Posted on 02/26/2007 4:18:14 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
No one to counter Chavez In a region where the leading ideology is Bolivarianism, there is not one leader positioned to offer a better idea for a brighter future.
Commentary by Sam Logan for ISN Security Watch (23/02/2007)
For over two decades, the prevailing ideology in Latin America was neo-liberalism, a Washington-born idea that claimed the power of open markets would lift the region’s poor from misery. It did not, and corruption ran rampant.
While democracy still remains strong, resentful voters ushered in a new generation of neo-populist leaders touting a new idea: a form of socialism, called Bolivarianism, that has slowly but surely become the loudest and most prevalent ideology.
Bolivarianism is anti-capitalist, supports nationalization, regional trade with like-minded countries and above all, suggests that a country should rely on itself or fellow socialist states, not imperialist powers, as a source of the economic growth that will lift all from poverty. It is a sort of refurbished socialism that is not a guiding light for the future.
Latin America cannot readily absorb the economic shock of open markets, nor can it get bogged down in the trappings of old socialist ideas. A blended ideology must be promoted, but the problem is that no one is strong enough to counter Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the leader of Bolivarianism.
Chavez calls it Socialism for the 21st Century. Cuba's Fidel Castro passed him the torch. Leaders around the region pay homage to their own past as socialist upstarts through hugging and laughing with Chavez on the international stage while taking care of often pro-capitalist, neo-liberal business at home.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva is a perfect example. He has the leftist background and eye for fiscal conservatism to become a great ideological counterweight to Chavez. His politics represent an ideal blend for the region. But his politically weak position at home and strong voices from his own left deter any would be shouting match with Chavez.
Within a week after winning his second term in office, Lula visited Chavez for a photo opportunity on a bridge linking both countries. That was in November, and it looks like Lula’s administration will remain bogged down until March as he struggles to get past his party’s sordid past and form a working cabinet willing to share the same table.
Argentina of the past could have been a counter weight to the Bolivarian ideology. But since Nestor Kirchner has come to power, Argentina has become a Venezuelan puppet.
Chavez has literally bought the support of his southern neighbor with over US$3 billion in purchases of Argentine debt. The most recent purchase occurred on 16 February, when Venezuela dumped another US$750 million into Argentine government coffers.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has the politics to promote an ideological battle with Chavez. Colombia has been a model of economic growth through a mixture of neo-liberal policies and social programs. But Uribe has serious problems.
Political allies are falling like dominos due to links with former paramilitary leaders. And if Uribe took the time to speak out for neo-liberalism and against Chavez, he would be dismissed as another of Washington's puppets. Colombia is a top recipient of US aid.
The only other leader who could take up an ideological fight with Chavez is Mexican President Felipe Calderon. He has the right politics and his country has a history of not blindly supporting the US. Voting against the US invasion of Iraq at the UN is a clear indication. But Calderon won on the thinnest possible mandate. His opposition controls enough seats in the Mexican Congress to block any unwanted initiative, and his focus is on Mexican organized crime, not on verbal sword play with Chavez.
Finally, the US has launched a diplomatic offensive in the region. This is to be a year of engagement, but the US president is clearly obsessed with the war in Iraq, not with putting a muzzle on Venezuela’s leader for the sake of the region’s future. Washington is doubly discredited, first for promoting an ideology that clearly did not work, and second for doing nothing about it.
Latin America needs an independent leader willing to stand up to Chavez, but that leader does not exist on the region’s geopolitical map. Bolivarianism will continue to seep into the minds and hearts of millions across Latin America. Chavez and his pool of allies will control the headlines until the next round of presidential elections tell the world how the region has embraced this new ideology.
As Chavez puts it, Socialism for the 21st Century is just getting started. If that is true, then he will continue to trumpet his ideology until Latin Americans learn, the hard way, that Bolivarianism did not carry them much farther from poverty than neo-liberalism. Disillusionment with reality may then spread faster than hope for the future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Logan is an investigative journalist who has reported on security, energy, politics, economics, organized crime, terrorism and black markets in Latin America since 1999. He is a senior writer for ISN Security Watch based in Brazil.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).
I am not figuring this site out, but in the past have caught important posts on it for history, such as clinton history.
A speed read of this proves interesting:
http://pnews.org/news/index.php/AnimalConsciousness
Consciousness in Animals and People with Autism
Temple Grandin, PH.D. - October 1998
Department of Animal Science
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA
http://pnews.org/news/index.php/RecentChanges
I couldn’t make this one work for Cuba:
http://pnews.org/news/index.php/CategoryCuba
http://pnews.org/news/index.php/HomePage
Yes, this is a lefty site.
Suspect tells police he took scanner on bridge to monitor
http://www.gatewaynewspapers.com/bridgevilleareanews/77331/
Suspect tells police he took scanner on bridge to monitor
By Jeffrey Widmer, Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Early last month, a resident confronted a man police believe was
Jeffrey Angelo Ramous, who now faces trial in multiple rock-throwing
incidents along the Parkway West.
The conversation between the man and Ramous took place along the train
tracks, near where police say Ramous dropped rocks and bricks from the
Norfolk Southern Railroad trestle.
“Hey, what are you doing?,” police said the man asked Ramous.
“Spying on trains,” was his response.
Ramous, 48, appearing unshaven and dressed in a red Allegheny County
Jail suit, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated assault,
recklessly endangering another person, propulsion of missiles, and
causing or risking a catastrophe. He will remain in jail on $100,000
straight bond while he awaits trial.
Trooper Francis Murphy of the Pennsylvania State Police, who
interviewed Ramous on March 22, said the Scott resident denied committing the
rock-throwing incidents at first. As evidence was presented to him,
however, he began to make a verbal confession to police.
“He said he was the person who threw rocks from the trestle onto the
parkway,” Murphy said. Ramous said he would walk from his apartment on
School Street, located just behind his place of employment at Rocky’s Bar
and Lounge, through wooded areas to the tracks.
He took a scanner with him, Ramous told police, to monitor police
activities. Following his arrest, police found three scanners in Ramous’
apartment.
During the police interview, Ramous confessed that he got a “sense of
euphoria” from the rock-throwing acts. He used bricks from a small pile
he found at a nearby refuge site, he told police.
He dropped rocks or bricks from the trestle facing away from the city
until he heard screeching of tires or people screaming. Ramous wore
headsets and was under the influence of alcohol or marijuana when some
incidents occurred.
It was then that he “walked away,” Murphy said Ramous told police.
During the interview at a state police barracks, Ramous pointed out
several dates — Dec. 29, Feb. 17, March 6 and March 20 — that he took
part in rock-throwing at the parkway.
