Israeli 'spy' sought info on Russia-Arab arms trade: FSB

May 20, 2011

MOSCOW — The Israeli military attache expelled from Moscow was trying to obtain details about Russia's arms trade with the Arab world, the country's powerful Federal Security Service (FSB) said Friday.

Russia's foreign ministry said that Soviet-born Colonel Vadim Leiderman was "caught red-handed" while trying to receive secret information on May 12.

RBC television channel later aired footage of a man identified as Leiderman being approached by several men while he was dining with another man in a Moscow restaurant.

The Israeli official was then shown being interrogated in a Russian office, with his various accreditation and bank cards being laid out on a table for the camera.

His expulsion sparked protests in Israel and was the first such incident to occur between the two countries in nearly 20 years.

An unnamed Russian security official told news agencies on Thursday that Leiderman had engaged in industrial espionage.

But the FSB issued an official statement Friday saying the attache was trying to collect details about Russia's arms trade with its Soviet-era partners in the Arab world.

Leiderman had approached "a number of Russian state workers for secret information about ... Russia's military and technological cooperation with -- and assistance for -- a number of Arab nations," the FSB statement said.

It added that Russia had decided to keep the expulsion secret as a "gesture of goodwill."

The information about Leiderman's expulsion initially appeared in Israel and was sourced to local defense officials.

The FSB said the Israeli media leak left it "seriously perplexed".

Israeli media reports said the brief detention and search prior to Leiderman's expulsion appeared to breach his diplomatic immunity. Channel One television said he was the first Israeli military official to be expelled from Russia since the early 1990s.

Russia and Israel now enjoy close economic ties based on the Jewish state's vast ex-Soviet diaspora.

But Russia is also a key arms supplier to the Arab world and continues to sell advanced missile systems to Syria that Israel fears make their way to the Shiite Hezbollah movement in neighboring Lebanon.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Algeria to ease primary school program

In a nod to demands from pupils and parents, the Algerian education ministry decided to slim down the school curriculum.

By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers – 20/05/11

Algerian parents used to complain that their children are overwhelmed with schoolwork. With the start of a new school year, students will enjoy reduced lesson timetables, the education ministry announced last week.

Primary school days will now be split into two sessions. The morning session will run from 8 to 11am, with the afternoon session shortened to 1-2:30pm. The weekly timetable will range from 24 to 25 hours compared with the current 30 hours.

"The slimmed-down timetable does not mean we are affecting the main subjects taught to children," Education Minister Aboubakeur Benbouzid said May 12th. "The ad hoc committee is conducting a far-reaching study of the issue, because what is at stake here is our children's future and the credibility of the education system in Algeria."

The committee in charge of drafting the new curriculum included education directors from wilayas, ministry officials, the director of the national office for examinations and entry competitions and representatives of trade unions.

Though the news received a warm response from parents and teachers, some parents have been left wondering what to do with their children during this free time.

Education ministry adviser Ahmed Tessa reassured them, saying that pupils will remain on the school site 2:30-3:30pm, where they will be offered a range of cultural and sporting activities.

"Since my daughter started school, I've felt that she's been pushed too hard," Mahdia Terra, a 37-year-old mother, told Magharebia. "The syllabus is overloaded. There's no room for play; the children's time is completely taken up with learning and they don't have a moment to breathe."

"At the end of the day, they're so tired that they can barely get through their homework," added Terra, who has an eight-year-old daughter. "They don't have the time to get involved in out-of-school activities. With this reduction in workload, they'll have time for a breather, and so shall we."

Primary school teacher Mohamed Dali shared the parents' enthusiasm. "Children are bombarded with information and have no room for leisure," he said. "They are put under pressure in spite of their age. For a long time now, we've been calling for play activities to be introduced into schools."

"A school should not be seen as a place for educational input alone," he added. "It's a school for life, and children must be introduced to other experiences there, which can only help them with their learning. We hope we'll find that children are a little less stressed and better disposed to learn."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/05/20/feature-04.

Libya's defected oil minister seeks interim refuge in Algeria: report

ALGIERS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem, who has defected his country and crossed the border with Tunisia, is seeking an interim refuge in neighboring Algeria, Algerian An- Nahar newspaper reported on Friday, citing well-informed sources.

The Arabic-language paper said Ghanem, also head of the National Oil Company, will head from Algeria to Qatar, the first Arab state to recognize the Libyan rebels as the official Libyan government and to join NATO-led air strikes.

