US unhappy with “anti-Islamization in Tajikistan”

Anor Sarkorova

Russian Service of BBC, Dushanbe

Tajik authorities are trying to influence the activities of religious institutions

In the US State Department report on the situation of religious freedom in countries around the world, it is noted that the Tajik authorities to respect for religious freedom remained poor.

Tajik authorities say that they are trying to prevent the radicalization of society and to preserve the secular form of government.

In previous annual reports on International Religious Freedom US State Department also focused on the actions of the Tajik authorities, who were criticized for cases of infringement of the rights of believers, in particular inspection and the closure of mosques, numerous lawsuits against the supporters of religious parties and movements, and issues of wearing Islamic dress and beards.

Unlike past years, the first time this year along with a statement of the facts of discrimination faced by religious sentiment of the population, the State Department said the growth rate of the Islamization of society, especially youth.

“The process of Islamization has gone?

Many Observers stress That the Interest in religion in the Country in recent years Has Grown significantly. Learn the basics of Islam in schools Theological Send Their Children even from secular Families.

In Tajikistan, only 5% of the Population ATTEND Friday Prayers – One of the Most Important rituals in Islam …What kind of Islamization in question?

Hodge Turajonzodah
former mufti of Tajikistan

“We have no accurate statistics, what percentage of the population attends the mosque, or any number of believers perform religious rites in full. No clear criteria by which we can determine the degree of religious people, and how this religion has a radical or extremist , “- says expert Parviz Mullojanov.

“The process of Islamisation of society is, and fast. It’s obvious. For example, there is some statistics related to the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Consume alcohol have become two, and in some regions, and three times less. The owners of some establishments refuse licenses to sell alcoholic beverages, because of dissatisfaction with customers regarding the sale of intoxicating beverages, “- said political analyst Parviz Mullojanov.

Meanwhile, a famous religious leader of Tajikistan Khoja Akbar Turajonzodah believes that talk of Islamization are baseless.

“In Tajikistan, only 5% of the population attend Friday prayers – one of the most important rituals in Islam. Five-time prayers go to only 2%. That is seven and a half million population prayers go to no more than 5-6 %. What kind of Islamization in question? “- asks the question, which seems to be rhetorical, Hodge Turajonzodah.

“The hijab does not include”

Report of the Department of State recalled the decision of the Ministry of Education of the country that prohibits pupils and students to wear the hijab – a Muslim headdress.

“At least we know the fact of expulsion of one girl and one teacher from the Tajik National University for wearing hijab” – the authors point out the report.

In 2007, Tajikistan hosted the first trial of the suit students Davlatmo Ismailov who is suing the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan and the leadership of high school, pushed her away from classes for wearing the hijab.

Tajik student loses a lawsuit, and she offered to return to school, but on condition that she remove her hijab.

Religious Leaders Say That Are there Public events for the Prohibition of wearing long beards. First with an Official Appeal ACTED AS the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan, to Ban Than 50 younger teachers to wear a beard.

According to the authors of the new report, Tajikistan recorded cases of refusal to issue passports to men with beards.

Persecution continues?

The report said the State Department and the harassment of supporters of the religious organizations banned in the country.

Islamization does Not necessarily Lead to radicalization. Radicalization is Inevitable in Case of Social Problems and unresolved issues of morality, Poverty, and Unemployment.

Parviz Mullodzhonov
Tajik political analyst

A case in point is the numerous and massive lawsuits against the supporters of the organization Jamaat Tabligh and the flow of “Salafi”.

Often in court proceedings was not provided with evidence that convicts were anti-state activities.

“For many years I was engaged in criminal matters in respect of banned religious organizations. Always felt guilty bias in the conduct of such cases. As a general rule, the defendants received long prison terms,” – said the lawyer the NGO Centre for Human Rights Tatyana Hotyuhina.

According to official figures, 99% of Tajiks Are Muslim. Most Muslims of Tajikistan, EXCEPT for a Small Community of Shia Ismaili Gorno Badakhshan Are hanifitskogo Sunni clerics.

Lack of credibility

Religion in Tajikistan Has Officially separated from the State. But in Reality, actively Authorities Intervene in the Affairs of Religious Institutions in the Country – in Particular, Have a casting vote in the Election of Imam Khatibs mosques.

The absence of ideology, the weakness of the authority of the official clergy and unresolved social issues are the cause of the emergence in society of radical Muslims.

“The process of Islamization does not necessarily lead to radicalization. Radicalization is inevitable in case of unresolved social problems and issues of morality, poverty, and unemployment. When society as a whole demoralizing, is a sharp response from Islam and radicalization. Much will depend on how you will address these issues and how government will behave with respect to religious figures, “- said political analyst Parviz Mullodzhonov.

Fencing from the influence of

The Other day in Dushanbe from Egypt Were Returned to a Group of Students and Students Who studied in Islamic schools in the Country.Official Dushanbe is Currently in talks with the Government of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia on the Return of Tajik Citizens.

Observers believe that the fears of Dushanbe linked to the fact that students of theological schools may fall under the influence of radical religious groups, or be advocates of non-traditional for Tajikistan of Islam.

In addition, stricter rules on access to Religious education in Tajikistan. According to the US State Department report on Religious Freedom under the new Law on Religious Associations in Tajikistan, Not all mosques Are allowed Religious instruction of Children and Youths.

This creates certain difficulties as to gain knowledge about Islam, children have to attend the mosque, located far outside their villages.

Piece By Piece, US/Russian Govts. Merge

[Will any of us be happy with the end product?]

Russia and NATO agreed to refrain from using force

At the Russia-NATO summit, held in Lisbon, the parties agreed to refrain from using force against each other and against other states, said in a joint statement issued after the meeting.

"Member States are NATO-Russia Council will refrain from the threat of force or use of force against each other, as well as against any other state, its sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence in any manner incompatible with the UN Charter and contained in the Helsinki Final Act declaration of principles that States Parties will be guided in their mutual relations ", – quotes RIA Novosti news agency statement.

