Afghans Take Up Security Responsibility; Lawmaker Attacked In Kabul

How Far Will Nazarbaev Go To Take Down Mukhtar Ablyazov?

Ten years ago, Mukhtar Ablyazov stepped out of Kazakhstan’s notorious Derzhavinsk prison with a pledge to give up politics.

Ablyazov, a wild-1990s oligarch and rising force in Kazakhstan’s nascent opposition, had served just 10 months of a six-year sentence for illegal financial deals. But it had been enough. During his time in prison, he had reportedly been beaten, placed in isolation, and denied access to his lawyers.

When President Nursultan Nazarbaev, his one-time political mentor, offered a pardon, Ablyazov accepted — agreeing to give up his political ambitions in exchange for freedom and a quiet return to business.

That promise, however, was short-lived.

In the past decade, Ablyazov has spent millions on funding opposition groups and independent media — all with the aim of taking down Nazarbaev, the man who once shepherded him up the ladder of the political elite as one of the bright young stars behind Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet economic explosion.

Nazarbaev, in turn, has spared no expense in trying to ruin the rival he once set free. He seized Ablyazov’s BTA Bank, prompting Ablyazov to flee abroad. He accused Ablyazov of embezzling $ 6 billion and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to prove it in a British court.

Finally, last week, he appeared to raise the stakes even higher, when Italian police seized Ablyazov’s wife and 6-year-old daughter, deporting them to Almaty to effectively serve as political hostages.

“They don’t want him to return, they just want to have him,” says Ablyazov’s eldest daughter, Madina, speaking from Switzerland. “I want to underline that. They want to have him. Not as a hostage. Probably, the minute they have him, they will just kill him. They want to kill him, because my father is the biggest opponent for the president.”

‘Betrayed Twice’

It’s a turn of events that seemed unimaginable in 1998, when Ablyazov, a native of southern Kazakhstan with a degree in theoretical physics, was appointed to the coveted post of minister for energy, industry, and trade.

Together with other up-and-coming politicians, such as Pavlodar Governor Galymzhan Zhakiyanov and Information Minister Altynbek Sarsenbaev, Ablyazov was part of a younger generation that Nazarbaev, 20 years their senior, hoped to harness as he pushed his resource-rich nation into the 21st century.

Some analysts suggest Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev feels betrayed by his former protege. (file photo)

But within years, Ablyazov and the others had broken ranks, citing disenchantment with endemic corruption in Nazarbaev’s inner circle. Launching a pro-reform opposition movement, they quickly drew the wrath of the regime.

Zhakiyanov, like Ablyazov, was jailed. (Unlike Ablyazov, he refused a pardon.) Sarsenbaev, who went on to lead the Ak Zhol opposition party, was assassinated in 2006.

Yevgeny Zhovtis, the head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, suggests Nazarbaev’s crackdown on his former proteges was personal from the start.

“Nazarbaev to a certain extent felt betrayed,” he says. “Because he thinks that he provided them the space to become wealthy, to become well-known, to make a career in state service or in business, and they challenged him When he pardoned Ablyazov in 2003 and allowed him to return to business in exchange for a promise not to be involved in politics, and then he found out that he was again involved in politics, of course Nazarbaev felt betrayed twice.”

Ties To Zhanaozen

Nazarbaev, 72, has felt betrayed many times over the course of his more than two decades in power. There are dozens of former high-ranking Kazakh officials who have fled abroad after falling out of favor — including Nazarbaev’s former son-in-law Rakhat Aliev and onetime Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin.

Many are assumed to be biding their time, waiting until the ageing Kazakh leader dies or steps down before returning to Kazakhstan to jockey for position in a post-Nazarbaev government.

Ablyazov, for one, has made no secret of his political ambitions, suggesting he will stand for president once Nazarbaev is gone. But, even in exile, he has used his ties to the opposition to cast a critical eye on the “Kazakh leader of the nation,” as Nazarbaev is known.

The most notable example came in 2011, when privately-funded media outlets with ties to Ablyazov — including broadcaster K+ and the “Vzglyad” and “Golos Respubliki” newspapers — gave full-scale coverage to the bloody police crackdown on striking oil workers in the western city of Zhanaozen.

The following year, Kazakh courts ordered the closure of the media outlets, branding them “extremist.” The opposition Algha party, led by Ablyazov ally Vladimir Kozlov, was shut down as well, with Kozlov sentenced to a lengthy jail term in a trial criticized by rights groups as profoundly biased.

“Kozlov was convicted in October, and in December we saw the very brisk closure of opposition and independent media outlets, and of the unregistered Algha Party,” says Mihra Rittmann, a Central Asia researcher with Human Rights Watch. “To the extent that his name appeared in the case against Kozlov, Ablyazov is implicated in what happened in Zhanaozen as being the mastermind behind it, allegedly. Ablyazov is an outspoken critic of the Nazarbaev government, so there’s no doubt that that’s part of the motivation.”

Life Underground

Ablyazov, meanwhile, had his own motivation for continuing his battle with Nazarbaev: the Kazakh president-for-life had made him a fugitive.

Ablyazov and his family had lived sumptuously in London after fleeing Kazakhstan in 2009. His properties included a nine-bedroom mansion in a neighborhood known as “billionaire’s row” and a 40-acre country estate complete with polo facilities and trout lakes.

But the four-year BTA Bank trial — which included testimony from defense witness Ruslan Tsarni, the man who would return to headlines three years later as the uncle of the Boston bombers — brought an end to his lavish life in England.

Britain had granted Ablyazov political asylum in 2011, acknowledging that he faced certain political persecution at home. Nonetheless, a year later, he fled England, ostensibly to avoid a jail sentence for failing to provide information about his financial assets. Last month, the High Court in London ruled that BTA Bank was free to liquidate Ablyazov’s assets in order to repay its creditors.

Lawyers for Ablyazov say he left England after receiving a death threat. They also argue that Ablyazov did not embezzle the $ 6 billion claimed by the Kazakh government, but restructured the bank’s holdings in order to protect them from precisely the kind of government takeover that took place in 2009.

‘Masked Extradition’

Ablyazov’s whereabouts have been the source of intense speculation for more than a year. But his lawyers believe it was he, and not his wife, whom Italian forces hoped to detain when storming the villa outside Rome last week.

Italian police officials have defended the May 29 nighttime raid and subsequent deportation, accusing Ablyazov’s wife, Alma Shalabaeva, and their 6-year-old daughter, Alua, of carrying falsified documents.

Ablyazov’s lawer, Riccardo Olivo, has dismissed the charges, saying Shalabaeva and her daughter were carrying valid Kazakh passports and EU residency permits issued by Latvia.

Olivio has also noted that the rapid-fire expulsion of mother and daughter — who were whisked out of Rome within 72 hours on a chartered jet, accompanied by the Kazakh consul, while lawyers were still scrambling to inspect the deportation order — raised suspicions that Italian and Kazakh authorities had colluded on the deal.

“A person could get arrested committing a violent crime in broad daylight and get better due process than they did,” says a lawyer close to the family.

Shalabaeva now faces potential criminal charges in Kazakhstan for using fake documents, and has been forbidden from leaving Almaty.

Lawyers say Shalabaeva, 47, has no forged documents, and are calling her expulsion from Italy a “masked extradition.”

Conflicting Interests

Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has been asked to explain the deportation, which reportedly involved 50 members of the Digos police intelligence wing. Italy’s Justice Ministry has said it was unaware of the operation until after the fact; Foreign Minister Emma Bonino has criticized the incident as “abnormal.”

Ablyazov has used even stronger language on Facebook, where he has launched a voluble campaign accusing Nazarbaev of ordering his wife’s “kidnapping” and switching from “political repression to outright terrorist tactics.”

Lawyers say the family — including Madina Ablyazova, 25, who lives in Switzerland with her 12-year old brother, and an older brother based in London — is looking to launch a legal challenge to the deportation.

It is uncertain what impact the latest twist in the Ablyazov saga will have on Nazarbaev, whose global appeal as leader of a resource-rich nation has remained largely unaffected by a chronically poor performance on human rights.

Kazakhstan became the first Central Asian country to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe in 2010; it was elected to the UN Human Rights Council in 2012, the same year as the mass trials jailing Kozlov and the shuttering of the media in the wake of Zhanaozen.

Ablyazov supporters have suggested that Italy and Britain, both massive investors in Kazakh energy projects, are far from neutral parties to the conflict. (Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair raised howls of protest last year when he accepted $ 13 million to serve as Nazarbaev’s adviser, a move hotly criticized by “Respublika” months before its closure.)

Nonetheless, it remains evident that Nazarbaev has so far been unable to buy himself peace from powerful detractors like Ablyazov, who has been likened to Russian oligarchs-turned-opponents like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky. With this latest move, observers say, Nazarbaev has demonstrated that he is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to silence his critics.

“He’s got a number of opponents and rivals outside of the country,” says Zhovtis. “But among them, Ablyazov was the most consistent and making the most organizational efforts to challenge the regime and Nazarbaev personally. I think all these things together made Nazarbaev very irritated and very angry — feeling that somebody was still challenging him, even in exile.”

Thousands take part in protests across Turkey

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Turkey’s four biggest cities and clashed with riot police firing tear gas for a third day in the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years.

The din of car horns and residents banging pots and pans from balconies in support of the protests has been resonating across neighbourhoods in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, and the capital, Ankara, late into the night.

For much of Sunday, the atmosphere in Istanbul’s Taksim Square was festive, with some people chanting for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, to resign and others dancing. There was little obvious police presence.

But in the nearby Besiktas neighbourhood, riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to keep crowds away from Erdogan’s office in Dolmabahce Palace, a former Ottoman residence on the shores of the Bosphorus.

There were similar scenes in Ankara’s main Kizilar Square, with police raiding a shopping complex in the city’s centre and detaining several hundred.

Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught, reporting from near Erdogan’s office in Istanbul late on Sunday night, said: “The demonstrators took a mechanical digger and used it to break through police lines, right up to a government building. They took large trucks as well, one of which was filled with paving stones.

“But the police came back and redoubled their efforts to contain them, pushing the protesters back. I have not seen any evidence of live fire, but some have been seriously injured by gas canisters fired at them.”

Nationwide protests

Muammer Guler, Turkey’s interior minister, said on Sunday there had been more than 200 demonstrations in 67 cities around the country, according to the Hurriyet newspaper.

A doctors’ union in Ankara said that more than 400 civilians were injured there including some with serious head injuries.

Rights groups have complained about what Amnesty International, the UK-based rights organisation, called a “disgraceful” heavy-handed response by police to the demonstrations.

The unrest erupted on Friday when trees were torn down at a park in Istanbul’s main Taksim Square under government plans to redevelop the area, but widened into a broad show of defiance against the governing, Islamist-rooted AK Party.

In comments on Sunday, Erdogan accused the main secular opposition party of inciting the crowds, whom he called “a few looters”, and said the protests were aimed at depriving the AK Party of votes as elections begin next year.

He renewed his calls for an end to the disturbances, saying: “If you love this country, if you love Istanbul, do not fall for these games.”

Erdogan said the plans to remake Taksim Square, long a rallying point for mass demonstrations, would go ahead, including the construction of a new mosque and the rebuilding of a replica Ottoman-era barracks.

He said the protests had nothing to do with the plans.

“It’s entirely ideological,” he said in an interview broadcast on Turkish television.

“The main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests … This is about my ruling party, myself and the looming municipal elections in Istanbul and efforts to make the AK Party lose votes here.”

Turkey is due to hold local and presidential elections next year in which Erdogan is expected to stand, followed by parliamentary polls in 2015.

Erdogan’s policies blamed

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) denied orchestrating the unrest, blaming Erdogan’s policies.

“Today the people on the street across Turkey are not exclusively from the CHP, but from all ideologies and from all parties,” Mehmet Akif Hamzacebi, a senior party member, said.

“What Erdogan has to do is not to blame CHP but draw the necessary lessons from what happened.”

The protests, started by a small group of environmental campaigners, expanded when police used force to eject them from the park on Taksim Square.

As word spread online, the demonstrations drew in a wide range of people of all ages from across the political and social spectrum.

The ferocity of the police response in Istanbul shocked Turks, as well as tourists caught up in the unrest in one of the world’s most visited destinations.

It has drawn rebukes from the US, EU and international rights groups.

Helicopters fired tear gas canisters into residential neighbourhoods and police used tear gas to try to smoke people out of buildings.

Footage on YouTube showed one protester being hit by an armoured police lorry as it charged a barricade.

Conservative meddling

Erdogan has overseen a transformation in Turkey during his decade in power, turning its once crisis-prone economy into the fastest-growing in Europe.

He remains by far Turkey’s most popular politician, but critics point to what they see as his authoritarianism and religiously conservative meddling in private lives in the secular republic.

Tighter restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection in recent weeks have also provoked protests.

Concern that government policy is allowing Turkey to be dragged into the conflict in neighbouring Syria by the West has also led to peaceful demonstrations.

