The United States has halted a program that united African refugees with relatives in America after DNA testing revealed many people were lying about family links, the State Department said on Wednesday.
Thousands of Africans have been allowed to settle in the United States since 1990 under the family reunification program, which accepts relatives such as parents or children of people who have already been admitted into the United States as refugees, or who were granted asylum.
But recent DNA tests on applicants in seven African countries showed only about 20 percent actually had a family relationship, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
The applicants were not tested for a DNA match with their claimed relatives in the United States, but with each other to see whether they were related as claimed, another department spokesman said. For example, a mother with several children applying to join a husband in America would be tested to see whether she was in fact related to the children.
"The program has been suspended," Wood said, adding that the government is "looking into it further to see what we can do."
The program had been suspended in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Gambia, another department spokesman said. He said he could not speculate whether and when it would resume.
Most applicants previously had come through those countries, although they were sometimes refugees from elsewhere. Many of the 3,000 who were tested were from Somalia, Ethiopia, or Liberia, the spokesman said.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 18:43 ||
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go figure! They should get Paki passports like everyone else, dammit
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2008 19:54 Comments ||
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Thousands of Africans have been allowed to settle in the United States since 1990 under the family reunification program,
We been a think'n on it bout 18 years or so. Now we is "looking into it further."
#4
POST-2010 > legally andor illegally, stuff like this will get worse for both GUAM-WESTPAC + CONUS-NORAM, as per DIASPORAS DUE TO MULTI-REGIONAL/CONTINENTAL RADICAL ISLAMIST MILITANT-TERROR THREATS, + PAN-ENVIRON CRISES DUE TO GLOBAL-SOLAR WARMING, + NORMAL "GREAT GAME" [OWG-NWO], etc. as affected/derived therefrom.
E.g. LOCAL LARGE-SCALE PROTO-POPULATION DISPLACEMENTS OCCURING NOW IN SOUTH ASIA, AFRICA, + PHILIPPINES???
#2
Plane swerves at Madrid airport, 20 reported dead An airliner bound for the Canary Islands swerved off the runway during takeoff from the Madrid airport Wednesday and caught fire, Spain's national airport authority said. Local media reported at least 20 people dead.
Thick, white smoke billowed from the scene at Barajas airport.
Spanair flight JK5022 was bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a popular vacation spot off West Africa, the company said.
The airport authority AENA gave no information about the number of passengers or possible casualties. But the newspaper El Pais quoted sources at the Spanish Interior Ministry as saying at least 20 people died in the accident and 57 were injured. The paper said 166 people were on the plane. ...
From the number of passengers, an Airbus A320.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 10:41 Comments ||
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It could be either MD or Airbus. Their fleet lists no 747s.
#4
Yeah. I just looked up Spanair. They operate both the MD-80 series and A320. 166 passengers is really packing them in tight for an MD-80, but not out the question for a discount airline hauling tourists.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 10:52 Comments ||
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Yeah, same here, looked them up.
Until we get pics, will be tough to say although the reporting seems to be solidifying around an MD.
#7
The airport was immediately closed as firefighters aboard 11 engines tried to tackle a blaze on the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82. Forty-five ambulances were sent to the scene.
Initial reports suggested that an engine on the left hand side of the aircraft caught fire as the plane headed down the runway, impeding its take-off and sending it careening off onto a grassy area near the terminal building.
From Times Online.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/20/2008 11:40 Comments ||
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At least 45 people were killed when a Spanair jet crashed on takeoff at Madrid airport on Wednesday, the government said, but an emergency services source reported about 150 fatalities.
...
The national government's office in Madrid said 45 were confirmed killed and another 19 were seriously hurt while 35 were unharmed. But a source at the emergency services said the deathtoll was much higher and that only about 25 people had survived.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 11:46 Comments ||
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The Tenerife disaster took place on March 27, 1977 at 17:06:56 local time (also UTC) when two Boeing 747 airliners collided at Los Rodeos Airport (now known as Tenerife North Airport) on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. 583 people were killed, making it the worst accident in aviation history.
The aircraft involved were the 747s of Pan American World Airways Flight 1736 (the Clipper Victor) under the command of Captain Victor Grubbs, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 4805 (the Rijn) under the command of Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. Taking off on the only runway of the airport, the KLM flight crashed into the Pan Am aircraft taxiing in the opposite direction on the same runway.
The former Los Rodeos Airport (TCI), now Tenerife North Airport (TFN), is situated in the northern part of Tenerife and is now used mainly for flights within the Canary Islands and to and from the Spanish mainland.
#13
Jerusalem Post says 153 killed, 22 survivors. Confirms the crash of an MD-82. Aircraft barely left the runway before veering hard right and crashing on the infield between runways.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2008 17:56 Comments ||
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:(
Dramatic loss of engine on takeoff and maybe heavy. ;(
Pilots at Spanair had threatened to go on strike only an hour before yesterdays crash.
Threatened with job cuts, they had accused the carrier which has run up large losses for its parent, the Scandinavian airline SAS of organised chaos and failing to have a proper business plan.
The airline, which has a fleet of 63 aircraft and employs more than 3,500 staff, is leaking money, labouring under the huge cost of jet fuel. The burden of owning Spanair cost SAS a loss of £43 million in the first half of the year.
SAS put Spanair up for sale last year, but drew only tentative interest from Iberia, the Spanish national carrier. In June the Scandinavian owners scrapped the sale plan and a week ago announced plans to make more than 1,000 workers redundant and cut Spanairs capacity by 24 per cent. The recovery plan involved cancelling nine Spanair routes and reducing its opera-tional bases from seven Spanish air-ports to two: Barcelona and Madrid.
CAIRO - A blaze broke out in Egypt's upper house of parliament on Tuesday injuring thirteen people and prompting deployment of army firefighting helicopters, officials said. "Army helicopters are now trying to put out the fire which has spread," a security official told AFP.
The fire, which broke out on the second floor of the building, spread to the third floor causing severe damage to a parliamentary archive, the official said on condition of anonymity.
"Four emergency service staff were taken to a nearby hospital after suffering smoke-related injuries, and nine people who were in the building also suffered from smoke inhalation," health ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine told state television. "The injuries are not critical and there are no reports of deaths so far," he said.
Shahine said that officials were working to protect the health ministry's central laboratories which are across the street.
The security official said that both houses of parliament are currently on summer recess, which means few people would have been in the building at the time of the fire. "The problem is that the building is built of wood, and this helped the fire to spread. Everyone is working to bring the situation under control," Shura Council speaker Safwat al-Sherif told state television.
Parliament speaker Fathi Surur said the cause of the blaze remained unclear." We still don't know what caused the fire. The technical teams will have to come and survey that," he told the television. He said that copies existed for any documents or files that may have been burnt in the fire.
Witnesses said a huge black cloud hung over the building which is located in central Cairo, close to many ministries and government buildings. All roads in the area have been closed off, allowing access only to emergency services and authorities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Egypt requires some fire-safety measures in buildings, including fire extinguishers, but in general the rules are not strictly enforced.
Hey, Mo didn't have no fire extinguishers so that should be good enough for them.
#2
Hey, Mo didn't have no fire extinguishers so that should be good enough for them.
Most tents only have one floor, tu, and that's made out of dirt. Camel hide burns fairly easily, I understand, but you don't have to go very far to get away from it. I agree, though - all TRUE muzzlimbs need to return to the time of Mo, and sleep on the floor of a tent, move from place to place every few weeks (as long as it's in a desert), and eat nothing but goat and rice. I'm sure that will bring them closer to Mo's ideal.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2008 18:23 Comments ||
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The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday pressed charges against Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to former premier Khaleda Zia, his family members and five others in a case filed for amassing wealth worth Tk 85.88 crore illegally.
