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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Ukraine to pass law scrapping NATO ambitions

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's new governing coalition in parliament says it will pass a law preventing the country from joining any military alliances, including NATO.

The coalition supporting newly elected President Viktor Yanukovych says in a formal statement of intent released Tuesday that the legislation will "enshrine Ukraine's nonaligned status in law."

The move would help the Russia-friendly Yanukovych fulfill his campaign promise to prevent Ukraine's NATO membership.

His predecessor, the staunchly pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko, had struggled to gain NATO membership, infuriating Moscow in the process.

Russia, keen to restore its Soviet-era influence over Ukraine and other former Soviet states, is fiercely averse to NATO's eastward expansion.

Source: CBS 8.
Link: http://www.cbs8.com/global/story.asp?s=12149905.

Bulk of US troops in Afghanistan to be brought under NATO command

Brussels - The bulk of United States troops in Afghanistan is to be brought under NATO command, ending the separation between their Enduring Freedom mission and NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a top military official said Tuesday. Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, ISAF's top communication strategist in Afghanistan, said the move was part of the new strategy of ISAF's commander, US General Stanley McChrystal, who also heads Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

"OEF has been brought under NATO command. There must be unity of effort, unity of command," Smith told journalists at NATO's headquarters in Brussels.

The official strongly rejected claims that the decision came "out of concern over continued civilian casualties," as suggested by an article Monday in the New York Times, which contained quotes from an interview with McChrystal.

"It had nothing to do with it," Smith insisted, saying the move was necessary to ensure that "the elements on the battlefield are not working on cross-purposes."

Smith added that the reorganization had been ordered not by McChrystal but by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates "two or three weeks ago," well before he traveled to Kabul on an impromptu visit on March 8.

The technical details were still in the process of being worked out, he added.

Only the most politically sensitive parts of Enduring Freedom's mission, including detention of insurgents and special operations to hunt down top Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, are to remain under separate US Army control, Smith said.

NATO officials said that in practice, out of 30,000 US troops under OEF, around 21,000 are expected to be shifted under ISAF, which currently fields just under 90,000 soldiers from 44 nations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314373,bulk-of-us-troops-in-afghanistan-to-be-brought-under.html.

Russian Duma Spkr. links missile defense to weapons

Speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament has threatened to block a future nuclear disarmament treaty with the United States, pressing for linkage to missile defense issues.

"We will not ratify it if the questions of the link between strategic offensive weapons and missile defense are not examined," Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said Tuesday.

The remarks were made during Gryzlov's meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart, Tsetska Tsacheva, whose country is considered as a potential host in the new US missile defense plans.

Gryzlov said that moves by the United States to install elements of its missile defense system in countries such as Bulgaria are of a "particularly sensitive character for Russia."

Tsacheva insisted that the government and the parliament had not yet officially discussed the country's position on allowing a US deployment.

Russia has repeatedly declared that the US insistence on carrying on with its so-called missile defense plans, which Moscow views as a threat to its national security, has been hampering new talks on a successor plan to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between the two countries.

Russia and the United States have sought to “re-set” relations, which mired in suspension during the previous US administration, but efforts failed to renew the arms control deal by its expiration date in December.

The START I Treaty helped the two former Cold War foes to dramatically reduce their nuclear arsenals and sought to end mutual distrust through introducing verification measures.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120957§ionid=351020602.

Iran urges Sweden to take action on cartoons

Iran has urged Sweden to “seriously deal with” a Swedish newspaper which has republished a sacrilegious cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“Iran strongly denounces the reprinting of the disrespectful cartoons,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Monday, adding that Tehran was concerned about the negative consequences of such “provocative acts.”

On March 10, the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reprinted a sacrilegious cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Swedish caricaturist Lars Vilks after the Irish police arrested seven suspects in an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks.

The cartoons were first published in Sweden in 2007, prompting worldwide protests by Muslims.

“Iran calls on the Swedish government to seriously deal with such anti-religious approaches,” Mehmanparast said.

The Irish police later released three of the seven suspects, who were from Algeria, Libya, Palestine, Croatia and the US. Police charged an Algerian and a Libyan with minor offenses in connection with the plot.

The arrests were part of an international investigation into alleged death threats against Vilks.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120956§ionid=351020101.

Iraqi PM's bloc calls for vote recount alleging fraud

The coalition of Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused an election official of manipulating vote counts in the March 7 parliamentary elections.

