinian terrorism.
Israel is threatening to impose trade sanctions on the Palestinians, if they do not tighten security immediately at the newly opened Gaza border crossing with Egypt. Israeli officials say terrorists and weapons are being smuggled across the border, in violation of a U.S.-brokered agreement.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told VOA that terrorists from Hamas and al-Qaida have been crossing the border. "These Islamic extremists want to energize the extremists inside Gaza. It's very important that we have a security situation on the ground, a defensive system, border controls and so forth, so as not to allow these activists into the Gaza Strip," he said.
Officials say the army could tighten restrictions on the Gaza-Israel border, a move that could harm trade and cripple the already battered Palestinian economy. What we're hoping to achieve is agreements and understandings that will allow both for the maximum flow of people and goods in and out of Gaza and at the same time deal seriously with the very real security challenges," he said.
Those security challenges were reinforced by Israel's discovery of a tunnel running from Gaza, under the border fence and into Israel. The army said terrorist groups planned to smuggle gunmen across the border to carry out attacks on Israeli communities.
The tunnel was uncovered after Hamas, the biggest Palestinian militant group, threatened to pull out of the 10-month-old cease-fire and resume attacks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appealed for calm. "We have agreed to a truce," Mr. Abbas said. "And therefore, we should continue
with it until security prevails," he said, "so our people will not feel threatened by Israeli planes and tanks," he said.
Israel says Mr. Abbas is saying the right words, but he is not taking any action. The Israelis are urging him to keep his commitment under the internationally backed "road map" peace plan and disarm militant groups.
By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
10 December 2005
Berger report (Real Media) - Download 262k
Listen to Berger report (Real Media)
Israeli troops at border with Gaza
Israel has frozen a Gaza border security agreement with the Palestinian Authority and is warning of tougher action. Israel wants stronger measures to curb Palestinian terrorism.
Israel is threatening to impose trade sanctions on the Palestinians, if they do not tighten security immediately at the newly opened Gaza border crossing with Egypt. Israeli officials say terrorists and weapons are being smuggled across the border, in violation of a U.S.-brokered agreement.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told VOA that terrorists from Hamas and al-Qaida have been crossing the border. "These Islamic extremists want to energize the extremists inside Gaza. It's very important that we have a security situation on the ground, a defensive system, border controls and so forth, so as not to allow these activists into the Gaza Strip," he said.
Officials say the army could tighten restrictions on the Gaza-Israel border, a move that could harm trade and cripple the already battered Palestinian economy. What we're hoping to achieve is agreements and understandings that will allow both for the maximum flow of people and goods in and out of Gaza and at the same time deal seriously with the very real security challenges," he said.
Those security challenges were reinforced by Israel's discovery of a tunnel running from Gaza, under the border fence and into Israel. The army said terrorist groups planned to smuggle gunmen across the border to carry out attacks on Israeli communities.
The tunnel was uncovered after Hamas, the biggest Palestinian militant group, threatened to pull out of the 10-month-old cease-fire and resume attacks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appealed for calm. "We have agreed to a truce," Mr. Abbas said. "And therefore, we should continue
with it until security prevails," he said, "so our people will not feel threatened by Israeli planes and tanks," he said.
Israel says Mr. Abbas is saying the right words, but he is not taking any action. The Israelis are urging him to keep his commitment under the internationally backed "road map" peace plan and disarm militant groups.
Travel chaos after depot blasts
Travel has been badly disrupted after explosions at an oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
The M1 is closed southbound between Junction 12 at Toddington and Junction 6 Bricket Wood, and northbound between Junction 6 and Junction 11, Dunstable.
The M10 is also closed both ways between Junction 7 for the M1 and Junction 1 near St Albans.
Luton Airport was fully operational but Heathrow experienced flight delays, as an approach path passes over the depot.
Police are advising motorists to keep completely away from the M1 in the area to the north of where it meets the M25.
Roads affected
Drivers wanting to head north from the east side of London are advised leave the M25 and use the A1 and A14.
From the west side of London going north, motorists should come off the M1, head up to the M40 to Junction 10, join the A43 and then rejoin the M1.
People travelling from the north towards east London should take the A14 where the M1 and M6 meet, and then take the A1 southbound.
Several main roads in Hertfordshire have also been affected.
The A4147 is closed both ways between the B487 Redbourn Road junction and the A414 Breakspear Way junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Also closed is the A4146 Leighton Buzzard Road southbound around the A4147 junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Extra time
Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire, said many roads in the Hemel Hempstead area would remain shut for some time and the M1 may not reopen until Monday evening.
AA spokesman Gavin Hill-Smith said: "The M1 is one of the key arterial routes in the country and any disruption of this magnitude is going to have considerable knock-on effects."
We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area
RAC spokesman
He urged motorists to allow extra time for their journeys.
An RAC spokesman added: "We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area."
A British Airways spokeswoman said flights at Heathrow, already hit by thick early morning fog, were affected.
"There are four air routes into Heathrow and one has been closed because of the smoke coming from the depot site and this has led to delays," she said.
"Also, the fog meant that we had to cancel some flights today."
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: "We have been lucky in that we have not had too much disruption. We are almost exactly due south of the blast depot and the wind has been carrying the smoke in an easterly direction."
Bus travel is also disrupted. National Express services from Northampton to Gatwick and London are not serving any stops in Luton or Hemel Hempstead.
Rail links through Hemel Hempstead were unaffected.
The Buncefield depot feeds filling stations for diesel and petrol, industrial oil and domestic heating oil for North London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...rts/4519240.stm
Published: 2005/12/11 16:23:14 GMT
© BBC MMV
Travel has been badly disrupted after explosions at an oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
The M1 is closed southbound between Junction 12 at Toddington and Junction 6 Bricket Wood, and northbound between Junction 6 and Junction 11, Dunstable.
The M10 is also closed both ways between Junction 7 for the M1 and Junction 1 near St Albans.
Luton Airport was fully operational but Heathrow experienced flight delays, as an approach path passes over the depot.
Police are advising motorists to keep completely away from the M1 in the area to the north of where it meets the M25.
Roads affected
Drivers wanting to head north from the east side of London are advised leave the M25 and use the A1 and A14.
From the west side of London going north, motorists should come off the M1, head up to the M40 to Junction 10, join the A43 and then rejoin the M1.
People travelling from the north towards east London should take the A14 where the M1 and M6 meet, and then take the A1 southbound.
Several main roads in Hertfordshire have also been affected.
The A4147 is closed both ways between the B487 Redbourn Road junction and the A414 Breakspear Way junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Also closed is the A4146 Leighton Buzzard Road southbound around the A4147 junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Extra time
Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire, said many roads in the Hemel Hempstead area would remain shut for some time and the M1 may not reopen until Monday evening.
AA spokesman Gavin Hill-Smith said: "The M1 is one of the key arterial routes in the country and any disruption of this magnitude is going to have considerable knock-on effects."
We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area
RAC spokesman
He urged motorists to allow extra time for their journeys.
An RAC spokesman added: "We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area."
A British Airways spokeswoman said flights at Heathrow, already hit by thick early morning fog, were affected.
"There are four air routes into Heathrow and one has been closed because of the smoke coming from the depot site and this has led to delays," she said.
"Also, the fog meant that we had to cancel some flights today."
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: "We have been lucky in that we have not had too much disruption. We are almost exactly due south of the blast depot and the wind has been carrying the smoke in an easterly direction."
Bus travel is also disrupted. National Express services from Northampton to Gatwick and London are not serving any stops in Luton or Hemel Hempstead.
Rail links through Hemel Hempstead were unaffected.
The Buncefield depot feeds filling stations for diesel and petrol, industrial oil and domestic heating oil for North London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...rts/4519240.stm
Published: 2005/12/11 16:23:14 GMT
© BBC MMV
Oil depot blast impact on supply seen limited
Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:21 PM GMT
By Mike Peacock
LONDON (Reuters) - A series of massive explosions at a fuel depot north of London on Sunday is unlikely to cause national fuel shortages, the government and industry said.
The Buncefield oil depot supplies petrol and fuel oils for a large part of southeast England. Oil is brought to the depot, near the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead, in an underground pipeline from tankers unloading on the east coast.
A government spokesman said that when full, the depot would hold five percent of the oil supply, but could not say how much it was holding before the blast.
"It's too early to say what the exact effect of the fire will be on the supply of fuel but oil companies are already making arrangements to source oil products from the many other locations," the spokesman from the Department of Trade and Industry said.
"We understand that the oil industry is meeting this afternoon to determine how the supply of petroleum products can be sourced from other distribution terminals."
Witnesses reported queues of people at petrol stations, waiting to fill up their cars, after the blast which spewed flames and a huge column of black smoke high into the sky.
Police said about half of the depot had been destroyed.
The part affected is jointly run by oil companies Total and Texaco.
Buncefield is the fifth largest storage facility in Britain.
Sheila Williams, spokeswoman for oil giant BP, said there would be no problems with fuel shortages.
"There is certainly no shortage of fuel in and around the area and we are working hard to bring fuel supplies in from other terminals to petrol sites in those areas affected," she told Sky Television.
Police, who said they were treating the incident as an accident, also cautioned against panic buying.
"We have no indication at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages," a Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said. "We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages."
Buncefield supplies fuel to major airports including nearby Luton and Heathrow. But both said they held sufficient supplies to avoid any problems.
"There is no indication that there will be a shortage in the foreseeable future," a Heathrow spokeswoman said.
Luton said flights were taking off and landing as normal although Heathrow said the pall of smoke had delayed some services.
The main transport impact came from the closure of the M1 motorway which runs close to the plant. Parts of it are expected to remain shut on Monday.
Car-loving Britons have been edgy about petrol supplies since hauliers blockaded refineries in protest at fuel tax levels five years ago, and brought the country to a virtual standstill.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:21 PM GMT
By Mike Peacock
LONDON (Reuters) - A series of massive explosions at a fuel depot north of London on Sunday is unlikely to cause national fuel shortages, the government and industry said.
The Buncefield oil depot supplies petrol and fuel oils for a large part of southeast England. Oil is brought to the depot, near the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead, in an underground pipeline from tankers unloading on the east coast.
A government spokesman said that when full, the depot would hold five percent of the oil supply, but could not say how much it was holding before the blast.
"It's too early to say what the exact effect of the fire will be on the supply of fuel but oil companies are already making arrangements to source oil products from the many other locations," the spokesman from the Department of Trade and Industry said.
"We understand that the oil industry is meeting this afternoon to determine how the supply of petroleum products can be sourced from other distribution terminals."
Witnesses reported queues of people at petrol stations, waiting to fill up their cars, after the blast which spewed flames and a huge column of black smoke high into the sky.
Police said about half of the depot had been destroyed.
The part affected is jointly run by oil companies Total and Texaco.
Buncefield is the fifth largest storage facility in Britain.
Sheila Williams, spokeswoman for oil giant BP, said there would be no problems with fuel shortages.
"There is certainly no shortage of fuel in and around the area and we are working hard to bring fuel supplies in from other terminals to petrol sites in those areas affected," she told Sky Television.
Police, who said they were treating the incident as an accident, also cautioned against panic buying.
"We have no indication at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages," a Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said. "We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages."
Buncefield supplies fuel to major airports including nearby Luton and Heathrow. But both said they held sufficient supplies to avoid any problems.
"There is no indication that there will be a shortage in the foreseeable future," a Heathrow spokeswoman said.
Luton said flights were taking off and landing as normal although Heathrow said the pall of smoke had delayed some services.
The main transport impact came from the closure of the M1 motorway which runs close to the plant. Parts of it are expected to remain shut on Monday.
Car-loving Britons have been edgy about petrol supplies since hauliers blockaded refineries in protest at fuel tax levels five years ago, and brought the country to a virtual standstill.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
UK Police Say Fuel Blasts an Accident Forbes
Explosions ripped through a major fuel depot north of London on Sunday, injuring dozens of people, blowing doors off nearby homes and sending fireballs and massive clouds of black smoke into the sky. Police said the blasts appeared to be accidental, though they occurred just four days after an al-Qaida videotape appeared on the Internet calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil "stolen" from Muslims in the Middle East.
UK Police Say Oil Blasts an Accident ABC News
HUGE BLASTS IGNITE FUEL DEPOT Special Broadcasting Service
Hindu - Deepika - OilFiredUp - Stuff.co.nz - all 1,116 related »
Explosions ripped through a major fuel depot north of London on Sunday, injuring dozens of people, blowing doors off nearby homes and sending fireballs and massive clouds of black smoke into the sky. Police said the blasts appeared to be accidental, though they occurred just four days after an al-Qaida videotape appeared on the Internet calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil "stolen" from Muslims in the Middle East.
UK Police Say Oil Blasts an Accident ABC News
HUGE BLASTS IGNITE FUEL DEPOT Special Broadcasting Service
Hindu - Deepika - OilFiredUp - Stuff.co.nz - all 1,116 related »
Iran's leader drawing fire
President Ahmadinejad is proving too radical even for some Iranian
conservatives. By Scott Peterson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p01s04-wome.html?s=hns
President Ahmadinejad is proving too radical even for some Iranian
conservatives. By Scott Peterson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p01s04-wome.html?s=hns
AU struggles to calm Darfur
The African Union's mission in Sudan has become a test of its ability
to quell conflicts. By Daniel Pepper and Abraham McLaughlin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p06s01-woaf.html?s=hns
The African Union's mission in Sudan has become a test of its ability
to quell conflicts. By Daniel Pepper and Abraham McLaughlin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p06s01-woaf.html?s=hns
India needs to look East: Manmohan Hindu
India does not need to look West to attract investment, but should focus on South-East Asia and East Asia as the region had the largest savings surplus in the world, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday. Dr. Singh said East Asia and South-East Asia were of the "greatest importance" to India as it sought more investment. Talking to correspondents en route to Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Singh said India had a "benign" relationship with South-East Asia and had no disputes with any country in this part of the world.
Putin Seeks Membership of Asian Business Club The Moscow Times
Southeast Asian Leaders Prepare to Open ASEAN Summit Voice of America
Reuters - Nation Multimedia - NDTV.com - Outlook (subscription) - all 249 related »
India does not need to look West to attract investment, but should focus on South-East Asia and East Asia as the region had the largest savings surplus in the world, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday. Dr. Singh said East Asia and South-East Asia were of the "greatest importance" to India as it sought more investment. Talking to correspondents en route to Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Singh said India had a "benign" relationship with South-East Asia and had no disputes with any country in this part of the world.
Putin Seeks Membership of Asian Business Club The Moscow Times
Southeast Asian Leaders Prepare to Open ASEAN Summit Voice of America
Reuters - Nation Multimedia - NDTV.com - Outlook (subscription) - all 249 related »
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GL10Df01.html
US turns the screws on deal with India
By Ramtanu Maitra
The "historic" US-India nuclear deal of July 18, on which Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to situate his legacy, is in trouble. It is evident that the US Congress is keen to extract the proverbial pound of flesh before it approves the deal. It also seems the optimism that prevailed in the Indian camp earlier is vanishing fast and what India will have to surrender to get the deal through could well be the new worry of New Delhi.
At the end of November, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was in Washington to attend the inaugural session of the Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group's meeting. Addressing the session, the Indian visitor said: "The nuclear agreement, as would be appreciated, has larger implications for high-technology trade as it is premised on US recognition of India's impeccable record on non-proliferation. It not only recognizes that non-proliferation is better served with India as a partner, but also sends a clear signal that India cannot be a partner and a target at the same time of technology denial regime." It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary's efforts to grease the wheels did not accomplish much.
The crunch
On November 18, a group of US nuclear non-proliferation experts [1] (some call them the American "ayatollahs of non-proliferation"), sent an open letter to the House of Representatives urging the lawmakers "to critically examine the July 18 proposal to allow for 'full' US-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation, which would require significant changes to US non-proliferation laws and long-standing international non-proliferation policy that have been supported and advanced by past Republican and Democratic administrations".
All the individuals who have put their signatures to the letter are like hallowed institutions in Washington, shoring up for years the increasingly tattered American non-proliferation policy.
In case the lawmakers missed the point, this powerful group pointed out that President George W Bush and administration officials involved with the proposed agreement had withheld the key details needed to help Congress fully understand the implications of the proposal.
"Accordingly, we urge that before any action is taken on any legislation sent up by the administration to implement the proposal, Congress should obtain detailed answers to a number of questions," they said.
The sticking point is that "so far, India has pledged only to accept voluntary safeguards over 'civilian' nuclear facilities of its choosing", they pointed out. "This could allow India to withdraw any nuclear facility from [International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA]) safeguards for national security reasons. Such an arrangement would be purely symbolic and would do nothing to prevent the continued production of fissile material for weapons by India."
They also said "the supply of nuclear fuel to India would free up its existing stockpile and capacity to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons. To help ensure that US civilian nuclear cooperation is not in any way advancing India's weapons program, it would be essential to apply permanent, facility-specific safeguards on a mutually agreed and broad list of current and future Indian nuclear facilities involved in civilian activities and electricity production in combination with a cutoff of Indian fissile material production for weapons."
The group then went on to recommend that "specifically, civilian nuclear assistance should not be extended to India until it implements a cessation of the production of fissile material for weapons, which has been adopted by the five original nuclear-weapon states".
Another fear expressed by the group is that the arrangement proposed by the Bush administration could also trigger a significant erosion of the guidelines of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which are an important barrier against the transfer of nuclear material, equipment and technologies for weapons purposes.
Urging the lawmakers not to provide any civilian assistance to India without the full concurrence of the NSG and approval of India's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the group said: "The proposed civil nuclear cooperation arrangement may also undermine our ability to win necessary international support for persuading Iran to abandon its fuel cycle plans and to make its nuclear program fully transparent to the IAEA."
Snowballing effect
It was evident from the outset that Tehran's development of a nuclear program, which New Delhi condemns as well, and Washington's difficulties in dealing with the situation in Tehran, would be linked by the opponents of the Bush-Manmohan Singh deal in their attempt to kill it.
But, perhaps, the group went even a step further, saying the deal could persuade states who "have for decades remained true to the original NPT [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] bargain and forsworn nuclear weapons" to "make a different choice in the future if non-NPT members [such as India] receive civil nuclear assistance under less rigorous terms."
New Delhi, without giving the group's open letter any publicity, saw the red flag and sent Shyam Saran. It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary did not achieve much.
On November 30, Congressman Edward Markey and ranking member in the Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Bush along with the group's expressed concerns and a set of questions for consideration on proposed nuclear cooperation with India, "respectfully requesting" the White House to "provide responses to all of the questions that these experts have raised about various aspects of the proposal".
A copy of the letter, and the attachment, were also sent to the US secretary of defense and the secretary of state.
On December 7, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, addressing the Aspen Strategic Group, made clear his concerns, pointing out India had to first separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and place all its nuclear reactors under IAEA inspections.
Lugar said an "opaque or incomprehensible" Indian separation plan would only raise more questions, particularly in Congress, about India's intentions. "More generally, as a politician in the United States Senate charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist [sic] terms and include as many facilities as possible within the scope of the civilian declaration," he said.
"Conversely, a minimalist approach will likely only delay consideration of this initiative in the US Congress and in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Or, at worst, it could result in unfavorable action by one or both bodies," Lugar said.
Although pointing out that he was issuing no threat, Lugar said, "While the Bush administration has, I think, been very clear in discussions with the Indian government about its expectations, let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster with the United States Congress."
Lugar's position would require India to give up a major portion of its military nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards, which would effectively cap India's deterrence, some observers claim. In other words, they say, India would be left exposed and vulnerable, self-defeating the country nuclear weapons' program and its defense.
The Nunn-Lugar Act
It is not difficult to understand why Lugar wanted the plan to be "credible, transparent and defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint". He, along with former Democratic senator from Georgia, Sam Nunn, was instrumental in getting Congress to pass the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Act in 1991.
This was after the Soviet Union disintegrated in late 1991; Soviet nuclear weapons were in the hands of four suddenly independent republics - Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus - whose leadership appeared confused and wobbly.
In response to that threatening turn of events, Nunn and Lugar persuaded Congress to pass the CTR program to provide assistance for dismantling or safely storing the weapons in the Soviet nuclear arsenal. This came to be known as the Nunn-Lugar Act.
The act, which was funded by a congressionally authorized transfer of $400 million from Department of Defense operations and maintenance accounts to Nunn-Lugar projects in fiscal year 1992, focused on weapon destruction and security.
While the act has been criticized widely, particularly the transfer of aid part of it, there are many in Washington who realize that it helped destroy large numbers of nuclear warheads and diminished threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.
