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Monday, October 22, 2012

Land battles surface in Myanmar as reforms unfold

October 22, 2012

MINGALADON, Myanmar (AP) — The landscape of Mingaladon township on the northern outskirts of Myanmar's main city tells a story of economic upheaval. Skeletons of factories for a new industrial zone rise from thick green rice paddies local farmers say were seized by one of Myanmar's most powerful companies.

The fight over land in Mingaladon is one of many such battles in Myanmar. Human rights groups say land battles are intensifying because companies tied to the military and business elite are rushing to grab land as the country emerges from five decades of isolation and opens its economy. Not only that. The political change sweeping through Myanmar means farmers and others are challenging land confiscations in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

One Sunday in July, some 200 farmers took to the streets of Yangon, the main city, to protest the Mingaladon land acquisition by the Zaykabar Company. It was the first legal protest to be held in Myanmar since a 1988 uprising against military rule was crushed and came just days after a new law allowing peaceful demonstrations was passed by parliament. In the past, protesters have been arrested or shot.

Two months after the July protest, dozens of farmers crowded into the shabby two story home of a protest leader to sign and thumbprint petitions asking Zaykabar for more money. "The farmers know their rights and dare to demand their rights," said Htet Htet Oo Wai, a former political prisoner who has joined the fight over Mingaladon. "They didn't dare do that kind of thing two years ago," she said.

One of those farmers, Myint Thein, 56, pointed to a metal shed going up on the 15 acres his family used to tend. He said he got no money for the land back in 1997 when the Zaykabar Company began work on a 5,000 acre township, with a large industrial zone, office towers, a mall, some 4,000 residential bungalows and a 21-hole golf course.

Farmers such as Myint Thein couldn't fight back then. They weren't only ranged against Zaykabar. The company had the backing of the state and was developing the area through a joint venture with the government. Zaykabar paid the government around 14 billion kyat for the land — about $50 million then — and farmers say they saw none of it.

"At the time, you couldn't say anything," Myint Thein said. "We'd been farming for our whole life," he said. "It was like our hands were broken." Before Myanmar's political reforms began, its military junta exercised unfettered power and in the state dominated economy the ruling generals had the last word on who owned what. The new government still owns all farmland and while it has made efforts to clarify land use rights it might also have reinforced avenues for small landholders to be dispossessed by the well-connected and powerful.

Myanmar passed two new land laws this year, which have been sharply criticized by human rights groups for the broad power they grant the government to requisition land in the national interest. The Asian Human Rights Commission told the United Nations that Myanmar was at risk of a "land-grabbing epidemic" if the laws aren't changed.

Other countries in the region also grapple with land disputes. Cambodia and Vietnam have been plagued by a land-grabbing scourge linked to the powerful. In Vietnam, land seizures are the most common source of conflict between the ruling Communist Party and the Vietnamese people.

Zaykabar got more land for its Mingaladon project in 2010 from farmers who said the acquisition was illegal because the government hadn't authorized it and that they were coerced into accepting too little money for their fields. The company said the allegations aren't true. A Ministry of Construction official backed part of the farmers' account, saying a contract to develop the area has yet to be signed, but the government has given no indication it intends to intervene.

Some 86 farmers who handed over their land in 2010 have joined forces with over 150 of those who say they lost their land in 1997 to fight Zaykabar, in street marches and the media, through petitions to a new land dispute committee, and in court, if necessary.

For now, only a few buildings break Mingaladon's green fields. Boys fish in muddy ditches as workers lay the bricks of high new walls. But Myanmar's rising-star status with international investors has given Zaykabar's slow burning project new urgency.

The U.S and Europe have lifted most sanctions against Myanmar in response to reformist president Thein Sein's drive to transform the country from a vilified dictatorship to a free-market democracy. Political prisoners have been released and press censorship eased. Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament, and the government is appealing to foreign investors for capital and expertise.

All that makes the land in Mingaladon more attractive to investors. Zaykabar, a subsidiary of the National Development Company Group, said after upgrading the industrial zone with electricity, water and roads, it has been selling the land for 20 million to 40 million kyat ($23,500 to $47,000) per acre. The highest prices it fetched are more than 130 times the payments that farmers got for an acre of land in 2010.

Zaykabar and its chairman, Khin Shwe, who is also a member of Parliament for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, are both still subject to individual U.S. sanctions for alleged links to the old military junta. U.S. citizens are barred from doing business with them.

Zaykabar has filed a defamation lawsuit against the self-appointed leader of the farmers, Nay Myo Wai, a round-faced 40-year-old who made his living as an engineer and kerosene smuggler before refashioning himself a politician. His right forearm bears a tattoo of a dragon, etched in ink laced with snake venom when he was a child in the belief it would render him immune to snake bites.

"Whether you sign or not, they will take the land," Nay Myo Wai said. "Farmers felt they couldn't say no." Zay Thiha, who is Khin Shwe's son and serves as Zaykabar's vice chairman, said the company paid the Ministry of Construction's Department of Human Settlements and Housing Development 3.5 million kyat per acre for land acquired in 1997 and agreed to pay 4.4 million kyat per acre for land acquired in 2010.

An official at the Department of Human Settlements, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with the media, said the department had not yet taken any money for the 2010 land nor signed a contract for the acquisition.

"The company hasn't got the permission to transform farming land," he said. The official confirmed that Zaykabar paid the government 3.5 million kyat per acre in 1997. He declined to say whether the government had paid farmers for their land in 1997. Under the country's old land laws, farmers were entitled to little or no compensation for their land, all of which belonged to the government, he said.

Zay Thiha said the government has agreed in principle to the 2010 arrangement and that it is the department's responsibility — not the company's — to get final approval for using the farmland for the industrial zone.

He said his father Khin Shwe, wise to the shifting political winds in Myanmar, went out of this way to help the farmers in 2010, in the run-up to Myanmar's first parliamentary elections in 20 years. "He was competing in the election so he didn't want to get a bad name," Zay Thiha said.

Khin Shwe met with around 60 farmers in May of 2010, which was six months before the election and Khin Shwe's first bid for public office, and agreed to give them money. Because Zaykabar cannot legally acquire land directly from the farmers, according to Zay Thiha, the company made a "donation" of 300,000 kyat per acre, according to Zay Thiha. He said some farmers were given an additional 300,000 kyat per acre for the rice crop in their fields.

"He didn't want to see farmers lose their land without getting any money, so that's why he gave these charity fees," said Zay Thiha. He said the compensation was above market rates at the time and provided ample capital to buy other farmland.

As evidence that no one was coerced he gave the example of 12 people who he said still haven't agreed to hand over around 100 acres. "We say please and are very gentle," he said. Zay Thiha predicts, ambitiously, that the 2,500 acre industrial zone alone could create 1.5 million stable jobs in Southeast Asia's poorest country, but few farmers see a place for themselves or their children in that bright, industrial future.

Kyaw Sein, 62, is the son of farmers and his sons are farmers. "We can't do anything except farm," he said. He said he agreed to accept 300,000 kyat per acre from Zaykabar in 2010 because he saw what happened to his neighbors in 1997.

"They lost their farms totally and didn't get anything," he said. "Anything is better than nothing."

