Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has skipped a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in an apparent diplomatic snub, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.President Abbas was reportedly kept waiting at a palace room for a telephone call for the meeting that never came. Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from Jordan, said: ‘It was a deliberate and undiplomatic snub.’Mr Abbas, who dissolved the unity government in Palestine, set up under a Saudi brokered peace deal, is under increasing pressure from Arab governments to restart talking to Hamas and negotiate a compromise.An Arab diplomat told Dawn that despite standing by the Abbas government in public, he was in very clear terms by President Hosni Maubarak during Sharm-El-Sheikh summit earlier the week that he needs to mend fences with Hamas.‘We have told him so in very clear terms,’ the diplomat added. ‘There is no ambiguity about it.’The need to reorganise the Fatah movement and weed out corruption within its ranks also could not be over emphasised, the Riyadh-based diplomat said.The move comes days after Mr Abbas dissolved the unity government set up under the Saudi deal and accused Hamas of attempting to assassinate him. President Abbas had publicly vowed earlier not to talk to the ‘assassins’. President Abbas also wanted to show King Abdullah proof of Hamas plot to assassinate him while in Gaza.Arab governments initially appeared trying to isolate Hamas. But now President Abbas is coming under increasing pressure also from Arab heavyweights, at a time, when Israel and the Quartet seem to be holding out carrots to him for staying away from Hamas.An official close to Mr Abbas was quoted here as saying that the Thursday meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was postponed “due to lack of time as both leaders had busy schedules”.The official said Mr Abbas would meet King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia “in coming weeks” but gave no details.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
India clears way for mega fighter plane deal, Finally
An Indian defence panel approved the invitation of bids to buy 126 fighter jets on Friday, marking a key step to modernising the country's ageing air force in one of the world's biggest military aircraft deals.The Defence Acquisition Council headed by the defence minister gave its clearance for an early issue of the Request for Proposal (RFP), or invitation of bids, after a meeting in New Delhi, a Defence Ministry statement said.“The RFP would contain a selection model that would involve an exhaustive evaluation process,” it said.“In view of the size and operational importance of the likely purchase, the criteria for selecting the final ... contender from amongst some of the best combat aircraft offered by American, Russian and European companies, has been fine-tuned.”Bids for the deal, the value of which has been variously estimated by analysts at between $8 billion and $10 billion, would be invited “in the near future”, the statement added.Last week, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the RFP would go out within the next two months for a deal that has aroused the interest of some of the biggest military aircraft manufacturers around the world.The Indian military, the world's fourth biggest, has been on a spree to modernise its largely Soviet-era force. Its air force, made up mostly of vintage Russian MiG jets, is getting depleted and could lose its edge over Pakistan if old planes are not replaced fast, defence analysts say.However, India's defence deals are known to make slow progress and the first planes under the new deal may not arrive for another five years or so, they say.The deal has drawn the interest of the makers of the French Rafale fighter, the JAS-39 Gripen from Sweden's Saab, Russia's MiG-35, Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16. The Eurofighter, made by a consortium of European aircraft firms, is also in the race.The Defence Ministry statement said the bids would first be technically evaluated to ensure compliance with the Indian Air Force's requirements, after which extensive field trials would be conducted to evaluate the performance of the jets.Some defence analysts have said that geopolitical concerns could override technical issues, leading India to pick an American aircraft as New Delhi and Washington push their strategic ties and seal a new friendship.But the defence statement said the selection of the fighter would be “transparent and fair”
Israeli president resigns over sex offences
London bombing plot foiled
Putin threatens to aim nuclear missiles at Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W. Bush face tough talks on US anti-missile defence plans and the future of Kosovo at a summit in Maine this weekend, a top Kremlin official said on Friday.Putin foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko said he hoped Bush would signal Washington's readiness to cooperate with Russia on international security problems during their talks at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, on Sunday and Monday.Chief among these disputes is a US plan to deploy an anti-missile system in the Czech Republic and Poland."If the United States is ready to acknowledge that it needs to work with us and evaluate with us the potential threats, that is one thing. If they are going to be prisoner to the blinked ideas of their military, that is another question," Prikhodko was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.RIA Novosti quoted Prikhodko as saying the issue "is not military, but a political question. Either (the United States) looks to the future or it remains in the past.""Prikhodko also said that Kosovo is a critical problem. The Russian side is ready for a serious discussion," Interfax news agency reported.Russia opposes a US-backed plan to give Kosovo near independence from Serbia and is threatening to veto any attempt at getting UN Security Council support for the move.Prikhodko also spoke out against the "strengthening in recent times of unfounded criticism of Russia for our supposed retreat from democratic principles," Interfax reported.He accused "certain political forces" in both countries of using Russian-US tensions as "a bargaining chip" ahead of Kremlin and White House elections in 2008.The biggest source of tension ahead of the summit has been the US anti-missile system plan.Washington says the system in central Europe would guard against potential missile attacks from Iran or North Korea, but Moscow says that Russia is the true target and Putin has threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Europe if the deployment goes ahead.At the G8 summit in Germany earlier this month, Putin offered what he said was a compromise deal in which the United States would be allowed to make use of a Russian-leased radar in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan.Washington has given a mixed reaction to the idea, which will be discussed at Kennebunkport.However, Prikhodko expressed optimism, praising Bush as "a responsible partner" and saying that the informal setting for the talks would help."The US side's choice of the location for the meeting is perfect: an informal contact of the leaders in a peaceful, informal setting," he said, Interfax reported.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
General Musharraf's Grip on Power At Crossroads
If and when the army feels it is being damaged by its association with General Musharraf, and his insistence on retaining the dual posts of president and chief of army staff, they will act to safeguard the reputation of the army, they say.
Historians and columnists have been outlining the precedents, recalling how Pakistan’s three previous military rulers exited from power. None of the departures came in happy circumstances, and none bode well for General Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
The longest ruling general, Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, who seized power in 1977, died in 1988 in a plane crash, the cause of which still remains a mystery.
The strongest possibility is that the plane was brought down using a bomb. But according to one theory, the plane crashed after the crew was disabled by knockout gas hidden inside crates of mangoes — a gift that was put on board the presidential plane at the last minute. This being the mango season, the old story has gained a lot of currency lately. “He either goes the mango-crate way or he goes gracefully,” one military officer said.
Pakistan’s other two military dictators in its turbulent 60 years since independence were forced out by fellow officers. Gen. Mohammad Ayub Khan, who ruled from 1958 to 1969, was isolated, unpopular and sick by the end, and after months of popular unrest was replaced by another military man, Gen. Yahya Khan.
General Yahya Khan promised a return to democracy and held probably the fairest elections Pakistan has ever seen. But after war and the breakup of Pakistan in 1971, when Bangladesh gained independence, his fellow officers forced him to resign and hand over rule of what remained of Pakistan to the civilian political leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
General Musharraf, the fourth military ruler of Pakistan, has already survived several attempts on his life, and with suicide bombing on the rise, and Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the hills, the possibility of assassination remains — even if he should step down.
But the general is showing no readiness to give up either of his posts, president or chief of army staff, though the terms for both jobs expire toward the end of the year. In a recent interview, he said that after a life in the army, his uniform was like a second skin to him.
But if his stubbornness is met with more demonstrations, challenges in the courts and possibly civil unrest, the army command will grow increasingly concerned.
Well aware of the importance of backing within the army, General Musharraf called a meeting of his corps commanders and principal military staff recently, apparently to ensure their support. The military public relations service issued an unusually long news release in that vein.
“The Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers of the Pakistan Army affirmed to stand committed for the security of their country under the leadership and guidance of the President and the COAS,” it read, referring to the chief of army staff.
Issuing such a statement is unusual and brings to mind the vote of confidence that often presages the end for a cabinet officer or, in sports, a manager or coach. In effect, several former members of the army said, such assurances only underscore the general’s insecurity.
