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Saturday, February 12, 2011

Help us build up infrastructure, Syria tells Malaysia

By Rupa Damodaran
2011/02/12

SYRIA, which has embarked on a comprehensive reform program that offers the private sector a bigger role, wants Malaysian businesses to be a major player in its infrastructure development.

Deputy Prime Minister of Syria Abdullah Al-Dardari, who is in Kuala Lumpur, said the country’s public private partnership (PPP) also provides opportunities in transportation.

Speaking at a dialogue meeting with Malaysian businesses yesterday, Abdullah said Syria is eying investments totaling US$100 billion (RM304 billion) between 2011 and 2015, with US$63 billion (RM191.52 billion) from the private sector.

“We are keen in co-developing an industrial park with Malaysians in the east region, which provides the right location for investors to export to Iraq, Europe and the Gulf,” he said.

Investors in the park will enjoy 10 years’ tax breaks and 100 per cent equity in business ownership.

Malaysia is keen to be part of Syria’s development in areas covering roads, highways, bridges, water works, housing, telecommunications, solid waste management and power supply.

Both countries see a close cooperation, which will provide access to the ASEAN and Asian market as well as the growing Middle East.

The Construction Industry Development Board chairman Datuk Ir Hamzah Hasan said Malaysian contractors had secured two projects in Syria worth e108.1 million (RM447.53 million). One is worth e40.65 million (RM168.29 million) and the other, which is under construction, is valued at e67.41 million (RM279.08 million).

According to CIDB, Malaysian contractors were currently undertaking 96 projects worth e9.62 billion.

Between 1987 and December 2010, Malaysian contractors undertook a total of 652 projects worth e21.94 billion (RM90.83 billion).

Malaysian contractors, said Hamzah, had made their mark in India, Bosnia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sudan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Middle East.

Source: Business Times.
Link: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20110211233333/Article/.

Police in south Yemen disperse 'day of rage' protests

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

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ADEN, Yemen — Dozens of protesters in Aden called Friday for the secession of southern Yemen, before police moved in to disperse them, witnesses said.

Security forces -- backed by tanks -- fanned out around the capital to head off the so-called "day of rage" supported by Yemen's secessionist Southern Movement.

Dozens of protesters nevertheless took to the streets in the districts of Crater, Khor Maksar, and Al-Mansura, chanting "out occupation," before they were dispersed, witnesses told AFP.

In Al-Masura, police fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The Southern Movement, a coalition of groups seeking autonomy or secession of the once-independent South Yemen, has expressed its support earlier this week to Facebook calls for a "day of rage" in the south.

Further east, several hundred people, led by a local separatist leader, Tareq al-Fadhli, took to the streets of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, with banners calling for an end to "the occupation".

No clashes were reported despite a heavy security and military deployment.

Police meanwhile fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse a demonstration in Hadramawt's provincial capital Mukalla, in the southeast, where protesters blocked roads and set car tires alight, witnesses said.

South Yemen, where residents complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the allocation of resources, is frequently the scene of unrest.

The south was independent from 1967 until 1990 when it united with the north. It launched an abortive secession bid in 1994 and is still home to an active secessionist movement.

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country and the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has also been struggling to combat an Al-Qaeda resurgence as well as Shiite unrest in the north.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Hamas hails Mubarak's resignation in Gaza Strip

by Emad Drimly, Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA/RAMALLAH, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Supporters of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, on Friday celebrated Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation, while the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) expressed hope that the situation in Egypt would settle down soon.

Mubarak decided to step down on Friday afternoon after 18 days of mass protests against his 30-year rule.

As soon as Mubarak's resignation was announced, hundreds of residents in the Gaza Strip and supporters of Hamas took to streets, shooting into the air and chanting slogans in support of the Egyptian people. Many delivered sweets and candies and others celebrated with fireworks.

Dozens of cars driving on Gaza city's main streets turned on their horns. Masked gunmen, members of Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, paraded on Gaza city's main street waving the Egyptian flags and Hamas' green flags.

Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, told Xinhua that Hamas "supports and backs the Egyptian people," adding that his movement "believes that what happened is the beginning of the victory of the Egyptian people and their revolution."

He called on the new regime in Egypt to help the Palestinians end the Israeli blockade "and forever reopen Rafah crossing on the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in order to allow reconstruction of what had been destroyed by the occupation in the Gaza Strip."

Meanwhile, the security forces of the deposed government of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, redeployed its security forces along the borderline with Egypt to prevent any infiltration of people from the enclave into Egypt or vice versa.

In the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip where hundreds of tunnels were dug under the borderline between the enclave and Egypt for smuggling, thousands of Palestinians took to streets, waving the Egyptian flags and singing songs that showed support of the Egyptians.

In Gaza City, thousands of Hamas supporters and militants rallied waving Hamas' green flags and celebrating Mubarak's resignation. "We congratulate the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt for this victory," said a Hamas leader, who led a Hamas rally on the streets of Gaza City.

The office of the deposed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haneya said in an official statement emailed to reporters that Haneya had spoken with chairman of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badee " on the success of the Egyptian revolution."

"The stepping down of Mubarak and the victory of the Egyptian revolution will write a new history for Egypt," Haneya said, adding that "a new era has begun not only for Egypt, but for the entire region. We hope that the new Egyptian regime will help lift the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza."