Additional reporting by Associated Press writer Yadana Htun in Yangon.

Lebanon launches major security operation


October 22, 2012

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops launched a major security operation on Monday to open all roads and force gunmen off the streets, trying to contain an outburst of violence set off by the assassination of a top intelligence official who was a powerful opponent of Syria. Sectarian clashes killed at least five people.

Opponents of Syria have blamed the regime in Damascus for the killing of Lebanese Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan in a Beirut car bomb on Friday. With Lebanon already tense and deeply divided over the civil war next door, the assassination has threatened to drag the country back into the kind of sectarian strife that plagued it for decades — much of it linked to Syria.

"The nation is passing through a crucial and critical period and tension has risen in some areas to unprecedented levels," the army said in a statement. It urged politicians to be careful not to incite violence "because the fate of the nation is on the edge."

"Security is a red line," the statement said, adding that strict measures are being taken to "prevent Lebanon from being an arena for settling regional problems." Cracks of gunfire rang out in Beirut as soldiers and armored personnel carriers with heavy machine guns took up position on major thoroughfares and dismantled roadblocks. The state news agency reported sporadic gunfire in parts of Beirut and around the northern city of Tripoli.

Tripoli saw clashes between two neighborhoods that support opposite sides in Syria's conflict and have a decades-long history of shooting at each other. Four people were killed in the fighting between the Sunni neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, which supports the Syrian regime.

Lebanon and Syria share similar sectarian divides that have fed tensions in both countries. Most of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Lebanese Shiites tend to back President Bashar Assad who belongs to the minority Alawite sect — an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Tripoli residents said scores of soldiers deployed around the city in an attempt to bring back calm. The military also set up checkpoints, searched cars and asked people for identity cards. Security officials also said one man was killed in the Wadi Zayneh area north of the southern city of Sidon. They said the clashes also wounded at least six people in Beirut and 11 in Tripoli. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Hassan, the assassinated intelligence official, was a Sunni who challenged Syria and its powerful Lebanese ally, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Al-Hassan's killing has imperiled Lebanon's fragile political balance. Many politicians blamed Syria for the killing and angry protesters tried to storm the government palace after al-Hassan's funeral on Sunday, venting their rage at leaders they consider puppets of a murderous Syrian regime. But they were pushed back by troops who fired their guns in the air and filled the street with tear gas.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni, told As-Safir newspaper that when he took up his post last year, he intended to protect all Lebanese, particularly Sunnis. "I was convinced that through this mission, I am protecting my country, my people and especially fellow members of my sect," he said.

The prime minister of Lebanon is usually a Sunni according to a sectarian division of top posts in the state. Over the past year, pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies have come to dominate the government.

On Sunday night, a group of anti-Syrian protesters started an open-ended sit-in outside Mikati's house in his hometown of Tripoli. The protesters said they will only end the sit-in when Mikati resigns.

Ambassadors of Britain, the U.S., Russia, China and France and the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon met President Michel Suleiman to express support for him. "The permanent members at the United Nations call upon all the parties in Lebanon to preserve stability," Derek Plumbly, the U.N. representative, told reporters in Arabic while surrounded by the five ambassadors. "We strongly condemn any attempt to shake Lebanon's stability."

Later in the day, Mikati met with Suleiman but did not make any statements afterward. An Associated Press photographer saw dozens of gunmen roaming the streets on Monday in Beirut's predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Tariq Jadideh, where fighting has taken place. Local Sunni leaders were calling the gunmen by telephone urging them to pull out of the streets.

In some roads around Tariq Jadideh, masked Sunni gunmen set up checkpoints, stopping cars and asking people about their destination and where they were coming from. A woman who lives in the neighborhood said the fighting began shortly after midnight and lasted until sunrise.

"We couldn't sleep because of the shooting. There were also some booms," she said, referring to rocket-propelled grenades. She asked that her name not be used for fear of reprisals.

A320 makes Spanish voyage on biofuels

Oct. 4, 2011

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- An Airbus A320 flew from Madrid to Barcelona using a mixture of conventional jet fuel and biofuel made from a species of camelina, an energy company said.

Spanish airline Iberia and energy company Repsol used a mixture of jet fuel and biofuels to stage the first commercial flight in the country powered by the alternative fuel.

Iberia's Chairman Antonio Vazquez Romero said the use of biofuels in the aviation industry would help address environmental concerns.

"The fight against climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face, and biofuels are essential for reducing our reliance on oil, increasing our competitiveness, and achieving the ambitious emissions-reduction targets set by the airline industry," Romero said in a statement.

Repsol produced the fuel. Iberia provided technical and maintenance services for the Airbus A320 flight.

The commercial flight burned around 5,700 pounds of the fuel mixture, which was derived from conventional jet fuel and biofuel made from the camelina sativa plant. The mixture, said Repsol, emitted 3,300 fewer pounds of carbon dioxide emissions when compared with conventional jet fuel.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/10/04/A320-makes-Spanish-voyage-on-biofuels/UPI-76281317731342/.

Turkey, Russia weigh gas relationship

Oct. 3, 2011

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Bilateral energy ties with Russia aren't affected significantly by a decision to end a contract for pipeline supplies, the Turkish energy minister said.

State-owned Turkish Pipeline Corp., or BOTAS, during the weekend said it wasn't renewing its 25-year natural gas deal through the so-called Western pipeline because Gazprom wasn't offering a discount to Ankara.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz noted that a deal with Russia for the Blue Stream pipeline, which carries more than 200 billion cubic feet of natural gas to Turkey, was still in place.

"Our cooperation with Russia will move forward and grow stronger," he was quoted by Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman as saying.

Yildiz said natural gas prices for Turkey are up 39 percent in the past two years. Turkey is one of the key export markets for Russian natural gas.

Ankara aims to position itself as a regional transit hub for natural resources. It already hosts part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, one of the longest in the world. It could play host to the Nabucco gas pipeline for Europe as well as South Stream, a natural gas pipeline designed to carry Russia's natural gas.

Alexander Medvedev, the head of exports for Gazprom, was quoted by Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti as saying his company had other options in Turkey.

"If the contract with state company BOTAS is not extended, we are ready to supply these volumes to our current and new partners -- private firms -- for a further sale to final consumers on the Turkish market," he said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/10/03/Turkey-Russia-weigh-gas-relationship/UPI-80151317657737/.

China opposes Senate bill on Yuan


Oct. 3, 2011

BEIJING, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- China Tuesday repeated its opposition to a U.S. Senate bill to allow debate on the undervalued yuan, a condition seen as giving China an unfair trade advantage.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, reacting to a Senate vote to proceed to debate on the bill, said such action on the so-called currency manipulation issue "seriously violates rules of the World Trade Organization and obstructs China-U.S. trade ties," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China has already urged U.S. politicians to avoid ramping up trade protectionism and not to politicize the exchange rate issue, Xinhua said.

China has been under international pressure to allow its currency to appreciate faster. Major trading countries have said an undervalued yuan in relation to major currencies gives China an unfair trade advantage by making its exports less expensive and allows it to run up huge trade surpluses.