Erdogan, appearing on Sunday on television for the fourth time in less than 36 hours, justified the restrictions on alcohol as for the good of people’s health.

“I want them to know that I want these [restrictions] for the sake of their health … Whoever drinks alcohol is an alcoholic,” he said.

Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister, warned in a Twitter message: “The continuation of these protests … will bring no benefits but will harm the reputation of our country which is admired both in the region and the world.”

Guler, the interior minister, estimated the cost at more than 20 million Turkish liras ($ 10m).

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Natural gas declines as investors take profits, weather weighs

Investing.com – Natural gas prices fell in U.S. trading on Friday after investors locked in gains and sold for profits after official data showed supplies rose less than expected last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in June traded at USD4.237 per million British thermal units, down 0.57%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD4.216 and a high of USD4.295.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Thursday that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ending May 17 rose by 89 billion cubic feet, below expectations for an increase of 91 billion cubic feet, which reflected heightened demand.

Inventories rose by 75 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a rise of 90 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.053 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 680 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 84 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.137 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 111 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, following net injections of 46 billion cubic feet.

Stocks in the Producing Region were 22 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 850 billion cubic feet after a net injection of 32 billion cubic feet.

The data sent prices shooting up to levels ripe for profit taking on Friday.

Elsewhere, weather forecasting models pointed to a longer-term warming trend for much of the U.S., though some calls for below-normal temperatures in parts of the eastern U.S. weighed on prices.

Hotter temperatures send prices rising on sentiments that demand for natural gas will increase at the country’s thermal power plants as businesses and households crank up their air conditioning units.

Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in July were down 0.07% and trading at USD94.18 a barrel, while heating oil futures for June delivery were down 0.03% at USD2.8592 per gallon.

Investing.com – Investing.com offers an extensive set of professional tools for the Forex, Commodities, Futures and the Stock Market including real-time data streaming, a comprehensive economic calendar, as well as financial news and technical & fundamental analysis by in-house experts.
Read more News on Investing.com or Follow us on Twitter at @Newsinvesting

Russia: Syria agrees to take part in talks

Russia says the Syrian government had agreed in principle to attend an international peace conference proposed by Russia and the US, and criticised what it called attempts to undermine peace efforts.

The summit has been suggested by the US and Russia and could take place in the Swiss city of Geneva.

“We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in principle from Damascus to attend the international conference, in the interest of Syrians themselves finding a political path to resolve the conflict, which is ruinous for the nation and region,” Alexander Lukashevich, Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Friday.

Faisal Mekdad, Syrian deputy foreign minister, said after talks in Moscow on Wednesday the government would soon decide whether to take part in the conference aimed at bringing government and opposition representatives together for talks.

Lukashevich said international action including a May 15 UN General Assembly resolution that praised the opposition and condemned President Bashar al-Assad’s forces has “essentially pushed [the opposition)]to reject negotiations”.

Some European media have reported that the conference has been tentatively scheduled to be held on June 10.

But Lukashevich said such reports “cannot be taken seriously” because the ranks of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s foes remain so divided.

“Demands to immediately name a specific date for the conference without having clarity about who, and with what authority, will speak in the name of the opposition, cannot be taken seriously,” Lukashevich said.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition, which is currently meeting in Istanbul, to discuss an interim government, has said it will only go to “Geneva II” if Assad steps down as president.

Louai Safi, a senior member of Syria’s main opposition, told Al Jazeera, “The fact that it has been announced in Moscow, rather than in Damascus, is a worrying point, as we want to hear the spokesperson of the Syrian government making that statement with clarity.”

“There is alot of ambiguity. What does it mean, ‘in principle’?,” he said.

“We want to hear definitive answers….We want to see a clarity of the purpose of Geneva.”

The Syrian National Coalition, which is main opposition group based outside the country, entered a second day of talks on Friday aimed at finding an approach to the joint Russian-US peace push.

The first Geneva meeting in June last year ended in a broad agreement aimed at forming a transition government in Syria and introducing a long-lasting truce.

But the deal was never implemented because of disagreements over Assad’s role in the new government and neither side’s decision to lay down their arms.

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Take Syria Seriously–And Stay Out

syria-intervention-rebels-chemical-weapons-red-line-assad Syria’s civil war has inspired some in Congress and in the media. Stupidity or insanity? Some people don’t learn from past mistakes. Why start another body count in a Middle East conflict with no direct relationship to U.S. security? New York Times reporter Bill Keller says, “Get over Iraq,” like commanding AIDS patients to get over their disease, and “poof,” it will magically happen.

Bush and Cheney lied and used false intelligence designed to justify their lust for war. Iraq had no WMD or links to Al-Qaeda, as the two had claimed, but invading U.S. forces did destroy Iraq’s integrity. In the end, killing Saddam remains their lone accomplishment – unless one lists the deaths of U.S., NATO, and Iraqi soldiers and civilians.

Today, U.S. military intervention in Syria would ensure more dead U.S. troops, more dead Syrians, and future pain for U.S. troops serving as an occupation force. We would ally ourselves with Saudi Arabia, which supports Syria’s opposition because the Saudis want to break the Syria-Iran alliance, their rival for Persian Gulf dominance. The Saudis also fear the “Arab Spring,” and have tried to contain the unrest before it reaches their territory.

In Spring 2011, the Syrian uprising offered the Saudis (Sunnis) an opportunity to strike at Iran’s key Shi’ite-led Arab ally. Saudi Arabia lacks the military capacity to intervene directly, but used its oily treasure to try to buy a replacement for Assad, with a regime friendly to the Saudi royal family.

Aggressive U.S. pundits ignore the Saudi role, but instead challenge Obama to act militarily. Princeton’s Anne-Marie Slaughter warned: if Obama fails to act militarily he “will be remembered as a president who proclaimed a new beginning with the Muslim world but presided over a deadly chapter in the same old story.” Maybe Obama has learned that the U.S. war with Iraq did not make Muslims love the U.S. or improve our security position.

The “Invade Syria” gang has also claimed that Assad’s forces used sarin gas against the rebels and argued that such a diabolical act justifies U.S. intervention. A UN investigating body, however, has claimed it has evidence suggesting the rebels, not Assad, had perhaps used the gas.

Obama’s spin language on Syria referring to the use of chemical weapons (calling it a “red line” and “game changer)” sounds like a moral imperative, but it overlooks key facts: the U.S. military used phosphorous bombs in attacks on Fallujah during the Iraq War, and U.S. Air Force planes dropped tons of Agent Orange on Vietnam. Pro-war advocates seem less concerned with Syria’s well-being and more with the principle of righteous American power displays.

“If the Obama administration continues to dillydally, it will further undermine the credibility of the United States as a super power, a position already shaken by its failing engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan,” fretted George Washington University’s Amitai Etzioni. Since World War II the U.S. has already bombed Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Grenada, and Panama. What foreign leader would doubt U.S. credibility to act militarily?

After the mire in Afghanistan, why would Obama want to get more young American soldiers killed in Syria, and simultaneously make more enemies in a region where Washington receives routine blame for its interventionist ways and its links with Israel?

Indeed, 9/11 plotters hated U.S. policy, not our freedom, and isolated acts of terrorism from irate Muslims constitute a security threat that is aggravated by regional interventions. When U.S. planes bomb, or U.S. troops fire into villages and cities, we make enemies. Corpses from these assaults have relatives, some of whom swear oaths of vengeance.

We did not reconstruct Iraq or bring it stable democracy; nor did we succeed in Afghanistan, or previously in Vietnam. Indeed, wars rarely turn out the way the invaders envision. Rather, wars lead to inadvertent and unintended consequences. The Chinese now have access to more oil, for example, and Iraq’s government has moved closer to Iran. People from the region, however, learned lessons that correspond more closely to facts than do the reactions of amnesia-stricken Washington war hawks.

Pew recently surveyed 11,771 people from Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia, Germany, France, Britain, the United States, and Russia. According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Ninety-five percent of Lebanese said they were concerned that violence would spread west into their country, with 68 percent of them saying they were ‘very concerned’ and 27 percent saying they were ‘somewhat concerned.’ Eighty percent of Jordanians, who live to Syria’s south, and 62 percent of Turks, who are on Syria’s northern flank, expressed worry.”

So why escalate? President Assad has not threatened to attack the U.S. or allied governments, such as Israel; nor can he take an offensive stance while his government fights for survival. Indeed, Israel has twice bombed Syria in the last month, without retaliation.

Washington, however, has decided to aid the Syrian rebels, as it once armed Afghan insurgents in Pakistan. Thus, the U.S. played an inadvertent role in helping the now-despised Taliban emerge victorious in the 1990s.

Syria’s civil war, an internal battle, got upgraded when Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid jihadists to fight against Assad. This influx of foreign warriors fueled the death toll, over 70,000, and helped force more than one million Syrians to become refugees.

Syria’s struggle also confronts Washington again with the drama of the Arab Spring: pro-U.S. dictatorships in Arab countries vie with an amalgam of democrats, socialists, and religious authoritarians, a setting ripe for more conflicts.

Assad’s ouster could actually lead to worsening conditions. Some rebels have already proclaimed Sharia law in areas they control and have slaughtered Christians, Alawites, and other minority Assad supporters.

U.S. military intervention could also hinder humanitarian relief operations and simultaneously embroil the United States in uncertain military commitments. Unilateral military action could strain key international relations, since no world or regional consensus supports armed intervention. And intervention could bring the United States into a broader regional conflict. Obama should not commit what the Pentagon estimates as the 75,000 troops needed to secure Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, which do not threaten U.S. interests.

Stay out of Syria.

FPIF Latest Content

Financial expert calls for the central bank to take the necessary measures to save the Iraqi dinar exchange rate

Baghdad (news) .. He favored a financial expert Abdul Sattar al-Hashemi, the continued reduction of Iraqi dinar exchange rate against the U.S. dollar unless there are serious by the central bank to develop a plan to save the national currency.

Hashemi said (of the Agency news): The Iraqi dinar exchange rate is moving downward against the U.S. dollar since it took over the new administration of the central bank and so far, and this is indicative of the failure of monetary policy and the weakness of the current administration of the bank.

added: that the central bank demands to take the necessary measures to save the national currency, because the continuing decline will pull the country into economic problems large, such as high inflation and increasing prices in the market as well its impact on the monetary reserves of the Central Bank. this and see the Iraqi dinar exchange rate dropped significantly against the U.S. dollar, which made some economists are expressing fears of a continued decline and its direct impact on the Iraqi economy

It will take several weeks for completion

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Saturday, 11 May, 2013 | Poppy3

5-11-2013 Intel/Newshound Guru Poppy3 everyone is turning against maliki…they are laying plans to remove him without killing him and making a marter of him. His days are very limited. Once he is removed things should move through all the process of implementation swiftly. This doesnt mean it will happen in a couple days in fact i think it will take several weeks for completion. What point in the process the rv will be completed is unknown but it will be completed somewhere in the early part of the process. We are in a good place and we will win as maliki regime is removed.

Take Five Minutes And Restore Your Faith In Humanity

A major fad in Russia, video cameras mounted on car dashboards — known as “dash cams” — have been used to document horrific car crashes, instances of police corruption, freakish episodes like a tank crossing a busy highway, or just plain reckless driving.

(RFE/RL’s Moscow correspondent, Tom Balmforth, wrote about the trend in November.)

The dash cams have even recorded terrifying plane crashes and, most famously, perhaps, a large meteor ripping through the atmosphere in the skies above Chelyabinsk in February, causing widespread damage and injuries.

So it’s refreshing to see a compilation of dash-cam videos that captures, not moments of terror, but random acts of kindness across Russia.

It’s hard to choose a favorite clip from the LiveLeak video, which is set to a swelling Hollywood-style score.

Is it the driver who gets out of his vehicle at a busy intersection simply to help a cat cross the road? Or the man who stops his car to help a pedestrian on crutches as he tries to stand up after having slipped in the middle of an icy street? (Although it can’t help but be noted that many people drive right on by and don’t bother to stop.)

In perhaps the most dramatic sequence, a small child, barely able to walk, is seen stumbling onto a highway into the path of oncoming traffic, his parents — indeed, any adult — nowhere in sight. A truck driver stops and rescues the child.

Why not take a few moments to watch this video and restore your faith in humanity?

– Grant Podelco

What will it take for Iraq to gain membership in the WTO?

The steps in the process of accession ensure conformity to WTO rules and in the end free trade policies and institutions. The relevant steps are as follows:

(1) Fact-finding: a working party is formed by the WTO to look into a detailed account, usually prepared by the applicant. This account includes its foreign trade regime, current applicable tariff schedule and relevant laws and regulations. The working party’s discussions aim at ensuring “the conformity of the [trade] regime with the various requirements of the WTO Agreements”.

(2) Bilateral negotiations: concurrently, with the first step, bilateral market-access negotiations on goods and services in addition to other terms of accession commence. This is a critical stage of the accession process as interested WTO members insure that benefits they offer to the applicant in their markets are reciprocated.