"Today the tyrant in Egypt collapsed and tomorrow the tyrant in al-Muqata'a (President Mahmoud Abbas headquarters) will collapse, so be patient our people in the West Bank." Abbas and the PNA were closed allies to the former Egyptian regime.

The Palestinian leadership, which rules the West Bank, expressed hope on Friday that the situation would settle down in Egypt after Mubarak stepped down. Nemer Hammad, an aide to PNA President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians wish calm and peace for Egypt.

"The Palestinian leadership hopes that this stage of time would pass peacefully in Egypt, where calm and stability will be a top priority for the Egyptians," Hammad said, adding that "we hope that the new rule in Egypt would be able to support the Palestinian people and their just cause."

The less influential pro-Iran Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement said in a press statement that it congratulates Egypt and its people "for this great achievement and this big step," adding that "we hope that what happened in Egypt would lead to a real change of all the tyrants in the Arab World."

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/12/c_13728245.htm.

Lasers: The Last Line of Defense

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

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By Ambassador (ret) Jon Glassman, Director for Government Policy, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems; and Dr. Josef Shwartz, Technical Consultant, Marina del Rey, California

The views expressed in this article reflect only the personal views of the authors, neither those of Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems nor the US Government.

02/ 11 /2011 –

Strategic Overview

High energy lasers offer a number of properties that make them particularly attractive for meeting the emerging high-intensity, combined threat of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, remotely piloted aircraft, glide bombs, rockets, artillery, and mortars (RAM). High-energy lasers have been successfully tested against RAM and efforts are underway to create at lower power levels mobile land, sea, and air-based laser defenses against traditional and emerging threats (e.g., small boats).

At the same time, high-energy lasers have yet to be tested comprehensively against ballistic missile re-entry vehicles (RVs), cruise missiles, high-end remotely–piloted aircraft, and glide bombs. While physical principles and test experience suggest likely success against these threats, additional test data are required to more thoroughly validate laser analyses against ballistic missile RVs.

While lasers illuminate their targets at speed-of-light, time is needed to inflict the required damage (laser dwell on target) which may vary from a few seconds to several tens of seconds, depending on laser power, beam quality, and target hardness. In order to cope with raids (swarm attacks), shooting timelines need to accommodate the needed dwell time on the initial target plus the time to slew to and dwell on subsequent targets. Alternatively, additional laser and kinetic interceptors can be drawn into a raid engagement, if and as available.

Beyond the basic issue of ability to damage/degrade RVs, it is important to know whether lasers can succeed far enough away from defended objectives should RVs carry nuclear weapons with concomitant blast and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects, and to understand the impact of a broad set of environmental conditions on the range and effectiveness of laser systems. To determine viability against ballistic missile RVs of various classes, both ground and airborne lasers should be developed and tested at the highest power levels achievable in each medium in a variety of atmospheric conditions.

The analysis below makes the argument that mobile and fixed lasers are highly desirable, if not essential, to face complex emerging threats. Development and testing — particularly in the higher power realm — is critical to determine to what degree lasers can relieve pressure on ever more stressed kinetic defenses.

The Argument

We hold that targets exist that are so critical to protect, a final laser defense layer needs to be put in place to guarantee more surely their defense. We further argue that the diffusion of improved weapons guidance on medium- and short-range weapons will change the offense/defense cost ratio — thereby requiring low cost/shot defensive weapon systems such as lasers and other non-kinetic means.

And we contend finally that the available defensive time line will become perilously short as ballistic missile inventories (and concomitant raid attack sizes) increase and late-detected horizontal trajectory weapons (cruise missiles, remotely-piloted aircraft, and glide bombs) proliferate. These factors in combination offer powerful international security justification to accelerate efforts to test and field high energy lasers– supported in real-time by appropriate sensors and command-and-control.

An Absolute Requirement for a Final Terminal Defense Layer?

Much of recent dialogue on laser missile defense has focused on boost/ascent phase intercept approaches using the Airborne Laser (ABL) demonstrator. Additionally, there is active interest in naval ship and air base terminal point defense.

Less attention has been paid to the potentially categorical need for a laser weapon as a final terminal layer across several or many defended objects/areas.

If a final layer defense requirement were near absolute for multiple targets across broad areas, it would generate important system-level demands and stresses not just on the laser itself but also on their organic and cueing sensors and command-and-control (C2).

The need for a final terminal defense layer flows logically from the good sense of very high investment for risk mitigation when consequences of failure approach the grandiose or catastrophic.

The following are illustrative categories where a final laser layer would seem to be highly important:

* Defense of densely populated urban areas — total casualties have major political-military consequences (the average population density for US urban areas is 2300/sq mile, but for some areas in conflict zones urban density and casualty exposure are considerably higher, eg, Tel Aviv 19,699/sq mile, Seoul/Inchon 26,300/sq mile, Mumbai 64,400/sq mile)

* Defense of certain ground and sea-based offensive and defensive weapons, sensors, and command-and-control — those that are critical to secure quick war termination under favorable conditions

* Defense of civilian infrastructure vital to survival and swift recovery to include selected communications, transport, public service, food, water, and energy supply capabilities and other assets/functions essential to global economic stability (e.g., energy production and export facilities in the Persian Gulf).

The Impact of Medium and Short-Range Weapon Guidance

Beyond the issue of targets that need to be more reliably defended, there is the matter of how the threat to these targets is changing. In fact, the imminent spread of precision guidance systems to medium- and short-range weapons may dramatically increase that threat.

