Russia halts Kaliningrad missile deployment :report

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has suspended the deployment of its Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad due to a change in U.S. missile defense policy in Europe, Interfax news agency quoted a military official as saying on Wednesday.

"The implementation of these plans has been halted in connection with the fact that the new U.S. administration is not rushing through plans to deploy" elements of its missile defense shield in eastern Europe, Interfax quoted the unnamed official in the Russian military's general staff as saying.

President Dmitry Medvedev said in November that Russia would deploy the missiles in its western outpost of Kaliningrad, which borders European Union member Poland, in response to the U.S. missile shield plans.

Washington says the plans, to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, are intended to avert potential strikes from Iran and North Korea. Russia says the deployment is targeted against it.

The spat has helped to drive diplomatic ties to their lowest point since the Cold War.

But Russian officials have said they are encouraged by early signals from the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and hopeful of a fresh start in their relations.

A nominee for a top Pentagon post in the Obama administration said earlier this month the missile shield plan would be reviewed as part of a regular broad look at policy.

CIA Algeria station chief faces sex assault probe

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – Federal investigators have launched a probe of the CIA's former station chief in Algeria, the State Department said after US media reported allegations that he drugged and raped two women.

The station chief, a 41-year-old convert to Islam who was in his post since September 2007, was ordered home in October after two women came forward last year with separate allegations they were raped in the official's residence in Algiers, ABC News reported.

It said both women had provided sworn statements to federal prosecutors in preparation for a possible criminal case against the officer, with a grand jury likely to consider an indictment on sexual assault charges as early as next month.

"The US takes very seriously any accusations of misconduct involving any US personnel abroad," State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

"The individual in question has returned to Washington and the US government is looking into the matter," Wood said, referring further media inquiries to the Justice Department.

A Central Intelligence Agency spokesperson would not name the agent, and refused to confirm to AFP that a Justice Department investigation of the station chief had been launched. Both the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

But in a statement, CIA director of public affairs Mark Mansfield said: "I can assure you that the Agency would take seriously, and follow up on, any allegations of impropriety."

The explosive allegations could potentially deal a major blow to the US image abroad at a time when President Barack Obama has called for "a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect" with the Muslim world.

Algeria in particular is seen as a hotspot because of the presence of Al-Qaeda's North African branch there. A suicide bombing in August in Issers, 37 miles (60 kilometers) east of Algiers, left 48 people dead.

The case "will be seen as the typical ugly American," former CIA officer Bob Baer told ABC News. "My question is how the CIA would not have picked up on this in their own regular reviews of CIA officers overseas."

According to an affidavit filed in federal court by the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, a copy of which was posted on the Web by ABC News, the first alleged victim said she was raped by the officer in September 2007 after being invited to a party with US embassy employees at his residence.

She said that while there, she was served mixed drinks of cola and whiskey that were prepared out of her sight.

Later in the evening, after the final drink served by the officer, she suddenly felt ill and vomited, and woke up in the officer's house the next morning nude after being apparently raped, according to the affidavit. She said she had no recollection of having intercourse.

The second alleged victim described a similar incident that occurred in February 2008, according to the affidavit.

CNN said pills and other evidence, including about a dozen videotapes showing the officer engaged in sexual acts with women, some of whom are believed to have been in a semi-conscious state on the videos, turned up when a search warrant was executed on the officer's residence.

Officials told ABC that prosecutors have broadened the investigation to Egypt because the date on some tapes matched the time when the officer was posted in Cairo.

The affidavit said Valium and Xanax, drugs FBI toxicologists described as "commonly used to facilitate sexual assault," were found in the officer's home in Algiers.

"Drugs commonly referred to as date rape drugs are difficult to detect because the body rapidly metabolizes them," former FBI agent Brad Garrett told ABC News. "Many times women are not aware they were even assaulted until the next day."

When interviewed by diplomatic security investigators, the officer claimed he had "engaged in consensual sexual intercourse," according to the affidavit.

Algerian ambassador to the United Nations Mourad Benmehidi told ABC News that the US had not notified his government of the rape allegations or the criminal investigation.