The latest action by the U.S. Senate would allow a weeklong debate on the bill, designed to reduce bilateral trade imbalance and to create more jobs in the United States. If passed, the bill would let the U.S. Treasury Department to designate China as a currency manipulator, and could lead to retaliatory tariffs on Chinese goods.

While the yuan has appreciated 25 percent against the U.S. dollar since 2005, China has insisted there has been no corresponding impact on the U.S. jobless rate, which has risen to more than 9 percent.

Beijing sees the effort to label it as a currency manipulator as an excuse for some in Washington to launch a protectionist war.

"China illegally subsidizes their industries," said Charles Schumer" class="tpstyle">U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the sponsors of the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act, the Voice of America reported. "They underpay their workers. They skirt environmental regulations, and ignore the tenets of global trade rule after trade rule after trade rule. They get away with economic murder."

The Senator was quoted as saying China's currency practices have cost the United States more than 2 million jobs in the last decade.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., another sponsor of the bill, said, "During these tough economic times, we ought not to allow any of our trading partners to rig the game in their favor."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2011/10/03/China-opposes-Senate-bill-on-Yuan/UPI-95341317699442/.

Bahrainis use traffic jams to protest

Tue Oct 4, 2011

Anti-government protesters continue to cause huge traffic jams on the streets of Bahrain's capital, Manama, in a protest campaign against the repressive policies of the Al Khalifa regime, Press TV reports.

As part of the protest campaign, which is dubbed "Manama Storm," protesters have created massive traffic jams in Manama, according to Press TV sources.

The campaign continues in defiance of an Interior Ministry's warning in late September that warned the protesters of losing their driver's licenses for up to one year if they deliberately created traffic jams.

Meanwhile, a Bahraini court handed out three-month jail terms to two people on Tuesday and fined each USD 265 for blocking traffic.

This comes following Monday rulings of a Bahraini military court which sentenced 14 protesters to life imprisonment and handed long jail terms of up to 18 years to 22 others.

The military court, however, rejected pleas by attorneys of those sentenced for an independent probe into the reported torture of defendants.

Earlier on Thursday, the Bahraini court also sentenced 20 medical workers to jail terms of between five and 15 years for treating injured anti-government protesters.

Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling on the US-backed Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist Bahraini rulers in their brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-government protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in the regime crackdown.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/202693.html.

Oran to host renewable energy expo

2011-10-03

The 2nd International Renewable Energy Exhibition of Oran will open on October 19th, Liberte reported on Monday (October 3rd). More than 65 foreign companies and exhibitors have confirmed their participation at the three-day event. Panel discussions will focus on the Algerian approach to energy and sustainable development.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/10/03/newsbrief-06.

Mauritania anti-census movement draws NGO support

2011-10-03

Protests against the 2011 Mauritanian national census continued Sunday (October 2nd) in Nouakchott, PANA reported. The Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), an anti-slavery NGO, staged sit-ins to denounce what it calls a "discriminatory and selective" census that it accuses of depriving some Mauritanians of their "natural citizenship rights".

Meanwhile, the Mauritanian Forum of Human Rights Organisations (FONADH) on Saturday (October 1st) called for an official probe into the death of a teenager killed during an anti-census protest last Tuesday. Lamine Mangane was shot in Maghama during clashes between anti-riot police and protesters from the "Hands Off My Nationality" movement. The members of the movement oppose the census for its alleged exclusion of the country's black population.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/10/03/newsbrief-04.

Algiers Book Fair honors 'Arab Spring'

Participants at the Algiers book event examined how to preserve the achievements of popular revolutions and pursue people's quest for freedom.

By Fidet Mansour for Magharebia in Algiers - 03/10/2011

The Arab Spring has found its way to the 16th Algiers International Book Fair (SILA), which wrapped up on Sunday (October 2nd). More than 500 publishers from 32 countries gathered at the ten-day event to dissect, analyse and explain the epic changes rocking the Arab world.

Authors, poets and essayists from Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, South Africa, France, Russia, Spain and other countries participated in the discussion panels held under the theme, "The book delivers".

Some 500 Tunisian titles were on display, including "the most important works published after the January 14, 2011 revolution", Publishers Union chief Noureddine Abid said.

Former Algerian foreign minister and UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi discussed the modern history of the Arab world and the ferment experienced by the region, marked by a desire for a real break with the past. The challenge facing the Arab world is how to rebuild itself and continue along the path of reform, he said.

The challenge now is "how to preserve the achievements of the revolutions and pursue the people’s quest for democracy, liberty and development" as well as avoid committing fatal errors, explained Amr El Shoubaki, a senior analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. The answers to these two problems, the speaker said, will be the key to successful revolutions.

The symposium produced some other remarkable insights. Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, Vice-President of the Arab and African Research Center in Cairo, highlighted the particular role played by women and youths in the reform process triggered by the uprisings. Their role was "primordial" given the large number of women and young people who took to the streets, whether in Egypt, Tunisia or Libya, to demand change.

Another subject of debate was the economic aspect of revolutions. The participants also discussed the coverage of the Arab Spring in the Western media.

The event, however, did not pass without controversy. The religious affairs ministry decided to withdraw more than 400 books intended for display at the fair. Rachid Hadj Nacer, the director of books and reading at the Ministry of Culture, said that "the majority of those were religious books."

Culture Minister Khalida Toumi explained that the books included "those supporting colonialism, terrorism, racism, and those attacking the revolution of national liberation".

According to national daily newspaper Echorouk, the banned books included the ones that could propagate fundamentalist thought or ignite ethnic problems in Algeria.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/10/03/feature-04.

Census riots hit southern Mauritania

Mauritanians upset with the way authorities are handling the latest census are taking to the streets in violent demonstrations.

By Bakari Guèye for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 03/10/11

The southern Mauritanian city of Kaedi erupted into violence late last month as young protesters from the "Don't Touch My Nationality" movement clashed with security forces over the country's census.

"The damage is enormous," according to Hassan Baradji, a prominent Kaedi resident. "Public and private buildings such as the palace of justice, the head offices of the transport federation, the census office and the market have been ransacked and burned."

The violence began in town along the Senegalese border on September 24th, with rioters saying they feared being treated as second class citizens as a result of the census. Kaedi's Director of Security was dismissed from his post following the riots. Clashes were also later reported in Nouakchott, resulting in 56 arrests as of Friday (September 30th), according to AFP.

Police tried to restore calm in Kaedi by negotiating with the Don't Touch My Nationality movement. Group co-ordinator Wane Abould Birane said that the movement was launched "following the wholesale rejection by the enrollment committees of a significant body of Mauritanian Negroes marginalized by an oppressive system which has always been ready to exclude the Mauritanian Negro".

"The movement was launched on the social networks by young Negro-Mauritanian white-collar workers from various backgrounds," he said. "The census committees have been humiliating Black African citizens, acting as judge and jury, even putting the nationality of a Bal, Fall, Traore or Sarr to the vote."

The co-ordinator cited the example of one person who was asked to recite a particular verse from the Qur'an while "another had to prove his Mauritanian credentials by recognizing a key figure from presidential circles or by speaking in the Hassania language".

Mauritanian Interior Minister Mohamed Ould Bolil met with leaders of the movement following the riots but the clashes continued to spread, reaching the town of Maghama, where one person was killed on September 27th.

