Daily Archives: October 12, 2007

NEWS & OPINION: The global warming that leaves America in the cold

The Sino-Russian embrace leaves the U.S. out in the cold
By Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, October 12, 2007

It has become a commonplace of international diplomacy that Russia and China often work together on key issues. They have frustrated western hopes for sanctions or other tough action on disputes ranging from Burma and Darfur to Iran. They are blocking a solution on Kosovo. What few in the west have spotted is that Sino-Russian rapprochement has reached such a point that the two huge countries’ relations with each other are far warmer than either US-Russian or US-Chinese relations. In other words, the famous US-Russia-China triangle Nixon and Kissinger created by their path-breaking overtures to Beijing in the early 1970s is completely reversed.

China, in those Maoist days, was mired in a mixture of international quarantine and self-imposed isolation, feared by the Soviet Union and hated by the US. The two Americans dramatically broke the mould. They cleverly manipulated Mao’s ideological rivalry with Moscow to bring China back into the global arena and thereby infuriate and put pressure on the Soviets. This helped to ease the US retreat from Vietnam.

Now Russia and China are together and the US is out of the loop. It is a stark fact that Condoleezza Rice and defence secretary Robert Gates cannot ignore today as they start two days of talks in Moscow. No more easy concessions from Moscow and Beijing. Both powers are big boys and can bargain as hard as anyone from Washington, whether neocon or “realist”. [complete article]

Putin threatens withdrawal from cold war nuclear treaty
By Luke Harding, The Guardian, October 12, 2007

President Vladimir Putin warned today that Russia was considering withdrawal from a major cold war arms treaty restricting intermediate range nuclear missiles unless it is expanded to include other states.

Mr Putin said that Moscow is planning to dump the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty (INF) – signed in a landmark deal between the US and Soviet Union in 1987 – unless countries like China are included in its provisions.

His comments came just before talks in Moscow today between the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov. [complete article]

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FEATURE: The Pentagon plans for a new hundred years’ war

Slum fights
By Nick Turse, Tom Dispatch, October 11, 2007

Duane Schattle doesn’t mince words. “The cities are the problem,” he says. A retired Marine infantry lieutenant colonel who worked on urban warfare issues at the Pentagon in the late 1990s, he now serves as director of the Joint Urban Operations Office at U.S. Joint Forces Command. He sees the war in the streets of Iraq’s cities as the prototype for tomorrow’s battlespace. “This is the next fight,” he warns. “The future of warfare is what we see now.”

He isn’t alone. “We think urban is the future,” says James Lasswell, a retired colonel who now heads the Office of Science and Technology at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. “Everything worth fighting for is in the urban environment.” And Wayne Michael Hall, a retired Army brigadier general and the senior intelligence advisor in Schattle’s operation, has a similar assessment, “We will be fighting in urban terrain for the next hundred years.”

Last month, in a hotel nestled behind a medical complex in Washington, D.C., Schattle, Lasswell, and Hall, along with Pentagon power-brokers, active duty and retired U.S. military personnel, foreign coalition partners, representatives of big and small defense contractors, and academics who support their work gathered for a “Joint Urban Operations, 2007” conference. Some had served in Iraq or Afghanistan; others were involved in designing strategy, tactics, and concepts, or in creating new weaponry and equipment, for the urban wars in those countries. And here, in this hotel conference center, they’re talking about military technologies of a sort you’ve only seen in James Cameron’s 2000-2002 television series Dark Angel. [complete article]

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NEWS & EDITOR’S COMMENT: Non-violence is easy to ignore

Only now, the full horror of Burmese junta’s repression of monks emerges
By Rosalind Russell, The Independent, October 12, 2007

Monks confined in a room with their own excrement for days, people beaten just for being bystanders at a demonstration, a young woman too traumatised to speak, and screams in the night as Rangoon’s residents hear their neighbours being taken away.

Harrowing accounts smuggled out of Burma reveal how a systematic campaign of physical punishment and psychological terror is being waged by the Burmese security forces as they take revenge on those suspected of involvement in last month’s pro-democracy uprising.

