WAR 01/01:***The***Border***Badlands***

[The Flying Dutchman]

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Beginning with the new year I am titling the news threads with the beginning article's subject line.

(The Perfect Storm) specifically relates to the world financial situations - but also refers to the events which will occur with respects to the "Hot Spots;" and it will be used if I start the thread off with financial news...



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Sat, Jan. 1, 2011

Cartel is broken, Mexico declares

Police said arrests and deaths left the drug
network "completely dismembered."

By E. Eduardo Castillo
Associated Press
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20110101_Cartel_is_broken__Mexico_declares.html​

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's federal police said Friday that the once-fearsome La Familia drug cartel has been "completely dismembered" and has broken down into small groups that commit robberies to pay their members.
The cartel has dominated the western state of Michoacan for several years, making money by trafficking methamphetamines and extorting protection money from businesses. It has also become known for its bloody ambushes of federal police.

La Familia has been thrown into disarray, however, by the recent arrest and deaths of top members, including cartel leader Nazario Moreno, nicknamed "the Craziest One," who was killed in a shoot-out with police Dec. 9.

"Following the death of Nazario, the Familia Michoacana, as we know it, has been completely dismembered," federal police official Luis Cardenas Palomino told a news conference as he announced the arrest of one of La Familia's leaders: Francisco Lopez Villanueva, known as El Bigotes, or The Mustache.

'More vulnerable'

"What are left are little groups that are isolated and completely disorganized," Cardenas Palomino said. "They have been committing bank robberies and robbing businesses to get money. . . . This makes them more vulnerable."
In a series of banners found strung across roadways in Michoacan earlier this week, however, the gang has denied it is responsible for a recent wave of robberies in the state.

"They say it was La Familia Michoacana, they want to blame us," read the banners. "Don't be deceived. The federal police came to rob, humiliate, and kill our people."

The 'protector'

The cartel has demanded that federal police be removed from the state because of alleged abuses against the civilian population. La Familia depicts itself as the "protector" of Michoacan residents, and common robberies would clash with the image the gang tries to cultivate.

The cartel offered to cease its activities if federal police agreed in exchange to protect Michoacan against La Familia's rivals, the Zetas gang. Government officials said they would not negotiate with any drug cartels.

Lopez Villanueva, arrested Thursday, was responsible for some of the recent bank robberies, police said. They said he was a former Zeta - the two gangs were once allies - before he went over to La Familia.



Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/worl...is_broken__Mexico_declares.html#ixzz19n8Tab7m
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Body of half-naked woman found hanging from overpass in Mexico

The Associated Press
Friday, Dec. 31, 2010 3:54PM EST
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...overpass-in-mexico/article1854610/?cmpid=rss1​

The half-naked body of a woman who had escaped from prison officials while facing kidnapping charges was found hanging by the neck Friday from an overpass in this wealthy northern industrial city.

It is the first time in recent memory that a woman has been killed in this manner. Their bodies have been found decapitated or mutilated but Mexican drug cartels have saved hangings from public bridges for their male rivals.

The victim was identified as Elizabeth Muniz Tamez, aka “The Red Head,” who had been charged in 2009 with belonging to a gang of kidnappers, the Public Safety Office of Nuevo Leon state, where Monterrey is located, said in a statement. Her hair had been dyed blond when the body was found.

Muniz Tamez escaped from custody Monday, when a group of armed assailants snatched her from a prison vehicle taking her for medical treatment.

A doctor, two prison officials and three guards have been detained and are under investigation in the escape.

There was no immediate evidence of drug cartel involvement in the death of Muniz Tamez, who was found hanging by a rope. But Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city, has been rocked by violent cartel turf battles in recent months.

She was wearing only jeans and socks when found just before dawn, and someone had scrawled the man's name “Yair” on her naked torso, the Public Safety Office said. Her identity was determined through fingerprints.

Mexico's former top anti-drug prosecutor, Samuel Gonzalez, said the killing “was totally outside the normal range” of the usual behavior of Mexico's criminal gangs.

“They have totally changed the rules,” Mr. Gonzalez said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. While he noted that the wives of top drug traffickers have been targeted for killings in the past, he said women were largely spared the country's rising level of drug violence until a few years ago.

As of November, drug-related violence had claimed the lives of 30,196 people in Mexico since the government launched an offensive against drug cartels in December 2006.




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Police Officers, Doctor Killed In Mexico Shootings

2010-12-31 16:28:00 (17 hours ago)
Posted By: Intellpuke
http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=28193​

Gunmen believed to be linked to drug cartels killed four police officers and a doctor in apparently coordinated attacks in and around the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, authorities said Thursday.

Three officers were wounded in Wednesday's attacks, said Jorge Domene, a spokesman for the security council in northern Nuevo Leon state, where Monterrey is located.

In one of the attacks, gunmen opened fire on a Monterrey police station, killing a medical doctor who was administering tests to employees at the station and wounding three officers, said Domene.

In two additional, separate attacks carried out within minutes of each other in the Monterrey suburb of Guadalupe, gunmen killed two police officers, a man and a woman.

"Yesterday's events clearly represent acts by organized crime trying to intimidate or reverse the actions that authorities have taken ... to counter the violence that has been unleashed in our state," Domene told a news conference.

