REAL NEWS from twf.org

Iraqi parties, after meetings in Finland, agree on principles to guide further talks

2008-07-06T09:23:00.000-04:00

The Helsinki agreement, which was hammered out over meetings in September and April, was signed by 33 politicians from Sunni, Shiite, Kurdish, Turkmen, Communist and other parties.

The document consists of 17 principles, as well as strategies to ensure compliance with those goals. The principles included a commitment to eventually limit arms possession to the government, respect for minority rights and opposition to international and regional influence in Iraq’s internal affairs.

The agreement also included a pledge to integrate the so-called Awakening Councils, and others who have fought against extremists, into state institutions.

Disagreements were clearly, if modestly, noted in the text of the document.

Turkish coup plot awakens fear of violent nationalism

2008-07-06T09:12:00.001-04:00

In a recent declaration, Turkish nationalists identified what they described as the 'six arrows' of the country's proper identity: nationalism, secularism, statism, republicanism, populism and revolutionism. Judging by the events of last week, it is the last arrow - revolution - that has preoccupied the more radical in recent months.

In an extraordinary raid which led to the arrests of 21 people allegedly tied to Ergenekon, a shadowy nationalist grouping, police uncovered documents that revealed plans for a sustained campaign of terror and intimidation against the Islamist government due to begin this week.

Another nail in the NPT coffin

2008-07-06T09:05:00.001-04:00

Arguably, the United States is the most flagrant violator of NPT commitments, frequently intervening to prevent other NPT signatories from exercising their "inalienable rights" affirmed under the NPT to access nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, "without discrimination." . . .

they attempted to get the NPT, itself, revised, eliminating all that pesky language requiring us to disarm, to facilitate the acquisition by NPT Parties (like Iran) of nuclear energy and prohibits our attacking NPT Parties (like Iran).

Condi also sent Stephen Rademaker to instruct the conferees about the need to replace the NPT – if not so "revised" – with President Bush’s Proliferation Security Initiative.

You probably never heard of Rademaker until he publicly "admitted" last year that the so-called U.S.-India Nuclear Deal he and Condi negotiated was really all about coercing India into voting "our way" on the IAEA Board against Iran.

You see, it is that U.S.-India Nuclear Deal which may well have the most serious long-term and disastrous consequences for the NPT nuke proliferation-prevention regime.

Condi had whizzed down to New Delhi to prevent India's finalizing technical and commercial contracts for a $4.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India natural-gas pipeline that will provide Iranian natural gas mostly to India.

Karzai orders probe after US raids kill 16

2008-07-06T09:03:00.000-04:00

Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered authorities yesterday to investigate the alleged killing of 16 civilians in an air raid by US-led forces battling insurgents in northeast Afghanistan.

US Pentagon doubts Israeli intelligence over Iran's nuclear programme

2008-07-06T09:01:00.000-04:00

American commanders worry that Israel will feel compelled to act within the next 12 months with no guarantee that they can do more than slow Iran's development of a weapon capable of destroying the Jewish state.

Gaps in the intelligence on the precise location and vulnerabilities of Iran's facilities emerged during recent talks between Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Israeli generals, according to an official familiar with the discussions who has briefed Iran experts in Washington and London.

No evidence needed under terror profiling plan

2008-07-05T09:51:00.001-04:00

The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups.

Currently, FBI agents need reasons — such as evidence or allegations that a law probably has been violated — to investigate citizens and legal residents. The new policy, law enforcement officials say, would let agents open terrorism investigations after mining public records and intelligence to build a profile of traits that, taken together, are deemed suspicious.

Despair drives suicide attacks by Iraqi women

2008-07-05T09:48:00.000-04:00

A revival of tribal tradition to help repair Darfur

2008-07-05T09:40:00.001-04:00

As foreign diplomacy fails to resolve the Darfur conflict, some Sudanese academics and activists are advocating a return to the cast-off tribal potentates to help repair this riven society. Thus the three-day festival was revived — a kind of soul-searching pep rally aimed, organizers said, at reawakening a sense of purpose among the beleaguered leaders.