Trial of Saddam ‘sleeper agent’ begins
http://www.centredaily.com/116/story/59165.html
Posted on Wed, Apr. 04, 2007
Trial of Saddam ‘sleeper agent’ begins
CHICAGO — The trial of an alleged “sleeper agent” for Saddam Hussein’s
intelligence service began Tuesday with a federal prosecutor accusing
him of spying on Iraqi dissidents in the United States.
Sami Latchin, a 59-year-old Iraqi-born U.S. citizen, is accused of
spying on U.S.-based critics of the deposed Iraqi dictator, who was hanged
Dec. 30.
The former airline employee was arrested in August 2004, when
prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging him with making false statements to
immigration authorities on a U.S. citizenship application.
Authorities claim he failed to disclose that he had been a member of
the Baath Party and had served in Iraq’s intelligence service. If
convicted on all counts, Latchin could face a maximum of 25 years in prison.
La. pupils accused of having sex in class
NEW ORLEANS — Five fifth-grade students face criminal charges after
authorities said four of them had sex in front of other students in an
unsupervised classroom and kept a classmate posted as a lookout for
teachers.
The students were arrested Tuesday at the Spearsville school in rural
north Louisiana, authorities said. Two 11-year-old girls, a 12-year-old
boy and a 13-year old boy were charged with obscenity, a felony. An
11-year-old boy, the alleged guard, was charged with being an accessory.
“After 44 years of doing this work, nothing shocks me anymore,” said
Union Parish Sheriff Bob Buckley. “But this comes pretty close.”
EPA reviewing Calif. effort on emissions
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Bush administration has reopened California’s
stalled petition seeking to control greenhouse gases after the Supreme
Court’s ruling this week that the government can regulate emissions
from cars.
The action by the Environmental Protection Agency breathes life into
California’s effort to become the first state to cut tailpipe emissions
from cars, light trucks and sport utility vehicles. It also could
influence the outcome of an auto industry lawsuit in California to block the
state regulations, contained in a 2002 state law.
FCC keeps ban on cell-phone use aloft
WASHINGTON — Striking a blow for cell phone haters everywhere, a
government agency on Tuesday said it will keep a rule in place that requires
the divisive devices to be turned off during airline flights.
The reasoning behind the decision was technical. But the avalanche of
comments the Federal Communications Commission has logged from airline
travelers have been nothing short of visceral.
“These days it’s impossible to get on a bus without at least one person
hollering into their cell phone, invading the private space of everyone
around them,” one member of the public wrote in an e-mail to the FCC.
“That’s bad enough when one can get off in 10 minutes. To have to suffer
through HOURS of such torture, with nowhere to go and miserably cramped
conditions — someone is going to explode.”
Pelosi’s Syria visit slammed by Bush
DAMASCUS, Syria — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mingled with Syrians in a
market and made the sign of the cross at a Christian tomb Tuesday in a
visit to hard-line Syria that was criticized by President Bush.
Bush said the visit sends mixed signals to Syria’s government, which
his administration accuses of supporting terrorism. The United States
says Syria allows Iraqi Sunni insurgents to operate from its territory,
backs the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups and is trying to
destabilize the Lebanese government. Syria denies the allegations.
From wire reports
Woodbridge shopping Jane’s, sources say
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070404.wjanes0404/GIStory/
Woodbridge shopping Jane’s, sources say
GRANT ROBERTSON
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Fred Jane was a young British naval officer in the late 19th century
when he began sketching warships as a hobby, but quickly realized there
was money to be made selling them as military intelligence.
Now the publishing empire that grew out of that small enterprise may be
on the brink of being sold for several hundred million dollars by its
Canadian owners.
Jane’s Information Group — known for its flagship publication Jane’s
Defence Weekly, which tracks the military might of nations and is read
closely throughout government, academic and intelligence circles — is
being shopped by its owners, Woodbridge Co. Ltd., sources said.
An outright sale could fetch $250-million, though details of the
process are not public. Toronto-based Woodbridge is a privately held company
controlled by Canada’s wealthiest family, the Thomsons, and is also a
40-per-cent owner of CTVglobemedia Inc., which includes The Globe and
Mail.
The sale of Jane’s Information and its dozens of titles has the
potential to spark interest around the world, given the nature of the
properties. Through its 109-year history, Jane’s has compiled information on a
variety of military and industrial subjects, starting with descriptions
of warships, then moving to railways, aircraft and the weapons
capability of nations. Today, it has more than 100 different publications
spanning 140 countries. Because of his work, Mr. Jane was later involved in
establishing Britain’s intelligence service.
Jane’s Defence Weekly rose to prominence as a leading authority during
the Cold War, particularly after it published leaked satellite photos
of Soviet aircraft carrier Leonid Brezhnev while it was under
construction in 1985.
After Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines in the Persian Gulf
last month, governments, academics and security experts would have been
reaching for various Jane’s publications to brush up on Iran’s military
tendencies and might, said Tony Campbell, a former intelligence
specialist with the Canada’s Privy Council between 1993 and 2000.
“In a world in which information is crucial for decision-making, Jane’s
plays the role of a kind of weather forecaster,” said Mr. Campbell, who
is now a consultant specializing in intelligence.
The business of tracking global military data was thought to be in
decline in the years after the Soviet Union fell apart, however the
post-Sept. 11 world has revived the appetite, particularly for data on ground
troops and strike capabilities of countries in the Middle East.
In addition to governments, security agencies and companies looking to
do business in unstable nations often consult the guides, which include
titles such as Jane’s Naval Weapons Systems and Jane’s Terrorism and
Security Monitor. The company also sells consulting on military and
terrorism issues.
Woodbridge bought Jane’s in 2001 for $110-million (U.S.) from Thomson
Corp., the publicly traded company controlled by the Thomson family.
Potential buyers could include publishers such as Reed Business
Information; McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc., which has titles that track the aerospace
industry; and Oxford Analytica, an independent consulting firm that
compiles studies from senior faculty members at Oxford University in England.
Woodbridge chief executive officer Geoffrey Beattie declined to comment
Wednesday on possible outcomes of the process.
“We think it’s an excellent business and we’re always looking for
opportunities to improve the prospects for growth,” Mr. Beattie said.
Observers believe Woodbridge may look for a buyer that could combine
Jane’s with a similar business to create a larger player. One strategy
could be a partial sale, with Woodbridge staying on as an investor.