The other charge-sheeted accused include Harris' wife Josne Ara Chowdhury, son Naim Shafi Chowdhury, daughter Samira Tanjil, brother Selim Chowdhury, sister-in-law Jahanara Chowdhury, nephew Tareq Shams, Harris' friend Mosharraf Hossain Thakur, and private secretary Ziaul Islam, Akhlasur Nahar and Yunus Ali.
ACC Deputy Assistant Director Abul Kashem, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, showing 45 people as prosecution witnesses.
The IO dropped the name of Harris' brother-in-law Masum Ahmed from the charge sheet as the charges brought against him were not proved.
In the charge sheet, the IO said Harris had amassed wealth worth about Tk 858,837,075 illegally.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Isn't that about $8.75 at the current exchange rate?
That will buy a lot of millet.
Posted by: James Carville ||
08/20/2008 15:12 Comments ||
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Twelve more government officials have applied to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to face the Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) to seek exemption from prosecution in return for confession of corruption.
With them, the number of applicants who are either charged with graft or served notices to submit wealth statements now stands at 29.
Contacted, officials at the anti-graft body declined to disclose the applicants' identity.
Sources at the ACC said most of the 12 are from the land ministry and of the ranks of registrar and sub-registrar.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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MEDELLIN, Colombia -- In a small courtroom here, Ever Veloza has over the past year confessed to nearly 1,000 slayings in Colombia's conflict and recounted how the death squads he helped run were supported by army officers and prominent politicians.
Veloza, 41, has been among two dozen top commanders to have participated in what is known here as the "Justice and Peace" process, special judicial proceedings designed to unravel the origins of Colombia's paramilitary movement. His testimony has helped authorities uncover crimes and open investigations to ferret out collaborators.
Now, Veloza may be extradited to the United States -- not for the war crimes to which he has confessed but to face cocaine-trafficking charges in New York federal court. Perhaps more than anyone else, he knows what that would mean for investigators who have been working for years to understand the intricacies of a coalition of paramilitary groups known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. "If I get extradited, the Justice and Peace process ends there, because the foot soldiers do not know anything," Veloza said in a four-hour jailhouse interview with The Washington Post last month. "If I go, then the story of the Self-Defense Forces is incomplete."
Fifteen other top paramilitary commanders have been extradited to the United States, raising major concerns among Colombian investigators, victims' rights groups and organizations such as Human Rights Watch, all of whom say complex investigations into paramilitary crimes are being thrown into disarray. With nearly all of the top commanders in U.S. jails, they argue, Colombian detectives and prosecutors have lost their most knowledgeable sources of information about paramilitary groups.
"I see this with huge and profound concern, because it could leave many cases in impunity," said one senior Colombian investigator, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
He spoke of one extradited commander, Ramiro "Cuco" Vanoy, who had admitted to dozens of murders each time he testified in Colombia, leaving investigators thirsting for more testimony. "That has been overshadowed," the investigator said, "by the hastiness to resolve one problem -- and that problem is drug trafficking."
Indeed, the paramilitary groups for years smuggled cocaine in massive quantities to fund their war against Marxist rebels. But critics of the extraditions say such trafficking was far less pernicious than the war crimes that terrorized Colombia for a generation.
According to President Alvaro Uribe, those who have been extradited so far to the United States were sent only after they failed to cooperate with Colombian investigators. The Bush administration has touted the extraditions as a bold move by Uribe, Washington's closest ally in Latin America; his government has already extradited nearly 700 Colombians to the United States -- most of them low- and mid-level drug traffickers.
Critics of the Uribe administration, however, charge that the president shipped the commanders north to squelch testimony that had begun to link military officers and some elite members of society with death squad commanders. In fact, testimony by commanders has helped propel investigations that have put 33 members of Congress, most of them allies of Uribe, behind bars, while tarnishing the reputations of generals close to the president.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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"If I go, then the story of the Self-Defense Forces is incomplete."
We've heard something like that before. Just before the switch was pulled on Ted Bundy completing the circuit.
Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The report comes a day after NATO foreign ministers said they would make further ties with Russia dependent on Moscow making good on a pledge to pull its troops back to pre-conflict positions in Georgia. However, they stopped short of calling an immediate halt to all cooperation.
The Nordic country's embassy in Moscow received a telephone call from "a well-placed official in the Russian Ministry of Defense," who said Moscow plans "to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries," Espen Barth Eide, state secretary with the Norwegian ministry said.
Eide told The Associated Press that the Russian official notified Norway it will receive a written note about this soon. He said Norwegian diplomats in Moscow would meet Russian officials on Thursday morning to clarify the implications of the freeze.
"It is our understanding that other NATO countries will receive similar notes," Eide said. The ministry said the Russian official is known to the embassy, but Norway declined to provide a name or any further identifying information.
...
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 18:14 ||
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INTERFAX > both SOUTH OSSETIA + ABKHAZIA have asked RUSSIA to formally recognize their independence from GEORGIA. It remains to be seen iff such potential recognition from Russ will end-up wid one or both Muslim enclaves being formally RE-INTEGRATED WID RUSSIA PROPER.
As per my earlier POSTS ala RUSS FEARS OF FUTURE NUCLEAR ISLAMISM [Russ Center, HIGH BIRTH RATES], + "living space" and hegemony-minded, already nuke-armed CHINA [Russ Far East], RUSSO-GEORGIAN CONFLICT + RECOGN OF SOVEREIGN MUSLIM ENCLAVES = THE POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT RUSS, IFF NOT VERY CAREFUL, MAY END UP UNILATER CONTRIB TO A NEW DESTABILIZ + BREAK-UP OF ITS OWN POST-COLD WAR SELF [Russ "Kosovo(s)]"???
#3
This is one place where PDF doesn't stand for Pretty Damned Funny. If Putin is smart, he'll pull back pretty soon, now. He's made a strong impression for the at-home crowd. But, for the long run, he has paid a big price with the neighbors. All the neighbors got a refresher course in why they hate and fear the big bear. It's a boon for the US and NATO, especially since we have something solid to offer them for protection - a defensive missle shield.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/20/2008 18:16 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder that Ivan would think if he woke up tomorrow morning and all of the elements on the order of battle list could no longer communicate?
All of the Wal-Marts across Alabama sold out of ammunition as of yesterday. A reliable source said that one of the purchasers commented
that while Russia may have invaded Georgia, they sure as hell ain't doin' it to Alabama.
Todays "Shocked, shocked!" news
Security researchers claim to have uncovered evidence pointing to a link between Russian state-run businesses and cyber-attacks against Georgia.
Denial of service attacks against Georgian web-sites started a day before Georgian and Russian military units began fighting over the disputed region of South Ossetia. SecureWorks researcher Don Jackson said that logs showed that portions of the attack were run from command and control servers located on the networks of Russian state-operated firms Rostelecom and Comstar. These servers were not linked to previous botnet activity.
"We know that the Russian government controls those servers theoretically, if they have not been 'pwned' by somebody else," Jackson told eWeek.
LONDON: BP Plc said on Wednesday that testing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline would begin, ahead of a move to resume operations on the route damaged by a fire earlier this month.
"We've taken the decision to start dynamic integrity testing of the line today before a move to full operation," said BP spokesman Toby Odone. "This will involve some limited and intermittent flow of oil through the pipeline." "For ship scheduling purposes, the lifting programme at Ceyhan will be updated today to start loadings from the beginning of next week."
The closure of the pipeline, after an explosion on the line in eastern Turkey, caused members of the BTC pipeline consortium to declare force majeure on exports from Ceyhan, freeing them from contractual obligations. BP owns 30.1 percent of BTC, while Socar holds 25 percent.
