US foreign policy calculated cul-de-sac

US foreign policy calculated cul-de-sac (Op-Ed)

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images/AFP

The siege mentality that successive teams of US policy-makers have finessed to perfection in the last decade in Pakistan and Afghanistan was inspired by the famous Bush slogan “who is not with us, is against us.”

Spurred by the discovery “we have watches and they have time,” it crept into the paranoia about the global forces of darkness conspiring against Captain America.

Here’s the self-defeating  fundamental flaw of US foreign policy that generates anti-American sentiments: the responsibility to protect ‘My way or highway’ is a sacred cow for good and all, but other nations have the inalienable right and solemn duty to embrace unilaterally the values and vital interests of the United States, come hell or high water.­

For America the exceptional, foreign ‘partnership’ is just a euphemistic oxymoron for designated morons eager to be US minions to promote ‘the freedom agenda’ of the unipolar world disorder at the expense of their nations’ sovereignty and dignity.

Most of the time, the Disneyworld Order works just fine, but sometimes, somewhere …things happen and woe betide anyone who gets in the US way!

When Russian and American presidents came from their parleys right into the limelight with TV cameras zooming in, the telltale body language of the close-up said it all: the ‘reset’ in bilateral relations, if it had ever been for real, was definitely out of the picture.

If there’s any tacit agreement between the opposite sides, this is it: the American/Russian strategic ‘partnership’ has reached an impasse. As far as why, opinions differ.

Andrew S. Weiss, who won his spurs at NSC, DOD and the State Department, is no stranger to Beltway bandits and pundits, and therefore, is perfectly qualified to illuminate Washington’s groupthink vis-à-vis Moscow’s stance.

As director of the RAND Center for Russia and Eurasia, he’s also supposed to reflect the intellectual rigor and integrity of the most prominent US think-tank and demonstrate the virtues of an unbiased Kremlinologist with total immersion in Russian realities.

He titled his subtle invective “Putin’s Waiting Game”, implying that the Russian president is playing games with gentle naïve Obama and is just biding his time for the next occupant of the White House to keep the log rolling.

It is hardly coincidental that his insinuation was parroted on June 26 by a NYT editorial: “We’re not sure what kind of cynical game Russia is playing.”

Well, from the outset, the Kremlin-astrologists got it wrong twice:

Firstly, as the former CIA chieftain Leon Panetta used to say, ‘there’s only one game in town’ – in this case, the US Global Blame Game, aka Information Support Operation for R2P and ‘humanitarian’ interventions.

Secondly, you don’t have to be a KGB colonel to figure out that a White House figurehead is whimsical dependent variable; in the meantime US foreign policy towards Russia is a real constant, bolstered by non-negotiable bipartisan ideological dogma since the days of yore.
If there’s anything for the Russian president to wait for, it has nothing to do with the US November elections: American presidents don’t formulate Russian policy; they are just allowed to execute it.

Well, despite all his credentials, the maven has badly failed to meet the expectations: his take was to tank rather than to think the imponderables.

What could have been unvarnished analysis of the undercurrents, intricacies and complications in American/Russian entanglement, has been relegated to a thinly veiled character assassination leaflet against the Russian president.

However it’s tempting to engage the author in a verbal skirmish, if you put emotions aside and take a broad look, you might suddenly realize that, given Andrew S. Weiss and the FP magazine bona fides, this ‘unofficial’ viewpoint says what the ‘official’ Washington thinks about its relations with Moscow but, due to political correctness, is too gun-shy to articulate it openly.

However, don’t blame the messenger – sure, his message is ugly, but it betrays the true color of the White House attitude towards the Kremlin.

The sheer enormity of the challenge to ‘wait out’ the change of Washington attitude towards Moscow, is this – yes, Congress does rein in US Foreign Policy, but the American electorate, which is supposed to control the legislative branch, hasn’t expressed in unequivocal terms a long overdue need for change in Russian policy – yet.

Until that paradigm shift happens, our bilateral relations will remain hostage to the almighty ghosts of cold war which hold sway over Beltway.

Evgeny Khrushchev for RT

NGOs to Register as ‘Foreign Agents’ or Risk Jail Time

Dozhd TV

Author of the amendments State Duma Deputy Alexander Sidyakin

Non-governmental organizations funded by foreign donors and involved in ”political” activity face hefty fines and jail terms if they fail to register on a state list, under plans drawn up by ruling party United Russia.

The amendments to the law on NGOs, officially submitted to the State Duma on Friday, open a new front in the struggle between the government and civil society groups, following the passing of a law earlier this month that drastically increases the fines for illegal demonstrations.

The proposals, drafted by United Russia Duma Deputy Alexander Sidyakin, would require all non-governmental organizations receiving funding from abroad and engaged in ”political” activities to register on a special list as “foreign agents”. These NGOs would also have to publish a report of their activities every six months and undertake an annual financial audit.

Any organizations failing to register within 90 days of the law coming into force would be liable to civil and criminal penalties, the deputy told RIA-Novosti on Friday. The penalties included a maximum prison sentence of four years, fines up to 300,000 rubles ($9,128) or 480 hours of mandatory community service.

U.S. Air Force identified 31 victims of sexual abuse among cadets

[One of the side benefits of trying to fight multiple wars with an all volunteer force.  Women have no place in combat and should never be placed in harm's way unless they are MASH nurses.  Placing all of these attractive, healthy young women amongst mobs of pubescent young men, who are in the process of training and getting "pumped-up" for war, is a formula for multiple rapes and rampant sexual abuse.  The Air Force is lucky that the victim count in this case is not higher.   That luck may prove to be illusory if all the female and male victims of rape and sexual abuse manage to overcome their victim's shame and come forward together.]  

AP The Air Force has provided assistance to victims, which he said are still active.

SCANDAL 

A dozen instructors, all men, are being investigated on charges ranging from rape, in severe cases, sexual behaviors that do not involve physical contact.

The U.S. Air Force said Friday it has identified 31 female cadets who have been sexually abused by instructors from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio (Texas), one of the military training centers in the country. A dozen instructors , all men, are being investigated on charges ranging from rape, in severe cases, sexual behaviors that do not involve physical contact, said at a news conference Gen. Edward Rice, commander Command Air Education and Training.

Of the twelve instructors, nine of them belong to the same unit, the 331 Training Squadron, one of nine that are responsible for providing basic training for future pilots. The general regretted the incident, calling it “unacceptable” in a institution in which the cadets have to be “safe” but did not think it is an “endemic problem” but located in this squad that is being investigated in depth. Rice said detected events occurred during the past two and a half years but the first victim came to light until last year when one of those affected complained to Sergeant Luis Walker, who is being tried in a military court. According to Rice, other cases have been known later, thanks to allegations three instructors revealed that they had heard some of his colleagues gave evidence talks about the abuse and reported to his superiors. So far, only one of the twelve instructors suspects, Sergeant Peter Vega Maldonado, has been convicted had an “improper relationship” with a student and having breached the standard of “no contact”, which prevents any contact of any kind beyond what strictly professional. Sergeant Vega, who is currently serving a sentence, was sentenced to 90 days in prison, a $ 2,000 fine and airman degradation. The unit commander, Lt. Col. Mike Paquette was relieved of his command earlier this month as responsible for what happens in his unit and is on administrative waiting for a new destination. Rice said they are investigating whether there were more victims and more instructors involved and said he will not stop “until you are completely convinced that we have done a thorough job.” He has instructed the General Division Margaret Woodward, Acting Director of Strategy, Policy and Operational Planning of the Air Force, a comprehensive investigation on all training units of the Air Force, which will be delivered within sixty days. The objective is to analyze the situation training centers and study how to improve the selection of instructors and to protect the cadets. Rice said it is too early to draw conclusions and wait for the Woodward report before taking action, but one of which deck is that the cadets are trained by instructors. The Air Force has provided assistance to victims, which he said are still active. Basic Training Center, located at the base of Lackland Air Force in San Antonio ( Texas) trains annually to 35,000 soldiers, of whom 22 percent are women. EFE

Arab League To Host Syrian Opposition Groups Meeting In Cairo

[Instead of supporting and encouraging this Arab tribal warfare and providing it with a transparent cloak of legitimacy, under the mantle of an alleged "human rights" crusade, we should be fighting the war on Saudi Arabian soil, against all of the Arab League.  The Saudis and their Gulf State allies have always been the primary sponsors of ALL Sunni terrorism.  The Syrian government has refused to support these efforts, or to help in the Saudi/Israeli plots against Iran, thus explaining the Saudi/Arab League vendetta.  It is time to back out of this Sunni tribal war and take steps to shut it down, or at least guide it to its proper conclusion.  

War on Saudi Arabia.]

Arab League to host Syrian Opposition Groups meeting

CAIRO- Syrian opposition figures said they will meet in Cairo on July 2 via the invitation of the Arab League (AL) to discuss the increasing amount of violence against civilians after the Syrian revolt entered its 16th month.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi said Thursday that the Arab League will host on July 2-3 a broad meeting for Syrian opposition to outline a unified vision over power-transition in their country witnessing a 15 month-long popular uprising.

In a press statement following a preparatory gathering held here Thursday, Al-Arabi said the coming conference will be attended by representatives of all opposition and national parties and movements.

Russia’s Lavrov Warns U.S. Over ‘Magnitsky law’

Russia’s Lavrov warns U.S. over human rights law: agency

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov leave a meeting in St. Petersburg June 29, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Haraz N. Ghanbari/Pool

MOSCOW | Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:42am EDT

(Reuters) - Russia has warned the United States that their relations would suffer “serious damage” if Washington adopts a bill to penalize Russian officials for human rights abuses, a state news agency reported on Saturday.

Itar-Tass said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at talks on Friday in St Petersburg that “the possible endorsement in the United States of the ‘Magnitsky law’ will bring serious damage to relations between our countries.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry had no comment on the report.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week passed the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act”, named after a Russian anti-corruption lawyer whose death in 2009 while in pre-trial detention drew widespread condemnation.

The bill would deny visas and freeze the assets of Russians suspected of involvement in his death.

Despite broad support in Congress, the bill’s future remains uncertain, partly because the U.S. administration is unenthusiastic about a measure that Russia says would be an unwarranted intrusion into its internal affairs.

The passing of the bill has added to tension between the White House and the Kremlin over international engagement in Syria, among others. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Diana Abdallah)

Criticism of Obama’s Reset with Russia–First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

[When you begin to hear voices from mainstays of the "legitimate press," like Forbes magazine, echoing the alternative press, as we support Russian efforts to stall war the drive to civil war in Syria, then you know that some major changes are afoot.  The author points out the absurdity of the American right-wing, as they have been pushing us towards a senseless war with Russia, and he does it with a fairly devastating effect.

American foreign policy has been driven by this right-wing "Neocon" war fever for more than thirty years, no matter which party has claimed to hold power.  The so-called "Jacksonian" Democrats, who worship Reagan or Brzezinski are in line for a comprehensive comeuppance for that failed foreign policy.  Beginning here, with a refreshing look at the insanity of seeking world war, I hope this author, Mark Adomanis, continues to expose the insanity of all American foreign policy, which has been formulated by the neocon crowd.  When we start to hear the legitimate press echoing the alternative press view that the entire "war on terrorism" has been based on an endless series of lies and deceptions, then we will know for sure that that wondrous thing we have called the "Arab Spring" is starting to blossom on American soil.]

Criticism of Obama’s Reset withRussia:

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Mark Adomanis, Contributor

The reset has, by this point in time, attracted media attention out of all proportion to its observable real-world impact. A modest policy that modestly improved relations between Russiaand the United Stateshas become, particularly for people of a hawkish persuasion, evidence that Russiahas comprehensively outmaneuvered the United Statesto some sort of dastardly and wicked end (though precisely what the end is is never specified). Adding to the growing canon of pieces arguing that “the reset is the worst thing in the world” Michael Weiss recently penned a story “Putin has America right where he wants it” that might very well be the single most ludicrous thing that anyone has said about the issue.

Weiss deep confusion about the reset, and his tendency to make totally irrelevant and marginal issues key parts of the American-Russian bilateral relationship, is nicely demonstrated by the following paragraph:

But the two countries’ fundamental disagreement about what to do about Assad, the dictator whose bloody attempts to suppress a popular revolt has resulted in the deaths of 14,000 Syrians, was only the last straw for a policy that has been on life support since its inception. On a vast array of issues — ranging from human rights to Iran to the territorial integrity of the post-Soviet states — Russian behavior has consistently been a thorn in the side of the United States and its allies. The reset only provided Obama with a justification to cover his retreat in the face of Russia’s advance.

Underlying this paragraph are several unproven assumptions: that theUnited Stateshas an interest inSyria, that theUnited Statesfaces a significant threat fromIran, that theUnited Stateshas a genuine interest in promoting human rights, and that the Russian attempts to project power throughout the post-Soviet space are dangerous for theUnited States. But why should theUnited Statessuddenly become interested inSyria’s internal political arrangements when it hasn’t had any notable influence in the country for the past 50 years?  Is theUnited Statesreally threatened by a third-rate economic backwater likeIran, a country that is surrounded not only by American military installations but by close American allies? If the United States genuinely cares about promoting human rights, why does it continue to closely cooperate (on Syria, among other things) with Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most violently authoritarian, repressive, and backwards societies?* Is the United States actually in any danger from Russian attempts to strong-arm Georgia and other post-Soviet republics, or does it merely find these things distasteful?

Reasonable people can disagree on any of the issues I’ve just outlined, and many people I respect disagree sharply with my own views. But Weiss’ positions, regardless of how correct he thinks they are, are not intuitively obvious: they can be advanced through argument and debate but one cannot simply wave ones hands and airily assume that the United States needs to intervene everywhere and that occasional Russian opposition to this interventionism is proof of their base hostility and of the failure of the reset.

Indeed, if you look at the issues that Weiss blames for the reset’s failure they are impossible to square with his contention that:

“The hard truth is that the reset was doomed from the beginning by Russia’s increasingly autocratic political system.”

