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Russia Tests New Missile Designed to Overcome U.S. Defenses

Created: 24.04.2006 12:10 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:10 MSK, 11 hours 32 minutes ago

MosNews

On Saturday Russia successfully test-launched a missile designed to penetrate missile defenses.

The commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, quoted by AP, said the K65M-R had been launched from a testing ground at Kapustin Yar in the southern Astrakhan region. The main purpose of the launch was to test “a uniform warhead for land- and sea-based ballistic missiles” and newly-developed elements of a system designed to penetrate missile defenses.

The commander added that plans for a U.S. missile-defense system “could upset strategic stability.” He suggested that the test was part of an effort to ensure that Russian missiles are capable of foiling any U.S. shield. He said the test involved optic and radar measurement systems that reproduce similar U.S. systems.

“The planned scale of the United States’ deployment of a ... missile defense system is so considerable that the fear that it could have a negative effect on the parameters of Russia’s nuclear deterrence potential is quite justified,” Solovtsov said.

He added that the system being tested Saturday would make missiles more difficult to spot and their trajectories more difficult to predict.

Since its inception in 1946, the Kapustin Yar testing ground had witnessed 140 launches. Saturday’s missile launch was the first one since 1999.

Russia opposed Washington’s withdrawal in 2002 from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to deploy a national missile defense, saying the U.S.-Soviet pact was a key element of international security. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin called the decision a mistake which would hurt global security, but not threaten Russia.

The treaty banned missile defense systems on the assumption that the fear of retaliation would prevent either nation from launching a first strike.

Russia Tests New Missile Designed to Overcome U.S. Defenses (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/04/24/missiletest.shtml)

Iran may prompt other Mideast states to go nuclear
By Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz Correspondent

In a comprehensive report, most of which is top secret, a military-civilian committee has determined that other Muslim countries in the Middle East could follow Iran in equipping themselves with nuclear weapons.

Endorsing the report, outgoing Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said in remarks quoted by Army Radio on Monday that "For the first time since the days of the nation's founding, an official document has been placed before the leaders of Israel, setting out a comprehensive security viewpoint, both current and long-range."

The committee, chaired by former minister Dan Meridor and appointed by former prime minister Ariel Sharon, recommended to Mofaz on Sunday that Israel should maintain its policy of nuclear ambiguity, that as Jordan has strategic importance for Israel, its stability should be supported, and that the National Security Council should become the government's central military planning authority.

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The 250-page report, addressing strategic issues for the next decade, is considered top secret; only an elite few will be allowed to read its entire contents. After its has been redacted, it will be highly classified. It has not been decided if portions of the report will be published to familiarize the public with the Israeli defense outlook. The report recommends that defense premises be reexamined at five-year intervals and that a mechanism be established to monitor the implementation of recommendations.

A substantial chapter addresses the nuclear threat to Israel. Iran is capable of kindling the entire Middle East and constitutes an existential threat to Israel. The committee finds that if Iran gets nuclear arms, other Muslim, Middle Eastern countries will try to follow suit. The
report comments on a proposed Israeli response to Iranian nuclear testing. The committee recommends that Israel maintain its policy of "nuclear ambiguity."

In a chapter on decision-making, the committee determines that the government does not provide adequate and complete planning on defense matters. The report recommends the NSC become the central planning authority for the government and include a small agency for national
intelligence. The committee recommends minor cuts in the defense budget, and setting a five-year defense budget based on the assumption that economic growth will continue.

The report indicates that Israel faces major, rapid strategic changes including technological changes. According to the report, Israel faces new risks - the non-conventional weapon threat and terror. The committee noted that terror deterrence is complex and difficult, particularly
in territory that lacks governmental hierarchy or against organizations without territory, instead of states. The report's overall approach recommends greater emphasis on firepower, particularly remote firepower, over troop movements. which had been used in the past. It also recommends greater emphasis on intelligence and operations from outer space.

Formally, the Meridor Committee was established by Mofaz. However, Sharon approved the appointments, vetoing with no explanation former defense minister Moshe Arens and former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon. The report has been submitted for comment to Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Atomic Energy Committee director Gideon Frank.

The committee met 52 times over 18 months before submitting its report, during which Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, and Hamas won the Palestinian Authority elections.

Disputes arose among committee members on several subjects including terror and how Israel should define it. The committee debated strategic-theoretical issues such as defining "victory" and "deterrence." In a discussion of all the types of wars, the committee proposed adding to "deterring," "warning" and "decisive," a major chapter on the various aspects of "defense."

Efforts were made in the past to summarize Israel's defense outlook under the direction of then Defense Ministry director general David Ivri, but that committee's work was essentially stopped when Ehud Barak was elected prime minister in 1999.

Iran may prompt other Mideast states to go nuclear (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/708470.html)

Jordan king: Israel must disarm nukes

Abdullah tells Spanish paper El Pais Jordan interested in nuclear-free Middle East, says Israel must disarm its nuclear weapons. If peace is achieved, Israel will not need such arms, King states
Dudi Cohen

Jordanian King Abdullah said his country is interested in a nuclear-free Middle East and urged the international community to pressure Israel to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

"If the world is demanding Iran doesn't develop nuclear weapons it should also demand that countries which possess nuclear weapons disarm," Abdullah said in an interview to Spanish newspaper El Pais. "For peace to be achieved in the region, Israel has to disarm its nuclear weapons."

"If there is peace," Abdullah added, "Israel will not need nuclear weapons. If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, the Arab-Israeli conflict will also be resolved." The king also stated that Jordan wishes to see the region free from nuclear arms, and that "many states agree on that."

In February, the United States agreed to Egypt's demand to introduce a clause into the U.N.'s decision on nuclear energy stating that the Middle East should be a "nuclear weapons-free region," a decision which completely contradicts Israel's stance on the issue.

Egypt and other Arab states slammed the criticism directed at Iran over its nuclear program, charging that the world was at the same time turning a blind eye to Israel's nuclear project.

Israeli officials were however unworried about the February decision, and said at the time that "this will have no real impact on Israel, and in any case this is not the first time such a reference appears. The same thing happened when Libya decided to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty."

Jordan king: Israel must disarm nukes (http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3243110,00.html)

And heres one of the kings of the east involved.

China pledges help to stabilise the Middle East
From Richard Beeston in Riyadh
PRESIDENT Hu Jintao signalled yesterday that Beijing would play a greater role in the affairs of the Middle East when he paid a historic visit to Saudi Arabia, the main supplier of oil for China’s growing economy.

In an address to the Shura council, Saudi Arabia’s appointed legislature, the Chinese leader promised to work with Riyadh and other Arab governments on securing peace in the region.

“The Middle East is a vital region and there will be no achievements and development in the world without a stable Middle East,” said Mr Hu, only the second foreign leader invited to address the assembly.

“Under these current circumstances, China is ready to work with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to support peace and growth in the Middle East and build a harmonious world that enjoys constant peace and prosperity.”

Although he did not offer any specifics, Mr Hu’s remarks were seen as a direct challenge to the United States, which for the past half century has dominated security and diplomacy in the region.

China’s ruling Communist Party was at one time regarded by the deeply conservative Islamic Saudi regime as godless and untrustworthy; but the countries formed diplomatic relations in 1990 and recently have grown closer out of economic and political necessity.

Saudi Arabia wants to expand its global relations, once dominated by its strategic partnership with the US but strained after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the subsequent invasion of Iraq.

China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer after the US, needs to build strong ties with its main supplier, which last year provided 17.5 per cent of the country’s oil needs.

Mr Hu’s visit comes only three months after King Abdullah led a commercial delegation to Beijing. On the return visit this weekend the two sides signed security, defence, health and trade agreements.

The countries also have a shared disdain for Western meddling in their internal affairs, particularly criticism over their human rights records.

The Chinese leader told his hosts that the West should not “hurl false accusations against the internal affairs of other countries, let alone blame a specific civilisation, people or religion for causing problems and conflicts in the world”. He received a standing ovation.

China pledges help to stabilise the Middle East (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2149424,00.html)

Quote from: Pastor Roger on April 25, 2006, 12:01:42 AM

Although it is somewhat different reasons it is still the same in others. The overconfidence that no one could hit us caused a uephoric attitude. Even though we have experienced Pearl Harbor and 9/11 there is a tendency to get overconfident. We have the technology to sight jets utilizing stealth technology. Due to ths euphoria and budget battles this technology has not been employed in key strategic positions such as the one mentioned above.

Good point Pastor Roger.

I think one of the most important lessons we have not done a good job at learning, or teaching for that matter, is the fact that our enemies are very, very different today than they were in WWI and WWII - Korea - VietNam etc. We no longer face the mass armies of the wars of our forefathers. There are many, many people who are so very critical of the way things are happening in the Middle East, who just don't have a clue as to the logistics of tackling this new aged enemy.

Loads of people can't see this massive enemy army on the field, so they falsely believe we are not really at war, and from that point of view, it's so very easy to imagine that our leaders are going off the deep end. These people are for the most part very kind, and honest people, albeit severely naive.

How can they conjure up legitimate reasons for being in Iraq when all they see is burning shells of trucks, and body parts on every news reel? No longer can we measure success very easily by battle field statistics.

This is made even more confusing when we consider our so called friends, Russia, China, Germany, France etc, are actually the friends of our enemies! This adds to the pressure for our leaders to publically condemn the Middle East situation, and call for withdrawl.

That would be a very grave and serious mistake, and one which may occur depending on who takes office in the next presidential elections in the U.S.
Personally, I hope McCain gets the nod for the Republicans.

John

Quote from: Bronzesnake on April 24, 2006, 11:39:59 PM

Exactly what did you post on my brother? About Russia's stealth technology, or the events which lead up to the Pearl Harbour attack? Can I read it?

I believe I recall that you were moderator of a WWII site?
Is that right Bob?

John

yes I am a mod on a WW2 site.

The artical was about Russia's stealth technology, being, if I remember about 3 years behind the United States. That was some of the posts lost, when we switched forums.

Here is some of the information.

The S-32/37

The S-32/37 is a striking aeroplane, with swept-forward wings and a shape akin to the Su-27 series. Both types are manufactured by the famous Sukhoi OKB (that's SovietSpeak for Design Bureau). The foremounted canards are somewhat triangular and placed unconventionally far from the cockpit and close to the wings. The rear tail-planes are small but sleek and of unconventional design. Just about everything about this plane seems unconventional. The strange hump behind the canopy could be something to do with avionics or computer systems, but knowing previous Russian design (excluding Su-30s) this would be a departure from convention - this wouldn't be surprising. On a more conventional note, it has two ordinary looking engines, though they may be a more powerful variety of standard engines, and an IR targeting/target tracking blister mounted just in front of the canopy, which has been seen on most modern Russian military aircraft. That this aircraft is a stealth fighter is mere speculation, though it seems that it very well could be.

However, the Russian military and Government is in a precarious state right now, so the future of the S-32/37 is uncertain. A solution could be to grant export licences for production of this fighter to friendly nations - this would be a radical thing to do with stealth technology. Still, the S-37's future military career remains in doubt, though the American military should not neglect the potential of this new advance in Russian military technology. Which they have done to India.

Quote from: Pastor Roger on April 25, 2006, 12:43:26 AM

Although McCain had Military experience all too often he gets wishy washy. One minute he is on the democrats side and against the war and next he is on the republican side and for the war. At a point like this we need to have someone in office that is willing to stick to his guns and not go back and forth with the tide. I don't have a pick as of yet but I seriously doubt it will be McCain.

Most of the people you spoke of about being naive are such because of the media. The media reports only portions. They report the deaths of our Troops and for the most part leave out any or all of our advancements. The media also tends to make terrorists like Osama and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad out to be harmless when in fact they are not and are very capable of carrying out very deadly attacks on us.

I see McCain differently, although I can see how you could view him in that manner Pastor Roger.

I think he's just honest. I don't see him towing the company line. He has very strong ideas, and he sticks with them. Sometimes it goes against the party, but usually it doesn't.

He supports the war in Iraq, although he probably would have went in with more troops. I believe that is the greatest failure of Rumsfeld's tenure. He was leery about sending in too many troops because the Dems, and the Dem media were all over him back then about not needing to send in a huge force. He took the bait, and the situation got ugly because there wasn't enough manpower to control the country in the days and weeks and months following the start of hostilities.

I totally agree with your point about the media Pastor Roger, you are right on the nail-head with that. However, at the same time, people are not willing to look at the situation through unbiased eyes, and come to the obvious conclusion that these new age enemies are every bit as deadly as a mass army on the battle field. As a matter of fact, they are even more dangerous because it's akin to having one huge special forces unit, which attacks out of thin air, and dissapears...damage done, now hunt us down!

John

IMF wins new powers to police global economy
Reuters

WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund won new powers to police the world economy after its 184 member countries endorsed a new framework to monitor how the economic policies of one country affects others.

The countries, represented by finance ministers or central bank governors, also agreed that some emerging economies needed more say in IMF decision-making that could lead to a proposal for ad hoc increases in their voting shares by the next IMF gathering in September.

"We resolve to make the IMF more fit for purpose in a global economy and more able to address challenges that are quite different from those of 1945, when the IMF was created," Britain's finance minister, Gordon Brown, who also chairs the IMF's policy-setting committee, told a news conference.

"The IMF should be more able to address global questions with multilateral surveillance," Brown said.

The International Monetary and Financial Committee, or IMFC, said IMF surveillance would focus on spillovers and links between countries' economic policies and reaffirm their monetary, fiscal and exchange-rates frameworks.

IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato will have the authority to bring nations together on an ad hoc basis to thrash out any economic misalignments based on IMF analyses.

Officials said this would create a new forum that better reflected the rise of Asia in the global economy and could possibly replace bodies like the Group of Seven industrial countries, which some say can no longer call all the shots.

One of the problems facing the G7 is that major economic players like China are not part of the club, even though it is the fourth-largest economy in the world.

PRESSURE ON CHINA

The United States has pressured the IMF to broaden its surveillance to include the exchange rates of emerging countries, as Washington also pushes Beijing to loosen its tightly managed currency.

The IMF made the case that such a move was also critical to coordinating economic policies and preventing the unruly unwinding of huge global imbalances in trade and investment flows that could spark a world recession.

Member countries welcomed efforts to enhance monitoring of exchange rates but most said they were hesitant about the IMF publishing analyses on the theoretical fair value of currency rates because it was market sensitive.

China, however, said this did not mean the IMF should interfere in how countries manage their exchange rates.

"Fund surveillance should comply with the objective of promoting exchange and financial stability and respect the autonomy as to exchange rate systems that is granted to all (IMF) members," China's Governor Zhou Xiaochuan told the IMF committee.

In addition, Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, said rebalancing the global economy not only had to do with more Asian currency flexibility.

"I believe what is paramount now for each member country and region is to implement steadily the policy measures needed to strengthen its respective economic fundamentals, which would contribute to resolving global imbalances in a smooth and orderly manner while maintaining sustainable growth." he said.

STRONGER VOICE

Addressing reporters, the IMF's Rato said the committee gave him a clear mandate to propose changes to the voting shares, or quotas, of some countries by September.

"I have spoken several times about the need for increases in voting power for some countries, including a number of emerging market economies, to ensure they have a role in the fund's decision-making process that accords with their increased importance in the world economy," he said.