Other shareholders include US Chevron and ConocoPhillips, Norway's StatoilHydro, Italy's ENI and France's Total. Kurdish separatist guerrillas claimed responsibility for the explosion, although energy and military officials said they doubted the explosion was caused by sabotage.
Russian forces on Wednesday built a sentry post just 30 miles from the Georgian capital, appearing to dig in to positions deep inside Georgia despite pledges to pull back to areas mandated by a cease-fire signed by both countries.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says his troops will complete their pullback by Friday, but few signs of movement have been seen other than the departure of a small contingent that have held the strategically key city of Gori.
A convoy of flatbed trucks carrying badly needed food aid to one of the areas most heavily hit by the fighting was waved through a checkpoint by Russian soldiers. But conditions throughout much of the country remained tense.
Russian soldiers were setting up camp Wednesday in at least three positions in west-central Georgia. Further east, soldiers were building a sentry post of timber on a hill outside Igoeti, 30 miles from Tbilisi and the closest point to the capital where Russian troops have maintained a significant presence.
A top Russian general, meanwhile, said Russia plans to construct nearly a score of checkpoints to be manned by hundreds of soldiers in the so-called "security zone" around the border with South Ossetia.
And at a military training school in the mountain town of Sachkhere, a Georgian sentry said he feared Russian forces will make good on their threat to return after a confrontation the day before.
The sentry, who gave his name only as Corporal Vasily, said 23 Russian tanks, APCS and heavy guns showed up at the base on Tuesday and demanded to be let in. The Georgians refused and the Russians left after a 30-minute standoff but vowed to return after blowing up facilities in the village of Osiauri, he said.
Georgia's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Russian soldiers destroyed military logistics facilities in Osiauri, but the claim could not immediately be confirmed.
"We're trying not to provoke them; otherwise they'll stay here for five to six months," Vasily said. He said the school itself had no heavy weapons or other significant strategic value, unlike the military base raided by Russians at Senaki, "where they even took the windows off the buildings."
Russia sent its tanks and troops into Georgia after Georgia launched a heavy artillery barrage Aug. 7 on the separatist, pro-Russian province of South Ossetia. Fighting also has flared in a second Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia.
The short war has driven tensions between Russia and the West to some of their highest levels since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
A cease-fire signed by the presidents of Russia and Georgia calls for Russian forces to pull back to the positions they held before Aug. 7. The cease-fire allows Russia to maintain troops in a zone extending about 4 miles into Georgia along the South Ossetian border.
The Kremlin said Medvedev told French President Nicolas Sarkozy by phone Tuesday that Russian troops would withdraw from most of Georgia by Friday some to Russia, others to South Ossetia and a surrounding "security zone" set in 1999.
The White House made clear it expected Russia to move faster. "It didn't take them really three or four days to get into Georgia, and it really shouldn't take them three or four days to get out," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the Russian general staff, told a briefing Wednesday that Russia will build a double line of checkpoints totaling 18 in the zone, with about 270 soldiers manning the front-line posts. He said the security zone would be 25 miles from the strategically key city of Gori, but the city is significantly closer to the zone's presumed boundaries than that.
South Ossetia technically remains a part of Georgia, but Russia has said it will accept whatever South Ossetia's leaders decide about their future status which is almost certain to be either a declaration of independence or a request to be incorporated into Russia.
Western leaders have stressed Georgia must retain its current borders.
A U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee delegation is traveling to Georgia to show solidarity with its government and assess the situation after fierce fighting between Georgian and Russian troops.
"This is a moment in history when it is vital for the world's democracies to stand in solidarity," U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said in a statement before the trip. Lieberman and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham were meeting with Georgian officials as well as with the ranking U.S. general on the ground.
U.S. Brig. Gen. Jon Miller arrived with a team Monday to assess humanitarian needs. About half of the displaced Georgians have taken refuge in schools, municipal offices and even condemned buildings in and around the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
The Igoeti checkpoint that the aid trucks crossed, about 30 miles west of Tbilisi, is one of the deepest penetrations made by Russian forces into Georgia after fighting broke out in South Ossetia nearly two weeks ago.
The Russian seizure of Gori and villages in the region has left thousands of people with scarce and uncertain food supplies. The nine flatbed trucks carrying aid from the World Food Program could bring them some small comfort for a few days.
On Tuesday, Russian forces drove out of the Black Sea port city of Poti in trucks and armored personnel carriers loaded with about 20 blindfolded and bound Georgian prisoners identified by local officials as soldiers and police and seized four U.S. Humvees. They reportedly were taken to a Russian-controlled military base nearby, and Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Wednesday they still were being held.
Nogovitsyn, the Russian general, indicated his forces may not return the U.S. vehicles, which had been waiting at Poti to be shipped home after being used in recent U.S.-Georgia exercises. Asked about U.S. demands that Russia return seized weaponry to the Georgian military, he said "we don't intend to give up trophies."
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 11:26 ||
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page 3 please.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 11:31 Comments ||
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#2
Not that I have anything against the Georgians, but the WFP is not to be trusted. Something about all this seems orchestrated--the UN's payback, as President Bush's attack on Iraq spoiled their Oil-for-Food profiteering?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,406826,00.html
How Much Discretion? U.N.'s Anti-Poverty Program Wants Unlimited Spending Power
By George Russell
The United Nations Development Program, the U.N.s anti-poverty agency, which systematically ignored its own financial rules and regulations while funneling millions of dollars to North Korea, wants to give its chief operating officer the right to make out discretionary checks of unlimited amounts, without normal budgetary approval.
Thats up from the current limit of $50,000 which can be dispersed without regulatory oversight.
UNDP argues that the new ability to write such checks without normal authorization would only bring its discretionary powers into line with those currently exercised by other U.N. programs, like UNICEF and the World Food Program (WFP).The problem is that at the Rome-based WFP, the use of the same unlimited discretionary authority to pay off job-eliminated contract employees was condemned just last year as a $90 million abuse of authority and a violation both of U.N. payment rules for contractors, and of fairness to longer-term employees.
The condemnation was issued by the only budget oversight committee that includes the entire membership....
#3
somehow I cant see what WFP being unfair in its allocation of severance packages has to do with distributing aid in Russian occupied Georgia, but then Im slow.
meanwhile the key issue is the looting being done by the Russians.
Lawmaker and analyst blasts Turkey for 'not allowing a Georgia mission of U.S. hospital ships,' whose passage into Black Sea would violate the straits convention. If Russia gains control of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, it will be a blow on world energy markets, McCain warns
The Pentagon has confirmed that U.S. officials are in communication with their Turkish counterparts in order to arrange the passage of humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia. The U.S. naval vessels carrying the shipment would pass through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea."The State Department is looking at other options (in addition to air transport) for sustaining the humanitarian relief operations and is looking at some naval vessels," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Monday. "The State Department is working at the necessary agreements to achieve some passage in the straits of Turkey and things like that," he said."Surface vessels give us the capability to provide larger amounts of relief supplies and they also give you the platform to operate off aerial assets, vertical lifts, those types of things," Whitman explained, according to an Agence France-Presse report. He did not specify the type of naval vessels that the United States wants to send to Georgia.
One Turkish diplomatic source said that he did not expect the United States to insist on the USNS Mercy's passage through the Turkish Straits. However, disregarding the Montreux Convention's clear provisions, one leading U.S. lawmaker strongly criticized Turkey for failing to allow the hospital ship's Black Sea passage."As hundreds of Georgian civilians cry out for international assistance, Turkey is dragging its feet on approving the transit of U.S. hospital ships through the Turkish Straits," said congressman Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois and a member of the House Appropriations Committee's Foreign Operations Subcommittee and a Navy reserve officer."Blocking humanitarian and medical supplies from reaching the people of Georgia is unacceptable. We should expect more from a NATO ally like Turkey," he said in a written statement. Kirk said he had sent a letter to other members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to call Turkey's Ambassador to Washington U.S., Nabi Sensoy, demanding the Ankara government's approval for the humanitarian mission.