(3) Concessions and commitments. Following the finalisation of the bilateral negotiations the schedule of concessions and commitments on goods and that on services are prepared and the applicant becomes a member.

As a consequence of applying WTO’s rules, accession to the WTO would have the following effects on oil and oil-related products in an oil producing economy:

(1) Tariffs and non-tariff restrictions on imports of oil and oil products should be lowered gradually to reach a minimum level. {more at link}

(2) Subsidies ought to be phased out. In this regard exports of petrochemicals may be affected, especially middle petrochemicals {more at link}
LINK

take the date out and this event is moving awesome!

[WILDDUCK] puppylove good morning

[puppylove] WILDDUCK GM

[Readynow] WILDDUCK some are like me–really discouraged this morning.

[WILDDUCK] jester thanks for all you do you are one of the really good guys man happy to call you friend.

[Jester] you guys have a nice day… try to relax… take a lil break… seeyalaterbye…

[hopeinwyo] WILDDUCK Good morning to you! Thanks for coming in!

[Pizzaboy] The only reason for disappointment is if you put a date on it, then comes the crash….take the date out and this event is moving awesome!

[kids] Central Banks Load Up on Equities…article on Bloomberg about bonds and currencies Currency reserves among the world’s central banks climbed by $ 734 billion in 2012 to a record $ 10.9 trillion, according to data from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund.

[mbillions] kids wow

[WILDDUCK] hopeinwyo sure lots of crazy talk and wild conclusions puppy called it a minute ago ” THIS IS A FLUID SITUATION ON INTEL” FIRST OF WE WERE WARNED ABOUT DISINFORMATON. NOW IF YOU WERE KICKED OFF THE BUS WOULD YOU NOT BE SCREAMING EVERY BAD THING YOU COULD THINK OF ABOUT THE BUS DRIVER
….
Read More Link on Right
[kids] CNBC talking about Central banks

[care888] kids ..rick santelli talking about central banks also

[WILDDUCK] kids DINOSUARS

[kids] care888 yes…interesting in mainstream media…finally

[calibeach] WILDDUCK so the other banks are jealous and giving misinfo about WF?

[care888] kids …yes, it’s a good thing

[justaguy] WILDDUCK you’ve started quite a dynasty in here. Hey, I think there is a reality show in there somewhere. Can you grow a beard? lol j/k

[kids] WILDDUCK gm yes a dinosaur…but for us il-educated supports the process is fluid

[nolaspice] TODAY IS ABOUT CELEBRATION OF ALL WE DO HAVE AND THANKFULNESS FOR ALL WE ARE ABOUT TO RECEIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Readynow] WILDDUCK please, can you give us an idea of where you believe we are—iyo

[redhead1] Wildduck – since neither the World Bank or IMF can push the button to make this RV happen – and have no control over soverign currencies – who is actually responsible for letting these rates go and show on the bank screens?

[WILDDUCK] YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT IS ALL I HEARD YESTERDAY. WAS NEGATIVE, WAS WARNED THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN

[Papa Bear] Nothing like starting off slow RIGHT WD?

[WILDDUCK] RELAX SMILE, SMELL THE FLOWERS INHALE, UMMMM SMELLS, SMELLS UMM….. LIKE MONEY

[TexasMom] WILDDUCK YAY! I want to trade my job for a new surf board!!! lol

[1dustyrose] Good Morning hi castle My positive input for the day. The best things in life have come to me when I least expect them.

[jack1977] WILDDUCK hello… would not like to get lost in words today,,,,, so hows that high tide lol

[WILDDUCK] TexasMom COME ON OUT WELL GET YOU STANDING UP FIRST DAY, THE NEW FOAM BOARDS ARE EASY TO RIDE

[Papa Bear] Lets let WD quack and check the pulse.

**********************

[ram1] WILDDUCK So are you saying everything is a go again?

[WILDDUCK] ram1 WHO SAID IT WAS NOT

[ram1] WILDDUCK No one, I just thought it was delayed because of the WF shake up.

[redhead1] Wildduck – so who is responsible for letting the RV rates be seen on the bank screens and to release the email we are waiting for.

[WILDDUCK] redhead1 NO EMAILS SORRY

[redhead1] Wildduck – you mean never?

[calibeach] WILDDUCK Okie said it was on a timer, is this really the case?

[Papa Bear] ram1 NANO SECOND ONLY

[ram1] Papa Bear Great to hear. ty

[spiritfilled] redhead1 WD does not do email talk

[WILDDUCK] calibeach WE HEARD THAT ….CANNOT GIVE DETAILS HANG ON A SECOND

[believer55] papa i heard by this weekend?

[burk50] WD okie said locks and loaded fuse on firecracker about to go off is this correct imo

[misskitty05] calibeach I like that answer

[calibeach] wildduck ty

[mbillions] burk50 WD asked for us to hang on a second hon…

[Digs] burk50 when did Okie post that please… today??

[burk50] Digs on recaps 2 days ago I think

[nolaspice] Papa Bear WILDDUCK i am sorry if i am interferring in your posts – i was thinking you both were visiting right now – and i am in a GREAT MOOD cause today is an incredible day to be thankful for what we do have and all we will have in the near future!! whoo hooo

[sananddan24] Nolaspice good post!!!!!!!

[burk50] Nola just think so,e of us have deadlines for certain things that’s why we hang on every word imo

[WILDDUCK] nolaspice YOU ARE FINE AND I AM A FREE STYLE KIND OF GUY AND IF I CAN MAKE IT HARD TO FOLLOW I AM ALL FOR IT ROCK ON

[WILDDUCK] From Recaps Comment Section: Semaphore: False: WF lost control as the clearinghouse bank for the RV. True Dragons now have control of board of WF. True execs at WF arrested for attempting to allocate funds for RV/PP/GS into their personal trading platform. Alleged: Bush cabal was the initiator for this illegal action early this week.

True: Bush cabal directed previous actions to thwart and delay the RV. True: You will never see these or any of the past arrests or house arrests of any bankster or government official in the MSM.

Little is said about the 2000 or so who were forced to resign over the past 2 years to make way for the reset. True: Citibank is coming online to participate in the RV. This has all to do with which of the US “money-center” banks are becoming Basel III compliant.

First was WF. Chase became Basel III compliant last week. Unsure if BOA has. They were reluctant because BOA did not want to reveal the ample holdings of derivatives on their books to the investors. True: JL is working with WF and new board to get the RV on track. True: Target is to have RV in place by Friday.

All this 411 has been confirmed by boots on the ground. True: Okie and WD were not given bad intel. END

[childofgod] WILDDUCK Do you agree with this?

[Papa Bear] Spot on WF further shot toward finish line

[childofgod] Papa Bear Do you agree with this?

[Papa Bear] Yep

[childofgod] Papa Bear Cool! ty very much!

excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”

[candy] Papa Bear TY kind sir

[nolaspice] Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” Mary Anne Radmacher

[TexasMom] nolaspice But, I don’t have a quiet voice… ugh!

[dwg14] as in on track to have rv in place this friday ?

[SGD3] JL???

[candy] SGD3 jack Lew

[spiritfilled] dwg14 sure reads that way …IMO

[nolaspice] Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.

[C5Steve] I find any of the “Bush Cabal” stuff hard to believe. Make more scense for Bush take 100k get 1B dinar and have far more than doing illegal things that can get him/them thrown into jail imo

[misskitty05] paradisegirl entire post is on recaps

[Papa Bear] IM sure WD knows even more. Do u prefer to go the surfing route

[spiritfilled] Remember folks Jack Lew was around the Clinton admin when Kuwait rved…so..

[mailboxmoney] WD tell us some good stuff

[childofgod] C5Steve They want to control us … for them its not about money, its about power

[C5Steve] Money is power, get your own and live a peaceful life

[sandytob] WILDDUCK Well I had just read this on Dinarrecaps, but it is good to have the truth outed. It lifts a weight from me to finally have someone tell us what is happening behind the curtain.

[misskitty05] sandytob imo yes, seem like that has been the holdup for a while now … finally getting the explanation imo

[jack1977] WILDDUCK ? in place by Friday ?

[childofgod] C5Steve Agree, but some have enough money and want to control the masses … hence no peace for us!

candy] WILDDUCK are you in agreement with these statements?

[Papa Bear] WILDDUCK That was put out for human consumption now how about our animal crackers?

[TexasMom] Papa Bear No I am good on surfing until I have some lessons JMO

[spiritfilled] Papa Bear hahahaha

[childofgod] Papa Bear I like the way you put that!

[Frenchy] WILDDUCK In Place By Friday What does That Mean for us?

[nolaspice] sandytob some of this “truth” is sensitive information that is not supposed to be outted – and when things are leaked or statements released that are to be confidential – it becomes detrimental to our investment (or whatever we are calling this) so that is why some information must or should remain behind that curtain – til the final performance is ready to go!! we await opening night! it will be a grand one!

[misskitty05] WILDDUCK .. I don’t know anything about surfing. is the surfing best when there’s a full moon?

[Papa Bear] nolaspice Ok animal crackers will remain in box

[WILDDUCK] nolaspice A VERY COGENT COMMENT AND RIGHT ON, I POSTED SO AS SET THE SHIP BACK ON THE PROPER COURSE

[sandytob] nolaspice but this has been out for several days. Okie mentioned it, it was on the Nesara site….but just kept getting denied here. I don’t see how that helps anything.

[WILDDUCK] sandytob WHAT

[believer55] wd i dont know about you but im ready to see some jaws prosperity waves to roll in

[paradisegirl] nolaspice WILDDUCK thank you both

[wegotit] Oh man just got back on wild duck is here dude do i keep my name or should I change it back? Lol

[ [mailboxmoney] IMO Rates only change on the 15th and 30th and the 30th is coming soon!

[sandytob] WILDDUCK I was just saying thank you for bringing this here. We all knew something was not right but no one would say anything here even though it was being said outside this chat.

[WILDDUCK] wegotit DUDE YOUR FINE MAN TOTALLY RAD

[WILDDUCK] sandytob OK YUP LIKE WAR BROKE OUT, YOU KNOW MONDAY HAD SOME LEGS TILL THE WHOOPS, ALL RELAX TODAY AND LETS SEE HOW THE SHIP CORRECTS ITS COURSE. YOU KNOW IT’S JUST ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. lol

[sandytob] Wildduck Thank you…

[WILDDUCK] sandytob WELCOME

[jack1977] WILDDUCK is this ship lost at sea ?

WILDDUCK] jack1977 OH MAN, GRAB YOUR FLASH LIGHT

[BLESSME] Wildduck gm how the waves today?

[huntress] just wondering if there was a DATE set for this RV to happen many years ago and that is the only time it will show – all the other days/nights are ‘speculation’ ???

[hopeinwyo] WILDDUCK So much appreciate your sharing this. We understand there is only so much that can be shared, but you have certainly helped us to see some things.

[jack1977] WILDDUCK Dude lol I need the beam of light to shine down lol

[WILDDUCK] BLESSME gm HEARD BLACKS IS UP BUT THEN AGAIN IT IS THE NUDIE BEACH

[mbillions] WILDDUCK OH MY rofl

[johnr] WILDDUCK Cool.. I surfed Black’s back in early 70′s and knowabout the nudie beach…. went to UCSD

[WILDDUCK] mbillions rofl

[Rocky49] I have been outside smoking a pork loin and missed WD’s info could I get a fast recap please.

[childofgod] Rocky49 Ship went a little off course, but its back on track

[ablessing] Blacks is always up at the top list for SD beaches. Great View if you know what I mean!

[SGD3] WILDDUCK Do you agree with the possible Fri statement?

[childofgod] Rocky49 Check out this comment on recaps, WD agrees with it http://www.dinarrecaps.com/1/post/2013/04/late-wedpm-early-thursam-dinar-chatter.html#comments

[WILDDUCK] Rocky49 ITS OVER WHEN ITS OVER AND NOBODY WANTS IT MORE THEN I DO , PLENTY OF HAND WRITING ON THE WALL JUST SLOW DOWN AND READ

*****************************************

[pat] has my buddy okie posted anything

[WILDDUCK] pat GOT HIS DOG DISH KICKED HARD YESTERDAY

[pat] WILDDUCK what do you mean

[sandytob] WILDDUCK ohhh…did he speak too soon or let too much out of the bag? Okie I mean.

[pat] WILDDUCK did he post anything

[WILDDUCK] sandytob NOPE GOT HANDED 9 BLOCKS OF NOPIUM I AM SUSPECTING FROM THE GUYS WHO LOST WERE LASHING OUT

[sandytob] pat not for a couple of days.

[sandytob] Wildduck wow

[pat] WILDDUCK so he posted disinformation

[BLESSME] Wildduck do you feel it will show this week? IYHO

[WILDDUCK] dldieter THANK YOU 2 GOLD STARS

[dldieter] WILDDUCK… don’t need any gold stars, just the RV rofl

[pat] dldieter thank you for informing me

[TexasMom] pat no Okie did not. IMHO Just the naysayers throwing darts… IMHO

[KajunRedBull] WILDDUCK just getting in. With JL working with WF are things going to be back on track for WF to handle group rate, if the group rate deal is really true? TY

[Diogenes] WILDDUCK Do you know, is Citibank to become the clearinghouse bank to replace WF or is WF going to regain it’s status? Thanks.

