North Korea smuggled about 3,400 tons of weapons into the Democratic Republic of Congo in the midst of a civil war there in January, with some of them going to Congolese insurgents or nearby countries, VOA quoted a UN official as saying Wednesday.
Vi-i-i-i-i-ctor!
Christian Dietrich, a member of the UN Security Council committee investigating Congo, told VOA that the North Korean ship Birobong arrived in the port of Boma, Congo on Jan. 21, where it unloaded some 3,400 tons of weapons, 100 times the amount seized in Thailand earlier this month.
Dietrich said the committee was told the weapons were "modern" but was unable to find out any details. Assuming all the weapons were AK rifles, the weight would be equivalent to about 800,000 of them, he added.
North Korea in May also sent military instructors to train Congolese government soldiers for about four weeks, around the time the North conducted its second nuclear test.
Dietrich said there are indications that North Korea was the source of state-of-the-art weapons carried by insurgents in eastern Congo. In some cases, Congolese government soldiers have sold their arms to neighboring countries such as Zimbabwe, he said.
Under UN Resolution 1807, adopted in 2008, the UN must be informed in advance of all arms transactions with and military training for Congo, but North Korea did not. The UNSC committee is a watchdog that oversees implementation of the UN resolution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Top brass of the U.S. Forces Korea is seriously worried that a joint South Korea-U.S. defense plan has been hacked, apparently by North Koreans.
But South Korea claims no great damage has been done. At a session of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee on Monday, the National Intelligence Service said the hacked material would not cause much damage to security.
A military source on Tuesday said USFK top brass, including Commander Gen. Walter Sharp, "recently expressed concern to our military about OPLAN 5027 being apparently accessed by a North Korean hacker." The U.S. military is apparently particularly concerned that the plan leaked out when a South Korean military officer used an unsecured USB memory stick on a computer.
The hacking took place in mid-November when a field-grade officer with the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command switched to the Internet on a dual-use PC with both Internet and Intranet services in his office and left a USB memory stick still inserted after finishing work on the Intranet.
Almost as if he had planned it that way ...
Under South Korean security regulations, all officers must take out the USB stick and reboot the dual-use PC if they want to switch to the Internet after handling confidential documents. But U.S. officers are prohibited from using USB sticks in the first place to eliminate room for mistakes, according to a USFK officer. U.S. soldiers are required to copy materials to a CD or a DVD if they need to deliver them for some purpose.
"The U.S. military has banned the use of USB sticks altogether in principle because secrets were leaked through USB memory sticks once in a while," a Defense Ministry official said. "We are going to prevent leakage of secrets through USB sticks by introducing a new verification system next year where Internet USB and Intranet USB are not compatible."
The U.S. military also operates separate Internet PCs and Intranet PCs, and officers can use only designated Intranet PCs when handling confidential documents.
The South Korean military operates some separate PCs for Internet and Intranet use but still maintains about 5,000 dual-use PCs due to lack of money. The ministry official said a budget of about W5 billion (US$1=W1,180) will allow it to get rid of all dual-use PCs and buy individual PCs by next year.
The U.S. military allows officers to use their own PCs only after they insert ID cards into the PC, making it difficult for unauthorized people to access individual PCs. But South Korean military officers can work on any officer's PC if they type in their own ID and password.
Regarding the hacker attack, the ministry says the incident was not serious because the full original text of OPLAN 5027 was not leaked but only an 11-page PowerPoint file created for educational materials for military leaders or newly assigned officers.
Nonetheless, the ministry will have to change the defense plan's framework if the file contains the basic context of certain operation plans.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Unless things have changed dramatically, paragraph three of the article represents a security compromise and OPSEC violation itself.
#2
I hope they stripped him of access and suspended his security clearance until the investigation is concluded.
When I was an S-2, I had to strip my CO's security clearance when he left a page of a classified document in the head...
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
12/24/2009 13:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
His clearance will or is already a giant piece of toast. Think along the lines of arriving at the office to find the locks changed and no access. I say that with authority of someone who is very familiar with Korea, and such items of business.
North Korea is attempting to crack down on the newly rich by banning payment with foreign currency in the markets. The move follows a shock currency reform apparently intended to stifle a nascent market economy the regime sees as a threat.