The military officer said he had not seen a commander calling for such a statement of support in more than 30 years in the army. “The statement was a mistake,” he said.
“The army is not a political party,” he said. “People do not have to swear support for their leader.” An army officer takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, not his commander, he added.
A veteran opposition politician, Enver Baig, was more definitive. “The military backing he had, has definitely eroded,” he said, speaking of General Musharraf. The discontent with General Musharraf is seeping into the lower ranks as well. “The midlevel officers are becoming restless,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, a military analyst and author of a recent book on the military’s enormous economic clout that has angered the military leadership.
In the North-West Frontier Province there is growing frustration among military and intelligence officials over the rising lawlessness of Taliban militants, and the president’s apparent lack of concern and direction, senior officials say.
The National Security Council, which considered the problem in early June, promised more police officers and resources. Meanwhile, military officers no longer feel comfortable going around Peshawar in uniform, said one former officer from the province.
Even in the capital, army officers say they can feel the changing mood. The military officer described driving in Islamabad and seeing someone holding up a placard showing a big army boot stamping on a map of Pakistan. “That is a very poor reflection,” he said. “It is hatred that is building in the civilian level against the army.”
Faced with such discontent, the mood in the military is not for another general to take over, but for the country to restore civilian rule, he and several former members of the military said.
But who will tell the general to go? After nearly eight years in power, General Musharraf has personally picked all the top military and intelligence leaders. He will remain secure as long as he retains the support of four or five of the nine corps commanders, Ms. Siddiqa said.
Military officers, especially senior ones coming up for promotion or retirement and eager to keep the privileges they have earned, will not speak out of line to the chief of army staff, the officer said.
The officer said he could sense growing dissatisfaction among fellow officers, but discipline was such that no one was voicing it. “They don’t say it,” he said. “From their eyes you can see it.”
Asked if the corps commanders might tell the general he had to go, he answered, “We may be coming to that stage.”
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Indian soldiers '‘paraded naked’'
Hundreds of angry Kashmiri villagers paraded two Indian soldiers naked through the streets after they were “caught trying to rape” a 17-year-old girl, witnesses and newspaper reports said on Wednesday.Police said they were investigating the incident which took place late on Tuesday in Kunan, a village north of Srinagar, the summer capital of occupied Kashmir.“Two army men in civil dress entered our house in the afternoon demanding food and shelter. They asked my mother to leave and tried to rape me,” the girl was reported as saying.“I resisted and screamed until my neighbours rescued me,” she said.
Opec warns US lawmakers
Opec President Mohammed al-Hamli warned US lawmakers on Wednesday they were taking a “really dangerous step” in seeking legislation to sue the oil group. The US Senate last week approved a plan that would enable the federal government to take legal action against Opec for price manipulation.However, the White House has threatened to veto the measure.“It's a really dangerous step. We are in the process of fighting that,” Hamli said at an oil conference. He said Opec had successfully fought against two prior attempts by Washington against the group, saying decisions taken by the group were non-binding.
Taliban Still have access to Soviet-era weapons
While United States officials accuse Iran of arming a resurgent Taliban, officials here say the weapons are actually part of vast caches left behind by the Soviet army that fought a nine-year war in Afghanistan before withdrawing in 1988.Ustad Basir Arifi, secretary for the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in northern Afghanistan, told the news agency that weapons abandoned by the Soviet Union there are now being moved by professional smugglers to the southern provinces where the Taliban movement has its stronghold.“Huge caches of weapons remained with the people from the Soviet Union period. These are now being smuggled to the south of Afghanistan. These weapons are bought in the north of Afghanistan and smuggled to the south to be used against government and foreign forces,” Arifi said.According to Arifi, security officials have on several occasions intercepted weapons being smuggled to the south. He said the DIAG has urged the government to take firm measures to avoid all this.Abdul Aziz Ahmad Zai, the chief of DIAG, said his group was “very concerned over the issue. It shows that the Taliban are being fortified”.Zai did not rule out the possibility of weapons originating from outside Afghanistan. “Smugglers could be bringing weapons from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north. A good transit point could be Badakhshan province,” he said without mentioning Iran.Zai said powerful syndicates were carrying out the smuggling. “However, our security officials and the interior ministry are working very actively in this regard,” he added.According to Zai, the recent riots in northern Jowzjan province were an indicator of the fact that weapons were freely available to people. He also said that there still were armed groups in the north of Afghanistan. “It is a very great concern for us that there are lots of illegal armed groups in the north,” he said.Gen. Abdul Manan, representative of the defence ministry in the DIAG programme, said the government has been able to collect 70,000 heavy and light weapons from the whole country under the DDR and DIAG programmes. But he believes that at least a million more pieces were in the hands of armed groups in the north.A gun smuggler operating from the Balkh province district told the news agency that he has been in the business for the last two years. The Pashto-speaking, bearded man said he regularly comes to the north to buy different kinds of weapons. “I have employed people to collect weapons from people who have them and these are ferried to the south.” “I have my customers in Qandhar. When the weapons reach there, they come and receive it. I make good profit. I can buy an AK47 for $200 in the north and sell it for $400 in the south,” he added. Occasionally he smuggles explosives as well.Ahmad Shah, 45, a resident of Chemtal district in the Balkh province, freely admitted to supplying the smugglers with guns. “I earn my living through running this business,” he told the news agency.Atta Mohammad Nur, the governor of Balkh province, neither accepts nor rejects the fact that the weapons are being smuggled to the south. “It could be right. Insurgents are doing their utmost to disrupt life in the country. They could be smuggling weapons from north to the south,” he said. Rohullah Samun, spokesman for the Jowzjan governor, accepts that vast amount of weapons still exist in the province. “People do have weapons. There are lots of illegal armed militias in Jowzjan and its neighbouring provinces. Some of the warlords are regrouping,” he said. The reference was to Abdorrashid Dostum, one of Afghanistan’s most formidable warlords. Dostum, who once supported the Soviets, has had a hand in the many regime changes that this war-torn country has seen over the last three decades and retains enormous influence in Jowzjan.Dostum was among leaders who helped the US-led forces to overthrow the Taliban government in 2001. Until recently he was regarded as the strongman of the north, but his role has been reduced to that of being a military adviser to Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.On June 13, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told CNN television in Paris that there was “irrefutable evidence” that Iran was supplying weapons to the Taliban.Ironically, the Taliban owe their origins largely to Mujahideen that were once armed and backed by the US against communist rule in Afghanistan and the Soviet occupation.
Indian dams contributing to global warming
India’s greenhouse gas emissions could be 40 per cent higher than official estimates if methane released from dams is taken into account, according to a new study. Methane — about 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in terms of the amount of heat it traps — is released from reservoirs, spillways and turbines of hydropower dams as a result of rotting carbon-containing vegetation.But India, already one of the world’s top polluters, has never measured methane emissions from its 4,500 large dams and has therefore never taken it into account in official data.According to a study by scientists from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, methane equivalent of 825 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is released annually by India’s dams.“I am quite positive that surface methane emission estimations are correctly estimated,” said Ivan B.T. Lima, lead author of “Methane Emissions from Large Dams as Renewable Energy Resources: A Developing Nation Perspective”.“I am confident that Indian dams might be altering atmospheric methane although not precisely to what extent,” Lima told the news agency in an email interview.India’s carbon emissions, which excluded the contribution of methane from dams, were around 1,890 million tonnes in 2000, according to the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based environmental think-tank.FLAWED RESEARCH? Government officials say methane emissions from dams is not an issue.“In India, the practice is that all the vegetation is removed before the water flows into the reservoir,” said Prodipto Ghosh, a former environment secretary.“So given that these are our practices in dam construction, you would believe any such study to be deeply flawed.”India, whose economy has surged between eight and nine per cent in recent years, currently contributes around four per cent of global emissions as its consumption of fossil fuels gallops.But as a developing nation, it is not required to cut emissions, said to be rising two to three per cent annually, under the Kyoto Protocol despite mounting pressure from environmental groups and developed nations.India, which has the largest number of dams in the world after the US and China, has constructed many to service its farm sector, which makes up around 22 per cent of the country’s GDP and employs 70 per cent of the workforce.The dams have also been used to help power industry and bring electricity to some of the country’s 1.1 billion people, most of whom live in villages.But the dam constructions have frequently sparked protests for displacing tens of thousands of poor people, ravaging prime forests housing rare flora and fauna as well as destroying river ecosystems.Activists said India’s dam emissions were a serious concern and urged the government to conduct its own investigation.