Six people were found dead Thursday in the southern state of Guerrero, another disputed drug trafficking hot spot, according to a state police statement. Two of the men were found in the resort city of Acapulco, one of them buried in a clandestine grave. He had been blindfolded and his hands and feet were bound.

Also Thursday, the navy said in a statement that it had captured four suspects linked to drug-cartel activities, including two females under the age of 18.

Marines detained the four Tuesday in the city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in two vehicles that had been reported stolen.

Four assault rifles were found in the vehicles, and one of the male suspects claimed to be a hit man for the Gulf drug cartel.

Mexican authorities have arrested astonishingly young suspects accused of working for cartels in recent months. Early this month, soldiers and police detained an American-born 14-year-old boy who allegedly worked as a drug-cartel enforcer. The boy told reporters he helped a drug gang behead four people.

Under Mexican law, minors cannot be tried as adults and are handled under a separate juvenile-offenders system.

The military, meanwhile, announced it seized a ton of marijuana per day in Baja California state this year, a record daily average. On Oct. 18, soldiers and police confiscated 148 tons (134 metric tons) of marijuana in Tijuana, Mexico's biggest pot haul on record.




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**The***Asian***Contagion***​

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North Korea warns war would bring ‘nuclear holocaust’

By Associated Press
Saturday, January 1, 2011 - Added 46 minutes ago
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/in...orea_warns_war_would_bring_nuclear_holocaust/​

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea welcomed the new year Saturday with a call for better ties with rival South Korea, warning that war "will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust."

Despite calls in its annual New Year’s message for a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, the communist North, which has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006, also said its military is ready for "prompt, merciless and annihilatory action" against its enemies.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said the editorial carried in the official Korean Central News Agency, even with its tough rhetoric, showed the North’s interest in resuming talks with the South.

The annual holiday message is scrutinized by officials and analysts in neighboring countries for policy clues. This year, it received special attention after the North’s Nov. 23 artillery shelling of a South Korean island near the countries’ disputed western sea border, the first attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.

That barrage, which followed an alleged North Korean torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March, sent tensions between the Koreas soaring and fueled fears of war during the last weeks of 2010.

In South Korea, President Lee Myung-bak, dressed in traditional Korean clothes, said in a televised New Year’s address he would work toward peace. "I am confident that we will be able to establish peace on the Korean peninsula and continue sustained economic growth," he said.

North Korea said in its editorial that confrontation between the Koreas should be quickly defused.

"The danger of war should be removed and peace safeguarded in the Korean peninsula," said the message, which was also read by a North Korean anchorwoman in a state television broadcast monitored in Seoul. "If a war breaks out on this land, it will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust."

The message shows the North wants to rejoin international nuclear disarmament talks, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea analyst at Seoul’s Dongguk University, noting there was no criticism of the United States, which the North often lashes out at.

The Korean peninsula remains technically in a state of war because the 1950s conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Six-nation talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program have been stalled for nearly two years.

The North has previously used aggression to force negotiations. Recently, it has said it is willing to return to the talks. Washington and Seoul, however, are insisting that the North make progress on past disarmament commitments before negotiations can resume.

North Korea also stoked new worries about its nuclear program in November when it revealed a uranium enrichment facility — which could give it a second way to make atomic bombs. The North is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen atomic bombs.

In the North Korean capital, authoritarian leader Kim Jong Il enjoyed a concert on New Year’s Eve with his youngest son and heir apparent, Kim Jong Un. The elder Kim also attended a tank division training session, according to a statement Friday by the North’s official news agency.

On Saturday, dozens of well-dressed citizens and soldiers paid respect to the country’s late dynastic founder Kim Il Sung. After offering bouquets of flowers, they bowed solemnly and saluted a huge bronze statue of Kim standing on a hill overlooking the city, according to footage provided by Associated Press Television News in Pyongyang. Children were filmed posing for photos on model horses and families were seen walking along streets beneath brightly colored New Year’s posters.

"Under the leadership of the great leader Kim Jong Il, the future of Korea will be brighter," said Kim Hye Gyong, a Pyongyang citizen interviewed by APTN. "Today I greet new year 2011 with such happy feelings."



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North Korea Says Regional Tensions Should Be Defused

January 01, 2011, 6:54 AM EST
By Paul Tighe and Jungmin Hong
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...says-regional-tensions-should-be-defused.html​

(Updates with comment from South Korean government in seventh paragraph.)

Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea, in a New Year message, said tensions with South Korea should be defused while calling for “intense combat training” for the North Korean army.

“The danger of war should be removed and peace safeguarded in the Korean Peninsula,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported, citing a New Year editorial carried by newspapers including Rodong Sinmun and Joson Inmingun. “If a war breaks out on this land, it will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust.”

The editorial blamed South Korea and its allies for “reckless and wild behavior” such as mounting military exercises, saying the tense situation required the army to be prepared, KCNA reported today.

Tensions between North Korea and South Korea rose after the sinking in March last year of a South Korean warship, in which 46 sailors died. North Korea in November fired artillery shells at Yeonpyeong Island in the first such attack on South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea rejected an international panel’s finding that the sinking of the Cheonan warship was caused by a North Korean torpedo and said its shelling in November was in response to military provocation by South Korea.