A North Korean source on Tuesday said the regime banned foreigners as well as locals from directly using dollars or euros in mid-December. In the past, it was possible to pay with foreign currencies at hotels or markets.
Authorities have reportedly been urging people on nationwide TV to immediately report anybody using dollars directly. Rumor has it that the exchange value of dollars, which soared immediately after the currency reform, has now stabilized to some extent there.
According to North Korean defectors, many senior officials and agencies involved in earning foreign currency have long held their cash assets in those currencies, and larger transactions are more likely to be settled in U.S. dollars than North Korean won.
A former senior North Korean official said the regime banned payment in U.S. dollars to pacify the public since the amount of foreign currency held by senior officials and rich people had become so large that it "can be compared to the national treasury." After the currency reform suddenly devalued their savings at a rate of 100:1, ordinary people complained that really rich people who have dollars did not suffer, he said.
On the contrary, those with dollar holdings gained from the currency reform, when panic sent the dollar soaring. The regime apparently had no choice but to crack down on the practice since propaganda made out that the currency reform was intended to ensure greater equality.
Which means that as soon as the populace has been pacified (or have been sent to slave-labor camps) the regime thugs and apparatchiks will be able to spend their dollars openly.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Appears we really are in a global monetary meltdown. Even the Norks are rejecting the US Dollar.
North Korea in late October informed the UN its food output this year was 5.01 million tons, it emerged on Tuesday. The yield included 2.34 million tons of rice, 1.7 million tons of corn, 560,000 tons of potatoes, 240,000 tons of wheat and barley and 150,000 tons of beans.
They don't need us then ...
The figure represents an increase of 330,000 tons over the 4.68 million tons the North claimed last year. The original estimate was about 4 million tons.
North Korea's rice harvest increased this year thanks to little harm from floods and droughts, according to North Korea sources. Corn output was poor due to cold-weather damage in the border region with China and Kangwon Province. "Kim Jong-il appears to have carried out the shock currency reform out of confidence that the food situation next year won't be worse than expected," speculated a source.
If it is not in urgent need of food aid, the North can afford to be tougher in its dealings with the South and the U.S. for the time being. But there is a chance that the North exaggerated the food output in a bid to demonstrate the success of a "150-day struggle" and a "100-day struggle" where people were swept off urban streets and forced into labor on the collective farms.
With 5.01 million tons of staples, the North would face little problem in feeding its population of 24 million for a year. Its late leader Kim Il-sung once said, "Daily food consumption is about 10,000 tons. If we had 5 million tons of grains a year, we would be able not only to dole out food rations but feed the people with sugar and candy."
But the food shortage in the North arises not only from a chronic quantitative shortfall but also from uneven distribution and supply. The authorities place priority in food supply on the party and the military.
Especially the military ...
The burgeoning merchant class can also manage. But the old, the weak and the urban poor, estimated at 10 to 20 percent of the population, are marginalized. "Organizations aiding North Korea also need to improve monitoring of distribution," said a South Korean government official.
Meanwhile, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said the grain output North Korea informed it of in mid-November was 3.53 million tons. A source said this was because potatoes and beans, which are included in ordinary grain yield estimates, were omitted. "The aim may be to get the maximum possible food aid from the international community," the source speculated.
No kidding. Hate to say it but we should call the Norks on all this. No food aid. The people are suffering anyways and the military could stand to be squeezed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
report doesn't discuss spoilage and waste; in NKor significant loss is via fungus, rats, ontamination, etc.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/24/2009 9:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Bet a lot of dirt and sawdust was added so quotas could be met.
And not many beans, so not much useful protein to supplement the fish catch.
"On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
A French government authority has warned a satellite broadcaster that carrying the Hamas TV channel violates French law.
The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), which regulates the electronic media in France, warned Eutelsat that al-Aksa TV violated the 1986 French media law that "prohibits all forms of incitement to hatred or violence on the ground of race, religion or nationality," according to a statement from the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which lobbies for the removal of terrorist-run broadcasters from satellite providers.
"This is an important victory against terrorist media," said Mark Dubowitz, the foundation's executive director. "If Eutelsat complies with this warning and removes al-Aksa television from broadcast, as we hope that it will, it will deal a severe blow to Hamas's distribution efforts."
