Intent Is Everything

 "Seoul may eventually be able to build better missiles and scrutinize North Korea with a better satellite. ...There are dual purposes in space technology."
Professor King Chang-duk, South Korea's Chosun University, department of rocket science

Impoverished and xenophobic North Korea has demonstrated its scientific prowess and social irresponsibility with utter lack of morality in complacently watching its indigent population starve itself into a stunted growth-rate impacting future generations, for the investment in a far greater value; the costly creation of a state nuclear program. With, of course, the lavish expenditures required to perfect a rocket ballistic program. And as an added statement of prowess, surveillance satellites.

Each time North Korea becomes incensed at being condemned by the international community for its belligerent threats against its neighbours, its launching of more ballistic missiles in its search for longer ranges the better to make good on its threats and lob warheads at even longer range in support of its threat to hit U.S. interests, it defies the UN and the world community even further. It has announced its intention to set off a third nuclear test explosion.

South Korea lives uneasily with its intractable, irascible neighbour whose leader seems closer to the psychopath on the lunacy scale than a national leader, but whose armed forces like him just the way he is. Now South Korea, which represents Asia's fourth-largest economy has advanced its space program as well as its reputation as a technological giant whose smartphones and vehicles are in global demand.

It has launched a satellite of its own into space from its own soil, adding to those launched on its behalf by other technologically advanced countries that have the rocket science at a stage that South Korea aspired to but struggled to achieve. South Korea has developed its science and technology in a responsible manner, one trusted in international circles through its agreement to participate in non-proliferation covenants.

The South has matched the North for national pride in scientific and technological accomplishments with a vast difference in cultural and societal norms. The strident, menacing belligerence of North Korea requires a strong reproach and warning contained in South Korea's success, even while the North fulminates that there is a double standard practised by the international community and the UN between itself and its South Korean neighbour.

North Korea is incapable of discerning its own stupidity where its pride and deliberate shunning of responsibility has led to its pariah status.

Labels: Conflict, Controversy, Crisis Politics, Munitions, North Korea, Nuclear Technology, South Korea, Technology, United Nations

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Egypt Detains Black Bloc Member Over 'Israeli Sabotage Plan'

Egyptian authorities on Thursday detained a member of the Black Bloc militant group suspected of planning to carry out an Israeli-directed sabotage plan, the official MENA news agency reported.

One person "belonging to the Black Bloc organization was arrested inside a building overlooking Tahrir Square carrying Israeli plans to target petrol companies and vital installations, maps of these places and instructions on setting fire to some places," according to MENA.

Israel firmly rejected the notion of its involvement in any such plot.

Egypt's state security prosecution is currently questioning the suspect, who is accused of "belonging to an illegal organization and planning to sabotage private and public property," AFP quoted the news agency as saying.

According to MENA, the suspect admitted to belonging to the Black Bloc, a group of masked militants who have appeared among protesters in recent clashes with police.

The suspect was spotted by a security guard in a residential building off Tahrir Square and handed over to police, according to the report.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he had no idea whether or not the Black Bloc member intended to carry out a plan of sabotage, but the claim of Israeli involvement was "utter nonsense."

Elsewhere, another suspected Black Bloc member was arrested after placing an order with a clothing factory in the city of Mahalla, north of Cairo, for black masks and outfits for the group, the prosecution said in the report, as reported by AFP.

The arrests come on the eve of planned protests against President Mohamed Morsi as deadly unrest continues to sweep through the country.

More on this topic

Labels: Anti-Semitism, Conflict, Egypt, Islamism, Israel, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

 

Rape squads of Tahrir Square: Marauding 'state-backed gangs' are still terrorising female protesters two years after revolution

• Reports of 19 group sexual assaults logged on Friday in Tahrir Square
• Claims that attacks are state-backed to deter women from protesting
• Egypt's head of army warns the country is facing collapse

By Sean O'hare
PUBLISHED: 18:40 GMT, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 18:55 GMT, 29 January 2013
Sex attacks on female protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square are premeditated and state-backed, claims an organisation that rescues sexually assaulted female activists.
Last Friday marked the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution and the highest number of sexual crimes against women in Tahrir Square to date.

Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault (OpAntiSh), set up to rescue victims from the Square received 19 reports of group sexual assaults, six of which resulted in hospitalisation, while the worst case involved the mutilation of a woman's genitalia with a knife.
OpAntiSh is convinced that the attacks are orchestrated by the state in an attempt to deter women from protesting against perceived failures by the Muslim Brotherhood to deliver on its revolutionary promises. 

'We have no concrete evidence, only testimonies from victims, but we know it is a tactic. 