Why would a more democratic Russiasupport a USeffort to overthrow Assad? Why would a more democratic Russiasupport a USwar with Iran? Why would a more democratic Russiastop trying to influence the “near abroad?” Weiss’ contentions on the likely course of a “democratic” Russian foreign policy could be true. Authoritarian governments can and have distorted their foreign policies in fundamentally anti-democratic ways (e.g. Egypt).  There could be polls demonstrating that most Russians strongly dislike the Kremlin’s foreign policy and that they would welcome increased American involvement in the former Soviet space and American armed interventions throughout theMiddle East with open arms. I, however, have never seen nor heard of any such polls because I strongly suspect that they do not exist. Indeed, in contrast to Weiss’ airy assumptions that a more democratic Russian government would automatically be a more  pliant and accommodating one, Turkey’s experience as it democratized over the past 12 odd years would strongly suggest that the relationship between “democracy” and “a foreign policy in line with American needs” is not a straightforward one.

Even more strange than the magical thinking about “democracy” is Weiss’ habit of saying things that would appear to simply not be true. For example:

The men and women who have paid the price for Obama’s gullibility on these points are the beaten-down Russian dissidents, whose fate used to matter to the United States. Even as they have begun the hard work of constructing a domestic opposition movement, they have been denied even token support by the White House.

Russian dissidents have been fighting against Putin since he first came to power. In what possible sense can they be said to be “beginning” the construction of an opposition movement? They’ve been doing this for over a decade and they’ve failed at doing so. That doesn’t mean they’ll always fail, or that their failure is fated, but pretending that the Russian opposition came into existence sometime since Barack Obama‘s election is the kind of carelessness and sloppiness  the calls into question all of the articles other points.

Lastly, while arguing in favor of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of LawAccountability Act, Weiss demonstrates why using opinion polls to argue for a preffered policy outcome can be very dangerous:

This legislation would not only impose travel bans and asset freezes against the 60 Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky case, but carries a universal clause that applies to gross human rights violators in any foreign country. This is why an ever-growing number of Russians supports the bill and Putin wholeheartedly opposes it.

Is it actually true that an “ever-growing growing number of Russians” supports the passage of the bill? Well, no. In August of 2011, 44% of Russians were in favor of efforts  in the West “to ban from entry into European countries and the United States figures from the Magnitsky case (i.e. those against whom he gave testimony and those who were involved in his death).” Just the other day Levada released another poll asking Russians how they related to “the proposals being discussed in theUS and in a number of other Western countries to ban entry to Russian officials who participated in the death of Sergei Magnitsky.” 36% of respondents related positively or very positively, which would seem to suggest precisely the opposite  of what Weiss is alleging: that momentum for the passage of the act is not growing, but slipping. Is the act still a good idea? I have my doubts. But what is quite clear, what is not a matter of debate, is that there is no “growing” consensus among Russians that it is necessary: polls show that the number has decreased over the past year precisely during the time when discussion of the act has grown more frequent.

The reset is a modest policy that has yielded modest results and a modest improvement in Russian-American ties that, under the confrontational policies of George W. Bush, had decayed to their worst levels since before the end of the Cold War. Weiss argument that the rest is a titanic and crippling failure, and that it should immediately be replaced, strongly suggests that his goal is not regime change in Syria or the isolation of Iran (two things that are going to happen regardless of the Kremlin’s wishes) but confrontation with Russia itself. Why anyone would want a comprehensive confrontation with Russiais utterly beyond me. On some issues even I will agree that it makes perfect sense to “confront” (or “oppose” or “disagree with” or whatever you want to say”) the Russians: once they’re in the WTO I hope and expect that the White House will play hard ball defending American commercial interests. But on other issues, I would argue a much larger number of issues, it makes perfect sense to work with the Russians because while their interests are in many respects different from ours they are not diametrically opposed. In short, Weiss prescription is a prescription for the return of policies that have already been tried and have already failed spectacularly.

* Saudi Arabia, on most objective measures, is actually more domestically repressive thanIran. The ludicrousness of working with a country likeSaudi Arabia to “promote human rights” is impossible to exaggerate. Only marginally less ridiculous is the idea that theUnited States government has a genuine and apolitical interest in promoting human rights.

Doubts Cast on Turkey’s Story of Jet

U.S. Intelligence, Contradicting Ankara, Indicates Aircraft Was Shot Down by Syria in Its Own Airspace, Officials Say

BY JULIAN E. BARNES, ADAM ENTOUS AND JOE PARKINSON

U.S. intelligence indicates that a Turkish warplane shot down by Syrian forces was most likely hit by shore-based antiaircraft guns while it was inside Syrian airspace, American officials said, a finding in tune with Syria’s account and at odds with Turkey.

The Turkish government, which moved tanks to the Syrian border after the June 22 incident, says the debris fell in Syrian waters, but maintains its fighter was shot down without warning in international airspace. Ankara also has said the jet was hit too far from Syrian territory to have been engaged by an antiaircraft gun.

Netanyahu to Obama when we say ‘Jump’ you answer, ‘How High’?

Dr. Franklin Lamb Salem-News.com

Graphics by Alex

(BEIRUT Al-Manar) – Presidential candidate Barack Obama is being targeted by the US Israel lobby from A to Z, (Ackerman, Gary & Aipac to Zuckerman, Mort & the Zionist Organization of America) as no American President seeking re-election has been in the country’s 236 year history.

Israel’s duel loyalty agents, as well as more fair minded American Jewish voters have historically intimidated and influenced US presidents seeking reelection, especially those in a tight race, with various financial and political threats and rewards. That’s part of the American political game and obviously plenty of other lobbies do it also.

And it pays off. From Truman’s recognition of Israel’s declaration of statehood during his tough reelection fight in 1948 when Chaim Weizmann and other Jewish leaders swarmed the Oval Office to Carter’s Camp David sell-out of American humanitarian values during his Democratic party splitting 1980 re-election challenge from Ted Kennedy.

For more than 60 years the Zionist lobby has used cash, real & fake polls, and tactics ranging from threats of exposing sex-capers and corruption to withholding or delivering Jewish votes in key states like Florida, New york, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to achieve maximum obeisance to Israel’s goals.

One might agree that all these tactics are part big leagues American politics.

According to long time Israeli diplomat, Abba Eban, President Truman would not have supported a Jewish state were it not for “a crucial $25,000 gift made by Jews to Truman’s vice presidential aspirations in 1944 and that in 1948 American Jews helped Truman again, this time to finance his campaign at a “desperate time”.

According to Eban, “No historian would question the judgment that without the support of, and political pressure from, American Jewry, Israel’s emergence could not have been conceived.” Eban concluded that the Zionist’s lobby’s “extraordinary solidarity and tactics” enlarged Israel’s power beyond the limited dimensions of its space and size.”

Concerned that Truman was too pro-Arab, Zionists enlisted Eddy Jacobson, a friend of Truman’s to sway the President to see Ezer Weizmann once again, despite Truman’s earlier ban on Zionists due to their “harassments.” Truman at first refused. He wrote on February 27, 1948, to Jacobson, just as the Nakba was ethnically cleansing nearly 800,00 Palestinians from their homes and lands, that he would not learn anything new from Weizmann, and added: “The Jews are so emotional, and the Arabs are so difficult to talk with that it is almost impossible to get anything done.” Nonetheless, after considerable persuasion which Jabonson claimed involved large amounts of campaign donations, Truman wrote Jacobson, “You win, you bald-headed SOB. I will see him.”

Concerning Camp David, Jimmy Carter explained a couple of years ago during a question and answer period following a lecture at the American University of Beirut that “the Jewish lobby was relentless with pressure tactics of various sorts and Begin lied to me about Israel’s willingness to make peace with the Palestinians. I regret to have to admit to you that we caved to their political pressure.”

One could perhaps feel for Obama and his campaign staff given what they are reportedly experiencing today, especially since America’s most powerful lobby has become even stronger since the 1980’s. Their tactics are many and aimed at sapping Obama’s will to do what American national interests require. One is Bill Clinton’s reported deal, being talked about on Capitol Hill, with Israeli officials to assure that if Obama is defeated Hillary will make his/her move and lock up the 2016 Democratic primaries and the general election with plenty of attendant joy for Tel Aviv.

The power to make credible demands on Obama involve much more that Jewish votes since they make up a bit less than 2% of the American electorate. Yet, even the smallest group can make an electoral dent if they move in unison and that may happen regarding Obama among those Jewish voters and Christian Zionists who put Israel first. Obama’s fate, though, is more closely tied to the Jewish vote in states Florida and Pennsylvania where they made up 4% of the 2008 electorate in both of these states.

Statistics being used by the Zionist lobby to pressure the increasingly jittery Obama campaign include recent polls. The Republican Jewish Coalition claims that 30% of Jewish voters who support Romney, represents the “highest level of Jewish support for a Republican presidential candidate in 24 years.” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks recently stated that if the Jewish vote poll numbers hold in November, they will spell “a disaster” for Obama.

In the 2008 election, Jews supported Obama by a 57 percentage point margin 1.1 points (57 x 0.02) of his popular vote margin. A recent Gallup poll has Jewish voters still in Obama’s camp, but only by barely 35 percentage points. That is the lowest percentage for a Democratic presidential candidate among the Jewish electorate since 1988. A recent Gallup polls reveals a 10-point drop in Jewish voter support (22% in New York) or five points worse than Obama’s shrinkage among all registered voters compared with 2008.

The Israel lobby knows, and they know that Obama’s campaign staff knows, that any diminution in his support from Jewish voters will have a major impact in a very tight election. They both realize that Obama needs to retain his 2008 Jewish vote levels and campaign cash – or risk defeat. . In a close election, one point either way could make the difference as it did in Florida’s 2000 election.

So what price is being demanded of the Obama campaign for Zionist lobby support between now and November 6^th?

They include, but are not limited to the following:

-Obama must freeze Israeli-Palestinian “peace talks” and block European Union pressures on Israel over the settlement and human rights issues;

-Israel wants Obama to pressure the government of Turkey to cancel the 5/28/12 indictment of four senior Israeli military commanders, who have been charged in a Turkish court in connection with the killing of nine Turkish citizens in 2010 on broad the Mari Marmara, one of the ships of the Freedom Flotilla. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of former Israeli military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, the former head of military intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, head of the navy, Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom, and head of the air force, Brigadier General Avishai Lev. Israel wants them withdrawn. According to an aid of Senator John Kerrey, the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO) of the US State Department has advised the US Senate Foreign Relations committee that the Israeli attack on the Mari Marmara constituted an international crime which involved lethal and excessive force and resulted in the killing of nine civilians and the wounding of at least 50 others. The State Department further advised Congress that while Israel carried out an inquiry into the attack, that inquiry failed to meet the requirements of international law. Israel has not prosecuted anyone who killed those on board the Mari Marmara;

-A green light to attack Iran in case the Zionist leadership decides to do it;

-An unequivocal White House commitment that the 2012 Democratic Convention Party Platform will back the 5/17/12 passed resolution (H. Res. 568 adopted by vote of 401-11) affirming that it is U.S. policy to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability and opposing any reliance on a policy seeking to contain a nuclear-capable Iran;

-That the White House force US Senator John Kerrey, Chairman of the Foreign Relation Committee to expedite a vote on a similar resolution in the Senate (S. J. Res. 41) which remains on hold in Kerrey’s committee.

- That the White House publicly endorse the 5/23/12 Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Human Rights Act (S. 2101), which would dramatically escalate the level of sanctions against Iran and sharply tighten the enforcement of existing sanctions law.

-A public pledge by Obama that the US will attack Iran and Hezbollah if either retaliates against Israel for its bombing of the Islamic republic.

-More money for fourteen new Research & Development projects for the Israeli military;

- Free convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard,

-More visible White House support for various congressional resolutions supported by Israel, ranging from those targeting Iran, Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians.

-Regime change is Syria,

-Instruct Egypt that the price for continued US military and economic aid is to embrace the Camp ‘David accords and all its provisions requiring Egypt to “cooperate with Israel”  

 

-Arrange for Israeli Embassy space in Cairo given that to date no one is willing to rent it any, and damp down Muslim Brotherhood calls for the recovery of Palestine;

- Support for the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 (H.R. 4133 and S. 2165), which recommends several ways to strengthen U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation in such fields as missile defense, homeland security, energy, intelligence and cyber-security. The House bill, which passed on May 8 by a vote of 411-2, led by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD).

-That the 2012 Democratic Platform and candidate Obama emphasize over the next five months the need for America to guarantee Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge over any and all combinations of adversaries on the battlefield.

Obama election year groveling to Israel was perhaps symbolized by the June, 13 2012White House spectacle of bestowal on Israel’s President Shimon Peres of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in theUnited States.

The PMF recognizes those individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

Peres, father of Israel’s colonial settlements, has committed myriad international crimes against the Lebanese people and Palestinian refugees, including the April 18, 1996 Qana Massacre that killed 106 Lebanese and Palestinians and wounded approximately 120 including four Fijian 

UNIFIL soldiers who were among the 800 civilians who had taken refuge in the compound. Peres sanctioned countless other attacks on civilians killing more than 14,000 civil and wounding more than 25,000 as part of various Israel aggression during his time as Prime Minister, meaning that he belongs on trial at the International Criminal Court at the Hague not at a White House dinner even in an election year. Despite knowing this, Obama caved to AIPAC and Congressional campaign pressure and sullied the PMF, his office and claimed American valves.

In an email from one Congressional staffer, she explained that the lobby wanted Peres to receive this honor which disgusted many on Capitol Hill and internationally, hoping to deflect some of the increasing condemnations the Apartheid regime has been receiving including the recent British government’s Foreign Office in its report, Children in Military Custody has accused Israel of illegal mistreatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding, solitary confinement and the use of leg irons. found that “undisputed facts” pointed to at least six violations of the UN convention on the rights of the child, to which Israel is a signatory.

The report claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehicles. The children are held in conditions that amount to torture, such as solitary confinement and no access to their parents.

In a damning conclusion, the report points out repeated breaches of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

In addition, Israel is a party to the Geneva Conventions, and bound by its obligations, yet Articles 76 and 65 of the 4th Geneva Convention were also found to have been breached, according to the report.

