Posted on 02/26/2007 4:18:14 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Chasing A Terrorist: A Blow-By-Blow Account
By: David Bedein, The Bulletin
02/22/2007
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=17883143&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=17883143&BRD=2737&PAG=461&de
pt_id=576361&rfi=6
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newsid=17883143
Tel Aviv, Israel - Tel Aviv District Police Commander David Tzur said
that a
large terror attack was prevented on Tuesday night in Tel Aviv, judging
from
the amount of explosives found in the bag concealed by the terrorist in
Rishon Letzion, a suburb of the city.
It was a race against the clock after Israeli intelligence learned that
the
terrorist strapped with bombs to his chest was already on his way to
detonation in a crowd of people at a pedestrian mall.
Hundreds of police officers, police sappers and intelligence agents
were
sent in pursuit of the terrorist and his bomb late in the afternoon
yesterday. It was not until nearly 8:00 p.m. before everyone could let
out a
sigh of relief. The bomb, which contained a large number of kilograms
of
explosives, was found inside a garbage bin off the Rishon Lezion
pedestrian
mall.
The Arab terrorist left his village, Jilaboun, which is in the Jenin
district, at approximately 7:00 in the morning. The terrorist, who
belongs
to Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Jenin, was equipped with a bag that
contained a bomb belt. He made his way with the assistance of a
Palestinian
driver out from Jenin southwards into Samaria. From there, the
terrorist
succeeded in infiltrating Israel by means of a route that has yet to be
established. The assessment is that he passed the separation fence via
one
of the roadblocks that are designated for Israelis.
Late in the morning, Israeli intelligence agents received an
intelligence
warning about a terrorist who was already in the Tel Aviv area.
Within minutes, a maximum state of alert was declared by the Tel Aviv
District Police. The district commander, Cmdr. David Tzur, ordered the
officers to set up roadblocks on all of the roads leading to the
southern
part of the city.
Dozens of police officers were called from their homes, and the search
for
the terrorist began from southern Tel Aviv on into the northern
neighborhoods of the city. Shortly after 6:00 in the evening, the
Israeli
police obtained information that the terrorist was in an apartment in
Bat
Yam, a northern suburb of Tel Aviv.
Central Bat Yam looked like the scene of a terror attack on Tuesday.
Dozens
of ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and sappers dressed in flak
jackets
and helmets began to roam the streets. The police arrested the
terrorist
along with three other Arab Palestinian residents of the Jenin
district, one
of whom was a 16-year-old boy.
Initially, the police officers searched for the bomb belt inside the
apartment, but when the search turned up nothing, it became clear to
the
agents that they had a "ticking bomb" situation on their hands.
The four Palestinians were separated and were taken to a police
building in
the area. The detectives tried to find out where the bomb belt was
located.
The police were worried that a passer-by might touch it accidentally,
setting it off and costing human life. Initially, the terrorist told
the
detectives that he planted the bomb belt inside a garbage bin in the
Rishon
Lezion area. A state of alert was immediately declared around the city
and
its center was sealed to traffic. Hundreds of policemen began to sweep
the
pedestrian mall and the nearby public parks. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv
District
Police Commander Cmdr. David Tzur ordered to stop all movement of
garbage
trucks in the greater Tel Aviv area, and dozens of police officers were
dispatched to Hiriya [the central garbage dump that serves the greater
Tel
Aviv area], just in case the bomb had already made its way to the dump.
Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence agents continued questioning the
terrorist.
Around 7:30 p.m., the terrorist finally agreed to cooperate with the
intelligence agents, and led the detectives to the garbage bin on Asher
Levin Street, which is near the Rishon Lezion pedestrian mall, where
the
bomb was hidden.
Local policemen evacuated 10 high-rise residential buildings in the
area,
and blocked numerous roads in the central part of the city so as to
allow
for the bomb to be neutralized. Sappers decided ultimately not to
defuse the
bomb in the city center lest it hurt anyone or cause property damage,
and
instead loaded it into a special armored truck that was constructed to
transport explosives.
koa850.com or is it 850koa.com, may be Fox news.
There has been a major explosion outside the U.S. base at Kabul.
Vice President Cheney was inside the base and is safe, but there are several dead heros.
Prayers will be needed for the many affected by this one.
They are saying the blast happened at the first gate, unknown number of dead.
Will V.P. Cheney's heart take this.
2 days ago, it was trouble with his airplane and now a bomb.
Hezbollah's Weapons Waiting At Syrian Border
Hezbollah currently holds over 10,000 short-range rockets in southern
Lebanon and north of the Litani River, Israeli officials estimate.
Most
of
the rockets have been there since before the war, when Hezbollah had
between
12,000-14,000 short-range rockets. Additional weaponry is being
smuggled
from Syria to Lebanon, as of now, in a very slow and controlled manner
due
to restrictions that the Syrians have imposed on themselves for fear of
becoming entangled.
Hezbollah's truly large stockpiles are located throughout Syria.
Those stockpiles contain ammunition in amounts exceeding those held by
the
organization on the eve of the war. At a time which will serve the
interest
of the Syrians and Hezbollah, the dam will be broken, and the
controlled
flow of weapons will become a deluge.
This stockpile does not refer only to short-range rockets. Israel
assumes
that medium and long-range rockets have already been smuggled into
Lebanon,
more advanced than those previously held by Hezbollah.
The Syrians have
recently purchased Russian anti-tank rockets more advanced than the
Kornet
rockets that the IDF encountered in the war - and they too will reach
Lebanon.
The Iranians also supplied the Syrians with anti-ship missiles of the
type
that hit INS Hanit during last summer's war. The pattern of the Iranian
Navy
is to attack Western vessels by means of several dozen small armed
boats
simultaneously. Israel should prepare for this method to reach Lebanon
as
well.
Hezbollah is patiently waiting for the equipment arriving in Syria from
Iran
by air, sea and land. Its main lesson from the latest war was this: Not
enough rockets were fired into Israel. The average daily dose, 250
rockets,
one-third of which fell in inhabited areas, was not sufficient.
Hezbollah
intends to double and triple this amount. If Israel attempts to
intercept
1,000 rockets a day using Rafael systems, it will go bankrupt within a
week.
In the meantime, Hezbollah is reorganizing in its logistic area of
Baalbek,
in its strategic center in Beirut and in its operative area in southern
Lebanon. As of now, the infrastructure in southern Lebanon is still not
prepared for fighting against Israel at familiar levels. But the basis
of
this infrastructure - personnel, bunkers, launching grounds, command
and
control centers - that was destroyed in the war is gradually being
rebuilt.