[WILDDUCK] Diogenes NOPE OVER THINKING

[Papa Bear] Diogenes WF never lost it

[mbillions] Papa Bear ty you for clearing that up… those were my thoughts exactly….

[WILDDUCK] Papa Bear 3 GOLD STARS

[Diogenes] WILDDUCK Papa Bear OK, thanks, just asking based on WD’s post. Sounds like things are moving for the good!

[candy] WILDDUCK what will the tipping point be?

[WILDDUCK] candy WATCH AND WAIT

[daytona] WILDDUCK on the 23rd. Info was good.. direct, and on track!

[WILDDUCK] daytona WELL THERE YOU GO

[sunshine] bananatrain bananatrain ..people get your plans…your things..readyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy the train is coming…… yaaaa hoooooo

3-zero notes is a process that will take some time

Wednesday, 17 April, 2013

4-17-13 Eagle1: (Q. You really think they are only going to give the citizens a day or two to turn in their ’000?? I would think they would give them longer then that. If not, wouldn’t there still be quite a few ’000 still out there, which they are trying to avoid?)

A: What’s happening in country as far as gathering in the 3-zero notes is a process that will take some time. That has nothing to do with what takes place outside of Iraq. What it does do is to signal the imminent release of the rate internationally — and that is something we can expect to see within hours or days at most.

Let’s put it this way: they will continue to pull in the 25K, the 10K, the 5K and the 1K notes as rapidly as people bring them to the banks for exchanging to the LD’s, (and that can go on for weeks) but as far as the outside world is concerned, they could easily announce the rate in the early AM Thursday.

Because they’ve declared Thursday a holiday, it would give them the 72 hours they want for the rest of the world, and we could actually see the rate appear on FOREX at the beginning of the business day on Monday.

Watch and see!

the more they take out of circulation, the higher the bank reserves get an fast

Caution risk of recurrence of past mistakes
Baghdad-Hussein thghb Al-Tamimi
Control and inspection Director of Rafidain Bank Al-mundhiri abdolhossein from falling in with errors which occurred during the Exchange after system crash.
This talk at the time the Central Bank tends to adopt a plan to replace the current national currency after deleting three zeros.
Banking expert, said Abdel Hussein Al-mundhiri in an exclusive interview for (morning): the controversy over Exchange still chain for many reasons this action promised is not appropriate at this time because it does not help to tackle inflation.
He noted that prices in the Iraqi market is currently stable and acceptable, especially prices of imported goods from neighboring countries to take advantage of China’s philosophy of survival currency low against other currencies. He said the Iraqi market with counterfeit currency that are printed mostly in printing press outside Iraq where sneaks these currencies (fake) easily to our markets across more than a border port open, non-controlled in order to promote such currencies in markets and banks so they can be removed later by banks and money transfer companies.
He added: the Central Bank of Iraq should take the initiative to activate its role and intensify its intervention in monetary authority and begin to exercise pressure on dollar balloon again especially as capable of it whenever he wishes and that he wanted to put away corrupt currents infiltrating inside it surreptitiously on the one hand and on the other hand contribute to return to normal size or at least prevent the perpetuation of this phenomenon more taking into account that the Iraqi dinar is now covered with more than 60 billion dollars is to increaseDay after day, which ultimately will lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after the other and let us get back to this topic again after several years of seeing positive returns generated by wise policies and legislation.
Al-mundhiri said benefits delete zeros banking is that it reduces the size of the money supply in circulation and this helps banks reduce the number of Trustees limits (75) percent which reduces the salaries of mutation of one yen.
To delete zeros helps revaluation computationally which helps banks use ATMs through ATM cards pull the sheets would be less and less trading volume edition and dedicated money in banks vaults and damage and theft sometimes Bank also assists in the implementation of the programme of the global system of the company implemented its project is 12 digits only while our bank balances trillions with bankruptcy means 15 digits and this impedes system.
Al-mundhiri revealed that problems that accompanied the replacement process, many of the previous Central Bank reported not receiving the numbered Edition 192 class 10,000 after 15 days from start switch currency receipt section of this edition which fund officer incurred hundreds of millions of fines and some of them still suffering from weight and had been imprisoned and was fined and still pay premiums to 50 percent of the monthly salary.
As well as money stolen by banks to the Central Bank of the burn sites of Central Bank and Red inks clearance operations which I have the receipts and was pumped to banks again reported fraudulent amounts discovered loose stamps Trustees lbilat banks this madia know the name of the Bank and the name of the Treasurer unless it detects the amount of confusion caused the Central Bank to create the potential for a replacement.
Al-mundhiri said has been switching $ trillion one hundred and twenty-six billion dollars in Bank alrfedin fraudulent amounts arose within 28 billion represents 1/4 percent from counterfeit to amounts amounts and manners are few and the 28 lbilat and seals the names of Trustees and back $ 16 billion dinars and stamps does not carry the names of Trustees, represent a percent of the detected amount ratio to total replacement amounts these ratios is 5 percent if we take this rate and consistent theme with total Other banks received amounts of false detections will not represent more than 5 percent and the Central Bank had to be borne by and smother her but he refused it and get it to banks and Trustees

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alsabaah.com%2FArticleShow.aspx%3FID%3D35684

[BondLady] CBI to hasten to activate its role and intensify its intervention in the monetary authority is prescribed exercise pressure on the dollar balloon again and again,
[BondLady] there saying hurry up an do it
[BondLady] or the dollar will just go up an up over an over and more counterfits will come over and costing the treasury at least 5% of its profits
[BondLady] ck this line
[BondLady] taking into consideration that the Iraqi dinar is covered by more than sixty billion dollars can be increased day by day, which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[BondLady] dinar is covered by more than sixty billion dollars can be increased day by day,
[BondLady] which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[BondLady] see
[BondLady] i often thought thats what raising the 000 meant
[BondLady] the more they take out of circulation
[BondLady] the higher the bank reserves get an fast
[BondLady] which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[BondLady] automatically one after another
[BondLady] is that not powerful or what
[BondLady] Warned Director of Inspection and Control in the Rafidain Bank Abdulhussain Mundhiri from falling into the same mistakes that occurred during the replacement of the currency after the fall of the regime. This talk comes at a time moving the central bank to adopt a plan to replace the current national currency after deleting three zeros. He said banking expert Abdul Hussein Mundhiri in an exclusive interview (morning): The debate about replacing the currency is still Mtuwalia for many reasons, the promise of this procedure without appropriate at this time because it does not help to tackle inflation. He noted that the prices of goods in the Iraqi market is stable and acceptable, especially the prices of imported goods from neighboring countries and called to take advantage of the philosophy of China’s efforts to keep its currency low against other currencies

[BondLady] you see this shredd
[BondLady] its an article i posted a few days ago
[Shredd] yes!
[Shredd] price stability a very good thing
[BondLady] taking into consideration that the Iraqi dinar is covered by more than sixty billion dollars can be increased day by day
[Shredd] plenty of reserves to back the value
[BondLady] which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[BondLady] per the translation
[Shredd] i was wondering if they’d ramp it up
[BondLady] i’d often thought if that was actually what they were saying when they talked of removing the 000
[BondLady] was it actually taking the 000 off or was it taking the big 000 off the street
[BondLady] and i guess its actually both
[Shredd] right…..but where will they plateau
[Shredd] both
[Shredd] yes
[BondLady] but what it said right here just slapped me upside my head
[BondLady] which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[Shredd] yes, peeps bringing them in
[Shredd] one
[Shredd] after
[Shredd] another
[BondLady] automatically remove the 000
[BondLady] so they are talking liquidization
[Shredd] yes
[BondLady] but
[Shredd] and you know whats exciting
[Shredd] is the dinar coming in
[Shredd] one after another
[Shredd] means something will give incentive
[BondLady] i was just re-reading some things
[Shredd] very exciting
[BondLady] and with the …which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another…raises the rate
[Shredd] yes
[BondLady] this art was talking about the counterfits flooding the market too
[BondLady] and the bottom line it came out to equal 5% of the profit they gained
[BondLady] costed them
[BondLady] and said they had the money that was drawn in that was supposed to be incinerated
[BondLady] but crooks got to some
[Shredd] and the counterfeiters days are numbered
[BondLady] and he was telling what those had on it
[BondLady] what seals were there and what weren’t
[BondLady] said most are serving time
[BondLady] and still drawing their salaries
[Shredd] so corrupt
[BondLady] crazy
[Shredd] eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[Shredd] you got it
[BondLady] yeppers thats a awsome line i loved it
[BondLady] which eventually lead to the disappearance of zeros automatically one after another
[Shredd] eventually = gradual
[BondLady] which it was gradual
[BondLady] and thats what this art was talking bout
[Shredd] automatically = implies a specific process, organized
[Shredd] the deletion of zeros on the benefits of banking is that it reduces the size of the money supply
[Shredd] and replace with what?
[BondLady] ld’s
[Shredd] for sure
[Shredd] not dollar
[Shredd] the plan has been done for a while
[Shredd] now verified to be legal, constitutional
[Shredd] just need the event
[Shredd] to trigger the incentive to remove off the streets

BondLady 9/28/2012

Preparing a draft law to combat money laundering
Ali Abdullah – 09/28/2012 – 11:23 AM
Detection office money laundering of the Central Bank of Iraq, Friday, for the preparation of a new draft law to money laundering, according to the actual need for the requirements phase and challenges, noting that the project will be submitted soon to the House of Representatives. said Director of the Office money laundering Khaled Cltag in a press statement that his office “under the guidance of the Board Joint Anti-Corruption in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in 2009 prepared a draft of a new law to combat money laundering and raising to the Council of Ministers. ” and explained that “the project has been discussed and is currently subject to scrutiny in preparation for transmission to the House of Representatives,” pointing out that “the law currently in force is the law No. 93 for the year 2004. ” and added that “the Republic of Iraq joined the United Nations Convention against Corruption thus became anti-money laundering and corruption a national project and has the support of presidencies in the country, according to the need in light of the problems and challenges become a duty to prepare a new law.” and punishes the law against money laundering force fine no more than 40 million Iraqi dinars, or twice the value of money used in the deal, whichever is greater, or imprisonment for not more than 4 years, or both for each of the runs or trying to manage financial transaction employs revenues somehow illegal activity clairvoyant that money used is revenue somehow illegal activity or both transmits or sends or transmitting means cash or exaggerated revenues account for some way to illegal activity knowing that this means cash or money representing the proceeds in some way for illegal activity. also punishable by a fine of not less than 20 million Iraqi dinars, or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both for each of the offers money or conceal or gloss over the nature or place or source or ownership of the money, knowing or intending, that this money is used to create for the purpose of or implementation of a breach of the law or configuration for the purpose of or implementation to cover up the escape from the commission of any breach in the financing of crime or attempts or conspires to such activity.

http://www.burathanews.com/news_article_171016.html

[BondLady] there is a very important thing I read today
[BondLady] i’ve been waiting and watching for it
[BondLady] and finally saw something on it today
[BondLady] but its a biggie whether anyone realizes or not
[BondLady] its one of the very last things the cbi had to do before they brought out the new money
[BondLady] all the reading i do daily
[BondLady] this was the article of the day
[BondLady] without it in place, all the votes against the cbi wanting to do whatever it needed to do to bring on what we wanna see…this was and is the last big hurdle imo…
[BondLady] we shall see though
[sisterbreen] BondLady ty i like, yes probably need that law
[BondLady] it was a must sister
[BondLady] this was what the cbi has been needing and prepareing for
[BondLady] i been watchin for it for over 2 months
[BondLady] to finally see the cbi getting ready to submit it to me is the last piece
[Shredd] BondLady yes, i commented on the money laundering one
[Shredd] great article
[BondLady] don’t know if folks actually realize how big it is
[BondLady] imo ..thank you

It may take a couple of years to get to $3.22 range

Wednesday, 19 September, 2012 | Dinar Detectives

9-19-2012 Deborah L: I’d rather them appear “cryptic” about the IQD revaluation than not. That makes me feel more confident about their plans for it. You know, when I first got in, I bought into RK’s insistence that it’ll come out in the $ 3.22 range. Since then, I’ve had opportunity to disengage from this emotionally, and be open to the idea that it may take a couple of years to get to that value. It might well come out “low” – in the $ 1ish range. Who’s to say? People who claim they know how it’s going to turn out are too full of themselves to be taken seriously, IMO. I’m liking what we’re seeing and NOT seeing in the news lately. Notice how there’s no talk about a NCV, and there’s nobody throwing shoes at each other in Parliament? I figured that Talabani was in Germany only long enough for the dust to settle, so he could come back and have smooth sailing. Looks to be turning out that way. Hey, we’ve been in it this long. Those of us who are still left standing and have our wits about us can handle it if it takes a couple years to get to a rate high enough to cash in all our IQD. I can deal with whatever rate comes out, and so can we all. And – I’m glad they’re not talking about it too openly at London. I think that’s a good thing.