Article 76 prohibits detainees from being transported to the country of the authority which has detained them. In this case, Palestinian children were found to have been transported from the West Bank into Israel.

Article 65 states that any penal laws applied to prisoners in an occupied land must be translated into their own language. The lawyers said the Israeli authorities failed to translate Military Order 1676 from Hebrew into Arabic.

To the extent Obama convinces the Israel lobby between now and Tuesday November 6th may determine whether he is a one term President or returns for a second term with its uncertainties regarding traditional US Presidential support for Israel given that during his second term, as he has stated publicly thanks to a live media mike, he will have much more flexibility.

It is too early to know what boast Obama’s campaign might receive from the US Supreme Court’s 6/29/12 decision upholding his truly historic achievement of reforming the American health system which will provide quality health care for more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Widespread public approval of Obamacare may significantly weaken Zionist lobby plans to control the White House as it has the Congress and how high President Obama needs to jump.

_______________________________

Dr. Franklin Lamb is Director of the Sabra Shatila Foundation. Contact him at: fplamb@sabrashatila.org. He is working with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign in Lebanon on drafting legislation which, after 62 years, would, if adopted by Lebanon’s Cabinet and Parliament grant the right to work and to own a home to Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugees. One part of the PCRC legislative project is its online Petition which can be viewed and signed at: petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html. Lamb is reachable atfplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org. Franklin Lamb’s book on the Sabra-Shatila Massacre, International Legal Responsibility for the Sabra-Shatila Massacre, now out of print, was published in 1983, following Janet’s death and was dedicated to Janet Lee Stevens. He was a witness before the Israeli Kahan Commission Inquiry, held at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in January 1983.

Shah Deniz Consortium Selects Nabucco, Regardless of Unresolved Turkmen Caspian Issues

[Movement on this issue is circumstantial evidence that major money changed hands under the table, in order to buy all sides onto the same team.  Putin's next move may determine the issue of war or peace in Central Asia, for the near future.]

ASIA: SHAH DENIZ CONSORTIUM SELECTS SECOND GAS EXPORT ROUTE OPTION TO EUROPE, SAYS BP

 

(EnergyAsia, June 29 2012, Friday) — The Shah Deniz consortium, led by UK’s BP and Norway’s Statoil, has concluded its evaluation of potential gas export routes towards Southeastern and Central Europe.

In a statement, the consortium operator BP said the Nabucco West project with a route running from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Baumgarten has been selected as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe.

Development of the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) project, which had been assembled by Shah Deniz partners in collaboration with Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, will cease. This decision was made on the basis of the publicly communicated selection criteria announced last year.

In particular, BP said the greater maturity of Nabucco West gave the consortium confidence that this project could be developed and delivered on the same timeline as Stage 2.

The Shah Deniz Stage 2 project aims to deliver gas from the Caspian Sea to markets in Turkey and Europe, opening up the “Southern Gas Corridor”. The progress made to date allows the consortium to maintain its target for first gas exports from Stage 2 project around the end of 2017.

BP said the consortium will cooperate with the Nabucco West project to optimise its scope, its technical studies and its commercial offer.

Based on the same criteria, in February this year the consortium selected the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as the potential route for export of Stage 2 gas to Italy. Since that decision, the Shah Deniz consortium has closely worked with TAP, recently concluding a co-operation agreement with this project.

BP and Statoil each have a 25.5% stake in the consortium developing the Shah Deniz II gas field, which is thought to hold 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas. Their partners include Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR, Russia’s LukOil, NICO, Total SA and TPAO.

BP said the consortium will continue to work with the owners of the two selected pipeline options. It will make a final decision between these projects, and will conclude related gas sales agreements ahead of the final investment decision due in mid-2013.

Shah Deniz II is expected to add 16 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/year) of gas production to the approximately 9 bcm/year from Shah Deniz Stage 1.

The latest development, located 70 km offshore in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, is expected to include two new bridge-linked production platforms, 26 subsea wells to be drilled with 2 semi-submersible rigs, 500 km of subsea pipelines built at up to 550m of water depth, a 16 bcm/year upgrade for the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), and expansion of the Sangachal Terminal.

Rashid Javanshir, President of the BP Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Region, said:

“We are delighted to announce the selection of the Nabucco West option, alongside our earlier selection of TAP. 

This represents another important milestone in the development of Shah Deniz Stage 2 and the transportation of gas resources from the Caspian to Europe.

“We are grateful to the governments and companies who have supported the development of both the Nabucco West and SEEP pipeline projects.”

Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, said:

“This decision constitutes a significant step towards implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor Strategy which would serve the strategic interest for sustained energy security of European countries as well as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

“This indicates the growing role of Azerbaijan as an enabler to provide diversified energy resources to European market.”

BP said the consortium will consider building more pipeline capacity to deliver Shah Deniz gas through Turkey and Europe. Any export route selected for export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas would need to have the ability to meet all relevant environmental, safety, social, legal and regulatory standards.

Syrian Army Masses Armor Near Turkish Border, Countering Turkish Moves

Syrian army amassing near Turkish border, FSA general claims

ANTAKYA – Reuters

 

 A Syrian army tank patrols an area in the district of Al-Waar in the flashpoint city of Homs on May 2, 2012. AFP

A general in the rebel Free Syria Army said today that Syrian government forces had amassed around 170 tanks north of the city Aleppo, near the Turkish border, but there was no independent confirmation of the report.

General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the Higher Military Council, an association of senior officers who defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, said the tanks had assembled at the Infantry School near the village of Musalmieh northeast of the city of Aleppo, 30 kilometers from the Turkish border.

“The tanks are now at the Infantry School. They’re either preparing to move to the border to counter the Turkish deployment or attack the rebellious [Syrian] towns and villages in and around the border zone north of Aleppo,” Sheikh told Reuters by telephone from the border.

He said the tanks were mostly from the 17th Mechanised Division.

Turkey deployed air defense weaponry along its border with Syria yesterday, following Syria’s downing of a Turkish warlplane over the Mediterranean on Friday.

Lavrov: Repetition of Libyan Scenario in Syria Is Catastrophic for Whole Region

MOSCOW, (SANA) - Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, on Thursday said that Russia rejects any foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs, stressing the need for solving the crisis in Syria and restoring stability to it.

In a joint press conference with his Tunisian counterpart, Rafiq Abdel Salam in Moscow,  Lavrov regretted targeting Syrian media, stressing the necessity of not stopping the  broadcast of Syrian satellite channels acceding to the calls of some western  and Arab countries.

He said that it is a must to guarantee the freedom of expression and media, pointing out that targeting media became in the nature of some world governments such as the NATO bombing attack on TV center in Belgrade and the television center in Tripoli.

Lavrov warned against the agendas of some TV satellite channels which might turned into serious ideology, adding that several parties are involved in violence in Syria side by side with the armed terrorist groups.

On Geneva meeting, Lavrov stressed that leaking formulas to the media before the meeting is irresponsible stance and irresponsible approach of diplomacy.

Lavrov stressed that there is no draft resolution for Geneva meeting on Syria, indicating that there are proposals to be studied in the preparatory meeting to be held on Friday, underlining that “No agreed Syrian resolutions drafted for Geneva conference.”

Lavrov said that the Syrian people alone have the right to decide the transitional period on the basis of national dialogue and with the participation of the Syrian government and the opposition groups, adding that the international community agreed on these principles since it agreed on the plan of the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan.

Lavrov said Russia rejects the imposition of previously-made recommendations on Syria, adding that Geneva meeting aims at supporting Annan’s plan as to create appropriate atmosphere to launch comprehensive national dialogue to solve the crisis in Syria.

The main role of the Gulf parties should be to influence all relevant parties to halt violence in Syria and the withdrawal of governmental forces and the opposition groups from all cities and villages under UN supervision to sit down around the negotiation table, Lavrov said.

Lavrov added that the Syrian people only has the right to determine the system of the rule in their country within the framework of the national dialogue, indicating that this principled vision constituted the basis for Russia’s call for holding Geneva meeting and it suggested the participation of the UN Security Council permanent members and some Arab, regional and European countries.

He said that the list of participants included the main countries and the essential international players, adding that the Geneva meeting aims at reaching a settlement to the crisis despite the stance of some groups and organizations such as the so-called “Friends of Syria” group which invites more than 150 countries to attend their meeting for promotion rather that serious dialogue.

Lavrov said that the U.S. rejection of Iran’s participation in Geneva meeting reflects its doubled-standard policy, underlining that it was a mistake to exclude Iran from the Geneva talks as the meeting represents a chance to unify the stances of key players on the crisis in Syria to end violence and start the political process.

Lavrov underlined that there is no NATO member who desired to repeat the mistaken Libyan scenario in Syria since such intervention will be catastrophic for the whole region, indicating to communications with NATO representatives in this regard.

He stressed that the two countries share the same stance towards preventing the repetition of the Libyan scenario in Syria.

He called for democracy in implementing the principle of the rule of the international law in international relations and the multi-polarization in addition to enhancing the central role of the UN.

Lavrov said that Russia and Tunisia called for enhancing the role of the UN within the framework of this organization, reiterating Russia’s support to the aspirations of the people in the region for better life, stressing that changes should serve the interests of all sides.

The Russian Foreign Minister and his Tunisian counterpart agreed on that the changes should not lead to sectarian conflicts.

Lavrov said the people should determine their destiny without any foreign interference and the country’s sovereignty, independence and the safety of its territories should be respected and these principles can be applied in regard to the crisis in Syria.

He expressed full support to the changes taking place which work towards achieving national agreement and all other changes and reforms that meet the people’s aspirations.

For his part, Tunisian Foreign Minister stressed that the participation of some Arab and Tunisian youths in the crisis in Syria is destructive rather than useful, adding that Tunisia rejects the involvement of Tunisian youths in the Syrian Affair.

He added that Tunisia supports real political reforms in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people in regard to Syria’s priorities away from foreign intervention.

Abdel Salam hailed Russia’s positive and balanced stance towards the Palestinian cause and its commitment to the international legitimacy resolutions, in addition to rejecting settlement.

MOSCOW: the Attack on al-Ikbariya TV was carried out for political considerations

The Russian Foreign Ministry underlined that the attack on Syrian al-Ikhbariya TV has been carried out for political considerations.

“The act is a brutal aggression against those who differ in opinion and who tried to relay the objective image about what is taking place,” Alexander Lukashevich, the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman said in a press statement today.  

He added that Moscow has no doubt that this crime had a political background and it was directed not only against persons, but against a media institution.

“Unfortunately that act comes within the list of acts that directly contradict with the principles of the freedom of opinion and publication       

Gatilov: Syrians should Set Conditions for Moving to Political Process

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said that the participants in Geneva conference on Syria due to be held on Saturday have to provide the necessary conditions for moving to a political process that the Syrians determine.

Gatilov added on his Twitter account that ”Forming a national unity government in Syria is not possible except through dialogue between the government and the opposition groups.” 

Lavrov Discusses with Annan the International Conference on Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed in a phone call with the UN envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, the international conference on Syria due to be held in Geneva on Saturday.

In a statement on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the two sides highlighted issued related to organizing Geneva conference.

The Russian Foreign Ministry indicate that Lavrov discussed with his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, the crisis in Syria. The two sides said they had close stances on the issue.

English Bulletin 

Troop immunity likely to be focus of U.S., Afghanistan deal

[US insistence on obtaining immunity for its Special Forces hunters out to kill more Iraqis screwed Obama's deal for a permanent presence in Iraq.  Will their demand for unlimited license to hunt Afghans cost them the same price in Afghanistan?]

A soldier from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division walks with his weapon to an MRAP while preparing to leave in a convoy inside FOB Joyce in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province June 24, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson
By Missy Ryan and Hamid Shalizi

KABUL

(Reuters) – U.S. and Afghan officials are likely to tussle over legal protections for American soldiers inAfghanistan when they begin negotiations on a security agreement that would allow some U.S. troops to remain beyond 2014.

Afghan officials say they expect the deal with the United States to include the number of U.S. troops permitted to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014; the number of bases where troops will be located, and who will control them; what those troops can and can’t do and legal immunities for those soldiers.

Talks on the security agreement, which have not begun, follow the conclusion of another bilateral deal outlining the two countries’ future ties, which U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed in Kabul in May.

This time, negotiators must tackle some of the most sensitive issues that were ultimately excluded from the first deal, even as many Afghans, and Karzai himself, chafe against a foreign troop presence that has lasted more than a decade.

If such talks failed, the United States would be forced to pull out a force now numbering 90,000 by the end of 2014, when NATO nations are due to remove most troops, despite few signs that a resilient Taliban insurgency will soon die out.

Aimal Faizi, chief spokesman for Karzai, said the agreement, which is supposed to be finished by next May, would focus on the “nature, scope and obligations” of the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan after 2014.

“Both sides will start talking based on these three areas,” Faizi told Reuters.

It’s not known how many U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan will stay behind after the end of 2014.

The remaining force could include several tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers, likely focusing on special forces operations targeting al Qaeda and other militants, advising Afghanistan’s inexperienced military, and retain the ability to launch U.S. drones that target militants in neighboring Pakistan.

“The security agreement will touch upon the most contentious issues that have had times strained the relationship between the two countries – so I expect that these will take a very long time,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.

Long-standing Afghan demands to subject foreign soldiers to local law may be the main stumbling block for negotiations.

A HARDER LINE?

Whether, and when, a U.S. soldier might be tried in a local court was perhaps the most contentious issue when the United States hammered out a similar deal in 2008 with Iraq. Ultimately, the deal allowed Iraq to try U.S. soldiers for “grave” crimes committed off-duty, and off base.

As in Iraq, foremost in the mind of Afghan negotiators will likely be past missteps or abuse by American soldiers, along with years of civilian deaths that have occurred during NATO military operations.

A series of scandals involving American soldiers this year culminated in March when a U.S. staff sergeant is alleged to have walked off his base and shot at least 16 villagers in their homes.

The soldier accused in that case, Robert Bales, was whisked out of Afghanistan and is facing military trial in the United States.