An IMF proposal already circulated among members would give ad hoc increases to a small number of countries like China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey. Other nations that could also possibly qualify include Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

But tensions remain between industrial and developing countries over how to reallocate voting power beyond initial increases in the quotas for some emerging nations.

The Group of 24 finance ministers for developing countries from Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America on Friday called for a more comprehensive package with timelines to greater representation, fearing changes could stall after any initial increases.

They said it was "imperative" that a concrete proposal is worked out by the September meeting, which should also include a new formula to calculate quotas based on purchasing power parity of a country and not gross domestic product as is currently the case.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Saturday he would support the ad hoc increase "if it is credibly linked as a down payment on near-term fundamental reform," like those to increase the fund's watchdog role on currency issues.

Although it is generally recognized that China's quotas do not properly reflect its global economic weight, an increase in its voting share may be controversial in light of proposed U.S. legislation threatening a veto of such a move in the absence of Chinese currency reforms.

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck called for "equal treatment," saying some European countries -- like Germany -- were also underrepresented in their quotas. Countries like Ireland and Spain are also considered underrepresented.

"We all agreed to focus on countries which were clearly underrepresented," French Finance Minister Thierry Breton told a news conference, also pointing to the need to give countries in Africa a stronger voice.

IMF wins new powers to police global economy (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-US-print-id-1878367/)

My note; Whats next, brothers and sisters.

Russia Launches Israeli Spy Satellite

By HENRY MEIER 1 hour, 52 minutes ago

MOSCOW - Russia on Tuesday launched a satellite for
Israel that the Israelis say will be used to spy on
Iran's nuclear program.
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The Eros B satellite was launched from a mobile pad at the Svobodny cosmodrome in the Far East, said Alexei Kuznetsov, a spokesman for the Russian military space forces.

About 20 minutes later, the satellite successfully reached orbit, Russian news agencies reported, citing the space forces' press service.

"The Israeli satellite reached its target orbit and has been transferred to the client's control," Kuznetsov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Israel's Channel 10 TV reported that the launch was successful, but the satellite would not deploy its power panels for another day and a half.

The satellite is designed to spot images on the ground as small as 27 1/2 inches, an Israeli defense official said. That level of resolution would allow Israel to gather information on Iran's nuclear program and its long-range missiles, which are capable of striking Israel, he said.

The satellite, which can remain in orbit for six years, can photograph the same spot on the Earth once every four days, according to ITAR-Tass.

"The most important thing in a satellite is its ability to photograph and its resolution," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive subject matter. "This satellite has very high resolution, and (state-run) Israel Aircraft Industries has a great ability to process information that is relayed."

It could take up to 10 days to see whether the images that are transmitted are sharp and clear, he said.

Israel has for years regarded Iran as the primary threat to its survival, disputing Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is peaceful. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made this threat more tangible by repeatedly questioning Israel's right to exist, most recently on Monday, when he said Israel was a "fake regime" that "cannot logically continue to live."

Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that he takes threats by Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map "very seriously."

"We do not take it lightly," Olmert said, speaking from Jerusalem by satellite relay to an Anti-Defamation League meeting in Washington. "We are powerful and able to defend ourselves."

An attempt to launch a military spy satellite, Amos 6, failed last year. Amos 5 is still in orbit, and Channel 10 reported Israel plans to launch another spy satellite next year.

Iran's threatening comments about Israel had special resonance on Tuesday, which Israel marked as Holocaust remembrance day. Israeli Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres, in Poland for observances, drew a parallel between Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler.

"We will haven't recovered from this (the Holocaust) and I still hear these calls from Iran to destroy Israel," Peres said.

Ahmadinejad's words, he added, "are enough to put us all on alert."

Russia Launches Israeli Spy Satellite (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060425/ap_on_sc/russia_israel_space;_ylt=AnsIkASKNcFD7WZTXtcW89Ks0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-)

My note; What better way to try, and destroy your enemies then to pretend to be a friend. Course we know, God will not allow that to happen.

Worst Drought in 20 Years Hits East Africa
U.N. Appeals for More Funds and Food to Avert Widespread Starvation
By MARTIN SEEMUNGAL

WAJIR, Kenya, April 20, 2006 — - The scrubby grasslands of northeast Kenya have all but turned to dust.

The nomads, who move from place to place to find water and food for their precious cattle, have given up looking for green pastures. The land is dead. It has killed whole herds of cows, and even camels seem to be dying.

The nomads understand that when the cattle die, it's only a matter of time before people die. It's already happening in the most severely affected places.

The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in two decades, and nearly 6 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya are at risk of dying. In recent days the much-anticipated seasonal rains have arrived in some parts of the region, but it's not nearly enough and in many places the sudden rains have led to flash flooding.

The situation is so dire that British aid agency Oxfam has launched an appeal for $36 million worth of aid. Oxfam workers on the ground in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia warn the death rate in those countries will dramatically increase unless more aid is sent in fast.

"This crises might be getting less attention that the tsunami did," Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said. "But the number of people needing help is even greater, and the severity of this crises means assistance is needed on a huge scale."

Thirsty for Help

It is midday on a vast sun-scorched plain in northeast Kenya. The temperature soars above 100 degrees, and there is no shade. Nearly 300 men, women and a few very thirsty children wait patiently. Barely a word is spoken; they are exhausted.

Most people have spent the night here in the open, and more people arrive, having walked since before dawn to get here. Everyone has come for one thing -- water.

For the first time in living memory, the nomads -- proud, resilient, independent -- have turned to the outside world for help. All they seem to have left are bunches of empty containers.

Nuria, a 41-year-old mother with five children, speaks slowly as she explains how, for the first time in her life, she has been unable to find water on her own.

"If we do not get help from the outside we will surely die," she said.

The lifeline appears as a dust cloud on the horizon -- a rickety truck carrying a leaky water tank. It maneuvers into position above a pit lined with yellow plastic sheeting. Within minutes there is a pool of fresh cool water, an oasis in a land that has been turned to desert.

Twice a week, the aid agency Oxfam sends the truck here and to about 30 other places to bring relief to a people hanging on by a thread. At first they move slowly, deliberately, to fill their containers. Then, as the water level begins to drop, the pace quickens and the level of anxiety begins to rise. There is shouting, even one or two scuffles break out.

Dying for More Water and Food

It is easy to understand why, some of these people have been without water for days. They won't get more water until the next truck arrives, which is three days away. The weekly ration per person works out to about two gallons, well below the universally accepted nine gallons per person. But that is all Oxfam can afford right now; it simply doesn't have the funds to bring in more.

"When you see how people are struggling over this water, you just feel desperate to help," said Magdalen Nandula, Oxfam's coordinator in the Wajir district.

"It wouldn't take much," she said. "Just $600 would have paid for another truck to deliver water on this day."

In the end, more than a dozen people walked away with empty containers.

Food is also a growing concern.

With so many cattle dead, the nomadic people are running out of sources for nourishment. Malnutrition and starvation loom. The United Nations World Food Program has distributed food for weeks but faces serious funding shortfalls in all countries.

"I don't think the world has appreciated until the last 60 days how serious this is; this is about as bad as it gets," said James Morris, executive director of the U.N. program. He added that in Kenya alone they are short $170 million, and he's desperate for people to take notice.

Worst Drought in 20 Years Hits East Africa (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-International-print-id-1750996/)

Hamas Threatens to End Truce With Israel
Hamas Threatens to End Truce With Israel After Abbas Warns He Has Power to Dissolve Government
By AMY TEIBEL
The Associated Press

JERUSALEM - Hamas angrily rejected a warning by the moderate Palestinian president Monday that he could dismiss its month-old government, threatening to scrap a truce with Israel if he does.

The public warning heightened tensions between the Islamic militant group and President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah Party. Hamas defeated Fatah in January parliamentary elections. Abbas, elected separately, has been trying to trim the powers of the new Cabinet.

In an interview broadcast Monday on CNN-Turk, Abbas said Hamas must recognize Israel and talk peace to avert an economic catastrophe because of Western sanctions.

Abbas favors peace talks, but Hamas rejects the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East. Hamas also refuses to renounce violence or accept interim Palestinian-Israeli peace accords basic international demands.

The extreme Hamas stance has harmed the Palestinians' world standing. More critically, it has led to a cutback in vital foreign aid, leaving Hamas unable to pay 165,000 public workers, the largest sector in the limping Palestinian economy, including about 80,000 in the security forces, many loyal to Fatah.

The current paychecks are already three weeks late, and next week another monthly salary is due, with no relief in sight, reinforcing Abbas' warning.

"The constitution gives me clear and definite authority to remove a government from power, but I don't want to use this authority. Everyone should know that by law this power is in my hands," Abbas said in the interview with CNN-Turk, recorded before he arrived in Turkey on Sunday.

Hamas reacted angrily, threatening to call off a 15-month truce brokered by Abbas that greatly reduced Israeli-Palestinian violence after five years of bloodshed.

A senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the group would "not leave in silence."

"We will not participate in any new election and we will go underground as we did before and we will not adhere to any commitments, any truce, by anyone," he said.

An Israeli government spokesman, Raanan Gissin, dismissed the Hamas threat, saying the militant group had never recognized the truce. Although it suspended its suicide bombing campaign after the cease-fire was reached, Hamas was in league with other militant groups that did attack Israel, Gissin charged, "and it never renounced terrorism."

A spokesman for the Hamas-led government, Ghazi Hamad, said Abbas should not have warned Hamas he could disband the government, sworn in on March 29, so early in its tenure.

"We expect from President Abbas to protect his government and not to make such declarations," Hamad said in an interview from Gaza City.

Aides to Abbas said his warning was directed at Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas leader who accused the Palestinian president last week of "plotting" against the militant group. Mashaal's accusation set off clashes and protests over the weekend.

The West, which provides the Palestinians with roughly $1 billion in annual aid, has cut off some of that funding to protest Hamas' refusal to moderate. Palestinian officials say U.S. pressure on international banks has kept Arab governments' money from reaching the Hamas government.

Israel has also squeezed the Palestinians financially by withholding monthly transfers of some $55 million in taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas does not plan to dissolve the government soon and will do so only if the economic situation in the territories becomes catastrophic, the aides said.

Under Palestinian law, if Abbas dissolves the government, he would ask someone else to try to form a Cabinet, which would need approval from the Hamas-dominated legislature. Once Abbas determines there is a stalemate, he has the authority to order new elections.

There is evidence that the financial crunch may be starting to erode Hamas' support. Thousands have demonstrated at government offices because of the tardy paychecks, though most of the protesters were affiliated with Fatah. Opponents of the Hamas regime believe if it is unable to govern, it will fall.

Abbas spoke with CNN in both Arabic and English, and the interview was broadcast with a Turkish voice-over. CNN-Turk provided The Associated Press with a full transcript of Abbas' remarks, translated into Turkish.

In the interview, Abbas said Hamas must negotiate with Israel unless it wants to lead the Palestinian people into a humanitarian catastrophe.

"Hamas has to face the facts and establish communication with Israel," he said. "I'm worried that the situation will turn into a tragedy in the near future. A short time later we could be up against a great hunger disaster in Palestine."

The Palestinian leader vowed to work to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis with or without Hamas.

"Hamas can support me or not. When I find a way to a solution with Israel, I'll present this to the Palestinian people in a referendum," he said.

Israel has not been in serious contact with Abbas since Hamas took power. The Israelis say they favor peace talks, but officials say they cannot regard the Palestinian Authority as a two-headed entity, ignoring Hamas.

Hamas Threatens to End Truce With Israel (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-International-print-id-1883737/)

Iran Gets First North Korean-Made Missiles

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 27, 8:20 AM ET

JERUSALEM -
Iran has received its first batch of North Korean-made surface-to-surface missiles that put European countries within firing range,
Israel's military intelligence chief said in an interview published Thursday.
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The BM-25 missiles have a range of 1,550 miles and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the Haaretz daily reported.

The report came as U.N. members consider slapping sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment. The United States, Israel and other Western countries say Iran is trying to get nuclear arms, but the Islamic regime says its atomic program is for civilian purposes only.

The
U.N. Security Council has given Iran until Friday to stop enriching uranium, a necessary step for developing nuclear weapons. Should Iran refuse to comply, which it has indicated it will do, the Security Council is likely to consider taking punitive measures.

Israeli security officials confirmed the Haaretz report. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, who spoke to Haaretz, has warned of the new Iranian missiles in several recent interviews to the media. Iran already has missiles capable of reaching Israel, but the BM-25s are a significant upgrade over its existing top-of-the-line missiles — the Shihab-4 and Shihab-3.

Those missiles spurred Israel to develop its Arrow-2 anti-ballistic missile system, which is can intercept the Iranian missiles.

Israeli concerns have been heightened in recent months by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls to wipe Israel "off the map."

Iran has also tested several long-range missiles in recent weeks, including a "top secret" missile capable of being fired from helicopters and jet fighters, Iranian state-run television reported.

Iran also tested the Fajr-3, a missile it said can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Iran also tested what it calls two new torpedoes.

U.S. intelligence officials have said that Iran is at an advanced stage of developing a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. The United States has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the details of the Iranian missile program.

On Tuesday, an Israeli satellite meant to spy on Iran's nuclear program was launched by Russia. The satellite is designed to spot images on the ground as small as 27 1/2 inches, an Israeli defense official said.

Iran Gets First North Korean-Made Missiles (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/israel_iranian_missile;_ylt=ApwMowWu_shudyiTefGnunCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

Iran Missiles Can Carry Nukes, Hit Europe

Thursday , April 27, 2006

JERUSALEM — Iran has received a first batch of BM-25 surface-to-surface missiles that put European countries within firing range, Israel's military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, was quoted as saying in the Haaretz daily on Thursday.

The missiles, purchased from North Korea, have a range of 1,550 miles and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, Haaretz reported.

The report comes as U.N. members consider slapping sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. The United States, Israel and other Western countries say Iran is trying to get nuclear arms, but the Islamic regime says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

CountryWatch: Iran

The U.N. Security Council has given Iran until Friday to stop enriching uranium, a necessary step for developing nuclear weapons. Should Iran refuse to comply, which it has indicated it will do, the Security Council is likely to consider taking punitive measures.

Israeli security officials confirmed the Haaretz report. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Yadlin has warned of the new Iranian missiles in several recent interviews to the media. Iran already has missiles capable of reaching Israel, but the BM-25 missiles are a significant upgrade over its existing top of the line missiles — the Shihab-4 and Shihab-3.

Those missiles spurred Israel to develop its Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system, which is can intercept the Iranian missiles.

Israeli concerns have been heightened in recent months by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls to wipe Israel "off the map."

Iran has also tested several long-range missiles in recent weeks, including a "top secret" missile capable of being fired from all military helicopters and jet fighters, the Iranian state-run television reported.

Iran also tested the Fajr-3, a missile it said can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes.

American intelligence officials have said that Iran is at an advanced stage of developing a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. The United States has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the details of the Iranian missile program.

On Tuesday, Israel launched a satellite meant to spy on Iran's nuclear program. The satellite, launched from Russia, is designed to spot images on the ground as small as 27.5 inches and would allow Israel to monitor Iran's nuclear program and long-range missiles, an Israel defense official said.

Iran Missiles Can Carry Nukes, Hit Europe (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,193343,00.html)

Iran hurls defiance as UN braces itself for a nuclear showdown
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor

IRAN will be reported to the UN Security Council today for defying the international community and pressing ahead with its controversial nuclear programme.