The Mauritanian Parliament took up the issue at the opening of its September 25th session. "The biggest threat to national cohesion at this time is the census currently under way," said National Assembly President Messaoud Ould Boulkheir. He urged authorities to review the census program while at the same time calling for citizens to "return to peace and dialogue in order to resolve all national problems".

"The waves made by the current census are due to a manifest lack of information," according to Senate President Bâ M'Baré. He said the census would involve all Mauritanians. "The operation to enroll all Mauritanians will take as long as it takes. No son of this country will be left at the roadside," he added.

Mauritania's main opposition party, the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD), blamed the violence on "authorities' repression of a demonstration", adding that the party condemned "all forms of repression against peaceful demonstrations which are provided for in the Constitution".

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/10/03/feature-02.

Turkey builds Mideast profile

Ankara, Turkey (UPI)
Sep 30, 2011

Turkey is building its political and military profile as a regional power while contributing to EU moves to promote mediation for peace and humanitarian assistance in the region's multiple crises, from Libya, Syria to the Palestinian territories.

As the West and European Union in particular ponder their role in a reforming Egypt, Turkey has already accomplished a high-powered dash to Cairo, secured contracts worth $1 billion and reached political accords that are seen likely to outlive the transition from the military to a democratic civilian regime.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan led a 268-member trade delegation to Cairo in the midst of a tense standoff between the generals and the politicians and walked away with wide-ranging economic and political accords.

Erdogan was a peace mission nominally on behalf of Europe and NATO, which has seen its stock rise after the largely successful installation of a transitional government in Libya, even as the uncertain future of deposed leader Moammar Gadhafi looms on the horizon.

Turkey was the colonial power in the vast expanse that includes Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian territories right up to the early part of the 20th century. Ankara commanded respect in Gadhafi's Libya without subscribing to his politics. Despite frequent rows over payments for multimillion-dollar contracts, Ankara was able to "handle" the maverick former leader without cozying up with him.

Turkey's current diplomatic rise is a complex outcome of Erdogan's measured brinkmanship, an ongoing quarrel with Israel that raised Turkey's standing among the Arabs and the EU's dependence on Turkey's unrivaled diplomatic contacts in the Middle East and North Africa region.

"He is polling as the most popular politician, by far, in virtually every country of the Middle East, and for the revolutionary generation who turned to the Middle East's only Muslim democracy for inspiration, he is a conquering hero," The Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto said of Erdogan in a dispatch from London.

Syndicated columnist Patrick Seale described Turkey's rise as part of the emergence of the region's alternative "heavyweights" including Saudi Arabia. At the heart of the problem, Seale said, was growing anger in the region over lack of progress in a resolution of the Arab-Israeli problems.

Seale called it "in effect a rebellion against American and Israeli hegemony as spectacular as the Arab Spring itself. The message these regional powers are conveying is that the Palestine question can no longer be neglected."

Turkey, until recently a close military and political partner of Israel, broke ranks after an Israeli attack on a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza in May 2010.

The Gaza flotilla raid left nine peace activists dead and 10 of the Israeli commandos wounded, one seriously. The flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Turkish-Israeli ties went downhill from that incident and in September this year Turkey downgraded relations with Israel because of its refusal to apologize over the attacks.

Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize Israel in 1949, before Iran under the pro-Western Pahlavi monarchy.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Turkey_builds_Mideast_profile_999.html.

Iraq likely to order another 18 F-16s

Baghdad (UPI)
Oct 3, 2011

Iraq is likely to order a second batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 combat jets following last month's contract to buy 18 of the aircraft, Iraqi officials say.

This appears to be a concerted, but belated, drive by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to give the country's emerging postwar air force a credible defensive punch funded by windfall oil revenues and to shore up an important gap in Iraqi defenses as U.S. forces withdraw.

Mudher Khidr Nasir, a member of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee, has told the Iraq Daily Times the 18 F-16 Block 52 aircraft order -- enough for one squadron -- was so small as to be "ridiculous."

Ali Musawi, a close Maliki aide, said the 18 jets were "a first installment and hopefully there will be another 18 to make a total of 36."

He said the first batch of F-16s with "enhance" Iraqi capabilities to protect its airspace, but 18 aircraft will be far too few to effectively cover an area of 169,234 square miles.

Iraq, which has been fought over for millennia, is bordered by Jordan in the west, Syria in the northwest, Turkey in the north, Iran in the east and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the south.

"So looking at Iraq's position in the region, having those planes is not much," Musawi observed, "but it is a beginning."

The Block 52s are built at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, assembly plant.

The contract is worth at least $3 billion but will probably swell to $4.2 billion once training programs, spare parts, maintenance and weapons systems are included.

The first of the aircraft Baghdad has ordered aren't expected to be delivered until the fall of 2012 and most likely not until 2013.

Ultimately, Iraqi commanders have said they want 96 F-16s, enough for five squadrons deployed around the country at air bases built by the Americans following the 2003 invasion.

But that's as much as a decade away from fruition as it takes years to build up a fully operational air force, train air and ground crews and install a nationwide radar and air-defense network with guns and missiles.

The development of that system is being discussed between Iraqi and U.S. military officials, says U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the chief spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq.

It's this lack of Iraqi air-defense infrastructure that was partly behind the current effort to find ways to maintain a sizeable number of U.S. troops in Iraq after the Dec. 31 deadline for completing the U.S. military withdrawal, U.S. officials said.

Buchanan said that amid the U.S. pullout under a December 2008 security agreement between Washington and Baghdad, the acquisition of F-16s was a major step forward for Iraq's military forces.

"The F-16's a good example of them taking a step to reinforce their sovereignty, increase their self-reliance and deal with one of those security gaps that they still have," he said.

Meantime, U.S, forces are handing over a considerable amount of equipment to the Iraqi forces as the withdrawal counts down to the deadline. However, it's not clear whether that includes air-defense systems.

Still, the Iraq Daily Times reported that Iraqi air traffic controllers will take over responsibility for flights below 15,000 feet in the central part of the country, the last part of Iraqi air space still controlled by the Americans.

"Iraq's air-defense radar and long-range radar systems will be fully functional by the middle of next year," the newspaper said, without elaboration.

The Iraqi military, it added, also "now has a modern air-operations center that controls military aircraft throughout the country and is able to sound a warning if the borders are breached."

The F-16s now on order will be the first combat aircraft for the Iraqi air force. The first batch of 10 pilots is already undergoing supersonic training with the U.S. Air Force.

Buchanan insisted the first delivery of F-16s will give the Iraqis "a robust capability… where they currently have none."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iraq_likely_to_order_another_18_F-16s_999.html.

China relying less on Russia for weapons, energy: think tank

Stockholm (AFP)
Oct 2, 2011

China's dependence on Russia for arms and energy imports has declined and Moscow's position when dealing with Beijing has weakened as a result, a Swedish think tank said.

"Decreasing dependence on Russian arms exports and a growing number of alternative energy suppliers mean that China has taken the upper hand in the relationship," the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report released Monday.

A key to the changing dynamic, the report said, is that China "is today mainly interested in acquiring technology to develop its own arms industry," and so its need for Russian-made weaponry has diminished.

