Australian Government approved world's first floating LNG processing plant

Thu, 18 Nov 2010

The processing of traditional Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is expensive and environmentally unfriendly; normally requiring extensive pipelines, infrastructure and dredging. Shell Oil has developed some innovative technology that could change how we process LNG in the future. Plans are underway to process LNG on a floating platform, which will likely be on the world's largest boat. The Australian Federal Government has just helped to make those plans a reality by granting Shell approval to implement their Prelude Project north of Broome on the North West coast of Western Australia.

The LNG industry is booming in Australia, with plans in pace to rival the world's largest producer of LNG, Qatar. Environment Minister Tony Burke has approved the Shell project with strict conditions which are focused on protecting the marine life. "This is a large-scale project that is using world-first technology. We can't risk getting it wrong, so I have set very strict conditions to help ensure our precious marine environment will be protected," he said.

However, the Greens Party are not convinced and are concerned there will be impacts on the marine environment as well as gas emissions that will increase global warming. The project has also sparked concerns with environmentalists as well as some of the local Aborigines who are opposed to the planned development.

The vessel will be moored to the sea bed and extract the gas, processing it on board. It will be cooled on the vessel so that it is ready for shipping. Then the platform can be towed to a new gas field and anchored temporarily in place.

Shell's Prelude project vice president, Bruce Steenson says, "that means not only can we develop these smaller fields but it's a lower overall environmental impact”. He continues, "it does mean that we can go to the more remote places to produce gas that we previously couldn't do”. The on board processing will mean that all offshore compression platforms, pipelines and the onshore infrastructure will be surplus to requirements.

Shell are still looking at design and engineering details for the new technology and plan to make a final decision in 2011. If they decide to go ahead the floating LNG processing plant will open for business in 2016.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354087,australian-government-approved-worlds-first-floating-lng-processing-plant.html.

Spain in state of shock after Lisbon meltdown - Feature

Thu, 18 Nov 2010

Madrid - Spanish football is in a state of shock as a result of Wednesday's 4-0 meltdown away to neighbors Portugal.

The world champions suffered their heaviest defeat ever against Portugal, and questions are now being asked about the future prospects of several veterans.

Radio Marca commented on Thursday that several players !looked old and slow out there last night, too slow to keep the Portuguese forwards under control."

The radio station raised questions about aging defenders Carles Puyol, 32, and Joan Capdevila, 33, and said that "younger defenders are needed urgently."

Cadena COPE pointed out that playmaker Xavi - who will be 31 in January - looked ponderous and sluggish.

Xavi has been struggling with a chronic Achilles tendon injury this season, which is one reason why Barcelona have signed Ibrahim Affelay from PSV Eindhoven for January.

Cadena SER, meanwhile, suggested that the "minds of the players were elsewhere...mainly on the November 29 'Clasico'" (between twin giant Barcelona and Real Madrid).

Former Spain goalkeeper Santiago Canizares commented on Cadena SER that it would have been better to have fielded younger, more ambitious players, rather than those who triumphed in South Africa in July.

This is the second heavy defeat suffered by La Roja since winning the World Cup in July. In September they were thrashed 4-1 by lively Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Sports daily Marca asked on Thursday: "Was this really La Roja? Were (Andres) Iniesta, Xavi and (Iker) Casillas really playing, or were they doubles?"

Rival daily AS said that "this disgrace needs revenge", and suggested organizing a return match against Portugal "but taking it more seriously."

The problem on Wednesday, according to AS editor Alfredo Relano, was that "football cannot be played with this lack of enthusiasm...Spain went to Portugal just to pass the time of day, with the majority of the players thinking about something else."

Relano concluded by writing that "we deserved to be thrashed...Nobody is going to take the World Cup away from us, but neither should we throw it down into the mud like this. This 4-0 really hurts."

To make matters worse, according to television channel Antena 3, the match did little to promote the joint Iberian 2018 World Cup bid because only around 20,000 fans bothered to turn up, leaving the Estadio da Luz "looking empty and forlorn."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354109,lisbon-meltdown-feature.html.

Arrest order for Wikileaks' Assange

Swedish prosecutor seeks arrest of whistleblower website founder on allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

18 Nov 2010

A Swedish prosecutor has requested the arrest of Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, to face charges of rape and sexual molestation.

