No reversal of independence, say US and EU
The United States and Russia have again clashed in the United Nations Security Council over Kosovo 's recent independence.
The US is adamant independence move cannot be reversed, while Russia has demanded more talks to discuss the issue.
Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians declared independence on 17 February with the support of western powers, despite opposition from Belgrade and Moscow.
“Any attempts which ignore the reality and what has happened will not have our support,” said US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. “What has happened in Kosovo cannot be annulled."
But Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there was no final solution for Kosovo unless it was negotiated between Belgrade and Pristina and approved by the Security Council.
“We don’t accept that a new reality has been established," said Churkin. "It is a virtual reality which will not be recognised as international reality until we reach a unified stand."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) No reversal of independence, say US and EU
Showing posts with label neo-soviets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neo-soviets. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM-BALKANS: THE KOSOVAR PANDORA'S BOX KEEPS ON GIVING
International group formed to supervise independence
Vienna, 28 Feb. (AKI) - The European Union and several other countries formed on Thursday an International Steering Group (ICG) to supervise the independence of Kosovo declared by majority ethnic Albanians on 17 February.
The ICG, which will be the highest international authority in Kosovo, was formed at a meeting in Vienna and will comprise 15 countries, including members of the six-country 'Control Group', such as the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany.
Its sixth member, Russia,will not be part of the ICG, because it opposes Kosovo's independence, Dutch diplomat Peter Feith, who will be the EU civilian representative in Kosovo, told journalists.
Other members of the ICG are Austria, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Turkey, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Feith said the membership was open to other countries on the criteria that “they must be friends of Kosovo independence”.
Feith said it would be good if Russia also joined, but stressed that “chances are small for that to happen at this moment”.
Russia has blocked Kosovo's independence drive in the UN Security Council and is backing Serbia’s diplomatic battle to deny independence to Kosovo, which has a 90 percent ethnic Albanian population.
Russia is a member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council along with the US, China, France, and Britain thus it can veto any resolution regarding Kosovo's membership in the UN.
Feith said the main ICG task would be to implement a plan by former UN negotiator Martti Ahtisaari for what he called an internationally supervised independence.
After the plan was blocked in the UN by Russia, the EU decided to go at it alone, bypassing the Security Council and 20 countries have so far recognized Kosovo on a bilateral basis.
The EU mission is due to replace the current UN administration, which has controlled Kosovo since 1999, but Belgrade and Moscow have said that EU presence in the province would be illegal without the approval of the Security Council.
EU action is backed by a 17,000 strong NATO force deployed in Kosovo, and Feith said the international community “would tolerate no violence” in the province. The remaining 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo oppose independence and have vowed to recognise only Belgrade’s authority.
Belgrade has for the past nine years kept parallel institutions in Kosovo and vowed it would continue to do so. But Feith said no parallel institutions or partitioning of Kosovo would be tolerated.
Most Kosovo Serbs are concentrated in the north of the province, with their backs on Serbia proper, and have for the most part ignored ethnic Albanian authorities in Pristina.
The province has been practically partitioned along the River Ibar, and Feith said Serbs would be allowed to keep “special ties” to Belgrade.
“These ties, however, must be transparent and must respect the authority of the government in Pristina,” he concluded.
Pertinent Links:
1) International group formed to supervise independence
Vienna, 28 Feb. (AKI) - The European Union and several other countries formed on Thursday an International Steering Group (ICG) to supervise the independence of Kosovo declared by majority ethnic Albanians on 17 February.
The ICG, which will be the highest international authority in Kosovo, was formed at a meeting in Vienna and will comprise 15 countries, including members of the six-country 'Control Group', such as the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany.
Its sixth member, Russia,will not be part of the ICG, because it opposes Kosovo's independence, Dutch diplomat Peter Feith, who will be the EU civilian representative in Kosovo, told journalists.
Other members of the ICG are Austria, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Turkey, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Feith said the membership was open to other countries on the criteria that “they must be friends of Kosovo independence”.
Feith said it would be good if Russia also joined, but stressed that “chances are small for that to happen at this moment”.
Russia has blocked Kosovo's independence drive in the UN Security Council and is backing Serbia’s diplomatic battle to deny independence to Kosovo, which has a 90 percent ethnic Albanian population.
Russia is a member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council along with the US, China, France, and Britain thus it can veto any resolution regarding Kosovo's membership in the UN.
Feith said the main ICG task would be to implement a plan by former UN negotiator Martti Ahtisaari for what he called an internationally supervised independence.
After the plan was blocked in the UN by Russia, the EU decided to go at it alone, bypassing the Security Council and 20 countries have so far recognized Kosovo on a bilateral basis.
The EU mission is due to replace the current UN administration, which has controlled Kosovo since 1999, but Belgrade and Moscow have said that EU presence in the province would be illegal without the approval of the Security Council.
EU action is backed by a 17,000 strong NATO force deployed in Kosovo, and Feith said the international community “would tolerate no violence” in the province. The remaining 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo oppose independence and have vowed to recognise only Belgrade’s authority.
Belgrade has for the past nine years kept parallel institutions in Kosovo and vowed it would continue to do so. But Feith said no parallel institutions or partitioning of Kosovo would be tolerated.
Most Kosovo Serbs are concentrated in the north of the province, with their backs on Serbia proper, and have for the most part ignored ethnic Albanian authorities in Pristina.
The province has been practically partitioned along the River Ibar, and Feith said Serbs would be allowed to keep “special ties” to Belgrade.
“These ties, however, must be transparent and must respect the authority of the government in Pristina,” he concluded.
Pertinent Links:
1) International group formed to supervise independence
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM-U.S.A./IRAN: THE UNITED STATES IS FUNDING IRAN VIA ENERGY DEPARTMENT NONPROLIFERATION PROGRAM IN RUSSIA
Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz
An Energy Department program in Russia designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is helping fund Iran's nuclear program, two members of Congress said.
Rep. John D. Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak, both Michigan Democrats, wrote to Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman last week to express concerns about the U.S. funding of the Iranian nuclear program through a nonproliferation program with Russia.
The two lawmakers noted that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently identified the threat from Iran as a major U.S. challenge. "Given these dire warnings, it is troubling that DOE would subsidize or otherwise support Russian institutes providing technology and services to the Iranian nuclear program," they stated in the Feb. 6 letter.
Mr. Dingell is chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Mr. Stupak is chairman of its oversight subcommittee. They are investigating Energy's nonproliferation program. The letter asked Mr. Bodman to explain "why U.S. taxpayers should continue to subsidize Russian nuclear institutes that are working on Iran's nuclear program."
The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration is funding more than 100 projects at Russian and other former Soviet institutes.
The congressmen said the documents from the Energy Department's Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention reveal that two Russian institutes "are involved in Iran's nuclear program" and that one received $2.65 million in U.S. funds.
"DOE's funding of Russian institutes working on the Bushehr reactor in Iran is questionable policy, because this activity enables the transfer of dual-use technologies, training and the potential for latent proliferation emerging from a civilian nuclear program," they stated.
Pertinent Links:
1) Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz
An Energy Department program in Russia designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is helping fund Iran's nuclear program, two members of Congress said.
Rep. John D. Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak, both Michigan Democrats, wrote to Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman last week to express concerns about the U.S. funding of the Iranian nuclear program through a nonproliferation program with Russia.
The two lawmakers noted that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently identified the threat from Iran as a major U.S. challenge. "Given these dire warnings, it is troubling that DOE would subsidize or otherwise support Russian institutes providing technology and services to the Iranian nuclear program," they stated in the Feb. 6 letter.
Mr. Dingell is chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Mr. Stupak is chairman of its oversight subcommittee. They are investigating Energy's nonproliferation program. The letter asked Mr. Bodman to explain "why U.S. taxpayers should continue to subsidize Russian nuclear institutes that are working on Iran's nuclear program."
The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration is funding more than 100 projects at Russian and other former Soviet institutes.
The congressmen said the documents from the Energy Department's Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention reveal that two Russian institutes "are involved in Iran's nuclear program" and that one received $2.65 million in U.S. funds.
"DOE's funding of Russian institutes working on the Bushehr reactor in Iran is questionable policy, because this activity enables the transfer of dual-use technologies, training and the potential for latent proliferation emerging from a civilian nuclear program," they stated.