Catastrophe avoidance is clearly at issue if weapons of mass destruction are in play. But the coupling of improved guidance (the “precision revolution”) and high-efficiency explosives and chemicals with tactical and theater missiles, unmanned aircraft, glide bombs, rockets, artillery, and mortars expands the scope and possibility of dangerous outcomes, lending urgency to the need for a final layer of defense.

This is so because, once fielded, improved guided tactical and theater weapons could be used in quantity to alter war strategy and cadence and impose politically significant effects on traditionally defended opponents.

The reported accumulation by Hezbollah in Lebanon of more than 40 thousand tactical rockets—ten times more than its 2006 war inventory — requires early pre-launch destruction, thereby channeling initial Israeli offensive options — including ground force options–and generating pressure on Israeli emergency services and public confidence.

Beyond the imposition of a voluminous attack, an attacker with very high efficiency explosive or chemically-armed guided weapons would have the option of grouping his shots to achieve simultaneous or sequential political effect in an urban area.

And he may also expect to have far greater success than in the past against the defender’s fixed and locatable mobile sensors, C2, and weapons, as well as against high-leverage economic assets in the target zone. These expected effects may prompt a preemptive launch of hostilities by either the aggressing side or his potential victim.

The attacking side’s ability to derive political, economic, and military advantage from each and every shot makes impractical the defender’s future use of preferential engagement tactics — his option heretofore not to engage and waste costly interceptor resources on errant arriving projectiles.

The need to engage every incoming weapon will change radically the offense/defense cost ratio in theaters like Israel, the Persian Gulf, India/Pakistan, and the North Asian periphery (ROK, Japan, and Taiwan) where multiple range/trajectory/re-entry velocity systems are in, or can be brought into, play simultaneously (including by maritime and ground infiltration of tactical weapons into target proximity).

If engagement is required for every incoming threat, the diffusion of guidance systems into cheap projectiles such as mortars, tactical rockets, and artillery shells — and future inexpensive longer-range systems — will generate salvo defense challenges beyond anything we currently face. Attack volume may make kinetic defense at close ranges prohibitively expensive.

The Problem of Time

Beyond the problems generated by enhanced offensive precision, there is the acute problem posed by the time dimension. This problem is manifested in the ballistic missile realm via the challenge of dealing with both volume (raids) and with high velocity re-entry trajectories enhanced by countermeasures, decoys, and, in some cases, maneuvering (e.g., Chinese DF 21). This raises the potential for leakers and the possible need for a laser, speed-of-light “third shot” (after a shoot-look-shoot kinetic effort) to protect vital and priority defended assets.

This problem is expanding through the spread of ground, sea, and air-launched cruise missiles and aerial glide bombs and remotely-piloted aircraft (RPAs). These horizontal trajectory/ground-hugging systems may only be detected close-in with inadequate data to support fire control solutions or to allow time permitting kinetic weapon fly-out. This late detection problem could be aggravated by constraints on, and interference with, overhead air surveillance operations and sensor performance created by raid volume and heavy kinetic defense firing.

These missile developments have in common the imposition of acute time pressure on the means to deliver effective defenses — due to late detection and interference, imperfect track and characterization, or the absence of capacity to provide timely updates to support end game kinetic intercept

The detection problem is aggravated not only by the limited horizon for ground and maritime-based sensors, and thermal-induced radio frequency propagation problems inherent in dealing with low-flying objects, but also by the ability of the aggressor to innovate tactically, e.g., aircraft or missile “pop out” from clutter-obstructed zones that degrade radar performance such as from among water bird concentrations in the Tigris/Euphrates or Nile deltas.

The admixture of rockets, artillery, and mortars in territories adjacent to defenders (e.g., Gaza and Lebanon for Israel), or infiltrated by special forces close to prime targets (e.g., high-value assets such as future missile defense sensors or shooters in the Persian Gulf region or nuclear power-generating facilities in Europe and Japan), can enhance time stress, placing very short lobs or shots out of kinetic defense possibility. This problem is illustrated in the areas of Israel next to the Gaza Strip where deployment of the newly developed Iron Dome kinetic interception system remains under discussion due to uncertainty regarding the system’s ability to meet the needed timeline for mortars as well as cost/shot.

The emerging threat, therefore, of voluminous and maneuvering, countermeasure-enabled ballistic and cruise missiles, glide bombs, and remotely-piloted aircraft combined with short-flying rockets, artillery, and mortars points to the need for systems with:

* Detection at speed-of-light through optical sensors (cued by ground and airborne radar)
* Shots at speed-of-light avoiding the need for early detection/tracking to support serial fire control solutions and kinetic weapon fly-out times
* Rapid firing (few second or minimum dwell time intervals) without reloading/interceptor missile stockpiling
* Continuous and near-infinite supply of shots using buried chemical tanks, batteries, or an electrical grid to generate power at negligible cost/shot (dramatic per shot cost benefits versus kinetic interception and offensive strike)

These properties, in fact, are all resident in laser systems available today—albeit at varying power levels, beam quality, and depth of operational testing.

Ancillary Capabilities

Beyond the fundamental need for speed-of-light to deal with the new range of challenges noted above, there are other capabilities that lasers can provide that add to their attractiveness.