In dealing with the US-India nuclear deal, it would be naive to expect that Lugar would not take an extremely hard stand on the issue of India and weapons of mass destruction.
For New Delhi, the question is: where to go from here? It is evident that Manmohan's recent three-day visit to Moscow had a civilian nuclear element. It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin is perfectly willing to sell more of his light water reactors (LWRs)to India. Russia has sold India two 1,000 MW reactors, but could not promise any more because Russia, being a part of the NSG, cannot afford to violate the laws laid down by the NSG.
The obstacles
During Singh's discussions in Moscow, it was evident that the Russians would supply more enriched uranium-fueled LWRs if the US-India nuclear cooperation deal went through. That means, Moscow will not independently deal with the NSG vis-a-vis India, and will rely on Washington to get NSG approval.
In other words, if the US Congress in the short term does not approve the Bush-Manmohan deal, nothing much will help India in its plan to import nuclear reactors from abroad and solve some of its long-term electricity requirements. In this situation, strategic ties with Moscow will not help New Delhi one bit.
And there is nothing much India can do. However, there are some developments of which New Delhi should take note.
A great deal of the problem vis-a-vis getting the nuclear deal through Congress lies in the weakening of the Bush administration. At present, the White House is being pummeled from all sides, starting with the Iraq war. This is taking its toll on Republican lawmakers worried about elections in 2006, and they have begun to raise questions on issues they would not have previously questioned.
The Bush-Manmohan nuclear deal could be one issue where some Republicans will express their increasing independence from the White House. As for the Democrats, it is likely that most of them will not like to concede the White House even an inch.
It is also unlikely that the White House will have the energy and verve to do what is necessary to get the deal through. In addition, something else has begun to bother the Indians. Addressing the John Hopkins University on December 1, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and an apparent promoter of the deal, Nicholas Burns, alleged Indian commitments on Iran.
Burns said, "The Indians have assured us there is no [energy] plan on the table that is ready for decision by the Iranian and Indian governments, that any plans, any discussions, have been hypothetical and are years away."
While returning from Moscow with the Indian premier, minister Saran told the media that he did not remember anyone giving the Americans any such assurance.
If Saran is telling the truth, it means Washington has come to believe that New Delhi is desperate for the ratification of the July agreement and will be willing to accommodate some American demands that could help the Bush administration on the domestic scene.
Note [1] The signatories include Hal Bengelsdorf, consultant, and former director of the Office for Non-proliferation Policy at the Energy Department and former office director for nuclear affairs at the State Department; Robert J Einhorn, senior adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies and former assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation; John Holum, former under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs and former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Victor Gilinsky, energy consultant and former US nuclear regulatory commissioner, among 12 others.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)
US turns the screws on deal with India
By Ramtanu Maitra
The "historic" US-India nuclear deal of July 18, on which Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to situate his legacy, is in trouble. It is evident that the US Congress is keen to extract the proverbial pound of flesh before it approves the deal. It also seems the optimism that prevailed in the Indian camp earlier is vanishing fast and what India will have to surrender to get the deal through could well be the new worry of New Delhi.
At the end of November, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was in Washington to attend the inaugural session of the Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group's meeting. Addressing the session, the Indian visitor said: "The nuclear agreement, as would be appreciated, has larger implications for high-technology trade as it is premised on US recognition of India's impeccable record on non-proliferation. It not only recognizes that non-proliferation is better served with India as a partner, but also sends a clear signal that India cannot be a partner and a target at the same time of technology denial regime." It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary's efforts to grease the wheels did not accomplish much.
The crunch
On November 18, a group of US nuclear non-proliferation experts [1] (some call them the American "ayatollahs of non-proliferation"), sent an open letter to the House of Representatives urging the lawmakers "to critically examine the July 18 proposal to allow for 'full' US-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation, which would require significant changes to US non-proliferation laws and long-standing international non-proliferation policy that have been supported and advanced by past Republican and Democratic administrations".
All the individuals who have put their signatures to the letter are like hallowed institutions in Washington, shoring up for years the increasingly tattered American non-proliferation policy.
In case the lawmakers missed the point, this powerful group pointed out that President George W Bush and administration officials involved with the proposed agreement had withheld the key details needed to help Congress fully understand the implications of the proposal.
"Accordingly, we urge that before any action is taken on any legislation sent up by the administration to implement the proposal, Congress should obtain detailed answers to a number of questions," they said.
The sticking point is that "so far, India has pledged only to accept voluntary safeguards over 'civilian' nuclear facilities of its choosing", they pointed out. "This could allow India to withdraw any nuclear facility from [International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA]) safeguards for national security reasons. Such an arrangement would be purely symbolic and would do nothing to prevent the continued production of fissile material for weapons by India."
They also said "the supply of nuclear fuel to India would free up its existing stockpile and capacity to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons. To help ensure that US civilian nuclear cooperation is not in any way advancing India's weapons program, it would be essential to apply permanent, facility-specific safeguards on a mutually agreed and broad list of current and future Indian nuclear facilities involved in civilian activities and electricity production in combination with a cutoff of Indian fissile material production for weapons."
The group then went on to recommend that "specifically, civilian nuclear assistance should not be extended to India until it implements a cessation of the production of fissile material for weapons, which has been adopted by the five original nuclear-weapon states".
Another fear expressed by the group is that the arrangement proposed by the Bush administration could also trigger a significant erosion of the guidelines of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which are an important barrier against the transfer of nuclear material, equipment and technologies for weapons purposes.
Urging the lawmakers not to provide any civilian assistance to India without the full concurrence of the NSG and approval of India's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the group said: "The proposed civil nuclear cooperation arrangement may also undermine our ability to win necessary international support for persuading Iran to abandon its fuel cycle plans and to make its nuclear program fully transparent to the IAEA."
Snowballing effect
It was evident from the outset that Tehran's development of a nuclear program, which New Delhi condemns as well, and Washington's difficulties in dealing with the situation in Tehran, would be linked by the opponents of the Bush-Manmohan Singh deal in their attempt to kill it.
But, perhaps, the group went even a step further, saying the deal could persuade states who "have for decades remained true to the original NPT [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] bargain and forsworn nuclear weapons" to "make a different choice in the future if non-NPT members [such as India] receive civil nuclear assistance under less rigorous terms."
New Delhi, without giving the group's open letter any publicity, saw the red flag and sent Shyam Saran. It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary did not achieve much.
On November 30, Congressman Edward Markey and ranking member in the Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Bush along with the group's expressed concerns and a set of questions for consideration on proposed nuclear cooperation with India, "respectfully requesting" the White House to "provide responses to all of the questions that these experts have raised about various aspects of the proposal".
A copy of the letter, and the attachment, were also sent to the US secretary of defense and the secretary of state.
On December 7, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, addressing the Aspen Strategic Group, made clear his concerns, pointing out India had to first separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and place all its nuclear reactors under IAEA inspections.
Lugar said an "opaque or incomprehensible" Indian separation plan would only raise more questions, particularly in Congress, about India's intentions. "More generally, as a politician in the United States Senate charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist [sic] terms and include as many facilities as possible within the scope of the civilian declaration," he said.
"Conversely, a minimalist approach will likely only delay consideration of this initiative in the US Congress and in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Or, at worst, it could result in unfavorable action by one or both bodies," Lugar said.
Although pointing out that he was issuing no threat, Lugar said, "While the Bush administration has, I think, been very clear in discussions with the Indian government about its expectations, let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster with the United States Congress."
Lugar's position would require India to give up a major portion of its military nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards, which would effectively cap India's deterrence, some observers claim. In other words, they say, India would be left exposed and vulnerable, self-defeating the country nuclear weapons' program and its defense.
The Nunn-Lugar Act
It is not difficult to understand why Lugar wanted the plan to be "credible, transparent and defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint". He, along with former Democratic senator from Georgia, Sam Nunn, was instrumental in getting Congress to pass the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Act in 1991.
This was after the Soviet Union disintegrated in late 1991; Soviet nuclear weapons were in the hands of four suddenly independent republics - Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus - whose leadership appeared confused and wobbly.
In response to that threatening turn of events, Nunn and Lugar persuaded Congress to pass the CTR program to provide assistance for dismantling or safely storing the weapons in the Soviet nuclear arsenal. This came to be known as the Nunn-Lugar Act.
The act, which was funded by a congressionally authorized transfer of $400 million from Department of Defense operations and maintenance accounts to Nunn-Lugar projects in fiscal year 1992, focused on weapon destruction and security.
While the act has been criticized widely, particularly the transfer of aid part of it, there are many in Washington who realize that it helped destroy large numbers of nuclear warheads and diminished threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.
In dealing with the US-India nuclear deal, it would be naive to expect that Lugar would not take an extremely hard stand on the issue of India and weapons of mass destruction.
For New Delhi, the question is: where to go from here? It is evident that Manmohan's recent three-day visit to Moscow had a civilian nuclear element. It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin is perfectly willing to sell more of his light water reactors (LWRs)to India. Russia has sold India two 1,000 MW reactors, but could not promise any more because Russia, being a part of the NSG, cannot afford to violate the laws laid down by the NSG.
The obstacles
During Singh's discussions in Moscow, it was evident that the Russians would supply more enriched uranium-fueled LWRs if the US-India nuclear cooperation deal went through. That means, Moscow will not independently deal with the NSG vis-a-vis India, and will rely on Washington to get NSG approval.
In other words, if the US Congress in the short term does not approve the Bush-Manmohan deal, nothing much will help India in its plan to import nuclear reactors from abroad and solve some of its long-term electricity requirements. In this situation, strategic ties with Moscow will not help New Delhi one bit.
And there is nothing much India can do. However, there are some developments of which New Delhi should take note.
A great deal of the problem vis-a-vis getting the nuclear deal through Congress lies in the weakening of the Bush administration. At present, the White House is being pummeled from all sides, starting with the Iraq war. This is taking its toll on Republican lawmakers worried about elections in 2006, and they have begun to raise questions on issues they would not have previously questioned.
The Bush-Manmohan nuclear deal could be one issue where some Republicans will express their increasing independence from the White House. As for the Democrats, it is likely that most of them will not like to concede the White House even an inch.
It is also unlikely that the White House will have the energy and verve to do what is necessary to get the deal through. In addition, something else has begun to bother the Indians. Addressing the John Hopkins University on December 1, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and an apparent promoter of the deal, Nicholas Burns, alleged Indian commitments on Iran.
Burns said, "The Indians have assured us there is no [energy] plan on the table that is ready for decision by the Iranian and Indian governments, that any plans, any discussions, have been hypothetical and are years away."
While returning from Moscow with the Indian premier, minister Saran told the media that he did not remember anyone giving the Americans any such assurance.
If Saran is telling the truth, it means Washington has come to believe that New Delhi is desperate for the ratification of the July agreement and will be willing to accommodate some American demands that could help the Bush administration on the domestic scene.
Note [1] The signatories include Hal Bengelsdorf, consultant, and former director of the Office for Non-proliferation Policy at the Energy Department and former office director for nuclear affairs at the State Department; Robert J Einhorn, senior adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies and former assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation; John Holum, former under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs and former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Victor Gilinsky, energy consultant and former US nuclear regulatory commissioner, among 12 others.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GL10Ae01.html
Why Southeast Asia is turning from US to China
By Tim Shorrock
WASHINGTON - The United States is rapidly losing its influence in the Southeast Asia region to China, thanks to an overly narrow focus on terrorism and a propensity to place bilateral ties above multilateral relationships, according to US and Chinese analysts.
"China makes a point of dealing with Southeast Asia as a region and has a very aggressive ASEAN policy," said Catharin Dalpino, an Asia specialist at Georgetown University who served in the Clinton administration. "This also helps its bilateral relationships with Southeast Asia quite a lot."
ASEAN is the acronym for the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations that includes Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.
Against China's regional approach, the US is "notoriously bilateral, and almost gratuitously so in Southeast Asia," Dalpino said, adding that the fact that US officials won't be attending the first East Asia Summit, scheduled for December 14 in Kuala Lumpur, underscores US alienation from the region.
Besides the ASEAN bloc, China, South Korea and Japan are members of the 16-nation summit - the world's newest grouping - with India, New Zealand and Australia attending as newly accepted members.
By making Southeast Asia a "second front" in its global "war on terror", the Bush administration has signalled that "we care less about other areas of policy", Dalpino said, addressing a forum on China and Southeast Asia sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.
Minxin Pei, director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agrees that the US "has ceded the region to China's initiative".
He said US military policies following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have played a significant role in the estrangement. But he dated the problem back to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998, when the Clinton administration used its influence on the International Monetary Fund to impose solutions on Asian countries that supported US economic goals in the region.
During the crisis, "the US showed to the East Asian countries it really did not care about them", he said.
Conversely, the Asian crisis was a turning point for China's ties with the broader Asian region, said Ren Xiao, director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Department at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
After decades of estrangement during the Cold War, China and ASEAN began mending fences by the early 1990s. Since then, their "mutual needs" for economic and military security "have been the driving force behind the relationship", said Ren.
By the mid-1990s China had become a charter member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, an influential discussion group where military officials from around the region meet to discuss missile defence, piracy and other security issues.
But the 1997 financial crisis was a watershed when China's decision not to revalue its currency "helped stabilize the regional economic order", said Ren. Shortly after that, China, Japan and South Korea began holding annual discussions with Southeast Asia under the '"SEAN-plus-three" formula. "It was here that the East Asian cooperation process started," he said.
In 1999, after the US and China reached an agreement on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, ASEAN governments began to worry about the impact of Sino-US trade relations on their region. As a result, China proposed a free trade agreement with Southeast Asia, the framework for which was signed in 2002.
Over the past three years, the SARS epidemic, the threat of piracy and the rapid increase in intra-regional trade have drawn China and Southeast Asia even closer. Those ties culminated in 2003, when China became the first nation outside the region to sign the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Russia and Japan have since followed suit, but not the US, which has refused to sign because it objects to Myanmar's full membership in ASEAN.
China is now ASEAN's second-largest trading partner, and bilateral trade could reach US$200 billion by 2010, Ren predicted. Already, that trade has grown 40% since 2002, and had hit $106 billion in 2004.
China, Ren stressed, has built its ties with Southeast Asia out of altruism. "China's foreign policy way of thinking has much to do with its geographical location," he said. "That is to say, we must have a stable and peaceful neighboring area."
But Pei, the Carnegie scholar, suggested that China wants to preserve its big-power status and minimize US influence in the region. "China is very much afraid that the US would develop strategic alliance ties that would be used to contain China," he said. With Japan's influence in the region diminished, "China is indisputably the regional power as viewed by Southeast Asian countries."
However, Pei said the ASEAN countries don't want to be seen as satellites of China and are using their ties to Beijing "to convince other big powers to come in". That's why India has been so active in the region in recent years, he said.
In that context, added Dalpino, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's decision to skip an ASEAN meeting last July "was a big mistake". Pointing to the lack of US participation in this month's summit, Ren added that the Bush administration is "not interested in participating in this process right now".
The most recent official statement of US policy on Southeast Asia was in October, when Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, was asked at a congressional briefing why the US won't be represented in Kuala Lumpur.
"It's a question we get all the time: what is our policy on the East Asia summit?" he replied. "Quite frankly, we haven't determined a policy because the East Asia summit, if you really look at it, is a black box. Nobody knows what the East Asia summit is other than leaders coming together."
Once the forum "begins to take form, we will study how we can engage", John said.
(Inter Press Service)
Why Southeast Asia is turning from US to China
By Tim Shorrock
WASHINGTON - The United States is rapidly losing its influence in the Southeast Asia region to China, thanks to an overly narrow focus on terrorism and a propensity to place bilateral ties above multilateral relationships, according to US and Chinese analysts.
"China makes a point of dealing with Southeast Asia as a region and has a very aggressive ASEAN policy," said Catharin Dalpino, an Asia specialist at Georgetown University who served in the Clinton administration. "This also helps its bilateral relationships with Southeast Asia quite a lot."
ASEAN is the acronym for the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations that includes Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.
Against China's regional approach, the US is "notoriously bilateral, and almost gratuitously so in Southeast Asia," Dalpino said, adding that the fact that US officials won't be attending the first East Asia Summit, scheduled for December 14 in Kuala Lumpur, underscores US alienation from the region.
Besides the ASEAN bloc, China, South Korea and Japan are members of the 16-nation summit - the world's newest grouping - with India, New Zealand and Australia attending as newly accepted members.
By making Southeast Asia a "second front" in its global "war on terror", the Bush administration has signalled that "we care less about other areas of policy", Dalpino said, addressing a forum on China and Southeast Asia sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.
Minxin Pei, director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agrees that the US "has ceded the region to China's initiative".
He said US military policies following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have played a significant role in the estrangement. But he dated the problem back to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998, when the Clinton administration used its influence on the International Monetary Fund to impose solutions on Asian countries that supported US economic goals in the region.
During the crisis, "the US showed to the East Asian countries it really did not care about them", he said.
Conversely, the Asian crisis was a turning point for China's ties with the broader Asian region, said Ren Xiao, director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Department at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
After decades of estrangement during the Cold War, China and ASEAN began mending fences by the early 1990s. Since then, their "mutual needs" for economic and military security "have been the driving force behind the relationship", said Ren.
By the mid-1990s China had become a charter member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, an influential discussion group where military officials from around the region meet to discuss missile defence, piracy and other security issues.
But the 1997 financial crisis was a watershed when China's decision not to revalue its currency "helped stabilize the regional economic order", said Ren. Shortly after that, China, Japan and South Korea began holding annual discussions with Southeast Asia under the '"SEAN-plus-three" formula. "It was here that the East Asian cooperation process started," he said.
In 1999, after the US and China reached an agreement on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, ASEAN governments began to worry about the impact of Sino-US trade relations on their region. As a result, China proposed a free trade agreement with Southeast Asia, the framework for which was signed in 2002.
Over the past three years, the SARS epidemic, the threat of piracy and the rapid increase in intra-regional trade have drawn China and Southeast Asia even closer. Those ties culminated in 2003, when China became the first nation outside the region to sign the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Russia and Japan have since followed suit, but not the US, which has refused to sign because it objects to Myanmar's full membership in ASEAN.
China is now ASEAN's second-largest trading partner, and bilateral trade could reach US$200 billion by 2010, Ren predicted. Already, that trade has grown 40% since 2002, and had hit $106 billion in 2004.
China, Ren stressed, has built its ties with Southeast Asia out of altruism. "China's foreign policy way of thinking has much to do with its geographical location," he said. "That is to say, we must have a stable and peaceful neighboring area."
But Pei, the Carnegie scholar, suggested that China wants to preserve its big-power status and minimize US influence in the region. "China is very much afraid that the US would develop strategic alliance ties that would be used to contain China," he said. With Japan's influence in the region diminished, "China is indisputably the regional power as viewed by Southeast Asian countries."
However, Pei said the ASEAN countries don't want to be seen as satellites of China and are using their ties to Beijing "to convince other big powers to come in". That's why India has been so active in the region in recent years, he said.
In that context, added Dalpino, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's decision to skip an ASEAN meeting last July "was a big mistake". Pointing to the lack of US participation in this month's summit, Ren added that the Bush administration is "not interested in participating in this process right now".
The most recent official statement of US policy on Southeast Asia was in October, when Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, was asked at a congressional briefing why the US won't be represented in Kuala Lumpur.
"It's a question we get all the time: what is our policy on the East Asia summit?" he replied. "Quite frankly, we haven't determined a policy because the East Asia summit, if you really look at it, is a black box. Nobody knows what the East Asia summit is other than leaders coming together."
Once the forum "begins to take form, we will study how we can engage", John said.
(Inter Press Service)
Putin Seeks Membership of Asian Business Club The Moscow Times
President Vladimir Putin flies to a summit of leaders of major Asian states this week hoping to press his case for Russia to be part of their economic and political integration. His trip to Malaysia for the Dec. 13-14 Kuala Lumpur East Asian summit ends a busy year of Asian diplomacy for Russia, which is disillusioned with its role of outsider in European integration and keen to get on board a similar process in Asia. "The process of globalization is beginning to have an Asian look about it," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his annual foreign policy review. "This makes the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region a top priority for us." Asian countries are looking to Russia to provide much of the energy for their booming industries.