Pertinent Links:
1) Inside the Ring
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM-RUSSIA/IRAN: WE MAY SUPPOT SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN
Russia warns Iran it may back U.N. sanctions
Russia warned Iran on Wednesday that it would support a new set of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme unless Tehran stopped uranium enrichment in the next few days.
The United States, Britain and France are pushing to impose new sanctions on Iran, which they suspect of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said Moscow could back a sanctions resolution the Western powers have drafted and which they are seeking to discuss in the Security Council this week.
"If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia ... has taken upon itself certain commitments... to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month," Churkin told reporters via a video link from New York.
"Russia is constantly insisting that the (U.N.) Security Council adopt certain sanctions against Iran," he said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia warns Iran it may back U.N. sanctions
Russia warned Iran on Wednesday that it would support a new set of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme unless Tehran stopped uranium enrichment in the next few days.
The United States, Britain and France are pushing to impose new sanctions on Iran, which they suspect of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said Moscow could back a sanctions resolution the Western powers have drafted and which they are seeking to discuss in the Security Council this week.
"If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia ... has taken upon itself certain commitments... to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month," Churkin told reporters via a video link from New York.
"Russia is constantly insisting that the (U.N.) Security Council adopt certain sanctions against Iran," he said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia warns Iran it may back U.N. sanctions
Thursday, February 21, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-U.S.A./TAIWAN/CHINA: KOSOVO'S 'INDENPENDENCE' STOKES FIRES OF ENMITY BETWEEN TAIWAN & CHINA - - - THE U.S. WILL ALSO BE THE LOSER IN THIS
Kosovo Ripples Felt in Taiwan Strait, Former Soviet Union
By Patrick Goodenough
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. and other governments that are backing Kosovo's independence stress that it sets no precedent for other situations worldwide, but the move already is stoking the long-simmering sovereignty dispute between China and Taiwan.
In the aftermath of Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia early this week, Taiwan's government issued a statement welcoming the move. That drew a quick rebuke from the mainland government, which said that Taiwan, "as a part of China," has no right to recognize Kosovo's decision.
Undeterred, the Taiwanese government then went a step further, declaring in a statement its formal recognition of the new Balkan state.
"In no way should the independence of one nation be denied by another," Taipei's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Despite a multitude of barriers, the people of Kosovo have insisted on an ideal that they believe in, which is to peacefully pursue independence, without being threatened or scared away," it said.
Foreign Minister James Huang said the formal announcement followed the statements of recognition by the U.S. and European countries. It was not a reaction to China's angry remarks, which had come as "no surprise," the Central News Agency quoted him as saying.
Huang said bilateral contacts that had been underway over the past two years would continue, although it remains to be seen whether Kosovo will agree to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The self-governing island has only a handful of remaining allies that have not given in to Beijing's demands to isolate Taiwan (China refuses to have diplomatic ties with any state that recognizes Taiwan, which China regards as a rebellious province.)
If Kosovo does recognize Taiwan, it would be a coup for Taipei: The Vatican is currently its only diplomatic ally in Europe; the remainder are mostly small, developing nations in Africa and the Pacific who benefit economically from their allegiance.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Kosovo Ripples Felt in Taiwan Strait, Former Soviet Union
By Patrick Goodenough
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. and other governments that are backing Kosovo's independence stress that it sets no precedent for other situations worldwide, but the move already is stoking the long-simmering sovereignty dispute between China and Taiwan.
In the aftermath of Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia early this week, Taiwan's government issued a statement welcoming the move. That drew a quick rebuke from the mainland government, which said that Taiwan, "as a part of China," has no right to recognize Kosovo's decision.
Undeterred, the Taiwanese government then went a step further, declaring in a statement its formal recognition of the new Balkan state.
"In no way should the independence of one nation be denied by another," Taipei's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Despite a multitude of barriers, the people of Kosovo have insisted on an ideal that they believe in, which is to peacefully pursue independence, without being threatened or scared away," it said.
Foreign Minister James Huang said the formal announcement followed the statements of recognition by the U.S. and European countries. It was not a reaction to China's angry remarks, which had come as "no surprise," the Central News Agency quoted him as saying.
Huang said bilateral contacts that had been underway over the past two years would continue, although it remains to be seen whether Kosovo will agree to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The self-governing island has only a handful of remaining allies that have not given in to Beijing's demands to isolate Taiwan (China refuses to have diplomatic ties with any state that recognizes Taiwan, which China regards as a rebellious province.)
If Kosovo does recognize Taiwan, it would be a coup for Taipei: The Vatican is currently its only diplomatic ally in Europe; the remainder are mostly small, developing nations in Africa and the Pacific who benefit economically from their allegiance.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Kosovo Ripples Felt in Taiwan Strait, Former Soviet Union
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM-BALKANS: FALLOUT FROM THE UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM KOSOVO - - - THE UNITED STATES WILL TAKE A HIT
In the days, weeks, months & years the stupidity of the United States backing & allowing this declaration of independence to take place will be made visible to all Americans...
Border violence mars Kosovo's new start
U.N. police pulled out of a Kosovan border post that was destroyed on Tuesday by Serbs who vow never to submit to the authority of Kosovo's Albanian government and its Western backers.
U.N. police pulled out of a Kosovan border post that was destroyed on Tuesday by Serbs who vow never to submit to the authority of Kosovo's Albanian government and its Western backers.
Danish troops of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force later moved up to secure the border with Serbia proper, KFOR said. It did not say if they were controlling entry to Kosovo.
Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci played down the attacks on two border posts in the north, one of which was burned out.
"Everything is under the control of the NATO authorities, Kosovo police and the United Nations, and no isolated incident will undermine Kosovo's independence celebrations," he told a news conference with EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana.
"Kosovo is integral, inseparable and Kosovo territory is guaranteed and recognised internationally," said Thaci, who declared the southern Serbian province independent on Sunday despite Serbia's adamant opposition.
Reuters witnesses saw U.N. police destroy official documents and remove computers from the half-wrecked border post, then leave in a convoy of vehicles escorted by armoured cars.
The crossing known as Gate 3-1, north of Zubin Potok town, was abandoned. Cars wit no number plates were passing unimpeded.
A U.N. source who checked later said he saw only one jeep with two Estonian soldiers on the actual border.
...
No matter how much moslem arse the United States will kiss...
No matter how much ankle grabbing the United States does...
No matter how much groveling the United States will engage in...
MOSLEMS WILL NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 'LOVE' HER...
Pertinent Links:
1) Border violence mars Kosovo's new start
Border violence mars Kosovo's new start
U.N. police pulled out of a Kosovan border post that was destroyed on Tuesday by Serbs who vow never to submit to the authority of Kosovo's Albanian government and its Western backers.
U.N. police pulled out of a Kosovan border post that was destroyed on Tuesday by Serbs who vow never to submit to the authority of Kosovo's Albanian government and its Western backers.
Danish troops of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force later moved up to secure the border with Serbia proper, KFOR said. It did not say if they were controlling entry to Kosovo.
Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci played down the attacks on two border posts in the north, one of which was burned out.
"Everything is under the control of the NATO authorities, Kosovo police and the United Nations, and no isolated incident will undermine Kosovo's independence celebrations," he told a news conference with EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana.
"Kosovo is integral, inseparable and Kosovo territory is guaranteed and recognised internationally," said Thaci, who declared the southern Serbian province independent on Sunday despite Serbia's adamant opposition.
Reuters witnesses saw U.N. police destroy official documents and remove computers from the half-wrecked border post, then leave in a convoy of vehicles escorted by armoured cars.
The crossing known as Gate 3-1, north of Zubin Potok town, was abandoned. Cars wit no number plates were passing unimpeded.
A U.N. source who checked later said he saw only one jeep with two Estonian soldiers on the actual border.
...
No matter how much moslem arse the United States will kiss...
No matter how much ankle grabbing the United States does...
No matter how much groveling the United States will engage in...
MOSLEMS WILL NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 'LOVE' HER...
Pertinent Links:
1) Border violence mars Kosovo's new start
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
DAR AL HARB-RUSSIA: THE RE-ACTIVATION OF "PYTOCHNYE KOLONII" - - - TORTURE COLONIES...
Putin's Torture Colonies
February 12, 2008; Page A16
"The protest began after OMON [riot police] had been brought to correctional colony No. 5 (Amur Oblast, Skovorodino Rayon, village Takhtamygda) and started massive beatings of the prisoners. People in camouflage and masks were beating with batons inmates taken outside undressed in the freezing cold. . . . As a protest, 39 prisoners immediately cut their veins open.