George Mitchell and the Middle East

The senator will need all the skill and patience he brought to the Northern Irish peace process. But Hamas must be at the table

In the crowds of Washington's Union Station last week, I bumped into George Mitchell. We were both in the city for Barack Obama's inauguration, but at that point there was only speculation that George might be made US special envoy for the Middle East – it wasn't until I returned to Ireland that the appointment was confirmed.

President Obama in his inaugural address signaled a new direction for US foreign policy. The posting of George Mitchell and the referencing of his very significant role in the Irish peace process hint at a more focused engagement by the US in seeking to secure a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian people.

But as George and I both know from our separate but related experience in Northern Ireland, making peace is a difficult, exhausting and, at times, hugely frustrating process.

George Mitchell had been a very successful and influential Senate majority leader for the Democrats. He was known as someone who could broker a deal between opposing groups.

In January 1995, he became President Clinton's secretary of state on economic initiatives in Ireland and, later that year, he was appointed to chair the International Body on Arms Decommissioning. The report produced by this group in January 1996 contained six broad principles of democracy and non-violence, which became known as the Mitchell Principles.

But it is as the chair of the all-party negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement that George is best known in Ireland and elsewhere. Initially, the Unionists and the British government opposed his appointment. Neither wanted an independent person holding down such a key position.

When eventually George Mitchell made it to Castle Buildings in Belfast where the negotiations were to take place, the Unionists kept him waiting in a side room for two days while they debated whether he should be allowed into the room. And thereafter, they embarked on a constant campaign of challenging the ground rules and structure of the talks as a way of undermining him.

There was more to come. In late 1996, several London and Dublin newspapers carried headline stories alleging that Martha Pope, George Mitchell's chief aide, was having an affair with one of our senior negotiators, Gerry Kelly. The story was rubbish, but it had been deliberately planted by anonymous "security sources" to damage George Mitchell.

So, between interminable negotiations, almost weekly crises, dirty-tricks efforts from British securocrats and endless filibustering by the Unionists; not to mention the mindnumbing detail of a peace agreement, George Mitchell had his work cut out.

He patiently plotted a course through all of this. He brought to the process a legislative and judicial experience that saw the negotiations format changed from one of large cumbersome meetings to one of smaller groups of negotiators, usually involving the leader and deputy leader of the parties. This provided for a greater focus on the detail of the issues, and it facilitated a more workable and productive arrangement.

It also suited his particular style of getting things done. George spent a great deal of his time in side meetings with the parties. Throughout these, I found him to be goodnatured, humorous and tolerant. It is this experience that will stand him to good stead as he embarks on his journey to the Middle East.

Of course, a lot will depend on the terms of reference he has been given. Ultimately, however, no matter how good he might be, George Mitchell will not produce a negotiated agreement in the Middle East. That is for the Israeli government and the Palestinians. But to have any hope of achieving that goal, the US and the international community have to engage with this issue in a concentrated way and treat the participants on the basis of equality.

In the Irish peace process, the US involvement was generally seen as a good thing. That may not be so in the Middle East. That could be a complicating factor facing George Mitchell.

Moreover, if any renewed effort in the Middle East to reach an agreement is reduced by either side to a tactical game of winners and losers, in which the object is to use the negotiation process to inflict defeats, then it will not work. It will simply be a repeat of past mistakes and lost opportunities.

In a peace process, the goal must be an inclusive agreement that is acceptable to all sides, is doable, deliverable and sustainable. That means enemies and opponents creating space for each other. It means engaging in real conversations and seeking real solutions. It means accepting that dialogue is crucial and that means recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders, their own representatives.

The Israeli government and other governments have to talk to Hamas.

The recent assault on Gaza is a brutal reminder of the destructive power of war and of the human cost of failure. It is time all of this was brought to an end.

But breaking the cycle of conflict will mean political leaders – Israeli and Palestinian – taking real risks for peace. They will need help and a real and unrelenting international effort to construct a durable peace settlement that provides for two states, but in particular, for a Palestinian state that is sustainable and viable.

Hamas officials signal willingness to negotiate

By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Senior officials in the Islamic group Hamas are indicating a willingness to negotiate a long-term truce with Israel as long as the borders of Gaza are opened to the rest of the world.

"We want to be part of the international community," Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad told The Associated Press at the Gaza-Egypt border, where he was coordinating Arab aid shipments. "I think Hamas has no interest now to increase the number of crises in Gaza or to challenge the world."

