November 30, 2011

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA CONDEMNS ASSAULT OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN TEHERAN

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--The White House condemned "in the strongest terms" the storming and ransacking of the British Embassy in Tehran by Iranian protesters on Tuesday and urged Iran to prevent further assaults on diplomatic sites in the country. "Iran has a responsibility to protect the diplomatic missions present in its country and the personnel stationed at them," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. "We urge Iran to fully respect its international obligations, to condemn the incident, to prosecute the offenders, and to ensure that no further such incidents take place either at the British Embassy or any other mission in Iran.

     Our State Department is in close contact with the British government and we stand ready to support our allies at this difficult time," Carney said. President Barack Obama said the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran is unacceptable and he called on the Iranian government to take “definitive” action “very quickly” against those responsible. “For rioters essentially to be able to overrun the embassy and set it on fire is an indication that the Iranian government is not taking its international obligations seriously,” Obama said as he began a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands at the White House today.

      Obama also said protecting diplomatic outposts is “a basic international obligation that all countries need to observe.” The remarks were the first by the president since Iranian protesters stormed the embassy calling for “death to the U.K.” and burning the British flag. The violence came a week after the U.S. and Britain imposed more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear development program. The U.S. doesn’t have an embassy in Iran. The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran after students seized its embassy in November 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

CUBAN BLOGGER YOANI SANCHEZ RANKED AMONG TOP 'GLOBAL THINKERS'

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez has been named by the Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine as one of its “Top 100 Global Thinkers” for her posts on life on the island, “from Raúl Castro’s latest pronouncements to the taste of mangoes.” With her usual sharp wit, Sánchez sent a tweet Tuesday saying, “Beautiful paradoxes of life. My name on FP list of 100 thinkers, and now I am ‘thinking’ of how to make the rice last until the end of the month.” In another tweet moments later, she noted that a government-sponsored seminar on “Alternative Media and Social Networks” had just started in Havana. “No alternative blogger has been invited. :-) .”  Sánchez ranked No. 81 on the list, described as “a unique portrait of 2011’s global marketplace of ideas and the thinkers who make them,” published in the December issue of Foreign Policy, part of the Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC, in Washington.

     Also on the list were 14 figures of the “Arab Spring,” President Barack Obama, Chinese artist Ai WeiWei and Bill and Melinda Gates. The only other Latin Americans on the list were Brazil President Dilma Rousseff and Venezuelan newspaper editor Teodoro Petkoff. The 36-year-old philologist has won a string of mayor international prizes since she launched her blog, Generación Y, in 2007. “Sánchez’s rise owes at least as much to her literary gifts as to the power of Web 2.0.,” Foreign Policy noted. “Approaching her country’s ills with both hopefulness and a gimlet eye, where most Cuba commentators are didactic and ideologically entrenched, her posts — on everything from Raúl Castro’s latest pronouncements to the taste of mangoes -- have over the years painted an unusually vivid portrait of a society in limbo.”

      Her blog “stands as a rebuke to a government that still sharply limits its citizens’ access to the Internet,” the report noted, adding a quote from one of her posts in February: “We have taken back what belongs to us … These virtual places are ours, and they will have to learn to live with what they can no longer deny." The Foreign Policy report gave its top 14 spots to pro-democracy activists in the Arab world, from Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who helped launch the revolt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman of Yemen. Foreign Policy also named Sánchez as one of the “10 Most Influential Latin American Intellectuals” of 2008, the same year that Time magazine put her on its list of “100 Most Influential People in the World.”

SAUDI ARABIA URGES ITS CITIZENS TO LEAVE SYRIA

     RYDAH, SAUDI ARABIA--saudi foreign minister prince saud al-faisal on Tuesday urged HIS  citizens to leave Syria and not to travel to the Arab nation that has been hit by months of deadly anti-regime protests. "Due to the security situation, Saudi Arabia urges its citizens to leave Syria and not travel there," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

     The decision comes just days after the Arab League slapped unprecedented sanctions on the Syrian regime over its heavy-handed crackdown on dissent, including a call to suspend flights between Damascus and Arab destinations. Bahrain and Qatar on Sunday urged their citizens to leave Syria after the United Arab Emirates also advised its nationals to stay away. Arab states in the Gulf have been at the forefront of calls to sanction Syria over its eight-month crackdown which the United Nations says has killed more than 3,500 people.

     The Qatari and Saudi embassies in Damascus have been attacked during pro-regime demonstrations. And Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens was killed on November 21 while visiting relatives in the restive city of Homs in central Syria. The Arab League on Sunday approved sweeping sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government -- the first time the bloc has imposed punitive measures of such magnitude on one of its own members. Measures include an immediate ban on transactions with Damascus and its central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Arab countries. They also bar Syrian officials from visiting Arab countries and call for a suspension of all flights to Arab states to be implemented on a date to be set next week.idence."

November 29, 2011

french foreign minister SAYS THE DAYS OF THE SYRIAN dictator ARE NUMBERED

     LONDON, ENGLAND--French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said time is running out for the Syrian leader after the Arab League agreed on sanctions against Damascus over its crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The league approved unprecedented sanctions on Sunday, including an asset freeze and an embargo on investments. In response, Syria described the move as a declaration of "economic war".  The UN says more than 3,500 people have died in the crackdown on protests which have been going since March. The government of President Bashar al-Assad blames the violence on armed gangs and militants. Meanwhile, violence continued on Sunday with Syrian activists saying at least 11 people had been killed across the country. 

    The flashpoint region of Homs saw at least six deaths in three separate incidents, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Reports from Syria are difficult to verify as foreign journalists are unable to move around the country freely. Mr Juppe told French radio that the days of the Syrian government were "numbered" as it was "totally isolated". Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem: "They (the Arab League) wanted to be alone without listening to the voice of Syria. "Things are going slowly unfortunately... but they are advancing since the Arab League, which carries considerable political weight, has just decided on some sanctions which will isolate the Syrian regime a bit more," Mr Juppe said. Earlier this month, the Arab League suspended Syria, in a move denounced by Damascus as interference. 

     The league's sanctions came after Syria refused to allow 500 Arab League monitors into the country to assess the situation on the ground. Syria, one of the founder members of the Arab League, condemned the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity. The EU and the US already have sanctions in place against Syria.  Speaking at a news conference in Damascus on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem condemned the sanctions as a declaration of "economic war" and warned of repercussions for the Arab League. He said that Damascus had already withdrawn 95% of the assets targeted by the league.  Mr Moualem also reiterated Damascus' position that armed gangs were behind the continuing violence, showing footage of bloodied and charred corpses of Syrian government soldiers.

SYRIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS "ARAB LEAGUE SANCTIONS ARE DECLARATION OF ECONOMIC WAR"

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--The Arab League's newly approved sanctions against Damascus amount to "a declaration of economic war," Syria's foreign minister said Monday, betraying deep concern about the effects of the measures on the embattled regime. But in a clear sign of defiance, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insisted that the Syrian people will be the ones to suffer — and the regime will survive. "Let them study the history of Syria very well," al-Moallem told reporters at a televised news conference. "Neither warnings nor sanctions will work with us.”  In an unprecedented move against a fellow Arab state, the 22-member Arab League approved sanctions Sunday to pressure the regime to end its suppression of an 8-month-old revolt. The crackdown has killed more than 3,500 people and deepened Syria's international isolation.

    The sanctions by Syria's Arab neighbors include cutting off transactions with the Syria's central bank, and are expected to squeeze an ailing economy that already is under sanction by the U.S. and the European Union. Damascus' response is that Syria is the victim of a foreign-supported insurgency by armed gangs. In an attempt to bolster that contention, al-Moallem showed reporters videos of charred and bloodied corpses. "I'm sorry for these gruesome pictures, but they are a gift to the members of the Arab League who still deny the presence of these armed gangs," he said. The European Union and the United States already have imposed sanctions, the League has suspended Syria's membership, and world leaders increasingly are calling on President Bashar Assad to go.

     But as the crisis drags on, the violence appears to be spiraling out of control as attacks by army defectors increase and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves. The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of Syria's growing international isolation. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors. Still tens of thousands of government supporters flocked to main squares on Monday in almost all cities, including the capital Damascus, to denounce the Arab League decision. State TV quoted demonstrators as saying that the sanctions target all segments of the population. Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said the bloc will reconsider the sanctions if Syria carries out an Arab-brokered plan that calls for pulling tanks from the streets and ending violence against civilians. The regime, however, has shown no signs of easing its crackdown, and activist groups said more than 30 people were killed on Sunday alone.

PRESIDENT SANTOS THANKS VENEZUELAN DICTATOR CHAVEZ FOR CAPTURING A COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD
 
    CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos highlighted that the ties between Colombia and Venezuela have strengthened in the past 16 months, after the resumption of bilateral relations. He said that he is holding talks with President Hugo Chávez about "security, drug trafficking, trade, culture and everything that unites us."  In this context, Santos thanked Chávez for capturing Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco, aka "Valenciano," a drug lord who was in Valencia, state of Carabobo, central Venezuela.

    "President, I want to thank you and the (Venezuelan) authorities for capturing this drug lord. This individual was on the most wanted list of criminals in Colombia and the world. Santos stressed "the coincidence of the capture of the criminal and the fact that we can announce this great news. This is a great welcome gift," Santos acknowledged. Meanwhile, Chávez took the opportunity to congratulate his Minister of Interior and Justice, Tareck El Aissami, for having captured "Valenciano" in Valencia, the capital of Carabobo state. He said that the drug kingpin will be handed over to Colombian authorities.

    Chávez reiterated in front of Santos that "Venezuela has not allowed and will not allow any violation to its sovereignty by any drug trafficking, guerrilla, terrorist group or leader... Colombia and President (Santos) must know that we will do whatever it takes to prevent any plot or attack against Colombia from Venezuelan territory." Chávez said that the capture of the drug lord was not part of a premeditated plan but "a happy coincidence."

November 28, 2011

PakiSTAN BURIES TROOPS AMID FURY OVER NATO STRIKE THAT KILLED 24 SOLDIERS

     ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN--Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the American consulate in Karachi on Sunday, as Pakistan held funerals for the 24 soldiers killed Saturday in a NATO cross-border airstrike in the country's northwest. Reporters near the consulate say at least 700 people were outside the heavily fortified compound shouting "Down with America" and other anti-American chants. Meanwhile, the nation's army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, was among those attending funerals of the victims. Their

     NATO and U.S. officials responded quickly to try to minimize the repercussions of the attack on the Pakistani military outposts.  NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday he has offered his condolences to Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for what he called the "tragic, unintended" deaths.  Rasmussen said he told the prime minister the deaths of the Pakistani troops was "as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel."  He said he supports the NATO investigation that is under way.  Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the air raid was not acceptable and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life.  Clinton responded by saying she was deeply saddened, and she promised to work with Pakistan on the issue.

      Pakistan reacted swiftly to the airstrike by shutting down all NATO supply lines through its territory to Afghanistan and ordering the U.S. to vacate an air base in southwestern Baluchistan province within 15 days.   Prime Minister Gilani and top leaders said Saturday the Pakistani government "will revisit and undertake a complete review of all programs, activities and cooperative arrangements with US/NATO/ISAF."  They called for "strong and urgent action" against those responsible for the deadly incident. Pakistan also is reexamining its decision to attend a major Afghanistan peace conference in Bonn next month.

PAKISTAN TELLS U.S. TO 'VACATE' AIR BASE USED FOR DRONE OPERATIONS

     ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN--Pakistan's government has ordered the U.S. to "vacate" an air base used for suspected drone attacks, in retaliation for a NATO strike that allegedly killed two-dozen Pakistani soldiers, Fox News has confirmed. The demand marked the latest reprisal out of Pakistan, as the U.S. and NATO allies scramble to investigate the incident. Islamabad had already ordered the country's border crossings into Afghanistan closed, blocking off NATO supply lines, after the strike. The government issued the air base demand, and pledged a "complete review" of its relationship with the U.S. and NATO, following an emergency military meeting chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

     Pakistan's Defense Committee condemned the attack in a written statement, saying the strike was "violative of international law and had gravely dented the fundamental basis of Pakistan's cooperation" with NATO against terrorists.  "The attack on Pakistan Army border posts is totally unacceptable and warrants an effective national response," the statement said.  The government urged the U.S. to leave the Shamsi Air Base within 15 days. The U.S. is suspected of using the facility in the past to launch armed drones and observation aircraft. Pakistan made a similar demand over the summer, though officials reportedly claimed the CIA had already suspended its use of the base as a staging ground for armed drones months earlier.

     "Senior U.S. civilian and military officials have been in touch with their Pakistani counterparts from Islamabad, Kabul and Washington to express our condolences, our desire to work together to determine what took place, and our commitment to the U.S.-Pakistan partnership which advances our shared interests, including fighting terrorism in the region," the White House said in a statement Saturday.  Still, the tone of the Pakistani government's statement Saturday underscored the depth of the potential fallout after Pakistan accused NATO aircraft of firing on two army checkpoints and killing 24 soldiers. The incident early Saturday quickly exacerbated tensions between the two countries and threatened to escalate into a standoff more severe than one last year after a similar but less deadly strike.

AFGHAN OFFICIALS SAY THAT PAKISTANI TROOPS FIRED FIRST IN NATO ATTACK
 
    KABUL, AFGHANISTAN--Afghan officials say NATO and Afghan forces patrolling near the Pakistan border came under fire before they called in the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Saturday.  Sunday's account by unnamed officials contradicts Islamabad's claims that the attack on two Pakistani army bases was unprovoked.  NATO and U.S. officials responded quickly to try to minimize the diplomatic repercussions of the attack.  NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Sunday promised a full investigation into the "tragic, unintended" deaths.    Rasmussen told Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that the deaths of the Pakistani troops were "unacceptable and deplorable." 

    Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the air raid was not acceptable and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life.  Clinton responded by saying she was deeply saddened, and she promised to work with Pakistan on the issue. Pakistan has reacted strongly to the airstrikes by shutting down all NATO supply lines through its territory to Afghanistan and ordering the U.S. to vacate an air base in southwestern Baluchistan province within 15 days. 

    In the port city of Karachi, hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the American consulate Sunday, shouting "Down with America" and other anti-American slogans.  Meanwhile, the nation's army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, was among those attending funerals of the victims. Their coffins, draped in green and white Pakistani flags, are being airlifted to their respective hometowns. Prime Minister Gilani and top leaders said in a statement Saturday the Pakistani government "will revisit and undertake a complete review of all programs, activities and cooperative arrangements with US/NATO/ISAF."  The statement called for strong and urgent action against those responsible for the deadly incident. Pakistan also is reexamining its decision to attend a major Afghanistan peace conference in Bonn next month.

November 27, 2011

NATO FORCES ATTACK ALLEGEDLY KILLED 24 PakiSTANI TROOPS

     ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN--Pakistan on Saturday blocked vital supply routes for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan and demanded Washington vacate a base used by American drones after coalition aircraft allegedly killed 24 Pakistani troops at two posts along a mountainous frontier that serves as a safe haven for militants. The incident was a major blow to American efforts to rebuild an already tattered alliance vital to winding down the 10-year-old Afghan war. Islamabad called the bloodshed in one of its tribal areas a "grave infringement" of the country's sovereignty, and it could make it even more difficult for the U.S. to enlist Pakistan's help in pushing Afghan insurgents to engage in peace talks.

    A NATO spokesman said it was likely that coalition airstrikes caused Pakistani casualties, but an investigation was being conducted to determine the details. If confirmed, it would be the deadliest friendly fire incident by NATO against Pakistani troops since the Afghan war began a decade ago. A prolonged closure of Pakistan's two Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies could cause serious problems for the coalition. The U.S., which is the largest member of the NATO force in Afghanistan, ships more than 30 percent of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan. The coalition has alternative routes through Central Asia into northern Afghanistan, but they are costlier and less efficient. But the reported casualties are much greater this time, and the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. has severely deteriorated over the last year, especially following the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May. Islamabad was outraged it wasn't told about the operation beforehand.

     The government announced it closed its border crossings to NATO in a statement issued after an emergency meeting of the Cabinet's defense committee chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. It also said that within 15 days the U.S. must vacate Shamsi Air Base, which is located in southwestern Baluchistan province. The U.S. uses the base to service drones that target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region when they cannot return to their bases inside Afghanistan because of weather conditions or mechanical difficulty, said U.S. and Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic matters. The government also plans to review all diplomatic, military and intelligence cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO forces, according to the statement issued after the defense committee meeting.

COLOMBIAN REBELS KILLED 4 HOSTAGES, DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS

     BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Colombia's main leftist rebel group shot and killed four hostages, the country's defense minister said Saturday. The bodies of the four men, all of whom were security force members, were found in the morning, Juan Carlos Pinzon told reporters, CNN affiliate Caracol TV said. They were executed in the southern region of Caqueta, where the military was conducting operations against the rebel group, he said. "We regret that they were killed in such an indefensible manner," said Pinzon, adding that chains were found with the bodies, according to Caracol TV.

    The defense minister reportedly said three of the hostages had been shot in the head, while the fourth was shot in the back. One of the men had been held for 14 years, Caracol TV reported. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, has been at war with the Colombian government since the 1960s. While severely weakened in recent years, the guerrilla group has continued to carry out kidnappings and attack security forces in the South American nation.

    A Colombian military operation killed then-FARC leader Alfonso Cano earlier this month. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos described the killing as the nation's "most overwhelming blow" against the rebel organization. Following Cano's death, the FARC released a statement in which its leaders said they would not end their guerrilla struggle.

DIEGO ARRIA FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ AT THE HAGUE
 
    THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS--A complaint on crimes against humanity filed on Monday before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands, accuses Hugo Chávez and some of his top aides, rather than the Venezuelan government or him as President, said on Monday Diego Arria, a former Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations and a pre-candidate to opposition presidential primary elections.  "It is a complaint to defend the rights of thousands and thousands of victims of Hugo Chávez. This complaint is neither against the Venezuelan president's office as an institution nor against Chávez as Head of State. It is intended to determine the criminal and personal liability of Hugo Chávez and some of his top aides for crimes against humanity," he said.

    Arria stressed that the complaint requires a prompt ruling, in order to prevent new crimes that are foreseeable in the light of Venezuelan circumstances. "I intend to prevent situations similar to those occurred in countries such as Ivory Coast when his President (Laurent Gbagbo) refused to step down." "We are not accusing Hugo Chávez, because that pertains to the prosecutor and the International Criminal Court (ICC). We have come here to defend the rights of thousands and thousands of Venezuelan victims," the independent presidential hopeful said. He added that some of the crimes for which he produced evidence are "murder, forced displacement and violation of property."

    Arria said, in an interview with private TV news network Globovisión, that the documents were prepared more than one year ago in order to report on a widespread government policy aimed at violating human rights.  The former Venezuelan ambassador to the UN said that he cannot disclose the names of those involved in specific complaints until the prosecutor determines that an investigation will be opened. "We cannot even disclose the names of the attorneys-at-law who participated in this process, as we fear retaliation." Arria expects a prompt ruling on the allegations he made. He said that the complaint will be examined by an ICC preliminary court, where prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo will decide whether or not to uphold the allegations. The opposition leader recalled he worked in international cases such as Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda in which the international community was slow to act and "the death toll was huge," Arria said.

November 26, 2011

CHINA AGREES TO LOAN VENEZUELA $4 BILLION

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--China has agreed to a new $4 billion loan to help Venezuela boost its oil output and will also help upgrade power plants and increase production of iron and aluminum, a Venezuelan official said Wednesday. China has swiftly become Venezuela's biggest foreign lender in recent years, and has previously agreed to more than $32 billion in loans. President Hugo Chavez's government is repaying the loans with oil shipments. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said during a meeting with Chinese officials that the new $4 billion loan agreement would be signed Wednesday. He said the purpose is to increase oil production involving Venezuelan and Chinese companies from about 100,000 barrels a day to about 330,000 barrels a day. He said oil production involving Chinese companies should reach about 1.1 million barrels a day by 2014. That would be a big increase for Venezuela, which aims to raise its overall oil output from what it says is now roughly 3 million barrels a day to about 4 million barrels a day by 2015.