Howard woos top Asian students Australian
India needs to look East: Manmohan Hindu
Rediff - Reuters - Xinhua - Scotsman - all 249 related »
President Vladimir Putin flies to a summit of leaders of major Asian states this week hoping to press his case for Russia to be part of their economic and political integration. His trip to Malaysia for the Dec. 13-14 Kuala Lumpur East Asian summit ends a busy year of Asian diplomacy for Russia, which is disillusioned with its role of outsider in European integration and keen to get on board a similar process in Asia. "The process of globalization is beginning to have an Asian look about it," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his annual foreign policy review. "This makes the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region a top priority for us." Asian countries are looking to Russia to provide much of the energy for their booming industries.
Howard woos top Asian students Australian
India needs to look East: Manmohan Hindu
Rediff - Reuters - Xinhua - Scotsman - all 249 related »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 11, 2005
Commission Finds Irregularities in Iraqi Voter Registration
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 11 - With just four days to go until parliamentary elections, the Iraqi electoral commission said today that it had found irregularities in voter registration in the volatile northern oil city of Kirkuk.
The discovery was the first instance of an election irregularity announced by the commission as the country prepared for the vote on Thursday.
The commission said experts conducting an audit of voter lists found that there had been an unexpected surge in voter registration in the area. When the experts scrutinized the voter registration forms, the commission said in a written statement, they found that many had been filled out incorrectly. Some had missing signatures and others had more than one signature. In some cases, the same name appeared on several forms.
Adel al-Lami, the director general of the Iraqi electoral commission, said in an interview that in his view the voter registration irregularities were technical errors and not politically motivated. "Please stay away from political conspiracies," he said. "There's no political reason for this."
Kirkuk is considered one of the most potentially incendiary cities in Iraq, because of its diverse ethnic and religious mix and its oil resources. The area, north of Baghdad, has 10 to 20 percent of the country's oil reserves. As a result, several competing groups - Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs - claim dominance over the city.
Under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab, the government pushed Kurds and Turkmens out of Kirkuk and moved in Arabs, many of them from the south. After the American invasion, the two main Kurdish political parties began an aggressive campaign of resettling the region with Kurds.
Homes for Kurds are being built at a fevered pace in Kirkuk, further stirring the fears of Arabs and Turkmens. Unlike the situation in Mr. Hussein's time, the Kurds also control the provincial council, the police force and most of the provincial ministries.
No reliable census of the city has been taken for decades. The new constitution says Kirkuk Province will hold a referendum vote by the end of 2007 to determine whether it will be governed by the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, or by the central government. One expert on the area, Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, has recommended that Kirkuk itself be designated a special autonomous region.
The election commission said today that Kirkuk had an average 45 percent increase in voter registration across the region, compared with an average 8.19 percent increase across Iraq. That prompted experts to look at the registration forms that had been turned in recently.
The commission said it would distribute to polling places a list of names for whom forms had been rejected, and that those people would not be allowed to vote.
The Ministry of Interior laid out security plans today for the period surrounding the elections. The measures are similar to ones put in place during last January's elections and during the constitutional referendum in October. The government will shut down from Tuesday to Saturday, as a national holiday, and a nightly curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be in place. In addition, civilians will not be allowed to carry guns even if they have a permit.
Iraqi forces will also clamp down on movement across the country's borders and on travel between provinces.
Advance voting is to take place Monday in hospitals and prisons.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2005The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
December 11, 2005
Commission Finds Irregularities in Iraqi Voter Registration
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 11 - With just four days to go until parliamentary elections, the Iraqi electoral commission said today that it had found irregularities in voter registration in the volatile northern oil city of Kirkuk.
The discovery was the first instance of an election irregularity announced by the commission as the country prepared for the vote on Thursday.
The commission said experts conducting an audit of voter lists found that there had been an unexpected surge in voter registration in the area. When the experts scrutinized the voter registration forms, the commission said in a written statement, they found that many had been filled out incorrectly. Some had missing signatures and others had more than one signature. In some cases, the same name appeared on several forms.
Adel al-Lami, the director general of the Iraqi electoral commission, said in an interview that in his view the voter registration irregularities were technical errors and not politically motivated. "Please stay away from political conspiracies," he said. "There's no political reason for this."
Kirkuk is considered one of the most potentially incendiary cities in Iraq, because of its diverse ethnic and religious mix and its oil resources. The area, north of Baghdad, has 10 to 20 percent of the country's oil reserves. As a result, several competing groups - Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs - claim dominance over the city.
Under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab, the government pushed Kurds and Turkmens out of Kirkuk and moved in Arabs, many of them from the south. After the American invasion, the two main Kurdish political parties began an aggressive campaign of resettling the region with Kurds.
Homes for Kurds are being built at a fevered pace in Kirkuk, further stirring the fears of Arabs and Turkmens. Unlike the situation in Mr. Hussein's time, the Kurds also control the provincial council, the police force and most of the provincial ministries.
No reliable census of the city has been taken for decades. The new constitution says Kirkuk Province will hold a referendum vote by the end of 2007 to determine whether it will be governed by the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, or by the central government. One expert on the area, Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, has recommended that Kirkuk itself be designated a special autonomous region.
The election commission said today that Kirkuk had an average 45 percent increase in voter registration across the region, compared with an average 8.19 percent increase across Iraq. That prompted experts to look at the registration forms that had been turned in recently.
The commission said it would distribute to polling places a list of names for whom forms had been rejected, and that those people would not be allowed to vote.
The Ministry of Interior laid out security plans today for the period surrounding the elections. The measures are similar to ones put in place during last January's elections and during the constitutional referendum in October. The government will shut down from Tuesday to Saturday, as a national holiday, and a nightly curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be in place. In addition, civilians will not be allowed to carry guns even if they have a permit.
Iraqi forces will also clamp down on movement across the country's borders and on travel between provinces.
Advance voting is to take place Monday in hospitals and prisons.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2005The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/14B...DA800E8BEA8.htm
Saddam loyalists urge Sunnis to vote
Sunday 11 December 2005, 23:16 Makka Time, 20:16 GMT
In a move that would have been inconceivable only months earlier, Saddam Hussein loyalists are urging Sunnis to vote in Thursday's poll and warning al-Qaida fighters not to launch attacks.
As political and security tensions rise before the parliamentary elections, fighters in the Western al-Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from those loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
These same fighters violently opposed elections held in January when many Sunnis, in rebel strongholds such as Ramadi and Falluja, either staged a boycott or were simply too scared to vote.
Ali Mahmoud, a Falluja resident and former army officer and rocket specialist under the Baath party, said: "We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote."
Former Baathists opposed to the US presence in Iraq, such as Falluja resident Jassim Abu Bakr, are still fiercely opposed to US-backed leaders, and say any Sunni politicians who move too close to them will lose their support.
"We are telling Sunnis that they have to vote for nationalist parties and even if they win, we will be watching very closely to keep them in line," said the Falluja fighter, 28.
In Falluja, known as Iraq's City of Mosques, Sunni Muslim spiritual leaders made it clear there would be no repeat of the boycott of January's election which left their sect marginalised.
Encouraging change
Despite the continuing hostility, this shift in attitude is encouraging for the US, which hopes to engage Sunni Arabs in a policy of peaceful politics in order to defuse the fighting. But it is far too early to suggest that any breakthroughs will ease violence that has left thousands dead.
Most election posters back two Sunni politicians, Saleh Mutlak and Adnan al-Dulaimi. Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia and former prime minister who ordered a US-led offensive that devastated Falluja last year, has some appeal, fighters said.
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars urged its large Sunni community to boycott what it saw as illegal polls in January.
Nearly one year on, the group has so far been officially neutral, but some of its members have called participation in the polls a religious duty.
Ramadi remains a trouble spot. Just a few days ago US helicopters were exchanging fire with determined fighters.
But Saddam loyalists have turned against al-Zarqawi, originally from Jordan, whose fighters travel to Iraq from across the Arab world.
"Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation," said a Baathist leader who would give his name only as Abu Abd Allah.
Political wrangling
Meanwhile, the election campaign geared up for its final sprint ahead of Thursday's poll, with rival candidates trading bitter accusations over mounting political violence.
Former prime minister Iyad Allawi, campaigning hard on a joint Shia-Sunni ticket to unite the country and end the armed chaos, has accused the government of leading the country to the brink of civil war.
Exacerbating the insecurity, the fate of four Western peace activists remained in limbo on Sunday after another ultimatum expired from their kidnappers who threatened to kill them unless prisoners are released.
In order to ensure that Thursday's vote takes place with a minimum of violence, Bayan Baker Solagh, the interior minister, has announced strict security measures.
The country will grind to a halt for the election, with a five-day public holiday, a ban on carrying weapons in public and night-time curfews.
Land borders will be closed and airports shut beginning on Wednesday.
Similar measures were adopted during an October vote on the constitution and a January election to elect a transitional parliament.
More than 15.5 million Iraqis are eligible to go to the polls on Thursday to elect 275 members of parliament from about 7000 candidates competing for a seat in the country's first full-term parliament since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.
Agencies
Saddam loyalists urge Sunnis to vote
Sunday 11 December 2005, 23:16 Makka Time, 20:16 GMT
In a move that would have been inconceivable only months earlier, Saddam Hussein loyalists are urging Sunnis to vote in Thursday's poll and warning al-Qaida fighters not to launch attacks.
As political and security tensions rise before the parliamentary elections, fighters in the Western al-Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from those loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
These same fighters violently opposed elections held in January when many Sunnis, in rebel strongholds such as Ramadi and Falluja, either staged a boycott or were simply too scared to vote.
Ali Mahmoud, a Falluja resident and former army officer and rocket specialist under the Baath party, said: "We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote."
Former Baathists opposed to the US presence in Iraq, such as Falluja resident Jassim Abu Bakr, are still fiercely opposed to US-backed leaders, and say any Sunni politicians who move too close to them will lose their support.
"We are telling Sunnis that they have to vote for nationalist parties and even if they win, we will be watching very closely to keep them in line," said the Falluja fighter, 28.
In Falluja, known as Iraq's City of Mosques, Sunni Muslim spiritual leaders made it clear there would be no repeat of the boycott of January's election which left their sect marginalised.
Encouraging change
Despite the continuing hostility, this shift in attitude is encouraging for the US, which hopes to engage Sunni Arabs in a policy of peaceful politics in order to defuse the fighting. But it is far too early to suggest that any breakthroughs will ease violence that has left thousands dead.
Most election posters back two Sunni politicians, Saleh Mutlak and Adnan al-Dulaimi. Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia and former prime minister who ordered a US-led offensive that devastated Falluja last year, has some appeal, fighters said.
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars urged its large Sunni community to boycott what it saw as illegal polls in January.
Nearly one year on, the group has so far been officially neutral, but some of its members have called participation in the polls a religious duty.
Ramadi remains a trouble spot. Just a few days ago US helicopters were exchanging fire with determined fighters.
But Saddam loyalists have turned against al-Zarqawi, originally from Jordan, whose fighters travel to Iraq from across the Arab world.
"Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation," said a Baathist leader who would give his name only as Abu Abd Allah.
Political wrangling
Meanwhile, the election campaign geared up for its final sprint ahead of Thursday's poll, with rival candidates trading bitter accusations over mounting political violence.
Former prime minister Iyad Allawi, campaigning hard on a joint Shia-Sunni ticket to unite the country and end the armed chaos, has accused the government of leading the country to the brink of civil war.
Exacerbating the insecurity, the fate of four Western peace activists remained in limbo on Sunday after another ultimatum expired from their kidnappers who threatened to kill them unless prisoners are released.
In order to ensure that Thursday's vote takes place with a minimum of violence, Bayan Baker Solagh, the interior minister, has announced strict security measures.
The country will grind to a halt for the election, with a five-day public holiday, a ban on carrying weapons in public and night-time curfews.
Land borders will be closed and airports shut beginning on Wednesday.
Similar measures were adopted during an October vote on the constitution and a January election to elect a transitional parliament.
More than 15.5 million Iraqis are eligible to go to the polls on Thursday to elect 275 members of parliament from about 7000 candidates competing for a seat in the country's first full-term parliament since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.
Agencies
Peace Laureate Elbaradei Calls For World Without Nuclear Weapons
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzza.html
Oslo (AFP) Dec 10, 2005 - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei Saturday received the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and called for a world free of atomic weapons, saying existing nuclear states should lead by example.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzza.html
Oslo (AFP) Dec 10, 2005 - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei Saturday received the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and called for a world free of atomic weapons, saying existing nuclear states should lead by example.
French Spy Service Warned US About Bogus Niger Uranium Claim: Ex-Official
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzzk.html
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzzk.html
Analysis: 'Zombie' NATO springs to life
http://www.spacewar.com/news/europe-05zp.html
Brussels (UPI) Dec 09, 2005 - "A zombie organization," is how former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar described NATO in an interview with United Press International last week.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/europe-05zp.html
Brussels (UPI) Dec 09, 2005 - "A zombie organization," is how former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar described NATO in an interview with United Press International last week.
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Assad threatens the world as Mehlis submits his final report on the Hariri assassination to Kof Annan on Dec. 11. He can no longer count on Russian veto against UN sanctions or Saudi support
December 11, 2005, 11:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
In a special interview to the Russian TV station Rossiya, the Syrian president declared the Middle East and the whole world would suffer if Syria were subjected to UN sanctions.
DEBKAfile reports from its exclusive sources disclose that the US and France have jointly prepared the following plan of action to be pursued at the United Nations:
1. France has drafted a seven-point Security Council resolution voicing deep concern over Syria’s failure to fully cooperate with the UN inquiry in accordance with resolution 1636. The Hariri assassination is defined for the first time as an act of terror, a short step towards holding Damascus guilty of terrorism.
2. The US requests the inclusion in the draft of the phrase: “Syria has for the second time violated Security Council resolution 1636. Personal sanctions are proposed for the Syrian officers suspected by the UN panel of complicity in the Hariri murder plot, including a ban on travel and freeze on their overseas assets.
According to our sources, those two steps will be followed by three more:
--- International arrest warrants against Syrian suspects.
--- Subpoenas to additional Syrian officers for questioning at UN headquarters in Vienna
---Detlev Mehlis, who intends to retire as head of the UN Hariri team after submitting his report to the Security Council on Dec. 15, will first to turn over to the Beirut authorities Hussam Taher Hussam, who fled to Syria and caused a sensation last week by alleging the UN had offered him a bribe to implicate Syrian officers. Mehlis now has the testimony of his girlfriend, who remained in Lebanon. She reports that she was present with Hussam at the scene of the assassination on the day of the crime, when a phone call came through from Col. Jam’a Jam’a, right hand of Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh, a senior suspect. He asked Hussam where he was. When Hussam said he was at the murder scene, Jama told him to get out fast because his life was in danger.
This collapse of Damascus’ attempt to discredit the UN probe is behind president Assad’s threatening statement to Russian TV, in which he said the stability of the Middle East and the world would be imperiled by UN sanctions against Syria.
DEBKAfile’s sources add that the threat is a symptom of his desperation after discovering that he can no longer count on a Russian veto vote against sanctions. The Syrian leader has also been let down by the Saudis. King Abdullah not only spurned Assad’s pleas to intercede on his behalf with Washington, but invited the enemy of his clan, the Lebanese Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, for an official visit to Riyadh Saturday, Dec. 10.
Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
Assad threatens the world as Mehlis submits his final report on the Hariri assassination to Kof Annan on Dec. 11. He can no longer count on Russian veto against UN sanctions or Saudi support
December 11, 2005, 11:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
In a special interview to the Russian TV station Rossiya, the Syrian president declared the Middle East and the whole world would suffer if Syria were subjected to UN sanctions.
DEBKAfile reports from its exclusive sources disclose that the US and France have jointly prepared the following plan of action to be pursued at the United Nations:
1. France has drafted a seven-point Security Council resolution voicing deep concern over Syria’s failure to fully cooperate with the UN inquiry in accordance with resolution 1636. The Hariri assassination is defined for the first time as an act of terror, a short step towards holding Damascus guilty of terrorism.
2. The US requests the inclusion in the draft of the phrase: “Syria has for the second time violated Security Council resolution 1636. Personal sanctions are proposed for the Syrian officers suspected by the UN panel of complicity in the Hariri murder plot, including a ban on travel and freeze on their overseas assets.
According to our sources, those two steps will be followed by three more:
--- International arrest warrants against Syrian suspects.
--- Subpoenas to additional Syrian officers for questioning at UN headquarters in Vienna
---Detlev Mehlis, who intends to retire as head of the UN Hariri team after submitting his report to the Security Council on Dec. 15, will first to turn over to the Beirut authorities Hussam Taher Hussam, who fled to Syria and caused a sensation last week by alleging the UN had offered him a bribe to implicate Syrian officers. Mehlis now has the testimony of his girlfriend, who remained in Lebanon. She reports that she was present with Hussam at the scene of the assassination on the day of the crime, when a phone call came through from Col. Jam’a Jam’a, right hand of Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh, a senior suspect. He asked Hussam where he was. When Hussam said he was at the murder scene, Jama told him to get out fast because his life was in danger.
This collapse of Damascus’ attempt to discredit the UN probe is behind president Assad’s threatening statement to Russian TV, in which he said the stability of the Middle East and the world would be imperiled by UN sanctions against Syria.
DEBKAfile’s sources add that the threat is a symptom of his desperation after discovering that he can no longer count on a Russian veto vote against sanctions. The Syrian leader has also been let down by the Saudis. King Abdullah not only spurned Assad’s pleas to intercede on his behalf with Washington, but invited the enemy of his clan, the Lebanese Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, for an official visit to Riyadh Saturday, Dec. 10.
Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
Australia PM urges tolerance after race violence Reuters AlertNet
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called for ethnic and religious tolerance on Monday after racial violence, spurred on police say by white supremacists, erupted in parts of Sydney. Racial tension sparked violence on Cronulla Beach on Sunday when around 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their beach after lifesavers were attacked there last week. Violence then spread to a second beach, Maroubra, where scores of men armed with baseball bats smashed about 100 cars. At Botany Bay, riot police confronted hundreds of youths and police said a man was stabbed in the back in a southern Sydney suburb in what media reports said appeared to be racial violence. "Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned," Howard told a news conference on Monday, by when violence had subsided. "Attacking people on the basis of race and ethnicity is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of background and politics," he said. New South Wales (NSW) police said a group of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists stirred on the drunken crowd at Cronulla. "There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society. Those sort of characters are best placed in Berlin 1930s, not in Cronulla 2005," NSW Police Minister Carl Scully told reporters. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore on Sunday, one man on the back of a truck shouted: "No more Lebs (Lebanese)" -- a chant picked up by the group around him. Others carried Australian flags and dressed in Australian sports shirts. Drunken youths chased and attacked Australians of Middle East appearance, sending some cowering into shops and hotels for safety, as riot police and dog squads tried to stop the violence. Police arrested 16 people in Cronulla. NSW state premier Morris Iemma said the violence reflected the "ugly face of racism in Australia". But Howard stressed the Cronulla violence was a law and order problem and did not reflect a deeper problem with Australia's multi-cultural society. "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said. "This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of some 40 years and we have done so with remarkable success," he said. "It is important that we reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in this country, but it is also important that we place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism." Sydney's Islamic community blamed the violence at Cronulla Beach on "racist and irresponsible" sections of the media which turned a common youth issue into an issue of ethnicity. Australia's small Muslim community has expressed feelings of alienation since the Iraq war, reporting racist verbal abuse and occasional assaults. Australia is a staunch U.S. ally and was one of the first nations to commit troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Local Muslims have also expressed concern about recent new anti-terror laws, which they fear could target them, and warnings of home-grown terrorism by intelligence authorities. The Howard government has used security as a major issue in its last two election victories, but the prime minister dismissed any suggestion his government's warnings about home-grown terrorists had fuelled the rampage. "It is impossible to know how individuals react but everything this government's said about home-grown terrorism has been totally justified," said Howard. "It is a potential threat. To suggest that one should remain silent...is a complete failure of leadership."