Ali al-Adeeb, a candidate on Maliki's slate said Tuesday that the State of Law coalition demands a recount because an official in charge of counting ballots has been doctoring the numbers, AP reported.

He said a complaint was sent to the Independent High Electoral Commission and UN advisers to investigate the fraud allegation.

Meanwhile, the electoral commission confirmed receiving the complaint but added that opening an investigation would require evidence. It remains to be seen whether a probe in to the allegation will be launched in an apparent absence of evidence.

Early results from the elections indicate that the prime minster's State of Law bloc leads in seven of 18 provinces.

Maliki had also swept the votes in the capital Baghdad.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120955§ionid=351020101.

Guardian Council approves Iran budget bill

Iran's Guardian Council has approved the budget for the next Iranian calendar year which allows the Iranian president to go ahead with his plan to cut costly state subsidies.

The budget bill was approved by the Iranian Parliament last week before being sent to the Guardian Council, whose approval is needed for the bill to become law.

President Ahmadinejad had proposed saving $40 billion by eliminating subsidies but the Parliament approved only half of that amount.

“The Guardian Council has reviewed the modifications on next year's budget bill sent by Parliament,” said Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the top legislative watchdog.

“It was approved by the Council and sent back to parliament to submit to the government for implementation.”

Based on the $347-billion budget, the government plans to start a major plan to scrap costly subsidies on energy and goods, reducing government expenditure.

The budget for next year, which begins on March 21, includes plans to phase out subsidies on food and energy which analysts believe will stoke up the inflation that currently stands at 8.9 percent.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120953§ionid=351020102.

Iran secures needed fuel in case of sanction

Iran is able to secure its needed gasoline from different foreign sources, or through domestic production if faced with gasoline import sanctions, Iran's Oil Minister says.

"Foreign companies will actually sanction themselves if they stop selling gasoline to Iran," Masoud Mir-Kazemi told reporters on Monday, adding that those foreign firms will put their names on Iran's black list.

The official said that the country has so far successfully dealt with any problem arising in purchasing gasoline.

"Under an urgent plan, Iran will boost gasoline production by 14 million liters per day if the country finds it necessary," he said.

Some 44.7 million liters of gasoline are being produced daily in seven domestic refineries.

Though Iran is the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, it still has to import up to 40 percent of its gasoline.

Mir-Kazemi said that by constructing new refineries, the country will not only stop gasoline imports but will also start exporting gasoline to other countries.

In January, the US Senate approved a bill that would allow President Barack Obama to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

The measure will now move to a conference committee to iron out differences with an already-passed House version.

President Obama will have the power to deny loans and other assistance to US firms that export gasoline to Iran or help expand its oil-refining capacity.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has recently rejected the possibility of imposing sanctions on Iran's gasoline imports and urged the Oil Ministry to build refineries more quickly to make the country self-sufficient in gasoline production.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120948§ionid=351020103.

Iran: US-led pressure on China 'ineffective'

Iran on Tuesday criticized the West for increasing pressure on China to give its consent to more sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear work.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called visits by certain Western officials to China to persuade it to support fresh anti-Iran sanctions "ineffective," adding that China was independent enough not to give in to Western pressure.

"China is independent enough not to be swayed by Western policies to pressurize Iran, a country that has nationalized a technology and wants to use it for peaceful purposes," he said.

He went on to stress that it was Israel not Iran that posed a real threat to the region and accused Tel Aviv of inciting anti-Tehran rhetoric.

The US has been lobbying for fresh punitive measures against Iran.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited China in February to discuss different issues including Iran's nuclear program.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also headed to Beijing on Monday to convince it to agree to a new round of sanctions against Iran.

US-led calls for more sanctions against Iran have mainly received a chilly response from China, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC, which insists that diplomacy should be exercised regarding the nuclear standoff.

Iran says any punitive measures against the country are legally baseless as Tehran's nuclear work is being fully monitored by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120947§ionid=351020104.

Moussa: Israeli nukes, disturbing & threatening

After a European Union's top diplomat made remarks against Iran's nuclear program, Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa has denounced Israel's possession of its vast nuclear arsenal.

"I wish to mention that Israeli nuclear activities are very disturbing and threatening to us," Moussa said in response to statements made by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton on the alleged threats posed by Iran's nuclear activities.

"We should not speak only about Iran, but be unconcerned about military and nuclear adventurism in the Middle East," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted the Arab League chief as saying as he referred to Israel's hundreds of nuclear warheads.