But even as a damning report, prepared by the international nuclear watchdog, was being sent to UN headquarters in New York, Tehran stepped up its inflammatory rhetoric and challenged the world to do its worst. President Ahmadinejad of Iran, who has made confrontation with the West the centrepiece of his tenure, said that his country was impervious to outside pressure.

“If you think that by frowning at us, by issuing resolutions . . . you can impose anything on the Iranian nation or force it to abandon its obvious right, you still don’t know its power,” the hardline leader said. “We have obtained the technology for producing nuclear fuel . . . No one can take it away from our nation.”

His remarks reflected Iran’s growing conviction that it can defy the world with impunity because the international community is hopelessly divided about how to proceed. Last night Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, told Nato foreign ministers meeting in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, that the Security Council would lose credibility if it did not act. But key members remained deeply divided. Although President Bush insists that the military option is still “on the table”, Russia and China recoil from the idea of even modest sanctions.

The report will be delivered today by Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who was assigned last month the impossible task of persuading Iran to halt its programme of uranium enrichment and reporting back to the Security Council on Tehran’s compliance.

At the heart of the crisis is Iran’s decision to press ahead with its programme to enrich uranium. Tehran insists that this is to provide fuel for its civilian nuclear programme, but critics contend that the oil-rich country is developing an atomic bomb.

Dr ElBaradei’s attempt to bridge the widening gap between Iran and the international community proved unsuccessful. He spent only one fruitless day in Tehran.

Although some nations might be intimidated by the prospect of taking on the joint will of America, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, Iran has positively relished thumbing its nose at the world powers. The Iranian leadership has fired almost daily verbal salvos against its critics. This week alone it has threatened to cut oil production, to export its nuclear technology, to ban international nuclear monitors, to hide its atomic programme and to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

For good measure Mr Ahmadinejad also denounced Israel as a fake regime and predicted that it could not continue to live. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, added that if the US attacked Iran, it would retaliate twice as hard against American interests around the world.

Iran’s defiance is not based on a suicidal wish to take on the world, but rather on an understanding that the international community is crippled by deep divisions on what to do next. While all five permanent Security Council members agree that Tehran should stop its enrichment programme, Russia and China oppose any moves that could lead to sanctions or the use of force.

Britain has been working behind the scenes to persuade Moscow and Beijing to support a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which can impose punitive sanctions and even approve force against a country deemed to be a threat to international security. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said this week that London was already contemplating sanctions, which would probably include a ban on senior Iranian officials travelling abroad and a freeze on all sales of arms and nuclear equipment to Iran.

But Moscow and Beijing, which have huge commercial interests in Iran, appeared yesterday to reject any embargo against Tehran. President Putin of Russia said: “We think that the IAEA must continue to play a major, key role, and it must not shrug off its responsibilities to resolve such questions and shift them on to the UN Security Council.”

Beijing echoed the need for patienct restraint. “A diplomatic solution is the correct choice and is in the interests of all parties,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. “China urges all parties to avoid measures that could worsen the situation.”

There are fears in the region that, without a diplomatic solution, America or Israel may decide to take pre-emptive military action against Iranian nuclear facilities. MajorGeneral Amos Yadlin, the head of Israeli military intelligence, said yesterday that Iran had bought North Korean surface-to-surface missiles that had a range of 1,550 miles (2,500km) and were capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Military experts confirmed that the Iranians had received 18 BM15 missiles, which could put countries including the Czech Republic, Italy and Romania within range.

Iran hurls defiance as UN braces itself for a nuclear showdown (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2155271,00.html)

Russia’s Putin Reclaiming Dominant Role in Former Soviet Union

Created: 21.03.2006 11:52 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:19 MSK

Henry Meyer

Associated Press

The Kremlin may be reclaiming a dominant role in its former Soviet backyard.

In Belarus, Moscow-allied strongman Alexander Lukashenko just won re-election by a landslide — at least by the official count. And President Vladimir Putin’s allies could return to government in Sunday’s Ukrainian parliamentary election, just over a year after the Orange Revolution.

Such developments set back Western hopes of a democratic tidal wave in the former Soviet sphere and could further tarnish Putin’s democratic credentials as he tries to cast himself as a statesman capable of brokering deals with Iran and Hamas.

For Putin, however, asserting dominance over Belarus and Ukraine appears to be part of his strategy to re-establish Moscow as a global player during his year of the G-8 presidency.

“Russia wants to restore its superpower status, and that includes putting these countries back into its orbit,” said Yevgeny Volk, Moscow director of the conservative U.S think tank Heritage Foundation.

“It is seeking to reclaim its influence over the former Soviet Union, and remove that of the United States and European Union,” he added.

Russia was furious at what it saw as Western encroachment on its home turf after Ukraine’s November 2004 Orange Revolution — the mass protests over election fraud that brought reformist opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to power over the Kremlin’s favored candidate, Viktor Yanukovych.

Months later, the impoverished Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan had its Tulip Revolution, becoming the third former Soviet state within 18 months to see opposition forces topple a Soviet-era leader. Georgia’s Rose Revolution started the process in 2003.

Today, however, Russia is once again on the rise as nervous authoritarian regimes from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan — where rights groups say government troops killed hundreds of civilians in a crackdown on protesters last year — build closer ties to Moscow, partly as a way to cow opposition forces.

Even in Ukraine, disillusionment at political infighting and the economic collapse that followed the Orange Revolution have brought about a political comeback for Yanukovych, whose rigged victory in the 2004 presidential election was annulled by the Supreme Court.

Enjoying strong support in the Russian-speaking east, his party is poised to win the most seats in the new parliament and earn the right to form the government, even if it will probably need to govern in an uneasy coalition with the party of the pro-Western Yushchenko.

“The West’s influence that triumphed in the color revolutions has clearly become a dead end for these nations,” said Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political analyst. “In Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, people live worse, not better than before.”

By contrast, in Belarus, whose authoritarian president is shunned by Western nations as Europe’s last dictator, cheap supplies of Russian gas provide a vital lifeline to the inefficient, state-dominated economy.

Analyst Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank said on Ekho Moskvy radio that while the Kremlin sometimes had tense relations with Belarus, its greatest interest lay in preserving the status quo in Minsk.

He also said that despite loud Western criticism of the Belarus election, there was no serious attempt to help pro-democratic forces, as happened in Ukraine.

“There was a strong fight for Ukraine, but no one fought for Belarus,” Malashenko said.

Analysts agree that Russia’s trump card in the region is its immense energy resources. They ensure that despite pro-Western inclinations, both Georgia and Ukraine remain dangerously dependent on their larger neighbor.

A pipeline explosion that cut off Russian supplies to Georgia this winter left millions shivering in their homes — provoking accusations from the tiny U.S.-allied Caucasus mountain state that Russia was deliberately trying to bring it to its knees.
Ukraine meanwhile had to swallow a twofold increase in gas prices after a bitter New-Year dispute that saw Moscow turn off the gas taps.

“Russia is using strong economic levers. With the growth of oil and gas exports it has become much richer than it was in the 1990s and it is translating this economic might into political influence and power,” said Volk.

At the center of the Russian policy in the region is a determination to resist the West’s efforts to boost its influence at Russia’s expense, in what Moscow says is falsely portrayed as a bid to promote democracy.

Russia yesterday accused the United States of trying to enforce its vision of democracy on others, angrily rejecting President Bush’s criticism that the Kremlin has rolled back freedoms.

No legal grounds for imposing sanctions on Iran: Russian diplomat
Moscow, April 29, IRNA

Russia-Iran-Nuclear
A former Russian Duma speaker said here Saturday that there was no legal basis for the imposition of sanctions on Iran by the UN Security Council.

Talking to IRNA, Ruslan Khazbulatov said Iran's nuclear activities were being conducted within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

On the report of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei to the UN Security Council, he was of the view that the Security Council has "only the authority to ask Iran to cooperate with the IAEA and continue negotiations." The Islamic Republic of Iran is an active member of both the IAEA and the UN, he said, and stressed that Tehran had repeatedly declared it had no intention of producing nuclear weapons.

Since Iran has not violated its obligations under the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT), there is no ground for the imposition of sanctions on the country, the Russian diplomat stressed, and added that coercive measures will only damage the interests of countries, including the West and even the US.

Terming the positions taken by Russia and China regarding Iran's peaceful nuclear activities "logical," Khazbulatov said US accusations against Iran were part of its war-mongering policies in the region.

Urging Washington not to repeat past mistakes such as its attack on Iraq, he said even western leaders believe an attack on Iran would be suicidal.

Exacerbating the Iran-US conflict will make tens of regional states involved in a possible war, he said, and stressed that any war will inflict the largest damage on Washington's interests in the region.

No legal grounds for imposing sanctions on Iran: Russian diplomat (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0604294728144218.htm)

Labor Unions, Communists March in Russian Cities

Created: 01.05.2006 12:56 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:56 MSK

MosNews

Over 29,000 people are taking part in May parades and rallies in Moscow on Monday.

Moscow labor unions started to hold their march at 9.00 AM local time (6.00 GMT) with about 25,000 participants. After an hour, they started a rally near the Moscow city administration office. Representatives of 44 organizations entering Moscow Labor Federation, and members of the pro-Kremlin party United Russia took part in the parade. Moscow mayor spoke before the marchers and said the minimal salary defined by the Russian government as 1,100 rubles (about $40) was a “real shame.” He added that the minimal salary in Moscow is four times bigger than that for the whole Russia.

About 2,000 people are taking part in a march held by Social Democrats, over 1,000 in a parade held by extreme leftist ’Labor Russia’ party. About 1,000 people are marching under the slogans of the pro-Kremlin ’Russian Party of Life’, Gazeta.Ru website reported.

The biggest parade in Moscow is prepared by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and other leftist parties and movements. The nationalist ’Movement Against Illegal Immigration’ (DPNI) is also taking part in this parade. However, Moscow police demanded that members of the movement take part in the parade without their own slogans, flags and emblems, Ekho Moskvy radio station reported. Communists even prepared slogans standing for freedom between various nations in order to prevent DPNI’s provocations. The movement was one of organizers of a November rally in Moscow against illegal immigration that was considered neo-Nazi by Russian liberals and human rights activists.

Over 15,000 people took part in a big demonstration in St. Petersburg. The column was led by an orchestra playing patriotic songs. Labor activists, members of United Russia including the speaker of the city assembly, as well as activists of communist and nationalist parties and movements holding portraits of Che, Lenin, Stalin and Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko and shouting slogans against the Russian government.

Over 20,000 people took part in a May demonstration in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok. Members of public organizations, parties, industrial and trade enterprises, students, as well as 70 drummers of the military school have marched along the city streets. The governor Sergei Darkin led the column. About 300 people dressed in national clothing of various local nations also marched in the column.

The governor said in his speech it was important “to bring back everything good that was dear to many generations of Russian people.” May parades were one of the significant features of life in the Soviet Union. In modern Russia, this day is called the holiday of spring and labor.

Over 20,000 people took part in the May parade in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, in the Urals. Labor activists and members of United Russia marched together. The marchers shouted slogans demanding higher salaries and more work places for young people.

10 members of a youth movement, Monstration, were detained during a parade in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. About 250 members of Monstration were not allowed to take part in the column of youth labor activists because there was no official organizer of their march. They marched a roundabout way shouting playful slogans like ’Land to peasants, sky to aliens.’ ’Monstrators’ attempted to dance in a ring near a rally held by local communists and nationalists. Policemen forced them out of the square and detained 10 of them.

Labor Unions, Communists March in Russian Cities (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/05/01/mayparades.shtml)

Defiant Iranian president pledges mass atomic fuel production
May 05 6:48 AM US/Eastern
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that Iran would pursue its contested nuclear programme until it could mass-produce atomic fuel, and branded those trying to stop it as "bullies".

"We intend to continue our activity ... until we manage industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel for our atomic power stations," Ahmadinejad said, according to a text of his speech at a regional summit in Azerbaijan.

The Iranian president's comments in the Azeri capital Baku came as Western powers, which fear Tehran is concealing a drive for atomic weapons, push for a tough UN resolution requiring it to halt uranium enrichment or face possible sanctions.

Ahmadinejad told leaders from the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) -- which includes five of Iran's neighbours -- that "certain bullies are insolently trying to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries."

The speech was made behind closed doors, but a copy of the text was obtained by AFP.

Ahmadinejad hailed his country's nuclear power drive as "a great achievement for the whole region and the Islamic world."

He stressed Iran's desire to work within international law and under the scrutiny of the UN's watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency, which last week reported that Tehran had failed to comply with a demand to halt uranium enrichment.

"Our scientific progress serves the interest of peace and does not threaten a single state," he said. "All the unfounded statements made against Iran cannot influence the will of the Iranian people."

Ahmadinejad was in Baku for a regional development summit of the 10-nation ECO Group, which includes Iran's neighbours Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

Ahmadinejad called for regional support, saying that "the constructive cooperation of ECO is a very important step. Unfortunately there is injustice in the current international structures, the violation of laws, the violation of rights."

Ahmadinejad was due to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the summit, and earlier held talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

The United States and Europe allege that Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weaponry under cover of a civilian power network currently being built with Russian help.

A draft UN Security Council resolution put forward by Britain and France would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, the process which makes the fuel for reactors but what can also be the explosive core of an atom bomb.

Under the proposed resolution, sanctions and even a military assault could be authorised in case of non-compliance.

Iran says it needs enriched uranium as fuel for its civilian programme and refuses to halt the work.

Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, said that Erdogan would use his meeting with Ahmadinejad to urge compromise.

"All of us should make efforts for peace. We should insist on diplomatic means and find a compromise," he said.

Iran's neighbours are nervous about the potential fallout in the region of sanctions or any other deterioration. "The most difficult situation will be for neighbouring countries," Azerbaijan's foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, said Thursday.

Defiant Iranian president pledges mass atomic fuel production (http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060505100028.6q8jtfui.html)

Kadima boosts Arab influence in Knesset

Ruling party to assign greater number of Arab MKs to major Knesset committees, in bid to ensure approval of future plan to withdraw from West Bank
Ilan Marciano

The Kadima ruling party has already started acting to promote the future withdrawal from the West Bank, by removing potential obstacles that may work to impede the implementation of the plan. The Knesset's largest faction intends to do so by creating a majority of Arab and left-wing Knesset members on the parliamentary committees that are set to vote on the convergence plan – the Economics Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

The Arab and left-wing MKs will be assigned to the committees on the expense of members of the Likud, Israel Our Home and the National Union-National Religious Party factions.

According to Knesset regulations, a party needs to have seven parliamentary mandates in order to receive automatic representation in these two important committees. In light of the problems the previous government encountered when trying to have the disengagement plan approved, the current cabinet decided to grant the Arab parties two seats in each of the committees, compared to only one seat they received during the last term.

Right-wing MKs were outraged with the decision, claiming that the Arab parties have been granted representation not proportional to their relative power in parliament. Worried that the proposed distribution will be approved by the Knesset's arranging committee, the rightist factions are trying to form a "plenum rebellion" that would take shape in constant interruptions during Knesset sessions, until the committees' distribution is changed.

Kadima boosts Arab influence in Knesset (http://www.worthynews.com/news/ynetnews-com-Ext-Comp-ArticleLayout-CdaArticlePrintPreview-1,2506,L-3248442,00-html/)

Russia needs to be strong against 'fortress' US: Putin

Wed May 10, 6:59 AM ET

Russia faces a "fortress" United States and must embrace high technology to keep up in a growing arms race, as well as in fierce economic competition, President Vladimir Putin said in a state of the nation speech.