The parties have agreed to work toward the modernization of strategic and partnership based on mutual trust, transparency and predictability "to help create a common space of peace, security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area."

"We stress that the NATO-Russia Council is a forum for political dialogue at all times and on all issues, including those for whom we have differences," – the document says.

Russia agreed to participate in a joint missile defense with NATO countries

NATO chief: Russia to join the common defense

Anders Fogh Rasmussen thanked the Russian President for a compromise on missile defense

Russia agreed to participate in a joint missile defense with NATO countries, NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the summit of the organization in Lisbon.

Meeting in the Portuguese capital, where he arrived and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, marked by a series of agreements between the opponents of the Cold War.

In particular, the parties have agreed in principle agreement on the transit of NATO cargoes through the territory of Russia, not only in Afghanistan but in the opposite direction, which require, inter alia, for the future withdrawal of Allied forces from that country.

In a joint statement the parties said that NATO and Russia do not threaten each other and have common threats.

Medvedev arrived in Lisbon on the second day of the summit, after the country’s alliance announced that it would create a common missile defense system and also be invited to participate in this project to Russia.

"I am very pleased that President Medvedev has accepted the offer," – "Rasmussen said.

Afghan Commandos Learn To Wage Psywar

Afghan commandos graduate information dissemination course

ISAF Joint Command

Courtesy Story

KABUL, Afghanistan – More than 20 soldiers from the 1st, 2nd and 6th Afghan National Army Commando Kandaks graduated from the basic Afghan Information Dissemination Operations course Nov. 11 at Camp Morehead, Kabul province.
This was the sixth class to graduate from Camp Morehead and the students, who go through a four-week course, are now trained to interact with the Afghan population and influence behavior through truthful and timely information.
“This [Afghan Information Dissemination Operations] graduation represents another milestone in the commando’s effort to build this capacity within their kandaks,” said U.S. Army Capt. Dan McConnell, Afghan Information Dissemination Operations detachment commander. “These commandos will return to their units and provide a new tool, [Afghan Information Dissemination Operations], to the commanders; and this tool is the most important harbinger of change in how the Afghan Army approaches its non-lethal operations.”
Afghan Gen. Dadon Lawang, 1st Commando Brigade commander, and Col. Donald Buldoc, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan commander, were guest speakers at the event.

We All Hate Margaret Thatcher

Well, they really make me sick

by Peter Collins, South Wales Echo

Happiness (part two).

Happy? I was ecstatic. My joy was unconfined.

Really? A reader recently called me to complain that I was sarcastic. What do you think? I prefer ironic. Sometimes it’s hard to be anything else.

Anyway, I was enjoying my morning coffee break when the BBC News channel cut short a sombre piece about the economic collapse facing Europe to bring us “breaking news” from Clarence House. These days any piece of worthless information is trumpeted as “breaking news”.

Yep, never mind that the Euro is going to hell in a handcart, Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged to be married. The Queen was said to be “delighted,” which was no doubt a relief to the nation. Sarcastic? Moi?

Although it was just on 11am, I reached for the bottle of champagne I keep in the fridge.

But then I remembered my solemn promise to my late mother to crack this bottle open only when the death of Margaret Thatcher is announced. That will, no doubt, be a happy moment for many in the former mining communities of South Wales. Certainly, there will be celebrations in that corner of heaven where my mother resides, although readers who refer to me as “Comrade Collins” whenever I write of Thatcher might not be so pleased.

I contented myself with a second cup of strong black coffee as the sycophantic news announcer told us of the joy and happiness the royal wedding would bring to the country. Why do television reporters, with the notable exception of Nicholas Witchell, have to be so grovelling when covering royal stories?

A wise but rather cynical friend of mine once pointed out that in times of economic recession the powers that be distract the attention of the great unwashed by announcing a royal wedding. It happened in 1981, and it has happened again now.

Later, I watched as the Prince gave his wife-to-be his late mother’s sapphire and diamond engagement ring. I was reminded of what Karl Marx said: “History repeats itself; first as tragedy, second as farce.”

We are a sad nation indeed if, while hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people face a life of misery, the wedding of two privileged nonentities is supposed to make us happy.

Apparently, even the Germans, keen to shine the light of “glamour” into their otherwise bleak lives, have gone overboard about the royal wedding.

For what it’s worth, it doesn’t make me happy. It makes me sick.

Pentagon Looking for Disinformation Specialists

D — USSOCOM Trans Regional Web Initiative

Solicitation Number: Reference-Number-SSN01172008

Solicitation Number:

Reference-Number-SSN01172008

Synopsis:

Added: January 17, 2008

The purpose of this sources sought notice is to identify potential/possible sources throughout industry to fulfill the requirement described below. This notice is published for market research purposes only to identify interested parties. Responses to this sources sought notice will be used by the Government to determine how the solicitation will be issued (i.e. full and open competition or a set-aside). This notice invites all interested parties to submit the data listed below indicating their interest in supporting this requirement. Responses to this notice will NOT be considered as offers and will NOT be used by the Government to form a binding contract. Interested parties should submit their data as a pdf attachment to an email by 1:00 PM EST on 4 February 2008 to contracting@socom.mil. Responses shall include the complete name and address of the interested party, CAGE Code, DUNS Number, and the name, phone number and email address of at least one POC. Responses shall be no longer than one page.
The Government has a requirement for a range of web site products and services to support the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The contractor shall:
Develop, operate and maintain a minimum of six websites, in the directed languages and conceptual approaches approved by the Government;
Develop, operate and maintain websites tailored to influence foreign audiences per Government-approved Concepts of Operations (CONOPs), conceptual approaches and previously approved prototypes;
Provide full-service cultural knowledge, political, editorial, media, and information technology capabilities;
Identify, develop, obtain and maintain a network of native/indigenous content contributors with backgrounds in politics, academics, security, culture, entertainment, and other aspects of the GWOT, which appeal to identified foreign target audiences. This network of contributors must provide regular scheduled content and respond as required to emerging opportunities;
Develop obtain and maintain content for use on the websites;
Develop a plan that measures both performance and effectiveness to determine the market penetration, traffic to, and success of, each website;
Conduct continuous security monitoring of the websites;
Comply with all Department of Defense Information Assurance requirements, including response to event timeliness;
Continuously recommend and conduct, with Government approval, mass marketing efforts to establish brand name recognition, market presence, and capitalize on opportunities to promote the websites and to significantly increase penetration to the intended audience; and,
Establish, operate and maintain a password protected virtual collaboration system, or similar capability, that allows for 24 hours per day, seven days per week content sharing, review, modification, approval, and potential synchronization.
All contractor personnel shall hold a U.S. SECRET security clearance and be able to obtain a U.S.TOP SECRET clearance. Contractor will require access to both classified and unclassified government computer systems facilities. Contractor will be authorized to courier classified information up to the SECRET level in performance of official duties upon approval of and designation by the Government.