Not a victory until the prohibition is enforced and Eutelsat complies. Nonetheless, I didn't expect even this much from France.
[AFP] - Nidal Hasan, the US soldier who killed 13 people at an attack on Fort Hood military base last month, sought advice about murdering US troops in 2008, a Yemeni imam told Al-Jazeera on Wednesday.
Hasan, a Muslim Army psychiatrist, faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in connection with the November 5 shooting attack at the Texas military facility.
On Wednesday, Al-Jazeera's Arabic-language website published an interview with US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who said he and Hasan communicated by email for over a year about the permissibility of killing US soldiers and Israeli civilians.
"The first message I received from Nidal was on 17 December 2008," Aulaqi told the interviewer, adding that Hasan initiated the email communication.
"He asked about killing American soldiers and officers and whether that was legitimate or not," Aulaqi said.
Links between the Muslim cleric and Hasan are already being investigated, but the interview reveals for the first time how long the two men knew each other and communicated, and also offers insight into how early Hasan was thinking about the possibility of attacking fellow servicemembers.
Aulaqi, a US-born preacher, said he met Hasan nine years earlier at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Washington, DC and the pair begin communicating after Aulaqi left the United States for Yemen.
"The first message was on the rules about a Muslim soldier who serves in the American army and kills his fellow (soldiers)," Aulaqi said.
"And in a group of his messages, Nidal explained his view on the killing of Israeli civilians, which he supported," he added.
Aulaqi denied having suggested the attack on Fort Hood, but said he supported Hasan's actions, adding that Hasan was motivated by long-standing grievances against the US military.
"The target that Nidal targeted was a military target inside the United States and not anything else," Aulaqi said.
"I didn't recruit Nidal Hasan and in fact America recruited him with its crimes and injustices and that is something that America does not want to recognize."
Hasan, who is paralyzed from the chest down after being shot by a police officer during the attack, is being held at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio pending trial.
#1
Tell me Rantburg viewers, is there ANYONE out there who still believes the FBI's failure to recognize the Hasan threat were due to the oversight of a careless GG-13 intelligence analyst?
I suppose we could interview US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi.......oh wait, his home was just targeted by a US air strike and he along with a couple dozen of his closest friends were killed?
Hopefully the Secretary of State will send a team to Sanaa to retrieve....boxes, e-mails, computers, personal gifts, etc. Local law enforcement, step out of the way, and no photos please.
#2
The idiocy begins at the top, where 50 years of evidence that, whether we're at war with Islam or not, Islam is at war against us is totally ignored. We've been paying a heavy price, and as long as the American stupidity continues, so will the price tag.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/24/2009 18:17 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] A German mediator gave Hamas on Wednesday Israel's response to a proposed swap freeing hundreds of jailed Palestinians for a captured soldier, and the Islamist group said it would need days to review the new draft.
"The German mediator gave the Israeli proposal to the Hamas movement today during a morning meeting," Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas-run government, told AFP.
"Hamas is studying this proposal at all levels and when it has a response it will contact the mediator," who has left Gaza, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Israel has threatened another massive war against the Gaza Strip as the impoverished enclave continues to suffer in the aftermath of the devastating January offensive.
Israeli planes have been dropping thousands of leaflets across Gaza, warning Palestinians against cooperating with the resistance fighters based in the coastal sliver.
The leaflets also threaten Gazans with a new attack just ahead of the first anniversary of Israel's 22-day onslaught against the Palestinian territory.
On December 2008, Tel Aviv launched an all-out military action against Gaza, killing 1,400 people, including a large number of women and children, killed and leaving thousands more injured.
The threats come despite the Israeli army's failure in its January operation to reach its strategic and military objectives -- above all its pledged overthrow of Israel's long-time arch foe, Hamas.
In July, the activist group Breaking the Silence released print and video testimony from some 30 soldiers who said they entered Gaza with firing guns upon a "permissive" guideline by commanders, urging to shoot first and worry later about distinguishing civilians from combatants.
The 112-page testimony also accused Israeli troops of using Palestinian civilians as human shields and charged Israel with dropping forbidden white phosphorus bombs indiscriminately into Gaza streets on the top of aerial bombardment and heavy artillery fire.