Kabul Must Take ‘Insider’ Attacks Seriously

The U.S. military’s top officer has called the problem of rogue Afghan soldiers and police turning their guns on allied troops “a very serious threat” to the war effort in Afghanistan.

Army General Martin Dempsey said the Afghan government needs to take the problem as seriously as do U.S. commanders and officials.

His comments to the Pentagon’s own news service, the American Forces Press Service, come after Afghan police killed four U.S. soldiers coming to their aid after a checkpoint attack on September 16 in the southern province of Zabul.

The attack came a day after two British soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan policeman while returning from a patrol in the southern province of Helmand.

This year, 51 international service members have died at the hands of their Afghan allies or those who have infiltrated their ranks.

At least 12 such attacks came in August alone, leaving 15 dead.

The rise in such attacks has led to the training of new recruits to the Afghan army and police being suspended.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials said NATO warplanes killed eight women and girls who had gone out at dawn to collect firewood in the remote Laghman province.

NATO forces spokesman Capt. Dan Einert said that the strike killed as many as 45 insurgents, but may have also killed five to eight Afghan civilians.

“Protecting Afghan lives is the cornerstone of our mission and it saddens us when we learn that our action might have unintentionally harmed civilians,” said Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for international military in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai “strongly condemns the airstrike by NATO forces which resulted in the deaths of eight women,” a statement from his office said. It said the Afghan government was also investigating.

Villagers from Laghman’s Alingar district drove the bodies, covered in white blankets, to the provincial capital, Mehterlam.

“They were shouting ‘Death to America!’ They were condemning the attack,” said Laghman provincial government spokesman Sarhadi Zewak.

Based on Reuters, AP and dpa reporting

Taliban take credit for British base attack

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the military post in southern Afghanistan where Britain’s Prince Harry is based.

Friday’s attack at Camp Bastion in Helmand province left two US soldiers dead and some others wounded, US officials said.

The Taliban said it was in response to the anti-Islamic video that has sparked a wave of ongoing protests, Al Jazeera’s Afghanistan correspondent Bernard Smith reported from Kabul.

Camp Bastion is a British airbase and is adjacent to Camp Leatherneck, the main base for the US Marine Corps in Helmand.

A defence official in Washington said the two dead were US marines, speaking on condition of anonymity, while another US official described the attack as “complex”, meaning it was a co-ordinated strike using several types of weapons.

‘Complex attack’

The attack, involving small arms and mortar or rocket fire, started around midnight local time, Master Sergeant Bob Barko of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told AFP news agency.

Another ISAF spokesman said the assault was over but details including the number of attackers and whether they managed to penetrate the base were not immediately clear.

Prince Harry, 27, has been deployed at Camp Bastion as a military helicopter pilot.

According to Smith, the Taliban also claimed that the prince was a target in Friday’s attack.

Taliban fighters have threatened to kill him, saying earlier this week they had a “high-value plan” to attack the third in line to the British throne.

Barko said that ISAF was assessing the extent of the damage to the camp in Helmand, one of the toughest battlefields in the war, but Harry was not thought to have been affected.

“The information we have is that he was not in any danger,” he said.

Harry will spend four months based at the heavily fortified Camp Bastion.

In 2008, he was hastily withdrawn from Afghanistan when a news blackout surrounding his deployment, on the ground directing aircraft in attacks on Taliban positions, was broken.

This time, however, the military has released photographs and video of him in Afghanistan from the start.

Britain’s defence ministry said any risk “has been, and will continue to be, assessed”.

Transition process

NATO has about 117,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban alongside government forces.

Most of the NATO troops are set to withdraw by the end of 2014 in a US-designed transition process that will put Afghan security forces in charge of security for their war-battered country.

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The process is already under way with security responsibilities of about half of the Afghan population transferred to the local security forces.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in recent months as part of efforts by the group to undermine the transition process.

Helmand, in the troubled south, was the focus of a 30,000-strong troop surge announced by the US in 2009 designed to quell the Taliban-led fight once and for all.

A total of 327 international soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the iCasualties website, 250 of them American.

The toll does not include those who died in the latest attack.

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Japan to take islands row to world court

Japan says it will take a long-running territorial dispute with South Korea to the Hague-based International Court of Justice, after Lee Myung-bak, South Korea’s president, made a surprise visit to a group of disputed islands this week.

The islands, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, lie equidistant from the two mainlands and are believed to contain frozen natural gas deposits potentially worth billions of dollars.

“We must consider measures to peacefully resolve the dispute based on international law, including filing a suit with the International Court of Justice,” Koichiro Gemba, Japan’s foreign minister, announced on Saturday.

However, Japan may find it difficult to bring the matter to the court in The Netherlands, which requires an agreement between the disputing parties to make its ruling binding.

South Korea rejected repeated proposals by Japan in the 1950s and ’60s to let the court rule on the issue.

Lee became the first South Korean leader on Friday to make the trip to the islands, which have been a persistent irritant in relations between the two countries.

“We would like to take the step in the not-too-distant future. Until now, the Japanese government has considered what impact such action may have on Japan-South Korea ties,” Gemba said.

“But the president’s visit to Takeshima made such considerations unnecessary. We must present Japan’s position to the international community.”

Gemba made the remarks after meeting Japan’s ambassador to South Korea, Masatoshi Muto, who was recalled to Tokyo after Lee’s trip to the islands, which lie at the centre of a decades-long dispute.

Brutal colonisation

Many Koreans resent Japan’s brutal colonisation from 1910 to 1945.

Historical disputes continue to mar their relations, despite close economic ties and shared concerns over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.

Lee toured the islands and shook hands with coastguards as a South Korean flag fluttered in the breeze, disregarding Japan’s warnings that the visit would strain already prickly relations.

He also travelled to a larger island called Ulleungdo, off the Korean peninsula’s east coast, which is not disputed, and made the final leg under tight security with military and coast guard escort.

Officials in South Korea said the visit was meant to highlight the islands’ importance as a natural reserve and was not aimed at stirring up trouble.

Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s prime minister, said the trip was “extremely deplorable”.

Hours after Lee’s visit, the glass front door at a South Korean consulate general’s office in Hiroshima was shattered by a brick.

Police guarding the building heard the sound of shattering glass around 2:50am local time on Saturday, and saw a motorcycle speed away, national broadcaster NHK said, adding that police suspect it was linked to Lee’s trip.

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Jihadists Take Aim At Egyptian Military

Posted GMT 8-7-2012 15:14:34

Sixteen Egyptian soldiers are dead after unidentified jihadists carried out a terrorist attack in the Sinai Peninsula, striking at the only institution standing in the way of an Islamist takeover of Egypt. The assailants were stopped as they entered Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood predictably accused Israeli intelligence of being responsible for the massacre, but all indications point to Al-Qaeda-type jihadists.

The operation began when about 35 terrorists traveling in three vehicles attacked an Egyptian military outpost, killing the 16 soldiers. They then went into Israel with bomb belts strapped to their waists and an armored car carrying about half a ton of explosives. The Israelis, who received a tip devoid of any actionable details over the weekend, launched three strikes, destroying the vehicle and six or seven terrorists. The rest escaped. It is thought that the terrorists wanted to kidnap an Israeli soldier.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas condemned the attacks, with Egyptian President Morsi declaring three days of mourning. Palestinians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are paying a heavy price. The Israelis were forced to close the only access route to Gaza, the Egyptians had to close the Rafah crossing point and Hamas closed down the underground tunnels used for smuggling.

Egyptian officials think the terrorists worked with colleagues in the Gaza Strip, though Hamas is not believed to have had a hand in these attacks. In June, an Israeli soldier was killed by terrorists operating in the Sinai. A group calling themselves “Magles Shoura al-Mujahaddin” said the attack was in honor of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the chief of Al-Qaeda.

Sunday’s attack is being compared to one that took place on August 18 that killed eight Israelis. The U.S. believes Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula carried it out with help from the Popular Resistance Committees based in Gaza and Jaish al-Islam, another Al-Qaeda affiliate. Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula declared its four goals after the attack took place: To institute Sharia Law in the Sinai Peninsula, force an end to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, cause Egypt to wage war on Israel and to end the unfair treatment of the Bedouins.

If Al-Qaeda is responsible, the timing is embarrassing for Hamas. On Thursday, Hamas released Abu al-Waleed al-Maqdissi after imprisoning him for 17 months. He was the leader of Tawhid and Jihad, an Al-Qaeda affiliate. He first joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2003.

Egypt is openly talking about an impending military offensive into the Sinai Peninsula, bringing the focus back to the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. The Egyptians argue that it must be modified because a military presence is needed in Sinai to combat terrorism. The Israelis point out that it was already adjusted two years ago so that Egypt could deploy seven more battalions to the area and it has yet to do so.

For the moment, the common outrage over the attacks appears to be something bringing Israel and Egypt closer together but if the attacks ignite a public disagreement over the peace treaty, then the attacks will be the opening to a serious deterioration in the relationship.

Egypt and Al-Qaeda will have a bloody fight once the military enters Sinai but it must keep its eyes on an organization called the Islamic Group. Its former leader, Omar Abdel-Rahman, more commonly known as the “Blind Sheikh,” is living in a U.S. prison because of his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The Islamic Group is loudly demanding that he be released. Egyptian President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are echoing the demand. Al-Rahman’s son is threatening to have his father’s supporters surround the U.S. embassy in Cairo and hold the employees hostage. If the U.S. refuses to release him, there is a strong possibility that the Islamic Group will take violent action.

Those who understand that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a genuinely “moderate” force must be prepared for what will happen next. The group and its supporters will use any action against Sinai-based terrorists as proof that the Muslim Brotherhood is a friend of the West that we just have some disagreements with. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was publicly praising President Morsi the week before these attacks.

The Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas, may not bear operational responsibility for what happened on Sunday but their Islamist ideology is what inspired it. Their fight with Al-Qaeda is based on tactics, not a difference in goals.

The Muslim Brotherhood follows a smarter, more pragmatic and patient doctrine it calls “gradualism.” Al-Qaeda just wants to destroy anything standing in its way, even if that means killing fellow Muslims. Both are anti-Western and both share the same long-term objectives. If the Sinai-based terrorists had killed Israelis, civilian or military, the Brotherhood wouldn’t have uttered a word of displeasure.

It’ll be a positive development if the Egyptian military roots out the Al-Qaeda presence in the Sinai Peninsula but we don’t know who will control the military years from now. The Islamists may succeed in asserting control over it. Letting the Egyptian military station itself in the Sinai in large numbers may sound like a good idea now, but the Egyptian military of today may not be the Egyptian military of tomorrow.

By Ryan Mauro
Frontpage Magazine

* Kuwait calls for the Iraqi government to take serious steps to remove Iraq from Chapter VII

Called on the government of Iraq, Kuwait on Saturday to take serious steps to remove Iraq from Chapter VII.

He said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq began several steps and we expect similar moves from Kuwait to end this chapter and the start of new relationships based on respect for sovereignty and the promotion of trade.

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* Iraq denies the nomination of new names to take over the defense

 Baghdad / range said the Iraqi National List led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Friday it did not nominate any new names to take over the defense portfolio, indicating that the talk of the existence of new names lacks precision. The deputies said that the defense of which share the list by the Convention on Arbil.

The sources of political and media has revealed that the leaders of the Iraqi List, has coincided on the nomination of Iraqi MP Talal Zobaie for the portfolio of the Ministry of Defence.

Under the agreement between the political blocs that called the National Alliance candidate for the Ministry of Interior and the coalition in Iraq another candidate for the Ministry of Defence.

Maliki has vowed during a given confidence late in 2010 to work on naming ministers of the ministries that are managed by proxy within weeks, but that did not happen because of differences between the blocks on some of the names of candidates to fill the bags of the security ministries.

said Hadi Zalmi spokesman for the National Accord Movement, affiliated to the Iraqi List for “Rn” that “Iraq did not nominate new names to the defense portfolio and put the names of new candidates impoverishes to accuracy, “noting that” MP Talal Zobaie accepted by the head of the list by Iyad Allawi, but did not get any nomination again. “

said Zalmi that “the Iraqi List, a group of names as candidates for the bag defense during the last period. “

to the MP for the Iraqi List, Hamid Zobaie that the portfolio of the Ministry of Defense of the right of the Iraqi List, exclusively according to the contents of the agreement Erbil.

Zobaie said on Friday that “the Ministry of Defense of the right of the Iraqi List, and this is what was agreed upon leaders in the Convention on Arbil , “noting that” this issue has not been decided and a half years and is still the ministries are run by proxy.

and added “I would like to reassure MP Zuhair Araji said the portfolio of the Ministry of Defence will remain outstanding to the next election as do the rest of the paragraphs of the Convention on the Erbil that have remained unresolved to this day,” noting “This is taken by the government which is visible to all.”