Strike and we'll strike you back, warns Tehran

2008-07-05T09:38:00.000-04:00

Iran has handed over its long-awaited response to the West's offer of incentives to halt its suspected nuclear weapons programme, after a warning by one of its top military leaders that any strike against it would trigger war. . . .

Before the response, however, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Mohammed Jafari, was quoted by the Iranian state news agency as saying: "Iran's response to any military action will make the invaders regret their decision and action." Mr Jafari had already warned that if attacked, Iran would launch a barrage of missiles at Israel and close the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet for oil tankers leaving the Persian Gulf.

India edges towards early election

2008-07-05T09:35:00.000-04:00

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, is near the end of a stand-off with leftwing allies that support his delicate United Progressive Alliance coalition government. The endgame of a 10-month stalemate could mean early elections, political realignment for the Congress party-led coalition or the anti-climactic end to an elaborate game of chicken. A decision on the future of the government could come before Monday’s summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations.

The main issue is a pact with the US to boost nuclear energy in India. Congress’s leftist allies oppose the deal because they believe it compromises India’s foreign policy.

One thing the United States doesn't get about guerrilla warfare: It's not over until the guerrillas win

2008-07-05T09:30:00.001-04:00

Mao set out the guerrilla's viewpoint 80 years ago: "The enemy wants to fight a short war, but we simply will not let him." The longer the guerrillas stay in the game, the sicker the occupying army gets. Sooner or later, they'll go home -- because they can. It's that simple, and it works. So anyone who tells you it's over is just plain ignorant. That's one thing you can rule out instantly.

McCain wants much larger U.S. military

2008-07-05T09:29:00.000-04:00

The Bush administration has begun expanding the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to create a combined strength of around 750,000 active duty troops -- a process backed by McCain's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

But McCain believes an Army and Marine Corps with a combined strength of up to 900,000 troops is necessary, . . .

Military action 'would destabilise Iraq'

2008-07-05T09:28:00.001-04:00

Iraq will be plunged into a new war if Israel or the US launches an attack on Iran, Iraqi leaders have warned. Iranian retaliation would take place in Iraq, said Dr Mahmoud Othman, the influential Iraqi MP.

The Iraqi government's main allies are the US and Iran, whose governments openly detest each other. The Iraqi government may be militarily dependent on the 140,000 US troops in the country, but its Shia and Kurdish leaders have long been allied to Iran. Iraqi leaders have to continually perform a balancing act in which they seek to avoid alienating either country.

Shiite clergy want referendum over US troop presence

2008-07-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

Iraq's Shiite leadership indicated Friday that it will press the Baghdad government to hold a national referendum on the issue of a further stationing of US forces in the country.

Imam Sadreddin al Kabandji said at the Friday prayers in the Shiite holy city of Najaf: 'The Iraqi nation regards with concern the Iraqi-American treaty whose contents are not exactly known.'

Iraqi Shiites denounce security pact with US

2008-07-05T09:25:00.000-04:00

Large crowds of Shiites on Friday denounced the security pact Baghdad is negotiating with Washington for a long-term US military presence in violence-wracked Iraq.

In Baghdad's Sadr City, the bastion of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Shiite men, women and children shouted anti-American slogans as they demonstrated against the security deal after the weekly Friday prayers.

French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt rescued

2008-07-04T19:07:00.002-04:00

The Colombian government has released video footage of the daring raid that freed 15 rebel-held hostages, including politician Ingrid Betancourt. . . .

Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos denied reports that $20m had been paid to some Farc members to assist the operation. . . .

He also denied reports that Israeli and US agents had been involved in the operation, saying it had been "100% Colombian". . . .

Ms Betancourt was campaigning for the presidency against current incumbent Alvaro Uribe when she was kidnapped by Farc guerrillas six years ago.