Addressing both houses of parliament and other top officials in the nationally televised, hour-long speech on Wednesday, Putin said Russia must remain on guard in a post-Cold War arms race.

"It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," Putin said the annual address. "It is in reality rising to a new technological level," the Russian leader said.

Putin said that the United States spent 25 times more than Russia on its defence budget.

"In the defence sphere, this is called 'their house is their fortress.' Well done! But it means that we must build our house strongly, reliably, because we see what's going on in the world."

In his sweeping address, Putin also laid out a vision of a Russia switching from an ageing and uncompetitive Soviet-era infrastructure to an economy centred on high-tech areas such as nanotechnology.

"In conditions of fierce international competition, the country's economic development must be based, essentially, on its scientific and technological advantages," he said.

"Unfortunately, one has to face that the majority of the technical equipment used in the national economy is not years behind the top level, but decades."

Putin said that modernisation of Russia's huge but inefficient armed forces was vital to global stability and that the country must be "solid" in the face of US attempts to build a "fortress."

"Key responsibility for standing up against threats, for guaranteeing global stability, will lie with the world's leading powers possessing nuclear weapons and powerful military-political influence. That's why modernising the Russian army is extremely important now," he said.

The mostly conscript army must fill two-thirds of its ranks with professionals by 2008, he said.

According to Putin, Russia continues to face gigantic problems in the wake of the Soviet collapse in 1991, chief among them the steadily worsening demographic situation.

"The most serious problem in modern Russia is demography," Putin said, stating that the poplation of just under 143 million people was falling by an average of about 700,000 a year.

He outlined a raft of measures such as increased social benefits for mothers.

Seeking to reassure Western markets over Russia's reliability as an energy supplier, Putin said "we must do everything not only for our domestic development, but also to fully meet our obligations before our traditional partners."

However, he was adamant over Russia's rights to look after its own interests, saying that Russia would join the World Trade Organisation only on its own terms.

"Russia's membership in the WTO should not be a subject of bargaining," he said, claiming that discussions over Russia's entry were being linked to "issues that have nothing to do with the economy."

"We see negotiations on entering the World Trade Organization only on terms that support Russia's economic interests."

Russia needs to be strong against 'fortress' US: Putin (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060510/wl_afp/russiapolitics_060510105857&printer=1;_ylt=Ak2fsffJI9KvlHbVgfk1l_eROrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-)

More killings needed to establish Allah’s rule: Shaikh Rahman tells Jhalakathi Court
By BSS, Jhalakathi
Tue, 9 May 2006, 09:51:00

Chief of militant Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Shaikh Abdur Rahman on Tuesday declined to accept his trial "tagudi" or human created court saying more killings were needed to establish Allah's laws.

"Killing of more judges and others who do not accept Allah's laws is needed," he told the court, which fixed May 15 to allow the accused to speak about the charges against them under section 342 of the criminal procedure code for the murder of two judges in the district.

Shaikh, who earlier also declined to accept any lawyer for his defence, demanded all concerned to "speak the truth in a decent manner" during the trial.

"I want the trial to be held truly following the Allah's laws, otherwise, I will divulge everything," he told the court, which completed the recording of the last of the 45 prosecution witnesses and investigation officer of the case assistant police super Munshi Atiqur Rahman of CID.

Earlier, extra security cautions were taken on the court premises as members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) escorted the militant kingpins from the prison to the court of additional district and sessions judge Reza Tarik Ahmed.

The top JMB top brasses to face the trial in person are Shaikh Rahman, his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, militant commander of the outlawed outfit Ataur Rahman Sunny, regional commanders Abdul Awal, Khalid Saifullah, Iftekhar Hassan Mamun and Sultan Hossain.

Munshi Atiq told the court that the militant leaders at a secret meeting at Bashabo in Dhaka in September 2005 plotted the design to kill the two judges as part of their violent campaign to disable the judiciary and the government.

Bangla Bhai, who too declined the assistance of any lawyer, said he was suffering from blood cancer.

A total of 45 prosecution witnesses among the listed 53 testified before the court during the past eight days of hearing and they included eye witnesses of the judges murders, policemen, doctors and landlords of houses rented by the militants for carrying out their judges killing mission.

More killings needed to establish Allah’s rule: Shaikh Rahman tells Jhalakathi Court (http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_27740.shtml)

Iran letter precursor to war?
Analysts say it follows Muhammad's instructions for jihad

Some Middle East observers believe Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush could be a precursor to war, based on a traditional Muslim pattern of offering acceptance of Islam before establishing it by force.

Robert Spencer, editor of Jihad Watch, says Ahmadinejad appears to be following the teachings of Muhammad, who gave specific instructions to followers as they engage in "holy war" against "those who disbelieve in Allah."

In a Hadith, regarded by Muslims as sacred writings about Muhammad, the Islamic prophet says a series of offers should be made to "enemies" to embrace Islam, or at least accept Islamic rule, and if they are rejected, "seek Allah's help and fight them."

In his letter, Ahmadinejad argues only Islam can "overcome the present problems of the world" and asks Bush, "Will you not accept this invitation? That is, a genuine return to the teachings of prophets, to monotheism and justice, to preserve human dignity and obedience to the Almighty and His prophets? Mr President, History tells us that repressive and cruel governments do not survive."

Another observer of Islam, journalist Stephen Adams, said the letter seems to parallel a missive from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to Americans prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Interviewed on the Michael Medved radio show yesterday, Adams noted bin Laden stated his grievances against the United States and gave Americans the opportunity to "repent."

Based on precedent, Adams continued, he expects the next step will be for Iran to make the invitation public. Then the "crimes" of the U.S. will be published and the grievances will be cited at Friday prayers in mosques. Finally, comes a fatwa, amounting to a declaration of war.

Adams, associate editor of Citizen magazine, said it's possible this scenario could unfold in a matter of weeks.

In a column for WorldNetDaily, Middle East analyst Laura Mansfield said she believes the letter could be a "last warning."

Mansfield says the question must be asked: "Why deliver such a letter when there is little chance it will result in policy changes for either country?"

Like Spencer and Adams, she points out: "Islamic theology documents that no attack can be carried out in jihad without first offering the 'unbelievers' the opportunity to 'repent' and accept Islam. Only when that overture is rejected can an attack occur."

The Iranian president has made clear, at least to audiences at home, Tehran's ultimate intentions.

As WorldNetDaily reported in January, Ahmadinejad told a crowd of theological students in Iran's holy city of Qom that Islam must prepare to rule the world.

"We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups and nations. It's a universal ideology that leads the world to justice," Ahmadinejad said Jan. 5, according to Mehran Riazaty, a former Iran analyst for the Central Command of the Coalition Forces in Baghdad.

Ahmadinejad, who drew global attention for his contention the Holocaust was a "myth," said: "We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world." Two months earlier, he threatened to "wipe Israel off the map"

Riazaty, in a post on the website Regime Change Iran, said the Iranian president emphasized his current theme that the return of the Shiite messiah, the Mahdi, is not far away, and Muslims must prepare for it.

According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West.

"We must prepare ourselves to rule the world and the only way to do that is to put forth views on the basis of the Expectation of the Return," Ahmadinejad said. "If we work on the basis of the Expectation of the Return [of the Mahdi], all the affairs of our nation will be streamlined and the administration of the country will become easier."

South Africa warns against undermining of Iran's nuclear right
Pretoria, May 11, IRNA

Iran-S Africa-Nuclear issue
Undermining international law and existing agreements on Iran can endanger prospects of other countries of engaging in peaceful nuclear programs, said a South African Foreign Ministry official here Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry Director-General Ayanda Ntsaluba said "countries like South Africa should beware of the double-standard application of international laws on the right to access nuclear technology for peaceful purposes."
His remarks were part of his address to the South African Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

For the time being, "there is no danger to our peaceful (nuclear) program," he said, referring to South Africa's nuclear activities in its Koeberg power station or plans to build a pebble-bed modular reactor.

However, the official added, Pretoria should not be complacent and think that "if there is any undermining of international law and existing agreements on Iran it will not happen to us."
Ntsaluba stressed that South Africa backed Iran's right to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in accordance with its commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Noting that South Africa enjoyed the internation reputation of being a "responsible country," Ntsaluba nonetheless warned that things could turn out differently if tables were turned.

"Once a country is prohibited from acting lawfully within NPT safeguards in terms of accessing nuclear technoloy for peaceful purposes the path down the road would become slippery because then other countries which are not suspected of any weapons programs could be restricted."
When that time comes, "it would have implications for us," Ntsaluba feared.

He stressed that Pretoria was taking no sides on the nuclear issue but "will stand on principle."
South Africa will continue discussions with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the EU trio (Germany, Britain and France) and Russia on the issue "to realize any proposal on the table that holds the promise of moving the process of resolving the Iran nuclear crisis forward," he said.

South Africa warns against undermining of Iran's nuclear right (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0605118366133108.htm)

Amid heightened threats from president Ahmadinejad, Tehran opens a back door into Israel for its penetration-cum-terror agents: Sudan to the Negev

May 11, 2006, 12:32 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal that two Iranian Revolutionary Guards companies were dropped at Khartoum’s military airfield May 2 by a C-130 transport and driven to a secret military installation on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital. Their arrival signals the onset of an Iranian military airlift to Sudan of a fully equipped RG brigade with armor, a major escalation of the clandestine Iranian threat to Egypt and Israel alike.

DEBKAfile’s security sources report the ongoing routine of illicit Sudanese infiltrations into the southern Israeli Negev, shepherded by any of three local smuggling rings: the Palestinian gang headed by Jamal Samhadan, the Hamas government’s new appointee as commander of its security forces, Sudanese-Egyptian crime organizations and al Qaeda’s Sinai network.

All three are readily available to operate under the orders of the Iranian RG intelligence officers posted in Sudan.

The scale of the Negev traffic is such that hardly a day goes by without Sudanese infiltrators being caught attempting to steal across the Egyptian border into southern Israel. Many are job-seekers; a few, mules for gunrunners or spies collecting data on army installations in the desert region; some were caught recently near the town of Mitzpeh Ramon. They are led to their destinations by Egyptian intelligence agents familiar with the territory, Palestinian terrorists from Gaza or a sprinkling of Israeli Arabs.

An Israeli security source told DEBKAfile that the current Egyptian-Israeli-Gazan border situation offers Iranian agents and terrorists mixed in among the Sudanese infiltrators an easy route into southern Israel. The RG agents are Arabic speakers, having acquired the language from their stint as military instructors with the Lebanese Hizballah.

Lure of Babylon is powerful draw

Iraq, U.N. undertake project to restore city, transform it into center for cultural tourism.

Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times

BABYLON, Iraq -- In this ancient city, it is hard to tell what are ruins and what is just ruined.

Crumbling brick buildings, some 2,500 years old, look like smashed sand castles at the beach. Famous sites, like the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, are swallowed up by river reeds. Signs of military occupation are everywhere, including trenches, bullet casings, shiny coils of razor wire and blast walls stamped, "This side Scud protection."

Babylon, the mud-brick city with the million-dollar name, has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, torn up, paved over, neglected and roughly occupied. Archaeologists said American soldiers even used soil thick with priceless artifacts to stuff sandbags.

But Iraqi leaders and U.N. officials are not giving up. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon and turn it into a cultural center and possibly even an Iraqi theme park. No one is saying this is going to happen any time soon, but what makes the project even conceivable is that the area around Babylon is one of the safest in Iraq -- a beacon of civilization, once again, in a land of chaos.

Ancient Babylon, celebrated as a fount of law, writing and urban living, sits just outside the modern-day city of Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Hilla is neither haunted by Sunni insurgents nor overwhelmed by Shiite militias, and though it has a mix of Shiites and Sunnis, it has not been afflicted by the sectarian violence that has paralyzed so many other parts of Iraq. Factories are churning, Iraqi security forces are patrolling and the streets pulsate with life -- children bounding to school, crowds wading into markets, taxis gliding by.

Emad Lafta al-Bayati, Hilla's mayor, has big plans for Babylon. "I want restaurants, gift shops, long parking lots," he said. God willing, he added, maybe even a Holiday Inn.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is pumping millions of dollars into protecting and restoring Babylon and a handful of other ancient ruins in Iraq. UNESCO has even printed up a snazzy brochure, with Babylon listed as the premier destination, to hand out to wealthy donors.

"Cultural tourism could become Iraq's second-biggest industry, after oil," said Philippe Delanghe, a U.N. official helping with the project. But before Iraq becomes the next Egypt, he said wryly, "a few little things have to happen."

One of those, of course, is better security. The American military still maintains bases near Babylon, but next month, in a sign of how relatively stable the area has become, most troops will pull out and head north to Baghdad, where they are needed more.

Many Iraqis said it was about time. Occupying forces have been blamed for much of Babylon's recent demise.

Donny George, head of Iraq's board of antiquities, said Polish troops dug trenches through an ancient temple and American contractors paved over ruins to make a helicopter landing pad.

"How are we supposed to get rid of the helipad now?" George asked. "With jackhammers? Can you imagine taking a jackhammer to the remains of one of the most important cities in the history of mankind? I mean, come on, this is Babylon."

Babylon. Its name has had a magical ring since Hammurabi, the Babylonian king who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. and is credited with handing down one of the first sets of codified law.

After Hammurabi, the city flourished again under King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled from around 605 to 562 B.C. and is best known for the hanging gardens he supposedly built for his wife.

Lure of Babylon is powerful draw (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060427/NATION/604270321/1020)

Iran Leader Emboldened by Muslim Support

By ZAKKI HAKIM, Associated Press Writer Sat May 13, 10:34 PM ET

BALI, Indonesia - Iran's president, emboldened by the support of Muslim nations, said Saturday he was willing to hold talks over Tehran's disputed nuclear agenda but not with Israel or countries that hold "bombs over our head."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he has cooperated fully with the U.N. nuclear agency and the world has nothing to fear from his program to enrich uranium, which can be used for generating electricity or in making atomic weapons.

The hardline leader spoke after meeting with heads of state and prime ministers from Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Turkey and Malaysia and government ministers from Egypt and Bangladesh.

Though they were on the Indonesian resort island of Bali to discuss ways to boost economic and political cooperation, alleviate poverty and restructure debt, it was impossible to ignore Iran's intensifying nuclear stalemate with the West.

Washington and its allies fear Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons. But Ahmadinejad insists his nuclear program is only for generating electricity and accuses the West of greedily trying to monopolize nuclear technology.

He received a boost Saturday from the eight Islamic leaders, who released a statement after their D-8 summit of developing nations supporting the rights of countries to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

"Our people need to do more to help one another," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, adding that "proud" Islamic countries should work together to develop renewable and alternative energy sources.

Later, Indonesian Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said his country plans to build its first major nuclear power plant by 2015 and has been offered assistance by companies from South Korea, Japan, France and an unspecified fourth country.

Much of Ahmadinejad's work was done on the sidelines of the trade talks, meeting privately with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Fears that Iran is trying to build nuclear warheads were aggravated Friday, when diplomats said U.N. inspectors may have found traces of highly enriched uranium on equipment from an Iranian research center linked to the military.

The diplomats, who demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging the confidential information, initially said the density of enrichment appeared to be close to or above the level used to make nuclear warheads.