"Next day, on 17 January, the 'special operation' was repeated in an even more humiliating and massive form. At that time, about 700 inmates cut their veins open. . . ."
The description here comes from a report received by the Moscow-based Foundation for Defense of Rights of Prisoners. The time reference is to 2008 -- that is, last month. This is not Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Russia. It's Vladimir Putin's. And correctional colony No. 5, located not far from the Manchurian border, does not even make the list of the worst penal colonies in the country.
That distinction belongs to the newly revived institution of Pytochnye kolonii, or torture colonies. After all but disappearing in the 1990s under the liberal regime of Boris Yeltsin, there are now about 50 pytochnye kolonii among the roughly 700 colonies that house the bulk of Russia's convict population, according to FDRP cofounder Lev Ponomarev. And while they cannot be compared to the Soviet Gulag in terms of scope or the percentage of prisoners who are innocent of any real crime, they are fast approaching it in terms of sheer cruelty.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Putin's Torture Colonies
February 12, 2008; Page A16
"The protest began after OMON [riot police] had been brought to correctional colony No. 5 (Amur Oblast, Skovorodino Rayon, village Takhtamygda) and started massive beatings of the prisoners. People in camouflage and masks were beating with batons inmates taken outside undressed in the freezing cold. . . . As a protest, 39 prisoners immediately cut their veins open.
"Next day, on 17 January, the 'special operation' was repeated in an even more humiliating and massive form. At that time, about 700 inmates cut their veins open. . . ."
The description here comes from a report received by the Moscow-based Foundation for Defense of Rights of Prisoners. The time reference is to 2008 -- that is, last month. This is not Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Russia. It's Vladimir Putin's. And correctional colony No. 5, located not far from the Manchurian border, does not even make the list of the worst penal colonies in the country.
That distinction belongs to the newly revived institution of Pytochnye kolonii, or torture colonies. After all but disappearing in the 1990s under the liberal regime of Boris Yeltsin, there are now about 50 pytochnye kolonii among the roughly 700 colonies that house the bulk of Russia's convict population, according to FDRP cofounder Lev Ponomarev. And while they cannot be compared to the Soviet Gulag in terms of scope or the percentage of prisoners who are innocent of any real crime, they are fast approaching it in terms of sheer cruelty.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Putin's Torture Colonies
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
DAR AL HARB - RUSSIAN: THE CHECHEN BRANCH OF THE MOSLEM JIHAD IS ON THE UPTICK
Chechen Warns of Islamic Extremism
Appeal of Militant Ideology Is Spreading in North Caucasus, Rights Activist Says
By Nora Boustany
A Chechen human rights researcher is warning that militant Islamic ideology is gaining currency in the Russian separatist region of Chechnya and broadening its appeal elsewhere in the tense North Caucasus.
Ousam Baysaev, 43, an author and former journalist who has made a career of chronicling human rights abuses in Chechnya and surrounding republics, presented his conclusions in a lecture in Washington last month at the National Endowment for Democracy. Such findings are likely to cause new anxiety among U.S. and European policymakers already concerned by the unrest in a region strategically important to the United States because of its proximity to Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan.
Russia has fought two post-Soviet wars against separatist rebels in Chechnya, including one in 1999 that helped propel Russian President Vladimir Putin to power. While fighting declined in Chechnya a few years ago after the Russian military established a Kremlin-supported government there, turmoil and strife in the wider North Caucasus have spread.
In recent weeks, there have been protests in the neighboring, mostly Muslim republic of Ingushetia in response to a government crackdown on political opposition.
The demonstrators have risen up against official corruption and the republic's president, Murad Zyazikov, a close ally of Putin. On Monday, Putin visited a military unit stationed in the hills of Dagestan, another restive republic on Chechnya's eastern border.
"In those republics, there are metastasizing rebel movements," said Miriam Lanskoy, a senior program officer for Central Asia and the Caucasus at the National Endowment for Democracy, who moderated Baysaev's talk. "They come to Chechnya, fight for a week or two, and go home having more credibility and status."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Chechen Warns of Islamic Extremism
Appeal of Militant Ideology Is Spreading in North Caucasus, Rights Activist Says
By Nora Boustany
A Chechen human rights researcher is warning that militant Islamic ideology is gaining currency in the Russian separatist region of Chechnya and broadening its appeal elsewhere in the tense North Caucasus.
Ousam Baysaev, 43, an author and former journalist who has made a career of chronicling human rights abuses in Chechnya and surrounding republics, presented his conclusions in a lecture in Washington last month at the National Endowment for Democracy. Such findings are likely to cause new anxiety among U.S. and European policymakers already concerned by the unrest in a region strategically important to the United States because of its proximity to Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan.
Russia has fought two post-Soviet wars against separatist rebels in Chechnya, including one in 1999 that helped propel Russian President Vladimir Putin to power. While fighting declined in Chechnya a few years ago after the Russian military established a Kremlin-supported government there, turmoil and strife in the wider North Caucasus have spread.
In recent weeks, there have been protests in the neighboring, mostly Muslim republic of Ingushetia in response to a government crackdown on political opposition.
The demonstrators have risen up against official corruption and the republic's president, Murad Zyazikov, a close ally of Putin. On Monday, Putin visited a military unit stationed in the hills of Dagestan, another restive republic on Chechnya's eastern border.
"In those republics, there are metastasizing rebel movements," said Miriam Lanskoy, a senior program officer for Central Asia and the Caucasus at the National Endowment for Democracy, who moderated Baysaev's talk. "They come to Chechnya, fight for a week or two, and go home having more credibility and status."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Chechen Warns of Islamic Extremism
Monday, February 04, 2008
DAR AL HARB - THE WEST/RUSSIA: WHY WORRY ABOUT ANOTHER COLD WAR?!? THE U.S. OF A. IS THE MOST DANGEROUS NATION IN THE WORLD
Why kowtow to brutal, cynical Russia?
We have a new Cold War and we're losing it. The West must stand up to the Kremlin now
by Edward Lucas
Sixty years ago the Berlin Airlift highlighted the menace of Stalin's Kremlin. Forty years ago Soviet tanks crushed both the Prague Spring and any remaining illusions about the Kremlin's grip on the captive nations. Twenty years ago we began dropping our guard, as totalitarianism withered under Mikhail Gorbachev. Now it is time to acknowledge the inconvenient truth. Russia is back: rich, powerful and hostile. Partnership is giving way to rivalry, with increasingly threatening overtones. The new Cold War has begun - but just as in the 1940s, we are alarmingly slow to notice it.
The loudest alarm signal is Russia's predictable yet mystifying presidential election on March 2. Predictable because everyone knows who will win: Dmitri Medvedev, Vladimir Putin's polite, lawyerly sidekick; mystifying because the meaning of that victory is so unclear. Will Mr Medvedev be a mere figurehead? Will he stand down and allow Mr Putin to return? What does his stint running Russia's energy giant, Gazprom, one of the world's most corrupt, incompetent and sinister companies, tell us about his plans for the future? What does his rise mean for the clans of crooks and spooks whose murky feuds have increased so sharply in past months? Once a dead art, Kremlinology is now a lively and useful discipline.
Politics in Russia is a matter of life and death. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, is on prison hunger strike in protest against the ill-treatment of his aide Vasily Aleksanyan. Mr Aleksanyan is confined in a filthy mould-infested cell because he refuses to sign a bogus confession incriminating Mr Khodorkovsky. His judicial torture, including denial of medical care, which has blinded him, has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. It reads like something from Dostoyevsky, not a factual account of prison conditions in supposedly one of the world's top eight industrialised democracies.
That doesn't bother most Russians. Mr Putin is wildly popular; so is Mr Medvedev. Mr Khodorkovsky and other former “oligarchs” are seen as despicable emblems of the 1990s, a decade in which Russians feel they were swindled at home and humiliated abroad. Mr Putin has brought both stability and pride. For now, democracy has failed: most Russians say they agree that the media should be controlled and that the opposition should not be allowed to contend for power.
Those feelings are complex. They are partly the result of the state-controlled media's propaganda. They also truly represent tragic misunderstandings and missed opportunities in the Yeltsin years, when oil prices were low and Russian governments struggled with crippling foreign debts. Mr Putin has been lucky - with oil at nearly $100 a barrel, Russia is bound to prosper. Yet he too is a product of the 1990s, an unemployed ex-spy who became a top official in the Yeltsin Kremlin. His denunciations of that era neglect to mention its strengths: press freedom, and also economic reforms such as privatisation and price liberalisation from which Russia has hugely benefited.