In an environment where defensive systems may be subjected to electronic and cyber attack, the increased number of sensors in the battle-space relying on diverse phenomenology is important. High precision, large aperture optical surveillance and tracking are an integral component of laser defense systems. Laser optical sensors are synergistic with traditional integrated air and missile defense systems but, being organic to firing units, are insulated from some effects that could result from overall system destruction, degradation, or failure.

Additionally, beyond their utility in dealing with attacking systems, lasers can defeat and degrade other systems. For example, they can be used to blind enemy overhead sensors, optically-guided projectiles, and destroy shoulder-launched air defense weapons (MANPADs).

Their capability to destroy chemical, biological, and radiological warhead loads through burn-up is known although some contend that the risk of dispersal through both kinetic and laser intercept remains high.

Current Direction of Military Laser Applications

After experimental work at White Sands demonstrating million kilowatt (kw)-class power levels in chemical lasers (MIRACL), practical application from the mid-90s onward centered on moving high-power laser capability into ballistic missile defense (the Airborne Laser—ABL—boost phase interception project) and counter-rocket, mortar, and artillery defense (the US-Israeli Tactical High Energy Laser—THEL–project). The former continues development as a technology demonstrator while the latter was abandoned in 2006 as the Army elected to move toward solid-state laser (SSL) technology.

Source: Second Line of Defense.
Link: http://www.sldinfo.com/?p=15173.

Bahrain may get Egyptian contagion

February 12, 2011

By Mojtaba Sadeghian

In the wake of the ongoing political turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, which has so far toppled and shaken governments across the region from Tunisia and Egypt to Jordan and Yemen, it would be a big mistake to overlook the rumblings in a comparatively smaller country like Bahrain.

Some experts believe Bahrain is a politically tense country in the region where the likelihood of an uprising is higher.

The very mix of Bahrain's majority Shia population and a Sunni-led autocracy led to many analysts seeing it as one of the more vulnerable states if revolutionary contagion spreads through the region.

In fact, Bahrain is the only Arab country in the Persian Gulf region with an active opposition.

The political and social condition in every Arab country in the Persian Gulf region is different from other, but the sense of repression is much higher in Bahrain.

The demonstration scheduled for Monday, February 14, in Bahrain by the Shia-led al-Wefaq National Islamic Society is likely to gather momentum for a massive uprising against the Sunni royal family.

Shias in Bahrain have suffered discrimination and poverty and their basic rights are constantly being violated. During the reign of Al Khalifas, who are supported by Saudi Arabia and the United States, many Shia activists have been detained and tortured.

Despite a pledge by the government to do reforms the demonstration on Monday is intended to demand a release of political prisoners and seek an end to discrimination against the Shias.

Therefore the Saudis, who are regarded as the main sponsor of the Bahrain ruling family, are doing their best to dismantle the already political movements in the country.

To stem street protests the government has announced an increase in food subsidies and social welfare payments.

If the region's political chaos reaches Bahrain, it will lead to many changes in the island nation. Such a dramatic change not only will strengthen Shias in the region, it will also put the Saudis and the United States in an even greater limbo.

It seems that it is the right time that the majority Shias have a say in Bahrain and Monday can be a day of destiny and determination for all Bahrainis.

Source: Tehran Times.
Link: http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=235615.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa to quit post: report

CAIRO | Fri Feb 11, 2011

(Reuters) - Arab League secretary-general, Amr Moussa, said on Friday he would leave the pan-Arab body that he headed for about 10 years "within weeks," Egypt's state news agency reported.

Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister who has often won Arab public support for his outspoken comments, has been tipped by some as a possible future presidential candidate in Egypt. He has tended to sidestep questions about his ambitions.

(Writing by Edmund Blair)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/11/us-egypt-arab-league-idUSTRE71A6LM20110211.

400 arrested in Algeria at rally demanding reforms

By AOMAR OUALI, Associated Press

ALGIERS, Algeria – Thousands of Algerians defied a government ban on protests and a massive deployment of riot police to rally in the capital Saturday, demanding democratic reforms a day after similar protests toppled Egypt's authoritarian leader.

Heavily armed police tried to seal off the city of Algiers, blocking streets, lining up along the march route and setting up barricades outside the city to try to stop busloads of demonstrators from reaching the capital.

But despite the heavy security, thousands flooded into downtown Algiers, clashing with police who reportedly outnumbered them at least three-to-one. A human rights activist said more than 400 people were arrested.

Tensions have been high in this sprawling North African nation of 35 million since five days of riots in early January over high food prices. Despite its vast gas reserves, Algeria has long been beset by widespread poverty and high unemployment, and some have predicted it could be next Arab country hit by the popular protests that have already ousted two longtime Arab leaders in a month.

Protesters chanted "No to the police state!" and "Bouteflika out!" — a reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has led the nation since 1999.

The heavy police presence and barricades turned Saturday's 3-mile (5-kilometer) march into a rally at the First of May square.

Ali Yahia Abdenour, head of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said women and foreign journalists were among those detained Saturday. Abdenour, 83, was also jostled by security forces who surrounded him and tried to persuade him to go home.

Under Algeria's nearly two-decades-long state of emergency, protests are banned in the capital, but many ignored repeated government warnings to stay away. One activist called Saturday's protest a key turning point.

"This demonstration is a success because it's been 10 years that people haven't been able to march in Algiers and there's a sort of psychological barrier," said Ali Rachedi, the former head of the Front of Socialist Forces party. "The fear is gone."

Organizers said an estimated 28,000 security forces were on hand for the protest, which they said drew about 10,000 participants. Officials put the protest turnout at around 1,500.