In the villages in southern Lebanon, work can presently be observed for
rebuilding headquarters, command and control networks and long-range
observation posts. Conversely, there are sectors, such as Mt. Dov,
where the
infrastructure was only damaged partially, if at all.
For now, Hezbollah is finding it difficult to reach the blue line
[international border], to carry out observations and gather
intelligence.
The new UNIFIL is doing a better job than did the old UNIFIL.
But as
soon as
the political conditions are created that will enable Hezbollah to
shift
gears in southern Lebanon, Israel will start to hear that the
organization
is harassing the U.N. personnel - to the point that their parent
countries
will send them back home. From Israel's standpoint, this will be a sign
attesting to the fact that Hezbollah is becoming ready for another
round.
Israeli officials assess that the first signs of harassment could
appear
within a few months.
David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il.
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/msFullArt.asp?an=10155
British govt hired wizards to find Bin Laden
24 February 2007
In a bizarre, albeit desperate, attempt to find Bin Laden, the British
Ministry of Defence (MoD) spent £18,000 on psyhcics to find Osama Bin
Laden.
The report was declassified under the Freedom of Information Act and
says
that the experiment, which was conducted in 2002, failed miserably with
a
big percentage of the psyhcics failing the tests.
It is claimed the ministry hoped positive results would allow it to use
psychics to 'remotely view' Bin Laden's base and also to find weapons
of
mass destruction in Iraq, Daily Mail reported.
The MoD tried to recruit 12 'known' psychics who advertised their
abilities
on the Internet, but when they all refused they were forced to use
'novice'
volunteers.
Most recruits went completely off-mark in their psyhcic tests, to the
point
where one man fell asleep while he tried to guess an envelope's
contents,
British newspaper Telegraph reported.
Despite the failed results, an MoD spokesperson rejected the idea that
it
was a complete waste of money.
"I don't think this was a waste of public money. Many people will say
so,
but I think it is marvellous that the Government is prepared to think
outside the box." he said.
"And this is as outside the box as it gets."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=494§ionid=3510202
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=494§ionid=3510202
Algeria arrests al-Qaeda's weapon suppliers
Police in Algeria has arrested members of a network that allegedly
funneled
weapons to an al-Qaeda branch in North Africa.
Liberte daily, a leading newspaper in Algeria, has quoted some unknown
sources as saying that the arrested ring included French, Tunisian and
Algerian nationals.
The ring was believed to supply an al-Qaeda branch in Maghreb.
The daily said the main purchaser of the arms was the Salafist Group
for
Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has claimed responsibility for seven
bomb
attacks on Feb. 13 in two provinces east of the capital Algiers.
GSPC is a militant Sunni Islamist group which aims to overthrow the
Algerian
government and institute an Islamic state. The group has declared its
intention to attack Algerian, French, and American targets. It has been
designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Department
of
State, and similarly classed as a terrorist organization by the
European
Union.
GSPC recently adopted the name of al-Qaeda Organization of Islamic
Maghreb
after Osama Bin Laden approved the name change, the group has said on a
Web
site used by Islamists.
Islamists began an armed revolt in 1992 after the military-backed
authorities at the time scrapped a parliamentary election that an
Islamist
political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was set to win.
Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed. The violence
has
sharply subsided in the past few years.
http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2007/02/24/and-the-aclu-loves-this-country-j
ust-as-much-as-the-rest-of-us/print/
ACLU demands visas for terror advocates
Posted By Glib Fortuna On 24th February 2007
AP: [1] ACLU defends terror supporters
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=338235&Category=23
' right to
U.S.
access
NEW YORK (AP) - A civil rights group asked a judge Friday to find it
unconstitutional for the federal government to exclude a prominent
Muslim
scholar or anyone else from the United States on the grounds that they
may
have endorsed or espoused terrorism.
In case it didn't sink in the first time:
NEW YORK (AP) - A civil rights group asked a judge Friday to find it
unconstitutional for the federal government to exclude a prominent
Muslim
scholar or anyone else from the United States on the grounds that they
may
have endorsed or espoused terrorism.
Got it?
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the papers attacking the
policy in
U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The group included in its submissions
a
written declaration in which the scholar, Tariq Ramadan, said he has
always
"opposed terrorism not only through my words but also through my
actions."
The ACLU said schools and organizations who want to invite Ramadan and
others into the United States are concerned about what is known as the
ideological exclusion provision.
It said an entry in the State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual says
that
the provision is directed at those who have voiced "irresponsible
expressions of opinion."
As a sovereign nation, the United States has the right to bar anyone
for any
reason entry to our country. Advocating Islamic terrorism is probably
at the
top of the list of good reasons.
I wrote [2] previously
http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2006/06/26/in-defense-of-our-enemies-part-m
mmxli/
on Mr. "always opposed terrorism not only through my words but
also
through my actions." The ACLU's saccharine description of this
terror-loving
enemy is a dirty ACLU whitewash. Ramadan is not simply a "prominent
scholar." His connections to international terrorists and love for
radical
Islam are deep, documented and generational (Good ol' granddad was a
founder
of the [3] Muslim
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2011
Brotherhood).
The group said the provision violates the First Amendment and has
resulted
since 2001 in the exclusion from the United States of numerous foreign
scholars, human rights activists and writers, barred "not for
legitimate
security reasons but rather because the government disfavors their
politics."
Let's clear this up once and for all - there are no such things as
"First
Amendment rights" for foreigners not even on our soil. The ACLU is
proving
once again to be cultural cannibals, feasting off our own laws for the
purpose of destroying the same. Imagine that - overseas terrorism
advocates
have a "First Amendment right" to come and go to and from our country
at any
time.and we have no say as to whether or not that happens. We can't
stop
them because, after all, they have opinions. Doesn't matter what they
are,
just having opinions entitles you a pass over our border. I suppose we
couldn't screen known jihadists with opinions with any extra scrutiny
either. The ACLU would call that racial profiling and we can't have
that. I
guess they'd slap Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendment claims against us
for
good measure.
The ACLU said some foreign scholars and writers are now reluctant to
accept
invitations to the United States because they will be subjected to
ideological scrutiny and possibly denied entry.
Pretty easy: Support Terrorism = Denial of Entry + (hopefully) Incoming
Hellfire missile. Flip side: Never openly support terrorism = probable
passport stamp + "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas" floatie key
chain.
In the case of Ramadan, a 44-year-old native of Switzerland, the ACLU
said
he was excluded last year for making small donations that totaled
$1,336 to
the Association de Secours Palestinien, an organization that the U.S.
government said he should have known provided funds to Hamas, which the
government has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Ramadan said in court papers the donation was for humanitarian aid and
he
would not have given it "if I had thought my money would be used for
terrorism or any other illegal purpose."