    The infusion of cash from China has also provided key support as Chavez looks to boost spending ahead of next year's presidential election. Ramirez said Chinese companies are helping with upgrades to power plants. Chinese companies are also building public housing for the government, and are constructing railways. Chinese and Venezuelan officials discussed not only plans to boost iron ore production, but also projects to expand a pier, dredge the Orinoco River and "expand our capacity of rail transport for transporting iron ore," Ramirez said at the televised meeting. Another joint project aims to increase production of aluminum, Ramirez said. Venezuela's oil exports to China stand at 410,000 barrels of fuel a day, up nearly 10-fold from the 45,000 barrels a day sold to China in 2005, Ramirez said. In order to deal with increasing volumes of heavy oil from Venezuela, the two countries are moving ahead with plans to jointly build a refinery in China capable of handling up to 400,000 barrels a day, he said.

    Much of the oil is to come from the vast reservoir of heavy crude in Venezuela's eastern Orinoco River basin. Ramirez said China will also be involved in developing a deep-water terminal in the eastern port town of Araya to enable increasing oil exports. The long-term emphasis during this week's talks, Ramirez said, is "for us to supply all the oil that China needs for its development, and to obtain from China all necessary support in the transfer of technology and financing." The oil-for-loans deals with China have drawn strong criticism from some Chavez opponents, who argue that so much debt isn't beneficial for Venezuela or for its state oil company. Opposition lawmaker Miguel Angel Rodriguez said the loans effectively "mortgage the country." He demanded the government provide details of its deals, including the prices at which Venezuela is selling the oil to China

SYRIA REGIME SLAMS ARAB LEAGUE ULTIMATUM

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--The Syrian regime rejects Arab League ultimatum of either admitting observer mission within a day or face further sanctions. Syria's state-run SANA news agency said Friday that the Arab League "has become a tool for foreign interference." It also said the 22-nation group is serving a Western agenda to stir up trouble in the region. Thursday's threat was a humiliating blow to Damascus, a founding member of the Arab League. It comes as international pressure mounts on President Bashar Assad to stop the brutal crackdown on an uprising against his regime.

    The UN says has at least 3,500 have been killed since mid-March. More protests were planned Friday. Activists urged protesters to flood the streets to support army defectors who have sided with the opposition. The Arab League had given Syria one day to sign a protocol allowing monitors into the country or face sanctions including halting flights and suspending transactions with the central bank. Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo on Thursday said unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday.

    Under a Nov. 2 Arab League initiative, Syria agreed to withdraw troops from urban centres, release political prisoners, start a dialogue with the opposition and allow monitors and international media into the country. Since then hundreds of people, civilians, security forces and army deserters, have been killed. The violence prompted former ally Turkey to bluntly tell President Bashar al-Assad to step down and led France to propose "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to help transport medicines or other supplies to civilians in need.

CUBA TO OVERHAUL POSTAL SERVICE in 2012
 
    HAVANA, CUBA--Cuba’s postal service will become a state-owned corporate group next year bent on modernizing its administration and seeking greater efficiency and quality as part of President Raul Castro’s effort to “modernize” the island’s socialist economic model. The official economy weekly Opciones said that Correos de Cuba “will shed the old megastructure that impedes its development and install more modern systems of management, the guarantee of efficiency and quality.”

    With some 13,600 employees, Correos handles such services as newspaper, mail and shipment deliveries as well as a list of other services including Social Security payments and credits. Its new model as a corporate group will include 18 territorial subsidiaries and others specializing in courier services, currency exchange, insurance and “superior address organization.” Correos de Cuba’s director of strategy, Raul Marcial Cortina, told the weekly that “decentralization” is one of the goals of restructuring, with each subsidiary organizing and directing its own services in its own territory.

    The Cuban government recently announced the restructuring of the sugar industry, in former times the principal driver of the nation’s economy, and similar measures are not ruled out for other sectors of the economy. The historic Sugar Ministry was eliminated in September and in November was replaced by the business group AZCUBA, an umbrella organization covering 13 provincial companies plus nine support and services agencies, two research institutes and a training center. The reform included reducing the industry’s workforce by 45 percent.

November 24, 2011

YEMENI PRESIDENT SIGNS DEAL TO TRANSFER POWER

     RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA--Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed Wednesday to step down after a long-running uprising to oust him from 33 years in power. Saleh, seated beside Saudi King Abdullah in the Saudi capital Riyadh, signed a U.S.-backed deal hammered out by his country's powerful Gulf Arab neighbors to transfer his power within 30 days to his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. That will be followed by early presidential elections within 90 days.

     Dressed smartly in a dark business suit with a matching striped tie and handkerchief, he smiled as he signed the deal and then clapped his hands a few times. He then spoke for a few minutes to members of the Saudi royal families and international diplomats, promising to cooperate with the new Yemeni government. "This disagreement for the last 10 months has had a big impact on Yemen in the realms of culture, development, politics, which led to a threat to national unity and destroyed what has been built in past years," he said. Saleh is the fourth Arab leader toppled since the start of this year by the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, after longtime authoritarian leaders fell in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

     For months, the U.S. and other world powers have tried to get Saleh to agree to the Gulf Cooperation Council proposal, and he agreed then backed down three times before. All the while, international concern grew about a security collapse in Yemen that an active al-Qaida franchise in the country exploited to gain a firmer foothold. Even before the uprising began in February, Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East, fractured and unstable with a government that had weak authority at best outside the capital Sanaa. Saleh addressed the country's troubles without mentioning the demands of protesters who have filled squares across Yemen calling for his ouster, often facing deadly crackdown from his security forces. He also struck out at those who strove to topple calling the protests the protests a "coup" and a bombing of his palace mosque that seriously wounded him in June "a scandal."

CUBA RELAXES RULES ON FAMILY MIGRATION TO CAPITAL

     HAVANA, CUBA--Cuba on Tuesday relaxed a rule that limits islanders' internal movement, reducing bureaucratic hurdles associated with migration to Havana for people with immediate family members there. Spouses, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and siblings of Cubans with legal residence in the capital will no longer have to ask for prior permission to come to Havana, according to a decree that appeared in the Official Gazette, a government publication that disseminates new laws. The decree does not affect restrictions on overseas travel.

    The measure signed by President Raul Castro partially modifies a controversial regulation under which people found in Havana who cannot prove legal residence or an official reason for being there can be sent back home and fined. Presumably that policy still applies to people who are not close relatives of Havana residents, and it was not immediately clear how people would obtain documentation demonstrating that they have immediate family members in the capital.

     The rules on internal movement were adopted in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, the island's main benefactor and trade partner, created a severe economic crisis. The goal was to avoid a massive economic migration to the capital, where much of Cuba's industry and tourist centers are located. "Although the causes and conditions that at that time motivated the adoption of the aforementioned decree still exist," read the new measure, dated Oct. 29, "it is advisable to exempt from the bureaucratic procedure ... certain people from other provinces of the country who seek to move permanently to Havana." Cuba is implementing economic reforms under which small private businesses have mushroomed and the government has permitted the free sale of homes and cars.

WITH EYE ON EGYPT, ISRAEL PREPARES FOR THE WORST
 
     JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Watching from the sidelines yet feeling much involved, Israel is preparing for the worst in Egypt, concerned about the fate of the 1979 peace treaty that reshaped the strategic balance of the Middle East. As Egypt copes with street protests in the run-up to parliamentary elections, Israel fears a strengthening of Islamists at the expense of the military could doom the deal that removed Israel's biggest neighbor from its list of enemies, giving the Jewish state far more room to maneuver on other fronts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the tone, telling lawmakers Wednesday that "the chances are that an Islamist wave will wash the Arab states, an anti-Western wave, an anti-liberal wave."  In the first official assessment of the latest unrest in Egypt, Israeli Cabinet Minister Matan Vilnai said the result in the all-important case of Egypt could be a "grave erosion" in the peace treaty, suggesting the deal could collapse altogether .

    Israel's main fear is the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is poised to make major gains in elections set to begin next week. The group has been cool to Egypt's peace with Israel and has close ties with the ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. "The picture is quite clear. We've been saying it for months. Apparently what we call the Muslim Brotherhood ... will ultimately be the majority in all the (Egyptian) institutions," Vilnai, a retired general who is now the minister for civil defense, told Israel's Army Radio station. He said he did not expect the Brotherhood to try to annul the peace deal immediately, since Egypt's post-revolution government will be preoccupied with domestic issues. "But once the regime stabilizes, as we expect it to do, we expect that there will be a grave erosion of this agreement. And we have to prepare for such a situation," Vilnai said. "We are prepared for every scenario," he added.

    The Islamists' ultimate agenda is not entirely certain, and the Islamist bloc is not monolithic, containing both radicals and pragmatists. Brotherhood leaders have said they do not seek to cancel the peace accord with Israel. Like some liberal and secular factions, they do say they want amendments in the deal, particularly to change provisions that bar the Egyptian military from deploying in the Sinai Peninsula, near the border with Israel. Many in Egypt see that provision as a blow to national pride and as fueling chaos in the desert territory. On this Israel may prove amenable. It expects Egypt to secure the area and prevent militant activity, a demand at odds with the peace treaty's troop limits. Israel has already agreed in recent months to relax the limit to boost security. Israel's persistent longer-term fear stems from a fundamental distrust of Islamic fundamentalists - a suspicion that even if they start off seeming benign, moderate, and limited in their ambitions, the ultimate result of an Islamic surge in any important country in the region would be disastrous for Arab-Israeli coexistence.

November 23, 2011

EGYPT MILITARY PLEDGES TO SPEED UP POWER TRANSFER

     CAIRO, EGYPT--Egypt's military rulers have agreed to speed up presidential elections, a key demand of protesters packing Cairo's Tahrir Square. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi said on national TV they would happen by July 2012. He said parliamentary elections due next week would go ahead and that a referendum on an immediate transfer of power would be organised if necessary. It follows days of protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square over the pace of reform. Tens of thousands of people continued to pack Tahrir Square on Tuesday evening. Witnesses said many appeared to reject the military's latest concessions, chanting: "We are not leaving, he (Tantawi) leaves."

    There are tens of thousands of people in the square reacting as if nothing had happened. Plenty of people have said today they want to stay here until military rule ends.  The military does not want to give up power. It has pulled a lot of strings behind the scenes since 1952.  They control 40% of the economy and it's not something they want to give away lightly.  This is not the end of it. The US, in its strongest comments yet on the renewed unrest in Egypt, condemned the use of "excess" force by police. At least 28 people have been killed and hundreds injured since Saturday. US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called on Egyptian authorities to "exercise maximum restraint". Next week's parliamentary elections are due to set in train a process of transition to democracy following the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak in February. But many Egyptians fear the military intends to hold on to power, whatever the outcome of the polls.

     Under the military's original timetable, presidential elections might not have happened until 2013. The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Cairo says the army's readiness to bring forward presidential elections appears to be a major concession. Field Marshal Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, said that the military was only there to protect the people and did not seek permanent power. "The armed forces, represented by their Supreme Council, do not aspire to govern and put the supreme interest of the country above all considerations," he said. "They are fully prepared to immediately hand over power and to return to their original duty in protecting the homeland if that what they people want, through a popular referendum if necessary."

PAKISTANI TALIBAN DECLARE NATIONWIDE CEASE-FIRE

     PESHAWAR- PAKISTAN--The Pakistani Taliban have declared a cease-fire to encourage nascent peace talks with the government, a senior commander said, a move that appears to show the deadly group's willingness to strike a deal. It was unclear Tuesday whether all the militants claiming to be under the Taliban banner would obey the directive, which the commander said had been in effect for a month. The Pakistani Taliban are believed to be divided into many factions. There has also been significant militant violence in the country in recent weeks. Hours after the Taliban announcement, state-run Pakistan Television quoted Interior Minister Rehman Malik as saying that the government had not held formal talks with the Taliban. "But if the Taliban has announced a cease-fire, we welcome it," it quoted Malik as telling reporters in the southwestern city of Quetta.

     The Pakistani Taliban, allied with Al Qaeda and based in the northwest close to the Afghan border, have been behind much of the violence tearing apart Pakistan over the last 4 1/2 years. At least 35,000 people have been killed in guerrilla attacks and army offensives. The Taliban want to oust the U.S.-backed government and install a hardline Islamist regime. They also have international ambitions and trained the Pakistani-American who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square in 2010. The United States, which has pounded the Taliban with missiles fired by drones, wants Pakistan to keep the pressure on insurgents and would likely be concerned about any effort to strike a deal. Many of America's fiercest foes in Afghanistan -- as well as Al Qaeda operatives from around the world -- live alongside the militants in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan.

     The commander said the cease-fire was valid throughout the country. "We are not attacking the Pakistan army and government installations because of the peace process," he said late Monday. The commander is close to Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not the official spokesman of the insurgent network. His statement adds credence to announcements by anonymous Taliban and intelligence officials that government intermediaries recently met with Taliban commanders to talk about a possible peace deal. The government has not officially commented, and the army denied Tuesday it was involved in any talks. Much remains unclear about the nature of the reported talks and their potential. Both the army and the militants have previously engaged in misinformation. Some reports have said any deal would cover only one region in the northwest, South Waziristan, but could be extended. Pakistan has cut deals with militant factions in the past, several of which quickly broke down after giving the insurgents time to regroup.

SPAIN BORROWING COSTS SOAR IN DEBT SALE
 
     MADRID, SPAIN-Spain's borrowing costs rose above those of Greece and Portugal Tuesday in an auction of short-term debt, suggesting investors remain cautious about this country's financial future despite a convincing electoral win this week by conservatives bent on deficit-cutting austerity. The treasury sold euro2.98 billion ($4 billion) in 3- and 6-month bills, which was roughly the agency's target. But the average interest rate on the 3-month bills jumped to 5.1 percent from 2.3 percent in the last such auction in October, and to 5.2 percent on the 6-month bills, compared with 3.3 percent last time. Demand was nevertheless good, with bids almost three times the amount offered for the 3-month bills, and nearly 5 for the 6-month bills.  Still, though the bonds are not strictly comparable because Greece and Portugal are receiving EU and International Monetary Fund bailouts that help keep rates down, the Spanish yields on the 3-month bonds compare to 4.1 percent for Greece and 4.9 percent for Portugal in auctions on Nov. 16.

    Last week, Spain had to offer an average interest rate of nearly 7 percent on 10-year bonds at an auction, a euro-era record. An auction of 12- and 18-month bonds last week also went badly, with Spain also forced to offer significantly higher interest rates to investors. The center-right Popular Party has had no time to savor its electoral victory over the Socialists, having to immediately address the grueling task of reassuring investors worried about Spain's grim prospects for economic growth and getting nearly 5 million unemployed - 21.5 percent of the work force - back to work. Doubts that Spain will be able to make it are behind the rise in its borrowing rates. On the secondary market, where bonds are bought and sold after they are issued, the yield on Spanish benchmark 10-year bonds stood at 6.5 percent, roughly the same as the day after the election and not far from the 7 percent level that is considered unsustainable over the longer term.

     The future prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has said he will maintain the purchasing power of retirement pensions but other than that, any kind of government spending is liable for cuts. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Monday it was maintaining its AA- rating with a negative outlook for Spain despite the conservative win. Meanwhile, in a sign of the fragility of some of Spain's lenders, the central bank announced late Monday that it had seized a small bank, Banco de Valencia, because of problems with solvency and liquidity stemming from overexposure to the real estate bubble largely blamed for Spain's economic collapse. It is the fourth such seizure of a banking entity since 2009. The Bank of Spain said it was injecting euro1 billion in capital into Banco de Valencia S.A. and opening up a euro2 billion credit line for it.

November 22, 2011

U.S., CANADA AND BRITAIN IMPOSE NEW ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON IRAN  (RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE)

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--the United States, Canada and Britain joined in applying new sanctions pressuring Iran as western nations target Tehran’s finances to try to discourage their efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Britain has already imposed new measures, announced Monday, severing trading between the country’s financial institutions and Iran’s banks. And the United States is preparing to designate Iran as a “primary money laundering concern” to tighten restrictions on flows of money to and from the country. America's financial and energy sanctions will target Iranian companies, the hardline Revolutionary Guard force and Iran's petrochemicals sector, U.S. officials said. The aim would be to build on several American measures already in place to isolate Iran's economy.

       The steps, taken by the countries that house the world’s two biggest financial capitals, are aimed at making it more difficult for the Iranian regime and its institutions, including its central bank, to do financial business around the world. Canada will also cut off many financial links to Iran. In the Commons, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan said new sanctions will “block virtually all transactions with Iran, including those with the central bank.” The moves are the latest efforts at pressuring Tehran to drop attempts to develop nuclear weapons, after a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency outlined “serious concerns” that Iran had worked to develop nuclear explosives. The Iranian government insists its nuclear program is for civilian and scientific purposes.

      Britain’s finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, said the sanctions are aimed at “preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons.” He said they also were designed to shield Britain's financial sector from exposure to Iranian money laundering and terrorism financing, without offering specifics. It made no references to Washington's allegation of an Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States. “Today's announcement is a further step to preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons,” he said in a statement. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are scheduled to provide details of new U.S. sanctions on Monday afternoon.

egypt's cabinet submits resignation amid protests, violence

     CAIRO, EGYPT--Egypt's Cabinet offered to resign Monday night, government officials said, as thousands of people gathered again in Cairo to protest the military-led government. The military leadership accepted the mass resignation soon after the prime minister's office said it was offered, said Lt. Col. Amr Imam, a spokesman for the ruling Supreme Council for the Armed Forces. But a short time later, a spokesman for Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said that the resignation was not complete. Mohammed Hegazy said around 11 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) that Egypt's ruling military council "is currently in another session with the Cabinet and has not accepted" the Cabinet members' proposed mass resignation "yet." Tahrir Square -- the hub of the activist movement that led to the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago -- was packed again Monday with protesters calling for Egypt's military leaders to step down.

     The demonstrations in Egypt's capital continued despite ongoing chaos and violence, as security forces clashed with demonstrators for a third straight day. One of those who submitted his resignation, Justice Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz al-Juindy, said the forces' crackdown prompted the mass move to quit the government.  "I resigned because of the events in Tahrir (Square), because of the political responsibility," explained al-Juindy, referring to the bloody confrontations in Cairo between security forces and demonstrators. Twenty-four protesters have died in these recent clashes, Health Ministry spokesman spokesman Dr. Adil al-Dawi said shortly before midnight Monday. Among police, 102 officers and conscripts have been injured, with wounds ranging from gunshots to burns from Molotov cocktails, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. One officer has a critical bullet wound to his head. Those figures, though, pale compared to the roughly 1,700 citizens who have been wounded, according to the same Health Ministry spokesman. That includes at least 207 on Monday.

      The military said it is "extremely sorry" for the events under way and called for an investigation. The Supreme Council is calling upon "all political forces to hold dialogue as soon as possible in order to address the escalation" of unrest, a spokesman for the military leadership, Maj. Mohamed Askar, said late Monday. With citizen activists again at odds with security forces in Tahrir Square, the scene this week in many ways resembles what happened in February. After Mubarak was ousted, military leaders took control with the promise that eventually a civilian government would be elected and take over. Military leaders still insist they will hand over power to a new government when one is elected. Parliamentary elections are set to take place November 28. But a complex electoral process follows, and presidential elections could be a year away. Demonstrators say they are concerned the military -- which would continue to be Egypt's top authority until a president is in place -- wants to keep a grip on the country. And many have voiced anger about a proposed constitutional principle that would shield the military's budget from scrutiny by civilian powers. They say they worry the military would be shaped as a state within a state.

farc rebel radio station 'shut down' by colombian army after 15 years on air
 
     bogota, colombia--Colombia's army says it has shut down the main radio station operated by the Farc rebels, after 15 years on air.  Troops captured transmitters and other broadcast equipment when they overran a guerrilla camp in the Meta region.  The rebel radio station Voice of Resistance broadcast the Farc's revolutionary message across large areas of eastern and central Colombia. The army also disrupted its broadcasts last year, but the left-wing rebels got the station back on air. 