"If we are against any nuclear actions, we [should stop] mentioning only one country,” he added

"The relation between us and Europe is indeed [one of an] old history and common destiny," he said. "Since there is a common destiny, then the threat to our own security is very important. We have to be fair and objective and strategic about what we do."

Moussa expressed support for international talks with Iran and called for help to establish diplomatic negotiations and to prove that Iran's nuclear case is not a threat to the region.

Citing "concerns" over Iran's domestic capabilities to enrich uranium, The US and its allies accuse Iran of the "intention" to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels and have gone to great lengths to prevent the country from producing fuel for its medical and industrial needs.

World powers, most of which possess and continue to develop vast nuclear arsenals that have been tested and even used in military confrontations, have been lobbying for a “symbolic” tightening of economic measures against the Tehran government.

As a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Islamic Iran insists that it neither believes in atomic weapons, nor, as a matter of religious principles, does it intend to access such weapons of mass-destruction.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120946§ionid=351020206.

49 Palestinians injured by Israelis in al-Quds clashes

Nearly 50 Palestinians have been reported wounded in Jerusalem al-Quds in clashes with Israeli forces.

The Red Crescent in al-Quds reports that 49 Palestinians were wounded by noon in the Old City on Tuesday.

Among the wounded were 14 that incurred injures from rubber bullets while 16 suffered from tear gas inhalation. The rest of the injured were beaten by Israeli forces, Ynet reported.

Israeli police said its forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd which gathered in differed neighborhoods in East al-Quds to protest the inauguration of a rebuilt synagogue in the Old City near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The police had deployed around 3,000 forces in the city after Hamas called for uprisings against the reopening of the Hurva synagogue. Palestinians have described the US-backed action by the Israeli regime as 'the first step' in an Israeli ploy to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the name of rebuilding a Jewish Temple (Temple Mount) on its ruins.

The synagogue was destroyed during the 1948 Middle East war.

Israel is "determined to empty Jerusalem of its residents step by step... and it is trying to remove the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic and Christian sacred monuments," Hamas deputy chief Moussa Abu Marzuk told Al-Jazeera television.

"There must be plans to confront these Zionist plans, to be carried out over the long term, and not temporary actions that quench the rage and then end," he added.

Observers in the region describe the controversial move by the Israeli regime as an act of provocation that has been deliberately timed to coincide with a supposed tension between Washington and Tel Aviv over the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120959§ionid=351020202.

Palestinians unite to defend Jerusalem shrine as West Bank clashes erupt

Rival Fatah party and Islamic Hamas movement declared unity in Jerusalem to defend al-Aqsa Mosque, as Palestinian demonstrators clashed on Monday with Israeli soldiers north of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Witnesses and medical sources in Ramallah said that five Palestinians were injured as dozens of Palestinian students organized a procession towards Attara Israeli army barrier north of the city.

The demonstrators threw stones at the soldiers, who fired tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets in return.

The witnesses said before the clashes erupted, demonstrators burnt tires and chanted slogans against the recent Israeli measures near al-Aqsa Mosque in the old city of Jerusalem and the Israeli government's decision to expand Jewish settlements in the eastern part of the holy city.

Several Palestinian factions, mainly Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip, as well as other national factions, called on the Palestinians to go for a third Intifada, or uprising, against the recent Israeli measures in Jerusalem.

Witnesses said the scene of Monday's clashes reminded them of the first Intifada in 1987.

Hamas and other factions said in separate leaflets sent to reporters that as long as the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists Judaizing Jerusalem, build settlements and carry out tight security measures against the Palestinians, " the only choice remained is to go for a third Intifada."

Israeli Radio, meanwhile, quoted earlier on Monday an Israeli army spokesman as saying that at least one Israeli soldier was hurt by a stone during the clashes north of Ramallah, adding that dozens of Palestinian stone throwers were taken to Ramallah hospital for medical treatment.

Jewish organizations are about to open a synagogue at the flashpoint Noble Sanctuary which contains al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Temple Institute, an Israeli organization aimed at building the third Jewish temple near al-Aqsa Mosque, announced March 16 as the first International Temple Mount Awareness Day.

Palestinian observers expected on Monday that violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem would escalate within the coming few days as the Jewish organizations are determined to open the synagogue and the Israeli government is determined to continue its settlement plans.