Contracting Office Address:

Other Defense Agencies, U.S. Special Operations Command, Headquarters Procurement Division, 7701 Tampa Point Blvd, MacDill AFB, FL, 33621-5323, UNITED STATES

Place of Performance:

7701 Tampa Point BlvdMacDill AFB
33621

Point of Contact(s):

Amy Chauvin, (CTR) Contract Specialist, Phone 813-826-1145, Fax 813-826-7504, Email amy.chauvin.ctr@socom.mil – Julia DeLoach, Contracting Officer, Phone 813-282-8795 X6103 , Fax 813-286-2264, Email julia.deloach@socom.mil

Russia to Give Aid to Lebanon Army, Including Helicopters, Tanks

Bloomberg

By Massoud A. Derhally

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Russia will give military assistance to Lebanon, including six helicopters, 31 tanks and about 500,000 munitions for medium-sized weapons, the office of Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in an e-mailed statement today.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Hariri discussed Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at a meeting today at the presidential residence near Moscow, according to Sergei Prikhodko, the president’s foreign affairs adviser.

Medvedev said Lebanon should be allowed to resolve national issues without external interference, Prikhodko said in a faxed statement. The president also pledged support for a United Nations tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father Rafiq, saying transparent results will aide stability in the country, according to Prikhodko.

In February, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman went to Moscow to sign a series of military accords with Medvedev, the Daily Star newspaper reported at the time.

–With assistance from Caroline Alexander in London and Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow. Editors: Torrey Clark, Eddie Buckle.

To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon, at mderhally@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net.

“Frontlines of Freedom,” My Ass!

“Several senior officials in the Bush administration seemed intent on recreating the bipolar world order they had grown so accustomed to during the Cold War. The most prominent example was Vice President Dick Cheney, who famously referred to the Baltic states as the “very front lines of freedom in the modern world.”

[Cheney and others like him were intent upon convincing us that our terror war is a battle for “freedom,” or that we are actually on the “front lines of freedom.”  It is impossible at this point to know whether they really believed the shit they slung at us, or whether they were merely stage-setting for the psyop.  In other words, were Cheney and his collaborators setting us up for WWIII, or were they simply trying to convince us all that they were taking us into that doomsday scenario, knowing that we would submit to any political/military solutions deemed necessary to avoid it?]

 

The United States’ Role in European Security Under the Obama Administration

Reset with Russia and Reassurance for Allies Provide Key Security Dividends

There are three summits—NATO, NATO-Russia, and EU-U.S.—set to take place in Lisbon later this week, which makes now an appropriate time to step back and examine the state of European security and the role of the United States in it over the past two years. Such an exercise is all the more timely in light of the press’s persistent hyperventilation over this subject, which reached a farcical extreme last month with an International Herald Tribune columnist asking: “Will the U.S. Lose Europe to Russia?”

This abandonment narrative is profoundly misleading. It alleges that the United States has neglected Europe when in fact on the ground the Obama administration has engaged on key issues and pushed key policy shifts that have directly boosted Europe’s security. It also reflects a zero-sum understanding of security on the continent—a fundamental misreading of post-Cold War international political dynamics. Specifically, it ignores the fact that a hostile relationship between the United States and Russia is itself perhaps the greatest threat to European security.

Let’s examine the situation before President Barack Obama took office in 2009. At that point, the new democracies of Central Europe as well as Ukraine and Georgia occupied a prized place in Washington’s diplomatic hierarchy. The Bush administration went out of its way to publicly champion these countries as poster children for the freedom agenda. The countries reciprocated with a willingness to actively support the Bush administration’s policies, specifically the war in Iraq in 2003, so-called rendition and clandestine interrogation of terrorist suspects, and the deployment of the third-site missile defense components in Central Europe. Such moves in turn won them lots of attention: phone calls were promptly returned; visitors to Washington were received at senior levels wherever they requested meetings; and top U.S. policymakers regularly travelled to the region.

It’s fair to say that this level of attention was more a reward for solidarity than a reflection of the region’s actual importance to U.S. national security given the locus and severity of the global problems we face. Moreover, this “attention” actually came at the expense of European security since it was so closely linked with the complete deterioration in U.S.-Russia relations.

This linkage paradoxically caused many—especially in Central Europe but also in Western Europe and in the United States—to conclude that there is a necessary zero-sum relationship between U.S. ties with Russia and its relationships with European allies near Russia. In other words, since the close ties to Central Europe corresponded with the rise in U.S.-Russia tensions, if Washington improved relations with Moscow, it would by definition downgrade its relations with Central and Eastern Europe.

There certainly were some issues that were zero sum in terms of the U.S. relationship with Russia and its European engagement. These included the third-site missile defense plan and accelerated NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine. Moreover, several senior officials in the Bush administration seemed intent on recreating the bipolar world order they had grown so accustomed to during the Cold War. The most prominent example was Vice President Dick Cheney, who famously referred to the Baltic states as the “very front lines of freedom in the modern world.”

But if we look at Europe in a global context, it becomes clear that a zero-sum equation between the quality of the U.S.-Russia relationship and U.S. commitment to European security makes no sense. Hostile relations between Washington and Moscow—and we now know that a direct military response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia was considered in the Bush White House in August 2008, so hostile is no exaggeration—represent perhaps the single most destabilizing factor for the security of Europe. So let’s be clear: The notion that the United States provided greater security for Europe when the U.S.-Russia relationship rapidly disintegrated in the later years of the Bush administration is a fallacy.