'They are an attempt to ruin the image of Tahrir square and demonstrators in general.'

'They happen most of the time in the same places and at the same times, using the same methods.
'It is a disease in this country and encouraged and played on by the state to exclude women from public life and punish them for participating in political activism and demonstrations.

'We also recognise that any organised attack depends on the widespread and chronic harassment of women that exists on Egyptian streets, a problem which deserves equal attention and treatment.'

The spokesman added the testimonies recorded were similar to the accounts of attacks on female activists in 2005, believed to be instigated by the secret police and referred to as 'Black Wednesday.'

It comes as Egypt's army chief today warned that political strife was pushing the country to the brink of collapse.
It's a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader President Mohamed Mursi  struggles to contain bloody street violence.

Since Thursday of last week hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in protest against the President, the Muslim Brotherhood and the failure to deliver on pre-revolutionary promises.

'Nothing has changed since the revolution,' a spokesperson for OpAntiSh said.
'We protest for a reform of the Ministry of Interior and the prosecution of those responsible for the deaths of demonstrators. 

'The reality is that Interior ministers still hold the same positions, in fact many have been promoted and had their salaries improved.'

OpAntiSh was set up in November 2012, the same month a woman was raped near to Tahir Square.

The organisation is made up of approximately 100 men and women who distribute flyers within Tahir Square, alerting people to their existence as an emergency rescue service for victims of sexual assault.

Whenever their hotline number is called they descend on the Square and, with the help of the ambulance service, do their best to intervene and pull women from the middle of attacks that range in size from 15 men up to 500.

The privately-financed group takes victims to hospital and can provide legal aid, safe houses and psychological help if necessary.

The group, which has a Facebook page, also aims to prevent attacks by actively monitoring the square and intervening quickly in the early stages of mob formation.
'Our work is an integral part of this revolution and we want to force change,' said the spokesperson.

'Part of this revolution is about forcing changes for women, to ensure they are no longer looked upon as second-class citizens.'

Drawing parallels with the December gang-rape attack on a 23-year-old student in Delhi, India, the spokesperson said: 'At least in India the country has reacted to the attack with outrage and protest. Here people are too afraid to discuss such things, as if it is the woman's shame.'

The outbreak of widespread protests highlight the mounting sense of crisis facing the Islamist head of state who is struggling to fix a teetering economy and needs to prepare Egypt for a parliamentary election in a few months that is meant to cement the new democracy.

Protesters have spurned a call by Mursi for talks to try to end the violence. Instead, protesters have rallied in Cairo and Alexandria, and in the three Suez Canal cities - Port Said, Ismailia and Suez - where Mursi imposed emergency rule.

Today, thousands were again on the streets of Port Said to mourn the deaths of two people in the latest clashes there, taking the total toll in Mediterranean port alone to 42 people. Most were killed by gunshots in a city where weapons are rife.

General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, appointed last year to head the military, added in a statement on Tuesday that one of the primary goals of deploying troops in cities on the Suez Canal was to protect the waterway that is vital for Egypt's economy and world trade.

Since the 2011 revolt, Islamists who Mubarak spent his 30-year rule suppressing have won two referendums, two parliamentary elections and a presidential vote. 
But that legitimacy has been challenged by an opposition that accuses Mursi of imposing a new form of authoritarianism. Mursi's supporters says protesters want to overthrow Egypt's first ever democratically elected leader by undemocratic means.

The instability has provoked unease in Western capitals, where officials worry about the direction of a powerful regional player that has a peace deal with Israel. The United States condemned the bloodshed and called on Egyptian leaders to make clear violence was not acceptable.

Labels: Crime, Culture, Defence, Egypt, Human Relations, Security, Sexism

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Russia slams Israeli attack on Syria. US forces in Jordan on alert

DEBKAfile Special Report January 31, 2013, 9:51 AM (GMT+02:00)

Labels: Conflict, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Munitions, Russia, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Morsi visited with a business delegation in hopes of boosting economic ties. But Germany issued a travel warning about Egypt, and Chancellor Merkel said nothing about loan forgiveness.

On a visit to Germany cut short by turmoil at home, Mohamed Morsi saw no respite from the economic and political pressures facing his government, as the German chancellor pushed for the Egyptian president to engage with the opposition and declined to offer relief from Egyptian debts.
During a joint press conference with Mr. Morsi, Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized that she saw open discussion with the opposition as key to Egypt's democracy and political stability, reports Middle East Online. "From my side I made it clear that there are different things that are very important for us," she said. "One is that dialogue with all political forces in Egypt is always available."

"That the different political forces can make a contribution, that human rights in Egypt are observed and that of course also religious freedom can be experienced," Mrs. Merkel added.