© The Globe and Mail
Afghan Top Diplomat Rejects German Call for Talks With Taliban
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evuvj1Ifwf2zzI1
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta on Thursday
rejected a call by a German coalition party leader for dialog
with moderate elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“It’s a Bit Like Modern Surgery”
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evuvj1Ifwf2zzI2
DW-WORLD.DE spoke to French marine archeologist Franck Goddio,
who brought lost parts of the legendary port of Alexandria and
the ancient cities of Heracleion and Canopus back to light.
Greens Tread Fine Line With Stance on G8
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evuvj1Ifwf2zzI3
The Greens long ago shed their outsider status in German politics.
But by distancing itself from some anti-globalization activists,
the party risks losing its left-wing adherents, some say.
EU Offers Full Market Access to Former Colonies
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evuvj1Ifwf2zzI4
The EU has offered to scrap most tariffs and quotas it still
imposes on exports from African, Caribbean and Pacific nations
to boost talks on new trade pacts. But the proposal has been
met with scorn.
German Politicians Propose Climate Fee on Flight Tickets
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evuvj1Ifwf2zzI5
German politicians in the governing coalition are proposing
imposing a small fee on the price of airline tickets. The money
would be used to fund environmental development.
European Press Review: “Sophisticated Political Theater”
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evuvj1Ifwf2zzI6
“Sophisticated political theater,” “perfect British diplomacy,”
— or both? The international press reacted to the release,
after 13 days’ captivity, of 15 British sailors held hostage
in Iran .
MI6 debriefing could take up to three days
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/05/wiran1005.xml
MI6 debriefing could take up to three days
By Thomas Harding
Last Updated: 2:05am BST 05/04/2007
Although the former prisoners are likely to spend the immediate hours
after their release with their families, the intelligence community will
be anxious to give them a thorough debriefing.
The ratings and officers can expect to be held for up to three days as
they are asked by military intelligence and MI6 officers to provide
details of their captivity.
The interrogators will be eager to find out what the captives told the
Iranians.
advertisement
It is unlikely that they knew anything that would have been of major
interest to Iranian intelligence.
They might have provided them with an idea of morale, training and
standard operating procedures.
The two officers would certainly have attracted the most attention from
Iranian interrogators as they would have access to intelligence the
other ranks would not.
Encouragingly neither bore any marks of physical assault, but British
intelligence will want to know if the Iranians used a more “cute” form
of interrogation.
Military sources have suggested that all the captives should undergo
toxicology tests as soon as they board the aircraft to see if they were
drugged.
There have been suggestions that their buoyant mood on camera might not
just have been down to team spirit.
The 15 will also be shown numerous pictures of senior Iraqi
intelligence figures to see if they can identify their interrogators.
Intelligence chiefs will also want to know what, if any, forms of
coercion were used, or if the captives were threatened to force them to
“confess”.
While the television pictures provided snapshots of their 13 days in
captivity, the MoD will want to know how they were treated for the rest
of the time.
This will play an important part in how Iran is treated diplomatically
after the crisis.
They will all certainly undergo psychological tests and will be offered
counselling.
It appears the sailors and Marines followed their Conduct After Capture
training by not doing anything that could harm their colleagues.
This was possibly why they agreed to appear on television.
They certainly gave coded signals to show that they were talking under
duress during the broadcasts.
For example, constantly referring to the frigate Cornwall as “Foxtrot
Ninety Nine” - the number painted on its side - is something a ship’s
crew would never do.
ISRIA has issued an exclusive report dealing with security threats
against the Tibet’s leader in exil, the Dalai Lama.
Please, support our research effort by subscribing :
http://www.isria.info/monitorpack.htm
or by forwarding this special report to your friends, relatives and
colleagues.
Threats against the Dalai Lama
(free, pdf, 1405 words) Lashkar-e-Taiba would plan to assassinate the
exiled Tibet Chief. Indian intelligence sources told the Dalai Lama,
nobel peace laureate and leader of Tibet’s peaceful resistance against
Beijing, is on the hist list of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT - Army of the
Righteous), an islamist terrorist group tied to Al Qaeda. This threat
against the exiled Tibetan Chief emerges almost one year after Bin Laden
told in a statement that “...Crusader International and pagan Buddhism
hold the 5 (UN) permanent seats and what is called the privilege of the
right of veto...
you can download the full report at:
http://www.isria.info/FILES/FREE/ISRIA_ThreatsagainsttheDalaiLama_6APRIL2007.pdf
Sincerely,
ISRIA - www.isria.com - contact@isria.com
Thanks much.
Beslan memorial plan angers Russian Muslim leader
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0437788220070404?feedType=RSS
Beslan memorial plan angers Russian Muslim leader Wed Apr 4, 2007
10:23AM
EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Plans to build a memorial to the 333 hostages killed
three years ago in the Beslan school siege have sparked a row between
Christians and Muslims in Russia.
The local Russian Orthodox diocese says it will build a church in the
grounds of Beslan’s school No. 1 to commemorate the victims — half of
them
children — killed in a clash between insurgents and Russian troops.
But one of Russia’s leading Muslim clerics has accused the Orthodox
church
of trying to hijack a national tragedy by building a memorial that he
said
would exclude the more than 20 million Muslims who live in the country.
“It is not acceptable to present this tragedy as the tragedy of
followers of
only one religion,” Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Council of
Russian Muftis, said in a statement.
“We need a monument on this site that symbolizes a national tragedy,
without
any religious undertones, where everyone can come and shed their
tears.”
Gainutdin is an outspoken Muslim leader in Russia, and other senior
clerics
have not spoken out about the memorial plans.
But the row has exposed faultlines between the communities which,
despite a
conflict between Moscow and rebels in Muslim Chechnya, have had largely
smooth relations. Russia is home to the biggest Muslim community in
Europe.
Wrangling over the memorial could also aggravate already raw divisions
between Muslims and Christians in the volatile North Caucasus region
that
includes Beslan.
Beslan and the area around it have a majority Christian population and
many
of them blame their Muslim neighbors for the bloodbath: the
hostage-takers
were Islamist militants from Chechnya and the neighboring Muslim region
of
Ingushetia.
BESLAN’S CHOICE
The local Russian Orthodox diocese said it plans to build the church
next to
the school sports hall, the spot where many of the hostages died after
a
bomb fixed to a basketball hoop went off, triggering a massive
gunbattle.
A spokesman for the diocese said a church was the memorial that the
people
of Beslan had chosen.
“It is not a case of someone coming along and taking this decision. It
is
the decision of the people who were hostages and whose children died
... and
it should be respected,” said spokesman Yevgeny Bronsky.
Asked about Muslims’ reaction to the plan he said: “We have not noticed
this
issue dividing anyone in Beslan.”
The administration of the North Ossetia region, of which Beslan is a
part,
contradicted the church, saying consultations on what form the memorial
would take were still being conducted.