He Zobaie to “We hope to achieve as stated in the agreement Erbil Kaltoazin internal security ministries and rules of procedure and accountability, justice and all things that pertain to the country.”

The MP for the Iraqi bloc free Zuhair Araji confirmed the claim mass of the attribution of the portfolio of the Ministry of Defense for one of its members and not restrict the disposal of the Iraqi leader Iyad Allawi, as he emphasized that it called for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the adoption of the representatives of the small blocks in the Reform Commission.

said in a statement to one of the media that “a delegation of the Iraqi bloc free met Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki two days ago, and asked him to assign the Ministry of Defense for one of its members and not restrict the disposal of the Iraqi leader Iyad Allawi. “

He al-Araji, that “al-Maliki expressed no objection to any candidate has the line, but it also confirmed that he sent a candidate Iraqi Khalid al-Obeidi to Parliament but the Presidency Council hesitated submitting it to the vote because of a dispute it by the Iraqi later. “

He al-Araji, that “free She also called for Maliki’s adoption of the representatives of the small blocks in the Reform Committee set up by the National Alliance,” asserting that “the head of the government face in this matter and shall be managed by the Ministry of Defence Acting Minister of Culture, the current Saadoun al-Dulaimi after assigned by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki amid criticism of Allawi’s list, while still al-Maliki as interior minister by proxy.

and a member of al-Dulaimi, a “coalition of the center” WIN in the Iraqi List, and had served as defense minister in the government of Ibrahim al-Jaafari the years 2006-2007.

and calls for the Iraqi List, ending a baggage security and military formations is the official associated with the Commander of the armed forces, most notably “The power of counter-terrorism” on the account was established other than the Constitution.
and provided Iraqi List, a list of candidates for the defense portfolio, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not respond negatively or positively on the names nominated officially by the Iraqi List.

In the context revealed a member of the Commission on Security and Defence parliamentary Hassan Jihad for complaint leaders of the security of the existence of many obstacles hindering their work and some of them said “the difficulty of the conflict with al Qaeda.”

he said in a statement to “where” yesterday Friday that “the leaders pointed to the existence of weak intelligence and lack of information due to potential weak and approved by the government.”

He added jihad “they attributed the cause of those possibilities vulnerable to the absence of a special budget to do so or the law of its own in addition to the lack of financial sources for the information.”

The First Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Qusay al-Suhail expressed during the meeting of the security and defense committee recently with leaders of the security readiness of the House of Representatives to legislate all the laws that help the security agencies in their work, calling for development of security plans the potential to reduce the recurrence of security breaches.

with said Shawn Mohammed Taha, a member of Committee that “the security situation in Iraq deteriorating, heading for the worse, the fact that security officials in the country can not control those situations.”

Taha said, “went the Iraqi government with respect to the security file in the country is wrong and incorrect, which requires them to change the current strategy in respect to that file, “noting that” the security services failed to provide security and stability for the Iraqi people who live 7 million children below the poverty line, and has 3 million widows. “and increased violence in Iraq over the past few months to coincide with the worsening political crisis between the partners after that went blocks leading to the withdrawal of confidence in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The capital Baghdad and several areas in the provinces of Diyala and Anbar and Nineveh, Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Diwaniyah have seen on Monday morning the third day of the month of Ramadan, a series of attacks and armed with car bombs and improvised explosive devices have killed and injured many civilians and security forces.

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Kurds Take Up Arms for Kurdistan, Not Syria

Posted GMT 7-26-2012 5:58:57

Aiming for the heart of the Damascus regime, as our media likes to say, is obviously a tipping point. The fact that the Syrian rebels took over border crossings to Turkey is another powerful indicator that the regime is unraveling. But these are not the only primary signs that we are in the final stretch of the collapse of the regime.

The sure indicator of the eventual collapse of the regime is something our media did not notice: Kurds are taking control of Syrian Kurdish towns.

Last week, the entire official administration of Koban was ousted by armed Kurds. Similar developments were reported from two other important Kurdish towns — Qamishli and Afrin — close to the Turkish border.

About three million Syrian Kurds are concentrated on a stretch of territory from the area northwest of Aleppo along the border with Turkey all the way to Iraq. In a way, the Turkish-Syrian border is the Turkish-Kurdish border.

Who are these Kurds that took over these towns?

On the surface, it is the Syrian Kurdish National Council and the West Kurdistan Popular Assembly that announced their decision to act together in the Supreme Kurdish Council. You will remember that this decision was announced on July 12 in a meeting held in Erbil under the patronage of Massoud Barzani.

The National Council is an umbrella for more than a dozen Kurdish organizations, but most of them are nothing more than signboards.

The West Kurdistan Popular Assembly is actually the Democratic Union Party [PYD], which we can call the Syrian PKK. These towns were taken over by armed PYD units, and it couldn’t be any other way as the PYD is the biggest Kurdish organization in the country. More than that, it is the only one that is truly armed. The PYD follows Abdullah Ocalan [the PKK leader imprisoned in Turkey] but gets its political strategy instructions from the Kandil Mountain base [in northern Iraq].

Syrian Kurds kept their distance both from the Damascus regime and the opposition, waiting for the right time. As they are now taking action to at least lay the foundations of “Kurdish autonomy,” they must have decided that the time is ripe. Note that their actions are not aimed at toppling Assad and his regime. Their actions are occurring because the regime is collapsing anyway.

For the Kurds to take over the towns they live in is actually a preemptive move before whatever new regime assumes power in Damascus. This Kurdish uprising is the beginning of a state that opposes a future Sunni Arab Syria. Their minimal goal is autonomy.

All these developments can be traced to the July 12 Erbil Declaration.

Six months ago I wrote that if this goes on, Syria will split into ethnic and sectarian entities and become a “bigger Lebanon.” This trend has not changed.

For our AKP government — which isn’t even able to resolve its own Kurdish issue and has squandered all opportunities of opening it up — a “Lebanonized Syria” is actually a “second Northern Iraq.”

A Turkey that is still in strife with its own Kurds could be forced to transfer this strife to the Syrian Kurdish region at great political, military and ethical costs. Ultimately, it could lose everything.

On the horizon for the “Second Northern Iraq” lies “Greater Kurdistan,” which will entirely encircle the southern borders of Turkey.

Now, worried by that ominous sight, a bit embarrassed with missed opportunities and to stop the bill from getting more expensive, what if our leaders say: “Let’s urgently make peace with our Kurds”? Will the PKK respond, “Why not? Let’s do it”?

It is not easy to be optimistic about this scenario.

Those at the Kandil Mountains — while waiting to see the final tally of advantages they will derive from Kurdish autonomy and how these advantages might be translated into tools for strategic bargaining — will continue to say, “The ball is in Ankara’s court.”

By Kadri Gursel
www.al-monitor.com

Syrian Christians Fear for Their Future If Extremists Take Control

Posted GMT 7-25-2012 0:7:25

SANTA ANA, California — With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad possibly losing his grip on power and rebels making major inroads, a possible end to the bloody civil war may be in sight. The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 have been killed in the violence since the crisis began in March 2011. Another report puts the total at more than 17,000, including 1,261 last week.

But while the defeat of Assad and the military would be welcome news to most, the sizeable Christian community of over 1.5 million is fearful for its future.

Under Assad, Christians enjoyed a measure of freedom to worship in Syria, which is 90 percent Muslim. In fact, Christians were granted a degree of religious freedom not seen in most other Middle Eastern countries — before and after Arab Spring.

According to Reuters News, the rebels include the Free Syrian Army, al-Qaeda-style jihadists, the Muslim Brotherhood and local pro-democracy Sunni liberals.

“If Assad falls, Christians in Syria are fearful of what will happen when a new government — probably a radical Islamic one — will come into power,” says Open Doors USA President/CEO Dr. Carl Moeller. “Will their freedom to worship end? Will persecution increase? Will they have to flee Syria with their families as have thousands of believers in Iraq?

“Already thousands have been targeted and have fled Syria. Some have been forced to flee from cities like Homs and seek shelter and help from Christian churches in the area. Christians who supported Assad could face reprisal from the rebels. There is just a tremendous fear for their future.”

A Christian from Syria asks. “What is the free world doing to prepare for that exodus? Who is going to welcome Syrian Christians?”

In the last few months, Open Doors has been responding to the pleas for help by providing emergency relief packages to displaced Syrian Christians as well as food and medical supplies. Open Doors works in partnership with leaders from churches in designated areas.

An Open Doors worker says: “The aid will help them survive. And it will be enhanced by the other work that Open Doors is doing in Syria, such as providing biblical training, trauma counseling and discipleship training.”

Moeller says believers must get on their knees in prayer for the Christians in Syria.

“Pray that if the rebels overthrow the Assad regime, that they will not retaliate against Christians, forcing a mass exodus of believers from Syria,” says Moeller. “Pray for an end to the chaos and violence. Pray that Syria will allow freedom of religion for all minorities. And pray that Christians will continue to reach out to Muslims who are also suffering from the violence.”

By Jerry Dykstra
www.christiannewswire.com

Not Just For The Military Anymore, Drones Set To Take Off

WASHINGTON — On December 10, 2011, tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets of Moscow to protest electoral fraud and demand political change. Little did they know that they would be accompanied by a UFO.

A mysterious flying craft, hovering high above the river abutting Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square, distracted a number of the protesters. Their pictures of the object, darting among the snowflakes, soon caught fire on social media. Alien aficionados suggested it was a sign from beyond.

In reality, the object consisted of a German-made engine, Chinese-made rotors, and other parts from a local department store, all pieced together according to a readily available design. The result was a simple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), more commonly known as a drone — perfect for suspending a camera in the air to take shots of the action below.

In a few years’ time, experts say, people will be less inclined to mistake UAVs hovering over cities like Moscow for UFOs. Thanks to recent advances and cost reductions in GPS and autopilot technology and an accompanying surge in the development and manufacture of small, nonmilitary crafts, drones are taking off.

“We know [of drones] in the military context, with massive aircraft like the Predator and Global Hawk, but there are also tiny ones that weigh just a couple of pounds are basically model airplanes that have just had an autopilot installed,” says Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of the U.S.-based technology magazine “Wired” and a widely recognized expert on drones. “Those autopilots used to cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but thanks to, basically, the chips that are in your smartphone, they’re now available for just a couple hundred dollars. As a result, all those model airplanes or helicopters out there can be turned into drones with the simple introduction of a cheap board.”

A 3D Robotics drone factory

Anderson estimates that worldwide, amateur drones today number in the tens of thousands. DIY Drones, his online community of enthusiasts and builders, now has nearly 30,000 members. Anderson says that 3D Robotics, a company he cofounded, has shipped more than 10,000 autopilots and other drone parts from its factories — by his count, sending more of the crafts into the sky than the U.S. military.

On The Rise

While the availability of small drones spells fun for hobbyists today, it also spells practical innovation and big business tomorrow.

In the United States, which leads the world in the development and procurement of drones capable of targeting terrorists, only about 300 federal permits for the crafts have been issued to nonmilitary organizations.

But a new law enacted in February instructs the Federal Aviation Administration to allow for the “safe integration” of more drones into the U.S. skies. Under the legislation, police and first responders will be able to use the crafts as long as they are lightweight and fly below 400 feet (122 meters). Drones for other purposes will be officially cleared to join them by October 2015.

Experts say that means more drones for shooting movies, dusting crops, monitoring air pollution, showing real estate, and tracking everything from wildlife to stolen vehicles. Potential humanitarian uses of drones include delivering medicine or even creating temporary communication networks after natural disasters.

Journalism could also make use of the technology.

One of the AirPano photos from above the Moscow demonstration in December 2011

Sergey Semyonov is the Moscow-based project coordinator at AirPano, which has photographed many of the world’s landmarks from above. It was his team that assembled and sent the drone that was temporarily mistaken for a UFO to the December protest in Moscow.

“After this event, we realized that it was political and that it was extremely important and popular in the press at that time,” Semyonov says. “A lot of newspapers were calling us and said, ‘You did unique photo-shooting in this place. Tell us about it. Please give us some photos.’ We really didn’t expect that.”

‘Less Positive Uses’

Drones for more complex missions, of course, would not usually be made by do-it-yourself engineers but by aerospace companies, eager for new revenue sources as the war in Afghanistan draws down. According to estimates, the U.S. drone industry, currently valued at around $ 6 billion annually, will nearly double over the next decade. The industry in China and other countries is also on the rise. Much of the growth is expected to come from law enforcement’s use of the crafts.

A Hermes 500 UAV flies over the Hatzerim air force base in southern Israel’s Negev desert in 2011.

The prospect of cheap technology and a manufacturing boom has also raised concerns, both about potential privacy violations with increased surveillance and the potential for terrorist use.

Experts like John Villasenor, a senior fellow at Washington’s Brookings Institution, acknowledge that some of the concerns are real but say the positives outweigh the negatives.