And while Western calls for greater political cooperation in Egypt are not new, Germany wields a particularly potent club against Egypt, reports Der Spiegel: some €240 million ($324 million) in Egyptian debt owed to Berlin. Germany had earlier hinted that it might consider forgiving some of Egypt's loans, but Morsi came away from his visit empty-handed.

"What matters now is that the work that needs be done, gets done," [Merkel] said. Against the backdrop of turmoil in Egypt, the chancellor told Morsi that sturdy economic development contributed to political stability. Of course, the reverse can also be true.

The Wall Street Journal notes that boosting Egypt's economic ties with Germany had been a key focus of Morsi's visit. He had been accompanied by numerous Egyptian business leaders in hopes of bolstering bilateral trade, which accounted for roughly €4.1 billion ($5.5 billion) in 2012, according to the German economic ministry. The Journal also notes that, aside from being one of Egypt's biggest European trading partners, Germany also has critical clout within the EU that could help Egypt win further financial assistance to save its ailing economy.

Der Spiegel notes that just prior to Morsi's visit to Berlin, Germany issued a new travel warning against its citizens visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo – costly advice for Egypt and Morsi, as more than a million Germans annually fueled Egypt's tourism-based economy before the revolution. "Today, officials in Cairo are happy to attract half as many," writes Der Spiegel. An attack in 1997 outside the Egyptian Museum killed 10 tourists, nine of whom were German.
Deutsche Welle adds that Morsi also faced "awkward" questions about a recently uncovered video that showed Morsi making anti-Semitic comments, calling Jews "the descendants of apes and pigs." Morsi claimed that his comments had been taken out of context, and were directed at Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.

Even as Morsi met with Merkel in Germany, pressure mounted at home to broaden the dialogue between rival political factions in order to ease the ongoing unrest racking Egypt. Agence France-Presse reports that one of Egypt's leading clerics, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb, led talks between representatives of key groups, including Saad al-Katatni, the head of Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party, and influential liberal opposition leaders Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Mussa. Members of smaller Islamist parties, Christian organizations, and revolutionary groups also attended.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Salafi al-Nour Party, a hardline Islamist organization, joined the opposition National Salvation Front's call for a national unity government and a revision of the Constitution.

After meeting with leaders from the Front, al-Nour chief Younis Makhyoun said, "We are considered Islamists, and we are from the Islamic current but when we work for the sake of national reconciliation, we have to be neutral ... Egypt for all Egyptians."
Egypt must not be ruled "by a single faction... but there must be a real partnership in decision-making and administration," he told reporters.

Egypt's Salafis have generally been supportive of Morsi's Islamic government and critical of the NSF and other liberal and secular members of the opposition, making their apparent split with the government particularly damaging to the Muslim Brotherhood's political control. The AP notes that the move may be intended to boost the al-Nour party's position in upcoming parliamentary elections by distancing it from the increasingly unpopular government.

Labels: Conflict, Economy, Egypt, Germany, Human Relations, Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Syria, Iran Threaten Retaliation Against Israel

Syria and Iran issued threats to retaliate against Israel for its alleged strike on a chemical weapons facility near Damascus Tuesday night.

In Iran, the government-run PressTV quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian Thursday as saying the raid on Syria will have significant implications for Israel.

He called upon United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to take operative steps against Israel following the attack, and suggested to the Israeli leadership "not to place too much trust on the Patriot batteries that are stationed in the area."

Syria is issuing even more explicit threats. Syria's Ambassador in Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, told Hizbullah's al-Ahd news website that Damascus ‘‘has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation.’’

He said that he cannot predict when the response will occur, and said that the authorized elements will take care of preparations for it.

U.S. officials confirmed that Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday.

Hizbullah condemned the attack as ‘‘barbaric aggression’’ and Syrian ally Russia said it appeared to be an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

Hizbullah said it ‘‘expresses full solidarity with Syria’s command, army and people.’’ There have been reports that the target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hizbullah, but Hizbullah did not mention any convoy in the statement. It said the strike aimed to prevent Arab and Muslim forces from developing their military capabilities.

The Syrian military denied the existence of any weapons shipment and said the target was a scientific research facility in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus and about 15 kilometers from the Lebanese border.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the airstrike on state television, calling it a clear violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

Russia said Moscow is taking ‘‘urgent measures to clarify the situation in all its details.’’

‘‘If this information is confirmed, we have a case of unprovoked attacks on targets in the territory of a sovereign state, which grossly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable,’’ Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ‘‘Whatever the motives, this is not justified.’’

Iran's foreign minister on Thursday condemned what he termed Israel's "brutal aggression" against Syria.