The first-hand accounts describe a campaign hidden from view, but even more sinister and terrifying than the open crackdown in which the regime’s soldiers turned their bullets and batons on unarmed demonstrators in the streets of Rangoon, killing at least 13. At least then, the world was watching. [complete article]

Editor’s Comment — Paul Wolfowitz used to say that if only the Palestinians would dedicate themselves to a non-violent struggle they would have the world’s support (or words something to that effect). Mahahatma Gandhi without doubt was the embodiment of the power of ahimsa. It is thus tragic that the lesson from Myanmar is that non-violent resistance can easily be crushed and just as easily falls away from the media’s attention. For as long as the media rewards violence with the bulk of its attention, non-violence may have infinite moral weight yet little to no political effect.

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NEWS & EDITOR’S COMMENT: Is the CIA trying to cover its tracks or avoid a set up?

CIA internal inquiry troubling, lawmaker says
By Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane, New York Times, October 12, 2007

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said today he was troubled by reports that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency has ordered an unusual internal inquiry into the work of the agency’s inspector general, whose aggressive investigations of the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation programs and other matters have created resentment among agency operatives.

Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas, noted in a statement that the law guarantees the independence of the inspector general. “It is this independence that Congress established and will very aggressively preserve,” Mr. Reyes said. “The initiation of this investigation, if accurately reported, is troubling.”

Mr. Reyes was reacting to reports that a small team working for the C.I.A. director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, was looking into the conduct of the agency’s watchdog office, which is led by Inspector General John L. Helgerson. Current and former government officials said the review had caused anxiety and anger in Mr. Helgerson’s office and aroused concern on Capitol Hill that it posed a conflict of interest.

The review is particularly focused on complaints that Mr. Helgerson’s office has not acted as a fair and impartial judge of agency operations but instead has begun a crusade against those who have participated in controversial detention programs. [complete article]

Editor’s Comment — Sounds like there are grounds for suspicion on all sides here. Undermining the IG’s independence stinks, but at the same time, a purported crusade against the CIA’s torturers could instead actually be a preemptive move initiated by the White House to line up some scapegoats-in-waiting to save Bush and Cheney from being charged with war crimes. Call it a search for the CIA’s Lynndie England and Charles Graner, even if the agency will have a much harder time portraying its interogators as witless subordinates.

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NEWS: It takes a liar to spot a liar

Rice cites ‘lying’ by Iran about nuclear program
By Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post, October 12, 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took issue Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that there is no evidence Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, asserting that Tehran has prevaricated about its nuclear activities. At the same time, she held out hope that the White House and the Kremlin might bridge their differences over U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in the heart of Eastern Europe.

“There’s an Iranian history of obfuscation and indeed lying” to international nuclear inspectors, Rice told reporters traveling on the plane with her to Moscow for meetings with Putin and other officials. “There’s a history of Iran not answering important questions about what is going on. And there is Iran pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons-grade material.” [complete article]

The IAEA escape route
By Mohammad Kamaali, Open Democracy, October 9, 2007

following intense negotiations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced in late August a new work plan reached with Iran, aimed at resolving all outstanding issues in Iran’s nuclear file by the end of the year.

The agreement was branded as “a significant step forward” by the Agency’s Director General, Dr Mohamed El-Baradei. It was also hailed as a move in the right direction by most of the 118 nations of the Non-Aligned Movement who have consistently recognised Iran’s right to a nuclear energy program. [complete article]

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NEWS: The mirage of Middle East peace

Haniyeh, Meshal urge Abbas not to fall into ‘trap’ of peace summit
AP, October 12, 2007

Haniyeh, who was dismissed from office after Hamas overran Gaza in June, criticized Abbas for planning to attend next month’s U.S.-sponsored international peace conference, meant to provide support for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. He cautioned the PA chairman “not to give this occupier legitimacy on our land.”

“Don’t fall into the trap of the coming conference. Don’t make new compromises on Jerusalem, on our sovereignty,” Haniyeh urged.

Khaled Meshal echoed the warning in a holiday message on Hamas radio. And he urged Abbas, who set up his own government in the West Bank after Hamas’ Gaza takeover, to accept the Islamists’ invitations for dialogue.