Said Sadi, head of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy, RCD, said the scale of the police deployment showed "the fear of this government, which is in dire straits."

"We're going to continue to demonstrate and to defy the authorities until they fall," Sadi vowed.

Saturday's protest came just a day after an uprising in Egypt forced Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power and a month after another "people's revolution" in neighboring Tunisia forced autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile on Jan. 14.

The success of those uprisings is fueling activists' hope for change in Algeria, although many in this conflict-scarred nation fear any prospect of violence after living through a brutal Islamist insurgency in the 1990s that left an estimated 200,000 people dead.

Saturday's rally was organized by the Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, an umbrella group for human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others. It was called to press for democratic reforms but did not specifically demand that Bouteflika resign.

Bouteflika, a 73-year-old plagued with health problems, hails from a single-party system that has loosened but remained in power since Algeria's independence from colonial master France in 1962. Widely credited with pacifying a country ravaged by insurgency, Bouteflika is blamed for not doing enough to spread Algeria's oil and gas riches among his people.

Many Algerians see Bouteflika as too old and secluded to relate to the public. However, he handily won a third term in 2009, garnering 90 percent of the vote in a race that pitted him against five low-profile challengers.

To quell tensions after January's food riots, the government slashed the price of sugar and cooking oil. Last week, mindful of the Tunisian and Egyptian protests, authorities said the state of emergency — in place since 1992 — will be lifted in the "very near future." They warned that the ban on demonstrations in the capital would remain.

The Islamist insurgency was set off by the army's decision to cancel Algeria's first multiparty election in January 1992 in order to thwart a likely victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party. Scattered violence continues.

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Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.

Joint Chiefs chairman to reassure Jordan, Israel

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

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By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer – Sat Feb 12

WASHINGTON – As Egypt's army led a hoped-for drive to democracy, President Barack Obama sent his senior military adviser to the Mideast to reassure allies Jordan, also facing rumblings of civil unrest, and Israel, which sees its security at stake in a wider Arab world transformation.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, planned meetings Sunday with King Abdullah II and other senior officials in Jordan, the scene of weeks of protests inspired by unrest in Tunisia and Egypt.

Mullen's schedule for Israel included talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. Mullen had no plans to visit Egypt.

Israel is deeply worried about the prospect that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's ouster could lead to a government less friendly to the Jewish state.

Israel and Egypt fought four wars before a peace treaty in 1979. Mubarak, who gave up power Friday after 30 years of rule, steadfastly honored the peace deal after succeeding Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Egyptian extremists two years after signing that agreement.

Netanyahu has warned that any new government in Cairo must maintain thedeal — Israel's first with an Arab nation.

Egypt's military rulers announced Saturday that they would abide by international agreements, a move apparently designed to allay concerns in Israel.

Much is at stake for the U.S. as Egypt tries to create a democracy out of the autocratic system over which Mubarak presided, with Washington's political and financial help.

Both Egypt and Jordan have played leading roles, along with the U.S., in seeking a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. Egypt also controls the Suez Canal, a critical route for global oil shipments.

The U.S. has provided $1.5 billion a year to Egypt, largely in military assistance, and the White House has said the possibility of changing that would depend on how the crisis unfolds.

The assistance has done more than buy tanks, planes and other weaponry for the Egyptian armed forces. It has built a tradition of close ties with the U.S. military establishment. Egyptian officers attend U.S. academies that emphasize the primacy of civilian control in a democracy.

The leading role that Egypt's military is expected to play in the transition to free elections is likely to make Mullen's and the U.S. military's Cairo connections of growing importance in the White House.

The reverberations from Cairo are already being felt in significant ways in other Arab countries that are important U.S. allies.

Jordan's new prime minister, Marouf Bakhit, has promised to continue political reforms demanded by protesters who forced the king to reshuffle his Cabinet. The changes in Amman followed protests by thousands of Jordanians who had demanded jobs, lower food costs and a change to an election law that they say gives government loyalists more seats in parliament.

U.S.-Jordanian military ties are among the strongest in the Arab world. Also, the revelation that a Jordanian intelligence officer was among the victims of a December 2009 suicide bombing in Afghanistan that also killed seven CIA employees pointed to the close and extensive cooperation on counterterrorism between U.S. and Jordanian intelligence agencies.

When he ascended to the throne in 1999, Abdullah said he would press ahead with political reforms initiated by his late father, King Hussein. Those reforms paved the way for the first parliamentary election in 1989 after a 22-year gap, the revival of a multiparty system and the suspension of martial law, which had been in effect since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

But little has been done since then.

In Saudi Arabia, a traditional cornerstone of U.S. interests in the Mideast, a group of opposition activists said Thursday they asked the nation's king for the right to form a political party in a rare challenge to the absolute power of the ruling dynasty.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S. ally in office for more than three decades, bowed to pressure from protesters and announced last week that he would not seek re-election in 2013 and would not try to pass power to his son.

Yemen, home to a branch of al-Qaida, is an important battleground in the U.S. fight against terrorists.

Pakistan Sinking Into Water Crisis

Analysis by Timothy Spence

VIENNA, Feb 10, 2011 (IPS) - Pakistan is still reeling from flooding that caused one of the world’s costliest natural disasters in 2010, with millions of people lacking shelter, infrastructure in ruins and donations falling short of appeals. But worse may come.