“Confrontation between north and south should be defused as early as possible,” KCNA cited today’s editorial as saying. “Dialogue and cooperation should be promoted proactively,” it said, including allowing free travel and exchanges between people from the countries.

Better Relationship

North Korea “appears to seek humanitarian aid and a better relationship with the South by calling for dialogue and cooperation with Seoul,” South Korea’s Unification Ministry said today in a statement in response to the New Year editorial. “The North also has an intention to stir up a rift among the South Korean people.”

North Korea yesterday accused South Korea of sabotaging relations between the countries after the government of President Lee Myung Bak said it would focus in 2011 on preparations for reunification.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Dec. 29 the policy goals for 2011 would include preparations for unification, rather than the previous strategy of improving ties. The government aims to complete plans in the first half of this year on how South Korea could fund unity with North Korea and its 23 million people, Unification Minister Hyun In Taek said in an Oct. 20 interview.

The South Korean authorities should end their policy of confrontation, KCNA cited the editorial as saying.

‘Battle Ready’

South Korea’s Defense Ministry last week pledged to create a stronger military deterrent with “battle-ready” forces able to respond to attacks.

Lee replaced his defense minister and army head following the Nov. 23 artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong and vowed to strengthen the military and respond more harshly to any further North Korean attacks.

North Korea is “consistent in its stand and will to achieve peace in Northeast Asia and the denuclearization of the whole of the Korean Peninsula,” KCNA cited today’s editorial as saying. It will “strive to develop relations of friendship and cooperation with countries that are friendly toward us.”

Six-nation talks on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program stalled in April 2009. The forum involves North Korea, South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.




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***The***Winds***Of***War***​

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Lebanon is staring into the abyss

Saturday, 01 January 2011 00:45
By Fawaz Gerges
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/views/137568-lebanon-is-staring-into-the-abyss.html​

Once again, Lebanon is on the brink of major social and political upheaval. Rumours of an impending armed clash between Hezbollah and the pro-western governing coalition have spread like wildfire among the Lebanese people, who are hoarding food and arms in anticipation of the worst.

On the surface of it, the current crisis revolves around a United Nations tribunal set up to investigate the 2005 assassination of prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. An indictment from the tribunal is imminent; there is increasing evidence that the tribunal will accuse members of Hezbollah, the Shia-dominated resistance movement, as having played a central role in the assassination. If true, this could provide the spark that ignites the next confrontation.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has repeatedly dismissed the tribunal as an “American-Israeli” tool intended to incite sectarian strife in Lebanon. He has warned that the looming indictment will be an act of war against his group. He has demanded that the Lebanese government — led by Saad Hariri, the son of the late prime minister — distance itself from the UN tribunal and renounce it before the indictment is released.

On a deeper level, the standoff reflects a broader institutional crisis. Lebanon’s institutions are dysfunctional and defective; they have failed dismally to mediate conflict among rival groups, as well as to integrate rising social forces into the political process. The Hariri tribunal is a case in point. Lebanon’s three major institutions, the presidency, the cabinet and the parliament, are paralysed, unable to solve the impending crisis.

The recent impasse is mired by a series of “false witnesses” linked to the UN probe into Hariri’s killing. Consequently, all eyes are now on Saudi Arabia and Syria, the two regional patrons of the rival Lebanese camps. They have attempted for months now to broker a settlement (with little success so far) that nullifies the tribunal and thus averts bloodshed. On the other hand, the United States has reportedly impressed on its allies the need to show resolve in the face of Hezbollah’s threats and support the tribunal.

Sadly, Lebanon’s leaders have forsaken their responsibility and have resigned themselves to the belief that the resolution of the tribunal problem lies in the Saudi-Syrian initiative. Lebanon’s national unity government has proven to be an unworkable mixture of ministers from across the political spectrum. An abject failure, this multi-coloured cabinet has stalled all efforts to pass crucial policies.

Institutionally, Lebanon is a failed state. The political class has consciously and systemically used identity-politics to advance its material interests and undermine institution-building and nation-building; in moments of duress it has called on foreign powers to sustain its dominance.

Far from being sectarian-based or driven, the power struggle in Lebanon is multi-layered and complex. Sectarianism is used and abused to mask vested interests and differences.

On another level, the power struggle conceals changes in the demographics of Lebanese society which have not been given their equal representation in the political system. While Maronites and Sunnis formally control executive power, the rising Shia community, disfranchised historically, feels under-represented and politically marginalised.

Moreover, Lebanon is a battleground for a fierce confrontation between the US and its regional allies, on the one hand, and Iran-Syria and their local friends, on the other. A bitter struggle has exacted a heavy toll on the stability and security of the tiny country and paralysed its institutions further.

Lebanon faces a stark choice between justice and stability. There is a real danger that justice is no longer achievable and that the costs are exuberant. Regardless of the evidence marshalled by the tribunal, thedecision will likely pour gasoline on a raging fire and reinforce the two camps’ opposing narratives: Hezbollah’s cohorts will view it as a conspiracy, while for Hariri’s supporters, conclusive evidence of the guilt of the Iranian-Syrian camp.