    Troops found the clandestine broadcasting operation in a rebel base protected by some 60 improvised explosive devices, the army said.   The captured equipment included microphones, computers, amplifiers, a mixing console and a generator. "This is a powerful blow to the Farc terrorist group, as this broadcaster was an important tool for the insurgents' daily work," the army said in a statement.  "For more than a decade it has been fundamental for the political indoctrination of Farc members as well as for broadcasting strong criticism of the institutions of state," it added.

    The capture of the radio operation comes two weeks after the Farc leader Alfonso Cano was killed by the security forces.  He has been replaced by Rodrigo Londono - better known by his alias Timochenko. The Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) are the country's oldest and biggest rebel group. The have been fighting to impose a Marxist revolution since the 1960s.  Over the past decade they have suffered a series of setbacks, losing thousands of fighters and several of their top commanders.  But they remain a powerful force in large areas of rural Colombia, thanks in part to money gained from cocaine production and trafficking.

November 21, 2011

LIBYA SAYS GADHAFI SON TO BE TRIED AT HOME

     TRIPOLI, LIBYA--Libya's new leaders said Sunday they will try Moammar Gadhafi's son at home and not hand him over to the International Criminal Court where he's charged with crimes against humanity. The government also announced the capture of the toppled regime's intelligence minister, who is also wanted by the court. In one of several emerging complications, however, the former rebel faction that captured Seif al-Islam Gadhafi a day earlier is refusing to deliver him to national authorities in Tripoli, raising concern over whether he will get a proper trial and demonstrating the interim leaders' weak hold over their fractured nation.

     In the capital, Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said ex-Intelligence Minister Abdullah al-Senoussi was captured alive on Sunday by revolutionary fighters from a southern region called Fazan, not far from where Gadhafi's son was seized on Saturday while trying to flee to neighboring Niger. Speaking earlier in the day, the information minister said Seif al-Islam must be tried in Libya even though the country's new leaders have yet to establish a court system. "It is only fair for the Libyan people that he is tried here. ... Seif al-Islam committed crimes against the Libyan people," Shammam told The Associated Press. "The ICC is just a secondary court, and the people of Libya will not allow Seif al-Islam to be tried outside," Shammam said. The ICC indicted the two men along with Gadhafi in June for unleashing a campaign of murder and torture to suppress the uprising against the Gadhafi regime that broke out in mid-February.

     Al-Senoussi, Gadhafi's brother-in-law, was also one of six Libyans convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison in France for the 1989 bombing of a French passenger over Niger that killed all 170 people on board. ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said Sunday that Libya would have to convincingly lay out its arguments in what is called a "challenge of admissibility" if it wanted to try the two men at home instead of sending them to The Hague court. "The issue is that there is already a case before the (ICC) court," he said. "Now Libya has a legal obligation under international law to present a challenge to say: 'We have this suspect and he will be dealt with under our national laws.'" "... They will need to show that they have a serious, genuine legal system capable of functioning fairly in this case," he said.

ARAB LEAGUE REJECTS SYRIAN DEMAND TO MODIFY PEACE PLAN

     CAIRO, EGYPT--The Arab League has rejected a demand by Syria to alter its plan for ending the country's conflict, which has reportedly left at least 3,500 dead.  It dismissed Syria's demand to amend its proposal for a 500-strong observer mission to be sent to the country. The Arab League's deadline for Syria to end its crackdown passed overnight with no sign of violence abating. President Bashar al-Assad has said his country will not bow to "pressure" and predicted the conflict would continue.  Despite accusing the Arab League of bias and of acting as a stalking horse for the Western powers, the Syrian foreign minister did not close the door on the Arab initiative.  He said Damascus would reply with a list of queries before deciding whether to sign a protocol allowing the pan-Arab body to deploy observers in the country.

      In its statement a few hours earlier, the league ruled out proposed Syrian changes, which it said would radically alter the nature of the mission. But it reiterated its own commitment to resolving the Syrian crisis within an Arab framework. So in theory a last-minute deal cannot be ruled out.  But time is running short. The League announced that an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers would be held in Cairo on Thursday to follow up on Syria.  If Damascus cannot find a way of complying seriously with the Arab initiative by then, it could face tougher sanctions from the League - and renewed pressure for hostile moves at the UN Security Council.

     The Arab League plan, seen by the world as the best hope for resolving the conflict peacefully, seems to have crashed in flames, the BBC's Jim Muir reports. On Sunday, there were reports of a grenade attack on a building of the ruling party in the capital Damascus. If confirmed, it would be the first such attack reported inside the capital since the uprising began in March. It was claimed by the Free Syrian Army, a group of military defectors. At least 27 people were killed on Saturday, according to opposition activists, including four government intelligence agents whose car was ambushed in Hama by gunmen believed to be army defectors. Foreign journalists are unable to move around Syria freely, making it difficult to verify reports.

GADHAFI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF, ABDULLAH AL-SENUSSI, CAPTURED BY LYBIAN REBELS
 
     TRIPOLI,LIBYA--Libyan revolutionary forces have captured the country's former intelligence chief, National Transitional Council officials said Sunday. Abdullah al-Senussi -- Moammar Gadhafi's brother-in-law -- was captured at his brother's house about 100 kilometers north of Sabha, senior National Transitional Council member Mohammed Sayeh said. Al-Senussi was in custody in Sabha Sunday, Sayeh said, and authorities planned to bring him to Tripoli to stand trial. He was not harmed during his capture, said Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council.

     Earlier this year the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands indicted al-Senussi for crimes against humanity after the uprising against Gadhafi's regime began in February. The court prosecutor's arrest warrant said al-Senussi "exercised his role as the national head of the Military Intelligence, one of the most powerful and efficient organs of repression of Gadhafi's regime." The announcement of his arrest came a day after the NTC said forces had captured Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi -- who was also indicted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity.

      On Saturday, Libyans celebrated the reported capture of Gadhafi's son, nabbed in a desert gun battle after an 18-day stakeout. Senior Libyan military officials said they believe the potential Gadhafi successor was trying to make his way to neighboring Niger, where a brother, Saadi, was granted asylum. On Saturday ICC spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah told CNN that Libya has an obligation to surrender Saif al-Islam to the ICC. If Libya wants to conduct a trial, it needs to submit a request to judges and show its legal system is capable of properly handling such a proceeding. Officials in Libya have said they want to put Saif al-Islam on trial.  ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was scheduled to arrive in Libya Sunday to check on Saif al-Islam's condition, Ghoga said.

November 20, 2011

AT LEAST 17 ACTIVISTS KILLED BY SYRIAN TROOPS DESPITE ARAB LEAGUE PEACE PLAN

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syrian troops stormed a central town and a northwestern region in search of regime opponents on Saturday, activists said, a day after the government agreed in principle to allow the Arab League to send observers to oversee a peace plan proposed by the 22-member bloc. At least 17 people were killed, activists said. The attacks on the town of Shezar in the central province of Hama and on the restive Jabal al-Zawiya region near the Turkish border came as pressure mounted on Damascus to end its eight-month crackdown on anti-government protesters. The unrest has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March, according to U.N. estimates.

     The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist group called the Local Coordination Committees said land and cellular telephone lines as well as electricity were cut in the Jabal al-Zawiya region in the northwestern province of Idlib, where army defectors have been active for months. At least 15 people were killed, around half of them in Idlib province, the LCC said. The observatory had a higher toll of 16 dead and said they included two civilians and two army defectors killed in a clash with troops in Qusair near the border with Lebanon, as well as four members of the air force intelligence whose car was ambushed in Hama by gunmen believed to be army defectors.

     Syria agreed in principle Friday to allow dozens of Arab observers into the country to oversee an Arab League peace plan that calls on the government to stop attacking demonstrators, pull tanks out of cities and begin negotiations with the opposition. It was a significant concession from a hard-line regime that loathes any sort of outside interference. But critics say the government is only stalling, trying to defuse international pressure while continuing its bloody crackdown. The Arab League has already suspended Syria's membership in the bloc for failing to abide by the peace plan. On Wednesday, the league gave Damascus three days to accept the observer mission or face economic sanctions. Violence has escalated in Syria over the past week, as army dissidents who sided with the protests have grown more bold, fighting back against regime forces and even assaulting military bases. Activist groups said security forces on Friday killed at least 16 anti-government protesters.

SECRETARY CLINTON SAYS THAT SYRIA IS SLIDING TO CIVIL WAR

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday Syria could slide into civil war but she did not foresee the global community intervening in the same way it did in Libya.  "I think there could be a civil war with a very determined and well-armed and eventually well-financed opposition that is, if not directed by, certainly influenced by defectors from the army," Clinton told NBC news in an interview in Indonesia, where she was attending a regional summit.  "We're already seeing that, something that we hate to see because we are in favor of a peaceful protest and a nonviolent opposition," she said.

     Clinton said, however, that she saw no prospect for the kind of coordinated international intervention that occurred in Libya, where a NATO-led coalition won a UN mandate to mount air strikes in support of rebels fighting Muammar Gadhafi.  "There is no appetite for that kind of action vis-a-vis Syria," Clinton said, pointing to regional moves by the Arab League and Turkey as key to persuading Syrian President Bashar Assad to halt the violence against civilians.  The United States and the European Union have both imposed a series of targeted sanctions against Damascus. But UN sanctions are seen as unlikely given opposition from Russia and China, which last month vetoed a draft Security Council resolution condemning Syria.

     The Arab League has suspended Syria and set a Saturday deadline for it to comply with the Arab peace plan, which entails a military pullout from around restive cities and towns, threatening sanctions unless Assad acts to halt the violence.  Clinton told CBS in a separate interview that it was clear Assad's days were numbered.  "Look, Assad's going to be gone; it's just a question of time. What we hope is that they avoid a civil war, that they avoid greater bloodshed, that they make the changes that they should have been making all along. And we think the Arab League pressure is probably the most effective pressure," she said.  Activists said Syrian security forces killed 11 people after weekly prayers on Friday, in the latest violence in the crackdown on protests, which the United Nations says has killed at least 3,500 people since March.

EGYPTIAN POLICE, PROTESTERS CLASH IN THARIR SQUARE
 
     CAIRO, EGYPT--Egyptian riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed into Cairo's Tahrir Square Saturday to clear a protest tent camp, setting off clashes with protesters who fought back with stones and set an armored police vehicle ablaze. At least 81 people were injured, state TV reported. The scenes of protesters fighting with black-clad police forces numbering in the thousands were reminiscent of the 18-day uprising that forced out longtime President Hosni Mubarak in February.

    The violence took place just nine days before Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections. Witnesses said the violence began when riot police dismantled a small tent camp set up to commemorate protesters killed in the uprising and attacked around 200 peaceful demonstrators who had camped out in the square overnight in an attempt to restart a long-term sit-in there.  "Violence breeds violence," said Sahar Abdel-Mohsen, an engineer who joined in the protest after a call went out on Twitter urging people to come to Tahrir to defend against the police attacks. "We are tired of this and we are not leaving the square."

     Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and beat protesters with batons, clearing the square and pushing the fighting into surrounding side streets of downtown Cairo. Abdel-Mohsen said a friend was wounded by a rubber bullet that struck his head and that she saw another protester wounded by a pellet shot in his neck. Crowds swarmed an armored police truck, rocking it back and forth and setting it ablaze. Black smoke rose over the crowd. Saturday's confrontation was one of the few since the uprising to involve police forces, which have largely stayed in the background while the military takes charge of security. There was no military presence in and around the square on Saturday. The black-clad police were a hated symbol of Mubarak's regime. "The people want to topple the regime," shouted enraged crowds, reviving the chant from the early days of the uprising.

November 19, 2011

RUSSIA, WEST AGREE ON IRAN NEW RESOLUTION

     VIENNA, AUSTRIA--The U.N. atomic agency's new resolution on Iran criticizes Tehran's nuclear defiance but, in a concession to Russia and China, does not set an ultimatum for allowing a probe of its alleged secret work on atomic weapons. The document, obtained by The Associated Press, is expected to be circulated and voted on Friday by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board. It had been eagerly awaited as a signal of how harshly Iran would be treated for ignoring both IAEA and U.N. Security Council demands that it stop activities that could be used to make nuclear arms and allow the agency to probe its alleged secret weapons work.  The resolution was also an indication that the six world powers at the forefront of trying to engage Iran on cooperating with the international community on its nuclear program had surmounted a difficult hurdle testing their unity.

    The U.S. and its Western allies - Britain, France and Germany - had come to the meeting saying they were seeking a tough warning to the Islamic Republic to start cooperating or face renewed referral to the Security Council. But Russia and China were opposed to any harsh criticism or an overt time frame on Iran to act or face further punishment. The text shared with the AP reflected compromise on both sides. It expressed "serious concern that Iran continues to defy the requirements and obligations contained in the relevant IAEA Board of Governors and UN Security Council Resolutions." It also spoke of "deep and increasing concern about the unresolved issues regarding the Iranian nuclear program, including those which need to be clarified to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions." "Serious concern," and "deep and increasing concern" are strong terms in the diplomatic world. At the same time, the text had no reference to Security Council referral if Tehran remained defiant, although two Western diplomats said that could still happen at the next IAEA meeting in March.

    In opening comments to the meeting, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano also repeated his concerns "regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," saying such work may extend into the present. The West had hoped that an unprecedented detailing of Iran's alleged secret weapons work contained in a restricted Nov. 8 IAEA report could sway Moscow and Beijing. For the first time, the agency said Iran was suspected of clandestine work that is "specific to nuclear weapons."  In comments to the closed meeting made available to reporters, Amano said his agency finds the information leading to such suspicions to be generally credible. "The information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device," he said. "It also indicates that, prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured program, and that some activities may still be ongoing."

SYRIA AGREES 'IN PRINCIPLE' TO ALLOW ARAB LEAGUE OBSERVERS INTO COUNTRY

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syria has agreed "in principle" to allow an Arab League observer mission into the country, but Damascus was still studying the details, a senior Syrian official said Friday. The 22-member Arab League formally suspended Damascus this week over its crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising, which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 3,500 people. The group wants to send hundreds of observers to the country to try to help end the bloodshed. The Syrian official said Damascus has agreed to the mission but was still going over the details of the deal. The official asked not to be named because the issue is so sensitive.

     Arab League officials in Cairo, the seat of the 22-member organization, could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday. Syrian President Bashar Assad is facing mounting pressure from home and abroad over the country's crisis, which appears to be spiraling out of control as attacks by army defectors increase and world leaders look at possibilities for a Syrian regime without him. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Friday called on the U.N. Security Council to act against Assad's regime, saying the time has come to strengthen sanctions against Syria. "We must continue to exert pressure," Juppe told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara. "The U.N. must act ... it is not normal for the U.N. Security Council not to act."

     Juppe said France has called on Assad to change but "the regime did not want to know, which is not acceptable." Juppe said France wants to work with the Arab League and countries of the region including Turkey, as well as with the Syrian opposition. Davutoglu, responding to a question on whether his country would support a no-fly zone over Syria, said there might be need to enforce some measures if Syria maintains its crackdown on civilians. He said the first actions should be economic, but "other options must be evaluated later."

VENEZUELAN CARDINAL UROSA ADVOCATES "END OF VIOLENCE IN ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN"
 
     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino on Thursday called for a peaceful environment during the electoral campaign. In a press conference convened to address the closing of the Great Continental Evangelist Mission, Urosa stated that it is necessary to "eradicate any form of violence from the campaign."

    "We must respect each other, so there should be no forbidden areas for any candidate. Venezuelan citizens are free to move throughout the country's territory; therefore, attacking political candidates because they are in a city area allegedly dominated by a particular political group is outrageous. Authorities should call for calm, self-control and respect during the electoral campaign, which supposedly has not begun but is already in motion," added Urosa.

     Urosa also insisted on the need to have international observers in the upcoming presidential elections. He claimed that international observers ensure "respect for the results, whatever they may be." In addition, he touched on the subject of political prisoners. "Bishops have talked about conciliation and respect for the human rights of those who have been deprived of freedom because of their political allegiance." Regarding the case of journalist Leocenis García, the editor and owner of weekly journal 6to Poder, Urosa stated that Venezuelan bishops are concerned about "his health and the consequences of his hunger strike. He should be ensured access to due process; he should be prosecuted in freedom."

November 18, 2011

u.s. senators blocked an amendment introduced by sympathizers of the castro brothers

     washington, d.c.--Florida Senators Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D) as well as Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), blocked a version of the spending "minibus" that included a provision to lower trade barriers with castroist Cuba.

     An eclectic group of senators blocked a version of the spending "minibus" that included a provision to lower trade barriers with Cuba when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attempted to bring to the floor on Tuesday. Florida Sens. Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D) as well as Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), however, objected on grounds that such a provision violated Senate rules that prohibits appropriations bills from containing legislative language. The three senators also argued that the dictatorial ruling regime in Cuba is teetering and that lowering trade barriers could bolster its grip on power.

     The parliamentarian sustained the senators’ objection and Reid quickly offered a second version of the legislation without the Cuba measure that included number of minor changes. That version however was shot down by Sen. Jim Moran (R-Kansas), the author of the Cuba provision, and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) who complained that bill spent too much and would fund abortion in Washington D.C. and around the world. Reid finally called up a cleaner version of the three spending measures and filled the tree to prevent amendments that are not germane.

china, russia SAID SYRIA'S CRISIS LOOKS LIKE 'CIVIL WAR'  

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syrian allies China and Russia expressed serious concern Thursday over the spiraling crisis in Syria and called for immediate talks as pressure mounted on President Bashar Assad to end the deadly crackdown on dissent. Assad is facing severe international isolation stemming from his crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising, which the U.N. estimates has killed 3,500 people. The Arab League suspended Damascus on Wednesday and threatened economic sanctions if the violence continues. The call came for urgent talks between Damascus and the opposition, saying an attack by Syrian renegade troops on a government building the previous day looks like the start of a civil war. Assad is facing severe international isolation stemming from his crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising, which the U.N. estimates has killed 3,500 people. The Arab League suspended Damascus on Wednesday and threatened economic sanctions if the violence continues.

    "This is all looking very much like a civil war," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, referring to a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday by the Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors determined to bring down the regime. The army defectors fired machine guns and rockets at an Air Force Intelligence base just outside Damascus -- a brazen attack that sent a strong signal the popular uprising could descend into an armed conflict. Even as Assad was losing allies in quick succession, Russia and China kept up their long-standing ties with Damascus. In October they vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that threatened sanctions against Syria.   But on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin appeared to suggest China might support a resolution in the future. "It depends on whether these actions will help to resolve the tensions in Syria and facilitate the resolution of disputes through political dialogue," he said. He called on both sides in the conflict to work together.

     Germany, Britain and France are pressing for a U.N. resolution that would strongly condemn Syria's human rights violations. The three European countries decided to move ahead with the General Assembly resolution after the Arab League confirmed its suspension. "We hope it will show Assad just how isolated he is," Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig said of the resolution. Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Thursday the world must urgently "hear screams" from Syria and do something to stop the bloodshed. He said the uprising in Libya got far more worldwide attention about Libya has more oil. "The lack of reaction to massacres in Syria was causing irreparable wounds in the conscience of humanity," he said. The growing calls for Assad's ouster are a severe blow to a family dynasty that has ruled Syria for four decades -- and any change to the leadership could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond. Syria's tie to Iran is among the most important relationships in the Middle East, providing the Iranians with a foothold on Israel's border and a critical conduit to Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza.