"There is no doubt that this aggression is part of a Western and Zionist strategy to push aside the success of the Syrian people and government to return to stability and security," Ali Akbar Salehi said in a statement, as quoted by AFP.

It underscores the "alignment of terrorist groups with the Zionists' objectives," he added, using the Syrian regime's stock word for describing rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

On Wednesday, the Syrian army accused Israel of launching a strike on a military research center at Jamraya, near Damascus. Syrian rebels disputed the claim, taking responsibility for the attack
Iran is Syria's principal ally, along with Russia and China, and accuses Western states and certain Arab countries of arming the rebels.

Israeli officials and the military refused on Thursday to confirm or deny any involvement in the alleged attack and had no comment on reports that it had struck a weapons convoy along the Syria-Lebanon border.

The convoy reportedly held weapons destined for Hizbullah. There have been speculations that the strike came as a warning to Damascus not to arm the Lebanese terror group.

According to a report in The New York Times late on Wednesday, Israel had informed the United States of its plans to attack the target prior to launching the airstrike.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Times that the convoy was transporting SA-17 antiaircraft weapons that could obstruct Israel's ability to fly reconnaissance flights over Lebanon.

Labels: Armaments, Conflict, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Egypt politicians condemn violence in Al-Azhar meeting

The meeting at the al-Azhar mosque was attended by President Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and by opposition figures.

Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei said after the meeting that he was "optimistic".
Nearly 60 people have been killed in Egypt in unrest in the past week.

The politicians, along with activist groups and leaders from Egypt's Coptic Christian Church, were invited to the talks by Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyib, grand imam of al-Azhar.

The past week has seen the worst violence since President Mohammed Morsi won the presidency in June. The unrest began in Cairo on the eve of last Friday's second anniversary of the 2011 revolution and has spread to several cities.

The worst of the violence has been in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, in protests sparked by death sentences handed down to 21 local people accused of participating in football riots.

A curfew Mr Morsi imposed in Port Said and the cities of Suez and Ismailiya was widely ignored, with tens of thousands of residents taking to the streets. The curfew was relaxed on Wednesday.

The meeting is a significant move and it is not the first time that Al-Azhar, a highly-respected Sunni Muslim institution, has intervened to help solve a political crisis, the BBC's Yolande Knell reports from Cairo.

The document signed by the leaders refers to the "sanctity of [citizens'] blood and of public and private property", according to a text published by the Egyptian al-Ahram newspaper.
It says those signing "condemn the inciting of violence, its justification... and its exploitation in any form".

It also reminds state security forces of their "duty to protect citizens' safety and uphold their rights and constitutional freedoms".

"Whatever our differences are, they should be solved peacefully," Mr ElBaradei said in a press conference after the al-Azhar meeting on Thursday.

"There is an agreement, but definite steps should be implemented."

Saad al-Katatni, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, described the meeting as "historic" and stressed the need for continued dialogue.

Earlier this week, the National Salvation Front, formed by Mr ElBaradei, leftist Hamdeen Sabahi and former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, turned down an invitation to talks with Mr Morsi.

They said they first wanted him to commit to the idea of a national unity government and a body to look at amendments to the new Egyptian constitution.

However, opposition groups are continuing to call for a mass protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square for what they are calling the Friday of Salvation, to oppose the president and the Muslim Brotherhood, our correspondent reports.

The opposition accuses Mr Morsi of betraying the revolution which overthrew President Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power.

They say Mr Morsi has failed to hold former officials accountable for alleged crimes and has consolidated power in the hands of his own Muslim Brotherhood, accusations the president denies.

More on This Story

Egypt changing

Features and Analysis

• Q&A: Riots and political crisis

  Egypt's main opposition alliance rejects President Mohammed Morsi's call for "national dialogue" as empty of content, after four days of violence.
  

  ---

• President tested

• Mubarak legacy

• Black Bloc anarchists emerge

• Who holds power?

• Mohammed Morsi

• Political pulse

• No easy way out

• Old and draft charters compared

• Profile: National Salvation Fr

Labels: Conflict, Economy, Egypt, Human Relations, Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

The move would allow the country to refine uranium at a faster rate, increasing fears among western states about Iran's intentions.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful in purpose. The US and its allies fear it seeks nuclear weapons.

The plan was set out in a letter to the IAEA dated 23 January, reports said.

The letter is said to mention a model of centrifuge, called IR2m, which can enrich two or three times faster than the present equipment being used by Tehran, according to the Associated Press.

The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a letter to member states saying Iran had informed the agency of its plans to use the improved machines at its fuel enrichment plant in Natanz, according to a document seen by Reuters.