U.S. actions vis-à-vis Russia also have a critical indirect impact on European security since the character of post-Soviet Russia’s relations with the world is significantly shaped by its relationship with the United States. To put it simply, then-President Vladimir Putin’s infamous anti-Western Munich speech in 2007 would have been impossible without the growing antagonism in U.S.-Russia relations under Bush—just as Dmitry Medvedev’s July 2010 speech calling for modernization alliances with Europe and the United States would have been impossible without Obama’s reset.

This phenomenon directly affects Europe’s security. At the height of U.S.-Russia tension under Bush, the region experienced gas cutoffs, cyberattacks, the resumption of Russian strategic bomber air patrols along the Norwegian coast, and of course the August 2008 war. The fact that a U.S. military response to the Russian invasion of Georgia was even contemplated should send shivers down European spines because the Russian response would likely have had an impact on them, too.

The Obama administration’s reset, then, actually alleviated perhaps the gravest threat to European security: conflict between Russia and the West. And Russian behavior has changed significantly in the past two years. The rapprochement between Russia and Poland is but the most marked example of a broader emphasis on greater cooperation coming out of Moscow.

It is far too early to call this a paradigm shift, however. Russia has not transformed into an enlightened constructive international actor overnight—far from it. But that doesn’t diminish the fact that conflict between Moscow and Washington would have been catastrophic and that the changes in Russia’s behavior are important. U.S.-Russia cooperation to head off a second conflict in Georgia in August 2009 and constructive Russian behavior on Armenia-Turkey rapprochement are just two examples.

In short, the reset has provided a net security gain for Europe. This is to say nothing of the broader gains that Europe has received indirectly through renewed joint U.S.-Russia efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear program, facilitate operations in Afghanistan, and control the spread of nuclear materials that have come out of the Russia reset.

Additionally, the Obama administration, both through NATO and bilaterally, has directly boosted Central Europe’s security in an informal policy known as reassurance, making the abandonment charge seem all the more strange. A little-noticed call from Obama in his April 2009 Prague speech—which was before Obama had first gone to Moscow—and a subsequent behind-the-scenes push from the administration led to the Baltic states and Poland receiving the most concrete security commitment from NATO they could ask for: contingency plans within the alliance against an external attack, which reportedly involve a U.S. carrier group. This commitment came just over a year after the Bush administration failed to get a similar deal through Brussels.

The administration has also upped U.S. military presence in the region. Back in June, 500 Marines and two F-15s led by the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, for a NATO exercise. And last month, more than 2,000 personnel from the three Baltic states and the United States conducted another exercise in Latvia—the largest in the region since the three countries joined the alliance in 2004.

Despite incessant claims that Obama’s missile defense plan is both a sop to the Russians and an abandonment of Central Europe, his Phased Adaptive Approach is a system that is both proven and designed to protect all of Europe from medium-range missiles from Iran—a threat the Pentagon believes to be quite real. Compare that to the Bush-era plan, which was based on unproven technology, did not actually protect the European continent (it was meant to protect against a missile heading over the north pole), and was intended to counteract long-range missiles that no one besides missile defense theologians believe to be a realistic threat in the Iranian case. It’s hard to see how the Obama plan could be interpreted as anything but a boost to Central Europe’s security.

If the United States hasn’t abandoned Europe the only conclusion one can draw is that the improvement of U.S.-Russia relations in itself has been interpreted by some as a betrayal. Essentially, those who complain about abandonment are indirectly asking the Obama administration to rekindle hostility with Moscow—that is, to recreate a significant threat to European security. That’s really quite a bizarre request to ask from Europe’s closest ally.

This article was first published by the Center for American Progress

A War Without Tanks—No Wonder We Can’t Win

[What kind of mental midgets have been in charge of this war?  Even a TV-addicted teenager can tell you that tanks are the most feared ground target, since they are the toughest nuts to crack.  Hell, after Bush recalled the little bit of hardware that had originally been sent to Afghanistan, to send to Iraq, what was really left there to support US forces?  Just another reason that we cannot trust these bastards to continue with this war—the brass are either all clueless or malevolent.]

U.S. to deploy tanks in Afghan war: report

WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 19, 2010 2:25am EST

(Reuters) – The United States is sending battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year-old war against the Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officers and defense officials, the paper said General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, approved the deployment last month.

"The deployment of a company of M1 Abrams tanks, which will be fielded by the Marines in the country’s southwest, will allow ground forces to target insurgents from a greater distance — and with more of a lethal punch — than is possible from any other U.S. military vehicle," the Post said.

The initial deployment calls for 16 tanks to be used in parts of Helmand province, where fighting rages between Marines and Taliban guerrillas, the paper said.

It said Canadian and Danish troops have used a small number of tanks in southern Afghanistan.

Obama-care Begins–Substituting Quackery for Actual Medical Treatment

In Chronic Pain? You Might Need Psychotherapy

The services that a psychologist can offer—cognitive behavioral therapy and biofeedback, for example—can ease the misery by helping people learn to cope, says Robert Kerns, a professor in the department of psychiatry, neurology, and psychology at Yale University. Kerns was coauthor of a 2007 review published in Health Psychology that found psychological interventions to have a positive effect on the chronic low-back pain that afflicts at least 70 percent of adults at some point during their lifetimes. The review authors examined 22 studies and found that cognitive behavioral therapy and self-regulated treatments (such as biofeedback and hypnosis) eased pain intensity, improved quality of life, and reduced symptoms of depression.

“South Stream” Comes Between Ukraine and Russia

[This is all boiling down to one question:  Which nation will be bypassed, Ukraine (South Stream) or Russia (Nabucco).]

Ukraine president criticises Russian gas pipeline

By Anya Tsukanova (AFP)

KIEV — Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday issued a rare rebuke to the Kremlin by describing as unfriendly a Russian plan to build an ambitious new gas pipeline that would bypass Ukraine’s territory.