Meanwhile, a senior Palestinian official said on Monday that representatives of different Palestinian factions in East Jerusalem had put their differences aside and united to face extremist Jews, who plan to enter al-Aqsa Mosque's compound in the old city on Tuesday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and its rival Islamic Hamas movement "started actual coordination in East Jerusalem to counter the radical Israeli attack in the holy city," said Hatem Abdul-Kader, Fatah party representative in Jerusalem.

Hamas and Fatah have been in near-total boycott since the Islamic movement routed pro-Abbas forces and seized the Gaza Strip by force in June 2007. All the Arab and Palestinian efforts have by far failed to reunite the rival movements and end their internal feuds.

"We have held several meetings with all the factions to discuss what we should do," Abdul-Kader told Xinhua by phone, as the Israeli police was put on alert for possible clashes between Muslims and Jews.

Meanwhile, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official earlier on Monday urged Arab states to go to the United Nations Security Council to force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"The Arab states are asked to play a more active role," Yasser Abed Rabbo of the executive committee of the PLO told Palestinian Radio Voice of Palestine.

He added that "resorting to the UN Security Council will help to put an end to the Israeli activities that block the peace process."

Last week, Israel announced plans to build 1,600 apartments for Jews in the disputed East Jerusalem a few days after the Arab League (AL) approved a U.S. offer to hold proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The new settlement plans undermined the chances of starting the proximity indirect talks since the settlements that Israel is building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state, were the key reason that caused a halt of direct talks for 15 months.

From now on, the Palestinian leadership "wants international guarantees" before restarting peace negotiations, said Abed Rabbo, who accused Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of being "an extremist adventurer" trying to block the peace process.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6920860.html.

RUSSIAN TERRORISM. Mass arrests of Muslims from peaceful Tablighi Jamaat in Siberia

Russian terrorists from the FSB, police and the prosecutors' in the Siberian town of Chita carried out mass arrests among members of the international Islamic organization Tablighi Jamaat, which is considered most peaceful among all existing sects, organizations and movement in Islam.

The FSB agents reported that they had "uncovered a cell of an Islamic international extremist organization".

It is to be mentioned that the Tablighi Jamaat is an organization of preachers, who essentially say the Sharia can be revived only through peaceful preaching, personal example and education.

Based on their own perceptions, the members of this organization do not participate in Jihad and consider it inappropriate to conduct Daawa (call to Islam).

The birthplace of the Tablighi movement is India of 1940's in a form of peaceful protests against the British colonialism. At that time, the headquarters of the organization was in Pakistan.

In Russia, the Tablighi Jamaat was banned in 2009 because its activities were allegedly directed at a "violation of the Russian territorial integrity and a discrimination between the Russian citizens on religious grounds", as well for "supporting international terrorist organizations, including Al -Qaeda".

Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/03/15/11637.shtml.

''It is not a question whether China will attack Russia but is when it is going to happen'', the Russians say

Alexander Khramchikhin, a Deputy Director of the Moscow-based Institute for Political and Military Analysis, says: if there will ever be a large-scale military aggression in the "classical" form against Russia, with 95% probability (if not 99.99%) the aggressor would be China.

"The tremendous overpopulation of China together with its rapid economic growth creates a complexity of issues for this country. China is objectively a non-viable in its current borders.

China must be a lot more if it does not want to be much less. It can not survive without expansion abroad to capture the resources and territories, this is a reality.

No need to explain that the main direction of China's expansion will be the South-Eastern Asia. It has a small territory and insignificant resources, with a lot of local people.

The opposite direction with a lot of territory, huge resources and few people are Kazakhstan and the Asian part of Russia. And it is there where China's expansion will go. Moreover, the Trans-Ural area of Russia is considered to be Chinese in China.

Certainly, China prefers a peaceful form of expansion (economical and demographical). But the military is not excluded completely.

Significantly, the Chinese army has been conducting in recent years exercises that simply could not be interpreted otherwise than as a preparation for an aggression against Russia, and the scale of these exercises (the territorial extent and the number of troops involved) is constantly growing, Khramchikhin alleges.

In this case, Moscow is apparently still not aware that Russia has long lost not only quantitative but also qualitative superiority over China in military technology.

In Soviet times, Moscow had both.

China has very long existed with what that it had been given by the Soviet Union in 1950's - early 1960's. However, after a warming of relations with the West, it gained access to some samples of American and European technology, and in late 1980's it began to acquire the latest technology in the USSR and then Russia, and thus "jumped" over generations on many areas.

In addition, China always had exceptional ability to steal technology_ the Russians say. In the 1980 Chinese intelligence even managed to get the latest US designs of W-88 ballistic missiles Trident-2 for submarines. Normal technologies China is stealing in large quantities.