The request for the arrest of Assange, 39, comes nearly a month after he released classified military documents about the war in Iraq detailing torture, civilian deaths blamed on US and Iraqi forces.

"I request the District Court of Stockholm to detain Mr Assange in his absence, suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion," Marianne Ny, the Swedish director of prosecutions, said in a statement in English.

"The reason for my request is that we need to interrogate him. So far, we have not been able to meet with him to accomplish the interrogations."

The Stockholm court was set to hold a hearing on whether to order Assange's detention, which according to Swedish media would allow authorities to issue an international warrant for his arrest.

A warrant was first issued for Assange's arrest on August 20 by another prosecutor, but was later withdrawn.

Ny reopened the rape investigation against Assange on September 1, but did not request his detention and allowed him to leave Sweden.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2010/11/20101118102042316141.html.

Suu Kyi defends election boycott

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader tells Al Jazeera people have to stand up for themselves if they want change.

18 Nov 2010

Myanmar's pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi says she has no regrets over her party's decision to boycott the general election held on November 7.

In an interview to Al Jazeera, the 65-year-old Nobel Prize laureate said the decision to withdraw her National League for Democracy (NLD) was the right one, even though some of her supporters believed it was a mistake.

Suu Kyi said that the people of Myanmar have to stand up for themselves if they want to see change in their country.

"The people have to want it, and they have to be united," she said.

In the interview, Suu Kyi was careful not to verbally challenge the current military leadership of Myanmar. However, she was defiant over her seven-year period of house arrest, which she termed "illegal".

She also said the military leadership of Myanmar was not softening its stance.

Al Jazeera's special correspondent, reporting from Yangon, Myanmar's main city, said Suu Kyi's release encouraged her further to fight for democracy, "because her following has grown significantly during her detention".

"A lot of those supporters are younger then when she campaigned for democracy in the past," our correspondent said.

"She believes her party is getting through to the younger generation and she is getting more confident that this is the key to change here [in Myanmar]."

Little choice

International monitors of the elections and some of her local following had criticized Suu Kyi's decision to boycott the national vote because it left people with little choice.

"Boycotting the elections was the only decision to make because they [the NLD] didn't believe in the election rules," our correspondent said.

"Standing up for democracy can be a very dangerous occupation in Myanmar, but she [Suu Kyi] believes the more people do that, the more perhaps the current rulers of this country will start to take notice, and will start to change."

Counting for the November 7 vote has reportedly been finalized, with the main military-backed party scoring a comprehensive victory.

Myanmar's election commission announced on Thursday that the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) of Thein Sein, the current prime minister, won three-quarters of the seats in the national and regional assemblies that were up for grabs.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia-pacific/2010/11/20101118101724623904.html.

"There Is No War on Terrorism"

Omid Memarian interviews author REESE ERLICH

SAN FRANCISCO, California, Nov 10, 2010 (IPS) - "The U.S. intentionally confuses al Qaeda with other groups around the world fighting for their independence or liberation, but it's [just] a convenient way to whip up support and get people very afraid," says author and journalist and Reese Erlich.

"There is no war on terrorism," he tells IPS.

Based on original research and firsthand interviews, Erlich's new book "Conversations with Terrorists" draws fresh portraits of six controversial leaders: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Hamas top leader Khaled Meshal, Israeli politician Geula Cohen, Iranian Revolutionary Guard founder Mohsen Sazargara, Hezbollah spiritual advisor Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Fadlallah, and former Afghan Radio and Television Ministry head Malamo Nazamy.

"Some of them I had already interviewed prior to coming up with the book idea. For example, Bashar Al-Assad, Khaled Meshal," says Erlich. "They are very widely accused of being either terrorists or state sponsors of terrorism in the United States."

Critiquing these responses and synthesising a wide range of material, Erlich, the co-author of "Target Iraq" (2003) and "Iran Agenda" (2007), shows that "yesterday's terrorist is today's national leader, and that today's freedom fighter may become tomorrow's terrorist."

Excerpts from the interview with IPS correspondent Omid Memarian follow.

Q: What can your readers learn from interviews with those who are being accused of being a terrorist or supporting them?

A: The theme of the book is to get people to look at who is accused of being a terrorist or might be considered being a terrorist, and what do they really stand for and what's really going on in their countries.

Q: In one of the chapters, you say that Ayatollah Mohammad Fadlallah is a "CIA victim". What do you mean by that?

