Karzai widens lead over Abdullah in Afghan vote

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – President Hamid Karzai widened his lead over his top challenger Wednesday after Afghan officials released more partial vote results. The president's new total pushed him closer to the 50 percent threshold that would allow him to avoid a two-man runoff.

The Independent Election Commission released its second batch of results from last week's presidential election. More results will be released in coming days, and final certified results will not be ready until at least mid-September, after investigations are held into the dozens of serious complaints of fraud that have been filed.

Low voter turnout and allegations of fraud have cast a pall over the election. Top challenger Abdullah Abdullah has accused Karzai of widespread rigging, including ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation, claims Karzai's camp has denied.

The latest returns boost Karzai's standing to 44.8 percent. Abdullah now has 35.1 percent. The count is based on returns from 17 percent of polling stations nationwide, meaning the results could still change dramatically.

Before the commission released results Wednesday, Ramazan Bashardost — a presidential candidate who appears likely to come in third — stood up in front of the commission and lodged complaints about the process.

Millions of Afghans went to the polls last Thursday to vote in the country's second-ever direct presidential election. Militants launched dozens of attacks across the country, violence that shut down some polling sites.

The Eurasian Pipeline Calculus

By F. William Engdahl

URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14007

Global Research, June 17, 2009

Calculus has two main variants—derivative and integral. The Eurasian energy pipeline geopolitics between Turkey Washington and Moscow today has elements of both. It is highly derivative in that the major actors across Central Asia from China, Russia to Turkey are very much engaged in a derived power game which has less to do with any specific state and more to do with maintaining Superpower hegemony for Washington. Integral as the de facto motion of various pipeline projects now underway or in discussion across Eurasia hold the potential to integrate the economic space of Eurasia in a way that poses a fundamental challenge to Washington's projection of Full Spectrum Dominance over the greatest land mass on earth.

Since at least the time of the Crimean War of 1853, Turkey has played a strategic role in modern Eurasian and European developments. In the 1850's Ottoman Turkey became a target of Great Power imperial ambitions as Britain and France sought to take advantage of tensions between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in order to weaken and ultimately take vital parts of that weakened empire.

The Great Powers of that time, the empires of Britain, France, Russia and Austria began plotting the dismemberment of the vast Ottoman Empire. Debt was their preferred instrument. The foreign debt situation in Ottoman Turkey had become so extreme that Sultan Abdul Hamid II was forced by his French and British creditors to put the entire finances of the realm under the control of a banker-run agency in 1881, the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA), controlled by the two largest creditors—France and Britain. By the late 1880's a new player on the Continent who was not part of this debt control, the German Reich, engaged the Ottoman Empire economically. That strategically challenged the vital imperial design of the most powerful empire of the day, Britain.

After Britain sank into a Great Depression after 1873, Germany's industrial colossus emerged as the fastest-developing economic power on earth with the possible exception of then fledgling United States. The political and economic fate of Germany and Ottoman Turkey were linked after 1899 with the decision by German industry, Deutsche Bank to build a railway connecting Berlin to the Ottoman Empire as far away as Baghdad in then-Mesopotamia. It was a land bridge for trade between Ottoman Turkey and Germany independent of British control of the seas.

A few Eurasian geopolitical basics

German industry had begun to look overseas for sources of raw materials as well as potential markets for German goods. In 1894 German Chancellor, von Caprivi, told the Reichstag, “Asia Minor is important to us as a market for German industry, a place for the investment of German capital and a source of supply, capable of considerable expansion, of such essential goods as we now buy from countries of which it may well sooner or later be in our interests to make ourselves independent.” Caprivi was supported by German industry, especially the steel barons, and by the great banks such as Deutsche Bank.

That Berlin-Baghdad Railway linking the fate of Ottoman Turkey to that of Germany was a geopolitically strategic factor in the events which led Britain to the First World War in a failed bid to preserve her global hegemony. Turkey then as today was regarded by powerful Great Powers as a “pivot” state. The danger in being a pivot state is, of course, the question of who has their hands on it, who moves the pivot for their own geopolitical purposes.

In 1904 a British professor of geography, Sir Halford Mackinder, delivered a lecture before the Royal Geographical Society titled The Geographical Pivot of History, which was to shape a history of two world wars and subsequent wars and power relations. Mackinder, the father of geopolitics—the relation of geography and political economy and power—developed the systematic axiom of British imperial power. It was simple as it was fateful:

Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland:

Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island:

Who rules the World-Island commands the World.

For Mackinder East Europe was Continental Europe from Germany to Poland, France and Austria. The Heartland was the vast Eurasian land power, Russia. The World-Island was Eurasia.

When the United States emerged to displace the British Empire in world affairs after 1945, she also took the lessons of Mackinder geopolitics. The leading postwar foreign policy strategists including Henry Kissinger, were schooled in Mackinders' ideas. One American disciple of Mackinder, Zbigniew Brzezinski, cited Mackinder's geopolitical axiom in a 1997 essay in Foreign Affairs magazine where he defined the American strategic priorities in the post-Soviet era:

Eurasia is home to most of the world's politically assertive and dynamic states...The world's most populous aspirants to regional hegemony, China and India, are in Eurasia, as are all the potential political or economic challengers to American primacy. After the United States, the next six largest economies and military spenders are there Eurasia accounts for 75 percent of the world's population; 60 percent of its GNP, and 75 percent of its energy resources. Collectively, Eurasia's potential power overshadows even America's.

Eurasia is the world's axial super-continent. A power that dominated Eurasia would exercise decisive influence over two of the world's three most economically productive regions, Western Europe and East Asia. A glance at the map also suggests that a country dominant in Eurasia would almost automatically control the Middle East and Africa. With Eurasia now serving as the decisive geopolitical chessboard the distribution of power on the Eurasian landmass will be of decisive importance to America's global primacy.

That has largely defined US foreign political and military relations with Turkey and the newly emerging former Soviet Republics of Eurasia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Unfortunately for Turkey and the republics of the Eurasian region, those relations have too often been determined by IMF conditionalities and by military alliances and actions more resembling the Cold War than an era of genuine peace and respect for national sovereignty. Until now the post-Soviet East-West relations have largely been based on a negative construct.

The two geopolitical statements—the one from Mackinder in 1919 during the Versailles talks to divide Europe after the First World War, the second by Mr Brzezinski in 1997 at the end of a bitter Cold War—have defined the principle relations of Turkey and the rest of Eurasia to the world for more than a century.

Eurasia's Opportunity today

What will define the future for the various nations of Eurasia, especially Turkey, two decades since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact Cold War structures?

The answer requires some clarity on basic issues. First and most essential is how Turkey and other Eurasian nations define their bilateral and regional relationships. Second, how do they define their relationship with the Atlantic alliance, the system of political, military and economic relations built after 1945 around the dominance of the United States.