In April, former South African UN prosecutor Richard Goldstone led an independent fact-finding mission commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations during the Gaza war.
The committee's 575-page report mostly highlighted Israeli atrocities against the people in the beleaguered Gaza Strip and documented deliberate targeting of centers, such as schools and mosques, known to be holding civilians.
The document also filed complaints that the Israeli soldiers killed unarmed people on the run, saying some of the victims were even waving white flags.
In October, the damning report was put up for a vote in the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and endorsed by an overwhelming majority of 114 countries while 18 opposed and 44 abstained.
The three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the Gaza Strip also devastated a large part of the infrastructure in the impoverished coastal enclave, which remains under Tel Aviv's blockade despite international opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Where to begin.
Wars are a last resort. Its whiny stupid and silly to call wars "illegal". If they ARE illegal then go call a Cop. If you cant get a Cop to stop the war then quit making yourself look weak and whiny by saying something ridiculous. The LAST thing you want when you are IN a war is to look weak and whiny ( unless you LIKE bending over in the shower).
Do you like bending over ( Obama does)?
The Left likes to whine. They think being a "victim" is somehow Cool. You get more candy when you whine and are a "victim".? He hit me , Mommy?
Who raised these people? Bruce and Dwayne?
And saying the war killed 1,400 women and children..come on. Give me the names otherwise I am gonna think you are BS as well as whiny. You didnt say that, then? What DID you say? That War is bad..ESPECIALLY when nasty Jews kick goombah ass? You against Jews or kicking ass?
Kicking ass is always bad? yeah? I got news for you, Francis. Kicking ass is the VERY BEST way not to get your own ass kicked.
Look into it. My mother didnt rAISE ME TO BE A "VICTIM". I SEE ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE IN BEING A VICTIM...EVER!
That's exactly what the Euros and others intend to do via the ICC and the UN. Obama's executive order giving diplomatic privileges to INTERPOL is one step towards making that a full reality.
#4
Since we're going to be condemned whatever we do, lets exercise some financial prudence---lets just use cheap artillery instead of expensive aviation.
#5
Aircraft move fast, field guns move slow. (By comparison)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/24/2009 11:52 Comments ||
Top||
#6
ARCLIGHT sneaks in, leaves with a loud noise and shaking ground.
It is ALWAYS preferable to be feared rather than be treated with contempt. The entire Muddled East has nothing but contempt for the United States because we've fought this war with our hands tied. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
If Israel were to tell the rest of the world to go fornicate with a pack of Grizzlies and just STOMPED Gaza, things would change rapidly. Unfortunately, there are no Genghis Khan in today's world.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/24/2009 21:16 Comments ||
Top||
The head of Hamas political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, says the construction of an enormous metal barrier by Egypt equals a new war against Gazans.
In a statement televised by Al-Quds satellite channel, Meshaal echoed remarks made by United Nations Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zaid, describing the wall as more dangerous than the Bar Lev Line.
Israel built the Bar Lev Line along the eastern coast of the Suez Canal after it captured the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War.
Khaled Meshaal said "the victory of Gaza did not appeal to those who wagered on the defeat of the resistance and there is a desire to tighten the screws on the resistance which shows fortitude in the face of the occupation."
The Damascus-based Hamas leader underlined that despite all these efforts resistance will continue in the coastal enclave .
In a related incident, hundreds of people gathered on the Palestinian side of Gaza's southern border with Egypt on Monday, protesting the underground barrier Egypt is building.
The demonstrators chanted slogans calling for a lift of an Israeli blockade imposed more than two years ago and urged Egypt to stop building the steel wall.
The wall would curb a network of underground tunnels the Palestinians use to bring in their basic necessities that Israel does not allow into Gaza markets.
Receiving full cooperation of the Egyptian authorities, Israel has long imposed a complete siege on the already impoverished Gaza Strip, causing a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian sliver.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege ever since Hamas resistance movement, which does not recognize Israel, won Parliamentary elections in 2007.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, a right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Apparently Hamas doesnt understand Cause and Effect.
Borders between countries and National Sovereignty are REALITY. get some.