“The people of Beslan ... will review the proposed options and will
make the
final choice,” it said in a statement.
Since the tragedy, the wrecked shell of the sports hall has become a
makeshift shrine, with candles on the floor and photographs of the
victims
pinned to the walls. Some victims’ relatives say it should be preserved
as a
permanent memorial.
[I had not heard that muslims were among the dead?]
CK: Dudieva: gym of Beslan school should be left as it is
Caucasian Knot / Memorial
4/4/2007
Dudieva: gym of Beslan school should be left as it is
Susanna Dudieva, chair of the “Beslan Mothers” Committee, thinks that
neither a temple nor a mosque can replace the “live” evidence of the
Beslan tragedy - the gym. “The school gym should be kept as it is in
the
capacity, if the word can suit here, of a historical value. The gym is
the tragedy venue. We think that the gym is not subject to renaming. It
cannot be named a preaching, exhibition or excursion hall. And it
cannot
be a part of a temple,” Susanna Dudieva told in her interview to the
correspondent of the “Caucasian Knot.”
We remind you that when Ravil Gainutdin, Chairman of the Russian Board
of Muftis, paid his recent visit to Beslan, he regretfully noted that
he
saw only an orthodox cross in the gym, while there was no Muslim symbol
- the crescent - in the place of the tragedy. The Mufti noted that
there
were believers of various confessions among the victims, including 178
Moslems.
Author: Alexandra Kondrasheva, CK correspondent
http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1183259.htmlc
You are welcome.
I am not sure of the Gallegher website, but he does love Tony Snow and has replayed the interview several times.
You are welcome and if you get the site to work, it has a few good things.
Be sure to regularly check www.GlobalIncidentMap.com where we post terrorism and other suspicious activity links
TerroristWarning.com Terrorism Headlines 04/05/2007
Note: For transportation related incidents please check the incident map site regularly, or subscribe at www.TransitSecurityReport.com
National:
[San Francisco Chronicle] CALIFORNIA - Bomb found underneath Santa Cruz police car
“unidentified officer found the explosive device about 8 a.m. underneath the black-and-white Santa Cruz patrol car parked in the officer’s driveway”
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/31/BAGTTOVK1I25.DTL
[AP] OKLAHOMA - FBI Offers Reward In Bomb Scare
“FBI on Friday offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who placed an explosive device outside a Jewish temple last week in Muskogee”
http://www.kotv.com/news/topstory/?id=123922
[News-Gazette] ILLINOIS - Russians arrested at Tilton DMV
“the incident remains under investigation by the secretary of state police and the FBI”
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007/03/30/russians_arrested_at_tilton_dmv
[City news] CANADA - OPP investigate man portraying himself as police officer [At several hospitals]
“He’s been to seven ERs within 24 hours and the real cops have no idea what his motive may be or where he got his hands on what looks to be a real uniform”
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_9298.aspx
See also http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20070330/fake_officer_070330/20070330?hub=TorontoHome
http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20070330_171048_5068
[Ynet] IRAN - IDF intelligence: Iran, Hizbullah preparing for possible US strike
“Head of military intelligence says Iran, Syria and Hizbullah preparing for possible confrontation with US this summer”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3383787,00.html
[UPI] USA - Military intelligence pulled from NCTC ops center
“Three representatives of the Defense Intelligence Agency were withdrawn from the operations center last November”
http://www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=20070329-060337-4271r
[AJC] GEORGIA - Suspicious chemicals found in Cobb
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/copbriefs/entries/2007.04.01.149227.html
[Evening Sun] PENNSYLVANIA - Pipe bomb found at area reservoir
http://www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_5575844
[Grand Rapids Press] MICHIGAN - Fire station evacuated after bomb scare
[KVUE] TEXAS - Suspicious letter found at Austin IRS building
“after several IRS employees began experiencing respiratory problems after opening an envelope”
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/040207kvueIRSbuilding-cb.25b4a5f2.html
[St. Louis Post Dispatch] MISSOURI - Pipe bomb disarmed in Franklin County [Under bridge]
“Authorities in Franklin County today disarmed a pipe bomb found under a bridge on Highway O in Catawissa”
[Fayetteville Observer] NORTH CAROLINA - Report of suspicious man leads to store evacuation
“someone reported seeing a man run away from a van parked outside the store”
“caller said the man who ran from the van appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent”
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=258835
[AP] VIRGINIA - Students complain of irritant, hospitalized as precaution
“Some folks experienced some type of signs or symptoms associated with a possible irritant in the air”
[KOB TV] NEW MEXICO - Emergency preparedness trailer stolen in Albuquerque
“The trailer contained training materials, including decontamination showers, personal protective equipment, training mannequins and a secure box of quarter-sized samples of plutonium, cesium and strontium”
http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=31440&cat=NMTOPSTORIES
[Michelle Malkin] USA - Whitewashing Jihad In The Schools
http://www.vdare.com/malkin/070403_jihad.htm
[CBC News ] CANADA - Crude bomb targets Montreal Jewish community centre
“Montreal police are investigating a small bomb that exploded in front of the Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre on Tuesday night”
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/04/04/qc-benweider20070404.html
[WGAL] PENNSYLVANIA - School Evacuated; 21 People Hospitalized [Cause unknown]
“Officials said 21 people were hospitalized as a precaution. Of those, 19 were students. Those affected were treated for minor throat irritation, hyperventilating and anxiety”
http://www.wgal.com/news/11520194/detail.html
[WBZ] MASS - 2 Boys Hurt Making Bomb From YouTube Video
http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_094105254.html
[Reuters] VENEZUELA - British, German embassies evacuated in Venezuela
“The British and German embassies in Venezuela were evacuated Monday from the building housing them both in Caracas after a bomb threat to the British embassy”
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN02432957.html
[Daily Star] BANGLADESH - Countrywide security alert
“Security measures were stepped up and members of the law enforcement agencies have been asked to remain alert on suspicion of reprisal attacks from militant outfits”
“An official of Parbatipur Railway Junction said law enforcers have been frisking passengers and checking their luggage at the station as well as in the carriages to pre-empt any subversive acts”
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/31/d7033101085.htm
[Kashmir Observer] INDIA - Grenade Attack on PDP Workers in Kishtwar
“At least four persons, including two police personnel, were injured when suspected militants lobbed a hand grenade near Police Station Kishtwar”
http://www.kashmirobserver.com/index.php?id=2163
[Los Angeles Times] IRAQ - Car bomb in Iraq kills five hospital visitors
“As people flocked Saturday to a hospital in a Shiite Muslim district of the capital to visit loved ones injured in recent attacks, a car bomb tore through the crowd of well-wishers, killing five people and wounding two dozen others”
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4678362.html
[Reuters ] IRAQ - Tal Afar bomb killed 152, deadliest of war
[Reuters] IRAN - Explosives rock British Embassy in Tehran
“Iranian protestors shout “Death to Britain”, hurl stones and home-made explosive devices at embassy; no one hurt “
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3383823,00.html
[Zee News] PAKISTAN - Militants pound Pak security forces with rockets
“Earlier on Wednesday, the police recovered a rocket after an intelligence tip-off that was set to be fired at the Turbat Airport in the province”
“The rocket was about to fire at the runway of the airport,” police said, adding that experts of the bomb disposal squad defused the rocket.”