Communism has gone, but in its place has come “sovereign democracy”, a potent cocktail of self-righteousness, nationalism and xenophobia that fuels the Kremlin's power grab abroad. In the “swing states” of Eastern Europe - Bulgaria, Latvia and Moldova - we are already losing the new Cold War. We have avoided catastrophe in Serbia by a hair's breadth. The great engines of EU and Nato expansion, which brought half a continent into our orbit after the collapse of communism, have stalled.
But it is not just “faraway countries of which we know nothing” that are at stake. Russia plays divide and rule with the West, ruthlessly using our democratic politics and open economies to undermine us. It has brazenly hired Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, to promote its biggest energy project, Nord Stream. This is a hugely expensive and strategically vital gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed that will bypass Poland and deliver gas straight to Germany. Like a rich and powerful man who becomes pathetically dependent on heroin, Germany is mainlining on Russian energy. The new pipeline hooks up addict and pusher directly. Instead of urgently diversifying away from gas and to other suppliers, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria are following the same path.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Why kowtow to brutal, cynical Russia?
We have a new Cold War and we're losing it. The West must stand up to the Kremlin now
by Edward Lucas
Sixty years ago the Berlin Airlift highlighted the menace of Stalin's Kremlin. Forty years ago Soviet tanks crushed both the Prague Spring and any remaining illusions about the Kremlin's grip on the captive nations. Twenty years ago we began dropping our guard, as totalitarianism withered under Mikhail Gorbachev. Now it is time to acknowledge the inconvenient truth. Russia is back: rich, powerful and hostile. Partnership is giving way to rivalry, with increasingly threatening overtones. The new Cold War has begun - but just as in the 1940s, we are alarmingly slow to notice it.
The loudest alarm signal is Russia's predictable yet mystifying presidential election on March 2. Predictable because everyone knows who will win: Dmitri Medvedev, Vladimir Putin's polite, lawyerly sidekick; mystifying because the meaning of that victory is so unclear. Will Mr Medvedev be a mere figurehead? Will he stand down and allow Mr Putin to return? What does his stint running Russia's energy giant, Gazprom, one of the world's most corrupt, incompetent and sinister companies, tell us about his plans for the future? What does his rise mean for the clans of crooks and spooks whose murky feuds have increased so sharply in past months? Once a dead art, Kremlinology is now a lively and useful discipline.
Politics in Russia is a matter of life and death. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, is on prison hunger strike in protest against the ill-treatment of his aide Vasily Aleksanyan. Mr Aleksanyan is confined in a filthy mould-infested cell because he refuses to sign a bogus confession incriminating Mr Khodorkovsky. His judicial torture, including denial of medical care, which has blinded him, has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. It reads like something from Dostoyevsky, not a factual account of prison conditions in supposedly one of the world's top eight industrialised democracies.
That doesn't bother most Russians. Mr Putin is wildly popular; so is Mr Medvedev. Mr Khodorkovsky and other former “oligarchs” are seen as despicable emblems of the 1990s, a decade in which Russians feel they were swindled at home and humiliated abroad. Mr Putin has brought both stability and pride. For now, democracy has failed: most Russians say they agree that the media should be controlled and that the opposition should not be allowed to contend for power.
Those feelings are complex. They are partly the result of the state-controlled media's propaganda. They also truly represent tragic misunderstandings and missed opportunities in the Yeltsin years, when oil prices were low and Russian governments struggled with crippling foreign debts. Mr Putin has been lucky - with oil at nearly $100 a barrel, Russia is bound to prosper. Yet he too is a product of the 1990s, an unemployed ex-spy who became a top official in the Yeltsin Kremlin. His denunciations of that era neglect to mention its strengths: press freedom, and also economic reforms such as privatisation and price liberalisation from which Russia has hugely benefited.
Communism has gone, but in its place has come “sovereign democracy”, a potent cocktail of self-righteousness, nationalism and xenophobia that fuels the Kremlin's power grab abroad. In the “swing states” of Eastern Europe - Bulgaria, Latvia and Moldova - we are already losing the new Cold War. We have avoided catastrophe in Serbia by a hair's breadth. The great engines of EU and Nato expansion, which brought half a continent into our orbit after the collapse of communism, have stalled.
But it is not just “faraway countries of which we know nothing” that are at stake. Russia plays divide and rule with the West, ruthlessly using our democratic politics and open economies to undermine us. It has brazenly hired Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, to promote its biggest energy project, Nord Stream. This is a hugely expensive and strategically vital gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed that will bypass Poland and deliver gas straight to Germany. Like a rich and powerful man who becomes pathetically dependent on heroin, Germany is mainlining on Russian energy. The new pipeline hooks up addict and pusher directly. Instead of urgently diversifying away from gas and to other suppliers, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria are following the same path.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Why kowtow to brutal, cynical Russia?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./THE WEST/IRAN: IRAN'S NUKES
Intel report to Bush: Iran has nuclear weapons
President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Iran was still a danger and refused to take military options off the table, despite an intelligence report saying it had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. (AFP/Mandel Ngan )
The Bush administration has received intelligence that Iran has acquired nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union.
Intelligence sources said an assessment presented to the White House asserted that Tehran has received at least six plutonium-based nuclear weapons. The assessment said the Iranians were taught by former Soviet scientists how to maintain such weapons via a plutonium processing plant.
"Iran has more than one bomb in the basement," said an intelligence source. "But once somebody in authority says that, we have a political and military crisis that we are not ready for."
The sources said the administration has consistently sought to steer the debate away from whether Iran obtained nuclear weapons. They said in classified briefings to Congress the administration has hinted at the acquisition of Iranian nuclear weapons.
The sources said Iran's plutonium-based weapons are more powerful than those assembled from enriched uranium. They said the plutonium bombs require a smaller warhead to be fitted onto medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles.
The plutonium bombs have been maintained by Iran with assistance from North Korea. Over the last five years, the sources said, Iran has acquired indigenous capability to maintain plutonium bombs.
Iran was believed to have received its first nuclear weapon after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1992. The first suggestion of Iranian nuclear acquisition was contained in an assessment by the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare in the early 1990s.
In 2004, Iran launched a Shihab-3 ballistic missile with a North Korean-designed nuclear warhead casing. The casing was said to have been empty but meant to determine the aerodynamics of a nuclear warhead.
Over the last two years, the sources said, Iran has assembled a secret reprocessing plant to maintain plutonium bombs. They said Iran has a research reactor that could produce enough plutonium to assemble one nuclear weapon per year.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Intel report to Bush: Iran has nuclear weapons
President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Iran was still a danger and refused to take military options off the table, despite an intelligence report saying it had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. (AFP/Mandel Ngan )
The Bush administration has received intelligence that Iran has acquired nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union.
Intelligence sources said an assessment presented to the White House asserted that Tehran has received at least six plutonium-based nuclear weapons. The assessment said the Iranians were taught by former Soviet scientists how to maintain such weapons via a plutonium processing plant.
"Iran has more than one bomb in the basement," said an intelligence source. "But once somebody in authority says that, we have a political and military crisis that we are not ready for."
The sources said the administration has consistently sought to steer the debate away from whether Iran obtained nuclear weapons. They said in classified briefings to Congress the administration has hinted at the acquisition of Iranian nuclear weapons.
The sources said Iran's plutonium-based weapons are more powerful than those assembled from enriched uranium. They said the plutonium bombs require a smaller warhead to be fitted onto medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles.
The plutonium bombs have been maintained by Iran with assistance from North Korea. Over the last five years, the sources said, Iran has acquired indigenous capability to maintain plutonium bombs.
Iran was believed to have received its first nuclear weapon after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1992. The first suggestion of Iranian nuclear acquisition was contained in an assessment by the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare in the early 1990s.
In 2004, Iran launched a Shihab-3 ballistic missile with a North Korean-designed nuclear warhead casing. The casing was said to have been empty but meant to determine the aerodynamics of a nuclear warhead.