A: Well, the U.S. was absolutely convinced that Fadlallah was the mastermind of the Marine Corps [barracks] bombing in Beirut [in 1983]. They hired a Saudi and Lebanese agent to kill him. And this is all revealed in Bob Woodward's book called "Veil".

We confirmed it with Fadlallah in the interview. It's a very well-documented case that was reported at the time. In 1985, an agent working for the CIA blew up an apartment building where Ayatollah Fadlallah lived. It killed 80 civilians but he was out of the building at the time.

Ironically, later it was shown Fadlallah had nothing to do with the bombing actually. That was confirmed to me by Bob Baer [a former CIA operative in the Middle East], who was in Beirut at the time and who was investigating who was responsible. It's a serious warning that every time you hear in the U.S. press that this militant or this terrorist has been killed, keep a sceptical attitude.

Q: In one chapter you interview Mohsen Sazegara, a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. What's your take on this military organisation?

A: There is no question that the Iranian government has engaged in terrorist tactics. For example, they assassinated some Kurdish leaders of KDP in Germany; that is a classic terrorist attack outside its borders.

I make a distinction between that and a legitimate group that is fighting for independence of their country or liberation of some form of occupation. If they are supporting groups inside Iraq or in Afghanistan that doesn't automatically qualify for calling them terrorist, depending on what they are doing.

Q: How about Hamas and Hezbollah?

A: I spent some time with both of those groups. Politically, I strongly disagree with them and make it clear that they've done some horrific things and if I were Lebanese or Palestinian I would not vote for them in the elections, I would vote for other people that want to see progressive political development in both countries.

But they are also legitimate political forces; they win significant numbers of seats. Hezbollah is a part of the ruling coalition in Lebanon today. Hamas actually won the Palestinian elections, free and fair. So to simply vilify them as terrorists doesn't do any good. They have to be a part of the political negotiating process.

Q: If a legitimate political group gets involved in killing random people, does it qualify them to be named as a terrorist organisation?

A: Both Hamas and Hezbollah have used terrorists' tactics, no question about it. The Israeli government has used terrorist tactics against Lebanese and Palestinians; I think there is no doubt about that.

But Hamas and Hezbollah are very different than al Qaeda. [The latter] has a borderless campaign that they want to carry out and they are not part of any national liberation movement and they put terrorism at the core of their beliefs and tactics. That's not the case for Hezbollah and Hamas. And the U.S. knows it, actually.

Q: What is your assessment of the Taliban in Afghanistan, where you interviewed the former Taliban leader, Malamo Nazamy?

A: Nezamy saw the Taliban as a legitimate liberation group that was bringing stability, Islamic law and justice to Afghanistan. He certainly wouldn't consider himself a terrorist. He was the head of Afghan radio and TV and he refused the demand of other Taliban leaders to destroy the country's TV archives and he is very well known for that.

Today, he has many of the same views about Islam, the ruling government and attitudes towards women and so on. But he is willing to allow the U.S. and the U.S. troops for some time until negotiations can take place and that seems to be enough to make him currently an ally of [President Hamid] Karzai and the U.S.

Source: IPS News.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53525.

Behind Drone Issue in Yemen, a Struggle to Control Covert Ops

By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON, Nov 10, 2010 (IPS) - The drone war that has been anticipated in Yemen for the last few months has been delayed by the failure of U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) to generate usable intelligence on al Qaeda there.

That failure has given the CIA a new argument for wresting control of the drone war in Yemen from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) which now controls the drone assets in the country. But some key administration officials are resisting a CIA takeover of the war in Yemen, as reported by the Washington Post Nov. 7.

The struggle between the CIA's operations directorate and SOF officials over management of a drone war in Yemen has been a driving force in pushing the war against al Qaeda and affiliated organizations into many more countries – along with President Barack Obama's eagerness to show that he is doing more than his predecessor on terrorism.

Both the CIA covert operations directorate and SOF brass regard the outcome in Yemen as the key to the larger struggle over control of a series of covert wars that the Obama administration approved in principle last year.

The CIA directorate and the two major figures in the Iraq- Afghanistan wars, Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, lobbied Obama in 2009 to expand covert operations against al Qaeda to a dozen countries in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia.

In spring 2009, McChrystal, then director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, persuaded the White House to give U.S. combatant commanders wider latitude to carry out covert military operations against al Qaeda or other organizations deemed to be terrorists, according to a May 25 report by Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic.

