CUBA'S LIBERATION IS ON THE WAY -- THE FAR AND CAMCO, WORKING TOGETHER, WILL ASSIST

DOCUMENTARY DEPICTS CUBAN PRISONERS' LIVING CONDITIONS

* Documentary depicts Cuban prisoneros' living conditions
DANIE SHORE ROTH
* Letteer from Cuban-American members of Congress to President Barack Obama
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, ROBERT MENENDEZ, LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART, ALBIO SIRES
* Fidel Castro backin the spotlight as he turns 84
DAVID ARIOSTO
* Can Raul Castro modernize and stabilize Cuba?
JACKSON DIEHL
* A challenge to the US President
FORMER DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO RUZ
* Raul Castro says state will reduce economic role
WILL WEISSERT
* Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro dons olive green again
SHASTA DARLINGTON

HAVANA, CUBA
{08-31-2010}

CUBA'S FIDEL CASTRO GIVES NEW DETAILS OF ILLNESS
PAUL HAVEN  //   ASSOCIATED PRESS

FIDEL CASTRO HAS GIVEN NEW DETAILS OF JUST HOW SICK HE WAS WHEN HE WAS FORCED TO GIVE UP POWER FOUR YEARS AGO, saying in a rare interview that he was weak, dangerously thin and thought at times he could not go on.

"I was at death's door, but I came back," the former Cuban leader told the left-leaning Mexican daily La Jornada in an interview published Monday - one of the most extensive he's granted since stepping down four years ago. His younger brother Raul now leads the country, though Fidel remains head of the Communist Party.

The elder Castro burst back on the scene in July after nearly four years in the shadows, using frequent appearances to warn that a conflict pitting the United States and Israel against Iran has taken the world to the brink of nuclear war.

The 84-year-old has spoken to journalists with the heavily controlled Cuban state media, but only once before sat down with foreign reporters - an Aug. 8 round-table with a Venezuelan news team in which he said he doubted a dispute between Venezuela and Colombia would develop into a shooting war.

In the five-hour interview with La Jornada's editor, Castro said that during the illness his weight fell to 145 pounds (66 kilograms) - extremely thin for a man thought to be about 6-foot-3 (190 centimeters) and known for his large frame - but that he is now back up to 190 pounds (86 kilograms).

"I couldn't aspire to live any longer, much less anything else," Castro said. "I asked myself several times if these people (the doctors) would let me live under these conditions or whether they would allow me to die."

The government has never said officially what Castro was suffering from when he fell ill in July 2006, though it was widely reported to have been complications involving diverticulitis, an intestinal ailment common in older people. He has said in the past that he underwent several surgeries and mentioned that again in the La Jornada interview.

Castro was treated in an undisclosed location and vanished from public view, though he has kept up a steady stream of opinion columns throughout. Since his re-emergence last month, Castro has looked healthy if sometimes frail. His voice seems to gain strength as he talks.

In the interview, Castro described lying in a hospital room during the illness, hooked up to machines, and wondering how long it would be before his suffering would be over.

"Laid out in that bed, I could only see what was around me, machines I did not understand," Castro said. "I didn't know how long this torment would continue. The only thing I could hope for was that the world would stop."

"But I recovered," he added, proudly.

Castro said when he did get better he was in terrible shape, but that in the intervening years he has steadily gained strength to the point where he can now walk long distances unaided.

"Today, I managed to take 600 steps, without a cane or any help," Castro boasted.

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MIAMI, FLORIDA
{08-24-2010}

DOCUMENTARY DEPICTS CUBAN PRISONERS' LIVING CONDITIONS
DANIEL SHOER ROTH

OSCAR'S CUBA, a documentary film about Cuban activist Oscar Elías Biscet -- a prisoner of conscience serving a 25-year sentence -- was shown Sunday in Little Havana after a tour that took it to audiences in Los Angeles, Madrid and Paris.

Its executive producer, Jordan Allott, who is not Cuban and lives in Washington, D.C., said the next stops for the film will be on Capitol Hill and at 10 universities, including Harvard, MIT, Michigan and Notre Drame.

“People are very surprised to hear about what the reality of life is in Cuba and also about the opposition leaders who are risking their lives for things that we take for granted,'' said Allott, a 33-year-old independent filmmaker. ``The reaction is that people want to know more and want to help.''

A private premiere of Oscar's Cuba took place at the Miami Dade College's Tower Theater in May. Sunday's screening at the Manuel Artime Theater was sponsored by the city of Miami and open to the public at no charge.

Mayor Tomás Regalado said he saw the documentary in Madrid while on a commercial mission with City Commissioner Frank Carollo, and was ``highly impressed.''

The 90-minute film, filmed clandestinely on the island in December 2008 and August 2009, documents the humanitarian work of Biscet, a pro-life Christian physician, as well as lesser-known facts about his life and his career. Biscet, 48, was sentenced to prison in 2003 for his human-rights activities.

In 1997, Biscet created the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, which released a study on the indiscriminate practice of abortion in Cuba.

Allott interviewed Biscet's wife, Elsa Morejón, and other dissidents including Oswaldo Payá Sariñas. He said his goal was to raise public awareness about the plights of Biscet -- who at times has been in solitary confinement and punishment cells -- and other prisoners of conscience.

But his emphasis is on engaging those of non-Cuban ancestry who have not heard about conditions in 21st Century Cuba.

In a May interview with El Nuevo Herald from Havana, Morejón said: ``My husband is in a severe prison . . . and in conditions that are inconsistent with his health, because he suffers from hypertension, ulcers, and has lost some teeth.''

Angel Cuadra, a former political prisoner who heads the Pen Club of Cuban Writers in Exile, attended the screening Sunday. He said the film objectively captured details of Biscet's life intertwined with what is happening today.

Besides, he said, ``it exposes the regime's repression against citizens who disagree with official politics.''

One of the early scenes shows Morejón putting together the jaba, a bag of food relatives are allowed to take to the prison every two months. She uses her ration allotments or buys food on the highly expensive black market.

“This is one of the saddest tragedies the relatives of political prisoners go through,'' said Cuadra.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-22-2010}

THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20500

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:

THERE HAVE BEEN INCREASING NEWS REPORTS REFERENCING STATEMENTS BY SENIOR U.S. OFFICIALS REGARDING AN IMPENDING ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHANGES TO CURRENT U.S.-CUBA POLICY, primarily, to allow for increased U.S. travel to the island. We are deeply troubled that such changes would result in economic benefits to the Cuban regime and would significantly undermine U.S. foreign policy and security objectives. However, we are also concerned that the reported changes could run contrary to statutory requirements and prohibitions. In that vein, we would like to draw your attention to pertinent provisions of U.S. law and, pursuant to these, respectfully request that your Administration reconsider issuing any determinations altering U.S. policy targeting the Cuban dictatorship.

Reportedly, the measures under consideration would expand the categories of travel, particularly for academic, religious and cultural purposes, and would significantly increase the number of U.S. cities permitted to carry out flights to the island.

While section 515.560 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), currently authorizes certain travel-related transactions for these and other purposes by a general license or on a case-by-case basis by a specific license, any activity considered tourism travel is prohibited by section 910(b) of P.L. 106-387, the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA).

Of particular relevance and importance are the following provisions of P.L. 104-114, the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (LIBERTAD Act):

• Section 4 of the Act clearly defines the "economic embargo of Cuba" as "including all restrictions on …travel to or from, Cuba."

• Section 102(h) of the LIBERTAD Act, also known as Helms-Burton, affirms that "the economic embargo of Cuba, as in effect on March 1, 1996" shall remain in effect until the President determines and notifies the Congress that a transition government or democratically elected government, as defined in the Act and as applicable, is in power in Cuba.

• Sections 205 and 206 of the Act outline the specific requirements and factors for the Presidential determination of a transition and democratically-elected government that would permit the suspension of any component of the "economic embargo of Cuba" as defined in the Act.

The law is clear that all, not just some, of the criteria must be met for a determination to be issued, and it is evident that the Cuban regime remains as repressive as when Helms-Burton was enacted and maintains absolute power and control over the political system and people of Cuba.

As such, we believe any effort to further expand U.S. travel, add a significant number of departure cities, or other similar measures could be viewed as violating the tourism-travel related prohibitions in TSRA, as well as the statutory requirements in Helms-Burton pertaining to the continuation of "the economic embargo of Cuba."

The LIBERTAD Act also provides a roadmap of certain steps that the Congress can undertake to ensure full enforcement of the law. As you may know, P.L. 104-114 under section 204 provides for the introduction of a joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress which states "That the Congress disapproves the action of the President under section 204(a) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 to suspend the economic embargo of Cuba..."

We believe the laws pertaining to U.S.-Cuba policy are clear, providing a concise roadmap of both permissible and prohibited transactions aimed at protecting and advancing U.S. interests. Meanwhile, changes such as those being reported in the media would undermine those priorities, could run contrary to U.S. statute, and would play directly into the hands of the Cuban tyranny.

In light of the concerns and critical issues we have raised, we respectfully ask that you reconsider making any determinations changing current U.S.-policy toward the Cuban regime until the requirements in U.S. law are met.

Sincerely,

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
ROBERT MENENDEZ
LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART
MARIO DIAZ-BALART
ALBIO SIRES

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HAVANA, CUBA
{08-14-2010}

FIDEL CASTRO BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT AS HE TURNS 84
DAVID ARIOSTO //  CNN

MORE THAN FIVE DECADES AGO, A 32-YEAR-OLD CUBAN GUERRILLA FIGHTER NAMED FIDEL CASTRO led a triumphant column of bearded revolutionaries into the Cuban capital.

The aging Communist leader turns 84 on Friday after a string of recent public appearances that have left analysts and foreign diplomats scrambling to decipher.

"He's obviously a lot healthier than we thought he was," said Phil Peters, Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Washington.

"He's also confining himself to foreign policy while not saying a word about domestic issues, much less against the prisoner releases or economic policies of his brother [and current president Raul Castro]."

In a deal brokered last month between Havana, the island's Catholic Church and Spain, Cuba agreed to release 52 dissidents imprisoned under then-president Fidel Castro in the largest prisoner release in more than a decade.

The announcement came just days before a rare interview on state television with the former Cuban leader, who scorned U.S. foreign policy and warned of nuclear war, but made no mention of prisoner releases or his brother's economic reforms.

On Saturday, clad in his signature olive-green fatigues, the elder Castro addressed a special session of parliament in his first institutional appearance since intestinal surgery sidelined him in 2006.

The aging revolutionary was escorted to the podium amid a thunderous applause and gave a 12-minute speech that centered on nuclear war before taking questions from an adoring parliamentary crowd.

"The babies, the adolescents and the young people of the world can be saved from this [potential] nuclear holocaust," he warned, gripping the wooden podium and wagging his finger in a fashion reminiscent of years past.

Castro left his usual seat next to his younger brother, Raul Castro, vacant. Instead, he sat beside National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, prompting speculation over the island's power balance and the relationship between the two brothers.

"Castro's appearances, I do think, are related to the release of the political prisoners," said Julia Sweig, senior fellow at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.

"[His appearances are] intended, I believe, to signal to the party faithful ... that Raul's moves diplomatically and domestically have Fidel's blessing."

While the country's fledgling economy, mounting debt and routine shortages have prompted limited though potentially controversial free-market reforms under Raul Castro, domestic issues have been noticeably absent from the elder Castro's recent commentary.

The aging former leader has remained focused on foreign policy, brandishing his image as a global commentator.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-09-2010}

CAN RAUL CASTRO MODERNIZE AND STABILIZE CUBA?
JACKSON DIEHL  //  THE WASHINGTON POST

CARDINAL JAIME ORTEGA'S ROLE AS A BROKER OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA BEGAN WITH THE LADIES IN WHITE. In April the archbishop of Havana was outraged when, for two successive Sundays, thugs of the Castro regime besieged the weekly march of women protesting on behalf of relatives who are political prisoners. Ortega dispatched a letter to President Raúl Castro saying that "for the church to tolerate this in silence would be an act of cowardice," he told me last week.

Ortega and other church leaders had sent many such letters to Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel over the years. What was different about this one, the cardinal says, is that he got an answer. Within a week, Raúl let him know that the Ladies in White would be allowed to continue their marches unmolested. Within a month, Ortega was at his first meeting with Raúl Castro, who began by telling him that he intended to release all of Cuba's political prisoners.

Since then the 73-year-old cardinal has met three more times with the 79-year-old president to talk about the prisoner releases and the possibility of change in Cuba. Not "reform," mind you, and certainly not "democracy" -- Raúl Castro does not like those words. Ortega has nevertheless come away convinced that "this is something new," as he put it to me in an interview. Castro's prisoner releases, he contends, "open possibilities."

What is possible? That has become an important question as Raúl Castro's not-reform creeps forward and as Congress considers legislation that would shred what remains of the U.S. trade "embargo" by lifting all restrictions on travel to Cuba and further liberalizing food exports. So far, two dozen imprisoned dissidents have been released into exile in Spain, the United States and Chile; the regime has publicly committed to free 28 others of the more than 100 who remain. On Aug. 1 Raúl Castro announced that the government would allow more private businesses and self-employment activity, in part as a way to occupy the 1 million workers -- 20 percent of the state labor force -- whom the government plans to lay off.

One view is that this is a replay of the standard Castro strategy for extracting the regime from a bind. The Cuban economy is even worse off than usual: Food production fell 7.5 percent in the first half of the year, and the last sugar harvest was the worst in a century. The last time the island faced such a severe economic crisis, in the early 1990s, Fidel Castro also loosened controls on private enterprise. As soon as the economy recovered, he shut down many of the businesses he had allowed. Releases of political prisoners are also not new: Fidel Castro did it in 1969, 1979 and 1998.

Still, some in and out of Cuba argue that Raúl Castro is up to something different. He understands, they say, that the Stalinist regime cannot survive in its present form, and he wants to modernize and stabilize it before he and his brother pass away. He faces stiff resistance from Fidel Castro -- who, after a four-year absence, began popping up in public within days of the first prisoner release. But Raúl, it is said, is nevertheless determined to methodically press forward with a program of change that will extend for years, rather than months.

Cardinal Ortega seems to subscribe to the rosier view. He was in Washington last week to collect an award from the Knights of Columbus; but it was his second visit in two months, and he has been meeting with officials in the Obama administration and Congress. He suggests that a big part of Raúl Castro's agenda is improving relations with the United States so that Cuba's economy can be revived by U.S. trade and investment. "He has a desire for an opening with the U.S. government," Ortega said. "He repeated to me on several occasions that he is ready to talk to the United States government directly, about every issue."

Does that include the democratic reforms the Obama administration has demanded as a condition for improved relations? "Everything should be step by step," Ortega said. "It's not realistic to begin at the end. This is a process. The most important thing is to take steps in the process."

I don't doubt the cardinal's sincerity. But I also find it hard to believe that Raúl Castro is Cuba's Mikhail Gorbachev. If anything, he resembles Yuri Andropov, one of Gorbachev's aged and ailing predecessors, who knew the Soviet system was unsustainable but lacked the will or the political clout to change it. Ortega may be right that his dialogue with Raúl Castro is something new in Cuba. But the time for real change -- and for deeper engagement by the United States -- has not yet arrived.

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HAVANA, CUBA
{08-06-2010}

A CHALLENGE TO THE US PRESIDENT 
FORMER CUBAN DICDATOR FIDEL CASTRO  RUZ

ON JULY 29, THE PICTURE OF A 22 YEAR-OLD AMERICAN YOUTH, BRADLEY MANNING, AN INTELLIGENCE ANALYST WHO LEAKED 240 000 CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TO THE WEBSITE WIKILEAKS, WAS PUBLISHED. He has not pleaded guilty or innocent. However, nobody will be able to lay a finger on him.  The Wikileaks members have sworn they will spread the truth throughout the world.

On that same day, AFP published the following: “The People’s Republic of China disapproves of the unilateral sanctions adopted by the European Union against Iran, said today  Juang Yu, the spokesperson of the Chinese chancellery.”

Likewise, Russia strongly protested against the condemnations that resulted from the sanctions adopted by that region that is in close alliance with the United States.

On July 30, AFP reported that the Minister of Defense of Israel stated the following: “The sanctions that the United Nations adopted against Iran […] will not force that country to suspend its uranium enrichment activities aimed at manufacturing an atom bomb.”

On August 1st, AFP reported that “a top military official of the Guardians of the Revolution warned the United States today against a future attack against Iran.” “Israel did not rule out the possibility of a military action against Iran aimed at halting its nuclear program.” “The international community headed by Washington recently increased its pressure on Iran, which is accused of trying to equip itself with a nuclear weapon by means of a covert civil nuclear program.” “Javani’s assertions preceded a statement by the Chief of the US Joint Chiefs of Staffs, Michael Mullen, who reaffirmed this Sunday that the US has a plan to attack Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear weapons.”

On August 2, a news published  by AFP, whose content was similar to the ones published by all other news agencies, read as follows: “I have to travel to New York on September to attend the UN General Assembly.  I am ready to sit down with Obama, face to face, man to man, to talk freely about world issues in front of the media and find the best solution”, said Ahmadinejad during a speech broadcast by state television.” “But President Ahmadinejad warned that the dialogue should be based on mutual respect.”

“If they think they can swing around a wand and tell us that we should accept everything they say, this will never happen”, he added.  Western powers ‘do not understand that things have changed in the world’, he said.” “You are supporting a country that has hundreds of atomic bombs; but you say you want to stop Iran, which could eventually have them some day…”

The Iranians have declared that they would shoot one hundred missiles against each of the US and Israel ships that  blockade Iran as soon as they start inspecting an Iranian merchant ship. Thus, by the time Obama gives the order to comply with the Security Council Resolution, he would also be ordering the sinking of all US warships in that area.

No other US President has been faced with such a dramatic decision.  He should have foreseen that. On this ocassion, for the first time in my life, I address myself to Barack Obama, the President of the United States:

You should know that it is in your power to offer humankind the only real possibility of peace.  Only once will you be able to make use of your prerogatives to give the order to open fire.

It is quite possible that later on, after this traumatic experience, the solutions found will not lead us again to this apocalyptical situation. Every citizen in your country, even your worst left wing or right wing adversaries, will most certainly appreciate it, as will the people of the United States, which is in no way to blame for the situation created.

I am asking you to deign to listen to this appeal  I am making to you on behalf of the Cuban people.

I understand that a quick response is not to be expected; nor will you ever give one.  Think it over and consult your specialists; ask your most powerful international allies and adversaries for their opinion about the subject.

I am not interested in honors or glory. Just do it!

The world could truly get rid of both nuclear and conventional weapons.

The worst variant of all will be a nuclear war, which is already virtually inevitable.

PREVENT IT!

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HAVANA, CUBA
{08-03-2010}

RAUL CASTRO SAYS STATE WILL REDUCE ECONOMIC ROLE
WILL WEISSERT  //  ASSOCIATED PRESS

RAUL CASTRO said Sunday that his government will scale back controls on small businesses, lay off unnecessary workers and allow more self-employment - significant steps in a country where the state dominates nearly every facet of the economy.

Cuba's president, however, squashed notions of a sweeping overhaul to the country's communist economic system in response to the financial crisis it faces.

"With experience accumulated in more than 55 years of revolutionary struggle, it doesn't seem like we're doing too badly, nor that desperation or frustration have been our companions along the way," the president said.

Castro spoke before parliament, which opened its biannual session without Fidel Castro, who has made a slew of recent public appearances of late but missed another chance to share a major public stage with his younger brother.

Instead, lawmakers got Raul, who said authorities will "update the Cuban economic model," suggesting reforms could be on the horizon. Cuban officials plan to reduce state control of small businesses, authorize more Cubans to become self-employed and build a new tax structure that will compel state employees to contribute more.

About 95 percent of all Cubans currently work for the government and Castro has suggested that as many as one in five state employees are redundant. He promised job cuts, calling for "the reduction of work forces that are considerably bloated in the state sector."

Castro said those left out of work would be retrained or reassigned so as not to stay unemployed, but also said warned that few sectors would be immune to job-cuts.

While he offered no specifics, his comments on economic and employment reform could mean a lot in Cuba, where many had hoped the government of Raul Castro could embrace small economic openings after he took power from his brother, first temporarily, then permanently, in July 2006.

The president's announcements were similar to comments before the session began by Economy Minister Marino Murillo, who spoke to reporters about a pilot program that has turned some state barber shops over to their employees and let them set their own prices while paying rent.

Murillo said such projects would be extended to other sectors of the economy, adding that "we are of the belief that the state has to step back on certain activities."

He also said that allowing outright private ownership was out of the question, however.

"We can't call them reforms. We are studying a modification of the Cuban economic model," Murillo said. He added that officials will ensure that "the values of socialism come first, not the market."

"We will continue following centralized planning," he said, "but we will loosen up on a group of things."

Cuba has pledged to release 52 political prisoners as part of a deal with the island's Roman Catholic Church, and 20 have been freed so far - heading into exile in Spain with their relatives. But Castro said that despite the deal, "there will not be impunity for the enemies of the homeland."

Raul Castro made only limited references to Fidel, who also missed the recent celebration of Revolution Day. Raul attended that event but did not speak - the first time since 1959 a Castro did not deliver a speech on Cuba's top official holiday.

Fidel Castro remains a member of parliament, but his chair to the right of Raul was empty Sunday. He has not appeared publicly alongside his brother since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery and stepping down four years ago.

On Friday, Fidel addressed a Communist youth meeting attended by former castaway Elian Gonzalez, who is now 16. The ex-president has also turned up everywhere from discussions with Cuba's diplomatic corps to the dolphin show at Havana's aquarium.

On Sunday, he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi instead of attending the session of parliament with his brother.

Outside Cuba, debate has intensified over who is guiding major government policy following the sudden media blitz by Fidel - who had almost completely disappeared from public view until recently. Such questions are far less common on the island, but it is not clear whether Fidel and Raul are deliberately not appearing together in order to make a statement about who is in control.

Raul, meanwhile, made a point of saying Sunday that his government is as unified as ever.

He said it is not a false unanimity that excludes honest discrepancies, "but one that promotes discussion of different ideas, and always with the same goals of social justice and national sovereignty."

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HAVANA, CUBA
{08-01-2010}

FIDEL CASTRO DONS OLIVE GREEN AGAIN, STATE-RUN WEBSITE REPORTS
 SHASTA DARLINGTON //  CNN

FIDEL CASTRO appeared publicly in his trademark olive green shirt on Saturday for the first time since he fell ill and renounced power four years ago, according to a state-run website.

Castro made his appearance in Artemisa, a town about an hour outside of Havana, also making this his first reported trip outside the capital in four years, according to the website Cubadebate.

A picture of the 83-year-old Castro also appeared on the site. Olive green rebel fatigues were his signature uniform during his nearly 50 years of rule.

State TV later showed him giving a speech to honor rebels killed 57 years ago during the July 26 attack on an army barracks that ended in failure but launched his revolution. He also put flowers on the rebels' tombs, video showed.

Castro handed power to his brother, Raul, in 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery and disappeared from public view. State media have published occasional videos and photos of the historic leader wearing track suits.

Earlier this month, he re-emerged in public for the first time and has made five appearances in closely controlled events, usually donning casual checked shirts.

Speculation has grown over the possibility of his attending a mass rally in central Cuba on Monday to commemorate the July 26 events.

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GIVE IT TO ME!

* Opposition challenges Hugo Chavez's clout among Venezuela's poor
EL UNIVERSAL
* Dictator Hugo Chavez's uses children as an excuse to punish the media
EL UNIVERSAL
* The last one in the class
FRANCISCO OLIVERA
* Hugo Chavez warns of a regional war with US-backed Colombia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
* TV Station Chief vows to stay critical of Hugo Chavez
EL UNIVERSAL
* Oliver Stone believes that Venezuelan dictator Chavez and Bill Clinton are similar
EL UNIVERSAL

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-29-2010}

GIVE IT TO ME!
EL UNIVERSAL

THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR, the Executive Office has already stricken a record of 16 completed expropriations, twofold the total number of 2008 and somewhat more than in 2007.

Out of 48 seizures under presidential decrees between January 2007 and June 2010, 10 occurred in 2007 and seven in 2008. However, there was a really upward trend in 2009-2010, based on a research undertaken by the Press and Society Institute.

In addition to nationalization, through which the State has taken hold of foreign companies which used to make some business in Venezuela, such as telecommunications utility Cantv and Banco de Venezuela, expropriations have been another way where assets, property and the very legal status of private corporations have been put in the hands of government agencies in order -they say- to develop strategic sectors.

LAND FIRST

"Let us go for it, land for peasants!" President Hugo Chávez uttered these words in his TV and radio show Aló Presidente (Hello, President!), in August 2004. At that time, he promised to crack down on large estate, in compliance with the Law on Lands and Agrarian Development, on behalf of the country's sovereignty and independence.

Such an appeal triggered the expropriations meant to end with idle or wastelands. The practice was implemented little by little and escalated upon the release in 2007 of the Simón Bolívar National Blueprint - The First Socialist Plan. The document set the strategies for domestic economic and social development in 2007-2013.

One of the premises of this plan is: "The State will retain the total control of production activities of a strategic value towards the country's development and multilateral development, in line with the needs and production capabilities of the social individual." As a matter of fact, it seems that the State's voracity increased with the first bites, to such an extent that something more than idle lands started to be expropriated."

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "STRATEGIC"?

Based on the facts, agribusiness sectors, namely coffee, sugar, rice, fishery, fruits, milk and beef, as well as cement makers, tubes manufacturers, steel, iron, plots of land for construction, oil drills, supermarkets and hotels, are of a strategic value. Companies related to these sectors are included in the list of expropriations conducted from June 2007 to July 2010, thereby widening the window of "priority" areas.

Legal instruments, such as the Law of the Institute for Defense of People in the Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis), have established the possibility that several sectors could be classified as public or social interest.

The priority is clearly the agricultural sector. Out of the total of seizures, almost half went to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, either directly or through agencies attached to it.

Out of 23 seized lands and companies which went to the State to further agricultural development, most of them are located outside the capital city, in the states of Zulia, Carabobo, Mérida, Barinas, Portuguesa, Apure, Yaracuy, Táchira, Sucre, Monagas and Guárico.

This is part of the upward trend of expropriations over the past few years. In 2009-2010, 69.6 percent of the expropriations that finally went to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands were carried out.

Some other strategic sectors have emerged as priority, but to a lesser extent. They include industries, oil and infrastructure.

Out of the total number of companies subject to presidential decrees on forced procurement, 10.4 percent ended up in the hands of the Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining; 8.3 percent for the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and 8.3 percent for the Ministry of Infrastructure.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

In May 2010, think-tank Ecoanalítica estimated that since 2006, the cost of nationalization amounted to USD 23.3 billion, including seized Hilton Hotels and French-Colombian retail chain Éxito hypermarkets. However, it did not include plots of land, sugar mills or the industrial estates in the cities of Barquisimeto and Maracaibo.

The following month, the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Venamcham) denounced that out of 44 expropriated corporations belonging to its group, only six have received payment. While the law provides for "fair indemnification," lack of payment has been one of the main complaints of the affected parties.

No matter debts have not been honored, expropriations keep on moving. The onset will appear soon in terms of jobs, corporate production and supermarket shelves.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-28-2010}

OPPOSITION CHALLENGES HUGO CHAVEZ'S CLOUT AMONG VENEZUELA'S POOR
JIM WYSS

IT LOOKED LIKE POLITICS AS USUAL: STALIN GONZÁLEZ, an opposition candidate for Venezuela's parliament, was handing out fliers, joking with vegetable vendors and throwing his arms around frail old ladies as he made his way through a sprawling market near downtown Caracas. But this charm offensive was different: People were actually listening.

As the campaign for the Sept. 26 legislative elections heats up, opposition candidates say poorer neighborhoods, once rabid strongholds of President Hugo Chávez, are politically viable battlegrounds once again.  “When I compare the markets now to how they used to be, the change has been complete,'' González said. ``People aren't scared to complain anymore and there are a lot of unhappy chavistas on the street.''

No one doubts the power of the poor. According to the Hinterlaces research firm, about 77 percent of this nation is considered lower to lower-middle class. And their support is key to breaking the stranglehold that Chávez's allies have had on parliament since 2005, when the opposition boycotted the elections.

During his 11 years in power, Chávez has cast himself as their champion. He often takes to the airwaves to tell Venezuela's most humble that ``no one loves you like I do'' and warn them about being shunted aside by the ``squalid bourgeoisie'' if he ever loses power. The government has plowed millions into healthcare, education and subsidies. According to the United Nations, Venezuela is a regional leader in reducing the income-gap between the rich and poor.

But other parts of the economy are stumbling badly, making even some of his most loyal supporters grumble. In 2010, this oil-rich country will join earthquake shattered Haiti as the only economy in the Americas that will see its gross domestic product shrink; inflation -- expected to exceed 30 percent this year -- is eating away purchasing power; and crime is rampant.  According to the U.N., Venezuela has the third-highest murder rate per-capita in the world after Honduras and Jamaica. The New York Times recently pointed out that Caracas is more dangerous than Baghdad.

Ana Sanchez, 54, runs a government-subsidized day care center in the Simón Rodríguez sector of Caracas. She said she hasn't received the funds in more than six months.  In the past five years, she has been mugged three times and her family has quit getting together in the evenings for fear of crime. “We are living through terrible times,'' she said, as she looked for clothes at the market. ``It didn't have to be this way, but the whole tortilla got turned.''

The change is not sudden. For the last two years Chávez has seen his popularity slide, said Saul Cabrera of the Consultores 21 polling firm. The latest polls show just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of the president's performance -- the lowest figure since 2003, when Chávez survived a strike that decimated the economy.

A poll by Hinterlaces shows similar results -- 65 percent of the population thinks the country is headed the wrong direction. But dissatisfaction does not always translate into votes, said Oscar Schemel of Hinterlaces. The government-aligned polling firm, Grupo de Investigación Social XXI, predicts the government party will win 56 percent of the vote. In an interview with Unión Radio earlier this month, Grupo XXI Director Jesse Chacón said if the vote came in as it did in 2008 regional elections for governors and mayors, the government would control 124 seats to the opposition's 41.

But even in the 23 de Enero neighborhood, there are signs that Chávez's support is cracking, said Manuel Mir, the neighborhood campaign coordinator of the Un Nuevo Tiempo opposition party.    In the past, neighbors have torn down campaign tents, threatened opposition candidates and intimidated supporters, he said. During regional elections in 2008, the party had to hold its meetings outside of the area for fear of reprisals.

Now, they are meeting inside the community, he said. People are opening their doors for opposition candidates. “This time a lot of people are dissatisfied. There are problems with basic public services and crime,'' Mir said. ``People think now may be the time for a change.''

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-20-2010}

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ  USES CHILDREN AS AN EXCUSE TO PUNISH THE MEDIA
EL UNIVERSAL

REPRESENTATIVES OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN NGOS agreed on saying on Wednesday that a court order that bans newspapers from releasing images and information of a violent content means censorship.

Carlos Lauría, the Americas Senior Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said on the telephone that the move "is an attempt at censoring the informational coverage of escalating crime in Venezuela, in the pre-election context."

"Journalists have the right to report thoroughly on events in the public interest. The impact of crime and violence on thousand Venezuelans is clearly a subject in the public interest. It is almost crucial at this time, when Venezuelans can be informed of these issues," Lauría added.

Ewald Scharfenberg, of the Press and Society Institute of Venezuela, thinks that the impact of the issue of insecurity on Venezuelans is the reason for the court action.

"It is the most glaring case of prior censorship ever set by the judiciary over the past years, which is prohibited under the Venezuelan Constitution and institutional agreements, such as the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," he said.

For his part, Carlos Correa, of NGO Espacio Público, said that the move not only implies the prohibition of images but also any information related to violence or bloodshed.

He explained that the strict enforcement of the court order would mean removal of accident and crime reports from newspapers. "The measure is unenforceable, as the official (judge) is the one who will determine which is what terrifies youngsters," he said.

CHILDREN AS AN EXCUSE

When in 2004, the National Assembly approved the Radio and TV Social Responsibility Law, one of the alleged purposes for enactment was the protection of children and adolescents.

According to the NGO spokespersons, today the youth is against the excuse for censorship.

"An alibi is always sought to legitimate outrage," Carlos Correa said.

For his part, Lauría said, "it is not pornography, but a matter of concern for Venezuelans."

Reporters without Borders also took a stance and termed "inaccurate" and overarching the decision made by the Caracas court.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-08-2010}

THE LAST ONE IN THE CLASS
FRANCISCO OLIVERA //  EL UNIVERSAL

WHILE OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE overcome the global crisis and excel in development indexes, Venezuela, like “the worst pupil in the class,” occupies the last positions

ECONOMY

Venezuela ranks 162 in corruption; occupies the second to last position in economic growth in the Western Hemisphere, and takes the lead in violence and inflation both in the world and the region. With regard to economic liberties and transparency, Venezuela is, together with eight countries, among the worst ranked on planet.