Afghans also demanded that U.S. soldiers who burned copies of the Muslim holy book on a NATO base face local trial. But U.S. officials have indicated they may face only administrative discipline within the U.S. military.

A current U.S. troop agreement with Afghanistan, which has been in force since 2003, gives U.S. military personnel protection from prosecution in Afghan courts in most cases.

Yet Karzai, who critics see as bowing to Western interests, may be keen to be seen to assert Afghan sovereignty by taking a harder line in those negotiations.

At the same time, Katulis said, “the Afghan government’s negotiating stance will be more limited than what we saw in Iraq last year because the Afghan government is much more dependent on external sources of support”.

There is always the possibility that Afghanistan could ultimately rebuff the U.S. bid to secure its future troop base in Afghanistan beyond 2014 if the two countries can’t hammer out a deal on troop immunity, or for other reasons.

Last year, U.S. officials abandoned talks for a deal that would have allowed some U.S. soldiers to remain in Iraq beyond the expiration of the two countries’ security pact.

That is seen as far less likely in Afghanistan given the country’s reliance on outside military power and the threat from the Taliban.

(Editing by Michael Georgy and Robert Birsel)

More Soldier-On-Soldier Action At Ft. Bragg

[SEE:  It is this “Warrior Mentality” Nonsense That Is Creating the Monsters]

Army investigators work the scene of a fatal shooting Thursday. A soldier with the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade was shot and killed during a safety briefing.  Staff photo by Drew Brooks

One soldier killed, two injured in shooting on Fort Bragg

By Drew Brooks
Staff writer

A Fort Bragg soldier shot and killed another soldier during a unit safety briefing on post Thursday afternoon, then shot and wounded himself, officials said.

Both soldiers were assigned to the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade. A third soldier in the unit suffered a minor injury.

None of the soldiers’ identities have been released by Fort Bragg authorities.

The shooting happened around 3:30 p.m. during a briefing ahead of the long weekend for soldiers, officials said. It is unclear how many shots were fired.

Fort Bragg spokesman Col. Kevin Arata said he did not know the specific nature of the injuries of the two surviving soldiers, but said the shooter was alive and in custody.

A senior U.S. defense official told NBC News that the soldier killed was a battalion commander. Arata wouldn’t confirm the report but did say the brigade’s commander was not harmed.

“This is a tragedy for our community. We don’t yet know the reasons for the shooting, but are working with the unit and the affected families to help them through this difficult period,” Arata said. “Our prayers are with those who have been affected by this terrible incident.”

The killing is believed to be the first shooting murder on Fort Bragg in more than 15 years, when Sgt. William J. Kreutzer Jr. opened fire on his brigade at Towle Stadium. But the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade lost another soldier about three months ago when he was shot and killed in Fayetteville.

Thursday’s shooting was in a field next to the Bastogne Gables neighborhood on Fort Bragg. The area is in Fort Bragg’s historic district, several blocks from Macomb Street.

The field, often used for formations by nearby units, is flanked by buildings used by the 525th and the 16th Military Police Brigade.

Hours after the shooting, military police and agents from Army Criminal Investigation Command remained on the scene, which centered on the area around a small wooden stage.

Nearby intersections in the area of Letterman and Armistead streets remained blocked Thursday evening.

The 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade has several subordinate battalions, including the 319th Military Intelligence Battalion, the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, the 1st Squadron of the 38th Cavalry Regiment and the 525 Brigade Support Battalion.

Safety briefings are common on Fort Bragg and typically take place before weekends or holidays to remind soldiers to be safe and use caution.

Fort Bragg soldiers have a training holiday today and do not report back for duty until Tuesday.

It is unclear what, if anything, was the motive for the attack.

The Army has been confronting a surge of suicides within the military, officials have said.

Pentagon statistics obtained by The Associated Press show that suicides have spiked this year to roughly one a day, higher than the rate of combat deaths. About half of those turning weapons on themselves have no history of deployment.

Thursday’s killing came three months after the murder of Sgt. Kevin Moseby in Fayetteville. Moseby, who had been with the Special Troops Battalion, 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade since January 2010, was shot at his home in March.

Another soldier, Duane Brown Jr. of Sanford, was charged in that killing.

While several non-shooting murders have occurred on Fort Bragg in recent years, officials said it is very rare to have a soldier shot and killed on the military installation.

In October 1995, Kreutzer shot and killed Maj. Stephen Mark Badger and wounded 18 other soldiers. Kreutzer is serving a life sentence at a military prison in Kansas.

Staff writer Drew Brooks can be reached at brooksd@fayobserver.com or 486-3567.

Karimov Takes Uzbekistan Out of CSTO, Clearing Path for US Base

[SEE:  CSTO talks tough on NATO]

 ”The leaders of the CSTO agreed that the deployment of foreign bases in their territory is only possible with the consent of all CSTO partners.”

Uzbekistan Without CSTO: Expected but Risky

Andrei Smirnov

Photo: RIA Novosti

Uzbekistan suspends its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). On June 28th official Tashkent sent a relevant note to the CSTO Secretariat.

The collective security treaty was signed on May 15th, 1992. On December 2nd, 2004, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on granting the CSTO an observer status in the UN General Assembly. The CSTO unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This agreement provides for the right of any CSTO member to opt out of the organization at any time.

Tashkent has already used its right: in 1999 it refused to extend the treaty but in August of 1999 it restored its CSTO membership. In 2009 Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov refused to sign the agreement on the Collective Forces of Operative Reaction (CFOR) within the CSTO treaty and brought cooperation with the Collective Security Treaty Organization to a minimum. Possibly, Russia’s plans to open a military base in Kyrgyzstan that Uzbekistan was strongly against, served as a reason. There are rather strained relations between Bishkek and Tashkent, which is explained by the existence of 58 disputable areas on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. In addition to this, the inter-ethnic clashes that occurred in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 cooled the relations between the two countries even more.

Russian experts are not surprised at the suspension of Uzbekistan’s CSTO membership. And still, Tashkent has made a very risky step, an expert with the Institute of the CIS States, Andrei Grozin says. “Tashkent’s foreign policy is zigzagging. It undergoes changes only once in 2 or 3 years. Tashkent wants to win the love of NATO that is interested in solving tasks concerning the cuts of the Uzbek contingent in Afghanistan. Tashkent wants to become the key link in the future troop withdrawal and play the role of the main spring board through which the transshipment of cargoes to today’s Afghanistan’s western border will be carried out”, Grozin stressed.

However, with due regard for the current situation in Central Asian countries which is very difficult, they won’t do without security guarantees on the part of their neighbours. Neither the USA nor NATO wants to give such guarantees to Uzbekistan – and none of them can do that. Tashkent has time to think everything over. Taking into account the choices the Uzbek authorities make from time to time, Uzbekistan may soon again find itself on the list of CSTO members.

Awareness of the Impending War On Pakistan Is Increasing

[I've been warning about the planned attack upon Pakistan for several years.  Maybe if enough of us take-up the chorus it will be heard by the American people before they learn about it after the fact on our controlled national media )SEE:  Waging War Upon Our Friends ;  Dissecting the Anti-Pakistan Psyop ).]]

“Bring ’em on!” – US tells Pakistan

M K Bhadrakumar

Is the United States starting a low-intensity war against Pakistan? The signs look ominous. Washington’s wrath will only increase in the coming months.

Parvez Kayani, the current Chief of the Pakistan Army

Is the United States starting a low-intensity war against Pakistan? The signs look ominous. The relentless drone attacks through the recent months are destabilizing Pakistan’s tribal areas, especially the areas adjacent to the border with Afghanistan. The US’ excuse is that the drones are hunting down the militants belonging to the so-called Haqqani group. But they are causing a lot of civilian casualties so much so that the United Nations officials begin to wonder if these wanton killings would constitute ‘war crimes’.

Indeed, the destruction caused by the drones is fuelling antagonism in the minds of the people who live in the tribal areas. They blame their government in Islamabad for doing nothing to protect them. On its part, Pakistan government keeps protesting to the US about the violation of its territorial integrity but the US ignores the demarches and continues with the drone attacks.

The US would know that the drone attacks do not provide the conducive setting for a normalization of the US-Pakistan relationship. Yet, it is not prepared to give up the drone attacks. There seems to a game plan to systematically destabilize the Waziristan area and to provoke the Pakistani military leadership.

Meanwhile, there has been a concerted attack by assorted militants of dubious backgrounds on Pakistani troops from across the border in Afghanistan. Exactly who they are or who are their mentors no one knows. In a cross-border strike on Monday, the militants used extremely brutal method to behead Pakistani soldiers. Evidently, they were making a point – showing their thumbs up at the Pakistani military leadership.

To add to the tensions, for the first time, the militants have publicly admitted that they do enjoy ‘safe haven’ on Afghan soil. This is something Pakistan has hinted at in recent period but it is now coming into the open. Again, they are taunting the Pakistani military leadership. The former US President George W. Bush would say, “Bring ‘em on!”

Coinciding with these developments, US’ commander in Afghanistan John Allen undertakes a visit to the Pakistani Army Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, ostensibly for the purpose of discussing the reopening of the NATO’s supply routes through Pakistan. But his real intention would have been to fathom the mood of the generals in Rawalpindi following these provocations. He probably wished to reinforce the signal to the Pakistani side that the US might hit back at Pakistan with cross-border terrorism unless Pakistan cracked down on the Haqqani group. Allen did this nicely and diplomatically – but unambiguously – by proposing ‘joint operations’ by the US and Pakistan forces along the border region.

Allen met the Pakistani army chief Parvez Kayani in a one-on-one meeting. Kayani seems to have protested about the safe havens available for the militants on Afghan soil and called on the US-led coalitiontroops in Afghanistan to stop “miscreant attacks on Pakistani border posts.”

This is going to be a cat-and-mouse game. Pakistan is hunkering down and the US is losing patience. The decision in Washington seems to be to carry the war into Pakistani territory and incrementally inflict such unbearable losses that Pakistan finds it impossible to defy the US’ regional strategies.

Quite obviously, the US has concluded it has no alternatives but to step up the pressure and escalate tensions in a calibrated way. The US has been taken by surprise at Pakistan’s ‘strategic defiance’. The fact of the matter is that the present directions of Pakistani foreign policy hold the serious threat of undermining the US’ regional strategies with regard to permanent military presence in Central Asia, US’ containment strategy toward China (and Russia), projection of the NATO as a global security organization and of course the so-called New Silk Road Initiative.

The possibility that with Russian and/or Chinese participation, Pakistan might proceed with the Iran gas pipeline project infuriates the US to no end. Pakistan’s manifest enthusiasm for Russia’s participation in the TAPI [Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India] gas pipeline project rubbishes the US’ expectations that American companies could secure lucrative energy contracts via involvement in the project. The US apprehends that during the visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pakistan in September, the two countries may begin a qualitatively new level of relationship with major projects in the energy sector.

If that happens, the US’ containment strategy toward Iran also begins to unravel.

In sum, the US’ patience is wearing thin. The common wisdom in the international community, historically speaking, has been that the Pakistani elites with their comprador mentality might say a few hot words now and then but would ultimately be loyal foot soldiers of the US agenda. The basis of this supposition is that ultimately the class interests of the Pakistani elites would prevail as the crucial determinant of statecraft. Of course, the US has had to pick up the tab for the services rendered by Pakistan but that was only to be expected.

The US establishment has been attuned to this paradigm characteristic of the cold-war era. That is why the US establishment is shocked to see that the Pakistani elites (military leadership, in particular) are no longer what they were supposed to be – Washington’s hirelings serving the US’ global agenda.

Washington’s wrath will only increase in the coming months. We are witnessing the commencement of a US-inspired low-intensity war against Pakistan being waged by obscure militant groups based in ‘safe havens’ inside Afghanistan. Call it by whatever name one likes, but the project aims at breaking Pakistan’s strategic autonomy.

To be sure, Pakistan comprehends what is going on. But what are its policy options? ‘Hot pursuit’ across the border into Afghanistan across formidable terrain may seem an option. But it isn’t an option. It may turn out to be a trap, as the US may also choose the precedent and send its own troops into Pakistan. Carefully planted media leaks recently revealed that the thought of cross-border attacks on Afghanistan by US troops did cross the American mind more than once in the past. Suffice to say, Allen’s proposal to Kayani on ‘joint operations’ is a double-edged sword.

Yair Klein Reveals That He Was “Asked by the Colombian government to help train FARC.”

Yair Klein Israeli mercenary. Photo Week

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The old master trainer of mercenaries and terrorists is threatening to do the one thing which no other source has ever done, reveal that he trained both sides of an American limited war effort in Colombia, and promised to provide details of that era.  This is mind-blowing stuff.....think about it,.....the man worked for the Israeli government, to carry-out secret American military and drug control policy, with the full consent of the Colombian host government.  Klein is validating every known conspiracy theory about the secret S. American drug war, especially those speculating about CIA drug-running.  More importantly to us today, is that Yair is validating the most ludicrous conspiracy theory imaginable (the one that has kept me searching for proof), that the CIA trains and finances all major terrorist operations in secret, in order to justify the open creation of paramilitary counter-forces (death squads), such as the dreaded AUC in Colombia, which was also trained by Mr. Klein and his British and American associates.  

This is an identical set-up to that now being employed from Pakistan to the Middle East, as well as in Africa...the Pentagon/CIA train both the terrorist armies (a.k.a., "al-Qaeda") and the Special Operations military forces who fight against them.  It is no coincidence that Special Forces are the units which train together on the international level, as well as the primary motivational force within the US Military.  According to popular doctrine, all military forces should be trained by "SpecOps."  

Yair Klein could never reveal such geostrategic secrets and survive the telling, but maybe he is the kind of guy who doesn't give a shit, or possibly a real "jedi warrior" type who fights for honor or the cause of justice in this world.  Until Klein, or someone like him, blows the whistle on the whole stinking mess, researchers like me will continue to search for someone, or something which proves incontrovertibly, that the United States government is the world's greatest source of terrorism.]