The United Nations’ disaster coordination agency announced on Jan. 24 that the Pakistan floods caused damages of at least 9.5 billion dollars - the world’s third costliest natural disaster in 2010 - and killed 1,985 people - the fourth deadliest in a year of cataclysmic events.

But Pakistanis will face a water challenge of a different sort in the years ahead - the possibility of dire scarcity.

"There are so many other priorities that the government is facing, particularly at a national security level, and to be frank, Pakistan’s government has never really made genuine, sustainable commitments to human development and human security issues, such as guaranteeing better access to water for the masses," says Michael Kugelman, an Asia analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington.

A Woodrow Wilson Center report titled ‘Running on Empty’ that Kugelman oversaw in 2009 warned that Pakistan’s water situation is "extremely precarious" and that the South Asian nation could face widespread shortages within 25 years. He said last year’s floods exposed the government’s neglect of infrastructure, including dams, "one of the big manifestations of the water management policy failures."

"I think you could argue quite conclusively that if repairs had been done in a more timely fashion or more efficaciously in the last few years, that the damage from the flood would not have been as extensive as it was," Kugelman told IPS.

Aid officials say restoring water and sanitation services - already inadequate before the inundations - remain a priority six months after torrential rains turned the Indus River and its tributaries into destructive torrents. Floodwaters raged from July through September, causing nearly 1 billion dollars in damage to dams and irrigation systems and 93 million dollars damage to water and sewerage facilities, according to relief agencies. The U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency says only 59 percent of the 1.9 billion dollars in immediate recovery aid has so far been provided.

Lack of safe drinking water, stagnant pools and wrecked or non-existent wastewater disposal are creating a health threat that is magnifying flood recovery problems.

The Red Cross and the South African anti-poverty group ActionAid have both warned that waterlogged and silted croplands are threatening subsistence farming and creating food shortages, and that malnourishment - particularly among children and mothers - is growing.

The Red Cross reported on Jan. 21 that four million people lack adequate shelter, and contaminated water supplies in southern Pakistan are "creating breeding grounds for waterborne diseases."

The U.S. State Department said that more than a million children are at risk of contracting infectious diseases, including waterborne ailments that were a main cause of death among children before the 2010 inundations.

Aside from urgent recovery needs, donors and analysts say Pakistan must address its future water management practices if it is to serve its rapidly growing population of 170 million.

A flood damage report prepared by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank says the country’s water supply and sanitation services "fail on three accounts - quality, access, and sustainability of services."

"Piped water supply is frequently intermittent and not potable; only 35 percent of the population has access, at best for 3-6 hours a day in all but the largest cities. Sewerage services are inadequate with most households not connected to a system; 33 percent of rural inhabitants have no toilet," says the 188-page report issued in December.

Inadequate and neglected infrastructure is the legacy of Pakistan’s chaotic and endemically corrupt politics, analysts say. Efforts to take power away from Islamabad and give regional governments more responsibility over water and sanitation services have failed, the ADB/World Bank assessment says, because local officials "were not provided the skilled staff, management capacity and systems, and operating budgets to do the job."

Pakistan’s civilian authorities have not been aloof to the need for improved water supplies and other infrastructure. Two years ago, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated Pakistan’s participation in a scheme aimed at streamlining foreign assistance in areas of health, agriculture, rural development and disaster management.

Local authorities also back ambitious dam-building projects - including two on the Indus, the Kalabagh in Punjab and the Diamer Basha in Kashmir - designed to prevent floods, generate electricity and provide stable water supplies. Gilani has told reporters that had the dams been in place before July 2010, the country might have been spared the worst flooding.

But there are growing fears that the country is outstripping its ability to feed itself, and overtaxed water supplies are likely to fuel conflicts between competing agricultural and urban demands.

Irrigation practices are primitive and account for 90 percent of the nation’s water use. According to the U.N., Pakistan consumes 75 percent of its water resources, compared to 34 percent for India.

Meanwhile, the U.N. estimates that the country’s population will double by 2050. Urban areas accounted for 36 percent of the population in 2008, up from 33 percent in 2000, with poverty forcing rural Pakistanis to seek greener pastures in cities.

Kugelman says more attention should be paid to urban water management to avert health and resource problems. "It’s not going to be that long from now when the majority of the country lives in urban areas, and even now, the government really cannot provide sufficient water supplies, clean water, and water at all to the current populations in the cities."

The report by Kugelman and his Woodrow Wilson Center associates warns that Pakistan faces an imminent water crisis, with careless practices having a ripple effect on food production.

"Intensive irrigation regimes and poor drainage practices have caused water logging and soil salinity throughout Pakistan’s countryside. As a result, vast expanses of the nation’s rich agricultural lands are too wet or salty to yield any meaningful harvests," says the report.

Kugelman sees the flood recovery as an opportunity for change. Instead of constructing expensive dams, "doing more modest things like (investing) in more high-efficiency irrigation technology that doesn’t waste as much water, or just (trying) to fix up existing structures instead of building new ones."

But much depends on the country’s leadership.

Violence, displacement, a restless youth population, endemic corruption, the conflict in neighboring Afghanistan and creeping extremism - these challenges would confound the most audacious statesman. The Jan. 4 assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the Punjab state governor and prominent secularist who was gunned down by his own bodyguard, symbolizes the country’s volatile condition.