Hamas is trying hard to flex its muscles in the aftermath of Israel's punishing onslaught in the Gaza Strip, doling out cash, vowing revenge and declaring victory over Zionist aggression. But AP interviews with Hamad and two other Hamas leaders in the war-ravaged territory they rule suggest some of that might be more bluster than reality — and the group may be ready for some serious deal making.

That raises the question of whether Hamas, which receives much of its funding and weapons from Tehran, can be coaxed out of Iran's orbit. That question looks less preposterous than it did before President Barack Obama began extending olive branches to the Muslim world and Israel's Gaza offensive reshuffled Mideast politics.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, said in comments aired Thursday that the Palestinians must heal their internal rifts and he welcomed aid for Gaza from any source. He also seemed to leave a door open for better relations with the U.S.

"I think it is not in America's interest to stay in conflict with the Arab and Muslim world, considering its interests in the region," Haniyeh, who remains in hiding after Israel's onslaught, said on Al-Jazeera television. "We hope that the new American President revises all the policies of his predecessor."

The militants appear to be in the throes of an internal power struggle between hard-liners and pragmatists. Which group comes out on top will likely depend on who is able to garner the most benefits in postwar Gaza.

With hawks urging more violence, the window of opportunity to boost the voices of relative moderation is likely to be short.

"We won this war," said Hamas politician Mushir Al-Masri. "Why should we give in to pressure from anyone?"

Al-Masri spoke to the AP while standing next to a chair that used to serve as his seat in the Palestinian parliament, now reduced to rubble by Israeli bombing. Surrounding him were cracked cement, broken bricks, shattered glass and microphones covered in ash.

Yet even Al-Masri, a staunch hard-liner, sounded a conciliatory note.

"We have our hands open to any country ... to open a dialogue without conditions," he said — clarifying that does not include Israel.

Hamas' pragmatists may have emerged from Israel's offensive slightly stronger, perhaps because of a perception among some Gazans that the organization's hawks overplayed their hand by provoking the wrath of Israel.

Obama has repeatedly reached out to Muslims since becoming president. He assured hard-liners in his inaugural address that "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." He dispatched special envoy George J. Mitchell to the Middle East on a "listening tour." And on Tuesday he chose the Arab satellite network Al-Arabiya for his first televised interview, declaring "Americans are not your enemy."

It's unlikely Obama would talk directly to Hamas, which the U.S. lists as a terrorist organization. However, if reconciliation talks between Hamas and its pro-Western Fatah rivals in Egypt bear fruit, Obama, unlike his predecessor, may accept a Palestinian unity government that includes the militants.

It's true Hamas has yet to renounce violence and Israel's assault has hardened many hearts in Gaza. But with the territory in desperate need of recovery, the group is promising not to interfere with aid efforts and appears keen to reconcile with Fatah.

No one expects the international community to drop all of its reservations about Hamas, an organization that made its name by strapping explosives onto young people and sending them to blow themselves up in crowded Israeli markets and buses.

But rebuilding Gaza after Israel's onslaught is going to require open borders and a large inflow of money and material — things that Iran, whose aid to Hamas is strictly surreptitious because of Israeli restrictions, cannot provide.

Hamas says it wants international recognition as much as an end to the blockade of Gaza — but it won't get either for free. For Hamas, the price may include allowing Fatah back into Gaza 20 months after it violently ousted them, along with halting its rocket fire and weapons smuggling.

The notion of engaging Hamas is anathema to Israel.

"A dialogue with Hamas as a terror organization would be a strategic mistake, because Israel advocates dialogue with the moderates and displaying toughness against the extremists," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the Maariv daily this week.

Israel's position is based on the fact that Hamas refuses to recognize its right to exist. However, the three Hamas leaders interviewed said they would accept statehood in just the West Bank and Gaza and would give up their "resistance" against Israel if that were achieved.

"We accept a state in the '67 borders," said Hamad. "We are not talking about the destruction of Israel."

Hamas' takeover of Gaza left Fatah in charge of just the West Bank. The two territories, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and located on opposite sides of Israel, are together supposed to make up a future Palestinian state.

Hamas leaders in the past have spoken about a long-term "hudna," or truce, with Israel. But the Jewish state sees the offer as a non-starter because it falls short of full recognition.