SOPHISTICATED DRUG SMUGGLING TUNNEL DISCOVERED IN US-MEXICO BORDER southern
 
     tijuana, mexico--A nondescript white warehouse building in southern California hid a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel that traffickers used to transport tons of marijuana from Mexico into the United States, authorities said. Investigators on both sides of the border seized more than 14.5 tons of marijuana in connection with the tunnel's discovery this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement Wednesday.

    Authorities said the drugs had a street value of more than $25 million, CNN affiliate KGTV reported. "I'm confident that if these cartels want to continue to try to smuggle their drugs into the United States in this fashion, we're going to find them, and we're going to find them faster than they can build them," said William R. Sherman, acting special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego. From the floor of the San Diego warehouse, authorities found a 3-foot-wide tunnel that stretched the length of four football fields and was equipped with structural supports, electricity and ventilation, ICE's statement said.

    Highway troopers found 3 tons of marijuana packed into boxes inside a cargo truck that they stopped after it left the San Diego warehouse. That discovery allowed agents to obtain a warrant to enter the warehouse, the statement said, where they recovered 6.5 additional tons of marijuana. Mexican authorities later seized at least 5 tons of marijuana from a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico, on the other end of the tunnel. Sherman said it was the third sophisticated cross-border tunnel found in the area within a year. U.S. federal authorities have found more than 75 cross-border smuggling tunnels in the past four years, most of them in California and Arizona, according to ICE.

November 17, 2011

SYRIAN ARMY DEFECTORS ATTACKED MILITARY BASE NEAR DAMASCUS

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syrian army defectors have attacked a major military base near Damascus, Syrian opposition groups say. Parts of the notorious Air Force Intelligence building in Harasta were reported to have been destroyed, but there were no reports of casualties. It would be the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) most high-profile attack since Syria's anti-government protests began.  The attack came ahead of an Arab League emergency meeting in Morocco to discuss ways of ending the bloodshed. The meeting is expected to ratify last week's vote to suspend Syria and also debate possible further measures against Damascus. Turkey, which is not a member but is attending the meeting, has said Syria will face "isolation" for its actions. In a further sign of Syria's increasing isolation, France withdrew its ambassador on Wednesday.

    Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told parliament: "There has been renewed violence in Syria, which has led me to close our consular offices in Aleppo and in Latakia as well as our cultural institutes and to recall our ambassador to Paris."  The reported attack on the military base comes after an ambush on Monday when 34 government soldiers were reported killed by the opposition. That tells you that this is now becoming an armed conflict. For all the main opposition groups say they want this uprising to be peaceful, there are now significant numbers of Syrian soldiers who have defected and taken up arms against the Assad government.  That is a very worrying prospect for those who are trying to find an orderly way to a transition of power. The Syrian National Council (SNC) - a coalition of opposition groups based in Turkey - said the attack on the Harasta base had been carried out by the FSA. Such an attack would be significant because Syria's Air Force Intelligence is one of the most feared state agencies and has been involved in the suppression of protests.

     Activists said the defectors attacked the building from three sides. Helicopters - most likely government-operated - were reported to have been hovering around the area. A resident of Harasta told Reuters: "I heard several explosions, the sound of machine-gun fire being exchanged."  The Local Co-ordination Committees also reported the attack, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there had been other assaults in Zamalke, Hamuriya and Douma. The Khaled ibn Walid Brigade branch of the FSA - based in the flashpoint city of Homs - welcomed the attack in a statement, AFP news agency reports. "We pay tribute to our brothers, the rebel heroes, and may God bless your hands for your dawn operation targeting the intelligence building in Harasta," it said.  The FSA was formed by defectors a few months ago, and claimed to have 15,000 members by mid-October, but this is widely considered an overstatement.

UAE EMBASSY IN SYRIAN CAPITAL ATTACKED BY GOVERNMENT SYMPATHIZERS

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--The UAE embassy in Damascus came under attack on Wednesday, an Emirates foreign ministry official said as the Gulf state took part in a meeting in Morocco on ending violence in Syria. "The UAE condemns the attack against its embassy in Damascus and the Syrian government bares responsibility for the safety and protection of the chancery and the security of its staff," said Jumaa al-Junaibi, quoted by the official WAM news agency. He reminded Syria's government that international conventions required it to "protect diplomatic missions" on its territory, accusing it of "negligence." Protesters had also attacked the Moroccan embassy in Damascus on Wednesday, pelting it with eggs and stones as the North African country hosted a Turkish-Arab gathering on the unrest in Syria. Mococco's ambassador, Mohammed Khassasi, told AFP that up to 150 people protested in front of his mission before attacking the building and stripped it of its flag.

    On Monday, Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, apologised for protester attacks on foreign embassies after the Arab League voted to suspend his country from the bloc. "I, as foreign minister, apologise for this matter," Muallem told a news conference in the Syrian capital, adding that protecting the embassies was part of Syria's responsibilities. On Saturday, hundreds of angry demonstrators attacked the embassies of France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. France recalled its ambassador to Syria on Wednesday while the US envoy, abruptly withdrawn last month because of security threats, is supposed to return to Syria in "days to weeks," Washington has said.

     The governments of France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey issued strong condemnations of President Bashar al-Assad's regime after his supporters attacked their embassies in the wake of the suspension. Arab League foreign ministers on Saturday voted 18-22 to suspend Syria over its failure to comply with an agreement to end the crackdown on a nationwide protest movement calling for Assad's resignation. It called for the withdrawal of Arab envoys from Damascus and agreed on sanctions while inviting "all currents in the Syrian opposition to meet at Arab League headquarters in three days to draw up a joint vision for the coming transitional period." The move won widespread praise in the international community, and was hailed by the opposition Syrian National Council, which said it was ready to take part in proposed talks regarding a transitional period.

SUSPECTED US MISSILES KILLED 16 INSURGENTS IN PAKISTAN
 
     DERA ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTAN-- Suspected U.S. drones fired four missiles at two compounds in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing 16 alleged militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday. The strikes came just before midnight Tuesday in Bobar village in the South Waziristan tribal area, a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. The two compounds were hit about 20 minutes apart, the officials said. It was unclear how many suspected militants were killed in each place.  Pakistani officials have criticized the strikes as violations of the country's sovereignty, but the government is widely believed to have supported the strikes in the past and even let the drones take off from bases inside Pakistan.

    Pakistani criticism has been more muted when the attacks target members of the Pakistani Taliban or al-Qaida, rather than Afghan militants with whom the government has historical ties. Many analysts believe Pakistan sees the Afghan Taliban and their allies as potential partners in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw. The Pakistani military conducted a large ground offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan in 2009, but militants remain in the area and periodic attacks still occur. The area where the drones struck is very remote and has not yet been cleared by the military, said the intelligence officials. There has been at least one strike in this area before.

    The U.S. does not acknowledge the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan publicly, but officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many senior al-Qaida and Taliban commanders . The Obama administration has ramped up the number of drone strikes in Pakistan's rugged tribal region in the past few years. Most of the strikes have targeted al-Qaida militants or Afghan Taliban insurgents battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The attacks have also killed Pakistani Taliban fighters, who are allied with Afghan militants but have focused their attacks inside Pakistan. A U.S. drone strike killed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in 2009. On Wednesday, a roadside bomb hit a minibus in the northwestern Tirah valley, killing six passengers and wounding two others, local government administrator Syed Ahmed Jan said. It was not clear who was behind the bombing. Tirah is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

November 16, 2011

CUBA ACCUSES THE USA OF BEING BEHIND ILLEGAL WIRELESS NETWORKS

     HAVANA, CUBA--Cuba accused the United States on Monday of enabling illegal Internet connections in its territory and said several people were arrested in April for profiting from the wireless networks. The official communist party newspaper Granma said those arrested, who were not identified, "had for some time and without any legal authorization, been installing wireless networks for profit." Using satellite connections to the Internet and equipment that was either stolen or brought to the island illegally, they set up a service to receive international telephone calls that bypassed the state telephone monopoly ETECSA. "This activity is financed by the United States, which is where the necessary means and tools come from, evading the established controls," the newspaper charged.

     Cuba has restricted access to the Internet, giving priority to universities, research centers, state entities and professionals like doctors and journalists. Because of the US embargo, Cuba cannot connect to the underwater fiber optic cables that pass near the island, leaving satellite connections with high rates and narrow bandwidths as the main option available to Cuban Internet users. To overcome those limitations, a Cuban-Venezuelan company laid an underwater cable between the two countries in February. It was supposed to have been activated in July, but it has been delayed for reasons the government has yet to explain.

     Cuban authorities have previously accused the United States of illegally introducing technology in the island to enable the creation of wireless networks outside state control. One such case was that of US government contractor Alan Gross, who was arrested in December 2009 and sentenced to 15 years prison for bringing IT equipment into the country and delivering it to various people. "Cuba has every right to safeguard its radio-electronic sovereignty. Those who try to evade it will bear the weight of the corresponding administrative rules and criminal law," Granma said.

SYRIAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN CLASH WITH DEFECTORS

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Dozens of soldiers and security forces were gunned down by suspected army defectors in southern Syria, a deadly ambush that comes as President Bashar Assad increasingly appears unable to manage the crisis, activists said Tuesday. Monday's hours-long clash in the southern province of Daraa came on a particularly bloody day in Syria, with as many as 90 people killed across the country. The brazen attack by the army defectors suggested a new confidence among troops who have sided with the protesters and highlighted the potential for an armed confrontation to escalate.

     The U.N. estimates the regime's military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising has killed 3,500 people in the past eight months. November is shaping up to be the bloodiest month of the revolt, with well over 300 people killed so far.  The latest death toll was compiled by sources including British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Local Coordination Committees activist coalition and morgue officials. Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the observatory, confirmed that 34 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising that began in mid-March, inspired by successful revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and later Libya. Although activists say the protests have remained largely peaceful, with demonstrators calling for the regime's downfall, an armed insurgency has developed in recent months targeting Assad's military and security forces.

     Assad is facing the most severe challenge to his family's four-decade rule in Syria, with former allies as well as Western nations using increasingly harsh rhetoric in urging him to stop his bloody crackdown. On Tuesday, Turkey said it no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime and warned Assad that his brutal crackdown threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood." Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's comments were a blow to Syria, because the countries once cultivated close ties. But Turkish leaders have grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its refusal to halt the attacks on protesters. Adding to the blow, Turkey also on Tuesday canceled plans for joint oil exploration in Syria and threatened to cut electricity supplies after a spate of attacks on Ankara's embassy in Damascus and consulates the cities of Aleppo and Latakia.

TURKEY SLAMS SYRIAN PRESIDENT ASSAD OVER CRACKDOWN ON OPPOSITION
 
     ANKARA, TURKEY--Turkey no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime, its prime minister said Tuesday, warning Syrian President Bashar Assad that his brutal crackdown on opponents threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood." Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also urged Assad to punish those responsible for attacks on Turkish diplomatic missions in Syria. Addressing Assad disrespectfully by his first name, Erdogan said: "Bashar, you who have thousands of people in jail, must find the culprits and punish them." Assad's supporters tried to break into Turkish missions on Saturday to denounce an Arab League decision to suspend Syria's membership over its crackdown on the eight-month uprising.

     Turkey is not a member of the league, but welcomed the decision. Erdogan took pains to note that his comments were politically neutral. "It is not among our expectations that the Assad regime meet all the demands of the (Syrian) people," Erdogan said. "Our wish is that it, which is now on a knife-edge, does not enter this road of no return, which leads to the edge of the abyss." Turkey evacuated the families of diplomats after Saturday's attacks on its embassy in Damascus and its consulates in the cities of Aleppo and Latakia. "I again strongly condemn the attack on the Turkish flag and our missions," Erdogan said. President Abdullah Gul warned Syria that it must protect Turkish missions. "If they don't take necessary measures, no doubt our reaction will be different if it is repeated," Gul said.

    Turkey has long urged Syria to end the crackdown, which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March. "No regime can survive by killing or jailing," Erdogan said. "No one can build a future over the blood of the oppressed." Turkey's government had cultivated warm ties with Assad, but has grown highly critical of his government. Turkey has imposed an arms embargo on Syria and is expected to announce other sanctions. Turkey has also opened its borders to Syrians fleeing the violence. More than 7,700 refugees are being sheltered in several Turkish camps along the Syrian border. Turkey has also allowed a Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, to hold meetings in Turkey. The council, a broad-based opposition umbrella group, was formed in Istanbul in September. No country has recognized it so far as a legal representative of the country and Syria has threatened tough measures against any country that does.

November 15, 2011

SYRIA CALLED THE ARAB LEAGUE'S VOTE TO SUSPEND ITS MEMBERSHIP "AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STEP"

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem today called the Arab League’s Saturday vote to suspend Syrian membership in the 22-nation organization “an extremely dangerous step” and announced that the government has taken actions to comply with the terms of a peace plan proposed by the league. The suspension, backed by 18 of the league’s 22 members, with Syria, Lebanon and Yemen opposing while Iraq abstained, has been called “the strongest statement yet by the international community” and a particularly decisive step for an organization that has long been criticized for its “ineffectiveness, disunity and poor governance.” “The vote took Syria by real shock; it’s outraged,” scholar Joshua Landis told FRONTLINE. “The vote means a lot because it legitimizes greater pressure for countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia to act.”

     Though NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that a NATO-led military intervention like that carried out in Libya has been “ruled out,” the suspension could put pressure on regional powers and the United Nations Security Council to take more decisive action against the Assad regime. Al-Moallem defended the Assad regime at a televised press conference. He claimed that Syria had withdrawn troops from urban areas and released political prisoners, and apologized for attacks pro-Assad mobs carried out against the embassies of Turkey, Quwait, Saudi Arabia and France shortly after the suspension was announced. He also said he was confident that China and Russia, which vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria last month, would continue to oppose similar resolutions.

     The battle between the regime and the opposition could be long and bloody, but analysts warn that regime change could run the risk of sparking a sectarian civil war with long-lasting impacts in the region. Al-Moallem said Damascus has taken measures to implement the Arab League plan. He predicted that Russia and China will continue to block Western efforts to impose sanctions on Syria through the U.N. Security Council.  European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed Monday to extend existing EU sanctions against Syria to 18 more individuals suspected of links to the Syrian government's violent suppression of opposition protests. The 27-nation EU also decided to stop Syria from accessing funds from the European Investment Bank. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday Ankara will take a "resolute stance" against any further attacks on its diplomatic missions in Syria. He also said Turkey will stand by the Syrian people in what he called their "rightful struggle" against the Assad government.

JORDAN'S KING URGES SYRIA'S PRESIDENT TO STEP DOWN

     AMMAN, JORDAN-- Jordan's King Abdullah said Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad should step down, making him the first Arab ruler to issue such a call over the regime's deadly crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising. The surprising statement comes as Arabs close ranks against Damascus. On Saturday, the Arab League voted to suspend Syria over attacks on protesters that the U.N. estimates have killed 3,500 people since mid-March. "If Bashar (Assad) has the interest of his country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life," Abdullah told the BBC in an interview.

       Earlier Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused Arab nations of conspiring against Damascus, calling Saturday's near-unanimous vote at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo "shameful and malicious." The vote was a stinging rebuke to a regime that prides itself as a bastion of Arab nationalism and left Syria increasingly isolated over its crackdown. "We wanted the role of the Arab League to be a supporting role, but if the Arabs wanted to be conspirators, this is their business," al-Moallem said at a news conference in Damascus, betraying his country's deep alarm over the decision. The vote to suspend Syria -- a major boost for the Syrian opposition -- put Damascus in direct confrontation with other Arab powers, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who were pushing for the suspension.

      The unified Arab position also puts more pressure on the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions, despite objections by Syrian allies Russia and China. Of the Arab League's 22 members, only Syria, Lebanon and Yemen voted against the suspension of Syria, with Iraq abstaining. A similar Arab League decision to suspend Libya's membership earlier this year paved the way for the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone and NATO airstrikes that eventually brought down Moammar Gadhafi, but the group has stressed international intervention was not on the agenda in Syria. Still, al-Moallem played on fears that the diplomatic campaign could escalate to Libya-style military action, saying Syria's army is far stronger than Libya's. "They know that our valiant army has capabilities that they might not be able to tolerate if they are used," he said. Assad asserts that extremists pushing a foreign agenda to destabilize Syria are behind the country's unrest, rather than true reform-seekers aiming to open the country's autocratic political system.

EUROPEAN UNION IMPOSES NEW SANCTIONS ON SYRIA
 
     BRUSSELS, BELGIUM-- European Union foreign ministers decided Monday to impose additional sanctions on 18 Syrians in response to the killings of protesters by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. The names of those sanctioned will not be known until they are published in the EU's official journal in a day or two. In a statement, the foreign ministers said they were "individuals responsible or associated with the repression and supporting or benefiting from the regime." Sanctions generally include visa and travel bans on people and the freezing of assets. The sanctions adopted Monday also include suspending the disbursement of European Investment Bank loans. "The European Union continues to be deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in Syria where according to the United Nations more than 3,500 people have been killed since March," the statement said. "The EU again condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing brutal repression and widespread human rights violation."

     The EU had already placed sanctions on 56 Syrians and 19 organizations in its effort to get Assad to halt his bloody crackdown on the eight-month uprising, and has banned the import into the EU of Syrian crude oil. The 27 foreign ministers also issued a statement expressing "increasing concerns over the Iranian nuclear program and the lack of progress in diplomatic efforts." A recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency indicates that Iran's nuclear program includes clandestine efforts to build a bomb. The EU statement urged Iran to address the international concerns over the nature of its nuclear program by cooperating with the international nuclear agency and engaging in serious negotiations. Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal, for one, declined to rule out a military strike in Iran.

    "I think that we are talking about stepping up sanctions, that's for sure," Rosenthal said before the meeting in Brussels. "It should be through the United Nations, if possible at all. And I don't think that we should exclude any other options at the moment." But German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle rejected any talk of military intervention. "We think this is counterproductive, we are against it, we warn against talking about it," Westerwelle said. "Iran has the right to use nuclear power peacefully. But it is Iran's duty to abstain from nuclear arming and to make this clear in a transparent manner." In Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told reporters that Germany would like to see a fresh round of EU sanctions against Iran to "send a clear signal that the current course of noncooperation must have an end." Peschke said Germany was also talking with Russia and China about the idea.

November 14, 2011

DISSIDENT GROUP CLAIMS BLAST HITS MISSILE BASE IN IRAN

     TEHRAN, IRAN-- An explosion at a Revolutionary Guard ammunition depot west of Tehran Saturday killed at least 17 soldiers, including a senior commander of the powerful military force, Iranian officials said. Guard spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif said the blast occurred as the result of an accident during the transport of munitions at the base. The site is located outside Bidganeh village, 25 miles southwest of the capital. "My colleagues at the Guard were transporting ammunition at one of the depots at the site when an explosion occurred as a result of an accident," Sharif said.

    At least 17 Guard members were killed, state TV reported. The broadcast said 16 other soldiers were injured and hospitalized. Sharif said some of them were in critical condition. Earlier, Sharif had said that 27 soldiers were killed but later retracted his statement, explaining that the error was due to an illegible fax from officials at the site of the blast. Among those killed was Hasan Moghaddam, a senior Guard commander. While the explosion occurred during a time of heightened tension between Israel, the U.S. and other Western powers, Iranian lawmaker Parviz Soroori ruled out sabotage. "No sabotage was involved in this incident. It has nothing to do with politics," Soroori was quoted as saying by the parliament's website, icana.ir.