Punish criminals, China asks Sherpao: Kidnapping in Islamabad
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Iran To Launch Nuclear Plant in Oct
A Russian company leading construction of the plant near Iran's southern port of Bushehr, earlier this year delayed its launch, which had been set for September, saying Teheran was behind schedule on payments.
But Atomstroiexport said in April that it had agreed on a financing plan with Teheran, setting the stage for Monday's announcement.
"Bushehr nuclear power plant will be launched in October, according to schedule," Iranian television quoted Energy Minister Parviz Fattah as saying. "Power substations and lines for supplying electricity, which would be produced by the plant, are ready to use."
The international community fears Iran could be seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Teheran insists its nuclear development is meant only for electricity production.
Iranian officials had earlier denied any payment delays, and accused Russia of caving in to Western pressure.
Moscow has cultivated close ties with Iran, but has supported limited UN sanctions against Teheran, while warding off US efforts to level harsher punishments.
But Iran has irritated Moscow by turning a cold shoulder to its efforts to resolve the persistent confrontation over its nuclear program, including an offer to enrich uranium for Iranian plants in Russia, which could provide Iran with nuclear fuel while easing concerns it might develop weapons.
Construction of the Bushehr plant began in 1974 with help from then-West Germany. Work was then interrupted during the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought hard-line clerics to power. Iraq also bombed the plant during its 1980-88 war with Iran.
When Iran tried to resume the project after the war, the Germans refused to help. Iran turned to Russia, signing a US $1 billion contract to build the 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant in 1995. It was first scheduled to open in 1999, but has suffered many delays.
Any one who has close eye on internatonal relations and affairs can expect what we analyse.
That is , either the USA or Israel is going to take it out before it gets functional. Maybe after it. But one thing is for sure, expect high quality diplomatic and military darama plus action.
Olmert Makes 'Gesture of Goodwill' on Fatah
Palestinian officials spoke positively of Olmert's announcement but said he had failed to give timelines or other specifics. Olmert renewed promises to ease Israeli restrictions on West Bank residents and reestablish Israeli-Palestinian discussions toward Palestinian statehood.
"We need to see how they will implement the promises on the ground," said Nabil Amr, a spokesman for Abbas, after a summit in this Egyptian resort that featured closed-door bilateral talks among the four leaders attending. "Two-hundred-and fifty prisoners is a good step, but if that's the best he can offer it's not even legitimate."
The meeting brought Abbas and Olmert together with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel.
Abbas said the sense of urgency created by Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip this month should be funneled into reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The two sides last negotiated in earnest in 2001.
"Today we have an opportunity to fulfill our dream of coexistence," said Jordan's King Abdullah II. "The only alternative will be more years wasted in negotiations and losses."
The Jordanian king spoke in an open session during which the four leaders read statements into the television cameras, sitting around a massive square table that kept each leader yards apart from his counterparts.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak convened the summit to explore resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, bolstering Abbas's West Bank administration and containing Hamas in Gaza.
In mid-June, Hamas forces routed fighters loyal to Abbas's Fatah movement in Gaza, prompting Abbas to dissolve a Fatah-Hamas government and declare a new administration whose authority appears limited to the West Bank. Hamas, which has proposed reconciliation talks but has been rebuffed by Fatah leaders, says its government is still legitimate.
Olmert's announcement regarding 250 of the roughly 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli custody represented the only new Israeli move Monday.
"As a gesture of goodwill towards the Palestinians, I will bring before the Israeli cabinet a proposal to free 250 Fatah prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, after they sign a commitment not to return to violence," Olmert said.
Referring to an Israeli soldier captured a year ago by Hamas-affiliated groups, Olmert said: "Abbas more than once made a commitment to me that he will act to secure the release of Gila Shalit from the extremists who are holding him. I believe that his intentions in this matter are sincere, but he himself faces a wall of silence and cruelty by the Hamas and terrorist organizations."
The release likely would not meet conditions set by Shalit's captors, who seek the freedom of Hamas members held by Israel.
Arab leaders had gone to the summit urging that Israel ease checkpoints that impede the lives and work of Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel's security forces have blocked previous pledges by Israeli civilian leaders to reduce the checkpoints, saying they are essential to Israel's security. The United Nations says the number of checkpoints has increased more than 40 percent since Israel promised in 2005 to reduce the barriers.
Olmert noted that he and the Arab leaders likely would face criticism at home for taking part in Monday's summit. At its end, closed-circuit TV at the summit site showed Israeli and Arab leaders beaming at one another, with Olmert repeatedly resting a hand on Mubarak's back and Mubarak reaching out to touch the shoulder of the Israeli leader. Arab satellite channels did not show these cordial scenes.
Egypt and Jordan worry that Hamas's ascendance will encourage Islamic activism on their own soil. Mubarak's administration has arrested hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and changed the constitution to block the movement's political rise. The Islamic political movement shocked Egypt's government in 2005 by winning nearly a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament.
"Today in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit they are all afraid and trying to find a way out," said Essam el-Eryan, a leader of the Brotherhood, in a telephone interview after the summit. "King Abdullah is scared. Half his population is Palestinian -- what if free elections are held today in Jordan?"
Mubarak, whose military trained hundreds of Fatah fighters in recent months, "is afraid from the revelation of his ties with Fatah," Eryan said. "Who trained Fatah? Who allowed the U.S. funds and weapons leak to Fatah? Who spoiled the Mecca accords?" he asked, referring to a pact brokered by Saudi Arabia to try to hold together the Hamas-Fatah government.
BAE Systems Subject to Investigation Regarding Their Past Dealings
BAE Systems PLC said Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has begun an investigation of the company's dealings with Saudi Arabia.
BAE's brief announcement said the investigation related to the company's compliance with anti-corruption laws
BAE shares opened 6 percent lower on the London Stock Exchange at $8.30.
The company has denied accusations that it paid illegal kickbacks to members of the Saudi royal family as part of the $86 billion Al-Yamamah aircraft deal negotiated in 1985.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former ambassador to the United States and now head of Saudi Arabia's National Security Council, has also denied that he personally profited from the deal.
The investigation comes at a sensitive moment for BAE, which is seeking U.S. approval for a $4.1 billion buyout of armored vehicle maker Armor Holdings Inc., based in Jacksonville, Fla.
Last week the companies announced that the Treasury Department had concluded that the takeover did not pose any security threats. BAE, which hopes to conclude the deal later this year, is waiting for the Justice Department to finish its investigation of possible antitrust issues.
BAE's North American subsidiary proposed the acquisition on May 7 in a bid to tap into heavy demand from the American military for vehicles in Iraq and other war zones.
In December, Prime Minister Tony Blair called off a Serious Fraud Office investigation of BAE's dealings with the Saudi royal family.
The move followed media reports that the Saudis were threatening to pull out of a pending $20 billion deal to buy fighter jets from BAE.
Blair said his decision was based on national security.
"Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is vitally important for our country, in terms of counterterrorism, in terms of the broader Middle East, in terms of helping in respect of Israel/Palestine, and that strategic interest comes first," Blair said.