Yair Klein threatens to blow whistle on Colombian gov’t

By DAN IZENBERG

“What I have on these officials is fantastic,” Klein says; Justice Ministry says it does not plan to take any action in former IDF officer’s case.

Photo: Courtesy

A Justice Ministry spokesman said Sunday that the ministry does not anticipate having to take any action in the case of former IDF Lt.-Col. Yair Klein, who returned from Russia over the weekend after more than three years in prison.

In 2001, Klein was tried in absentia by the Supreme Tribunal of the Manzales district of Colombia and sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison on charges of training illegal paramilitary groups. The Colombian government issued a warrant for his arrest with Interpol, and he was detained during a visit to Russia in August 2007.

The Colombian government asked Russia to extradite Klein. The government agreed to do so and the Russian courts, in a series of rulings, upheld the decision despite appeals by Klein’s lawyers, including his Israeli attorney, Mordechai Tzivin.

Tzivin appealed the final decision of the Russian Supreme Court in May 2008 to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that Russia had not taken into account the poor state of human rights in Colombia at the time, as well as a threat by former Colombian vice president Francisco Santos, that Klein would “rot in jail” after his return to Colombia.

The human rights court, in April of this year, forbade Russia from extraditing Klein to Colombia. Russia appealed the decision, but the appeal was denied last month.

On Sunday, in a telephone conversation with The Jerusalem Post, Klein said his entire relationship with Colombia was approved by the Israeli and Colombian governments.

Klein said that in 1988 he was sent by the Israeli Defense Ministry to help protect the organization of banana growers in Colombia at the request of the Colombian government.

Before he had time to take action, he said, the organization was destroyed. He told the Post that in the meantime, however, he was asked

by the Colombian government

to help train FARC,

the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Klein indicated that there was a conspiracy involving senior government officials who were cooperating with FARC. He also claimed that FARC fought against the drug cartels in Colombia.

Klein told the Post that if the Colombian government persisted in its efforts to force him to return to Columbia, he would blow the whistle on officials in the current and previous Columbian governments.

“What I have on these officials is fantastic,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tzivin said that for the past month, ever since the European Court of Human Rights prohibited Russia from extraditing Klein, the public, the media and the government in Colombia have been preoccupied with what illegal activities Klein might divulge about Colombian political and military leaders.

Presumably in an effort to persuade the Colombian government to drop the affair, Tzivin told the Post, “My client has information that could cause political shockwaves in the senior echelons of the current and previous Colombian governments.

If exposed, the information could lead to dismissals in the government and the arrest of past and present political and military figures.

“I recommended to my client not to publish the information so as not to cause chaos, since Colombia is now significantly improving the state of human rights in the country.”

Red Cross Triage Seminar In Tajikistan Prepares Surgeons for Mass Casualties

[What does the International Committee of the Red Cross know that it should be sharing with the rest of us?  Tajikistan is being set-up to be the scene of the first interstate war in Central Asia and the countdown has begun (SEE:  New mini-Cold War Heating-Up In Southern Central Asia?).]

Tajikistan: surgeons discuss weapon wounds and management of mass casualties

DUSHANBE, June 28, 2012, Asia-Plus – On Thursday June 28, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched a three-day seminar bringing together 37 surgeons-practitioners from hospitals located in the areas potentially prone to emergency situations or contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnances (UXO), the ICRC Office in Tajikistan reported.

Surgeons from Khatlon and Sughd provinces, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and Districts Subordinate to the Center representing Tajik Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Committee for Emergency Situations, Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Committee for National Security are taking part in the event.

The seminar is facilitated by two ICRC senior surgeons, who between them have 25 years of experience in war and emergency surgery, and will serve as a platform for exchanging experiences and best practices.  It will be also an occasion for Tajikistan’s Red Crescent Society (RCS) to share its experience of providing fist aid in emergencies.

“This seminar will focus on surgery for people injured by weapons, together with the management of mass casualties,” explained Valery Sasin, ICRC senior surgeon.  “Surgeons need to be well-prepared to respond to all kinds of emergencies, through familiarity with tried and tested techniques that can save lives and limit the long-term consequences of injuries.  The ICRC has gained international recognition in the surgical management of emergency-related trauma and seeks to share this knowledge with medical circles all over the world.”

This event, organized by the ICRC with the support of the Ministry of Health follows a previous seminar, held in 2011, which brought together 50 surgeons from different Tajik ministries and agencies.  This year, three surgeons from Kazakhstan have joined their Tajik colleagues.

The ICRC has been working in Tajikistan since 1992 and carried out a major humanitarian operation during the 1992-1997 civil war.  More recently, the organization has supported the mine risk education program and other activities of the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan.  In 2012, the ICRC has launched a project to provide micro-economic grants to most vulnerable mine victims and their families.  The ICRC, through its Special Fund for Disabled, also supports the Dushanbe orthopedic centre, which provides physical rehabilitation services for mine victims and other disabled people.  In addition, the organization promotes international humanitarian law in the country.

US DEA Manipulating Mexican Drug War To Influence Sunday’s Presidential Election

[As this latest story from the Mexican drug wars emerges, we begin to see the complex nature of the grand psyop which is being set-up for us there.  The latest chapter in the story involves two young men who were arrested by Mexican military authorities, based on US DEA directives.  The charges against them were that they were allegedly to be the sons of "El Chapo" Guzman, who is called "the world's most powerful drug lord" by the CIA psy-warriors.   These men, who have been tied to the notorious drug baron by the compromised American media are not who they have been alleged to be.  They are not related to Guzman and therefore innocent of the charges leveled  against them by the USDEA.  After the mistake was revealed by Beltran's lawyers, the bizarre twist unfolded next, that two DEA agents (both blonde, one balding) tried to make a deal with the men to take the rap, at least until the election (Mexico election next week).  Now it is more than covering-up a clerical error, it is a conspiracy to subvert the Mexican justice system, in addition to subverting our own system, in order to advance the political ambitions of the PAN presidential candidate, Josefina Vázquez Mota, who the NED (CIA)-funded candidate in this election and is considered to be the most likely presidential candidate to advance the DEA's drug war (More on this continues below, after Guzman article).  Vasquez Mota is a classic "false flag" operation, since she is using CIA money to campaign against her opponent by revealing the previous administration's submission to the directives of the American International Republican Institute (IRI), run by Sen. John McCain and PRI's participation in a CIA spy program, run by a private contractor (SEE: Peña Nieto CIA).   The intelligence operation was intended to gauge whether or not "the PRI is willing to continue the 'war Gringo'" (the American drug war), in anticipation of  Mexico's scheduled "transition 'from the right" to full-blown American neo-liberalism.  

This disgraceful episode is a clear-cut case of the US Drug Enforcement Administration interfering in Mexico's legal and electoral processes.]

Oops! Mexican police reveal man paraded as son of drugs baron Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman is actually a CAR SALESMAN

Kevin Beltran Rios (blue shirt) and Felix Beltran Leon (red shirt): Leon insists he is a car salesman from western Jalisco state who has no relationship to Guzman

Marina stops in Texas the son of El Chapo Guzman

The Economist

Map: U.S.

Elements of Marine arrested in a raid in Zapopan Jalisco, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, alleged son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Navy confirmed.

Incommunicado false “Chapito” and threatened his lawyers

Posted by koneocho

 

Veronica Guerrero, defense attorney Leon Felix Beltran, whom the Navy Department and the DEA confused with the son of Joaquin “El Chapo Guzman”, reported that has been threatened to take the case, and said the arrest of his client has electoral purposes.

In a radio interview, the trial revealed even that is thinking of leaving the defense of Leon Beltran, whose presentation was publicized by the Semar as a major blow against organized crime, especially the “Sinaloa Cartel” that commands “El Chapo” Guzman. Less than 24 hours after the federal government had to accept their mistake: the detainee was not the son of the boss.

The lawyer also alleged that the federal government held incommunicado Beltran Leon, despite already confirmed that he is the son of “El Chapo”. He explained that since last Thursday have prevented him from advising his client.

This lack of communication, the lawyer said, has prevented the defense to know what crimes are arrested. Although he admitted that one of the lawyers could meet with the detainee, I can not provide legal assistance or allowed access to the file.

Although no details of the bullying, he said that is in a delicate situation.

In the morning, said Beltran had a meeting with Leon in the Office of Special Investigations into Organized Crime (OFDI) could not be performed. ”We could not, because we were told that there was no staff to make the presentation.”

He said that tomorrow will see the mother and wife who are the only ones that have been able to talk to Felix Beltran Leon.

Announced that it filed a complaint with the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) for the arbitrary detention of Beltran Leon, lack of communication and access to the detainee.

Till next Wednesday when the defense seek to meet with the detainee facilities SIEDO, “We are in fear of what else is making.”

He said considering that Leon Beltran capture and subsequent presentation to the media, had intended to bolster the candidacy of Josefina Vazquez Mota, the PAN candidate for President of the Republic.

More details

Heriberto Rangel Juan Mendez, who heads the defense of Felix Beltran Rios, the young man who mistook the Navy with Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, “El Gordo”, son of the leader of the “Sinaloa Cartel” Joaquin “El Chapo”   Guzman, said that while his client remains in solitary confinement, his legal team began receiving threats not to proceed with the case.

The attorney said the lawyer Veronica Guerrero received calls on his cell phone to warn: “Keep fucking and cock will enforce.”

“I mean, what makes us nervous, I say unfortunately, we discovered the farce of the Navy and the DEA, and that has us worried …” she told   MILLENNIUM.

Minutes earlier, in an interview with Ciro Gomez Leyva   Evening Formula, Ms. Veronica Guerrero addressed the issue of threats, and who said they fear that you are fabricating evidence to his client and the middle brother, Kevin Daniel Beltran Rios.

“Even us, as a defense, we have received threats. The situation is becoming a bit more delicate but the truth we will move forward. We are currently in discussions with the family, because both the lawyer Heriberto and his servant are pondering the option that maybe we withdraw from the defense, “he said.

About the kind of intimidation that has received only indicated that the litigant have called his mobile phone during the early morning, why he decided to turn it off, but did not elaborate more about it.

“This phone even today (Monday) I have tried to switch them off as much as possible, precisely to avoid such things. But we must, unfortunately is the only phone number I count right now, “he said.

He said that the only people who have been able to briefly talk with Felix Beltran, who remains rooted, like his brother, his mother and wife were also attorney Heriberto.

“We have not had access to the file, and just going out of the National Commission on Human Rights because it also brought a complaint,” he said.

Heriberto Rangel reported that Monday was quoted by the federal prosecutor assigned to the Office of Special Investigations into Organized Crime (OFDI) to take the oath of office as a lawyer for the two young people and meet the preliminary investigation, but, upon arrival said no one was there.

“Everyone (authorities) deployed, to seek, scratching, to see how incriminating these guys,” he said.

He noted that the work of his team has “walked the calluses to corporations that are very strong,” but all he has done is to show the truth of what happened.

“We always said, if we had gone straight to the SIEDO to display the voter registration and licensing of this guy (Felix), then the better it would have eaten and had never taken,” he said.

He recalled that the elements of the Navy stormed the home of young people without a warrant, and took official documentation, including passport Felix Beltran.

“Our greatest fear is that right now they have it there (in the Federal Research Centre), which will require touch guns. That’s our biggest fear. He (Felix) told me that the weapons were not there (at home) and who has never touched, “said the lawyer.

(With information from Proceso.com.mx and Milenio.com)

Josefina Vazquez Mota received funding from a “front organization” of the CIA

The journalist Manu Dornbierer published information in its column in the newspaper Por Esto! , information that reveals the funding they received Josefina Vazquez Mota of the CIA by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which is one of its front organizations . The NED was created in 1982 to carry out covert CIA actions by providing advice and financial support to unions, NGOs and political parties. Its purpose is to enforce (for good or ill) the interests of the United States. If you want more information about the NED I recommend  this article . For now we Dornbierer he writes:

But the PAN and Vázquez Mota have other tricks to gain power and money, serving to neoliberalism. Consider this information: “ In 2000 the International Republican Institute received from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED that financed Sergio Aguayo) $ 270.407 to mark the transition ‘from the right’ to the political change in Mexico. The beneficiary of these funds is the Mexican NGO ANCIFEM that went to ‘encourage the participation of women in the Mexican electoral process’ . This organization has now ACTION PROGRAM: Election Observation.Featured ANCIFEM members are Josefina Vazquez Mota (political coordinator) and Ana Teresa Aranda, among others. Similar courses were used as instructional supporters of Mr. Yushchenko (Ukraine presidents) to ‘report’ or ‘simulate’ electoral fraud in case of defeat. These complex networks of international relations not only have the same modus operandi but claim a certain procedure of the beneficiary. National Democratic Institute also maintains programs with Mexican political parties. “

The candidate was now a member of the leadership of the women’s association ANCIFEM PAN, the organization “NGO” received money from the CIA, through an agency for the development of democracy , with the intention of promoting a political shift to the right in 2000. Also, remember that Hillary Clinton said in July 2011, as always respectful of the sovereignty of the American countries, which in Mexico “The PRI would win only” over my death body “(over my dead body), but after Washington organized an operation of “damage control” with Peña Nieto, trying to see if the PRI is willing to continue the “war Gringo” (El Universal). Meanwhile, Chepina and declared his love for García Luna, ergo Hillary Clinton and her clan. Is that they are women, they say, and both pro-drug war.

Activity in Mexico of the International Republican Institute (IRI), which received NED funds to be allocated to the ANCIFEM, is documented in a note of El Universal November 2, 1999 from which I extract the following:

The IRI was one among other international organizations with greater representation in the legislative elections of 1997, sent in 16 states and a close linkage with the National Women’s Civic (Ancifem) . The IRI was presided over recent years by Senator John McCain , who represents Arizona and has special interests in Mexico.

New poppy blight poised to boost opium price: U.N.

[If you had possession of several years worth of surplus opium stashed from Afghanistan's constant overproduction, then a blight would be the greatest gift in the world.]