After her release she thanked Mr Uribe and said she still aspired "to serve Colombia as president".

Obama pledges to expand aid to religious charities

2008-07-04T12:58:00.000-04:00

Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to expand a controversial White House program that funnels federal money to religious charities, embracing a core piece of President Bush's legacy as he tries to win over Republican-leaning evangelical voters.

The presumed Democratic presidential nominee said he would make it easier for churches and small community groups to win grants and would spend $500 million to help schools and churches run summer reading programs.

Deoband first: A fatwa against terror

2008-07-04T11:38:00.000-04:00

Saturday’s fatwa, signed by Darul-Uloom’s grand mufti Habibur Rehman, asserts that "Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form".

Citing the "sinister campaign" to malign "Islamic faith...by linking terrorism with Islam and distorting the meanings of Quranic Verses and Prophet traditions", Mahmood Asad Madani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, had wanted Deoband to spell out the stand of Islam on world peace.

U.S. admiral: Iran strike on Israel 'likely'

2008-07-04T09:08:00.001-04:00

A FALSE FLAG OPERATION BY ISRAEL AND THE U.S.?

Iran is likely to launch ballistic missiles against Israel and the United States and the NATO alliance should prepare for it, was the warning issued earlier this week by Admiral James Winnefeld, commander of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. In recent years, the missile boats of the Sixth Fleet practiced intercepting Shahab-3 missiles from Iran aimed at Israel, along with the Arrow batteries of the air force and U.S. and Israeli batteries of Patriot missiles.

Sharia law SHOULD be used in Britain, says UK's top judge

2008-07-04T08:32:00.001-04:00

The most senior judge in England yesterday gave his blessing to the use of sharia law to resolve disputes among Muslims.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family and marital arguments and to regulate finance.

He declared: 'Those entering into a contractual agreement can agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.'

In his speech at an East London mosque, Lord Phillips signalled approval of sharia principles as long as punishments — and divorce rulings — complied with the law of the land.

Direct China-Taiwan flights begin

2008-07-04T08:25:00.000-04:00

The first regular, direct flight from mainland China to Taiwan for nearly 60 years has landed at Taipei's airport.

China's top official on Taiwan affairs said the flight was "a new start" in exchanges between Taipei and Beijing.

The two sides have been ruled by separate governments since 1949, forcing travellers to fly via a third destination.

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

2008-07-04T08:21:00.001-04:00

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.

Rise of Awakening groups sets off a struggle for power among Sunnis

2008-07-04T08:17:00.001-04:00

It is an outgrowth of the Awakening Councils — launched by tribal leaders and backed by the United States — that have fought extremists and become a key to stability in many areas.

Awakening leaders are planning to compete as a political force in provincial elections scheduled for the fall, when Iraqis will choose governing councils in Iraq's 18 provinces. The leaders likely will challenge established Sunni groups, including the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni political party, which is led by non-tribal Sunnis who mainly lived in exile during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Admiral Mike Mullen warns the West over military strike against Iran

2008-07-04T08:11:00.000-04:00

There are two ways of interpreting this week's warning by America's top military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, that opening a new front in the Middle East by launching air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities would be "extremely stressful".

Either the United States, with the help of its favoured Middle Eastern proxy, Israel, is already preparing to take out Iran's main nuclear facilities, and is simply preparing public opinion for the likely consequences of such action.

Or America's top brass, who already have their work cut out prosecuting two major military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, are trying to pre-empt any thoughts President George W. Bush, the nation's commander-in-chief, might have about ordering his armed forces into action against the mullahs.

Indian PM moves to seal nuclear accord with the U.S.

2008-07-03T07:21:00.002-04:00

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made a very calculated political — and potentially dangerous — move to seal the much-delayed civilian nuclear accord with the United States. The deal, though, is only one piece on the chessboard of India's global ambitions that includes the key players of Pakistan, Iran and the United States. But it's the weather that could decide Manmohan's and the chess game's fate.