Even so, Israel and the West appear to have leverage to get Hamas to moderate its stance. The group's demand for an open border with Egypt, for instance, could be conditioned on allowing Fatah to help monitor it. And bringing funds and materials to begin repairing the estimated $2 billion in damage caused by Israel's offensive could be conditioned on Hamas agreeing to stop its violence.

One hardline Hamas politician, Yehiel El Abadsa, said his group should not reconcile with Fatah and that Hamas "will be the ones to rebuild Gaza."

That position may well put him at odds with the majority of Gaza's 1.4 million inhabitants, who seem to be clamoring for an end to the divisions that are distancing their dreams for a state of their own.

"Even if money falls from the sky and we are still divided like this, we'll never accomplish anything," said 55-year-old Mohammed Abed Rabbo, sitting outside his bombed-out house in northern Gaza.

Syria-based Palestinian groups demand end to Gaza blockade

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Hamas and other Syria-based Palestinian groups on Wednesday rejected any truce with Israel that would not lift the crippling blockade imposed by the Jewish state on the Gaza Strip.

"Factions of the resistance reject the signing of a truce agreement before the opening of all crossing points, the lifting of the blockade and the arrival of supplies," Hamas and seven other groups said in a statement.

The statement came as Egypt holds separate talks with Israeli and Hamas officials to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, where a truce went into effect on January 18 ending a 22-day war that devastated Gaza.

About 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the conflict.

A meeting of Syria-based factions also rejected "any regional or security arrangement that would compromise the security of our people and of the resistance," against Israel, the statement said.

Representatives of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which along with Hamas is opposed to the moderate Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, also attended the meeting.

Syria approves first Lebanese ambassador to Damascus

BEIRUT (AFP) – Syria has approved the nomination of Michel el-Khoury as Lebanon's first ever ambassador to Damascus, Lebanon's foreign minister announced on Tuesday.

"I have received a letter from Syria's interim charge d'affaires in Beirut indicating that Syrian authorities have agreed to Khoury's nomination as Lebanese ambassador to Syria," Fawzi Salloukh told reporters.

He said Damascus has yet to submit the name of its candidate as ambassador to Beirut.

Three Syrian diplomats have been stationed at their country's embassy in Lebanon since last December but the mission is not yet fully operational.

Khoury, 59, a career diplomat, is currently Lebanon's ambassador to Cyprus. He was previously ambassador to The Hague and held top diplomatic posts in several countries including Britain, Brazil, and Mexico.

Syria and Lebanon in October formally established diplomatic ties for the first time since both became independent 60 years ago.

The thaw between the two neighbors came following a joint pledge by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese opposite number Michel Sleiman in Paris.

It turned a page in relations between Lebanon and Syria, which dominated its smaller neighbor for nearly three decades until it pulled its troops out in April 2005.

The withdrawal came two months after the Beirut killing of Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri. Damascus was widely blamed for the assassination as well as that of other anti-Syrian politicians, but has denied any involvement.

Since 1991, a year after the end of Lebanon's 15-year civil war, Damascus and Beirut have been tied by a treaty of friendship and cooperation.

But the anti-Syrian camp which forms the majority in Lebanon's parliament has long been critical of the treaty, saying it sacrifices Beirut's interests, and is pressing for it to be revoked.

Another sore point between the two countries that has yet to be resolved is the fate of Lebanese prisoners in Syrian jails. The demarcation of their common border has also yet to be settled.

Iraq sends Syria first ambassador in decades

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq will send Syria its first ambassador since around the time Saddam Hussein became president in 1979, a government official said Wednesday.

Alaa al-Jawadi would leave Wednesday to become Iraq's new envoy in Damascus, Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, Iraq's deputy foreign minister, told Reuters.

Last October Damascus posted its first ambassador to Iraq since Saddam's takeover in Iraq strained ties with Syria, which for decades has been governed by a rival branch of the pan-Arab Baath party.

The Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been steadily upgrading its diplomatic ties with mostly Sunni-led fellow Arab nations after years of complaining that other Arab states had given post-Saddam Iraq the cold shoulder.

A few weeks after the Syrian envoy arrived in Baghdad last year, bilateral ties were frayed by a U.S. raid inside Syria's border with Iraq, which Damascus said killed eight civilians.