Hariri says that he recognises the fears of the politicisation of the tribunal and the potential implications of an indictment of Hezbollah. On the other hand, Hariri has asserted that he cannot renounce the tribunal because he wants the assassins of his father to be brought to justice, and because he possesses no authority over the UN tribunal. Hariri is also under pressure by the Americans to buckle up and back the tribunal.

No matter if Lebanon can weather the gathering storm, this will not be the first crisis, or the last. The country’s dilemma is structural; as long as Lebanon’s political class substitutes identity-politics for formal institutions, it will continue to be politically unstable. As long as Lebanon’s leaders rely on foreign intervention to tip the internal balance of power in their favour, they will remain passive bystanders in determining their country’s future. The Guardian
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Lebanon approaches new year with crises hanging

Discord over tribunal prevails as country
braces for 2011 with paralyzed government

By Mirella Hodeib
Daily Star staff
Friday, December 31, 2010
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123113#axzz19nGcOxCb​

BEIRUT: The central political theme of 2010 – tension over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) – looks set to dominate 2011, as Lebanese wonder whether the country is headed for a “grand settlement” or only a temporary truce.


The stalemate over the STL, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, took shape in mid-year, as Hizbullah, expecting to be implicated in the long-awaited indictment, stepped up its campaign against the tribunal.


By year’s end, the central government was mired in paralysis. Cabinet sessions on November 10 and December 16 were adjourned shortly after convening, with ministers unable to compromise over the contentious issue of “false witnesses” who misled international investigators into Hariri’s killing. Meanwhile, the government’s ability to function as a cohesive whole, never strong in the first place, disappeared entirely.


In a bid to avert possible civil strife, regional players will exert exceptional efforts to contain fierce tension that has crippled Lebanon this year, analysts said.


“Let’s face it, countries of the region will not allow the court to jeopardize the overall stability of the area,” Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut (AUB) told The Daily Star. “The situation in the region is not opportune for the tribunal to easily perform its tasks,” he said.


In the last six months, Lebanon has been ravaged by a flood of rumors over the post-STL indictment repercussions.


In a speech in July, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah slammed the court as an “Israeli project” aimed at striking at the resistance and sowing strife in Lebanon.


Nasrallah’s sharp condemnation forced the leaders of Lebanon’s two main powerbrokers, Saudi Arabia and Syria, to fly to Beirut on July 30 and call for calm.


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also paid visits to Lebanon in late 2010 in a bid to ease the mounting tension.


However, the joint visit by Syrian President Bashar Assad and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah took center stage.


“I am convinced that Saudi-Syrian efforts are serious and fall in the interest of Lebanon,” said Fadia Kiwan, head of the political science department at Saint Joseph University. “Both Syria and Saudi Arabia are interested in Lebanon avoiding strife.”


According to Khashan, Saudi Arabia was trying to prevent any potential escalation in Lebanon. “Saudi Arabia’s main concern right now is not to know the truth [about who killed Hariri],” he said. “Iran’s rising influence in the region, internal problems such as political succession, as well as monitoring the insurgency in Yemen, are Saudi Arabia’s areas of interest at the moment.”


Local media has been rife with speculation about what Hizbullah might do if named in the STL indictment, with party officials remaining tight-lipped about their future plans.


According to Khashan, the media-spun scenarios were “baseless.” He downplayed serious violence following the release of the indictment, and predicted that Hizbullah would not take over Lebanon, as some have suggested.


Kiwan also dismissed the possibility of major clashes occurring, but did not exclude the possibility of sporadic security incidents, especially in mixed Sunni-Shiite areas.


A dispute in August over parking space in the mixed Beirut neighborhood of Burj Abi Haidar quickly degenerated into armed clashes between the supporters of Hizbullah and those of an ostensibly allied Sunni Islamist faction, the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (Al-Ahbash). The incident was seen as a sample of the intensity of clashes that might occur if the STL points the finger at Hizbullah.


Prime Minister Saad Hariri has so far remained silent over the presumed involvement of Hizbullah in his father’s murder, which was first widely blamed on Syria. Immediately after the killing, Damascus came under tremendous international pressure to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence.


Nonetheless, after he was appointed prime minister in 2009, ties between Hariri and the Syrian regime have warmed. In line with his rapprochement to Damascus, which he visited four times this year, Hariri said he was mistaken to accuse Syria of killing his father.


“At a certain stage we made mistakes and accused Syria of assassinating Rafik Hariri,” he told Saudi daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat in September. “This was a political accusation, and this political accusation has finished,” he added.


However, Hariri again lost touch with Assad in October, when the Syrian judiciary issued 33 arrest warrants against individuals said to have misled investigations into the Hariri killing, based on a lawsuit filed by former head of Lebanon’s General Security, Jamil al-Sayyed.


Sayyed, who was detained in 2005 for alleged involvement in the brutal assassination but released four years later for lack of evidence, argued defendants were involved in a conspiracy of false testimony intended to point to the involvement of Syria and its supporters in Hariri’s killing.


Many of those named in the Syrian arrest warrants are political allies or associates of Saad Hariri.



In July, Sayyed appeared before the STL in the body’s first public hearing, seeking to obtain information from the court to support his lawsuit.