It could be said that Venezuela, in the hands of its "Great Helmsman" and the 21st Century socialism, has failed to successfully complete the most important tasks that define progress, security and quality of life in a nation. While the rest of the world overcomes the so-called global crisis and Latin America has outperformed over the past two years in the fields of economic and social growth, Venezuela takes the opposite direction.

Only in the index on poverty and inequality, Venezuela is above nine countries in the Western Hemisphere, thanks to the windfall oil profits in 2006-2008 which helped to raise the income of the underprivileged. However, in 2009 a slight setback was recorded and threatens to continue in 2011. At least 800,000 families live crowded together; 4.5 people on average share a room.

VIOLENCE

While insecurity-related problems date back to 1998, that year a total of 4,550 murders was recorded, or 20 murders every 100,000 inhabitants. Ten years later, in 2009, the numbers trebled to reach 16,047 murders; or 52 murders every 100,000 inhabitants. The numbers come from surveys into violence conducted by NGO Venezuelan Violence Watch, presided over by sociologist Roberto Briceño León.

This rate places Venezuela nowadays among the most violent countries in the world; but also almost doubles the rate of countries where the largest number of murders is recorded, such as Colombia and Salvador.

CORRUPTION

In the field of corruption, based on the studies conducted by Transparency International, Venezuela occupies one of the worst positions in the world, together with Burundi, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia. Even Zimbabwe is above Venezuela.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

From the second half of 2009, economic recovery started in Latin America after a global crisis. Economic growth is expected to reach 5.2 percent ending 2010, as estimated by the Economic Study for Latin America and the Caribbean authored by the Economic Commission for Latin American and Caribbean (Eclac). However, such growth will not be homogeneous; the black sheep of the Western Hemisphere are Haiti and Venezuela, which have shown economic decrease for two years in a row.

The report notes that those countries able to implement public policies with strong domestic markets powered by regional support and increasing share in exports, particularly to Asia, also grew.

For the ECLAC, the growth of such economies in the Latin American and Caribbean region was premised on three tiers: private consumption, rising investment and exports surge.

INFLATION

Venezuela is top in the list of the countries displaying the highest inflation rates in the world and the Western Hemisphere, at almost 30 percent by 2010.

ECONOMIC FREEDOM

With regard to the index which measures economic freedom, namely: free economic performance; State regulations that may hinder or favor investment; steps for economic management, and the potential for export or import, among others, Venezuela ranks 138 among 140 countries.

COMPETITIVENESS 
On competitiveness and income per inhabitant, which measures the country's ability to create wealth; lay the foundations for economic development; offer comparative advantages for investment, such as availability of skilled labor, or better legal and political conditions, Venezuela ranks 177 among 180 nations.

TRANSPARENCY

Transparency refers to public information necessary to learn about the standards on economic and social processes, such as takeover bids, administrative steps and, to sum up, the country's ability to set and observe the rules of the game in the economic and legal fields. Venezuela ranks 167 among 180 countries. In Venezuela, for instance, access to public information is getting harder and harder. Even in the case of indispensable statistics, such as epidemiology, there are not updated data. This is also true for the numbers that should be timely provided by the Central Bank of Venezuela.

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CARFACAS, VENEZUELA
{07-26-2010}

HUGO CHAVEZ WARNS OF A REGIONAL WAR WITH US-BACKED COLOMBIA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (DICTATOR) HUGO CHAVEZ warns that US-backed Colombian government seeks to impose a war against Venezuela. Bogota accuses Caracas of providing a safe-haven for Colombian guerrillas known as FARC inside the Venezuelan territory.

FARC guerrillas have been at war with US-backed governments in Colombia since 1964 and now control over 60% of Colombian territory. During his latest speech at the third annual conference called 'Our America Trade Union Meeting' the Venezuelan President said he considers the possibility of an invasion by Colombian troops as high.

Chavez called the Colombian president a 'Mafioso' making the country a Yankee colony. He said under some fake allegations, the Alvaro Uribe administration tries to find an excuse to attack and spark a 100-year war because Venezuela will never be a Yankee colony. 'Yankee and Colombian right wings should think it over', he stated.

The United States, now undergoing the last stages of its final collapse, has begun a last resort multi-pronged offensive in various parts of the world with the hope of enforcing the use of its thin-air printed US dollar in global trades. Washington has been upping the ante in the Middle East on global oil trade against Iran as it cannot tolerate a powerful regional country to ultimately influence the global energy futures. In eastern parts of Asia, the US is up against North Korea but of course with the ultimate aim of harnessing China's economic and political growth and finally against oil-rich Venezuela that would be to stop the spread of anti-US movements throughout the region.

Colombian government is the last US-backed regimes in Latin America which continues to allow Washington use of its military bases in return for financial assistance.

Recently, Hugo Chavez, called Alvaro Uribe a puppet of the United States that seeks to regain its former control over the region.

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MIAMI, FLORIDA
{16-07-2010}

TV STATION CHIEF VOWS TO STAY CRITICAL OF HUGO CHÁVEZ
JIM WYSS

FACING ARREST IN VENEZUELA, THE PRESIDENT OF GLOBOVISIÓN -- the nation's last TV station openly critical of the government -- said he'll travel the world and continue pressing the Hugo Chávez administration as the country gears up for legislative elections on Sept. 26.

“We would be critical of whoever was in power,'' said Zuloaga, who was in Miami on Tuesday. ``But this government has been a complete failure.''

Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the Americas, the steepest inflation in the region and is saddled with a shrinking economy. Despite reaping billions in oil wealth over the last decade, infrastructure is poor, and power outages and food shortages have become a way of life, Zuloaga said.

“The Venezuelan population is fed up and everybody is waiting for the [legislative] elections,'' he said. ``The pressure on the government is going to be higher and higher and higher.''

Pressure on Zuloaga, 68, peaked in March when he was briefly detained for criticizing the government during an event in Aruba. In June, the courts dusted off a year-old case and ordered his arrest on charges that he and his son hoarded automobiles at their Toyota dealership in a bid to drive up prices.

Zuloaga said there were only 20 cars in question, all of which had been paid for and were awaiting delivery. The government's true aim, he said, was to silence Globovisión. Last week, Zuloaga took his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C. As President Chávez has pursued his ``21st century socialism,'' he has clashed with the press even as he has poured resources into state-run media. In 2002, he accused Zuloaga and other media barons of backing a failed coup against him.

The government began dismantling RCTV -- one of Venezuela's largest television stations -- in 2007.

In March, the Inter-American Press Association accused the government of leaning on advertisers, manipulating the exchange rate and creating regulations aimed at stifling dissent.

“Faced with the Chávez government's economic sabotage, the independent press in Venezuela is on the verge of collapsing and disappearing,'' the organization said in a report.

Zuloaga said he plans to keep running Globovisión while in exile. ``For the moment,'' he said, ``I'm a citizen of the world.''

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HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA
{07-03-2010}

OLIVER STONE BELIEVES THAT VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ AND FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ARE SIMILAR 
EFE

EL DIRECTOR OLIVER STONE, WHOSE DOCUMENTARY "SOUTH OF THE BORDER" LAUNCHES LAST MONTH IN NEW YORK, believes that the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton are similar, since both are “united by the love of his people” and feels comfortable among crowds.

"Chavez is like Bill Clinton. They have the same way to reach people, touch it and worry about it," Stone said in a meeting with reporters in New York, where he promotes his film together with Tariq Al screenwriter before the premiere of the documentary in a U.S. theaters.

The director of such films as "Platoon" (1986) and "Wall Street" (1987) bases its comparison on the fact that Chavez as both Clinton, who was in the White House between 1993 and 2001, like "contact with the people" and not avoid the opportunity to make clear that they feel comfortable among their peers. Stone, which focuses "South of the border" in the figure of Chavez and the views that arouses among leader of six countries, also said it was "ridiculous" to call a "dictator" Chavez and that kind of hints are "an insult to the Venezuelan people."

"I like Chavez. What he has done wrong? He is Is helping the majority of the population of his country out of poverty. What happens is that he says everything he thinks. Maybe it has no filter and appears too much on Television. But he loves his people, "said the director.

"In" South of the Border ", which has covered numerous festivals internationally and was presented last September in the Big Apple to coincide with the celebration of the UN General Assembly , portrays human Policies and very flattering to Chavez.

In the 78-minute tape, the director, who has recorded Chavez in more than one occasion  has been chosen "in the polls again and again ", also includes testimony from the presidents of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Cuba, about the situation of Suramerica.  Stone spoke about  Luiz Lula da Silva, Evo Morales, Cristina Kirchner and Nestor, Rafael Correa, Fernando Lugo and Raul Castro, who appeared on tape and broadcast the message, according to the director, that "like Chavez the all agree  a that it is an extraordinary situation.

"The living situation is unique in the continent. They live all together. It has never been a time as this, there are only two bad guys in the Region: Alan Garcia in Peru and Alvaro Uribe, and now Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia, "said the director, who criticized the" destabilizing efforts "of states USA.

In his view, the tour of the region made by the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who last month visited Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, had the purpose to "cause damage and disagreement  "and therefore we feel that she will be" an appropriate person "to see the documentary, as well as president, Barack Obama." Obama may learn a lot from Suramerica.

All resources Natural belong to the people and not big corporations that take them out of the country, "said Stone, who says the tape to counteract the" bad press "that has Chavez in the U.S. and Europe, and give as some balance to the image of the Venezuelan president (dictator)."

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{06-18-2010}

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ: VENEZUELA LOOKS TO SEIZE BANKER'S ASSETS
JORGE RUEDA  //  ASSOCIATED PRESS

VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (DICTATOR) HUGO CHAVEZ on Wednesday said his government is looking to seize the assets of an opponent whose bank was taken over by regulators, and warned that might include his minority ownership stake in an anti-government television channel.

Chavez suggested that bank owner Nelson Mezerhane, who is in the United States, will owe the government to recoup losses after officials took over management of Banco Federal, which he said is broke.

"Now I'm finding out about all the businesses these people own," Chavez said in a speech to graduating doctors, saying that the government is to start seizing more properties such as apartments or other properties "if the owners of the bank don't show up."

He mentioned that among Mezerhane's assets are shares in Globovision - the country's only TV channel that takes an anti-Chavez line.

"He should get on a plane to come show his face," Chavez said of Mezerhane, who was in Florida at the time banking regulators seized control of his bank on Monday.

Mezerhane has said he has no plans to return to Venezuela for now. He has condemned the bank takeover as political retribution against him and Globovision, saying the bank was in sound financial shape but the government had been pressuring him and had withdrawn large deposits to try to undermine the bank.

Chavez said government authorities also want to discuss the issue with Globovision's majority owner Guillermo Zuloaga, who fled the country after an order for his arrest was issued in a separate case.

"If that's true that the banker who left and said he's not going to return has some shares in Globovision, well Mr. Zuloaga is going to have to appear for us to reach an understanding," Chavez said, without elaborating. "If they don't have anything to fear, let them appear and respond before the courts." Zuloaga's whereabouts were not immediately clear.

Chavez has often accused Globovision of conspiring against him and trying to undermine his government. He has denied holding sway over prosecutors who have brought charges against Zuloaga, or over officials who seized control of the bank.

A court last week issued an arrest warrant for Zuloaga and one of his sons. Prosecutors want Zuloaga jailed while he awaits trial on charges of usury and conspiracy for keeping 24 new vehicles stored at a home he owns.

Zuloaga, who also owns several car dealerships, has called the charges bogus and says prosecutors are acting on orders from Chavez.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{06-16-2010}

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ  TAKES CONTROL OF ANOTHER PRIVATE BANK
FABIOLA SANCHEZ  //  ASSOCIATED PRESS

VENEZUELA'S GOVERNMENT SAID MONDAY IT IS TAKING OVER MANAGEMENT OF A PRIVATE BANK AFTER DISCOVERING SERIOUS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS. The bank's owner condemned the takeover as political retribution against him and the critical TV station he helped found.

Banco Federal, the country's eighth largest bank, is owned by Nelson Mezerhane, an opponent of President Hugo Chavez who is also a minority shareholder of Globovision, the country's last TV channel that takes a stridently anti-government line.

The government is temporarily shutting down Banco Federal, the country's eighth-largest bank, due to its "serious financial situation," said Humberto Ortega Diaz, the government's state banking minister.

Customers lined up outside some branches Monday aiming to withdraw money before the shutdown took effect. In the past seven months, the government has seized control of about a dozen small banks, in many cases saying it was necessary due to their financial problems.

Those takeovers, combined with the nationalization of the country's third-largest bank last year, have put about 30 percent of the banking sector under government control. Banco Federal accounts for about 2.8 percent of the market.

Accounts in the bank were frozen to keep executives from moving funds to other businesses, Banking Superintendent Edgar Hernandez told a news conference. He said regulators took initial measures against the bank in October and it hasn't overcome its weaknesses.

He said officials had demanded the bank increase its capital in Venezuelan currency by about $349 million. "What they proposed to provide didn't reach 10 percent of the requirement," he said. Mezerhane, the bank's president, told Globovision he was surprised by the announcement, and the accusations are "totally false."

He called the case an "outrage" and said it was politically motivated to punish Globovision. As for the bank, Mezerhane predicted: "They're going to destroy it." He predicted the government would shut it down.

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* NATO: 8 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN BOMB ATTACKS IN...
* MEXICAN TV NETWORK: CAR EXPLODES NEXT TO OFFICE
* NEW LAW PROHIBITS MEDIA OWNERS FROM HOLDING...
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* 2 MORE CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS ARRIVE IN SPAIN
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* IRAN SAYS IT WON'T GIVE UP NUKE PROGRAM DESPITE US
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* COAST GUARD RETURNS 28 CUBAN MIGRANTS TO THE...
* CUBAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION RESPONDS...
* FIREBOMBS HURLED AT VENEZUELA NEWSPAPER OFFICE
* EXPECTING LITTLE, CUBANS GOT NOTHING EXCERPTS...

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
{09-01-2010}

NATO: 8 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN BOMB ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROADSIDE BOMBS KILLED EIGHT MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORCE IN AFGHANISTAN -- including seven U.S. troops -- raising to more than a dozen the number who have died in the previous three days, NATO said Tuesday.

The spike in deaths in the three days through Monday came as President Hamid Karzai again publicly raised doubts about the U.S. strategy in the war, saying success cannot be achieved until more Afghans are in the front lines and insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan are shut down.

NATO gave no details of the Monday blasts except that they occurred in the south, the main theater of the conflict, and that five were killed in a single blast. The nationality of the eighth casualty, announced early Tuesday, was not given.

Witnesses said the eight  died when a bomb struck a Humvee on a main road on the outskirts of Kandahar, the focus of a continuing military campaign to secure the city that the Taliban used as their headquarters during their years in power.

The attackers apparently targeted the Humvee because it was not as heavily armored as other vehicles in the convoy. Later Monday, a pair of rockets were fired at the Kandahar offices of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. One fell short and slightly wounded a guard. The other overshot the compound and exploded in an empty field, police said.

NATO commanders have warned that casualties will mount as coalition and Afghan forces enter areas that have been under longtime Taliban control. The NATO force swelled this month to more than 140,000 -- including 120,000 Americans -- with the arrival of the last of the reinforcements that President Barack Obama ordered to Afghanistan in a bid to turn the tide of the nearly 9-year war.

With death tolls rising, Karzai has become more outspoken in his criticism of the U.S.-led war effort, telling recent visitors that the American counterinsurgency strategy is flawed. Most recently, he told the visiting speaker of the German parliament that the campaign against the Taliban over the last eight years had been "ineffective apart from causing civilian casualties," according to a statement by the presidential media office.

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MATAMOROS, MEXICO
{08-28-2010}

MEXICAN TV NETWORK: CAR EXPLODES NEXT TO OFFICE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A MAJOR MEXICAN TELEVISION NETWORK says a car has exploded in front of its offices in a northern state where officials are investigating the massacre of 72 Central and South American migrants.

The Televisa network reports that the explosion happened early Friday in front of its offices in the capital of Tamaulipas, the same state where the bodies were found earlier this week on a ranch believed to be operated by drug traffickers.

Televisa says that none of its employees was injured, but the explosion damaged the building and knocked out its signal in the city. It was felt for blocks.

Tamaulipas has become one of Mexico's most violent battlegrounds for drug cartels fighting over territory.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-24-2010}

NEW LAW PROHIBITS MEDIA OWNERS FROM HOLDING SHARES IN BANKS
EL UNIVERSAL

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (AN) passed on Wednesday a reform of the Banks General Law proposed by the Executive branch of government, under which media owners are banned from having any interest in the country's financial institutions.

"The plenary session of the National Assembly approved the partial reform of the General Law on Banks and Other Financial Institutions. The project (…) prohibits media owners from holding shares in financial entities," AFP reported.

Ricardo Sanguino, the chair of the Parliament Finance Committee, told state-run TV channel Venezolana de Televisión that the law "is established to avoid what happened to Banco Federal, which swindled its clients (…) and whose owners where also stockholders in TV channel Globovisión through which they would offer their bank goodness and attacked competitors."

Banco Federal, to be liquidated by the government after being shut down in June for alleged irregularities, is property of businessman Nelson Mezerhane, a senior partner of Globovisón, a TV channel critic of Persident Hugo Chávez's government.

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JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
{08-23-2010}

ISRAEL: IRAN NUCLEAR PLANT 'TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE'
FOXNEWS.COM

ISRAEL SAID SATURDAY THE FUELING OF IRAN'S FIRST NUCLEAR REACTOR WAS "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE" and urged greater world pressure to force Tehran to cease any uranium enrichment.

"It is totally unacceptable that a country that so blatantly violates (international treaties) should enjoy the fruits of using nuclear energy," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said in a statement.

With Russian help, Iranian engineers began loading fuel into the country's first nuclear power plant Saturday, marking a milestone in Tehran's development of what it insists is a peaceful nuclear energy program.

"The international community should increase pressure to force Iran to abide by international decisions and cease its enrichment activities and its construction of reactors," Levy said.

A top Iranian official, however, was quoted saying Iran will continue to enrich uranium on the side -- despite a White House warning that Iran does need the enrichment program once the new Bushehr reactor is online if its intentions are indeed peaceful.

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MADRID, SPAIN
{08-20-2010}

2 MORE CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS ARRIVE IN SPAIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TWO MORE CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS HAVE ARRIVED IN SPAIN, the latest to be allowed go into exile under Cuba's pledge to free dissidents jailed since 2003.

The arrival Thursday of Fabio Prieto and Juan Carlos Herrera brings the number of released dissidents in Spain to 25.

The two were among six dissidents Cuba's Roman Catholic Church said last week would be freed. Three more arrived Tuesday and another is due to arrive in the coming days. Others arrived in groups last month.

The men are among 75 dissidents arrested in a March 2003 crackdown and sentenced to long prison terms on charges that included treason.

After lengthy talks with the church and Spain, Cuba agreed July 7 to release the remaining prisoners still held.

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PARIS, FRANCE
{08-19-2010}

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS WARNS AGAINST SELF-CENSORSHIP 
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ORGANIZATION REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (RWB) termed "inaccurate" and very ample the decision of a Venezuelan court to ban newspapers from releasing for one month images of violence.

The court order where newspapers should "refrain themselves from publishing images of violent, bloody, hideous situations," was taken after daily newspaper El Nacional, a critical of the government, posted on its front line a photo of bodies piled up at the Caracas morgue, RWB recalled.

"That photo is very violent indeed, makes one wonder as to the ethical responsibility of a newspaper with a wide readership, even if it is not a journal aimed at children or adolescents," the international organization, an advocate of press freedom based in Paris, conceded.

"However, such a court decision is overarching and inaccurate," RWB underscored. They also wondered how content could endanger "the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents."

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NAZRAN, RUSSIA
{08-18-2010}

SUICIDE BOMB AND CAFE BLAST CLAIM LIVES IN CAUCASUS
REUTERS

A BLAST ROCKED A CAFE IN RUSSIA'S NORTH CAUCASUS ON TUESDAY, killing an unknown number of people, Itar-Tass reported, hours after a suicide bomber killed a policeman in a nearby region.

State television said the cause of the cafe blast and the number of casualties in the city of Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol region were not immediately clear. Interfax news agency said 18 people been taken to hospital after the cafe blast. The Stavropol regional branch of the Emergencies Ministry could not be immediately contacted for comment.

In North Ossetia earlier, a suicide bomber blew himself up after approaching a checkpoint on a road near the border with Ingushetia province, a North Ossetian police official said. He said one officer was killed. A duty officer at the regional Investigative Committee, a branch of the prosecutor's office, said three more officers were injured.

The Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in its mainly Muslim North Caucasus. The Stavropol and North Ossetia regions are both majority Russian Orthodox Christian. Beslan, where Islamist militants seized a school in a 2004 attack that led to more than 330 deaths, more than half of them of children, is in North Ossetia.

Pyatigorsk was chosen by the Kremlin late last year to be the administrative center of the new North Caucasus Federal District, a regrouping of the region's provinces to include Stavropol in a bid to tackle growing violence.

At least five people were killed and 20 injured in May when a bomb exploded outside a theater in the city of Stavropol just before the start of a Chechen dance show. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Tuesday's suicide attack was in North Ossetia's Prigorodny district, the site of a territorial dispute between ethnic Ossetians and Ingush that erupted into fighting in 1992 and remains a source of tension.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-15-2010}

VENEZUELA CONTRACTS DEBT FOR USD 13.6 BILLION
EL UNIVERSAL

DICTATOR  HUGO CHÁVEZ'S ADMINISTRATION has commenced a thick plan of indebtedness. Thus far, in the first two weeks of August, it accounts for USD 13.6 billion.

This amount comes from several sources. The Ministry of Finance reported on a press release that Venezuela will receive USD 9.58 billion "from the People's Republic of China to be spent over the next three years in 19 productive and infrastructure projects."

Add to this number, which is the first tranche of a financing facility with China totaling USD 20 billion, the amount of USD 3 billion for the issuance of new bonds and other USD 1.03 billion for a placement of notes privately made by state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), according to the information spread in the market.

Taking into account that this same week, Venezuela repaid a debt contracted last week for USD 1.5 billion, commitments have anyway grown by USD 12.1 billion in an eleven-day term.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-12-2010}

COLOMBIAN EXPORTERS EXPECT VENEZUELA TO PAY FORTHWITH
EL UNIVERSAL

THE COLOMBIAN-VENEZUELAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE trusts in restored trade relations but conditioned success to three measures that should be considered in the short term to have a fair trade balance.

Its director, Magdalena Pardo, welcomed the progress made by Presidents of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, and Hugo Chávez, of Venezuela, to restore diplomatic relations. Now, though, there is the need to give "prompt signals to really restore a sound, very profitable trade relation."

As the main item, Pardo insisted on payment of the debt owed to a number of Colombian exporters. They have been waiting for their money for two months due to the late response of Cadivi, the Venezuelan foreign exchange board responsible for allocation of foreign currency at the official exchange rate. Reference is made to the amount of USD 800 million that "should be reviewed."

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DAMASCUS, SYRIA
{08-10-2010}

IRAN SAYS IT WON'T GIVE UP NUKE PROGRAM DESPITE US
ASSOCIATED PRESS

AN IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS AMERICANS "MUST BE DREAMING" if they think they can intimidate Tehran into giving up its nuclear program.

Ali Akbar Velayati is an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Velayati said Monday during a trip to Syria that American threats will not deter Iran.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week the U.S. military has a plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea. Still, Adm. Mike Mullen said the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.

The U.S. and Iran are at odds over the goals of Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says it aims to produce energy, while the U.S. claims Iran wants to produce a nuclear weapon.

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BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
{08-10-2010}

COLOMBIAN VP HOSPITALIZED AFTER POSSIBLE HEART ATTACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLOMBIA'S NEW VICE PRESIDENT, ANGELINO GARZON, suffered a possible heart attack on Monday and was taken to the hospital in stable condition, health officials said.

Garzon, 64, a former union leader, assumed his post on Saturday as vice president to President Juan Manuel Santos, who has promised to maintain a tough security approach and create millions of jobs.

"It appears to be a heart attack," said Hector Sambrano, a health official with the Bogota's mayor's office. "It is most likely he will recover from this as he is conscious and stable."

Doctors said he was out of danger and would not require surgery, but they were continuing tests in the Bogota clinic where he was taken by ambulance after complaining of chest pain.

Santos comes to office after President Alvaro Uribe stepped down following eight years dominated by his hardline with leftist rebels and his pro-business approach.

Garzon was a long-time union representative and governor of Valle department under Uribe before being named as a representative for Colombia to a U.N. agency.

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MADRID, SPAIN
{08-10-2010}

SPANISH SOCIALISTS HEAD FOR CUBA TO URGE RAÚL TO INSTITUTE MORE SOCIAL REFORMS
REUTERS

A DELEGATION FROM SPAIN'S RULING SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY WILL TRAVEL TO CUBA ON AUG. 31 ON A THREE-DAY MISSION TO ENCOURAGE THE CASTRO GOVERNMENT TO INSTITUTE MORE SOCIAL REFORMS, the news agency EFE reported Monday. The group will be headed by the SWP's organizational secretary, Leire Pajín Iraola, and the party's secretary for international policy, Elena Valenciano.

Both plan to meet with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, leaders of the Cuban Communist Party, and perhaps with Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

Valenciano told EFE that the visit aims to verify the political situation on the island and to reiterate the Spanish government's expectation that the European Union will soften its "common position" toward Cuba.

The group's intention is "to help impel the reforms that we think [Cuba] needs," Valenciano said. After learning of the SWP's travel plans, Jorge Moragas, a leader of the Spanish opposition Popular Party challenged the SWP delegation to meet publicly with Cuban dissidents.

He also asked the travelers to convince Raúl Castro to void the sentences imposed on all political prisoners, release them, and allow them to remain on the island.

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MIAMI, FLORIDA
{08-07-2010}

COAST GUARD RETURNS 28 CUBAN MIGRANTS TO THE ISLAND
KELLY HOUSE

THE U.S. COAST GUARD RETURNED 28 CUBAN MIGRANTS TO CUBA Friday, after intercepting two rustic boats headed for Florida earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, a Coast Guard aircraft spotted a boat carrying seven migrants near Elboy Cay, Bahamas. Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket picked up the boat's occupants.

On Wednesday, a bystander called the Coast Guard in Key West after coming across a boat carrying 23 Cuban migrants about 11 miles south of Boca Chica. The boat's occupants were also taken aboard the Nantucket.

All but two of the migrants were sent to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba Friday. The two remaining migrants, from Tuesday's encounter, are still awaiting disposition on another Coast Guard vessel.

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MIAMI, FLORIDA
{08-06-2010}

CUBAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION RESPONDS TO CASTRO REGIME’S FALSE RUMORS
JBC

IN YET ANOTHER EFFORT TO PRESSURE PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION TO FREE THE FIVE CUBAN SPIES WHO WERE ACCOMPLICES TO THE SHOOT DOWN OF THE BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE PLANES IN FEBRUARY OF 1996, the Castro regime finds itself pushing a disinformation campaign about a possible negotiation in which Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Cuba’s Catholic Church could be the mediator.

As has occurred in the past, the Castro regime’s deceptive ploys sometimes find fertile ground in the Cuban exile community, especially when elections are near. The reality is that there is no indication that President Obama is willing to concede a presidential pardon to the five Castro spies involved in the assassination of three American citizens and one U.S. resident, in exchange for the release of an American citizen unjustly jailed by the Castro regime. The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), as well as other organizations and influential people in the exile community, have investigated these rumors at high levels of the Obama Administration, and these rumors have been denied across the board.

Beyond the insidious nature of these rumors, CANF hopes that in the next few weeks the U.S. government demonstrates more flexibility in the granting of licenses that permit more “people to people” exchange through cultural, academic, and religious visits to Cuba. As CANF has stated repeatedly in the past, we continue to oppose the lifting of the U.S. tourist travel ban to Cuba.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-04-2010}

FIREBOMBS HURLED AT VENEZUELA NEWSPAPER OFFICE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A VENEZUELAN NEWSPAPER THAT TAKES A CRITICAL LINE AGAINST PRESIDENT (DICTATOR) HUGO CHAVEZ'S GOVERNMENT says its office has been attacked with firebombs.

Carlos Hernandez is executive director of Las Noticias de Cojedes. He says no one was injured when unknown people hurled two Molotov cocktails at the building early Tuesday.

Hernandez told the local television channel Globovision there was minor damage to the structure and to a vehicle. Firefighters doused the flames.

Hernandez said the motive was unclear, but it could be due to the daily's critical stance toward the government.

In June, attackers threw firebombs at the Cadena Capriles newspaper group's office in Caracas, causing minor damage.

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HAVANA, CUBA
{08-03-2010}

EXPECTING LITTLE, CUBANS GOT NOTHING
EXCERPTS FROM YOANI SÁNCHEZ'S GENERATION Y BLOG.

THE JULY 26 EVENT STARTED EARLY, in fear of the evening rains and to avoid the sun that makes the neck itch and annoys the audience. It had the solemnity that is already inherent in the Cuban system: heavy, outdated and at times dusty. Nothing seemed to jump out of the script; Raúl Castro didn't take the podium, nor was the speech addressed to a nation waiting for a program of changes. His absence at the microphone should not be read as an intention to decentralize responsibility and allow someone else to speak at such a commemoration. The general did not speak because he had nothing to say.

In previous speeches, on this same date, the phrases of the Cuban Communist Party's second secretary have created more confusion than certainty, so this time he avoided analysts reinterpreting them. Enough doubts have already been created with his 2007 predictions of mass access to milk, his unfulfilled forecast of having Santiago de Cuba's aqueduct completed and the unfortunate phrase ``I'm just a shadow,'' with which he began his speech last year. Perhaps because of this he preferred to remain silent and leave the address to the most unyielding man of his government: José Ramón Machado Ventura.

What we saw today is pure State secretiveness. To make no public commitments to change, no visible implications of transformation, can be a way of warning us that these do not respond to [Raúl's] political will, but rather to a momentary despair that -- he thinks -- will eventually pass. By saying nothing, he has sent us his fullest message: ``I owe you no explanations, no promises, no results.''

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-01-2010}

VENEZUELA BORROWS USD 4 BILLION FROM CHINA
EL UNIVERSAL

VENEZUELA IS TO RECEIVE USD 4 BILLION FROM CHINA AS THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF A LONG-TERM FUNDING FACILITY EXECUTED SOME MONTHS AGO, Venezuelan Vice-President Elías Jaua said on Thursday, without specifying the date of delivery.

Dictator  Hugo Chávez reported on April that his government would get a loan from the Asian giant for about USD 20 billion, for major national development projects, Reuters quoted.

"Firstly, the first outlay of this long-term, high-level funding facility has been agreed (…) The first installment entails about USD 4 billion," Jaua told reporters on leaving a bilateral business round. The senior officer specified that the instrument is composed of approximately USD 10 billion; the remainder will be denominated in Chinese yuans.

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QUITO, ECUADOR
{07-31-2010}

UNASUR SUMMIT FAILS TO SOLVE COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA RIFT 
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH AMERICAN FOREIGN MINISTERS have failed to heal a rift between Colombia and Venezuela, officials said Thursday.

The meeting of the 12-member Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) brought representatives of the two neighbours together for the first time since Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez cut relations last week with Bogota.

Colombia accuses Venezuela of harbouring some 1,500 leftist Colombian guerillas on its territory.

"It was not possible to draw up an official document with everyone's agreement," Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said after a five-hour meeting in the country's capital, Quito. However, officials agreed that armed illegal groups in the border region posed a problem, he added.

Patino called for an extraordinary UNASUR summit of heads of state to solve the crisis.

Analysts doubt that the conflict can be resolved before Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe leaves office next week and hands over power to president-elect Juan Manuel Santos.

#############################################

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{07-29-2010}

VENEZUELA WILL NOT REVIEW EVIDENCE PRODUCED BY COLOMBIA
EL UNIVERSAL

THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PLAN TO EXAMINE THE PIECES OF EVIDENCE THAT ALLEGEDLY SHOW THAT THE REBEL REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA (FARC), are operating in Venezuelan territory.

Venezuelan authorities consider that Colombia filed the complaint inadequately, said on Tuesday the Venezuelan ambassador to the US.

"(Colombia) merely showed (images from) Google maps, photos, and video recordings of people who were there, according to them," said Ambassador Bernardo Álvarez at a press conference.

Álvarez made reference to the material that Colombian Ambassador to the OAS Luis Armando Hoyos presented last week during an extraordinary session of the Organization of American States (OAS) to reject the alleged presence of FARC camps in Venezuelan territory.

According to Álvarez, Colombia should have presented privately to Venezuelan officials the GPS coordinates of the places where the FARC allegedly operate, rather than "turning this into a media show." The Venezuelan envoy suggested that no Venezuelan agency has visited the specific areas located in the state of Zulia that were mentioned by Ambassador Hoyos last Thursday.