Moscow has proved unwilling to sell its most sophisticated systems to Beijing, because it fears China will copy the technology and then export its own product.

"The nature of the arms transfer relationship will increasingly be characterized by competition rather than cooperation," said Paul Holtom, who heads SIPRI's arms transfer program.

China's position has been further strengthened because its need for Russian crude oil has declined over the past five years, according to SIPRI.

"China's largest oil supplier is Saudi Arabia, followed by Angola, Iran and Oman," SIPRI said.

"In the gas sector, Russia's negotiating position has been seriously weakened by China's success in finding other partners, especially in Central Asia."

Although the former Cold War allies are often viewed as partners in international diplomacy, notably when opposing Western-led drives to sanction autocratic regimes, China and Russia share limited mutual trust.

Russia and China have threatened to veto any United Nations Security Council resolution against the Syrian regime -- a move favored by many Western nations -- over Damascus's crackdown on pro-democracy activists.

Despite often taking similar diplomatic positions, there are policy makers in both capitals, "who view the other side as the ultimate strategic threat in the long-term," according to SIPRI.

"The China-Russia partnership is plagued with problems," report co-author Linda Jakobson said.

"When interests converge, Beijing and Moscow collaborate, but when interests diverge the strategic partnership has little meaning. Genuine political trust is lacking," she added.

SIPRI, established in 1966, in an independent policy research center that is 50 percent funded by the Swedish state.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_relying_less_on_Russia_for_weapons_energy_think_tank_999.html.

Scientists hail Africa's steps into space

Cape Town (AFP)
Oct 3, 2011

More African countries are launching satellites and taking advantage of space technology, the world's top scientists heard Monday at a meeting marking the 50th anniversary of human space flight.

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) opened its annual conference, held for the first time in Africa, with a call for the continent to use space technology to benefit its people.

"It has always been an objective of the IAF to disseminate space knowledge to many new countries globally. It will continue to spread the notion space is not just the playground for wealthy countries," said IAF president Berndt Feuerbacher.

"It brings value and benefits to the citizens of all places of the world."

Feuerbacher highlighted last month's milestone in Nigeria's space program with the launch of two satellites Nigeriasat 2 and Nigeriasat X, used for forestry, mapping, disaster monitoring and security applications.

South Africa in 2009 launched an environmental observation satellite called SumbandilaSat, and last year formed its own space agency. Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia all have their own space initiatives, he said.

"Exciting times are emerging for space in Africa," he told delegates when opening the congress.

"I am glad to see more and more African countries embracing the benefits space technology brings to their citizens."

The heads of the world's major space agencies were set to meet later Monday, while the five-day conference would also commemorate the 50th anniversary of Russian Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space.

The meeting will also review the major changes under way in space agencies around the world, with NASA making the last flight of the US space shuttle fleet while unveiling its new Space Launch System.

Last week China also reached a milestone in its space program with the launch of Tiangong-1, an experimental module that marks a first step toward building a space station.

"The year 2011 is a year of major changes and amazing achievements in space," Feuerbacher said.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Scientists_hail_Africas_steps_into_space_999.html.

High School Girls in China Being Kept as Mistresses

By Fang Xiao
October 3, 2011

High school girls in a small city in southern China are being kept as mistresses.

Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) reported on Sept. 25 that some female students of Wugang Second High School (WSHS) in Wugang City, Hunan Province were being kept as mistresses by the local Party officials and the rich.

CHRD reports that these girls sell themselves cheaply for 500 yuan (approximately US$78.2) a month. They sleep with the men for a day and a night, every weekend. Most of these girls are from poor families. Reports say that farmers in the rural areas worry their daughters could be lured astray. Many personally take their daughters home on weekends.

Locals interviewed by The Epoch Times confirmed the CHRD report.

“It’s a fact that female students in WSHS are taken to be mistresses, but it’s on a small scale,” said Mr. Feng, a relative of a real estate agent in Wugang City.

“My relative raises a few mistresses. All of them are freshmen, who are just graduated from high school. They need money and living places. At present, China is an economic society. Human flesh can be traded. Men are proud to have young mistresses. The society has become like this,” Feng said.

“Luxury cars gather at the gates of those universities in the evening. Officials and rich men arrive to fetch their mistresses. It’s a busy place then. Those young girls in high school, they are mostly seduced by money. And they only need to be paid 500 yuan for a month!” said Ye, a citizen of Wugang City.

A woman working at an office in Wugang City told The Epoch Times, “There are thousands of students in WSHS. It is possible that some girls are taken to be mistresses. It is very common in colleges. Society should pay attention to this so as to put pressure on those immoral people.”

The report from CHRD says that because the high school students are not mature adults, laws to protect the youth, including relevant international conventions aiming to protect women and children, are being violated. The management of WSHS and the local government are to be blamed, according to the CHRD.

Someone who works in the musical instruments business told the Epoch Times, “It’s common in China, especially in big cities. Of course, the small cities will learn from the big cities. It’s the overall environment.”

“Buying young students as mistresses for the bigwigs is common in many schools everywhere. Young female students don’t know the evilness of the society. On the other hand, those who buy students are immoral men, and even old men,” said Xie, employed in the educational field in Shaoyang City, a major city in Hunan Province 80 miles from Wugang.”

“They have become bored of sleeping with female adults, so they turn their dirty hands to high school students. It’s a damn shame! It’s heinous! It is an evil result of the moral ruin of the entire society,” said Xie.

Calls to WSHS went answered.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/high-school-girls-in-china-being-kept-as-mistresses-62339.html.

Chilean car shines in solar auto competition

Calama, Chile (AFP)
Oct 2, 2011

Latin America's first big solar car competition has a winner: a Chilean entry named Intikalpa sped to success in the Atacama Solar Challenge.

Intikalpa -- which means solar energy in the indigenous Quechua language of the Andes -- beat out 30 entries from seven countries across the Americas on a 1,060 kilometer (660 miles) course.

Racers hit the road with clean green vehicles in the Friday through Sunday competition which saw vehicles travel through Iquique, Antofagasta and Calama, crossing the Atacama desert, the world's driest.

On the Atacama Solar Challenge track of the competition, for cars only, the Intikalpa had some stiff competition but pulled out ahead.

Built by the Chilean team Antakari, it chalked up an impressive average speed of 75 km/h. The team was made up of engineers from the private Los Pelambres mining company and students at the Universidad de La Serena.

"All the hard work was really worth it. We were the most competitive team in developing the car, and that is where we outdid the competition," Jaime Munoz, the winning team's driver, told AFP.

Another track of the competition was for mixed solar and pedal-powered tricycles.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Chilean_car_shines_in_solar_auto_competition_999.html.

Wall Street protests spread nationwide

New York (AFP)
Oct 3, 2011

They say they are inspired by revolutions in the Middle East, but protests over economic grievances in Spain and elsewhere in Europe are a closer comparison as anti-corporate demonstrations spread across the United States.

When anti-capitalist activists first unfolded sleeping bags and brandished handmade placards in a small park near Wall Street two weeks ago, they said they were following the example of Egyptian protesters in Tahrir Square.