"The Secretariat of the Agency received a letter from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) dated 23 January 2013 informing the Agency that 'centrifuge machines type IR2m will be used in Unit A-22' at the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz," the IAEA communication is reported to say.

The Natanz facility, in central Iran, is at the heart of the country's dispute with the United Nations Security Council.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the European Union's top foreign policy official said she believed that negotiations on the country's nuclear programme would resume shortly.

Catherine Ashton said she was "confident" that there would be a meeting soon.

More on This Story

Iran nuclear crisis

• Far apart

  Failure to achieve a breakthrough in latest round of nuclear talks exposes the wide gaps remaining between Iran and world powers, James Reynolds reports.
  

  ---

• Western 'sabotage'

• Ongoing stand-off

• UK mulls options

• Q&A: Nuclear issue

• Key nuclear sites

• 'Last chance'

• Breakthrough or breakdown?

• Iran attack response

• Israel strike options

• Mixed press on US-Israeli talks

• Oil embargo impact

• Q&A: Sanctions

• Fears of Dubai Iranians

Labels: Controversy, Iran, Islamism, Nuclear Technology, United Nations

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Syria complains to UN over Israel 'attack'

Syria's army said Israeli jets had targeted a military research centre north-west of Damascus on Wednesday.

It denied claims by the US and others that lorries carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit.
Syria has said it reserves the right to defend itself, while its allies Russia and Iran have strongly denounced the attack.

But a US official told the BBC the target was a convoy carrying SA-17 surface-to-air missiles. Some rebel groups have said they targeted the Jamraya centre.
Israel has declined to comment.

The latest developments have struck a country in turmoil. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to cling to power despite a 22-month conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people.
A UN observer force has been in place in the Golan since 1974, with the task of providing "an area of separation and for two equal zones of limited forces and armaments on both sides of the area".

"Syria holds Israel and those who are protecting it at the Security Council responsible for the results of the attack and confirms its right to defend its land and sovereignty," Syria said in a letter to the UN, reported by state media.

But Syria itself is hardly in a position to do much, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.
Both Hezbollah and Iran are also under pressure at the moment, and Israel's calculation must be that none of those hostile parties has an interest in triggering a regional conflagration right now, our correspondent says.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the alleged air strike as an "overt assault based on the West's policy" to undermine stability in Syria.

His deputy minister was quoted as saying the raid would have "grave consequences for [the major Israeli city of] Tel Aviv".

There were strong words from Russia, a stalwart defender of Syria on the international diplomatic scene despite its warming trade and economic ties with Israel.

The Russian foreign ministry said: "If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it."

Earlier Syria's ambassador to Lebanon warned Damascus could take a "surprise" decision to retaliate.
Weapons facility
 
The Syrian army statement said the Jamraya centre - which was focused on "raising our level of resistance and self-defence" - was damaged in the attack, and specifically denied reports that an arms convoy had been hit.
Some reports suggest the facility could be Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Centre, known by its French acronym CERS, believed to be the state organisation responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.

Lebanese military and internal security forces say there has been increased activity by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon in the past week, and particularly on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Correspondents say Israel is also concerned that Hezbollah could obtain anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thus strengthening its ability to respond to Israeli air strikes.

Israel believes Syria received a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli air strike in 2007 that destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, analysts say.

Wednesday's reported attack came days after Israel moved its Iron Dome defence system to the north of the country.

Labels: Chemical Weapons, Conflict, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Mali militants 'in disarray' after French air strikes

Jean-Yves Le Drian said the jihadists had now scattered, marking a "turning-point" in France's intervention.

His comments come as the French troops continue to secure Kidal, the last town occupied by militants.

The latest strikes have been on command centres, training camps and depots north of Kidal, a spokesman has said.

Col Thierry Burkhard said the "fairly significant" targets had been hit in the Aguelhok mountains near the Algerian border, reports the AFP news agency.

France is preparing to hand over towns it has captured to an African force, which has begun to deploy to Mali.

So far about 2,000 African soldiers, mainly from Chad and Niger, are on the ground.
Col Burkhard said a column of 1,400 troops from Chad was heading towards Kidal from the Niger border.
Meanwhile, at least two Malian soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine south-west of Gao, officials say.

Mr Le Drian said that some militants in Mali had been on a "military adventure and have returned home".

Others had made a "tactical withdrawal to the Adrar des Ifoghas", the mountainous region east of Kidal covering some 250,000 sq km (96,525 sq miles), he said.

Although he said this was now a turning-point for France, it did not mean that "the military risks and the fighting has ended".

He also said he backed the idea of sending a UN peacekeeping force to Mali.

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says the UN Security Council had previously been uncomfortable about deploying a force under a UN mandate, but support is growing.