Álvarez added that the Venezuelan government is in "red alert," given the possibility that the Colombian armed forces launch a missile (on Venezuelan territory) such as the one they launched on Ecuador against a FARC camp in 2008.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{07-28-2010}

WASHINGTON RULES OUT MILITARY ACTION AGAINST VENEZUELA 
EL UNIVERSAL

THE UNITED STATES RULES OUT ANY MILITARY ACTION AGAINST VENEZUELA, said Virginia Staab, a US State Department spokeswoman, after Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez threatened to cut oil supplies to the US if Washington supports an attack against the South American country.

The United States and Venezuela have enjoyed a "mutually beneficial energy relationship" for a long time, and Washington wants "this relation to continue," Staab told AFP.

The US is the main consumer of Venezuelan oil. The country led by Hugo Chávez, a fierce opponent of the US, is the fifth provider of crude oil to the United States.

################################################

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{07-28-2010}

VENEZUELAN OIL EXPORTS TO THE US DOWN 10 PERCENT IN APRIL
EL UNIVERSAL

SALES OF VENEZUELAN CRUDE OIL AND BYPRODUCTS TO THE UNITED STATES AMOUNTED TO 950,000 BARRELS PER DAY (BPD), a 10 percent reduction compared to March, when Venezuela exported 1.06 million bpd to the United States, according to figures provided by the Energy Information Administration, EIA, (the statistics arm of the US Department of Energy).

According to the report, Venezuelan crude oil exports to the US hit 851,000 bpd, 14 percent lower than in March, when Venezuela sold 984,000 bpd.

However, Venezuelan oil byproducts sales to the US increased. In April, Venezuela sold 99,000 bpd, 28 percent more than in the previous month, when Pdvsa sold 77,000 bpd.

Further, in April 2010, sales of crude oil and byproducts climbed 6.6 percent, compared to the same month in 2009, when Venezuela sold 891,000 bpd to the US.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{07-27-2010}

EX-CIA CHIEF: STRIKE ON IRAN SEEMS MORE LIKELY NOW
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A FORMER CIA DIRECTOR SAYS MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAN NOW SEEMS MORE LIKELY because no matter what the U.S. does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its suspected nuclear program.

Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, says that during his tenure a strike was "way down the list" of options. But he tells CNN's "State of the Union" that such action now "seems inexorable."

He predicts Iran will build its program to the point where it's just below having an actual weapon. Hayden says that would be as destabilizing to the region as the real thing. U.S. officials have said military action remains an option if sanctions fail to deter Iran. Iran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes such as power generation.

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
{07-25-2010}

NORTH KOREA – NOTICING FORCE|
GREG PALKOT

ON THE EVE OF A JOINT US-SOUTH KOREA NAVAL EXERCISE, described to Fox News by one military official as the biggest he’d seen in the region, North Korea is making threats.

A spokesman for  Pyongyang at the ASEAN summit in Hanoi called the drill a “violation of sovereignty” that could prompt a “physical response.”

“They take notice, certainly, of this amount of force,” the International Crisis Group’s Daniel Pinkston told us in Seoul.

Twenty US and South Korean ships will be involved including the massive aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, 200 planes, and 8,000 service members.  It kicks off Sunday, involves anti-submarine maneuvers, and will run four days.

All of this in response to the apparent sinking by North Korea in March of Seoul’s frigate, the Cheonan. Pyongyang has denied it was responsible.

It also comes at a time of great uncertainty in the international community’s dealing with the “Hermit Kingdom.”

There is speculation here a succession drama is being played out involving current leader Kim Jong-Il and one of his sons.   As the North’s suspect nuclear and missile programs continue.

“There are some unusual things going on there,” ICG’s Pinkston added.

As for the exercises, Pinkston notes it is playing to two audiences, North Korea, as a deterrent, as well as South Korea, as an assurance of the US alliance.

And maybe a third audience…China.  Some say the location of the exercise in the Sea of Japan and not the Yellow Sea closer to China was prompted by Beijng’s own threats about the drill.

Whatever the truth, a lot of people will be watching the seas off South Korea in the next few days.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{07-23-2010}

CATHOLIC TV STATION DOES NOT FEAR REVIEW OF CONCESSION 
EL UNIVERSAL

MARÍA EUGENIA MOSQUERA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OWNED TV CHANNEL VALORES EDUCATIVOS TELEVISIÓN (VALE TV) is neither surprised nor scared nor upset by the announcement made on Tuesday by the Venezuelan government according to which it will review Vale TV concession, which since 1999 allows the open-signal Venezuelan network to broadcast throughout the country.

"We are calm and confident that we will continue our programs. The concession is valid for 20 years and there are still nine left. Vale TV is legally operating. We have nothing to fear and nothing to do (after the government's announcement). We will continue working as we have done for 11 years in the whole country, Mosquera said. Vale TV was formerly a state-owned TV educational channel called Televisora Nacional, channel 5.

The president of the private TV station said that after President Hugo Chávez ordered the authorities to review the concession of the channel owned by the Archbishopric of Caracas and run by the Cisneros Group. "We have received great support through Twitter, Facebook, by email, and by phone of people calling us to show their backing. Even Chávez's supporters have told us that they would march in favor of Vale TV, because their children grew up watching its signal. Our programs and our viewers are the strongest advocates of the channel. Ninety percent of our audience comes from the lowest economic levels of the population. As a result, we are a channel of the people. We broadcast programs from different religions, cultures, and ways of thinking. If that is not a proof of plurality, what is plurality, then?" the president of Vale TV wondered.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{07-23-2010}

LAWMAKERS REPORT DISTRIBUTION OF TONS OF EXPIRED MILK IN VENEZUELA
EL UNIVERSAL

AT LEAST 68 TONS OF EXPIRED MILK HAVE BEEN ALLEGEDLY SOLD BY VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS, according to opposition lawmakers Neidy Rosal and Aura Montero (Project Venezuela, PV, state of Carabobo), who produced evidence concerning this irregularity at the Attorney General Office.

Rosal said that waybills and some invoices dated July 2010 are included among the documents submitted to the Attorney General Office.  The legislator added that they met with Nelson Mejías, an anti-corruption prosecutor, who received the documents.

Rosal recalled that when the regional lawmakers reported the discovery of these expired food products, they recommended incineration and warned the Attorney General Office and the Ministry of Health that the products were unfit for human consumption.

Later, the lawmakers found that 68 tons of milk with an expiration date of November 2009were being repackaged.  The Carabobo deputy said that that milk likely came from the cities of Tinaquillo (Cojedes state) or Valencia (Carabobo state).

She recalled that in June 31,000 tones of expired milk were found in the spinning mill Hilandería Tinaquillo, in the state of Cojedes, and in spinning mill Hilandería Branger, in the state of Carabobo.

The milk was about to be distributed in the states of Lara, Falcón, Yaracuy, Cojedes and Zulia.  The Venezuelan legislators were accompanied by a group of people from the state of Carabobo who endorsed the complaints made against this administrative scandal, which has spread nationwide.

Carlos Berrizbeitia, the national secretary of opposition party Project Venezuela, who highlighted that the case shows how the government is playing games with people's hunger, also supported the regional lawmakers.

################################################

* U.N. LAYS PLANS TO SPEND $290M ON AID TO...
* NATO: 7 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN BOMB ATTACKS...
* HONDURAN ATTORNEY GENERAL DELVES INTO...
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* SPAIN SAYS U.S. WILLING TO ACCEPT CUBAN...
* SNTP REFUSES "JUDICIAL REPRESSION" AGAINST...
* CHÁVEZ URGES AN TO EXPROPRIATE LA PREVISORA..
* IRAN TO UNVEIL ARRAY OF WEAPONS NEXT WEEK
* VENEZUELA CONTRACTS DEBT FOR USD 13.6 BILLION
* US EXPECTS VENEZUELA, COLOMBIA TO...
* GERMAN: IRAN FEARS LATEST SANCTIONS
* CAVECOL HAILS VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA...
* SENATE CONFIRMS NEW HEAD OF US CENTRAL...
* TENSIONS RISE AS DEADLY BORDER CLASHES ERUPT
* VENEZUELA'S FM DENIES COLOMBIAN ALLEGATIONS..
* AUTHORITIES SEIZE RANCH OF TV TYCOON

WASHINGTON, D.C. {09-03-2010} U.N. LAYS PLANS TO SPEND $290M ON AID TO NORTH KOREA GEORGE RUSSELL AS THE XENOPHOBIC NORTH KOREAN REGIME OF KIM JONG IL APPEARS TO BE INCHING TOWARD A MURKY TRANSITION OF POWER, the United Nations is laying plans to spend more than $290 million on a welter of programs in the communist state—including a scheme to produce an algae sold in the U.S. as tropical fish food--provided someone else comes up with much of the money. The money is by no means a sure thing, especially if the unpredictable North Korean dictator rejects any of the stringent oversight conditions attached to money from some of the important donors the U.N. hopes will chip in. The U.N. plans, however, demonstrate the determination of the world organization and its most influential backers—notably, the U.S. government, which is the biggest single financial supporter of most U.N. aid and development organizations-- to keep dangling carrots of assistance before the North Korean regime, even at its most provocative. The U.N. plans persist despite such incidents as the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, most likely by a North Korean submarine, and the regime’s continued nuclear saber-rattling, especially toward South Korea. Just last month, for example, North Korea threatened a “powerful nuclear deterrence” in response to a joint U.S.-South Korean antisubmarine exercise prompted by the Cheonan incident. All those uncertainties fade, however, alongside a bigger one: rumors that the ailing and reclusive Kim, who returned on Sunday from his second trip to China in three months, hopes to install his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, as his successor-- a process that could already be well under way. ############################################## KABUL, AFGHANISTAN {08-31-2010} NATO: 7 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN BOMB ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN ASSOCIATED PRESS NATO says seven American service members have died in two separate roadside bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan. No details were given of Monday's attacks, although eyewitnesses in the southern city of Kandahar said an armored U.S. Army Humvee hit a roadside bomb in the early afternoon. Several bodies were seen being removed from the vehicle, which was on fire. The deaths bring to 14 the number of U.S. troops killed in action in eastern and southern Afghanistan over the past three days. A spike in U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan to over 120,000 has brought increased fighting and a rising death toll. Forty-nine U.S. service members have died in Afghanistan this month. ############################################## TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS {08-27-2010} HONDURAN ATTORNEY GENERAL DELVES INTO VENEZUELAN DONATION TO ZELAYA ASSOCIATED PRESS HONDURAN ATTORNEY GENERAL LUIS RUBÍ said on Wednesday that the prosecution is expanding an investigation into the whereabouts of USD 98 million donated by Venezuela to the government of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, adding that the culprits would be prosecuted. "We will conduct the relevant investigations and we will prosecute any culprits we may find (…) We are widening the investigation," the prosecutor told local media, as reported by AFP. "We have asked the High Court of Auditors (TSC) for new information. We will draw conclusions and if we find enough merits, we will take the relevant steps," he said. ############################################ CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO {08-23-2010} DRUG TRAFFICKERS, MEXICAN POLICE BATTLE WITHIN YARDS OF U.S. BORDER NICK VALENCIA // CNN A "MAJOR GUNBATTLE" BETWEEN DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND MEXICAN FEDERAL POLICE broke out Saturday evening in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just 30 yards from the U.S. border at El Paso, Texas, causing U.S. authorities to cordon off a section of the city, according to a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman. Three police officers were injured and one armed suspect was killed, federal police spokesman Ramon Salinas said. First reports of gunshots came in from border agents around 7 p.m. (9 p.m. ET), U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero told CNN. "The gunbattle is still going on right now," Cordero said 30 minutes after the incident began, just south of the University of Texas at El Paso. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries on the U.S. side of the border, Cordero said. U.S. authorities blocked off a section of Paisano Street, which runs parallel to the Rio Grande. The incident comes less than two months after shots fired from a gunbattle originating in Juarez crossed into El Paso and hit City Hall, damaging the building. ############################################## MADRID, SPAIN {08-23-2010} SPAIN SAYS U.S. WILLING TO ACCEPT CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS REUTERS SPAIN SAID ON SUNDAY THAT THE UNITED STATES HAS EXPRESSED WILLINGNESS TO TAKE IN CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS RELEASED following diplomatic intervention from Spain and the Catholic Church. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who has taken part in talks involving church officials and the Cuban government, on Saturday to thank him for his efforts and offer U.S. support. "(Clinton) expressed to Moratinos the willingness of the United States to take in political prisoners provided it complies with current U.S. norms," a Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters. About half of the 52 men arrested in a 2003 crackdown by the Cuban government against dissidents have been freed since July, and the rest are expected to be released in the coming months. However, some have refused to travel to Spain, saying they would rather stay in Cuba or go to the United States. The U.S. and the European Union have long pressed Havana to free political prisoners, improve human rights and move toward democracy. Most political prisoners freed previously have left Cuba and gone to the United States or Spain to live. ############################################ CARACAS, VENEZUELA {08-19-2010} SNTP REFUSES "JUDICIAL REPRESSION" AGAINST FREEDOM OF SPEECH EL UNIVERSAL THE NATIONAL PRESS WORKERS' TRADE UNION (SNTP) issued on Wednesday a press release to rebut the measures imposed by the 12th Trial Court for Protection of Children and Adolescents against daily newspapers El Nacional, Tal Cual and any other Venezuelan newspapers. On Tuesday evening, Judge William Páez prohibited both newspapers from publishing, for indefinite time, "images of bloody situations, weapons and physical attacks or conveying warlike messages and encouraging crime that may hit the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents." As for the rest of newspapers, the same measure will be enforced but for one month only. However, they have not received yet any formal notice from the court. In this regard, the SNTP board of directors "laments that the coordinated action of State agencies (Office of the Ombudsman; Scientific, Penal and Criminology Investigation Agency -Cicpc; Attorney General Office and courts) is applied to try to silence the ways for citizen's denunciation of a widespread problem, such as criminal violence, instead of pooling efforts to attack the core of the problem, which by no means will be solved by banning the media from reporting on the murders that are weekly perpetrated." ############################################## CARACAS, VENEZUELA {08-19-2010} CHÁVEZ URGES AN TO EXPROPRIATE LA PREVISORA INSURANCE FIRM EL UNIVERSAL VENEZUELA'S DICTATOR HUGO CHÁVEZ reported on Tuesday that he requested the Parliament expropriation of La Previsora insurance firm, by alleging that it was in the hands of "corrupt bankers." "I just signed a request to the National Assembly to expropriate La Previsora insurance firm, which formed part of all those putrid networks of fugitive bankers and some who are imprisoned (…) Now it will go to the State hands and will be the headquarters of a new insurance sector," Chávez said. The Head of State is certain that the move will be used "for the people to get involved and benefit from bank insurances." Chávez also enacted the Securities Market law. "The securities market law is the law that enables us to create, getting out of capitalist putrefaction; putrefaction of brokerage firms." ############################################ TEHRAN, IRAN {08-18-2010} IRAN TO UNVEIL ARRAY OF WEAPONS NEXT WEEK ASSOCIATED PRESS DESPITE U.S. SANCTIONS IN PROTEST OF ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM, Iran will reportedly unveil an array of weapons next week -- including missiles, speedboats and a long-range drone -- to kick off its annual government week showcasing Tehran’s achievements, according to AFP. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Tuesday that this launch indicates that "sanctions have had no impact on us, but made us more experienced and self-sufficient." Vahidi's announcements come at a time when local officials have been warning against any attack on the Islamic republic. The U.S. and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Iran to stop its controversial nuclear program. The ISNA news agency reports that two missiles, Qiam (Rising) and the third generation Fateh 110 (Conqueror) will be tested, starting next Saturday, through August 30 when government week ends. Vahidi said that Iran also will unveil the long-range drone Karar, which is named for the nickname of revered Muslim Shiite, Imam Ali. In addition to these weapons, Vahidi said production lines of two missile-carrying speedboats, Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Imam Ali's sword) would also be opened next week, according to ISNA reports. Iran also inaugurates their space laboratory and opens production line of 130-millimeter ammunitions on the "Day of Defense Industry," August 22. "The Day of Defense Industry represents Iranian nation's might, self-esteem and creativity," Vahidi told reporters in a press conference. ############################################## CARACAS, VENEZUELA {08-15-2010} VENEZUELA CONTRACTS DEBT FOR USD 13.6 BILLION EL UNIVERSAL DICTATOR HUGO CHÁVEZ'S ADMINISTRATION has commenced a thick plan of indebtedness. Thus far, in the first two weeks of August, it accounts for USD 13.6 billion. This amount comes from several sources. The Ministry of Finance reported on a press release that Venezuela will receive USD 9.58 billion "from the People's Republic of China to be spent over the next three years in 19 productive and infrastructure projects." Add to this number, which is the first tranche of a financing facility with China totaling USD 20 billion, the amount of USD 3 billion for the issuance of new bonds and other USD 1.03 billion for a placement of notes privately made by state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), according to the information spread in the market. Taking into account that this same week, Venezuela repaid a debt contracted last week for USD 1.5 billion, commitments have anyway grown by USD 12.1 billion in an eleven-day term. ############################################# WASHINGTON, D.C. {08-12-2010} US EXPECTS VENEZUELA, COLOMBIA TO COMPROMISE AND SETTLE EL UNIVERSAL THE US GOVERNMENT HOPES that the deal made by Venezuela and Colombia to restore relations results in a "positive solution" to mutual "longstanding" disagreements, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. "We expect this token by President (Juan Manuel) Santos and the reply of President (Hugo) Chávez will lead to a positive solution of longstanding disagreements," Clinton told reporters after a meeting at the US State Department with Argentinean Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, AFP quoted. Clinton highlighted the key role played by ex Argentinean President Néstor Kirchner, the head of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), and his endeavors to get Colombia and Venezuela closer together. ############################################# BERLIN, GERMANY {08-10-2010} GERMAN: IRAN FEARS LATEST SANCTIONS ASSOCIATED PRESS A GERMAN LAWMAKER says Iranian officials he met in Tehran fear a severe blow to the country's international trade from the latest round of U.N. sanctions. Rainer Stinner, a member of the governing Free Democratic party, told The Associated Press on Monday that the Iranians fear the sanctions will lead to decreased imports and exports. Stinner met Iranian lawmakers and government representatives last week in Teheran. He said in a telephone interview from New Delhi that Iranians "suppose that these sanctions could have a significant impact on import and export, also because a lack of trade financing." Iran has recently faced tough new rounds of U.N., EU, and U.S. sanctions over fears that Tehran might be seeking to develop nuclear arms. ############################################# CARACAS, VENEZUELA {08-10-2010} CAVECOL HAILS VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA RAPPROCHEMENT EL UNIVERSAL COMING TO TERMS BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF VENEZUELA AND COLOMBIA has been labeled by the president of the Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber for Economic Integration (Cavecol), Luis Alberto Russián, as positive. "We are very happy; we are pleased indeed; we would like to celebrate the fact that the two governments are willing to hold honest, straightforward dialogue," the CEO said with regard to a meeting to be held on Tuesday by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos. On the likely reestablishment of bilateral trade exchange, Russián answered that it could be a gradual process starting with specific decisions, such as payment of the debt owed by Venezuelan businessmen to their Colombian colleagues due to the delayed allocation of foreign currency by the Foreign Exchange Board Cadivi. "We think that the first step is identification and quantification of our debt to Colombia so that we can pay for it," said the director in a press conference. ############################################## WASHINGTON, D.C. {08-06-2010} SENATE CONFIRMS NEW HEAD OF US CENTRAL COMMAND ASSOCIATED PRESS THE SENATE HAS CONFIRMED THE MAN CHOSEN BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA TO REPLACE GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS as head of the U.S. Central Command. The Senate gave voice vote approval to Gen. James Mattis, a tough-talking Marine who helped lead the invasion of Iraq. During a confirmation hearing last week, Mattis said victory in Afghanistan was possible and he expressed optimism that troops would start coming home in a year. Mattis will oversee U.S. military operations across the Middle East, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. Petraeus left the plum assignment to take over combat in Afghanistan after Gen. Stanley McChrystal was fired. ############################################# BEIRUT, LEBANON {08-04-2010} TENSIONS RISE AS DEADLY BORDER CLASHES ERUPT BETWEEN ISRAEL, LEBANON CNN CLASHES BETWEEN LEBANON AND ISRAEL ALONG THEIR VOLATILE SHARED BORDER TUESDAY KILLED AN ISRAELI OFFICER AND SEVERAL LEBANESE SOLDIERS while escalating fears of renewed violence between the two nations. Lt. Col. Dov Harari, a battalion commander, was killed in the fighting, according to a statement from Israel Defense Forces. Another Israeli soldier was seriously wounded, it said. The exact number of Lebanese casualties was not immediately known but a Lebanese army spokesman told CNN that at least two Lebanese soldiers were killed and several others were wounded. He said there was still intermittent gunfire and called the situation "very cautious." Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that journalist Assaf Abu Rahal also was killed in the exchange of fire between Lebanese and Israeli soldiers. The Lebanese army said the incident occurred after an Israeli patrol tried to enter disputed territory on the Lebanese-Israeli border to install cameras. The flareup drew condemnation from Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, who called it an act of new Israeli aggression on Lebanese soil. Israel disputed the contention that its forces entered Lebanese territory. It said the Lebanese fired on Israeli soldiers who were on the Israeli side of the border. ############################################# CARACAS, VENEZUELA {08-01-2010} VENEZUELA'S FM DENIES COLOMBIAN ALLEGATIONS OF BOYCOTTING ASSOCIATED PRESS VENEZUELA'S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS NICOLÁS MADURO said that the meeting of foreign ministers of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) held in Quito to deal with the diplomatic crisis between his country and Colombia was not aimed "at signing a final declaration," several state-run media reported. According to a report from the state-run news agency Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN), Maduro denied claims from his Colombian counterpart Jaime Bermúdez that Venezuela had allegedly boycotted a final declaration adopted by consensus by Unasur's foreign ministers. Although "Colombia's Foreign Minister is leaving Unasur and bidding farewell to the institution, he is lying," Maduro said, as reported by Efe. According to the report of the state-run news agency, it is unclear whether the Venezuelan foreign minister acknowledged the existence of a "final declaration." ############################################## CARACAS, VENEZUELA {07-30-2010} AUTHORITIES SEIZE RANCH OF TV TYCOON EL UNIVERSAL A RANCH OWNED BY GUILLERMO ZULOAGA, THE CEO OF PRIVATE TV NEWS NETWORK GLOBOVISIÓN, was seized on Thursday afternoon by government officials of the National Lands Institute (Inti) and National Guard troops. The farm is located in San Fernando de Apure, state of Apure, reported Perla Jaimes, the attorney of the majority shareholder of Globovisión. "It was not an abandoned farm. It is a privately owned farm, with certain assets, and we have a document issued by a State agency which proves that it is the property of the Zuloaga family," Jaimes said in a telephone interview with the TV news channel. "They said that the government is relocating some lands, that they are retaking some lands," she stated. "This is part of the onslaught on the CEO of (the private TV news channel) Globovisión and of the legal actions that have been filed against Guillermo Zuloaga," Jaimes said. ############################################## JERUSALEM, ISRAEL {07-29-2010} NEW EU SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN "GOOD NEWS" FOR ISRAEL DAVID HARRIS JUST A DAY AFTER THE FOREIGN MINISTERS OF 27 EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES approved a new round of sanctions against Iran, the measures came into force on Tuesday. The latest package of steps goes further than the recently approved sanctions of the United Nations Security Council. The EU joins Canada and the United States in imposing tougher restrictions than those endorsed by the UN on June 9. The European decision will affect Iranian banks, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The sanctions include "restrictive measures against Iranian sectors, such as trade, financial services, energy and transport, and certain individuals and companies (visa ban and freezing of assets)," read a statement from the EU Council of Ministers. After the meeting, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton spoke with the media about the decision. "We sent quite a powerful message to Iran. Its nuclear program is giving us problems. We invite Iranians to return to the negotiating table," she said. ############################################### QUITO, ECUADOR {07-29-2010} VENEZUELA CONCERNED ABOUT COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT'S "THREAT" ASSOCIATED PRESS VENEZUELA IS "CONCERNED" ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE OUTGOING COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT, which "threatens the security of our country," said Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, in Lima after a meeting with his Peruvian counterpart, José García Belaunde. "We have expressed our concern about the behavior of the outgoing Colombian government (led by President Álvaro Uribe), which is a direct threat to stability and security in our country," Maduro said after a meeting with García Belaunde in Lima. Maduro is visiting Lima as part of a tour of several Latin American countries, AFP reported. Maduro said that he talked with García Belaunde about the future and peace to be pursued in the region. "We have shared a message of peace with the governments of the region. We want to speak from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) about a zone of peace where we may focus on working for economic and social development," the foreign minister said. ############################################# CARACAS, VENEZUELA {07-28-2010} SOME 300 TONS OF SPOILED FOOD FOUND IN LARA STATE EL UNIVERSAL THE HISTORY OF ROTTEN FOOD IN THE STATE OF LARA BEGAN YEARS AGO. In 2007, a first complaint about rotten food was made when more than 100 kilograms of spoiled chicken and meat were found in the yard of a government market (Supermercal). More than 300 tons of rotten food was located in the municipality of Jiménez between 2007 and 2009. The products were the property of government-run food distribution networks Mercal and Pdval. The situation was reported to the Legislative Council of the State of Lara. The only result was the removal of Janeth Rodríguez, the head of Mercal in Lara state. In the last two years, most of the cases have been reported by former pro-government (Movement for a Fifth Republic) deputy Nelson Pineda, who was banned from political activities after he filed corruption allegations against both government food networks and the Judiciary in the state of Lara. ############################################## MOSCOW, RUSSIA {07-28-2010} RUSSIA SAYS NEW EU SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN SHOW SCORN FOR UN ASSOCIATED PRESS RUSSIA’S FOREIGN MINISTRY says new EU sanctions against Iran show scorn for the United Nations and the so-called “sextet” working to resolve disputes over Iran’s nuclear program. The European Union on Monday adopted new sanctions targeting Iran’s foreign trade, banking and energy sectors. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Tuesday the move “not only undermines our joint strength in the search for a political-diplomatic resolution of the situation around Iran’s nuclear program but demonstrates scorn for the carefully developed and agreed-upon position of the U.N. Security Council resolution.” Russia, a member of the sextet negotiating with Iran, supported the U.N. sanctions adopted last month, but has objected to stronger measures. ############################################## CARACAS, VENEZUELA {07-26-2010} UNASUR FOREIGN MINISTERS TO DISCUSS VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA CRISIS ASSOCIATED PRESS FOREIGN MINISTERS OF THE UNION OF LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS (UNASUR) will discuss at their special session the situation that developed in the region after Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with Colombia, reported on Saturday in Quito representatives of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry. Ecuador is temporary UNASUR president. The meeting of foreign ministers will be held next Thursday in the Ecuadorian capital in compliance with Venezuela's request. Apart from the Venezuelan-Colombian crisis, the session will examine "mechanisms for consolidating the dialogue and peace" in South America. Besides, the foreign ministers will take a decision on calling a special meeting of the heads of 12 states, forming the UNASUR; a possibility of calling such a meeting was recently expressed by Ecuadorian President Raphael Correa. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced severance of diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22 right after Colombia submitted data on presence of leaders of leftist extremist insurgent groups in the Venezuelan territory at a special meting of the Organisation of American States. Caracas resolutely spurned down these accusations, calling materials, submitted by Bogota, "downright lies and crude falsification." ############################################## HANOI, VIETNAM {07-23-2010} N. KOREA: U.S. EXERCISES A 'DANGER' FOR REGION ASSOCIATED PRESS A NORTH KOREAN SPOKESMAN SAYS THE U.S. SHOULD HALT SANCTIONS AND MILITARY EXERCISES WITH SOUTH KOREA if it wants a nuclear-free peninsula. "If the U.S. is really interested in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, it should halt the military exercises and sanctions that destroy the mood for dialogue," North Korean spokesman Ri Tong Il told reporters in Hanoi on Thursday. "The decision to hold military drills is a major danger for the security of the region," he said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Wednesday the U.S. would impose new sanctions on the reclusive North four months after the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors and has been blamed on Pyongyang. The North has denied involvement. The allies announced they would hold four days of joint military exercises starting Sunday. ############################################## {07-22-2010} RICARDO ALARCON: CUBA READY TO FREE MORE POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSOCIATED PRESS THE PRESIDENT OF CUBA'S PARLIAMENT, RICARDO ALARCON, has said the island's government is ready to release more political prisoners after announcing this month it would free 52. They could remain on the island if they wished, he added. Cuba has agreed to free the 52 prisoners under a deal reached with the Catholic Church and Spain. Some 115 political prisoners would remain in Cuba once the 52 are freed, according to figures from dissidents. "It was very clear from the discussions that the government's wish is to free all the people" on condition they had not been accused of murder, Mr Alarcon said on the sidelines of a conference in Geneva. Eleven freed Cuban dissidents arrived last week in Spain, and a further nine are expected to join them in the coming days. Cuba has been under pressure to free dissidents since one prisoner on hunger strike, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in February. ############################################ CARACAS, VENEZUELA {07-21-2010} VENEZUELAN VP REPORTS INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT EL UNIVERSAL VENEZUELA'S VICE PRESIDENT ELÍAS JAUA said on Monday that there is a coordinated international plan to try to prevent the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) from winning the upcoming parliamentarian elections to be held on September 26. "The attack launched by the outgoing Colombian government using a dirty rehash about the existence of an alleged relation between our government and the Colombian guerrilla, as well as constants onslaughts from the US government and its organizations which fund opposition institutions in Venezuela, are evidence that there is a coordinated attack that tries to prevent the revolutionary forces from winning the elections on September 26," Jaua said. However, he stressed that it is "a failed attempt, because on September 26, Venezuelan people will win again. It will be an overwhelming victory for their future and for socialism." ############################################## GENEVA, SWITZERLAND {07-20-2010} UN CHIEF WANTS HUMAN RIGHTS IMPROVEMENT FROM CUBA ASSOCIATED PRESS THE U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL says Cuba should build on its release of at least 20 dissidents by doing more to improve human rights. Ban Ki-moon welcomed last week's transfer of 11 Cuban prisoners to Spain. Nine more are expected to arrive Tuesday, along with around 50 of their relatives. Speaking in Geneva, Ban said Monday that he has closely followed the developments. He called them "encouraging." But he said the U.N. still expects "more reconciliatory measures taken by Cuban authorities, establishing the rule of law and respecting human rights." Cuba is committed to releasing 52 imprisoned dissidents under a deal with the Spanish government and Catholic Church. ############################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA {07-16-2010} CUBAN MIGRANT FOUND FLOATING ON STYROFOAM BOAT ALFONSO CHARDY THE VESSEL WASN'T IN THE SAME CLASS AS THE 1951 Chevy truck outfitted as a boat that made worldwide headlines in 2003, but the tiny Styrofoam boat had the same purpose: to carry a migrant from Cuba to the United States. A U.S. surveillance aircraft patrolling the Florida Straits spotted the makeshift, seven-foot vessel 51 miles south of Marathon and, on closer inspection, discovered a man aboard who turned out to be a severely dehydrated Cuban migrant adrift for 25 days, federal authorities said Tuesday night. A statement from Customs and Border Protection did not say when the Styrofoam boat was found, and officials could not be reached Tuesday to confirm the date. However, Customs officials said the man told them he had left Cuba on June 20, which indicates he was discovered over the weekend. Cuban migrants intercepted at sea are generally repatriated, and those who reach U.S. shores are generally allowed to stay. Of those picked up at sea, if doctors determine they need emergency hospital attention, they are brought ashore. ############################################### CARACAS, VENEZUELA {07-15-2010} VENEZUELA REPORTS OVERFLIGHT OF DUTCH MILITARY AIRCRAFT EL UNIVERSAL THE GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA protested on Tuesday to the Netherlands about three air raids of a plane property of the Dutch air force, detected last July 4 and 7, and labeled as "provocation." The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reporting on a Dutch military aircraft engaged in three unauthorized flights over the so-called flight information area, on the Caribbean coast near Caracas, where the country's major airport is located, DPA quoted. "The three air raids of this military aircraft occurred on July 4 and 7, 2010, and were tracked by Venezuela's air surveillance and defense systems, even though the aircraft implemented techniques to hide its position and identification," the communiqué stated. The Venezuelan government refused such "provocations, which are absolutely opposed to the good-neighbor stance that should prevail between two bordering nations, and undermine confidence between our two countries." ############################################# JERUSALEM, ISRAEL {07-12-2010} LIBYAN CHARITY SAYS ISRAELI NAVY ORDERS GAZA-BOUND AID SHIP TO HEAD FOR EGYPT ASSOCIATED PRESS THE LIBYAN ORGANIZERS OF AN AID SHIP TRYING TO BREACH ISRAEL'S THREE-YEAR BLOCKADE OF GAZA say an Israeli military vessel has confronted the ship and ordered it to change course for the Egyptian port of el-Arish. The Gadhafi International Charity and Development Foundation says its boat refused to alter its destination and will steam on for Gaza. The foundation said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday that the Israeli vessel continues to shadow the aid ship. The crew of the Amalthea was warned to change course but has so far not responded, an Israeli Defense Force spokesman confirmed to AFP. The foundation's boat left Greece Saturday with 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies. Organizers say they hope to reach Gaza Wednesday. The trip comes more than a month after Israeli naval commandos boarded a flotilla of Gaza-bound ships, killing nine activists. ##############################################