     An exiled Iranian dissident group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK, meanwhile claimed that the blast hit a missile base run by the Revolutionary guard rather than an ammunition depot. Former MEK spokesman Alireza Jafarzadeh, citing what he called reliable sources inside Iran, said that the explosion hit the Modarres Garrison of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps west of Tehran. Jafarzadeh said in an email that the Modarres Garrison belongs to the IGRC's missile unit and the blasts "resulted from the explosion of IRGC missiles." He did not say what he believes triggered the explosion. The MEK in the past has disclosed the sites of several key Iranian nuclear installations as well as details of their operations, although their reports have not always been reliable. The blast comes just days after a new report by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency that Iran is conducting nuclear weapons-related research and follows unconfirmed reports that Israel was considering a military strike on Tehran's nuclear program. In the past, Tehran has accused the West of engaging in a campaign of sabotage and assassination against the regime.

US EMPLOYS MORE DRONES TO WATCH BORDER WITH MEXICO

     CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS--As two Border Patrol agents surveyed a patch of brush on a remote ranch along the U.S. border with Mexico,19,000 feet overhead an unmanned Predator aircraft used its heat-sensing eye to see what the human eye could not. In an operations center about 80 miles away, all eyes were on a suspicious dark cluster on a video screen. Moments later, the drone operators triggered the craft's infrared beam and pointed the agents directly to the undergrowth where two silent figures were hiding. Last week's mission was just another night out for a Predator program that is playing a larger role in the nation's border security as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection adds to its force of unmanned aircraft. The agency received its second Predator B aircraft in Texas last month and will add its sixth overall on the Southwest border when another is based in Arizona by the end of the year.

      Unmanned drones can remain airborne for 30 hours while looking for humans, drugs and guns along the U.S.-Mexico border.  The aircraft are credited with apprehending more than 7,500 people since they were deployed six years ago. They bring the latest in military technology to one of the oldest cat-and-mouse pursuits in the country. But on the border, even sophisticated devices struggle with the weather and conditions — just as humans do. "I'm trying to mark. I'm looking for a hole in the clouds," said an exasperated operator as he lost his video image of a "hotspot" in a stand of trees. Cloud cover, along with crosswinds and rain, are the drones' enemies. The aircraft can remain airborne for 30 hours though missions typically run eight or nine hours with the ground crews rotating in the control trailers. Smugglers of humans, drugs and guns are the chief prey.

      The Predators, which were being used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, were introduced on the border in 2005, the year before Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on his country's drug gangs and violence along the border exploded. Since then, the aircraft have logged more than 10,000 flight hours and aided in intercepting 46,600 pounds of illegal drugs. "It's like any other law enforcement platform," said Lothar Eckardt, director of the Office of Air and Marine's Predator operation housed at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. "No different than a helicopter." Arizona will add its fourth Predator in Sierra Vista to help patrol from California to New Mexico and into West Texas. Eventually, one of the Texas aircraft will receive specialized maritime radar and concentrate on searching for smugglers in the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean. For now, the Predator's greatest focus is along the US-Mexico border, where the drug war has increased concerns about spillover violence. They are especially valuable in night operations.

TROOPS OCCUPY RIO DE JANEIRO SLUM IN "HISTORIC" MILITARY OPERATION
 
     RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL--Three thousand troops backed by helicopters and armored cars occupied Rio de Janeiro's largest slum without firing a shot on Sunday, the biggest step in the Brazilian city's bid to improve security and end the reign of drug gangs. The occupation of Rocinha, a notorious hillside "favela" that overlooks some of Rio's swankiest areas, is a crucial part of the city's preparations to host soccer's World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later. Security forces have occupied nearly 20 slums in the past three years but none as symbolically or strategically important as Rocinha, a sprawl of shacks, stores and evangelical churches located at a traffic choke point between the main city and western areas where most Olympic events will be held.

     With large army helicopters thudding overhead, troops began climbing the slum's winding roads just after 4 a.m. and declared the operation a success within two hours after encountering no resistance. The invasion of Rocinha and the nearby Vidigal slum was as much a media event as a military operation, as hundreds of reporters followed soldiers and police up through deserted, garbage-strewn streets. The authorities had announced their plans days in advance, giving gang members plenty of notice to flee. After years of living in fear of both gang members and the often-violent tactics of police, residents were wary of embracing the new reality. "Let's hope for the best, but there's a lot more that needs to be done," said Sergio Pimentel, a funeral director sitting outside his business watching the operation unfold. He pointed to an alley that he said poured raw sewage on to the street whenever it rained. "We need basic sanitation, health, education. They have to come in with everything, not just the police."

     Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral said he had called President Dilma Rousseff to inform her of the operation's success, saying it was a "historic day" for the city. "These are people who needed peace, to raise their children in peace," he told reporters. "... They want access to a dignified life." The sprawling hillside community, home to about 100,000 people, has one of Brazil's worst rates of tuberculosis, officials say. It is often described as the largest slum in Latin America and is believed to be the main drug distribution point in Brazil's second-largest city. Police captured the slum's alleged top drug lord, a 35-year-old with a taste for expensive whiskey and Armani suits, in the trunk of a car on Thursday as they tightened their grip around Rocinha.  Under a so-called "pacification" program, Rio authorities are following up invasions by handing slums over to specially trained community police and providing services such as health centers and formal electricity and TV supply. The aim is to foster social inclusion and give the city's one million or more slum residents a bigger stake in Brazil's robust economy.

November 13, 2011

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA TO BEGIN 9-DAY ASIA-PACIFIC TRIP

     HONOLULU, HAWAII---President Barack Obama begins a nine-day trip through the Asia-Pacific region Saturday with a stop in Hawaii for a weekend economic conference where he will press for progress on a trans-Pacific free trade agreement. The administration is taking care to highlight the importance of strong Asia-Pacific relations to the president's efforts to create jobs domestically. "The U.S. exports to this region are essential to the president's goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next several years," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters in a briefing Wednesday. "In fact, nearly all of the efforts that we're going to be making towards that export goal take place in this part of the world."

     The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum account for 55% of the world's gross domestic product, 43% of world trade and 58% of U.S. exports, according to the group. "So I think when the American people see the president traveling in the Asia-Pacific, they will see him advocating for U.S. jobs and U.S. businesses," Rhodes said. "He will be trying to open new markets, and he will be trying to achieve new export initiatives, and he will be trying to foster a trade agreement through the, for instance, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that takes us beyond the Korea Free Trade Agreement towards a multilateral agreement that, again, has very high standards to ensure that our interests are being protected."

     The Obama administration is pushing for the expanded trade agreement to help boost reduce barriers to U.S. exports, boost trade and create jobs. The United States has been negotiating with Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Brunei, Australia, Peru and Vietnam develop the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk's office says would eventually expand to include most of the APEC's 21 nations. No final decisions are expected on the agreement this weekend. Rhodes said he expects the leaders to discuss progress negotiated at the ministerial level and begin looking toward the next phase of discussions. But he declined to put a timetable on the negotiations. After a break Monday for a political fundraiser, Obama is scheduled to depart Tuesday for Australia and later Bali, Indonesia, where he will stress the U.S. role in the Asia-Pacific region and seek to reassure U.S. allies of the nation's continued commitment to the region, Rhodes said. He is scheduled to leave Bali on November 19.

VENEZUELAN PLAYER RESCUED FROM PRESUMABLY COLOMBIAN KIDNAPPERS

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan police rescued Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos on Friday, two days after he was kidnapped, officials announced.  Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said on state television that Ramos was "safe and sound" and that he was rescued by police and National Guard commandos. He said three men were arrested in the kidnapping.  Venezuelan police rescued Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos on Friday, two days after he was kidnapped, officials announced.  Information Minister Andres Izarra initially reported the rescue via Twitter, saying Ramos was "found alive by security forces in mountainous zone," in the area of Montalban in central Carabobo state.  Izarra said it was "a rescue operation by air," which was authorized earlier in the day by President Hugo Chavez. "Ramos free!," said one message on Izarra's account.

     El Aissami said one of those arrested in the abduction was a Colombian "linked to paramilitary groups and to kidnapping groups."  He gave few details of the rescue but said police were taking Ramos his hometown of Valencia, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) west of Caracas. He said Ramos would first undergo medical checks at the police station and then be reunited with his family.  Ramos' mother celebrated, exclaiming on television: "Thanks to God!"  "Thanks to my country, to my neighbors and to my family, who were supporting us," she said. Shortly afterward, she spoke with her son by phone and said jubilantly: "He's fine."  Armed men seized Ramos at gunpoint Wednesday night outside his home in a working-class neighborhood in Valencia. Authorities said Thursday that they had found a stolen SUV used by the kidnappers abandoned in a nearby town.

     The abduction was the first known kidnapping of a major league baseball player in a country that has dozens of players on big league rosters in the U.S., and it brought a renewed focus on worsening violent crime in Venezuela.  Security has increasingly become a concern for Venezuelan players and their families as a wave of kidnappings has hit the wealthy as well as the middle class. Relatives of several Venezuelan major leaguers have previously been kidnapped for ransom, and in two cases have been killed.  El Aissami said that while three were arrested in the kidnapping, police were still searching for evidence in the mountainous area "to see if we can find others who were responsible."  Polls consistently say rampant crime is the top worry of Venezuelans. The country has one of the highest murder rates in Latin America, and the vast majority of crimes go unsolved. The number of kidnappings has soared in recent years.

ARAB LEAGUE SUSPENDS SYRIA'S MEMBERSHIP
 
     CAIRO, EGYPT--The Arab League announced Saturday that it is suspending Syria's membership after its failure to stop the violence against its people. The move takes effect Wednesday. In an emergency session at its headquarters in Cairo, the league also called for sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's regime but did not specify what those may be. It called on member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus, but that decision will be left up to each nation.

     Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim read the league's decisions at a news conference after the meeting of the foreign ministers. He said the league is urging the Syrian army to stop attacks on civilians and will hold a meeting with opposition groups in the next three days to discuss a transitional phase in Syria's future. The punitive measures come after al-Assad's failure to abide by an Arab League proposal earlier this month to halt all violence, release detainees, withdraw armed elements from populated areas and allow unfettered access to the nation by journalists and Arab League monitors. But none of that has happened, according to daily reports streaming out of Syria.

     Human Rights Watch said Friday that the al-Assad regime's "systematic" crackdown on civilians amounts to crimes against humanity. The watchdog urged the Arab League to suspend Syria's membership and to ask the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier this week that more than 3,500 people have been killed in the brutal suppression of dissent since the Syrian uprising began eight months ago. The Syrian government blames the violence on terrorist gangs.

November 12, 2011

UNESCO SUSPENDS YEAR-EN PROJECTS DUE TO U.S. FUNDING CUT

     BRUSSELS, BELGIUM--UNESCO has suspended its projects and commitments until the end of year because the United States cut its $65 million funding in the wake of the agency's acceptance of Palestine for full membership, the agency's chief said Thursday. Irina Bokova, the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said the agency's $65 million deficit is now its "most pressing issue." "This deficit is the sum owed by the United States for the year 2011," Bokova said on the occasion of the closing of UNESCO's general conference.  So we have to take drastic action, and we must take it now, at this general conference," Bokova said. "I have suspended all of our commitments. I have suspended our projects during this period of revision until the end of the year. "We are reviewing all activities in all areas, in all sectors, including contractual commitments, staff travel, publications, communications costs, meetings, and the rest.

     "With all these measures, we believe we can generate savings of $35 million. But this alone will not solve our problem," Bokova said. UNESCO, meanwhile, started an emergency fund-raising drive for its working capital fund for 2012-2013, said spokeswoman Sue Williams. Bokova said she is seeking an increase of the working capital fund that would be funded through an additional assessment to member states or through "voluntary advances that would be reimbursed at a later stage." Last week, the United States announced it is cutting funding to UNESCO after the agency voted to accept a Palestinian bid for full membership. The "vote by the member states of UNESCO to admit Palestine as member is regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal of a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the Middle East," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Some U.S. lawmakers had called on the Obama administration to withhold funding to UNESCO if the measure was approved.

     The lawmakers cited U.S. law, which states that funds must be denied to any organization granting the Palestine Liberation Organization "the same standing as member states." A spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to UNESCO said the United States contributes $80 million a year. The U.S. contribution comprises 22% of the agency's funding in its regular budget, a spokeswoman for UNESCO said. The membership vote, which required two-thirds approval by UNESCO members, passed with 107 in favor, 14 against, and 52 abstentions. The vote is separate from the Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations. Huge applause broke out at the UNESCO meeting in Paris when the results of the vote were announced. After the vote, Bokova said she was concerned for the financial stability of the organization, but added said the "admission of a new member state is a mark of respect and confidence."

WORLD PRESS KEEPS A CLOSE EYE ON WILSON RAMOS' KIDNAPPING IN VENEZUELA

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--Worldwide newspapers, such as The Washington Times (USA), The Washington Post (USA), El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico) and El Tiempo (Colombia) have echoed the news of the kidnapping of Venezuelan catcher Wilson Ramos.  It occurred on Wednesday evening in Valencia, the capital city of central Carabobo state, when Ramos was at home. Government authorities have not news of his whereabouts.

    The news opening the sports section of US newspaper The Washington Post reads as follows: "The abduction of the 24-year-old catcher, a promising player who had recently returned to his homeland to play in the winter league, has garnered broad media attention in a country obsessed with its baseball stars and also painfully aware of the growing scourge of kidnappings and other violent crimes. "  Daily newspaper El Tiempo replicated a message posted on Twitter social network by the public affairs officer of Ramos' team Tigres de Aragua. "It is sad, worrisome and true that Wilson Ramos was abducted less than one hour ago... His family confirmed it and reported on it."

    The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League condemned the abduction of Wilson Ramos, a big leaguer with Washington Nationals and Tigres de Aragua.  "We condemn this event which tarnishes a national holiday such as Venezuelan baseball," the League president José Grasso Vechio said on Wednesday night at the University Stadium during a game between Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de la Guaira.  "We have spoken with the authorities of competent jurisdiction and we are praying for Ramos to escape unscathed from this situation," the executive director said and acknowledged that Major League Baseball earlier voiced its concern.  "We talked to them already and explained it to them that this is an isolated event, that is, that had never happened before to a baseball player. The important thing is that Ramos should be rescued right away, because kidnapping is among the most atrocious actions."

VENEZUELA'S SOLICITOR GENERAL SAYS TERRORIST CARLOS THE JACKAL FOUGHT ONLY FOR HIS "IDEALS AND PRINCIPLES"
 
     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuela's Solicitor General and lawyer Carlos Escarrá said Friday that Ilich Ramírez aka Carlos the Jackal, who is on trial in France, is not a terrorist but a defender of his ideals and principles, which he has firmly advocated. "You have to examine the cases of (anti-Castro activist and suspected terrorist Luis) Posada Carriles and of Carlos. The latter is accused of terrorism, but the trials he has faced are not related to terrorism, but are manipulated in another way," Escarrá said in an interview with state-run TV network Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).  He said that it is necessary to say clearly and frankly that Ilich Ramírez was kidnapped by the French government in Sudan. "Some countries abduct people and bring them to their States," he added.

    Escarrá clarified that he expressed this opinion as a lawyer rather than as Solicitor General. In his view, "from the moment he was abducted, any subsequent action is illegal (...) The first and the second trials are absolutely illegal." According to Escarrá, the trial of the Venezuelan urban guerrilla has been rigged. The Solicitor General supported President Hugo Chávez's position as a representative of the Venezuelan State regarding this case. "I think that the Venezuelan government has to act because a Venezuelan citizen, such as Carlos, is involved." On a personal level Escarrá said he thought the Jackal "is a family man who  have faced  with dignity and strength to defend his ideas, the defense of his values and his principles."

    "I know portion of his family, some directly and others less so, some time ago I was in Michelena talking with his family and they have had to sell everything they possessed  for their solidarity with Carlos and this already reflects the meaning of the Venezuelan family.  Escarra defended the position taken by dictator Hugo Chavez as the representative of the Venezuelan State concerning this case. "I understand that here the Venezuelan government facing the case of a national such as Carlos has to act." There are even states who feel obligated to pay attorneys fees but here is a clear position of Chávez very strong of solidarity with Carlos and his family and gave clear  instructions to ensure that justice prevails. Carlos is being tried now in France for four terrorist attacks in the 80's that left eleven dead. In 2000 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for another similar attack.

November 11, 2011

AT LEAST 4 KILLED AFTER the FRAUDULENT REELECTION of daniel ortega

     managua, nicaragua--At least four people were killed in mass protests in Managua against the fraudulent reelection of Daniel Ortega in the country’s presidential elections over the weekend. Fernando Borge, a spokesman for the national police service, said three of the people killed in the protests were supporters of Fabio Gadea, who finished second in the elections. He also said that over 45 policemen were wounded across the country as they withstand protests after the elections. Daniel Ortega was reelected for a third term as Nicaragua's president on Monday. His closest rivals in the election were Fabio Gadea of the Independent Liberal Party and Arnoldo Aleman of the Constitutional Liberal Party.

     Ortega, who professes to be a born-again Christian, first served as president in 1985-1990 and was elected to a second term in 2006. He had been barred from running for a second consecutive term, but in 2009 the Supreme Court overturned that constitutional ban. European Union election observers have questioned the transparency of the vote and the independence of the electoral authorities.  "There is no doubt Mr Ortega and the Sandinistas won the elections," the head of the EU mission Luis Yanez-Barnuevo said.  "But I am not saying that they won cleanly and transparently, because we don't know what would have happened without all these tricks and ruses," he added.

      The worst of the post-election violence happened in two northern towns.  Three opposition supporters were shot dead in the town of San Jose de Cusmapa near the border with Honduras, and a Sandinista activist was killed in Siuna on the Atlantic coast.  There were also clashes between government and opposition supporters in the capital, Managua.  Nicaraguan police say 46 officers have been injured, including six with bullet wounds, trying to contain post-election violence across the country.  President Ortega, 65, has urged his opponents to accept the result.  He was able to stand for reelection only after the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Court overturned a ban on serving consecutive terms in the top office.  He previously ruled Nicaragua for 11 years after leading the Sandinista revolution that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS CATCHER WILSON RAMOS KIDNAPPED IN VENEZUELA

     SANTA INES, VENEZUELA--Professional baseball player Wilson Ramos, a catcher seen as one of the young building blocks for the Washington Nationals, was abducted by gunmen Wednesday from his home in his native Venezuela. Ramos, a 24-year-old who just finished his rookie season, was taken away in an SUV by four armed men in Santa Ines in central Carabobo state, the spokeswoman for his Venezuelan League team, the Aragua Tigers, said on her official Twitter account. "This is sad, worrisome and true that Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped," Katherine Vilera wrote.  She said Ramos was taken at 6:45 p.m. at his home in the region 95 miles (150 kilometers) west of Caracas. She said police were notified. A person close to Ramos' family, who asked not to be quoted by name out of safety concerns, said the catcher was at home with his father and brothers when several men "entered the house and took him away." "As of this hour, there has been no contact" between the kidnappers and Ramos' family, the person said.

     Drew Storen, a relief pitcher for the Nationals, tweeted his concerns: "Extremely upsetting news about Ramo. Thoughts and prayers with him. Scary situation." Spokesmen for the Nationals did not respond immediately to phone and email messages Wednesday night. Ramos is considered one of the Nationals' key young players as they try to become a contender in the National League East. As a rookie in 2011, he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games. He also threw out 19 of 67 runners attempting to steal a base, a 28 percent success rate that ranked third among qualifying catchers in the National League. Washington acquired Ramos from the Minnesota Twins in a trade for All-Star relief pitcher Matt Capps in July 2010. The abduction appeared to be the first case involving a Major League Baseball player. But in Venezuela, which is home to dozens of major league players, the families of wealthy athletes have been periodically targeted by kidnappers in hopes of a hefty ransom. 