For example, although there is no information that Russia sells PRC multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), "Smerch (Tornado)", or a license for their manufacture. Nevertheless, the First China's Army has MLRS A-100, very similar to the "Tornado", and then PHL-03 - its an exact copy. Self-propelled artillery installations 88 (PLZ-05) are very similar to our "Mstu" that we again did not sell to China, the Russian says.

Russia has never sold China a license for the production of anti-aircraft missile system S-300, which does not prevent the Chinese to copy it under the name HQ-9. However, the Chinese stole for example, an anti-aircraft missile complex "Krotal", anti-ship missile "Exocet", naval artillery installation M68 etc., the Russian alleges.

By introduction of foreign technology and adding something of their own, the Chinese military-industrial complex is beginning to create samples of the antiaircraft rocket-gun complex Toure 95 (PGZ-04), self-propelled PLL-05 and PTL-02, BMP ZBD-05 and others.

In general, as already mentioned, Russia is backward virtually on all direction of conventional weapons. A qualitative superiority of Russia remains in the past. In some areas, China has even bypassed Russia - for example, in the UAVs and small arms.

Some experts believe that China is in technological dependence on Russia as its main supplier of arms (hence, "they cannot attack us"), but it is a blank myth, the Russian expert says.

In Russia, China is acquiring in only such weapon that are intended for operations against Taiwan and the US (when Beijing seriously planned operation to seize the island). Obviously, a sea war between PRC and Russia is practically impossible, it is not needed for both parties. The war will be on the ground.

In this connection, it should be noted that the PRC did not purchase any equipment in Russia for its ground forces that could be used in war against Russia.

Even in the field of the Air Forces, China got rid of dependence from Russia. It bought a limited number of Su-27 - in total 76, of which 40 are Su-27UB.

It is obvious that Russia's Su-27 were purchased only for training flight crews. Then, as you know, China has refused to license production of Su-27 from Russian parts, built only 105 aircraft from the planned 200, the Russian says.

Simultaneously, China copied this fighter and began its production license free under the name J-11B with its own engines, weapons and avionics.

It may be noted that the recent military-technical cooperation between China and Russia is disappearing. This can partly be explained by the rapidly degraded Russian military-industrial complex is no longer able to offer China those weapons and equipment it needs. Another explanation is that Beijing is seriously considering in foreseeable future the possibility of conducting combat operations against Russian armed forces.

Since the J-11B in its tactical and technical characteristics is approximately equal to the Su-27 created on the basis of the Israeli "Lavi", but using Russian and their own technology, and the J-10 is comparable with MiG-29, Russia does not have any qualitative superiority in the air.

A quantitative superiority is obviously in favor of China, especially due to an almost complete collapse of Russian air defense system (primarily just in the Far East).

China has more than 120 Su-30, and we have only 4, the Russian says. The main drawback of the Chinese aviation is the lack of normal ground attack aircrafts and attack helicopters, but it would not be a big trouble for them, since the situation in Russia is even worse.

Best Chinese tanks - Type 96 and Type 99 (also known as Type 98G) - are not worse than the best Russian tanks - T-72B, T-80U, T-90. Actually, they are all "close relatives", and therefore their performance characteristics are very similar.

Thus Russian defense ministry has already announced its de facto elimination of Russian armored troops. There should remain 2000 tanks to all of Russia. China now already has modern tanks approximately as much.

There are far more numerous (at least 6000) the old tanks (from the Type 59 to Type 80), created on the basis of T-54. They are quite effective against infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, and they are needed to create a "mass effect".

It is likely that the Chinese command would use these vehicles for the first attack. They will still cause some Russian losses, and most important, they would attract Russian antitank weapons, after that, the Russian exhausted and weakened defense would be attacked by using modern technology, the Russian expert fears.

By the way, similar "mass effect" in the air can be created by older fighters types J-7 and J-8.

The armed forces of Russia and the Chinese army have approximately the same equality (qualitative and quantitative) of modern arms, which becomes a military advantage of the Chinese army.

Thus the last one has a huge "overhang" from old, but is still "good" samples, which is perfect as a "consumable" material for wearing down the defense of Russian troops.

Because of China "lack of brides", the loss of several hundreds of thousands of young males for the Chinese leadership is not a problem, but a blessing. And certainly the use several thousand units of out-of-date armored vehicles in a battle is also not a problem.