Turkey claims it has so far accepted all requests for air transport of humanitarian assistance to Georgia. It says requests for naval transport of such materials will be evaluated under the Montreux Convention's provisions. Ariel Cohen, a Russian expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank" in the United States, also criticized Turkey for the hospital ships, expressing the view that "Turkey is our NATO ally and, as a friend of Georgia, in my view, should have been more supportive of their Georgian neighbors and of their American allies" He continued, "And this brings back the bad taste of Turkey, for example, barring American troops from going into Iraq through Turkish ports and Turkish territory in 2003 - a step that vastly damaged the Turkish- American relations. I'd hoped we were putting that behind us."
In retaliation to a Georgian attack Aug. 7 on separatists inside the autonomous republic of South Ossetia, thousands of Russian troops poured into the area; eventually invading South Ossetia, Abkhazia, another autonomous republic in Georgia, and parts of Georgia proper. A fragile ceasefire has so far not prompted the Russians to leave the Georgian territory.In a related development Monday, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, warned that a Russian move to destroy or gain control of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline passing through Georgia, would further increase Russia's influence on energy matters and be a blow on world energy markets."
Russia also holds vast energy wealth. And this heavy influence in the oil and gas market has become a political weapon that Russia is clearly prepared to use," McCain said in Orlando, Florida. "Georgia stands at a strategic crossroads in the Caucasus. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which brings oil from the Caspian to points west, traverses Georgia. And if that pipeline were to be destroyed or controlled by Russia, global energy supplies would be even more vulnerable to Russian influence, with serious consequences on the world energy market."
#2
The Montreux Convention explictly bans aircrat carriers from transiting the Straits. The Soviets, in Soviet-style, simply designated their aircraft carriers as aviation-capable cruisers.
The linked article also mentions some of the other limitations on naval transit imposed by the convention.
#4
To ex Navy Rantburgers:
If we sent an SSN through the straits, would Turkey even know?
Al
Posted by: Frozena Al ||
08/20/2008 11:45 Comments ||
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#5
You bet they'd know.
I'm not mil/ex-mil, but the Bosporus is narrow, shallow, and heavily trafficked. The Bosporus is only about 50 meters deep and is 0.7 to 3.7 km wide (Wiki). The Turks have strict rules for transit not just for naval ships but also for all merchant ships, just to keep collisions from happening. I'm comfortably certain that the Turks have the Bosporus, Dardenelles and the Sea of Marmara completely wired.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2008 12:12 Comments ||
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#6
I think A SSN 'shadowing' a surface craft could make it through; especially if that surface craft had noisy screws. Night time, submerged just enough to cover the sail and minimum turns, highly possible.
#8
The Turks want a reward for the privilege of letting Uncle Sam protect them from the Russians during the Cold War. It's the kind of thing I've come to expect from them.
#9
Black sea states have superior rights under Montreux. As the link makes clear, its not a very good treaty, signed under very different conditions from today.
One way around it, in extremis, would be to reflag a vessel to Ukraine, I suppose, or to Romania (to keep it within NATO)
former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen (SDP) is taking on a job as a lobbyist for the Russian-German company Nord Sream, which is planning to set up an undersea gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany
Russian troops remained camped out Monday in a Georgian military base in this western city and in a nearby house said to be the Georgian president's vacation retreat, showing no sign of leaving on what Moscow called Day One of a pullout from Georgia.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Russia on Tuesday hit back at western powers' attempts to punish it for invading its tiny neighbor Georgia, calling NATO statement over the conflict "biased", as its navy said it was pulling out of a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea and was unable to host a scheduled visit by a U.S. naval frigate. "The (NATO) declaration above all appears unobjective and biased because there's not a word about how all this started, why it happened, who started the aggressive action and who armed Georgia," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference called in response to the NATO statement.
He referred to a statement by NATO foreign ministers in Brussels that condemned Russian military action as "disproportionate and inconsistent" with Moscow's peacekeeping role and said the alliance could not carry on "business as usual" with Moscow. "It appears to me that NATO is trying to portray the aggressor as the victim, to whitewash a criminal regime and to save a failing regime" in Georgia, Lavrov said.
He also condemned the alliance's encouragement of Georgia's NATO membership bid. "The policy of drawing Georgian into NATO is not about Georgia corresponding with NATO standards but is dictated exclusively by aims that are nothing other than anti-Russian, aimed at nothing other than supporting an aggressive regime," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, a Russian naval spokesman told AFP "Minesweepers of the Baltic fleet will not participate in the Open Spirit 2008 international naval exercise in Baltic Sea waters". He added that it was currently "not considered possible" to host the U.S. naval frigate Ford.
Open Spirit is an international naval exercise held annually under the NATO "Partnership for Peace" program aimed at ridding Baltic waters of masses of unexploded ordnance left over from World War I, World War II and the Cold War.
The USS Ford was due to visit Russia's eastern port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, home to Russia's Pacific fleet, on September 5-9, RIA Novosti reported. The Open Spirit exercise was due to start later this month. Last week the United States announced it was canceling two military exercises with Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps the Ukrainian navy would like to participate instead? And perhaps Ukraine could host the USS Ford after, given that the Russians have to cancel their engagement.
#7
What I don't get is why Putin didn't announce this sort of thing the day after the invasion and preempt Nato and the west and force them to ask him to rejoin if that was the case. He had to know he'd be kicked out of this sort of thing.
#2
Why would Georgia or any CIS member want to join NATO. It is neutered and irrelevant. Look at how it has failed to support us in Afghanistan. Look at how it has failed to do nothing more than wimp out on Georgia. What can it do? Nothing. I think it is time for the US and its "new Europe" allies to consider a different more competent association that includes a number of defensive measures including SDI early warning.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2008 10:31 Comments ||
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#3
Membership in NATO has serious advantages. To start with, it means that your military, however much of it you have, is brought up to NATO standards (subsidized by the US). It also means that the US will support you in future crises.
In turn this means that the NATO members that you don't hear about, like Turkey, which does have a powerful army, at least become conduits of supply to your nation.
In this opportunity, however, NATO membership can lead to some really grand opportunities. All of the non-NATO, but anti-Russia countries will want to be your best buddy, and you can become central to forming a NEW mutual defense pact with them as well.
Georgia may have lost some fingers in this fight, but it has won the purse.
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council was expected to hold closed consultations later on Tuesday on Georgia as Western countries prepared a new draft resolution demanding Russian withdrawal, Western diplomats said. They said the consultations, expected at 3.30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT), were likely to be followed by a formal meeting to take a first look at the draft and be briefed on the situation in Georgia by senior U.N. officials.
It was unlikely that a vote would be called ever on Tuesday, the diplomats said. They said the new resolution was brief and called for observance of the cease-fire in Georgia and a Russian withdrawal. One diplomat said it was likely that veto-holding Russia and perhaps other Security Council members would oppose it.
The new draft replaces a longer text that would have endorsed a peace plan promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed by Georgia and Russia.
So the French may veto the substitution, for example, just out of spite ...
Some Russian tanks and armored vehicles left the key Georgia town of Gori on Tuesday, but NATO said it was freezing contacts with Moscow until all Russian forces were out of the Black Sea state. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian troops would withdraw to pre-conflict positions by Aug. 22.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Watched on C-SPAN...
UK and Costa Rican statements were pretty good.
Russian Amb is trying to make Gromyko look like a nice guy.