     In November 2009, the then 56-year-old mother of Victor Zambrano, who retired after pitching for four teams during a seven-year major league career, was rescued in a "commando-style operation" after a three-day kidnapping ordeal. Zambrano's mother was abducted nine days after the former pitcher's cousin, Richard Mendez Zambrano, had been kidnapped and later killed. In June 2009, Colorado Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba's then 11-year-old son and brother-in-law were kidnapped and released a day later. The mother of former player Ugueth Urbina, who was a two-time All-Star pitcher while playing for six teams, spent more than five months in captivity until she was rescued in early 2005.  Around the same time, the mothers of five Brazilian soccer players were abducted in Brazil, including those of star strikers Robinho and Luis Fabiano.

     The government of the United States is "most concerned" about the kidnapping in Venezuela of baseball player Wilson Ramos, a catcher with Washington Nationals at the Big League.  "Obviously it is a great concern for us," said Mark Toner, the Spokesman of the US Department of State in a press conference. "We are certainly fully abreast of the event and are closely following it," he said, as quoted by AFP. Ramos is not a US citizen, but "he has a legal residence," Toner said.  "The US government has not contacted Venezuelan authorities or the player's relatives or the Big League organization," the spokesman said. Nevertheless, "it is prepared to help in any way possible the baseball player's family members," the official added.

MARIELA CASTRO TWITTER DEBUT SPARKS CUBA DISSIDENT SPAT
 
     HAVANA, CUBA--The daughter of Cuban DICTATOR Raul Castro has made her debut on Twitter, only to be confronted by a dissident demanding free speech.  Mariela Castro is the head of Cuba's sexual education institute and a supporter of gay rights on the island. Within hours of joining the internet site, she was challenged by Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez.  "Welcome to Twitter pluralism," Ms Sanchez wrote. "Here no one can shut me up or deny me permission to travel". The internet activist - who has more than 170,000 followers on Twitter - questioned why Ms Castro's tolerance of gay rights did not extend to other areas of life in Cuba. "How can you ask for acceptance in just one area?" she asked.  "When can we Cubans come out of the other closets?"
 
      'Parasites' Ms Castro responded by telling her critic she needed to study.  "Your focus on tolerance reproduces the old structures of power," she tweeted.  The daughter of the Cuban leader went on to thank her friends for "messages of support" and the "boring and mediocre" for spreading her tweets. Later, she employed some of the revolutionary rhetoric made famous by her uncle Fidel, who ruled Cuba for nearly half a century before handing power to her father.  "Contemptible parasites," she tweeted. "Were you given the order by your bosses to reply to me in unison and with the same predetermined script?"  The public exchange of views between President Raul Castro's daughter and one of his most outspoken critics is very unusual in communist Cuba, where political opposition is banned and the media is controlled by the state.
 
      Yoani Sanchez is a prominent figure in Cuba's small but vocal dissident movement, and one of the first to make widespread use of the internet. She writes a prize-winning blog - Generacion Y - and relies on Twitter to communicate via her mobile phone when access to the internet is difficult.  According to official Cuban statistics, only 3% of the population have access to the web - the lowest figure in the western hemisphere - and internet speeds are among the slowest in the world.  Access is restricted and available only with government permission - although since 2009 Cubans have been able to use internet cafes, mostly in hotels, and there is a strong black market for internet connections.

November 10, 2011

ROGER NORIEGA SAYS THAT DICTATOR CHAVEZ CANCER IS PROGRESSING FASTER THAN EXPECTED

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--VENEZUELAN DICTATOR Hugo Chávez’s cancer is spreading faster than expected and his doctors fear that he may have only a few months left to live, a former U.S. government official said Wednesday, citing sources inside the Venezuelan government. “The international team of doctors in charge of treating Hugo Chávez’s cancer does not expect him to live more than six months,” said Roger Noriega, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States. Noriega’s opinion came in a column titled “Hugo Chávez’s Big Lie and Washington’s Apathy,” published on the Internet portal of Inter-American Security Watch.  

     “Sources who have given me privileged information and documents from inside the Venezuelan government indicate that Chávez’s cancer is spreading faster than expected and could kill him before the presidential elections in October 2012,” added Noriega, who was also undersecretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs in the Bush administration. According to Noriega, U.S. officials knew that Chávez was suffering from cancer six months before the Venezuelan president acknowledged it publicly and now they know that it is unlikely that he would be the candidate in the next presidential elections. Noriega said that high-ranking leaders of the Chávez regime are worried that his most fervent followers would feel betrayed once they learn what he referred to as the Venezuelan president’s “big lie.”

     “Chávez wants his people to believe that he was ‘healed’ months ago and that the recent visits to Cuba have confirmed his miraculous recovery,” he said. “However, his physical deterioration is speeding more rapidly than his doctors had predicted and, despite this serious situation, Chávez has insisted on receiving low doses of chemotherapy to avoid long absences from the political scene during this fragile period.” He added that Chávez’s political advisors are worried that he will die soon and leave his successor with the incredible task of explaining why the leaders of the country instigated such a big lie. According to Noriega, the doctors believe that the decision of receiving a lower dose of chemotherapy to try to continue his public functions is suicidal, but they have no alternative but to follow the plan. And what is worse, “the treatment to fight the cancerous cells in the Venezuelan leader’s bones has not started yet,” he said.

U,S, NOTES "EXPLOSIVE" DRUG TRAFFICKING IN VENEZUELA

     MIAMI, FLORIDA--The United States has seen an “explosive” drug transit from Venezuela in the last few years stemming from Caracas’ limited collaboration in the war on drug trafficking, said a senior American official Tuesday, quoted by EFE. “I admit that in the last five, six years, we’ve seen an explosion, I repeat an explosion, of illicit drug transit from Venezuela towards the outer market,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Narcotics and Security, William Brownfield.  "I think that the main reason or one of the reasons is the lack of cooperation from Venezuelan agencies with the rest of the international community to confront and control illegal drug trafficking," the former ambassador to Venezuela said.

     The official spoke in a round table with journalists in Miami, where he also affirmed that the death of the top leader of Colombia’s FARC guerrilla, Guillermo Leon Sáenz “Alfoso Cano,” will make it easier to combat drugs, but  noted that if Dominican Republic fails to adopt measures, it could confront problems with drug trafficking in around two years. “I am absolutely convinced that in two or three years Dominican Republic is going to confront this problem in a massive manner.” Brownfield said to avoid it, it added, mechanisms of collaboration need to be established, to create infrastructure and to use “these two years to create a coalition of Caribbean countries with the rest of the international community to collaborate to confront this in the most effective way possible,” and again reiterated Venezuela’s “lack of collaboration.”

     The former American ambassador in that country and in Colombia called Venezuela-U.S. relations “complicated” and “limited,” with “some exceptions.” “In terms of collaboration against narcotics, I acknowledged that some exceptions have taken place, when the Venezuelan Government has agreed to collaborate in some cases; it has agreed to expel (people) to other countries for trial and has offered information or intelligence of some movements.

CONFIRMATION HEARING FOR STATE DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOCUSES ON CUBA

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--The State Department official who oversees the U.S. relationship with Cuba on Tuesday defended the Obama administration's policies toward the communist island nation, including policies that allow Americans to send more money there. Roberta Jacobson, who appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her confirmation hearing, also told senators that the administration would do whatever it could through diplomatic channels to secure the unconditional release of U.S. contractor Alan Gross, who has been imprisoned in Cuba for nearly two years. She called a recent visit by Bill Richardson to Cuba an independent effort by the former New Mexico governor to help secure Gross's release. And "as badly as we would like Mr. Gross to return home," Jacobson denied there was any offer to let a convicted Cuban spy return to Cuba in exchange for the imprisoned American's release.

     "We have always taken our cue from the Gross family," she said, "and we will continue to do that. This is absolutely unjustified. He deserves to be home immediately." Jacobson, who must be confirmed as the assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told the committee in her written statements that strong partnerships in the Americas will be "essential in meeting the global challenges we confront today." She gave the committee a rundown of some of the key issues in the region, including fighting for money for the Inter-American Development Bank, progress on debris removal and reconstruction in Haiti, the recent elections in Nicaragua, and the 2012 elections in Venezuela. Jacobson told Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that her division remains concerned about the elections this past weekend in Nicaragua, where President Daniel Ortega appeared headed for a landslide re-election likely to cement Sandinista leadership of Nicaragua for years.

    They were concerned some observers were unable to fully conduct their missions. Some "very important domestic observation groups" also had difficulty monitoring the elections, she said. But the committee spent much of its time focused on the U.S.-Cuba relationship. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., told Jacobson he supports her nomination, but said he has concerns about the policies enacted this year that allow Americans to send more money to Cuba. Over the past three years, Menendez said, Cuba has doubled its hard currency reserves in foreign banks to $5.7 billion. He also called Gross a "hostage" who is being used as a pawn by the Cuban regime in its relationship with Washington. "It seems to me very elemental," he said. "You stop the money, the regime gets the message. The regime has only changed ... out of necessity, not ideological change."

November 9, 2011

FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY CALLED ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU A 'LIAR'

     PARIS, FRANCE--"I can't stand him any more, he's a liar," FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY said to President Barack Obama in French, referring to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day," Obama replied. The exchange at the G20 summit was quoted by a French website, Arret sur Images, and confirmed by other media.

      The remarks - during a private conversation - were overheard by a few journalists last week but were not initially reported, the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says.  Journalists at the bilateral press conference had been handed translation boxes but had been told not to plug in their headphones until the backroom conversation had finished. But those who did heard the revealing comments. For several days there was media silence in France about the exchange - a decision had been taken not to embarrass the French president, our correspondent says.

     A correspondent for Le Monde newspaper referred to the conversation without the quotes.  But Israeli newspapers have reported it in full. It is said Obama was taking Sarkozy to task for voting in favour of the Palestinian bid for full membership of the UN cultural organization, UNESCO, a bid that was approved despite American opposition.  The remarks indicate a breakdown of trust with the Israeli leader which could have wider implications for the Middle East peace process.

ALAN GROSS WANTS TO BE SWAPPED FOR CUBAN SPIES, RABBI SAID

     HAVANA, CUBA--U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross, jailed in Cuba on subversion charges, wants to be swapped for five Cuban spies held in the United States, according to a Washington-area rabbi who recently visited the American in Havana. The 62-year-old Gross, who has been in custody since late 2009, expressed “anger and frustration” about his situation, Rabbi David Shneyer said Monday. He said he spent nearly two hours with Gross, a sub-contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. “Having learned about the recent swap of (Israeli soldier) Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 imprisoned Palestinians, (Gross) felt that the U.S. and Cuba could do the same for him and the ‘Cuban Five,’” Shneyer in a message to his congregation in Bethesda, Maryland.

     The State Department recently disclosed that U.S. and Cuban diplomats met in September to discuss the Gross case, but denied Washington offered any kind of prisoner swap. The Cuban Five – Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez – were arrested in 1998 and convicted three years later by a federal jury in Miami. Though one of the group, Rene Gonzalez, completed his custodial sentence in October and was released, he has not been permitted to go home, as the federal courts say he must serve his three-year probation on U.S. soil. Press accounts said Havana rejected a U.S. proposal to allow Rene Gonzalez to return to Cuba now in exchange for Gross’ freedom, countering with a demand for the release of the four spies who remain in prison.

    While acknowledging that the five are intelligence agents, Havana insists they were spying on Miami’s Cuban exile community, not the U.S. government. Cuba says the men were sent to Florida in the wake of several terror bombings in Havana allegedly masterminded by anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative. Gerardo Hernandez is serving two life sentences, one for espionage and the other for his ostensible role in the 1996 downing by Cuban MiGs of two civilian airplanes belonging to the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, four of whose members were killed in the incident over international waters.

FIFTY PERCENT OF VENEZUELANS WANT A CHANGE OF GOVERNMEN

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA--A recent opinion survey conducted by consulting firm Alfredo Keller y Asociados in Venezuela found that half of respondents believe that the country needs a change of government and that dictator Hugo Chávez should not be reelected. The 2012 Presidential Vote and Primaries survey included 1,200 respondents and was conducted during the third quarter this year (July, August and September). The poll found that Chávez's popularity declined in 2010 as people rejected poor public services. His popularity was up 57% after he launched his welfare plan Mission Housing and climbed 37% after he was diagnosed with cancer.

     However, respondents said that the main problems hitting Venezuelans have not been solved. Eighty-five percent of respondents noted that their main concern is personal insecurity. They claimed that this problem has worsened. Insecurity is followed by high cost of living (69%), drug trafficking (68%), corruption (64%) and unemployment (63%). Housing, economy, and poverty are ranked lower in the list. The survey determined that Executive Vice President Elías Jaua would be the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela's presidential candidate with the largest support (34%), in the event that Chávez fails to run for reelection for various reasons. Thirteen percent of respondents would support governor of Barinas state Adán Chávez, and other nine percent would support Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro.

     Regarding opposition presidential pre-candidates, the study found that Miranda governor Henrique Capriles enjoys the largest support from hard-line dissenters (91%). Support for former Chacao municipality mayor Leopoldo López is similar to Capriles', while the popularity of opposition presidential pre-candidates Zulia state governor Pablo Pérez and deputy María Corina Machado stands at 82%. However, based on the votes obtained by the political parties supporting Capriles and Pérez in the latest regional elections, Pérez leads with 2,498,416 votes over 1,545,254 votes gained by Capriles. The study estimated that out of the total number of Venezuelans that will certainly cast their vote in the presidential election (6.66 million people), 3,780,000 people are dissenters who will certainly cast their vote.

November 8, 2011

FORMER general otto perez molina wins guatemalan presidential election

     guatemala city, guatemal--Guatemalans have once again elected as their new leader the presidential candidate who lost the previous election, something they have done since democracy returned to the Central American country in 1986. Retired general and former intelligence director Otto Perez Molina of the conservative Patriotic Party won an easy and early victory on Sunday in a runoff race against tycoon-turned-political populist Manuel Baldizon of the Democratic Freedom Revival party. Perez garnered 54 percent of the vote to Baldizon's 46 percent.  It was exactly as the polls had predicted, though many distrusted them and felt a last-minute surge by Baldizon would make the race tight.

    But analysts said it was Perez who surged in the final days. "At the end of the campaign, Otto Perez began to appeal to the idea of continuity and stability, while Baldizon tried to appear new and creative," said Renso Rosal, political analyst with the University Rafael Landivar. "That doesn't sit well with a conservative society like Guatemala."  Voter turnout was nearly 60 percent, though early reports said it would be under 50 percent. Perez, 61, is the first former military leader elected president in Guatemala in the 25 years after the end of brutal military rule. While that concerns some international groups, Guatemala has a young population. Many don't remember the 36-year war or its 200,000 dead, the vast majority of whom were Mayan and victims of army, police and paramilitary.

     Perez has said there were no massacres or genocide. He was never been charged with any atrocities and was one of the army's chief representatives in negotiating the 1996 peace accords.  "They talk a lot about the past, but there has been no case against him," said Perez supporter Daniel Rustrian, 20, who was voting for the first time. "I'm not saying there wasn't genocide, but no one has demonstrated anything against him." Instead, voters supported Perez's "iron-fist" approach to rampant crime in the country, which has been overrun by gangs, Mexican drug cartels and has one of the highest murder rates in the world. President Alvaro Colom had to send the military to various parts of the country in the last six months to regain control from the drug gangs. "The first order of business will be to lower the levels of violence and insecurity that we're living, and work with congress to improve the federal budget," Perez said upon his victory, touching on the country's other major problem.

iaea says foreign expertise helps iran in developing its nuclear capability

     washington, d.c.--Intelligence shows that Iran received foreign assistance to overcome key hurdles in acquiring a nuclear weapon, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, according to Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings. Documents and other records provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians over several years on building high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the officials and experts said. Crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability, they added.

     Documents and other records provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians over several years on building high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the officials and experts said. Crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability, they added. The officials, citing secret intelligence provided over several years to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the records reinforce concerns that Iran continued to conduct weapons-related research after 2003 — when, U.S. intelligence agencies believe, Iranian leaders halted such experiments in response to international and domestic pressures.

     The U.N. nuclear watchdog is due to release a report this week laying out its findings on Iran’s efforts to obtain sensitive nuclear technology. Fears that Iran could quickly build an atomic bomb if it chooses to has fueled anti-Iran rhetoric and new threats of military strikes. Some U.S. arms-control groups have cautioned against what they fear could be an overreaction to the report, saying there is still time to persuade Iran to change its behavior.  “Let them publish and see what happens,” said Iran’s foreign minister and former nuclear top official, Ali Akbar Salehi, the semiofficial Mehr News Agency reported Saturday. Salehi said that the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program is “100 percent political” and that the IAEA is “under pressure from foreign powers.”

Violence in syria as arab league warns of disaster

    CAIRO, EGYPT--Violence erupted SUNDAY in the restive Syrian city of Homs, killing at least five people as tank shells slammed into an area that has turned into one of the main centers of both protest and reprisal during the seven-month uprising, activists said. Bloodshed linked to the military crackdown on dissent and what appear to be sectarian revenge killings have engulfed Homs in recent weeks, killing scores of people in the country's third-largest city. The deaths are adding to fears that a peace plan brokered by the Arab League was unraveling only days after Damascus agreed to halt its crackdown.

     The head of the Arab League warned Saturday that the failure of the plan would have disastrous consequences.  The 22-nation bloc's secretary-general, Nabil Elaraby, expressed "deep worries and regret for the continuation of violence all around Syria" despite the deal announced Wednesday at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo. The deal called for the Syria to halt violence against protesters, but skeptical regime opponents who held large protests Friday to test the government's word were met with gunfire that killed more than 15 people, activists said. "The failure of the Arab solution will have disastrous consequences in Syria and the region," Elaraby said. He urged the Syrian government to take "immediate measures ... to protect civilians and assure everyone." On Saturday, activists reported more violence, including tank shelling, in Homs. At least five people were killed, according to two main activist groups, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordinating Committees.

     Under the Arab plan, Syria's government also agreed to pull tanks and armored vehicles out of cities, release political prisoners and allow journalists and rights groups into the country. The continuous shelling three days after the Arab League deal was reached suggests Damascus is unwilling - or unable - to put a swift end to a crackdown that has already killed 3,000 people, according to U.N. estimates. The crisis in Syria has burned since mid-March despite widespread condemnation and international sanctions aimed at chipping away at the ailing economy and isolating Assad and his tight circle of relatives and advisers. The protesters have grown increasingly frustrated with the limits of their peaceful movement, and there are signs of a growing armed rebellion in some areas. Some protesters are even calling for the kind of foreign military action that helped topple Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

November 7, 2011

IRAN DISMISSES REPORTED UN CLAIMS OF NUCLEAR WORK

     VIENNA, AUSTRIA--New intelligence the U.N. atomic agency plans to release on alleged nuclear weapons work by Iran is fabricated, the Iranian foreign minister said Saturday. Diplomats have told The Associated Press that the International Atomic Energy Agency plans to reveal intelligence in the coming week suggesting Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead, as well as other previously undisclosed details on alleged secret work by Tehran on nuclear arms. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi accused the IAEA of giving in to U.S. pressure to level accusations against Iran, which insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful aims like energy production.  "Iran has already responded to the alleged studies in 117 pages. We've said time and again that these are forgeries similar to faked notes," Salehi told a news conference in Tehran.