In parallel, Hizbullah sought to discredit the Netherlands-based tribunal over the issue of so-called “false witnesses,” while demanding that Beirut block funding for the STL, withdraw Lebanese judges from the court and cancel its cooperation protocol with the body.


Analysts, however, agreed that the young prime minister caving in to Hizbullah’s demands would amount to political suicide.


Kiwan said the prime minister was currently in a “very critical position.”


“Hariri discrediting the tribunal is unthinkable,” she said, adding that Syria and Saudi Arabia were working out a formula that would likely see the Lebanese government express its reservations over any indictment accusing Hizbullah until clear-cut evidence is provided by the STL.


Khashan, meanwhile, considered Hariri’s comments to Ash-Sharq al-Awsat as having considerably weakened his position. “Hariri is already doing a good job of committing political suicide; his comments to Ash-Sharq al-Awsat stand as proof,” said the analyst.


Kiwan said Hariri completely bowing to Hizbullah’s demands will have drastic repercussions.


“Discrediting the tribunal will weaken Hariri’s position … He is not ready to do it,” she said. Such a move, Kiwan continued, would likely create major divisions among the Sunni community. “There will be divisions among Hariri’s Future Movement and the emergence of Sunni Jihadi groups which would embrace the cause.”


Another flare-up took place in late October, when dozens of women attacked two investigators and an interpreter dispatched by the STL’s Office of the Prosecutor to a gynecology clinic in Hizbullah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs to inquire about telephone numbers of patients there.


The clinic, owned by gynecologist Imane Charara, is believed to provide medical services to the wives of top Hizbullah commanders.


The STL vowed that the attack would not deter its investigators, while Nasrallah demanded that the government boycott the tribunal and warned in a speech on November 11 that Hizbullah will “cut off the hand” that dares arrest anyone of its members.


While Khashan highlighted that the court will not be able to apprehend suspects, Kiwan viewed any such attempt as the start of a violent confrontation. “The court should avoid making forced arrests because this will spark violent confrontations,” she said.


The two analysts agreed that the most plausible scenario was for the STL to carry out trials in absentia because Lebanon will not hand over suspects. “Trials will drag for years and are unlikely to reach any tangible conclusions,” said Khashan.


Several reports, including a controversial documentary broadcasted on November 22 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, suggested that STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare will base his indictment on the analysis of telephone data records.


Hizbullah reiterated on several occasions that such a premise was unreliable, backed by Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas, who said in November that Israel widely intercepts Lebanon’s telecommunications network and could tamper with phone records. Since 2009, Lebanon has arrested more than 150 individuals, including high-ranking telecom employees, on charges of spying for Israel.


This month, Israel remotely detonated spying devices it planted in south Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army, operating on a tip from Hizbullah, uncovered two sophisticated Israeli spying devices planted in mountainous regions of Lebanon.


Nasrallah had called on Bellemare not to overlook the premise that Israel might be involved in the Hariri assassination, and used an August news conference to unveil footage from Israeli spy planes of routes used by the slain former prime minister.


Amid a stalemate that has seen American officials vow the STL must continue, while Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared the tribunal “null and void,” analysts said only a comprehensive deal was likely to spare Lebanon the drastic repercussions of the indictment. Khashan said since Lebanon could not be considered an independent political entity, the country’s problems were a reflection of regional developments.


Kiwan said the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, will definitely reflect on the situation in Lebanon.


“We need to reach a minimum level of accord in order to face the difficult times in the region,” Kiwan added.


The analyst said the Saudi-Syrian initiative, which is trying to sort out the post-indictment phase, should mainly focus on preventing any confrontation between the government and Hizbullah.


“The deal might include a minor government change, with the new government vowing not to handover suspects to the tribunal,” she said.


Thorny issues such as “false witnesses” will also be resolved through judicial means, according to Kiwan. “The country is moving toward a settlement, although not a long-term one,” she added. “Let’s call it a temporary truce.”



Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123113#ixzz19nGlin5t
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)



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Hizbullah calls Lebanon government to invest in
gas exploration following Israeli announcement

Published December 30th, 2010 - 14:42 GMT
http://www1.albawaba.com/oil-energy...as-exploration-following-israeli-announcement​

Hizbullah;The head of "Loyalty to the Resistance" bloc, which includes Hizbullah deputies in the Lebanese Parliament including MP Mohammad Raad, urged the Lebanese authorities to speed up the investment in oil wealth discovered in its waters, in order to prevent the Israeli government to reach out to this wealth.
Safir newspaper quoted on Thursday, Raad as saying: "Day after day history proves it has no mercy on those who are slow in investing in the development of national wealth, whether in water or in oil", adding that future generations will judge this slowdown which amounts to negligence on the national level and waste."

MP Raad added that "the discovery of oil reserves in our national territorial waters should increase the attention of all officials to act and make the utmost efforts in order to start the investment operations, and jump over all the bureaucratic procedures, because the issue is a challenge and a national must hin order to block the Zionist enemy and prevent the hand that extends to this wealth."

On Wednesday, Israel officially announced the results of prospecting and exploration for gas in the field of "Leviatan", located northwest of Haifa in the area adjacent to the borders of the Lebanese waters. They indicated that the field contains 16 trillion cubic feet of gas, equivalent to 453 billion cubic meters, a figure about 80 percent higher compared to gas discovered in the field of Tamar, which is located on the distance of 47 kilometers from south-east.