Yanukovych has worked hard to improve relations between Moscow and Kiev since defeating the leaders of the pro-Western Orange Revolution in presidential elections this year.

But in an interview with Agence France-Presse and two other foreign news agencies in Kiev, he said building the South Stream pipeline would only have made sense when the former anti-Kremlin leadership was in power.

"It’s being shown to us that our partners can get by without Ukraine. This is unpartner-like and I have already expressed this to our partners in Russia and the European Union," he said.

"Do not exclude Ukraine as a partner," he added.

"There was reason to behave like that when Ukraine frightened Europe and Russia. But these times have passed."

Under the former presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, relations between Russia and Ukraine plunged to a post-Soviet low and a row over gas prices led to Europe being cut off from Russian gas for two weeks in winter 2009.

A quarter of the gas consumed in the European Union comes from Russia, 80 percent of which passes through Ukraine.

The South Stream pipeline plans to carry Russian gas under the Black Sea and into the Balkans to create a new energy route to Europe that will by-pass Ukrainian territory.

Yanukovych said that instead of the complex South Stream project, Russia and the European Union would be better off developing Ukraine’s existing pipeline infrastructure.

"We are saying let’s join together and let’s not not re-invent the wheel and go right to the bed of the Black Sea, where there may be many unpredictable aspects. Let’s build across Ukrainian territory.

"It will be many times cheaper and quicker."

The South Stream pipeline is being backed by Russian giant Gazprom along with Italian energy company ENI and French group EDF. Gazprom has said it expects the first part to come online by December 30, 2015.

The EU executive meanwhile is backing the competing Nabucco pipeline which aims to reduce European dependency on Russian energy by transporting gas from Central Asia and the Caucasus direct to Europe.

Yanukovych’s first weeks in power saw a rapprochement with Russia of breathtaking speed, with a deal agreed to prolong Moscow’s lease on the base for its Black Sea Fleet that outraged Ukrainian nationalists.

But Ukraine appears to have imposed some limits on the improvement in ties, most notably by showing little enthusiasm for a Russian plan to merge Gazprom and Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz.

"We cannot go along a path of absorption of the Ukrainian economy," said Yanukovych.

The president reaffirmed that his administration aimed to take Ukraine towards EU membership and said it would be "realistic" for two sides to sign an agreement on a visa-free regime from 2012. EU citizens can already travel to Ukraine without visas.

But in a sign of some impatience with Brussels, he said the partnership with the European Union must be one of equals.

"We must not be put into a humiliating position, asking for something with an outstretched hand," he said.

The president has made neutrality a cornerstone of his foreign policy, scrapping the previous administration’s drive for NATO membership and seeking to repeat the canny balancing of East and West of ex-president Leonid Kuchma.

"I think that a balancing of relations between the European Union, Russia and the United States is comfortable for Ukraine," he said.

100 Muslim Brotherhood Members Arrested in Egypt

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&62EB6114E5BC0059C22577E00070D8ED At least 100 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were arrested across Egypt on Friday 10 days ahead of legislative elections, a security official and members of the organization said. Between 100 and 120 Islamists were arrested in several towns, among them 20 in Sharqiya province and 30 in Qalubya, the security official said on condition of anonymity.Mohammed Mursi, a senior Brotherhood official, put the number of people arrested at around 300, among them at least 130 in the port of Alexandria, the country’s second city in the north.(AFP)

Some People Merely Want To Be Pains In the Ass

[From: Opinion Maker ]

Just A Little Reminder…

Some People’s Daily Mission In Life

Is Simply To

Annoy  others……!

The Baloh Hal editor-in-chief Malik Siraj Akbar was interviewed by German Radio station Deutsche Welle (DW)for the Asia Compact program. Here is the full transcript of the interview conducted by DW’s Arun Chowdhury.

Deutsche Welle: On the show today, an English language newspaper from and on Balochistan has been blocked  by the authorities. The possible bone of contention? (Malik’s voice) “We believe that the issue of the enforced disappearances has not been resolved in Balochistan and the provincial government has been unable to recover all of the missing persons in Balochistan.”

DW: The Baloch Hal or the Baloch news is an English language online newspaper that deals exclusively with news and analysis relating to Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Ten days ago, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) suddenly decided to block the newspaper because it allegedly carried some “anti-Pakistan” material.

I talked to the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Malik Siraj Akbar, who is currently a (Hubert Humphrey)  fellow at Arizona State University.

Malik Siraj Akbar: The government of Pakistan has blocked The Baloch Halwhich is the first online English language newspaper of Balochistan, which is in fact the most widely quoted newspaper of Balochistan. And right now, the newspaper is not available in major/principal parts of Pakistan and the government has not provided an explanation directly to the administration of The Baloch Hal. It (the government) has spoken to a few media outlets saying that it contained “anti-Pakistan” material but that is kind of an old excuse (used) by the government  in the past and they did the same thing with The Baloch Hal without substantiating their allegations. Up till now, the website is not available in all parts of Pakistan.

DW: Has The Baloch Hal had problems with the authorities in the past?

MSA: Well, obviously, the government is not very pleased with our editorial policy. But we always provide them (the government authorities) sufficient opportunity to ventilate their opinion. Their spokespersons’ rebuttals were published word by word in The Baloch Hal which is unprecedented. Not many newspapers do it but we still told them not to take it personal. It was all professional and we did not attack someone personally. It was all criticism of the authorities in terms of their policies. However, the latest story that comes from Dawn News says that the military (authorities) were displeased and it (the newspaper) was blocked on their recommendations.

DW: What exactly has been the bone of contention? What kind of articles  were there that, for example, government of Balochistan was displeased with?

MSA: We believe the issue of the enforced disappearance has not been resolved in Balochistan and the provincial government has not been able to recover all of the missing persons. It was a promise made by the Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, that all the Baloch political workers would be resurfaced. Right now, what see like, a lot of political activists’ dead bodies are recovering from different parts of Balochistan.