Yeah. OK.
Before his visa was revoked in 2004, Ramadan had spoken at Harvard
University, Stanford University and elsewhere.
Is this supposed to bolster his case? Yale admits a Taliban spokesman,
[4]
Columbia http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110008127
enjoys
Gadhafi
via closed circuit and cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal has given the
commencement
address, by now, at every university in the country, half the Weather
Underground have professorships. It seems that being embraced at elite
US
universities nearly guarantees that you've either murdered Americans or
at
least would like to.
Put another check in the ACLU's "Times I Defended the Enemy" column.
A step to the right, a slap to the left
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/a-step-to-the-right-a-slap-to-the-left/2007
/02/23/1171734017549.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
A step to the right, a slap to the left
Nick Cohen was a leftie's leftie. In the 1970s his mother, a teacher
and
former communist, refused to buy oranges from Portugal or Spain, which
were
then ruled by fascist dictators. She banned her son from watching
Disney on
television and blacklisted the Beano comic because it was printed by a
non-union firm.
A decade of Margaret Thatcher, two cruel recessions and mass
unemployment
did nothing to douse Cohen's leftism. He went on Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament marches and collected money for striking miners.
But it was in journalism that Cohen found his fire. In British
left-wing
publications such as The Independent, New Statesman and The Observer,
he
pounded away for years at standard left issues: housing, education,
corporate villainy. Attacking Tony Blair, he wrote, "was what got me
out of
bed in the morning".
So, unsurprisingly, when the United States led an invasion of
Afghanistan
after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Cohen was against it.
Anti-Americanism was justified, he wrote, when there was so "little
about
modern America to be for".
But something happened to Cohen on the road from Kabul to Baghdad. By
the
time the coalition of the willing invaded Iraq in 2003, he had turned
around. He now supported the invasion and said so in his Observer and
New
Statesman columns, week after week.
There followed what he calls the most intense three years of thinking
of his
life. Amazement at what he saw as the liberal left's failure to
confront the
threat and reactionary nature of radical Islam led him to wider
revelations
about the movements and people he has been connected to for most of his
45
years.
The result of his journey is What's Left? How Liberals Lost Their Way,
an
exuberant, punchy, scornful polemic on how the radical idea went
radically
wrong. To be published in Australia next week, it is already causing a
fair
storm in Britain, where it came out three weeks ago and is already in
its
fourth print run, with 15,000 sold.
The writers Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens have lined up to
praise it.
Predictably, the right loves it: a "splendid, passionate book" that
caught
the best of conservative thought, wrote The Times columnist Daniel
Finkelstein. (The endorsement reminded Cohen, he writes on his website,
of a
scene in Rosemary's Baby where the satanists hiss at Mia Farrow: "Join
us!
It's easier that way!")
Just as predictably, many - though by no means all - on the left hate
it. To
the feminist Beatrix Campbell it is "intemperate, petulant" abuse
posing as
argument. Simplify and exaggerate is Cohen's approach, writes former
New
Statesman editor Peter Wilby, an old friend of Cohen's who thinks "he
is,
and always was, a political innocent".
But whatever is said about Cohen - and a Google search will turn up any
amount of vitriol - he insists he has not swerved right, like those
American
former commies who turned neocons. Some old comrades might look the
other
way when he passes in the street; he is no longer a leftie's leftie.
But he
is adamant he is still a leftie.
"My book grew out of a vicious barney on the left that began after 9/11
and
grew from there," he says. "It's been like an 18th-century pamphlet
war."
Cohen, a classic pamphleteer, seems to have relished it.
It is only noon but we are in the pub because Cohen, a nervy character
with
a capacity for sudden, convulsive laughter, has insisted we leave the
north
London cafe we met in so he can smoke. Over two pints and about 10
cigarettes he explains, with a rapid-fire delivery that resembles the
style
of his book, why he wrote it.
The left has forgotten its core principles, he charges. It has
abandoned its
commitment to democratic and human rights struggles in poorer
countries. In
place of its old internationalism is an isolationist and narcissistic
obsession with the evils of Western corporations and governments - in
particular with the Great Satan, the United States.
As evidence, he tells the story of Hadi Saleh, to whom he dedicates the
book. Saleh was an Iraqi exile and trade unionist who, despite opposing
the
war, went back to Iraq after the toppling of Saddam to try to build a
union
movement. As a result, former members of Saddam's secret police
murdered him
last year.
Cohen says there were very good reasons, as well as bad ones, to oppose
the
war. But, he argues, once Baghdad had fallen, the left's duty was to
form
alliances with Iraqi democrats trying to resist Baathists and
Islamists.
Some did: the British Trades Union Congress supported Saleh's work.
"They
have behaved brilliantly," Cohen says. "They opposed Bush and Blair but
when
it came to showing solidarity and shipping aid to Iraq, they did it."
But they were the exception, he argues. "Your typical London publisher
or
BBC editor" in the left-liberal elite would not support Saleh, if they
even
knew he existed, because to do so would mean indirectly supporting Tony
Blair and George Bush, architects of an illegal war.
"Why isn't Hadi Saleh as famous as Nelson Mandela?" he demands.
"Because no
one wants to know."
This is a generalisation, but it is that kind of sweeping book. What's
Left?
is not merely or even mainly about Iraq. It is about a certain
left-wing
tolerance for totalitarianism; about apologetics for Serbian
concentration
camps and militant Islam. The Guardian columnist Martin Kettle wrote
that it
was also about the left's "retreat from the street to the sofa".
Left is a fairly meaningless term, ranging from Leninists to liberals.
In an
effort to define it, Cohen separates the far left, the old left -
grouped
around trade unions - and what might be called the soft left of
middle-class
progressives.
One of the left's great losses, he believes, has been the severance of
the
last group from the working class. He blames it on the decline of the
Labour
Party as a mass party, but also intellectuals' abandonment of the
working
class when it failed to become the vehicle for the social
transformation
they longed for.
Today, while academics bury their heads in racial and sexual identity
politics, the working class is seen as a reservoir of racism and
homophobia,
he says. It has gone "from the salt of the earth to the scum of the
earth in
three generations".
The book is also about the disappointment of middle-class liberals with
politics, even as - or perhaps because - politics delivered many of the
changes they demanded. In a sparkling passage, Cohen imagines going
back 100
years and telling an audience of the liberal intelligentsia what the
world
looks like today.
Women will have the vote, the time traveller says. Nearly all
monarchies and
empires will be gone. Minority groups will have rights; machines will
end
drudgery. Health care will be free, almost no newborns will die and
most
people will live to 80.