But later a well-placed diplomat accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency said the level was below that, although higher than the low-enriched material used to generate power and heading toward weapons-grade level.

"I have not heard that," Ahmadinejad said when asked about the claims, saying the world had no reason "to become nervous ... The nuclear program of Iran is totally peaceful."

He said he his country has worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

"The cameras are there, the facilities are there, closely monitoring our activities. Therefore there are no concerns."

He also said that while he was willing to talk to just about anyone about the dispute he would not do so with "countries that hang planes with bombs over our heads" — an apparent reference to the United States.

"If they want to threaten the use of force we will not go into dialogue with them."

Washington has said it favors diplomacy in resolving the dispute with Iran but has left open the possibility of military strikes against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

The Bush administration had been pressing for U.N. Security Council action against Tehran but recently agreed to put such efforts on hold and give new European-led attempts to find a negotiated solution.

Russia and China have balked at efforts to put a Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. Such a move would declare Iran a threat to international peace and security and set the stage for further measures if Tehran refuses to suspend uranium enrichment. Those measures could range from breaking diplomatic relations to economic sanctions and military action.

Saturday's summit came amid European moves to help Iran develop a civilian nuclear power program if the Islamic republic agrees to international controls to ensure it will not build an atomic arsenal.

The Europeans are seeking to build on a package of economic and political incentives offered to Iran in August last year in return for a permanent end to uranium enrichment activities.

Iran rejected that deal, but EU governments have continued to offer sweeteners to persuade Tehran to bring its nuclear program into line, as well as pushing at the United Nations for measures that could lead to sanctions if Iran refuses.

Iran's Foreign Minister said in Bali, however, that "no incentive can be interesting for the Iranian government and the Iranian nation unless it includes Iran's right to benefit from nuclear technology."

Iran Leader Emboldened by Muslim Support (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060514/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear;_ylt=AsDgH54LJ9h4avF7hayPTAhn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

U.N.'s Annan Cautions Iran to Cool Nuclear Rhetoric

Friday, May 12, 2006

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has cautioned Iran to step back from its aggressive stance and reassure the world that its nuclear program is peaceful. Meanwhile, U.N. diplomats are speaking of a shift in the tone of discussions on Iran, from confrontation to engagement.

Secretary-General Annan Wednesday expressed optimism that efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions are being intensified.

He spoke shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Western governments would wait a few weeks before pushing for further Security Council action on Iran's suspect nuclear program.

But on a day when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad accused Western nations of hypocrisy, and called their expressions of concern about Tehran's nuclear program a "big lie", Mr. Annan warned Iran to cool its rhetoric.

"I think it is important that the Iranians remain open and that they back away from this aggressive posture, and be open to discussions," said Kofi Annan. "I think that no one is saying that they are not entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy. But they have a responsibility to communicate and to show that their intention is peaceful."

Meanwhile, Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin hailed what he called a "change of mood" during this weeks' ministerial-level talks on Iran. Churkin spoke of an evolution in the tone of diplomacy since last week, when European nations asked the Security Council to invoke Chapter seven of the U.N. charter, legally requiring Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.

"You will recall that when this was presented by the French and the British, the words you heard, Chapter Seven, and threat to peace, and how many days they will be given to obey what is going to be in the resolution, and then diplomacy in its quiet way did its job, because some of you may not have noticed but the mood has changed completely," said Vitaly Churkin.

Churkin said this week's ministerial talks in New York had been marked by a turn away from the earlier tone of confrontation to one of engagement.

"As a result of what has been achieved so far is we have reason to say to Iran that they should not be looking at the process in any kind of a confrontational mode, because the process is not confrontational to them," he said.

The new mood was reflected in the comments of Washington's U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. Earlier, he had pushed for prompt passage of the British-French draft resolution, with a short deadline for Iranian compliance.

Wednesday, Bolton expressed skepticism about whether Iran would accept a proposed European package of incentives in return for suspending uranium enrichment. But he suggested the idea was worth a try in the interest of maintaining unity among the five permanent Security Council members.

"I think the possibility of Perm five unity is important," said John Bolton. "That's what this initiative is designed to undertake. We'll see what happens in terms of putting the package together, and based on whether the Iranians accept the package, that will tell us what we'll do here."

European diplomats hope to have their package of energy and trade incentives ready by next Monday. It will be presented to top diplomats of the five permanent Council members and Germany in London later in the week. In the mean time, the draft resolution on Iran is being put aside to allow time for diplomacy to work.

Russia challenges American policy on Iran, North Korea
By Brian Bonner
Knight Ridder Newspapers

MOSCOW - Russia and China oppose using political, economic or military force to isolate Iran or pressure the Islamic Republic to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"We confirmed today that neither Russia nor China will be able to support the (United Nations) Security Council's possible resolution that would contain a pretext for coercive, let alone military, measures," Lavrov told reporters after two days of discussions in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

Lavrov also announced that hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom the Bush administration is trying to isolate, would attend a summit in Shanghai next month with the leaders of Russia, China and four Central Asian nations.

Reinforced by record crude oil prices and by more than $200 billion in gold and hard currency reserves, Russia is challenging U.S. policies toward Iran, North Korea and the militant leaders of the Palestinian Authority. Its leaders also are expressing growing irritation with American criticism of their domestic policies.

The most pointed criticism so far has come from Vice President Dick Cheney, who on May 4 said: "In many areas of civil society - from religion and the news media, to advocacy groups and political parties - the (Russian) government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of her people." Cheney also warned Russia against using its natural gas and oil wealth to bully its neighbors.

In his May 10 state of the nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by criticizing "Comrade Wolf" and blaming the U.S. for igniting a new high-tech arms race that will force Russia to upgrade its military.

"Where is all that pathos of the need to fight for human rights and democracy when it concerns the need to realize their own interests?" Putin asked. "It turns out that anything is possible then."

The rhetoric has gotten so heated that Putin denied Saturday that he's spoiling for a new cold war. "We don't need this," Putin told Russian journalists.

"We are heading towards growing tensions and misunderstandings and mistrust," said Alexei Arbatov, the director of the Center for International Security in Moscow. "We are left with very little, other than some general ideas that we cannot go back to the Cold War and that we have common interests."

Arbatov said that both nations have tried to "substitute personal relations" between top leaders for agreements on strategic issues.

Arbatov blamed U.S. officials for destroying "the whole arms-control regime" and said U.S. leaders are confused about their foreign-policy priorities.

"If Iran is the No. 1 priority, and you want to gain Russian support for your positions, you don't attack Russia because of what's happening in the post-Soviet space or domestic space or for its energy strategy," Arbatov said. "Now the American superior power thinks there's only two points of view: One is American and the other is wrong."

Yevgeny Volk, who heads the conservative Heritage Foundation's Moscow office, questioned Putin's commitment to cooperating on a broad range of fronts - fighting terrorism, promoting Middle East peace and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Bush administration, Volk said, is finally speaking up about the menace posed by Putin, whom he regards as mired in anti-American stereotypes of the Soviet era.

Russia challenges American policy on Iran, North Korea (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14594030.htm)

Ex-Military Intelligence chief Ze'evi warns of impending world jihad 'tsunami'
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Former Military Intelligence chief Aharon Ze'evi warned Monday morning of an impending world jihad "tsunami" that he said may soon descend on the entire Middle East.

Ze'evi, speaking at a Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies conference in Tel Aviv University, said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad has been overheard promising the "end of history in two or three years."

Ze'evi recommended that the Iranian threats be taken seriously, saying that Tehran will soon have nuclear warhead compatible surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 5,000 kilometers, putting Europe within striking distance.

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Ze'evi also warned that Israel should not rule out the possibility of a conventional war against Islamic militants.

Ze'evi said he foresees this war breaking out on Israel's northern frontier, against Syria and Hezbollah.

Emphasizing the radicalization of Islamic militancy, Ze'evi cited recent changes in the objectives of major militant organizations, which have recently begun targeting sites in Arab countries.

"We are seeing attacks carried out in Amman, Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh," said Ze'evi.

He cited the increased accessibility of Internet in the Arab world as facilitating the process, saying, "Today, anyone who is interested can learn how to blow up a bomb."

Major General (Res.) Ze'evi stepped down as chief of Military Intelligence about four months ago, and was replaced by Major General Amos Yadlin.

Ex-Military Intelligence chief Ze'evi warns of impending world jihad 'tsunami' (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/716146.html)

World faiths call conversion basic religious right

By Robert Evans
1 hour, 46 minutes ago

GENEVA (Reuters) - A conference grouping an array of world religions, including Christians, Jews and Muslims said on Wednesday everyone should have the right to convert to another faith.

Some Muslim countries fiercely contest religious conversion and people leaving the Islamic faith can face death.

The statement on religious freedom was issued on behalf of the conference by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC), the organiser along with the Vatican.

The conference was billed in advance as a first step towards shaping a "code on religious conversion" -- or a rule-book that all faiths should follow.

"Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practice one's own faith, freedom to propagate the teachings of one's faith to people of one's own and other faiths ...," the statement said.

This also meant "the freedom to embrace another faith out of one's free choice".

The WCC, which groups mainstream Protestant and Christian Orthodox churches, said the four-day conference near Rome was attended by 27 participants from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and African Yoruba religious backgrounds.

It did not identify them individually, and it was not clear what the level of Muslim representation was or where the Muslim representatives were from.

The meeting was sponsored on the Vatican side by the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and the thrust of the statement was in line with recent calls by the Vatican and other Christian bodies for better treatment for non-Muslims in Islamic countries.

Pope Benedict on Monday told a Vatican conference on immigration to and from Islamic states that Christian minorities in those countries should enjoy reciprocity -- or the same rights Muslims generally have in Western countries.

Vatican officials, leaders of other Christian and non- Christian faiths as well as atheists and humanists, say limits on non-Muslims in Islamic countries are far harsher than any restrictions imposed in the West that Muslims decry.

Saudi Arabia bans public expression of non-Muslim religions, and sometimes arrests Christians for worshipping privately, while Pakistan's Islamic laws deprive local Christians of basic rights although churches can function.

In Iran and some other Muslim countries, converts to other religions or to humanism -- like controversial Dutch Somali-born politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- are condemned as "apostates" and can be executed if they refuse to repent.

In Afghanistan, Islamic clerics in March condemned Western pressure for the release of man who had been jailed after converting to Christianity and said he should have been executed for abandoning Islam.

Global Government Group Gives Hillary Clinton an A+ Rating
By Joseph Klein
Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The left-wing Citizens for Global Solutions, which believes in global government under the auspices of the United Nations, gave Senator Hillary Clinton an A+ in its most recent scoring of her voting record on issues near and dear to their globalist agenda. Hillary has improved her grade each year in the Senate, now eclipsing even "global test" John Kerry.

According to the website of its New England branch, "Citizens for Global Solutions believe that nation states today must do what 13 American ex-colonies did in the 1780s when they discovered that they couldn't afford to be independent sovereignties: extend government to a new level and become cooperative partners under limited "federal" law." In other words, national sovereignty must give way to global government. The International Criminal Court, which would subject our soldiers to kangaroo trials without a jury, is one of Citizens for Global Solutions’ pet causes.

This global government booster club would very likely have a direct pipeline into Hillary Clinton’s White House, considering that its chief executive officer, Charles J. Brown, served in her husband’s Administration and represented it in negotiating the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Moreover, Simon Weber, its Legislative Coordinator, spent several months in the office of Senator Clinton.

Although Hillary has been trying to demonstrate her Commander-in-Chief bona fides with her position on Iraq and expressions of toughness on Iran, she is a globalist at heart. In a 2005 speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Senator Clinton linked our national security with a strong United Nations, saying :"My first observation is simple but it must govern all that we do: The United Nations is an indispensable organization to all of us - despite its flaws and inefficiencies." Was she, by chance, in a deep sleep during the oil-for-food scandal, not to mention the paralysis of the Security Council in dealing with Iraq, Iran and most other grave crises? Does she not realize that the United Nations cannot be reformed or serve a useful role in securing peace and security or human rights so long as the General Assembly is dominated by non-democratic countries who free ride on our contributions to this dysfunctional organization? No matter, she tells us. She still wants a stronger UN, although assuring us all the while that any notion that the United Nations is moving towards the goal of "world government" goal is "ill informed."

Hillary is no fool. She spins a good yarn about how we should cooperate multilaterally through the United Nations, while deceiving us about the erosion of our national sovereignty that is certain to follow. That is because she wants to use the United Nations to tame America’s power while taking its riches to support her idea of the global village. She believes that the UN is, in her words, "far too weak" and has voted to raise the U.S. assessments for peacekeeping forces above the current 25% of total contributions. Her A+ grade from the Citizens for Global Solutions is well-earned.

Even after 9/11, protecting our nation’s security against another terrorist attack was not on the top of Hillary Clinton’s list of priorities. Instead, she has aligned herself with the ‘blame America first’ crowd:

In much of the world, the U.S. is seen as selfish, aggrandizing ourselves and leaving the rest out in the cold. The U.S. needs to take up more challenges on the global stage in eradicating disease, preventing environmental degradation and advancing women's rights. These must be the priorities of hegemony.

In helping to achieve her global village philosophy, Hillary supports the UN Millennium Project whose director is Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor and Special Advisor to Kofi Annan. Sachs released a report last year recommending strategies to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals within the next decade. Sachs’ Millennium Project Report recommends a .7 % assessment against each developed country’s Gross National Product, which would transfer nearly a trillion dollars of U.S. taxpayers’ money to the UN administered development program over the next decade. Global taxes are part of Sachs’ package. Sachs spins his wealth distribution program as an investment in the security of our country. Hillary buys into this approach as part of her "priorities of hegemony." Like Sachs, Hillary opposes the Bush tax cuts as a windfall for the rich and wants to use that money instead to pay for her wealth redistribution agenda. She was quoted by the Associated Press as telling a fundraising audience in San Francisco during the 2004 presidential campaign: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good".

Hillary and Sachs have been on the lecture circuit together, and Sachs was also a featured speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative last fall. We can expect Jeffrey Sachs to play an important role in any new Clinton Administration.

Remember when Bill Clinton as President told us that, with Hillary as First Lady, we would be getting two for the price of one? That is still true, only in reverse if Hillary becomes the next President. As the possible future First Husband said in discussing what he called the "global community": "We Americans have not always done our part in [the UN], but it is all we have." Hillary believes so much in this globalist philosophy that she may decide to appoint Bill as her personal roving envoy to the world.

Global Government Group Gives Hillary Clinton an A+ Rating (http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/klein051706.htm)

Olmert: Iran Close to Atomic Bomb Know-How

Iran is just a few months away from acquiring the technological know- how that will allow it to build an atomic bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Olmert flew to Washington on Sunday for his first meeting as prime minister with President Bush. The two leaders are expected to discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Olmert told CNN's "Late Edition" that the key issue regarding Iran was not when it builds a nuclear bomb, but rather when it acquires the knowledge they need to manufacture such arms.

"This technological threshold is nearer than we anticipated before. This is because they are already engaged very seriously in enrichment," Olmert said.

"The technological threshold is very close. It can be measured in months rather than years," Olmert added, repeating statements previously made by other senior Israeli officials.

Olmert said the world could not take Iran's nuclear ambitions lightly because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. However, he said it was unlikely Israel would act on its own, diplomatically or militarily, to deal with the problem.

In 1981, Israel's air force attacked the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, destroying the facility. But Olmert said the situations cannot be compared, and Israel will try to persuade the Western world to impose sanctions on Iran.