Based on the Obama decision, on Sep. 30, 2009, Petraeus issued an order creating a Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force to plan and execute covert intelligence gathering in support of later covert military operations throughout the CENTCOM area.

The Petraeus order was followed within weeks by an influx of surveillance equipment and as many as 100 SOF trainers, as well as additional CIA personnel in Yemen, according to the Post Nov. 7 report.

With the support of McChrystal and Petraeus, who was then still CENTCOM chief, JSOC was given control of the covert operation in Yemen.

But JSOC stumbled badly and failed to generate usable intelligence on al Qaeda targets, as the Post reported Nov. 7.

On Dec. 17, less than three months after the Petraeus order, a cruise missile was launched against what was supposed to have been an al Qaeda training camp in Abyan province in south Yemen.

But the strike, which was supposed to have been attributed to Yemen's tiny air force, was based on faulty intelligence. The Yemeni parliament found that it had killed 41 members of two families, including 17 women and 23 children. It was known almost immediately to have been a U.S. strike.

By all accounts, it was major political gift to AQAP, which has its sights set on toppling the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. AQAP seized on videos of the carnage to step up its attack on Saleh as a U.S. stooge.

Al Qaeda has also been able to justify targeting the United States as revenge for the Dec. 17 attack. In June and July, the AQAP announced that it was planning a "catastrophe for the enemies of God" in response to the Abyan attack, according to Gregory Johnsen, a Princeton doctoral candidate who has done research in Yemen.

That may have been a reference to the two parcels from Yemen to an address in Chicago intercepted Oct. 29, one of which was discovered to have "explosive material".

On May 27, another cruise missile strike killed a popular deputy province chief who was apparently mediating between the Yemeni government and al Qaeda officials. Local tribesmen retaliated by attacking an oil pipeline in the vicinity.

After that strike, the CIA went on the offensive to get the administration to take control of the drones away from the SOF. A series of articles in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press in mid- to late August cited unnamed officials referring to the possibility of CIA drone operations in Yemen.

Col. Pat Lang, a former Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East with operational experience in Yemen, told IPS the CIA had benefited from JSOC stumbling.

"The agency has taken advantage of every criticism of the performance of the SOF as an argument to regain control over cover operations," said Lang.

"The competition between the military clandestine services and the CIA is greater than ever before," Lang told IPS.

But according to U.S. officials quoted in Sunday's Post, ever since the errant late May strike, U.S. drones have been present in the skies over Yemen searching for AQAP targets. The Post reported that the drones are still under the control of JSOC, operating under the overall command of the chief of the Central Command.

The Post article quoted a "senior Obama administration official" as hinting strongly that the CIA's operations branch is lobbying the White House hard for control over the drones in Yemen but not convincing some key officials.

"There are a lot of people who are really feeling good about what they're doing in certain parts of the world," said the official. That was an apparent reference to the drone war in Pakistan, which is run by the CIA's operations directorate.

"But that doesn't mean that, oh, if you'll just let us do this over here, you're going to have a different picture or different results" than the past in Yemen, the official said, clearly referring to the lack of actionable intelligence.

The report suggests that key officials now realize that neither JSOC nor the CIA is going to be able to obtain actionable intelligence on al Qaeda under present circumstances.

Former DIA intelligence officer Lang agrees. He believes the Yemeni Intelligence Service, which is a "very effective secret police force" with "considerable penetration capability", is not fully sharing the intelligence it has on al Qaeda with U.S. officials.

"I'm sure Saleh is concerned about AQAP," Lang said, "but he can't allow himself to be seen as serving the United States." And Saleh may figure that AQAP has penetrated his intelligence service as well, according to Lang.

For the time being, it appears the drone war in Yemen is abeyance. But powerful bureaucratic forces will be continuing to make the case that they can justify the beginning of drone strikes there.

AQAP leaders are hoping to see the U.S. use more military force in Yemen, according to Johnsen. "They would like nothing better than for the U.S. to invade Yemen," Johnsen told IPS. "The more they can show active U.S. intervention, the better it is for them."

*Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in 2006.

Source: IPS News.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53517.

Mubarak's Critics See Hypocrisy in U.S. Support

By William Fisher

NEW YORK, Nov 15, 2010 (IPS) - The Egyptian government's crackdown on political opponents continues unabated in advance of parliamentary elections Nov. 28, even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week hailed the "partnership" between the two countries as "a cornerstone of stability and security in the Middle East and beyond".