Already, two of seven military districts of the Chinese army - Beijing and Shenyang, near the border with Russia - are stronger than the whole Russian armed forces (from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka). The forces on both sides are just not comparable on the potential theater of military operations (Transbaikalia and Far East). China surpasses Russia not dozen-fold.

Thus redeployment of troops from the west in the event of a real war would be practically impossible, since the Chinese saboteurs would cut the Trans-Siberian Railway once in many places along its entire length, and Russia does other communications to the east, (you can transport people, but not heavy equipment though the air).

At the same time for military training, particularly in units and formations, equipped with the most modern equipment, army of China has long bypassed Russia. Thus, in the 38-th army of Beijing Military Area artillery is fully automated, it is still inferior to the accuracy of the US, but has already surpassed Russia. Rate of onset of 38-th army reaches 1000 km per week (150 miles per day).

Accordingly, Russia has no chance in conventional war. Nuclear weapons also do not guarantee rescue, and, since China has them too.

Yes, Russia still has superiority in strategic nuclear forces, but they are rapidly declining. At the same time Russia does not has intermediate range ballistic missiles, while China has them that almost eliminates its backlog of intercontinental ballistic missiles (which are also declining).

The parity of the tactical nuclear weapons is unknown, but one should understand that Russia will have to use them on its own territory.

As to an exchange of blows of strategic nuclear forces, Chinese potential is more than enough to destroy the main cities in the European Russia, which they don't need (there are many people and few resources there).

There is a strong suspicion that, knowing this, the Kremlin would not dare to use nuclear weapons. Therefore, nuclear deterrence against China is the same myth, as its technological dependence on us.

So, learn Chinese", the Russian expert advises to his countrymen.

Alexander Khramchikhin

Department of Cooperation and Media,
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/03/15/11632.shtml.

Mitchell scraps Israel visit amid US-Israeli crisis

Jerusalem - Washington's special envoy to the Middle East has postponed a scheduled visit to Israel and the West Bank, amid a US-Israeli diplomatic crisis over a plan to build in East Jerusalem, Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday. Envoy George Mitchell had been scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.

Only last week he announced the start of US-mediated indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, on the arrival of Vice President Joe Biden for a three-day visit.

But the start of the talks and Biden's visit were marred by an Israeli announcement to build some 1,600 homes in the northern Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.

The neighborhood is built within the Israeli-defined city limits, but on occupied land beyond the "green line" separating Israel and the West Bank, and therefore considered by the Palestinians and the international community as belonging to East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Israeli President Shimon Peres' office said in a statement that it was contacted by the US embassy in Tel Aviv "to notify it that the United States Special Envoy for the Middle East, Mr. George Mitchell, will not arrive to Israel today."

Israeli media have quoted Israel's ambassador to Washington as describing the Israeli-US crisis as the worst in 35 years.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314280,mitchell-scraps-israel-visit-amid-us-israeli-crisis.html.

Lebanon to snub Arab Summit, blaming 'administrative reasons'

Beirut (Earth Times) - Lebanon has refused Libya's invitation to an Arab summit later this month, blaming "administrative reasons", Lebanese radio reported Tuesday. Lebanese-Libyan relations have not recovered since a high-ranking Shiite cleric went missing in Tripoli in 1978.

"The invitation was handed over to the Lebanese embassy in Damascus, which is not authorized to receive and respond to this invitation for administrative reasons," the radio cited a statement by the Lebanese foreign ministry saying.

Lebanon has held Libya responsible for the disappearance of Imam Sadr, who was also founder of the Shiite Amal movement.

In 2008 Lebanon issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi over the disappearance of Sadr.

Libya has always denied involvement in Sadr's disappearance, stressing that he was in Italy when he vanished.

In 2003, Libya closed its embassy in Beirut to protest the Lebanese accusations of the disappearance of Imam Sadr.

The Arab summit is scheduled to be held between March 27-28 in the Libyan capital.

US backs Israel on synagogue amid alleged rows

Israel has reopened a synagogue in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) in a move backed by the US, igniting angry protests by Palestinians in the holy city and elsewhere in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took pride in the reopening of the Hurva synagogue, around 700 meters from the al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Qud's Old City, as part of Israel's "heritage."

"We permit believers of other faiths to conserve their places of worship. We proudly protect our heritage, while at the same time allowing others freedom of religion," he said in a video message.

But Palestinians both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip joined to condemn the move which came amid highly stepped up security and the deployment of thousands of Israeli soldiers in Muslims' third holy city of al-Quds.