“Abbas and his allies will find out that they are pursuing nothing but a mirage,” Meshal said, referring to the conference. [complete article]

Hamas offers talks with Fatah
Al Jazeera, October 10, 2007

Hamas has said it will hold reconciliation talks with Fatah and hinted it may be ready to give up control of the Gaza Strip it seized in June. [complete article]

Senior Fatah official rules out reconciliation with rival Hamas
Reuters, October 11, 2007

Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction ruled out talks with Hamas on Thursday, while Israel said any such dialogue with the Islamists could “torpedo” a peace deal. [complete article]

Stalemate threatens Mideast peace talks
By Richard Boudreaux and Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, October 12, 2007

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas put negotiators to work last week with instructions to make progress in advance of a U.S.-sponsored peace conference tentatively set for next month. Yet the talks have reached an impasse, aides said, prompting the two leaders to look to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to salvage the effort during a six-day visit to the region starting this weekend. [complete article]

U.S. grills Israel over road planned on Palestinian land
AP, October 12, 2007

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that she asked the Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor
for clarifications about an Israeli plan to build a road near Jerusalem, partly on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians charge the construction will cut them off from Jerusalem. [complete article]

Israel-Palestine talks must be inclusive, urge U.S. graybeards
By Jim Lobe, IPS, October 11, 2007

To succeed, next month’s Israeli-Palestinian conference here should establish and endorse the contours of a permanent peace accord and secure the participation of Arab states that do not currently recognize Israel, including Syria, according to a letter sent Wednesday to President George W. Bush from a bipartisan group of eight former top US policy-makers. [complete article]

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NEWS: The threatened Turkish incursion

Ankara incursion threatens only part of Iraq still at peace
By Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, October 12, 2007

Turkey is threatening to send its troops into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas in a move likely to destabilise the one part of Iraq which is at peace.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will ask parliament next week to authorise a military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan after attacks by Turkish Kurds killed more than 10 Turkish troops last Sunday. Threatening a push into Iraq would also underline Turkish anger at the US Congressional vote describing the Ottoman Turk killing of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.

A statement from Mr Erdogan’s office said: “The order has been given for every kind of measure to be taken [against the PKK] including, if needed, by a cross-border operation.” [complete article]

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NEWS: Armenian voters show their clout. To what end?

Armenian-American clout buys genocide breakthrough
By Mary Milliken, Reuters, October 12, 2007

At 93, Armenian American filmmaker Michael Hagopian may finally see his community’s clout pay off if the U.S. Congress recognizes the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

“U.S. representatives in Congress and state governments now realize the Armenian community has a lot of political power and they can make contributions to political causes and various parties,” said Hagopian, best known for his film “The Forgotten Genocide”.

This week, the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution branding the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide, brushing aside President George W. Bush’s warnings that it would harm relations with Turkey, a key ally. [complete article]

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ANALYSIS: The impossible opening between Kabul and the Taliban

Afghanistan: necessity and impossibility
By Philip Jakeman, Open Democracy, October 12, 2007

According to sources inside Afghanistan, Taliban leader ‘Mullah’ Mohammed Omar sent a secret envoy to President Hamid Karzai earlier this year to discuss his possible entrance into the Afghan government. This remarkable move culminated in Karzai’s recent offer of talks with the elusive cleric, followed by a Taliban announcement that the group would consider speaking with Kabul.

The moment is ripe for negotiations; diplomacy promises benefits to both Kabul and the Taliban’s political leadership. Unfortunately, this window of opportunity will most likely be squandered. For talks to succeed, Mullah Omar must play a central role in discussions between the Taliban and the Karzai government. But it is his centrality to any peace deal that sets a number of key external and internal actors against talking with the Taliban, making negotiations impossible. [complete article]

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OPINION: Evangelicals explore the dark side

Guess who came to the evangelicals’ dinner
By Dana Milbank, Washington Post, October 12, 2007

In the wildly popular “Left Behind” series of evangelical Christian novels, the Antichrist takes the form of the secretary general of the United Nations, sets up an abortion-promoting world government and becomes the Global Community Supreme Potentate.

Last night, the National Association of Evangelicals met for dinner at the Sheraton in Crystal City. The keynote speaker? Why, the Antichrist himself.

Actually, the NAE, the umbrella group for the nation’s evangelical denominations, brought in the real U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, not his fictional satanic equivalent, Nicolae Carpathia of Romania. But for the Rev. Richard Cizik, the NAE official who invited Ban, it was just about as daring. Evangelical Christians regard the United Nations’ blue helmets with about as much enthusiasm as Satan’s red horns. [complete article]

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