Envoys believe it would easier to monitor and prevent human rights abuses if the UN could pick and choose which national contingents to use, he says.

A French army spokesman in Bamako, Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Dosseur, told the BBC French Service that France's special forces were in Kidal, but the majority of troops were still at the airport.
A heavy sandstorm that had hampered operations on Wednesday was starting to clear, and troops may soon be able to continue their deployment, he said.

Haminy Maiga, who heads the regional assembly in Kidal, said he had witnessed no fighting as French forces entered and two helicopters were patrolling overhead.

Correspondents say the bigger problem is how to manage the concerns of the separatist Tuareg fighters in Kidal - the only city in the north to have a majority ethnic Tuareg population.
The secular National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) said its fighters would support the French but would not allow the return of the Malian army, which it accused of "crimes against the civilian population".

Human rights groups have accused the Malian army of targeting ethnic Tuareg and Arab civilians.
The Tuareg rebels launched the insurgency in October 2011 before falling out with the Islamist militants.

The Islamist fighters extended their control of the vast north of Mali in April 2012, in the wake of a military coup.

An MNLA spokesman told the BBC that its fighters had entered Kidal on Saturday and found no Islamist militants there.

Kidal was until recently under the control of the Ansar Dine Islamist group, which has strong ties to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The Islamic Movement of Azawad (IMA), which recently split from Ansar Dine, had said that it was in control of Kidal.

The IMA, which has Tuareg fighters amongst its members, has also said it rejects "extremism and terrorism" and wants a peaceful solution.
France - the former colonial power in Mali - launched a military operation this month after the Islamist militants appeared to be threatening the south.

Labels: Africa, Conflict, France, Heritage, Human Rights, Islamism

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Sad Truths

"Magda killed her six children in the Fuehurerbunker. Our father loved his half-siblings very much. And when, like me, you have something like this in your family history, you think: It can't be any worse".
Gabriele Quandt
"It's  a sad truth that forced labourers died in Quandt companies".
Stefan Quandt

Six dead children. In the dying days of fascist Germany, Hitler's underground bunker was crowded with his wife, their dog, six children, their mother and step-father, a doctor and perhaps others. It was the children's misfortune that their mother Magda Quandt, in her second marriage gave them Joseph Goebbels as a step-father, though he was a good father to them. Their mother, to prevent her children falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet army, killed them with cyanide.

"My dear son!" she wrote to her son Harold Quandt, then a 23-year-old officer in the German Luftwaffe ... "By now we've been in the Fuehrerbunker for six days already. Daddy, your six little siblings and I, to give our national socialist lives the only possible honorable ending. Harold, dear son, I want to give you what I learned in life: Be loyal! Loyal to yourself, loyal to the people and loyal to your country!"

In 1914, paterfamilias Guenther Quandt, first husband of Magda, invested in wartime profits at the onset of war with his textile factories producing a quadrupled weekly uniform production for the German army. He graduated to producing batteries, sewing machines and silverware. "The Quandts business grew in the Kaiserreich, it grew during the Weimar Republic, it grew during the Second World War and it grew strongly after the war", according to Rudiger Jungluth, author of Die Quandts.

Guenther Quandt took as his second wife Magda Ritschel and their son Harold was born in late 1921. Their marriage lasted until 1929, when they divorced, and two years later Magda married Goebbels and Hitler was best man at their wedding. Guenther Quandt joined the Nazi party when they took power in 1933, and Goebbels became propaganda minister.

The Quandt factories became vital suppliers for the German war effort. They made batteries for U-Boat subs and V-2 rocket launchers and Mauser firearms, ammunition and anti-aircraft missiles. "He was one of the leading industrialists in the Third Reich and the Second World War", explained Professor Joachim Scholtyseck, a Bonn-based professor of history.

Guenther Quandt appropriated assets from Jewish company owners. His son Herbert planned a factory that would make use of slave labour. After his death Guenther's sons took ownership of his business empire. They increased the business stake in Daimler, and saved BMW from collapse as its largest shareholder.

Today the daughters of Harald Quandt ages 61, 60, 58 and 50 have a net worth of $1.2-billion each. Quite the family history; a business empire that grew on war munitions production, that stole Jewish assets, that grew rich on slave labour. A family that lives uneasily with their history of family collaboration with Adolf Hitler and by that connection, the loss of scores of millions of lives, not the least that of 6-million Jews.

German history will always rankle with memory of the Holocaust. This family's connections, and its wealth positively reek with the stench of ill-gotten gains. If there was morality and remorse those riches would be surrendered to charitable enterprises that would attempt to make amends and restore hope in the hearts of the downtrodden, the oppressed, the world's poor.