You can sh8t in YOUR hat but not in mine. Right to movement...just as far as the Border...then you say "please", nigger. I dont HAVE to love you. I dont have to let you dance in my yard. I CAN stop you AT my border and you WILL obey me. I dont HAVE to let you piss on my lawn and you can kiss my ass if you think you have ANY say on what crosses my border including the regular delivery of your next fix. Screw your fix. I dont have to get along with you and if you dont LIKE my Border, try and cross it and see what happens.
Living conditions, work , health, and education? That YOUR problem, Sambo, not mine. get right on it.
You want to have better relations with me? What have you GOT that I want or need? yeah? Come back and see me when you have something I want or need. Until them welcome to Reality.
And no, I dont feel sorry for you. And if you dropped dead ( do us all a favor) .... do it down wind.
#2
Language, Angleton9. I sinktrapped your comment because we do not use racist language at Rantburg. Think of this as a "Drop and give me 200!" kind of warning. I'm sure it wouldn't take you the two hours it took me to accomplish that, the last time I tried.
#3
Meshaal talks really tough from his hidey-hole in Damascus. Why don't you fly to Cairo and talk sh*t about it, tough guy?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2009 8:30 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"...The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege ever since Hamas resistance movement, which does not recognize Israel, won Parliamentary elections in 2007..."
Actually, the elections were in 2006. In June 2007, Hamas waged a 3 day war (or a 'cleansing' as its call by Hamas) against Fatah and took over all administrative functions of the Gaza (perhaps Iran considers this an election). After this 3 day war, the Israelis took strong measures to reinforce the border and increase the blockage (which was partially in effect before that).
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/24/2009 9:32 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Why don't you fly to Cairo and talk sh*t about it, tough guy?
Better yet, have the tough guy talk to us from Gaza City ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2009 11:11 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The last sentence was not complete. I shall attempt to complete it now.
"Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, a right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education", because they repeatedly attack and shoot rockets into Israeli civilian areas.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
12/24/2009 18:24 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran police chief said on Wednesday the opposition would face a "fierce" confrontation if its "illegal" activities continued, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, following anti-government rallies in some cities.
"We advise this movement to end their activities. Otherwise those who violate the order will be fiercely confronted, based on the law," Fars quoted police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqadam as saying.
A reformist website earlier reported that security forces have arrested at least 50 opposition supporters in the central city of Isfahan.
"Over 50 protesters, including four Iranian journalists have been arrested in Isfahan during clashes with the security forces," Parlemannews website said.
The website said that security forces clashed with supporters of late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in at least two cities, including his birthplace.
"Sporadic clashes started from Tuesday night in Najafabad and still continued. The situation is tense in the city. People are chanting anti-government slogans," the Jaras website reported.
It also said "many" demonstrators were injured during clashes with the security forces in the central city of Isfahan.
"Security forces clashed with pro-reform protesters ... who gathered to commemorate ... Montazeri's demise," Jaras said.
"Police fired teargas to disperse people ... many people were injured ... some arrested."
In Isfahan, plainclothes security agents surrounded the house of a leading pro-reform cleric Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, Jaras reported.
The reported incidents took place two days after huge crowds turned out in the Shiite holy city of Qom for the funeral of Montazeri, and many chanted anti-government slogans, websites reported.
The reports from the two cities could not be verified independently because foreign media are banned from reporting directly on protests.
Iran's government supporters staged counter rallies in Qom on Tuesday, official Iranian media reported.
Montazeri, who died on Saturday at the age of 87, was an architect of the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah and was once named to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader of the Islamic state. But Montazeri fell from grace after criticizing the mass execution of prisoners.
The June 12 presidential election, which the opposition leaders say was rigged to secure President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, has plunged the Islamic Republic into a crisis of legitimacy.
Supporters of the opposition, who have seized occasions marked in the Islamic revolutionary calendar to raise their voices, staged fresh anti-government rallies in Iran after Montazeri's death.
Iranian authorities deny any vote-rigging.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The reports from the two cities could not be verified independently because foreign media are banned from reporting directly on protests.
#2
Formerly part-time daughter is over there now visiting relatives with her father. She'll be back before January 4th, when the new term starts at her university, so I'll pass on her report then... although hopefully her father will have ensured she didn't see much of the excitement.