"Your future has everything we have always wanted," the liberals will
cry.
"So it has, you reply, which is why you will hate it."
But with the death of socialism, the left's disillusionment was
complete,
Cohen writes. It no longer proposed alternatives to the democratic,
free-market state. It was no longer for anything, merely against. What
it
was against most was the one superpower that the fall of the Berlin
Wall
left standing.
"My anti-Americanism has become almost uncontrollable," wrote the
English
novelist Margaret Drabble. "It has possessed me, like a disease . I
detest
Disneyfication, I detest Coca-Cola, I detest burgers."
Drabble wrote that after the Iraq war. But Cohen finds similar
sentiment
well before the war, including just after September 11.
"American bond traders, you may say, are as innocent and as undeserving
of
terror as Vietnamese or Iraqi peasants," wrote his friend, Peter Wilby,
in
the New Statesman. "Well, yes and no.
"If America seems a greedy and overwhelming power, that is partly
because
its people have willed it. They preferred George Bush to both Al Gore
and
Ralph Nader. These are harsh judgements but we live in harsh times."
Cohen now sees Wilby's view as "morally bankrupt", yet at the time he
might
have sympathised. What changed him, he says, was talking to Iraqi
exiles in
Britain about the monstrous nature of Saddam's regime. He came to
believe
that any plan to rid Iraq of Saddam deserved support. Not all the
exiles
backed the invasion, but what amazed Cohen was that when debate over
the war
began, few on the left showed interest in their stories.
Where were the banners, he asks, opposing Saddam as well as the US? Why
did
the decent left allow the then Labour MP George Galloway - who in 1994
flew
to Baghdad to salute Saddam's "courage, strength [and]
indefatigability" -
to lead the million-strong anti-war rally of February 2003?
Cohen's critics say he tars the broad left with the sins of its extreme
wing. They say most anti-war protesters did not endorse Saddam or
Islamism
by opposing the war. They just thought it was a dumb idea that would
kill a
lot of people and inflame, not reduce, terrorism. That turned out to be
a
reasonable assumption.
Kettle writes that the book "ought to force anyone on the left to think
carefully about where their movement has ended up in the modern world".
But
he also thinks Cohen and other war supporters have their own lessons to
face
up to.
"They were right about many things," Cohen says, perhaps a little
ruefully,
about what he calls the sensible anti-war left. Still, "I would not
turn the
clock back and put Saddam in power. That strikes me as an incredible
thing
to suggest."
He thinks that the left must stop dwelling on the decision to invade
and who
was to blame, and look at what to do now. In this he sounds a little
like
Blair, and Cohen would not deny it. "I am a lot softer towards him than
I
was," he says. "This Labour Government has spent a fortune on public
services and redistributed a lot of money. Generally, it is probably
about
as left-wing as you can get in a modern democracy."
What's Left? is bound to provoke passionate responses, many hostile.
Will it
also spur, even shame, people on the left to renew the internationalism
Cohen believes it so desperately needs? The author, for one, believes
it
will.
"I don't think radical Islam is going to go away," Cohen says. "I am
trying
to save the best left-wing traditions of internationalism, democratic
socialism, anti-fascism, feminism. Because I think we're going to need
them."
Will V.P. Cheney's heart take this.
2 days ago, it was trouble with his airplane and now a bomb.
February 26, 2007 PM Anti-Terrorism News
New York: Targeted By Tehran? New York Police Department concerns that
Iranian agents may already have targeted the city for terror attacks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17312636/site/newsweek/
Has NYC Been Targeted for Terror?
http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=90747133
Israel to hold nationwide nuclear attack drill
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/26/070226160328.pk8emye9.html
US terror suspect Padilla is fit for trial: government
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070227/ts_alt_afp/usattacksqaedajustice_070227002011;_ylt=Apy4LwnB_kxmtlMvJ6cBXu4Tv5UB
(Pakistan) CIA Evidence Used to Confront Musharraf; Showdown in
Pakistan - ABC News: CIA Deputy Director met with Musharraf, used photos &
intercepts
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/cia_evidence_us.html
Yemeni Shia Strike Back - More on "war" between Yemen govt and Zaydis
sect of Shia
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20070226.aspx
(Iraq) Baghdad plan has elusive targets - Security forces cannot
identify perpetrators of violence
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17332416/from/RS.5/
Update: (Iraq) Bombings in Iraq kill 23, spare VP - Iraq's VP and
cabinet minister injured - 14 die in blast at police checkpoint in Ramadi
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9htfMQzR.NF15sAWhTQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHZkMjZyBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNzcg--/SIG=12obdm9s7/EXP=1172609203/**http%3a//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070226165525
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17340791/
(Iraq) Suspected al Qaeda Emir, 14 Others Captured - DOD: Suspected
al-Qaeda in Iraq emir and associate captured in Baghdad, 3 suspected
foreign facilitators captured near Samarra
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10198&Itemid=128
Egypt takes militant Iraqi TV channel off air - see Andrew Cochran's
Feb. 26 post
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=79858
Cyberspace as a Combat Zone: The Phenomenon of Electronic Jihad - MEMRI
study of jihadists' use of Internet to wage economic and ideological
warfare
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA32907
Iran's Terrorism Expediters - Details on int'l structure of Quds Force
of IRGC
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsf/articles/20070226.aspx
US winds up probe into NKorea-linked bank in Macau - No timetable set
for lifting sanctions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/pl_afp/nkoreanuclearweapons_070226145404
(Turkey) Life Sentences For 20 Turkish Hezbollah Members - Jailed for
97 murders in early 1990s
http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_16226-Life-Sentences-For-20-Turkish-Hezbollah-Members.html
(Bulgaria) "Extremists" Arrested in Bulgaria - Four arrested for
running jihadist website, with possible links to foreigners
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/extremists-arrested-in-bulgaria/id_20787/catid_5
Ayman al-Zawahiri: Jihad’s Judas - How Ayman al-Zawahiri has betrayed
close friends to protect own interests
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27029
(Spain) Monitoring the Jihad in Spain - FPM interview with Javier
Jordan: "For the jihadists, Spain is still an enemy country"
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27093
Kosovo: Blast Hits OSCE Vehicles, As Former Premier Leaves For Hague
War Crimes Court
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=
Al-Qaeda's China problem - AQ's commitments since 2001 have failed to
date
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IB27Ad01.html
Three French nationals shot dead in Saudi: ministry - 8 French
nationals attacked on way to Mecca - militant attack suspected
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/saudi_deaths_dc_3
Mysterious messages: Series of explosive discoveries keeps Lebanese on
edge
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=79876
(Afghanistan) Two Afghan Officials Detained For 'Links' With Taliban
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/2/910832BF-95FB-4261-9051-282CDF6BAB80.html
(Afghanistan) New Taliban Group Named After Tora Bora Setup - ABC News:
Fighters active in eastern Nangarhar province and other parts of
Afghanistan
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/new_taliban_gro.html
(Lebanon) Hezbollah blinks (commentary) - Alexis Debat: "Hezbollah is
already reaching out to other constituencies"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/25/opinion/edletmon.php
Complete Text: "Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon" (from Al-Qaida's Sawt
al-Jihad #30)
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/02/complete_text_bin_laden_and_th.php
Bangladesh Stalled on Enacting Terrorist Finance Law
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/02/internal_political_tension_ove.php
Pakistan replicating its Baluch experiment in Northern Sri Lanka -
Pakistan to sell tanks & armoured personnel carriers to Sri Lanka
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4701
Sri Lankan government finances Tigers by buying their Tamil TV programs
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4696
All is well just an out of controll granddaughter. We will just do the best we can.