He also said British jobs were at stake, but said that was not the reason for the decision.
The U.S. government formally protested the British decision to call off the probe, and the move has also drawn criticism from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Earlier this month, The Guardian newspaper alleged that Prince Bandar was paid more than $2 billion as part of the Al-Yamamah deal.
At the time, BAE said all payments made as part of the contract were done with government approval.
"The Al-Yamamah program is a government-to-government agreement and all such payments made under those agreements were made with the express approval of both the Saudi and the U.K. governments," a company statement said.
Bandar issued a statement through a London law firm denying that he received improper commissions through accounts at Riggs Bank in Washington.
"The accounts at Riggs Bank were in the name of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense and Aviation (MODA). Any payments into those accounts made by BAE were pursuant to the Al-Yamamah contracts and as such would not in any way have been secret from the parties to those contracts," the statement said.
"Whilst Prince Bandar was an authorized signatory on the accounts any monies paid out of those accounts were exclusively for purposes approved by MODA. In addition, the accounts in question were audited on an annual basis by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance on behalf of MODA."
Americans set charity record
US charitable giving hit a record $295.02 billion in 2006 as Americans topped the philanthropic effort from major disasters a year earlier, a survey showed on Monday.A report by Giving USA Foundation showed a third straight year of charity giving growth fuelled in part by mega-gifts from billionaires life Warren Buffett, but also from mainstream Americans, who donated roughly two per cent of their incomes to various causes.“It is impressive that giving continued to rise in 2006, especially following the unprecedented levels of disaster giving in 2005,” said Richard Jolly, chair of Giving USA Foundation, based at Indiana University.The 2005 total was revised up to $283.05 billion and included some $7.4 billion in disaster relief contributions, following Hurricane Katrina in the United States and the major earthquake in Pakistan in 2005 and the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.The overall increase for the year was 4.2 per cent, or one per cent adjusted for inflation. But if disaster gifts are excluded from the 2005 total, giving in 2006 rose 6.6 per cent.The record-setting gift total in 2006 included $1.9 billion from billionaire Buffett, the world’s third wealthiest individual, in the first installment on a 20-year pledge of more than $30 billion to four foundations.“While headlines focus on ‘mega-gifts’, they represented 1.3 per cent of the total,” said George Ruotolo, chair of the Giving Institute.“About 65 per cent of households with incomes lower than $100,000 give to charity. That is higher than the percentage who vote or read a Sunday newspaper.” “There certainly is a tradition of supporting non-profit organisations in the United States,” Jolly said.The practice of the super-rich creating charitable foundations dates back to early 20th century with industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller — a tradition continued by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who persuaded Buffett to make his record grant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Donations by corporations and corporate foundations were estimated to be $12.72 billion in 2006, down 7.6 per cent. The report said this reflects the drop off from extraordinary gifts in 2005 for disaster relief.The report said about one-third of the total donations went to religious organisations, about $97 billion.Education grants represented the second largest sector, with 14 per cent of the total or $41 billion.Other key areas included health, arts and culture, environment and animals and international affairs. About $3.5 billion in gifts was the estimated fair-market value of medical supplies
Police grill Indian doctors over teen surgeon stunt
Police in southern India said on Monday they had detained a doctor couple who allowed their 15-year-old son to perform a caesarian section in a bid to enter the record books.The pair raised a furore after they proudly showed colleagues a video allegedly showing their schoolboy son Dileepan Raj cut open an expectant mother and claimed he deserved a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.“The doctor and his wife are being questioned. It is not an arrest at the moment,” a police spokesman in Mannaparai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu said.The police spokesman said a decision on whether criminal charges would be filed against K. Murugesan and his wife, who run a private clinic, would be made after the interrogation.Members of an Indian Medical Association branch in Tamil Nadu said last week that they were stunned when Murugesan showed them a video of the operation, and state health minister K.K. Ramachandran immediately promised ‘tough action’.Murugesan was initially unrepentant over his action – and even said his son had performed surgery before.“What is wrong with my son performing surgery, when a 10-year-old can drive a car and a 15-year-old can get a medical degree in America?” he was quoted as saying last week by the Tamil-language Kumudam Reporter, a bi-weekly paper.But with public condemnation of the act mounting, Murugesan later reportedly said his son was a mere witness to the surgery performed by his gynaecologist wife.“The boy did not perform the operation, he was just assisting,” an unidentified lawyer for the Murugesan family told NDTV news channel.There was no law barring the teenager from handling instruments during a surgery, he said.“There is no compliant from the patient so how can you hold the doctors responsible?” he added.Medical sources said the baby was born with a congenital defect unrelated to the surgery and was believed to be alive. Officials were looking for the mother, who has the option of filing a complaint to police.Medical officials said the stunt could lead to the doctor being barred from the medical profession, as well as possible criminal charges for helping a minor inflict injury. His son could also face charges
Nine Muslims jailed for killing Hindu leader
An Indian court jailed nine Muslims men for life on Monday for the 2003 assassination of the former home minister of the western state of Gujarat. Haren Pandya was a state legislator and senior leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party when he was shot dead in his car as he was about to step out of the vehicle for a morning walk. The convict included Asghar Ali, who shot the 53-year-old politician and was subsequently arrested from Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s main city.The court said they had conspired to kill Pandya and had links with Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-i-Taiba.Two others were sentenced to seven years and another to five years for being a part of the plot.Pandya had been named by several witnesses as one of the instigators of anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 that left at least 1,000 people dead
Pro wrestler Chris Benoit, wife and son found dead
WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and son were found dead Monday and police said they were investigating the deaths as a homicide.
Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department said the three were found at their home about 2:30 p.m., but refused to release details.
Pope said results of autopsies on Benoit, his wife Nancy, and 7-year-old son Daniel were expected Tuesday.
Benoit, 40, was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles over his career.
"WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family's relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy," the federation said in a statement on its Web site.
Benoit was scheduled to perform at the "Vengeance" pay-per-view event Sunday night in Houston, but was replaced at the last minute because of what announcer Jim Ross called "personal reasons."
Benoit, a Canadian native, maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling.
The WWE canceled its live "Monday Night RAW" card in Corpus Christi, Texas, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in place of the scheduled wrestling telecast.
Paris Hilton Released From "The Jail", Finally
The 26-year-old celebutante was greeted by an enormous gathering of cameras and reporters upon leaving the all-women's facility in Lynwood about 15 minutes past midnight. She had checked into the Century Regional Detention Facility late June 3, largely avoiding the spotlight, after a surprise appearance at the MTV Movie Awards.
Hilton smiled and waved as she filed past deputies and the media, her blond hair pulled back in a braided ponytail. Her parents, Kathy and Rick, waited in a black SUV. Hilton hurried to the vehicle, where she hugged her mom through the window.
Hilton, who was wearing a sage jacket with white trim over a white shirt and skinny jeans, did not respond to reporters' questions.
''She fulfilled her debt. She was obviously in good spirits. She thanked people as she left,'' said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Photographers sprinted after Hilton's vehicle as she left. When the SUV hit a red light during the ride, photographers jumped out of their cars and swarmed it.
Hilton appeared to have gone to a family home in a ritzy Los Angeles canyon north of Sunset Blvd.
The hotel heiress will complete her probation in March 2009 as long as she keeps her driver's license current and doesn't break any laws. She can reduce that time by 12 months if she does community service that could include a public-service announcement, the city attorney's office has said.
During her stay at the Lynwood facility, Hilton was mostly confined to a solitary cell in the special needs unit away from the other 2,200 inmates.
After spending only three days there, she was released to home confinement by Sheriff Lee Baca for an unspecified medical condition that he later said was psychological.
The following day, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer, who sentenced the hotel heiress, called her back into court and ordered her returned to jail, saying he had not condoned her release.