"I think we’re seeing much more of a disturbing gain being made by those that really do not support democracy," Kugelman said. "I still don’t think the country is about to collapse, the military is too strong to allow that to happen. But it’s pretty scary."

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54427.

Somalia: 150 Troops Defect Somaliland Army, Cite 'Clan Massacres'

11 February 2011

At least 150 soldiers have defected from the army of Somalia's separatist region of Somaliland after citing 'clan massacres' in recent fighting, Radio Garowe reports.

Col. Ahmed Mohamed 'Dalba', leading 150 soldiers and 7 armed trucks, defected Somaliland's army and arrived in Buhodle district on Wednesday.

Col. Dalba, who spoke with Radio Garowe, said he has been an army commander in Somaliland for the past 7 years.

"Me and my unit decided to leave [Somaliland] after clan massacres were committed against Dhulbahante clan," said Col. Dalba, who belongs to Dhulbahante sub-clan of Harti clan.

Somaliland government officials have denied allegations of clan massacres, but Somaliland's army is dominated by soldiers from Isaaq clan, the only clan in Somalia which supports separatism from Somalia.

Last Monday, heavy fighting erupted between Somaliland troops and Dhulbahante clan fighters in Kalshale village over control of territory. At least 87 people were killed during the day-long battles.

Local sources reported that 150 armed soldiers, all belonging to Dhulbahante clan, defected from Somaliland army, along with their commander, Col. Dalba.

The defectors escaped with 7 armed trucks, 2 army transport trucks and 1 Toyota Land Cruiser used by their commander.

All the troops are now in Buhodle district, where anti-Somaliland forces have coalesced as Somaliland troops have brought more heavy weapons to the region.

Located in northwestern Somalia, Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from the rest of the country in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.

There is growing violence in Sool and Sanaag regions, which Somaliland claims based on colonial-era boundaries, but local clans are violently opposed to Somaliland's separatist agenda.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201102111116.html.

Algeria prepares for landmark rally

2011-02-11

Algeria is bracing for a large-scale protest in Algiers on Saturday (February 12th). The National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy, which unites several opposition parties, unions and human rights organizations, called for protests in several cities across Algeria. Some 50,000 police officers will be deployed Saturday in Algiers, Tizi Ouzou, Boumerdes, Bejaia and Tipaza.

Algeria reportedly decided to satisfy all visa requests by foreign reporters seeking to cover the rallies. Even journalists denied visas for years were allowed entry, Tout sur l'Algerie reported, editorializing that the government "decided to play the card of transparency and openness".

In another move aimed at easing social tensions, the authorities decided to authorize several political parties, including the Party of Liberty and Justice (PLJ) of former Wafa party spokesman Mohamed Said, the Union for Democracy and the Republic (UDR) of Amara Benyounes and the Democratic Front (FD) of Sid Ahmed Ghozali. The decision is expected to be made public on the eve of the Saturday marches, TSA reported.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/02/11/newsbrief-01.

Campus police leave Tunisian universities

After more than three decades, university police have retreated from Tunisian campuses.

By Iheb Ettounsi for Magharebia in Tunis – 11/02/11

For more than thirty years, a special campus police unit has monitored Tunisian students. One of the first moves by the Tunisian interim government was to order an end to their presence.

"We are working towards fostering responsibility among students," government spokesman Taieb Baccoucheb said at a January 22nd press conference.

Speaking at the same event, Minister of Higher Education Ahmed Brahim announced that he would "take all necessary steps to enforce the government decision to abolish campus police in the universities".

Along with providing security on campus, the police monitored university students' activities.

Members of the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET), which was opposed to ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his predecessor Habib Bourguiba, were subject to particular scrutiny.

UGET members faced restrictions and were persecuted for demanding better education and accommodation. Seventeen students were arrested as a result of a demonstration at Manouba University in 2009.

"We have been oppressed and subjugated for more than three decades, but in the end – thanks to the Tunisian people's revolution – we will be able to take back our rightful place in Tunisian universities," said Moez, a student at 9 April University.

The university security scheme came into existence in the 1970s as a result of campus protests when pro-government students took over the 18th conference of the UGET. This was met with resistance from all student bodies and ended in massive demonstrations under the government of Hedi Nouira.

Students were relieved to learn about the decision by the caretaker government.

"The era of campus police is over," said law student Amir Al-Tahiri. "They were responsible for limiting students' movements and suppressing their demands. Students need a climate of freedom in order to be creative and productive."

Given the sudden security vacuum, however, political science student Afaf Souidi called upon students to be "cautious and responsible" on their own.

"Universities are for gaining knowledge, not for surveillance," the Ariana resident told Magharebia.

The Tunisian revolution has brought another important change to campuses.

During Ben Ali's tenure, student members of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) occupied more than 90% of seats on committees representing students. RCD students and campus police would allegedly accost students and falsify the campus votes. The elections were generally seen as rigged.

Along with abolishing the university police, the higher education ministry now plans to hold new elections for the committees.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/02/11/feature-02.

Workshop spurs Moroccan women in politics

Despite recent electoral victories, Moroccan female councilors struggle to make their presence felt.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 11/02/11

Moroccan female communal councilors suffer from discrimination, male-dominated thinking and problems in attaining decision-making roles. To help overcome these obstacles, a Moroccan NGO organized a series of training sessions in all 16 regions of the Kingdom.

"Among the main conclusions was the need for continuing training for women in the political field to meet their needs," Nouzha Allaoui, co-ordinator of network "Women for women", said at the conclusion of the January 27th event.