What defines the situation today is a growing realization across all Eurasia from Beijing to Moscow, from Alma Ata to Ankara that the pillar of the postwar order, the United States has become an increasingly incalculable partner and force in world economic and political affairs. Some even within the US speak of a terminal decline in American influence over the coming decades, with terms such as ‘imperial overstretch.' It's essential to understand the extent and nature of the current economic and financial crisis of the Dollar System if we are to make any serious calculation of the future.

The crisis which broke in August 2007 as a crisis in the sub-prime or high-risk segment of US real estate credit was in fact a first manifestation of a process of debt destruction which is bringing the United States into a new Great Depression, one that will last at least a decade, perhaps several. In its severity it will be far worse than that of the 1930's. Today the USA is the world's greatest debtor economy. In 1929 it was the largest creditor. Today the USA public debt is over $11 trillion, growing at the fastest rate in history. The Federal deficit this year is estimated to exceed $1.8 trillion as the Treasury pours money into a bankrupt banking system to try to rescue a collapsing Dollar System. In 1929 US Public Debt was insignificant.

Since Washington abandoned the Bretton Woods Gold Exchange Standard convertibility in August 1971 it has been accepted wisdom in Washington that, as Dick Cheney put it, ‘deficits don't matter.' So long as the dollar was world reserve currency and the US was the greatest military power, the world would support the dollar. That era appears to have ended. The trade surplus economies of Asia, above all China are becoming increasingly concerned that the value of their dollar investments in US debt will depreciate as the volume of debt needed continues to soar.

In recent months China has begun exploring alternative investment avenues to replace their dollar investments. Russia and Brazil, seeking to reduce their dependence on the dollar, plan to buy $20billion of SDR bonds from the IMF and diversify foreign-currency reserves. Russia's central bank said it may cut investments in US Treasuries, currently estimated at $240billion, and China says it may reduce reliance on the dollar and US bonds. China today is America's largest foreign creditor.

This is no short-term impulse to dump dollars or a pressure tactic by the countries of Eurasia. It's the beginning of a global tectonic shift away from a sole financial center to many regional or ‘multipolar' centers over the next decade. As the trillions of dollars of US taxpayer bailouts have demonstrated, try as they might, Humpty Dumpty, the Dollar System can't be put together again, as it was even three years ago. Wrong economic policies, decisions taken more than four decades ago in Washington and Wall Street, have reached their relative limits. The world is in what Joseph Schumpeter once called ‘creative destruction.' The consequences for the future of Eurasia are enormous.

With the pillar of the US-centered Dollar System slowly collapsing, the choices for Eurasia begin to define themselves. At this point they can go one of two ways: Continue the status quo and subordinate national economic decisions to support the Dollar System. That means abiding by the rules of IMF and World Bank austerity. It means abiding by the trade rules of the G7-dominated WTO, even on issues such as GMO seeds which go against national health security. It means to subordinate national security interests to NATO, an institution created in the Cold War atmosphere of the Truman Doctrine in 1948. That, despite we are at a time the original purpose for NATO, defense against a Soviet military threat or Warsaw Pact aggression has long since become a relic of past history. Those four institutions are at the heart of the 1944 Bretton Woods Dollar System, as I have described in detail in a recent book.

The main problem for fast-emerging Eurasian nations with continuing this Atlantic status quo, sometimes referred to by Washington as ‘Globalization,' is that it now means going down with the Dollar Titanic over the longer term.

Emerging Eurasian Economic Space

On the other hand there is second dynamic economic perspective, still raw and unformed, but one containing everything necessary to build a vast zone of economic prosperity, a huge new market.

The catastrophic US military experience in Iraq and also in Pakistan and Afghanistan since 2001 has led to much rethinking across Eurasia.

The fact that the new Obama Administration to date, while making rhetorical gestures of a change, has done little of substance to shift US fundamental economic and military policy, suggests that the real options for maintaining the American Century are few at this point. That is clear from the fact that the key players in Obama economic policy were the same persons responsible for creating the conditions of the financial disaster in the first place. The military policies in the new Administration are represented by the same persons responsible for past military misadventures. They are representing an outmoded paradigm that is in fatal decline.

In this situation of a declining economic influence of the USA the various nations across Eurasia are clearly beginning to look to new regional arrangements which could secure export markets, in fact to build new markets.

A market in the end is a political decision. Markets, contrary to what Milton Friedman taught, do not exist free in nature. They are created. There is no abstract ‘world market.' Regional or local markets can be and are created peacefully.

In the past several years steps to build new markets have become visible across Eurasia. Notable is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). According to Russian and to Chinese economists with whom I have discussed, the SCO is seen as an evolving framework to build a new Eurasian economic space.

It is very initial, but an important framework to economically weave the nations of China, Russia and Central Asia into closer cooperation. From the perspective of geopolitics, the SCO is a natural economic convergence of mutual interests of the republics of Central Asia. SCO founding members include Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, India, Pakistan and Iran are observers. They just concluded an annual meeting in Yekaterinburg, Russia where they discussed deeper economic, security and social cooperation. The background of the present deepening dollar crisis shaped the talks. As well the governments of Brazil and India joined after with Russia and China, to discuss mutual economic interests, including energy cooperation.

The Eurasian energy calculus

The future of any economic cooperation among the states of Eurasia, including Turkey, rests on the resolution of vital energy supply issues. Here Eurasia is fortunate to straddle some of the richest energy regions on our planet, in Russia as well as the Caspian Basin state of Kazakhstan and the contiguous Middle East Gulf region.

Following the ill-conceived decision by the G7 in June 1990 to place the economic reorganization of former economies of the Warsaw Pact including Russia under the mandate of IMF conditionalities, a role for which the IMF had never been intended, Russia today is struggling to regain a stable economic base.

It has a way to go. But Russia brings to the table huge positive resource advantages in terms of its wealth of oil and gas reserves and energy technology no Western country possesses. Given the rapid industrial expansion of China since the beginning of the decade, a natural partnership is emerging linking the economies of Russia, Kazakhstan and China increasingly around energy. The role of pipeline geopolitics in the economic future of Turkey and Eurasia generally is central.

Today the future of competing gas pipelines is at the heart of the Eurasian economic calculus. Here Turkey is in a position to play a central role given its geographic and historical role as a bridge between East and West, North and South—Europe and Eurasia.

One key link through Turkey has been the oil and gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to the port of Ceyhan via Georgia. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline are cited as part of Turkey's foreign policy strategy to become an energy conduit. BTC has also been a high priority US foreign policy goal to weaken Russian influence over Caspian energy corridors. By itself BTC has limited strategic effect on the regional geopolitical balance. Were it to be coupled with a second project, the much-discussed Nabucco project, the impact would definitely be a direct challenge to Russia's energy role. The EU knows this well, which is why several member states have been less than eager to invest serious sums in Nabucco.