In reality, the differences outweighed any similarities: numbers of protesters were tiny compared to Cairo, no one was attempting to bring down the government, and there was zero risk of being shot by security forces.

Yet as the Occupy Wall Street protest entered its third week Monday, it is being taken more seriously. Similar sit-in demonstrations have popped up from Boston to Chicago and Los Angeles and this week the New York protest expects to swell with support from trade unions.

So what do these would-be revolutionaries want?

Ask 10 of the mostly young, often well-educated demonstrators bedding down in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park and you might get 10 different answers.

Anger over the government bailouts of big Wall Street institutions, joblessness, student debt, global warming, police brutality: these are just for a start.

Finding a leader to speak for the group is harder still.

Even one man who could be clearly seen organizing logistics in the camp refused to admit he was in a position of responsibility.

"Everyone has a different reason and goal for being here," Anthony, 28, said.

His own, rather esoteric aim was to turn the camp around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange into permanent utopia: "a safe space autonomous from the rules from outside."

But as their numbers grow, the US protesters could yet coalesce into something more resembling a genuine protest movement.

Forget Tahrir Square. There are already close parallels in Europe, where simmering frustration and anger at the fallout from recession and financial crises have spilled onto the street.

Spain has seen mass protests dubbed the "indignant" movement against politicians' handling of the economy. Last month, thousands of leftists demanded a referendum to be held on a plan to enshrine balanced budgets in the constitution.

Similar street demos have spread across Italy, while Greece has seen major unrest as young people and government employees facing cuts in jobs, pensions and salaries take over public buildings.

A little further away, angry crowds are challenging the government with tent cities in Israel.

Apart from heavy use of social networking sites, all the demonstrations from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv share bitterness at what is seen as the disconnect between governments and ordinary people in an era of stressed budgets and economic uncertainty.

Even the riots and looting this summer in London and elsewhere in Britain are seen as being fueled by hopelessness.

In America, similar worries are reinforced by leftists' disillusion with President Barack Obama and anger on both sides of the political aisle at the political and business elite.

The Wall Street protesters had trouble getting media coverage when they began their sit-in. Not any longer -- even if their goals are still hard to define.

"It's becoming impossible to ignore and we're still here," Anthony, the organizer at Zuccotti Park, said.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Wall_Street_protests_spread_nationwide_999.html.

Assad forces raid town; leader of Syrian Free Army denies being arrested

Tuesday, 04 October 2011

Leader of the so-called Syrian Free Army, Col. Riyadh al-Asaad, denied to Al Arabiya the media reports about his arrest by Syrian government forces.

Syrian forces hunted protesters in the central region of Homs as they sought to crush armed resistance that is emerging after six months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, Reuters reported.

Monday’s crackdown came a day after Syrian opposition groups met in Istanbul and urged international action to stop what they called indiscriminate killings of civilians by the authorities.

The United States welcomed the development, saying it was encouraged by the opposition’s statements supporting non-violence, and blamed the mounting death toll on the Syrian authorities.

Local activists said a military operation on Monday focused on Talbiseh near Homs, 150 km (94 miles) north of Damascus, after security forces entered the nearby town of Rastan, which lies on the highway between the capital and the northern city of Aleppo.

Meanwhile, the defected Khalid Ibn al-Walid battalion said that it has withdrawn from Rastan for the sake of protecting civilian lives.

Battling protesters and army deserters

For about a week, tank- and helicopter-backed troops have battled protesters and army deserters in Rastan, in the most sustained fighting since Syria’s uprising began in March. The official Syrian news agency said on Saturday government forces had regained control of the town.

“Tank fire targeted Talbiseh this morning and communications remain cut. The town was key in supplying Rastan and now it is being punished for that,” one activist said. “House to house arrests are continuing in the area for the second day.”

Armed protesters, mostly in the central Homs region and the northwestern province of Idlib, have been so far outgunned.

Activists said dozens of villagers had been arrested in Talbiseh in the past 48 hours and there were deaths and casualties from the raids.

Information also was scarce from Rastan, which has been sealed off since tanks moved in at the weekend. Activists said hundreds of people were believed to have been arrested and held in schools and factories in the town.

Activists told The Associated Press that Syrian troops, going house to house, have detained more than 3,000 people in the past three days in Rastan, which saw some of the worst fighting of the 6-month-old uprising recently.

The activist group Local Coordination Committees said fighting in the town has now stopped after the military operation that left dozens dead. The group and a Rastan-based activist confirmed about 3,000 in the town of 70,000 had been detained. The activist told AP by telephone that the detainees are being held at a cement factory, as well as some schools and the Sports Club, a massive, four-story compound.

“Ten of my relatives have been detained,” said the activist, who asked that he be identified only by his first name Hassan for fear of retaliation. He said he was speaking from hiding in Rastan.

Events on the ground are difficult to verify as the authorities have expelled independent journalists from the country or banned them from working, although some foreign reporters have been allowed to visit.

While some Assad opponents have taken up arms, others are still staging demonstrations against his 11-year rule. Night protests erupted on Sunday in several districts of Homs, where a crowd in the Khalidiya district shouted, “Homs is free.”

Assad, 46, who succeeded his father in 2000, blames the violence on foreign-backed armed gangs. His officials say 700 police and soldiers have died, as well as 700 “mutineers.”

Surge in sectarian killings

A surge in sectarian killings has heightened tensions in the city. The state news agency said “armed terrorist groups” killed five people there on Monday. Residents said two bodies had turned up in the city's Sunni Qarabid neighborhood.

Homs has a mixed population, with a few Alawite neighborhoods inhabited by members of Assad’s minority sect, alongside others populated by majority Sunni Muslims.

Underlining the turn towards violence, the authorities said Sariya Hassoun, the son of Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, Syria’s state-appointed top cleric, was assassinated in Idlib on Sunday.

It was the first attack on the state-backed Sunni clergy who have backed Assad for decades, despite widespread Sunni resentment at Alawite dominance.

As Syria’s struggle has grown bloodier, claiming at least 2,700 lives so far, according to a U.N. count, demonstrators have begun to demand some form of international protection that stops short of Libya-style Western military intervention.

A statement issued in Istanbul on Sunday by a newly formed opposition National Council rejected intervention that “compromises Syria's sovereignty,” but said the outside world had a humanitarian obligation to protect the Syrian people.

“The Council demands that international governments and organizations meet their responsibility to support the Syrian people, protect them and stop the crimes and gross human rights violations being committed by the current illegitimate regime.”

The council said the uprising must remain peaceful but that military assaults, torture and mass arrests were driving Syria “to the edge of civil war and inviting foreign interference.”

It also said the Muslim Brotherhood, the Damascus Declaration -- which groups established opposition figures -- and grassroots activists had all joined the Council.

Source: al-Arabiya.
Link: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/04/170084.html.

Algeria: Storms Kill Ten, Make Hundreds Homeless in Southern Region

3 OCTOBER 2011

Storms have killed 10 people and left 150 families homeless in southern Algeria. Heavy rain has lashed the El Bayadh region since Friday, raising water levels by 13 meters in the middle of the desert.

Displaced families have been housed in old factory premises as the storms continue.

The storms have caused damage worth six billion dinars (60 billion euros), not counting homes, regional officials estimate.