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=363339&archisec=SAS&archisubsec=
[Sri Lanka Army] SRI LANKA - LTTE Suspect With Micro Pistol, Hand Grenade & Cyanide Arrested
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=4891
[AP] AFGHANISTAN - Suicide car bomb kills 5 civilians in eastern Afghanistan
“A suicide car bomber blew himself up Sunday near an Afghan army convoy in eastern Afghanistan, killing five civilians and wounding six people, including five soldiers”
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/01/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Suicide-Blast.php
[RIA Novosti] RUSSIA - Two persons injured in roadside bomb explosion in North Caucasus
“Two persons have been injured after a self-made roadside bomb went off in Ingushetia in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus region”
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070401/62906816.html
[The Peninsula] PAKISTAN / UZBEKISTAN - Pak tribesmen battle Uzbek Qaeda fighters
“Al Qaeda-linked militants and Pakistani tribesmen fired rockets, mortar shells and automatic weapons yesterday in a region where officials say up to 177 people have been killed since last week”
“Two children were killed overnight when a mortar bomb hit their home in Ghawakhawa, a village a few kilometres (miles) west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan”
[Cyprus Mail] CYPRUS - Explosives find
“A 45-Year-Old from Syria was arrested yesterday after he was found in possession of a bag full of explosives”
“The explosives, described by police as “powerful enough to blow up a whole block”, were found well hidden in the house of the 45-year old’s wife. Half the explosive material found was TNT. A number of fire crackers and other illegal material were found”
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=31631&cat_id=1
[Reuters] SOMALIA - Mogadishu under barrage of attacks
“Mortar bombs crashed into central Mogadishu yesterday and Uganda said it had lost its first peacekeeper there as battles pitting Ethiopian and Somali troops against Islamist insurgents raged for a fourth day”
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Somalia/10115327.html
[Xinhua] SPAIN - Spain police arrest two more Basque militants
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/02/content_5922769.htm
[Rediff] INDIA - Militants kill Congress leader
“Late on Saturday night, militants shot and killed a senior ruling Congress party leader in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district”
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/01jk.htm
[AFP] THAILAND - Four Buddhists shot dead in southern Thailand
“Suspected Islamic rebels shot dead four Buddhists while three others were injured in separate attacks in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south”
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/267688/1/.html
[AFP] AMSTERDAM - Explosion vor Gerichtsgebäude in Amsterdam kurz vor Prozessbeginn [Several explosions near Amsterdam courts]
[Asiantribune.com] FRANCE - LTTE establishments in Paris raided: 17 LTTE members including Parithy - Head of LTTE in France, arrested
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5176
[Focus] SOMALIA - Car Bomb explodes in front of hotel in Mogadishu
“There are casualties, but their exact number was not announced. Official government representatives were accommodated in the hotel”
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n109245
[Washington Post] IRAN - Former FBI Agent on Private Business in Iran Missing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200653.html?nav=rss_world
[Reuters] IRAQ - Truck bomb in Iraq’s Kirkuk kills 12
“A suicide truck bomb killed 12 people and wounded around 150 others in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Monday in the latest attack by insurgents using explosives-laden trucks”
[Daily Star] BANGLADESH - 9 more JMB militants held
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/03/d70403013120.htm
[Xinhua] THAILAND - Bomb attack maims policewoman in Thai South
“A timing bomb planted under a policewoman’s car by Thai southern insurgents exploded before a police school in Thai southern province of Yala on Tuesday morning”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/03/content_5929088.htm
[AP] SERBIA - Trouble brewing as radicals rise up in Serbia’s Muslim-populated south
“The discovery of a mountain cave packed with plastic explosives, masks and machine guns – and the recent arrests of men devoted to radical Islam – have fueled fears that extremists are trying to carve out a stronghold in this remote corner of Europe”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070403-1020-serbia-riseoftheradicals.html
[Dawn] PAKISTAN - Another music shop blown up in Kohat
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/03/nat22.htm
[AP] AFGHANISTAN - 13 Taliban militants, 1 police killed in violence in southern Afghanistan
“and U.S.-led coalition forces killed at least 10 militants and captured two others during a search Tuesday of a suspected Taliban compound in volatile southern Afghanistan”
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/03/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Violence.php
[AP] THAILAND - 5 killed by suspected Muslim militants in southern Thailand
“Three policemen died in a gunbattle with suspected Muslim militants in southern Thailand on Tuesday “
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/03/asia/AS-GEN-Thailand-Southern-Violence.php
[Radio Australia] INDONESIA - Suspected JI militants arrested in Indonesia
“A group of suspected Muslim militants linked to Jemaah Islamiah have been arrested in a joint operation between Australian and Indonesian Police.
One of the eight suspects arrested is believed to have been involved with the bombing of the Australian Embassy.