Thanks for asking.
GREAT BIG HUGS
J
New York: Targeted By Tehran?
Newsweek
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17312636/site/newsweek/
March 5, 2007 issue - Increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran
have revived New York Police Department concerns that Iranian agents
may already have targeted the city for terror attacks. Such attacks could
be aimed at bridges and tunnels, Jewish organizations and Wall Street,
NYPD briefers told security execs last fall, according to a person with
access to the briefing materials who asked for anonymity because of the
sensitive subject matter.
NYPD officials have worried about possible Iranian-sponsored attacks
since a series of incidents involving officials of the Iranian Mission to
the United Nations. In November 2003, Ahmad Safari and Alireaza Safi,
described as Iranian Mission "security" personnel, were detained by
transit cops when they were seen videotaping subway tracks from Queens to
Manhattan at 1:10 in the morning. The men later left New York. "We're
concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might
be used in an attack against New York City at some future date," Police
Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told NEWSWEEK. A spokesman for the
Iranian Mission in New York said he was aware of the allegations but had no
immediate comment.
-- Mark Hosenball
Saudi navy officer faces death penalty
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Saudi_Arabia/10106942.html
26/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
Saudi navy officer faces death penalty
By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
Riyadh: A Saudi navy officer is facing the death penalty after he was
caught recklessly driving a car which led to the death of three persons
in Obhur to the north of Jeddah.
After almost a year and a half of deliberations, four judges issued
their unanimous verdict last week sentencing the 37-year-old officer to
death for his involvement in killing three youths including the 14 and
15-year-old brothers, Abdul Aziz and Badr Al Khuthaila.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences,
including any act or behaviour that leads to the killing of others. The
death sentence can be appealed within 30 days of issuance.
The traffic police in Jeddah found the Saudi navy officer, nicknamed
'Abu Cab' as 100 per cent guilty of the death of the three youths. The
report of the traffic police said the officer had been driving at very
high speed (160-180 kilometres) when the accident took place. The
report
pointed out that the officer was involved in a series of reckless
driving violations and was accused of encouraging youths to drive
recklessly. Reckless driving or tafheet in Saudi slang, is a normal
scene on streets of Saudi cities.
Traffic violations
The report noted that the officer used to rent cars from rent a car
agencies to use them for his reckless driving. It added that around 66
traffic violations were found on the officer's record.
However, Khalid Abu Rashid, the Saudi lawyer defending the officer,
said
that the death sentence is non-applicable now, as it was not yet filed
in the court of cassation. The lawyer appealed for the cancellation of
the death sentence saying that it is not applicable to the case of his
client.
"We should not be swayed by sentiments in judging matters. Yes, we all
feel pain at the death of the youths and we all agree on the importance
of applying a deterrent penalty against Abu Cab so as not to repeat
this
crime, but the question is: was there no deterrent penalty other than
death penalty?" the lawyer said in statements to reporters.
"We have to ask about thousands of reckless drivers who committed fatal
accidents and have not been convicted to death," he added.
He pointed out that thousands of traffic accidents resulted in
thousands
of deaths and the majority were found to be the fault of the driver.
"No
death penalty was applied to any of them, so why has it to be applied
to
Abu Cab, whose crime is a traffic accident that happens every day?" he
inquired.
Saudi discovers new field
http://www.tradearabia.com/tanews/newsdetails_snOGN_article119487_cnt.html
Saudi discovers new field
Posted: Sunday, February 25, 2007
Riyadh
Saudi Arabia has discovered an oil field in the east of the country
near
the giant Ghawar field.
'Saudi Aramco has discovered a new oil field south east of Ghawar
field,' the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted oil minister Ali
Al
Naimi as saying. 'On February 11, oil from the Derwaza-1 well ...
flowed
at a rate of 3,915 bpd associated with 11.9 million cubic feet of gas
daily,' he added.
The well, 70 km (43.5 miles) south of Ghawar, is expected to produce at
higher levels, he said. He gave no further details on the size of the
find or potential future production.
Saudi Arabia claims about 260 billion barrels of reserves, nearly a
quarter of the world's total, according to the BP Statistical Review.
Saudi oil officials say it also has gas reserves of 242 trillion cubic
feet, making it the world's fifth largest holder of proven gas
reserves.
It faces increasing demand for natural gas from its rapidly growing
population and new petrochemical and industrial projects.-Reuters
97-year-old man on death row in Saudi
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=134754&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17
97-year-old man on death row in Saudi
Published: Sunday, 25 February, 2007, 09:41 AM Doha Time
RIYADH: A 97-year-old Saudi man waiting to be beheaded for murder has
launched an appeal for donations of blood money in order to spare him
from the death sentence, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
H al-Zahrani, who has been imprisoned for several years, made his plea
to raise 2.6mn riyals (approximately $700,000) for paying damages to
his
victim’s family in the Al-Madina daily.
The paper said Zahrani is being detained in Al-Baha, western Saudi
Arabia, but did not disclose the date of his sentence or any details on
the murder, saying only that the victim’s family had agreed to pardon
Zahrani in exchange for financial compensation.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all
carry
the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. But a condemned person can earn a
reprieve if the family of their victim agrees to accept money as
compensation.- AFP
Putin’s Cold War
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTBiMjJjMjQyNDQ0N2Q1ZDc0NDdlYzk3NjNiYTVmN2Q=
February 26, 2007 12:00 AM
Putin’s Cold War
Centralizing.