"So the network is working on plans to create a school for women with the aim of enhancing their skills so that they can get into political life," added Allaoui, whose group organized the Rabat workshop.

The event, which brought together over 700 Moroccan female councilors, revolved around a number of subjects, including ways to prepare a local development plan and forge alliances within local councils.

Although the 2009 communal elections brought 3,428 women into public office, women "suffer from the marginalization tactics used by men", according to attendee Asmae Drissi Azami.

"Men organize meetings outside the council, and sometimes in the evenings," she told Magharebia. "Some elected women are also unfamiliar with procedures and find themselves faced with legal problems."

Azami added that the workshop enabled women "to overcome their fears" and learn about "political work and management in the process".

Trainer Khalid Sabri said that it was time to develop women's management capabilities so that they can occupy their due place in politics.

"If men can leave the business of running the family home to women, then women are also capable of managing local affairs," Sabri said. "By their nature, women are better suited than men to managing institutions."

He stressed that women must take positions of responsibility, rather than remain content to be in the background. The aim, he said, is to have more and more women chairing committees and councils.

"We're not just looking for numbers here; we want effective, high-quality work," Sabri said.

The training session concluded with adopting a list of recommendation. Attendees encouraged female local politicians to organize themselves into associations dedicated to their needs. They also called for defending women's political rights and stemming discrimination, urging political parties, charities and unions to play their part in training women.

According to Alaoui, the hope is to step up the pace of training in the run-up to the legislative elections. In addition, there will be lobbying to pass electoral laws to increase women's representation in the Parliament.

"In the end, our aim is to arrive at the principle of equality," she stressed.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/02/11/feature-01.

US moves naval forces off Ismailia while Israelis call for re-occupation of Philadelphia corridor

Friday, 11 February 2011

Egyptian media sources have confirmed reports from Israeli intelligence agencies that the US has moved some of its naval forces from the Fifth Fleet closer to the Suez Canal. It is feared that the situation in Egypt could spiral out of control and threaten navigation in the Canal.

The Egyptian newspaper Al Masri Al Yawm has said that the naval personnel include 850 US Marines. They have taken up a strategic position near Ismailia, giving easy access to the main Egyptian land mass and the Sinai Peninsula. The newspaper cited Israeli sources regarding the deployment which came about following the statement by Vice President Omer Sulaiman that Egypt faces a choice between a coup d'état or dialogue.

Al Masri Al Yawm also referred to a recent report published in Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in which Israel Defense Forces officers have called for the re-occupation of the Philadelphia corridor located between Egypt and the Gaza Strip in the event of the total collapse of the Mubarak regime.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2048-us-moves-naval-forces-off-ismailia-while-israelis-call-for-re-occupation-of-philadelphia-corridor.

Hamas cheers as Mubarak steps down

12/02/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Hamas members rejoiced Friday as Egypt celebrated its victory against the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Demonstrators held flags of Egypt and chanted against Mubarak. Party members distributed candy after prayers and fired guns in the air.

Hamas congratulated the Egyptian people for their victory and called on the new Egyptian leadership to open Gaza.

"We consider the resignation of president Mubarak to be the start of the victory of the Egyptian revolution which we support with all its demands," said the Palestinian Islamist movement's spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri.

The toppling of Egypt's strongman represented "the victory of the will of the Egyptian people and their sacrifices," he told AFP, calling on the Egyptian army to support "the demands of the people and not let them be led astray."

As the news rippled across the densely-populated coastal enclave ruled by Hamas, thousands of people rushed into the streets to celebrate, with cars honking their horns and celebratory busts of gunfire punctuating the night.

In Gaza City, gunmen from Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, began gathering in the center for a celebration rally.

Similar gatherings were reported across the Gaza Strip as people responded to calls over loudspeakers to come and "join the celebrations with the Egyptian people."

"Egypt has written a new page in the nation's history," Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said, adding that the blockade of Gaza had "begun to weaken" with the collapse of Mubarak's regime.

Abu Zuhri urged Egypt's new leaders to lift its blockade, a measure in force since 2007 after Hamas violently seized power in the enclave, ousting the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Israel has enforced a blockade of Gaza from the land, air and sea since 2006 after Palestinian militants snatched an Israeli soldier on its border with the strip who is still being held captive.

Abu Zuhri urged Cairo to "immediately" open the Rafah terminal between Gaza and Egypt which has been closed since the end of January, leaving thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza, and keeping hundreds more from returning home.

The militant Islamic Jihad movement also "paid tribute to the Egyptian people and their revolution," saying what they had achieved was "the dream of all Arabs and Muslims."

Earlier on Friday, online calls for a demonstration across Gaza for "change" appeared to have had little effect. Hamas security forces quickly dispersed those who did turn up in the southern town of Khan Yunis.

The protest was called by an Arabic-language Facebook group which said its aim was to encourage unity among the bitterly-divided Palestinian ranks.

The fall of Mubarak drew no immediate comment from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), which has largely kept silence since the Egyptian uprising erupted on January 25.

But hundreds of Palestinians of all ages in the PA's political capital of Ramallah and other West Bank communities took to the streets to celebrate, waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

Last month after the anti-regime protests broke out, Abbas called Mubarak, whose regime tried but failed to mediate a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation but was seen as pro-Abbas by the Islamists, to express his "solidarity with Egypt."

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=359139.