The Australian Federal Police say the group had access to improvised bombs, explosives and high-powered weapons”
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1888998.htm
[KUNA] PAKISTAN - Pakistani tribesmen kill six foreign militants near Afghan border
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1721301&Language=en
[AP] PHILIPPINES - Rebels Attack Philippine Mining Company
“In an early morning raid on Filminera Resources Corp. in Masbate province’s Aroroy town, 220 miles southeast of Manila, about 60 New People’s Army rebels disarmed guards and razed five buildings and heavy equipment. They left improvised land mines and grenades as they retreated”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17931449/for/cnbc/
[Channel4.com] UNITED KINGDOM / IRAN - Blair: next 48 hours ‘critical’
“Tony Blair says the next 48 hours are fairly critical as the Foreign Secretary warns there wouldn’t be a swift resolution to securing the release of 15 British sailors seized by Iran”
[AP] INDIA - Suspected rebels explode grenade in India’s remote northeast, wounding 12
“A suspected rebel exploded a grenade in a crowded market in India’s troubled northeast on Tuesday, wounding 12 people
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/03/asia/AS-GEN-India-Rebel-Bombing.php
[KUNA] IRAQ - Iraqi civilian, policeman killed, Qaeda leaders captured
“At least one Iraqi policeman and a civilian were killed in two separate incidents in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, whereas police arrested two Qaeda leaders in Tal Afar western Al-Mosul and arrested four others”
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1721219&Language=en
[Vcrisis.com] VENEZUELA - 31 US citizens arrested in Venezuela
‘31 American citizens are kept incommunicado awaiting presidential orders, reported the source. It is believed that charges of spying or to be part of the CIA will be levied against them”
http://vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200704031210
[Xinhua] COLOMBIA - Two police officers killed in Colombia bomb attack
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/04/content_5931971.htm
[New York Times] ISRAEL - Israel Kills Palestinian Who Was Planting a Bomb
“Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man today who was attempting to plant explosives in the northern Gaza Strip”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/world/middleeast/04cnd-gaza.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
[Kyodo News] THAILAND - Bomb attack on mosque in Thailand injures 14
“At least 14 people were injured after unidentified assailants threw a small bomb into a mosque in Thailand’s southern province of Yala on Thursday morning”
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/402915
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[Keep in mind that the added opinion, is that of a Chechen, who wants to be free of Russia.........as do many of the natice Chechens.............
granny]
AP: Kremlin installs “Chechen president”
Kremlin installs Chechen president
Thursday, April 5th, 2007
By MUSA SADULAYEV — Associated Press Writer
GUDERMES, Russia (AP) The widely feared strongman Ramzan Kadyrov was
inaugurated Thursday as the new president of Chechnya on a blessing
from
the Kremlin, which has relied on him to stabilize the region after more
than a decade of separatist fighting.
Human rights groups allege that security forces under Kadyrov’s control
abduct and torture civilians suspected of ties to Chechnya’s separatist
rebels. Some suggest he was tied to last year’s murder of Anna
Politkovskaya, a journalist who had reported extensively on Chechnya’s
wars and sufferings. Kadyrov has denied involvement.
Kadyrov, however, is credited with a reconstruction boom that he
administered as the region’s prime minister, under which the capital,
Grozny, is being transformed from a moonscape of rubble and shattered
buildings. (*)
“My main goal is to make Chechnya prosperous and peaceful,” Kadyrov
said
at the inauguration ceremony.
Kadyrov, 30, is the son of Chechnya’s first pro-Moscow president,
Akhmad
Kadyrov, who was assassinated in 2004. The elder Kadyrov became
president in 2003 in a Kremlin-conducted vote aimed at undermining
rebels by creating the image of Chechens being allowed a high degree of
self-determination. (**)
Kadyrov became acting president in February when Russia’s President
Vladimir Putin dismissed his predecessor Alu Alkhanov. The regional
parliament quickly sealed the nomination with a near-unanimous vote.
Alkhanov was elected, but changes in Russian law called for all
regional
leaders to be appointed.
The reconstruction program has been at the heart of a Kremlin strategy
to crush rebels, but critics say the alleged abuses by Kadyrov’s
paramilitary forces and by Russian and Chechen police and soldiers
severely undermine attempts to bring order to Chechnya.
Analysts say Putin has entrusted Kadyrov with power in part because he
is seen as the only person who can keep large numbers of former rebels
under control. Many former rebels now serve in the police and security
forces.
But his growing clout is also seen as a risk for the Kremlin,
particularly after Putin steps down at the end of his second term next
year, because some see his loyalty to Russia as being closely tied to
his relationship with Putin.
Two wars over the past dozen years between Russian forces and
separatist
rebels who increasingly voiced militant Islamic ideology left much of
the republic in ruins and its people gripped by fear and resentment.
Major offensives died down early this decade, but small clashes
continue
and rebels attack Russian forces with booby-traps and remote-detonated
explosives.
* They have reconstructed one Grozny neighbourhood where the quisling
nomenklatura lives in a heavily guarded zoo (for the short periods when
they aren’t under guard in their Moscow apartments), constructed some
street facades in front of the ruins and erected a huge statue of
Kadyrov Sr. Since the Russian propaganda is hammering the word
“reconstruction” at machine-gun speed and has given a couple of Western
journalists the usual KGB sightseeing tour, the “reconstruction” of
Chechnya is now an established fact. In the virtual world of the
mainstream media, that is.
** That was no “Kremlin-conducted vote”. It was no vote at all. It was
the imitation of a vote, since less than 10% of the voters
participated,
and the “candidate” “won” with Soviet-style voter numbers anyway.
Actually, the Russian occupation power doesn’t have the right to hold
“elections” and “referenda” or to install its own administration in the
occupied territory. The Geneva Conventions prohibit that. Everything
the
Russian fascists have installed in Chechnya is null and void. N
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
kdwn.com on the radio news for Las Vegas.
The Ferris Wheel stopped in the middle of a go round, with people at the top of it.
The Fire Department is now there with a ladder truck and is still removing people.
It may be at the Sahara Casino, he is slurring the name, or my ears are.
05 April 2007
Hostage crisis invites repetition
Though 15 British sailors have been freed by Iran, with tensions high and no clear path in sight to end the nuclear crisis, the dangers of a repetition of the hostage crisis are very real.
Commentary by Dominic Moran in Tel Aviv for ISN Security Watch (05/04/07)
Fifteen British sailors and marines held captive in Iran since 23 March arrived at London’s Heathrow airport on Thursday, bringing a surprise end to a crisis that has drawn media attention away from the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
In a televised press conference announcing the release, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented medals to senior officers in the Revolutionary Guard Navy, “who courageously defended and captured those who violated their territorial waters.”
“We are sorry that British troops remain in Iraq and their sailors are being arrested in Iran,” he said, adding that the release was a unilateral gesture made to mark the birthday of Islam’s prophet Mohammad, and Easter.
The British sailors were filmed thanking Ahmadinejad for their release and reiterating their earlier apologies for entering Iranian waters.
The arrest of the British service personnel drew media attention from major developments on the Iranian nuclear program, including the opening of a new section of the Bushehr nuclear reactor this week; a developing Russo-Iranian crisis over payment scheduling for the plant; and the expansion of international sanctions.
Iran also has announced that it would be limiting cooperation with inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Through the crisis, Iran also succeeded in highlighting its opposition to the continued international naval presence in Gulf waters and the disputed Shaat al-Arab waterway, which Iran sees a primary strategic threat to future oil exports.
The arrests also appeared to play a role in ongoing domestic political wrangling.
Rumors of high-level discontent over Ahmadinejad’s hard-line foreign policy positions appeared to be confirmed by recent criticism in Iranian newspapers known to be close to the president’s purported rivals, and the poor showing of hard-line presidential allies in December’s local government elections.