This is a very very serious issue in the province. A lot of families (of the missing persons) are complaining about it. So, we have been regularly reporting the issue in Balochistan whereas the national media has totally refused to cover this issue and because of it, the Baloch Students’ Organization (BSO) went on a boycott of the Pakistani media. So, all these cases were never reported and The Baloch Hal was the only newspaper which regularly covered the boycott of the national media and the issue of the the dead bodies of the “missing persons”.

DW: Let’s look at it from the point of view of Islamabad. Balochistan, as a province, as a part of Pakistan, is not entirely unproblematic. Could that be the reason for the extra-sensitivity?

MSA: Well, when you have an online newspaper, it has a global reach whereas the government’s policy has always been , I mean the policy of the military, has been to restrict access to Balochistan. Foreign journalists were always denied access to Balochistan. This province is never reported sufficiently.  With the launching ofThe Baloch Hal, we opened a window for the rest of the world. The government, in the past, had a history of censoring the media but the concept of online media is very very new and they are really in panic. They don’t know how to pursue their agenda of the censoring the press.

DW: That was Baloch Hal‘s Malik Siraj Akbar speaking from Phoenix, Arizona.

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Young Baloch Journalist Hammed Hayatan Killed in Gwadar

 

The Baloch Hal News

GWADAR: A twenty-five year old missing journalist from the port town of Gwadar, Lala Hammed Hayatan, has been killed with his dead body thrown by unidentified persons in the Sami River of Turbat district, officials confirmed.

The dead body of another friend of Hameed, Hamid Ismail, who had also been kidnapped along with the journalist, was recovered too at the same place.

According to our Gwadar Bureau Chief, Hameed had been shot in his head and chest while Dr. Javed, the Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital, said the the dead body was 24 hours old before being thrown.

” The killers also left a paper with the dead body which read ” A Gift of Eid for the Balochs”,” said a local journalist.

Hammed had been whisked away allegedly by the official personnel while coming from Turbat District to his native Gwadar on October 25th. Ever since, journalists’ community in Gwadar and elsewhere in Balochistan had been protesting against the kidnapping of Hameed Baloch.

” Hammed was one of the founding members of Gwadar Press club,” said a senior journalist from Gwadar while talking to The Baloch Hal,” We have decided to observe three days of mourning while a black flag would be hoisted on the Press Club building.”

The members of Gwadar Press Club have also set up  a camp in front of the Gwadar Press Club to receive condolences for the departed soul of the young journalist.

Drone Strikes on Quetta Expected: Report

 

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk

WASHINGTON: Senior US officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond Pakistan’s tribal region to pursue Taliban leaders presumably based in Quetta, The Los Angeles Times reported late Sunday.

The newspaper said the prospect of Predator aircraft strikes in Quetta signals a new US resolve to decapitate the Taliban. But it also risks rupturing Washington’s relationship with Islamabad.

The concern has created tension among officials in the administration of President Barack Obama over whether unmanned aircraft strikes in a city of 850,000 are a realistic option, the paper said.

Proponents, including some military leaders, argue that attacking the Taliban in Quetta – or at least threatening to do so – is critical to the success of the revised war strategy President Obama unveiled last week, The Times said.

‘If we don’t do this – at least have a real discussion of it – Pakistan might not think we are serious,’ the paper quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying.

‘What the Pakistanis have to do is tell the Taliban that there is too much pressure from the US; we can’t allow you to have sanctuary inside Pakistan anymore.’

But others, including high-ranking US intelligence officials, have been more sceptical of employing drone attacks in a place that Pakistanis see as part of their country’s core, the report said.

According to The Times, Pakistani officials have also warned that the fallout would be severe.

‘We are not a banana republic,’ The Times quotes a senior Pakistani official as saying. If the United States follows through, the official said, ‘this might be the end of the road.’ —AFP

Baloch Hal Banned, Interview With DW-Deutsche Welle

 

Baloch Hal Banned Interview with Editor.m4a

 

Editor Malik Siraj speaks to Deutsche Welle about the ban on the Baloch Hal

Editor Malik Siraj speaks to Deutsche Welle about the ban on The Baloch Hal

The Baloh Hal editor-in-chief Malik Siraj Akbar was interviewed by German Radio station Deutsche Welle (DW)for the Asia Compact program. Here is the full transcript of the interview conducted by DW’s Arun Chowdhury.

Deutsche Welle: On the show today, an English language newspaper from and on Balochistan has been blocked  by the authorities. The possible bone of contention? (Malik’s voice) “We believe that the issue of the enforced disappearances has not been resolved in Balochistan and the provincial government has been unable to recover all of the missing persons in Balochistan.”

DW: The Baloch Hal or the Baloch news is an English language online newspaper that deals exclusively with news and analysis relating to Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Ten days ago, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) suddenly decided to block the newspaper because it allegedly carried some “anti-Pakistan” material.

I talked to the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Malik Siraj Akbar, who is currently a (Hubert Humphrey)  fellow at Arizona State University.

Malik Siraj Akbar: The government of Pakistan has blocked The Baloch Halwhich is the first online English language newspaper of Balochistan, which is in fact the most widely quoted newspaper of Balochistan. And right now, the newspaper is not available in major/principal parts of Pakistan and the government has not provided an explanation directly to the administration of The Baloch Hal. It (the government) has spoken to a few media outlets saying that it contained “anti-Pakistan” material but that is kind of an old excuse (used) by the government  in the past and they did the same thing with The Baloch Hal without substantiating their allegations. Up till now, the website is not available in all parts of Pakistan.

DW: Has The Baloch Hal had problems with the authorities in the past?

MSA: Well, obviously, the government is not very pleased with our editorial policy. But we always provide them (the government authorities) sufficient opportunity to ventilate their opinion. Their spokespersons’ rebuttals were published word by word in The Baloch Hal which is unprecedented. Not many newspapers do it but we still told them not to take it personal. It was all professional and we did not attack someone personally. It was all criticism of the authorities in terms of their policies. However, the latest story that comes from Dawn News says that the military (authorities) were displeased and it (the newspaper) was blocked on their recommendations.