Hilton left the courtroom in tears calling for her mother and shouting, ''It's not right!''
She was then taken to the downtown Twin Towers jail, which houses men and the county jail's medical treatment center, where she underwent medical and psychiatric exams to determine where she should be confined.
Hilton's stay there cost taxpayers $1,109.78 a day, more than 10 times the cost of housing inmates in the general population.
The move by Baca caused a firestorm of criticism over whether the celebrity was getting special treatment. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has launched an investigation into whether the multimillionaire received special treatment because of her wealth and fame.
At least one person has filed a claim against the county alleging she ''had serious medical issues'' but was not treated as well as Hilton.
A few days into her stint at the Twin Towers medical ward, the heiress said in a phone call to Barbara Walters that she had a new outlook.
''I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute,'' Hilton said during the call, according to an account posted June 11 by Walters on ABC's Web site.
''It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me,'' Hilton was quoted as saying.
Hilton's path to jail began Sept. 7, when she failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a street in her car on what she said was a late-night run to a hamburger stand.
She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
In the months that followed, she was stopped twice by officers who discovered her driving with a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer's courtroom, where he sentenced her to 45-days in jail. She was released after three weeks for reasons including good behavior.
Egypt jails engineer for spying for Israel
Egypt’s state security court sentenced an engineer to 25 years’ jail on Monday for betraying nuclear secrets to Israel. Mohammed Sayyed Saber, 35, who was arrested at the beginning of the year, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.Wearing white and shackled to a guard in a cage inside the courtroom, Sabar was visibly stunned as the verdict was announced. His wife and mother broke down outside the court as he was led away.During his trial, he insisted that any information he had divulged was already in the public domain and had been handed over with the blessing of the authorities.Saber acknowledged that he had supplied information about the Egyptian atomic energy authority where he worked to presumed agents of Israel’s Mossad overseas intelligence agency.But he insisted he had kept the Egyptian embassy in Saudi Arabia, where he lived, abreast of his activities and denied they had amounted to espionage.“All the information I gave was never with the intention of spying,” Saber told the High State Security Court.“I was not a spy and the information I gave was not secret, it was all published on the Internet.” Prosecutors had charged that Saber helped Israeli intelligence hack into the Egyptian atomic agency’s computer system between February 2006 and February this year, in exchange for $17,000 and a laptop.They said he also provided Israeli agents with classified documents to do with the Inshas nuclear research centre, north of Cairo.Saber acknowledged that he had been approached by two presumed Israeli agents – one Irish, one Japanese – who are in absentia co-defendants in the trial, after publishing his CV online.He admitted that in a series of contacts culminating in a visit to Hong Kong they had grilled him on aspects of Egypt’s nuclear programme, a line of questioning he said had made him feel ‘uncomfortable’ enough to contact the Egyptian authorities in late 2006.The questions had focused on whether Egypt had a uranium enrichment programme, what contacts it had with declared nuclear powers and what security arrangements were in force at the atomic energy authority.“I contacted Ahmed Bahaa El Din, the official in charge of security at the Egyptian embassy in Saudi Arabia and told him everything,” Saber said.“He asked me to write a detailed report and give it to him, which I did,” he told the court, adding that he had been asked to remain in touch with the presumed Israeli agents.Saber admitted that in May 1999 he had visited the Israeli embassy in Cairo in the hope of getting a scholarship to study nuclear engineering at Tel Aviv University, but insisted that there had been nothing treacherous about that.“I was not appreciated in my job and hoped I could find better opportunities in Israel,” he said, adding that he was paid just $120 a month.In April the same court sentenced an Egyptian with Canadian citizenship to 15 years in jail for providing sensitive information to Mossad.The defendant in that case, Mohammed Essam Ghoneim al-Attar, said a confession was extracted by torture
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Al-Qaeda Breeding Ground Created By West
It seems that al-Qaida's dream is on its way to turning into reality. At last it has found a foothold on the Palestinian scene. Witness the kidnapping of BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza by the al-Qaida affiliated Jaish al-Islam 100 days ago yesterday, and the heated battles in Nahr al-Barid refugee camp between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida sympathisers Fatah al-Islam over the past month. And with Gaza and the West Bank sliding further into anarchy, with Hamas and Fatah turning on each other after a year of crushing siege, this new presence can only grow stronger.
Since declaring jihad in 1998, al-Qaida has aspired to acquire the legitimacy of representing the Palestinian cause, well aware of its rich symbolism within the Arab and Islamic collective conscience. Ever since the eruption of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, Palestine has offered vital legitimacy to a great many political movements and regimes, from nationalist Nassirites and Ba'athists to liberals and Islamists. It is this moral authority that gave the late Yasser Arafat the status he enjoyed not only among Palestinians, but across the Arab world and beyond.
Palestine is the mirror in which the Arab political scene is reflected. Fatah was an expression of the rise of the left and nationalism; Hamas of the shift towards political Islam. And that is precisely why events in Gaza and Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps today should not be taken lightly. They are ominous harbingers of what could lie ahead. When Osama bin Laden and his lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri issued their "Jihad against Jews and Crusaders" statement on February 28 1998, responses to their declaration varied from apathy to amusement. They were an obscure group lost in the faraway emirate of the Taliban, a pathetic remnant of the fight against the USSR during the cold war. Their role looked historically defunct and their discourse archaic.
Things could not be more different now. Al-Qaida has become an intensely complex global network, with a decentralised, flexible structure that enables it to spread in all directions, across the Arab world, Africa, Asia and Europe. Whether pursuing active cells or searching for sleeping ones, the security world is haunted by al-Qaida's ghost. Like bubbles, these cells are autonomous, bound together neither by hierarchy nor by a chain of command. It only takes a few individuals who subscribe to its ideology and terrorist methods for al-Qaida to extend its reach to a new part of the globe.
With the Middle East moving from one crisis to another, this small organisation saw itself miraculously transferred from periphery to centre. In its founding statement, al-Qaida defined its mission as a jihad aimed at cleansing the Arabian peninsula of the American "locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its plantations", and liberating Palestinian land from Zionist occupation. With the invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Qaida was offered a firm foothold in the Middle East and the unique chance to implement its "resistance against Jews and crusaders" project.
The organisation's penetration of Palestinian politics is the climax of a long, still unfolding process. Rapidly expanding from one location to another, al-Qaida currently boasts branches throughout the Arab region. These developments are worrying not only from the point of view of ruling governments and their western allies, but from that of mainstream Islamic movements too. The defeat of Nasserite nationalism in 1967 saw these movements turn into the principal active players on the political map. Nationalist demands and aspirations of liberation of Palestine, independence from foreign dominance, and sovereignty over resources, began to be spoken with an Islamic voice, in a region where the national and the Islamic have always been intimately intertwined.
With the severe restrictions imposed on them by their western-backed governments and the evaporation of American promises of reform and democratisation, this "democratic Islam" currently finds itself in the grip of a crisis. The greatest beneficiary is al-Qaida. In the Middle East, its battles are fought on two fronts: against "traitor" regimes and their western backers on the one hand, and against popular Islamist oppositions deemed "deviant from the true path of jihad" on the other. In a speech recently broadcast on the al-Jazeera satellite channel, al-Zawahiri scolded Hamas for straying from the path of resistance by participating in the political process.
Events on the ground give further credibility to al-Zawahiri's words. Arabs have watched with horror as Palestinians have been severely punished for their electoral choices, isolated, starved, and propelled towards the bottomless pit of internecine feuding. The message from Washington and London seemed to be: don't bother with the ballot box - only through bombings and violence is change possible. Between occupation and obstruction of peaceful change, the US is creating the ideal environment for al-Qaida to flourish, the product of a sick geopolitics and a deformed view of the region and its needs.
But one thing is certain: the smoke rising from Nahr al-Barid's ruined camp will not be the last the region will see, and the flames will not stop at the Middle East's borders, or consume its people alone.