An investment in medical research, in education. Anything would be better than sitting on that odious wealth.

Labels: Atrocities, Conflict, Germany, Holocaust, Human Rights, Munitions

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

From Impotence to Defiance

The United Nations, despite all its faults and its failures, its over-bureaucratization, and its hypocrisy, is still held in some level of esteem by its member countries who consider it a hallowed hall of human rights empowerment and equality. And it should be, and this was what was meant to be when it was established out of the initial attempt, with the League of Nations.

Human nature being what it is, the concepts of equality and of rights and empowerment are what each bloc deems them to be.

For there are blocs within the United Nations, and they are powerful, and they have a tendency and ability to circumvent and subvert the best-laid plans and intentions of honourable men and women. Absolutes may be qualified to suit the times and temperaments, values and priorities of those who are able to surround themselves with the mutual support required to bully their way to the top of the pack.

The democratic countries of the world, the wealthy, the technologically advanced, those who not only espouse equality and justice but practise it, find themselves swamped in the tide of those countries still and inevitably harbouring gross resentment against them on the justifiable, yet hoary memories of colonialism and exploitation.

But in the corridors of this place of universal brotherhood and affirmations of peace foremost and always and justice to prevail, mass murderers, bloody tyrants, and nation-wasting dictators stride the halls with respect and impunity. While those whose recognition of and reliance upon justice and human rights sometimes stand accused of tyranny and injustice by those who practise it with relish.

For one country among the 193 member states, patience and forbearance has worn to a threadbare state. It no longer wishes to oblige the majority by standing forlorn and abandoned while being cynically chastised over its human rights abuses raised as issues by those who have become skilled at slander, blame and laying charges that reason cannot seem to challenge with the success of exoneration.

There are too many complicit and engaged with the need to hold Israel captive to allegations and contestations of abuse and injustice. And usually by the very claque that pride themselves on their clever violations of rights and their penchant for injustice in oppressing those over whom they govern to their own benefit.

Israel's mission to the United Nations in Geneva notified the Human Rights Council informally that it wished to delay its participation in the annual Universal Periodic Review process. A process whose purpose is to confront a nation's UN delegation with charges of instances where injustice has prevailed.

There are ample instances where this exercise has value, and one single country where this exercise has been overworked to exhaustion.

Over half the resolutions passed by the UN's Human Rights Council target Israel. The focus is unvaryingly on Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The State of Israel has the dubious distinction of representing the sole country of the UN's 193 member states to be regularly subjected to censure, the only country whose name remains a standing item on the council's agenda.

Council members now express their concern that Israel's decision to remain absent from the usual hearing in defiance of the unwritten 'law' that all countries must submit to this annual assessment of their human rights record, may set an unwanted, unwarranted example for other countries expected to routinely appear, and whose true record actually is one of grave concern. A risible ruse.

Non-cooperation with the UN's Human Rights Council represents a UN heresy, unheard of, unpalatable and unacceptable. But of course no other country on the roster of the UN has ever been on the receiving end of those ubiquitous and viciously acerbic accusations emanating from the council.

One might almost feel that Israel is being unaccountably censored, bullied, harassed, ill-judged. Surely not?

With malice clearly aforethought.

Labels: Controversy, Human Rights, Israel, United Nations

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 31, 2013

Aleppo's Sons

"These are my sons.
"They thought they had nothing to fear from the government, so they went to renew their identity cards. But they didn't come back."
Abu Mohammed, Bustan al-Qasr, Aleppo

This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows dead bodies on a street in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Syrian activists say at least 65 bodies, some of them with their hands tied behind their back, found on a river bank in the northern city of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)

Mr. Mohammed moved among the rows of corpses in a schoolyard. The victims' faces were all uncovered for relative identification. Most of the 79 murdered were young men in their 20s to 30s. There were also teen-age boys among the dead. Two, judged to be 11 and 15 years of age were among those discovered dead, each with a single bullet to the head in a filthy Aleppo river.

Not all died at the same time. Some of the corpses had lain there, bloated and decomposing, in the stagnant water for some time. Others were so recently murdered that their blood still ran from their wounds. Each of the slain had had their hands secured with string or wire. Each had been shot at close range as testified by the large exit wounds at the back of their heads.

People arrived in large numbers to search for their sons. Young men whom they said had disappeared once they crossed from the rebel territory within Aleppo toward the areas held by the regime, across the river. Yet no one can be certain that it was the regime responsible for the slaughter, for it might as readily be the rebels. There seems no love lost between the residents and either the rebels or the regime.