Five bridges have collapsed and there has been serious harm to drinking water, they add.

The water level in one desert water course has risen 13 meters, leaving many bridges underwater, according to the civil protection service, which reports that one civil protection agent is missing.

Almost 120 protection agents have been brought in from neighboring regions to help.

After heavy rain Friday, the national meteorological office issued a warning for Sunday and Monday.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110031627.html.

Ron Paul Campaign Gains Steam, Attracts Attention

Monday, 03 October 2011
by Raven Clabough

Though his campaign has been largely ignored by the mainstream media, Rep. Ron Paul has been making some gains over the course of the last few months. In fact, the longtime Texas Congressman's momentum has prompted The Blaze to report: "Paul is having such a big impact on the race that some Republican operatives are convinced that he will play spoiler in important states, siphoning votes and attention from his rivals for months to come and helping determine the nominee."

According to that same article, Paul could prove particularly problematic for current GOP frontrunners Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

In New Hampshire recently, Paul commented regarding claims that he could “spoil” the frontrunners’ campaigns,

I have no idea what exactly "spoiler" means. If you’re a participant and you have an influence and you win or come close and you influence the debate, I think that’s pretty important. So I don’t put a negative term on that as spoiling anything. Spoiling their fun? Maybe they need a little spoiling.

Michael Dennehy, the New Hampshire operative who led Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, also asserts that Paul may play this role in 2012, though he believes the Congressman may prove to have even more success than that:

There’s no doubt in my mind that Ron Paul will get somewhere north of 10 percent, possibly even in the high teens, which will have a major effect and impact on the race and who wins — whether its Perry or Romney — in New Hampshire. I would go so far as to say he will play spoiler. I do not see his support waning below 10 percent.

It has been widely acknowledged on a number of blogs and websites that Ron Paul’s campaign has been either begrudgingly reported on or entirely ignored by the mainstream media. Even liberal comedian Jon Stewart felt compelled to point out satirically the discrepancies in the reporting of the GOP presidential campaigns of Paul and those of his rivals, going as far as calling them out and demanding more fair attention be given to a candidate who should not be ignored.

Paul did win the CPAC presidential straw poll this year, as well as the Republican Leadership Conference straw poll and the California Republican Party straw poll — the latter two by landslide votes.

Still, Paul has been relegated to what the mainstream media and the Establishment have dubbed the "fringe," or "extreme" corner of the Republican Party. The Blaze has repeatedly reported on Paul’s so-called “libertarian leanings,” ultimately giving a false impression of his philosophies, which can best be described as constitutionalist, or perhaps paleo-conservative.

Some observers contend that this treatment of Paul exemplifies fear, and perhaps contempt, toward his campaign successes, of which there are many in addition to the aforementioned straw poll victories.

For example, Paul has proven to be an extraordinary fundraiser, having broken numerous Internet records for generating contributions. In 2008, he raised a shocking $5 million in just 24-hours. Likewise, Paul's regular money bombs often see a staggering number of donations. According to his campaign, he has raised $4.5 million in donations through June, and is expected to have received an additional $5 million through the end of September. Also, Paul has received more donations from military members than have all other Republican contenders combined. Military donations to Paul’s campaign have also surpassed those received by President Obama. Politifact.com reported:

We turned to the presidential candidates’ latest campaign finance filings compiled by the Federal Election Commission, which breaks out donations by donors’ employers. … From April through June, Paul fielded more than $25,000 from individuals who listed their employer as a branch of the military.

Combined, six other Republican presidential candidates listed donations from members of the military totaling about $9,000. Our most-to-least breakdown: Herman Cain, $2,850; Mitt Romney, $2,750; Michele Bachmann, $2,250; Newt Gingrich, $500; and Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum, $250 each.

On the Democratic side, Obama’s campaign received more than $16,000 in donations from members of the military.

Paul’s supporters maintain hopes that he will earn the GOP presidential nomination. According to the Associated Press, New Hampshire resident Kate Baker points to Paul’s gaining momentum:

“Ron Paul is doing well enough [that] he has the possibility to win, particularly in key states. This time I can taste success,” said Baker, who is the head of New Hampshire’s Women for Ron Paul Coalition.

She adds that success is also in the fact that Paul’s message is becoming more mainstream. “Look at how much the message is traveling right now. He’s honest and consistent. That’s the kind of person I can put my money and effort behind.”

Observers have also noted that several of Paul’s famous talking points are now coming out of the mouths of his rivals, most notably language regarding the Federal Reserve and the need for strict adherence to the Constitution.

Paul is pleased by this, however. “Nobody ever did this [before] and now it’s not just me doing this. I think that’s all good,” he noted.

Overall, Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign has reflected far more experience than his 2008 efforts. For instance, he was the first candidate to run television advertisements in New Hampshire. In Iowa, his campaign was so successful that he came in a very close second in the Ames straw poll, trailing just 152 votes behind winner Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

“The fact that we have so many county chairmen and precinct chairmen and all this all through Iowa, we never had that before,” remarked Paul.

Paul’s campaign has made use of a particularly effective tactic — one that paints him as the most electable candidate to defeat President Obama in 2012.

There are some indications that Paul’s rivals are intimidated by him. For example, when Paul ran an ad against Texas Governor Rick Perry, calling him “Al Gore’s Texas cheerleader” (a reference to Perry’s endorsement of Gore), Perry reacted fiercely to the ad — something one would not expect from a frontrunner against a supposedly “fringe,” "unviable" candidate.

Source: The New American.
Link: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/9723-ron-paul-campaign-gains-steam-attracts-attention.

Crisis, separatism dominate Spanish elections

October 21, 2012

BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Voters in Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's northwestern home region of Galicia have given their support to his handling of the economy, but those in the turbulent Basque region handed a major victory to nationalist and separatist parties at the ballots Sunday.

Rajoy's Popular Party increased its absolute majority in Galicia, where austerity measures were introduced even before he took power as prime minister last year, with 41 seats in a legislature of 75. In the Basque region, the Basque Nationalist Party — or PNV by its Spanish initials — took 27 seats while the separatist Bildu party claimed 21, giving pro-independence candidates their second-largest majority in 34 years of democracy.

The likely president of the Basque region will be PNV leader Inigo Urkullu, who called for calm in his victory speech and highlighted the need to restore his industrious and well-off region's economy.

"Resolving the financial crisis is a priority and the situation demands that we keep our feet firmly on the ground," Urkullu said. A deepening financial crisis and how best to address the nation's separatist tensions were the main issues in the elections.

Spain is in its second recession in three years and has near 25 percent unemployment. Since being voted to office in general elections in November, Rajoy has been forced to hike taxes, cut spending and introduce stinging labor reforms in a bid to persuade investors and international authorities that Spain can manage its finances without the need for a full-blown bailout.

However, Spain's public finances have been overwhelmed by the cost of rescuing some of its banks and regional governments, many of which have suffered heavy losses in the property sector crash of 2008.

Some observers believe Rajoy will seek a bailout soon, now that the elections are over. The government's austerity measures have led to protests across the country, some of which have ended in clashes between demonstrators and police. The financial crisis has also brought to the fore calls from some of Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions for greater independence.