Afghan farmers work at a poppy field in Jalalabad province (Parwiz Parwiz Reuters, REUTERS / May 5, 2012)

Michael Shields

VIENNA (Reuters) – A fresh blight is poised to hit Afghanistan’s poppy fields this year, driving up opium prices and threatening to fuel a shift to potentially lethal heroin substitutes like “krokodil”, the U.N. drugs watchdog said on Tuesday.Plant diseases destroyed nearly half the 2010 opium harvest in Afghanistan, the world’s biggest producer, but output there rebounded 61 percent last year, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its 2012 World Drug Report.

That helped put global opium production at 7,000 metric tons (7716.2 tons) in 2011, still more than a fifth below the 2007 peak.

“We may anticipate that this year there will be another plant disease – maybe not to the same scale as 2010 – but (it) still may affect, especially in the southern part of Afghanistan, poppy cultivation,” UNODC Executive Director Yuri Fedotov said.

“This means that the production of opium may not increase or may even decrease, but at the same time definitely it would lead to an increase in prices for the next year. That is something we need to address very seriously.”

The UNODC report cited indications that shortages had encouraged users in some countries to replace heroin with other substances such as desomorphine – whose street name is krokodil – acetylated opium, and synthetic narcotics.

Krokodil is a crude, codeine-based drug that users inject, risking serious health problems as it attacks body tissue.

“It is a powerful drug which can kill people in just two months, in a few weeks,” Fedotov said.

It was hard to gauge what impact the 2010 crop failure in Afghanistan had on major markets, the report said, but drug seizures fell in most countries getting Afghan opiates. Some European countries, including Britain and Russia, saw heroin droughts.

Opiate prices in Europe and the Americas had not changed much since 2009, officials said, but farm-gate prices in Afghanistan and number-two producer Myanmar kept rising in 2010 and 2011. A kilo of opium costs around $200-$250 in Afghanistan.

Rising prices at times of increasing output could reflect under-reported demand from Asia and Africa, a growing market for raw opium not made into heroin, a parallel market for morphine or speculation on local markets, the report said.

Drug syndicates also tended to stockpile opium to be able to smooth out supply fluctuations, UNODC officials said.

CANNABIS ON TOP

The 2012 report showed overall use of illicit drugs seems to have stabilized but was on the rise in several developing countries, especially those along trafficking routes.

Fedotov cited as an example growing consumption of cocaine in West Africa, now a transit route for shipping Latin American supplies to Europe, increasingly from Bolivia and Peru as output in Colombia – mainly bound for North America – declines.

Cannabis remained the world’s most popular illicit drug, with between 119 million and 224 million established users worldwide, the report said.

That was followed by amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), the use of which was largely stable, although methamphetamine and ecstasy appeared to be on the rise.

Seizures of methamphetamine more than doubled in 2010 from 2008 due to big hauls in central America and Asia. Ecstasy pill seizures more than doubled in Europe from 2009 to 2010, and the drug’s use seemed to be rising in the United States and Oceania.

The report stressed the health and security threats illicit drugs posed, renewing UNODC’s call for an integrated approach to reducing both supply and demand.

“Heroin, cocaine and other drugs continue to kill around 200,000 people a year, shattering families and bringing misery to thousands of other people, insecurity and the spread of HIV,” Fedotov said.

Around 230 million people, roughly five percent of the world’s adult population, are estimated to have used an illicit drug at least once in 2010. Around 27 million, or 0.6 percent of adults, are problem drug users, mainly of heroin and cocaine.

By contrast, surveys have shown 42 percent of adults drink alcohol and a quarter use tobacco.

Fedotov said his agency was looking into reports that Uruguay’s government planned to legalize the marijuana market as part of a drive to stop rising crime.

“If these reports are confirmed, of course it will be a disappointing development,” he told reporters, citing international conventions against such a step.

“Cannabis is not so innocent as some people prefer to describe (it),” he said, noting its users faced irreversible physiological changes and often moved on to harder drugs.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Uzbekistan To Finish-Off Russian Internet In Central Asia

[If the Russian mobile/Internet provider gets the boot from Uzbekistan, it will effectively lost its entire Central Asian market, until the advertised return to Turkmenistan, alleged to be sometime in the next couple of months.  This will leave the Virtual Silk Road Internets in the individual countries as the only portals to the outside world.  Sounds like Obama's and Hillary's cut-throat diplomats are really doing their stuff in C. A.  The following service map comes from the MTS site.]

MTS’ Central Asian trials extend to Uzbekistan

Clare Nuttall in Almaty June 26, 2012 Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) is in danger of losing the right to operate on the Uzbek market, after authorities threatened to revoke its licence over poor service, complaints about the company’s use of mobile masts, and a fraud probe. The fight over the licence is just the latest trial for the company in Central Asia. According to reports in the Uzbek press, the State Communications Inspectorate has said it could strip MTS-Uzbekistan, the country’s largest mobile operator, of its licence after receiving alleged complaints from customers about quality of service. The company is also under fire from officials who say it does not have the necessary authorisation to use 48 of its mobile base stations in Uzbekistan. MTS-Uzbekistan, which has been active since 2008 and has around 9.5m customers and market share of 38%, is also being investigated on allegations of fraud. Reports say that the company’s former director, Bekhzod Akhmedov, is believed to have fled the country. An audit carried out by the Uzbek prosecutor and tax authorities claims to have uncovered misuse of funds, misappropriation of assets, illegal cash-out of funds and tax evasion,Interfax reports. An MTS spokesperson told AP that the company sees no reason for the Uzbek authorities to revoke the licence and that it has already submitted documentation for most of the 48 base stations. “It remains unclear what stands behind the allegations and whether MTS will be able to prevent its licenses from being suspended,” Troika Dialog writes in an analyst note. “We think the company can easily stop using the 48 base stations and not suffer any meaningful negative impact on the services it offers, but the issue, in our view, appears to be bigger than just 48 base stations.” The pressure on the company comes just six weeks after MTS achieved a breakthrough next door, with the company striking a deal to return to Turkmenistan in May. The Turkmen subsidiary lost its licence in December 2010, but services are due to be restored within the next two to five months following a series of negotiations with Ashgabat. MTS is also facing problems in Kyrgyzstan, where it claims that its majority holding in local operator Bitel, acquired in 2005, has been wrongfully misappropriated. However, Uzbekistan is a much larger market than either Kyrgyzstan or Turkmenistan, given that the 29.5m population is the largest in Central Asia. Poor fixed line coverage, with services covering only around 7% of the population, has seen rapid growth in the mobile telecoms market. After a leap in subscriber numbers in 2008, the mobile subscriber base has been growing by around 30% a year, with penetration reaching around 80% in early 2011. Since MTS entered the market, Uzbekistan has become its third-largest market, accounting for around 4% of consolidated revenues. In 2011, MTS’s EBITDA in Uzbekistan was $231.4m. Troika writes that although the latest news is negative, “given the size of operations in Uzbekistan, the negative impact on MTS’ valuation would only be around 5% under the worst-case scenario of licenses being suspended.” The Russian mobile operator is hardly alone in its struggles. International companies operating in Uzbekistan have faced numerous problems in recent years, despite insistence from Tashkent that the government wants to promote international investment. Oxus Gold, one of the longest-standing investors, claimed in 2011 that it was being forced out of the Amantaytau Goldfields joint venture by its Uzbek partners. The same year, security forces raided the Turkish-owned Turkuaz shopping centre, beating several of its employees and confiscating goods. A documentary broadcast on Uzbek state television later accused 50 Turkish businesses of promoting the Islamic terrorism.

NATO Continues To Control the Internet In Central Asia

[It is NOT Kazakhstan which is spearheading the future of Internet in Central Asia, it is NATO, and after that, it is the European Union.  The NRENs (national research networks) are a product of CAREN ( Central Asian Research and Educational Network ), which took over the original "Virtual Silk Road" project, NATO's brainchild.  The whole deal runs on NATO-supplied equipment, under direct control of NATO' project managers in Germany.]

“As the project comes to an end in June 2010, board members and other participants will discuss the transfer of connectivity in Central Asia on 1 July 2010 to the Central Asian Research and Educational Network (CAREN) project, supported by the European Commission (EC).”–NATO SILK board looks at future of computer networks in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Afghanistan

Kazakhstan spearheading future Internet in Central Asia RealWire

KazRENA deploys first IPv6 network and regional centre of excellence in Central Asia

Celebrating World IPv6 Launch Day at the beginning of this month, Kazakhstan becomes the first Central Asian country to join the global deployment of the future Internet addressing system, known as IPv6. The growth of the web will now be able to continue unabated, with the new Internet Protocol allowing more users and devices to communicate on the Internet by providing a vastly bigger pool of IP addresses which were about to run out under the predecessor protocol IPv4.

Always at the forefront of innovation, many national research and education networks (NRENs) across the world have acted as early test-beds for the new technology. In Kazakhstan, KazRENA is the first IPv6 compliant NREN in Central Asia, offering global IPv6 connectivity, as well as more reliable web access and ultimately better network performance to thousands of researchers, academics and students.

As an early adopter, KazRENA is acting as a catalyst for IPv6 deployment in other Central Asian countries, served by CAREN, the region’s high-performance broadband Internet for research and education. CAREN facilitates communication, information exchange and collaboration between universities and research centres within Central Asia and provides access to the European and global research community through interconnection to GÉANT, its European counterpart. Operational since July 2010, CAREN currently interconnects scientists and students in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, with Uzbekistan also a candidate country. CAREN is funded by the European Commission and managed by research networking organisation DANTE, in conjunction with NRENs of the countries involved.

KazRENA joined CAREN at the beginning of January 2012 with a 155Mbps connection from Almaty to Frankfurt, Germany, thus bringing the idea of upgrading the Silk Road from an ancient trade route to high-speed data highway closer to reality. “We are very proud to be part of the CAREN community,” said Boris Japarov, Head of KazRENA. “As it is fibre-based, CAREN delivers improved connectivity through a more stable, cost-effective network infrastructure. By recreating the links of the old Silk Road between East and West researchers in Kazakhstan and across the whole region are able to benefit from increased collaboration and can bring their skills and expertise to the global research community.”
Existing and future projects that benefit from CAREN span areas such as environmental monitoring, radio astronomy, telemedicine, e-learning, the digitalisation of cultural heritage, palaeontology and solar cell technology deployment in line with sustainable development policies in Central Asia.

To raise awareness and prepare the local Internet community for the transition to IPv6, in July last year KazRENA held a training workshop at its premises in Almaty which saw the opening of a CISCO-sponsored IPv6 lab; it is set to become a centre of excellence and a catalyst of IPv6 expertise throughout the region offering attendees from universities and other institutions an ideal platform to discuss best practises in the adoption of the new technology.

Far from being solely an academic training site, the lab assists also engineers from telecoms operators, such as Kazakhtelecom, in getting hands-on experience with IPv6 implementation, configuration and usage, which is testament to KazRENA’s commitment to contributing to Internet development in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia. “The IPv6 training conducted by KazRENA’s instructor Talgat Nurlybayev provided the required theoretical background and practical skills for future IPv6 deployment at Kazakhtelecom,” said Mariana Alymbaeyva from Kazakhtelecom’s regional direction office in Aktobe. “We highly value KazRENA’s expertise.”

David West, DANTE’s Project Manager for CAREN commented: “It is great to see how the CAREN project is helping develop research and education within Central Asia and with Europe. KazRENA’s playing an important part in the regional project, as its IPv6 leadership illustrates.”

About CAREN
The CAREN project aims to establish a high-capacity regional research and education network in Central Asia. Covering one million students and researchers in the region it underpins regional and international collaboration through links to the pan-European GÉANT network. Funded by the EU and Central Asian National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) the project began on 1 January 2009 with the network going live in July 2010. CAREN currently interconnects scientists and students in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, with Uzbekistan also a candidate country. It is run by international research networking organisation DANTE, in collaboration with the EU and local NRENs. For more information, visit http://caren.dante.net/

About DANTE
DANTE is a non-profit organisation, coordinator of large-scale projects co-funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build and operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT, which provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the success of many research projects in Europe. DANTE is involved in worldwide initiatives to interconnect countries in the other regions to one another and to GÉANT. DANTE currently manages projects focussed on the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific, sub Saharan Africa and central Asia regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, TEIN, AfricaConnect and CAREN projects respectively. For more information, visit http://www.dante.net/

About KazRENA
Kazakhstan’s NREN, KazRENA, joined CAREN at the beginning of January 2012. Pioneering IPv6 in Kazakhstan, KazRENA has set up an IPv6 training lab set to become a centre of excellence across the region, serving not only the academic, but also the wider Internet community, including government agencies and commercial providers. In May/June 2012 KazRENA conducted a very successful IPv6 training session for technical staff at Kazakhtelecom – the largest ISP in central Asia. For more information, visithttp://www.kazrena.kz/

About IPv6
An Internet Protocol or IP address is a number that identifies each sender or receiver of information sent over the internet. The computer industry has been using IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) for these addresses since that protocol was developed. That technology is now reaching its technical limits for supporting unique Internet addresses, due in part to a large amount of growth with mobile devices including: mobile phones, notebook computers and wireless handheld devices. With IPv4 addresses running out this year, the entire Internet industry must adopt a new protocol called, IPv6. With this new protocol, there will be increased address space, which will allow many more devices and users on the Internet. In addition to larger address space, IPv6 offers integrated security, more efficient routing, new configuration options and standardised QoS support. For more information, visit http://www.worldipv6launch.org/

Contact:
Helga Spitaler
DANTE
+44 (0)1223 371 342
helga.spitaler@dante.net

Anarchy and terror in Syria

BHASKAR BALAKRISHNAN

Given the complexities, Syria’s struggle is likely to be prolonged and bloody.

The conflict over regime change in Syria is threatening to balkanise the country.

June 26, 2012:

The year-long battle between the Assad regime and the fragmented opposition seems headed for a new phase of international involvement. On one side, Russia, China and Iran oppose regime change. On the other, the US, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are for the change.

This confrontation is now sharpening, with more aggressive roles on both sides, threatening to balkanise Syria and turn it into a theatre of bloody conflict. An added element is the increasing role of al Qaeda elements seeking to inflict defeat on both the US and Russia, and gain a foothold in this war-torn country.