Refused to answer Georgian question if Russia considered the war over.
Georgian guy had a few tears near the end.
#5
So the French may veto the substitution, for example, just out of spite ...
Nope. The old res was standard UNSC business, to make a ceasefire deal part of international law, authorize UN tangible support for it, etc. Its hanging fire now, cause the Sov - er Russians, are not withdrawing with any deliberate speed. Its ALREADY embarassing to the French. They sure as hell arent going to veto a res to push the Sov - er Russians, to get out.
If they do, I promise to post on here - "George W Bush is the best president of all time" and to do it ten times (in one post)
#6
The 15-nation Security Council is now faced with two conflicting drafts, both with little immediate chance of success since each is opposed by at least one veto-holding member. The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China have vetoes in the council.
The Russian draft says the Security Council endorses the six-point plan, which it then details. In conclusion it "calls upon the parties concerned to implement the above-mentioned plan in good faith."
Tuesday's draft, written by France and backed by other Western members, had called for an immediate Russian withdrawal to pre-conflict lines, the return of Georgian forces to their bases and full compliance with an already agreed cease-fire.
"STEP SIDEWAYS"
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Tuesday Russia could not support the French draft and there has been no vote on it. On Wednesday he called the text an "inexplicable effort to make the Security Council step sideways."
He said he hoped for positive reaction to the Russian draft by other council members.
"No one can object to the Security Council endorsing the six principles of the Russian and French presidents, which form the foundation of all current efforts to normalize the situation," he told reporters.
France originally had been negotiating with Russia a resolution similar to the one now drafted by Moscow but shelved it amid Western concerns that Russia was not making good on promises to pull back its troops in Georgia.
What I said. France is on our side on this, pique or no.
BEIJING (AFP) - South Korean Olympic athletes have been given detailed guidelines to avoid friction with their North Korean counterparts in Beijing, officials said Wednesday.
Contestants should not point or laugh at badges or portraits depicting North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il or his late father Kim Il-Sung, the (South) Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) says in a handbook. "Refrain from pointing, touching or laughing at badges, portraits and remarks idolising the father and son," the booklet advises. So...who's the midget?
Athletes should also avoid using names like "South Korea" and "North Korea" or even the countries' official titles, the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and "the Republic of Korea."
They should "maintain an attitude that is resolute and dignified while avoiding political issues in dialogue" when they meet North Korean counterparts, says the 150-page handbook which also covers a variety of other topics. "Words like North and South Korea can trigger an argument. So, refer to ourselves as 'our side' and the North Korean athletes as 'North side' or 'your side'," it says. A KOC spokesman in Seoul confirmed the book's contents to AFP. How about "sandwiches"? Can you mention "sandwiches"?
Relations between the two governments are at their worst in years. The two sides could not agree on holding a joint march at the Games opening ceremony, even though they marched together at the previous two Olympics. Relations worsened after conservative President Lee Myung-Bak took office in February and promised a firmer line with the North. The two nations have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended only in an armistice. Theoretically, neither country recognises the other's existence. The communist North's state media refers in all its articles only to south (lower case) Korea or "the south side." Sounds like Cubs and White Sox fans...
South Korean official Lee Elisa told Yonhap news agency in Beijing that South and North Korean competitors greeted each other warmly when they encountered each other earlier in the Games. The mood has turned tense in recent days, another official who declined to be named told Yonhap. Feats...don't fail me now.
North Korea sent 63 athletes to the Olympics and has won two gold medals. South Korea sent 267, with eight golds as of Wednesday afternoon. They should make golf an Olympic event and send Kimmie down to kick ass...
#1
Athletes should also avoid using names like "South Korea" and "North Korea" or even the countries' official titles, the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and "the Republic of Korea."
WTF? Touchy SOBs arent they?
Why don't they just say, "Badges, WE don't need no stinking badges".
#2
TOPIX > AZERBAIJAN'S QUIET SATISFACTION OVER RUSSIA'S ACTION IN GEORGIA.
Not every Muslim community or area likes IRAN OR ISLAMIST RADICALISM.Looks like ARMENIA has company ala glee over both RUSSIA + US-NATO/EU in their backyards.
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > MUSLIM NEWS - WE NEED INDUSTRIAL/ECON DEVELOPMENT IN MUSLIM AREAS.
#7
CHINESE MIL FORUM Thread > AS JAPAN'S WORKFORCE AGES, JAPAN FEARS AND NEEDS CHINESE LABOR [+ Korean]. Socio-cultural sensitivites vee foreign immigration + labor is leading Public Authorites to legally restrict even RANDOM = CASUAL RECREATIONAL MOVEMENT OF SAME, + RESTRICT HABITATION/DOMICILAGE TO PRE-SELECTED OR ALREADY ESTABLISHED URBAN AREAS = GHETTOS [regulated/surveillance]???
* RUSSIA , vv NUCLEARIZING ISLAMISM [Russ CENTER] + CHINA [Russ FAR EAST/CHIN-JAPAN, etc
Collusion]???
CARL SAGAN-ESQUE [1980's BLOOM COUNTY]> Milyuhns + Zilyuhns + Tilyuhns.........???
* Lest we fergit, RUSSIA-CHIN ANTI-US "WAR NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED".
Anuther one for the Year 2010-2012[2016] Post-Dubya Period!
In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll.
The reversal follows a month of attacks by McCain, who has questioned Obama's experience, criticized his opposition to most new offshore oil drilling and mocked his overseas trip.
The poll was taken Thursday through Saturday as Obama wrapped up a weeklong vacation in Hawaii that ceded the political spotlight to McCain, who seized on Russia's invasion of Georgia to emphasize his foreign policy views.
"There is no doubt the campaign to discredit Obama is paying off for McCain right now," pollster John Zogby said. "This is a significant ebb for Obama."
McCain now has a 9-point edge, 49 percent to 40 percent, over Obama on the critical question of who would be the best manager of the economy -- an issue nearly half of voters said was their top concern in the November 4 presidential election.
That margin reversed Obama's 4-point edge last month on the economy over McCain, an Arizona senator and former Vietnam prisoner of war who has admitted a lack of economic expertise and shows far greater interest in foreign and military policy.
McCain has been on the offensive against Obama during the last month over energy concerns, with polls showing strong majorities supporting his call for an expansion of offshore oil drilling as gasoline prices hover near $4 a gallon. Obama had opposed new offshore drilling, but said recently he would support a limited expansion as part of a comprehensive energy program.
That was one of several recent policy shifts for Obama, as he positions himself for the general election battle. But Zogby said the changes could be taking a toll on Obama's support, particularly among Democrats and self-described liberals. "That hairline difference between nuance and what appears to be flip-flopping is hurting him with liberal voters," Zogby said.
Obama's support among Democrats fell 9 percentage points this month to 74 percent, while McCain has the backing of 81 percent of Republicans. Support for Obama, an Illinois senator, fell 12 percentage points among liberals, with 10 percent of liberals still undecided compared to 9 percent of conservatives. More at link.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 12:05 ||
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#1
squeeeaaal, little piggies!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2008 13:06 Comments ||
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#7
And this is in-spite of the MSMs open worship of the big ZERO.
Hopefully OBama has flamed out too soon and people are beginning to actually engage their brains and look at his background and total lack of experience.
#8
Let's not rejoice too soon: fpr now it is only one poll and one institution. Zogby not Gallup. Zogby is Deùocrat but could ne that they are Clintonian and bad numbers before teh convention could end in a Haillary come-back.
Let's not over rejoice but start looking for some AK47 ammo for the gun sex parade when MacCain is elected.