Recent developments in discovery and development of new natural gas reserves in both Azerbaijan and most recently in Turkmenistan in South Yolotan-Osman and Yashlar gas fields, located in the eastern part of the Amudarya River basin, add significant new energy resources to the energy calculus of the emerging Eurasian economic space.

Turkey-Russia cooperation or Turkish-Washington Cooperation?

Turkish-Russian economic ties have greatly expanded over the past decade, with trade volume reaching $32 billion in 2008, making Russia Turkey's number one partner. Gas and oil imports from Russia account for most of the trade volume.

Turkey and Russia are already connected by the twin Blue Stream natural gas pipelines across the bottom of the Black Sea. Moscow and Ankara are talking about increasing deliveries through the network, which in 2008 carried 10 bn cm of Russian gas to Turkey.

More importantly, following a March meeting in Ankara between the Turkish Energy Minister and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, discussions are underway about a Blue Stream-2 project. It would be a new gas pipeline parallel to Blue Stream, in addition to the construction of a gas transportation system in Turkey by expanding Blue Stream to interlink with the proposed Samsun-Ceyhan line, with a spur line under the Mediterranean to Ashkelon in Israel.

Russia's Prime Minister Putin has also said he was counting on the support of Israel in the construction of a new oil pipeline via Turkey and Israel. The pipeline would link to the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, to be constructed across the Red and Mediterranean seas.

For Turkey, which currently imports 90 % of its energy, the projects would provide increased energy security and, in the case of the Samsun-Ceyhan-Ashkelon pipeline, generate significant transit revenues.

Discussions are also underway on possible extending Turkey's gas lines across its Thracian territory to supply neighbouring Balkan nations Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. In such an event, Moscow would have gained a prime goal of lessening its dependency on the Ukrainian pipeline network for transit.

Russia also won a tender for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear plant recently, though final resolution is unclear at this time. Russia's market also plays a major role for Turkish overseas investments and exports. Russia is one of the main customers for Turkish construction firms and a major destination for Turkish exports. Similarly, millions of Russian tourists bring significant revenues to Turkey every year. Importantly, Turkey and Russia may start to use the Turkish lira and the Russian ruble in foreign trade, which could increase Turkish exports to Russia.

In recent months both Turkey and Russia have taken steps to deepen economic and political cooperation. Cooperation between Russia and Turkey is seen by both now as essential to regional peace and stability.

In talk of revived ‘Great Games' in Eurasia during the 1990's it seemed Turkey was becoming once more Russia's geopolitical rival as in the 19th Century. Turkey's quasi-alliance with Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Georgia led Moscow until recently to view Turkey as a formidable rival. That is changing significantly.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently commended Turkey's actions during the Russian-Georgian war of last summer, and Turkey's subsequent proposal for the establishment of a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform (CSCP). The Russian President said the Georgia crisis had shown their ability to deal with such problems on their own without the involvement of outside powers.

Russian's aim is clearly to use its economic resources to counter what it sees as a growing NATO encirclement, made dramatic by the Washington decision to place missile and radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, as they see it, aimed at Moscow. To date the Obama Administration has indicated it will continue the Bush ‘missile defense' policy. Washington also just agreed to place US Patriot missiles in Poland, clearly not aimed at Germany.

If Ankara moves towards closer collaboration with Russia, Georgia's position is precarious and Azerbaijan's natural gas pipeline route to Europe, the Nabucco Pipeline, is blocked. If it cooperates with the United States and manages to reach a stable treaty with Armenia under US auspices, the Russian position in the Caucasus is weakened.

The strategy for Washington to bring Germany into closer cooperation with the US is to weaken German dependence on Russian energy flows. With the recent Obama visit to Ankara, Washington is evidently attempting to win Turkish support for its troubled Nabucco alternative gas pipeline through Turkey from Azerbaijan which would potentially lessen EU dependence on Russian gas.

Turkey is one of the only routes energy from new sources can cross to Europe from the Middle East, Central Asia or the Caucasus. If Turkey decides to cooperate with Russia, Russia retains the initiative. Since it became clear in Moscow that US strategy was to extend NATO to Russia's front door via Ukraine and Georgia, Russia has moved to use its economic “carrot” its vast natural gas resources, to at the very least neutralize Western Europe, especially Germany, towards Russia.

A Washington Great Game?

However the question of Turkish-EU relations is linked with the issue of Turkish membership into the EU, a move vehemently opposed by France and also less openly so by Germany, and strongly backed by Washington.

Washington is clearly playing what some call ‘a deeper game.' Obama's backing for Turkey's application for EU membership comes with a heavy price. As the US is no member of the EU it was an attempt to try to curry favor with the Erdogan government. Since the April Obama visit, Ankara has begun to discuss an agreement with Armenia including diplomatic relations.

A Turkish accord with Armenia would change the balance of power in the entire region. Since the August 2008 Georgia-Russia conflict the Caucasus, a strategically vital area has been unstable. Russian troops remain in South Ossetia. Russia also has troops in Armenia meaning Russia has Georgia surrounded.

Turkey is the key link in this complex game of geopolitical balance of power between Washington and Moscow. If Turkey decides to collaborate with Russia Georgia's position becomes insecure and Azerbaijan's possible pipeline route to Europe is blocked. If Turkey decides to cooperate with Washington and at the same time reaches a stable agreement with Armenia under US nudging, Russia's entire position in the Caucasus is weakened and an alternative route for natural gas to Europe becomes available, reducing Russian leverage with Western Europe.

This past March a memorandum was signed between the Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR and Russia's Gazprom for major deliveries of Azerbaijan natural gas to Russia by January 2010.

Azerbaijan is the only state outside Iran that would likely supply gas to the planned EU Nabucco pipeline from Azerbaijan through Turkey to south-eastern Europe. Russia has proposed South Stream as an alternative to the Nabucco project, also in need of Azerbaijan gas, so in effect Russia weakens the chances of realization of Nabucco.

In this Eurasian pipeline and economic diplomacy, clear is that Turkey and the other nations of Eurasia are grappling with new possible economic arrangements which will have profound impact on the future of the world economy. The EU as a body is at present clearly frozen in the dynamic of the old post-1945 Bretton Woods order. Initiative is unlikely to come from Brussels for a dynamic economic growth in Turkey or Eurasia generally. Interestingly, Eurasia is becoming the growth locomotive for the EU. Many Europeans find that a hard pill to swallow. It is however the reality, and a fascinating opportunity for the nations of Eurasia as well as for the economies of the EU. Ultimately, as well, a vibrant growing Eurasian economic space would be in the best long-term interest of the United States in a multi-polar world.

Sudan: Officials From Joint African Union-UN Mission Bid Farewell to Darfur

The head of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur and its military chief are meeting with colleagues and local government officials as they wrap up their tours of duty in the strife-torn Sudanese region.