* RAUL CASTRO URGED TO FREE 8 DISSIDENTS
* CUBA CHURCH SAYS IT WAS RIGHT TO BROKER PRISONER RELEASE, IN ANSWER TO DISSIDENTS' COMPLAINTS
* A NEW USAID PROGRAM FOR CUBA DREW CHALLENGES FROM CUBAN-AMERICANS IN CONGRESS.
* CUBAN FOOD OUTPUT DOWN DESPITE AGRICULTURE REFORMS
* NEW EXILES IN SPAIN CONSIDER MOVING TO U.S.
* “MORATINOS DIPLOMACY” CONDEMNING THOUSANDS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS TO ANONYMOUSLY LANGUISH IN ...
* LADIES IN WHITE HOPE MORATINOS’ VISIT WILL LEAD TO RELEASE OF MORE PRISONERS
* CUBAN OIL DRILLING POSES NEW THREAT TO FLORIDA
* THE WISDOM OF PICKING "PEACHES" PETRAEUS
* CUBA EXPECTS MORE “FRUITFUL EXCHANGES” WITH CATHOLIC CHURCH
* CUBANS IMPLICATED IN HUMAN SMUGGLING

MIAMI, FLORIDA {08-29-2010} RAÚL CASTRO URGED TO FREE 8 DISSIDENTS JUAN O. TAMAYO THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL have urged Cuba to immediately release eight dissidents detained during peaceful protests and threatened with prosecutions. A State Department spokesperson also said that the Raúl Castro government should release all political prisoners and not just the 52 that it has promised to free by October. The lengthy detentions of the eight -- arrested in two groups of five and three -- have sparked concern that Castro is getting tougher with critics. In recent years, the government has detained dissidents for brief periods, to intimidate them and block their activities, rather than bring them to trial. Amnesty International urged Cuba to free the group of five jailed since Aug. 12 ``immediately and unconditionally, unless they are to be charged with an internationally recognized criminal offence and tried according to international standards for fair trial.'' Authorities also should ``cease the harassment, intimidation and persecution of citizens who seek to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association,'' the London-based group said late Wednesday. The five members of the Youths for Democracy movement -- Enyor Díaz Allen, Francisco Manzanet Ortiz, Roberto González Pelegrín and brothers Néstor and Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina -- were seized in eastern Baracoa after a peaceful protest against the arrests of two other members. They have not had access to a lawyer and have been told they will be charged with ``public disorder,'' according to Amnesty International. State Department spokesperson Virginia Staab meanwhile urged Cuba to free the other three dissidents jailed since they read an anti-government statement Aug. 16 at the University of Havana. “If Cuban government officials are serious in their public statements that there will be no more political prisoners in Cuba, we expect these activists to be release immediately,'' she said. The three -- Michel Irois Rodríguez, Luis Enrique Labrador Díaz and Eduardo Pérez Flores -- are also refusing food to demand their freedom, said the Directorate. ####################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {08-21-2010} CUBA CHURCH SAYS IT WAS RIGHT TO BROKER PRISONER RELEASE, IN ANSWER TO DISSIDENTS' COMPLAINTS ASSOCIATED PRESS ROMAN CATHOLIC OFFICIALS SAID FRIDAY they had a humanitarian obligation to broker a landmark deal in which Cuba promised to free 52 political prisoners — answering island opposition activists who complained of being left out of negotiations. Cuba's Catholic Church said it knew beforehand that its discussions with the government of Raul Castro "could provoke diverse reactions, from insults and defamation to acceptance and gratitude." But "remaining inactive was not a valid option," it said in a statement. Those sentiments came in response to a letter to Pope Benedict XVI from 165 top Cuban political activists, community organizers and dissidents that has circulated in Spain but not on the island. The letter said that while the dissident community supports the result of the July 7 deal between the Church and Cuba, both sides ignored the needs of the country's political opposition in reaching it. The government has already freed 26 prisoners and sent them with their relatives to Spain to live in exile. The rest are expected to be released in the coming weeks, emptying Cuban jails of the last of the political prisoners imprisoned after a sweeping crackdown on organized dissent in 2003. Time of Reckoning for Obama, PelosiIt is not clear whether those still waiting to be freed will be allowed to stay in Cuba or go into exile. In their letter to the pope, the dissidents wrote, "a correct mediation on this topic should have included hearing the complaints of both sides and reconciling them." "We do not agree with the position taken by the Cuban religious hierarchy on behalf of political prisoners," it added. "It is lamentable and even embarrassing." It also denounced a new wave of arrests of dissidents, most of whom have been held for a few hours and then released. The letter said pressure on those who publicly oppose Cuba's communist system has intensified this month after Castro said in a televised address that, despite his government's agreement with the Church, "there will not be impunity for the enemies of the homeland." "Repression, hostility and arbitrary detentions have increased in recent days, after the threats of President Raul Castro on Aug. 1," the letter said. "It raises the question: 'Are they emptying the prisons just to fill them again?'" Some such incidents have involved Reina Luisa Tamayo, whose son Orlando died Feb. 23 after staging a monthslong hunger strike behind bars. Tamayo and a small group of relatives have taken to the streets in his memory in her hometown of Banes every Sunday since, but pro-government mobs have broken up their march each of the last two weeks — sparking outcry from Amnesty International and other international groups. Tamayo was not among the dissidents to sign the letter to the pope, but two of her sons did. In its statement Friday, the Church said it "will not divert its attention from that which motivated it to become part of this process: the humanitarian complaints of the families who have suffered from the incarceration of one or more of their members." ####################################################################################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA {08-08-2010 A NEW USAID PROGRAM FOR CUBA DREW CHALLENGES FROM CUBAN-AMERICANS IN CONGRESS. JUAN O. TAMAYO FOUR CUBAN-AMERICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS have asked the U.S. Agency for International Development to clarify whether a new Cuba program will be limited to groups approved by Havana authorities. Their letter to USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah appeared to reflect the belief that under the Obama administration the agency will take a more gradual approach to promoting change on the island. USAID's new program, described in an agency Request for Applications (RFA) dated June 18, is offering $3 million over 36 months to promote grass-roots economic development in Cuba. ``We are writing to inquire regarding troubling language'' in the RFA, South Florida Republicans Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart and Albio Sires, D-N.J., wrote to Shah on July 30. The letter points out the RFA states that ``because traditionally understood independent Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are not permitted under Cuban law, this new program will work with Civil Society Groups (CSGs).'' ``This language implies that because CSOs are not `legal' in Cuba, USAID would provide funding for entities that are authorized by the Cuban regime,'' the letter said. ``Entities that are authorized under the Cuban regime's laws are under the control of the regime.'' But the Helms-Burton law bans U.S. assistance to the Cuban government, it noted. ``Please be so kind as to provide us with a list of entities that would qualify'' as CSGs and could receive U.S. funds without violating the law, it added. The RFA said the new program could benefit groups of private farmers and privately run bed-and-breakfasts, as well as the barbershops, beauty salons and taxi businesses recently handed over to some of their employees by the Cuban government. A USAID statement sent to El Nuevo Herald said the program is aimed at ``marginalized groups,'' such as those living in rural areas, ethnic and religious minorities, orphans and vulnerable children, rural women and people with disabilities. ####################################################################################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA {08-04-2010} CUBAN FOOD OUTPUT DOWN DESPITE AGRICULTURE REFORMS MARC FRANK // REUTERS CUBA'S FOOD PRODUCTION FELL 7.5 PERCENT IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR DESPITE REFORMS INSTITUTED BY PRESIDENT (DICTATOR) RAUL CASTRO and even as the Communist-run country cut food imports, the government reported this week. The report was not a surprise to Cuban consumers who have complained of shortages all year, particularly in staples such as rice and beans, which were down 1.7 percent and 27 percent, respectively. The National Statistics Office reported on its web page www.one.cu that, from January through June, there was a decline in just about all types of food production -- from rice, potatoes, malanga and other vegetables to pork and eggs. Production of a few items rose, including yucca, milk, non-citrus fruits and bananas. The government has repeatedly said it would begin cutting food imports this year, though no data was available. Vietnam, the island's main rice supplier, announced when the year began that Cuba had reduced orders by 100,000 tons for 2010. Overall agriculture production is below 2005 levels, according to the government, even though Castro has made increasing food output a priority since taking over for older brother Fidel Castro more than two years ago. Cuba is in the throes of a financial crisis in part because it spends heavily to import two-thirds of its food. "It is not easy to find root vegetables and rice is scarce, making matters worse, especially at the end of the month when the ration is used up," Margarita, a retiree who did not want her full name used, said in a telephone interview from eastern Holguin province. Santiago de Cuba housewife Olga Machado said things were not much better in Cuba's second largest city. "The biggest problem is that everything seems to come and go, forcing you to dedicate a great deal of time to guarantee there is food at home," she said. BARE-BONES BASICS Sugar production was not included in the report but this year's sugar harvest was the worst in more than a century, resulting in a 20 percent cut in the rationed sugar quota of five pounds per month. The country maintains a World War Two-style food ration that provides the bare-bones basics for a few weeks, after which residents must shop at state-run markets. President (dictator) Castro has raised prices the state pays for produce, leased state lands to farmers, decentralized decision making, allowed provincial producers to sell more of their produce directly to consumers and reorganized huge state farms and cooperatives that occupy 60 percent of the land. However, a decades-old system where the state provides fuel, pesticides, fertilizer and other resources to farmers in exchange for 70 percent of what they produce remains unchanged and often holds back production. In a speech on Sunday to the National Assembly, Castro blamed administrative errors and a continuing drought for the production shortfalls. He ruled out market solutions as being too capitalist. Many farmers and farm experts think Castro will have to make bigger changes if he wants more food production. "Until the state frees up farmers to own outright the land, sell directly what they produce and purchase what they need to do it, production will not significantly improve," said a local agriculture expert, asking his name not be used. ###################################################################################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA (07-16-2010} NEW EXILES IN SPAIN CONSIDER MOVING TO U.S. JUAN O. TAMAYO TWO NEWLY FREED CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS ARRIVED IN MADRID ON WEDNESDAY, joining seven others just beginning to feel the shock of leaving their country and to consider whether they want to stay in Spain or move on to the United States. One of the latest arrivals, Omar Rodríguez Saludes, told reporters he feels ``like I was still in prison'' because ``I left behind part of my family. I feel like I still have the cuffs on my hands.'' Rodríguez, 45, and Normando Hernández, 40, arrived Wednesday and were expected to be followed soon by Luis Milán and Mijail Barzaga. They would join the seven other political prisoners who were freed earlier this week and flown to Spain. Hernández held a tearful reunion with his mother, Blanca González, who flew in from Miami. ``I am very tense, very nervous, very emotional,'' González said. Hernandez said that while he was ecstatic to see his mother, ``I am an emotional wreck, and physically also. This has been terrible. I would not wish it on anyone.'' “Everything has been a shock. I always though the future would be in Cuba, not in exile,'' Rodriguez said. The change ``has been abrupt, from a prison cell to the light of the airplane.'' The ex-prisoners and the relatives they took with them to Spain were just beginning to consider their futures from a hotel in Madrid where the Spanish Red Cross put them up. Omar Ruiz told The Associated Press that he wanted to join his wife's family in Miami. But José Luis García Paneque, who has a wife and four children in Texas, and Pablo Pacheco, who has several relatives in South Florida, said they want to stay in Spain for now. “The only thing I ask of the Spanish people is the opportunity,'' Garcia declared. ``Where I come from, no one had paid me so much attention.'' ##################################################################################################### WASHINGTON, D.C. {07-08-2010} “MORATINOS DIPLOMACY” CONDEMNING THOUSANDS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS TO ANONYMOUSLY LANGUISH IN CUBAN DICTATORSHIP DUNGEONS Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtinen condemn Moratinos’ efforts to save Cuban dictatorship U.S. CONGRESSMEN LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART, ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, AND MARIO DIAZ-BALART issued the following statement today regarding the maneuvers being carried out by Spanish Foreign Minister M.A. Moratinos to save the dictatorship of Fidel Castro and his puppet-brother: “The Cuban dictatorship, facing extraordinary pressure inside the island due to the heroic actions of the internal opposition, as well as the economic pressure of U.S. sanctions, is seeking to relieve that pressure through the expulsion of a number of political prisoners from Cuba. In order to achieve diplomatic and economic relief, the Cuban regime has obtained the services of Spanish Foreign Minister M.A. Moratinos. Mr. Moratinos seeks to convince the European Union (EU) to drop its “Common Position” on Cuba (which conditions an improvement in EU relations with Cuba to an improvement in the Human Rights situation there). Moratinos and his associates also seek to assist efforts in the U.S. Congress to pass a bill authorizing mass U.S. tourism and its billions of dollars for the Cuban regime. The Cuban regime is one of a handful of States in the world that are state sponsors of international terrorism, and harbors numerous violent fugitives from US justice. When the regime received billions of dollars annually from the Soviet Union (an amount similar to what it would receive from US tourism) it spread terrorism to countries throughout the world. By accepting reports placing the number of Cuban political prisoners at below 200, Moratinos’ "diplomacy" seeks to condemn thousands of political prisoners in Cuba to languish in Castro's dungeons indefinitely. Serious, credible sources inside Cuba, such as former political prisoner and pro-democracy leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez", maintain that there are thousands of men and women in prisons in Cuba due to their political beliefs but under farcical “criminal charges” such as “peligrosidad” (dangerousness) and “desacato a la autoridad” (contempt against authority). Those thousands of Cuban political prisoners, and the countless thousands more that would be arrested in the future by a reinvigorated dictatorship in possession of billions of US dollars and newly found international diplomatic support, would be condemned to anonymously languish in the dungeons of the dictatorship. “Now more than ever the world must insist upon the liberation of all Cuban political prisoners, without exceptions, including the thousands who are in Castro's gulag for farcical “criminal charges”, and upon free, multi-party elections for Cuba. There are only two Cubans who need to leave Cuba forever along with Moratinos, Fidel Castro and his puppet-brother,” said Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. “The Castro thugs have never allowed credible international groups to inspect prison conditions on the island and visitors like Moratinos don't even attempt to make such a demand, so the dictatorship continues to cynically classify political dissidents as common criminals. It is a cruel charade which players like Moratinos are only too happy to perpetuate as they enrich their coffers while using the long suffering Cuban people as pawns,” said Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. “Mr. Moratinos continues to be dedicated to the defense of the Cuban terrorist regime. He is once again attempting to divert attention from the need for freedom for the Cuban people through multiparty elections”, said Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart.” ####################################################################################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA {07-07-2010} LADIES IN WHITE HOPE MORATINOS’ VISIT WILL LEAD TO RELEASE OF MORE PRISONERS ASSOCIATED PRESS THE LADIES IN WHITE said on Sunday that they hope the visit of Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will lead to a new push by the Catholic Church to get the regime to release more political prisoners. Laura Pollan, the head of the group of women related to the 75 dissidents imprisoned in 2003, told reporters that at present the “most critical” matter is the situation of dissident Guillermo Fariñas, who is in very serious condition due to the hunger strike he began last Feb. 24 to demand the release of the political prisoners in the worst health. With regard to the visit Moratinos is scheduled to make this coming week to the communist island, Pollan said that the Spanish official “knows that only two months remain until the European Parliament might change its common position (toward Cuba). And that has to do with objective things. What is the objective? – the release of the political prisoners, because (without that) there will be nothing” resulting from his trip. Pollan remarked that the Spanish minister said in a recent interview that he hoped to “gather positive fruit” from the meeting he will hold with the Church and the Cuban government, where the issue of human rights is scheduled to be discussed. The activist said, however, that new releases will only occur “if the (Cuban) government wants.” On Sunday, Alicia Hernandez, Fariñas’ mother, told Efe that her son is in “serious-critical (condition), weak, septic, with a lot of pain in his neck,” but “conscious and oriented,” and that he is undergoing treatment to try and dissolve the clot in his jugular vein, a situation that has complicated his already-delicate health. Moratinos will arrive in the Cuban capital on Monday afternoon and will remain on the island until Wednesday, a trip that will be his third visit to Cuba and the second in less than a year. On this occasion, Moratinos has said that he wants to support the dialogue begun last May between the government of Gen. Raul Castro and the Cuban Catholic Church hierarchy, in which the situation of the political prisoners and other matters are being discussed. To date, the results of those efforts have been the release of Ariel Sigler, a very ill dissident prisoner who became a paraplegic in jail, and the relocation of 12 other prisoners to jails in their provinces of residence. ###################################################################################################### WASHINGTON, D.C. {07-03-2010} CUBAN OIL DRILLING POSES NEW THREAT TO FLORIDA THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FLORIDA HAS LONG FOUGHT TO PREVENT OIL DRILLING ANYWHERE NEAR ITS WHITE SANDY BEACHES. But as the state continues to deal with oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washing up on its shores, it faces a new threat: deepwater drilling in nearby Cuban waters. Maria Ritter, a spokeswoman for Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA, said it plans to drill off Cuba, about 60 miles south of Key West, Fla., early next year. If successful, this would likely kick off a spate of exploration. Only one deepwater well has been drilled in Cuban waters, by Repsol in 2004. The effort found oil but not enough to justify commercial development. Since then, the U.S. Geological Survey has said there could be a substantial amount of untapped oil off the Cuban coast, whetting the appetite of several global oil companies that have signed exploration leases. U.S. companies won't participate because of a longstanding trade embargo against Cuba. Repsol plans to use a floating drilling rig being refurbished in a Chinese shipyard, similar to the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP PLC that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April. Almost all parts and components in the rig to be used by Repsol are from non-U.S. companies. The Obama administration has sought a six-month ban on deepwater drilling in U.S. waters to reassess risks and establish new safety procedures if necessary. But any new rules wouldn't reach Repsol's project in Cuban waters. A spill there, even one significantly smaller than the continuing BP spill, could turn into an economic and environmental nightmare for Florida. Some oceanographers say the oil would likely be carried up Florida's Atlantic Coast, the heart of its tourism industry. "We have one of the world's largest coral reefs and a protected marine sanctuary there," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) "We should not be drilling there." ######################################################################################################## MIAMI,. FLORIDA {06-25-2010} THE WISDOM OF PICKING "PEACHES" PETRAEUS MARK MARDELL IT WAS A TRICKY MOMENT BUT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS GOT THIS ONE RIGHT. Sacking McChrystal looked tough. But on its own it would have been a move fraught with danger. The risk was great. He could have been accused of sacrificing the best man for the job, undermining the war effort because of a few ill-chosen remarks. Picking Petraeus was smart and neutralised that threat. Even the opposition in Congress applauded. Leading Republican John Boehner said he was the right man for the job. The man nicknamed "Peaches" when he was a cadet at West Point is something of a darling of the politicians on the Hill, the hero of the Iraq surge, which allowed America to pull itself out of the maelstrom. By choosing McChrystal's boss he has avoided charges that he's sacked the most senior man available. He's actually found somebody with more experience. The strategy at risk? The president's plan is pretty close to McChrystal's enthusiastic six-page document outlining a counter terrorism strategy for Afghanistan. So what? Petraeus wrote the book. Literally. Or at least the Army's field manual which says "Soldiers and Marines are expected to be nation builders as well as warriors. They must be prepared to help re-establish institutions and local security forces and assist in rebuilding infrastructure and basic services. They must be able to facilitate establishing local governance and the rule of law." Petreaus is also judged to be a very good politician, although he constantly denies he has ambitions to actually become one and run for president as a Republican. I suspect that part of the reason that the decision to fire McChrystal was taken so quickly was because Obama felt pushed around and manipulated by the Pentagon in the past, and he wasn't going to let a general get away with it again. In the book I mentioned yesterday, The Promise, Jonathan Alter argues Obama forgave McChrystal for his previous insubordination, last October, because he thought he was being used as a pawn by Petreaus to box him in to sending more troops to Afghanistan. If that is the case at least now he'll be dealing with the organ grinder, not the monkey. ###################################################################################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA {06-18-2010} CUBA EXPECTS MORE “FRUITFUL EXCHANGES” WITH CATHOLIC CHURCH ASSOCIATED PRESS THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT on Wednesday emphasized the “fluid, profound and constructive” communication it is maintaining with the Catholic Church and added that it feels that “all the conditions” exist for “these fruitful exchanges” to continue. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez made these observations in Havana at a joint press conference with the Vatican’s top diplomat, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, who said that he hoped that his visit to the island will serve to “strengthen” the dialogue between the Cuban government and the local church hierarchy. “Monseñor Mamberti is arriving in our country at a very favorable time. The Catholic Church in Cuba, the Cuban government and the Cuban lay state have maintained a fluid, profound and constructive communication,” Rodriguez said. Mamberti met Wednesday in the Cuban capital with Rodriguez at the beginning of his official visit to the island to commemorate the 75 years of bilateral diplomatic links. The archbishop is also here to participate in the local Church’s 10th Social Week. The visit of the papal emissary to the communist-ruled island comes at a time marked by the open dialogue process between the government of Raul Castro and the Catholic hierarchy concerning political prisoners and other matters that – so far – has resulted in the release of one ill dissident and the transfer of 12 other detainees to prisons nearer their families. At the joint press conference, Mamberti recalled that one of the objectives of the Holy See’s diplomatic efforts is “to favor dialogue between local churches and the authorities of different countries.” “We congratulate ourselves for the dialogue that is now under way and I hope that it is also strengthened by my visit,” said the papal envoy, who added that it was “very important” that the efforts has produced solid results. ###################################################################################################### MIAMI, FLORIDA {06-11-2010} CUBANS IMPLICATED IN HUMAN SMUGGLING JUAN O. TAMAYO TWO CUBANS WHO WORKED AT THE HAVANA EMBASSY IN KENYA were identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the U.S. court records of a scheme to smuggle 268 Somalis to Cuba and on to the United States. The case of convicted alien smuggler Anthony J. Tracy raised national security concerns because of his contacts with a Somali terror group, Al Shabab. Tracy denied helping Shabab, but failed that part of a lie-detector test. “I helped a lot of Somalis and most are good, but there are some who are bad and I leave them to ALLAH,'' Tracy wrote in a Jan. 15 e-mail, according to court records in his case. The two Cubans, identified only as Consuelo and Elena, were fired by their supervisors for providing the Somalis with visas so they could slip into the United States via Dubai, Moscow, Havana, South America and Mexico, the records showed. Tracy, 35, a Virginia resident, pleaded guilty to one charge of alien smuggling and was sentenced last week to time served -- four months -- and a $100 fine in federal court in Alexandria, Va. Many of the court records were sealed or heavily redacted. But others showed that while Tracy confessed to helping Somalis obtain Cuba visas, prosecutors acknowledged they were having trouble proving that any of the aliens had reached the United States. The records show Tracy converted to Islam while in prison in the 1990s, married a Somali woman and since 2002 was a paid informant for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another U.S. agency not identified. He made three trips to Kenya as an informant and set up a travel agency in Nairobi. But in 2009 he informed his U.S. handlers that he was helping Somalis to fraudulently obtain Cuban visas, according to prosecutors. “He was considered at that point to be going rogue'' and was told to return home, which he did this Jan. 18, the prosecution added. Tracy cooperated with ICE and other investigators, and was arrested Feb. 5. Consuelo and Elena, “the unindicted coconspirators, would fraudulently provide defendant Tracy with Cuban travel visas,'' said the text of a grand jury indictment of Tracy filed April 7. ####################################################################################################

* MOTHER OF DEAD CUBAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE PREVENTED FROM ATTENDING CHURCH
* CUBA STUBS OUT MONTHLY HANDOUT OF CHEAP CIGARETTES FOR ELDERLY SMOKERS
* MOTHER OF DEAD CUBAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE PREVENTED FROM ATTENDING CHURCH
* CUBA CUTS US FOOD IMPORTS 28 PERCENT IN EARLY '09
* CUBA LOOSENS RULES FOR SMALL BUSINESS, SELF-EMPLOYED
* VENEZUELAN BANK PENALIZED FOR ALLEGED LINK WITH IRANIAN PLAN
* CUBA SETS SHAKE-UP FOR POWERFUL HEALTH MINISTER
* CUBA DISSIDENTS TOLD SPAIN EXILE MUDDLES US ASYLUM
* JOBLESS IN CUBA? COMMUNISM FACES THE UNTHINKABLE