#13
Zogby can't be trusted, but other polls are showing similar results....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2008 17:06 Comments ||
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#14
The telephone poll of 1,089 likely voters had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
I believe McCain has been leading likely voters for some time. Other polls showing a slight lead for Obama have been among registered voters. Though I would like to see the number of Dems, Reps, and Inds polled for any sampling bias. What I found most interesting is that falling liberal support is leading falling support among Dems. Events are forcing Obama to take a position on some issues and even the left is beginning to dislike what they see.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 17:26 Comments ||
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#3
My money is on Pelosi's Cappo, Joe Biden. She will have to keep a short leash on Obama. Joe is just the man to do it, and report back to her on an hourly basis.
#4
Wouldn't he save the announcement for the convention? Maybe people would tune in for a little of it then..
Posted by: James ||
08/20/2008 9:02 Comments ||
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#5
Are you kidding, James? I wouldn't miss it for anything! Carter, Gore, and Kerry were just announced as speakers, Hillary Clinton gets the first night and the first vote, and Code Pink, the SDS, the anarchists, and a group of angry clowns are planning mischief and mayhem outside. I was too young to see the Democratic convention in 1968, and this one bids well to be '68 repeated as farce.
#9
Gee, Hillary is up first. What happens when she drops a big smelly bowl of scandal on the annointed one along with a request to the super-delegates to consider the election.
I know that this is just a fantasy of mine BUT the stars seem to be heading in that direction with the latest seeping out about CAC, Ayers, Klonsky, etc.
#12
I was too young to see the Democratic convention in 1968, and this one bids well to be '68 repeated as farce.
the party was actually deeply divided in 1968, Bobby Kennedy had just been shot, there were still more less segregationist Dems from the south who were steaming mad, there were all the mournful RFK supporters, there was incredible dissension inside the convention. And outside there were massive protests (recall that we still had the draft in those days, lots more incentive to protest) and a Chicago Pol Dept that did NOT have "sensitivity training"
The code pinkers are laughable to begin with, and the media wont care about them now that Iraq is off the headlines. And police depts have had 40 years learning how to deal with that stuff.
Carter will be put on when no ones listening. The Clintons will probably give good speeches, theyre pretty good at that. Kerry - one hopes hes put on late, for those us needing a non-prescription sleep aid. Al gore isnt all that bad a speech maker.
but the main thing is that it looks like the clean articulate guy is going to pick for VEEP someone who is actually fully qualified to be President. The main thing wrong with an Obama-Biden ticket is that the names are in the wrong order.
#13
Please be Sebelius so western kansas can receive the economic stimulus received by building the two clean coal fired generating stations that she has vetoed three times.
#14
The "trigger event" in Chicago in 68 was a phonecall made by some Kansas Democratic grand poobah, whose wife looked out the window of the current Hilton Hotel and got an eyeful of some "Free Lovin" by the "dirty smelly hippies" camping in Grant Park. A phonecall was made to Mayor Daley to "clean this up"... He handled it all right.
something Joe's never been accused of is "deep", but his plugs?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2008 13:05 Comments ||
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from Ace of Spades: Yesterday Joe Biden tried to tamp down speculation that he would not be Obama's VP pick by saying, "I'm not the guy". Many took that to mean, he was not the pick. Turns out that wasn't what Biden meant.
A Biden source told us not to read too much into his "Im-not-the-guy" statement, saying he was pretending not to be Biden -- rather than stating he wasnt going to be Obamas VP.
Pretending not to be himself? Oh my, an Obama/Biden ticket would be the best.
Let's face it, we don't want Biden on the Democratic ticket. We NEED him on that ticket.
LOL!!1!!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2008 13:23 Comments ||
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#21
Ya know, the last election I didn't think the Democrats could pick a worse candidate than John Kerry. Never underestimate the power of the Democrats to pick terrable candidates.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/20/2008 14:17 Comments ||
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#22
He shall instead, appoint a group of Companions. Disciples, if you will, who shall bring the Word to a desperate populace in dire need of the Message.
Posted by Seafarious 2008-08-20 12:26|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
#23
...Hillary Clinton gets the first night and the first vote, and Code Pink, the SDS, the anarchists, and a group of angry clowns are planning mischief and mayhem outside.
Will there be Puppets? I really like the Puppets. Clowns, not so much.
The Indian Department of Atomic Energy is creating 4 nuclear 'parks' around India for the imported 1000 MW reactors. The initial orders will be for two reactors at each park. This will rise to a total of eight at each location.
A controversial US-India nuclear energy deal is expected to face a stiff challenge later this week from countries that adamantly oppose nuclear proliferation.
They've identified Westinghouse Electric Company (AP1000 series of reactors), GE-Hitachi (ABWR reactor series) , Areva (1,000 MW European pressurised reactors) and the Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom (VVER 1,000 reactors) as possible suppliers. Looks like everybody gets a piece of the pie.
The deal, finalized by Washington and New Delhi in August 2007, would lift a 34-year embargo on the transfer of nuclear material to India, thereby allowing it access to foreign nuclear technology and supplies. The deal is seen as a strategic move on the part of the United States to cement relations with its booming democratic partner in Asia and counterbalance China's rise.
But critics say the deal will roll back decades of efforts to limit the global spread of nuclear materials and create a dangerous precedent for other would-be nuclear powers such as Iran.
Iran is already allowed to pursue civilian nuclear power. They only have to clean clean and submit to IAEA inspection. That's been the rule all along.
Despite fierce lobbying by the US and India to push the deal through, several holdouts -- including New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, and Norway -- could still scuttle the plan. Those countries are members of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which meets in Vienna on Thursday and must reach consensus on the deal for it to pass.
If the group does approve the plan, it will then pass to the US Congress for final approval later this year.
The Times of India quoted the New Zealand minister for disarmament and arms control, Phil Goff, as saying his country "has not arrived at a final position" on whether to approve the deal, but "like a number of countries, we do have reservations." In an interview with the paper he said: "New Zealand, as a strong advocate of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, puts a priority on a robust nuclear non-proliferation regime. India is one of only three countries that remain outside of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.... We don't agree with either India's testing of nuclear weapons or its continued possession of those weapons."
India is not giving up nuclear weapons as long as Pakistan and China are around. You might persuade them to stop testing, eventually, but you need to let them into the club so as to give them the confidence they need that the international community will stand by them.
India says it wants to implement the deal to help meet rapidly growing energy needs with more nuclear power. But critics say imports could also be used to ramp up its nuclear weapons program, thereby accelerating an atomic arms race with neighboring rival Pakistan.
Reuters reports that the deal would give special treatment to India, which ordinarily would be barred from accessing nuclear material because it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Diplomats have said that several NSG nations are unlikely to approve an exemption unless it makes clear certain events -- such as India testing a nuclear bomb or not allowing inspections at its nuclear facilities -- would trigger a review.
They've already agreed to inspections and to keep civilian and military programs separate.
Most major economic powers, including Japan, Russia, France, and China support the deal or have indicated they will not block it.
According to Agence France-Presse, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said that it was "biased to view the deal as going against nuclear non-proliferation efforts," and pointed out that it would give India access to international nuclear technology after being shut out for refusing to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Japan had previously been a major holdout and was pressing India to sign the NPT.
The Chinese ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, also said Tuesday that India has a right to nuclear energy if it fulfills international obligations, reports the Indian news website The Economic Times.
The Wall Street Journal noted one reason for such wide-ranging support: Energy companies from those countries stand to reap huge profits from building reactors and other nuclear infrastructure for India.
Earlier this year, before the international community became involved, the deal triggered a political crisis in India. Opposition members of the communist party and others argued that the deal drew India too close to the US. The Indian government easily survived a confidence vote over the issue in July, but rifts remain.