Over the last two days, AU-UN Joint Special Representative Rodolphe Adada visited Nyala town in South Darfur, and El Geneina and Zalingei in West Darfur, where he met with staff from the mission, known as UNAMID, and members of the UN country team.

Mr. Adada, whose leaves his post on 31 August, also paid a courtesy call on the Deputy Wali, or Governor, of South Darfur, Dr. Farah Mustaph. The success of this mission is nothing but a great testimony to the persistent, strategic and charismatic leadership you have shown throughout the service in Darfur.

Also yesterday, the mission held a farewell ceremony in El Fasher stadium to honor its outgoing Force Commander, General Martin Luther Agwai, who will be succeeded by Lieutenant General Patrick Nyamvumba.

In his remarks to the gathering, Mr. Adada recalled that General Agwai arrived in the mission at a time when UNAMID did not exist and when doubts about its deployment were a common belief.

"The success of this mission is nothing but a great testimony to the persistent, strategic and charismatic leadership you have shown throughout the service in Darfur you have been the voice of truth, credibility and reason within this mission," said the UNAMID chief.

General Agwai highlighted the achievements made so far, including progress in the deployment of UNAMID forces in Darfur, as well as the challenges facing the operation, including the lack of critical equipment.

The outgoing Force Commander also acknowledged efforts made by the AU, UN, UNAMID and the humanitarian community in protecting civilians in Darfur, which has been beset by conflict and displacement for the past six years.

"I believe we have made remarkable progress, but still need to do more," he said.

Meanwhile, UNAMID reported today that the main group of the first Jordanian Formed Police Unit (FPU) consisting of 100 officers arrived in El Fasher today to begin work with the mission, while a second group consisting of 180 officers will arrive tomorrow.

These officers were preceded, on 19 August, by an advance party of 20 Jordanian police advisers tasked with assisting in the preparations of the facilities earmarked for the Unit at UNAMID and the coordination of the logistics of the contingent's owned equipment (COE).

FPUs are comprised of police officers who have received specialized training in high-risk operations. Their main task is the protection of civilians, including through conducting community policing, especially in camps housing internally displaced persons (IDPs). They also assist UN agencies in the delivery of humanitarian aid in Darfur.

The Jordanian FPU is the fifth such unit to be deployed, after the Bangladeshi, Indonesian, Nepalese and Nigerian, out of the 19 such units mandated by the Security Council when it established UNAMID in 2007.

On the security front, UNAMID said that incidents of carjacking were reported in North and South Darfur and banditry activities in North Darfur.

A UNAMID vehicle was carjacked on 24 August by two armed men in El Fasher, where the mission is headquartered. On the same day, a vehicle belonging to a UN agency was carjacked near Al Salaam IDP camp in Nyala by three armed men in civilian clothing.

In addition, a house occupied by UNAMID police in El Fasher was broken into yesterday by unknown persons who stole two personal computers, a digital camera and a music system.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908260002.html.

Turkey should 'expand role in Afghanistan'

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey should expand the mandate of its troops in Afghanistan and play a bigger part in the fight against terrorism, NATO's secretary general said in remarks published Wednesday in the Turkish press.

"Of course it is up to the (NATO) allies to decide how they contribute" to operations in Afghanistan, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview with the Milliyet newspaper. But sending combat troops to the country would be welcome.

"It would be met with great satisfaction," he said.

Turkey has deployed some 730 infantry soldiers to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) but their mission is restricted to the capital Kabul and its surrounds.

Turkey, a Muslim member of NATO, has indicated that it might increase its military contingent in Afghanistan, but only if they remain in Kabul.

It says its effort should be aimed at other aspects, such as training Afghan security forces and providing assistance in the fields of health and education.

Rasmussen believes that having Muslim soldiers in the front line against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan would help convince other Muslim nations that the operations "are not a religious war but a struggle against terrorism."

Rasmussen, who assumed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's top job this month, is scheduled to arrive in Ankara on Thursday as part of a tour of NATO capitals.

"I want to build closer ties with our allies within the framework of our alliance," Rasmussen said.

Ankara had opposed the former Danish prime minister's candidacy over his vehement defense of a Danish newspaper's decision to publish satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005 that sparked anger among Muslims across the world.

On Thursday night he is scheduled to take part in an Iftar feast -- the evening meal breaking the Ramadan fast -- with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Meanwhile Greece on Wednesday reaffirmed its willingness to cooperate with Turkey within the NATO alliance.

"It is paradoxical that Greece and Turkey can stand side by side on NATO missions in Afghanistan and Somalia and not cooperate," foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said ahead of Rasmussen's visit to Athens.

"We must solve this issue but the heart of the problem is Turkey's refusal to recognize a European Union country," he said, referring to Cyprus.

On Tuesday, Rasmussen had said bilateral problems between Greece and Turkey were affecting alliance efforts in Afghanistan and Africa.

Ankara refuses to recognize the government of the Greek Cypriot-run Republic of Cyprus as having sovereignty over the whole island as the Turkish Cypriots have a breakaway statelet in the north.

After fires out, Athens residents assess damage

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and NEBI QENA, Associated Press Writers

RODOPOLI, Greece – Fani Filosidi sifted through the burnt wreckage of her home as her family calmly loaded what was left into a small van — a stack of plates, some living room furniture, a table lamp.

Suddenly, the stress of living through Greece's latest wildfire — a voracious monster that devoured large areas near Athens — was overwhelming.

"It's too much, the destruction is unbelievable," she said. "I could hardly recognize my own home ... I don't know what to say."

The fires around the Greek capital were put out or contained to small areas Wednesday after razing 80 square miles (210 square kilometers) of forest and hillside scrub — an area more than three times the size of Manhattan.

Rodopoli, a small town 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Athens, was one of about a dozen areas hard hit by the devastating wildfires. Up to 60 homes were destroyed and another 150 seriously damaged, according to an initial estimate.

Regional officials said none of those made homeless had responded to offers for shelter, preferring to stay with friends and relatives.

The fires tore a hole in the front of Filosidi's house, leaving the outer wall standing on its own. At the edge of the scorched front yard, a burnt-out car lay twisted on its side.

A neighbor sat quietly next to the blackened wall of his small home.

Some owners were too busy fighting fires elsewhere to defend their houses.

Panos Bekas drove a water tanker to fire-stricken areas at the height of the wildfires, unaware that his own home was being engulfed. On Wednesday, he rummaged through the remnants of his gutted house, not certain what to do.

"I have no other place to go," said Bekas, 48. "This is all I had. Now my dreams and the dreams of my family are gone."

The government has pledged speedy aid to fire victims.

"I'll be happy when I see it," Bekas said.

The fires spared the cinder block-built homes on the outskirts of Athens, including luxury villas owned by some of the city's wealthiest residents.

After five days of destruction, the wooded landscape changed color: Black charred spikes replaced trees and hills on the horizon were dusted in dark gray soot.