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Iran says fully ready against any military threat

01.01.2011 17:29
http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/1806082.html​

A commander of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Yasaval said on Saturday the country's military is fully ready against any military threat, ISNA reported.

The commander also warned Iran is watching out for the US moves in Persian Gulf.

Commander of electronic war of IRGC navy forces said, "we are carefully watching all moves of the US in Persian Gulf."

He also reiterated vigilance against enemies' threats and said, "Iranian military is fully ready against military threats."

Iranian officials have already warned against military threats.





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http://www.debka.com/article/20512/

 

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Iran denies WikiLeaks report that Ahmadinejad was slapped

Jan 1, 2011, 5:48 GMT
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/n...WikiLeaks-report-that-Ahmadinejad-was-slapped​

Tehran - Iran has denied a WikiLeaks report that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was slapped by the chief of the country's Revolutionary Guards, the Tehran press reported Saturday.

According to a leaked US diplomatic cable, General Mohammad-Ali Jafari slapped Ahmadinejad in early 2010, as Tehran was still dealing with the fallout from a disputed election.

A Revolutionary Guards spokesman told Fars news agency that 'those behind WikiLeaks have availed themselves of the fame they gained through their insider information and invent false stories.'

Spokesman Ramezan Sharif said that some of the WikiLeaks disclosures about the United States might have been true but there had also been several fabricated pieces of information.

President Ahmadinejad last year dismissed the WikiLeaks documents as worthless. He said they followed certain political aims and had no impact on Iran's relations with any other states.

Iran was especially upset about the leaked documents saying that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain urged the US to halt Iran's nuclear programme by any means, including a military attack.





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[The Flying Dutchman]

http://www.debka.com/article/20512/

For Fair Use: Discussion

North Korea may be setting up a nuclear test on Iran's behalf

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 1, 2011, 10:44 AM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/article/20512/​

A large group of Iranian nuclear scientists and technicians has been spotted in the last few days at North Korea's nuclear center at Yongbyon, according to debkafile's intelligence sources. American and South Korean watchers assumed at first they were examining the new, extra-fast centrifuges for enriching uranium North Korea had showed off to America visitors in November. But they thought again when a small group broke away from the Iranian delegation for a secret side-trip to visit North Korea's Punggye-ri testing site near the Chinese border and appeared to be receiving detailed briefing on the next nuclear test planned soon by Pyongyang.

US and South Korean intelligence experts now strongly suspect now that they were putting their heads together for making it a joint North Korea-Iranian test.

One South Korean intelligence source reported that the Iranian visitors brought with them a large sum of money, estimated at least at $150 million, in all likelihood to cover Pyongyang's fee for staging a nuclear test on Tehran's behalf. French intelligence subscribes to this assumption in view of the dramatically heightened interchanges between North Korea and Iran in the last two months.

On Dec. 2, debkafile disclosed that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had strongly urged US President Barak Obama to get tough militarily with North Korea – not just over the crisis in the peninsula but for fear Pyongyang would use the sound and fury to distract attention from its transfer to Iran of nuclear technology and advanced centrifuges for offsetting the malfunctions retarding its progress towards a weapon.

Sarkozy argued too that Tehran has decided to engage the world powers in talks on its nuclear program – the second round takes place in Istanbul this month – solely to play for time until North Korea's assistance kicked in.

It is now believed in Paris that Tehran and Pyongyang have brought their plans forward. Instead of going through the process of shipping nuclear items and materials from North Korea to Iran and risking their interception by American forces in keeping with international sanctions, they have decided to go straight for a joint nuclear test to be carried out at the North Korean testing site. This step would defeat the enforcement of international sanctions.

This possibility was suggested in one of the remarks Gen (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Deputy Prime Minister with portfolio for Strategic affairs, made on the subject on Dec. 29: "Iran does not currently have the ability to make a nuclear bomb on its own," he said. The "technical difficulties" he referred to (without specifying who or what had caused them) had disabled Iran's independent nuclear weapons capability, he said, implying that they did not stand in the way of Tehran's ability to call on outside help for attaining its objective.
debkafile: North Korea is the only outsider with the ability and will to help Iran.

Taken with other remarks, Yaalon's words were interpreted as conveying the following message to Washington: We've dealt with Iran; it's your turn to take care of North Korea and make sure they don't outmaneuver us by using Pyongyang's nuclear facilities to fill in the gaps for Iran.That would include conducting a nuclear test on Iran's behalf as its subcontractor or surrogate.





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[The Flying Dutchman]

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***The***Perfect***Storm***​

For Fair Use: Discussion

01/01 10:04 CET

Hungary assumes the EU presidency

http://www.euronews.net/2011/01/01/hungary-assumes-the-eu-presidency/​

A New Year means a new country at the head of the EU and the start of 2011 saw Hungary take charge of the bloc’s rotating presidency.

The takeover was greeted with a spectacular music and light show. Europe’s debt crisis, treaty change, the budget and the Roma migrant question are all expected to top the agenda in the coming months and Hungary has been keen to display it has what it takes. Earlier, Hungarian President Pal Schmitt addressed the nation.