DW: What exactly has been the bone of contention? What kind of articles  were there that, for example, government of Balochistan was displeased with?

MSA: We believe the issue of the enforced disappearance has not been resolved in Balochistan and the provincial government has not been able to recover all of the missing persons. It was a promise made by the Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, that all the Baloch political workers would be resurfaced. Right now, what see like, a lot of political activists’ dead bodies are recovering from different parts of Balochistan.

This is a very very serious issue in the province. A lot of families (of the missing persons) are complaining about it. So, we have been regularly reporting the issue in Balochistan whereas the national media has totally refused to cover this issue and because of it, the Baloch Students’ Organization (BSO) went on a boycott of the Pakistani media. So, all these cases were never reported and The Baloch Hal was the only newspaper which regularly covered the boycott of the national media and the issue of the the dead bodies of the “missing persons”.

DW: Let’s look at it from the point of view of Islamabad. Balochistan, as a province, as a part of Pakistan, is not entirely unproblematic. Could that be the reason for the extra-sensitivity?

MSA: Well, when you have an online newspaper, it has a global reach whereas the government’s policy has always been , I mean the policy of the military, has been to restrict access to Balochistan. Foreign journalists were always denied access to Balochistan. This province is never reported sufficiently.  With the launching ofThe Baloch Hal, we opened a window for the rest of the world. The government, in the past, had a history of censoring the media but the concept of online media is very very new and they are really in panic. They don’t know how to pursue their agenda of the censoring the press.

DW: That was Baloch Hal‘s Malik Siraj Akbar speaking from Phoenix, Arizona.

Join Protests Against Privacy Violations At Your Local Airport On Opt-Out Day

BuildingWhat? – A campaign to raise awareness o…, posted with vodpod

[Tune-in to Truth Jihad Radio tonight to hear a follow-up report from the engineer for 911 Truth (appearing in the video above), who took the issue of Buldg. #7 to Fox News, where reporter Geraldo Rivera actually asked relevant questions concerning the cover-up.  Truth Jihad is working to keep the ball rolling on this key issue all across the grass roots "prairie" of the vast unexplored terrain of the mind-numbed American people.  The same goes for his follow-up report on airport  Opt-Out Day protests.  Kevin Barrett is stepping forward and trying to create some good changes.  Everyone should get behind him and show-up at the airport near you, with signs and video cameras in hand.

Peace.]

Geraldo-educator Tony Szamboti, Pentagon attack expert Barbara Honegger on Truth Jihad Radio

http://truthjihadradio.blogspot.com/2010/11/geraldo-educator-tony-szamboti-pentagon.html
Truth Jihad Radio Sat. 11/20/10, 5-7 pm Central, American Freedom Radio (archived here.) Call-in number: (402) 237-2525 or post your questions to my Facebook page.

First hour: Tony Szamboti returns! Tony had to leave early last week and rush across town to join an amazing Geraldo Rivera WTC-7 episode at the Fox News studio…

Second hour: Pentagon attack expert Barbara Honegger, ”founding mother” of the Boston Tea Party for 9/11 Truth and thus the Tea Party movement – now she’s demanding a blood test!

More details: 
http://truthjihadradio.blogspot.com/2010/11/geraldo-educator-tony-szamboti-pentagon.html

* * *

A call for We Are Change and all other courageous activists to SUPPORT OPT-OUT DAY.. 
http://truthjihad.blogspot.com/2010/11/call-for-we-are-change-and-all-other.html

…by going to your nearest airport on Opt-Out Day, Wednesday November 24th, and engaging in civil information activism…even if you aren’t traveling! (Or ESPECIALLY if you aren’t traveling – because you, unlike the poor folks getting scanned and groped, won’t have a flight to miss!)

How? Just stand near where people line up to go through the checkpoint, being careful not to physically obstruct anyone, and talk to travelers about Opt-Out Day, naked body scanners, and “enhanced pat-downs” that amount to sexual assaults. Ask people to Opt Out of the naked body scanners, and to insist that the TSA sexual assault take place in full view of other passengers. Be sure to inform them that they are 30 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be killed by a terrorist, as I explain in my book Questioning the War on Terror.

Keep in mind that the Supreme Court has ruled that airports are not exempt from First Amendment protections.

If you want to provoke a confrontation with authorities and film it for YouTube, that shouldn’t be too hard.  Speaking loudly, bullhorning, and/or holding up signs such as “TSA = Total Sexual Assault” would be easy ways to get asked to leave. Insist on your First Amendment Rights (at least up to the point that arrest seems imminent) and film the conversation.

I will personally send $50 by check or paypal (your choice) to the person who makes the best Opt-Out Day We Are Change type activist video. You don’t have to belong to We Are Change to enter the contest. Just put your video on Youtube and email a link to kbarrett[at]merr[dot]com.  Entries will be accepted through the end of November 2010.

If anyone else wants to pledge some additional prize money, please let me know and I’ll keep track of the amount of prize money here.

New POWER OF TRUTH Radio Network picks up steam!
http://truthjihad.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-power-of-truth-radio-network-picks.html

Barbara Honegger’s brand-new updated Pentagon Attack Papers
http://truthjihad.blogspot.com/2010/11/barbara-honeggers-brand-new-updated.html

What You Can’t Say on Geraldo
http://truthjihad.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-11-18T09%3A14%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

Thanks for listening!

Kevin Barrett

http://www.truthjihad.com

Author, Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters:
http://www.questioningthewaronterror.com

Drones Debate: Pashtun Nationalists, The Liberals, the Left and the far right

Baitullah Mehsud: killed by a drone

First things first. The USA has no right to stay in Afghanistan let alone drone Pakistan. It is the US military aggression and presence in the region that has fuelled unrest and complicated the matters. The very Taliban and al-Qaida that Washington is busy fighting-negotiating-fighting, were fathered by the USA itself. Of course, the ISI of Pakistan played the midwife to ease the birth of confessional Jihadis wreaking havoc all over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and beyond. All this is well known as well as well documented. While hardly anybody denies that Taliban were a result of CIA-ISI symbiosis, there is, however, a difference of opinion among left-liberal circles in Pakistan viz-a-viz US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Liberals

Many liberals, hardly represented by any political formation, legitimately believe that Taliban will not lay down their arms even if Washington pulls out. They correctly point out that Taliban have a globalist agenda and are part of an international Jihadist freemasonry. A US defeat, these liberals, thinks will bolster the Taliban morale the way Soviet-withdrawal encouraged al-Qaida to globalise their activities. They, therefore, not merely lend support to US occupation of Pakistan. As a corollary to their support for US occupation, they lend support to drone attacks in FATA.