It was the most destructive blaze in decades in the Attica region, and the worst in Greece since wildfires in 2007 killed 76 people and blackened 1,060 square miles (2,750 square kilometers).

Officials have not said how the fires outside Athens started Friday night. Hundreds of forest blazes plague Greece every summer and some are set intentionally — often by unscrupulous land developers or animal farmers seeking to expand their grazing land.

Greek opposition members have strongly criticized the government's firefighting efforts, saying poor coordination and a failure to crackdown on the rogue developers had allowed the fires to reach catastrophic proportions.

In response, the conservative government insisted it coped well, avoiding any loss of life and successfully limiting property damage from the fires that swept through several outlying Athens suburbs and other residential areas.

Still, many home owners were left to defend their property only using garden hoses and branches to ward off the flames.

In the small town of Stamata, Paolo Liverani, a 50-year old Italian sculptor scolded authorities for not learning from past mistakes. The fire burned his back yard, destroying a chicken coop and sculpting equipment.

"They didn't learn from 2005, they didn't learn from 2007," said Liverani, who moved here 20 years ago. "If this goes on I'll be leaving Greece."

Koreas hold talks on reuniting divided families

By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – North and South Korea on Wednesday began their first talks in nearly two years aimed at reuniting families divided during the Korean War.

The Koreas used to regularly hold talks brokered by the Red Cross to discuss family reunions and other humanitarian issues but no meetings have taken place since 2007. The North called off inter-Korean talks in anger last year after the inauguration of South Korea's conservative president who has taken a hard-line stance toward the communist country.

South Korea's delegation traveled by bus to the three-day talks at the North's Diamond Mountain resort and the sides convened an opening session Wednesday afternoon, Seoul's Unification Ministry said.

North Korea's recent attempts to reach out to South Korea and the U.S. follows provocations earlier this year, including its second nuclear test in May and a barrage of ballistic missile launches.

Earlier this month, the North freed two American journalists after former President Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang. They has been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country. North Korea has also released a South Korean worker, agreed to lift restrictions on border crossings with the South, and pledged to resume suspended inter-Korean projects.

Last week, a North Korean delegation traveled to Seoul to mourn the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

On Tuesday, South Korean media reported that the communist nation had invited two top U.S. envoys to visit Pyongyang for the first nuclear talks since President Barack Obama took office, and that the U.S. government was strongly considering sending them next month.

However, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said neither special envoy Stephen Bosworth nor nuclear negotiator Sung Kim had immediate plans to go.

North Korea has long sought direct negotiations with Washington, hoping to boost its international profile.

The U.S. has said it is willing to talk bilaterally, but only within the framework of six-nation disarmament talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.

"Bilateral contacts and discussions can be part of that framework, but the six-party talks and multilateral approach remain central to the way we will proceed," U.S. envoy Philip Goldberg told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday, part of his Asian tour to seek support for enforcing U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang for its May 25 nuclear test.

The North insisted it would not return to multilateral talks during meetings with China's nuclear envoy in Pyongyang last week, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified South Korean officials.

The last family reunion talks between the two Koreas were held in November 2007. Bilateral relations deteriorated with the inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak early last year. Lee infuriated North Korea by imposing tough policies such as linking aid to the North's nuclear disarmament, prompting it to cut off all reconciliation talks and most of their joint projects.

"Since it is a meeting being held after a year and nine months, the main topic is the dispersed family issue," chief South Korean delegate Kim Young-chol told reporters as he left for the talks.

Millions of families were separated following the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945 and the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two countries technically at war.

More than 16,000 Koreans have met relatives in temporary reunions held under South Korea's two previous liberal presidents.

There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens across the Korean border.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Asan, the South Korean company whose worker was released by North Korea earlier this month, said Wednesday that it paid the North $15,757 for the worker's hotel bill during his more than four months in detention.

North Korea has a record of demanding money when freeing foreigners.

World leaders rush to pay tribute to Kennedy

By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer

LONDON – World leaders praised U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy as one of the towering figures in American politics, offering plaudits for his dedication to fighting for the causes in which he believed.

Kennedy died Wednesday after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

In Britain and Ireland, he was remembered particularly for his involvement in the long process that led to Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that "even facing illness and death he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life's work.

"He led the world in championing children's education and health care, and believed that every single child should have the chance to realize their potential to the full," Brown said.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Kennedy "a true public servant committed to the values of fairness, justice and opportunity."

Britain gave Kennedy an honorary knighthood earlier this year.

Lord Owen, who served as British foreign secretary in the 1970s, said Kennedy was "the most influential senator" in the U.S.

He said Kennedy had put his weight behind peace in Northern Ireland even at the risk of alienating powerful Irish-American allies, whose sympathies lay with the province's Catholic Irish nationalists rather than the British Protestant majority.

"His influence on the peace process, and his influence on successive American presidents was I think absolutely crucial, and in particular of course on President (Bill) Clinton," Owen told the BBC.

Irish President Mary McAleese said Kennedy would be remembered "as a hugely important friend to this country during the very difficult times.

"His outstanding and remarkable personal contribution was made, despite the sacrifice and sorrow that was part of the overall contribution of the entire Kennedy family," she said.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said Kennedy had been "a great friend of Ireland.

"America has lost a great and respected statesman and Ireland has lost a long-standing and true friend," Cowen said.

In Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Kennedy "made an extraordinary contribution to American politics, an extraordinary contribution to America's role in the world."

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said in a statement that Kennedy "has left a deep mark and deserves the homage of all the free world."

Commentators also noted the passing of a political generation that included the late senator's assassinated brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy.

"It is one of the strongest brands in American political history that withers away," said Michael Ehrenreich, editor-in-chief of Denmark's Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper and a leading expert on U.S. politics.

UAE Red Crescent provides food for Gaza during Ramadan

GAZA, August 26, 2009 (WAFA) - The United Arab Emirates Red Crescent is the first organization to respond to UNRWA's Gaza Ramadan Appeal launched on 17 August. UNRWA is appealing for US$181 million to provide emergency services of food, shelter rehabilitation, job creation, psychosocial assistance, education and health.

The UAERC has announced two separate contributions: US$100,000 in cash for the Agency to provide hot meals to poor refugees during Ramadan, and a major in-kind donation of food being sent from Egypt. The first trucks loaded with flour, sugar and rice are expected to cross into Gaza from Egypt in the coming days.

Filippo Grandi, UNRWA's acting Commissioner-General, said 'I hope many more Arab donors will follow the example of the UAE Red Crescent. It is typical of them to be the first to respond. The UAE Red Crescent has contributed approximately US$51 million to UNRWA for projects and appeals since 2002.'

Source: Wafa.
Link: http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=12950.

French agent kidnapped in Somalia is free

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A French security agent kidnapped by insurgents in Somalia last month was a free man Wednesday and under protection at the presidential palace, officials said.

There were conflicting reports over whether the man escaped or was released and whether he had killed three of his captors. The fate of another French security agent kidnapped with him was not immediately clear.