In a commentary piece for The Christian Science Monitor, Manjari Chatterjee Miller argued that the deep divisions within India over the deal reflected the country's lack of strategic vision, especially as compared to China.
Similarly, in an editorial in The New York Times, US Congressman Edward Markey (D) of Massachusetts and Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D) of California argue against the deal because of India's "checkered" nuclear track record.
Paradoxically, the Nuclear Suppliers Group was formed in direct response to India's illegal 1974 nuclear test. Its central purpose is to ensure that no other country exploits foreign nuclear energy assistance to make a bomb, as India did. If the group accedes to President Bush's dangerous request, countries such as Iran and North Korea would certainly use the precedent to their advantage.
In a background piece on the US-India agreement, the Council on Foreign Relations noted that under the terms of the deal, India agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Association to inspect its civilian -- but not military -- nuclear facilities. It also agreed to continue its moratorium on nuclear testing. The piece cites proponents of the deal who argue that some international oversight over India's nuclear program is better than none. "President Bush's bilateral deal correctly recognizes that it is far better for the nonproliferation community if India works with it rather than against it," the backgrounder cites Seema Gahlaut, from the University of Georgia's Center for International Trade and Security, as saying.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2008 14:37 ||
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The Indian Cabinet Committee on Security has given the go-ahead for two mega-deals with Israeli defense industries in India, claim sources in the know.
Local sources say that the committee approved a $1.5 billion Israel Aerospace Industries project to develop and upgrade the Barak surface-to-air missile.
The council also approved a $270 million purchase of Rafael's SpyDer defense systems. According to Indian news reports, Rafael has already inked the final agreement, and IAI is expected to renew negotiations shortly.
The deal has been held up because the Indian Central Bureau of Investigations accused India's former defense minister and president of the Samata Party George Fernandes of accepting NIS 435,000 in kickbacks from the IAI to fix a tender for anti-ship missiles in IAI's favor. The IAI and Fernandes denied the allegations, which Fernandes says were politically motivated.
The Rafael deal was also suspended, apparently under the shadow of similar allegations. Rafael denies the allegations. According to the Times of India the development project for the new generation of Barak missiles will also move forward, and the missiles will be operational by 2011
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2008 12:14 ||
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A day after President Pervez Musharraf quit, leaders of Pakistan's fractious coalition government squabbled over the judiciary on Tuesday, as Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani traveled to Kabul for talks with Afghan and NATO officials on cooperation against Islamic militants.
Musharraf, the former army chief and key ally of the United States in its campaign against terrorism, resigned as president of nuclear-armed Pakistan on Monday to avoid impeachment.
Coalition leaders, who campaigned against Musharraf, met for several hours to set about tackling pressing economic and security problems and to discuss a new president but got bogged down over the fate of judges Musharraf purged last year. The bickering and prospects of more to come are likely to dismay investors and allies. "If they cannot agree on the restoration of the judges in a matter of days, then clearly something is not right with the coalition," said Farid Khan, an analyst at Credit Suisse.
"We cannot afford to lose months, or even weeks on these political issues. They need to get to the economy, and only a strong government can take the tough decisions needed for the economy," the Karachi-based Khan said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a statement called Musharraf "a friend to the United States and one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism."
Musharraf, the former army chief who seized power in a coup in 1999, announced Monday in a televised address that he would stand down.
Meanwhile, Kayani met with U.S. General David D. McKiernan, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and General Bismillah Khan, the Afghan army's chief of general staff. "The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border," the statement said. "They showed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation and reiterated their resolve and commitment to contribute towards peace and security in this volatile region," it added.
A security official said Kayani's visit to Kabul was "already planned" before Musharraf stepped down.
Kabul recently accused Pakistan's military-run intelligence service of masterminding the July bombing of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, in which around 60 people were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
The meme that Perv resigned "to avoid impeachment" is a silly western notion that should be rejected. Up to the last, if he had wanted to, he could have directed the army to dissolve their parliament, their Supreme Court justices to be hung, etc., and they would have obeyed.
Perv is smarter than that, however. He was at a personal impasse, where he could no longer do what he really wanted to do--unite Pakistan under the central government--but had become an obstacle to that goal.
The wisest of leaders always remember two very important rules: to pick, train, and supervise their successors so that they understand and agree with their ideas and want to continue them; and then to get far out of the picture in such a way that you do not trip them up.
It also helps to have so crushed the disloyal and stupid opposition so much that they have no chance of disrupting the succession.
#4
Up to the last, if he had wanted to, he could have directed the army to dissolve their parliament, their Supreme Court justices to be hung, etc., and they would have obeyed.
Its very questionable whether the army, which now reports to a new chief of staff, would have obeyed.
#5
An unstable Pakistan is the only reason we put up with Mushy--the lesser of two evils. If AQ has vowed to hunt him down, maybe New Mexico or other secure US location should take him for safekeeping until Halliburton has their way with him. Allowing Perv to keep his head may result in lots of gratuities that would otherwise be lost forever.
PML-N wants reinstatement of all judges through executive order, and non-PPP president Which'd be Nawaz, of course. Lotsa baksheesh in being president, if you play it right...
PPP insists on constitutional package plus PPP president That'd be Mr. Ten Percent, natch...
ANP, JUI-F seek three days for deliberations Fazl figures maybe he can line up some support as a compromise candidate...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Fred,
Is the Surprise Meter in for repairs or what?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2008 10:36 Comments ||
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#2
#1: Fred, Is the Surprise Meter in for repairs or what? Posted by: Jack is Back!||
Who's surprised? Several of us regulars predicted this from the start - that if Perv went, the rest of the Pakistani government would split into warring factions, all working for the biggest slice of the pie they could get. It's now happening, just as most of us imagined it would.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2008 18:53 Comments ||
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#3
sarcasm, OP. For some of us, it's a way of life
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2008 19:39 Comments ||
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The United States said on Tuesday it would study any application for asylum by General (r) Pervez Musharraf but pointed out that no such bid had been made so far. "We haven't been asked to provide him with any asylum or place of residence," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "If he chooses to take up residence somewhere ... we would obviously look at it," he added. US President George W Bush also plans to reach out to senior Pakistan officials, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "I ... would expect that the president will have high-level contact with the Pakistani authorities ... in the near future," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Well I would hope so, he was our man after all.
#2
Unless he really protected Al Queda in the NorthWest Frontier Province there shouldn't be any debate. He was there when we needed him and stepped aside when that was needed as well.
Of course ex-dictators usually favor the South of France.
#4
Pakistan knew about, assisted and funded the Sept 11 attacks. Musharraf was in the thick of it and played his hand well for the maximum benefit of Pakistan. The only way he should come to the US is to be buried alive at 1 World Trade Center Plaza.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 11:35 Comments ||
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#5
Unfortunately, the US is out of the question, because of our profligate herds of savage, bestial, and carnivorous lawyers. For this reason, we might arrange a new home for Perv in one of the more reasonable nations of the world.
Mexico can be very beautiful, if you have money, as well as several of the South American nations.
The Republic of Chile, home to many Germans, both has a Common Law based legal system and does not belong to the International Court of Justice. It has very limited extradition, and has a somewhat libertarian government, unless you are a communist or want to make trouble for other citizens.
Most important, Chile is a country ruled by both reason and pragmatism. They avoid making waves or being a pest.
Aiming to boost India's 'Look East' policy, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta will hold talks with Japanese and South Korean Defence officials during his visit to the two countries beginning tomorrow, while Indian naval ships will engage in wargaming with Japanese ships off Mumbai coast this monthend.
During his 10-day visit, Mehta will be in Japan till August 24 where he would meet its Defence Minister Shigaro Ishiba and Vice Minister Kohei Mansouda, apart from its defence forces' top naval officers Admiral Takeshi Saito and Admiral Eiji Yoshil, a top naval officer said here today.