By John O'Sullivan
Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent who rose to become president of
Russia, has recently been a whirlwind of activity. In the last few
weeks
he has reshuffled his Cabinet, wooed the new German chancellor (and
current European Union president), Angela Merkel, denounced the United
States at an East-West security conference in Germany, and visited
Saudi
Arabia and the Gulf state of Qatar for quasi-secret talks on energy.
All
of these events reflect in different ways the recent revival of Russia
as an important power whose interests other nations must now consider.
They also reflect the internal success of Putin in reestablishing a
strong central government in Russia following the anarchic failures of
the Yeltsin years. But they are built on shaky political, economic, and
demographic foundations — the current high international price for
energy, a falling ethnic Russian population within the boundaries of
the
Russian federation, and the instability of Russia’s post-totalitarian
politics. These risks lie mainly in the future, but one risk that
concerns Putin himself is rushing towards him. Under the present
constitution, Putin’s presidency ends next year and he cannot serve a
further term. In theory this could be a watershed event in Russian
politics. Putin has built a new centralized authoritarianism — call
it
“guided democracy†— around himself and a coterie of former KGB
agents.
He has transformed the regional governors into mere agents of the
Kremlin, brought the television news media under the control of an
informal censorship, shaped the major political parties into supportive
clients of his administration, and either driven out, imprisoned or
bought off the once-powerful economic “oligarchs.†If he and his
allies
in the “siloviki†— those politicians and officials with links to
secret
intelligence agencies — were to lose office, that would put at risk
this
new structure of power.
Putin’s recent reshuffle of his Cabinet, however, suggests that he
has
little or no intention of allowing this to happen. His most important
decision was to appoint the most senior silovik, Defense Minister
Sergei
Ivanov, to be first deputy prime minister with special responsibility
for overseeing Russia’s military-industrial complex. In the opinion
of
most observers that set Ivanov up to be the official candidate of the
current Kremlin for next year’s presidential election. His election
would signify that Putin’s siloviki establishment would retain power
under a new face.
Some Kremlin insiders go further than that. Gleb Pavlovsky, a Kremlin
“spin-doctor†— yes, they have them there too — was quoted by
Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty as suggesting that Putin himself would still be
pulling the strings: “A democratic nation cannot not release its
leader,
but it can provide him with the opportunity to change from one job to
another.â€
To be sure, the voters have got to ratify Putin’s choice in due
course.
That should not be hard to arrange, however; the Kremlin’s candidate
will have a near-monopoly of campaign finance, media coverage, and
respectable party support. And just in case the voters show a strong
aversion to Ivanov, they will likely to be able to choose a second
“official†candidate, namely Dimitri Medvedev, another first deputy
prime minister, who is reckoned to be slightly more liberal than the
siloviki (no very great achievement) and thus more appealing to voters
nervous of their growing power.
So Putin seems to have the succession problem well and neatly solved.
His successor will be the same man under a different name.
That was not, however, the sole purpose of the Kremlin reshuffle.
Putin’s appointment of Anatoly Serdyukov, a financial expert, as the
new
defense minister is widely seen as an attempt to crack down on
corruption in military contracts. That in turn is an essential first
step in the modernization and restructuring of Russia’s armed forces.
And a larger strategic military reach — which the USSR enjoyed but
which
Russia has lost — to match the country’s growing economic power is
the
next step in the siloviki’s program to revive Russia’s great power
status.
That ambition was displayed recently both in Putin’s meeting with
Merkel
and in his denunciation of America at Munich. Putin would dearly like a
close Russo-German alliance as the cornerstone of a close EU-Russia
relationship. As so often with Soviet foreign policy, however, Putin at
Munich sought too many objects at once. In particular, he tried to
pressure the new democracies of central Europe into abandoning their
involvement in the proposed U.S. system of missile defense while also
seeking to separate Europe as a whole from the U.S. His threats over
missile defense — supported by other threats to abrogate the
Russo-American treaty on medium-range nuclear missiles — alarmed
everyone. They also struck Europeans as spectacularly hypocritical
since
the proposed missile defense is (or was) not designed against Russian
missiles. It is meant to deter attacks from ‘rogue’ states such as
Iran
— which Putin is supplying with missiles and nuclear know-how as part
of
his extra-European policy of building alliances with anti-Americans
around the world. So the net impact of these clashing Great Russian
imperatives was to embarrass Merkel, drive even left-wing Europeans
into
Washington’s waiting arms, and augment the influence of Eastern
Europe
as anti-Russian bloc within both NATO and the EU.
Putin should have foreseen exactly this since he had made an almost
identical mistake over energy policy only last year. It is, of course,
the high world price for oil that is fuelling both Russia’s revival
and
Putin’s ambitions. The Russian president has made it very clear that
Russia intends to use energy as a political weapon — in particular as
a
means of regaining control over its former satellites — by such
actions
as cutting off gas to Ukraine, raising energy prices overnight to the
Baltics, designing a Russo-German pipeline that would go undersea
rather
than through Poland, and seeking to frustrate Polish plans for access
to
non-Russian energy sources. His mistake was to forget that the former
satellites now have influence in Brussels as EU member-states. They
accordingly blocked a trade deal between Russia and the EU that Germany
had badly wanted. To Merkel in her meeting with Putin then prevailed
upon him to re-draw the plans for the Russo-German pipeline so that
Poland would enjoy access to it.
Putin’s energy ambitions had been briefly checked on that occasion
— and
now he was checking his strategic ambitions by giving the kiss of life
to Atlanticism.
Still, in pursuit of both, Putin journeyed from Munich to Riyadh.
Though
the talks with King Abdullah were secret, the speculation is that he
was
seeking to establish a “gas cartel†with Gulf producers that would
help
establish a high but stable long-range price for gas and so prolong
Russia’s (and Saudi Arabia’s) benefits as the world’s two largest
energy
producers. This is not an irrational policy, but it is fraught with
difficulties: Cartel members always have an incentive to sell more gas
by quietly cheating; if the price is below the long-run optimal
monopoly
price — which is itself a matter for guesswork — they will cheat
themselves; and if it is too high, they will enjoy a short-term bonanza
at the cost of an eventual collapse in energy prices as new producers
and substitute products are attracted into the market. In other words,
such a cartel would be like Marshall Aid for Alberta.
After all, that is exactly what happened to oil prices between 1973 and
last year. Reagan’s de-control of energy prices was one of the
factors
that undermined the Soviets in the 1980s and helped to win the Cold
War.
Putin is therefore hoping to indefinitely extend Russia’s current oil
bonanza — the higher world oil price means another $75 billion
revenue
annually — to restore its imperial status when he should be
considering
how to use a temporary to remedy the country’s long-term problems.