Pashtun Nationalists

There is another, perhaps, most important factor. The Pashtoon nationalists and intellectuals are lending support to droning of Pakistan. Their plea is: military establishment has connived with Taliban to convert FATA into a Taliban-base. In the process, any tribal resistance was brutally crushed by Taliban-Khaki joint forces. They claim that Taliban have perpetrated unspeakable human rights violations in Tribal Areas. No doubt. “In a 2010 report, entitled ‘As If Hell Fell On Me,’ Amnesty International pulls back the curtain on human rights violations committed by the Taliban in Pakistan in 2009, including the destruction of 170 schools and closure of another 4,000 in the Swat Valley, the firebombing of barber shops and the assassinations of hundreds of tribal elders and members of the secular Awaji National Party. According to Amnesty’s report (which predates this past summer’s devastating floods), over the past year, more than 8,500 people were killed in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and more than 2 million Pakistani Pashtuns displaced by Taliban violence” writes Melissa Roddy (in The Huffington Post).

The Far-Right and the Left

There is a dominant far-right trend that wants Taliban reaching back Kabul, hence, opposes US occupation of Afghanistan as well as drone attacks. However, Pakistan’s miniscule organised left has also been vocal against the US occupation as well as drone attacks. This left, however, has been unable to differentiate itself from the rightist opposition of US occupation and drone attacks.  One may appreciate the principled left position. However, this position is tantamount to preaching the already converts. It instead should translate into a tangible plan of action. Left also needs to sharpen and enrich its arguments. Most importantly, it should oppose Taliban-military nexus while opposing US occupation of Pakistan. It is important but a safe bet to demonstrate against a drone attack. But it takes lot of political and physical courage to stage a rally against Taliban atrocities.

Conclusion

We think the drone attacks will neither serve neither the liberal nor the nationalist cause. These attacks can be compared with military rules in Pakistan. When a military dictator takes over, law and order or corruption apparently begin to slide downwards. However, at the end of every dictatorship the Pakistan ends up even miserably. The US occupation of Afghanistan offers the ideal objective situation that helps fundamentalists grow. Similarly, the strategic depth that Pakistan military establishment is busy pursuing through Taliban will ultimately lead to a strategic death. This binary problematising of the situation offers a way forward. The left needs to appreciate concerns expressed by the Pashtoon nationalists and liberals with giving up its principled position.

Courtesy: Viewpoint

Caspian States Agree on 24mi. Limit

The Caspian Sea was divided into five

This was facilitated by the weakening of Iran and Turkmenistan

Summit of Caspian States ended an unexpected breakthrough. Leaders of the five states suddenly, it seems, to themselves agreed on issues on which they could not reach consensus within 19 years. After three months, will be agreed national maritime zone width of 24 miles, and the following year signed the long-awaited convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. This is a consequence of geopolitical changes in the region, rather than victory for Russia, experts believe.
Today in Baku, a key topic of talks between Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, as well as in all previous summits, was to discuss the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. The negotiation process is stalled since the collapse of the Union. The parties could not agree on how to use the waters of the Caspian Sea and which determine the amount of national maritime zones.
Yesterday it became clear that one of the key issues the parties failed to agree. As reporters noted the host country leader of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, although the question is not ready, the leaders agreed to instruct the relevant authorities within three months to prepare documents for a moratorium on the catch of various sturgeon in the Caspian basin for five years, as well as in the three months to prepare and coordinate the width of the national maritime zone to 24 miles, including the area under the sovereignty.
"At the talks the leaders were in sync for the resolution of this long overdue" – shared with RBC daily observations of the source in the Russian delegation. The presidents did not hide emotions. "We could not agree: some said that it is necessary to establish a zone of 38 nautical miles, someone said that in 25, 10, 20 … But we spoke with experts and decided that there should be a zone of 24-25 nautical miles. This is a breakthrough, "- with a sense admitted by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. "Our sea – the sea of peace and good!" – Assured by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
The Russian president was restrained in emotion, but also acknowledged that "the summit, which was regarded as purely hypothetical, and gave very specific results.""We are very satisfied," – said Medvedev. The parties agreed to sign a long-awaited convention on legal status of the Caspian Sea during the year, ie at the next summit, which will take just Dmitry Medvedev. As noted by RBC daily source in the delegation of Azerbaijan, is now the main question of compromise – which zone inside the 24-25-mile radius to keep the sovereignty.
Despite the active role of Russia on dividing the Caspian Sea, this decision should not be considered merit in Moscow. "The number of draft dodgers from the methods by which demarcated maritime areas in the Caspian Sea, were Iran and Turkmenistan. For the latter, especially in the reduction of gas supplies to Russia and, accordingly, falling incomes, there was not a good situation. And perhaps it is pushed him to change his position. played a role and active mediation of the European Union and the United States, for which the realization of their desired projects (such as Nabucco and Trans-Caspian pipeline) came up against a contradiction between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan ", – explains the analyst of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies Azhdar Kurtov.
Iran, which is now being actively driven into a corner (including the UN Security Council sanctions) also understands that he does not need to multiply enemies along the perimeter of their borders. Iranians are not developing the Caspian shelf and actively fought against proposals neighbors to the principle: they do not want to follow multinational companies have come some law enforcement agencies. "Apparently, the rule was written, that no foreign vessels under the flags of neprikaspiyskih of the sea will not" – suggests Azhdar Kurtov.
TATIANA Kosobokova, BAKU, Anastasia LITVINOVA
19.11.2010

Source – RBC daily