     Salehi, Iran's former nuclear chief, asserted that allegations proven false in the past are being reproduced. "The Americans raised documents like this in the past: the Niger scandal," he said, referring to claims - based on a forgery - that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had sought uranium from Niger. "The documents were used as a pretext to invade Iraq," Salehi said. "After killing tens of thousands of innocent people, it was discovered that it was a forged document." Iran has previously claimed that reports on alleged nuclear weapons activities were based on false information provided by a "few arrogant countries," a phrase authorities in Iran use to refer to the United States and its allies. Salehi accused the IAEA of violating its neutrality and siding with U.S. intelligence claims under new agency chief Yukiya Amano, saying he is using information that his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the agency could not authenticate independently.

     “The IAEA should not do things under pressure. ... Iran's nuclear issue is not a technical or legal issue. It's a totally political case," Salehi said. Iran has in the past dismissed investigations by the IAEA into the so-called Green Salt Project, which the U.S. alleged was an Iranian plan studying diverse components of a nuclear weapons program, including uranium enrichment and high explosives testing. But Washington has refused to hand over the original documents to the IAEA and only presented a copy to the agency to support its claims. Iran has argued that U.S. reluctance to hand over original documents reinforces its assertion that they are forged. Iran is already under U.N. sanctions for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce reactor fuel or material for a warhead. Iran insists its nuclear work is only to produce energy and conduct peaceful scientific research.

DESPITE NICARAGUA'S CONSTITUTION, DANIEL ORTEGA HEADED FOR RE-ELECTION

     MANAGUA, NICARAGUA--Nicaragua's Constitution bars re-election for politicians, but that's proved no obstacle to President Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader, who's widely expected to win another term in office in voting on Sunday. Ortega beat that particular problem in 2009, when friendly appointees on the country's Supreme Court essentially declared the Constitution's ban on re-election unconstitutional. Now the no-longer youthful leftist guerrilla, whose movement swept away a hated family dynasty in 1979 only to lose power at the ballot box in 1990, sits atop a growing family fortune and seems destined himself to become the founder of a dynasty as he steers his Central American nation through a modest economic boom.

      Some of the country's economic improvement comes from Ortega's patron, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who pumps a half billion dollars a year into Sandinista coffers. The rest comes from high global prices for Nicaragua's main exports of coffee, sugar and gold, and two straight years of bumper harvests. Combined, the two sources of income have allowed Ortega to broaden programs that provide food, land titles and better housing to the poor.  Ortega seems to enjoy greater support than ever before.  "In our polling, we show that Daniel Ortega will win re-election without the need for a runoff," said Vania Soza, the project director for the CID Gallup polling firm in Managua.  With the country's Constitution no longer an issue, the bar for re-election is low. Ortega needs only to secure 40 percent of all votes, or 35 percent of the votes with a 5 percentage-point lead over any other candidate, to avoid a runoff and sit another five-year term. Ortega tallied 38 percent in the vote that returned him to office in 2007. Last week's CID Gallup poll gave him 48 percent, 18 percentage points above his nearest rival.

     That rival is Fabio Gadea, a co-founder of a news radio station who heads the Independent Liberal Party Alliance, a broad, strange-bedfellows movement that includes both conservatives and former Sandinistas. While still vigorous, Gadea turns 80 next week.  With economic trends filling the sails of Ortega, who's but 65, his supporters say he's passing through a moment of peculiar good fortune. "One can argue that the stars have aligned themselves to favor the government," said Arturo Cruz, an Oxford-trained historian who served as Ortega's ambassador to Washington from 2007 to 2009. Ortega, he said, "has never had the approval ratings of today." Even foes speak with respect of how Ortega has co-opted some of the business sector. Unlike Chavez in Venezuela, Ortega hasn't sought to nationalize or destroy the capitalist class. He no longer provokes hives among businessmen.

VENEZUELAN GROWERS ASSOCIATIONS ALERT TO RENEWED LAND SEIZURE

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA--The siege on the productive sector is growing with the land seizure reported on Sunday, October 31, by Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chávez. The "rescue" of 580 hectares at Quíbor Valley, Lara state, has raised the alarm of local growers, who have promised not to allow new abuses. At Quíbor Valley of 43,000 hectares in length, 66% of onions, 66% of sweet pepper and 16% of tomatoes nationwide are produced. Miguel Duin, an advisor to Fundación Prodesarrollo de la Cebolla (Fundation for Onion Development, Fundacebolla), has said that while they do not know the extent of the move announced by President Chávez, it will have an impact on small growers because production units in that region average 100 hectares.

      "We do not know whether those 580 hectares referred by the president are together or separate; but based on the extension, we estimate that between three and four production units could be hit," he pointed out. Despite uncertainty, they have not ruled out any reversal of the measure, as this is not the first time that the government threatens to take lands in Quíbor Valley. "Last year, on this same date, they threaten to expropriate 10,000 hectares and it was not effected because growers took action and the move was stopped. Perhaps it will happen again. We will take street action to ensure observance of due process." Duin claimed that while rains struck production, it has been recovered and they feel able to meet the domestic demand of vegetables.

    The reported seizure of 14,000 hectares in the Aragua-Carabobo hub includes lands already seized under a previous decree in 2009. Neither this case has been settled nor any plots of lands have been paid to their owners. José Ricardo Álvarez, the president of Fesoca, wonders about "the government's haste to move forward as it has not consolidated yet the projects in that area." He reported that these lands held sugar cane plantations that were not relocated. This damaged production and moving to El Palmar sugar mill "which is being hit by the large amount of expropriated farms in Aragua state." Álvarez prays for an end to seizures; otherwise, "it could cause the sugar mill go bankrupt."

November 6, 2011

colombian president JUAN MANUEL santos CONFIRMED farc collaborators helped kill the GUERRILLA maximum leader

     bogota, colombia--FARC members collaborated with the military in the operation that killed their maximum leader, “Alfonso Cano,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday. According to the president's website, "'Operation Odyssey' was carried out with several intelligence sources and help from persons inside the FARC." At his second press conference within twelve hours, the president said the operation, a lengthy mission which culminated in the shooting of the rebel leader on Friday, was "very well planned and flawlessly executed."

    During a visit to Popayan, the capital of the Cauca department where the raid took place, Santos congratulated the military commanders and 300 men who carried out the operation, calling them “heroes of the homeland” - but warned against premature celebrations. The president told reporters: “This is not a time for triumphalism, it is a time to persevere (…) We will not lower our guard and we will redouble our efforts to achieve peace.” Military operations against FARC will continue in the Cauca region, it was revealed following a meeting between army commanders and Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon. The minister traveled to Popayan Saturday to join the president and meet military leaders who led the operation.

     Santos said he had not considered what should be done with the body of ‘Cano’, which remains at a coroner’s office in Popayan. He called on FARC members to lay down their arms following the death of their leader: " The alternative is prison or a grave ... What 'Cano' shows is that there is no corner of the country that the security forces can’t reach. This is a warning that no member of the FARC will be safe in any corner of our territory.” He said the death of Cano sent a message of optimism to the Colombian people. The killing of the FARC's top leader is “a huge boost for our country’s psychology.”

u.s. major general peter fuller fired for verbal attack on afghan president

     kabul, afghanistan--A top U.S. general in Afghanistan was fired Friday for making disparaging remarks about Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government. Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, deputy commander of the NATO training mission in Afghanistan, made the remarks in an interview with Politico that was published Thursday. Fuller told Politico that major players in the Afghan government are "isolated from reality." Fuller reacted angrily to claims from Karzai that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan if it were to go to war with the United States. 

    Fuller called Karzai's statements "erratic," adding, "Why don't you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You've got to be kidding me … I'm sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you're telling me, 'I don't really care'?" Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), released a statement Friday saying Fuller was to be relieved of his duties, "effective immediately." "These unfortunate comments are neither indicative of our current solid relationship with the government of Afghanistan, its leadership, or our joint commitment to prevail here in Afghanistan", Allen said. "The Afghan people are an honorable people, and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission-bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan."

     Pentagon officials who spoke to Fox News on the condition of anonymity agree that Fuller seemed to go off the rails in the Politico interview, admitting he showed extremely poor judgment. The fish line didn't help his cause: "You can teach a man how to fish, or you can give them a fish," Fuller said. "We're giving them fish while they're learning, and they want more fish! [They say,] 'I like swordfish, how come you're giving me cod?' Guess what? Cod's on the menu today."  Fuller is not the only loose-lipped general to sink his own ship. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, once the commander of ISAF, was fired by President Obama himself after the Rolling Stone published disparaging remarks he and his staff made about members of the administration.

at least 23 DEMONSTRATORS killed in the city of homs by syrian ARMY TANKS FIRE

    damascus, syria--At least 23 people have been killed in renewed attacks by Syrian security forces in the city of Homs, anti-government activists say. The violence has continued despite the government agreeing to pull its forces off the streets and begin dialogue with the opposition. The Arab League said the failure of its peace initiative would be catastrophic. Separately, the authorities announced 553 detainees were being freed to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday. Figures from the Local Co-ordination Committees on Saturday said 23 people had been killed in Homs and three in Idlib. Violence was also reported in a number of other towns and cities.

    The latest deaths brought the number of civilians reportedly killed in Homs to more than 100 since Tuesday. "Whole buildings have been gutted by tank fire," said Samer, a local activist, quoted by the Reuters news agency.  "Bread has run out and people who get hit in the streets are dying from their wounds on the spot because no one can reach them," he said.  According to the authorities, the security forces are fighting militant gangs who have been killing civilians in Homs. Elsewhere, suspected defectors killed four pro-government militiamen near the border with Turkey, activists said.

    The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, called for an immediate end to the bloodshed. The Arab League warned that the failure of its solution would affect the whole region. "The failure of the Arab solution will have catastrophic consequences for the situation in Syria and the region," he said shortly after meeting Burhan Ghalioun, the Paris-based leader of the dissident Syrian National Council. A statement said he "called on the Syrian government to take immediate measures to implement the Arab plan, to which it committed itself". The Arab League plan calls for an end to violence, the release of those detained, the withdrawal of the army from urban areas and free movement for observers and the media, as well as talks between the regime and opposition.

November 5, 2011

US CONGRESS REAFFIRMS "IN GOD WE TRUST"

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--In God We Trust: Congress voted to keep the national motto. But President Obama called the "In God We Trust" vote political posturing. The measure sponsored by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., supports and encourages the motto's display in all public schools and government buildings. It was approved 396-9, with 2 abstentions.  Forbes said the resolution was needed because President Obama had once called "E pluribus unum" the national motto, and the Latin phrase meaning "from many one" was engraved in the new Capitol Visitors Center until Congress ordered that it be corrected.  Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., called the resolution a meaningless distraction from the nation's real problems. "Nobody is threatening the national motto," he said.

     President Obama responded Wednesday by trying to shame the Republican-controlled House by accusing its leaders of wasting time during a jobs crisis with debates over commemorative baseball coins and reaffirming "In God We Trust" as the country's motto. "That's not putting people back to work," Obama said. "I trust in God, but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work. There's work to be done. There are workers ready to do it. The American people are behind this." Obama's $60 billion plan for infrastructure jobs that is expected to fall victim to a GOP filibuster Thursday. In votes last month, Republicans blocked Obama's entire $447 billion jobs package and a subsequent attempt to pass a $35 billion piece of it aimed at preventing layoffs of teachers and firefighters. It wasn't the only time discussion about God came up at the White House this week.

     White House spokesman Jay Carney invoked scripture Wednesday to back up President Barack Obama's suggestion that God wants U.S. policymakers to get busy and create more jobs. Carney said Obama was trying to make the point that "we have it within our capacity to do the things to help the American people." "I believe the phrase from the Bible is, 'The Lord helps those who help themselves,'" Carney said. Well, no, not really. A White House transcript of Carney's briefing issued later in the day included the disclaimer: "This common phrase does not appear in the Bible." "In God We Trust" first appeared on U.S. coins during the Civil War in 1864. It officially became the national motto in 1956 and began appearing on paper currency the following year.

SYRIAN GOVERNMENT VIOLATES AGREEMENT SIGNED WITH THE ARAB LEAGUE

     DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Tanks with machine-guns have opened fire in the Syrian city of Homs, killing at least 20 people, activists have reported.  The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Baba Amr district came under heavy fire on Thursday.  Violence was also reported in other parts of the city. It comes a day after the authorities in Damascus agreed to an Arab League plan calling on the government to pull the military out of cities. The plan required Syria to withdraw all troops from urban areas and end all killing immediately.  The Arab League said Damascus had agreed to release all political prisoners and begin a dialogue with the opposition within two weeks.  The Syrian government also said it would allow journalists, rights groups and Arab League representatives to monitor the situation in the country.

     At present foreign journalists are unable to move around Syria freely and information is tightly controlled and hard to verify. We offered to engage in negotiations to move from a authoritarian regime to a democratic regime.” Syrian opposition groups criticised the plan as an attempt by the regime to buy more time.  "The regime has accepted the Arab initiative out of fear of Arab isolation, its weakness and lack of options," a leading opposition figure, Burhan Ghalioun, wrote on his Facebook page.  "But its acceptance does not mean it will respect its clauses." Mr Ghalioun is a senior figure in the Syrian National Council. Another member of the council, Samir al-Nashar, said it had met Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi to discuss the agreement with Damascus. "We are not talking about a dialogue," he told AFP news agency.  "We offered to engage in negotiations to move from a authoritarian regime to a democratic regime. And we ask that Bashar al-Assad resign."

     On Friday, opposition groups are planning mass protests across the country to test the Assad government's promise that it will abide by the league's terms.  It is still unclear when any talks between the government and the opposition will start, or where they will take place. Neither is it clear how strong a presence the Arab League could put into Syria to monitor it's compliance with the deal. From Homs, video footage emerged purporting to show tanks firing in a built-up area on Thursday. The voice of the cameraman gives the date and mentions the previous day's agreement with the Arab League.  Protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad started in March but have become increasingly violent.  The government has tried to put down the demonstrations using the security forces and pro-government militia. Opponents of the regime have taken up arms and been joined by soldiers who have defected.  At least 3,000 people have been killed in the unrest in Syria, while hundreds of others have disappeared. The government of Mr Assad - who took over from his father as president in 2000 - says the violence is being carried out by "armed gangs" and "terrorists".  More than 1,000 security personnel have lost their lives in the fighting, the government says.

ISRAEL NAVY BOARDS 2 PROTEST BOATS BOUND FOR GAZA

    JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Israel's navy boarded two protest boats trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip on Friday and towed them to an Israeli port just north of the Palestinian territory, officials said. The military said forces boarded the boats after repeated calls for them to turn around were ignored. The boarding was done peacefully and nobody was hurt, the military said. It was the latest attempt by pro-Palestinian activists heading for Gaza by boat to draw attention to a 5-year-old blockade of the impoverished coastal strip that critics say amounts to collective punishment of its residents. Israel says its naval blockade is vital in preventing weapons from reaching violent groups like Hamas, the Iranian-backed militant group that rules the Gaza Strip.

    Once the vessels reach the port of Ashdod, the activists will be questioned by police and immigration officials and then sent back to their home countries as soon as possible, said Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. There were 27 activists from nine different countries including the U.S. and Ireland aboard the boats. In Gaza, activist Amjad Shawwa, called for the release of the activists, who he said "were on a civil trip to Gaza to help the Palestinians." Israel sees the attempts to break the sea blockade as provocations and publicity stunts. It says the amount of aid in the small boats used by activists is insignificant, as Israel transfers aid to Gaza daily. Shawwa said he had spoken with activists onboard the boats about an hour before they were boarded, when they were surrounded by Israeli naval vessels. But contact was later severed when the activists' satellite phones stopped working. It was not clear if Israel was jamming them.

     The Israeli military issued a short video clip showing a naval official calling on the ships to turn around. "The Gaza area and coastal region are closed to maritime traffic as part of a blockade imposed for security purposes," the unidentified officer said. "Your attempt to enter the Gaza Strip by sea is a violation of international law. We remind you that humanitarian supplies can be delivered to the Gaza Strip by land, and you are welcome to enter Ashdod port and deliver supplies through land crossings." Israel's navy has intercepted similar protest ships in the past. Last year, Israeli troops killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists when they resisted an Israeli operation to halt a similar flotilla. Each side blamed the other for the violence. Israel has said its troops fired live ammunition only after they were attacked by activists armed with knives, clubs and metal bars and they felt their lives were in danger. The activists say they were attacked first.

November 4, 2011

IRAN SAID TO PREPARE FOR WAR

     TEHRAN, IRAN--Iran is allegedly preparing for a possible war in the region, considering the massive deployment of Iranian military men in the occupied areas — Ahwaz and Baluchistan, say highly reliable sources from the intelligence unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (Sazaman Talaat Wamnatit Sapah Pasdaran) in Ahwaz. Sources disclosed the intelligence unit has informed the field military command of Ahwazi Islamic Sunni Organization on the alleged war preparations of Iran. Sources said the Iranian military deployment in Ahwaz and Baluchistan areas includes the core officers of the Revolutionary Guard, Ghafeera forces (Al-Baseej) clad in civilian clothes, thousands of agents and spies to finalize the preparations. Sources revealed some high-ranking officers, who were deemed unfaithful to the Iranian spiritual leadership inside the Revolutionary Guard and military, have been terminated, while others have been transferred to other locations to avoid any form of treason.

    Sources affirmed the instructions to military officials in Ahwaz (North Ahwaz, Abu Shahri and Abbas seaport) are highly confidential as Iran is allegedly gearing up for a military attack in the region. Sources stated there is growing suspicion on the activities of the Revolutionary Guard and military officials and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini might soon announce something that may lead to putting the security forces on high alert. According to reports leaked by some Revolutionary Guard leaders, the announcement might be a confirmation of Iran’s production of nuclear bombs — around two to four bombs - in the next 18 months or a declaration of war, which may push the regime towards a crisis graver than what it is currently facing, particularly in Ahwaz and Baluchistan. Sources added the plan will be carried out under the supervision of the leader of the special guards for Khameini (Sappah Wali Amr). These special guards are the core officers of the Revolutionary Guard and they have confirmed that Khameini is directly supervising the secret plan, sources said.

     Several maps, documents and military correspondences have also been presented to the Ahwazi Islamic Sunni Organization, which opted not to reveal these documents to the public to protect the sources. These pieces of evidence allegedly confirm the intention of the Iranian military to possess all kinds of destructive armaments, including weapons of mass destruction, to implement its hidden agenda — expansion in the region, sources stated.  Sources pointed out this military includes 3.7 million servicemen: 350,000 military men and 1,050,000 Revolutionary Guard members, while Al-Baseej has about two million servicemen and others. The regime has opened many avenues for the production of weapons and military hardware since 2005. All the military and revolutionary guard reserves were called starting from February 2010 and the alert level has been increased, particularly the Iranian Military (92nd Brigade) and the strongest unit in the Revolutionary Guard in the South (7th Corp) at the occupied Ahwaz.

NATO LEADER: NO INTENTION TO INTERVENE IN IRAN

     BRUSSELS, BELGIUM--NATO has "no intention whatsoever" of intervening in Iran, the alliance's top official said in response to reports that some governments may be planning a military strike against Tehran's nuclear program. The U.S. and other leading Western governments believe that Iran is intending to develop a nuclear arsenal, and Tehran's failure to suspend its nuclear activities has already led to several sets of U.N. sanctions. But Iran maintains its nuclear program is exclusively civilian, aimed only at producing electricity. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly trying to persuade his Cabinet to authorize a strike. Israel, which considers Tehran its biggest threat, has successfully tested a missile believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to Iran.

     Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO supports political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear issue and urged Iran to comply with U.N. resolutions and stop its uranium enrichment programs. "Let me stress that NATO has no intention whatsoever to intervene in Iran, and NATO is not engaged as an alliance in the Iran question," he said. However, Fogh Rasmussen declined to comment on reports that Israeli air force jets conducted drills last week at a NATO air base in Italy. They were said to be practicing long-range sorties from the Decimomannu base on the Sardinia island and included combat aircraft, aerial refueling tankers and electronic warfare and control planes. Later Thursday, Italian Defense Ministry spokesman Capt. Emiliano Biasco confirmed that an exercise involving Israel and other countries was held at Decimomannu in late October. He declined to give more details.