Spain has separatist groups in Galicia, the Basque region and prosperous and influential Catalonia. Basque voters on Sunday ousted Socialist leader Patxi Lopez —who had ruled thanks to a pact with the PP — from the 75-seat regional legislature.

"This is not the result we Socialists expected in these elections, but the citizens of the Basque country have spoken," said Lopez. The Basque region has been wracked by decades of separatist violence.

"We hope this election succeeds in bringing us peace, so we can reach an understanding between ourselves and let us know how to make concessions," said Sister Teresa Ormazabal, a nun in the Basque region's largest city, Bilbao.

Lopez was jostled by demonstrators carrying placards backing violent Basque separatist group ETA as he voted early Sunday. ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, is classified as a terrorist group by the European Union, the U.S. and Spain.

The group is blamed for the killings of more than 825 people in a violent campaign of bombings and shootings for an independent Basque state straddling the border with France. ETA was decimated by arrests over recent years and declining grass roots support among Basque nationalists who stomached its activities in exchange for working toward the goal of independence.

It announced a definitive cease-fire last year, but Spain insists it must lay down its arms and dissolve. Lopez said these were the first elections in the Basque region where people can vote "in freedom from fear."

Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who is the re-elected president of Galicia's regional government and the head of PP there, was also jostled by a group of protesters as he went in to cast his ballot.

Heckle reported from Madrid. Associated Press writer Lalo Villar in Vigo contributed to this report.

Signs of rancor as Georgia's new parliament meets

October 21, 2012

KUTAISI, Georgia (AP) — The newly elected parliament of Georgia on Sunday held its first session since an opposition coalition defeated President Mikhail Saakashvili's party, which had dominated all branches of government for nearly nine years.

Both sides pledged to work together, but it was clear from tensions during the parliament session that the coming months may be rocky in Georgia, a former Soviet republic now allied with the United States.

By winning the Oct. 1 parliamentary election, the Georgian Dream coalition gained the power to install its billionaire leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as prime minister and form the government. Now that the new parliament has convened, this was expected to take place within days.

Saakashvili, however, remains president for another year. In addressing Sunday's session, Saakashvili said the election was proof that the country had become a "normal European democracy," and he said his party was ready to work with Georgian Dream.

"We are not enemies, we are political rivals," Saakashvili said. "Now is not the time for hatred. Now is the time for action and cooperation." In a sign of the antagonism between the two sides, however, Georgian Dream parliament members refused to stand when Saakashvili entered the hall. Ivanishvili said this showed that the wounds from the contentious election campaign had not healed.

"But there will not be revenge and persecution of political opponents," the future prime minister told journalists. "We will avoid any kind of confrontation, we will do everything for cooperation." The U.S. government has worked with both sides to help assure a smooth transition. U.S. Ambassador Richard Norland attended the parliamentary session and said it was a step in the right direction. "I congratulate the Georgian people," Norland said. "It is a historic day."

Georgian Dream holds 85 of the 150 seats in parliament. The remaining 65 are held by Saakashvili's United National Movement. The new speaker of parliament, Davit Usupashvili, was confirmed Sunday by a vote of 88 to 0. The rest of the parliament deputies either abstained or did not attend the session.

The parliament was moved from its sober Soviet-era building on the main avenue in Tbilisi, the capital, to Kutaisi, Georgia's second-largest city. Sunday's session was the first in the new building, a modern structure with a glass dome.

Greens' leader wins German state capital election

October 21, 2012

BERLIN (AP) — Voters in Germany's southwestern city of Stuttgart have elected the environmentalist Greens' candidate Fritz Kuhn as mayor, preliminary results showed Sunday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's party losing power there for the first time in almost four decades.

Kuhn will be the center-left party's first mayor in a German state capital, securing a victory in the run-off vote that will likely boost the Greens less than a year before planned national elections.

Kuhn received 52.9 percent of the vote and Sebastian Turner, an independent candidate running for Merkel's center-right bloc, secured 45.3 percent, the city's electoral commission said after counting 100 percent of the ballots.

The result came about 18 months after the anti-nuclear Greens managed to oust Merkel's party after almost six decades in power in traditionally conservative Baden-Wuerttemberg state, of which Stuttgart is the capital. The Greens' leader Winfried Kretschmann since became the party's first state governor, leading a coalition government with the center-left Social Democrats.

The prosperous southwestern region is home to carmakers Daimler AG, Porsche SE, software house SAP AG and many mid-size firms that make up Germany's export champions. Some 400,000 residents were eligible to vote in Stuttgart on Sunday. Turnout was just above 45 percent.

The first round of voting had already seen Kuhn slightly ahead of Turner, but he fell short of securing a majority. The conservative incumbent, Wolfgang Schuster, could not seek a third term. Merkel's Christian Democrats have held power in the city since 1974.

Officials: 6 hurt in overnight clashes in Beirut

October 22, 2012

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese security officials say overnight clashes in Beirut between Sunni and Shiite gunmen have wounded at least six people.

The officials say troops managed to separate the gunmen and calm returned Monday morning to the two neighborhoods in the capital where fighting had erupted. The officials also reported heavy overnight clashes in the northern city of Tripoli. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Lebanon has been boiling since Friday after an anti-Syrian top intelligence official was assassinated in a Beirut car bombing. The assassination has threatened to shatter the country's fragile political balance.

Many politicians have blamed Syria for the killing and angry protesters tried to storm the government palace after Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan funeral on Sunday.

Russian activist claims he was kidnapped, tortured

October 22, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's top investigative agency announced Monday that a government opponent has turned himself in and confessed to orchestrating riots, but the man and his supporters said he was kidnapped abroad, smuggled back to Russia and then tortured into confessing.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement that Leonid Razvozzhayev admitted to plotting with leftist leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Konstantin Lebedev, and taking funding from a Georgian lawmaker. Razvozzhayev, an aide to opposition lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev, was in hiding in Ukraine when investigators came to search homes of Udaltsov and Lebedev last week. The activist's supporters reported over the weekend that he had been kidnapped in Ukraine by Russian security officers outside a U.N. office where he was going to apply for political asylum.

A video published on the LifeNews.ru website showed Razvozzhayev being taken away from a courthouse Sunday evening after the court sanctioned his arrest. Razvozzhayev shouted to reporters: "Tell everyone that they tortured me. For two days. They smuggled me in from Ukraine."

The Investigative Committee denied his claims, insisting that Razvozzhayev himself penned a 10-page confession. The criminal case against the three activists is based on alleged hidden camera footage aired earlier this month by a Kremlin-friendly TV channel. The documentary claimed that they met with Georgian officials to raise money to overthrow Putin's government.

The quality of the footage is poor, but investigators insist that it was not doctored. Investigators said Monday that Razvozzhayev also talked about his involvement in "organizing" clashes between police and protesters in May in Moscow, and said this was funded by Georgian lawmaker Givi Targamadze.

Targamadze has denied any links to funding the Russian opposition. An opposition rally on May 6 in Moscow turned violent after police restricted access to the square where the rally was to be held. Bottles and pieces of asphalt were hurled at riot police who struck back by beating protesters with truncheons. The clashes did not appear to have been orchestrated.