In the latest example of a widespread campaign of media repression, Kareem Nabil, an Egyptian blogger who completed a four-year prison term, was still being detained and beaten at the State Security Intelligence (SSI) headquarters in Alexandria by security officers, according to the New York- based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

Nabil had been released from Burj al-Arab Prison on Nov. 6. He was subsequently re-arrested by security officers in Alexandria without charges.

A student at Cairo's state-run religious university, Al- Azhar, Nabil was convicted in 2006 by an Alexandria court of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak, who he called a dictator.

Nabil's re-arrest was seen by human rights activists as, in the words of an unnamed opposition figure, "another nail in the coffin of Egyptian democracy".

The government's efforts to stifle opposition to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have included firing an influential newspaper editor, revoking the licenses of TV channels, arresting bloggers, changing the rules governing political slogans, and fabricating infractions to disqualify opposition candidates from running.

As the government's campaign continued, Clinton hosted a Nov. 10 visit by Egypt's foreign minister, Aboul Gheit, and Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman. Gheit confirmed that he and Clinton did not discuss the forthcoming election.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has come under increasing criticism from both conservatives and liberals for not being forceful enough in speaking out publicly regarding the parliamentary election and the presidential election, which is to follow.

Conservatives - and neoconservatives - are urging Obama to reinstate the "democracy-building" programs implemented by the George W. Bush administration, Obama's predecessor. But they appear to be far more concerned about Egypt's continuing role as "mediator" in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Liberals are pushing for more unequivocal rhetoric from the White House condemning the renewal of Egypt's 30-year-old "emergency" laws and the widely-reported harassment of opposition political institutions and individuals.

The country's 82-year-old leader since 1981, Hosni Mubarak, promised the U.S. he would repeal the emergency laws, which give Egypt's security services the unfettered right to arrest and detain people without due process or judicial review.

The Obama administration has been most outspoken regarding the emergency laws, whose renewal it regards as a broken promise. It has also publicly condemned the June murder of blogger Khaled Saeed, who was dragged out of an Internet café and beaten to death on the street. He had recently posted a video online exposing police corruption.

Human rights advocates charge that the government has kidnapped bloggers and Internet activists, tortured them, and then imprisoned them until the bruises on their bodies have disappeared so there is no evidence of abuse.

One of those advocates, Hossam Bahgat, told IPS that democracy-building programmes can only be effective if they are "inside-out" – adopted by indigenous people who live and work in a country or a community, and not superimposed on them.

Bahgat, who heads a not-for-profit organization known as the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), was in New York to receive an award from Human Rights Watch (HRW) celebrating the "valor of individuals who put their lives on the line to protect the dignity and rights of others".

His group recently won a case against the Interior Ministry on behalf of Egypt's Baha'i citizens, a minority facing frequent violence and discrimination. Egyptians may now obtain official documents without revealing their religious convictions, or being forced to identify themselves as Muslims, Christians, or Jews.

The EIPR recently launched an advocacy campaign to combat sectarianism in Egypt and "strengthen the values of equal citizenship and shared existence in our common nation without religious or faith-based discrimination".

"While the movement is being launched by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights as part of our ongoing efforts to defend equality and freedom of religion and belief, we realize that it cannot be successful if it remains ours alone," Bahgat said.

"We firmly believe that this campaign will not meet with success unless it becomes a voice for Egyptians who believe that we are all in this together and those united by a common fear for our future due to rising social divisions, sectarian tension and a mindset that divides the country into an 'us' and a 'them,' he said.

The Mubarak regime has been criticized for many years for what opponents call a nationwide campaign of persecution and discrimination against the Egyptian Coptic church. Copts are Christians who make up about five percent of the Egyptian population.

From a U.S. perspective, despite the "cumbaya" diplomacy on display during the Egyptian foreign minister's visit to the U.S. State Department, Egypt is likely to continue to be the target of both liberal and conservative scorn.

But neither end of the political spectrum believes Washington has the clout to influence the upcoming elections. And Egyptian voters are both powerless and uninformed.

As one prominent activist, Bahey el-din Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, wrote recently, "The outcome of the elections has already been determined - all that remains is the official announcement of the results after 28 November, in favor of the ruling National Democratic Party."

Source: IPS News.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53558.