It was twenty days ago that Mr. Mohammed's 30-year-old sons departed their home to travel to central Aleppo, in the hands of the Alawite government. They were among those pulled from the Oweq River. Between the district of Bustan al-Qasr and the regime-held territory of the ancient city. "We saw the first bodies at 8 a.m. in the morning, and we started to take them away", explained one resident.

Last week two bodies were taken out of the narrow river. There were no identity cards. The corpses were left in front of one of the rebel hospitals on the chance a passerby might identify them. According to residents the river has become a body dumping ground.

And while the rebels claim the regime is responsible, the regime say the corpses had been those "abducted by terrorists".

Labels: Atrocities, Conflict, Societal Failures, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Syria: IAF Struck Military Research Center Near Damascus

Syria accused Israel of staging an air raid on a military research center on Wednesday.

The Syrian army accused Israel of launching a dawn strike targeting a military research centre in Jamraya, near Damascus, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA and quoted by AFP.

"Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried out a direct strike on a scientific research center in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defense," the general command said.

The warplanes entered Syria's airspace via Mount Hermon, Jabal el-Sheikh in Arabic, at low altitude and under the radar, the army said, adding that two site workers were killed.

"They... carried out an act of aggression, bombarding the site, causing large-scale material damage and destroying the building," state television quoted the military as saying.

The army denied reports Israeli forces had launched a strike overnight on a weapons convoy from Syria near the border with Lebanon.

The United States declined to comment on the reported strike by Israel, whose military intelligence chief Aviv Kochavi is currently in Washington for talks with top US general Martin Dempsey.

"I'd refer you to the government of Israel for questions about deliberations or actions that they may or may not have taken," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Earlier reports said that Israel had struck a convoy carrying Russian-made antiaircraft missiles. It is not clear at this point which report is the more accurate one, and what actually happened last night.

More on this topic

Labels: Armaments, Conflict, Israel, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 30, 2013

IAF Chief: 'Huge Weapons Arsenal' in Syria

Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, Commander of the IAF, described the chaotic threat facing Israel from its neighbors Tuesday, just hours before jet fighters under his command reportedly hit a major weapons convoy between Syria and Lebanon.

"The example in the north, in Syria, is the most glaring one, of a state that is in a process of disintegration, about which none of us has a clue as to what will be there on the day after," Eshel said.

"Add to that a huge weapons arsenal, some of which is state-of-the-art, some of it unconventional, and all of this is happening – I can't call it our back yard, but on our borders. So we have challenges here ranging from the limited ones to the very large ones.

"What do we see in terms of military challenges? We need to deal with a wide range of enemies and rivals, from states to semi-states to organizations, terror etc. We are dealing with the range between sub-conventional to unconventional. From the knife to the nuclear bomb. We are dealing with very short ranges as well as very long ranges. The size of our sphere of interest and action has grown exponentially compared to 10, 15, 20 years ago.

"We are dealing with weapons of every variety and we may have to deal with an even wider arsenal, with advanced western weapons, eastern weapons, and locally made weapons. There are local manufacturers who are active. Some copy and some invent. It's all out there.

"Whereas we used to deal with threats and challenges on our borders – the situation today is completely different. The direct challenges that we need to prepare for can come from the front lines or from the distant depth, to the front line and to Israel's own depth, to the extent that we have such depth."

More on this topic

• Syria: IAF Struck Military Research Center Near Damascus
• Report: Convoy Israel Struck Carried SA-17 Rockets
• IAF Chief Concerned over Hizbullah's UAVs
• FIFA to Rebuild Stadium Used for Rocket Fire
• Netanyahu to Pilots: If the Quiet is Violated, You'll Hit Back
• Commanders Prepare Troops for Ground Invasion
• Overnight IDF Strikes bring Target Total to 500
• IAF Targets Three Gaza Terror Sites
• IDF Targets Terror Targets in Gaza

Labels: Conflict, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Munitions, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Report: Convoy Israel Struck Carried SA-17 Rockets

The arms convoy that Israel reportedly attacked last night along the Syria-Lebanon border carried SA-17 missiles, among other things, according to foreign sources. The SA-17 is a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile.

The sources said that the shipment was intended for Hizbullah and that, had they made it into the organization's hands, the strategic balance of power in the region would have been altered.

Israel has not responded thus far to reports in the foreign press, according to which the IAF carried out the attack on the convoy.

According to some reports, the weapons convoy was attacked shortly after it crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon. Another source reported that the attack took place when the convoy was still inside Syrian territory.

The Lebanese Army said earlier that Israel fighter jets penetrated the Lebanese airspace Tuesday afternoon and continued to circle in its skies until 2:00 AM.

Labels: Armaments, Conflict, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 30, 2013