Zvi Barel, an analyst for the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, postulates that Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani, and Hashemi Rafsanjani - defeated by Ahmadinejad in the June 2005 presidential race - both fear the rising power of Revolutionary Guards leader Rahim Safavi, who he said ordered the arrest of the British sailors.
Ultimately it is difficult to unravel the complicated domestic considerations informing the decision to arrest the British sailors, though it is clear that the crisis was a major coup for hardliners who forced the UK to reverse its rhetorical and diplomatic escalation of 28-29 March.
In an interesting twist, Syrian officials sought to claim responsibility for the sailor’s release on Wednesday.
In comments carried by the Associated Press, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that “Syria exercised a sort of quiet diplomacy to solve this problem and encourage dialogue” between Britain and Iran.
Syria is currently seeking to rebuild diplomatic ties with the US and Europe severed over allegations of high-level Syrian complicity in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in February 2005.
It is unlikely that Iran supports Syrian efforts at rapprochement with the West, which could adversely affect its own fast growing bilateral ties with the Baathist state.
However, the Islamic Republic is interested in protecting its primary Lebanese ally, Hizbollah, from the potential political backlash of implication, by extension, in the al-Hariri murder and a series of assassinations targeting anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians and journalists.
Lebanese approval for the establishment of a UN tribunal to try those held responsible for the killings has been held up by the opposition of Syria’s Lebanese allies, parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri and President Emile Lahoud.
The decision to release the sailor’s came on the same day that 70 lawmakers from Lebanon’s anti-Syrian March 14 coalition sent a letter imploring UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to “take alternative measures according to the UN Charter to establish the tribunal.”
The arrest of the British sailors is a salient reminder of the vulnerability of international forces patrolling the Iran-Iraq land and sea border.
With both Iran and the US holding large-scale naval exercises during the course of the crisis, the dangers of a military escalation were very real.
Such an outbreak would have seriously undermined Iranian moderates and ended EU and UN efforts to force Iran to enter meaningful discussions on its nuclear program.
Recent speculation in the Russian media concerning purported US plans to attack Iranian atomic facilities this Friday may have played some role in the playing out of the hostage crisis.
However, the primary instigating factor for the arrests was undoubtedly the UN Security Council’s 24 March expansion of sanctions on Iran.
With tensions high and no clear path in sight to end the nuclear crisis, the dangers of a repetition of the hostage crisis are very real.
Dr Dominic Moran is ISN Security Watch’s senior correspondent in the Middle East
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).
Printed from http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=17455
Online version provided by the International Relations and Security Network
A public service run by the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich © 1996-2004
05 April 2007
Kirchner’s perfect timing
The anniversary of the Falklands War gives Argentine President Nestor Kirchner an opportunity to stoke popular support ahead of elections, but it’s unlikely he will have such perfect timing again.
Commentary by Sam Logan for ISN Security Watch (05/04/07)
Leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Falkland Islands War between the UK and Argentina, President Nestor Kirchner has stoked nationalist sentiments by canceling an agreement with Britain to explore for oil and gas in the South Atlantic Islands. Kirchner followed up this move by proclaiming that the islands would always be Argentine.
It is more a well-timed effort to maintain high levels of popularity ahead of October presidential elections than any real geopolitical maneuver to install Argentine sovereignty over the islands.
This populist tactic aims to redirect national and media attention away from growing unease with inflation and wages, two specters from Argentina’s past that Kirchner would prefer to deal with after he has been re-elected.
Since the end of the 74-day conflict in 1984, during which Argentina lost 1,000 troops, the UK has given citizenship to the islands’ inhabitants, known as “kelpers,” and has installed a significant military presence on the Falklands.
But Argentina does not recognize the Falklands as UK territory, preferring to call the South Atlantic islands the “Malvinas.” Kirchner, understanding the nationalist sentiment stirred by taking issue with the UK’s control of the islands, has maintained constant diplomatic pressure on London since his inauguration.
During his inaugural speech in May 2003, Kirchner proclaimed he was a “presidente malvino,” meaning his would push to bring the Falkland Islands back under Argentine control.
By December 2003, the issue captured Argentine national attention when Kirchner demanded an apology from London for using naval vessels armed with nuclear warheads during the Falklands War. Some weeks later, a Russian official proclaimed support for Argentina’s claim to the Falklands while on a diplomatic trip in Buenos Aires.
During a 15 June 2006 speech to the UN decolonization committee, Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said the UK should return to sovereignty talks with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.
Such statements and posturing are designed to boost popular support for Kirchner but mean little in terms of Argentina’s actual intentions to exercise sovereignty over the Falklands.
Kirchner’s government has employed some annoying tactics, however. Flights from Chile to the Falklands that fly through Argentine airspace have been limited to one a week, a limitation that is more annoying to the Chileans that work in the South Atlantic islands than the islanders themselves, or the British.
Many in Chile believe that Chilean shipping and air traffic between their country and the Falklands is closely monitored by Argentine intelligence. It is unclear why.
Kirchner has reportedly urged Argentine fishermen to focus their efforts on the boundary waters Argentina shares with the Falklands, a practice leaders there claim depletes the stock for commercial fishing vessels from Russia, Korea and Spain. These boats pay licensing fees that make up two-thirds of Falklands government revenue, according a 1 April article in the New York Times.
In May 2005, London boosted its military presence on the Falklands by 5,000 troops in a response to alleged Argentine night flight operations into no-fly security zones around the Falklands.
But Argentina’s military remains weakened and under pressure from the Kirchner government to come to terms with those Argentines “disappeared” during the country’s Dirty War in the late 1970s and early 1980s. For now, Kirchner’s overtures remain limited to diplomatic pressure and taking advantage of memorable dates, such as the Falklands anniversary, to stir national sentiment.
The Argentine economy has grown by some 8 percent during the past three years. Yet more and more Argentines are feeling the creeping pressure inflation has had on prices, especially those who live on wages.
Labor strikes in Buenos Aires to demand higher wages have been a constant thorn in Kirchner’s side since his inauguration. On 27 March, the government office of Statistics and Census announced it would organize a 24-hour strike in April. The Argentine fuel-trade union arranged a 48-hour strike at gas stations on 28 March to protest price-fixing. On the same day, farm trade organizations threatened to organize protests against the government price “suggestions.”
Rather than rein in spending to control inflation, Kirchner’s administration has chosen to bully certain sectors into controlling prices at the retail level, squeezing earnings for producers. These tactics work in the short-term, but over time do very little to combat inflation.