Police say 28 arrested, 31 injured in Sydney riots caused by ... CBC News
Reader reaction to the riots Advertiser Adelaide
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Australian Prime Minister John Howard called for ethnic and religious tolerance on Monday after racial violence, spurred on police say by white supremacists, erupted in parts of Sydney. Racial tension sparked violence on Cronulla Beach on Sunday when around 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their beach after lifesavers were attacked there last week. Violence then spread to a second beach, Maroubra, where scores of men armed with baseball bats smashed about 100 cars. At Botany Bay, riot police confronted hundreds of youths and police said a man was stabbed in the back in a southern Sydney suburb in what media reports said appeared to be racial violence. "Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned," Howard told a news conference on Monday, by when violence had subsided. "Attacking people on the basis of race and ethnicity is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of background and politics," he said. New South Wales (NSW) police said a group of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists stirred on the drunken crowd at Cronulla. "There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society. Those sort of characters are best placed in Berlin 1930s, not in Cronulla 2005," NSW Police Minister Carl Scully told reporters. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore on Sunday, one man on the back of a truck shouted: "No more Lebs (Lebanese)" -- a chant picked up by the group around him. Others carried Australian flags and dressed in Australian sports shirts. Drunken youths chased and attacked Australians of Middle East appearance, sending some cowering into shops and hotels for safety, as riot police and dog squads tried to stop the violence. Police arrested 16 people in Cronulla. NSW state premier Morris Iemma said the violence reflected the "ugly face of racism in Australia". But Howard stressed the Cronulla violence was a law and order problem and did not reflect a deeper problem with Australia's multi-cultural society. "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said. "This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of some 40 years and we have done so with remarkable success," he said. "It is important that we reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in this country, but it is also important that we place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism." Sydney's Islamic community blamed the violence at Cronulla Beach on "racist and irresponsible" sections of the media which turned a common youth issue into an issue of ethnicity. Australia's small Muslim community has expressed feelings of alienation since the Iraq war, reporting racist verbal abuse and occasional assaults. Australia is a staunch U.S. ally and was one of the first nations to commit troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Local Muslims have also expressed concern about recent new anti-terror laws, which they fear could target them, and warnings of home-grown terrorism by intelligence authorities. The Howard government has used security as a major issue in its last two election victories, but the prime minister dismissed any suggestion his government's warnings about home-grown terrorists had fuelled the rampage. "It is impossible to know how individuals react but everything this government's said about home-grown terrorism has been totally justified," said Howard. "It is a potential threat. To suggest that one should remain silent...is a complete failure of leadership."
Police say 28 arrested, 31 injured in Sydney riots caused by ... CBC News
Reader reaction to the riots Advertiser Adelaide
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Japan's Government Lifts Ban on US, Canadian Beef Bloomberg
Japan lifted a two-year ban on US and Canadian beef imports, paving the way for meatpackers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. to reclaim a share of a $1.7 billion market. The U.S. and Canada have accepted Japanese conditions for resuming the beef trade, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture Ministry approves easing US beef ban Mainichi Daily News
US re-entry to Japan to hit beef exporters New Zealand Herald
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Japan lifted a two-year ban on US and Canadian beef imports, paving the way for meatpackers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. to reclaim a share of a $1.7 billion market. The U.S. and Canada have accepted Japanese conditions for resuming the beef trade, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture Ministry approves easing US beef ban Mainichi Daily News
US re-entry to Japan to hit beef exporters New Zealand Herald
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2 in Chile Are Headed for a Presidential Runoff New York Times
With ballots counted in the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election Sunday, a candidate who describes her rise as unlikely because she is "a woman, a Socialist, separated and agnostic" and a conservative billionaire businessman have advanced to a decisive runoff. Leading in the vote, with just over 45 percent of the ballots cast, was Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, mother of three and former defense and health minister. Her total fell short of the majority she needed to avoid a runoff next month, but gave her a lead of about 20 percentage points over Sebastián Piñera, whose vast holdings include a television network and an airline. If she triumphs in the second round, Ms. Bachelet, 54, would become the first woman to be elected as president of a South American country. Widows of prominent political figures have been elected in Central America and women have also served as heads of government in both Argentina and Bolivia, but only as the result of political turmoil there. Mr. Piñera, 56, was a late entrant into the race, and finished slightly ahead of Joaquín Lavín, who as the sole right-wing standard-bearer in 1999 came within 30,000 votes of victory. In a concession speech tonight, Mr. Lavín called on his conservative followers to put aside their resentment of Mr. Piñera, saying "this is a time for unity" and offering himself as "one more soldier" in the struggle of the right to win power democratically here. For the first time in an election here since 1990, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet was forced to step down and democracy restored, the vote for the right, just over 48 percent, exceeded that of the governing coalition. But Jaime Mullet, a manager of the Bachelet campaign, discounted the importance of those gains, saying that votes cast for one conservative candidate "were not transferable" automatically to the other. "Citizens, I will always tell you the truth," Ms. Bachelet said in her victory speech. "I would like to have won in the first round," she added, but "perhaps our message did not get through to some people." The same polls that accurately predicted her performance on Sunday also show Ms. Bachelet winning the vote a month from now. In his speech, Mr. Piñera cast himself as the underdog despite his enormous wealth, referring to "the tremendous challenge that lies ahead of us."
Single mother poised to be Chilean President Independent
Chile expected to hold presidential runoff Xinhua
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With ballots counted in the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election Sunday, a candidate who describes her rise as unlikely because she is "a woman, a Socialist, separated and agnostic" and a conservative billionaire businessman have advanced to a decisive runoff. Leading in the vote, with just over 45 percent of the ballots cast, was Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, mother of three and former defense and health minister. Her total fell short of the majority she needed to avoid a runoff next month, but gave her a lead of about 20 percentage points over Sebastián Piñera, whose vast holdings include a television network and an airline. If she triumphs in the second round, Ms. Bachelet, 54, would become the first woman to be elected as president of a South American country. Widows of prominent political figures have been elected in Central America and women have also served as heads of government in both Argentina and Bolivia, but only as the result of political turmoil there. Mr. Piñera, 56, was a late entrant into the race, and finished slightly ahead of Joaquín Lavín, who as the sole right-wing standard-bearer in 1999 came within 30,000 votes of victory. In a concession speech tonight, Mr. Lavín called on his conservative followers to put aside their resentment of Mr. Piñera, saying "this is a time for unity" and offering himself as "one more soldier" in the struggle of the right to win power democratically here. For the first time in an election here since 1990, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet was forced to step down and democracy restored, the vote for the right, just over 48 percent, exceeded that of the governing coalition. But Jaime Mullet, a manager of the Bachelet campaign, discounted the importance of those gains, saying that votes cast for one conservative candidate "were not transferable" automatically to the other. "Citizens, I will always tell you the truth," Ms. Bachelet said in her victory speech. "I would like to have won in the first round," she added, but "perhaps our message did not get through to some people." The same polls that accurately predicted her performance on Sunday also show Ms. Bachelet winning the vote a month from now. In his speech, Mr. Piñera cast himself as the underdog despite his enormous wealth, referring to "the tremendous challenge that lies ahead of us."
Single mother poised to be Chilean President Independent
Chile expected to hold presidential runoff Xinhua
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Big oil depot near London rocked by blasts Pakistan Dawn
A series of explosions rocked Britain’s fifth largest oil depot situated about 25 kilometres north of London early Sunday morning, injuring 40 people. Medical director of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust said two of the people were injured seriously while others received varying categories of injuries. Though the incident at the Buncefield oil depot was initially described as an accident, the authorities did not rule out possibility of investigating terrorist links.
Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley told a news conference, “All indications at this stage are that this was an accident. However, clearly we will keep an open mind.” Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have threatened to target fuel depots. Nigeria’s Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) had specifically warned of attacks on British oil interests following the arrest in London of oil-rich Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, on suspicion of money-laundering. Incidentally, the explosions occurred just four days after Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera aired on December 7 a full version of a video by Al Qaeda’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri calling on the “the holy warriors to concentrate their campaigns on the stolen oil of the Muslims, most of the revenues of which go to the enemies of Islam”. The explosions, which occurred at around 6am, sent huge flames of fire in the sky and briefly disrupted the transportation network, including flights at the busy Heathrow airport and the motorways. A spokesperson of the county council advised drivers in and around Hemel Hampstead to take alternative routes as the M1 and M10 motorways were completely closed in both directions. The ripple effects of the explosion were felt in surrounding areas of the oil depot as the blast shattered the windows of houses and hotels. County council officers had started examining schools, day centres and other services in the area for damages. Advising the residents of Hemel Hampstead not to panic, an official of the council said: “There is nothing to suggest the cloud is toxic but as a precaution we are asking residents in Hemel Hampstead and the surrounding areas towards St Albans to keep their windows and doors closed and stay in.” The official said as a result of the explosion a heavy cloud hanging over the refinery was moving slowly in an easterly direction. Advising the people against panic buying of fuel, the official said: “We have no indications at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages. However, we do have early reports of people panic buying petrol. We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages.” A spokesperson of the London Heathrow Airport said the airport would continue to function normally and had enough fuel supplies and alternative sources to keep the operations running. Owned jointly by French company Total, and Texaco, part of the US Chevron Group, the Buncefield oil depot is the fifth largest fuel distribution depot in the UK. It supplies petrol and other oil products to a number of airports, including nearby Luton and Heathrow, and parts of London. British companies, BP, Shell and British Pipeline also used the facility. In addition to being an oil storage depot, Buncefield is a major hub on the UK oil pipeline network with pipelines radiating from it to Killingholme Lindsey Oil Refinery, Humberside (10 inch), Merseyside (10 and 12 inch), Coryton on the Thames Estuary (14 inch) and Heathrow (6 and 8 inch) and Gatwick airports. Officials said the oil companies were making arrangements to source oil from alternative distribution terminals. Officials anticipated further explosions at the site as some of the 26 storage tanks continued to burn. It would take a couple of days to extinguish the fire completely, said an official.
'It is like a vision of doomsday' Telegraph.co.uk
The big smoke Independent
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A series of explosions rocked Britain’s fifth largest oil depot situated about 25 kilometres north of London early Sunday morning, injuring 40 people. Medical director of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust said two of the people were injured seriously while others received varying categories of injuries. Though the incident at the Buncefield oil depot was initially described as an accident, the authorities did not rule out possibility of investigating terrorist links.
Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley told a news conference, “All indications at this stage are that this was an accident. However, clearly we will keep an open mind.” Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have threatened to target fuel depots. Nigeria’s Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) had specifically warned of attacks on British oil interests following the arrest in London of oil-rich Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, on suspicion of money-laundering. Incidentally, the explosions occurred just four days after Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera aired on December 7 a full version of a video by Al Qaeda’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri calling on the “the holy warriors to concentrate their campaigns on the stolen oil of the Muslims, most of the revenues of which go to the enemies of Islam”. The explosions, which occurred at around 6am, sent huge flames of fire in the sky and briefly disrupted the transportation network, including flights at the busy Heathrow airport and the motorways. A spokesperson of the county council advised drivers in and around Hemel Hampstead to take alternative routes as the M1 and M10 motorways were completely closed in both directions. The ripple effects of the explosion were felt in surrounding areas of the oil depot as the blast shattered the windows of houses and hotels. County council officers had started examining schools, day centres and other services in the area for damages. Advising the residents of Hemel Hampstead not to panic, an official of the council said: “There is nothing to suggest the cloud is toxic but as a precaution we are asking residents in Hemel Hampstead and the surrounding areas towards St Albans to keep their windows and doors closed and stay in.” The official said as a result of the explosion a heavy cloud hanging over the refinery was moving slowly in an easterly direction. Advising the people against panic buying of fuel, the official said: “We have no indications at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages. However, we do have early reports of people panic buying petrol. We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages.” A spokesperson of the London Heathrow Airport said the airport would continue to function normally and had enough fuel supplies and alternative sources to keep the operations running. Owned jointly by French company Total, and Texaco, part of the US Chevron Group, the Buncefield oil depot is the fifth largest fuel distribution depot in the UK. It supplies petrol and other oil products to a number of airports, including nearby Luton and Heathrow, and parts of London. British companies, BP, Shell and British Pipeline also used the facility. In addition to being an oil storage depot, Buncefield is a major hub on the UK oil pipeline network with pipelines radiating from it to Killingholme Lindsey Oil Refinery, Humberside (10 inch), Merseyside (10 and 12 inch), Coryton on the Thames Estuary (14 inch) and Heathrow (6 and 8 inch) and Gatwick airports. Officials said the oil companies were making arrangements to source oil from alternative distribution terminals. Officials anticipated further explosions at the site as some of the 26 storage tanks continued to burn. It would take a couple of days to extinguish the fire completely, said an official.
'It is like a vision of doomsday' Telegraph.co.uk
The big smoke Independent
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Australian Police Pledge Extra Forces to Stem Riots Bloomberg
Australian police and politicians in Sydney have promised extra forces to stem race riots after people of Middle Eastern appearance were attacked by a mob of more than 5,000 in the nation's biggest city yesterday. Thirty-one people were injured in Cronulla in Sydney's south as residents from across the city responded to a text message campaign to "claim back the beach,'' after Lebanese Australians allegedly bashed teenage volunteer lifeguards last week. The violence spread to neighboring suburbs as gangs of men of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance sought retribution, using baseball bats to damage at least 40 cars and attack people and police in the streets of Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands, police said.
Cronulla calm after day of chaos NEWS.com.au
Strike force will pursue racist thugs Melbourne Herald Sun
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Australian police and politicians in Sydney have promised extra forces to stem race riots after people of Middle Eastern appearance were attacked by a mob of more than 5,000 in the nation's biggest city yesterday. Thirty-one people were injured in Cronulla in Sydney's south as residents from across the city responded to a text message campaign to "claim back the beach,'' after Lebanese Australians allegedly bashed teenage volunteer lifeguards last week. The violence spread to neighboring suburbs as gangs of men of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance sought retribution, using baseball bats to damage at least 40 cars and attack people and police in the streets of Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands, police said.
Cronulla calm after day of chaos NEWS.com.au
Strike force will pursue racist thugs Melbourne Herald Sun
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Explosion rocks central Athens CNN International
A massive explosion shook central Athens Monday morning, causing extensive damage to an area near the Finance Ministry and the central post office, a ministry spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties. A senior police source said investigators are treating the blast as if it were a terrorist attack and deem it "a very serious incident."
Central Athens rocked by blast TVNZ
Blast rocks Greek Economy Ministry - police Reuters.uk
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A massive explosion shook central Athens Monday morning, causing extensive damage to an area near the Finance Ministry and the central post office, a ministry spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties. A senior police source said investigators are treating the blast as if it were a terrorist attack and deem it "a very serious incident."
Central Athens rocked by blast TVNZ
Blast rocks Greek Economy Ministry - police Reuters.uk
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France stages raids on 'Islamist' network CBC News
French intelligence officers says they've arrested 22 people, smashing an alleged network thought to be planning attacks. Agents of the DST, the country's national intelligence service, staged raids in homes and internet cafes before dawn Monday. Officials say the suspects, mostly of Tunisian and Moroccan origin, had been under surveillance since the spring. They described the arrests as a "major operation aimed at disbanding an Islamist network linked to terrorism."
Paris police hold 22 in anti-terror blitz Times Online
French police say they have dismantled Islamic terror network Globe and Mail
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French intelligence officers says they've arrested 22 people, smashing an alleged network thought to be planning attacks. Agents of the DST, the country's national intelligence service, staged raids in homes and internet cafes before dawn Monday. Officials say the suspects, mostly of Tunisian and Moroccan origin, had been under surveillance since the spring. They described the arrests as a "major operation aimed at disbanding an Islamist network linked to terrorism."
Paris police hold 22 in anti-terror blitz Times Online
French police say they have dismantled Islamic terror network Globe and Mail
Australian - AKI - Ireland Online - United Press International - all 124 related »
Sharon widens lead ahead of March election - poll Reuters AlertNet
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has widened his lead ahead of a March 28 general election, aided by defections from his former Likud party to his new centrist Kadima party, a poll found on Monday. The opinion poll published in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily found that Kadima would win 41 seats in the 120-member parliament in the election, setting the stage for Sharon's re-election.
But-For Self-Preservation American Chronicle
Likud party in free fall post Sharon The Standard
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has widened his lead ahead of a March 28 general election, aided by defections from his former Likud party to his new centrist Kadima party, a poll found on Monday. The opinion poll published in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily found that Kadima would win 41 seats in the 120-member parliament in the election, setting the stage for Sharon's re-election.
But-For Self-Preservation American Chronicle
Likud party in free fall post Sharon The Standard
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utin Calls Russia Defender of Islamic World MOSNEWS
Russia is the most reliable partner of the Islamic world and most faithful defender of its interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Chechnya’s capital Grozny. Putin unexpectedly visited the war-ravaged republic to speak in the local parliament that opened for its first sitting on Monday. “Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world. Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally. By destroying Russia, these people (terrorists) destroy one of the main pillars of the Islamic world in the struggle for rights (of Islamic states) in the international arena, the struggle for their legitimate rights,” Putin was quoted by Itar —Tass as saying, drawing applause from Chechen parliamentarians.
December 14, 2005 - January 14, 2006 calendar RIA Novosti
Putin pays brief visit to Chechnya Xinhua
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Russia is the most reliable partner of the Islamic world and most faithful defender of its interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Chechnya’s capital Grozny. Putin unexpectedly visited the war-ravaged republic to speak in the local parliament that opened for its first sitting on Monday. “Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world. Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally. By destroying Russia, these people (terrorists) destroy one of the main pillars of the Islamic world in the struggle for rights (of Islamic states) in the international arena, the struggle for their legitimate rights,” Putin was quoted by Itar —Tass as saying, drawing applause from Chechen parliamentarians.
December 14, 2005 - January 14, 2006 calendar RIA Novosti
Putin pays brief visit to Chechnya Xinhua
RosBusinessConsulting - ITAR-TASS - United Press International - Interfax Russia - all 83 related »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 12, 2005
Car Bomb Kills Anti-Syrian Lawmaker in Beirut
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
A car bomb exploded in Beirut today, killing a Lebanese lawmaker who was also the general manager of the independent daily newspaper An Nahar and a vocal critic of Syria.
The legislator, Gibran Tueni, was killed along with his driver, bodyguard, and another person, Reuters said. The attack came just hours before Detlev Mehlis, the United Nations investigator into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, released his presentation to the Security Council on who was behind the assassination of Mr. Hariri on Feb. 14.
Mr. Mehlis said that fresh evidence reinforced his earlier judgment that Syria's intelligence services were behind Mr. Hariri's killing and that Syrian officials were obstructing his investigation.
Syria has previously denied involvement.
The An Nahar newspaper today published a report on its Web site saying that Mr. Tueni, 48, was a "fiery critic" of Syria. It said that he spoke out against Syria's role in Lebanon and had recently been living in France for fear of assassination. His columns in An Nahar often raised the ire of the Syrians, the report said. He had just returned to Lebanon from France, where he had been living out of fear for his safety.
A previously unknown group calling itself "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant" claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement faxed to Reuters. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the claim. The Associated Press was cited in the An Nahar report as saying that at least 30 people were wounded in today's bombing. "The hand of crime and terrorism strikes anew" said a headline on the front page of An Nahar's Web site, above a photograph of Mr. Tueni.
In recent years Mr. Tueni has also criticized the Lebanese government for what he said was allowing a state within a state to exist in Lebanon, a remark he made in the pages of the newspaper with reference to a parade in Lebanon of fighters from the Hezbollah organization in December, 2001.
In April 2000, he also expressed the sentiment of many Lebanese who were chafing under the heavy-handedness of Syria, while at the same time admitting that their faltering country desperately needs Syria as an economic partner.
"After nearly 25 years, they weren't able to swallow this country," said Mr. Tueni. "So we are asking Syria to open a frank dialogue. We want to be partners -- part of the process and equal." He said Lebanon is weary of "lying on the table," like a card to be played by one side or the other, "as the price for peace.
News agencies reported that the car bomb exploded in an eastern neighborhood of Beirut, as his motorcade passed by. The Associated Press said in a report that at least 30 people were wounded in the bombing.
They said Mr. Tueni was a leader in anti-Syria protests after Mr. Hariri's assassination. Syria withdrew from Lebanon, after three decades, in April after stepped-up international pressure in the aftermath of the Hariri killing.
Mr. Tueni is survived by his wife and four daughters.
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December 12, 2005
Car Bomb Kills Anti-Syrian Lawmaker in Beirut
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
A car bomb exploded in Beirut today, killing a Lebanese lawmaker who was also the general manager of the independent daily newspaper An Nahar and a vocal critic of Syria.
The legislator, Gibran Tueni, was killed along with his driver, bodyguard, and another person, Reuters said. The attack came just hours before Detlev Mehlis, the United Nations investigator into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, released his presentation to the Security Council on who was behind the assassination of Mr. Hariri on Feb. 14.
Mr. Mehlis said that fresh evidence reinforced his earlier judgment that Syria's intelligence services were behind Mr. Hariri's killing and that Syrian officials were obstructing his investigation.
Syria has previously denied involvement.