Over the last two years, the sources said, Iran has assembled a secret reprocessing plant to maintain plutonium bombs. They said Iran has a research reactor that could produce enough plutonium to assemble one nuclear weapon per year.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Intel report to Bush: Iran has nuclear weapons
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - RUSSIA/IRAN: YOU KEEP SECRETS, WE KEEP NUKE FUEL
Russia says it won't deliver fuel to Iranian reactor without more openness
VIENNA, Austria: Moscow has warned Tehran it will not deliver fuel to a nearly completed Russian-built nuclear reactor unless Tehran lifts the veil of secrecy on suspicious past atomic activities, a European diplomat said Tuesday.
Separately, a U.S. official said Russia is not meeting other commitments that would allow the Iranians to activate the Bushehr nuclear reactor and suggested the delays were an attempt to pressure Tehran into showing more compliance with U.N. Security Council demands. Both men demanded anonymity in exchange for speaking to the AP because their information was confidential.
The increased Russian pressure comes at a time Iran already appears to be ready to compromise on a key international request — that it fully explain past activities that heightened suspicions it might be looking to develop a nuclear arms program.
Those fears led to Security Council demands that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program — and to U.N. sanctions over Tehran's refusal to mothball the program, which can be used both to generate power and to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia says it won't deliver fuel to Iranian reactor without more openness
VIENNA, Austria: Moscow has warned Tehran it will not deliver fuel to a nearly completed Russian-built nuclear reactor unless Tehran lifts the veil of secrecy on suspicious past atomic activities, a European diplomat said Tuesday.
Separately, a U.S. official said Russia is not meeting other commitments that would allow the Iranians to activate the Bushehr nuclear reactor and suggested the delays were an attempt to pressure Tehran into showing more compliance with U.N. Security Council demands. Both men demanded anonymity in exchange for speaking to the AP because their information was confidential.
The increased Russian pressure comes at a time Iran already appears to be ready to compromise on a key international request — that it fully explain past activities that heightened suspicions it might be looking to develop a nuclear arms program.
Those fears led to Security Council demands that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program — and to U.N. sanctions over Tehran's refusal to mothball the program, which can be used both to generate power and to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia says it won't deliver fuel to Iranian reactor without more openness
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
DAR AL HARB - RUSSIA: ONCE A COMMUNIST ALWAYS A COMMUNIST, ONCE A KGB AGENT ALWAYS A KGB AGENT
Russia Plans ICBM to Counter US Missile Shield
The Russian navy plans on producing a new submarine-based missile system in 2008. It is part of a big increase in the country's spending on research, development and procurement of weaponry, prompting fears of a new cold war.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia Plans ICBM to Counter US Missile Shield
The Russian navy plans on producing a new submarine-based missile system in 2008. It is part of a big increase in the country's spending on research, development and procurement of weaponry, prompting fears of a new cold war.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia Plans ICBM to Counter US Missile Shield
Sunday, July 29, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./RUSSIA/IRAN: CAN IRAN & RUSSIA BE TAMED?!? DOUBTFUL...
Taming Iran and Russia through Europe's pocketbook
by Melvyn Krauss
George W. Bush's disastrous war in Iraq has put Europe in a bind. The United States long has been Europe's protector. Now, because of a war it wanted no part of, Europe finds its security undermined.
Chaos in Iraq has empowered Iran -- a much more dangerous country for Europe than Iraq ever was. And with America bogged down in Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin has resurrected Soviet-style bullying tactics. Would Russia otherwise have dared to threaten to redirect its nuclear missiles at European cities?
Not only has Bush destroyed Iran's most formidable enemy and bogged down U.S. troops in a hopeless cause, he also has enriched energy-abundant Iran and Russia by pursuing a war that has dramatically raised energy prices. High crude oil prices make it easier for Iran to build nuclear weapons and for Russia to use energy blackmail to threaten Europe.
But Europe can fight back. By imposing a stiff tax on energy consumption, Europeans would reduce both consumption of energy and its price in world markets, in turn cutting the flow of funds to Russia and Iran.
Because crude oil is priced in U.S. dollars, and the dollar has depreciated against the euro, European consumers have gotten off relatively easy from rising energy prices. So an energy tax roughly equal to the euro's 33 percent appreciation in recent years would be about right.
Europeans might be forgiven for thinking that the Americans, who pumped up oil prices in the first place with their military misadventure in Iraq, should be the ones who "pump it down" with an energy tax. But with a "Texas oil man" in the White House, it won't happen. Perhaps after 2008, the politics in America will change in favor of an energy tax, but such a tax is needed now.
Besides, given the strength of environmentalism in Europe, the issue is tailor-made for Europeans to take the lead. Moreover, Europeans do not narrowly equate national security with military spending. They know that confiscating the checkbooks of Russia and Iran would probably make the world a lot safer than building another submarine or aircraft carrier. Indeed, an energy tax would not only effectively counter the argument that Europeans are "free riders" when it comes to defense, but it also would be tantamount to defense leadership.
Still, with the amount of real resources transferred to their governments already high, Europeans might balk at a further increase. That is why the energy tax must be imposed as a tax substitution, with income or payroll taxes simultaneously reduced to keep real resource transfers to government at a constant level. This would increase economic growth as well as strengthen national security.
Critics who worry about the cost of the energy tax have not thought about tax substitutions. They also do not seem to realize that an energy tax is a much cheaper way for Europe to protect itself from Iran and Russia than alternative means, such as a defense buildup.
Europe lacks military muscle because it made a decision a half-century ago to be protected by the United States and devote the saved resources to building up its welfare state. This strategy - which worked well for decades - always carried the risk that at some point America's resources might be tied up elsewhere, leaving Europe under-protected. That risk materialized with the Iraq war.
But Europeans are showing little taste for increased defense spending, Iraq or no Iraq. Even France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy - thought by many to be a pro-American foreign policy hawk - is backing away from his campaign promise to maintain defense spending at 2 percent of GDP.
In a recent speech to the French defense industry, Sarkozy conspicuously failed to repeat the pledge, instead warning that he soon might cut France's defense budget. According to a respected defense industry publication, Sarkozy changed his mind after his party's smaller-than-anticipated victory in June's parliamentary election.
The reason Europeans are reluctant to increase defense spending is expense. Cutting welfare spending -- where the big money is -- would be painful. Solemn promises made over the years would have to be broken (people would not get the social services that they paid for with a lifetime of high taxes), lives would be shortened (less money for hospitals and nursing homes), and overall hardship increased.
Even economic growth will not prevent a trade-off between defense and welfare spending for Europeans. Fifty years of defense dependence on the United States has created a powerful "peace industry" in Europe whose primary business is to fight defense spending tooth and nail. They will want to protect all social spending, regardless of the consequences for foreign policy.
A counterweight to the "peace crowd" may be new migrants from Eastern Europe, for whom cuts in social services would break no promises, and for whom job availability and wage levels are more important. But it will take some time before the new migrants gain decisive political influence, and the problems of Iran and Russia for Europe require immediate attention.
In short, Europeans will not allow Bush's Iraq war to become a war on their welfare state. What makes the energy tax imposed as a tax substitution particularly attractive as a defense measure is that it leaves the welfare state intact while making Europe safer, greener, and richer. Why wait?
Pertinent Links:
1) Taming Iran and Russia through Europe's pocketbook
by Melvyn Krauss
George W. Bush's disastrous war in Iraq has put Europe in a bind. The United States long has been Europe's protector. Now, because of a war it wanted no part of, Europe finds its security undermined.
Chaos in Iraq has empowered Iran -- a much more dangerous country for Europe than Iraq ever was. And with America bogged down in Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin has resurrected Soviet-style bullying tactics. Would Russia otherwise have dared to threaten to redirect its nuclear missiles at European cities?
Not only has Bush destroyed Iran's most formidable enemy and bogged down U.S. troops in a hopeless cause, he also has enriched energy-abundant Iran and Russia by pursuing a war that has dramatically raised energy prices. High crude oil prices make it easier for Iran to build nuclear weapons and for Russia to use energy blackmail to threaten Europe.
But Europe can fight back. By imposing a stiff tax on energy consumption, Europeans would reduce both consumption of energy and its price in world markets, in turn cutting the flow of funds to Russia and Iran.
Because crude oil is priced in U.S. dollars, and the dollar has depreciated against the euro, European consumers have gotten off relatively easy from rising energy prices. So an energy tax roughly equal to the euro's 33 percent appreciation in recent years would be about right.