HAVANA, CUBA {09-03-2010} CUBANS SEE THEIR RATION CARDS GET THINNER AND THINNER ANETT RIOS TOBACCO IS BEING REMOVED FROM THE CUBAN RATION CARDS STARTING WEDNESDAY, just as potatoes were removed in 2009 within the framework of the “updating of socialism” process whereby President Raul Castro intends to put an end to the excesses of the island’s welfare state. The end of the cigarette quota received by Cubans virtually at cost is stirring up controversy regarding whether or not it is appropriate to continue with the ration cards and fueling expectations of yet more changes. In use since 1962, the ration cards give Cuba’s 11.2 million citizens the right to buy at nominal prices grains, sugar, chicken, fish, eggs, rice, coffee, cooking oil, pasta and bread, among other products, according to a meticulous system of regulations that takes into account factors such as the person’s age and place of residence. Many Cubans say that the monthly allocation of goods supplied to them at subsidized prices does not last them more than one or two weeks, after which they must turn to the hard-currency stores at unregulated prices or to the black market. Magalys Huerta, a 43-year-old worker, says that the best option would be to eliminate the card but the state has guaranteed a constant supply of products at prices commensurate with wages, which average around $17 a month. “Nothing that (the card) provides is enough. In the end, I have the pressure of seeking a shopkeeper who will sell me what I need before things run out. I’d prefer to buy what I need when I need it,” Huerta told Efe. Beatriz, 29, says the card “doesn’t fulfill expectations” and it is absurd that products like sanitary napkins are still distributed in accord with the system that for years has favored “illegalities.” While some people sell – illegally but openly – what they have left over from their monthly quota, there are more who have to resort to the black market to get the products they can’t acquire with the cards, and often the same shop owner who distributes goods according to the quotas also offers cooking oil, sugar or rice under the table. Beyond the situation of tobacco, which for many people is not a necessary product, the real debate in Cuba is about the possibility that the government might decide to remove things that are truly indispensable from the quota system, like bread, eggs and grains. President Castro has called for the elimination of “excess arbitrariness” and “unwarranted subsidies,” with an eye toward better administering scarce national resources and reducing imports in a country that imports more than 80 percent of the food its people consume. In recent months, official media outlets have reported expressions of public opinion that show that a sector of Cuban society is not ready to survive without the ration cards, and others who see them as an impediment that perpetuates state “paternalism.” Dissident economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe believes that the disappearance of cigarettes from the card is a decision that points down the “correct road,” but it must be accompanied by “collateral measures.” “It’s clear that there is a policy of gradually liquidating rationing in Cuba, but I think that it’s necessary to seek compensations for specific sectors of the population who are going to be harmed a great deal by those policies,” he told Efe. In addition to the measures related to the card, other regulations to reduce state expenditures and imports are emerging, including the closure of workplace coffee shops. After the controversy caused by the partial closing of the eateries, journalist Ariel Terrero mentioned that the “routines” of “extreme paternalism” are being misinterpreted as a synonym of socialism. “Changes usually cause bitterness, stomach aches and controversy. Even moreso, if they touch on food. It’s not important that social consensus is clamoring for economic transformations in Cuba,” said Terrero in Bohemia magazine. The Cuban economy is now facing the challenge of “overcoming the state practice (of being) the big and sacred administrator of all resources, to advance toward true participation of the workers in the execution and control of spending and profits,” he said. ####################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {08-28-2010} CUBA STUBS OUT MONTHLY HANDOUT OF CHEAP CIGARETTES FOR ELDERLY SMOKERS FOXNEWS.COM A PROGRAM THAT PROVIDED STATE SUBSIDIZED SMOKES TO CUBAN SENIORS IS GOING UP IN SMOKE. The communist government announced Wednesday it is cutting cigarettes from its monthly ration books effective Sept. 1, the latest step toward keeping potentially risky promises to fully eliminate subsidies on food and other basics which many impoverished islanders depend on. (AP) Older cigarette smokers in Cuba had their subsidized rations stubbed out as the country attempts to put its economy back on track, The Guardian reported Friday. From September, the government will stop handing out monthly rations of four packs of cheap cigarettes to 2.5 million Cubans over the age of 54 as it presses on with a program to kick-start its economy. "The council of ministers has resolved to eliminate cigarettes from the rationed family basket as of September as part of the measures gradually being adopted to limit state subsidies. Cigarettes are not a primary necessity," an official statement said. Monthly allocations of chickpeas, potatoes and sugar also came under the ax during the past year as President Raul Castro vowed to end the ration system as part of longer-term plans to modernize the Communist country's economy. But some citizens are not happy with the austerity drive. "This is a blow for the elderly like me," said 82-year-old Esperanza Rodriguez. "It was like a bit of money they gave us each month." ###################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {08-18-2010} MOTHER OF DEAD CUBAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE PREVENTED FROM ATTENDING CHURCH CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE IS CALLING ON THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT TO ALLOW REINA LUIS TAMAYO DANGER, THE MOTHER OF ORLANDO ZAPATA TAMAYO who died in Cuban prison earlier this year, to attend religious services and to cease their harassment of Tamayo Danger and her family. Since the beginning of August, on consecutive Sundays, State Security agents and other pro-government members of the community in the town of Banes have physically blocked the road taken by Tamayo Danger on her way to church, preventing her from attending Sunday Mass and visiting the cemetery where her son is buried. Video footage sent out of Cuba shows a line of men in uniform interlocking arms across a dirt road, standing face to face with a small group of women accompanying Tamayo Danger. The women are part of a larger movement across the island known as the Ladies in White, made up of wives and mothers of prisoners of conscience. A crowd of people chants pro-government slogans and shouts obscenities at the women who stand in front of them, unable to pass. According to Tamayo Danger, for over five months she and her family have been subjected to acts of intimidation from government officials, including verbal abuse and threats of violence. Her weekly attendance at Mass at the La Caridad Catholic Church has been particularly targeted. She says, however, that the violence and intimidation is no longer confined to Sundays. Tamayo Danger requested that the international media to come to Banes to cover the situation. CSW is calling on representatives of European embassies in Cuba to go to Banes to investigate these threats and stand in solidarity with her. CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor says, “No one should be subjected to these tactics of intimidation simply because they are attempting to attend a weekly religious service, a right enjoyed by religious believers across Cuba. We are calling on the Cuban government to cease its harassment of Mrs Tamayo Danger immediately and to allow her to attend Mass and visit her son’s grave without hindrance.” ###################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {08-14-2010} CUBA CUTS US FOOD IMPORTS 28 PERCENT IN EARLY '09 WILL WEISSERT // ASSOCIATED PRESS CASH-STRAPPED CUBA has continued to slash agricultural purchases from the U.S. even as a key bill that would ease Washington's Cuban travel ban and make it easier to sell more food to the island works its way through Congress, according to a report released Thursday. Imports fell 28 percent through the first six months of the year to about $220 million. That follows a 26 percent slippage to $528 million in 2009, down from a peak of $710 million the year before, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Economic Trade Council. "There are no indications that the Cuban economy is going to rebound to the extent that the Cuban government will be able to substantially increase its level of purchasing of food and agricultural products to those it reached in years past," John Kavulich, senior policy adviser for the council, said by telephone. The island has been weakened by the global economic crisis and a drop in revenues from tourism and the natural resources it exports. It is also struggling to recover from three hurricanes two summers ago. The council does not include shipping and transaction costs when calculating Cuban funds spent on U.S. imports, meaning its figures are lower than those Havana releases. Still, all sides agree the communist government has reduced imports from all its major trading partners. It has made a special effort to stop buying foreign food, however, while launching campaigns to increase domestic farm production. But so far, food output across Cuba has remained mostly stagnant, and the cuts in imports have sparked periodic shortages of such staples as rice. U.S. farm exporters have been hit especially hard by Cuba's belt-tightening because - despite the 48-year-old trade embargo against the island - America is the largest seller of food to Cuba. Food and agriculture products have been exempted from the embargo since 2000, though Cuba must pay cash up front. The island originally balked at the law, but a 2001 hurricane hurt food production and gave it little choice. Today, Cubans getting food from monthly ration books eat chicken from Arkansas. Upscale island markets stock everything from Kellogg's cereal to Heinz ketchup. Kavulich said Cuba has made up for some of its recent cutbacks on U.S. imports by buying food from Vietnam and other countries that offer it more time to pay. The 2008 record figure for imports may also have been inflated by hoarding, as the island tried to stockpile food, believing that commodities prices that were then on the rise would continue to spike. Instead, they fell and having extra stocks was no longer so important. The U.S. House Agriculture Committee voted June 30 to lift the ban on American travel to Cuba and make it easier to sell agricultural exports to the island. While the bill has made headlines because of the travel component, it is backed by farm-state members of Congress hungry for a larger slice of the Cuban market. Unclear is when it will be considered by the full House. Kavulich said supporters of the measure will use the drop in Cuban imports as evidence U.S. policy needs to be changed to keep from losing Cuban business to foreign competitors offering food exports. Opponents, meanwhile, will say American food sales to Cuba are no longer so potentially profitable. But, for him, the issue is simply that Cuba is short on funds. "Why are they buying less? I haven't read one Cuban official saying it's because of U.S. law and policy," Kavulich said. "They say they don't have the money." #################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {08-04-2010} CUBA LOOSENS RULES FOR SMALL BUSINESS, SELF-EMPLOYED SOLEDAD ALVAREZ CUBAN PRESIDENT (DICTATOR) RAUL CASTRO announced the increase of self-employment on the communist island and the progressive reduction of state payrolls, measures he described as a “structural and conceptual change.” Gen. Castro closed the parliamentary session with a speech in which, for the first time publicly, he referred to the process of releasing political prisoners. Not lacking in the address were criticisms of the United States and mentions of how the Cuban Revolution remains united under his leadership. Though he said that Cuba “will modernize” its economic model at its own pace and without foreign pressure, Castro did reveal that his government will loosen self-employment rules and will eliminate several bans on granting licenses while commercializing some areas of production and making hiring more flexible. Also approved, he said, is the application of a tax system specifically for this sector, which will serve as a job alternative for surplus workers in the “enormous” state workforces. Specifically, another of Castro’s announcements referred to the step-by-step reduction of state workforces and putting an end to “paternalistic approaches” that do not imply any need to work for a living, and which will also allow “unproductive expenses” to be slashed. He guaranteed that “nobody will be left to their own devices” and that “the socialist state will offer all the support necessary for a decent life,” but he also warned that “we have to eliminate forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where you can live without working.” The president’s take on the Cuban economy was much less pessimistic than in other speeches he has ade, and described as “encouraging” the results of the first half of 2010. Despite the global recession and the drop in production of such items as sugar, Castro said that this year the number of tourists has increased, oil production goals have been achieved, and even the internal monetary situation “has improved.” For the first time in public, Raul Castro spoke before parliament about the release of political prisoners sentenced in the repression of 2003, following the government’s open dialogue with the Catholic Church supported by Spain. Without mentioning the church or Spain, and referring to the prisoners as “counterrevolutionary inmates,” he said that these liberations were a “sovereign decision” and in accordance with Cuban law. He said that “none of these citizens was sentenced for his ideas, as the brutal campaigns attempting to discredit Cuba try to make out,” but because they acted at the service of the United States and of the policy of “blockade and subversion,” radicalized, in his opinion, in those moments of 2003 by then-President George W. Bush. He said the prisoners’ release was a product of the “generosity” and strength of the Cuban Revolution, but he also hardened his tone with the warning: “There will be no impunity for enemies of the nation or for those who try to endanger our independence.” During his speech, the Cuban president stressed the unity of the revolution under his leadership to counter foreign “press campaigns” that have “dared” to describe “the existence of a battle of tendencies” in the regime’s leadership. “Though it pains our enemies, our unity today is more solid than ever,” Castro said. Raul Castro gave his speech at a plenary session of parliament where the chair of Fidel Castro was again vacant, as has been the case since the ex-president became ill in 2006 and handed over power to his younger brother. Some expected to see Fidel in parliament on Sunday following his public reappearance and continuous activity over the last few weeks. EFE ###################################################################################################### BRUSSELS, BELGIUM {07-28-2010} VENEZUELAN BANK PENALIZED FOR ALLEGED LINK WITH IRANIAN PLAN ASSOCIATED PRESS THE EUROPEAN UNION ORDERED ON TUESDAY TO FREEZE ALL THE FUNDS AND ECONOMIC RESOURCES from the International Development Bank of Venezuela, a subsidiary of Iran's Export Development Bank, for presumed ties with the Iranian nuclear program. The action, disclosed on Tuesday in the European Union official journal, is directly applicable in all the community countries and it is binding, Efe reported. The Venezuelan bank, already punished by the US Department of the Treasury, denied on its website any cooperation with nuclear activities in Iran and quoted then President of the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions, María Elena Fumero. According to the senior officer, a review of the agency represented by her did not find "any evidence of these facts." In addition, she said that the purpose of the entity is to "provide the public with bank services under the license of Universal Bank, in accordance with Venezuelan banking standards and regulations." Venezuelan bank penalized for alleged link with Iranian plan. The action taken by the European Union entails freezing of the funding from the International Development Bank. The European Union ordered on Tuesday to freeze all the funds and economic resources from the International Development Bank of Venezuela, a subsidiary of Iran's Export Development Bank, for presumed ties with the Iranian nuclear program. The action, disclosed on Tuesday in the European Union official journal, is directly applicable in all the community countries and it is binding, Efe reported. The Venezuelan bank, already punished by the US Department of the Treasury, denied on its website any cooperation with nuclear activities in Iran and quoted then President of the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions, María Elena Fumero. According to the senior officer, a review of the agency represented by her did not find "any evidence of these facts." In addition, she said that the purpose of the entity is to "provide the public with bank services under the license of Universal Bank, in accordance with Venezuelan banking standards and regulations." ###################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {07-24-2010} CUBA SETS SHAKE-UP FOR POWERFUL HEALTH MINISTER ASSOCIATED PRESS CUBA HAS REPLACED ITS LONG-SERVING HEALTH MINISTER, the latest in a flurry of recent leadership changes by the government of President Raul Castro. Jose Ramon Balaguer, 78, will rejoin the powerful Central Committee of the Communist Party, according to a statement read Thursday night on government-run television. It saluted Balaguer for his work, but offered few details on why he was replaced. Balaguer had held the post since 2004, when he was a surprising choice to replace Damodar Pena, an official made health minister in 2002 as part of a then effort to promote younger leaders. Trained as a physician, Balaguer was a founding member of Cuba's Communist Party and has been an ideological hard-liner for decades. Replacing him will be 43-year-old Roberto Morales, a fellow physician who had been first vice minister of health. Cuba provides free health care for all citizens, making the health minister an influential position - but the Cabinet shake-up was one of many of late. In June, Cuba fired its transportation minister for professional mistakes and replaced the head of the Sugar Ministry after he admitted incompetence. Those moves came after the March 23 replacement of Attorney General Juan Escalona Reguera, who fought under Fidel and Raul Castro in the rebel army that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista on New Year's Day 1959. Health problems were cited as the reason. Also in March, Rogelio Acevedo, who as a teenager fought alongside the Castros and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was abruptly dismissed as the overseer of Cuba's airlines and airports for unexplained reasons. Cuba has since been awash with rumors that Acevedo was secretly running his own airline and otherwise misusing state aircraft. The speculation was eventually mentioned in a controversial essay on state corruption posted on a government website in April. ####################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {07-22-2010} CUBA DISSIDENTS TOLD SPAIN EXILE MUDDLES US ASYLUM PAUL HAVEN // ASSOCIATED PRESS THE UNITED STATES appears to have modified a pledge to take in freed Cuban political prisoners, telling their relatives that it will be more difficult for them to apply for asylum if they first accept a Church-brokered deal to trade jail for exile in Spain. The warnings, confirmed by the family members of six imprisoned dissidents, come at a delicate time and could complicate the releases of 52 activists, journalists and opposition leaders arrested in a 2003 crackdown. Under a deal brokered by Cuban Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega earlier this month, the communist government has already freed 11 political prisoners and flown them to Madrid. Nine others have accepted the offer and are expected to arrive in coming days. The rest of the jailed dissidents have either refused to go, or have not yet been contacted by Church officials. The Church has referred to exile in Spain as an "option," but has not specified what will happen to those who refuse to leave the country. The family members of several dissidents who have not yet accepted Spanish asylum met Tuesday with officials at the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Havana instead of an embassy. Other family members are expected to visit the Interests Section in coming days. After the meetings, the relatives told The Associated Press they were informed they would not be allowed to apply for asylum in the United States from Spain, but could petition for residence like any other would-be immigrant. "We came here thinking they would give us some option (of applying for asylum from Spain), but they won't," said Sofia Garcia, whose husband, Jose Miguel Martinez, has been serving a 13-year sentence for treason. She said she was told that if the family goes to Spain they would have to apply for residence in the United States through regular channels, a process that can take years and usually requires a sponsor. Teresita Galvan, whose brother Miguel Galvan is serving a 26-year term, said she left the meeting under the impression that by accepting the deal to go to Spain, her family would give up its right to later claim asylum in the United States. It means a stark choice for some of the dissidents, many of whom have family in the United States: Stay in Cuba and try to win U.S. asylum, or leave immediately for Spain and take themselves out of consideration. Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman at the Interests Section, confirmed that individual meetings were taking place to answer questions the family members might have about seeking asylum. Berbena said the Cubans were being informed that any asylum applications from Spain would be handled differently from those made inside Cuba. "The process is different depending on where you apply from," she said. Cubans applying for asylum in the United States can claim that they face persecution or danger if they remain in the country, something that would be harder to do if they have already fled to a friendly country. When asked if American diplomats were advising the prisoners not to accept Spanish asylum, Berbena said only: "We believe that Cubans should be free to make their own decisions." The U.S. position on asylum outlined for dissident family members in Havana on Tuesday appeared to differ from what American officials have said previously. When asked at a July 8 news conference in Washington whether the released Cuban prisoners "would be welcome in the U.S.," State Department spokesman Mark Toner responded: "Absolutely." Asked whether America had added caveats to that offer in the meetings with dissidents, Berbena said the U.S. position had not changed. "Political prisoners and their family members in Cuba are eligible to apply for refugee status or humanitarian parole through the U.S. Interests Section," she said. News of the meetings came as the Spanish Foreign Ministry announced that the arrival in Madrid of another group of Cuban political prisoners has been delayed. A ministry spokesman said eight prisoners and their families had been scheduled to arrive Tuesday but would now be coming in the next few days. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry regulations. Spain has told the former prisoners they will be given work and residency permits within three to four months. It has advised them not to seek the official status of "asylum," because such a designation would bar them from making political statements and would make it impossible to return to Cuba for visits. One of the freed prisoners in Madrid, Omar Ruiz, told AP on Tuesday that he had not been in contact with U.S. officials but wanted to eventually resettle in Miami, where his wife's family lives. Ruiz, who was serving an 18-year jail term for treason before his release, said he hoped his decision to go to Spain had not hurt his chances. "My idea continues to be to go there," said Ruiz. "We will go as soon as possible." ####################################################################################################### HAVANA, CUBA {07-19-2010} JOBLESS IN CUBA? COMMUNISM FACES THE UNTHINKABLE ANNE-MARIE GARCIA // ASSOCIATED PRESS AT A STATE PROJECT TO REFURBISH A DECAYING BUILDING IN OLD HAVANA, one worker paints a wall white while two others watch. A fourth sleeps in a wheelbarrow positioned in a sliver of shade nearby and two more smoke and chat on the curb. President Raul Castro has startled the nation lately by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be redundant. At the work site on Obispo street, those numbers run in reverse. It's a common sight in communist Cuba. Here, nearly everyone works for the state and official unemployment is minuscule, but pay is so low that Cubans like to joke that "the state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work." Now, facing a severe budget deficit, the government has hinted at restructuring or trimming its bloated work force. Such talk is causing tension, however, in a country where the words "neoliberal job cuts" are sacrilege and guaranteed employment was a building block of the 1959 revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power. Details are sketchy on how and when such pruning would take place. Still, acknowledgment that cuts are needed has come from Raul Castro himself. "We know that there are hundreds of thousands of unnecessary workers on the budget and labor books, and some analysts calculate that the excess of jobs has surpassed 1 million," said Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel as president nearly four years ago. Cuba's work force totals 5.1 million, in a population of 11.2 million. In his nationally televised speech in April, Castro also had harsh words for those who do little to deserve their salaries. "Without people feeling the need to work to make a living, sheltered by state regulations that are excessively paternalistic and irrational, we will never stimulate a love for work," he said. Indeed, the process of labor reform may already have started, albeit slowly. Workers in the tourism sector say some of their colleagues have been furloughed during the lean summer months, while others have been reassigned to jobs on state-run farms. "Since we are now in the low season, the hotel where I work has sent many workers home for two or three months," said Orlando, a chef in Varadero, a sand-and-surf enclave east of Havana. "It's very hard because you're left with no salary at all," said Orlando, who like almost all state employees, didn't want his full name used to prevent problems at work. Unemployment benefits don't exist in Cuba. He added, "I'm lucky since I'm still in my job." Veronica, a receptionist at another Varadero hotel, said she feared she may be sent home in August, when her resort will be only half-occupied. "Sometimes they offer alternatives, to study in a particular course or another job," she said, "but sometimes, when (workers) are sent into the agricultural sector for instance, they just quit." With the government giving no details of its thinking, rumors have spread that as many as a fourth of all government workers in some industries could lose their jobs or be moved to farming or construction. But Labor Minister Margarita Gonzalez has promised that "Cuba will not employ massive firings in a manner similar to neoliberal cutbacks." The government has moved to embrace some small free-market reforms. It handed some barbershops over to employees, allowing them to set their own prices but making them pay rent and buy their own supplies. Authorities have also approved more licenses for private taxis while getting tough on unlicensed ones. The global financial crisis, and the $10 billion in damage inflicted by three hurricanes in 2008, have forced authorities to run a deficit of 5 percent of GDP, leaving them unable to pay back credits received from China and elsewhere. Cuba slashed spending on importing food and other basics by 34 percent to $9.6 billion in 2009, from $12.7 billion the previous year. But so far, the moves have not been enough to rein in the deficit. Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a Cuba economics expert and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, said Cuban officials have spent months debating cuts in the labor force and economic reforms. He said they know what's needed, but face "a problem of political viability." Various government perks like cars, gas, uniforms and office supplies have become incentives to bloat the payroll, since they are based on the size of a company's work force. But low pay means low productivity. On Obispo street, a state-run cafeteria sells heavily subsidized soft ice cream and pork sandwiches for the equivalent of a few American pennies - meaning wages and tips are so tiny that the staff is completely indifferent toward customers. Three waiters sit at the counter cracking jokes. A fourth is the only one working, making coffee for three tables. Nearby, a cashier stares into space, a cook flirts with a scantily clad teen and a supervisor sits idly by. The state employs 95 percent of the official work force. Unemployment last year was 1.7 percent and hasn't risen above 3 percent in eight years - but that ignores thousands of Cubans who aren't looking for jobs that pay monthly salaries worth only $20 a month on average. Salvador Valdes Mesa, secretary-general of the nearly 3 million-strong Cuban Workers Confederation - the only Cuban labor union allowed - has instead written that "reorganization" will ensure redundant workers are reassigned rather than fired. He said the government wants more jobs in construction and agriculture. Still, 35-year-old computer engineer Norberto fears for his job. He thinks it's unfair to keep workers under communist domination and yet call them unmotivated. "I didn't graduate from college to now work as a day laborer or a peasant, he said. If he loses his job and gets an offer to work abroad, he said, "my question is 'Will the Cuban authorities put aside their paternalism and let me leave?'" ######################################################################################################

* CAPITAL FLIGHT UP TO USD 8.69 BILLION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2010
* SILENT PROTEST?
* VENEZUELA AMONG THE FIVE WORST COUNTRIES IN PROTECTION OF PROPERTY
* CARACAS HAS BECOME THE DEADLIEST CITY IN THE WORLD
* NEARLY 20,000 MURDERS IN VENEZUELA LAST YEAR, GOVERNMENT SAYS
* VENEZUELAN SHOPPERS CONFRONT RATIONING, SHORTAGES
* POLL: OPPOSITION HAS A SLIGHT ADVANTAGE OVER GOVERNMENT
* CHAVEZ BANS "BOURGEOIS" BROKERAGES FROM VENEZUELA MARKET
* VENEZUELA FORBIDS NEWSPAPER FROM RUNNING PHOTOS OF VIOLENCE

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{09-01-2010}

CAPITAL FLIGHT UP TO USD 8.69 BILLION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2010
EL UNIVERSAL

HUGO CHÁVEZ HAS MADE IT CLEAR that exchange controls will be a permanent measure to prevent "the oligarchy from taking the US dollars and depositing them in banks around the world."

However, based on official data, capital flight has continued at a rapid pace no matter exchange controls.

The asset and liability accounts and the item entitled "errors and omissions" of the balance of payments prepared by the Central Bank of Venezuela have enabled Ecoanalítica, a Venezuelan research firm, to determine that in the first half of the year, the outflow of capital stood at USD 8.69 billion, an amount 10 percent higher than the figure reported in the same period of 2009.

How there can be a capital flight of such an extent amidst an exchange control process?

Basically, the government sells dollar-denominated bonds that companies and individuals buy in Venezuelan bolivars and later sell abroad to get US dollars that fuel their accounts.

However, in the first half of the year, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) only sold bonds amounting to USD 1 billion. In May the government closed brokerage houses and restricted the parallel foreign exchange market.

"It is true that the BCV issued USD 1 billion bonds, but there is not official information for the rest of the outflow of capital," Asdrúbal Oliveros, a director of Ecoanalítica, said.

"This year, the service of both domestic and foreign debt has increased from 4.5 percent of GDP to 7 percent of GDP this year," Oliveros added.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{09-01-2010}

VENEZUELAN STATE COULD GET IN TROUBLE OVER DEATH OF HUNGER STRIKER
EL UNIVERSAL

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OPINION OF ATTORNEY ALFREDO ROMERO, the death of Franklin Brito will bring about legal consequences for the State, both in and out of the country.

Romero said that the State had to make a deal with Brito instead of using a "manipulation scheme," where even testimonies were used to discredit him.

He recalled that Brito was admitted to the Military Hospital against his will.

The lawyer, a specialist in human rights, said that several issues in the case must be analyzed, namely: "unlawful detention of an individual."

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{01-09-2010}

DERECHOS HUMANOS | SEÑALA EL ABOGADO DE LA FAMILIA BRITO 
EL UNIVERSAL

EL ABOGADO ALFREDO ROMERO SEÑALÓ QUE LA MUERTE DE FRANKLIN BRITO acarreará consecuencias jurídicas al Estado, tanto en el ámbito nacional como internacional, al afirmar que no es sólo el Gobierno sino las instituciones las que tienen responsabilidad por el deceso del producto agropecuario.

Romero indicó que el Estado tenía la responsabilidad de negociar con Brito, y no hacer uso de un "esquema de manipulación" en el que incluso se usaron testimonios para descreditarlo.

Recordó que Brito estuvo en el Hospital Militar en contra de su voluntad.

Destacó el abogado especialista en Derechos Humanos que en el caso hay varias situaciones que deben ser analizadas, por ejemplo, la "privación ilegítima de la libertad de un individuo", en virtud de que hubo una decisión judicial para que fuese recluido en el Hospital Militar, aún en contra de su voluntad.

A ellos se suma que fue recluido con el fin de resguardar su vida y resultó que su vida no fue resguardada. A juicio de Romero, esto podría tener vinculación con los llamados crímenes de lesa humanidad.

Asimismo, destacó que por mucho tiempo no se permitió que la Cruz Roja asistiera a Brito, a pesar de que él mismo lo solicitaba.

Igualmente, Romero manifestó que a Brito se le sometió a un trato "que pudiese interpretarse como tortura" en lo que fue la manera de alimentarlo.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-30-2010}

SILENT PROTEST? 
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY-EDITORIAL

IN AN UNUSUAL GESTURE, OUTGOING MISS UNIVERSE STEFANIA FERNANDEZ OF VENEZUELA WAVED AN OLD-STYLE VENEZUELAN FLAG WITH SEVEN STARS to... The silent protest at Monday night's Miss Universe Pageant in Las Vegas was invisible to nearly everyone — except Venezuelans. (protesta invisible ante todos excepto venezolanos)  On her final catwalk, the ranking Miss Universe, Stefania Fernandez, suddenly whipped out a Venezuelan flag in a patriotic but protocol-breaking gesture.

Fernandez waved her flag for the same reason Americans waved theirs after 9/11 — to convey resolution amid distress. Her flag had seven stars, significant because Chavez had arbitrarily added an eighth, making any use of a difficult-to-find seven-star banner an act of defiance.  Fernandez's countrymen went wild with joy on bulletin boards and Facebook, showing just how worried they are about their country. Their greatest fear is violent crime.

Ever since Chavez became president in 1999, Venezuelan cities have become hellholes in which murder rates have more than quadrupled. At 233 per 100,000, or one murder every 90 minutes, (un asesinato cada 90 minutos) the rate in Caracas now tops that of every war zone in the world, according to an official National Statistics Institute study released Wednesday.

In fact, crime is the defining fact of life in today's Venezuela. About 96% of all murder victims are poor and lower-middle class, the very people Chavez claims to represent. (Cerca de 96% de las victimas son pobres y clase media baja... la propia gente que Chavez dice representar).  "Don't venture into barrios at any time of the day, let alone at night," warns the Lonely Planet guide to Venezuela to hardy adventure travelers.

By contrast, the murder rate in cartel-haunted Juarez, Mexico, is 133 per 100,000, with Mexico's overall rate 8 per 100,000, about the same as Wichita, Kan. Colombia, fighting a narcoterror war since 1964, has an overall rate of 37 per 100,000, slightly higher than Baltimore at 36.9. The overall U.S. rate is 5.4.

Make no mistake, a murder rate like Caracas' is a crime against humanity. (no se equivoquen, una rata de asesinatos como la de Caracas es un crimen de lesa humanidad).  The absence of personal security renders all other human rights moot. By coincidence, that's just what Chavez seeks to eliminate as he turns his country into a Cuba-style socialist state.

Instead of Castroite firing squads or Stalinesque gulags, Chavez outsources the dirty work of socialism to criminals while throwing dissidents in jail and threatening to censor newspapers. (En vez de tener los escuadrones de fusilamientos castristas o las prisiones Stalinistas como Gulags, Chavez "sub-contrata" el trabajo sucio que se ejecuta en los regimenes socialistas a los criminales...., mientras pone en la carcel a sus opositores y amenaza con censurar a la prensa). He may try to suppress the Dante-like photos of corpses piled high at the Caracas morgue from the El Nacional newspaper, but the hard fact is that Chavez is responsible for what's going on.

Early in his reign, he fomented class hatred by justifying theft so long as it was carried out by the poor. His arbitrary expropriations and encouragement of squatting on private property also contributed to an atmosphere of lawlessness that has since exploded.(contribuyendo a crear una atmosfera de anarquia que el mismo aprovecha)

Chavez also demeaned work, urging the poor to take his handouts. As a result, 40% of Venezuela's 20 million workers are now unemployed, with seven of eight not wanting work, according to the National Statistics Institute. "It may be that the Chavista giveaways provide free time for the criminals to spend doing their thing rather than being dutifully employed and thus busy," wrote the Venezuelan blogger at The Devil's Excrement Web site.  Then there's Chavez's encouragement of the drug trade. In 2005, he cut off cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, calling U.S. agents "spies." The move opened Venezuela's vast territory to drug traffickers fleeing the crackdown in Colombia.

Drug cash bought off government officials, with a 2009 U.S. government report noting that the Chavista regime includes drug kingpins at top levels, and that the National Guard, which controls ports, has been bought off by traffickers. Today, nearly all drug flights heading to Central America, the Caribbean and Africa originate in Venezuela.(Hoy casi todos los vuelos de alijos de drogas dirigidos a centro america caribe y africa, se originan en Venezuela)

By permitting FARC to operate in his territory, Chavez has also become an undeclared state sponsor of terror. FARC now controls 60% of Colombia's cocaine production and kidnaps, murders, extorts and people-trafficks inside Venezuela.  The cartel's free rein means Chavez may now be powerless to control it. Like a deal with the devil, it is penetrating government and may eventually topple Chavez.

Meantime, Chavez is using crime as a tool to oppress. Why that doesn't merit sanctions by the international community remains a mystery.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-29-2010}

VENEZUELA AMONG THE FIVE WORST COUNTRIES IN PROTECTION OF PROPERTY
EL UNIVERSAL

ACCORDING TO THE 2010 INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INDEX (IPRI), Venezuela ranks 121 among 125 economies in the ranking of protection of property rights tied with Chad and Zimbabwe and just above Cote d'Ivoire and Bangladesh which rank last.

The IPRI, prepared by the Property Rights Alliance of the United States, the Free Enterprise Institute (Peru), was originally published in 2007. It is released in Venezuela by the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge for Freedom (Cedice Libertad), with data compiled by international institutions such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and other business organizations.

The IPRI is an annual study that compares countries in terms of their protection of property rights, both physical and intellectual, investigating the effects of a country's strong legal and political environment, as well as recognition and enforcement of physical and intellectual property rights on the economic development of a country.

In 2010, Venezuela scored 3.2 points in the IPRI ranking, being 10 the highest ranking. Last year, Venezuela had obtained a score of 3.3 points.

The IPRI focuses on three areas: Legal and Political Environment (LP), that measures the judicial independence, the rule of law, political stability, and control of corruption; the Physical Property Rights (PPR), which measures the protection of physical property rights, registration of property and access to loans, and finally the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which assesses the level of protection of intellectual property rights, patent protection and copyright piracy.

Venezuela was ranked 122 among the countries studied with respect to the Legal and Political Environment. As for the protection of physical property rights, Venezuela ranked 114, and with regard to the protection of intellectual property rights Venezuela ranked 108 among 125 countries.

According to the study presented by Law professors Tomás Arias Castillo (Caracas Metropolitan University) and Luis Alfonso Herrera (Andrés Bello Catholic University and Central University of Venezuela), "the takeover of a significant number of private agrarian lands starting in 2005, has become a State policy. The government's strategy of systematically denying the existence of private property in different areas reached its highest manifestation with the enactment of new decree-laws in 2008 and recent legislation passed in 2009 by the National Assembly."

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-26-2010}

CARACAS HAS BECOME THE DEADLIEST CITY IN THE WORLD 
EL UNIVERSAL

CARACAS HAS NOW THE WORLD'S HIGHEST MURDER RATE. According to official figures reported by a survey on victimization carried out by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Venezuelan capital has become the deadliest city in the world. A total of 7,676 people were killed in the Metropolitan Area of Caracas in 2009, that is, about one murder every hour and a half.

According to this survey, the murder rate in the Venezuelan capital was 233 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Last year, based on a study carried out in 2009 by the Mexican NGOs Citizen's Council for Public Security (CCSP) and the White Movement, Caracas had 94 murders per 100,000 inhabitants and ranked fourth in the world.

The results of the survey carried out by INE, which was requested by Venezuela's Vice Presidency, shows that Caracas had 233 murders per 100,000 inhabitants instead of the 94 murders per 100,000 inhabitants reported by the Mexican NGOs, that is, a difference of 139 crimes.

According to the survey carried out by INE, 5,878 homicides out of the total (7,676 cases) were reported in 2009. Meanwhile, in 1,891 cases no complaints were filed in any state security body, that is, although in those cases an investigation was initiated by the enforcement agencies, the relatives did not formalize a complaint.

Comparative figures

The Mexican security watchdogs ranked the deadliest cities in the word earlier this year. According to the study, Mexico's border city of Ciudad Juárez has the world's highest murder rate: 191 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

San Pedro Sula (Honduras) ranked second with 119 murders per 100,000 inhabitants; San Salvador (El Salvador), had 95 murders; Caracas (94) and Guatemala (Guatemala) had 86 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

The figures released by the National Statistics Institute show that reality has changed.

The survey was made between August 16 and November 16, 2009. A total of 20,055 households were surveyed throughout the country.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-25-2010}

NEARLY 20,000 MURDERS IN VENEZUELA LAST YEAR, GOVERNMENT SAYS
EL UNIVERSAL

VENEZUELA REGISTERED 19,133 MURDERS IN 2009, which places the rate of homicides in the country at 75 for every 100,000 inhabitants, according to a study by the National Statistics Institute, or INE, cited Friday by the press.

Capital daily El Nacional published a synopsis of results of a survey conducted between August and November 2009 by the INE at the request of the office of the vice president.

The newspaper compared the INE finding that the homicide rate in Venezuela was 75 for every 100,000 inhabitants with the rates for strife-torn Colombia, which was 32 for every 100,000, and Mexico, with eight for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Nearly 80 percent of last year’s murders in Venezuela were committed with firearms, according to INE data. The document adds that more than four-fifths of victims belonged to the poorest sectors of society.

The Venezuelan court that banned publication for a month of “photos, news and advertising” of violence after two dailies featured an image of bloody, naked bodies at the capital morgue, scrapped the restrictions for all media outlets except those newspapers.

The two anti-government publications at the center of the issue, El Nacional and Tal Cual, remain subject to some limits, the legal counsel of the National Ombud’s Office, Larry Davoe, said Thursday night on state television.

El Nacional, which was the first to publish the controversial photo of the morgue, can resume reporting on crime, but is barred from using images of violence.

“But the (complete ban on crime coverage) remains in place for Tal Cual,” Davoe said, because the daily, “heedless of public rejection, published the photo again” days after it first appeared in El Nacional.

El Nacional published the morgue photo last Friday, while Tal Cual came out with it on Monday, both for the purpose of complaining about President Hugo Chavez’s “irresponsible” handling of the fight against crime.

Chavez said Wednesday that publication of the controversial photo of bodies in the morgue was part of a “conspiracy” being developed against the government by opposition sectors as part of a campaign aimed at next month’s legislative elections. EFE

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-21-10`0}

VENEZUELAN SHOPPERS CONFRONT RATIONING, SHORTAGES
MICHAEL BOWMAN

COMBATING MALNUTRITION AND MAKING FOOD MORE AFFORDABLE ARE PILLARS OF VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (DICTATOR) HUGO CHAVEZ' SOCIALIST PROGRAM.  Food prices have soared, however, amid shortages of basic staples, forcing supermarkets to ration goods.

Economists blame price controls and expropriations for plummeting food production, which has led Venezuela to import vast quantities of grains and meat.  The government accuses private companies, though, of hoarding food to inflate prices in pursuit of fatter profits.

No one is starving in Venezuela, but signs limiting purchases of flour, margarine and other staples adorn supermarket shelves, leaving shoppers like Adela Franco frustrated, who said, "You can never find what you need unless you go to several stores."

Another shopper agrees.  "One day there is chicken, but no beef, so you have to buy chicken.  And you find that everything costs a little more than the week before."

The situation is easy to explain, says economist Orlando Ochoa.  "President Chavez's price controls on food, combined with inflation, have seriously distorted agricultural prices and costs, and led farmers to cease production of grains, meat and milk. The end result: Venezuela has been forced to import on a massive scale everything it used to produce domestically."

Mr. Chavez insists his policies are not at fault.  "The revolution will continue to produce, like a machine, guaranteeing ample and affordable food for all Venezuelans."

Chavez says scheming capitalists are to blame for food supply disruptions.  "They cut production and sometimes allowed milk to go bad.  Why?  To raise prices.  They played a dirty game to manipulate the market.  But we terminated their game.  The revolutionary government nationalized them and assumed responsibility for dairy production."

To aid the poor, the government has set up a network of state-operated grocery stores, selling goods from nationalized industries at discounted prices. Shoppers like Laura Hernandez go to buy whatever is in stock.

"This store is vital," said Hernadez.  "You can save a lot of money here.  The only problem is that sometimes you cannot find what you need.  Much is lacking: sugar, milk, basic items."

The government-run stores are shunned by well-to-do Venezuelans like Adela Franco.  "I do not trust what they sell there.  I do not know if the food is fresh or of good quality."

But the march towards a socialist food supply continues.  The latest government target for nationalization is Empresas Polar.  The mega-conglomerate produces everything from beverages to the number-one brand of flour used to make arepas - pita-like sandwiches that are the mainstay of the Venezuelan diet.

President Chavez recently lashed out at Polar on national television.  "If Polar continues to hoard products, we will have to go after it. We will not allow anyone to swindle us."

Polar executives deny any wrongdoing, saying their production is limited by the dwindling availability of raw foodstuffs in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, shoppers continue to patronize privately-owned supermarkets that may or may not exist in the future.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{20-08-2010}

POLL: OPPOSITION HAS A SLIGHT ADVANTAGE OVER GOVERNMENT 
LEDA PIÑERO  //  EL UNIVERSAL

OSCAR SCHEMEL, THE CEO OF POLLSTER HINTERLACES, thinks that on September 26 the opposition will get more votes, but not more seats, due to mismatch in states between the number of inhabitants and the number of deputies to be elected

The difference is at least six points

The opposition to President (dictator)  Hugo Chávez's administration presently boasts a slight advantage at the national level of at least six points over pro-government candidates, Oscar Schemel, the CEO of pollster Hinterlaces, reported.