     NATO cooperates closely with Israel as part of a group of friendly nations in the region, known as the Mediterranean Dialogue. Israeli warships have participated in exercises with NATO ships in the eastern Mediterranean. Tensions in the Middle East have peaked just after Turkey - a NATO member and Iran's neighbor - agreed in September to host an early warning radar as part of a planned NATO missile defense system aimed at countering a possible threat from Iranian missiles. Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for disruptions in its nuclear program, including the mysterious assassinations of a string of Iranian nuclear scientists and a computer virus that wiped out some of Iran's nuclear centrifuges. Tehran has also insisted that the international community deal with the issue of Israel's own nuclear weapons. The Jewish state is widely believed to have accumulated a sizable arsenal, although it has never officially acknowledged possession of such weapons.

UK MILITARY STEPS UP PLANS FOR IRAN ATTACK

    LONDON, ENGLAND--British officials consider contingency options to back up a possible US action as fears mount over Tehran's capability. Britain's armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned. The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.

     In anticipation of a potential attack, British military planners are examining where best to deploy Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles over the coming months as part of what would be an air and sea campaign. They also believe the US would ask permission to launch attacks from Diego Garcia, the British Indian ocean territory, which the Americans have used previously for conflicts in the Middle East.  The Guardian has spoken to a number of Whitehall and defence officials over recent weeks who said Iran was once again becoming the focus of diplomatic concern after the revolution in Libya. They made clear that Barack Obama, has no wish to embark on a new and provocative military venture before next November's presidential election. But they warned the calculations could change because of mounting anxiety over intelligence gathered by western agencies, and the more belligerent posture that Iran appears to have been taking.

     Hawks in the US are likely to seize on next week's report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is expected to provide fresh evidence of a possible nuclear weapons programme in Iran.  The Guardian has been told that the IAEA's bulletin could be "a game changer" which will provide unprecedented details of the research and experiments being undertaken by the regime.  One senior Whitehall official said Iran had proved "surprisingly resilient" in the face of sanctions, and sophisticated attempts by the west to cripple its nuclear enrichment programme had been less successful than first thought.  He said Iran appeared to be "newly aggressive, and we are not quite sure why", citing three recent assassination plots on foreign soil that the intelligence agencies say were coordinated by elements in Tehran. In addition to that, officials now believe Iran has restored all the capability it lost in a sophisticated cyber-attack last year.

November 3, 2011

DESPITE AN ANTI-AMERICAN VOTE, UNESCO PLEADS WITH US TO REINSTATE FUNDING

     PARIS, FRANCE--The head of UNESCO is pleading with the U.S. to reinstate funding cut off after the agency granted membership to Palestine. Director-General Irina Bokova warned in a statement Wednesday that the move jeopardizes programs "in America's core interests," such as those fostering a free media in nascent Mideast democracies. She said that without U.S. support, "it will be impossible for us to maintain our current level of activity." On Monday, the members of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization voted to welcome Palestine. The United States typically funds about 20 percent of the agency's budget, but American law bars contributions to organizations that grant membership to territories that are not internationally recognized as states.

     United Nations officials inducted Palestine into UNESCO despite threats from the U.S. and other countries to cut funding to the agency.  UNESCO’s mission to encourage peace and international respect seems inconsistent with the behavior of the Palestinians. At the same time the UN allowed Palestine to join UNESCO, the Palestinians fired multiple barrages of rockets into Israel.  According to Huffington Post, Palestinian fighters have used new truck-mounted multiple-launch missile systems to launch unprovoked rocket attacks against Israel. As they continue to deploy their new weapons system, Israel expects attacks to intensify. Even with a Washington regime sympathetic with Palestinean statehood, the specter of a soon-to-be nation engaging in overt terrorist operations admitted to UNESCO was too hard to take.

     According to Washington Post reports, the U.S. has reportedly yanked all $60 million of funding from UNESCO in protest of its decision to admit Palestine. Canada also canceled its tally of $10 million in support to that organization.  Palestine reportedly applied to UNESCO as a way to gain back-door legitimacy for its statehood bid after the UN General Assembly cooled to their application in September. Although most experts and political leaders seem to agree to the concept of Palestinian independence, many believe that the Palestinians should forge peace with Israel before becoming a recognized nation. Israel wants the Palestinians to drop their goal of annihilating the Jewish state before accepting the new nation.  Many of the Palestinians receive weapons and funding from Iran, a country that shares the Palestinian mission to obliterate Israel from the map. Despite years of using Gaza and the West Bank as bases to launch terrorist attacks on Israel, the Palestinians often seem to portray Israel as the aggressor in the region.

ISRAEL TEST-FIRES NEW BALLISTIC MISSILE

     PALMACHIN BASE,  ISRAEL-- Israel has test-fired a ballistic missile capable of reaching Iran, from the Palmachim base, Israeli radio says. The test of a rocket propulsion system on Wednesday comes amid increased debate around the likelihood of an Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear programme. Speculation around the basis for the first missile test since 2008 was heightened after a newspaper commentator had suggested over the weekend that Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, may have decided without cabinet approval to launch an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities. A defence ministry statement said that the test-firing "had been planned by the defence establishment a long time ago and has been carried out as scheduled".

    Wednesday's test-fire, the first in three years, was declared a success. Though defence officials would not elaborate on the type of missile tested, the military affairs correspondent at Israel Radio, regularly briefed by officials, said a ballistic missile had been launched. In an address at parliament's opening session on Monday, Netanyahu repeated that a nuclear-armed Iranian state would prove a serious threat to Israel and the world. Israel is believed to have a sizeable and the Middle East's sole atomic arsenal, along with a technologically superior air force. However, it lacks long-range bombers which could deliver lasting damage to Iran's distant, dispersed and fortified facilities.

     references by Iran's leader to Israel's destruction, and Iran's support for armed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran denies the allegations that it aims to produce a bomb, saying its nuclear programme is meant only to produce energy for the oil-rich country. Iran has blamed Israel for disruptions in its nuclear programme, including the mysterious assassinations of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists and a computer virus that wiped out some of its nuclear centrifuges. Israel has repeatedly called for tougher economic sanctions on Iran by the international community.

SYRIA MINING LEBANON BORDER HONDURAS

    SERHANIYEH, LEBANON--Syria is planting landmines along parts of the country's border with Lebanon as refugees stream out of the country to escape the crackdown on anti-government protests, officials and witnesses said Tuesday. The exodus to neighboring Lebanon and Turkey has proven a deep embarrassment for increasingly besieged President Bashar Assad, who warned over the weekend that the Middle East will burn if foreign powers try to intervene in his country's conflict. A Syrian official familiar with government strategy claimed the mines are meant to prevent arms smuggling into Syria. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition that his name not be published because of the sensitivity of the matter. Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border also told the AP they have seen Syrian soldiers planting the mines in recent days in Syrian territory in the restive province of Homs. "Syria has undertaken many measures to control the borders, including planting mines," said the Syrian official. More than 5,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the crisis began in March.

    The landmines are the latest sign of just how deeply shaken the Assad regime has become since the uprising began nearly eight months ago. Assad, a 46-year-old eye doctor who trained in Britain, still has a firm grip on power, although the cost has been mighty: The U.N. says some 3,000 people have been killed by security forces. Syria is a regional nexus, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Its web of alliances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. Turkey, until recently an ally, has opened its borders to anti-Assad activists and breakaway military rebels. The crackdown has eviscerated Assad's reputation, canceling out widespread hopes when he took power in 2000 that he might transform his late father's stagnant dictatorship into a modern state. Instead, Assad has reverted to the same tactics that have kept his family in power for more than 40 years, using fear and brute military force to try to break the popular revolt against his autocratic rule.

     Three residents of the Lebanese border village of Serhaniyeh showed an AP reporter a long sand dune barrier along the frontier where they said Syrian troops laid mines. Ahmed Diab, 26, said several trucks carrying about a 100 soldiers arrived in the area on Thursday and spent the entire day planting mines on the side of the barriers that is toward Lebanon. "Since they planted the mines, no one dares to go to the border line," said Diab, as he sat on his motorcycle near his home that overlooks parts of the Syrian province of Homs. Homs has seen some of the worst violence of the uprising. Many Syrians cross the border into Lebanon regularly, some of them to flee the violence in their country. And the mines are the latest in a number of signs that Syria is working to prevent Lebanon from becoming a safe haven for the Syrian opposition. In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph published over the weekend, Assad warned world powers fresh from their victory over Muammar Qaddafi in Libya that the Middle East will go up in flames if there is any foreign intervention in his country. Syria "is the fault line, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake," he said in his harshest words so far regarding the potential for foreign intervention. "Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?" he asked, alluding to the 10-year war that has bogged down tens of thousands of foreign forces.

November 2, 2011

ISRAEL ACCELERATES BUILDING OF 2,000 SETTLER HOMES AFTER UNESCO MOVE

     jerusalem, israel--Israel decided on Tuesday to accelerate Jewish settlement building and withhold Palestinian Authority funds in response to a UNESCO decision to admit Palestine as a full member, a senior official said Tuesday. The decision was taken at a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Forum of Eight senior ministers a day after the Palestinians successfully joined the U.N. cultural organization, the source told AFP. “These measures were agreed by the Forum of Eight ... as punishment after the vote at UNESCO,” said the source told AFP.

     “We will build 2,000 housing units, including 1,650 homes in east Jerusalem and the rest in the settlements of Maaleh Adumim and Efrat,” he said, referring to a sprawling settlement east of Jerusalem and another between Bethlehem and the southern city of Hebron. “It was also decided to temporarily freeze the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority, until a final decision is taken,” he added, referring to the monthly transfer by Israel of tax monies owed to the Palestinian leadership.

    Every month, Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority tens of millions of dollars in customs duties which are levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports, and which constitute a large percentage of the Palestinian budget. Israel often freezes the transfer of funds as a punitive measure in response to diplomatic or political developments viewed as harmful.  The last time the monies were frozen was in May shortly after the Fatah movement signed an unexpected unity deal with Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip in a move which drew an angry reaction from Israel. The Israeli decision to speed up settlement construction with the construction of 2,000 new housing units is an Israeli decision to accelerate the destruction of the peace process,” presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told the international press.

brazil ex-president luiz inacio lula da silva's cancer chances 'very good'

     sao pULO, BRAZIL--Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has started his chemotherapy treatment for throat cancer, with doctors saying his chances of being cured are "very good".  The cancer is in its early stages and has not spread to other areas.  The treatment is expected to last four months and is likely to cause Lula to lose his hair and trademark beard.  Lula, 66, stepped down last year after two terms as president with record approval ratings.  His diagnosis of cancer last weekend shocked Brazil, where he remains a very influential political figure.

    Tests showed the tumour on his larynx was not abnormal and should respond well to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, doctors treating him at the Sirio-Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo said. "The outlook is very good," said his personal doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho.  "He is in extremely good humour and confident and that is fundamental for the success of any treatment," he added.  Lula was elected Brazil's president in 2002, the country's first leftwing leader in half a century, and won a second term in 2006.

    In December 2010 he was succeeded by his former chief-of-staff, Dilma Rousseff.  Brazil's constitution prohibits a third consecutive presidential term, but there had been speculation that he might stand again in 2014 if Ms Rousseff decided not to seek re-election.  A former union leader, Lula presided over a period of strong economic growth in Brazil during which more than 20 million people were lifted out of poverty. Lula is a former smoker and is widely known as a drinker - two habits thought to increase the chances of throat cancer.

HONDURAS IS THE LARGEST SITE IN THE REGION FOR DRUGS; 95% ARRIVE FROM VENEZUELA

    TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS --On Honduras' swampy Mosquitia coast, entire villages have made a way of life off the country's massive cocaine transshipment trade. In broad daylight, men, women and children descend on passing go-fast boats to offload bales of cocaine destined for the United States.  Along the Atlantic coast, the wealthy elite have accumulated dozens of ranches, yachts and mansions from the drug trade.  And in San Pedro Sula, local gangs moving drugs north have spawned armies of street-level dealers whose violence has given the rougher neighborhoods of the northern industrial city a homicide rate that is only comparable to Kabul, Afghanistan.

    Long an impoverished backwater in Central America, Honduras has become a main transit route for South American cocaine.  "Honduras is the number one offload point for traffickers to take cocaine through Mexico to the U.S.," said a U.S. law enforcement official who could not be quoted by name for security reasons. A U.S. State Department report released in March called Honduras "one of the primary landing points for South American cocaine."  Almost half of the cocaine that reaches the United States is now offloaded somewhere along the country's coast and heavily forested interior - a total of 20 to 25 tons each

     An extensive report from Associated Press delves into an important link between the Central American country and drug traffic heading for the United States.  The paper informs that 300 tons of drugs annually pass through that country, almost one ton a day, most of which arrives by sea. Nevertheless, planes make Honduras the largest site in the region for drug traffic.  Out of hundreds of illicit flights northwards from South America, 79% land in Honduras, a DEA officer said. Seriously, 95% out of the flights come from Venezuela, a country that has also become a link for the cocaine produced elsewhere. Remember the number of aircrafts that "crashed" in that country under Zelaya's administration.  Landing in Honduras turned out to be so profitable and aircraft so easy to find, to such an extent that drug traffickers would unload the drugs and set fire to the aircraft, instead of taking off again from secret, dangerously rudimentary landing strips. Last year, however, they restarted to use planes to carry large amounts of money to Colombia and the United States, according to the report from the Department of State. Authorities found a load of USD 9 millions in cash inside plastic bags in the trunk of a car and millions in many suitcases in local airports.

READ THE FULL REPORT FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS IN "OUR SPECIAL REPORTS"  PAGES

November 1st., 2011

UNESCO APPROVES PALESTINIAN MEMBERSHIP 

     PARIS, FRANCE--THE monumental vote by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) took place in Paris Monday and passed with 107 votes in approval of the bid. Only 14 votes went against allowing Palestinian membership into the agency, while 52 members abstained from the vote. The vote was the first vote on the matter of Palestinian U.N. membership and applause broke out frequently as members voted “yes” to including Palestine as a member of the agency. The Israeli representative of UNESCO was clearly disgruntled with the decision and said that the outcome of the vote was “a tragedy for UNESCO” and also called it a “great disservice to international law.”

     The Palestinian representative was pleased with the outcome saying, “For over six decades, Palestinians have proven to be superb human beings but have regrettably remained without their rights.” She added, “Today this wrong has been righted.” Many are concerned that the vote will be quite costly as fears have arisen that the U.S. will cut its funding to the organization, which comprises of more than a fifth of the UNESCO budget. In a letter signed earlier in the month by members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations it was stated, "Any recognition of Palestine as a Member State would not only jeopardize the hope for a resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiation, but (it) would endanger the United States' contribution to UNESCO."

      Israel warned that a United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation (Unesco) decision on Monday to grant the Palestinians full membership would harm efforts to secure a peace agreement between the two sides. The membership resolution, which was put to UNESCO's 193-member general assembly, passed by 107 votes in favor, with 14 against and 52 abstentions, in what constitutes a major symbolic victory on the road to securing full UN membership. Both Israel and the United States are adamantly opposed to UNESCO's granting the Palestinians membership, which comes just a month after the Palestinians applied for full state membership at the United Nations. Winning membership in the UN's educational, scientific and cultural organization is not only a diplomatic feather in Palestine's cap -- it will allow them to apply to classify its monuments as World Heritage Sites at a time when the heritage of much of the Holy Land is under dispute. The vote comes five weeks after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted a historic request for full state membership at the United Nations, which is due to be debated by the Security Council on November 11.

arab league demands syria end violence against ITS citizens

     cairo, egypt--The Arab League has called on Syria's government to end all violence against its people, remove tanks and military vehicles from the streets of the country and release political prisoners, an official with the Arab organization said. Arab countries made the proposal to Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Sunday in a meeting which the prime minister of Qatar called "clear and frank," according to the Qatari national news agency. Syria is due to respond Monday to the Arab League proposals, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said. The Arab League also proposed a dialogue between Syrian officials and opposition members in Cairo starting on Wednesday. The proposals include a time frame for compliance, the Arab League official said.

     Also on Monday, Syrians aiming to write a new constitution for the strife-torn country will meet for the first time, Syria's state news agency reported Sunday after a weekend of intense violence. President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month announced the formation of a committee to draft a new constitution within four months, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported at the time. The October 15 announcement was one of several moves the government has made to defuse protests, but they have not calmed the situation in the country. Seven people were reported killed Sunday across the country, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group that organizes and documents protests. Government forces killed six people they described as terrorists Saturday, and arrested 20, SANA reported Sunday. The agency said four members of the security forces were killed in the clashes. Opposition activists, meanwhile, said at least 21 people were killed Saturday, including at least 11 who died when Syrian forces pounded the western city of Homs with tanks, sustaining fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. More than 3,000 people have died since unrest broke out in Syria in mid-March, according to the United Nations.

     Al-Assad, meanwhile, praised Russia's support for his embattled government Sunday in his second interview with international news outlets in two days. Al-Assad told Russia's Channel One television network that his government has been in "constant contact" with Moscow, a longtime ally, since the protests began. He also thanked the Russians for vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution in early October that would have condemned the Syrian response to the protests. China and Russia teamed up to kill the resolution, which had called for an immediate end to the clampdown. "Russia is aware of the dangers of military or political intervention in the internal affairs of Syria," al-Assad said. He said Syria expected the Russian government "will not only continue supporting Syria but also advocate world stability."

VENEZUELAN RENOWNED PIANIST, GABRIELA MONTERO, LAUNCHES ASSAULT ON HER "CORRUPT" NATIVE COUNTRY

    NUREMBERG, GERMANY--Venezuelan RENOWNED pianist Gabriela Montero, famed for her improvisations, performed her first fully-composed work, titled ExPatria, on October 20, in Nuremberg, Germany, where she launched her second manifesto against dictator Hugo Chávez, said Norman Lebrecht on the website ArtsJournalblogs. According to the article, Montero left her home country, "disgusted by the excesses of the Chávez regime which, despite chaos and corruption, remains the darling of the world's political left." Montero wrote a text to accompany her concerto in Nuremberg with the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, with conductor Patrick Lange.

     The text reads as follows: "As an expatriate Venezuelan, it may be of little surprise that I should wish to express, in music, a longing for the beautiful country of my birth. "However, my debut as a composer reaches beyond private nostalgia to a very public cry. ExPatria is a portrayal of a country barely recognizable from that of my youth. It is my emotional response to the loss of Venezuela herself to lawlessness, corruption, chaos, and rates of murder among the highest in the world. "The opening chord is intended to jolt the public from silence and apathy. It is the immediate exposure of a tragedy that has accelerated beneath the thinnest veil of democracy with negligible and inconsequential international scrutiny.

     The motifs introduced by the French horn and piano reflect a fleeting recollection of an innocent moment, an ominous calm. The theme is quickly brutalized, corrupted and stolen by an imposing, percussive and militaristic interruption, the "martellato" section depicting the daily gunfire to which Venezuelans have grown accustomed. "Emerging from the violence, soloist and orchestra acquiesce in a slow and rhapsodic dialogue of mourning, culminating in a disconsolate and unison lament. The poetic rhapsody itself is soon subjected to a chromatic and accelerating decay, leaving the audience to glimpse the maddening disorder of a dismantled and suffocated society. "My musical statement is not a political one. I am not a politician. It is my nation's story. It is my regret."

ALÁ LOS CRÍA Y ELLOS SE JUNTAN