Farhan Asanyo, a Somali military officer, told The Associated Press that the man came up to government soldiers early Wednesday, identified himself and said he had escaped after killing three of his captors.

But the French Foreign Ministry said "his liberation came about without violence, contrary to certain information provided locally." The ministry statement made no mention of an escape, leaving open the possibility that there were negotiations to free him.

The agent is safe at the palace and "in a good mood," said Abdulkadir Hussein Wehliye, the assistant information secretary of Somalia's presidential palace. Wehliye said the agent had escaped his captors did not mention any killings.

The two French agents were abducted in July from a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, then split up between the rebel groups al-Shabab and its ally Hizbul-Islam.

The French agents were in the country to train Somali government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen. Militants had said the two would be tried under Islamic law for alleged spying and conspiracy against Islam.

Foreigners rarely travel to Somalia, which is among the most dangerous countries in the world. The country has not had a functioning government for 18 years since clan warlords overthrew a brutal dictator then unleashed their militias on each other.

Kidnappings for ransom have been on the rise in recent years, with journalists and aid workers often targeted. Two foreign journalists — Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Australian Nigel Brennan — have been held for a year.

Somalia's lawlessness also has allowed piracy to flourish off its coast, making the Gulf of Aden one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.

Many fear the power vacuum in Somalia will provide a haven for terrorists, as the military and police force are weak and in disarray. Various Islamist groups have been fighting the U.N.-backed government since being chased from power 2 1/2 years ago. The situation is complicated by constant splintering and reforming of alliances and a web of clan loyalties.

Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, sees near-daily battles between government and insurgent forces. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed.

The U.S. government — haunted by a deadly 1993 U.S. military assault in Mogadishu chronicled in "Black Hawk Down" — is working to lower the growing terrorist threat without sending in American troops. The Obama administration recently increased aid to Somalia by pouring resources into the weak government.

Powerful Iraqi Shiite leader has died in Iran

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the scion of a revered clerical family who rode the rise of Shiite power in Iraq to become one of the country's most powerful political figures but was deeply distrusted by Sunni Muslims as an ally of Iran, died Wednesday at the age of 59.

Two senior clerics from his party, Sheiks Humam Hamoudi and Jalaleddin al-Saghir, told The Associated Press that he died after being hospitalized in critical condition in Tehran where he was being treated for lung cancer. In a brief announcement, Iranian state television also reported that al-Hakim died from lung cancer.

Al-Hakim wielded enormous influence since the 2003 U.S. invasion as head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, maintaining close ties to both the Americans and his Iranian backers.

A longtime leader of a Shiite rebel group that fought Saddam's rule, he was seen by many Shiites as the embodiment of the victory that ended decades of brutal repression under Saddam and restored what they see as their rightful place as the country's leaders.

Al-Hakim was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2007 after tests at the prestigious University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He chose to receive his chemotherapy treatment in Iran.

His son and political heir, Ammar al-Hakim, said in a statement read on the party's al-Furat television that his father "who spent decades in jihad and struggle has joined the ranks of the martyrs."

Al-Furat placed al-Hakim's picture on a blackened background and began reciting Koranic verses. It then began showing scenes from his life and played somber music.

Deputy parliament speaker, Shiite Khalid al-Attiyah, described his death as a loss for Iraq.

"We offer our condolences to all the Iraqi people for the death of al-Hakim. He is one of the symbols of Iraq ... we hope political leaders will continue his work."

The Kurds said al-Hakim's death was a loss to those who worked to reconcile Iraq's often warring religious and ethnic factions.

"He had a significant role in Iraq's national unity and was working hard to narrow the different opinions among all Iraqis," Fuad Hussein, spokesman for Kurdish Regional President Massoud Barzani told The AP. "We hope that all the Iraqi people and their leaders will follow his example and directions and never abandon his ideology and path."

His death comes two days after his party, SIIC, the largest Shiite grouping joined with followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to form a new political alliance to contest January parliamentary elections.

In a rare show of Shiite disunity, the new Iraqi National Alliance excluded Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, dealing a major blow to his chances to keep his job at the helm of the country after the Jan. 16 vote.

Al-Hakim largely withdrew from the public eye after being diagnosed with cancer. But he had groomed his son, Ammar, as his successor.

Calm and soft-spoken, al-Hakim held no government post since Saddam Hussein's ouster, but held enormous influence in his role of kingmaker in the turbulent years after Saddam's fall.

However, his close ties to Iran, where he lived in exile for more than 20 years, made him a controversial figure, distrusted by most Sunnis and even some Shiites as Tehran's man in Iraqi politics and a symbol of sectarian politics.

Al-Hakim's outspoken support for Shiite self-rule in the south of Iraq also was seen by Sunnis and Shiites alike as an Iran-inspired plan to weaken the country and hand Tehran control of the country's Shiite heartland, home to most of Iraq's oil wealth and the riches of the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Yemen's war on Shiite rebels compounds instability

Alistair Lyon

Reuters

SANAA: Yemen’s latest assault on Shiite rebels in the north seems unlikely to end a conflict that has flickered for five years and inflicted thousands of casualties. It may only deepen instability in an impoverished country also struggling with southern separatists, Al-Qaeda militants and a disastrous mismatch between fast-depleting oil and water resources and explosive population growth, analysts say.

The well-armed rebels, operating in rugged mountainous terrain, are led by Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, whose group embodies a revivalist strand of the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam.

“The government has attempted to link the three crises – the southern secessionists, the Houthis and Al-Qaeda – as one: almost a domestic axis of evil,” said Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen scholar at Princeton University on a visit to Sanaa.

He said he had seen little evidence of any connections, other than rhetorical points by Al-Qaeda propagandists.

The northern province of Saada near the Saudi border is off-limits to all but relief agencies, but Sanaa’s 2 million people get daily reminders of the war as MiG fighters roar off on bombing sorties and trucks packed with conscripts head north.

The media blackout makes it impossible to assess the scale of death, destruction and displacement, although hundreds of people have been reported killed or wounded on both sides since clashes intensified into full-scale battles late last month.

UN agencies said Friday over 100,000 people had fled their homes and a humanitarian crisis loomed.

Past attempts to mediate in the conflict, notably by the state of Qatar, have failed to bring lasting peace.

The US Embassy on Sunday urged both parties to return to last year’s ceasefire pact – a clear signal that one of Yemen’s main external allies sees no prospect of decisive military success for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government forces.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakir al-Qirbi told Reuters last week that the Houthi insurgents had taken Saleh’s unilateral declaration in July 2008 that the war was over as a “sign of government weakness” and had provoked the latest fighting.

“It really seems to be the Houthis who kicked it off,” said a senior Western diplomat. “The government doesn’t need another Houthi conflict right now. They are really strapped for cash and there are pressures on the security forces around the country.”