Inca Skull Rewrites History of Conquest
Archaeologists sensed they had unearthed an important find, but it wasn't until months later that a powerful electron microscope scan confirmed it by finding traces of lead in the skull. The victim, who was between 18 and 22 years old when he died, had been shot by a Spanish conquistador.
"There may have been Incas and other native people killed by Europeans before him, but this is our oldest example so far," said Peruvian archaeologist Guillermo Cock, who has excavated in the area for more than 20 years. "This happened at the beginning of a long and difficult history."
Based on carbon dating, as well as analysis of the hundreds of other bodies buried in the area, Cock believes the man was shot in the 1530s, just a few years after Francisco Pizarro and his small army of conquistadors arrived in Peru.
That arrival led to one of the most disastrous population declines in recorded history -- up to 80 percent of the 12 million people in the Inca empire died within 70 years.
The history of the Incas' rapid defeat and decline, written almost entirely by the Spanish victors, has emphasized the valor and skill of the greatly outnumbered Europeans. Cock said the relatively new field of Inca archaeology is beginning to rewrite some of that story.
For instance, Cock said, there is good reason to believe the young gunshot victim died during the siege of Lima in 1536 -- one of numerous Inca uprisings following the execution of their leader, Atahualpa, by the Spanish. He also said there is archaeological and historical evidence to suggest those insurrections were put down with the help of native peoples who opposed the Incas' rule.
"We are just now starting to really compare what was written with the material evidence being uncovered," Cock said. "There is a lot that was never told before."
The musket victim was one of 72 people who appear to have been hastily placed in a formal Inca burial ground where hundreds of others had been meticulously wrapped, honored and interred in the traditional Inca way. The 72 were barely wrapped, had no ceremonial offerings with them and were in shallow graves.
These signs of a speedy burial, along with tentative evidence that two others may have died of gunshot wounds and that several more had been crushed by swinging maces, led Cock to conclude they died during the little-known siege of Lima. He said relatives probably took them from the battlefield and buried them quickly in the traditional cemetery. The remains of women and children, who most likely traveled with the Inca forces, were also found.
Cock's research was funded by National Geographic and will be the subject of a "Nova" TV special on PBS next Tuesday. The discovery of the lead deep in the bone of the skull was made at the University of New Haven's Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science.
Cock, who is trained as a historian as well as an archaeologist, said about 30 of the 72 bodies had been killed by native weapons -- lending support to his theory that Pizarro succeeded only because he enlisted the help of other tribes who were enemies of the Incas. Pizarro's closest allies are believed to have been the Huaylas, who lived about 100 miles north of Lima, Cock said. Pizarro is known to have taken a prominent Huayla woman to be his mistress, and Huayla forces are believed to have had a decisive impact during the Lima siege.
Richard Burger, a Yale University anthropology professor, said that if the finding holds up, it will indeed represent the first example of a Native American killed by guns. He said Spanish colonists were in the Caribbean and Mexico decades before they came to Peru in 1532, and some native people were probably shot during those years. But their remains have not been unearthed.
"There hasn't been much archaeological evidence in this area, so the finding could be very important," Burger said. "There's a lot of interest now in learning more about the Inca decline from sources other than the victors."
Before the Spanish arrived, the Inca empire controlled the entire Andean region, later earning the designation "Romans of the New World." Highly accomplished builders, the Incas built the city of Machu Picchu on a mountaintop 8,000 feet above sea level.
The fast decline of the Incas has generally been attributed to the far more advanced Spanish weaponry, the spread of European diseases to which native people had no immunity, and malnutrition and illness caused by the harsh working conditions imposed by the colonists.
Cock said all those factors doubtless played a role, but the ability of the Spaniards to establish native allies was also important and has been generally ignored.
"They joined Pizarro in the hope of being rewarded with more independence and freedom," Cock said. "I believe they wanted a more equal, more horizontal relationship with the Spaniards. Clearly, that did not happen."
Blair knew US had no post-war plan for Iraq
Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country.
In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war, which comes as Blair enters his final full week in Downing Street, key No 10 aides and friends of Blair have revealed the Prime Minister repeatedly and unsuccessfully raised his concerns with the White House.
He also agreed to commit troops to the conflict even though President George Bush had personally said Britain could help 'some other way'.
The disclosures, in a two-part Channel 4 documentary about Blair's decade in Downing Street, will raise questions about Blair's public assurances at the time of the war in 2003 that he was satisfied with the post-war planning. In one of the most significant interviews in the programme, Peter Mandelson says that the Prime Minister knew the preparations were inadequate but said he was powerless to do more.
'Obviously more attention should have been paid to what happened after, to the planning and what we would do once Saddam had been toppled,' Mandelson tells The Observer's chief political commentator, Andrew Rawnsley, who presents the documentary.
'But I remember him saying at the time: "Look, you know, I can't do everything. That's chiefly America's responsibility, not ours."' Mandelson then criticises his friend: 'Well, I'm afraid that, as we now see, wasn't good enough.'.
Opponents of the war, who have long claimed that the Pentagon planned a short, sharp offensive to overthrow Saddam Hussein with little thought of the consequences, claimed last night that the programme vindicated their criticisms. Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, told The Observer: 'These frank admissions that the Prime Minister was aware of the inadequacies of the preparations for post-conflict Iraq are a devastating indictment.'
Blair's most senior foreign affairs adviser at the time of the war makes clear that Blair was 'exercised' on the exact issue raised by the war's opponents. Sir David Manning, now Britain's ambassador to Washington, says: 'It's hard to know exactly what happened over the post-war planning. I can only say that I remember the PM raising this many months before the war began. He was very exercised about it.'
Manning reveals that Blair was so concerned that he sent him to Washington in March 2002, a full year before the invasion. Manning recalls: 'The difficulties the Prime Minister had in mind were particularly, how difficult was this operation going to be? If they did decide to intervene, what would it be like on the ground? How would you do it? What would the reaction be if you did it, what would happen on the morning after?
'All these issues needed to be thrashed out. It wasn't to say that they weren't thinking about them, but I didn't see the evidence at that stage that these things had been thoroughly rehearsed and thoroughly thought through.'
On his return to London, Manning wrote a highly-critical secret memo to Blair. 'I think there is a real risk that the [Bush] administration underestimates the difficulties,' it said. 'They may agree that failure isn't an option, but this does not mean that they will avoid it.'
Within a year Britain lost any hope of a proper reconstruction in Iraq when post-war planning was handed to the Pentagon at the beginning of 2003.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's envoy to the postwar administration in Baghdad, confirms that Blair was in despair. 'There were moments of throwing his hands in the air: "What can we do?" He was tearing his hair over some of the deficiencies.' The failure to prepare meant that Iraq quickly fell apart. Greenstock adds: 'I just felt it was slipping away from us really, from the beginning. There was no security force controlling the streets. There was no police force to speak of.'
The revelation that Blair was 'exercised' in private will raise questions about his public assurances. The former Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, told the programme he was given a personal assurance by Blair that he was satisfied by the preparations. 'I said to Tony, are you certain?' Kinnock told the programme. 'And when he said: "I'm sure," that was a good enough reassurance.'
Condoleezza Rice, then Bush's national security adviser, confirms that the President offered Blair a way out. Bush told Blair: 'Perhaps there's some other way that Britain can be involved.' Blair replied: 'No, I'm with you.'
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Pakistan deplores knighthood for Salman Rushdie
Pakistan condemns Knighthood of Salman Rushdie
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s parliament yesterday unanimously condemned Britain’s award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie and called for the title to be withdrawn on the grounds that it offends Muslims.
Indian-born Rushdie, 59, was forced to go into hiding for a decade after Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 issued a death sentence over his book ‘The Satanic Verses,’ claiming it insulted Islam.