However, the Head of State continues having nice popularity levels -41 percent in June 2010- even though insecurity, corruption and economic troubles are the worst assessed by Venezuelans and they weaken people's perception of the government.

Schemel explained that a review of the reasons a positive perception of President Chávez found, firstly, that people think that the Head of State brings good ideas and projects. Secondly, he is "humane" and "loves the poor." Thirdly, social welfare programs known as missions continue being highly appreciated.

The first two variables are not linked to governance. "They are subjective, symbolic," Schemel said and noted that President Chávez cashes in on such strategy.

"The president  (dictator) keeps a seductive address to the rank and file. He is permanently flattering low-income sectors. When the president (dictator) opens an office at a maternity hospital, he right away promises an annex building, a hotel for the maternity hospital, a manufacturing plant of syringes for the maternity hospital, a highway that will take you to the maternity hospital. All of this makes the perception that the president works, that he has good ideas, and finally makes an impact on the positive assessment; it is completely symbolic and, therefore, very vulnerable."

For the expert, economic problems are among the worst assessed issues. Not by chance, he said, sinking oil prices or the economic crisis come together with the president's falling popularity.

Hinterlaces president also said that on September 26 the opposition might get more votes, but not more seats. This is because of the existing disproportion in states between the number of inhabitants and the number of deputies to be elected. This, in his opinion, favors the government.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-20-2010}

CHAVEZ BANS "BOURGEOIS" BROKERAGES FROM VENEZUELA MARKET
EL UNIVERSAL

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR  HUGO CHAVEZ signed a new law that prohibits brokerage houses from trading in the bolivar or in dollar-denominated government bonds and establishes a new state-run financial exchange.

“I’m enacting the Capital Markets Law. It’s a law that will allow us to escape the rot of capitalism,” Chavez, who signed the legislation during a Cabinet meeting aired on state television, said Tuesday.

“Venezuelans will now be able to save, but not now in rotten bourgeois brokerages so that they can take their money to the United States or to fiscal paradises,” Chavez added.

The leftist president said the new law includes the creation of the Public Capital Exchange, which will begin operating “in the coming weeks.”

The law also authorizes the creation of the Securities Superintendence, a replacement for the current National Securities Commission, and provides a road map for a new securities system to be operated by entities authorized by that new regulatory body, he added.

“The revolution keeps taking steps to create a new system, the transition” to what Chavez calls the socialism of the 21st century.

The National Assembly on Aug. 11 approved the Capital Markets Law, urgently debated after May’s sharp fall of the bolivar against the dollar in the parallel currency market.

Until then, brokerage firms had been authorized to sell dollar-denominated government bonds, which provided a legal means for Venezuelans to skirt exchange controls in place since 2003 and gain legal access to dollars.

The government said in May that “speculation” in the market for public debt had caused the parallel dollar price to climb to double that of the higher of the two official exchange rates.

It responded by suspending that market, prohibiting private brokerage firms from trading those dollar-denominated securities and giving exclusive control over those transactions to the Central Bank.

Since January, Venezuela has maintained a two-tiered exchange rate of 2.60 bolivares and 4.30 bolivares to the dollar, respectively.

The first rate is for high-priority goods and the second for non-essential items. Gaining access to the limited to supply of dollars at those rates makes it difficult for some importers to conduct their businesses.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{08-19-2010}

VENEZUELA FORBIDS NEWSPAPER FROM RUNNING PHOTOS OF VIOLENCE
DAN MOLINSKI // DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

A COURT HAS PROHIBITED A LEADING VENEZUELA NEWSPAPER from publishing photos that depict violence or show blood, leading the paper Wednesday to insert blank spaces where photographs would have been, with the words "censored" stamped across them in red.

"If there was a photo here you would see a father crying for a son he no longer has," reads a caption below a large blank space on the front page of the daily El Nacional, which among major newspapers is the fiercest critic of President Hugo Chavez.

The court order was announced Tuesday night after El Nacional ran a front-page photograph Friday taken inside a Caracas morgue that showed a dozen blood- stained cadavers piled haphazardly on stretchers. The photograph ran with a story about a sharp rise in violence in Venezuela, whose capital city now has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Opposition forces say the El Nacional case is the latest crackdown on press freedoms by Chavez, who has been in power for 11 years and in that time has shut down dozens of opposition-aligned radio stations, television stations and other media. The muzzling of El Nacional comes ahead of important congressional elections set for next month, and a major campaign issue has been the explosion in violent crimes under the Chavez government, whose socialist party holds the majority of seats in congress.

The Chavez administration rejects the opposition's claims and says El Nacional's use of the photograph was nothing but a scare tactic to sway voters against the ruling socialist party. The government says statistics from the opposition about rising crime rates are overblown.

The Attorney General's office said Tuesday that publishing the photo of the scene in the morgue appears to have broken a law that says newspapers and other media must play a role in providing a "sane" environment for children. The newspaper is sold on street corners throughout the country and can easily be seen by children.

Other opposition publications have come out in defense of El Nacional's decision to run the photograph, and some have re-printed the exact same photo in solidarity.

Prosecutors said it is considering forcing more newspapers to also stop running photos that depict violence, blood or other scenes of "terror."

The U.S.'s ambassador-designate to Venezuela, Larry Palmer, said from Washington last month that he has "deep concerns about limitations on freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Venezuela," and said he would like to raise the issue with the Chavez government.

Palmer's job as ambassador is in doubt, however, after Chavez said he's not welcomed in Venezuela and told the U.S. to find a different candidate. Chavez was upset at comments Palmer made to the U.S. Senate as part of his confirmation process, in which the nominee said he thinks Venezuelan soldiers suffer from low morale.

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* ARGENTINA TAKEOVER OF PAPER MILL HEATS UP FEUD WITH MEDIA
* ANOTHER PRESIDENT FOR LIFE?
* THE GOVERNMENT BLAMES THE MEDIA FOR CRIME
* NICARAGUA'S DANIEL ORTEGA LAYS GROUNDWORK TO STAY IN POWER
* COLOMBIA'S NEW LEADER: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A POPULAR LEADER
* COLOMBIA DENIES PLANS TO ATTACK VENEZUELA
* MEXICAN ARMY KILLS KINGPIN IN DRUG WAR COUP

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA {08-30-2010} ARGENTINA TAKEOVER OF PAPER MILL HEATS UP FEUD WITH MEDIA CAROLINA BARROS IN THE STRONGEST ATTACK ON THE MEDIA SINCE THE COUNTRY'S DICTATORSHIP, PRESIDENT CRISTINA FERNÁNDEZ DE KIRCHNER has moved to take over the country's largest newsprint mill that provides paper to most of Argentina's newspapers. But reaction was swift Wednesday to Fernández de Kirchner's decision, announced in a national speech late Tuesday. Newspaper owners and legislators accused her administration of seeking to muzzle the independent media, political manipulation and returning Argentina to a period of ``unlimited authoritarianism.'' Fernández de Kirchner said the newspapers illegally purchased Papel Prensa in 1976 during the military regime, and she accused the papers of crimes against humanity because shareholders had been ``pressured'' by newspapers and the military through ``state terrorism'' to sell the company. ``It is a vertically integrated monopoly,'' she said, adding that ``whoever controls it, controls the written word.'' Opposition parties issued a statement stressing that they ``would defend press freedom'' when the takeover bill is submited to Congress. Fernández de Kirchner's action comes amid a long-running feud between her administration and the powerful Clarín Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the country. It's also the latest in a wider wave of media crackdowns across Latin America. In Venezuela, for example, the administration of President Hugo Chávez has been accused of using the courts to muzzle the media. Last week, facing international pressure, the Venezuelan government reversed a measure that would have allowed it to ban newspapers and television stations from reporting about the country's soaring crime rate. That ban was announced after an opposition newspaper, El Nacional, ran a grizzly, eight-month old picture of a morgue on its front page. In June, the president of Globovisión, Venezuela's last openly critical television station, fled the country after a court ordered his arrest on what he maintains are trumped-up charges designed to silence the station. The clash between Fernández de Kirchner and the independent media was ignited in 2008 when conservative daily La Nación and the Clarín Group sided with the farming sector in its battle against the government's increase in export duties. After a four-month escalation of street protests and blockades, the bill was defeated in Congress, the first time the president's Peronist Victory Front had lost a congressional vote since 2003. Fernández de Kirchner and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, blamed the loss on the media and especially on the Clarín, a former government supporter. With the political opposition split into a dozen parties and little chances of merging into a coalition, the Kirchners have chosen the independent media as their political opponent ahead of next year's presidential elections, analysts say. ``The government believes that it is the media that sets the trends in the electoral social order,'' said Sergio Berenstein, a pollster and media analyst. ``They know that a 35 percent support for Cristina and a similar percentage for Nestor won't be enough to win the October 2011's presidential election. Federico Pinedo, head of the center right PRO caucus in the Lower House, said the consequences could be dire if the government achieves its goal of taking over the mill and shutting down Clarín's Fibertel Internet service. ``If they [the Kirchners] succeed in this takeover . . . and in interrupting Fibertel's Internet service, it will be like breaking a dam, and from there on we will be under unlimited authoritarianism,'' he says. A Clarín official said his company is prepared to go to court to defend its name. ``The group is awaiting that the legal system to assign a court to the case in order to proceed and probably sue the government on false allegations,'' said Martin Etchevers, the company's communications manager. ``We will defend our rights in court.'' Papel Prensa produces 75 percent of the newsprint used by Argentina's newspaperswith the rest coming from imports. Currently, Clarín owns 49 percent; La Nación, 22.49 percent; the government, 27.46; and state-owned news agency, Telam, 0.62 percent. Etchevers said the escalation of attacks on the media conglomerate reflects how Nestor Kirchner's feelings about the media, ``He can only dwell in a binary system with friends or foes,'' he said, adding that this helps explain whey he sees the media as an enemy. ####################################################################################################### MIAI, FLORIDA {08-24-2010} ANOTHER PRESIDENT FOR LIFE? OAS SHOULD GET SERIOUS ABOUT NICARAGUA EDITORIAL, THE MIAMI HERALD NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT DANIEL ORTEGA MUST HAVE A SHORT MEMORY. It was just over a year ago that Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tried to hijack his country's constitution and extend his term before zealots sent him packing. Like Mr. Zelaya and the military that ousted him, Mr. Ortega also suffers from a weak grasp on the rule of law. Like Honduras, Nicaragua is headed toward political chaos and regional isolation. For this, Nicaragua can thank Mr. Ortega, who's so recklessly determined to rule that he resorts to stealing elections, usurping the courts and railroading critics. After getting cronies on the Supreme Court to decide that the constitutional prohibition on reelection does not apply to him, Mr. Ortega is brashly campaigning for another term. Lawmakers accuse the former Sandinista rebel of offering bribes and key jobs to any legislator who will help him get the 60 votes he needs to lift the constitutional ban on reelection. CRACKED DOWN ON OPPOSITION He used his authority to force opposition journalists off the air and oust mayors he does not like. The judges he does like got to stay on the bench even after their terms expired. Such tactics smack of the dictator Mr. Ortega helped overthrow 31 years ago. Perhaps Mr. Ortega's recall is not so fuzzy after all. He seems to have a vivid recollection of the 1990 elections he lost, and the economic turmoil he presided over during his 11 years as president. That's why Mr. Ortega is pouring the $1 billion he is estimated to have received from Venezuela into rural communities -- not to address abject poverty, but as a populist strategy to prolong his presidency. If Nicaragua's divided opposition wants to avoid an Ortega-for-life presidency, it must stop infighting and rally behind a single candidate. Fraud in the 2008 municipal elections already cost Nicaragua millions in international aid. As the U.S. State Department issues statements deploring Mr. Ortega's illegal maneuvers, he can expect that good-governance bodies like the Organization of American States will remain futile spectators. The organization's own rules make it nearly impossible to tackle undemocratic presidents, because only presidents are allowed to bring issues before the OAS. Unless Latin America wishes to see presidents -- whether from the left or right -- trample on democratic institutions, those rules must be changed to allow a nation's judiciary or legislature to raise issues. ACTING WITH IMPUNITY The OAS' Inter-American Democratic Charter will never be taken seriously if Mr. Ortega and his mentor in the region, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, continue to act with impunity. The OAS charter vows the organization will work to strengthen democracy and governance in the hemisphere, confront security threats and defend its citizens' rights. It's expected to consider whether Honduras should be readmitted to the OAS after elections were held following the coup against Mr. Zelaya. Mr. Ortega's undemocratic actions must be held to the same standard. ######################################################################################################## CARACAS. VENEZUELA {08-22-2010} THE GOVERNMENT BLAMES THE MEDIA FOR CRIME EL UNIVERSAL THE CHANCE OF BEING SHOT IN CARACAS MAY BE HIGHER THAN JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD, OUTSIDE WAR ZONES. Cheuk Woon Yee Sinne, a baseball player from Hong Kong, found that out on August 13th. As she took the field for a match in the Women’s Baseball World Cup, at an army stadium in Venezuela’s capital, a stray bullet hit her in the leg. Her team promptly pulled out of the tournament. That was an embarrassment for the government of Hugo Chávez, which faces a legislative election on September 26th. It said the shooting was an isolated incident and moved the tournament to a venue outside the capital. But it also has another solution to Venezuela’s crime problem: suppress negative crime statistics and prevent the media from publishing gory images. The government stopped publishing data on murders several years ago. Nevertheless, Roberto Briceño-León of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, an NGO, says that a government report he has obtained puts the national murder rate at 75 per 100,000 people, up from 49 just four years ago and almost twice the rate in neighbouring Colombia where guerrillas continue to wage war. The report estimates the murder rate in Caracas at an astonishing 220 per 100,000 people. That is higher even than in Mexico’s drug-ridden Ciudad Juárez. “I don’t have the slightest doubt that Caracas is the most violent city in the world,” says Mr Briceño-León. In 1998, before Mr Chávez became president, there were 4,550 murders nationwide, a figure that had remained broadly constant for several years. Had it stayed there, more than 70,000 of those who met violent deaths in the past decade would still be alive today. But the numbers have risen inexorably, and in 2009, says Mr Briceño-León, the total was 19,113. When he revealed the level of violence during a televised debate on CNN’s Spanish-language channel earlier this month, he was greeted with raucous laughter by Andrés Izarra, Mr Chávez’s former information minister. Mr Izarra, who used to work for CNN and now runs a rival, Telesur, for the Venezuelan government, accused the channel of “journalistic pornography”. But he did not produce any alternative figures. One of Venezuela’s main newspapers, El Nacional, responded to Mr Izarra’s guffaws by devoting much of its front page to a photograph, taken last December, of bodies in the Caracas morgue. The authorities announced that they would prosecute the paper for contravening a law protecting children and young people from violent images. Even so, four other newspapers reproduced the photograph. The country’s chief detective said the picture had been taken in 2006, and conditions had improved since then. But with the media barred from the morgue, the point was hard to prove. Mr Chávez speaks on television and radio for hours on end, several times a week. But for years he has said little or nothing about rising crime. The strategy of ignoring the issue worked politically. In opinion polls, a majority did not hold him directly responsible. As the violence mounts, that seems to be changing. “People are beginning to blame the president,” says Saúl Cabrera of Consultores 21, a pollster. In one of its polls, taken in early June, 55% of respondents held Mr Chávez directly responsible for their most urgent problems, with crime at the top of the list. To judge by the reaction of official spokesmen this week, Mr Chávez’s people are well aware of the potential damage this might do in the election. The courts, which are controlled by the government, barred El Nacional from publishing any information about violence and then barred all print media from publishing any photos about the subject for a month. Apart from blaming the press, the regime is searching for other scapegoats. Héctor Navarro, a former education minister who is now a spokesman for the ruling socialist party, says crime is a product of the neglect of youth under the pre-Chávez regime. Mr Briceño-León, retorts that “they have a policy of blaming the previous government. But they don’t seem to realise that, after 11 years in power, they are the previous government.” ######################################################################################################## MANAGUA, NICARAGUA {08-18-2010} NICARAGUA'S DANIEL ORTEGA LAYS GROUNDWORK TO STAY IN POWER MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE THE CONSTITUTION BARS NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT DANIEL ORTEGA FROM SEEKING REELECTION NEXT YEAR, but that's not stopping the one-time leftist revolutionary. Billboards and murals are going up across Nicaragua announcing ``Daniel -- 2011,'' making it plain that Ortega intends to stay at the helm. At 64, Ortega still has some of the panache of his guerrilla days three decades ago, when the Sandinista National Liberation Front swept away the Somoza family dictatorship, which had ruled Nicaragua for four decades. Now, however, Ortega is laying the groundwork to rule Nicaragua for a long time himself in apparent defiance of the constitution. With some arm-twisting, Ortega gained a faint judicial green light to seek reelection. Last October, he won a ruling from a Supreme Court stacked with his supporters that Article 147 of the constitution, which bans the reelection of a sitting president, doesn't apply to him. “This is the only country in the world where the court has declared the constitution unconstitutional. . . . It's a legal subterfuge,'' said Vilma Núñez, the head of the Nicaraguan Center for the Defense of Human Rights, which at one time was sympathetic to the Sandinista front. Ortega also has made it clear that he's willing to shut down the National Assembly if it doesn't comply with his wishes. He has shown little inclination to ensure that next year's elections are free and fair. A key aide rejected letting international election observers monitor the vote. `SOMOZA SYNDROME' Former Sandinistas who have turned against Ortega say they detect in him the same authoritarianism that led them as young idealists to take up arms against the despised Somozas. Carlos Fernando Chamorro, a journalist who once edited the Sandinistas' Barricada newspaper, said that Ortega ``aspires to indefinite continuance in power. Many people say that he repeats the Somoza syndrome: He considers himself indispensable.'' A slight paunch, a receding hairline and a bigger bank account distinguish Ortega from his days as a leader of the Sandinista front, which battled the U.S.-backed contras and ruled from 1979 to 1990. Otherwise, his penchant for supporting radicals around the globe and enrapturing his supporters with fiery speeches remains intact. He embraces Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As a sop to Moscow in 2008, he recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Russia's five-day war with Georgia. Ortega's links to Chávez have been strong -- and lucrative -- and they include a sweetheart deal in which Venezuela sells Nicaragua crude oil at half price, which Ortega can resell, using the profit for whatever he wants. The deal began when Ortega was elected in 2006 after defeats in 1996 and 2001. Ortega wheels around Managua in a Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, and his offspring are known to enjoy luxury cars. “His sons have already savored the money. Many of them drive Range Rovers, Mercedes and BMWs in Costa Rica. They like what the oligarchs have. Ortega is starting to enjoy it, too,'' said Eduardo Montealegre, a center-right politician who lost the 2006 presidential vote to Ortega and plans to challenge him again in 2011. Curiously, Ortega doesn't rule from a government building. He presides from his one-story home in a walled compound along Managua's Parque el Carmen. “The presidency, the headquarters of the front and his private home are all there. It is a trio: family, state and party,'' said Moisés Hassan, a physicist who belonged to the front's ruling revolutionary junta in the early 1980s. The front exists today less as a political party than as a political vehicle for Ortega. Most of the nine comandantes who formed the party's national directorate left it years ago. Most decried Ortega's politics of expediency, which led to Nicaragua's banning of abortion to win favor from the Roman Catholic Church and an agreement to divvy up key judicial and electoral tribunal posts with former President Arnoldo Alemán, a political rival, at the expense of all other parties. In addition to his pact with Alemán, Ortega relies for political support on his wife, poet Rosario Murillo, a number of children and stepchildren and a handful of aides. He has shut off contact with the news media except for outlets run by the government. Presidential press office numbers are unlisted. Murillo didn't respond to an e-mail sent to her personal account. Members of the Ortega Cabinet rarely speak in public. “It's the first time where we have a government where you say, `Who's the minister of health? Who's the minister of education?' and no one knows,'' said Sergio Ramírez, a writer who was the vice president under Ortega in the late 1980s but later helped form a rival center-left party. Business leaders say they're convinced that Ortega is unlikely to confiscate property or implement policies, as he did in the 1980s, that trigger hyperinflation. “One of the things that President Ortega learned from his first period is not to let the economy fall apart,'' said José Adán Aguerri, the head of Nicaragua's largest business group, the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, or COSEP in its Spanish initials. Ortega has kept Nicaragua in the good graces of the International Monetary Fund, and he's cooperated with Washington on anti-narcotics and immigration matters, lashing out at U.S. imperialism only to rally domestic support. ################################################################################################### BOGOTA, COLOMBIA {08-09-2010} COLOMBIA'S NEW LEADER: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A POPULAR LEADER SIBYLLA BRODZINSKY PRESIDENT-ELECT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS OWES MUCH TO PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE. But observers say he will have to carefully balance securing the legacy of his popular predecessor with putting his own stamp on tackling Colombia's economic, social and security challenges. Santos will be inaugurated in a pomp-filled outdoor ceremony Saturday in a transfer of power from Uribe, who remains one of the country's most beloved presidents after his eight years in office. In addition to power, Uribe is transferring goodwill to his successor. In a recent Gallup poll, Uribe had a 75 percent approval rating while Santos had 76 percent. A 58-year-old economist, Santos is inheriting the reins of a nation that has made great strides after being besieged by leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, rampant drug trafficking and widespread corruption. But rebels, while weakened, have yet to be defeated. Demobilized paramilitaries are forming new illegal armies. And unemployment is among the highest in the region and 46 percent of Colombians live in poverty. While beating back leftist rebels and fighting powerful drug trafficking mafias will be central to his policies, Santos identified the country's high unemployment as a priority. One of his government's first initiatives will be to push through congress -- where he enjoys an overwhelming majority -- a bill promoting the hiring of first-time job seekers. THE BORDER ISSUE But one of his most immediate challenges lies just beyond Colombia's borders. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez broke relations with Colombia last month over charges that Venezuela had allowed senior leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the smaller National Liberation Army, ELN, to set up rear-guard camps across the border. Chávez, who has had a rocky relationship with Uribe, unexpectedly sent Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro to attend the swearing in of Santos, who has opted for a more conciliatory position to win Chávez's support in fighting the FARC. Political and security analyst Alejo Vargas said that strategy will need to include a new border security policy. “A policy to protect the border areas will have a positive impact on relations with the neighbors,'' he said. Santos will also have the delicate task of balancing the relationship with neighboring leftist leaders and with the United States, which considers Colombia its biggest ally in the region. He has said he wants to move beyond a relationship with Washington based on military assistance -- the U.S. provided more than $7 billion in assistance in the past decade -- to being a full partner in the fight against organized crime and terrorism. International relations analyst Arlene Tickner said now that the Obama administration is taking a different tack on the drug problem, there is a ``window of opportunity to discuss the achievements and failures'' of the relationship between the two nations. The new president will also have to decide whether to take up the FARC's offer for peace talks. A top FARC leader known as Alfonso Cano said in a video message the guerrilla group would be willing to talk to the new Colombian government to search for a political solution to the conflict. “Between all of us, we have to find common ground and, with the input of a majority of Colombians, we have to identify the difficulties, the problems and contradictions, and create perspectives and a way out of the armed conflict,'' Cano said. POSSIBLE TALKS Santos, who as defense minister oversaw some of the most decisive blows against the FARC, has said he does not rule out talks with the rebels if they first lay down their arms and release all the hostages they hold. At the same time, he will also have to turn his attention to the growing threat posed by neo-paramilitary groups that are behind the spike in urban crime, Vargas said. But perhaps his biggest challenge will be governing in the shadow of Uribe, in what the Inter-American Dialogue's Michael Shifter said would be a ``delicate dance'' to remain independent while still appearing faithful to his predecessor. Uribe shows no signs of being willing to quietly fade out of the political spotlight and will likely ``weigh in on a number of decisions,'' said Shifter, president of the Washington think tank. In the immediate future, Uribe will be busy beginning next week with his recent appointment as vice chair of an international panel that will investigate the violence that resulted from the Israeli boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. “This will give Santos some breathing room,'' said political analyst Jaime Duarte. But already Santos has shown a good measure of independence. He named Uribe's nemesis German Vargas Lleras to the interior and justice ministry, and Juan Camilo Restrepo, a harsh critic of Uribe's economic policies, to the agriculture ministry. For foreign minister, he tapped respected diplomat Maria Angela Holguin, who broke with Uribe over several appointments she saw as political favoritism. Also, Santos has already announced he plans to undo some of Uribe's measures, including the merging of several ministries. On Thursday, Uribe decorated Santos with the nation's highest medals. But some analysts say the parting of ways is certain. Before that can happen, however, Santos will have to ensure he has his own following, Duarte said. “He will have to generate enough confidence so that people understand that his inevitable distancing from Uribe is not a betrayal,'' he said. ####################################################################################################### BOGOTA, COLOMBIA {08-03-2010} COLOMBIA DENIES PLANS TO ATTACK VENEZUELA ASSOCIATED PRESS VENEZUELA HAS SENT EXTRA TROOPS TO ITS BORDER WITH COLOMBIA "IN CASE OF ATTACK" COLOMBIA HAS EMPHATICALLY DENIED it plans to attack Venezuela. The denial follows accusations by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez that his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, is "capable of anything". A spokesman for the Colombian government called President Chavez's remarks "deceptive" and said Bogota had never even considered an attack. On Friday,Chavez said he had sent extra forces to the border to boost Venezuela's defences. In a phone call to Venezuelan state television, he said the deployment included soldiers, air units and special forces. Colombian government spokesman Cesar Velasquez said claims that Bogota was planning to attack its "brother nation" were an attempt by President Chavez to deceive his people. "Colombia has gone through the proper international channels and will continue to insist on the application of international law to ensure Venezuela complies with its obligation not to harbour Colombian terrorists," he added. Venezuela severed relations with Colombia last week after a heated meeting at the Organization of American States. Bogota had called the extraordinary session of the regional body to formally complain about Venezuela allegedly tolerating Colombian rebel camps on its territory. The Colombian ambassador presented videos, photos and maps, which he said proved that 1,500 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and National Liberation Army (ELN) were operating inside Venezuela. Chavez angrily denied the accusation and immediately severed diplomatic ties with Colombia. The breakdown of relations was addressed at a meeting of the South American regional group Unasur (Union of South American Nations) on Thursday in Ecuador, but the foreign ministers gathered there were unable to resolve the crisis. They agreed to hold another meeting "at the highest level" to renew their mediation efforts. ##################################################################################################### MEXICO CITY, MEXICO {07-30-2010} MEXICAN ARMY KILLS KINGPIN IN DRUG WAR COUP ALBERTO FAJARDO //(REUTERS MEXICAN SOLDIERS KILLED DRUG BOSS IGNACIO "NACHO" CORONEL ON THURSDAY, the first major triumph this year for President Felipe Calderon's war against drug cartels but one that is unlikely to end spiraling violence. Mexican army shot dead Coronel, a senior member of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, as he exchanged fire with soldiers during a raid of a wealthy residential area in Guadalajara in western Mexico, officials said. "Nacho Coronel tried to escape, wounding military personnel ... dying as fire was returned," Edgar Villegas, a senior army official, told a news conference in Mexico City. One of the country's most-wanted traffickers, Coronel was known as the "King of Ice" for his multimillion-dollar methamphetamine business and was a top lieutenant of Sinaloa leader Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Mexico's top drug lord. Coronel, 56, was indicted in a Texas court for allegedly smuggling tonnes of narcotics into the United States and Europe since the early 1990s. The United States had offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture. Troops backed by military helicopters swarmed normally quiet streets in the upscale residential area of Zapopan in search of Coronel, who the army said led a low-profile life moving between two luxury houses in the area. The killing may provide a boost for Calderon, who has staked his presidency on winning the military campaign he launched against drug gangs in late 2006, sending thousands of soldiers, marines and federal police to fight the drug gangs. The conservative leader's image has been stained by the violence that has claimed an increasing number of civilian deaths, and a failure to implement promised clean-ups of endemic corruption in Mexico's police, courts and prisons. But drug trade experts cautioned that the Sinaloa cartel is a sophisticated, highly organized operation and was likely to bounce back quickly. "This is going to have a temporary impact on the methamphetamine market ... but someone else is going to take his place," said security analyst Alberto Islas. More than 26,000 people have died in drug violence across Mexico over the past 3-1/2 years, in a growing worry for the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. Some U.S. companies are starting to reconsider future investment plans in Ciudad Juarez and in Mexico's premier business city, Monterrey. Mexico's vital tourism industry is also under pressure. Calderon replaced his interior minister this month after coming under increasing pressure for the rising death toll in the drug war and a lack of victories since security forces shot dead top drug baron Arturo Beltran Leyva in December. Previous actions under Calderon's predecessor President Vicente Fox, including the 2003 arrest of Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas, one of the most powerful capos, did little to weaken Mexico's brazen drug cartels, however. Security specialists say Calderon will struggle to beat the cartels until Mexico backs up its military fight with a crackdown on money laundering and pushes ahead with a genuine overhaul of ill-paid police, many of whom work as hitmen, and prevents politicians from taking funding from drug gangs. "There is a different political problem -- governors and political parties are not taking responsibility. It's time for Mexican society to line up behind the president and fight this scourge in Mexico," said Tony Payan, a drugs expert at the University of Texas in El Paso. #######################################################################################################

* MILITANTS ATTACK NATO BASES IN AFGHANISTAN
* PRESIDENT OBAMA FACES MIDDLE EAST 'TRAIN WRECK' AS IRAN BUILDS NUCLEAR PROGRAM
* RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR HELP TO IRAN STIRS QUESTIONS ABOUT ITS 'IMPROVED' RELATIONS WITH U.S.
* NORTH KOREA FIRES ARTILLERY TOWARD WATERS OFF ITS WEST COAST AMID TENSION OVER WARSHIP SINKING
* A MESSAGE TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: CUBA WILL NOT BE RUSHED INTO REFORM, VP SAYS
* NORTH KOREA THREATENS 'PHYSICAL RESPONSE' TO U.S. MILITARY EXERCISEBY THE CNN WIRE STAFF
* ISRAEL: ROCKET DEFENSE SYSTEM READY TO GO
* EU: MOST IRAN AIR JETS BANNED FROM EUROPE
* TURKEY AND ISRAEL HOLD TALKS ON MENDING FENCES

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
{08-29-2010}

MILITANTS ATTACK NATO BASES IN AFGHANISTAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NSURGENTS LAUNCHED PRE-DAWN ATTACKS SATURDAY ON A MAJOR NATO BASE IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN and a nearby camp where seven CIA employees were killed last year in a homicide bombing. NATO said there were no coalition casualties and the attacks were repelled.

It said 13 insurgents were killed -- four of whom were wearing suicide vests -- and five captured. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry put the insurgent death toll in the attacks at 24, with five captured and no casualties on the police side.

The assaults on the sprawling Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province and nearby Camp Chapman came around 3 a.m., just as area residents were rising for early morning prayers.

The area, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Kabul near the border with Pakistan, is a hotbed of activity by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, including the December attack on Chapman that killed four CIA officers and three contracted security guards.

OnlineAfghan police said about 50 insurgents attacked using rifles, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, but had been repelled.

After being driven away from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were driven off, said Khost provincial police Chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai.

"Given the size of the enemy's force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it," he said.

Small arms fire continued through the morning, while NATO helicopters patrolled overhead.

Police captured a pickup truck laden with ammunition along with a light truck packed with explosives that had become stuck in deep mud, according to Maj. Wazir Pacha of the provincial police headquarters. Bomb specialists later destroyed the truck and its cargo, according to the Interior Ministry.

NATO said the dead insurgents were members of the Haqqani Network, a group with deep ties to al-Qaida accused of launching frequent raids across the border from neighboring Pakistan.

An airstrike on a truck in which insurgents were fleeing killed Mudasir, a senior Haqqani explosives expert suspected of arranging suicide bomb attacks, along with two other militants, NATO said.

In the southern provinces of Nimroz and Zabul, a total of seven Taliban were killed in fighting, police said. No police casualties were reported.

Separately, NATO said one of its patrols mistakenly fired on a vehicle carrying private security contractors in Wardak province west of Kabul, killing two men.

It said the patrol had come under Taliban fire early Saturday, then spotted a vehicle approaching fast from behind with a man shooting out its window.

"It is believed that the private security contractors were returning fire against the same insurgents who had just previously attacked the coalition vehicle, and had increased their speed to break contact," the coalition said in a statement.

The incident was under investigation, it said.

Coalition forces and private security contractors frequently come under small arms fire along the stretch of road known as Highway 2 that runs west through perilous country toward the city of Herat.

On Friday, homemade bombs killed three U.S. troops in southern and eastern Afghanistan, bringing the total number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this month to 55, including 35 Americans, according to a count by The Associated Press. July was the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, with 66 killed.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-22-2010}

PRESIDENT OBAMA FACES MIDDLE EAST 'TRAIN WRECK' AS IRAN BUILDS NUCLEAR PROGRAM
JUDSON BERGER  //  FOXNEWS.COM

THIS IS THE LAST ARTICLE OF A THREE-PART SERIES ON IRAN'S ENTRY INTO THE WORLD'S "NUCLEAR CLUB" as it begins fueling its nuclear reactor in Bushehr.