IMPACT ON NEIGHBOURS

The Syrian quagmire has an impact on neighbours such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Israel.

Turkey supports the pro-Islamic opposition, Syrian National Committee, has set up large refugee camps, but is cautious about the destabilisation of its eastern region with its Kurdish population.

Lebanon is polarised between Sunnis, Shias, Christians and Palestinians groups, with a delicate balance of power, each with its own priorities. It has a porous mountainous border conducive to easy smuggling of weapons and people.

Iraq has its own version of the Shia-Sunni divide, as well as its assertive Kurdish population in the North, and managing its relations with Iran, while still under the influence of the US.

Israel’s main concern is the security situation on the Golan Heights. Under the two Assad regimes, a modus vivendi was in place, with relative peace on the Israeli-Syrian front, though Syria supported anti-Israeli armed operations in Lebanon.

Change or weakening of the Assad regime has both pluses and minuses for Israel, preoccupied with Iran’s nuclearisation and aggressive support of Hamas and Hezbollah. Jordan controls an important transport route for Syria to the South and is the main front for Saudi and Qatari support to the Syrian opposition.

THE COMPLEXITIES

Syria, through its long history, has been a crossroad of various civilisations. The country lies at the intersection of the silk and spice routes, making Damascus and Aleppo important and ancient trading centres. It has been the scene of conquests and regimes of pre-Islamic, Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman periods, all of which have left their mark on the country.

A secret French-British plan divided the post-Ottoman areas, carving out Lebanon and the district of Antioch from present day Syria. The population has considerable diversity, including Christians, and fringe Shia Islamic sects such as Alawites and Druze. In the 11th century, an Ismaili sect called the Assassins came into being to carry out missions of organised and planned killing of political figures as part of state policy.

Given the complexities of Syria, the struggle for the country is likely to be prolonged and bloody. The opposition is still divided and has no unifying leader. The regime has strong military forces but its support is narrow-based, deriving from the Alawite minority (12 per cent), while increasingly dependent on Russia and China.

The use of military forces and heavy weapons against the opposition has led to large number of civilian casualties, refugees, and human rights abuses. A pro-regime Alawite-dominated armed militia, the Shabbiha, has been killing civilians opposed to the regime. The situation is far more difficult than Libya, where external military intervention could be decisive.

ARMS SUPPORT

In the situation of stalemate, the regime and the opposition have been seeking more weapons and military support from outside. Arms are being supplied from Russia, ostensibly being delivered as part of earlier contracts.

Russia has beefed up its presence around the coast, especially the deep water port of Tartous, and has supplied air Defence equipment to forestall any attempts by the West to set up no-fly zones. The opposition has been receiving heavier weapons from its external supporters.

The increasing violence has led the UN to suspend its observer mission, and the Annan plan has not worked. So far no foreign direct military intervention has taken place, due to apprehensions of getting bogged down in a long and intractable conflict.

The UN Security Council has been paralysed by divisions among the P-5, with the threat of Russian and Chinese veto blocking Western moves to put Syria under mandatory sanctions and change its regime. This further underlines the need for reforms in the UNSC, especially the abolition of the veto.

Beset by economic woes and the war in Afghanistan, the West is hesitant to embark on a military operation under NATO, as it did in Bosnia, though there are increasing calls for such an initiative.

The recent US move to involve Russia in a monitoring and stabilisation plan for Syria has failed. The almost daily reports of deaths of civilians, and the threats to the stability of Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan might impel the West to boost supplies of arms to the opposition.

A no-fly zone near the Turkish border and sanctuary for the opposition armed elements seems a possible prospect. The movement of Russian warships, arms, and personnel into Syria may result in a stronger response from the West.

A Turkish F-4 jet was shot down off the Syrian coast, and both countries are trying to contain the tensions from this incident.

The reported bomb blasts in Syria in recent weeks has been attributed to al Qaeda elements, including those crossing over from Iraq. The conflict situation will result in hard-line militant groups gaining strength over more peaceful ones.

It presents al Qaeda with a good opportunity to pursue its war against the West and Russia. The Syrian quagmire may well turn into a fiery crucible of terror if the international community goes down the road of confrontation rather than cooperation.

(The author is a former Ambassador of India. He has served in Syria.)

Gazprom Looking To Suckle On Israeli Gas Teat

Russia’s Gazprom keen to participate in developing Israel’s gas sector

Jerusalem

Russian gas giant Gazprom plans to launch an Israeli subsidiary that will help develop Israel’s vast offshore gas reserves, Israeli sources said following the meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Gazprom’s Israeli subsidiary will focus on drilling as well as gas transmission from the country’s offshore fields, the sources said. Gazprom has already expressed an interest in exporting LNG from Israel.

All future international tenders issued by Israel in the gas sector would be open to Gazprom and other Russian companies, the sources said.

In March the Tamar consortium, comprising Noble Energy, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil and Gas, Isramco and Alon Gas Exploration, held talks with Gazprom Marketing & Trading for the sale of 2 million-3 million mt/year of LNG from the Tamar offshore field. The field is expected to begin commercial production in April 2013.

Senior Gazprom officials have visited Israel a few times in recent months to discuss cooperation. In February, a delegation headed by Frederic Barnaud, director of Gazprom’s LNG division, held talks with Noble Energy and Delek Group on possible cooperation. Gazprom is said to be interested in exporting gas from the huge Leviathan field off Israel’s northern Mediterranean coast.

The Leviathan field has estimated resources of 20 Tcf and gas from here is earmarked for export while the Tamar field with reserves of 9 Tcf is expected to meet domestic demand. The Tamar field is due to begin commercial production during the second quarter of 2013. The Leviathan field is not likely to begin commercial production before 2016.

Last week Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said at a press conference in St Petersburg that the company was looking at possible participation in the development of Israel’s offshore gas fields. But the company has not received any “effective offers,” he said.

–Neal Sandler, newsdesk@platts.com

–Edited by E Shailaja Nair, shailaja_nair@platts.com

Putin and the Russian Jews In Charge of Isra-Hell

[Putin is obviously a closet Zionist, otherwise he would be puking his guts out, sitting that close to Lieberman.]

Visiting Russians are seeking cooperation in energy, space

Gazprom wants to open a local subsidiary that will engage in drilling and offshore and onshore pipeline operations.

By Ora Coren

Vladimir Putin and His “BFF” Avigdor Lieberman swap stories at Netanya ceremony: Gazprom wants some of that sweet Med. gas.

Natural gas, aerospace, oil shale and tourism are among the areas of economic cooperation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is offering Israel during his visit this week, sources told TheMarker.

The most important item raised between Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday was an offer by Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom to join in developing Israel’s offshore gas reserves. The largest extractor of natural gas in the world and Russia’s biggest company, Gazprom wants to open a local subsidiary that will engage in drilling and offshore and onshore pipeline operations.

On the Israeli side, no one has rejected the Gazprom offer out of hand and officials are willing to explore the proposals, the sources said. Future international tenders in the Israeli gas sector will be open to Gazprom.

In fact, Gazprom executives have been to Israel in the past to explore cooperation in gas and won a tender to produce gasoline from oil shale in Israel’s south, for which it expects to begin operations soon, the Russian delegation said. They also expressed interest in developing alternative energy projects, mainly in solar and to a lesser extent in wind.

The two countries did about $660 million of bilateral trade in the first four months of this year, with Israeli exports to Russia reaching $384 million and imports from Russia at $277 million, according to the Israel Export Institute.

Another area of interest to the Russians is nanotechnology, where the two countries have signed cooperation agreements. The sources said the Russian state-owned nanotechnology company Rusnano, which has been funded by Moscow to the tune of billions of dollars, has recently opened an Israeli unit whose task will be to identify Israeli companies for acquisition and cooperation.

Rusnano’s chairman, Anatoly Chubais, is part of the delegation accompanying Putin to Israel.

The delegation also includes the incoming chairman of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, signaling the country’s interest in cooperation in aerospace as well.

“Israeli and Russian capabilities in aerospace complement one another,” said one of the sources, pointing to Russia’s expertise in launching satellites, as Israel is regarded a world leader in miniature satellites and other technologies.

In agriculture, the two sides are exploring joint ventures in irrigation, hothouses and the development of seeds for increasing farm yields.

Israel expressed interest in developing tourism. Russia is the biggest source of visitors to Israel after the United States, with about half a million tourists arriving every year. They create about 20,000 jobs and bring in revenues to Israel of $1 billion annually.

The two sides also began talks about establishing a free trade area agreement, which would ease two-way trade. They also plan to sign a financial protocol that will provide guarantees on exports to Russia via the government trade insurance agency.

Chinese survey team attacked in Gwadar, one killed

 

Occupied Balochistan: A spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), Mr Doda Baloch, has said that fighters from his Organisation have attacked a Chinese survey team few days back, as a result one person was killed and another has been wounded. While speaking to NNI on Sunday Mr Doda Baloch has accepted the responsibility for the attack on Chinese team. Doda Baloch warned that “no investors, be them national or International, will be allowed to invest in Balochistan without the consent of Baloch Nation.” The BLF spokesperson further said that the Baloch resistance organisation (we) have made it clear through their pamphlets and press releases that Baloch are struggling for their national liberation and national preservation, therefore no capitalist should invest on Baloch land and the common labourers should refrain working for the investors [to avoid any harm]. Courtesy: Daily Tawar

Afghan-Uzbeks Under Gen. Dostum Are Sabotaging Afghan Development Projects

[Dostum has always looked after "Number One," even when he was doing George Bush's dirty work.  It is no surprise that now he acts as an agent of a foreign power, not as an Afghan govt. official.]

Uzbekistan attempt to stop oil project in Amu River

By SAJAD

According to Afghan security officials, Uzbekistan is interfering to prevent implementation of oil extraction project in northern Amu River oil basins.

This comes as the first oil extraction project was officially launched in northern Sar-e-Pul province of Afghanistan yesterday.

An Afghan security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said they have achieved reliable documents and evidences which reflect interference of neighboring Uzbekistan intelligence to prevent oil extraction in Amu River.

The extraction of oil deposits in northern Afghanistan was awarded to China’s National Petroleum Corporation last December.

According to reports Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, leader of the National Movement Party of Afghanistan and a member of the national coalition party, the main anti-government opposition also created barriers to prevent operations in northern oil fields.

Ministry of Mines of Afghanistan also expressed concerns regarding regional interference to create problems in major natural resources of Afghanistan.

A spokesman Jawid Omer said regional intelligence agencies have created barriers towards natural resources extraction projects in the country.

However it is yet not clear whether allegations against Gen. Dostum have any connection with the recent reports suggesting interference by Uzbekistan to stop oil extraction in Amu River.

In the meantime an Afghan security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said a number of Gen. Dostum’s commander’s have been paid by Uzbekistan to create barriers for Amu River oil extraction project.

CIA Sado-Macochism, or Just Plain Old Torture?

Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo

Dec. 16, 2005 file photo 

CIA Wanted ‘Torture’ Cage for Secret Prison: Official

By RANDY KREIDER

A Polish official says that prosecutors have a construction order that proves the CIA wanted a cage for terror suspects built at a secret ‘black site’ prison inside Poland.

Senator Jozef Pinior claims Krakow prosecutors have a document that shows a local contractor was asked to build a cage at Stare Kiekuty, a Polish army based used as a CIA prison for al Qaeda terror suspects in 2002 and 2003.

“In a state with rights,” Pinior told the Polish paper Gazeta Wyborcza, “people in prison are not kept in cages.” He said a cage was “non-standard equipment” for a prison, but standard “if torture was used there.”

Asked if he was sure the cage was for humans, he said, “What was it for? Exotic birds?” He said he has not seen the construction order, but that the Krakow prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the prison, has a copy of it.

This week Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the prosecutor’s office also allegedly has a signed order from Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, the then-head of Polish intelligence, authorizing the creation of the black site. A source told the paper that the agreement has a space intended for an American signature, but that the Americans did not sign the document “because they do not want to sign documents inconsistent with their own Constitution and international law.”

Inside a CIA Secret Prison Watch Video

Siemiatkowski did not confirm or deny the existence of the agreement, but said he could not discuss anything he might have signed because it would be classified.

Gazeta Wyborcza reported in March that Siemiatkowski had been charged with permitting the corporal punishment of prisoners of war. Siematkowski has acknowledged publicly that he is under investigation.

Alexander Kwasniewski and Leszek Miller, who were president and prime minister at the time it was allegedly used as a CIA prison, have denied the existence of the Stare Kiekuty black site.  Sen. Pinior said he presented his evidence “with regret, because I always valued [Kwasniewski's] presidency.”

Several terror suspects, including Abu Zubaydah, have said they were tortured at the Polish site prior to their relocation to Guantanamo. One suspect claims a gun and a power drill were pointed at his head during his interrogation.

After Poland launched its official investigation of the Stare Kiekuty site, President Bronislaw Komorowski said the probe was needed because “the reputation of Poland is at stake.”

ABC News previously revealed the location of another CIA prison at a former riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2006, President Bush acknowledged that the U.S. had used “black site” prisons in foreign countries, and said many of the suspects who had been detained there were then moved to Guantanamo Bay. While denying that the U.S. employed torture, he said that the U.S. had used an “alternative set of procedures” to interrogate prisoners.

The CIA declined to comment to ABC News on the reported black site in Poland or on Senator Pinior’s allegations about a cage.

Obama Intervenes To Grant US Visa To Member of Known Terrorist Organization

Gamaa Islamiya granted US visa

Sarah Al Mojaddidi

White House and US administration officials are facing a barrage of criticism for granting a visa to a member of a US-designated Egyptian terrorist organisation, who was scheduled to meet President Obama during a round of talks with a delegation of Egyptian members of parliament.

Egyptian MP Hani Nour Eldin, a member of a Gamaa Islamiya

Hani Nour Eldin, of the infamous Gamaa Islamiya organisation, which was engaged in plotting attacks on US soil, was issued a visa from the US State department to speak with the Obama administration.

The US administration instigated a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament. It was an opportunity to exchange ideas and caucus on future relations between the two countries.