The An Nahar newspaper today published a report on its Web site saying that Mr. Tueni, 48, was a "fiery critic" of Syria. It said that he spoke out against Syria's role in Lebanon and had recently been living in France for fear of assassination. His columns in An Nahar often raised the ire of the Syrians, the report said. He had just returned to Lebanon from France, where he had been living out of fear for his safety.
A previously unknown group calling itself "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant" claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement faxed to Reuters. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the claim. The Associated Press was cited in the An Nahar report as saying that at least 30 people were wounded in today's bombing. "The hand of crime and terrorism strikes anew" said a headline on the front page of An Nahar's Web site, above a photograph of Mr. Tueni.
In recent years Mr. Tueni has also criticized the Lebanese government for what he said was allowing a state within a state to exist in Lebanon, a remark he made in the pages of the newspaper with reference to a parade in Lebanon of fighters from the Hezbollah organization in December, 2001.
In April 2000, he also expressed the sentiment of many Lebanese who were chafing under the heavy-handedness of Syria, while at the same time admitting that their faltering country desperately needs Syria as an economic partner.
"After nearly 25 years, they weren't able to swallow this country," said Mr. Tueni. "So we are asking Syria to open a frank dialogue. We want to be partners -- part of the process and equal." He said Lebanon is weary of "lying on the table," like a card to be played by one side or the other, "as the price for peace.
News agencies reported that the car bomb exploded in an eastern neighborhood of Beirut, as his motorcade passed by. The Associated Press said in a report that at least 30 people were wounded in the bombing.
They said Mr. Tueni was a leader in anti-Syria protests after Mr. Hariri's assassination. Syria withdrew from Lebanon, after three decades, in April after stepped-up international pressure in the aftermath of the Hariri killing.
Mr. Tueni is survived by his wife and four daughters.
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December 12, 2005
OPEC Leaves Its Production Levels Unchanged for Now
By JAD MOUAWAD
KUWAIT, Dec. 12 - OPEC decided today to maintain its current production levels for the time being, but it strongly hinted that it would consider reducing its output early next year in order to stave a possible drop in demand next spring.
Even if the outcome had been widely anticipated, OPEC's signal was all the encouragement oil markets needed to push up oil prices again.
Crude oil for January delivery was trading up 96 cents, to $60.35 a barrel, around midday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Since touching a high above $70 a barrel following Hurricane Katrina in the summer, oil prices had fallen more than $15. Recently, they had hovered below $60 a barrel.
OPEC decided to meet again in seven weeks, two months ahead of a previously scheduled meeting, in order to consider cuts in its output and anticipate slower demand in the spring, when demand typically falls following the winter surge and before a pickup with the summer driving season.
Today's meeting in Kuwait provided the strongest indication in recent months that OPEC will not allow prices to fall too much. In its final statement, OPEC said it would "take all measures considered necessary to keep market stability and maintain prices at a reasonable level."
"It's a bullish signal to the market," said Roger Diwan, an analyst at PFC Energy in Washington. "They did what they had to do to keep prices between $50 and $60."
Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which account for about half the world's oil exports, have been pumping oil at a 25-year high to make up for shortfalls in production and meet strong global demand.
The group suspended its quota system last September in response to the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, which crippled America's largest energy hub, shutting down offshore production and refineries, and sending oil prices soaring.
At today's meeting, OPEC said it would not extend a previous offer to sell all of its remaining two million barrels a day of spare capacity because no buyers had stepped forward with requests for more oil. Most of that untapped production is made up of thick, sulfur-rich oil that refiners have more trouble turning into gasoline and other petroleum products.
OPEC's message is unlikely to alleviate concerns that oil markets remain vulnerable to shortfalls in supplies next year, with little spare capacity worldwide.
But privately, OPEC delegates present here said they were confident that demand would still be high next year and discounted the risk of a slowdown in the second quarter. Some anticipated that a cold winter would force consuming nations to draw on their commercial stocks and preclude a need for a production cut. If anything, many here expect prices to remain around $60 a barrel, or more, next year.
Most industry analysts are currently forecasting that the rise in oil supplies next year will outpace rising demand as high prices draw out new production from non-OPEC producers. That suggests that OPEC will need to reduce its output to keep prices from sliding.
Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, told reporters here that "there is a lot of crude sloshing around and in the second quarter that will be a heavy depressant on prices."
"As we get closer to the second quarter of 2006, that may warrant action of a different kind to keep the market in balance," he added.
But previous forecasts about the oil markets have proved wrong in the last two years. Future demand is difficult to pin down with any degree of accuracy, and at a time of tight capacity, secure supplies are hard impossible to guarantee.
Sheik Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait's oil minister and OPEC's current president, defended the group's policy, saying OPEC was doing all it could to help bring prices down from their current highs.
"We cannot control prices," Sheik Al-Sabah said during a news conference following the meeting of OPEC's 11 member countries, which was held in Kuwait City. "We can only secure the supplies."
He then added, referring to OPEC's production next year: "But whenever we need to cut, we will cut because we don't want the negative reaction to the oversupply in the market."
He said that OPEC, excluding Iraq, was currently producing 28.2 million barrels a day, a little above the group's official production quota of 28 million barrels a day.
"The decision to meet again in a few weeks shows that OPEC's price appetite is pretty robust," said Antoine Halff, the director for global energy at Eurasia Group, a New York-based consultant, who was present in Kuwait for the meeting.
He said that the decision to keep producing at full level should be interpreted in the light of the many risks faced by producers around the world.
"There is tremendous political risk to supplies, including from OPEC producers, such as Iran or Venezuela, who have trouble meeting their production quotas, or even Nigeria," Mr. Halff said. "They can't address these concerns openly, but I am sure they are on everybody's mind."
Few ministers present here would comment on the critical question of what price level OPEC would be willing to defend.
Sheik Al-Sabah mentioned a range of $40 to $50 a barrel as an "acceptable" price; others, including Libya's oil minister and the Nigerian representative, said the world had become used to oil at $50. Both stopped short of saying what price target OPEC had in mind.
"There is nothing like an absolute price level," said Edmund Daukoru, the oil minister from Nigeria, who takes on OPEC's rotating presidency next year. "You cannot decree an absolute price; everything is subject to market forces and market forces cut both ways."
Robert Mabro, the president of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a long-time authority on OPEC, said the group was very deliberately being uncertain about prices.
"Any discussion of prices would be divisive to OPEC," Mr. Mabro said. "They could not agree on a single price. So let bygones be bygones. What is important for OPEC is the direction of the move, not the actual price level."
He added, "It's a game of signs between OPEC and the oil markets."
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December 12, 2005
OPEC Leaves Its Production Levels Unchanged for Now
By JAD MOUAWAD
KUWAIT, Dec. 12 - OPEC decided today to maintain its current production levels for the time being, but it strongly hinted that it would consider reducing its output early next year in order to stave a possible drop in demand next spring.
Even if the outcome had been widely anticipated, OPEC's signal was all the encouragement oil markets needed to push up oil prices again.
Crude oil for January delivery was trading up 96 cents, to $60.35 a barrel, around midday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Since touching a high above $70 a barrel following Hurricane Katrina in the summer, oil prices had fallen more than $15. Recently, they had hovered below $60 a barrel.
OPEC decided to meet again in seven weeks, two months ahead of a previously scheduled meeting, in order to consider cuts in its output and anticipate slower demand in the spring, when demand typically falls following the winter surge and before a pickup with the summer driving season.
Today's meeting in Kuwait provided the strongest indication in recent months that OPEC will not allow prices to fall too much. In its final statement, OPEC said it would "take all measures considered necessary to keep market stability and maintain prices at a reasonable level."
"It's a bullish signal to the market," said Roger Diwan, an analyst at PFC Energy in Washington. "They did what they had to do to keep prices between $50 and $60."
Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which account for about half the world's oil exports, have been pumping oil at a 25-year high to make up for shortfalls in production and meet strong global demand.
The group suspended its quota system last September in response to the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, which crippled America's largest energy hub, shutting down offshore production and refineries, and sending oil prices soaring.
At today's meeting, OPEC said it would not extend a previous offer to sell all of its remaining two million barrels a day of spare capacity because no buyers had stepped forward with requests for more oil. Most of that untapped production is made up of thick, sulfur-rich oil that refiners have more trouble turning into gasoline and other petroleum products.
OPEC's message is unlikely to alleviate concerns that oil markets remain vulnerable to shortfalls in supplies next year, with little spare capacity worldwide.
But privately, OPEC delegates present here said they were confident that demand would still be high next year and discounted the risk of a slowdown in the second quarter. Some anticipated that a cold winter would force consuming nations to draw on their commercial stocks and preclude a need for a production cut. If anything, many here expect prices to remain around $60 a barrel, or more, next year.
Most industry analysts are currently forecasting that the rise in oil supplies next year will outpace rising demand as high prices draw out new production from non-OPEC producers. That suggests that OPEC will need to reduce its output to keep prices from sliding.
Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, told reporters here that "there is a lot of crude sloshing around and in the second quarter that will be a heavy depressant on prices."
"As we get closer to the second quarter of 2006, that may warrant action of a different kind to keep the market in balance," he added.
But previous forecasts about the oil markets have proved wrong in the last two years. Future demand is difficult to pin down with any degree of accuracy, and at a time of tight capacity, secure supplies are hard impossible to guarantee.
Sheik Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait's oil minister and OPEC's current president, defended the group's policy, saying OPEC was doing all it could to help bring prices down from their current highs.
"We cannot control prices," Sheik Al-Sabah said during a news conference following the meeting of OPEC's 11 member countries, which was held in Kuwait City. "We can only secure the supplies."
He then added, referring to OPEC's production next year: "But whenever we need to cut, we will cut because we don't want the negative reaction to the oversupply in the market."
He said that OPEC, excluding Iraq, was currently producing 28.2 million barrels a day, a little above the group's official production quota of 28 million barrels a day.
"The decision to meet again in a few weeks shows that OPEC's price appetite is pretty robust," said Antoine Halff, the director for global energy at Eurasia Group, a New York-based consultant, who was present in Kuwait for the meeting.
He said that the decision to keep producing at full level should be interpreted in the light of the many risks faced by producers around the world.
"There is tremendous political risk to supplies, including from OPEC producers, such as Iran or Venezuela, who have trouble meeting their production quotas, or even Nigeria," Mr. Halff said. "They can't address these concerns openly, but I am sure they are on everybody's mind."
Few ministers present here would comment on the critical question of what price level OPEC would be willing to defend.
Sheik Al-Sabah mentioned a range of $40 to $50 a barrel as an "acceptable" price; others, including Libya's oil minister and the Nigerian representative, said the world had become used to oil at $50. Both stopped short of saying what price target OPEC had in mind.
"There is nothing like an absolute price level," said Edmund Daukoru, the oil minister from Nigeria, who takes on OPEC's rotating presidency next year. "You cannot decree an absolute price; everything is subject to market forces and market forces cut both ways."
Robert Mabro, the president of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a long-time authority on OPEC, said the group was very deliberately being uncertain about prices.
"Any discussion of prices would be divisive to OPEC," Mr. Mabro said. "They could not agree on a single price. So let bygones be bygones. What is important for OPEC is the direction of the move, not the actual price level."
He added, "It's a game of signs between OPEC and the oil markets."
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December 12, 2005
U.N.: Evidence Solidifies Hariri Report
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:05 p.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- New evidence has only reinforced investigators' belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were likely involved in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, a U.N. probe said Monday.
The report was delivered on the same day that a car bomb killed a prominent Lebanese journalist and lawmaker, Gibran Tueni. It was the latest in a string of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon, and many quickly accused Damascus in the slaying.
Syria denied being behind the blast that killed Tueni. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said he will ask the United Nations to set up a new inquiry into Tueni's slaying and previous bombings and to create an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri assassination.
German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis' team, meanwhile, again accused Syria of trying to obstruct his probe into the Feb. 14 death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri when it demanded that he revise his findings after a crucial witness recanted his testimony.
''This was, at the least, an attempt to hinder the investigation internally and procedurally,'' the 25-page report said.
Mehlis' team delivered a report in October that implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in Hariri's assassination, a car bombing that also killed 20 other people. Mehlis said greater Syrian cooperation was needed.
Syria denies involvement. It also has waged a campaign to discredit the commission, citing a Syrian witness, Husam Taher Husam, who recanted his testimony to the commission and said he had been bribed to frame Damascus.
Mehlis said that recantation hadn't affected his findings. In fact, he said, ''the investigation has continued to develop multiple lines of enquiry which, if anything, reinforce those conclusions.''
The latest claim of obstruction would be important because after Mehlis delivered his earlier report, the council had warned Syria that it would face further action -- possibly including sanctions -- if it didn't cooperate fully.
Last week, members of the Mehlis commission questioned several senior Syrian officials at the U.N. headquarters in Vienna. U.N. diplomats there said Rustum Ghazale, the last Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon who was in charge when Hariri was assassinated, was among them.
Mehlis will brief the council on Tuesday. He has said he then wants to step down and return to his job as a leading prosecutor in Berlin.
Lebanon has asked the Security Council to extend Mehlis' commission for six months after its mandate expires on Thursday. The Security Council, whose approval would be required, is likely to agree to extend it until June 15.
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December 12, 2005
U.N.: Evidence Solidifies Hariri Report
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:05 p.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- New evidence has only reinforced investigators' belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were likely involved in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, a U.N. probe said Monday.
The report was delivered on the same day that a car bomb killed a prominent Lebanese journalist and lawmaker, Gibran Tueni. It was the latest in a string of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon, and many quickly accused Damascus in the slaying.
Syria denied being behind the blast that killed Tueni. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said he will ask the United Nations to set up a new inquiry into Tueni's slaying and previous bombings and to create an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri assassination.
German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis' team, meanwhile, again accused Syria of trying to obstruct his probe into the Feb. 14 death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri when it demanded that he revise his findings after a crucial witness recanted his testimony.
''This was, at the least, an attempt to hinder the investigation internally and procedurally,'' the 25-page report said.
Mehlis' team delivered a report in October that implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in Hariri's assassination, a car bombing that also killed 20 other people. Mehlis said greater Syrian cooperation was needed.
Syria denies involvement. It also has waged a campaign to discredit the commission, citing a Syrian witness, Husam Taher Husam, who recanted his testimony to the commission and said he had been bribed to frame Damascus.
Mehlis said that recantation hadn't affected his findings. In fact, he said, ''the investigation has continued to develop multiple lines of enquiry which, if anything, reinforce those conclusions.''
The latest claim of obstruction would be important because after Mehlis delivered his earlier report, the council had warned Syria that it would face further action -- possibly including sanctions -- if it didn't cooperate fully.
Last week, members of the Mehlis commission questioned several senior Syrian officials at the U.N. headquarters in Vienna. U.N. diplomats there said Rustum Ghazale, the last Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon who was in charge when Hariri was assassinated, was among them.
Mehlis will brief the council on Tuesday. He has said he then wants to step down and return to his job as a leading prosecutor in Berlin.
Lebanon has asked the Security Council to extend Mehlis' commission for six months after its mandate expires on Thursday. The Security Council, whose approval would be required, is likely to agree to extend it until June 15.
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December 12, 2005
Early Voting Begins in Iraq's Parliamentary Elections
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:04 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Patients, soldiers and prisoners began voting Monday in parliamentary elections, three days ahead of the general population, while insurgents said the balloting violated God's law, and new violence killed at least 12 people.
Five Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, denounced Thursday's elections as a ''satanic project,'' vowing to continue their war to establish an Islamic regime, according to an Internet statement. But they made no threats to disrupt the process, unlike earlier balloting when militants warned they would attack polling stations.
President Bush cautioned that the elections ''won't be perfect.''
''Iraqis still have more difficult work ahead, and our coalition and a new Iraqi government will face many challenges,'' he said in a speech in Philadelphia.
Asked about the number of Iraqi casualties from the war and the insurgency, Bush said: ''I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis.'' White House counselor Dan Bartlett later said the number was not an official figure but that Bush was simply repeating public estimates reported in the media.
To curb election day bloodshed, Iraq will close its borders, extend a nighttime curfew and restrict domestic travel starting Tuesday. Thousands of Iraqi forces will guard polling stations, with U.S. and other coalition troops ready in case of a major attack.
In a development that could affect the elections, 13 prisoners who were apparent victims of abuse were found at an overcrowded detention center run by the Interior Ministry, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari ordered an investigation into what he described as an ''unhealthy phenomenon.'' A similar case surfaced last month.
''I will not allow such dealing with any prisoner,'' he said.
U.S. officials hope the new parliament can help quell the Sunni-dominated insurgency so American forces can begin heading home. The 275-member assembly will be the first full-term parliament, serving for four years, since Saddam Hussein's 2003 ouster.
Al-Jaafari said a timetable for a withdrawal would depend on the ability of Iraqi forces to take over security.
''We want the multinational forces to leave, but we don't want security to disappear as well,'' al-Jaafari said. ''When the Iraqi hands are in complete control of the security situation in Iraq, then we will tell the multinational forces, 'Thank you. Please leave the Iraqi lands.'''
At the largest election rally of the campaign, thousands of Shiite Muslims filled the streets of Baghdad's sprawling slum of Sadr City, chanting Islamic and anti-insurgent slogans.
''Yes, yes to Islam! Yes, yes to Iraq! Yes, yes to the religious leadership!'' the group yelled as they waved Iraqi flags and pictures of the sect's top leaders amid tight security.
A new opinion poll found most Iraqis disapprove of the presence of U.S. forces in their country, yet they are optimistic about Iraq's future and their personal lives.
More than two-thirds of those surveyed oppose the presence of coalition troops, and less than half, 44 percent, say their country is better off now than it was before the war, according to an ABC News poll conducted with Time magazine and other media partners.
But three-quarters say they are confident about the parliamentary elections and more than two-thirds expect things to get better in the coming months, the poll said.
The Internet statement could not be independently verified, but if authentic, it was a rare instance of several militant groups joining to announce their stance.
''The conspiracy in Iraq against the mujahedeen, the so-called political process ... is nothing more than a satanic project, just like those before it,'' the statement said.
''To engage in the so-called political process and in the renegade election is religiously prohibited and contradicts the legitimate policy approved by God almighty for the Muslims in our constitution, which is the holy Quran,'' it said.
An unsigned statement believed to be from an insurgent group and distributed in the Sunni stronghold of Azamiyah said Sunnis could use the elections to make some political gains but that ''fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers.''
In Egypt, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa urged all Iraqis to vote and ''participate in the building of a new Iraq,'' adding that all fighting and police crackdowns should be suspended for the polling.
An empty minibus loaded with explosives blew up Monday near a Baghdad hospital, killing three civilians and injuring 13, including five police officers, authorities said.
A U.S. soldier was killed Monday by a bomb in Baghdad and another died a day earlier in a suicide blast near the city of Ramadi, the U.S. command said. The deaths brought to 2,144 the number of U.S. military members killed in Iraq since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.
Clashes killed two police officers and injured nine, police said. Two other people died in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad's Dora district.
Gunmen killed three men and injured a woman when they opened fire on a pickup truck with Education Ministry license plates.
A roadside bomb in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killed a woman and injured five.
Police also said a businessman and his 23-year-old son were kidnapped in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district.
Monday's early voting saw the first of 1,500 patients cast ballots at Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, with officials bringing a box around to the bedridden in various wards, said Yousif Ibrahim, director of the election center. Police and soldiers also voted early, displaying their ink-stained fingers.
On Tuesday, the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi voters living outside the country can cast ballots at polling centers in 15 countries.
Suspected insurgents held in detention but not convicted are eligible to vote, officials said. Saddam, who is jailed and facing trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982, also can vote but it is not known whether he would.
Sunni Arabs largely boycotted the Jan. 30 election to protest the U.S. military presence, enabling the Shiites and Kurds to dominate parliament, a move that sharpened communal tensions and fueled the insurgency. This time, more Sunni Arab candidates are running, and changes in election law to allocate most seats by province instead of based on a party's nationwide total all but guaranteed a sizable Sunni bloc in the next assembly.
Turnout in January was about 58 percent but less than 5 percent in the predominantly Sunni province of Anbar, a hotbed of insurgency.
Still, Shiites are expected to win the biggest share of seats. Shiites form an estimated 60 percent of Iraq's 27 million people, compared with 20 percent for the Sunni Arabs.
In the discovery of the 13 prisoners, a statement by the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry did not say why they needed treatment, but said an investigating judge also ordered the immediate release of 56 people apparently held without reason at the Baghdad facility -- which was inspected by investigators Dec. 8.
Opposition parties and Sunni Arab groups have accused the government and the Shiite-dominated security forces of human rights abuses.