Oil prices spike. Shipping routes come under attack. Mideast peace talks collapse. Progress in Afghanistan is shattered. President Obama finds himself caught in a shouting match between Israel's supporters in America and critics abroad. And so much for restoring ties with the Muslim world.

That's just a sampling of what could happen if Israel or the United States launches an attack on Iran to halt what some see as its otherwise inexorable march toward developing a nuclear weapon. It sounds bad ... but Israel has vowed to forbid a nuclear-armed Iran, and the consequences of its bold words could be severe.

Anyone who thinks the president of the United States has it easy needs only to consider his predicament.

Amid speculation over whether Israel is gearing up for a strike on Iran's nuclear program, the political and diplomatic consequences for the Obama administration cannot be overstated. Former military and civilian officials who have studied the potential fallout of an attack on Iran warn of a global backlash that goes beyond warfare. The economy, America's image, the prospect of regime change ... all are up in the air.

Those consequences are no doubt on the minds of administration officials who, according to a new report, have persuaded Israel that an Iranian-controlled nuclear weapon still is at least one year away. Tensions are high as Russia prepares to help Iran load up its Bushehr reactor with nuclear fuel this weekend, and U.S. officials believe their assessment can head off an Israeli pre-emptive strike. At least for another year.

"We are looking at this issue very carefully," White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Friday, declining to elaborate when asked about the conversations between U.S. and Israeli officials.

For starters, the Obama administration would almost surely see peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians sidelined in the event of a strike -- just as a glimmer of progress was starting to shine. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Friday that the White House had invited both sides to Washington to resume direct peace talks starting Sept. 2. The goal is to tackle all the major divides within a year.

Sam Gardiner, a retired Air Force colonel and former faculty member at the National War College who has helped conduct Iran war games, said those talks would be history if Israel attacks Iran. One analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations said Washington and Jerusalem would divert from the negotiations while any attempt to persuade other nations to improve relations with Israel would be rebuffed. If Hamas retaliates on Iran's behalf, Israel has a ready excuse to suspend talks.

Gardiner said a strike on Iran would also drive up oil prices and could threaten economic recovery in the United States. Several analysts have warned that a strike would put Western shipping routes in the Persian Gulf at risk, disrupting trade and energy supplies.

But Gardiner said the president faces chaos no matter what happens.

"What he's got is a huge train wreck coming down," Gardiner said, expressing skepticism about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "In the last two weeks, it is clear to me that Iraq is not going to turn out well. It is clear to me that Afghanistan is going to get worse and not better."

Add concerns about Russia's allegiance, new demonstrations of extremism out of places like Yemen and Iran's nuclear movement, and "what you begin to see is a chaotic situation in the entire Middle East."

And that's if Obama does nothing.

Richard Russell, who served 17 years as an analyst with the CIA, added the plausible possibility that an advanced Iranian nuclear program would set off a nascent nuclear arms race in the Middle East, where countries other than Israel have their concerns about the Islamic Republic.

Should Israel step in to stop, or at least delay, this possibility, the Obama administration would face a political and diplomatic tug-of-war. And Obama's the rope.

Steven Simon, a former National Security Council official who wrote the CFR report, said many of America's allies would probably come down in opposition to Israel's actions, while many Americans would give their support. Few think a unilateral attack by Israel would not swiftly draw in the United States, inflicting a strain on the U.S. military.

"The White House would be in a difficult spot," Simon said.

Obama also has Iranian politics to worry about. The so-called Green Movement that mounted historic demonstrations against the regime last summer in the wake of Iran's disputed election has retreated into standby mode -- while an Israeli attack could spark a renewed internal challenge to the regime, it could also unite everyday Iranians behind the government and further marginalize the opposition.

Another counterproductive consequence is one Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned about last year -- that Iran could harden its determination to build a bomb in the wake of an attack.

A lengthy analysis last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said an Israeli-led attack "could be the beginning rather than the end of such a program." Iran could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and move on the fast track toward a weapon.

In the short term, Israel would be at obvious risk of ballistic missile attack from Iran while U.S. troops and facilities abroad would be likely targets for retaliation.

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who stirred up talk about an Israeli strike earlier in the week, said Friday it appears "very unlikely" Israel will launch an imminent attack to prevent the Bushehr facility from coming online.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., expressed concern about what he called the "headlong rush" to talk about military options, saying "the people who are advocating that underestimate the blowback from that action."

But it's not off the Israelis' minds, nor the Obama administration's.

Dan Gillerman, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News that Israel can act alone and that it's time for Obama to set an ultimatum, as well: Come clean, or "We will clean you out."

"Iran must realize that the military option is on the table -- that they're playing with fire," Gillerman said.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-16-2010}

RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR HELP TO IRAN STIRS QUESTIONS ABOUT ITS 'IMPROVED' RELATIONS WITH U.S.
FOXNEWS.COM

RUSSIA'S ANNOUNCEMENT that it will help Iran get nuclear fuel is raising questions about what President Obama calls the "better-than- ever" relationship between Russia and the U.S. after the two former Cold War adversaries recently signed a nuclear reduction treaty.

Obama also recently declared his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, would help the U.S. "secure strong, tough sanctions on Iran."

But Moscow announced Friday it will start loading fuel into Iran's first and only nuclear power plant next Saturday, giving Tehran a boost as it struggles with international sanctions and highlighting differences between Moscow and Washington over pressuring the Islamic Republic to give up activities that could be used to make nuclear arms.

Uranium fuel shipped by Russia will be loaded into the Bushehr reactor on August 21, beginning a process that will last about a month and end with the reactor sending electricity to Iranian cities, Russian and Iranian officials said Friday.

While the UN nuclear watchdog and U.S. officials say the Bushehr reactor is not a proliferation risk, Russia's decision to supply the fuel calls into question why Iran is enriching uranium in the first place.

"It quite clearly I think underscores that Iran does not need its own enrichment capability if its intentions as it states are for a peaceful program," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

If Russia carries out its plan, it will end years of foot-dragging on Bushehr. While Moscow signed a $1 billion contract to build the plant in 1995, its completion has been put off for years.

Moscow has cited technical reasons for the delays. But Bushehr has also been an ideal way to gain leverage with both Tehran and Washington.

Delaying the project has given Russia continued influence with Tehran in international attempts to have it stop uranium enrichment -- a program Iran says it needs to make fuel for an envisaged reactor network but which also can be used to create fissile warhead material. The delays also have served to placate the U.S., which opposes rewarding Iran while it continues to defy the U.N. Security Council with its nuclear activities.

After Russia said in March that Bushehr would be launched this year, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that until Iran reassures the world it is not trying to build a nuclear weapon, "it would be premature to go ahead with any project at this time."

Formally, the U.S. has no problem with Bushehr.

Although at first opposed to Russian participation in the project, Washington and its allies agreed to remove any reference to it in the first set of Security Council sanctions passed in 2006 in exchange for Moscow's support for those penalties. Three subsequent sanctions resolutions also have no mention of Bushehr.

Still, the U.S. sees the Russian move as a false signal to Tehran as Washington strives to isolate Iran politically and economically to force it to compromise on enrichment.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Bushehr "does not represent a proliferation risk. ... However, Bushehr underscores that Iran does not need its own indigenous enrichment capability. The fact that Russia is providing fuel is the very model the international community has offered Iran."

Russia, in turn, argues that the Bushehr project is essential for persuading Iran to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog and fulfill its obligations under international nuclear nonproliferation agreements.

Crowley added: "Our views on the Bushehr project should not be confused with the world's fundamental concerns with Iran's overall nuclear intentions, particularly its pursuit of uranium enrichment, and Iran's willful violation of its international obligations."

Russian officials did not say why they had decided to move ahead with loading fuel into the Bushehr plant now. But the move could have been triggered in part by Moscow's desire show the Iranians it can act independently from Washington after its decision to support the fourth set of U.N. sanctions in June and its continued refusal to ship surface-to-air missile systems that it agreed to provide under a 2007 contract to sell the S-300s.

The sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles would significantly boost Iran's ability to defend against airstrikes. Israel and the United States have strongly objected to the deal.

Russia has walked a fine line on Iran for years. One of six world powers leading international efforts to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon, it has strongly criticized the U.S. and the European Union for following up with separate sanctions after the latest U.N. penalties -- which Moscow supported -- were passed.

"We expect Iran to meet established international norms and practices to ensure the safe operation of the reactor under full safeguards monitoring" by the IAEA, Crowley said

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
{08-10-2010}

NORTH  KOREA FIRES ARTILLERY TOWARD WATERS OFF ITS WEST COAST AMID TENSION OVER WARSHIP SINKING
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NORTH KOREA fired about 110 rounds of artillery Monday near its disputed sea border with South Korea, the South's military said, amid high tension over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea.

The firing came shortly after South Korea ended five-day naval drills off the west coast that the North called a rehearsal for an invasion, vowing to retaliate.

All the artillery shells harmlessly landed into the North's waters and caused no damage to the South, a South Korean Joint Chief of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

South Korea considered the firing to be part of a military drill by North Korea but still bolstered its military readiness against further provocation, the officer said. The South also warned Pyongyang over the firing by naval radio, he said.

"This was their way of saying 'We'll respond to military drills with military drills,'" said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean studies.

North Korea has long sought a peace treaty and diplomatic relations with Washington to guarantee that the U.S., which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, would not invade and topple Kim Jong Il's government. The U.S. has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking the North.

Tension on the Korean peninsula is running high in the wake of the March sinking of the South Korean warship that an international investigation blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. The North flatly denies the accusation and has warned any punishment would trigger war.

Tension deepened last week when South Korea launched large-scale naval training in response to the sinking, prompting its communist neighbor to warn it would counter the maneuvers with a "strong physical retaliation."

On Sunday, North Korean authorities also seized four South Korean and three Chinese fishermen aboard a 41-ton South Korean fishing boat for an alleged violation of the North's exclusive economic zone. South Korea has demanded the North quickly release them but the North has not responded.

China — the North's main benefactor and traditional ally — expressed concern over news of the seizure but said its diplomats in North Korea are verifying the report with local authorities, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Monday night.

Once the incident is confirmed, the North Koreans should treat the Chinese crew members well, guarantee their rights and inform Chinese officials, Xinhua reported, citing consulate officials in Chongjin, North Korea.

The South Korean naval drills, which ended on Monday afternoon, followed large-scale joint military exercises with the U.S. last month off the east coast. The South Korean drills included exercises near the western sea border where the warship Cheonan exploded and sank, killing 46 sailors.

The area is also where the navies of the rival Koreas have fought three bloody gunbattles since 1999.

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SANTA CLARA, CUBA
{07-27-2010}

A MESSAGE TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: CUBA WILL NOT BE RUSHED INTO REFORM, VP SAYS
ROSA TANIA VALDES //  REUTERS

CUBAN LEADERS WILL NOT BE RUSHED INTO DECISIONS ABOUT ECONOMIC REFORMS and whatever they do will be faithful to the ideals of the Cuban revolution, Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said on Monday in a nationally televised speech.

Machado Ventura, a veteran of the revolution and longtime Castro loyalist, spoke at a celebration marking the 57th anniversary of the start of the revolution that put Fidel Castro in power in 1959.

President Raul Castro was expected to speak, but he was only a spectator at the event and older brother Fidel Castro, who has re-emerged in recent weeks after four years in seclusion, did not attend.

"We will proceed with a sense of responsibility, step by step, at the rhythm we determine, without improvisation or haste so as not to make mistakes," Machado Ventura said to a crowd estimated at 90,000 in the central city of Santa Clara.

"We will continue the study, the analysis and the taking of decisions that lead to overcoming our deficiencies," he said. "We will not conduct ourselves by campaigns of the foreign press."

Machado Ventura spoke in front of a monument holding the remains of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Argentine who helped lead the armed insurrection that began on July 26, 1953.

On that day, Fidel Castro led an assault by young rebels on the Moncada military barracks in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

The attack failed, with many of the rebels killed, but it marked the beginning of the end for the government of U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, who fled the country on January 1, 1959.

"Today we confirm the commitment with them to be loyal to the ideas for which they gave their lives," Machado Ventura said, referring to those who died in the assault.

Even though President Castro did not speak as he has in past July 26 celebrations, Machado Ventura's words echoed his earlier pronouncements that the government must act deliberately to avoid mistakes that could endanger the future of Cuban communism when the current generation of leaders is gone.

Castro, 79, has tweaked the system to try to create incentives for greater productivity, but his efforts have not yet raised salaries for most Cubans, who receive social benefits but earn on average the equivalent of $18 a month.

Many have said they are eager for improvements, but some people at Monday's event said they agreed with the government's direction.

"Machado made clear that we have to change things, but without anybody interfering. It's a matter for the Cubans and we don't accept pressure from anyone," said Griselda Rodriguez, the head of the agricultural union of the state of Villa Clara.

Machado Ventura, 79, cited three 2008 hurricanes and the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against the island as principal causes for Cuba's current economic lethargy.

Raul Castro surprised many earlier this month by agreeing to release 52 political prisoners in a deal with the Catholic Church that quieted international criticism about Cuba's human rights record.

Machado Ventura did not mention the release of the prisoners, who Cuban leaders view as mercenaries working with the United States to topple the communist government.

There had been expectations that Fidel Castro, 83, might attend the event since he recently reappeared after undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006.

He has made several appearances covered by state-run media in which he has warned that nuclear war is imminent, sparked by conflict between the United States and Iran.

Fidel Castro ceded power provisionally to his brother at the time of surgery, then officially resigned in February 2008 and Raul Castro was elected his successor by the National Assembly.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was scheduled to speak at Monday's celebration, but canceled his trip due to escalating tensions between Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
{07-25-2010}

NORTH KOREA THREATENS 'PHYSICAL RESPONSE' TO U.S. MILITARY EXERCISEBY THE CNN WIRE STAFF
CNN

NORTH KOREA VOWED FRIDAY THAT THERE WOULD BE A "PHYSICAL RESPONSE" in reaction to the planned joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea.

"There will be a physical response against the threat imposed by the United States militarily," North Korea spokesman Ri Tong Il told reporters outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting.

About 8,000 military personnel from the United States and South Korea are scheduled to participate in joint military exercises beginning this weekend.

Earlier Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sharply criticized North Korea in prepared remarks at the meeting.

"Peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean Peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behavior," she said.

Clinton said North Korea was responsible for the March attack on South Korea's Cheonan warship, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

An international investigation blamed North Korea for the sinking, an assertion the North has denied. Earlier this month, the United Nations formally condemned the sinking of the ship, but did not specifically name North Korea.

But Clinton was clear in her condemnation Friday.

"Here in Asia, an isolated and belligerent North Korea has embarked on a campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior," she said.

Ri described the planned U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise as "another example of a hostile policy" against North Korea.

"It is a grave threat to the Korean peninsula and also to the region of Asia as a whole," he said.

He said the exercise was against North Korea's sovereignty and security.

The military exercise, dubbed "Invincible Spirit," is scheduled to run from July 25 to July 28. In addition to the 8,000 personnel involved, military officials say it will include 20 ships and submarines and about 200 aircraft.

"The purpose of this readiness exercise is to highlight Alliance resolve to face any threat North Korea may pose," the Combined Alliance Joint Naval and Air Exercises said said in a statement announcing the military exercises Tuesday.

Gen. Han Min-koo, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Tuesday's statement that the exercises will show the military's readiness and resolve.

"We stand fully prepared to respond militarily to any further North Korean provocation," he said.

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JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
{07-20-2010}

ISRAEL: ROCKET DEFENSE SYSTEM READY TO GO
MARK LAVIE //  ASSOCIATED PRESS

A SYSTEM THAT CAN SHOOT DOWN INCOMING ROCKETS HAS PASSED ITS LAST TESTS AND WILL BE READY FOR DEPLOYMENT IN A FEW MONTHS, ISRAEL'S DEFENSE MINISTRY SAID MONDAY. If effective, it could have far-reaching strategic implications for Israel's battle against militant groups on its borders.

The "Iron Dome" system uses sophisticated radar to track incoming rockets, intercepting and destroying them far from their targets. It is the only anti-rocket system of its kind in the world, according to experts.

Its aims to protect Israel from homemade and imported rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza, as well as the more sophisticated rockets in the hands of Hezbollah guerrillas on Israel's border with Lebanon.

The successful tests completed Monday involved destroying multiple incoming targets in coordination with other air force systems, Israel's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the first two Iron Dome batteries would be deployed by November. Defense officials said they would be posted near the town of Sderot, near the Gaza border, a favorite target of Palestinian rocket squads.

Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired thousands of homemade rockets at Israel's border settlements, often making life difficult there and traumatizing residents while causing relatively few casualties.

Israel launched a fierce three-week military campaign in Gaza in December 2008 to try to stop the barrages. During that war, Palestinian militants also fired longer range Grad missiles that hit Israeli cities, including Ashkelon and Beersheba.

Israel came under stiff international criticism after the war because of widespread destruction and death of about 1,000 civilians.

In 2006, Israel fought an intense monthlong war against Hezbollah, which fired almost 4,000 rockets at Israel during the conflict.

The Defense Ministry statement Monday said the Iron Dome system is meant "to protect the state of Israel from short-range rockets and missiles."

Wide deployment of an anti-rocket system could significantly change the Mideast military equation.

Because of the superiority of Israel's military, its enemies consider hitting Israeli cities as the most effective strategy in a war against the Jewish state.

Also, Israel expressed concern that if a Palestinian state were created in the West Bank, Israel's main international airport would be in range of Palestinian rockets. An effective anti-rocket system like "Iron Dome" could reduce those concerns.

The Israeli defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were going beyond the ministry's statement, said it would take years to deploy enough batteries to protect both borders, because of budget constraints.

In the statement, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak pledged, "We will move toward operational deployment of the batteries in the field as soon as possible."

Development of the "Iron Dome" cost about $200 million. Critics say it would prove too expensive to fire advanced missiles at cheap, primitive rockets.

Several years ago Israel deployed the "Arrow" anti-missile system, designed to intercept and destroy missiles in the upper atmosphere.

The joint Israel-U.S. system is designed to give protection against missiles that could be fired at Israel from Iran.

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* NORTH KOREA'S KIM SAYS WANTS NUCLEAR TALKS RESTARTED
* IRAN HAS MATERIAL FOR 1-2 ATOM BOMBS: EX-IAEA AIDE
* IRAN SEARCHING FOR NEW DOMESTIC URANIUM DEPOSITS
* US TROOPS UNLIKELY TO RESUME COMBAT DUTIES IN IRAQ
* IRAN KEEPS NUCLEAR OPTIONS OPEN
* SKOREA, US LAUNCH WAR GAMES DESPITE NKOREA THREAT
* SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 60 AT IRAQI RECRUITING POSTUPDATED: 47 MINUTES AGO

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
{09-01-2010}

NORTH KOREA'S KIM SAYS WANTS NUCLEAR TALKS RESTARTED
CHRIS BUCKLEY  //  REUTERS

NORTH KOREA'S LEADER KIM JONG-IL wants an early restart to stalled nuclear disarmament talks, Chinese state media said on Monday, ending official silence about Kim's secretive five-day trip ahead of a key congress.

Kim, who rarely leaves his isolated state, told Chinese President Hu Jintao he remained committed to the "denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula.

"North Korea has not shifted in its support of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and does not want to see tensions on the peninsula," Kim told Hu in the northeast Chinese city of Changchun, according to Chinese state television's main evening news.

Kim "hopes to maintain close communication and coordination with China to promote an early resumption of the six-party talks and ease tensions on the Korean peninsula," it added, referring to stalled multilateral talks on the North's nuclear program.

Hu said that maintaining peace and stability in Korea was "everyone's aspiration," adding talks on the North's nuclear ambitions should "be restarted as quickly as possible."

The reports did not mention Kim's youngest son. A source had told Reuters at the weekend that Kim had been accompanied by his youngest son -- his presumed heir -- in what analysts said could be an attempt to gain support for his succession plans.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency also made no mention of Kim's son, although, in a possible oblique reference, it quoted him telling a banquet in his honor: "Steadily developing the friendship (between North Korea and China) through generations is an important issue in defending peace and security in the Northeast Asia and the rest of the world."

Kim's words may help ease regional tensions also fueled by the sinking of a South Korean navy ship, but there are many obstacles to resuming the six-party talks aimed an ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development.

"At least verbally, this is a significant shift, but we will have to observe just what he means by six-party talks. It may be that North Korea's concept for them differs from other sides'," said Zhang Liangui, an expert on North Korea at the Central Party School, a prominent state institute in Beijing.

North Korea may seek to shift the focus in any fresh negotiations away from its own nuclear disarmament and to broader demands, including an end to U.N. sanctions, a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War and broader international nuclear disarmament.  "Effectively, that amounts to demanding North Korea's recognition as a nuclear power," said Zhang.

Kim, 68, last visited China in May. Both sides confirm his visits only after he has returned to North Korea on his armored train. China is the only major backer of North Korea, which is isolated from the international community over its nuclear weapons program, including test blasts in 2006 and 2009.

Pyongyang came under further condemnation after South Korea said it had torpedoed one of its navy ships in March, killing 46 sailors. State television showed Hu and an alert-looking but limping Kim hugging each other. Kim is widely believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 and in previous public appearances has come across as haggard and shuffling.

The report also showed a sunglass-wearing Kim visiting farms and factories, including one where China makes high-speed trains, and a middle school where his father was educated in the 1920s, during his tour of two northeastern Chinese provinces. South Korea and Japan have been skeptical about recent North Korean claims it wants to come back to the negotiating table.

The March sinking of the South Korean navy ship deepened tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul and strained Chinese ties with South Korea. North Korea denies Seoul's accusations it was behind the incident. KCNA was silent on Kim's comments about the nuclear disarmament talks that North Korea had called finished for good.

Kim was accompanied by a large contingent of aides spanning the military, regional bureaucrats and most notably key officials of the Workers' Party of Korea that is scheduled to meet for a rare conference in early September.

Jang Song-thaek, Kim's brother in law who has been most visible at the reclusive leader's side, was among the people traveling with him, KCNA said. Jang is considered an important backer of Kim's youngest son as heir to the dynastic state.

Kim is thought to have brought along his youngest son Kim Jong-un, widely seen as the next head of the dynasty that has led North Korea since its founding more than 60 years ago.

Kim may be lining up China behind succession plans, foreign analysts have said. The Workers' Party, which rubber-stamps big decisions in the North, is due to hold a rare meeting in September that could set in motion succession steps.

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PARIS, FRANCE
{08-27-2010}

IRAN HAS MATERIAL FOR 1-2 ATOM BOMBS: EX-IAEA AIDE
REUTERS

IRAN HAS STOCKPILED ENOUGH LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM FOR 1-2 NUCLEAR ARMS but it would not make sense for it to cross the bomb-making threshold with only this amount, a former top U.N. nuclear official was quoted as saying.

CollegeDegreeNetwork.comIn unusual public remarks about Iran's disputed nuclear programme Olli Heinonen, the former chief of U.N. nuclear inspections worldwide, told Le Monde newspaper that Iran's uranium reserve still represented a "threat."

Until he stepped down earlier this month for personal reasons, Heinonen was deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and head of its nuclear safeguards department, which verifies that countries' nuclear programmes are not being diverted for military use.

A no-nonsense Finn, he was one of the U.N. agency's leading experts on Iran, which denies Western suspicions that its nuclear programme is aimed at making bombs despite intelligence indications to the contrary, which he investigated for years.

In the interview published on Thursday, Heinonen said the Islamic Republic now possessed three tonnes of low-enriched uranium, material which can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, or form the core of a bomb if refined much further.

"In theory, it is enough to make one or two nuclear arms. But to reach the final step, when one only has just enough material for two weapons, does not make sense," Heinonen said in the interview carried out just before he left office.

In comments translated from English to French, he suggested this was not sufficient to constitute a serious bargaining chip in any negotiations with the United States, the Islamic Republic's old adversary.

"But this constitutes a ... threat," he said, apparently referring to Iran's LEU stockpile.

Heinonen said the United States estimated that Iran would need a year to convert its low-enriched uranium to higher-grade material, adding that this was a not a "bad estimate."

|   Top Pentagon officials told the U.S. Congress in April that Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon in as little as a year -- but would probably need three to five years to assemble, test and deploy it.

World powers hope that new U.N., U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Iran since June will persuade it to enter negotiations on its nuclear programme which the West hopes will lead to a suspension of all uranium enrichment activity.

Iran, which says its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more of its gas and oil, has repeatedly ruled out halting enrichment, while keeping the door open for talks.

Heinonen is probably best known for giving a closed-door presentation to diplomats on Iran in 2008 which indicated links between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.

His department's five-year investigation based on Western intelligence funneled to the agency helped harden IAEA concerns that Iran might have worked to develop a nuclear-armed missile and was still doing so.

Tehran says the intelligence is forged and that its atomic work is solely for peaceful purposes.

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TEHRAN, IRAN
{08-26-2010}

IRAN SEARCHING FOR NEW DOMESTIC URANIUM DEPOSITS 
ALI AKBAR DAREINI  //  ASSOCIATED PRESS

IRAN said Wednesday it is making the search for new uranium deposits in the country a top priority now that it has started up its first in a planned network of nuclear power plants.

The head of Iran's atomic energy agency did not explain why Iran was intensifying the exploration at home. Tehran has in the past denied its uranium stockpile was running low, as some international nuclear experts have concluded.

U.N. Security Council sanctions bar countries from selling uranium to Iran in response to its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to produce fuel for power plants or material for bombs.

"The most important priority, after the Bushehr nuclear power plant, is the exploration and discovery of uranium throughout the country," the official IRNA news agency quoted nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.

The United States and other nations have tried to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium out of concern Tehran is seeking a pathway to weapons production under the cover of its civil nuclear power program. Iran denies such an aim and says it only wants to enrich uranium to fuel a future network of power plants.

With Russian help, Iran began loading uranium fuel into its first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr on Saturday after years of delays.

Salehi, who is also Iran's vice president, said only one-third of the country has been explored for uranium deposits. He said the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will carry out exploration work anywhere it detects a uranium vein.

"With the assistance of President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and the allocation of a budget, we hope to survey the whole country as far as uranium exploration is concerned," Salehi was quoted by IRNA as saying. He didn't elaborate but said the study and exploration activities throughout Iran may take eight years.

"Anywhere there is a vein of uranium, we will enter into exploration work," the Iranian government website quoted Salehi as saying.

International experts have said Iran's stockpile of uranium oxide - used to make the gas that is spun through centrifuges in the enrichment process - appears to be rapidly diminishing.

Tehran still has hundreds of tons of the uranium hexafluoride gas used in the enrichment process.

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency believes Iran's rapidly expanding enrichment program has been built on 600 tons of uranium oxide imported from South Africa during the 1970s as part of plans by the U.S.-backed shah to build a civil nuclear power program.

The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said last year that, based on 2008 IAEA statistics, Iran had already used up close to three-quarters of its South African supply.

Iran's own principal source of uranium is the Saghand mine in the center of the country, which has the capacity to produce 132,000 tons (120,000 metric tons) of ore per year. Located about 300 miles (480 kilometers) south of Tehran, the mine consists of an open pit with minimal reserves and a deep mine. It has a total estimated uranium ore reserve of 1.73 million tons (1.58 million metric tons).

It also has smaller uranium deposits near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas where a mill is reportedly converting raw uranium into uranium ore concentrate known as yellowcake.

Iran announced discoveries of new uranium deposits in 2006 at three sites in the central Khoshoomi, Charchooleh and Narigan areas.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-24-2010}

US TROOPS UNLIKELY TO RESUME COMBAT DUTIES IN IRAQ
LOLITA C. BALDOR // ASSOCIATED PRESS

IT WOULD TAKE "A COMPLETE FAILURE" OF THE IRAQI SECURITY FORCES FOR THE U.S. TO RESUME COMBAT OPERATIONS THERE, the top American commander in Iraq said as the final U.S. fighting forces prepared to leave the country.

With a major military milestone in sight, Gen. Ray Odierno said in interviews broadcast Sunday that any resumption of combat duties by American forces is unlikely.

"We don't see that happening," Odierno said. The Iraqi security forces have been doing "so well for so long now that we really believe we're beyond that point."

President Barack Obama plans a major speech on Iraq after his return to Washington, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because details were being finalized. The speech will come shortly after Obama returns to the White House on Aug. 29 from his Martha's Vineyard vacation.

About 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in the country until the end of 2011 to serve as a training and assistance force, a dramatic drawdown from the peak of more than 170,000 during the surge of American forces in 2007.

Obama will face a delicate balancing act in his speech between welcoming signs of progress and bringing an end to the 7-year-old war without prematurely declaring the mission accomplished, as former President George W. Bush once did.

U.S. involvement in Iraq beyond the end of 2011, Odierno said, probably would involve assisting the Iraqis secure their airspace and borders.

While Iraq forces can handle internal security and protect Iraqis, Odierno said he believes military commanders want to have the U.S. involved beyond 2011 to help Iraqis acquire the required equipment, training and technical capabilities.

He said Iraq's security forces have matured to the point where they will be ready to shoulder enough of the burden to permit the remaining 50,000 soldiers to go home at the end of next year.

If the Iraqis asked that American troops remain in the country after 2011, Odierno said U.S. officials would consider it, but that would be a policy decision made by the president and his national security advisers.

Odierno's assessment, while optimistic, also acknowledges the difficult road ahead for the Iraqis as they take control of their own security, even as political divisions threaten the formation of the fledgling democracy.

South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who's on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that he hopes "we will have an enduring relationship of having some military presence in Iraq. I think that would be smart not to let things unwind over the next three or five years."

On Thursday, the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division began crossing the border from Iraq into Kuwait, becoming the last combat brigade to leave Iraq. Its exodus, along with that of the approximately 2,000 remaining U.S. combat forces destined to leave in the coming days, fulfills Obama's pledge to end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31.

In interviews with CBS' "Face the Nation" and CNN's "State of the Union," Odierno said it may take several years before America can determine if the war was a success.

"A strong democratic Iraq will bring stability to the Middle East, and if we see Iraq that's moving toward that, two, three, five years from now, I think we can call our operations a success," he said.

Much of that may hinge on whether Iraq's political leaders can overcome ethnic divisions and work toward a more unified government, while also enabling security forces to tamp down a simmering insurgency.

Iraq's political parties have been bickering for more than five months since the March parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner. They have yet to reach agreements on how to share power or whether to replace embattled Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and amid the political instability, other economic and governmental problems fester.

Fueling that instability is neighboring Iran which, Odierno said, continues to fund and train Shiite extremist groups.

"They don't want to see Iraq turn into a strong democratic country. They'd rather see it become a weak governmental institution," said Odierno.

He added that he is not worried that Iraq will fall back into a military dictatorship, as it was under the reign of Saddam Hussein.

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TEHRAN, IRAN
{08-23-2010}

IRAN KEEPS NUCLEAR OPTIONS OPEN

"THE COUNTRY'S LARGE SCALE NEED TO ENERGY IS OBVIOUS and that is the reason why we want to produce the required fuel ourselves," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency. He said Iran needs the uranium to supply future power reactors.

Uranium enrichment is one of two paths to a nuclear bomb. Iran could potentially go the plutonium route with its Bushehr reactor, but Moscow has pledged to prevent spent nuclear fuel at the new site from being shifted to a possible weapons program.

Reflecting deeper international concern about the enrichment program, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said last week that the Bushehr progress "underscores that Iran does not need its own enrichment capability if its intentions, as it states, are for a peaceful nuclear program."

"If the Iranians are sincere in a peaceful program, their needs can be met without undertaking its own enrichment program, which call into question its motives," Gibbs said.

With Iran now proceeding on two tracks with its nuclear energy program, the White House reportedly has helped forestall a possible Israeli strike on the program - at least for another year. There was speculation that Israel had a narrow window this past week to strike at Bushehr before nuclear fuel was loaded and the danger of radiation from an attack became too great. But The New York Times reported that the White House persuaded the Israelis that a nuclear weapon, should Iran pursue it, is at least one year from being developed.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Friday that the Obama administration is "very concerned" about Iran's activity, declining to elaborate on the conversations with the Israelis.

"We need to stay focused on preventing Iran from having a nuclear capability," Brennan said.

Even as Iran's nuclear chief said the plant demonstrated the country has only peaceful aims, he celebrated it as a defiant "symbol of Iranian resistance and patience" in the face of Western pressure.

"Despite all pressure, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the startup of the largest symbol of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters inside the plant.

Washington and other nations do not oppose Iran's stated aim of producing nuclear energy, but are concerned that if Iran masters the enrichment cycle it would have a pathway to weapons production under the convenient cover of a peaceful energy program.