Rushdie was awarded the knighthood by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday.
“This house strongly condemns the title of Sir awarded to Salman Rushdie,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan said, reading the resolution passed by Pakistan’s lower house, the national assembly.
“We demand from Britain to refrain from such acts which hurt the sentiments of Muslims and take back the title of Sir given to Rushdie,” Afgan said.
The resolution added that the award would encourage “contempt” for the Prophet Mohammed.
Iran on Saturday accused British leaders of “Islamophobia” for knighting Rushdie. An Irani foreign ministry spokesman said honouring the “hated apostate” was part of a Western campaign against Muslims.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it would send a protest to London, adding that the British honour would harm efforts to promote understanding between Muslim nations and the West.
“We deplore the decision of the British government to knight him. This, we feel, is insensitive and we would convey our sentiments to the British government,” spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.
“Certainly Salman Rushdie has tried to insult and malign Muslims.”
Five people died in the Pakistani capital Islamabad in 1989 in riots against Rushdie’s book. Pakistan is an Islamic republic, like neighbouring Iran, and its 160mn population is overwhelmingly Muslim.
“Western countries call for inter-faith harmony but let no chance pass to hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world,” said Liaquat Baloch, the parliamentary leader of Pakistan’s main alliance of Islamic parties.
Baloch asked the government of President Pervez Musharraf, a key Western ally, to lodge a “strong protest” with the British government over the honour for Rushdie.
Opposition lawmakers brought up Pakistan’s role in the “war on terror,” saying that Britain and the US had no regard for Islamabad despite its help in fighting extremism.
“Those who are awarding the title of Sir to Rushdie are allies of our government, but look at the steps they are taking,” said Khawaja Asif, the parliamentary leader of exiled premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League.
The British High Commission (embassy) in Islamabad defended the decision to bestow the knighthood on Rushdie.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Dick Cheney Pushing For Strike On Iran
WASHINGTON, June 15 — A year after President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced a new strategy toward Iran, a behind-the-scenes debate has broken out within the administration over whether the approach has any hope of reining in Iran’s nuclear program, according to senior administration officials.
The debate has pitted Ms. Rice and her deputies, who appear to be winning so far, against the few remaining hawks inside the administration, especially those in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office who, according to some people familiar with the discussions, are pressing for greater consideration of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
In the year since Ms. Rice announced the new strategy for the United States to join forces with Europe, Russia and China to press Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, Iran has installed more than a thousand centrifuges to enrich uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts that 8,000 or so could be spinning by the end of the year, if Iran surmounts its technical problems.
Those hard numbers are at the core of the debate within the administration over whether Mr. Bush should warn Iran’s leaders that he will not allow them to get beyond some yet-undefined milestones, leaving the implication that a military strike on the country’s facilities is still an option.
Even beyond its nuclear program, Iran is emerging as an increasing source of trouble for the Bush administration by inflaming the insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and in Gaza, where it has provided military and financial support to the militant Islamic group Hamas, which now controls the Gaza Strip.
Even so, friends and associates of Ms. Rice who have talked with her recently say she has increasingly moved toward the European position that the diplomatic path she has laid out is the only real option for Mr. Bush, even though it has so far failed to deter Iran from enriching uranium, and that a military strike would be disastrous.
The accounts were provided by officials at the State Department, White House and the Pentagon who are on both sides of the debate, as well as people who have spoken with members of Mr. Cheney’s staff and with Ms. Rice. The officials said they were willing to explain the thinking behind their positions, but would do so only on condition of anonymity.
Mr. Bush has publicly vowed that he would never “tolerate” a nuclear Iran, and the question at the core of the debate within the administration is when and whether it makes sense to shift course.
The issue was raised at a closed-door White House meeting recently when the departing deputy national security adviser, J. D. Crouch, told senior officials that President Bush needed an assessment of how the stalemate over Iran’s nuclear program was likely to play out over the next 18 months, said officials briefed on the meeting.
In response, R. Nicholas Burns, an under secretary of state who is the chief American strategist on Iran, told the group that negotiations with Tehran could still be going on when Mr. Bush leaves office in January 2009. The hawks in the room reported later that they were deeply unhappy — but not surprised — by Mr. Burns’s assessment, which they interpreted as a tacit acknowledgment that the Bush administration had no “red line” beyond which Iran would not be permitted to step.
But conservatives inside the administration have continued in private to press for a tougher line, making arguments that their allies outside government are voicing publicly. “Regime change or the use of force are the only available options to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapons capability, if they want it,” said John R. Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations.
Only a few weeks ago, one of Mr. Cheney’s top aides, David Wurmser, told conservative research groups and consulting firms in Washington that Mr. Cheney believed that Ms. Rice’s diplomatic strategy was failing, and that by next spring Mr. Bush might have to decide whether to take military action.
The vice president’s office has declined to talk about Mr. Wurmser’s statements, and says Mr. Cheney is fully on board with the president’s strategy. In a June 1 article for Commentary magazine, the neoconservative editor Norman Podhoretz laid out what a headline described as “The Case for Bombing Iran.”
“In short, the plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force — any more than there was an alternative to force if Hitler was to be stopped in 1938,” Mr. Podhoretz wrote.
Mr. Burns and officials from the Treasury Department have been trying to use the mounting conservative calls for a military strike to press Europe and Russia to expand economic sanctions against Iran. Just last week, Israel’s transportation minister and former defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, visited Washington and told Ms. Rice that sanctions must be strong enough to get the Iranians to stop enriching uranium by the end of 2007.
While Mr. Mofaz did not threaten a military strike, Israeli officials said he told Ms. Rice that by the end of the year, Israel “would have to reassess where we are.”
The State Department and Treasury officials are pushing for a stronger set of United Nations Security Council sanctions against members of Iran’s government, including an extensive travel ban and further moves to restrict the ability of Iran’s financial institutions to do business outside of Iran. Beyond that, American officials have been trying to get European and Asian banks to take additional steps, outside of the Security Council, against Iran.
“We’re saying to them, ‘Look, you need to help us make the diplomacy succeed, and you guys need to stop business as usual with Iran,’ ” an administration official said. “We’re not just sitting here ignoring reality.”
But the fallout from the Iraq war has severely limited the Bush administration’s ability to maneuver on the Iran nuclear issue and has left many in the administration, and certainly America’s allies and critics in Europe, firmly against military strikes on Iran. On Thursday, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the international nuclear watchdog agency, warned anew that military action against Iran would “be an act of madness.”
The debate over “red lines” is a familiar one inside the Bush White House that last arose in 2002 over North Korea. When the North Koreans threw out international inspectors on the last day of that year and soon declared that they planned to reprocess 8,000 rods of spent fuel into weapons-grade plutonium, President Bush had to decide whether to declare that if North Korea moved toward weapons, it could face a military strike on its facilities.
The Pentagon had drawn up an extensive plan for taking out those facilities, though with little enthusiasm, because it feared it could not control North Korea’s response, and the administration chose not to delivery any ultimatum. North Korea tested a nuclear weapon last October, and American intelligence officials estimate it now has the fuel for eight or more weapons.
Iran is far behind the North Koreans; it is believed to be three to eight years away from its first weapon, American intelligence officials have told Congress. Conservatives argue that if the administration fails to establish a line over which Iran must not step, the enrichment of uranium will go ahead, eventually giving the Iranians fuel that, with additional enrichment out of the sight of inspectors, it could use for weapons.
To date, however, the administration has been hesitant about saying that it will not permit Iran to produce more than a given amount of fuel, out of concern that Iran’s hard-liners would simply see that figure as a goal.