Iran has so far rejected European proposals to back off the idea of U.N.-imposed sanctions if Tehran agrees to freeze its uranium enrichment program. Another proposal the Europeans are preparing will apparently include a clause saying that if Iran refuses, it could face sanctions backed by the threat of force.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian purposes, says it has the right to enrich uranium.

Olmert expressed confidence that Bush would "lead other nations in taking the necessary measures to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power."

"We will certainly try to convince other countries that, at this time, before they cross the technological threshold, that the measures will be taken to stop them," Olmert said.

May 18, 2006 No.1166

Iraqi Ayatollah Ahmad Al-Baghdadi Talks of America's Annihilation and the Muslim Conquest of the World; Declares Support for Nuclear Bombs for Muslim and Arab Countries

The following are excerpts from speeches and interviews with Iraqi Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 5, 2006, on Syrian TV on May 3, 2006, and on ANB TV on April 14, 2006.

"The Mujahid Iraqi People... Has Shattered the American Plan, Not Only in the Region, but Throughout the World"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "Jihad in Islam, from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence, is of two types: jihad initiated by the Muslims, which means raiding the world in order to spread the word that 'there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah' throughout the world. But this raid will not materialize in our era - the era of barbaric American capitalistic globalism - unless the Infallible, peace be upon him, is present.

"But there are jurisprudents, both Sunnis and Twelver Shi'ites, who have said that the presence of the Infallible is not a prerequisite. If the objective and subjective circumstances materialize, and there are soldiers, weapons, and money - even if this means using biological, chemical, and bacterial weapons - we will conquer the world, so that 'There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah' will be triumphant over the domes of Moscow, Washington, and Paris."

"But as for defensive Jihad - it is not conditional upon turning to a Sunni or Shi'ite jurisprudent, to a source of authority, to any Islamic school of thought, or to Islamic party, because this type of Jihad is an individual duty.

Everyone must fight - children, women, the elderly, the youth - in order to liberate man, to liberate mankind, in order to liberate Palestine in its entirety, in order to liberate Iraq from the American-Zionist-British presence.

"Wielding the guns of battle is the only way to liberate this nation. By Allah, if not for the resolute stand and the resistance of our people in Iraq, the entire region would have fallen, and would have turned into warring and feuding cantons and mini-states, ravaged by wars between different ethnic groups and religious schools of thought. But the mujahid Iraqi people of the resistance has shattered the American plan, not only in the region but throughout the world, because Europe and the Russian federation were humiliated. They are afraid of America. But we stand firm, and we unite, and if we begin to believe in the diverse Arab Islamic Islam, we will annihilate America."

"The Coming Year Will Witness the Defeat of the Americans, Their Lackeys, and Those Who Rolled in on the American Tanks"

Interviewer: "How do you view Iraq's future, both in the short and long term?"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "I say that the coming year will witness the defeat of the Americans, their lackeys, and those who rolled in on the American tanks, because the operations are escalating. There are some dubious TV channels that broadcast an item or two about them, whereas other operations are not reported at all."

"The Americans have fallen into the Iraqi quagmire. The Americans are extremely conceited. They do not give the Palestinians or the Iraqis their rights. He who came by force must be removed by force, and by armed struggle. That is the only way to liberate the Iraqi and Palestinian land and people. The solutions of submission and peace are not permitted from the Islamic perspective, or even from the perspective of international law."

"It is in the best interest of America to get out of Iraq, in a transparent and objective manner. But now, they are defeated, and the number of American casualties is much greater than the figures reported on TV.

"Let me tell you a secret. When an American tank blows up, they come straight away, clean up the blood, and haul away the tank quickly, in order to cover it up, so that no TV channel will arrive and film the tragic pictures."

"Car Bomb Attacks are Carried Out by the Israeli Mossad and the CIA, in Purely Shi'ite Areas as Well as in Purely Sunni Areas"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "Car bomb attacks are carried out by the Israeli Mossad and by the CIA in purely Shi'ite areas, as well as in purely Sunni areas. Hence, this is not a sectarian issue, as has been claimed in order to distort the image of the resistance. These car bombs and explosives belts, in Shi'ite religious centers, in mosques, and in churches, are all a game, planned by the Americans, in order to distort the image of the national and Islamic resistance.

"The Americans should know that the resistance will continue as long as the occupation continues. The Americans themselves are the terrorists, and not the resistance, as claimed by the Americans and their collaborators."

The American Administration "Has No Love at All for the American People, Let Alone Other, Oppressed, Peoples"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "When the former U.S.S.R. fell, the Americans became conceited, believing that they had become the only world power that rules in the region. Thus, the American destruction continues, not only against the Arab and Islamic people, but also against Europe, and even against the American people itself. The American administration is 100 percent pro-Zionist. It has no love at all for the American people, let alone the other, oppressed, peoples.

"As for the nuclear bomb, it has caused the Americans some contradictions. They are one big contradiction. Didn't they annihilate... They claim that democracy, liberty, and reform are a historical necessity for backward societies, and so on.

Cont'd next post.

"But in America itself, if you ask the current president to list the states - he doesn't know them. In America, there is hunger, poverty, and disease in certain states, but not in others. That is one thing.

"In America, they annihilated millions of Indians. What democracy? In their own country there is no democracy. There is a rule of two main parties, which are assigned roles by global Zionism. So how can the so-called developing countries, Third World countries, or the poor countries, produce a nuclear bomb? They find themselves in terrible contradictions."

"This Arab Islamic Nation Must Obtain a Nuclear Bomb"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "How can they face Iran? How come Israel has 50 nuclear bombs? Why are they selective? Why shouldn't an Islamic or Arab country have a nuclear bomb? I am not referring to the Iranian program, which the Iranians say is for peaceful purposes. I am talking about a nuclear bomb.

"This Arab Islamic nation must obtain a nuclear bomb. Without a nuclear bomb, we will continue to be oppressed, and the American destruction... The American donkeyness... The American donkey itself will always continue to attack us, because the Americans are very conceited."

"The American soldier is haunted by anxiety and fear. Some have been afflicted with mental illness. This is in addition to the wounded and the dead - beyond the figures issued by the American Department of Defense. The opposite is true.

"The Americans can be divided into two. One part includes people of various nationalities, who are not American. When they are killed, they are not included in the list of casualties. Only when it is someone with American citizenship and of American origin do they include him, out of fear of his family. But those foundlings brought by the Americans from Eastern and Western Europe - they joined the American army, but are not true Americans."

"It is inconceivable that the Arab mujahideen or the Iraqi resistance would kill children, women, and men. The resistance targets American tanks and bases. Those operations are carried out by the American CIA and fifth column.

"Let me tell you a secret. According to the notorious Iraqi Liberation Act, which was enacted in 1998, 12,000 Iraqis were conscripted from among the expatriates. They joined [the American army] for two years, receiving fantastic salaries. After two years, they were given courses in spying and sabotage, and then they rolled in on the American tanks. Today, next to every minister, prime minister, or deputy prime minister, there is a spy. Some of those officials are collaborators themselves, yet they are assigned a spy, because the Americans do not trust the Iraqis."

"The Americans are the Ones Doing the Killing in the So-Called Sunni Triangle"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "When a car goes from Al-Hila to Al-Latifiya, for example, in the so-called Sunni Triangle, an American convoy shows up and directs them to a side route, and then some masked people arrive and kill them. Why do they kill them? Because they curse Ali. In the car there are Shi'ites and Sunnis... I have reservations about the terms 'Shi'ite' and 'Sunni,' but forgive me this time..."

Interviewer: "Yes, but that's the reality."

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "There is no choice but to say that. They order them to curse Ali. The Shi'ites are allowed to curse Ali, who said: 'Curse me, but do not abandon me.' Therefore, a Shi'ite may curse the Imam Ali, but a Sunni will never curse Ali, because he is one of the righteous Caliphs... So they kill the Sunni, who refuses to curse Ali, because they think he is a Shi'ite.

"After this indiscriminate shooting on the car, while the people are hovering between life and death - the masks are removed, and it turns out that it was a female American soldier, conducting the interrogation with the help of an interpreter.

"The Americans are the ones who are doing the killing in the so-called Sunni Triangle, or in Al-Latifiya."

"These collaborators and America should know that I support the resistance. I will fight the American tanks alongside the resistance, because the Iraqi people is an Arab Islamic people that will not accept the rule of an infidel over a Muslim. Never."

"In the black constitution, it is stated that the religion of the state is Islam, and that all the legislative principles are derived from the original Islamic legislation. It is written in the constitution. That's the first clause."

"Whoever Marries Someone of the Same Sex Must Be Killed"

Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "The second clause says no law may contradict the principles of democracy. Can you imagine millions demonstrating in Iraq, calling for same-sex marriage, like in Sweden, America, and Britain? Same-sex marriages means a marriage of a man with a man, or a woman with a woman. This is a terrible catastrophe, totally forbidden by Islam. Whoever marries someone of the same sex must be killed. Both must be killed as soon as possible and must be burned as well."

Abbas gives Hamas 10 days to accept Israel
Otherwise, Palestinian leader says he'll seek referendum on issue

Thursday, May 25, 2006; Posted: 6:07 p.m. EDT (22:07 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given his rivals in the Hamas-led government 10 days to accept a plan for a Palestinian state to exist alongside Israel, or else he will call for a national referendum on the question.

Abbas urged the Hamas-led government on Thursday to accept the national goal of establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank alongside Israel.

"In 10 days, you have to decide; you have to agree," Abbas told a conference of Palestinian leaders, including Hamas and his Fatah Party, meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"If you don't agree, then I will say that frankly none of us will be responsible, and in 40 days I will call for a referendum. I will ask my people directly whether they accept or do not accept this [plan]."

Hamas, which has historically vowed to seek the destruction of Israel, took control of the Palestinian Authority from Fatah after a surprise election win in January. The United States, the European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

If Hamas were to accept Abbas' demand it would effectively mean recognizing Israel.

Some observers believe Hamas may reject a deal with Fatah, but not oppose a referendum, CNN's John Vause reported from Jerusalem.

"In some ways this could give Hamas an out because they've been looking for some kind of way of moderating their position while remaining true to their charter, remaining true to their platform on which they were elected," Vause said.

"They can't recognize Israel. If Hamas recognizes Israel, it ceases to be Hamas. So for many within Hamas, this could be a convenient way out of that dilemma -- go directly to the people, hold a referendum, be bound by those results and then turn around and say, 'We are listening to the will of the Palestinian people. This is true democracy.' "

Abbas' dramatic move came in a week of deadly clashes between militants supporting Hamas and Fatah, and the day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the U.S. Congress that Israel would not wait "forever" for the Palestinians to agree to establishing borders. (Full story)

The call to action also follows the United States and EU cutting off direct nonhumanitarian assistance to the Palestinian Authority until Hamas recognizes Israel.

Opinion polls suggest that Palestinians support establishing a state comprising Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem to exist alongside Israel, but Palestinian ambitions may not mesh with Israeli visions of a permanent border.
Palestinian prime minister sees 'critical moment'

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on Thursday called for national unity and a joint political platform between his party, Hamas, and Fatah, saying, "The best thing that we can work on is to remain united -- to work together."

He said, "We are now passing through a very critical moment where all of us need to behave very responsibly ... so that we can face all the challenges internally and externally."

Until its upset by Hamas in parliamentary elections, Fatah was the dominant force in Palestinian politics.

Violence in the Palestinian territories increased this week as the Hamas-led government deployed its own militia against Abbas' orders. The action sparked a rivalry with existing Palestinian security forces and raised fears of a possible civil war.

A 19-year-old man was killed Thursday as clashes between the opposing factions continued in Gaza City, Palestinian security sources said. Another 15 people were said to be hurt in the violence.

Abbas gives Hamas 10 days to accept Israel (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/25/palestinian.talks/index.html)

May 25, 2006
Text: King of Jordan's Independence Day address: relations with others never at expense of relations with Arab or Islamic nation [IMRA: "our martyrs on the walls of Jerusalem and in the yards of the Holy Aqsa Mosque" - On July 20, 1951, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian, Mustapha Shukri Usho, at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Abdullah was murdered because it was believed that he was going to make a separate peace with Israel.]
King Addresses Nation on Independence Day

Amman, May 25 (Petra) -- His Majesty King Abdullah II said that Independence is a continual state of giving, building and self-reliance to enhance independence and build a future fit for the free people of Jordan, those with resolve and strong will.

King Abdullah stressed, in a speech on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Independence Day, that the future is the responsibility of all citizens, especially youth who bear the greatest because they are more able to affect change and to realize achievements, noting that Jordan is stronger than all challenges and conditions.

''When we say 'Jordan First', we mean that we should complete the building of a Jordan that is strong and invincible, able to provide support and asset the Arab brethren, whether in Palestine or Iraq or any other Arab country.'' His Majesty said. ''It does not mean deserting our duty towards our nation or its just causes''.

''Jordan will remain, with God's grace, the Arab Muslim country that belongs to the Arab and Islamic nation, keen to shoulder its religious and national duty towards all Arab and Islamic causes.'' King Abdullah said.

''Under no circumstances will we permit Jordan's relationships with any country to be at the expense of our relations with our Arab and Islamic nation.'' stressed King Abdullah.

His Majesty said that the homeland's affiliation with the Arab Revolt and the affiliation of its leadership with the honorable House of Prophet (PBUH), obligate Jordan to be the first in defending Islam, Arab and Muslims.

King Abdullah stressed that Jordan will never, under any circumstances, fail to support and assist the Palestinians until they attain their rights, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian soil.

''Jordan's basic pillar of strength is preserving national unity, integrity and steadfastness among the sons of the one Jordanian family, and the achievement of comprehensive development which enhances Jordan's strength, and enables Jordan to support the Arab brethren and Arab causes'' King Abdullah said.

His Majesty said ''I have always felt and understood the suffering and concerns of every citizen...As you all see, we are working day and night, traveling from one country to the other in order to benefit from our relations with the world...''.

King Abdullah said that Jordan achieved a lot throughout the past seven years, be it in the field of economic and social developments of our democratic march, noting that there is still a long way to go.

''As for those rumors doubting the soundness of our march and the ability of this homeland to meet the challenges of national and international circumstances, those who do not love the homeland and do not wish it well are the source of such talk'' King Abdullah said.

Following is the full text of His Majesty's speech

In the Name of God,
The Most Merciful, The Compassionate

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good evening to you all; I wish you and the homeland a happy and good year.

This is a blessed day, dear to the heart of every Jordanian, man and woman, the descendants of the founding generation who sacrificed immensely for the independence of the nation and the liberation of the Jordanian individual's will.

On this day, it is our right and our duty to remember, with pride and appreciation, the founding fathers, all of the pioneers, who contributed to the building of this homeland. They did so in the face of many challenges over the past sixty years and persevered in spite of a scarcity of resources and material capabilities, and of the tragedies and wars to which this region was subjected. The gallant children of this one Jordanian family, men and women, under the leadership of the builder, the late al-Hussein, may God bless his soul, realized great achievements through determination, resolve, belonging, confidence in the future and in each Jordanian's capabilities to give and achieve.

On this precious occasion, I would like to extend my congratulations and felicitations, and to express my appreciation and feelings of pride, to every citizen, male and female, in this country - in the Badia, villages, camps and cities. I would like also to extend special greetings to the gallant Jordanians, male and female, in the Armed Forces and the security institutions, who have sworn their blood and souls to defend this homeland and safeguard its independence and achievements.