Head of al-Quds international institution, Dr. Ahmed Abu Halabiya, warned the reopening of Hurva synagogue in al-Quds was part of an Israeli plan "to build a Jewish temple on al-Aqsa ruins."

Head of the Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal slammed Tel Aviv's "falsification of history," saying, "Israel is playing with fire and touching off the first spark to make the region explode."

Hatem Abdel Qader, the Palestinian Authority's official in charge of al-Quds affairs, expressed concern over what he described as "not just a synagogue."

"This synagogue will be a prelude to violence, extremism and religious fanaticism, and that will not be limited to extremist Jews but includes members of the Israeli government," he warned.

"We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple."

The US State Department, however, criticized Palestinian comments for "mischaracterizing the event in question, which can only serve to heighten the tensions we see."

Monday's reopening ceremony, which Netanyahu said symbolized religious coexistence, came while Palestinian men under the age of 50 along with non-Muslims were barred from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque compound for a fourth day following clashes between the police and Palestinians.

Hamas on Tuesday announced a "day of rage" in response to the dedication of the restored synagogue in East al-Quds, promoting a red alert warning from Israeli officials who deployed some 3,000 troops in the area.

The US support for the controversial reopening of the synagogue raises serious questions over a purported dispute between Tel Aviv and Washington over the continued Israeli settlement construction.

Some analysts argue that the ostensible tensions are to provide a cover for Israel's encroach upon Palestinian and Islamic identity of East al-Quds, long demanded by Palestinians as the capital city of their future Palestinian state.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120927§ionid=351020202.

Jumblatt to meet Assad in Damascus, reports say

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus later this month.

Reports say Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has informed Jumblatt that the Syrian leadership wants to open a new chapter in relations with Lebanon.

Jumblatt had described Assad as a "butcher" in 2007 during a rally marking the second anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He now says those remarks came in a moment of anger and has expressed interest in improving relations with Syria.

In an interview with the Al-Jazeera satellite television network on Saturday, Walid Jumblatt acknowledged his past blunders and said that Assad should forget the past, since he had made "inappropriate and unreasonable remarks" in anger about him at a time of internal tension and extreme division within Lebanon.

"In order to consolidate Lebanon-Syria relations, between the two peoples and two states and between the Druze of Lebanon and Syria, can we now overlook this moment and open a new page?" the 60-year-old hereditary chieftain of Lebanon's Druze minority asked during the interview.

He said his remarks were "unworthy and unusual, unsuited to the ethics of politics even during a quarrel."

Jumblatt stated that his U-turn was necessary to maintain peace and avoid sectarian bloodshed.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120924§ionid=351020203.

Lula refuses to visit grave of founder of Zionism

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has refused to visit the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism.

In response to the rebuff, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to boycott the Brazilian president's visit.

On Monday, Lieberman also criticized Lula's close ties with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his plan to visit Tehran in the near future.

Lula described his Middle East tour, which includes scheduled visits to the occupied West Bank and Jordan, as "a mission of peace."

“We are very proud that we can say Latin America and the Caribbean have no nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction… We would like to serve as an example for other regions of the world,” he added.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Lula said efforts should be made to turn the Middle East into a nuclear weapons-free zone.

The Brazilian president also spoke of his vision for peace between Israel and its neighbors.

Earlier, in a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres and other officials in Jerusalem al-Quds, Lula said, "Mr. President Peres, I dream of the day when the Middle East will have peace so that all peoples can achieve prosperity."

Brazil has been trying to take a higher profile in the international arena over the past few years.

Along these lines, Brazilian officials believe that the country can play the role of an impartial mediator for conflicts in the Middle East.

However, Brazil's solidarity and growing ties with Iran and its support for Iran's civilian nuclear program have angered Israeli officials.

In addition, Lula has rebuked countries with nuclear arsenals that are trying to police other nations that are only seeking to produce energy through peaceful nuclear programs.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120917§ionid=351020202.

Egypt arrests 15 students over anti-Israeli protests

Mon Mar 15, 2010

Egyptian police arrest 15 students at Cairo University for taking part in anti-Israeli demonstrations.

A security official said on Monday that the detainees were associated with the banned opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hundreds of students staged protests in several universities across Egypt on Monday over Israeli plans to build new homes in occupied Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The students were also protesting against Israeli plans to name two West Bank Islamic shrines on a list of Israeli heritage sites.

Arrests were reported only on Cairo University campus.