These
are Russia’s declining population and its economic over-dependence on
energy.
Russia today has a population of 149 million. Projections suggest that
it will fall below 100 million by 2050. In purely economic terms that
might be accommodated: Analyst Martin Hutchinson points out drily that
you can save a lot of money by delaying pension benefits when the
average life-span ends at 68. Within that total, however, Muslim
citizens will represent a growing percentage of births — on one
estimate
Muslims will be one quarter of Russia’s armed forces by mid-century.
Given that Russia’s “near abroad†includes Iran, the Muslim
“Stans,†and
a growing China, these figures are inconsistent with Putin’s foreign
policy of arming Iran, threatening Europe, and forging an anti-American
third-world coalition.
Russia is doing some things right to diversify its economy: it
attracting foreign investment, rationalizing its tax system, and
raising
its labor productivity substantially. But business is still corrupt,
the
rights of foreign owners are politically vulnerable, and its “rule of
law†is still subject to political manipulation, as the seizure and
sale
of Yukos assets (not to mention the incarceration of its owner, Mikhail
Khodorkovsy) demonstrate. Nor are these mere accidental blemishes on an
emerging market democracy. They arise directly from the siloviki
democracy that Putin has built.
In the Australian journal, Policy, Aviezer Tucker of the Queen’s
University in Belfast recently published a study on the differing fates
of post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian societies. Among his
conclusions was that as a result of the attempt to create an entirely
new social order, post-totalitarian societies like Russia are too
wounded and misshapen to return to normality. All the non-political
elites have been eliminated. So such societies continue to be ruled by
the old nomenklaturas, in particular by their old secret police
networks, which seize the properties of the state. But instead of
managing them in a capitalist fashion (since they lack the skills to do
so), they gradually consume the assets for their own economic benefit
and political power. In such a society, there is no real rule of law,
no
safe property rights, no real capitalist development.
As Tucker writes: “New wealth in Russia . . . lies under the ground.
Extracting that wealth, exporting it, and appropriating the proceeds
also requires political power . . . These were the reasons why the
Russian security elite needed political power — the Putin
restoration.â€
Domestically that restoration has meant robbing the Russian people
through bogus privatization. Economically it now means persuading
foreign investors to create new wealth to steal. And strategically it
means employing that wealth to bully anyone who looks either vulnerable
or competitive. But what happens when the oil price falls and the
wealth
runs out?
Kuwaitis celebrate Liberation Day with ab sence of Saddam; ‘Trial, execution of Iraqi d ictator unprecedented in Arab world’
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/kuwait/Viewdet.asp?ID=9813&cat=a
26th Feb 2007 : Web Edition No: 12805
Kuwaitis celebrate Liberation Day with absence of Saddam; ‘Trial,
execution of Iraqi dictator unprecedented in Arab world’
KUWAIT (KUNA): The Kuwaiti people will celebrate the 16th anniversary
of
the liberation of their homeland on Monday with particularly upbeat
sentiments, having witnessed the end of Saddam Hussein, the man whose
troops invaded the country in 1990 and occupied it for seven months.
During the course of the invasion, scores of nationals were killed and
others taken hostage, mostly to be later found as skeleton remains in
mass graves.Top leaders, namely His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh
Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, have expressed satisfaction that
heavenly justice had finally ended the life of the notorious man, whose
criminal record was reminiscent to that of dictators of equal caliber
who had existed in history of mankind.
Relief
The Kuwaiti people this year celebrate the national occasion with a
deep
sense of relief with the absence of Saddam, said Dr Abdulredha Asiri,
head of the politics department at Kuwait University, in an interview
with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). Prosecution and execution of Saddam was
the first event of its kind in the history of Arab nations, Asiri said,
noting that it was the first time a fugitive president was be detained
and tried according to international legal standards in a prosecution
that was witnessed live by peoples of the world. Saddam was executed
last December following a marathon trial of him and six of his
henchmen.
He was found guilty of killing scores of people in the village of
Al-Dujail in the early 1980s after his motorcade was fired upon.
Other genocides and blood-spilling crimes were on his record, namely
genocides against Iraqi Kurds and the aggression on the state of Kuwait
on Aug 2, 1990. He was hanged. Excerpts of the execution were broadcast
by television networks. He had been located by American troops —
bearded
and haggard — in an underground “spiderhole†in Iraq following
the 2003
allied military campaign.
Execution
Asiri said the execution of Saddam constituted a message — not only
to
leaders of states but to peoples too — that no matter how a tyrant
broke
laws and covenants, he would certainly witness a tragic end. His
execution will frustrate aspirations of his followers to usurp powers
again, the Kuwaiti professor said. In a separate interview with KUNA,
political sciences professor at the same university, Abdullah
Al-Ghanem,
also affirmed that the Kuwaiti people were enjoying special delightful
sentiments for witnessing end of the dictator whose regime caused
tragedies for the country and people. The trial and execution of Saddam
were unprecedented events in the Arab world, where peoples had not seen
prosecution of rulers for perpetrating genocides, Al-Ghanem said.
He cited a recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, affirming that
heavenly justice put an end to the tyrant. Politically, the end of
Saddam will contribute boosting the Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations, but he
warned against giving “concession.†Saddam’s troops, during the
seven-month occupation of Kuwait, snatched more than 600 nationals.
They
were mostly found in mass graves in Iraq following the 2003 military
campaign. His forces had also killed scores of Kuwaitis and torched
hundreds of oil wells that caused a large-scale environmental
catastrophe in the country and the whole region.
Oil-exporting United Arab Emirates plunges into renewable energy research venture
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564969795205071196
Oil-exporting United Arab Emirates plunges into renewable energy
research venture
JAMES CALDERWOOD, Associated Press Writer
February 25, 2007 6:26 PM
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Leaders of this major oil-producing
Gulf country said Sunday they were plunging into the field of renewable
energy, announcing a joint research venture into green energy with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The announcement comes a few months after the World Wildlife Fund
labeled the Emirates the world's biggest per-capita producer of
globe-warming greenhouse gases, mainly due to its profligate energy
consumption.
The Emirates' early entry into the renewable energy arena comes amid
squabbling over whether similar reforms should be embraced in the
world's largest energy consumer, the United States.
The agreement signed Sunday between the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. and
MIT created the Masdar Institute of Technology in Abu Dhabi. Masdar
will
pursue Abu Dhabi's plan to use its oil income to develop a more
sustainable renewable energy sector and an economy based on green
energy
expertise.
We want ''talent and innovative technologies to enhance economic
development and promote new industries using renewable energy,'' said
Sultan al-Jaber, ADFEC's chief executive.