In the year since the United States made its last offer to Iran, the Iranians have gone from having a few dozen centrifuges in operation to building a facility that at last count, a month ago, had more than 1,300. “The pace of negotiations have lagged behind the pace of the Iranian nuclear program,” said Robert Joseph, the former under secretary of state for international security, who left his post partly over his opposition to the administration’s recent deal with North Korea.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
US 'to unblock' Palestinian aid
The US will lift a 15-month embargo on aid to the Palestinians once a new emergency government excluding Hamas is sworn in, a US diplomat has said.
US consul-general in Jerusalem Jacob Walles said there were no obstacles to re-engaging with the new government, which would have full US support.
Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is expected to swear in a new prime minister on Sunday.
He sacked the Hamas-led government after clashes left more than 100 dead.
On Saturday, violence between the rival factions spread from Gaza to the West Bank, as Fatah gunmen stormed the Hamas-controlled Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah.
Quartet backing
Mr Welles met President Abbas on Saturday and said afterwards that he expected announcements in Washington about "our assistance and about the financial regulations" early next week.
"There won't be any obstacles, economically and politically, in terms of re-engaging with this [emergency] government," he told Reuters news agency.
The quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the US, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union - has also said it backs the decision to dissolve the Hamas led-administration.
Western nations imposed sanctions on the Palestinians after Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation by the US and EU, won elections in January 2006.
Hamas has denounced the move to form an emergency administration as illegal.
Last week, it ousted Fatah from Gaza after a week of fierce fighting.
On Saturday, Fatah gunmen seized the parliament building in Ramallah in the West Bank.
Second deputy speaker Hassan Khuraishah, an independent, told the BBC he had been beaten up as he tried to prevent Fatah gunmen from raising their flag.
In a show of strength, Fatah supporters paraded around Ramallah, firing weapons into the air and chanting "Hamas out".
Almost all Hamas politicians and prominent supporters in Ramallah have either fled or gone into hiding.
Fatah supporters also took over the Hamas-controlled legislative council in Nablus.
Fleeing Gaza
Meanwhile, hundreds of Fatah supporters are reported to have been fleeing Hamas-controlled Gaza by land and sea.
Gaza, and the much larger West Bank, are just 45km (30 miles) apart, but correspondents say they now look poised to function as two separate territories.
President Abbas declared a state of emergency when he sacked the government of Ismail Haniya on Thursday.
Mr Abbas has said he will rule by presidential decree until conditions are right for early elections.
His nominee for prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is a former World Bank economist, whose impending appointment Israel has welcomed.
Friday, June 15, 2007
BAE bought £75m Airbus for Saudi Prince Bandar
According to his most recent approved biographer William Simpson, the aircraft, described as Bandar's "private plane", is heavily used. He says the aircraft flight log includes such destinations as St Lucia in the Caribbean, Rio de Janeiro, Casablanca, Cape Town and Honolulu.
Prince Bandar's lawyers said last night the aircraft was purchased and fitted out by BAE for the Saudi ministry of defence "pursuant to the al-Yamamah programme". It was part of the deal, they said, that "BAE continues to be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the plane".
The lawyers said the plane was owned by the Saudi air force and had been used by other Saudi dignitaries including King Abdullah and the foreign minister Prince Faisal. It would be wrong to suggest it was a "corrupt gift", the legal representatives said.
Prince Bandar denies any impropriety in allegations that he has been paid more than £1bn by BAE for his part in arranging the al-Yamamah deal, which was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office until Tony Blair halted the inquiry on "national security" grounds.
The prince says payments consisted of Saudi official funds and were used for purposes approved by the Saudi ministry of defence. BAE also deny any impropriety, saying all payments were made with UK government "express approval", and were confidential.
Yesterday, the attorney-general, Lord Goldsmith, officially admitted that facts were withheld from the international anti-corruption watchdog, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, about Bandar payments. He said the "national security" cover-up was to prevent leaks to other foreign countries.
The OECD panel is monitoring Britain's compliance with its anti-bribery treaty, and expressed "serious concern" after a police inquiry was halted. Lord Goldsmith says he was ignorant of the OECD cover-up move, made by Serious Fraud Office officials. Writing to Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Goldsmith said: "Indeed, I did not know the judgment the SFO had reached about this issue until it arose in the media last week."
He added: "I gave no orders, instructions or advice to the SFO about that." He said Jonathan Jones, his director-general, was present at the Paris meetings "to deal with ... the national security aspects". He said Mr Jones "was aware generally of what the SFO proposed to say and participated in discussions in preparation for the working group meeting".
But he said "what level of detail to give about particular payments" never arose in those discussions
At the Paris meetings of the OECD anti-bribery panel, where prosecutors from the US department of justice were present, the SFO assistant director voluntarily "disclosed ... that they were investigating a series of payments to a senior Saudi official". But "the individual was not named, nor were details provided of the payments".
Lord Goldsmith said: "The OECD did not ask for any more details."
He added: "The SFO would have been cautious about unnecessarily revealing information which could have gone widely into public circulation, leading to the very damage to national security which the decision to stop the investigation was designed to avoid."
Sir Menzies said last night: "These events get curiouser and curiouser. Major decisions ... were taken by officials and not by those with direct ministerial responsibility. The plain unvarnished truth is that Britain did not reveal significant information to the OECD."
The US department of justice is understood to be "99% certain" to open an investigation in Washington into use of the US banking system for the alleged payments.
Prince Bandar's aircraft, which he is said to frequently lend to other members of the Saudi royal family, has often been seen by plane spotters landing at RAF Brize Norton, the airfield closest to his 2,000-acre country estate at Glympton in Oxfordshire, and at an airfield in Colorado near his US ranch at Aspen.
Benazir’s Return to Power Would Trigger Anarchy, Says a US Writer
Russia launches investigation into Litvinenko affair
Russia said today it had launched its own investigation after the man wanted by Britain in connection with the murder of former spy Alexander Litvinenko made allegations about MI6 involvement in the affair.The federal security service in Moscow said it had started an espionage inquiry into claims made by Andrei Lugovoi, the Russian businessman sought for extradition by Britain in connection with Litvinenko's death last November.
The one-sentence statement by the intelligence agency said only that the investigation would look into statements made by Mr Lugovoi.
Last month, Mr Lugovoi claimed that Litvinenko and his patron, UK-based Russian tycoon and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky, had contacts with the British security service, and that Mr Berezovsky had given British intelligence sensitive information about Russia.The Russian investigation threatens to complicate an already fraught issue that is straining Anglo-Russian relations, also under pressure over the planned US missile defence shield, which the UK supports.
Britain is seeking Mr Lugovoi's extradition as the chief suspect in the poisoning of Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210.
The businessman has denied any involvement and Russia has refused to agree to the extradition.
Separately, Russia has been seeking Mr Berezovsky's extradition for alleged economic crimes. The billionaire was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003 after a political falling out with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.
The run-up to last week's G8 summit in Germany was dominated by hawkish statements from Mr Putin, who said Russia would point its missiles at European cities in response to plans to establish bases for the missile shield in Eastern Europe. This was met with a frosty reaction from the US and UK.
Before leaving for the summit, Tony Blair stressed that he wanted continued good relations with Russia but warned that these were conditional on "certain shared principles and shared values".
Litvinenko left Russia after claiming Russian intelligence agents, rather than Chechen rebels, organised a deadly series of apartment block bombings in 1999. Before he died in a London hospital, he accused Mr Putin's regime of being behind his poisoning, something Moscow vehemently denies.
Mr Lugovoi and another businessman, Dmitry Kovtun, met Litvinenko on November 1, the day he said he fell ill. Radiation traces were found at several locations connected with the men, including the London hotel bar where they met Litvinenko.
Both men were questioned in the presence of British investigators in Moscow in December, and Mr Lugovoi's extradition was requested last month. Mr Putin called the demand "stupidity".
Russian prosecutors have said Mr Lugovoi could be tried in Russia if Britain provides enough evidence to warrant a charge, but there is little sign of this happening yet.