The Interior Ministry did not say what had caused their injuries or if they were consistent with abuse or torture. An officer at the ministry, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the 13 were taken to a hospital due to ''signs of torture.''
According to the Human Rights Ministry, the facility next to the Interior Ministry housed 625 detainees in ''very overcrowded'' conditions.
Last month, an inspection by U.S. troops at a building of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry in Baghdad's Jadriyah district found up to 173 malnourished detainees, and some showed signs of torture. On Nov. 15, al-Jaafari ordered an investigation and promised results within two weeks.
Separately, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, head of operations at the Defense Ministry, was asked by reporters if Iraqi forces had captured non-Arab foreigners such as Britons. ''The defense and interior ministers said previously that foreign terrorists have been captured. They were from different nationalities, not only Brits, but even from the United States of America,'' he said, without elaborating.
Steve Bird, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office, said Mohammed apparently was referring to British nationals Mobeen Munwef, who was detained by U.S. forces a year ago as a suspected security threat, and Abdul Reza, who was detained by British forces in southern Iraq in early 2005.
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December 12, 2005
Early Voting Begins in Iraq's Parliamentary Elections
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:04 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Patients, soldiers and prisoners began voting Monday in parliamentary elections, three days ahead of the general population, while insurgents said the balloting violated God's law, and new violence killed at least 12 people.
Five Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, denounced Thursday's elections as a ''satanic project,'' vowing to continue their war to establish an Islamic regime, according to an Internet statement. But they made no threats to disrupt the process, unlike earlier balloting when militants warned they would attack polling stations.
President Bush cautioned that the elections ''won't be perfect.''
''Iraqis still have more difficult work ahead, and our coalition and a new Iraqi government will face many challenges,'' he said in a speech in Philadelphia.
Asked about the number of Iraqi casualties from the war and the insurgency, Bush said: ''I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis.'' White House counselor Dan Bartlett later said the number was not an official figure but that Bush was simply repeating public estimates reported in the media.
To curb election day bloodshed, Iraq will close its borders, extend a nighttime curfew and restrict domestic travel starting Tuesday. Thousands of Iraqi forces will guard polling stations, with U.S. and other coalition troops ready in case of a major attack.
In a development that could affect the elections, 13 prisoners who were apparent victims of abuse were found at an overcrowded detention center run by the Interior Ministry, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari ordered an investigation into what he described as an ''unhealthy phenomenon.'' A similar case surfaced last month.
''I will not allow such dealing with any prisoner,'' he said.
U.S. officials hope the new parliament can help quell the Sunni-dominated insurgency so American forces can begin heading home. The 275-member assembly will be the first full-term parliament, serving for four years, since Saddam Hussein's 2003 ouster.
Al-Jaafari said a timetable for a withdrawal would depend on the ability of Iraqi forces to take over security.
''We want the multinational forces to leave, but we don't want security to disappear as well,'' al-Jaafari said. ''When the Iraqi hands are in complete control of the security situation in Iraq, then we will tell the multinational forces, 'Thank you. Please leave the Iraqi lands.'''
At the largest election rally of the campaign, thousands of Shiite Muslims filled the streets of Baghdad's sprawling slum of Sadr City, chanting Islamic and anti-insurgent slogans.
''Yes, yes to Islam! Yes, yes to Iraq! Yes, yes to the religious leadership!'' the group yelled as they waved Iraqi flags and pictures of the sect's top leaders amid tight security.
A new opinion poll found most Iraqis disapprove of the presence of U.S. forces in their country, yet they are optimistic about Iraq's future and their personal lives.
More than two-thirds of those surveyed oppose the presence of coalition troops, and less than half, 44 percent, say their country is better off now than it was before the war, according to an ABC News poll conducted with Time magazine and other media partners.
But three-quarters say they are confident about the parliamentary elections and more than two-thirds expect things to get better in the coming months, the poll said.
The Internet statement could not be independently verified, but if authentic, it was a rare instance of several militant groups joining to announce their stance.
''The conspiracy in Iraq against the mujahedeen, the so-called political process ... is nothing more than a satanic project, just like those before it,'' the statement said.
''To engage in the so-called political process and in the renegade election is religiously prohibited and contradicts the legitimate policy approved by God almighty for the Muslims in our constitution, which is the holy Quran,'' it said.
An unsigned statement believed to be from an insurgent group and distributed in the Sunni stronghold of Azamiyah said Sunnis could use the elections to make some political gains but that ''fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers.''
In Egypt, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa urged all Iraqis to vote and ''participate in the building of a new Iraq,'' adding that all fighting and police crackdowns should be suspended for the polling.
An empty minibus loaded with explosives blew up Monday near a Baghdad hospital, killing three civilians and injuring 13, including five police officers, authorities said.
A U.S. soldier was killed Monday by a bomb in Baghdad and another died a day earlier in a suicide blast near the city of Ramadi, the U.S. command said. The deaths brought to 2,144 the number of U.S. military members killed in Iraq since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.
Clashes killed two police officers and injured nine, police said. Two other people died in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad's Dora district.
Gunmen killed three men and injured a woman when they opened fire on a pickup truck with Education Ministry license plates.
A roadside bomb in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killed a woman and injured five.
Police also said a businessman and his 23-year-old son were kidnapped in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district.
Monday's early voting saw the first of 1,500 patients cast ballots at Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, with officials bringing a box around to the bedridden in various wards, said Yousif Ibrahim, director of the election center. Police and soldiers also voted early, displaying their ink-stained fingers.
On Tuesday, the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi voters living outside the country can cast ballots at polling centers in 15 countries.
Suspected insurgents held in detention but not convicted are eligible to vote, officials said. Saddam, who is jailed and facing trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982, also can vote but it is not known whether he would.
Sunni Arabs largely boycotted the Jan. 30 election to protest the U.S. military presence, enabling the Shiites and Kurds to dominate parliament, a move that sharpened communal tensions and fueled the insurgency. This time, more Sunni Arab candidates are running, and changes in election law to allocate most seats by province instead of based on a party's nationwide total all but guaranteed a sizable Sunni bloc in the next assembly.
Turnout in January was about 58 percent but less than 5 percent in the predominantly Sunni province of Anbar, a hotbed of insurgency.
Still, Shiites are expected to win the biggest share of seats. Shiites form an estimated 60 percent of Iraq's 27 million people, compared with 20 percent for the Sunni Arabs.
In the discovery of the 13 prisoners, a statement by the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry did not say why they needed treatment, but said an investigating judge also ordered the immediate release of 56 people apparently held without reason at the Baghdad facility -- which was inspected by investigators Dec. 8.
Opposition parties and Sunni Arab groups have accused the government and the Shiite-dominated security forces of human rights abuses.
The Interior Ministry did not say what had caused their injuries or if they were consistent with abuse or torture. An officer at the ministry, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the 13 were taken to a hospital due to ''signs of torture.''
According to the Human Rights Ministry, the facility next to the Interior Ministry housed 625 detainees in ''very overcrowded'' conditions.
Last month, an inspection by U.S. troops at a building of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry in Baghdad's Jadriyah district found up to 173 malnourished detainees, and some showed signs of torture. On Nov. 15, al-Jaafari ordered an investigation and promised results within two weeks.
Separately, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, head of operations at the Defense Ministry, was asked by reporters if Iraqi forces had captured non-Arab foreigners such as Britons. ''The defense and interior ministers said previously that foreign terrorists have been captured. They were from different nationalities, not only Brits, but even from the United States of America,'' he said, without elaborating.
Steve Bird, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office, said Mohammed apparently was referring to British nationals Mobeen Munwef, who was detained by U.S. forces a year ago as a suspected security threat, and Abdul Reza, who was detained by British forces in southern Iraq in early 2005.
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Mohamed ElBaradei - Nobel Lecture
Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2005.
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Honourable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The International Atomic Energy Agency and I are humbled, proud, delighted and above all strengthened in our resolve by this most worthy of honours.
My sister-in-law works for a group that supports orphanages in Cairo.
She and her colleagues take care of children left behind by circumstances beyond their control. They feed these children, clothe them and teach them to read.
At the International Atomic Energy Agency, my colleagues and I work to keep nuclear materials out of the reach of extremist groups. We inspect nuclear facilities all over the world, to be sure that peaceful nuclear activities are not being used as a cloak for weapons programmes.
My sister-in-law and I are working towards the same goal, through different paths: the security of the human family.
But why has this security so far eluded us?
I believe it is because our security strategies have not yet caught up with the risks we are facing. The globalization that has swept away the barriers to the movement of goods, ideas and people has also swept with it barriers that confined and localized security threats.
A recent United Nations High-Level Panel identified five categories of threats that we face:
1. Poverty, Infectious Disease, and Environmental Degradation;
2. Armed Conflict - both within and among states;
3. Organized Crime;
4. Terrorism; and
5. Weapons of Mass Destruction.
These are all 'threats without borders' - where traditional notions of national security have become obsolete. We cannot respond to these threats by building more walls, developing bigger weapons, or dispatching more troops. Quite to the contrary. By their very nature, these security threats require primarily multinational cooperation.
But what is more important is that these are not separate or distinct threats. When we scratch the surface, we find them closely connected and interrelated.
We are 1,000 people here today in this august hall. Imagine for a moment that we represent the world's population. These 200 people on my left would be the wealthy of the world, who consume 80 per cent of the available resources. And these 400 people on my right would be living on an income of less than $2 per day.
This underprivileged group of people on my right is no less intelligent or less worthy than their fellow human beings on the other side of the aisle. They were simply born into this fate.
In the real world, this imbalance in living conditions inevitably leads to inequality of opportunity, and in many cases loss of hope.
And what is worse, all too often the plight of the poor is compounded by and results in human rights abuses, a lack of good governance, and a deep sense of injustice. This combination naturally creates a most fertile breeding ground for civil wars, organized crime, and extremism in its different forms.
In regions where conflicts have been left to fester for decades, countries continue to look for ways to offset their insecurities or project their 'power'. In some cases, they may be tempted to seek their own weapons of mass destruction, like others who have preceded them.
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Fifteen years ago, when the Cold War ended, many of us hoped for a new world order to emerge. A world order rooted in human solidarity - a world order that would be equitable, inclusive and effective.
But today we are nowhere near that goal. We may have torn down the walls between East and West, but we have yet to build the bridges between North and South - the rich and the poor.
Consider our development aid record. Last year, the nations of the world spent over $1 trillion on armaments. But we contributed less than 10 per cent of that amount - a mere $80 billion - as official development assistance to the developing parts of the world, where 850 million people suffer from hunger.
My friend James Morris heads the World Food Programme, whose task it is to feed the hungry. He recently told me, "If I could have just 1 per cent of the money spent on global armaments, no one in this world would go to bed hungry."
It should not be a surprise then that poverty continues to breed conflict. Of the 13 million deaths due to armed conflict in the last ten years, 9 million occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, where the poorest of the poor live.
Consider also our approach to the sanctity and value of human life.
In the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, we all grieved deeply, and expressed outrage at this heinous crime - and rightly so. But many people today are unaware that, as the result of civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 3.8 million people have lost their lives since 1998.
Are we to conclude that our priorities are skewed, and our approaches uneven?
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen. With this 'big picture' in mind, we can better understand the changing landscape in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
There are three main features to this changing landscape: the emergence of an extensive black market in nuclear material and equipment; the proliferation of nuclear weapons and sensitive nuclear technology; and the stagnation in nuclear disarmament.
Today, with globalization bringing us ever closer together, if we choose to ignore the insecurities of some, they will soon become the insecurities of all.
Equally, with the spread of advanced science and technology, as long as some of us choose to rely on nuclear weapons, we continue to risk that these same weapons will become increasingly attractive to others.
I have no doubt that, if we hope to escape self-destruction, then nuclear weapons should have no place in our collective conscience, and no role in our security.
To that end, we must ensure - absolutely - that no more countries acquire these deadly weapons.
We must see to it that nuclear-weapon states take concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament.
And we must put in place a security system that does not rely on nuclear deterrence.
* * * * * * *
Are these goals realistic and within reach? I do believe they are.
But then three steps are urgently required.
First, keep nuclear and radiological material out of the hands of extremist groups. In 2001, the IAEA together with the international community launched a worldwide campaign to enhance the security of such material. Protecting nuclear facilities. Securing powerful radioactive sources. Training law enforcement officials. Monitoring border crossings. In four years, we have completed perhaps 50 per cent of the work. But this is not fast enough, because we are in a race against time.
Second, tighten control over the operations for producing the nuclear material that could be used in weapons. Under the current system, any country has the right to master these operations for civilian uses.
But in doing so, it also masters the most difficult steps in making a nuclear bomb.
To overcome this, I am hoping that we can make these operations multinational - so that no one country can have exclusive control over any such operation. My plan is to begin by setting up a reserve fuel bank, under IAEA control, so that every country will be assured that it will get the fuel needed for its bona fide peaceful nuclear activities. This assurance of supply will remove the incentive - and the justification - for each country to develop its own fuel cycle.
We should then be able to agree on a moratorium on new national facilities, and to begin work on multinational arrangements for enrichment, fuel production, waste disposal and reprocessing.
We must also strengthen the verification system. IAEA inspections are the heart and soul of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. To be effective, it is essential that we are provided with the necessary authority, information, advanced technology, and resources. And our inspections must be backed by the UN Security Council, to be called on in cases of non-compliance.
Third, accelerate disarmament efforts. We still have eight or nine countries who possess nuclear weapons. We still have 27,000 warheads in existence. I believe this is 27,000 too many.
A good start would be if the nuclear-weapon states reduced the strategic role given to these weapons. More than 15 years after the end of the Cold War, it is incomprehensible to many that the major nuclear-weapon states operate with their arsenals on hair-trigger alert - such that, in the case of a possible launch of a nuclear attack, their leaders could have only 30 minutes to decide whether to retaliate, risking the devastation of entire nations in a matter of minutes.
These are three concrete steps that, I believe, can readily be taken.
Protect the material and strengthen verification. Control the fuel cycle. Accelerate disarmament efforts.
But that is not enough. The hard part is: how do we create an environment in which nuclear weapons - like slavery or genocide - are regarded as a taboo and a historical anomaly?
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Whether one believes in evolution, intelligent design, or Divine Creation, one thing is certain. Since the beginning of history, human beings have been at war with each other, under the pretext of religion, ideology, ethnicity and other reasons. And no civilization has ever willingly given up its most powerful weapons. We seem to agree today that we can share modern technology, but we still refuse to acknowledge that our values - at their very core - are shared values.
I am an Egyptian Muslim, educated in Cairo and New York, and now living in Vienna. My wife and I have spent half our lives in the North, half in the South. And we have experienced first hand the unique nature of the human family and the common values we all share.
Shakespeare speaks of every single member of that family in The Merchant of Venice, when he asks: "If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
And lest we forget:
There is no religion that was founded on intolerance - and no religion that does not value the sanctity of human life.
Judaism asks that we value the beauty and joy of human existence.
Christianity says we should treat our neighbours as we would be treated.
Islam declares that killing one person unjustly is the same as killing all of humanity.
Hinduism recognizes the entire universe as one family.
Buddhism calls on us to cherish the oneness of all creation.
Some would say that it is too idealistic to believe in a society based on tolerance and the sanctity of human life, where borders, nationalities and ideologies are of marginal importance. To those I say, this is not idealism, but rather realism, because history has taught us that war rarely resolves our differences. Force does not heal old wounds; it opens new ones.
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I have talked about our efforts to combat the misuse of nuclear energy. Let me now tell you how this very same energy is used for the benefit of humankind.
At the IAEA, we work daily on every continent to put nuclear and radiation techniques in the service of humankind. In Vietnam, farmers plant rice with greater nutritional value that was developed with IAEA assistance. Throughout Latin America, nuclear technology is being used to map underground aquifers, so that water supplies can be managed sustainably. In Ghana, a new radiotherapy machine is offering cancer treatment to thousands of patients. In the South Pacific, Japanese scientists are using nuclear techniques to study climate change. In India, eight new nuclear plants are under construction, to provide clean electricity for a growing nation - a case in point of the rising expectation for a surge in the use of nuclear energy worldwide.
These projects, and a thousand others, exemplify the IAEA ideal:
Atoms for Peace.
But the expanding use of nuclear energy and technology also makes it crucial that nuclear safety and security are maintained at the highest level.
Since the Chernobyl accident, we have worked all over the globe to raise nuclear safety performance. And since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, we have worked with even greater intensity on nuclear security. On both fronts, we have built an international network of legal norms and performance standards. But our most tangible impact has been on the ground. Hundreds of missions, in every part of the world, with international experts making sure nuclear activities are safe and secure.
I am very proud of the 2,300 hard working men and women that make up the IAEA staff - the colleagues with whom I share this honour. Some of them are here with me today. We come from over 90 countries. We bring many different perspectives to our work. Our diversity is our strength.
We are limited in our authority. We have a very modest budget. And we have no armies.
But armed with the strength of our convictions, we will continue to speak truth to power. And we will continue to carry out our mandate with independence and objectivity.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful message for us - to endure in our efforts to work for security and development. A durable peace is not a single achievement, but an environment, a process and a commitment.
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
The picture I have painted today may have seemed somewhat grim. Let me conclude by telling you why I have hope.
I have hope because the positive aspects of globalization are enabling nations and peoples to become politically, economically and socially interdependent, making war an increasingly unacceptable option.
Among the 25 members of the European Union, the degree of economic and socio-political dependencies has made the prospect of the use of force to resolve differences almost absurd. The same is emerging with regard to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, with some 55 member countries from Europe, Central Asia and North America. Could these models be expanded to a world model, through the same creative multilateral engagement and active international cooperation, where the strong are just and the weak secure?
I have hope because civil society is becoming better informed and more engaged. They are pressing their governments for change - to create democratic societies based on diversity, tolerance and equality. They are proposing creative solutions. They are raising awareness, donating funds, working to transform civic spirit from the local to the global. Working to bring the human family closer together.
We now have the opportunity, more than at any time before, to give an affirmative answer to one of the oldest questions of all time: "Am I my brother's keeper?"
What is required is a new mindset and a change of heart, to be able to see the person across the ocean as our neighbour.
Finally, I have hope because of what I see in my children, and some of their generation.
I took my first trip abroad at the age of 19. My children were even more fortunate than I. They had their first exposure to foreign culture as infants, and they were raised in a multicultural environment. And I can say absolutely that my son and daughter are oblivious to colour and race and nationality. They see no difference between their friends Noriko, Mafupo, Justin, Saulo and Hussam; to them, they are only fellow human beings and good friends.
Globalization, through travel, media and communication, can also help us - as it has with my children and many of their peers - to see each other simply as human beings.
* * * * * * *
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Imagine what would happen if the nations of the world spent as much on development as on building the machines of war. Imagine a world where every human being would live in freedom and dignity. Imagine a world in which we would shed the same tears when a child dies in Darfur or Vancouver. Imagine a world where we would settle our differences through diplomacy and dialogue and not through bombs or bullets. Imagine if the only nuclear weapons remaining were the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave to our children.
Imagine that such a world is within our grasp.
Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2005.
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Honourable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The International Atomic Energy Agency and I are humbled, proud, delighted and above all strengthened in our resolve by this most worthy of honours.
My sister-in-law works for a group that supports orphanages in Cairo.
She and her colleagues take care of children left behind by circumstances beyond their control. They feed these children, clothe them and teach them to read.
At the International Atomic Energy Agency, my colleagues and I work to keep nuclear materials out of the reach of extremist groups. We inspect nuclear facilities all over the world, to be sure that peaceful nuclear activities are not being used as a cloak for weapons programmes.
My sister-in-law and I are working towards the same goal, through different paths: the security of the human family.
But why has this security so far eluded us?
I believe it is because our security strategies have not yet caught up with the risks we are facing. The globalization that has swept away the barriers to the movement of goods, ideas and people has also swept with it barriers that confined and localized security threats.
A recent United Nations High-Level Panel identified five categories of threats that we face:
1. Poverty, Infectious Disease, and Environmental Degradation;
2. Armed Conflict - both within and among states;
3. Organized Crime;
4. Terrorism; and
5. Weapons of Mass Destruction.
These are all 'threats without borders' - where traditional notions of national security have become obsolete. We cannot respond to these threats by building more walls, developing bigger weapons, or dispatching more troops. Quite to the contrary. By their very nature, these security threats require primarily multinational cooperation.
But what is more important is that these are not separate or distinct threats. When we scratch the surface, we find them closely connected and interrelated.