Solar power in the sun-drenched country is one chief research area. The
government of Abu Dhabi emirate has already dedicated $350 million to a
giant solar power initiative.
MIT chancellor Phillip Clay said in a prepared release the MIT faculty
and staff will provide ''advice, scholarly assessment and assistance.''
High energy demand in the Emirates is caused by a reliance on air
conditioning, chilled swimming pools and a penchant for gas-guzzling
four-wheel-drives. A cavernous mall in neighboring Dubai contains an
indoor ski slope.
In the United States, renewable energy policy seems far from settled.
President Bush said last month that he wants to require the use of 35
billion gallons a year of ethanol and other alternative fuels by 2017,
a
fivefold increase over current requirements.
At a Houston fundraiser Thursday night, Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama stated the importance of the energy issue in his
plans for the White House. Republican presidential contender Mitt
Romney
said Friday he is developing his own plan for energy independence.
The Emirates ranked fourth among Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries in 2005 in terms of crude oil production after Saudi Arabia,
Iran and Kuwait. As of May 2006, it was producing 2.5 million barrels
per day, according to the United States Energy Information
Administration.
But the supplies are expected to gradually run out over the next
century
or so. The institute's mandate is to fill the gap in the budget that
reduced oil sales will leave behind.
Last March, Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, kicked off the fund by stating the government of Abu Dhabi
would
donate 1 square miles of land for the development park housing the
Masdar Initiative and $100 million for a ''clean technology fund.''
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven emirates that form the United
Arab
Emirates. It also contains the majority of its oil reserves, producing
more than 85 percent of all oil from the Emirates combined. Its wealth
has enabled the royal family of the Abu Dhabi to assume the leadership
of the country.
AP-WS-02-25-07 2120EST
No permission for Israel to cross Arab airspace to strike Iran: AL chief
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200702/26/eng20070226_352467.html
UPDATED: 08:51, February 26, 2007
No permission for Israel to cross Arab airspace to strike Iran: AL
chief
Arab League (AL) chief Amr Moussa on Sunday denied reports that Qatar,
the United Arab Emirates and Oman have agreed to allow Israeli
warplanes
to cross their airspaces to strike Iran.
Moussa was quoted by Egypt's official MENA news agency as saying that
foreign ministers of the three countries told him on Sunday that
reports
published by Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on their countries' approval of
Israeli warplanes to cross their airspaces to strike Iran were
baseless.
"Such reports are nonsense and completely bare of truth," Moussa said,
adding that approval could never happen either at present or in the
future.
"No Arab country could possibly allow or permit Israel to attack Iran,"
he said.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said on Saturday that any
talk of an Israeli offensive against Iran was speculative only.
In a statement released on Sunday, Moussa underlined the importance of
an Arab-Iranian dialogue as Iran is part of the region, saying that the
dialogue should serve the interests of both sides.
The major challenge facing Arab and Islamic nations was posed by
attempts to trigger sectarian sedition, which is unacceptable, Moussa
said.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei
issued
a report on Thursday, saying that Iran had refused to suspend its
uranium enrichment, defying a UN Security Council deadline which
expired
on Wednesday.
Many observers believe that the UN Security Council might negotiate
another resolution, which would likely impose tougher sanctions on
Tehran.
How to define the Arab middle class
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10106969.html
Published: 26/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
How to define the Arab middle class
By James Zogby, Special to Gulf News
Public opinion research is not only an important tool in measuring
attitudes, it can also be useful in defining social realities.
McKinsey & Co recently contracted with Zogby International (ZI) to
conduct surveys in three Arab Gulf states in an effort to better
understand the role and attitudes of the middle class in this region's
developing economies.
As we began our examination, I initially confronted the conceptual
problem of how to define the "middle class" as it existed in these
countries. The concepts "upper, middle and lower" class, after all,
were
largely developed in Western sociology in reaction to the more
deterministic Marxian concept of economic class. As such, they have
always been rather loose terms, subject to a variety of definitions,
involving amorphous measurements of consumption patterns, expectations,
etc.
Given the traditional nature of their social and governing structures
in
the Gulf and what has been described as the "rentier" nature of much of
their economies, more Western definitions of middle class did not seem
to apply. In addition to the "royal" or ruling families that govern,
there are to be sure, wealthy merchant families who play a significant
economic role. Tribal structures remain important in social
organisation, but with rapid urbanisation, economic growth and the
expansion of government bureaucracies, clearly, a new group of
urbanised
employees has emerged. The question to be asked here is does this group
constitute a class and, if so, how do we define them?
Academic literature
Consulting the rather sparse academic literature available proved
futile. A "Google" search using keywords: "Saudi Arabia", "UAE",
"Bahrain" and "middle class", yielded tens of thousands of citations in
articles about each country, but no clues as to how to define what
constitutes the middle class in this part of the world.
Still searching for parameters, I consulted a number of regional
experts
who gave us such a wide range of answers as to offer little clarity.
So we decided to let the people speak for themselves. We polled almost
2,400 Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini citizens. We found significant
differences not only among the three countries, but also among the
attitudes and concerns of the self-identified classes within each
country.
In each of the three countries surveyed, for example, about two thirds
of the respondents described themselves as "middle class". Upon
reviewing the data, a more detailed description of the middle class
emerged that reinforced this self-identification.
For example, whether employed in the public or private sectors, those
who describe themselves as middle class were largely salaried workers.
Except for those who were in the military, most were in what would be
described in the West as "white collar" professions.
In each of the three countries, the salaries of those who self-describe
as middle class workers fell roughly in the middle - between the
incomes
reported by those who describe themselves as members of the "higher
class" and those who said they were in the "lower class". More
interestingly, their attitudes fell in the middle, as well.
There were differences, to be sure, but sharing the middle ground is
what the Emirati, Saudi and Bahraini middle classes have in common and
establishes them at least normatively as a self-described class.
For the rest, more work needs to be done. Our "snapshot in time", which
is what polling gives you, can describe and help define a social
phenomenon. Is this phenomenon growing, or shrinking, etc? Only future
studies will be able to reveal that.
Dr James Zogby is the president of the Arab American Institute in
Washington, DC.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/24/alqaeda.video/index.html
NATO colonel calls al Qaeda tape 'video fiction'
POSTED: 12:58 p.m. EST, February 24, 2007
The purported al Qaeda video showing fighters firing missiles at a U.S.
base in Afghanistan is "video fiction," a NATO official said Saturday.
The military doesn't "see this as a credible video, as there is nothing
to substantiate an attack on friendly forces," said Col. Tom Collins,
spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
continued, with links to photos...............
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