“Any new technology shakes things up a bit in terms of regulation and legislation and managing it and balancing what are usually the overwhelming benefits against a very small number of less positive uses. We’ve seen that with the Internet, for example,” Villasenor says. “I think UAVs will be similar in the sense that the overwhelming majority of applications will be beneficial.”

Iraq Refuses to Take Back Asylum Seekers Who Have Lost the Right to Stay in Britain

Posted GMT 7-3-2012 22:44:6

The Iraqi parliament has blocked the repatriation of thousands of asylum seekers who have lost the right to remain in Britain.

It has banned the forced return from Europe of tens of thousands of Iraqis and threatened to fine airlines that deliver deportees.

Failed asylum seekers have already been turned back at the border, said the refugee support group that pushed for the change.

The UK has failed to return any rejected Iraqi asylum seekers since March 2011, mainly because of legal problems over their arrival at Baghdad airport and the breakdown of security within Iraq.

At one point the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg blocked deportations on the grounds that many parts of Iraq remained too dangerous.

The Home Office says it sent back 103 people to Iraq in the first quarter of 2012 but that figure includes those who returned willingly.

After the UK and US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 millions of Iraqi nationals, fled the country, many attempted to settle in Europe.

Between 2007 and 2009 over 38,000 Iraqis accounted for 17 per cent of all asylum applications in the EU, making it the largest country of origin for refugees.

In the UK asylum applications averaged around 2,000 per year between 2003 and 2009, with about 10 per cent granted full refugee status or leave to remain.

The London-based International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), which has been at the forefront of the battle against deportations to Iraq, said the parliamentary motion was a triumph for refugees.

Spokesman Dashty Jamal, told the Guardian: ‘This is a great victory for Iraqi refugees, who are the victims of war and oppression. Norway and Denmark have been sending refugees back by force recently. They will now have to stop.

‘I understand some people have already been turned back at the border since the weekend.

‘We know that there are at least 1,300 Iraqi refugees in the Netherlands alone who have been threatened with being sent back. Sweden has said that it has received 20,000 asylum applications from Iraqis since 2003.’

A British government spokesman dismissed the motion as political posturing, which was not likely to affect the UK government’s return of deportees to Iraq.

A Home Office spokesman added: ‘We continue to make returns to Iraq on a case by case basis.’

www.dailymail.co.uk

Egypt’s Morsi to take oath as president

Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected civilian president, is set to take his formal oath a day after he pre-empted the ceremony by swearing himself in at Tahrir Square and warning off generals trying to curb his powers.

On the eve of his official swearing-in on Saturday, Morsi praised Muslims and Christians alike in front of crowds that packed the birthplace of the revolt that overthrew his predecessor Hosni Mubarak last year.

In a rousing speech, he promised dignity and social justice and swore to uphold the constitution and “the republican system”, reciting the words of an oath which he will now formally take in front of the supreme constitutional court.

“I will look after the interests of the people and protect the independence of the nation and the safety of its territory,” he said and promised to preserve a civil state.

Morsi, who resigned as chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, promised to end torture and discrimination. He also issued several challenges to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Egypt’s military rulers.

He insisted that “no institution will be above the people,” critiquing an army which has sought to shield itself from parliamentary oversight. ”You are the source of authority,” he told the crowd.

Morsi also vowed to work for the release of civilians arrested by the army since the revolution; more than 12,000 people have been tried by military tribunals since February 2011, according to local human rights groups.

‘I don’t fear anyone but God’

The symbolic oath was a way for Morsi to defuse a lingering political problem. The president traditionally takes the oath of office before parliament, but the legislature was dissolved earlier this month by a high court ruling.

In response, the ruling SCAF shifted the venue to the court, but Morsi was reluctant to take the oath there, for fear of appearing to support the court’s ruling.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party had the largest share of seats in parliament, and has vowed to fight its dissolution.

Much of his speech took a populist tone. He spoke for several minutes from behind a lectern, then stepped away to address the crowd more directly.

At one point, he lifted up his suit jacket to show he was not wearing body armour. ”I don’t fear my people,” he said. “I don’t fear anyone but God.”

He also spoke briefly about Egypt’s foreign relations, promising to improve relations with neighbours in Africa and the Middle East, and to “keep the peace”.

“We will never give up the rights of Egyptians abroad,” he said. “Respecting the will of the people is the basis of our foreign relations.”

The president-elect tried to reassure several groups worried about what a Muslim Brotherhood presidency means for Egypt. He made several mentions of “artists and intellectuals”, promising to make Egypt a cultural and artistic leader.

On the other hand, in a remark sure to worry Western leaders, Morsi also promised to work to free Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric currently serving a life sentence in the United States for planning the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. His pledge was most likely a sop to the Salafi groups which have made Abdel Rahman’s release a prominent issue.

Not the end of military rule

Morsi will formally take his oath on Saturday morning, and then travel to Cairo University to deliver an inauguration speech.

He will take office amidst a great deal of political uncertainty. He swore to uphold the constitution, but Egypt still does not have a permanent constitution, only a series of “constitutional declarations” issued by the ruling generals.

Shortly before parliament was dissolved, lawmakers appointed a 100-member assembly to draft a new constitution. That panel, too, may be dissolved by court order, though the administrative court hearing the case says it will not issue a ruling until July.

The generals are keen to portray Saturday’s swearing-in ceremony as a formal handover of control to a civilian government. But SCAF will continue to wield a great deal of power, perhaps more than Morsi: The military council will control legislative authority, and the Egyptian budget, until a new parliament is elected later this year.

It is also unclear how much power Morsi will have over the military or Egypt’s sprawling security services, which spent decades oppressing the Muslim Brotherhood.

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EU’s Iran Oil Sanctions To Take Effect On July 1

The European Union says its embargo on Iranian crude oil will take effect as planned on July 1.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxemburg said in a statement that all contracts for importing Iranian oil will have to be terminated as of that date.

European companies will also no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil.

EU nations imported about 14 percent of Iran’s oil before the bloc decided on January 23 to embargo further purchases due to Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

The West suspects Iran of seeking to make nuclear weapons under the guise of an energy program.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

G20 Urges Europe To Take Quick Action

Leaders from the G20 have called on Europe to take quick action to contain its financial crisis.

Speaking at the end of a two-day G20 summit in Mexico, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed confidence European leaders would take the right action to resolve the eurozone debt crisis.

“First, our friends in Europe clearly grasped the seriousness of the situation and are moving forward with a heightened sense of urgency. I welcome the important steps they have taken already to promote growth, financial stability and fiscal responsibility. I am very pleased that here the European leaders said they will take all necessary measures to safeguard the integrity and stability of the euro zone to improve the functioning of the financial markets,” Obama said.

Obama said Europe had the resources to solve its problems on its own, suggesting the United States — still contending with its own economic troubles — would not be offering any financial pledges to help its international partners.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was more worried about the fate of the U.S. dollar rather than the euro, noting overall U.S. government debt amounted to $ 15 trillion.

European leaders told the G20 summit they intend to work on concrete steps to integrate their banking sectors.

The summit followed elections in Greece won narrowly by the pro-bailout conservative party New Democracy, lifting some worries about the fate of the euro.

Based on dpa and AFP reporting

Boats Take To Thames For Queen’s Jubilee Flotilla

More than 1,000 boats are sailing down the Thames in a flotilla tribute to Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne.

Hundreds of people ignored the persistent rain and camped out overnight to secure prime riverside spots. Crowds swelled into the thousands on June 3 along the 11-kilometer-long route.

The Thames barrier is being lowered to slow the river’s flow.

The nautical parade promises to be the most spectacular in London for 350 years.

Among the flotilla vessels will more than three dozen “Dunkirk little ships,” private boats that rescued thousands of British soldiers from the beaches of France after the German invasion in 1940 — a defeat that became a major victory for wartime morale.

The four-day Diamond Jubilee celebrations also include thousands of street parties across the country on June 3.

Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, duchess of Cornwall, joined hundreds of people for a damp al fresco lunch on Piccadilly, one of London’s main shopping streets.

The celebrations also include thousands of street parties a pop concert on June 4 in front of Buckingham Palace featuring Elton John and Paul McCartney.

The celebration kicked off on June 2 with a royal day at the races, as the queen watched a horse with the courtly name of Camelot win the Epsom Derby.

The 86-year-old monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, visited Epsom racecourse south of the capital for the derby, one of the year’s biggest horse-racing meetings.

The queen is a racing fan and horse breeder who has attended the derby for decades and reads the “Racing Post” each day over breakfast, although unlike many of her subjects she does not gamble.

Jubilee events end on June 5 with a religious service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a carriage procession through the streets of London, and the queen’s appearance with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren on the palace balcony.

The queen took the throne in 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI, and most Britons have known no other monarch.

Not everyone in Britain is celebrating.

The antimonarchist group Republic held a riverbank protest June 3 to oppose the wave of jubilee-mania.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Just How Many Cyberattacks Will Iran Take Sitting Down?

At the New York Times, Thomas Erdbrink reported on the latest cyberattack on Iran via a virus known Flame. “Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre,” he writes, “fears that it’s potentially more harmful than the 2010 Stuxnet virus. … In contrast … the newly identified virus is designed not to do damage but to secretly collect information from a wide variety of sources.”

At Asia Times Online, Pierre Klochendler elaborates:

“Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. Big and incredibly sophisticated, it redefines the notion of cyber-war and cyber-espionage,” Alexander Gostev posted on the Securelist blog of Kaspersky Labs, the company that uncovered the worm. Gostev is head of the firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team.

Meanwhile, reports Erdbrink, an Iranian cyber defense official said, “‘Its encryption has a special pattern which you only see coming from Israel,’ … While Israel never comments officially on such matters, its involvement was hinted at by a top official there.”

It’s curious that Iran hasn’t obviously retaliated to the cyberattacks, killings of nuclear scientists, and sabotage of imported nuclear components, much of which seems to have been perpetrated by Israel. Klochendler reports on one possible reason.

“Iran’s brush with Duqu and disastrous encounter with Stuxnet prove that the Islamic Republic is, indeed, lacking in the field of cyber-security,” [Assaf Turner, chief executive officer of the Israeli-based Maya Security company] asserted on the Israeli news site YNet.

But, at NPR, Tom Gjelten reports.

“[The Iranians] have all the resources and the capabilities necessary to be a major player in terms of cyberwarfare,” says Jeffrey Carr, an expert on cyberconflict who has consulted for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Furthermore, writes Gjelten:

Sanctions imposed on Iran by the U.S. and its allies are so severe as to constitute a form of economic warfare. … Under the circumstances, could the Iranians be tempted to consider a cyberattack on the U.S.?

“There is a great deal of worry in terms of what they may be able to do if they’re pushed to the brink,” says cybersecurity researcher Dmitri Alperovitch. “If they believe the regime is threatened, if they believe they’re about to be attacked, [they may consider] how can they employ cyberweapons, either to deter that attack or to retaliate in a way they can’t do militarily.”

How long can Iran be expected to sit back and take it? It’s ironic that it’s suffering the sanctions and attack at a time when it not only seems to have halted terrorist operations on foreign soil — but has no nuclear-weapons program.

FPIF Latest Content

Russian Feds Take Over Probe Of Daghestan Journalist’s Death

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office has decided to take over the reportedly stalled investigation into the death of a journalist in the Daghestan region of the troubled North Caucasus.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told journalists that the decision was made in reaction to a request by about 100 deputies of the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, that federal investigators take charge of the probe.

Prominent Daghestani independent journalist Khadzhimurad Kamalov was shot dead in the Daghestani capital, Makhachkala, in December 2011.

Kamalov’s independent Russia-language weekly, “Chernovik,” was known for covering North Caucasus politics and local government corruption issues.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax

* Iyad Allawi’s Euphrates {News}: al-Maliki did not respond to our demands and we will take a decision within two days

{Erbil} Euphrates News said the Iraqi leader Iyad Allawi, the deadline given to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ended without that responds to them, stressing that the leaders of the five signatories to the decisions of the consultative meeting of Irbil will take a stand during the next two days.

Allawi was to by Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist movement and President Jalal Talabani and Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani, the President of parliament Osama Najafi has held a consultative meeting in Erbil late last month.

And left the meeting they presented eight demands to the National Alliance in the absence of response to it within 15 days so they can be to resort to Article IX, which provides procedures to begin the withdrawal of confidence from the al-Maliki.

Allawi said in an interview with Agence {Euphrates News} published the full text on Saturday, said that “out of the {15} days that were given to the National Alliance ended practice early Friday,” noting that “during the next two days there will be position specific and very clear by five leaders. “

He said the Iraqi leader “There consultative meetings in Erbil and Najaf on the deadline for the National Alliance.”

Allawi said, “We hope that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to respond when asked by a broad sector of the participants in the political process as in a position of responsibility and the Prime Minister.”

However, to say, “but it did not touch anything and there was no clear response from him.”

He pointed out that “the deadline expired today, meetings and contacts are continuing,” adding, “Of course during the two or three days ahead will be a clear position about what happened and what will happen by the five leaders.”