We are 1,000 people here today in this august hall. Imagine for a moment that we represent the world's population. These 200 people on my left would be the wealthy of the world, who consume 80 per cent of the available resources. And these 400 people on my right would be living on an income of less than $2 per day.
This underprivileged group of people on my right is no less intelligent or less worthy than their fellow human beings on the other side of the aisle. They were simply born into this fate.
In the real world, this imbalance in living conditions inevitably leads to inequality of opportunity, and in many cases loss of hope.
And what is worse, all too often the plight of the poor is compounded by and results in human rights abuses, a lack of good governance, and a deep sense of injustice. This combination naturally creates a most fertile breeding ground for civil wars, organized crime, and extremism in its different forms.
In regions where conflicts have been left to fester for decades, countries continue to look for ways to offset their insecurities or project their 'power'. In some cases, they may be tempted to seek their own weapons of mass destruction, like others who have preceded them.
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Fifteen years ago, when the Cold War ended, many of us hoped for a new world order to emerge. A world order rooted in human solidarity - a world order that would be equitable, inclusive and effective.
But today we are nowhere near that goal. We may have torn down the walls between East and West, but we have yet to build the bridges between North and South - the rich and the poor.
Consider our development aid record. Last year, the nations of the world spent over $1 trillion on armaments. But we contributed less than 10 per cent of that amount - a mere $80 billion - as official development assistance to the developing parts of the world, where 850 million people suffer from hunger.
My friend James Morris heads the World Food Programme, whose task it is to feed the hungry. He recently told me, "If I could have just 1 per cent of the money spent on global armaments, no one in this world would go to bed hungry."
It should not be a surprise then that poverty continues to breed conflict. Of the 13 million deaths due to armed conflict in the last ten years, 9 million occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, where the poorest of the poor live.
Consider also our approach to the sanctity and value of human life.
In the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, we all grieved deeply, and expressed outrage at this heinous crime - and rightly so. But many people today are unaware that, as the result of civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 3.8 million people have lost their lives since 1998.
Are we to conclude that our priorities are skewed, and our approaches uneven?
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen. With this 'big picture' in mind, we can better understand the changing landscape in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
There are three main features to this changing landscape: the emergence of an extensive black market in nuclear material and equipment; the proliferation of nuclear weapons and sensitive nuclear technology; and the stagnation in nuclear disarmament.
Today, with globalization bringing us ever closer together, if we choose to ignore the insecurities of some, they will soon become the insecurities of all.
Equally, with the spread of advanced science and technology, as long as some of us choose to rely on nuclear weapons, we continue to risk that these same weapons will become increasingly attractive to others.
I have no doubt that, if we hope to escape self-destruction, then nuclear weapons should have no place in our collective conscience, and no role in our security.
To that end, we must ensure - absolutely - that no more countries acquire these deadly weapons.
We must see to it that nuclear-weapon states take concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament.
And we must put in place a security system that does not rely on nuclear deterrence.
* * * * * * *
Are these goals realistic and within reach? I do believe they are.
But then three steps are urgently required.
First, keep nuclear and radiological material out of the hands of extremist groups. In 2001, the IAEA together with the international community launched a worldwide campaign to enhance the security of such material. Protecting nuclear facilities. Securing powerful radioactive sources. Training law enforcement officials. Monitoring border crossings. In four years, we have completed perhaps 50 per cent of the work. But this is not fast enough, because we are in a race against time.
Second, tighten control over the operations for producing the nuclear material that could be used in weapons. Under the current system, any country has the right to master these operations for civilian uses.
But in doing so, it also masters the most difficult steps in making a nuclear bomb.
To overcome this, I am hoping that we can make these operations multinational - so that no one country can have exclusive control over any such operation. My plan is to begin by setting up a reserve fuel bank, under IAEA control, so that every country will be assured that it will get the fuel needed for its bona fide peaceful nuclear activities. This assurance of supply will remove the incentive - and the justification - for each country to develop its own fuel cycle.
We should then be able to agree on a moratorium on new national facilities, and to begin work on multinational arrangements for enrichment, fuel production, waste disposal and reprocessing.
We must also strengthen the verification system. IAEA inspections are the heart and soul of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. To be effective, it is essential that we are provided with the necessary authority, information, advanced technology, and resources. And our inspections must be backed by the UN Security Council, to be called on in cases of non-compliance.
Third, accelerate disarmament efforts. We still have eight or nine countries who possess nuclear weapons. We still have 27,000 warheads in existence. I believe this is 27,000 too many.
A good start would be if the nuclear-weapon states reduced the strategic role given to these weapons. More than 15 years after the end of the Cold War, it is incomprehensible to many that the major nuclear-weapon states operate with their arsenals on hair-trigger alert - such that, in the case of a possible launch of a nuclear attack, their leaders could have only 30 minutes to decide whether to retaliate, risking the devastation of entire nations in a matter of minutes.
These are three concrete steps that, I believe, can readily be taken.
Protect the material and strengthen verification. Control the fuel cycle. Accelerate disarmament efforts.
But that is not enough. The hard part is: how do we create an environment in which nuclear weapons - like slavery or genocide - are regarded as a taboo and a historical anomaly?
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Whether one believes in evolution, intelligent design, or Divine Creation, one thing is certain. Since the beginning of history, human beings have been at war with each other, under the pretext of religion, ideology, ethnicity and other reasons. And no civilization has ever willingly given up its most powerful weapons. We seem to agree today that we can share modern technology, but we still refuse to acknowledge that our values - at their very core - are shared values.
I am an Egyptian Muslim, educated in Cairo and New York, and now living in Vienna. My wife and I have spent half our lives in the North, half in the South. And we have experienced first hand the unique nature of the human family and the common values we all share.
Shakespeare speaks of every single member of that family in The Merchant of Venice, when he asks: "If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
And lest we forget:
There is no religion that was founded on intolerance - and no religion that does not value the sanctity of human life.
Judaism asks that we value the beauty and joy of human existence.
Christianity says we should treat our neighbours as we would be treated.
Islam declares that killing one person unjustly is the same as killing all of humanity.
Hinduism recognizes the entire universe as one family.
Buddhism calls on us to cherish the oneness of all creation.
Some would say that it is too idealistic to believe in a society based on tolerance and the sanctity of human life, where borders, nationalities and ideologies are of marginal importance. To those I say, this is not idealism, but rather realism, because history has taught us that war rarely resolves our differences. Force does not heal old wounds; it opens new ones.
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I have talked about our efforts to combat the misuse of nuclear energy. Let me now tell you how this very same energy is used for the benefit of humankind.
At the IAEA, we work daily on every continent to put nuclear and radiation techniques in the service of humankind. In Vietnam, farmers plant rice with greater nutritional value that was developed with IAEA assistance. Throughout Latin America, nuclear technology is being used to map underground aquifers, so that water supplies can be managed sustainably. In Ghana, a new radiotherapy machine is offering cancer treatment to thousands of patients. In the South Pacific, Japanese scientists are using nuclear techniques to study climate change. In India, eight new nuclear plants are under construction, to provide clean electricity for a growing nation - a case in point of the rising expectation for a surge in the use of nuclear energy worldwide.
These projects, and a thousand others, exemplify the IAEA ideal:
Atoms for Peace.
But the expanding use of nuclear energy and technology also makes it crucial that nuclear safety and security are maintained at the highest level.
Since the Chernobyl accident, we have worked all over the globe to raise nuclear safety performance. And since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, we have worked with even greater intensity on nuclear security. On both fronts, we have built an international network of legal norms and performance standards. But our most tangible impact has been on the ground. Hundreds of missions, in every part of the world, with international experts making sure nuclear activities are safe and secure.
I am very proud of the 2,300 hard working men and women that make up the IAEA staff - the colleagues with whom I share this honour. Some of them are here with me today. We come from over 90 countries. We bring many different perspectives to our work. Our diversity is our strength.
We are limited in our authority. We have a very modest budget. And we have no armies.
But armed with the strength of our convictions, we will continue to speak truth to power. And we will continue to carry out our mandate with independence and objectivity.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful message for us - to endure in our efforts to work for security and development. A durable peace is not a single achievement, but an environment, a process and a commitment.
* * * * * * *
Ladies and Gentlemen.
The picture I have painted today may have seemed somewhat grim. Let me conclude by telling you why I have hope.
I have hope because the positive aspects of globalization are enabling nations and peoples to become politically, economically and socially interdependent, making war an increasingly unacceptable option.
Among the 25 members of the European Union, the degree of economic and socio-political dependencies has made the prospect of the use of force to resolve differences almost absurd. The same is emerging with regard to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, with some 55 member countries from Europe, Central Asia and North America. Could these models be expanded to a world model, through the same creative multilateral engagement and active international cooperation, where the strong are just and the weak secure?
I have hope because civil society is becoming better informed and more engaged. They are pressing their governments for change - to create democratic societies based on diversity, tolerance and equality. They are proposing creative solutions. They are raising awareness, donating funds, working to transform civic spirit from the local to the global. Working to bring the human family closer together.
We now have the opportunity, more than at any time before, to give an affirmative answer to one of the oldest questions of all time: "Am I my brother's keeper?"
What is required is a new mindset and a change of heart, to be able to see the person across the ocean as our neighbour.
Finally, I have hope because of what I see in my children, and some of their generation.
I took my first trip abroad at the age of 19. My children were even more fortunate than I. They had their first exposure to foreign culture as infants, and they were raised in a multicultural environment. And I can say absolutely that my son and daughter are oblivious to colour and race and nationality. They see no difference between their friends Noriko, Mafupo, Justin, Saulo and Hussam; to them, they are only fellow human beings and good friends.
Globalization, through travel, media and communication, can also help us - as it has with my children and many of their peers - to see each other simply as human beings.
* * * * * * *
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Imagine what would happen if the nations of the world spent as much on development as on building the machines of war. Imagine a world where every human being would live in freedom and dignity. Imagine a world in which we would shed the same tears when a child dies in Darfur or Vancouver. Imagine a world where we would settle our differences through diplomacy and dialogue and not through bombs or bullets. Imagine if the only nuclear weapons remaining were the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave to our children.
Imagine that such a world is within our grasp.
Australia's Howard Says Sydney Riots Won't Hurt Country's Image Bloomberg
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said racial violence in Sydney won't hurt the country's international reputation after a second night of street fighting in southern and western suburbs. "Every country has incidents that don't play well overseas,'' Howard said in Sydney. "You have outbreaks of domestic discord. That happens to every country.'' People don't judge Australia ``based on incidents that occur over a period of a few days.''
Australian Mobs Attack People Believed to Be of Arab Descent New York Times
Violence Rages in Australia for 2nd Night Forbes
Reuters AlertNet - Times Online - Japan Today - CBC Calgary - all 924 related »
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said racial violence in Sydney won't hurt the country's international reputation after a second night of street fighting in southern and western suburbs. "Every country has incidents that don't play well overseas,'' Howard said in Sydney. "You have outbreaks of domestic discord. That happens to every country.'' People don't judge Australia ``based on incidents that occur over a period of a few days.''
Australian Mobs Attack People Believed to Be of Arab Descent New York Times
Violence Rages in Australia for 2nd Night Forbes
Reuters AlertNet - Times Online - Japan Today - CBC Calgary - all 924 related »
UN Council considers action on killings in Lebanon Reuters AlertNet
The 15-nation Security Council weighs its response on Tuesday to a UN investigation that accused Syria of hindering its probe into the slaying of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. The council first hears an oral presentation from Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who led the inquiry. Mehlis said in a report delivered on Monday that his team had found new evidence implicating Syria in the truck bomb murder of Hariri and 22 others last Feb. 14 in Beirut.
Investigator Says Syria Was Behind Lebanon Assassination New York Times
UN: Syrian involvment in Hariri assassination reinforced Malayala Manorama
Bloomberg - Sydney Morning Herald - Middle East Media Research Institute - Daily Times - all 1,006 related »
The 15-nation Security Council weighs its response on Tuesday to a UN investigation that accused Syria of hindering its probe into the slaying of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. The council first hears an oral presentation from Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who led the inquiry. Mehlis said in a report delivered on Monday that his team had found new evidence implicating Syria in the truck bomb murder of Hariri and 22 others last Feb. 14 in Beirut.
Investigator Says Syria Was Behind Lebanon Assassination New York Times
UN: Syrian involvment in Hariri assassination reinforced Malayala Manorama
Bloomberg - Sydney Morning Herald - Middle East Media Research Institute - Daily Times - all 1,006 related »
Operation to douse UK fire suspended RTE.ie
The operation to quench the fire at the Buncefield oil terminal in Hertfordshire in southeast England has been suspended. Hertfordshire Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher said the decision was taken due to fears about the content of one of the tanks which is still ablaze. For most of the day over 100 firefighters have been attempting to douse the fire, which began after a series of explosions at the oil depot.
Fire crews resume fighting oil depot inferno CTV.ca
Massive Fire in Britain Burns a Third Day ABC News
The Statesman - San Diego Union Tribune - Times Online - The Observer - all 1,848 related »
The operation to quench the fire at the Buncefield oil terminal in Hertfordshire in southeast England has been suspended. Hertfordshire Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher said the decision was taken due to fears about the content of one of the tanks which is still ablaze. For most of the day over 100 firefighters have been attempting to douse the fire, which began after a series of explosions at the oil depot.
Fire crews resume fighting oil depot inferno CTV.ca
Massive Fire in Britain Burns a Third Day ABC News
The Statesman - San Diego Union Tribune - Times Online - The Observer - all 1,848 related »
Australian racial violence spills into 2nd night MSNBC
The racial unrest that broke out in Sydney’s beachside suburbs over the weekend has spread to two other large Australian cities, where people of Middle Eastern descent were assaulted by whites, police said Tuesday. In New South Wales, where Sydney is located, lawmakers scheduled an emergency session of the state Parliament to consider legislation cracking down on the rioters who rampaged through the city’s suburbs for two straight nights, the region’s premier said.
New powers for police to crack down on Sydney rioters International Herald Tribune
NSW declares war on rioters The Age
NEWS.com.au - ABC News - Financial Times - Aljazeera.net - all 1,053 related »
The racial unrest that broke out in Sydney’s beachside suburbs over the weekend has spread to two other large Australian cities, where people of Middle Eastern descent were assaulted by whites, police said Tuesday. In New South Wales, where Sydney is located, lawmakers scheduled an emergency session of the state Parliament to consider legislation cracking down on the rioters who rampaged through the city’s suburbs for two straight nights, the region’s premier said.
New powers for police to crack down on Sydney rioters International Herald Tribune
NSW declares war on rioters The Age
NEWS.com.au - ABC News - Financial Times - Aljazeera.net - all 1,053 related »
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...ticle332812.ece
Iraq: 1,000 days of war
From Shock and Awe to a country torn between insurrection and democracy
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Published: 13 December 2005
It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003, the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
It seemed so easy. President George Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or wounded since the fall of Baghdad.
There is no sign that the election for the 275-member Iraqi parliament this Thursday will end the fighting. The Sunni Arabs, the core of the insurrection, will vote for the first time, but there is no talk of a ceasefire. A leaflet issued by one resistance group in Baghdad yesterday encouraged its followers to vote but warned: "The fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers."
It was such a strange war because the US began a conflict in 2003 to change radically the Middle East, the most volatile and dangerous region in the world. This was in complete contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when the main war aim of President George Bush Snr was to evict Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and restore the status quo.
There was a further sharp difference between the two wars. Mr Bush Snr had expended enormous effort in creating an international coalition under the UN to fight Iraq. His son, by way of contrast, seemed to revel in isolation. He made the Iraq war the supreme test of American military and political strength. The US would fight it alone, aside from Britain tagging along behind, and win it alone. It did not need allies outside or even inside Iraq. The insurgents received vital if covert assistance from abroad, but the rebellion against the US occupation was always essentially home-grown. Disillusionment with their liberators set in among Iraqis almost as soon as the American troops captured the capital in April 2003. The poor poured out of the slums of Baghdad in a frenzy of destruction and theft. Everything was looted, even the stuffed animals in the natural history museum.
Iraqis expected much from the fall of Saddam. They had endured 23 years of war and sanctions. The Iraqi armed forcessimply packed up and went home. Nobody wanted to die for the old regime. Instead they hoped to enjoy the fruits of their oil wealth for the first time and begin to live like Kuwaitis or Saudis.
Instead the US installed a colonial regime. Iraqis were marginalised and their opinions ignored. Iraqi professionals with PhDs and fluent in several languages found themselves being ordered about by young Americans whose only qualification was links to the Republican Party. The army and security services were dissolved. The five million-strong Sunni community was enraged. The first attacks on US patrols and vehicles began. Whenever I visited the site of an ambush I saw young Iraqi men dancing in jubilation around the blazing vehicles.
By November 2004 a serious guerrilla war was under way. The 140,000-strong US Army was hopelessly ill-equipped for such a conflict. Once I saw an American artillery unit trying to quell a fist fight among Iraqi drivers in a queue at a petrol station. They had brought with them an enormous howitzer designed to fire a shell 30km because they had nowhere to store it.
The face of Baghdad began to change. The symbol of the new regime was the concrete block, enormous obstacles to car bombs looking like gigantic grey tombstones. Walls of them sealed off the Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad where the US and Britain had established their headquarters.
The suicide bombers began to make their terrifying impact. Nobody was safe. The UN headquarters was reduced to a heap of rubble, as was the building housing the Red Cross. Iraqi police stations and US positions were all hastily fortified. On some days there were a dozen attacks. Later they fell in number, but became more sophisticated, with one bomber trying to blast a way through the concrete walls so the second could reach the targeted building.
People in Baghdad and the centre of Iraq lived in perpetual terror of suicide bombers, kidnappers, Iraqi army and US troops. The roads to the capital were all cut by insurgents or bandits. Better-off Iraqis, fearful of kidnappers who preyed on their children, fled to Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In the face of Sunni Arab attack, the US relied more and more on the two other great Iraqi communities. The Shia make up 60 per cent of the population and the Kurds 20 per cent. Some Iraqi leaders had an acute perception of the American dilemma in Iraq. "Let them try to run the country without us and they will see what trouble they will be in," said a Kurdish leader in the summer of 2003. "Then they will come running to us for our help."
Last year the US learnt that it could contain but could not suppress the Sunni insurrection. This year has seen Iraq slowly coming under the control of a Kurdish-Shia alliance whose authority is likely to be reaffirmed by the election on Thursday.
Iraq at the moment is an extraordinary patchwork with conditions varying in every part of the country. Kurdistan is more prosperous than at any time in its history. The skylines of its cities are crowded with cranes. In Baghdad there is hardly any sign of construction, and richer districts are often inhabited only by armed security guards. Their inhabitants have fled.
A BBC poll yesterday showed that half of those questioned say that Iraq needs a strong leader, while only 28 per cent cited democracy as a priority. But it would be a mistake to think that Iraqis could agree on the same strong leader. The Sunni would like a strong man to put the Shia in their place, and the Shia feel likewise that the priority for a powerful leader would be dealing with the Sunni.
Iraqis are cynical about their political leaders. The election results are likely to show that the great majority of Iraqis will vote along ethnic or religious lines as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The country is turning from a unitary state into a confederation.
There is no sign yet of the thousand-day war ending. Every month up to a thousand fresh corpses arrive at the mortuary in Baghdad. A new Iraq is emerging but it is already drenched in blood.
It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003, the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
It seemed so easy. President George Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or wounded since the fall of Baghdad.
There is no sign that the election for the 275-member Iraqi parliament this Thursday will end the fighting. The Sunni Arabs, the core of the insurrection, will vote for the first time, but there is no talk of a ceasefire. A leaflet issued by one resistance group in Baghdad yesterday encouraged its followers to vote but warned: "The fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers."
It was such a strange war because the US began a conflict in 2003 to change radically the Middle East, the most volatile and dangerous region in the world. This was in complete contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when the main war aim of President George Bush Snr was to evict Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and restore the status quo.
There was a further sharp difference between the two wars. Mr Bush Snr had expended enormous effort in creating an international coalition under the UN to fight Iraq. His son, by way of contrast, seemed to revel in isolation. He made the Iraq war the supreme test of American military and political strength. The US would fight it alone, aside from Britain tagging along behind, and win it alone. It did not need allies outside or even inside Iraq. The insurgents received vital if covert assistance from abroad, but the rebellion against the US occupation was always essentially home-grown. Disillusionment with their liberators set in among Iraqis almost as soon as the American troops captured the capital in April 2003. The poor poured out of the slums of Baghdad in a frenzy of destruction and theft. Everything was looted, even the stuffed animals in the natural history museum.