Independence, brothers, is not just an occasion to be celebrated once a year; rather, it is a continual state of giving, building and self-reliance to enhance independence and build a future fit for the free people of Jordan, those with resolve and strong will.

Cont'd next post.

This future is not the responsibility of one person or group of citizens of this homeland. It is the responsibility of all of us: the laborer and the farmer, the civil servant and the student, the soldier and the mother who raises her children on love and a sense of belonging to the homeland.

Youth bear the greatest responsibility, because they are more able to affect change and to realize achievements.

In return, we have a responsibility towards youth, and they are entitled to education and training that equips them to face any challenge and build the future we seek; the future with which youth were entrusted.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Every one of us knows, and is proud of, the fact that this homeland was established on the principles borne in the message of the Great Arab Revolt, led by Sharif al-Hussein Bin Ali, to liberate and unify the nation. Hence, Jordan will remain, with God's grace, the Arab Muslim country that belongs to the Arab and Islamic nation, keen to shoulder its religious and national duty towards all Arab and Islamic causes. Under no circumstances will we permit Jordan's relationship with any country to be at the expense of our relations with our Arab or Islamic nation. The homeland's affiliation with the Arab Revolt and the affiliation of its leadership with the honorable House of the Prophet (PBUH), obligate us to be first in defending Islam, Arabs and Muslims.

When we say Jordan First, we mean that we should complete the building of a Jordan that is strong and invincible, able to provide support and assist the Arab brethren, whether in Palestine, or Iraq, or any other Arab country. It does not mean deserting our duty towards our nation or its just causes, as some short-sighted people believe. Jordan was, and will always be, a sanctuary for all free Arabs; therefore we say, Jordan First, Jordan always, and Jordan under all circumstances and conditions.

Jordan's basic pillar of strength is preserving national unity, integrity and steadfastness among the sons of the one Jordanian family, and the achievement of comprehensive development which enhances Jordan's strength, and enables Jordan to support the Arab brethren and Arab causes, primary among them the Palestinian cause and that of the Iraqi people.

Jordan, brothers, cannot forget the union of blood, goals and destiny with the Palestinian brethren; it is also impossible for Jordan to forget the blood of our martyrs on the walls of Jerusalem and in the yards of the Holy Aqsa Mosque. We will not, on any day, under any circumstances, fail to support and assist the Palestinians, until they attain their rights, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian soil.

Dear Brothers,

Since the day I was entrusted with my responsibilities, I have always felt and understood the suffering and concerns of every citizen - male and female - in this country. I know that the reasons for this suffering are difficult economic conditions, rising prices and other problems which we need to overcome as soon as possible. As you all see, we are working day and night, traveling from one country to the other in order to benefit from our relations with the world around us and employ these relations in the service of our country. I follow up personally on all matters, so that we can overcome these problems, and elevate the citizen's standard of living.

Praise be to God, we have achieved a lot throughout the past seven years, be it in the field of economic and social development, or in the field of political development and the enhancement of our democratic march. But honestly, there is still a long way to go. We should all work together, in the spirit of the one team that belongs to the homeland; the one team that is sure of itself and of a bright future, God willing.

We should rely on ourselves, brothers, and if we do not help each other, and work as one hand and one heart [towards] one goal, no body will help us, and we will not be able to overcome our problems. Hence, brothers, we need patience and sacrifice. Bearing the hardships ourselves is easier and more dignified than expecting others to do so for us. We need no favors from anyone.

As for those rumors doubting the soundness of our march and the ability of this homeland to meet the challenges of national and international circumstances, those who do not love the homeland and do not wish it well are the source of such talk. Jordan is stronger than all challenges, and stronger than all circumstances, and with your will and resolve it will always be Jordan First, Jordan always, and Jordan the role model.

Please allow me, on this occasion, to present to my brothers and sisters in the Armed Forces, the security institutions and the civil service, and the retirees, a simple Independence Day gift.

Again, brothers, I send my greetings with pride and appreciation to every citizen in this country - male and female - and wish you and dear Jordan many happy returns of the day.

Peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you.

End...................

King of Jordan's Independence Day address: relations with others never at expense of relations with Arab or Islamic nation (http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=29400)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Any Transgression Will Be Met with "A Slap of Eternal and Historic Proportions"

Following are excerpts from a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on the Iranian news channel (IRINN) on May 24, 2006.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Are you weary?

Crowd: No.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Are you weary?

Crowd: No.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Then who is weary?

Crowd: The enemy.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I want them to hear you. They are close. Who is weary?

Crowd: The enemy.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Who is weary?

Crowd: The enemy.

[...]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Despite the political pressure, the conspiracies, and the use of international organizations by the enemies, they have not succeeded in preventing the Iranian people from obtaining nuclear energy. Today they come up with a conspiracy. Today they want to generate dispute, division, and despair, thus preventing the Iranian people from realizing all its rights. They know that from the outside, they cannot harm the Iranian people in the slightest.

[...]

They know that any transgression, or the mere thought of violating the rights of the Iranian people, will be met with a slap of eternal and historic proportions, by the Iranian people and the youth of Khorramshahr.

[...]

Let them hear. This is the cry of the people of Khorramshahr. They are shouting in defense of nuclear energy. They are insisting on the indisputable right of the Iranian people to benefit from nuclear energy. Listen to the slogan of the people of Khorramshahr:

Crowd: Nuclear energy is our indisputable right.

Nuclear energy is our indisputable right.

Nuclear energy is our indisputable right.

[...]

In spirit and in blood, we will redeem you, oh Mahmoud.

In spirit and in blood, we will redeem you, oh Mahmoud.

In spirit and in blood, we will redeem you, oh Mahmoud.

In spirit and in blood, we will redeem you, oh Mahmoud.

In spirit and in blood, we will redeem you, oh Mahmoud.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Any Transgression Will Be Met with "A Slap of Eternal and Historic Proportions" (http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1148)

May. 26, 2006 20:40
Report: Top Russian official due in Iran
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW

A top Russian diplomat is to visit Teheran on Saturday to discuss incentives to be offered to Iran as a reward if it suspends uranium enrichment, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak will accompany a delegation led by the chief of Russia's Security Council, Igor Ivanov, ITAR-Tass quoted a Russian diplomat as saying. They will holds talks with officials including Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

THE IRANIAN THREAT

"The Teheran meeting will focus on the proposals for incentives which Iran will enjoy if it stops uranium enrichment." said the diplomat. The Russian Foreign Ministry could not be contacted for confirmation.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reiterated Moscow's commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, local news agencies reported.

"If there are no extraordinary circumstances, it (the contract) will without doubt be fulfilled," Ivanov was quoted as saying.

Defense Ministry officials have previously said Moscow will supply 29 sophisticated Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran under a $700 million (565 million Euros) contract, according to Russian media reports.

The move was likely to upset the United States which last month called on all countries to stop all arms exports to Iran and to end all nuclear cooperation with it to put pressure on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment activities.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States and some of its allies suspect Iran is trying to develop weapons.

Ivanov sought to dispel possible criticism of Russia's moves, stressing that Moscow was following international weapons regulations.

"As far as Russia's position is concerned, we strictly abide by all nonproliferation regimes, and when we hear reproaches that Russia is secretly helping Iran - it is just propaganda," the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying. He did not specify what the reproaches were.

Top Russian official due in Iran (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482047884&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)

Islamic Jihad vows retaliation on Israel

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer Fri May 26, 10:12 AM ET

SIDON, Lebanon - Security officials said a car bomb Friday killed a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad — an Iran-backed militant group that persisted in attacking Israel while other major factions adhered to a cease-fire.

His brother was also killed in the explosion, which the group blamed on Israeli intelligence, and it vowed to retaliate.

"With God's permission, the response will be sharp," said Abu Imad Rifai, Islamic Jihad's representative in Lebanon.

Mahmoud Majzoub, a member of the group's policy-making Shura Council body and its leader in Sidon, 24 miles south of Beirut, was walking with his brother, Nidal, near the central square of this coastal city when a parked car was detonated by remote control, security officials said.

Mahmoud Majzoub survived the blast but died during surgery, while Nidal Majzoub was killed instantly, said the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Islamic Jihad's representative in Lebanon said Nidal Majzoub also was a member of the group, which has continued to launch attacks on Israel since a February 2005 truce that the main militant group Hamas, which swept Palestinian legislative elections, has respected.

The explosion shattered the windows of several nearby apartment buildings. Lebanese police and soldiers sealed off the area as dogs searched for additional bombs.

"I rushed to the balcony after hearing the blast only to see black smoke billowing from a car," said Omran Kaddoura, 16. After running down six flights of stairs to the street, he "found the two bloodied men lying on the ground in front of the car."

Before Mahmoud died, Islamic Jihad's representative in Lebanon, Abu Imad Rifai, blamed Israeli intelligence for the attack.

"This morning the Israeli Mossad detonated an explosive charge. ... This is the second time Mahmoud is targeted, and I believe it comes in the framework of Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people, particularly Islamic Jihad," Rifai told The Associated Press.

Mahmoud, 41, his wife and infant son were wounded in an explosion in 1998 in Sidon when their booby-trapped car detonated. Islamic Jihad blamed Israel for the blast, which also injured a passer-by.

Rifai confirmed that Nidal, 39, was a member of the group.

In Israel, military officials said they had heard about the bombing through media reports, but had no additional information.

Rifai rejected the possibility that other Palestinian or Lebanese groups were behind the attack.

"No one has an interest in assassinating him except the Israeli Mossad," he said.

Palestinians have blamed the assassinations of several militant leaders on Israel. But some of the killings of leading members of Palestinian groups were the result of intra-Palestinian feuds.

Islamic Jihad says its attacks on Israel are a legitimate response to a crackdown on its members.

The virulently anti-Israel group backed by Iran and Syria claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 11 and wounded dozens in April in Tel Aviv, the deadliest Palestinian attack in 20 months.

Islamic Jihad is led by Ramadan Shallah, a Palestinian from Gaza who now lives in exile in Syria. It considers the 1979 Iranian Revolution to be the beginning of a new era for the Muslim world and wants to turn all of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza into an Islamic state. It rejects compromise with Israel.

Islamic Jihad vows retaliation on Israel (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_explosion;_ylt=AhY4wjMLuBOTmqBN3e0X0advaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--)

Study wants nuclear weapons outlawed

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 1, 5:41 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS - A study led by former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix called Thursday for outlawing nuclear weapons and reviving global cooperation on disarmament including security guarantees to curb the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

As long as any nuclear, chemical and biological arms remain in any country's arsenal, "there is a high risk that they will one day be used by design or accident," the two-year probe by the independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission concluded.

Despite the end of the Cold War the stocks of such weapons remain "extraordinarily high" including 27,000 nuclear weapons, about 12,000 of them still actively deployed, the commission said, making 60 recommendations to free the world from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

At a news conference launching the 227-page report entitled "Weapons of Terror," Blix stressed that "the first line of defense against the spread of nuclear weapons is indeed to make states feel that they don't need them" — which must be rooted in foreign policy not military action.

Blix said all countries in the Middle East support a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, including
Israel. He estimated Israel has 200 nuclear weapons, though it has never acknowledged it is a nuclear power.

But he said "we are going to have to come much further in the area of a settlement of the Middle East before this can be a possibility."

As an interim measure, he urged states in the Middle East to follow the example of North Korea and
South Korea, which don't have either enrichment or reprocessing.

"We are seeking a commitment from Iran that they should not do any enrichment, but what about widening it, as you do in the Korean peninsula — have a zone, an area, in which all the countries commit themselves not to ... enrich uranium and not to produce plutonium?" Blix asked.

This would mean that both Iran and Israel would make a commitment not to enrich uranium or produce plutonium, the key ingredient for nuclear weapons, for a prolonged period, he said.

Blix said countries that make a commitment to nonproliferation should be given assurances "that if they do away with these weapons they will not be attacked by nuclear weapons by anyone — and we think that is important."

As a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the report said, Iran has a right "to participate in all stages of fuel-cycle activity" in a peaceful civilian nuclear energy program. "Trying to reinterpret the NPT and assert a new division of the world into `nuclear fuel-cycle-haves' and `have-nots' would hardly get broad support," it said.

"Nevertheless," the commission said, "a right to do something does not necessarily mean that this right must be exercised."

He also urged those negotiating with Iran to look at the issue through their eyes.

"They see 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq, and they see American bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Blix said. "They remember that (Mohammed) Mossadeq, who was elected premier, was ousted with subversive methods from the outside" in the 1950s.

In the broader effort to free the world of weapons of mass destruction, the commission said the single most important thing that countries can do is to ratify the nuclear test ban treaty, which the U.S. Senate has rejected.

"We don't see any sign of that here in the current administration, and the U.S. is opposed to a ratification but the reality is probably that if the U.S. were to ratify then China would, if China did then India would, if India did Pakistan would, if Pakistan did then Iran would. So it would set in motion a good domino effect," Blix said.

Study wants nuclear weapons outlawed (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060601/ap_on_re_us/un_weapons_of_terror;_ylt=AgLMznPiZkgumHNfxG_2C9Os0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Iran to build two more nuclear plants
Wed May 31, 2006 6:55am ET166

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran plans to build two 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactors and will solicit bids within the next two months, a senior official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The tender will be open to domestic and international firms.

The decision to build two more nuclear plants comes amid mounting Western pressure on the Islamic state to suspend its uranium enrichment work.

"We want to build two nuclear power plants through an international tender," said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

"Iranian and international companies can participate in the tender, which will be within the next two months," he added.

He did not say where the reactors would be located.

In recent years, Iran has built plants generating 12,500 megawatts of electricity, and its first 1,000 MW nuclear power plant, being built with Russian help in the southern port of Bushehr, will come on stream in late 2007.

Washington and its allies fear Iran could use even limited enrichment facilities to master the technology to produce bomb-grade fuel. But Tehran insists its nuclear program is only to generate electricity to satisfy booming demand.

Russia has said it is interested in bidding for more nuclear work in Iran. Tehran has repeatedly said that Russia would have an advantage over other countries for the construction of Iran's new nuclear reactors.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council powers and Germany are planning to meet in Vienna on Thursday to try to finalize a package of incentives for Iran to halt uranium enrichment along with penalties if it keeps defying international pressure.

Iran insists it has the right to process the uranium it mines in its central deserts for use in these power and Tehran has so far dismissed the initiative, saying no incentives will convince it to give up what it calls its national right.

Iran to build two more nuclear plants (http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-31T105534Z_01_HAF128817_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN-REACTOR.xml)

OFFICIAL SWEDEN SAYS MUSLIM RAPES, ETC. = OK
By J. Grant Swank, Jr.
MichNews.com
Jun 1, 2006

The Swedish elite don’t come out and say that rape by foreigners is all right. They just ignore the rapes by foreigners and in that they are saying all is well in Sweden. However, that is not fact.

Further, the police have sided in with the Swedish elite in acting as if there is normalcy in Sweden when in truth Muslim hoodlums are taking over the country.

"The official explanation given by Swedish authorities to this increase is that much of it is a ‘technical’ increase due to the fact that more victims of rape now report this crime to the police. There is not a hint of evidence for this explanation. On the contrary, intimidation of people reporting any kind of crime to the police has rapidly worsened in Sweden during the same time period.