The government began a short-lived effort to launch reconstruction after last year’s ceasefire and had mostly avoided stirring trouble with the Saada-based rebels, he said.

However, after months of renewed clashes, Saleh now appears to have ignored international advice about the difficulty of crushing tribal guerrillas with air power, tanks and artillery.

Instead Yemen’s president has staked out an uncompromising position, setting tough ceasefire conditions and promising decisive action to end “this sedition,” which he described as cancer.

Some Yemeni officials suggest that Shiite-dominated Iran is backing the rebels, while Iranian media say aircraft from the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia have bombed Houthi positions.

Both countries deny the charges and Western diplomats say they have seen no convincing evidence of any such involvement, although they do not exclude the possibility that the Houthis are getting funds from Shiite sympathizers abroad.

Iran called on Monday for a political solution to the fighting, which it said was an internal Yemeni issue.

Some Yemeni analysts say the Houthis have forged links with Iran and with Lebanon’s Shiite Hizbullah movement. Others point to Saudi funding of the Sanaa government and local tribes.

The foreign dimension remains murky, however the conflict is essentially home-grown and has complex roots which stretch back to the 1962 overthrow of a 1,000-year-old Zaydi imamate.

Zaydis are a tribal minority whose brand of Shiism has coexisted easily in the past with Yemen’s majority Sunnis.

But sectarian tensions emerged in recent decades as Zaydi revivalists stressed theological distinctions and rites in response to growing influence of Salafis, Sunni fundamentalists inspired, if not actively backed, by neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis embarrassed Saleh, who aligned Yemen closely with Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks, by shouting “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse on the Jews, victory to Islam” in his presence in a Saada mosque in 2003.

Saleh, himself a Zaydi, pursued the movement’s then leader Hussein al-Houthi, who was killed by security forces in September 2004, only for fresh rounds of fighting to erupt.

A report by the International Crisis Group in May said the conflict, which it traced to historical grievances and endemic underdevelopment, had become self-perpetuating.

“Tribal leaders and senior officials have amassed military hardware and profit from illegal sales of army stockpiles,” the report said. “Continued operations have justified increased military budgets, without government or independent oversight.”

The recent fighting has spread beyond Saada into Amran and Hajjeh provinces. It briefly lapped even closer to Sanaa last year, but poses no immediate threat to the capital.

Nevertheless, the revolt could have an ominous impact unless it is defused by local, regional or international action.

“If it suddenly started to become a plausible rallying point for anti-government, anti-regime sentiment, it might acquire a momentum which is difficult to stop,” the Western diplomat said.

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at age 77

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died at age 77, his family said.

"Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the Kennedy family said in a statement early on Wednesday.

One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history -- a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker -- Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.

His death marked the twilight of a political dynasty and dealt a blow to Democrats as they seek to answer President Barack Obama's call for an overhaul of the healthcare system.

Kennedy was a longtime advocate of healthcare reform, a signature issue of Obama's presidency. Obama said on Wednesday he was heartbroken to hear of the death of Kennedy, a crucial supporter of his presidential candidacy.

"I valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've profited as President from his encouragement and wisdom," said Obama, who was elected last November and took office in January.

Kennedy had recently urged Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law so the governor, if necessary, could quickly fill a Senate vacancy as the chamber debates the contentious healthcare issue.

Known as "Teddy," he was the brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, Senator Robert Kennedy, fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War Two.

When he first took the Senate seat previously held by John Kennedy in 1962, he was seen as something of a political lightweight who owed his ascent to his famous name.

Yet during his nearly half century in the chamber, Kennedy became known as one of Washington's most effective senators, crafting legislation by working with lawmakers and presidents of both parties, and finding unlikely allies.

At the same time, he held fast to liberal causes deemed anachronistic by the centrist "New Democrats," and was a lightning rod for conservative ire.

He helped enact measures to protect civil and labor rights, expand healthcare, upgrade schools, increase student aid and contain the spread of nuclear weapons.

"There's a lot to do," Kennedy told Reuters in 2006. "I think most of all it's the injustice that I continue to see and the opportunity to have some impact on it."

After Robert Kennedy's death, Edward was expected to waste little time in vying for the presidency. But in 1969, a young woman drowned after a car Kennedy was driving plunged off a bridge on the Massachusetts resort island of Chappaquiddick after a night of partying.

Kennedy's image took a major hit after it emerged he had failed to report the accident to authorities. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and received a suspended sentence.

Kennedy eventually ran for his party's presidential nomination in 1980 but lost to then-President Jimmy Carter.

His presidential ambitions thwarted, Kennedy devoted himself to his Senate career.

A 2009 survey by The Hill, a Capitol Hill publication, found that Senate Republicans believed Kennedy was the chamber's easiest Democrat to work with and most bipartisan.

Republican Senator John McCain called Kennedy "the single most effective member of the Senate if you want to get results."

In January 2008, Kennedy endorsed Obama, who was serving his first term as a senator, for the Democratic presidential nomination. Many saw the endorsement as the passing of the political torch to a new generation. A year to the day before his death, Kennedy made an electrifying speech to the Democratic convention that nominated Obama for president.

'LION' BATTLED ON

Kennedy had been largely sidelined in Congress since becoming ill. The "Lion of the Senate" began to use a cane and often looked tired and drained as he mixed work with treatment.

Yet colleagues and staff said he remained determined to fulfill what he called "the cause of my life," providing health insurance to all Americans. He helped draft legislation to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system.

Kennedy's interest in healthcare dated from his son's bout with cancer in the 1970s. More recently, he cited his own illness as he made a case for reform.

"I've benefited from the best of medicine, but I've also witnessed the frustration and outrage of patients and doctors alike as they face the challenges of a system that shortchanges millions of Americans," he wrote in a May 28, 2009, issue of the Boston Globe.

His charisma as "the last of the Kennedy brothers" was such that draft-Teddy drives were a feature of U.S. presidential election years from 1968 through the 1980s.

But he never fully escaped the cloud of the Chappaquiddick accident. A decades-long argument arose about whether he tried to cover up his involvement by leaving the scene while Mary Jo Kopechne's body remained submerged and whether police helped sweep such questions under the rug. All involved denied any cover-up.

Later crises involving younger Kennedys, notably the 1991 Palm Beach rape trial of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, caught a bloated and weary-looking Uncle Ted in a media glare. Reports of heavy drinking and womanizing led to a public apology for "the faults in the conduct of my private life."

Kennedy was remarried soon after that to Victoria Reggie, a 38-year-old lawyer with two young children from her first marriage. He poured renewed energy into the Senate, where he would become the third-longest serving senator in history.

Even his Republican foes recognized Kennedy's dedication as he worked to protect civil rights, give federal help to the poor, contain the spread of nuclear weapons, raise the minimum wage, expand health coverage and improve America's schools.

FAMILY STANDARDS

Born on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of four sons and five daughters born to millionaire businessman Joseph Kennedy, who would later be ambassador to Britain, and his wife, Rose.