It is the enrichment work that has been the target of four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

After years of delaying its completion, Moscow says it believes the Bushehr project is essential for persuading Iran to cooperate with international efforts to ensure Iran does not develop the bomb.

The United States, while no longer formally objecting to the plant, disagrees and says Iran should not be rewarded while it continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.

On Saturday, a first truckload of fuel was taken from a storage site to a fuel "pool" inside the reactor building under the watch of monitors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Over the next two weeks, 163 fuel assemblies -- equal to 80 tons of uranium fuel -- will be moved inside the building and then into the reactor core.

Workers in white lab coats and helmets led reporters on a tour of the cavernous facility.

It will be another two months before the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor is pumping electricity to Iranian cities.

The Bushehr plant is not widely considered a proliferation risk because the terms of the deal commit the Iranians to allowing the Russians to retrieve all used reactor fuel for reprocessing. Spent fuel contains plutonium, which can be used to make atomic weapons. Additionally, Iran has said that IAEA experts will be able to verify that none of the fresh fuel or waste is diverted.

Of greater concern to the West, however, are Iran's stated plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds. Iran said recently it will begin construction on the first one in March in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

Nationwide celebrations were planned for Saturday's fuel loading at Bushehr.

"I thank the Russian government and nation, which cooperated with the great Iranian nation and registered their name in Islamic Iran's golden history," Salehi said. "Today is a historic day and will be remembered in history."

He spoke at a news conference inside the plant with the head of Russia's state-run nuclear corporation, Sergei Kiriyenko, who said Russia was always committed to the project.

"The countdown to the Bushehr nuclear power plant has started," Kiriyenko said. "Congratulations."

Iran's hard-liners consider the completion of the plant to be a show of defiance against U.N. Security Council sanctions that seek to slow Iran's other nuclear advances.

Hard-line leader Hamid Reza Taraqi said the launch will boost Iran's international standing and "will show the failure of all sanctions" against Iran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Friday that Tehran was ready to resume negotiations with the six major powers trying to curb Iran's enrichment work -- the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany.

Ahmadinejad, however, insisted Iran would reject calls to completely halt uranium enrichment, a key U.N. demand. The president had earlier said the talks could start in September, but in an interview with Japan's biggest newspaper, The Yomiuri Shimbun, he said the talks could start as early as this month.

Russia signed a $1 billion contract to build the Bushehr plant in 1995 but has dragged its feet on completing the work.

Moscow had cited technical reasons for the delays, but analysts say Russia used the project to try to press Iran to ease its defiance over its nuclear program.

The uranium fuel Russia has supplied for Bushehr is well below the more than 90 percent enrichment needed for a nuclear warhead. Iran is already producing its own uranium enriched to the Bushehr level -- about 3.5 percent. It also has started a pilot program of enriching uranium to 20 percent, which officials say is needed for a medical research reactor.

The Bushehr site is about 745 miles south of Tehran. Russians began shipping fuel for the plant in 2007 and carried out a test-run of the plant in February 2009.

Iran says it plans to build other reactors and says designs for a second rector in southwestern Iran are taking shape.

The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Iran's U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi contracted with the German company Siemens to build the reactor. The company withdrew from the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah.

The partially finished plant later sustained damages after it was bombed by Iraq during its 1980-88 war against Iran.

Before making the Russian deal to complete Bushehr, Iran signed pacts with Argentina, Spain and other countries only to see them canceled under U.S. pressure.

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
{08-18-2010}

SKOREA, US LAUNCH WAR GAMES DESPITE NKOREA THREAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SOUTH KOREAN AND U.S. TROOPS LAUNCHED COMPUTERIZED MILITARY DRILLS MONDAY DESPITE NORTH KOREA WARNING IT WOULD RETALIATE WITH A "MERCILESS COUNTERBLOW" for the exercises Pyongyang considers rehearsal for invasion.

The 11-day drills, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, are annual war games that involve about 56,000 South Korean soldiers and 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and abroad, South Korea's Defense Ministry and the U.S. command in Seoul said Monday.

No field training is involved in the war games, in which alliance soldiers, mostly senior officers, sit at computers to practice how they engage in battles and hone their decision-making capabilities. The exercises are eventually designed to improve the allies' joint capability to defend the South and respond to any potential provocations, the U.S. military said in a statement last month.

Washington and Seoul engaged in joint naval drills last month off South Korea's east coast they called a show of unity after a South Korean warship was sunk in March. The allies blame a North Korea torpedo attack but Pyongyang denies involvement.

Pyongyang has for years threatened the South with destruction, though it has never followed through with an all-out military assault since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The Korean peninsula technically remains in a state of war because that conflict ended with an cease-fire, not a peace treaty. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea and tens of thousands more in the region.

Seoul and Washington say the routine military drills are purely defensive, while North Korea calls them preparation for an attack.

"It is another grave military provocation aimed at ... igniting a nuclear war" against North Korea, Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The country's military threatened Sunday to deal a "merciless counterblow" to the U.S. and South Korea, "the severest punishment no one has ever met in the world."

The North's military did not elaborate on how it would retaliate. South Korea's Defense Ministry said Monday it was keeping a close watch on North Korea and had spotted no suspicious activity.

Earlier this month, South Korea carried out its own naval drills near the tense western Korean sea border, and North Korea set off a barrage of artillery in response. The South is investigating whether land mines that have recently washed downriver from North Korea were deliberately floated by the North.

North Korea also seized a fishing boat with four South Korean and three Chinese crew earlier this month. The South has urged their release, but Pyongyang has not responded.

"We can prevent a war and maintain peace when we get thoroughly prepared," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told a Cabinet meeting Monday. "We have been doing the Ulchi drills every year, but the people may feel uneasy because the drills are taking place at a time of heightened inter-Korean tension following the (ship sinking)."

On Sunday, Lee urged North Korea to abandon military provocation and make a "courageous change" toward peace, and he outlined a path for the peninsula's unification. Lee - in a speech marking the 65th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule - proposed a three-stage unification process, in which the two countries achieve peace and economic integration before becoming a "community of the Korean nation."

North Koreans also marked Liberation Day by paying respect to a huge statue of the late founder of their country, Kim Il Sung. Streams of soldiers, ruling Workers' Party officials and ordinary citizens offered bouquets of flowers and bowed deeply before Kim's statue, according to the North's state media.

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BAGHDAD, IRAQ
{08-18-2010}

SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 60 AT IRAQI RECRUITING POSTUPDATED: 47 MINUTES AGO 
LAUREN FRAYER  //  AOL NEWS

A SUICIDE BOMBER KILLED 60 PEOPLE LINING UP OUTSIDE AN IRAQI ARMY RECRUITING POST IN CENTRAL BAGHDAD TODAY, in the country's first major attack of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and a possible harbinger of what's to come after U.S. troops dramatically scale back operations at the end of this month.

Army recruitment centers have been a frequent target of attacks by militants who want to deter Iraqis from volunteering to patrol their country once U.S. troops pull out. But today's attack near the former defense ministry was the bloodiest in Baghdad this summer, and followed three smaller bombings at the site last week.

At around 7:30 a.m., a single suicide bomber exploded his shrapnel-packed vest in a crowd of Iraqi army recruits lining up outside the former defense ministry, which now houses an army division, unidentified Iraqi officials told news agencies. Severed limbs lay scattered in pools of blood as Iraqi troops cordoned off the site and U.S. helicopters whirred overhead, the BBC reported.

With the Iraqi unemployment rate about about 60 percent, the center takes in an average of 250 new recruits each week, as Iraqi forces try to boost their numbers ahead of the U.S. military pullout.

An Iraqi sergeant in a bloodstained uniform told The New York Times the bomber "exploded himself among a group of soldiers and recruits."

"The recruiting has been going on for at least a week, and this was the last day," Sgt. Mohammed Hassan told the paper. "We were not expecting it because it was the final day."

A surviving recruit, 21-year-old Ali Ibrahim, said he'd been lining up since 3 a.m. "Then the explosion happened and I was thrown on my back," he told The Associated Press. "It was a tragic scene."

American troops are scaling down to 50,000 by Aug. 31 and formally ending their combat mission in Iraq. They are due to pull out altogether by the end of next year. That process has bathed Iraq in uncertainty about whether its own forces are capable of maintaining security. And it's been complicated by a political void after March elections failed to yield a clear winner.

Despite the White House's assurances that Iraqi troops are up to the job, a top Iraqi general said last week that he thinks it will be another 10 years before Iraq's military is able to cope without American help.

Violence has plummeted in Iraq since the height of sectarian killings of 2007, when the U.S. had about 160,000 troops in the country. But the country has seen a spike in attacks this summer. The Iraqi government says more than 500 Iraqis died last month, making it the deadliest month since May 2008, the AP reported.

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* ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS RESUME DIRECT TALKS
* CANADA INTERCEPTS TWO RUSSIAN BOMBERS
* OBAMA'S AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL DATE BOLSTERS ENEMY: MARINES
* U.S. ASSURES ISRAEL THAT IRAN THREAT IS NOT IMMINENT
* WORST-CASE SCENARIOS: POSSIBLE STRIKE PLANS FOR IRAN INVOLVE RISKY OPTIONS
* U.S. SOUNDS ALARM AT CHINA'S MILITARY BUILDUP
* ISRAEL HAS UNTIL WEEK'S END TO STRIKE IRAN NUCLEAR FACILITY, BOLTON SAYS

WASHINGTON, D.C.
{09-03-2010}

ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS RESUME DIRECT TALKS 
U.S. NEWS STAFF

SEEKING TO BROKER A MIDEAST PEACE AGREEMENT THAT HAS ELUDED U.S. PRESIDENTS FOR DECADES, the Obama administration is overseeing the first direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in nearly two years.

After a day and evening in White House talks with President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sit down together Thursday for the first of what American officials hope will be a series of meetings that lead in a year's time to an agreement on the creation of a Palestinian state.

"This moment of opportunity may not soon come again," Obama said at the White House Wednesday night.

Obama said he was "cautiously hopeful" about the talks, which begin with dim expectations and have been marred by two shooting attacks against Israelis in as many days.

Mediated at the State Department by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and special Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell, the two leaders' discussions face numerous obstacles, not least renewed violence and provocations from Israelis and Palestinians opposed to the goal of an independent Palestine and secure Israel.

Gunmen from the militant Palestinian Hamas group, which opposes the talks, killed four Israeli residents of a West Bank settlement on Tuesday as Netanyahu, Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan convened in Washington. And on Wednesday, hours before the leaders were to eat dinner together at the White House, gunmen wounded two Israelis as they drove in their car in another part of the West Bank. Hamas claimed responsibility for that attack as well.

After the first attack, security forces loyal to Abbas, who heads a moderate government in the West Bank, quickly rounded up 250 Hamas members and supporters. Netanyahu said the violence would not disrupt the talks.

Before the White House dinner with Netanyahu, Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, Obama said they all had a stake in the peace efforts as leaders and fathers.

"Do we have the wisdom and the courage to walk the path of peace?" Obama asked in the packed East Room of the White House. Each of the leaders spoke of his hopes for a breakthrough, with the U.S. playing the role of peace broker, but the event was subdued, reflecting broad pessimism about chances of success after nearly two decades of failed peace talks.

Israelis "recognize that another people shares this land with us," Netanyahu said at the White House on Wednesday. But he said any agreement must guarantee Israel's security and could not be a repeat of Israel's unilateral withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon, where territory evacuated was seized by Iran-backed militants who launched further attacks on Israel.

"We left Lebanon, we got terror. We left Gaza, and we got terror once again. We want to ensure that territory we concede will not be turned into a third Iranian-sponsored terror enclave aimed at the heart of Israel," he said.

Abbas joined Netanyahu in declaring that it was time to seize the moment. "We don't want blood to be shed, neither that of Palestinians nor of Israelis. We want peace, we want normal life. We want to live as partners and neighbors," he said.

But Israel, Abbas added, needs to give the Palestinians tangible signs, including freeing all Palestinian prisoners and freezing all settlement construction on land the Palestinians want for their future state.

The talks will face their first test within weeks, at the end of September, when the Israeli government's declared slowdown in settlement construction is slated to end.

Palestinians have said a renewal of settlement construction will torpedo the talks. The Israeli government is divided over the future of the slowdown, and a decision to extend it could split Netanyahu's hawkish coalition. Netanyahu has given no indication so far that it will continue beyond the deadline. Speaking to Clinton on Tuesday, Netanyahu said his government's decision on a 10-month freeze that would end in September remained in effect.

Direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations broke off nearly two years ago, in December 2008, and the Obama administration spent its first 20 months in office coaxing the two sides back to the bargaining table. Despite the success in launching the talks, gaps between the sides are wide, distrust remains after years of violence and deadlock, and expectations are low.

But American officials are hopeful they can at least get the two sides to agree to a second round of talks, likely to be held in the second week of September.

That could be followed by another meeting between Obama, Netanyahu and Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly near the end of the month in New York. The stated goal is to reach a final peace settlement within one year.

After listening to the Mideast leaders he convened Wednesday night, Obama pronounced himself carefully optimistic. "I am hopeful, cautiously hopeful, but hopeful," he said.

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TORONTO,  CANADA
{08-26-2010}

CANADA INTERCEPTS TWO RUSSIAN BOMBERS 
ROB GILLIES   //   ASSOCIATED PRESS

FIGHTER JETS WERE SCRAMBLED TO INTERCEPT TWO RUSSIAN BOMBERS IN THE ARCTIC AS THEY APPROACHED CANADIAN airspace on the eve of a visit from Canada's prime minister who will observe an Arctic military exercise, a spokesman for the prime minister said Wednesday.

Dimitri Soudas, Stephen Harper's director of communications, said two Canadian CF-18 jets shadowed a pair of Russian TU-95 Bear jets in international airspace on Tuesday.

Soudas said the bombers flew within 30 miles (50 kilometers) of Canadian soil. They were first spotted approximately 120 nautical miles north of Inuvik, Northwest Territories.

"Thanks to the rapid response of the Canadian Forces, at no time did the Russian aircraft enter sovereign Canadian airspace," Soudas said in an e-mail.

Soudas warned that the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint U.S. and Canadian agency, "carefully monitors all air activities in the North and considers all options to protect the air sovereignty of Canada and the United States."

Harper is due to observe an annual military exercise in the Canadian Arctic on Wednesday. Soudas said Harper was briefed during and at the conclusion of the intercept mission. He said the Canadian jets returned to base without incident.

Canada has linked recent Russian flights in the area to the competition between Canada, Russia, the U.S. and other countries to secure Arctic resources. With polar ice melting there are new opportunities to exploit the region's oil, gas and mineral reserves.

Two Russian bombers were intercepted last month off Canada's East Coast near the Arctic and in February 2009, fighter jets scrambled to intercept a Russian bomber in the Arctic as it approached Canadian airspace on the eve of President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa. The Russians said then the plane never encroached on Canadian airspace and that Canada had been told about the flight beforehand. Canada's defense minister said Russia gives no warning prior to the flight, despite Canada's request for Russia to do so.

Harper has made the Arctic a priority by making annual trips and pledging to increase Canada's military presence.

Soviet aircraft regularly flew near North American airspace during the Cold War but stopped after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Several years ago, Russian jets resumed these types of flights.

Canadian opposition Liberal lawmaker Larry Bagnell said the Russian flights are routine and the Conservative government seems to make a fuss only when it suits them.

Soudas noted in his e-mail Canada's recent purchase of 65 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets from U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. The $8.5 billion purchase, one of the biggest military equipment purchases in the country's history, was due to be debated at a parliamentary defense committee hearing on Wednesday. The jets will replace the Air Force's aging fleet of CF-18s.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-25-2010}

OBAMA'S AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL DATE BOLSTERS ENEMY: MARINES
PHIL STEWART // REUTERS

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S JULY 2011 DATE TO START WITHDRAWING TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN HAS GIVEN A MORALE BOOST TO TALIBAN INSURGENTS, who believe they can wait out NATO forces, the top U.S. Marine said on Tuesday.

But retiring General James Conway said he believed Marines would not be in a position to withdraw from the fight in southern Afghanistan for years, even though he acknowledged that Americans were growing "tired" of the 9-year-old war.

Conway's unusually blunt assessment is likely to fan criticism of Obama's war strategy ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November, as public opinion of the conflict sours further and casualties rise.

"In some ways, we think right now it is probably giving our enemy sustenance," Conway, the Marine Corps' commandant, said of the July 2011 deadline.

"In fact we've intercepted communications that say, 'Hey, you know, we only need to hold out for so long.'"

Supporters of Obama's July 2011 date to start withdrawing forces from Afghanistan, conditions permitting, say it conveys a needed sense of urgency to Kabul. Afghans must quickly ramp up the size of their security forces for a gradual handover.

But critics say the strategy backfired, sending a signal to the Taliban that the United States was preparing to wind down the war while setting unrealistic expectations among Americans about the pace of progress in Afghanistan.

Conway, quoting one of his own commanders, told reporters: "We can either lose fast or win slow."

The timetable for withdrawal is certain to come under close scrutiny in a White House strategy review in December, which Obama called for last year when he announced the July 2011 deadline and 30,000 additional forces.

"We know the president was talking to several audiences at the same time when he made his comments on July 2011," Conway told reporters at the Pentagon.

"Though I certainly believe that some American units somewhere in Afghanistan will turn over responsibilities to Afghanistan security forces in 2011, I do not think they will be Marines."

Violence across Afghanistan has reached record levels despite the presence of almost 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops. U.S. and NATO forces have also stepped up operations after the Taliban insurgency spread out of the South and East into once relatively peaceful areas of the North and West.

Conway's comments were the latest in a series of acknowledgments by top U.S. military officials of the challenges in Afghanistan, which appear to minimize the likelihood of any substantial change in the conflict by next July.

One of those challenges is training Afghan troops to take over from U.S. forces as they withdraw.

U.S. Lieutenant General William Caldwell said on Monday the training of Afghan forces still faced big hurdles and that it will take until late October 2011 to build up Afghanistan's police and military before they can take the lead in more than just isolated pockets of the country.

Conway said he believed the Taliban were in for a surprise once they realize next July that U.S. forces were remaining, and in large numbers. That would damage the "enemy psyche."

"If Marines will be there after 2011, after the middle of 2011, what's the enemy going to say then? You know, what's he going to say to his foot troops?" Conway asked.

"I think it could be very good for us in that context, in terms of the enemy psyche and what he has been posturing now for the better part of a year." One of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. military is winning American support for the war, Conway said. "I sense our country is increasingly growing tired of the war," Conway said.

He pointed to opinion polls showing unfavorable views of the war in Britain and the United States.

"I think we, the military leadership, have to do a better job of talking about the last chapter of this book if we simply try to walk away," Conway said.

"I don't think that we have done a strong enough job in convincing the American people that there are good and just reasons why we have to destroy the al Qaeda and the associated Taliban in Afghanistan."

The Afghan Taliban issued a statement on Tuesday rejecting some recently claims of progress in the war. The Taliban said attacks were increasing around the capital as well as in their heartland in the South.

"Stop sacrificing your sons and daughters for a war which is unwinnable," spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement e-mailed to media by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the title used by the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-23-2010}

U.S. ASSURES ISRAEL THAT IRAN THREAT IS NOT IMMINENT
MARK MAZZETTI & DAVID E. SANGER

ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS SAID THEY BELIEVE THE ASSESSMENT HAS DIMMED THE PROSPECT THAT ISRAEL WOULD PRE-EMPTIVELY STRIKE AGAINST THE COUNTRY’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR, as Israeli officials have suggested in thinly veiled threats.

For years, Israeli and American officials have debated whether Iran is on an inexorable drive toward a nuclear bomb and, if so, how long it would take to produce one. A critical question has been the time it would take Tehran to convert existing stocks of low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material, a process commonly known as “breakout.”

Israeli intelligence officials had argued that Iran could complete such a race for the bomb in months, while American intelligence agencies have come to believe in the past year that the timeline is longer.

“We think that they have roughly a year dash time,” said Gary Samore, President Obama’s top adviser on nuclear issues, referring to how long it would take the Iranians to convert nuclear material into a working weapon. “A year is a very long period of time.”

American officials said the United States believed international inspectors would detect an Iranian move toward breakout within weeks, leaving a considerable amount of time for the United States and Israel to consider military strikes.

The American assessments are based on intelligence collected over the past year, as well as reports from international inspectors. It is unclear whether the problems that Iran has had enriching uranium are the result of poor centrifuge design, difficulty obtaining components or accelerated Western efforts to sabotage the nuclear program.

American officials said new intelligence information was being fed into a long-delayed National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear program.

Now, American and Israeli officials believe breakout is unlikely anytime soon. For one thing, Iran, which claims it is interested in enriching uranium only for peaceful purposes, would be forced to build nuclear bombs from a limited supply of nuclear material, currently enough for two weapons. Second, such a decision would require kicking out international weapons inspectors, eliminating any ambiguity about Iran’s nuclear plans.

Even if Iran were to choose this path, American officials said it would probably take Iran some time to reconfigure its nuclear facilities to produce weapons-grade uranium and ramp up work on designing a nuclear warhead.

Israeli officials have indicated that if they saw a race for the bomb under way, they would probably take military action and encourage the United States to join the effort. A spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment for this article. In interviews, Israeli officials said their assessments were coming into line with the American view, but they remain suspicious that Iran has a secret enrichment site yet to be discovered.

American officials said, in contrast to a year ago, that Iran’s nuclear program was not currently the central focus of discussions between top leaders in Washington and Jerusalem. During the last visit to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in early July, the Iranian program was relatively low on the agenda, according to one senior administration official.

To block Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the United States and the European Union recently imposed harsh economic sanctions aimed at choking off Iran’s energy supplies and prohibiting foreign banks from doing business with financial institutions inside the country.

Several officials said they believed the mounting cost of the economic sanctions, especially those affecting Iran’s ability to import gasoline and develop its oil fields, has created fissures among Iran’s political elite and forced a debate about the costs of developing nuclear weapons.

“The argument is over how far to push the program, how close to a weapon they can get without paying an even higher price,” said the senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because American assessments on these debates are classified. “And we’re beginning to see a lot of divisions inside the leadership on that question.”

Nuclear experts agree that the hardest element of producing a weapon is obtaining weapons-grade material. And for Iran that quest, which stretches back more than 20 years, has not been going well, by most accounts.

For most of this year, Iran has added relatively few centrifuges — the machines that spin uranium at supersonic speed, enriching it — to its main plant at Natanz. Only about half of those installed are operating, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. So far, Iran has produced about 5,730 pounds, enough, with considerable additional enrichment, to produce roughly two weapons.

The public explanation by American officials is that the centrifuges are inefficient and subject to regular breakdowns. And while Iranian officials have talked about installing more advanced models that would be more efficient and reliable, only a few have been installed.

“Either they don’t have the machines, or they have real questions about their technical competence,” Mr. Samore said.

Some of Iran’s enrichment problems appear to have external origins. Sanctions have made it more difficult for Iran to obtain precision parts and specialty metals. Moreover, the United States, Israel and Europe have for years engaged in covert attempts to disrupt the enrichment process by sabotaging the centrifuges. Officials concede there are potential vulnerabilities in their assessments. Chief among them is whether Iran has hidden another enrichment center somewhere in the tunnels it has dug throughout the country, including some near Natanz.

Last September, Iran acknowledged to inspectors that it had spent years building such a hidden facility near the city of Qum, buried in a mountain near a major military base. The admission came just days before Western leaders revealed the existence of the facility. But after detailed surveys, and interviews with defectors, officials say they have no evidence a second such facility is under construction.

The current draft of the intelligence report also describes considerable division in Iran about whether the goal of the nuclear program should be to walk right up to the threshold of building an actual bomb — which would mean having highly enriched uranium on hand, along with a workable weapons design — or simply to keep enough low-enriched uranium on hand to preserve Tehran’s options for building a weapon later.

Even as American and Israeli officials agree that the date that Iran is likely to have a nuclear weapon has been pushed into the future, that does not mean that Israel has abandoned the idea of a possible military strike.

American officials said that Israel was particularly concerned that, over time, Iran’s supreme leader could order that nuclear materials be dispersed to secret locations around the country, making it less likely that an Israeli military strike would significantly cripple the program.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-21-2010}

WORST-CASE SCENARIOS: POSSIBLE STRIKE PLANS FOR IRAN INVOLVE RISKY OPTIONS
JUDSON BERGER //  ASSOCIATED PRESS

AT SOME POINT, MILITARY LEADERS IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN ISRAEL WILL HAVE TO DECIDE: WHICH IS MORE DANGEROUS -- AN IRAN CAPABLE OF LAUNCHING A NUCLEAR WEAPON? Or an Iran that just got hit with tons of artillery and is out for revenge?

Both scenarios are frightening, particularly to the Israelis. U.S. officials have described the prospects of a nuclear-armed Iran and a military confrontation as equally terrible, particularly at a time when the Obama administration is trying to end nearly a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the thought of military action is not far-fetched. The United States acknowledges it possesses an attack plan for Iran, and the Israelis reportedly have drawn up specific scenarios for a strike.

What such an attack would look like, who would lead it and what the consequences would be are open questions -- and ones that several top analysts and former officials have tried to answer. Based on those reports and conversations with analysts, the following are some of the most common predictions on what Iranian airspace would look like if the U.S. or Israel were to decide, in answer to the first question, that a nuclear-armed Iran is worse than an angry one.

WARNING SHOT

The first scenario resembles a shot across the bow, only this one actually hits something.  Kori Schake, an associate professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a former member of the National Security Council staff during the Bush administration, called this option a "demonstration strike."

Under the scenario, the Israelis would strike one or two sites in Iran to show they're serious, but they would try to avoid casualties. Iran's energy ministry, for instance, could be a symbolic target if it were attacked after hours.

The downside, Schake said, is that Iran would be left with "wide latitude" for retaliation, considering its infrastructure would be intact. Schake said she would not advise this option.

Even under this limited-strike scenario, Israel would be confronted with important logistical hurdles -- the kind of which would have to be resolved before any confrontation.

Unlike Israel's 2008-09 campaign in the Gaza Strip, its Air Force would need to fly through the airspace of other sovereign nations to hit Iran, most of which are not considered Israel sympathizers. The possibilities include Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq -- depending on what route the Israelis take.

There are also refueling concerns. While Israel's F-15s and F-16s could handle the job, analysts say, the targets would be a stretch for the aircraft's range -- limiting the amount of time the jets could spend over their targets and probably requiring midair refueling.

Then there's the question of what Iran would do in response.

STRATEGIC TAKEOUT

The option at the top of practically every list of scenarios is one in which a handful a high-level targets are selected for destruction. This includes, but is not limited to: the uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz, the enrichment site at Qom, the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, the heavy water reactor at Arak and the soon-to-be-live nuclear reactor at Bushehr. The last would be less likely, because after Iran begins loading up the fuel rods this weekend, the radiation danger from an attack might be too great.

The Council on Foreign Relations released a memo last fall examining exactly this kind of strike, leaving out Bushehr and putting Israel, not the United States, in charge of the attack. The study said Israel would have the munitions, particularly the bunker-busting BLU-109 and BLU-113, to "severely" damage the targets and penetrate deep enough to get at the largely underground Natanz facility.

"This would be possible even if Iran managed to down a third of the Israeli strike package," the memo said.

The upside of such an attack is that -- unlike Option 1 -- it both sends a signal and damages Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

"If I were an Israeli strike planner, I'd be looking for things that, if destroyed, would really set their program back," said Steven Simon, a former National Security Council official who wrote the CFR report. Schake said that by targeting just the nuclear-related sites, the argument could be made that it was an attack on the nuclear program alone, and not the Islamic Republic itself.

THE DOWNSIDE?

"An all-out Middle East war," said Sam Gardiner, a retired Air Force colonel and former faculty member at the National War College who has helped conduct a number of Iran war games.

Once Israel starts going after high-value targets, Gardiner said, the United States will inevitably be drawn into the conflict. He, too, named Natanz, Arak and Isfahan as the top targets, but he said Iran could wreak all kinds of havoc in response. The country could pull strings in Iraq, Yemen, Gaza and Afghanistan, among other places, to target U.S. troops and allies. He said the Iranians have substantial chemical weapons, and probably biological weapons, with which to retaliate, even if they haven't produced a nuclear bomb. And Israel is close enough to be an ideal target.

"One has to be careful not to make the Iranians too mad," Gardiner said.

Another downside is that an attack could help Iran's regime consolidate power -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned last year that the regime could wind up stronger for it.

Officials and analysts, including Gates, also warn that no military campaign will fully cripple Iran's nuclear program. The strikes are viewed more as a way to delay, not halt, Iran's nuclear progress.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the Obama administration has assured Israel that Iran is at least a year away from obtaining a nuclear weapon, presumably reducing the chances of an imminent strike.

SHOCK AND AWE

Though Israel's strikes against an Iraqi reactor in 1981 and a Syrian reactor in 2007 set the precedent for another attack in Iran, an air campaign on Iran's nuclear program would look completely different today. The most extreme scenario for an Iranian strike underscores this.

The last option is an all-out air attack on Iran's infrastructure, hitting all or most of the known nuclear targets in the country, in addition to security and military targets like Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and even economic targets like refineries.

It is likely, analysts say, that the United States would have to spearhead such an attack and tap its resources throughout the Middle East to do so.

A report on GlobalSecurity.org said a U.S. air strike would "vastly exceed" the scope of the 1981 attack on Iraq and look more like the 2003 opening assault on Iraq. The GlobalSecurity report said B-2 stealth bombers, F-117 stealth fighters, F-15s, F-16s, cruise missile-mounted destroyers and other assets would be at the United States' disposal.

Simon, who served with the NSC during the Clinton administration, co-authored a column with President Obama's former Iran adviser, Ray Takeyh, this month noting that the U.S. would need to have some degree of support from the Gulf nations to leverage those assets.

"The U.S. Fifth Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain; the Combined Air Operations Center is in Qatar; prepositioned materiel for ground and other forces is in Kuwait and Oman; and the United Arab Emirates offers extensive port facilities and staging for tactical aircraft," they wrote. "A campaign against Iran would require not just the acquiescence of these governments but their willingness to absorb retaliation by a bruised and outraged neighbor for years to come."

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
{08-18-2010}

U.S. SOUNDS ALARM AT CHINA'S MILITARY BUILDUP 
ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE PENTAGON VOICED ALARM OVER CHINA'S MILITARY BUILDUP, saying it was expanding its advantage over Taiwan and investing heavily in ballistic and cruise missile capabilities that could one day pose a challenge to U.S. dominance in the western Pacific.

In its annual report to Congress on Chinese military capabilities, the Pentagon also cited China's advances in electronic warfare. The U.S. government has been the target of cyber intrusions the report says appear to have originated in China and aimed to steal military secrets. "These intrusions focused on exfiltrating information, some of which could be of strategic or military utility," the report said.

Though their two countries are increasingly interlinked economically, ties between the U.S. military and the People's Liberation Army of China have deteriorated since January, when the Obama administration notified Congress of a plan to sell Taiwan up to $6.4 billion in arms.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has appealed to the Chinese to re-engage to reduce the risk of any military miscommunications. But U.S. officials say they have seen few signs of a thaw.

Boosting Asian ConfidenceAccess thousands of business sources not available on the free web. Learn MoreWashington has long voiced alarm over China's military buildup opposite Taiwan. In this year's report, which was delivered months behind schedule, the Pentagon said China's military edge over Taiwan was continuing to "shift in the mainland's favor," the main argument used by the Obama administration in approving the arms deal.

A particular concern for the U.S. is China's development of an antiship ballistic missile with a projected range of nearly 1,000 miles. The missile is meant to give the PLA the capability of attacking ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific, the report said.

Some experts say the missile could herald the end of U.S. naval domination. Others say the PLA has yet to conduct any realistic tests of the conventionally armed ballistic missile and has no reliable way of targeting U.S. carrier task forces when they are at sea because China doesn't have enough low-earth-orbit reconnaissance satellites.

A senior defense official called the antiship ballistic missile a "great concern" but added: "They still have a long way to go."

The new missile is part of what the Pentagon described as "the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile program in the world."

The report said China's military has established information-warfare units to develop viruses to attack computer systems of its adversaries as well as tactics to protect its own networks. The goal of the computer attack tools, the report said, is "to deny an adversary access to information essential to conduct combat operations." The ability to conduct cyber attacks fits within China's broader goal of conducting asymmetric warfare to exploit weaknesses in stronger enemies like the U.S. By seeking to harvest huge volumes of data from U.S. computer networks and building up cyber-warfare capabilities, China is positioning itself to leverage some of the weak links in U.S. military systems.

The report referenced cyber intrusions it says appear to have originated within China. It is unclear whether these were conducted by or at the behest of the Chinese military.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year, and U.S. officials recently acknowledged publicly, that the Pentagon's largest weapons program, the Joint Strike Fighter, had been infiltrated. Investigators believe attackers in China were behind the effort to siphon off engineering designs and other information.

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