Media reports have said Ghanem crossed the border by car last Saturday and since he has stayed in a hotel in the Tunisian island of Djerba, near the border with Libya.

But the Libyan government denied he had defected, saying he was on "a mission in Tunisia".

Ghanem has been in charge of the oil ministry since 2006 and was previously prime minister. His oil ministry is the biggest income generator for the country.

If his defection was confirmed, Ghanem would be among the most senior officials to abandon embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi since the start of the revolt aiming to end his 42-year- old rule.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/20/c_13885988.htm.

Russia Says U.S. May Extend Missile Shield to Bulgaria, Turkey

By Ilya Arkhipov and Henry Meyer - May 20, 2011

Russia is concerned the U.S. may expand its planned missile shield in Poland and Romania to other eastern European countries and Turkey, a senior military official said.

“Russia is deeply concerned that after Poland and Romania, elements of U.S. missile defense will emerge in the Czech Republic, Turkey, Bulgaria and some other NATO members,” the deputy chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, told foreign diplomats today in Moscow. “In the future, it may create risks for Russian strategic nuclear forces.”

A U.S. factsheet on its proposed missile shield, published May 3, mentions only Romania and Poland as sites where hardware would be based. The U.S. embassy in Moscow declined to comment.

Russian leaders complain the shield, which the U.S. says is needed to guard against threats from countries such as Iran, will blunt their nuclear deterrent. They have warned of a new arms race within the next decade unless the U.S. and its allies agree to cooperate with Russia on missile defense.

Russia may quit a nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. if it doesn’t get legally enforceable guarantees it won’t be targeted by the shield, President Dmitry Medvedev said May 18.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-20/russia-says-u-s-may-extend-missile-shield-to-bulgaria-turkey.html.

Kuwait elected to U.N. rights panel instead of Syria

By Patrick Worsnip
Fri May 20, 2011

(Reuters) - Kuwait was among 15 nations elected on Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council after Syria, under pressure over its crackdown on protesters, dropped its bid for an Arab slot on the controversial panel.

Kuwait stepped into the race last week after Western countries persuaded Arab states that Syria was not a suitable candidate. In a General Assembly vote, the Gulf emirate was elected along with India, Indonesia and the Philippines on a clean, or uncontested, slate of Asian nations for three-year council terms.

Africa and Western Europe also presented clean slates but there were contested votes for Eastern Europe -- where the Czech Republic and Romania defeated Georgia -- and Latin America, where Chile and Costa Rica edged out Nicaragua.

The 47-nation Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, is the main U.N. body charged with monitoring member states' compliance with international rights norms.

Critics say it spends too much time denouncing Israel while ignoring violations by Sri Lanka, Bahrain, China, Russia and other countries. Libya, elected to the council last year, is suspended because of its civil war.

Syria told a closed meeting of Asian U.N. members on May 11 it had agreed to swap candidacies with Kuwait, which was set to run for the council in 2013, and drop out of the 2011 race, diplomats said.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari denied at the time that the decision was connected with events in his country, where troops and tanks have killed hundreds of anti-government demonstrators in recent weeks.

He said the move was based on "reconsidering our priorities" and Syria would run for the council in 2013.

SYRIA RECEIVED VOTES

Even though Syria was not standing up for membership, five of the 192 countries in the General Assembly voted for it on Friday, assembly president Joseph Deiss said in announcing the results. Because the ballot was secret it was unclear who they were.

Elected for the so-called "Western European and others" group were Austria and Italy, while Burkina Faso, Botswana, the Congo Republic and Benin were elected for Africa.

Human rights groups have hailed the fact that Syria will not be elected this year but, as they have done in past years, criticized the clean slate system under which regional groups present only as many candidates as seats are available.

"Without competition for seats on the Human Rights Council, the membership standards set by the General Assembly become meaningless," said Peggy Hicks of New York-based Human Rights Watch. "Manufactured slates of candidates may be easier for states, but they are bad for the council."

Geneva-based group UN Watch said Kuwait and Congo were "not qualified" to be on the council.

Kuwait's "ruling family largely sets the policy agenda and dominates political life. Formal political parties are banned," it said, adding that the country limits freedom of the press and assembly and has no independent judiciary.

In Congo, the group said, recent elections were "marred by irregularities," press freedom was limited and the judiciary was subject to corruption and political influence.

The defeat of Nicaragua was a setback for left-wing governments in the Latin America group, which also includes Caribbean states.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-rights-un-council-idUSTRE74J5IO20110520.