The Boston Irish family combined the competitive spirit of nouveau riche immigrants with acquired polish and natural charm. The sons were expected to mature into presidential timber and were groomed for that starting with the oldest, Joseph Jr., a bomber pilot who died in World War Two.

"I think about my brothers every day," Kennedy told Reuters. "They set high standards. Sometimes you measure up, sometimes you don't."

Like his brothers, Kennedy was known for his oratory, delivered in a booming voice at rallies, congressional hearings and in the Senate.

He drew praise from liberals, labor and civil rights groups and scorn from conservatives, big business and anti-abortion and pro-gun activists. His image was often used by Republicans in ads as a money-raising tool.

Tragedies dogged Kennedy throughout his life. They included a 1964 plane crash that damaged his spine and left him with persistent pain; bone cancer that cost son Teddy a leg; first wife Joan's battles with alcoholism that contributed to their divorce, and drug problems involving nephews, one of whom died of an overdose. His nephew, John Kennedy Jr., died in July 1999 when his small plane crashed into the ocean near Cape Cod.

In May 2008, Edward Kennedy collapsed at his Cape Cod home and was flown to hospital in Boston, where he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Brain cancer kills half its victims within a year.

Kennedy's illness kept him from attending the funeral of his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a leading advocate of the mentally disabled, who died on August 11 at the age of 88.

U.S. Enhances Military Base In Qatar

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has been refurbishing a key military base in Qatar.

The Defense Department has overseen an effort to enhance elements of the Al Udeid air base in Qatar. Al Udeid, which contains the longest runway in the region, has served as the air operations center of U.S. Central Command.

Source: Middle East Newsline.
Link: http://menewsline.com/article-1173,4433-U-S-Enhances-Military-Base-In-Qa.aspx.

Chinese president visits restive Xinjiang region

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING – President Hu Jintao made his first trip to China's restive western region of Xinjiang since last month's deadly ethnic riots, urging government officials and security forces to focus on maintaining stability and warning separatists that they are "doomed to fail."

China Central Television on Tuesday showed Hu meeting with ethnic groups and local residents, visiting factories and talking with military troops.

"You should make upholding social stability the most urgent task and maintain great strength to ensure triumph in the struggle to maintain stability in Xinjiang," Hu told a group of soldiers and police who had been involved in quelling violence that the government says left nearly 200 people dead and 1,700 injured.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Hu also visited villages, farms, a shipping center and an oil base in Xinjiang and met with the widow of a Chinese policemen killed in the riots.

The unrest was China's worst ethnic rioting in decades, exposing deep anger among minority Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) and prompting outrage among the majority Han Chinese.

Violence broke out July 5 after police stopped an initially peaceful protest by Uighur youths, prompting crowds to smash windows, burn cars and attack Han Chinese. Two days later, Han vigilantes carried out revenge attacks on Uighurs.

Uighurs have long complained of discrimination and economic marginalization by Han migrants who have flooded into Xinjiang since Communist troops entered the region in 1949. Like Tibetans, another restive minority, many Uighurs say they were independent for much of their history.

The ethnic violence shook China's leadership, prompting Hu to cut short a trip to a G-8 summit in Italy to return home to deal with the domestic crisis.

On Tuesday, Hu said any separatist groups seeking independence in China would not succeed.

"The victory of this struggle fully showed the power of the party and the people," he said. "The splittist forces are doomed to fail and their sabotage activities will not shake the overall situation of the stable development of the reform in Xinjiang."

Hu said China would continue to focus on economic construction, uphold social stability and the development of all ethnic groups.

Beijing has repeatedly accused exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer of fomenting the recent riots, but has offered little proof.

Authorities have also accused two Web sites of encouraging the violence. The founder of one of the sites, economist Ilham Tohti, said earlier this week that following the riots he was detained for more than a month of questioning by secret police.

Tohti, an ethnic Uighur who teaches economics at a university in Beijing, told U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia that he was released Saturday without charge but was warned he could still be tried and executed. He said police came to his home late Monday and cautioned him against speaking out against the government's handling of the riots.

Calls to Tohti's phone went directly to voicemail Wednesday.

Tohti's Chinese-language Web site, which had became a lively forum about Uighur life and views, was criticized by Xinjiang Gov. Nur Bekri immediately after the riots for allegedly helping to orchestrate the violence and spread propaganda.

Tohti's academic work has focused on the sensitive topic of how Chinese policies that encourage Han Chinese to move into Xinjiang have disadvantaged and marginalized native Uighurs.

Chavez: Venezuela ready to sever ties to Colombia

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that Venezuela is getting ready to break off diplomatic relations with Colombia over the neighboring country's plan to give American troops greater access to its military bases.

Chavez said that "there's no possibility" of repairing relations with the government of President Alvaro Uribe and that he instructed his foreign minister to "begin preparing for the rupture with Colombia."

"It's going to happen. Let's get ready," he said.

Venezuela and Colombia have been feuding for weeks over the negotiations between Bogota and Washington that would allow the U.S. military to increase its presence at seven Colombian bases through a 10-year lease agreement.

Colombian and U.S. officials say the agreement is necessary to more effectively help Colombia's security forces fight drug traffickers and leftist rebels.

During a visit to Brazil on Tuesday, Colombia's deputy foreign minister, Clemencia Forero, said she perceives "increasing understanding and more clarity among the region's countries regarding the scope of an agreement that has the precise objective of fighting drug trafficking and terrorism."

Chavez scoffed at such claims, calling Colombia "a narco-state" and charging its political leadership "lives off" the cocaine trade. He referred to the pending base deal as "a declaration of war against the Bolivarian Revolution," referring to his socialist political movement.

Then he raised his voice and added: "You can establish 70,000 Yankee bases surrounding Venezuela, but you aren't going to beat the Bolivarian Revolution!"

The Venezuelan leader says the U.S. government could use Colombian military installations as launching pads for future operations to unseat Latin American leaders.

Warning that Colombia is trying to provoke Venezuela, Chavez, a former paratrooper commander, has ordered his military to be prepared for a possible confrontation and announced plans to buy dozens of Russian tanks to boost military capabilities. He also halted cut-rate fuel shipments to Colombia.

The leftist governments in Bolivia and Ecuador, closely allied with Chavez, have criticized the pending deal in similar rhetoric, but more moderate leaders in South America also have voiced concerns about the deal.

Many people in the region are wary of a U.S. presence, remembering past decades when administrations in Washington gave support to right-wing military dictatorships.

Latin American leaders and U.S. lawmakers who were not consulted have demanded explanations since the deal was first reported in detail by The Associated Press.

Presidents of South America's nations are meeting in Argentina on Friday to discuss the issue. Uribe is expected to lay out his intentions, but some critics of the plan contend that U.S. President Barack Obama also should attend the meeting.