On Friday, police arrested 50 Muslim Brotherhood members who staged similar protest rallies.

Muslim Brotherhood — Egypt's largest opposition movement — indirectly controls almost one-fifth of the seats in parliament. Police regularly arrest members of the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood, meanwhile, announced on its website that police also arrested 18 of its members in pre-dawn raids on Monday in the coastal city of Alexandria, following what it said were two days of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/120912.html.

Missile strikes on Bagram airfield kill 8 Americans

PARWAN, Mar. 15 - At least eight American soldiers were killed in the Mujahideen's missile attacks on Bagram airfield on Monday morning.

However, associated press confirmed the death one American soldier, according to a statement released by NATO, claiming that only one American had been killed in the attack on Bagram airfield.

The report adds soon after the incident, the gates of the airfield was shut by the enemy preventing the labors, who do the construction work inside the airfield, from entering.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://124.217.251.48/~alemarah/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1331:missile-strikes-on-bagram-airfield-kill-8-americans.

Somali government and moderate Islamists agree to combine forces

Addis Ababa (Earth Times) - Somalia's government and a moderate Islamist group on Monday signed an agreement to integrate their forces in the fight against extremist insurgents. Somalia's weak government, propped up by African Union peacekeepers, has been struggling to contain an insurgency that exploded in early 2007, and is mainly confined to small pockets of the capital Mogadishu.

Moderate Islamist group Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a has opposed main insurgent group al-Shabaab, which has links to al-Qaeda, and its allies Hizbul Islam, but had yet to sign a formal agreement with the government.

"This agreement is designed to safeguard the people of Somalia and the reputation of the faith of Islam," Sheikh Mahmoud Sheikh Hassan, the group's spiritual leader, said in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa after signing the deal.

Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, prime minister of Somalia's transitional federal government, and Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union's commission, both hailed the pact.

The agreement comes as the weak Western-backed government plans to launch a major offensive and regain control of Mogadishu.

Fighting has intensified in advance of the expected surge, and more than 30,000 people have fled the capital since early February to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

More than 20,000 people have died in the current insurgency, which kicked off in early 2007 after Ethiopian forces invaded to oust an Islamist regime that ruled for six months in 2006.

The insurgents control much of south and central Somalia.

UN court sentences Bosnian Muslim for false testimony

The Hague - A Bosnian Muslim who was bribed into lying to judges to favor the defence of a Bosnian Serb later convicted of war crimes has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment, officials at the Hague-based United Nations tribunal said Monday. Zuhdija Tabakovic had confessed to accepting 1,000 euros (1,376 dollars) in return for providing false statements at the trial of Milan Lukic, a former head of the White Eagles paramilitary group.

Lukic was last year handed a life sentence by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) after being found guilty of murdering scores of Muslims in and around Visegrad, a town in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the early 1990s.

Tabakovic also admitted to finding two other men willing to sign two further statements prepared by Lukic's defence team in exchange for similar amounts of money.

Tabakovic has been in custody since December.

His decision to plea bargain on three of the six indictments that were brought against him mean he will be eligible for release later this week, court officials said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314204,un-court-sentences-bosnian-muslim-for-false-testimony.html.

Nazi-hunter calls for ban on Latvian SS commemoration - Summary

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Riga - As a representative of the world's leading Nazi hunter denounced a controversial commemoration of local Waffen-SS troops in Latvia, authorities on Monday lifted a ban on the parade. Authorities decided to allow both the parade by the Latvian Legion and a counter-demonstration by anti-fascist groups, saying that the two events, planned for Tuesday, did not represent threats to security.

Earlier Monday, Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced the commemoration.

"Ban the march, enforce the ban and explain to the people that maybe these people were thinking they were fighting for Latvia but the real beneficiary of their service and their bravery was Nazi Germany," Zuroff told the German Press Agency dpa.

Zuroff was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in the Latvian capital entitled "World War II and the Holocaust," sponsored by the World Congress of Russian Jewry.

Describing attempts by Central and Eastern European countries to equate the Holocaust and crimes committed by post-war Communist regimes as "total hogwash," Zuroff said the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in particular were guilty of an attempt to "rewrite history."

"With all my empathy for victims of Communism, the crimes of Communism simply are not the same as the Holocaust. Part of this is fueled by a desire to deflect attention for the extensive collaboration with the Nazis during World War II and their post- independence failure to bring these people to justice," Zuroff told...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314205,nazi-hunter-calls-for-ban-on-latvian-ss-commemoration--summary.html.