Even with his postulating over the Falklands, Kirchner decided not to attend a commemoration ceremony on 2 April, the day of the 25th anniversary of the Falkland Islands War. The president was scheduled to deliver a rousing nationalist speech claiming the “Malvinas” as Argentine sovereign territory. His decision not to attend and to instead send his vice president perhaps signaled Kirchner’s unwillingness to push Britain too far. But the speech itself was enough to deliver his message to Argentina.
“The Malvinas are and always will be Argentine,” Vice President Daniel Scioli said during the ceremony, also attended by the defense minister, the interior minister and the foreign minister.
Six months ahead of the presidential elections, it would appear as if Kirchner has an excellent chance of winning a second mandate. Yet it remains unclear if his troubles with inflation will be taken under control before October, given the recent rise in civil unrest.
The passing of a significant date in Argentine history together with London’s preoccupation with matters in the Middle East created an ideal opportunity to maximize on popular support with limited international repercussion. Such perfect timing, however, is unlikely to happen again.
Sam Logan is a Senior Political and Security Analyst at Riskline who has reported on security, energy, politics, economics, organized crime, terrorism and black markets in Latin America since 1999.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).
From the ISN Publishing House
Lessons from Failure: The Falklands/Malvinas Conflict
From the ISN Links Directory
Argentina: Presidency
Latest entry on the ISN Blog
IR/IT News Review
CSS Analyses in Security Policy: US Missile Defense: A Strategic Challenge for Europe
CSS Analysis cover
The US’ intention to establish parts of its strategic missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic has given rise to intense controversy in Europe. Major points of contention concern the repercussions of the planned protective umbrella on the West’s relations with Russia, the extent of the threat emanating from Iran, and the concrete role of the Europeans and NATO in the area of missile defense. The future demands of strategic stability in Europe are bound to be the subject of long transatlantic debates.
The CSS Analyses in Security Policy offers a focused discussion of current trends and developments in the field of international security. It is produced by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich.
Subscriptions and mailing list: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/
Contact: Daniel Moeckli, Editor: analysen@sipo.gess.ethz.ch
Printed from http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=17460
Online version provided by the International Relations and Security Network
A public service run by the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich © 1996-2004
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O9V0SO0&show_article=1
Deaths at LA Veterans Facility Probed
Apr 4 02:36 PM US/Eastern
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Federal and local officials are investigating the recent deaths of five men who were being cared for in residential rehabilitation programs or emergency housing by the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.
The men, who died between November and February, had substance abuse problems as well as other medical issues, said Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system. All but one were believed to have died of drug overdoses, and in one case the drugs apparently involved had been prescribed by VA staff.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the hospital itself and the Los Angeles County coroner’s office are reviewing the deaths, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The hospital already has stepped up security and included more random urine tests, increased staffing on weekend nights and room checks for drugs.
Three of those who died, including one believed to have overdosed on heroin, were among about 200 veterans living at the hospital’s residential treatment facility.
The other two, both believed to have overdosed on illegal drugs, died at the Haven, an emergency housing program run by the Salvation Army. A VA program takes homeless veterans to such shelters as a step toward getting them into recovery programs, Norman said.
One of the five served in Iraq: Marine Corps veteran Justin Bailey, 27, who checked himself into the VA hospital after Thanksgiving because of his addiction to prescription and street drugs.
Bailey, who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a groin injury, was found dead in his room Jan. 26, a day after he got prescriptions filled for methadone and other drugs. Despite his drug history, he had been allowed to administer the drugs himself.
“My son had made a decision to get help, and they didn’t help him. They gave him the bullet,” Gulf War veteran Tony Bailey, 47, of Las Vegas told the Times.
Continued
Suicide Bomber Slaughters Eight Iraqi Schoolgirls and a Baby (back)
April 4, 2007
Suicide bomber slaughters eight Iraqi schoolgirls and a baby Another glorious victory for the courageous mujahedin in Iraq . Doubtless the girls and the baby were Zionist Crusaders. ‘Suicide bomber slaughters nine Iraqi schoolgirls,’ from the Daily Star, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:
A truck bomber carrying food supplies killed eight Iraqi schoolgirls and a baby in the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Monday as suspected militants executed 21 Shiite workers north of Baghdad . Politically, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq ‘s most senior Shiite cleric, opposes a new draft law that would allow thousands of former Baath Party members to return to public life, one of his aides said on Monday. Monday’s bomber blew up his truck full of flour and explosives near a primary school for girls and a police station in a Kurdish area of Kirkuk , killing 12 people, including the nine children, a hospital doctor said.
Another 178 people were wounded in the blast, which took the facade off the police station and smashed through cement blocks while US troops were visiting, district police commander Major General Torhan Youssef Abdel-Rahman said.
Source: http://jihadwatch.org/
Terror Suspect Pleads Not Guilty (back)
April 4, 2007
A former Navy sailor pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he supported terrorism by disclosing secret information about the location of Navy ships and the best ways to attack them.
Hassan Abujihaad, 31, of Phoenix , was arraigned in U.S. District Court in New Haven . He has been held without bail since his arrest last month in Phoenix .
His attorney, Dan LaBelle, filed a motion Tuesday asking that Abujihaad be released from prison based on conditions determined at a hearing. LaBelle has said his client has a job and two small children.
A hearing is scheduled April 11 on LaBelle’s request.
Abujihaad, who worked in a UPS warehouse in Phoenix , is accused in a case that began in Connecticut and followed a suspected terrorist network across the country and into Europe and the Middle East .
Investigators say he provided secrets, in the form of classified documents, to a suspected terrorism financier.
Abujihaad was charged with providing material support to terrorists with intent to kill U.S. citizens and disclosing classified information relating to the national defense.
The Internet service provider where the investigation started was based in Connecticut .
Abujihaad is charged in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist arrested in 2004 and accused of running Web sites to raise money for terrorism. Ahmad is to be extradited to the U.S.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that Ahmad might be extradited in a matter of months, and that the defendants might be tried together if the timing makes that possible.
During a search of Ahmad’s computers, investigators discovered files containing classified information about the positions of U.S. Navy ships and discussing their susceptibility to attack, officials said.
Abujihaad exchanged e-mails with Ahmad while on active duty on the USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer, in 2000 and 2001, according to an FBI affidavit. In those e-mails, Abujihaad discussed naval briefings and praised Osama bin Laden and those who attacked the USS Cole in 2000, according to the affidavit.
Abujihaad, who received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors said Wednesday the case involves a massive amount of data from various locations including search warrants, subpoenas for records, hard drives, computer discs seized from the United Kingdom and the results of searches of e-mail servers.
Source: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-abujihaad 0404,0,5663684.story?coll=hc-headlines-local
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