Europeans might be forgiven for thinking that the Americans, who pumped up oil prices in the first place with their military misadventure in Iraq, should be the ones who "pump it down" with an energy tax. But with a "Texas oil man" in the White House, it won't happen. Perhaps after 2008, the politics in America will change in favor of an energy tax, but such a tax is needed now.
Besides, given the strength of environmentalism in Europe, the issue is tailor-made for Europeans to take the lead. Moreover, Europeans do not narrowly equate national security with military spending. They know that confiscating the checkbooks of Russia and Iran would probably make the world a lot safer than building another submarine or aircraft carrier. Indeed, an energy tax would not only effectively counter the argument that Europeans are "free riders" when it comes to defense, but it also would be tantamount to defense leadership.
Still, with the amount of real resources transferred to their governments already high, Europeans might balk at a further increase. That is why the energy tax must be imposed as a tax substitution, with income or payroll taxes simultaneously reduced to keep real resource transfers to government at a constant level. This would increase economic growth as well as strengthen national security.
Critics who worry about the cost of the energy tax have not thought about tax substitutions. They also do not seem to realize that an energy tax is a much cheaper way for Europe to protect itself from Iran and Russia than alternative means, such as a defense buildup.
Europe lacks military muscle because it made a decision a half-century ago to be protected by the United States and devote the saved resources to building up its welfare state. This strategy - which worked well for decades - always carried the risk that at some point America's resources might be tied up elsewhere, leaving Europe under-protected. That risk materialized with the Iraq war.
But Europeans are showing little taste for increased defense spending, Iraq or no Iraq. Even France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy - thought by many to be a pro-American foreign policy hawk - is backing away from his campaign promise to maintain defense spending at 2 percent of GDP.
In a recent speech to the French defense industry, Sarkozy conspicuously failed to repeat the pledge, instead warning that he soon might cut France's defense budget. According to a respected defense industry publication, Sarkozy changed his mind after his party's smaller-than-anticipated victory in June's parliamentary election.
The reason Europeans are reluctant to increase defense spending is expense. Cutting welfare spending -- where the big money is -- would be painful. Solemn promises made over the years would have to be broken (people would not get the social services that they paid for with a lifetime of high taxes), lives would be shortened (less money for hospitals and nursing homes), and overall hardship increased.
Even economic growth will not prevent a trade-off between defense and welfare spending for Europeans. Fifty years of defense dependence on the United States has created a powerful "peace industry" in Europe whose primary business is to fight defense spending tooth and nail. They will want to protect all social spending, regardless of the consequences for foreign policy.
A counterweight to the "peace crowd" may be new migrants from Eastern Europe, for whom cuts in social services would break no promises, and for whom job availability and wage levels are more important. But it will take some time before the new migrants gain decisive political influence, and the problems of Iran and Russia for Europe require immediate attention.
In short, Europeans will not allow Bush's Iraq war to become a war on their welfare state. What makes the energy tax imposed as a tax substitution particularly attractive as a defense measure is that it leaves the welfare state intact while making Europe safer, greener, and richer. Why wait?
Pertinent Links:
1) Taming Iran and Russia through Europe's pocketbook
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - RUSSIA/IRAN: BUSHEHR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WILL NOT BE LAUNCHED UNTIL 2008
Physical launch of Bushehr NPP to take place no earlier than fall 2008 - sub-contractor
MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - The physical launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant has been postponed for at least a year, until the fall of 2008 at the earliest, head of Energoprogress, one of the sub- contractors of the construction of the Iranian NPP, Ivan Istomin said, adding that the main reason is that Iran has not been making the due payments for a long time.
Pertinent Links:
1) Physical launch of Bushehr NPP to take place no earlier than fall 2008 - sub-contractor
MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - The physical launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant has been postponed for at least a year, until the fall of 2008 at the earliest, head of Energoprogress, one of the sub- contractors of the construction of the Iranian NPP, Ivan Istomin said, adding that the main reason is that Iran has not been making the due payments for a long time.
Pertinent Links:
1) Physical launch of Bushehr NPP to take place no earlier than fall 2008 - sub-contractor
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.K./RUSSIA: PUTIN OF THE KGB THREATENS GREAT BRITAIN - - - WILL HE CUT OFF THEIR NATURAL GAS OR JUST POISON PEOPLE ON A MASS SCALE ?!?
Russia to respond to expulsion of its diplomats
By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent, and Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, briefed Cabinet colleagues today on Britain's "diplomatic retaliatory response" in expelling four Russian diplomats in the Litvinenko poison case row.
Gordon Brown's spokesman said the UK was now awaiting Moscow's official response to the expulsions, and other measures announced by Mr Miliband yesterday.
Britain hit back after Russia refused to extradite ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy to face charges of killing dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London with a radioactive substance.
Asked if the four to be expelled had been carefully selected, Mr Brown's spokesman said: "This was a general diplomatic retaliatory response."
He declined to discuss the details of the Cabinet discussion, and dismissed any notion that Russia might not view the row seriously because Mr Brown had not spoken directly to President Vladimir Putin.
"I don't think there's any doubt about the seriousness with which people should consider our response," said the spokesman. "We are waiting to see what response comes from Russia."
The Russian government has condemned the move as "provocative" and "immoral" and said it would have "the most serious consequences for Russian-British relations as a whole".
Foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the UK was "trying to justify" its own refusal to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist figure Akhmed Zakayev.
He did not specify what measures Russia would take but said they would seek to resolve the issues "in a constructive way, without politicising them".
Last night, Russia threatened Britain with "serious consequences" after David Miliband revived memories of the Cold War by announcing that four Russian diplomats were to be expelled from London.
The decision showed how Anglo-Russian relations have sunk to their lowest ebb since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Mr Miliband said that Britain had no choice but to send a "clear and proportionate signal" to Moscow following President Vladimir Putin's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB agent.
Mr Miliband is the first Foreign Secretary to remove any Russian diplomats for 11 years. The prospect of a tit-for-tat round of expulsions is a throwback to the era of Cold War tensions when each country saw the other as a rival.
A Scotland Yard investigation concluded that Mr Lugovoi should stand trial for allegedly murdering Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB spy and naturalised British citizen, in London last year. Mr Miliband said that a "significant body of evidence" implicated Mr Lugovoi in the "horrifying and lingering death" of Litvinenko from radiation poisoning.
In a statement to the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary said that Britain had to show Russia the "consequences" of failing to hand over Mr Lugovoi. "We have chosen to expel four particular diplomats in order to send a clear and proportionate signal to the Russian government," he said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia to respond to expulsion of its diplomats
By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent, and Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, briefed Cabinet colleagues today on Britain's "diplomatic retaliatory response" in expelling four Russian diplomats in the Litvinenko poison case row.
Gordon Brown's spokesman said the UK was now awaiting Moscow's official response to the expulsions, and other measures announced by Mr Miliband yesterday.
Britain hit back after Russia refused to extradite ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy to face charges of killing dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London with a radioactive substance.
Asked if the four to be expelled had been carefully selected, Mr Brown's spokesman said: "This was a general diplomatic retaliatory response."
He declined to discuss the details of the Cabinet discussion, and dismissed any notion that Russia might not view the row seriously because Mr Brown had not spoken directly to President Vladimir Putin.
"I don't think there's any doubt about the seriousness with which people should consider our response," said the spokesman. "We are waiting to see what response comes from Russia."
The Russian government has condemned the move as "provocative" and "immoral" and said it would have "the most serious consequences for Russian-British relations as a whole".
Foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the UK was "trying to justify" its own refusal to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist figure Akhmed Zakayev.
He did not specify what measures Russia would take but said they would seek to resolve the issues "in a constructive way, without politicising them".
Last night, Russia threatened Britain with "serious consequences" after David Miliband revived memories of the Cold War by announcing that four Russian diplomats were to be expelled from London.
The decision showed how Anglo-Russian relations have sunk to their lowest ebb since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Mr Miliband said that Britain had no choice but to send a "clear and proportionate signal" to Moscow following President Vladimir Putin's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB agent.
Mr Miliband is the first Foreign Secretary to remove any Russian diplomats for 11 years. The prospect of a tit-for-tat round of expulsions is a throwback to the era of Cold War tensions when each country saw the other as a rival.
A Scotland Yard investigation concluded that Mr Lugovoi should stand trial for allegedly murdering Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB spy and naturalised British citizen, in London last year. Mr Miliband said that a "significant body of evidence" implicated Mr Lugovoi in the "horrifying and lingering death" of Litvinenko from radiation poisoning.