US state media scrutinised this meeting as a ”political fiasco”, and criticised the Obama administration for being supporters of the Arab Spring, as evidenced by inviting members of terrorist organisations who were once banned under deposed President Hosni Mubarak’s reign.

The US State Department issued a statement saying that Eldin had confirmed in an interview that he is a member of Gamaa Islamiya and was granted a visa. Under normal circumstances, according to US law, his request for a visa would have been summarily rejected given his affiliation with a known terrorist organization.

Eldin, according to his Facebook page, was born in 1968 and resides in Suez. He was arrested in 1993 on terrorism charges after members of Gamaa Islamiya were engaged in a shootout with Egyptian security officials at a mosque. He has proclaimed his innocence regarding the shooting and says he was incarcerated due to his anti-Mubarak leanings under the ousted president’s regime.

Gamaa Islamiya, or the Egyptian Islamic Group, is a US-designated terrorist organization. It was banned under former president Mubarak, and is now a recognized Islamist political party. Its spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the ‘blind sheik’, was convicted in 1995 of plotting attacks on New York City landmarks and transportation centres, and is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

US Officials See No Conflict of Interests In Arming “Al-CIA-da” with Surface-to-Air Missiles To Get Assad

[In order to become a US Govt. official you have to possess absolutely no sense of morality whatsoever.  The latest example of government immorality comes via the phenomenon we affectionately refer to as "al-Qaeda."  Congress can pass resolutions which resemble declarations of war against "al-Qaeda"-inspired terrorism, giving us the completely scandalous "Global War On Terrorism" (GWOT), while simultaneously supporting known branches of all-Qaeda and arming them with the most feared of all terrorist weapons, the man-portable, hand-held, SAM (surface-to-air-missile).  We have to do everything conceivable to keep terrorists in Libya from getting their hands on several thousand of these nasty man-killers, except for the terrorists who plan to use them in support of NATO's war on Bashar Assad.  We start a global war against terrorism, yet we openly employ known terrorists to do our dirty work in Syria (unlike places like Pakistan, where we keep our hiring of Hakeemullah Mehsud's gang on the "Q.T.".  This is the kind of shit that will finish-off this country, before our leaders ever really cobble together their new world order.  

We are fucked...and deservedly so.]  

Saudi and Turkey get serious about supporting Syrian rebels

via SyndiGate.info

Members of the Free Syrian Army

Saudi Arabia is set to pay the salaries of the rebel Free Syrian Army to encourage mass defections from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

The payments would be made in either U.S. dollars or euros — which would mean a rise in salaries as the Syrian pound has fallen sharply in value since the revolt started 16 months ago, the broadsheet said.

The idea was first proposed to Saudi Arabia by Arab officials in May, the Guardian reported, citing sources in three Arab states and adding that the plan has also been discussed with U.S. officials.

However a spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered no comment to Al Arabiya on such claims, suggesting the topic is likely to be addressed at the joint GCC-EU council and ministerial meeting set to take place in Luxembourg on Monday.

The Guardian also claims that Turkey has allowed the establishment of a command center in Istanbul co-coordinating the supply of weapons to the rebel fighters in Syria, staffed by more than 20 mainly Syrian nationals.

The report comes amid a crisis between Turkey and Syria afterDamascus confirmed that it shot down a Turkish fighter jet that it said had violated Syrian airspace.

The Guardian said Turkey sees weapon supply lines as crucial to the defense of its border with its former close ally Syria, with Syrian forces edging closer in an attempt to stop guns crossing the border into the hands of rebel fighters.

The Guardian says its reporters witnessed weapons being transferred across border from Turkey into Syria in early June.

According to the report, Turkey has given the green-light to establish a command center in Istanbul, to coordinate with opposition leaders within Syria. It is alleged that 22 people have been recruited to run the center, most of them Syrian nationals.

On Friday, Ankara denied allegations in a New York Times report, citing U.S. officials and Arab intelligence sources, that Turkey was among a number of countries shipping weapons to Syrian rebels over the border.

The New York Times also reported that the CIA was on location in south Turkey assisting allies in the distribution of weapons amongst opposition fighters.

“Turkey does not ship weapons to any neighboring country, including Syria,” foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said.

The neighbors’ relations are already strained over outspoken condemnation by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Syria’s bloody crackdown on protests against Assad’s government.

Turkey is hosting more than 30,000 Syrian refugees living in camps near the border, according to foreign ministry figures, as well as army defectors including 12 generals.

Increasing concern

  I think it’s fair to say that we have a concern about the MANPADS coming out of Libya  

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

Meanwhile as evidence mounts of Islamic militant forces among the Syrian opposition, senior U.S. and European officials are increasingly alarmed by the prospect of sophisticated weapons falling into the hands of rebel groups that may be dangerous to Western interests, including al-Qaeda.

In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta articulated U.S. worries that shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, also known as MANPADS, could find their way onto the Syrian battlefield.

Intelligence experts believe that hundreds, if not thousands, of such weapons were looted from arsenals accumulated by late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, and are floating on the Middle East black market.

“I think it’s fair to say that we have a concern about the MANPADS coming out of Libya,” Panetta said in the Thursday interview. “We’ve had an ongoing view that it was important to try to determine where these MANPADS were going, not only the concern that some of them might wind up in Syria but elsewhere as well,” he said.

Panetta added that he had seen no direct intelligence yet that such missiles had made their way to Syria. He did not specifically cite the rebels as potential recipients.

But other U.S. and allied officials voiced that concern, while saying they had no evidence that Syrian rebels had yet acquired MANPADS.

Qaeda joining rebels

  It stands to reason that if any Middle Eastern nation is even considering giving arms to the Syrian opposition, it would take a measured approach and think twice about providing arms that could have unintended consequences  

U.S. official

The urgency of Western concerns stems as much from the recipients of the weapons as the weapons themselves. High-level sources at multiple national intelligence services report increasing evidence that Islamic militants, including Qaeda and its affiliates and other hard-line Sunni groups, had joined forces with opponents of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who has advised President Barack Obama on counter-terrorism policy, said that Qaeda and other militants were “deeply engaged” with anti-Assad forces. He cited public pronouncements by senior Qaeda figures, including the group’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, that urged Sunni rebels in Syria to kill members of Assad’s Alawite Muslim minority.

A western government source said that al-Nusrah, a “spinoff” from Qaeda’s Iraq-based affiliate, was responsible for at least some atrocities that have occurred in Syria. The source said the group publicly confirmed its role in killings.

Worries that sophisticated weapons could make their way to the wrong kind of Syrian rebels are one reason Washington remains wary of deeper U.S. involvement in the fighting.

“It stands to reason that if any Middle Eastern nation is even considering giving arms to the Syrian opposition, it would take a measured approach and think twice about providing arms that could have unintended consequences,” a U.S. official said.

Nonetheless, U.S. and allied officials say their Saudi and Qatari counterparts have discussed how MANPADS could be used by Assad opponents to bring down Russian-made helicopters the Syrian army is using to redeploy its troops rapidly between trouble spots.

But such missiles also could be used against other targets, including civilian airliners, one reason for the U.S. and allied concern.

After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the CIA, with Saudi backing, provided sophisticated shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to Islamic militants seeking to oust Soviet troops.

The missiles played a significant role in the Soviets’ ultimate defeat in Afghanistan. But they also became a major headache for U.S. and western counter-terrorism agencies when anti-Soviet militants morphed into anti-Western militant factions including Qaeda.

U.S. providing non-lethal support

Some prominent U.S. Republicans are urging a big step-up in U.S. aid for Assad’s opponents, including arms deliveries and even possible U.S. military involvement.

At a conference on Thursday hosted by the website Bloomberg Government, U.S. Senator John McCain suggested that the Obama administration’s cautious policy regarding the Syrian rebels was “shameful” and urged a major escalation in U.S. involvement.

“So what do we do? First of all, we stand up for them. Second of all, we get them weapons. Third of all, we establish a sanctuary with our allies – no boots on the ground, no boots on the ground – and use our and our allied air power to protect that zone and we help these people in a fair fight,” McCain said.

At the same conference, however, Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, warned: “We are just really not in a good position today to fully identify all of the groups, all of the factions, who’s winning that leadership fight,” he said.

The United States is understood to be supplying non-lethal support to Assad’s opponents, such as financing and communications gear, possibly including monitoring equipment. The Times said that the Obama administration has held back on providing rebels with intelligence information, such as satellite photographs, on the activities of Assad’s forces.

Riedel warned that Qatar authorities might not be too choosy about which Syrian rebels they are willing to supply with arms, though they would try to avoid giving them directly to Qaeda.

“I don’t think that Qatar and the Saudis are as concerned as we are about surface-to-air missiles,” Riedel added.

What do you think about Saudi paying the Syrian rebels? Tell us your thoughts below. 

© 2012 MBC Group

Why NATO Won’t Go To War Over Syria Shooting Down Turkish Jet

James Joyner

Following yesterday’s shoot-down of a Turkish F-4 by Syria has once again raised the specter of NATO action under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. It’s not going to happen.

Article 5, while relatively short, is much more complicated than commonly understood:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

 

Some commentators on Twitter have argued that Article 5 is not triggered because the incident didn’t take place in Europe and was aimed at an aircraft, not the territory of a NATO member. But Article 6 dispels both of those issues:

For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:

• on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France (2), on the territory of or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
• on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.

 

So, aircraft are specifically included as a potential trigger. And the area surrounding Turkey is included as well–added as an amendment to the original treaty by a 1951 Protocol on the accession of Greece and Turkey. Indeed, there would have been little benefit to Turkey in joining NATO if it weren’t included under the Article 5 umbrella, the most fundamental Alliance commitment.

Instead, the operative word that almost certainly disqualifies this incident from an Article 5 response is “attack.” Turkey was engaged in aggressive action along its border with Syria during a particularly tense situation and flew into Syrian airspace. While shooting down the plane was almost certainly an overreaction–the Assad government has said as much–it’s hardly an “attack.”

Ultimately, like the “high crimes and misdemeanor” threshold for impeachment set forth by the US Constitution, it’s a judgment call. In the former case,  the House of Representatives makes the call; in the latter, it’s the North Atlantic Council.

But it’s virtually inconceivable that the NAC would deem this to be a qualifying “attack.” First, Article 5 couches the response in terms of “the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.” An overly aggressive defensive action by Syria–especially a one-off–would not seem to qualify. While the Turkish pilot would certainly have been within his rights to use deadly force to protect himself, a retaliatory strike at this juncture by Turkey–much less its NATO allies–would be in violation of the UN Charter. Second, borrowing language from Article 51, Article 5 specifies the rationale for the use of force as “to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” Given that the incident is already contained–that is, not likely to be followed by any sort of follow-on action by Syria absent further provocation–said security already exists. Indeed, a NATO or Turkish response would make the area more, not less, secure.

A second misconception is that an attack under Article 5 will automatically be met by unified military action by all NATO states. Instead, a declaration by the NAC that Article 5 has been triggered is but a first step; decisions as to what response to take must follow. Not all attacks are equal. Even outside the politics of an alliance, states weigh incidents in terms of severity, the existing relationship with the attacking state, the international environment, and the likely fall-out effects of various response options.

Article 5 has been operative since the North Atlantic Treaty went into effect since 1949. It has been invoked and acted upon precisely once, following the al Qaeda terrorist attack on the United States launched from Afghanistan. Even then, the Alliance response was cautious:

Article 5 has thus been invoked, but no determination has yet been made whether the attack against the United States was directed from abroad. If such a determination is made, each Ally will then consider what assistance it should provide. In practice, there will be consultations among the Allies. Any collective action by NATO will be decided by the North Atlantic Council. The United States can also carry out independent actions, consistent with its rights and obligations under the UN Charter.

Allies can provide any form of assistance they deem necessary to respond to the situation. This assistance is not necessarily military and depends on the material resources of each country. Each individual member determines how it will contribute and will consult with the other members, bearing in mind that the ultimate aim is to ”to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area”.

By invoking Article 5, NATO members have shown their solidarity toward the United States and condemned, in the strongest possible way, the terrorist attacks against the United States on 11 September.

If the conditions are met for the application of Article 5, NATO Allies will decide how to assist the United States. (Many Allies have clearly offered emergency assistance). Each Ally is obliged to assist the United States by taking forward, individually and in concert with other Allies, such action as it deems necessary. This is an individual obligation on each Ally and each Ally is responsible for determining what it deems necessary in these particular circumstances.

 

Ultimately, of course, NATO decided to join the United States in its fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. That some Allies joined with more vigor and usefulness than others has been well documented and need not be rehashed here. But that statement of September 12 outlines the nature of the Article 5 obligation nicely: the NAC may recommend action but it’s ultimately up to the individual Allies to decide whether and how to respond.

In the case of Syria, of course, the incident hardly comes out of the blue. Tensions have been escalating for well over a year, with a series of international condemnations and resolutions from the UN and many if not most NATO states. At the same time, the Security Council has, through the veto power of Russia and China, declined to act. And NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has repeatedly and vehemently declared from the outset that NATO has no intention of repeating its intervention in Libya with one in Syria.

Granting that I oppose Western intervention into Syria just as I did into Libya, it’s difficult to see how yesterday’s incident changes anything. Surely, the killing of some 20,000 Syrians, most innocent civilians, is a greater cause for action than the downing of a single fighter jet flying where it wasn’t supposed to? And the facts on the ground haven’t changed one iota: Bashar al-Assad still has a powerful, loyal military and the opposition is a fractured mess. So, NATO military action is no more appealing now than it was Friday morning.

Additionally, Assad has handled the aftermath of this incident deftly. He swiftly expressed remorse for the loss of life caused by the shooting down of Turkey’s jet–almost surely the decision of a relative low level operator making a rapid decision under extreme stress rather than a considered policy judgment of the central government–and promptly not only gave Turkey permission to begin a recovery operation in Syrian space but joined in. While he’s a vicious thug willing to do just about anything to stay in power, he’s rather clearly not angling for war with NATO, much less Turkey.

It’s inconceivable that NATO will decide to start yet another war under these circumstances.

James Joyner is managing editor of the Atlantic Council.