But, not everyone is happy. Moves by Budapest to tighten controls on the media and seize private pension assets have angered several EU partners.

The UK, Germany and Luxembourg have all issued unusual public rebukes, with Luxembourg’s foreign minister openly questioning whether Hungary was ‘‘worthy of leading the bloc.” They have called on it to review the new media law. For the moment, however, Hungary’s government remains defiant.





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[The Flying Dutchman]

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For Fair Use: Discussion

January 01, 2011

Hungary's tough new laws worry other EU countries

By Associated Press
http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics...s-tough-new-laws-worry-other-eu-countries.htm​

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — For decades Hungary was one of Eastern Europe's most democratic nations, leading former Soviet countries in adopting the political and economic norms of the free world.

But a series of restrictive new laws passed by the new populist, center–right government is sparking widespread concerns about Hungary's democratic credentials as it prepares to assume the presidency of the European Union on Saturday and become the EU's public face for the next six months.

A media law passed this month allows a hand–picked authority to take newspapers and broadcast outlets to court and seek fines of up to $1 million (0.76 million euros) for reports it considers unbalanced. People who do not move private pension funds into a state–run program can now be penalized financially.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Cabinet also have curtailed the powers of the respected constitutional court. And they are seeking to push out the head of the traditionally independent central bank in a struggle over who controls fiscal policy of the deeply indebted nation.

The media law has come under the strongest criticism from other EU nations, with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn saying the law "raises the question whether such a country is worthy of leading the EU."

German deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer warned of "serious concern if there is only the smallest suspicion" of media freedoms being restricted, and a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that her government is following the media law "with great attention."

Orban is defiant, telling Hungarian TV last week that despite foreign criticism, "we are not even considering" changing the media law.

That comment is not surprising. It was Orban who said "Hungary shouldn't have to adapt to the European Union, the EU should adapt to Hungary," during his first term as prime minister 11 years ago, as Hungary was still seeking EU membership.

Government officials did not react to a request for comment. But Laszlo L. Simon, a member of Orban's FIDESZ party and the head of parliament's Cultural and Media Committee, told the state news agency MTI (News - Alert) Wednesday that the foreign criticism was a "European circus," stoked by the continent's Socialist parties.

Orban sailed into power again seven months ago after defeating an unpopular Socialist government with a more than two–thirds majority.

Critics have accused him of seeking a one–party system, particularly after he said this year that he envisions Hungary being run by a "major ruling party, a centrally dominated political power capable of tackling national issues" without the distractions of "constant (political) debate."

Insiders, meanwhile, say that senior officials of the European Commission — the EU government — are extremely displeased both with Orban's deeds and defiant words.

Laszlo (News - Alert) Kovacs, the EU's former commissioner for taxation and customs union, says that former colleagues "were privately very critical" during his recent visit to the Belgian capital, which is also the EU's headquarters.

"The general tone was that 'the Hungarian government should refrain from sending arrogant messages to Brussels,'" says Kovacs, who has served as Hungarian foreign minister and is now deputy head of the opposition Socialist party.

Major European newspapers are less circumspect.

"What can Orban, shackler of the media, say about human rights and media freedoms in Belarus, in Russia, in China and elsewhere?" wrote the German daily "Frankfurter Rundschau." ''He can't say a thing, he can't even utter a peep."

Disappointment within the EU is palpable considering Hungary's past.

It was the most liberal of all Soviet bloc nations, and hastened the fall of the Iron Curtain by permitting hundreds of thousands of East Germans to use it as the conduit to the West in 1989. That bold move hastened the fall of the Iron Curtain by emboldening citizens elsewhere in communist East Europe to press for change.

In the immediate post–communist years, it was the East European nation that appeared most eager to adopt the political and economic norms of the free world and was among the first former Soviet bloc countries to join two of the West's key pillars, the EU and NATO.

But such accomplishments are being eclipsed by concern over Hungary's suitability to serve as EU president, a position meant as a beacon of democracy and free–market economic principles.

The push on citizens to shift their pensions from private to state plans could result in access to more than 10 billion euros ($14 billion) to cut the budget deficit without having to enact unpopular structural reforms and cost cutting measures.

Economists and EU experts say that such tough measures are needed. But Orban seeks to avoid them so as not to stir popular discontent in a country where one in three are below the poverty line and millions are fighting default on debts denominated in Swiss francs or other strong foreign currencies.

So in another unorthodox move to raise revenues as it fights to reduce government debt — at about 80 percent of the GDP the highest in the region — his government has imposed windfall taxes on banks and telecommunications companies and other enterprises, most of them foreign owned.

The companies affected have cried foul, claiming discrimination in a letter to the EU Commission. The pension scheme, meanwhile, has added to foreign skepticism about Hungary's commitment to enact sound economic measures, with the credit rating agency Fitch recently downgrading the nation's foreign currency credit rating to just above junk status, shortly after a downgrade from Moody's.

Some moves of the Orban government — like the windfall tax on mostly foreign companies — could be contested as discriminatory at the European court of Justice, Kovacs said, while the media law could also be challenged as violating the EU Treaty and its Charter of Rights.

"Ultimately they will not be able to defeat Brussels," Kovacs said of the Orban government.