The Navy chief would touch base at Tokyo, Yokosuka, Yokohama, Hiroshima and Koyoto during the five-day stay in Japan, where he would visit frontline warships and shipyards, in an effort to build relations between the two countries in this critical area of infrastructure.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD: Iraq will soon sign its first big international oil deal since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a $1.2 billion oil service contract with China, Oil Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani was quoted as saying yesterday. The deal covers a small field producing just 90,000 barrels per day and replaces an earlier deal signed under Saddam. But the terms described by Shahristani give a clue to the tough line Baghdad is likely to take in deals with other foreign firms.
It replaces a production sharing agreement that would have given a Chinese firm a long-term stake in profits from the Adhab oilfield with a services contract in which the Chinese receive fees for work, but Baghdad keeps the future profits. We have held talks with (the Chinese) for a year, and the terms of the deal were changed to a service contract. The Chinese have agreed on that, with a value of $1.2 billion, Shahristani told the an-Noor newspaper.
Foreign firms are keen to have access to the OPEC countrys oilfields, the worlds third largest. But with oil prices high Baghdad has been negotiating from a position of strength, while war has kept firms from setting up a presence in Baghdad.
JEDDAH: Celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries has no base in Islam, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Alsheikh has said.
The mufti made the comments while answering a question from Al-Madinah newspaper after prominent Qassim-based scholar Salman Al-Oadah issued a fatwa saying that celebrating such occasions was not against the rules of Shariah. "Such a call is against righteousness. A Muslim should thank Almighty Allah if his children are healthy and if his married life is stable as the years pass by. He should say: Alhamdu Lillah for His generosity and kindness," said Al-Alsheikh, who is also the chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars and the head of the Presidency for Scientific Research and Religious Edicts (Dar Al-Ifta).
Speaking on satellite television last week, Al-Oadah, who is the general supervisor of the Islamtoday.com website, created controversy after ruling that there is nothing un-Islamic in celebrating wedding anniversaries and birthdays. "It is normal for a son or daughter to celebrate birthdays. They can invite their friends for a meal on this occasion. I see nothing wrong in this," he said.
Al-Alsheikh, who is the highest religious authority in the Kingdom, said Muslims only have two official celebrations -- Eid Al-Fitr, which is celebrated at the end of Ramadan, and Eid Al-Adha, which is celebrated on Dhul Hijjah 10. He added that Muslims also have a weekly Eid, which is Friday. The mufti said that the celebration of other occasions such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries and mother's day were un-Islamic.
Several prominent Muslim scholars have supported the mufti, adding that celebrating such occasions is in imitation of people of the Jewish and Christian faiths.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Manie, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars, said Al-Oadah had made "a slip of the tongue" and urged him to retract what he had said. "Although he is a very learned scholar, Sheikh Al-Oadah has made a mistake here," he said.
Al-Manie said Muslims have their own identity, which distinguishes them from the followers of other religions. "When we celebrate birthdays and wedding anniversaries, we are imitating other religions -- something that our Prophet (PTUI peace be upon him) warned us against," he added.
Al-Manie stressed that celebrations should be undertaken within a religious context. "Otherwise we will be falling in the trap of imitating others, something that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) warned us against," he said. But Hey, imitating a murdering,thieving rapist is perfectly accetable.
Saud Al-Finaisan, the former dean of the Shariah College at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, said celebrating wedding anniversaries and birthdays was not permissible in Islam, as they are considered to be in imitation of non-Muslim practices.
Saleh bin Muqbil Al-Osaimi, member of the Saudi Fiqh Society, said the reason behind the prohibition of such occasions is not that these occasions are irreligious, but that they are the distinct customs of the followers of other faiths. "We are prevented by Islam to liken ourselves to the nonbelievers," he said.
He, however, did not denounce graduation celebrations where graduates may come together and celebrate, but said making this a yearly habit is strictly non-Islamic. "Singling out a certain day for celebration of such occasions every year is totally against Islam," he said.
#4
You get 10 wives and 16 sex slaves and then try telling us banning birthdays and anniversaries is not a good idea.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2008 11:39 Comments ||
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#5
The obsession is total control of the lives of followers. All that is not specifically ordered is forbidden. If urination is not mentioned in the Koran, then it is forbidden. The same with medicine, mathematics, art, science, culture, and anything else.
However, primitive cultural traditions with no foundation in the Koran, like the burka, and female circumcision are a-okay. This is because they are gross and disgusting.
The Army is moving head with plans to mount a laser cannon on a massive, 35-ton-plus truck.
The service just handed Boeing a $36 million contract to "continue developing a truck-mounted, high-energy laser weapon system that will destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds," according to a company statement.
Under the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) Phase II contract, awarded Aug. 15, Boeing will complete the design of, then build, test and evaluate, a rugged beam control system on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. Boeing also will develop the system-engineering requirements for the entire HEL TD laser weapon system.
Low power demonstrations are scheduled for 2010, with battlefield-strength laser tests to follow in 2013.
About a year ago, the Army asked Boeing and Northrop Grumman to work up preliminary designs for the HEL beam control system -- and promised to choose a winning model by 2009. So the program appears to be on track. And it's one of a number of energy weapon projects that have been picking up steam, after deacdes of unfulfilled promise. Relatively easy-to-deploy electric lasers have just about worked their way up to weapons-grade. Boeing recently test-fired the real-life ray gun on its Advanced Tactical Laser -- a blaster-equipped gunship. Raytheon has worked up a prototype of its Phalanx mortar-shooter, already deployed in Iraq, that uses fiber lasers, instead of traditional ammo, to knock down targets. Even the eternally-delayed Airborne Laser -- a modified 747, designed to zap ballistic missiles -- may finally get a long-awaited flight test.
#1
Add an automatic backtracking counter-battery system to that and you could let the boys take the rest of the day off. All projectiles that I know of travel in a parabolic path that can be calculated by observation, the origin can easily be calculated by a 1st year physics student, much less a computer. The acoustic signature of the weapon would identify it(in case of "friendly" fire.... which isn't), and counter battery could fire off a response before it was even destroyed. You'd prolly have to wait till it hit its vertex, if you didn't know the mass, but still pretty quick.
#2
MORE IMPORTANTLY, CAN GUAM PROVE = DISPROVE THE XISTENCE OF BIGFOOT ONCE AND FOREVER, GOING DOWN IN A BLAZE OF "MISSING LINK", SIMIAN-EATING BANANA/MANGO-LOVING GLORY!
Lasers, SPACE TECHS, now comes proving = disproving BIGFOOT-YETI and perhaps even NESSIE, asuming of course that BIGFOOT HARRY doesn't eat or pound me like KING KONG did THREE T-REXES!
MOSCOW - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will visit Russia on Wednesday at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin said Tuesday. "On August 20-21, 2008, the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, will make a working visit to Russia at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev," the Kremlin said in a statement.
"We need those damned anti-air missiles NOW, Mr. Putin!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
He wants the codes for the nuke cruise missiles Russia said they would put in Syria.
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.
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council was expected to hold closed consultations later on Tuesday on Georgia as Western countries prepared a new draft resolution demanding Russian withdrawal, Western diplomats said. They said the consultations, expected at 3.30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT), were likely to be followed by a formal meeting to take a first look at the draft and be briefed on the situation in Georgia by senior U.N. officials.
A day after President Pervez Musharraf quit, leaders of Pakistan's fractious coalition government squabbled over the judiciary on Tuesday, as Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani traveled to Kabul for talks with Afghan and NATO officials on cooperation against Islamic militants.
The Army is moving head with plans to mount a laser cannon on a massive, 35-ton-plus truck.