Spanish protests swell as youths defy rally ban

May 20, 2011

Madrid - Protests demanding a reform of Spain's democracy were gathering momentum Friday after the national electoral commission banned them ahead of Sunday's local and regional elections.

The commission prohibited rallies on Saturday, which is the pre-election 'reflection day,' and on election day itself.

But the ban instead resulted in even more people joining sit-in protests being staged in more than 30 cities.

Some protesters vowed not to move if police tried to disperse them. Other announced meetings at which they would decide how to proceed.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the Interior Ministry would deal with the situation 'correctly, with intelligence.' The Justice Ministry was reviewing the extent of the rally ban, the premier said.

The government was trying to avoid pre-election violence which could cost it votes, analysts said.

Zapatero's Socialists had already been expected to suffer a heavy defeat to the opposition conservatives.

More people joined protesters at Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square, where thousands had spent the night in tents or out of doors.

'We are not participating in electoral campaigns nor asking for votes,' a spokesman for the protest movement stressed.

Smaller gatherings were reported in more than 30 cities all over the country.

'If police comes, we will resist peacefully,' protest movement spokeswoman Lucia Basurto said at Barcelona's Catalonia Square.

In Valencia, about 200 demonstrators entered a bank office to protest the influence of bankers on politics. In Murcia, demonstrators staged a sit-in at a roundabout surrounded by banks, department stores and official buildings.

Madrid organizers called a 'silent cry' event at which demonstrators would seal their mouths with tape in a sign of protest when the electoral commission's order entered into force at midnight.

The protest rallies which began last week-end have been overwhelmingly peaceful so far.

The movement is becoming known as M-15 in a reference to May 15, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets in more than 50 Spanish cities.

They called for a radical overhaul of the country's political system which the protesters describe as corrupt, following the interests of banks and capital, and favoring only two large parties.

The movement emerged on the internet a few months ago in response to Spain's two-year economic crisis, which caused unemployment to soar to 20 per cent. Among young people, the jobless rate exceeds 40 per cent.

The movement has not sided with any political party, nor called for abstention or blank votes. The government, however, is concerned that its criticism of recent laws could encourage many potential Socialist voters to abstain.

The movement has divided expert opinion, with some dismissing it as little more than a street party, while others compare it with the Arab protests, or historic social movements such as France's May 1968.

'We are witnessing the birth of a new type of social movement which is independent of parties and trade unions,' sociology professor Jaime Pastor said.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1640410.php/Spanish-protests-swell-as-youths-defy-rally-ban.

Algeria to hold reform talks, boycotted by opposition

By Beatrice Khadige (AFP) – May 20, 2011

ALGIERS — Algerian political leaders are preparing to start talks on democratic reforms on Saturday, but the opposition plans a no-show to protest what they call a feeble attempt at real change.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April pledged a number of reforms to be introduced before the end of the year including modifying the constitution and revising electoral law, as popular uprisings swept through the Arab world against authoritarian regimes.

He asked a panel of members of recognized political parties and experts in constitutional law to come up with further proposals that would be submitted to parliament or a referendum.

He invited all political parties, regardless of whether they are represented in parliament or not, to take part in the process.

He has tasked speaker of the National Council (Senate) Abdelkader Bensalah to start sounding political parties, flanked by two advisers to Bouteflika -- General Mohamed Touati and a former minister Mohamed Ali Boughazi.

But already opponents view the choice of the trio of negotiators as a thinly-veiled attempt by Bouteflika to keep his grip on power.

"We wait for concrete action towards change in order to re-establish trust in power and the state, not just fiddling around," said Karim Tabbou, secretary of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) which will boycott the talks.

Said Sadi, leader of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) which was established after January 21 riots that left five dead and 800 injured, said that the government-initiated talks were simply a "monologue against change."

"The era of political tinkering is over," he added.

The French-language daily El-Watan on Thursday said that the government "will find itself consulting itself. It might as well ask its traditional clients to participate, which will be presented as external contributions to the regime."

The independent newspaper earlier wrote that the president's proposals are aimed at supporting a system which "wants to keep things in hand while making it appear it is reforming, which it is not."

Algeria's 1996 constitution was last amended in 2009 to allow the 74-year-old Bouteflika, first elected in 1999, to seek a third term. He has not indicated his intentions when his mandate ends in 2014.

His promises came amid Algerian discontent over wages, jobs, working conditions, and corruption at the top echelons of the government.

Protesters have staged regular protests since the beginning of the year, although they are often quashed by police.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.