In a statement to the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary said that Britain had to show Russia the "consequences" of failing to hand over Mr Lugovoi. "We have chosen to expel four particular diplomats in order to send a clear and proportionate signal to the Russian government," he said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia to respond to expulsion of its diplomats
Thursday, July 12, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - GERMANY/IRAN: 50 OR SO GERMAN COMPANIES SMUGGLING TECHNOLOGY TO IRAN, VIA RUSSIA, FOR BUSHEHR
German firms smuggled nuclear material to Iran: prosecutor
POTSDAM (Thomson Financial) - German prosecutors on Thursday said they are investigating some 50 companies suspected of smuggling technology to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant via Russia.
Berlin-based company Vero is suspected of having smuggled material to build the nuclear reactor through Poland to Moscow, from where it was taken to Iran, said Christoph Lange from the prosecutor's office in Potsdam near Berlin, Agence France-Presse reported.
He said Vero appeared to have been buying up nuclear technology in Germany and elsewhere in Europe since 2000 at the orders of Russia, which is constructing Iran's first nuclear power plant in the town of Bushehr.
Lange said prosecutors have so far only traced material worth about 5 mln eur, but that this appeared to be the tip of the iceberg. Up to 150 mln eur worth of material may have left Germany for Iran, he estimates.
The companies being probed have claimed that the material was destined for Russia but at least a dozen of them must have known that Iran was the final destination, Lange said.
Only one of the companies under investigation is seated in the former communist East Germany. It is believed to have exported parts for a crane meant to be used in the Bushehr reactor to Russia in 2001 and 2002.
In 2004, a company employee was arrested in the east German state of Saxony-Anhalt on suspicion of smuggling technology destined for Iran to Russia.
Russia said earlier this month that the Bushehr plant will not be completed before 2008.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) German firms smuggled nuclear material to Iran: prosecutor
POTSDAM (Thomson Financial) - German prosecutors on Thursday said they are investigating some 50 companies suspected of smuggling technology to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant via Russia.
Berlin-based company Vero is suspected of having smuggled material to build the nuclear reactor through Poland to Moscow, from where it was taken to Iran, said Christoph Lange from the prosecutor's office in Potsdam near Berlin, Agence France-Presse reported.
He said Vero appeared to have been buying up nuclear technology in Germany and elsewhere in Europe since 2000 at the orders of Russia, which is constructing Iran's first nuclear power plant in the town of Bushehr.
Lange said prosecutors have so far only traced material worth about 5 mln eur, but that this appeared to be the tip of the iceberg. Up to 150 mln eur worth of material may have left Germany for Iran, he estimates.
The companies being probed have claimed that the material was destined for Russia but at least a dozen of them must have known that Iran was the final destination, Lange said.
Only one of the companies under investigation is seated in the former communist East Germany. It is believed to have exported parts for a crane meant to be used in the Bushehr reactor to Russia in 2001 and 2002.
In 2004, a company employee was arrested in the east German state of Saxony-Anhalt on suspicion of smuggling technology destined for Iran to Russia.
Russia said earlier this month that the Bushehr plant will not be completed before 2008.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) German firms smuggled nuclear material to Iran: prosecutor
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./RUSSIA/IRAN: NEO-SOVIETS GUARANTEE REPATRIATION OF BUSHEHR SPENT FUEL
Russia guarantees repatriation of spent fuel from Bushehr NPP
MOSCOW, July 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's nuclear agency said Wednesday that nuclear fuel Moscow has pledged to supply to a nuclear power plant being built in Iran will definitely be returned to Russia and will not end up in the wrong hands.
Russia is building Bushehr, Iran's first nuclear power plant, under a 1995 agreement in the south of the Islamic Republic, which has been in the focus of international attention over its controversial nuclear research program. Western nations and Israel suspect Tehran of concealing a weapons program, but Iran says it needs to enrich uranium for energy.
"I would like to reiterate that Russia is very serious about adhering to its international obligations in nuclear non-proliferation and will never compromise on this issue," Anatoly Kotelnikov, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power (Rosatom), told a news conference.
He said a Russian delegation had recently visited Bushehr and remained convinced that security and safety measures at the construction site were effective and fully met all international requirements.
Since 2004, Russia has repatriated spent fuel from Soviet-built NPPs and nuclear research facilities in several countries, including Germany, Serbia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Libya, Latvia, Poland and Uzbekistan.
In a joint Russian-U.S. statement adopted following informal talks at the American president's summer residence at Kennebunkport July 1-2 and published Tuesday, Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush reiterated an approach they said would give access to the benefits of nuclear energy to a growing number of interested countries, while also preventing them from building nuclear weapons.
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia guarantees repatriation of spent fuel from Bushehr NPP
MOSCOW, July 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's nuclear agency said Wednesday that nuclear fuel Moscow has pledged to supply to a nuclear power plant being built in Iran will definitely be returned to Russia and will not end up in the wrong hands.
Russia is building Bushehr, Iran's first nuclear power plant, under a 1995 agreement in the south of the Islamic Republic, which has been in the focus of international attention over its controversial nuclear research program. Western nations and Israel suspect Tehran of concealing a weapons program, but Iran says it needs to enrich uranium for energy.
"I would like to reiterate that Russia is very serious about adhering to its international obligations in nuclear non-proliferation and will never compromise on this issue," Anatoly Kotelnikov, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power (Rosatom), told a news conference.
He said a Russian delegation had recently visited Bushehr and remained convinced that security and safety measures at the construction site were effective and fully met all international requirements.
Since 2004, Russia has repatriated spent fuel from Soviet-built NPPs and nuclear research facilities in several countries, including Germany, Serbia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Libya, Latvia, Poland and Uzbekistan.
In a joint Russian-U.S. statement adopted following informal talks at the American president's summer residence at Kennebunkport July 1-2 and published Tuesday, Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush reiterated an approach they said would give access to the benefits of nuclear energy to a growing number of interested countries, while also preventing them from building nuclear weapons.
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia guarantees repatriation of spent fuel from Bushehr NPP
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - THE WEST/IRAN: NOT THE RIGHT TIME FOR SANCTIONS ON IRAN
Wrong time for Iran sanctions: China
LONDON, July 4 (IranMania) - China's UN envoy urged the international community to boost diplomatic efforts to end the nuclear standoff with Iran, saying the time was not yet right for new sanctions, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"I believe we have to put more emphasis on the diplomatic track," ambassador Wang Guangya said at a news conference.
Wang noted that Iranian officials were holding talks with the European Union and the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"I'm not sure if it's the right moment for the Security Council (to act), especially if the council is thinking of taking tougher measures in the sanctions area," he said.
China is one of the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the 15-nation UN Security Council alongside Russia, Britain, France and the United States.
The Security Council already has imposed two sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear fuel as well as atom bombs.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Wrong time for Iran sanctions: China
LONDON, July 4 (IranMania) - China's UN envoy urged the international community to boost diplomatic efforts to end the nuclear standoff with Iran, saying the time was not yet right for new sanctions, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"I believe we have to put more emphasis on the diplomatic track," ambassador Wang Guangya said at a news conference.
Wang noted that Iranian officials were holding talks with the European Union and the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"I'm not sure if it's the right moment for the Security Council (to act), especially if the council is thinking of taking tougher measures in the sanctions area," he said.
China is one of the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the 15-nation UN Security Council alongside Russia, Britain, France and the United States.
The Security Council already has imposed two sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear fuel as well as atom bombs.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Wrong time for Iran sanctions: China
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAN: BUSHER NUCLEAR POWER PLANT TO GO ONLINE IN TWO MONTHS
Iran to launch Bushehr NPP in two months
DUBNA. July 3 (Interfax) - Iran plans to begin putting into service the Bushehr nuclear power plant in two months, the head of Iran's nuclear energy regulator said at a forum in Dubna, Russia.
Pertinent Links:
1) Iran to launch Bushehr NPP in two months
DUBNA. July 3 (Interfax) - Iran plans to begin putting into service the Bushehr nuclear power plant in two months, the head of Iran's nuclear energy regulator said at a forum in Dubna, Russia.
Pertinent Links:
1) Iran to launch Bushehr NPP in two months
Thursday, June 21, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A./RUSSIA: THE NEO-SOVIETS ARE THROWING THEIR WEIGHT AROUND
Russia says Iran is no threat, warns U.S. against rejecting joint missile defense
by VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV,
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Iran poses no threat to Russia, top diplomats and military officials said Thursday as Moscow pressed its argument for the United States to abandon plans for a missile defense system in Europe.