Some of the shine is also fading from Orban back home, with a poll conducted by the Median organization early this month showing 48 percent of 1,200 respondents saying that the country was moving in the wrong direction, compared to 39 percent two months before. The survey had a margin of error between 2 and 5 percentage points.

Still, Orban's moves continue to play well among most supporters receptive to his nationalist message of Hungarians first, ready to embrace his view that foreign companies think of little else than profit margins and looking first and foremost for a firm hand to lead the country.

"Of course some of Orban's moves have hurt our image abroad," said taxi driver Gyula Toth, 50. "But he needs to set his course — you cannot rebuild what the Socialists wrecked over eight years without bashing some heads.

"They know better what needs to be done than we do, and we elected them."





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[The Flying Dutchman]

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For Fair Use: Discussion

Saturday January, 2011, 03:16 AM Doha Time

Hungary pushes ahead with new media law

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topi...=407520&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21​

A new law that has sparked concerns about media freedom in Hungary was due to come into force on Saturday in the teeth of fierce opposition, as the country also takes over the EU presidency.

Under the new legislation, a media authority to be headed by members of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party will be given the power to impose fines for material that is not deemed politically balanced and to force journalists to reveal sources in cases involving national security.

Radio and television stations could be fined up to 730,000 euros ($976,689) for going against “public interest, public morals and order” or for broadcasting “partial information” without the media authority having to clearly specify what constitutes an infringement of the law.

Hungary meanwhile invited regional security group OSCE yesterday for talks on the law, which was signed by President Pal Schmitt on Thursday.

“We invite those in charge of the media in the OSCE to Budapest for discussions on the issue,” Gergely Proehle, deputy secretary of state for European affairs, told the German radio station Deutschlandfunk.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) earlier warned that the law “if misused, can silence critical media and public debate in the country”.

Germany welcomed the invitation as a positive development.

Calling it a “step in the right direction”, German Secretary of State for European Affairs Werner Hoyer told the Hungarian newspaper Nepszabadsag that the announcement gave rise to “optimism”.

Amnesty International had also warned of potential abuse, saying that there was “too much potential in this law for its arbitrary application and political interference in the editorial policies of media outlets”.

With Hungary due to take over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union on January 1, Germany has said it is concerned that it was passing a law that ran contrary to press freedom.

“Hungary will have a particular responsibility for the image of the whole union in the world,” a German government spokesman noted, adding that Berlin would “watch with close attention” how the law was applied.

Orban, whose party commands a two-thirds majority in parliament, allowing it to alter the constitution, has remained steadfast however.

“We are not frightened of a few criticisms, or even many criticisms, coming from western Europe or even beyond,” he said earlier.

During its six months at the helm of the European Union, Budapest will have to deal with the eurozone debt crisis as well as the launch of highly delicate talks about the EU budget for the period from 2014-2020, which looks set to pit rich countries such as Britain, France and Germany against the poorer eastern members.

Another potentially divisive issue will be the enlargement of Europe’s so-called Schengen area, within which citizens can travel freely without passports. AFP



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[mercyangel]

BTTT-too important to drop off page one of the main

 

[northern watch]

Body of half-naked woman found hanging from overpass in Mexico

Body of half-naked woman found hanging from overpass in Mexico
The Associated Press
Published Friday, December 31, 2010 3:53PM EST
Last updated Friday, December 31, 2010 3:54PM EST

The half-naked body of a woman who had escaped from prison officials while facing kidnapping charges was found hanging by the neck Friday from an overpass in this wealthy northern industrial city.

It is the first time in recent memory that a woman has been killed in this manner. Their bodies have been found decapitated or mutilated but Mexican drug cartels have saved hangings from public bridges for their male rivals.

The victim was identified as Elizabeth Muniz Tamez, aka “The Red Head,” who had been charged in 2009 with belonging to a gang of kidnappers, the Public Safety Office of Nuevo Leon state, where Monterrey is located, said in a statement. Her hair had been dyed blond when the body was found.
Muniz Tamez escaped from custody Monday, when a group of armed assailants snatched her from a prison vehicle taking her for medical treatment.

A doctor, two prison officials and three guards have been detained and are under investigation in the escape.

There was no immediate evidence of drug cartel involvement in the death of Muniz Tamez, who was found hanging by a rope. But Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city, has been rocked by violent cartel turf battles in recent months.

She was wearing only jeans and socks when found just before dawn, and someone had scrawled the man's name “Yair” on her naked torso, the Public Safety Office said. Her identity was determined through fingerprints.

Mexico's former top anti-drug prosecutor, Samuel Gonzalez, said the killing “was totally outside the normal range” of the usual behavior of Mexico's criminal gangs.“

They have totally changed the rules,” Mr. Gonzalez said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. While he noted that the wives of top drug traffickers have been targeted for killings in the past, he said women were largely spared the country's rising level of drug violence until a few years ago.

As of November, drug-related violence had claimed the lives of 30,196 people in Mexico since the government launched an offensive against drug cartels in December 2006.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...nging-from-overpass-in-mexico/article1854610/

Posted Under Fair Use Discussion


My Comments

If the fence is not built then you will see this type of thing on the American side of the border.


Yes, the Badlands are bad!

 

[Housecarl]

BTT....