[Iran Press TV Latest] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the world needs a new order, adding that the US which was the "epitome of liberalism" is in decline.
"It is quite clear that any system that depends on military power will collapse," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the central city of Shiraz on Wednesday.
"It (the US) entirely depends on military power and sanctions," IRNA quoted the Iranian president as saying.
"This shows that the US is in decline," he added.
The Iranian president noted that after the collapse of liberalism, the world will need a new order.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I'm with you, Mahmoud---though we probably differ on details.
#2
Ahmadinnerjacket's New Year's wish... WORLD NEEDS NEW ORDER. Translation..."What'll Ya Have, What'll Ya Have, What'll Ya Have"....A NEW WORLD ORDER?
#3
Imagine there's no Islam
It's easy if you try
No more jihad or Sharia
Or honor killings too.
Imagine all of Mecca,
Turned into boiling glass.
Hoo-ha.
You might say I'm a Crusader,
But I'm not the only one.
Some day they'll be no Muslims,
And that day will be a happy one.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin says Moscow sees no reason to cancel a deal to provide Iran with the advanced S-300 missile defense system.
In a news conference in Moscow held on Wednesday Borodavkin stressed that the missile system is of a defensive nature.
"Exports of such weapons is subject to no UN treaty or other bilateral agreements," RIA Novosti quoted the Russian diplomat as saying.
"This is why we see no essential reason to make any change in the deal," he added.
The comments by Borodavkin come as the US and Israel are putting pressure on Russia to cancel the deal with Iran.
The S-300 system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away, is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Russia: Owing to once in a lifetime weakness of the U.S., No reason to cancel S-300 deal with Iran.
Weeks after the Malaysian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency autonomously voted against an anti-Iran IAEA resolution, a diplomat says Kuala Lumpur stripped him of his post.
The envoy, Mohd Arshad Manzoor Hussain, who also held the rotating chair of the 35-member IAEA's Board of Governors, was dismissed according to a diplomat familiar with his case.
The report comes as the Malaysian government has yet to confirm the move. When asked about the issue by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the Malaysian Ambassador to Vienna declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic source added that the Malaysian government is likely to replace Arshad with a new ambassador who will also fill the position of the rotating chairman of the 35-member Board of Governor.
Earlier in December, Kuala Lumpur's ambassador to the agency was summoned to explain his "no" vote to an IAEA resolution against Iran's nuclear program as the vote "was not in line with Malaysian policies."
The resolution called on Iran to stop all construction work at its new enrichment facility named Fordo and confirm there are no more nuclear sites that the agency must be aware of.
The Tehran government, however, rejected the resolution as politically-motivated and without any legal basis, arguing that Iran's activities are not in breach of the nuclear pact.
Malaysia was one of the three countries along with Cuba and Venezuela that voted against the IAEA resolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
24 December 2009 BAALBEK, Lebanon -- Lebanon's drug-producing heartland is back in business with a resurgence of marijuana and poppy fields, challenging the country's underpowered security forces and adding another dimension to Israel's war with Hezbollah militants.
Interviews with farmers and Lebanese officials, and documents from international organizations that monitor drugs, show that the drug trade in the Bekaa Valley has ramped up again since its drop following the 1975-1990 civil war.
Israel's Anti-Drug Authority claims Hezbollah is behind the flow of cross-border drugs as part of its war on the Jewish state. Hezbollah denies abetting drugs, saying it's un-Islamic. Production in the Bekaa peaked during the civil war, then died down to the point where the U.S. removed Lebanon from its list of big producers in 1997.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea smuggled about 3,400 tons of weapons into the Democratic Republic of Congo in the midst of a civil war there in January, with some of them going to Congolese insurgents or nearby countries, VOA quoted a UN official as saying Wednesday.
Top brass of the U.S. Forces Korea is seriously worried that a joint South Korea-U.S. defense plan has been hacked, apparently by North Koreans. 
North Korea in late October informed the UN its food output this year was 5.01 million tons, it emerged on Tuesday. The yield included 2.34 million tons of rice, 1.7 million tons of corn, 560,000 tons of potatoes, 240,000 tons of wheat and barley and 150,000 tons of beans. 