The senior Russian officials warned Washington against snubbing Moscow's proposal for cooperating on missile defense, saying the deployment of U.S. missile defense sites in Europe would strengthen Russia's belief that it is the real target of the American system.
Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the chief of general staff of the Russian armed forces, said with Iran posing no immediate missile threat, the aim of the planned U.S. sites in Poland and the Czech Republic must clearly be against Russia's nuclear arsenal.
If the United States rejects President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a shared use of a Russia-rented early warning radar in Azerbaijan, that would clearly show Washington's real intentions, he said.
''That is a litmus test,'' Baluyevsky told reporters. ''The entire world will see the true aim of this system.''
Baluyevsky described the U.S. plans as part of efforts to weaken Russia's nuclear deterrent and referred to what he said were U.S. Cold War-era plans for a disarming nuclear first strike, using missile defenses, that would deprive Russia of the ability to retaliate.
''I don't want to see that even in my worst nightmare,'' he said at a news conference.
The Russian military, he said, would take ''asymmetrical steps'' to ensure its nuclear deterrent capability, possibly involving new Iskander missiles, but he refused to elaborate.
Putin has threatened to target U.S. allies in Europe with nuclear missiles, as the Soviet Union did during the Cold War, if Washington proceeds with the deployment of missile defense elements in Europe.
Baluyevsky accused U.S. officials of deliberately misinterpreting Putin's proposal, adding that their statements appeared to signal that Washington plans to reject the Russian initiative.
Putin made the proposal to President Bush after months of bitter criticism of the U.S. plans.
Bush agreed to consider the initiative, but Washington made it clear it was not abandoning plans for the project in Poland and the Czech Republic - former Soviet satellites that are now NATO members.
The two leaders agreed to discuss the issue further July 1-2 at talks in Kennebunkport, Maine, at the estate of Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.
While U.S. officials cast the Russian proposal as a reflection of the Kremlin's apprehension of an Iranian threat, Baluyevsky denied it, saying Putin made the move to ease tensions and avoid a new arms race, not because of concern over Iran.
''The Iranian missile threat is hypothetical,'' he said. ''It's not of a catastrophic character and it doesn't require a quick deployment of missile defense sites.''
Baluyevsky said that a joint use of the Soviet-built radar in Azerbaijan would help keep track of the Iranian missile program and leave enough time for a response if it evolves into a real threat. He dismissed U.S. claims that the huge Soviet-built radar in Gabala was outdated and unfit for missile defense purposes.
Sergei Kislyak, a deputy foreign minister in charge of arms control, dismissed Iran's claim that it had received indications from Putin that he would not follow through with an offer to allow the U.S. to use the Azerbaijani radar station.
''That is not true and the Iranian colleagues couldn't hear that from any officials here,'' he told reporters.
Azerbaijan shares borders with both Russia to the north and Iran to the south.
Kislyak warned Washington that by rejecting Putin's initiative, it would push the world toward a new arms race. He said that while in reality the U.S. missile defense capability could be far below its declared potential, the Russian military would have to factor it in as a fully viable program in their planning.
''Our military would have to assess it by its maximum capability and will recommend to deploy systems that would ensure a reliable security of Russia,'' he said. ''That would return us to the era we though was left behind - an arms buildup if not a new arms race.''
Russian-U.S. relations have worsened rapidly amid Moscow's criticism of the U.S. missile defense plans and U.S. concerns about Kremlin democratic backsliding and strong-arming of ex-Soviet neighbors.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the current state of the U.S.-Russian relations was ''alarming,'' and warned that Moscow would not accept lecturing from Washington.
''Any format of relations with the United States other than equal partnership will be unacceptable to us,'' he said.
On a conciliatory note, he added that Moscow was ready to improve relations with the United States if Washington shows more respect for its interests.
''We have no anti-American sentiments unlike some other countries,'' he said. ''Nobody objects to the leadership of any country, provided it is prepared for this status and can cope with it.
However, everybody should listen to each other, and such a leader must be involved in collective work.''
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia says Iran is no threat, warns U.S. against rejecting joint missile defense
by VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV,
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Iran poses no threat to Russia, top diplomats and military officials said Thursday as Moscow pressed its argument for the United States to abandon plans for a missile defense system in Europe.
The senior Russian officials warned Washington against snubbing Moscow's proposal for cooperating on missile defense, saying the deployment of U.S. missile defense sites in Europe would strengthen Russia's belief that it is the real target of the American system.
Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the chief of general staff of the Russian armed forces, said with Iran posing no immediate missile threat, the aim of the planned U.S. sites in Poland and the Czech Republic must clearly be against Russia's nuclear arsenal.
If the United States rejects President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a shared use of a Russia-rented early warning radar in Azerbaijan, that would clearly show Washington's real intentions, he said.
''That is a litmus test,'' Baluyevsky told reporters. ''The entire world will see the true aim of this system.''
Baluyevsky described the U.S. plans as part of efforts to weaken Russia's nuclear deterrent and referred to what he said were U.S. Cold War-era plans for a disarming nuclear first strike, using missile defenses, that would deprive Russia of the ability to retaliate.
''I don't want to see that even in my worst nightmare,'' he said at a news conference.
The Russian military, he said, would take ''asymmetrical steps'' to ensure its nuclear deterrent capability, possibly involving new Iskander missiles, but he refused to elaborate.
Putin has threatened to target U.S. allies in Europe with nuclear missiles, as the Soviet Union did during the Cold War, if Washington proceeds with the deployment of missile defense elements in Europe.
Baluyevsky accused U.S. officials of deliberately misinterpreting Putin's proposal, adding that their statements appeared to signal that Washington plans to reject the Russian initiative.
Putin made the proposal to President Bush after months of bitter criticism of the U.S. plans.
Bush agreed to consider the initiative, but Washington made it clear it was not abandoning plans for the project in Poland and the Czech Republic - former Soviet satellites that are now NATO members.
The two leaders agreed to discuss the issue further July 1-2 at talks in Kennebunkport, Maine, at the estate of Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.
While U.S. officials cast the Russian proposal as a reflection of the Kremlin's apprehension of an Iranian threat, Baluyevsky denied it, saying Putin made the move to ease tensions and avoid a new arms race, not because of concern over Iran.
''The Iranian missile threat is hypothetical,'' he said. ''It's not of a catastrophic character and it doesn't require a quick deployment of missile defense sites.''
Baluyevsky said that a joint use of the Soviet-built radar in Azerbaijan would help keep track of the Iranian missile program and leave enough time for a response if it evolves into a real threat. He dismissed U.S. claims that the huge Soviet-built radar in Gabala was outdated and unfit for missile defense purposes.
Sergei Kislyak, a deputy foreign minister in charge of arms control, dismissed Iran's claim that it had received indications from Putin that he would not follow through with an offer to allow the U.S. to use the Azerbaijani radar station.
''That is not true and the Iranian colleagues couldn't hear that from any officials here,'' he told reporters.
Azerbaijan shares borders with both Russia to the north and Iran to the south.
Kislyak warned Washington that by rejecting Putin's initiative, it would push the world toward a new arms race. He said that while in reality the U.S. missile defense capability could be far below its declared potential, the Russian military would have to factor it in as a fully viable program in their planning.
''Our military would have to assess it by its maximum capability and will recommend to deploy systems that would ensure a reliable security of Russia,'' he said. ''That would return us to the era we though was left behind - an arms buildup if not a new arms race.''
Russian-U.S. relations have worsened rapidly amid Moscow's criticism of the U.S. missile defense plans and U.S. concerns about Kremlin democratic backsliding and strong-arming of ex-Soviet neighbors.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the current state of the U.S.-Russian relations was ''alarming,'' and warned that Moscow would not accept lecturing from Washington.
''Any format of relations with the United States other than equal partnership will be unacceptable to us,'' he said.
On a conciliatory note, he added that Moscow was ready to improve relations with the United States if Washington shows more respect for its interests.
''We have no anti-American sentiments unlike some other countries,'' he said. ''Nobody objects to the leadership of any country, provided it is prepared for this status and can cope with it.
However, everybody should listen to each other, and such a leader must be involved in collective work.''
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia says Iran is no threat, warns U.S. against rejecting joint missile defense
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