Iraqis expected much from the fall of Saddam. They had endured 23 years of war and sanctions. The Iraqi armed forcessimply packed up and went home. Nobody wanted to die for the old regime. Instead they hoped to enjoy the fruits of their oil wealth for the first time and begin to live like Kuwaitis or Saudis.
Instead the US installed a colonial regime. Iraqis were marginalised and their opinions ignored. Iraqi professionals with PhDs and fluent in several languages found themselves being ordered about by young Americans whose only qualification was links to the Republican Party. The army and security services were dissolved. The five million-strong Sunni community was enraged. The first attacks on US patrols and vehicles began. Whenever I visited the site of an ambush I saw young Iraqi men dancing in jubilation around the blazing vehicles.
By November 2004 a serious guerrilla war was under way. The 140,000-strong US Army was hopelessly ill-equipped for such a conflict. Once I saw an American artillery unit trying to quell a fist fight among Iraqi drivers in a queue at a petrol station. They had brought with them an enormous howitzer designed to fire a shell 30km because they had nowhere to store it.
The face of Baghdad began to change. The symbol of the new regime was the concrete block, enormous obstacles to car bombs looking like gigantic grey tombstones. Walls of them sealed off the Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad where the US and Britain had established their headquarters.
The suicide bombers began to make their terrifying impact. Nobody was safe. The UN headquarters was reduced to a heap of rubble, as was the building housing the Red Cross. Iraqi police stations and US positions were all hastily fortified. On some days there were a dozen attacks. Later they fell in number, but became more sophisticated, with one bomber trying to blast a way through the concrete walls so the second could reach the targeted building.
People in Baghdad and the centre of Iraq lived in perpetual terror of suicide bombers, kidnappers, Iraqi army and US troops. The roads to the capital were all cut by insurgents or bandits. Better-off Iraqis, fearful of kidnappers who preyed on their children, fled to Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In the face of Sunni Arab attack, the US relied more and more on the two other great Iraqi communities. The Shia make up 60 per cent of the population and the Kurds 20 per cent. Some Iraqi leaders had an acute perception of the American dilemma in Iraq. "Let them try to run the country without us and they will see what trouble they will be in," said a Kurdish leader in the summer of 2003. "Then they will come running to us for our help."
Last year the US learnt that it could contain but could not suppress the Sunni insurrection. This year has seen Iraq slowly coming under the control of a Kurdish-Shia alliance whose authority is likely to be reaffirmed by the election on Thursday.
Iraq at the moment is an extraordinary patchwork with conditions varying in every part of the country. Kurdistan is more prosperous than at any time in its history. The skylines of its cities are crowded with cranes. In Baghdad there is hardly any sign of construction, and richer districts are often inhabited only by armed security guards. Their inhabitants have fled.
A BBC poll yesterday showed that half of those questioned say that Iraq needs a strong leader, while only 28 per cent cited democracy as a priority. But it would be a mistake to think that Iraqis could agree on the same strong leader. The Sunni would like a strong man to put the Shia in their place, and the Shia feel likewise that the priority for a powerful leader would be dealing with the Sunni.
Iraqis are cynical about their political leaders. The election results are likely to show that the great majority of Iraqis will vote along ethnic or religious lines as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The country is turning from a unitary state into a confederation.
There is no sign yet of the thousand-day war ending. Every month up to a thousand fresh corpses arrive at the mortuary in Baghdad. A new Iraq is emerging but it is already drenched in blood.
Iraq: 1,000 days of war
From Shock and Awe to a country torn between insurrection and democracy
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Published: 13 December 2005
It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003, the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
It seemed so easy. President George Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or wounded since the fall of Baghdad.
There is no sign that the election for the 275-member Iraqi parliament this Thursday will end the fighting. The Sunni Arabs, the core of the insurrection, will vote for the first time, but there is no talk of a ceasefire. A leaflet issued by one resistance group in Baghdad yesterday encouraged its followers to vote but warned: "The fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers."
It was such a strange war because the US began a conflict in 2003 to change radically the Middle East, the most volatile and dangerous region in the world. This was in complete contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when the main war aim of President George Bush Snr was to evict Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and restore the status quo.
There was a further sharp difference between the two wars. Mr Bush Snr had expended enormous effort in creating an international coalition under the UN to fight Iraq. His son, by way of contrast, seemed to revel in isolation. He made the Iraq war the supreme test of American military and political strength. The US would fight it alone, aside from Britain tagging along behind, and win it alone. It did not need allies outside or even inside Iraq. The insurgents received vital if covert assistance from abroad, but the rebellion against the US occupation was always essentially home-grown. Disillusionment with their liberators set in among Iraqis almost as soon as the American troops captured the capital in April 2003. The poor poured out of the slums of Baghdad in a frenzy of destruction and theft. Everything was looted, even the stuffed animals in the natural history museum.
Iraqis expected much from the fall of Saddam. They had endured 23 years of war and sanctions. The Iraqi armed forcessimply packed up and went home. Nobody wanted to die for the old regime. Instead they hoped to enjoy the fruits of their oil wealth for the first time and begin to live like Kuwaitis or Saudis.
Instead the US installed a colonial regime. Iraqis were marginalised and their opinions ignored. Iraqi professionals with PhDs and fluent in several languages found themselves being ordered about by young Americans whose only qualification was links to the Republican Party. The army and security services were dissolved. The five million-strong Sunni community was enraged. The first attacks on US patrols and vehicles began. Whenever I visited the site of an ambush I saw young Iraqi men dancing in jubilation around the blazing vehicles.
By November 2004 a serious guerrilla war was under way. The 140,000-strong US Army was hopelessly ill-equipped for such a conflict. Once I saw an American artillery unit trying to quell a fist fight among Iraqi drivers in a queue at a petrol station. They had brought with them an enormous howitzer designed to fire a shell 30km because they had nowhere to store it.
The face of Baghdad began to change. The symbol of the new regime was the concrete block, enormous obstacles to car bombs looking like gigantic grey tombstones. Walls of them sealed off the Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad where the US and Britain had established their headquarters.
The suicide bombers began to make their terrifying impact. Nobody was safe. The UN headquarters was reduced to a heap of rubble, as was the building housing the Red Cross. Iraqi police stations and US positions were all hastily fortified. On some days there were a dozen attacks. Later they fell in number, but became more sophisticated, with one bomber trying to blast a way through the concrete walls so the second could reach the targeted building.
People in Baghdad and the centre of Iraq lived in perpetual terror of suicide bombers, kidnappers, Iraqi army and US troops. The roads to the capital were all cut by insurgents or bandits. Better-off Iraqis, fearful of kidnappers who preyed on their children, fled to Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In the face of Sunni Arab attack, the US relied more and more on the two other great Iraqi communities. The Shia make up 60 per cent of the population and the Kurds 20 per cent. Some Iraqi leaders had an acute perception of the American dilemma in Iraq. "Let them try to run the country without us and they will see what trouble they will be in," said a Kurdish leader in the summer of 2003. "Then they will come running to us for our help."
Last year the US learnt that it could contain but could not suppress the Sunni insurrection. This year has seen Iraq slowly coming under the control of a Kurdish-Shia alliance whose authority is likely to be reaffirmed by the election on Thursday.
Iraq at the moment is an extraordinary patchwork with conditions varying in every part of the country. Kurdistan is more prosperous than at any time in its history. The skylines of its cities are crowded with cranes. In Baghdad there is hardly any sign of construction, and richer districts are often inhabited only by armed security guards. Their inhabitants have fled.
A BBC poll yesterday showed that half of those questioned say that Iraq needs a strong leader, while only 28 per cent cited democracy as a priority. But it would be a mistake to think that Iraqis could agree on the same strong leader. The Sunni would like a strong man to put the Shia in their place, and the Shia feel likewise that the priority for a powerful leader would be dealing with the Sunni.
Iraqis are cynical about their political leaders. The election results are likely to show that the great majority of Iraqis will vote along ethnic or religious lines as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The country is turning from a unitary state into a confederation.
There is no sign yet of the thousand-day war ending. Every month up to a thousand fresh corpses arrive at the mortuary in Baghdad. A new Iraq is emerging but it is already drenched in blood.
It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003, the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
It seemed so easy. President George Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or wounded since the fall of Baghdad.
There is no sign that the election for the 275-member Iraqi parliament this Thursday will end the fighting. The Sunni Arabs, the core of the insurrection, will vote for the first time, but there is no talk of a ceasefire. A leaflet issued by one resistance group in Baghdad yesterday encouraged its followers to vote but warned: "The fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers."
It was such a strange war because the US began a conflict in 2003 to change radically the Middle East, the most volatile and dangerous region in the world. This was in complete contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when the main war aim of President George Bush Snr was to evict Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and restore the status quo.
There was a further sharp difference between the two wars. Mr Bush Snr had expended enormous effort in creating an international coalition under the UN to fight Iraq. His son, by way of contrast, seemed to revel in isolation. He made the Iraq war the supreme test of American military and political strength. The US would fight it alone, aside from Britain tagging along behind, and win it alone. It did not need allies outside or even inside Iraq. The insurgents received vital if covert assistance from abroad, but the rebellion against the US occupation was always essentially home-grown. Disillusionment with their liberators set in among Iraqis almost as soon as the American troops captured the capital in April 2003. The poor poured out of the slums of Baghdad in a frenzy of destruction and theft. Everything was looted, even the stuffed animals in the natural history museum.
Iraqis expected much from the fall of Saddam. They had endured 23 years of war and sanctions. The Iraqi armed forcessimply packed up and went home. Nobody wanted to die for the old regime. Instead they hoped to enjoy the fruits of their oil wealth for the first time and begin to live like Kuwaitis or Saudis.
Instead the US installed a colonial regime. Iraqis were marginalised and their opinions ignored. Iraqi professionals with PhDs and fluent in several languages found themselves being ordered about by young Americans whose only qualification was links to the Republican Party. The army and security services were dissolved. The five million-strong Sunni community was enraged. The first attacks on US patrols and vehicles began. Whenever I visited the site of an ambush I saw young Iraqi men dancing in jubilation around the blazing vehicles.
By November 2004 a serious guerrilla war was under way. The 140,000-strong US Army was hopelessly ill-equipped for such a conflict. Once I saw an American artillery unit trying to quell a fist fight among Iraqi drivers in a queue at a petrol station. They had brought with them an enormous howitzer designed to fire a shell 30km because they had nowhere to store it.
The face of Baghdad began to change. The symbol of the new regime was the concrete block, enormous obstacles to car bombs looking like gigantic grey tombstones. Walls of them sealed off the Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad where the US and Britain had established their headquarters.
The suicide bombers began to make their terrifying impact. Nobody was safe. The UN headquarters was reduced to a heap of rubble, as was the building housing the Red Cross. Iraqi police stations and US positions were all hastily fortified. On some days there were a dozen attacks. Later they fell in number, but became more sophisticated, with one bomber trying to blast a way through the concrete walls so the second could reach the targeted building.
People in Baghdad and the centre of Iraq lived in perpetual terror of suicide bombers, kidnappers, Iraqi army and US troops. The roads to the capital were all cut by insurgents or bandits. Better-off Iraqis, fearful of kidnappers who preyed on their children, fled to Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In the face of Sunni Arab attack, the US relied more and more on the two other great Iraqi communities. The Shia make up 60 per cent of the population and the Kurds 20 per cent. Some Iraqi leaders had an acute perception of the American dilemma in Iraq. "Let them try to run the country without us and they will see what trouble they will be in," said a Kurdish leader in the summer of 2003. "Then they will come running to us for our help."
Last year the US learnt that it could contain but could not suppress the Sunni insurrection. This year has seen Iraq slowly coming under the control of a Kurdish-Shia alliance whose authority is likely to be reaffirmed by the election on Thursday.
Iraq at the moment is an extraordinary patchwork with conditions varying in every part of the country. Kurdistan is more prosperous than at any time in its history. The skylines of its cities are crowded with cranes. In Baghdad there is hardly any sign of construction, and richer districts are often inhabited only by armed security guards. Their inhabitants have fled.
A BBC poll yesterday showed that half of those questioned say that Iraq needs a strong leader, while only 28 per cent cited democracy as a priority. But it would be a mistake to think that Iraqis could agree on the same strong leader. The Sunni would like a strong man to put the Shia in their place, and the Shia feel likewise that the priority for a powerful leader would be dealing with the Sunni.
Iraqis are cynical about their political leaders. The election results are likely to show that the great majority of Iraqis will vote along ethnic or religious lines as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The country is turning from a unitary state into a confederation.
There is no sign yet of the thousand-day war ending. Every month up to a thousand fresh corpses arrive at the mortuary in Baghdad. A new Iraq is emerging but it is already drenched in blood.
Violent past of Bradley Murdoch BBC News
Bradley Murdoch was obsessed with guns and has claimed, on a number of occasions, that police have tried to frame him for serious crimes. Two years ago, the drugs runner was cleared of tying up and raping a 12-year-old girl and abducting her "for insurance" because he was afraid that police were about to arrest him for Peter Falconio's murder.
Australian guilty of Briton's outback murder: jury Reuters
Murdoch faces life in jail for outback murder Melbourne Herald Sun
Manchester Evening News - Telegraph.co.uk - Independent - Brisbane Courier Mail - all 347 related »
Bradley Murdoch was obsessed with guns and has claimed, on a number of occasions, that police have tried to frame him for serious crimes. Two years ago, the drugs runner was cleared of tying up and raping a 12-year-old girl and abducting her "for insurance" because he was afraid that police were about to arrest him for Peter Falconio's murder.
Australian guilty of Briton's outback murder: jury Reuters
Murdoch faces life in jail for outback murder Melbourne Herald Sun
Manchester Evening News - Telegraph.co.uk - Independent - Brisbane Courier Mail - all 347 related »
Asian nations seek to chart new directions - without US
A summit in Kuala Lumpur brings together 16 Pacific nations to hammer
out a 'shared vision for Asia.' By Robert Marquand
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p01s01-woap.html?s=hns
A summit in Kuala Lumpur brings together 16 Pacific nations to hammer
out a 'shared vision for Asia.' By Robert Marquand
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p01s01-woap.html?s=hns
The Ivory Coast's cocoa war
Small-scale fighting over land in the cocoa-rich southwest is at the
heart of the larger civil war. By Daniel Balint Kurti
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p07s02-woaf.html?s=hns
Small-scale fighting over land in the cocoa-rich southwest is at the
heart of the larger civil war. By Daniel Balint Kurti
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p07s02-woaf.html?s=hns
Britain eyes oil-storage safety
The blast in central England caused less long-term damage than was
originally estimated. By Mark Rice-Oxley
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p10s01-woeu.html?s=hns
The blast in central England caused less long-term damage than was
originally estimated. By Mark Rice-Oxley
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p10s01-woeu.html?s=hns
Imprisoned in Chile, Peru's Fujimori sets sights on a comeback at home
The former president, who fled under a cloud of charges, may try to get
on the ballot in April. By Danna Harman
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p12s01-woam.html?s=hns
The former president, who fled under a cloud of charges, may try to get
on the ballot in April. By Danna Harman
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p12s01-woam.html?s=hns
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 13, 2005
Pope Condemns Terrorism, Praises Human Rights
By IAN FISHER
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 13 - Pope Benedict XVI today condemned terrorism, nuclear arms and, in an apparent reference to reports that the terror suspects seized by the United States had been tortured, lack of respect for international law.
The issue of torture has stirred much anger in Europe, and Benedict, in his first annual message for peace, cited Vatican policy that "not everything automatically becomes permissible between hostile parties once war has regrettably commenced."
He did not mention the United States or torture specifically in his 14-page address, made public today to mark the Vatican's World Day of Peace, which falls on Jan. 1.
"International humanitarian law ought to be considered as one of the finest and most effective expressions of the intrinsic demands of the truth of peace," he wrote in the address. "Precisely for this reason, respect for that law must be considered binding on all peoples."
Asked if the pope was specifically addressing reports that the C.I.A. had prisons in Europe for holding some terror suspects, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican office that helped develop the address, told journalists here that the pope was "not condemning anyone."
Rather, he said, Benedict was "inviting" all countries that had signed on to the Geneva Conventions governing the conduct of war to "respect" them. He also said the Vatican abhorred torture for whatever reason.
"Torture is a humiliation of the human person, whoever it is," said Cardinal Martino, head of the Vatican pontifical council on peace and justice. "The Church does not allow these means to extract the truth."
"There are many other ways of doing it," he added.
The addresses amount to an annual papal survey of war around the world, and Benedict cited some reason for hope, noting that the actual number of conflicts has declined. He also cited hopes for improvement in the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, of particular interest to the Vatican because it takes places in the land where Jesus Christ was born.
"All this must not, however, lead to a naïve optimism," he said.
He devoted much of his address to the "criminal threats and attacks" of terrorism, an issue that Benedict confronted with force in his first major meeting with Muslims in Germany this summer. In the address, he called terror a deadly fusion of nihilism and fundamentalism.
"The nihilist denies the very existence of truth, while the fundamentalist claims to be able to impose it by force," he wrote. "Despite their different origins and cultural backgrounds, both show a dangerous contempt for human beings and human life, and ultimately for God himself."
He also wrote with worry about the continuing threat of nuclear arms, decrying the pace of disarmament generally as "bogged down." He said that the idea that nuclear arms ensure a nation's safety "is not only baneful but also completely fallacious.
"In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims," he said.
And in two passages, he seemed to be making reference to Iran, which has been locked in bitter talks with European negotiators over its plans for nuclear enrichment. He spoke not only of governments that "openly or secretly possess nuclear arms" but also of "those planning to acquire them."
He also spoke of "those authorities who, rather than making every effort to promote peace, incite their citizens to hostility toward other nations."
In recent weeks, Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has delivered several strong speeches against Israel, appearing to question whether the Holocaust actually happened and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
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December 13, 2005
Pope Condemns Terrorism, Praises Human Rights
By IAN FISHER
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 13 - Pope Benedict XVI today condemned terrorism, nuclear arms and, in an apparent reference to reports that the terror suspects seized by the United States had been tortured, lack of respect for international law.
The issue of torture has stirred much anger in Europe, and Benedict, in his first annual message for peace, cited Vatican policy that "not everything automatically becomes permissible between hostile parties once war has regrettably commenced."
He did not mention the United States or torture specifically in his 14-page address, made public today to mark the Vatican's World Day of Peace, which falls on Jan. 1.
"International humanitarian law ought to be considered as one of the finest and most effective expressions of the intrinsic demands of the truth of peace," he wrote in the address. "Precisely for this reason, respect for that law must be considered binding on all peoples."
Asked if the pope was specifically addressing reports that the C.I.A. had prisons in Europe for holding some terror suspects, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican office that helped develop the address, told journalists here that the pope was "not condemning anyone."
Rather, he said, Benedict was "inviting" all countries that had signed on to the Geneva Conventions governing the conduct of war to "respect" them. He also said the Vatican abhorred torture for whatever reason.
"Torture is a humiliation of the human person, whoever it is," said Cardinal Martino, head of the Vatican pontifical council on peace and justice. "The Church does not allow these means to extract the truth."
"There are many other ways of doing it," he added.
The addresses amount to an annual papal survey of war around the world, and Benedict cited some reason for hope, noting that the actual number of conflicts has declined. He also cited hopes for improvement in the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, of particular interest to the Vatican because it takes places in the land where Jesus Christ was born.
"All this must not, however, lead to a naïve optimism," he said.
He devoted much of his address to the "criminal threats and attacks" of terrorism, an issue that Benedict confronted with force in his first major meeting with Muslims in Germany this summer. In the address, he called terror a deadly fusion of nihilism and fundamentalism.
"The nihilist denies the very existence of truth, while the fundamentalist claims to be able to impose it by force," he wrote. "Despite their different origins and cultural backgrounds, both show a dangerous contempt for human beings and human life, and ultimately for God himself."
He also wrote with worry about the continuing threat of nuclear arms, decrying the pace of disarmament generally as "bogged down." He said that the idea that nuclear arms ensure a nation's safety "is not only baneful but also completely fallacious.
"In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims," he said.
And in two passages, he seemed to be making reference to Iran, which has been locked in bitter talks with European negotiators over its plans for nuclear enrichment. He spoke not only of governments that "openly or secretly possess nuclear arms" but also of "those planning to acquire them."
He also spoke of "those authorities who, rather than making every effort to promote peace, incite their citizens to hostility toward other nations."
In recent weeks, Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has delivered several strong speeches against Israel, appearing to question whether the Holocaust actually happened and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Copyright 2005The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
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