"Threats against witnesses in Swedish court cases quadrupled between 2000 and 2003 alone. Besides, there is a lack of trust among the general public in the efficiency of their police force. Street violence of all kinds is soaring on a national level.

"Private security companies are in great demand in major Swedish cities, as a serious lack of police to combat rising crime has made many citizens tired of being robbed. The number of reported cases of physical abuse/assault in Stockholm has tripled in three decades. The number of people under the age of 18 who are serving sentences in juvenile detention centers has risen sharply over the last five years. Gangs of 14- and 15-year-olds raping and robbing is now common in many Stockholm suburbs.

"Mafia networks demanding protecting money from private businesses are increasingly common. Organized crime is no longer just a problem in the major cities. It has now spread throughout most of Sweden. At the same time, the underfunded and undermanned Swedish police officers feel "unmotivated" to fight crime, according to a study made by police researcher Stefan Holgersson, who interviewed 2000 Swedish police officers," according to Baron Bodissey via http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2006/05/new-york-times-and-sweden-dark-side-of.html

In other words, for Muslims to take over a country, all one has to do is silence the reporters, police, political authorities and news feeds. With that, each neighborhood will have to discover for itself that the Islamic intrusion is encapsulating the politic.

It is easier now to fight the enemy by saying there is no enemy. But in time, the enemy will attack the silent protectors and then there will be no one left but the enemy. Sweden in present tense is the perfect frightening example of this mode.

"Two Swedish girls were sent home from school for wearing sweaters showing a tiny Swedish flag. The headmaster was concerned that this might be deemed offensive by some immigrants."

As Muslims take over turf, it is then cowardice that looms for the authorities weave into the culture the Muslim potential for trouble by negating the country’s distinction, even in the case of small Swedish flags worn on sweaters. In other words, we must make room for the new persons — immigrant Muslims — so that they don’t upset our culture. All the while however they are taking over the culture so that what was heretofore becomes nonexistent.

One wonders then why President Bush and the US Congress welcomed with US citizenship papers 7000 Russian Muslims settling outside Philadelphia. They were all granted houses, furniture and pensions for the elderly. What is that going to do when that is duplicated throughout the nation? Already Detroit has become a Muslim province of its own with locals bowing to their demands rather than take the chance of a Muslim attack.

In some countries, local police look the other way when a crime such as rape is committed. Why? They fear Muslims attacking their own persons, their families, their homes, so they look the other way. With that, Muslim gangs are all the more encouraged to rape the local females such as is happening now in Sweden.

"Actress Ylva Törnlund has visited several schools in Tensta, and was alarmed by the harsh atmosphere she discovered there. ‘The attitudes we meet in the schools are frightening. One boy talked about how girls should be f**ked to pieces until they bleed,’ Törnlund said. She decided to visit the area after a rape that took place in a public bath nearby in broad daylight. A 17-year-old girl was raped, and none of the other guests did anything to stop this. The girl was first approached by a 16-year-old boy. He and his friends followed her as she walked away into a grotto, and inside the grotto he got her blocked in the corner, ripped off her bikini and raped her, while his friend held her firm."

These occurrences are happening daily. Yet they are taking place in the midst of a worldwide media nonchalance. If it is in fact reported through a conservative web site on the Internet, Google, for instance, attacks the web site by deleting it from its reportage, its publicizing the existence of the conservative web site.

Right now there is a Google "cleansing of conservative web sites" throughout the Internet.

Three of my articles related to Islam prompted Michnews.com to be deleted by Google News. I wonder what Google will do when Muslims take over America so as to force Google to kiss the Koran and become slaves to the Islamic world rule. What then will Google conclude in presently stifling freedom of speech via America’s conservative web sites?

Concerning Sweden: ‘It is not as wrong raping a Swedish girl as raping an Arab girl,’ says Hamid, in an interview about another gang rape involving a Swedish girl and immigrant perps. ‘The Swedish girl gets a lot of help afterwards, and she had probably f**ked before, anyway. But the Arab girl will get problems with her family. For her, being raped is a source of shame. It is important that she retains her virginity until she marries.’

‘It is far too easy to get a Swedish whore…… girl, I mean;’ says Hamid, and laughs over his own choice of words. "Many immigrant boys have Swedish girlfriends when they are teenagers. But when they get married, they get a proper woman from their own culture who has never been with a boy. That’s what I am going to do. I don’t have too much respect for Swedish girls. I guess you can say they get f**ked to pieces.’

"The number of rape charges in Sweden has quadrupled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six times as common today as they were a generation ago. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm, who has investigated violent crimes in one court, found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or by foreign parents.

"Swedish politicians and media need to put the well-being of their sons and daughters above that of Political Correctness and their own Multicultural, ideological vanity, and it is shocking that they actually need to be reminded of this. It is an international embarrassment to Sweden as a nation that Swedes travel around the world to lecture about women’s rights, and at the same time their own young women are finding that their most basic rights, such as being able to go outside wearing normal clothes without being harassed, are slipping away.

"Unless Swedish authorities are able to provide basic security to a population that pays some of the highest tax rates in the world, the cabinet of Prime Minister Göran Persson should publicly admit its inadequacy and resign from office. At the very least, it should be honest enough to tell Swedish citizens that they must provide security for themselves, and stop making it difficult for people to do this."

OFFICIAL SWEDEN SAYS MUSLIM RAPES, ETC. = OK (http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_12952.shtml)

Rice Warns Iran It Doesn't Have Much Time

The United States warned Iran it will not have much time to respond once it is offered an international package of rewards to encourage it to suspend uranium enrichment, suggesting that the window could soon close and be replaced by penalties.

"It really needs to be within weeks," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told NBC's "Today" show, referring to the six-power package of perks or penalties aimed at halting Iran's enrichment activities.

In separate comments on National Public Radio, Rice suggested she was ready to meet her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, if Tehran agreed to suspend the activity that can be used to make nuclear arms and negotiate the details of the deal.

The package agreed on Thursday carries the threat of U.N. sanctions if Tehran remains defiant over what the West calls a rogue nuclear program that could produce a bomb. The United States, in a major policy shift, conditionally agreed this week to join those talks. It would be the first major public negotiations between the two countries in more than 25 years.

Rice met with the foreign ministers from the European nations that led talks with Iran, which stalled last year. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russia's foreign minister and a deputy Chinese foreign minister also attended.

Russia and China might join in any future talks with Iran. Both hold vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, and the United States needs their cooperation to seek sanctions or other harsh measures.

The formal offer of talks are expected to be made by France, Britain and Germany - the three nations that previously negotiatiated with Tehran. A senior U.S. state department official said he expected Tehran would be invited to begin new negotiations "within a matter of days."

A short statement issued by foreign ministers from the six powers and the European Union did not mention economic sanctions, which the U.S. wants and Iran has tried hard to avoid.

The powers agreed privately, however, that Iran could face tough Security Council sanctions if it failed to give up unranium enrichment and other disputed nuclear activities, U.S. officials said.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns called the meeting's outcome "a step forward in our quest to deny Iran nuclear weapons capability."

The U.S. intelligence director, meanwhile said Tehran could reach that status in as little as four years.

"This is a matter of assessment, we don't have a clear-cut knowledge," National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told British Broadcasting Corp. "But the estimate we have made is that some time between beginning of the next decade and the middle of the next decade they might be in a position to have a nuclear weapon."

Diplomats feared Iran would reject any offer of talks if the threat of sanctions was explicit, officials involved in the discussions said on condition of anonymity because the seven-party negotiations were private.

The foreign ministers' statement threatens unspecified "further steps" in the Security Council.

The group's statement contained no details of incentives Iran could be offered. Diplomats previously have said the package includes help to develop legitimate nuclear power plants and various economic benefits.

"We are prepared to resume negotiations should Iran resume suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities," as previously required by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett.

If Iran returns to the talks, "we would also suspend action in the Security Council," Beckett said.

The Security Council, which can levy mandatory global sanctions and support its mandates with military force, has been reviewing Iran's case for two months. Its permanent, veto-holding members have been at odds over the possibility of sanctions, with Russia and China opposed.

"At this crucial stage, it is very important that none of the sides involved in the situation makes any sharp movements that would create a threat to the real prospect of using the chance to reach agreement," ITAR-Tass quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying before talks began in Vienna.

Iran insists its nuclear work is peaceful and aimed at developing a new energy source.

Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, welcomed the idea of direct talks but rebuffed the U.S. condition that Tehran must suspend uranium enrichment before talks can begin.

At the White House, President George W. Bush warned that the confrontation would go to the Security Council should Iran continue to enrich uranium.

"If they continue their obstinance, if they continue to say to the world, 'We really don't care what your opinion is,' then the world is going to act in concert," Bush said.

Bush said he got a "positive response" in a telephone conversation Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding, "We expect Russia to participate in the United Nations Security Council. We'll see whether or not they agree to do that."

Bush also spoke about Iran on Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao. He revealed little about that conversation, saying, "They understood our strategy."

The shift in U.S. tactics was meant to offer the Iranians a last chance to avoid punishing sanctions and to let the United States assert that it was willing to exhaust every opportunity to resolve the Iranian impasse without force.

Russia to Establish Naval Base in Syrian Port of Tartus — Paper

Created: 02.06.2006 11:55 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:53 MSK, 2 hours 17 minutes ago

MosNews

Russia has begun works in the Syrian port of Tartus seeking to built a full-scale naval base for the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, currently based in Ukraine’s Sevastopol, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources in the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Navy.

The paper noted that this is the first time Russia is setting up a military base outside the CIS since the fall of the USSR and that the base will allow Moscow to pursue its own line in the Middle East.

Russia has also started work in the port of Latakia in Syria, the newspaper said. The base in Tartus and the new mooring in Latakia will be able to serve the needs of the Black Sea Fleet and possibly the North Sea Fleet as well.

The newspaper quoted its sources as saying that in the nearest future the Russian Navy will form a squadron headed by the Moskva missile cruiser which will permanently operate in the Mediterranean, taking part in joint exercises with NATO forces.

The sources said that the new base would allow Russia to strengthen its positions in the Middle East and also enhance Syrian security.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry has refuted the report. Russia is not building a military base in Syria, spokesman for the Ministry Colonel Vyacheslav Sedov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

Russia to Establish Naval Base in Syrian Port of Tartus — Paper (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/06/02/syrianbase.shtml)

Arab Media Rush to Cover Al-Zarqawi

By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Red banners with urgent tags appeared on many Arab TV stations Thursday as the region's major stations broke into regular programming to announce some of the biggest news in months - the death of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Islamic extremist Web sites were also quick to carry the news - and in their case, lament it.

A note posted on one Web site - known as a clearinghouse for al-Qaida in Iraq statements - shortly after the news of al-Zarqawi's death broke on TV said: "We hope this news is not true."

"If Sheik al-Zarqawi has died, he will go to heaven, God willing, and there will be 200 million al-Zarqawis after him," said another note posted on the site.

The Islamic sites generally carried news from other Arab media, such as the bulletins that appeared on Al-Arabiya television.

And while the news broke into most major Arab station's programming, some state TV stations largely ignored it: Government-run TV stations in Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen continued with regular programming even as al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera were flashing alerts.

Those countries' stations normally are slow to report breaking news because it first needs to be cleared by officials.

In Yemen, the official TV showed an archaeological program, followed by scenic views of Yemen and then an Egyptian soap opera 90 minutes after the news emerged.

In Saudi Arabia, a program on the importance of women remaining connected to their environment was playing on the official station one hour after the news broke elsewhere.

And in Syria, a government-run station showed a call-in program that deals with citizens' concerns. News of al-Zarqawi's death appeared only in a news bar running at the bottom of the screen.

Other TV stations were faster - flashing banners like "News of al-Zarqawi's killing," shortly before Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made the announcement on TV.

After al-Maliki's news conference, the stations showed clips from al-Zarqawi's last appearance in a videotape aimed at rallying supporters. They also hosted analysts and experts to discuss the implications of al-Zarqawi's death.

"This is the most important news not only in the past few weeks but also for the next few weeks," said Nabil al-Khatib, executive editor of the Dubai-based satellite Al-Arabiya TV.

"Al-Zarqawi has been a key player not only in Iraq but also in the whole region. Therefore, his absence will have an impact on the course of political developments," he told The Associated Press.

Arab Media Rush to Cover Al-Zarqawi (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ARABS_ZARQAWI_MEDIA?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-06-08-06-13-23)

Central Asian bloc considering Iran for membership
By Michael Mainville
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 5, 2006
Advertisement
MOSCOW -- An obscure regional security group will consider admitting Iran as a member at a summit this month, accelerating its transformation into a political and military bloc with the potential to challenge U.S. interests.
U.S. analysts think Russia and China already are using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- which links the two with four Central Asian neighbors -- to try to squeeze the United States out of the region.
SCO foreign ministers said at an earlier meeting that consideration is being given to extending membership to four countries with observer status -- Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to attend the summit on June 15 in Shanghai.
Expansion of the organization into Iran and other countries could make it "an enormous power," said David Wall, a professor at the University of Cambridge's East Asia Institute.
"An expanded SCO would control a large part of the world's oil and gas reserves and nuclear arsenal. It would essentially be an OPEC with bombs," he said, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld alluded to the coming summit on his way to a weekend security conference in Singapore. Comparing the openness of the Singapore meeting to other unnamed gatherings, he said: "There are some efforts and systems that leave us out, and we obviously favor institutions that are inclusive, rather than exclusive."
A warning shot was fired at last year's SCO summit, where the group issued a declaration calling for the United States to set a timeline for withdrawing from air bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, established to support the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Delegates from Kazakhstan, Washington's closest friend in the SCO, argued at that meeting to head off an even stronger resolution.
Uzbekistan subsequently evicted the United States from its base in that country, and Kyrgyzstan demanded a 100-fold increase in the rent on its base when the lease expired May 31. Negotiations are continuing, but Kyrgyz visitors to Washington say the government could find another tenant for the base, possibly China.
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan founded the group as the "Shanghai Five" in 1996. It was expanded to include Uzbekistan, renamed the SCO and given a written charter in 2001.
The organization's members insist its main goal is to foster cooperation by working to resolve cross-border disputes, promote economic links and support joint efforts to combat regional problems, such as drug trafficking.
But the SCO has increasingly provided the basis for military cooperation among its member states. A military exercise last year involved more than 10,000 troops from SCO member countries, and another set of war games is planned for next year.
"They say they don't want to form a NATO of the East, but the question remains: Why conduct these military exercises under the auspices of the SCO if it's not meant as a counterbalance to NATO," Mr. Wall said.
Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, complained in March that the United States had been denied permission to observe the SCO exercise.
"There was a Sino-Russian military exercise last year which we wanted to be observers at, and the Chinese declined to invite us," Mr. Rodman told a congressional China commission hearing.
Mr. Rodman said Russia is "very tight" with the Chinese on a number of issues and the two nations have been "trying to push us out" of Central Asia through the SCO.
Chinese President Hu Jintao confirmed the closeness last month, when he praised Russia as China's most important strategic partner and described the SCO as "an important force for promoting peace and stability in the region and throughout the world."
"Relations between the two countries have reached unprecedented levels," Mr. Hu said in comments posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site.

Central Asian bloc considering Iran for membership (http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20060604-103052-2402r)

ChristiansUnite Forums

Theology => Prophecy - Current Events => Topic started by: Shammu on April 24, 2006, 03:45:49 PM