The message of the chest carried by the consultative meeting and handed over to the National Alliance included a focus on the importance of the National Congress and the need to adhere to its decisions that come out, and commitment to the Constitution which defines the form of the state and the relationship of the three powers and the independence of the judiciary and the nomination of the names of the security ministries, otherwise the confidence of the Maliki government is an option “. ended

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Religious Freedom, Shariah Take Center Stage During Egypt’s Presidential Debate

Posted GMT 5-11-2012 23:3:34

The two front-runners for the Egyptian presidency recently faced off during the country’s first televised presidential debate, with religion and Islamic law dominating the discussion.

The Islamist candidate, Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood who some fear may impose an Islamic state should he be elected, debated on Thursday Amr Moussa, the one-time Arab League chief and former foreign minister under Hosni Mubarak. Moussa, a moderate, is seen by experts as a favorable choice for Egyptians, who long for stability after more than a year of economic and political tumult and fear the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Meanwhile, Fotouh has been reaching out to Islamists, liberals and supporters of the revolution, of which he was a supporter.

After the country’s parliament was dominated by Islamist parties, the next big step in establishing a new government — after Mubarak was ousted following the Arab Spring uprising of Jan. 2011 — is choosing the new president. Egypt’s presidential elections will take place on May 23 and 24. The president will be named in June.

Among foreign policy and domestic topics, religion was a big issue to which candidates referred each other on several occasions. Following the revolution, Egypt fell shortly into chaos, which seemed to have unleashed violence against certain religious minorities in this overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim country. Most notably, multiple counts of violence against the Coptic Christian community were reported over the past year.

Each front-runner was asked a wide range of questions Thursday, from how their powers should be limited in the presidency, to more traditional topics such as health and education. Both candidates agreed that the constitution should be guided by Shariah, or Islamic law. But Moussa reportedly stressed that the rights of Christians and other minorities must be protected and religion should not influence public policies on education and economics.

How the candidates see the relationship between the Islamic legal code and public life is yet to be specified by both.

At one point, Moussa reportedly asked his interlocutor a question about religious freedom and Christianity.

“You once said in a televised interview that Muslims can convert to Christianity and vice versa… is this still your position?” Moussa asked, as reported by Ahram Online. Fotouh reportedly appeared baffled by the question, before stressing the importance of freedom of belief and of a moderate understanding of Islam.

“We want to know your vision about applying Shariah law, especially as you are now backed by radical Islamist groups; and in politics nothing is for free, there must be a deal and we need to know,” Moussa continued.

Fotouh, who attempted to paint his opponent as too secular, according to experts, fired back: “What do you mean by the general principles of Shariah?”

Moussa insisted that the general principles of Islamic law should be implemented as they existed in the pre-Mubarak, 1971 constitution. The former Arab League chief also accused Fotouh of being loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood rather than to the nation. “You defended the Muslim Brotherhood and not Egyptians,” he said at one point.

Overall, Moussa presented himself as someone who would respect Islamic law but not allow discrimination against minorities or an expansion of Islamic jurisprudence, while Aboul Fotouh portrayed himself as someone who would apply Islamic law fairly but also limit it to the role that has been spelled out in the constitution for years.

The two are among 13 presidential candidates. The other front-runners are Mohammed Mursi, the chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force chief who served as prime minister in the last days of Mubarak’s rule.

Moussa is supported by 78 percent of Egypt’s Christians, according to a recent poll. At the same time, 22 percent seem to be supporting Fotouh. The poll, conducted by the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations (EUHRO), also showed that all participants completely rejected Salafist candidate, Hazem Abu Ismail, as well as the other candidate of the Brotherhood, Khairat Al-Shater, who said in April that Shariah should become the law of the land, and was criticized by minority groups.

“Christians are seriously worried from candidates with Islamic background especially because they do not hide their hardline stance towards Copts and refuse a civil state,” said Naguib Gebrail, head of EUHRO.

Fotouh has reportedly severed ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, which had initially said it would not put forward a candidate. The Brotherhood eventually reversed its decision by putting out Morsi to seek the job. News reports said Morsi refused to participate in the televised debate.

The Muslim Brotherhood has come under intense criticism lately, having dominated the parliament and reportedly kept minorities away from the decision-making process. In April, the tensions made Coptic Christians quit talks over a new constitution.

By Luiza Oleszczuk
Christian Post

Armenia Fined For Refusal To Take Part In Eurovision Song Contest

The European Broadcasting Union has imposed a fine on Armenia over Yerevan’s refusal to send performers to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, capital of Armenia’s rival, Azerbaijan.

The European Broadcasting Union said Armenia would still have to pay the full fee required to participate in the contest, as well as an additional 50 percent of that amount as a fine.

Details about the amounts of money involved were not immediately available.

The European Broadcasting Union, which is responsible for managing Eurovision, also said Armenian public television was obliged to show the May 26 Eurovision finals live.

Otherwise, Armenia could be excluded from the 2013 Eurovision contest.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been embroiled for decades in their conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, and Armenia Today

* Historian (steps to take upon RV): The G.E.T. Team 4/23/12

Hi Everyone –

Here’s a generic list of steps to take upon RV.

You will need to add or modify this to include any steps specific to your situation – such as setting up a trust.

This list assumes that you already have your trusts and accounts set up, or that the wealth managers handling your exchange will set them all up for you.

Steps to take upon RV

1. Check Bank Packages and Dealers for rate, terms, process. 2. Contact Bank or Dealer to lock-in the rate. 3. Book notary right away (if required to notarize any forms). 4. Follow instructions. Fill in forms (and get them notarized). 5. Fax or email (notarized) forms within deadline. 6. Confirm that sell order was accepted by Bank or Dealer. 7. Transfer dinar to Bank or Dealer (via appointment, secure service, etc). 8. Check that funds are in your bank account before leaving the premises.

9. Celebrate “under the radar” . . . do not advertise your wealth. 10. Transfer funds to a second bank account, close down the first.

Also check and modify the above list when you are reviewing your bank or dealer instructions. Then use the list to remind you of next steps. It will help you to stay calm.

Have a great day! And GO RV!!!

Historian

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Myanmar Parliament Reopens; Suu Kyi Refuses To Take Seat

Myanmar’s parliament has reconvened following recent elections, but pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party have refused to take their seats amid a dispute over the parliamentary oath.

Suu Kyi’s party wants oath wording that says lawmakers will “safeguard the constitution” replaced with “respect the constitution,” arguing the current constitution is undemocratic.

The dispute comes as European Union nations are expected to suspend most sanctions against Myanmar to reward the country for democratic reforms since the end of direct military rule one year ago.

President Thein Sein said on April 23 that he would not backtrack on democratization. But he has also vowed he will not support changes to the parliamentary oath.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and the BBC

Pirates Take Politics By Storm

Founded in Sweden six years ago by a group of Internet freedom activists, the Pirate Party has since been spreading across the globe at mind-boggling speed.

The Pirates, whose core agenda is to increase people’s privacy on the Internet and protect freedom of speech, are now active in more than 50 countries, from Europe to Australia, Belarus, Nepal, and Tunisia.

In Germany, they have seats in two regional parliaments — Berlin and Saarland — and are expected to take about 13 percent of ballots in the 2013 legislative elections, vying with the Greens for third place.

Their Austrian counterparts made their electoral debut this month by winning a municipal seat at local polls in Innsbruck.

The original Swedish version of the party, Piratpartiet, even has two deputies in the European Parliament.

Accounting for much of the Pirates spectacular rise, supporters say, is the lack of political debate on moral issues raised by the development of new technologies.

Head of the Swedish Pirate Party Anna Troberg

“It’s a completely new world around us, everything is digitalized, and this affects people’s private lives and work,” says Piratpartiet’s leader Anna Troberg.

“It means people are increasingly interested in these issues and are looking more closely into how this technology can be both used and abused.”

In this respect, the Pirate parties fill a gap keenly felt by many Internet-savvy voters, or, as Troberg puts it: “The Pirate Party tries to answer questions that the old parties don’t even realize they have to ask.”

Down-To-Earth Approach

Supporters have also praised the party for taking a refreshingly down-to-earth approach to politics.

While some of their goals are clearly utopian — like free public transport, for instance — their calls for greater political transparency and equal access to culture and information have struck a chord with people increasingly disillusioned with traditional political parties.

Pirate parties share the conviction that ordinary citizens are entitled to a greater role in decision-making.

Instead of holding discussions behind closed doors, they stream their debates and meetings online.

In Berlin, the party has even developed a software system, Liquidfeedback, allowing anyone to suggest new policies.

Since their creation in 2006, the Pirates have expanded their initial focus on digital freedoms to include “offline” civil rights and social issues.

And in an effort to show that their financial policies and behavior are as egalitarian as their agenda, they favor casual wear and hold party retreats at youth hostels or other low-key venues.

Member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake

“Voting for a Pirate party is also a protest vote, but in a more positive way than voting for the populist far-right, which is also a voice against the establishment,” says Marietje Schaake, a European Parliament deputy who has actively worked on digital-rights issues.

“[The Pirate parties'] popularity is a reflection of the fact that people don’t feel represented by a lot of the mainstream parties anymore and that democratic political parties face legitimacy issues.

“We are seeing several manifestations of a shakeup of our political landscape as we know it, and this is one of them.”

Internet Generation

The Pirates’ belief that culture and knowledge should be shared free of charge appeals to a large portion of what Troberg describes as “the generation that grew up with [the] Internet.”

The bulk of followers are between 15 and 30 years old. Troberg, who is herself 38, says many are first-time voters.

The Pirates’ staunch opposition to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an international treaty to establish standards for intellectual property rights enforcement, has also galvanized support for their parties.

They advocate a reform of copyright laws, with entirely free non-commercial copying and a five-year copyright for commercial use.

They also call for the abolition of pharmaceutical patents, which they blame for killing people daily in third-world countries.

Critics dismiss the party’s program as unrealistic and potentially harmful.

“There are a lot of business copyrights where five years wouldn’t have too much of a significant impact,” says Susan Singleton, a British lawyer specializing in intellectual property issues. “However, [there are] an awful lot of other copyrights out there — films, books, plays — where people don’t make very much money from their rights.

“It takes a lot of years to recoup your investment, and people might stop investing in copyright works if they aren’t going to get any kind of financial reward from it.”

Detractors also point to the apparent contradiction between the Pirates’ campaign to step up online privacy while promoting the free flow on information on the web.

A delegate wears a sweatshirt with the Pirate Parties International (PPI) logo during their international conference in Prague earlier this month.

Troberg, however, maintains that the Pirates are perfectly aware of this paradox.

“Those two things are in conflict, very often,” she says. “Our work is to find where these things clash and where it’s best to put the dividing line. As a general rule, we advocate privacy for individuals but transparency for governments and government agents.”

‘The Sky’s The Limit’

The Pirate parties’ exponential growth is likely to gather steam as supporters stop worrying that a vote for them would be useless.

Their technological know-how also puts them at an advantage over older, bulkier parties by allowing them to deploy electoral campaigns in record time with limited financial resources.

But as the Pirates secure their foothold in politics, Shaake says they will have to strike a fine balance between their new duties and the ideals they were elected on.

“Can they live up to the promise of being an alternative and really challenging the establishment now that they have responsibility?” she asks. “That’s always a question for newcomers on the political stage.”

For now, the Pirates’ ambitions are growing as fast as their numbers.

They are planning to dramatically increase their presence in the European Parliament.

At their international congress in Prague last week they agreed to campaign as one bloc in the parliament’s 2014 elections.

Discussions to set up parties are under way in a number of new countries, including China, a one-party state that doesn’t have free elections.

“The sky’s the limit; if we work hard we can go as far as we want to go,” says Troberg. “It also depends on the other parties; if they start moving along our lines maybe fewer people will go to the Pirate Party.

“But it doesn’t matter, because it’s not the party as such that is important, it’s the issues we are working on.”

* Editorial: Lifting the three zeros will be fruitless if GOI doesn’t take other measures as well

Among the responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance – known to all of us – and perhaps the most important responsibilities is to maintain the value of the local currency of the state and work to improve the level of economic cooperation with a number of other ministries and government institutions concerned with this trend, and make all possible efforts to minimize any harmful effects may affect the status and value of the currency and kept away from the external market and the effects of shocks facing the global economy from disasters and major incidents affecting the economy in the fragile and too big for both .

Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Iraq and from time to time pose we have an idea that has become a proposed raise of three zeros from the Iraqi currency.

and after he became a project studied by experts, the Central Bank and the Iraqi economy, the Bank announced recently that he almost completed the finalization of the drafting of the law regulating the process of lifting to be sent to the House of Representatives to decide whether there is a need to raise three zeroes from the Iraqi currency or not.

however, the experts of the monetary authority affirm in more than one side that the project will organize a mechanism for lifting the three zeroes to promote the value of local currency in circulation economic, external and internal, considering the project a strategic project aims to reduce the inflation experienced by the Iraqi market, because the deletion of zeros from the local currency will liberate the Iraqi economy from the constraints and enhance the value of Iraqi dinar in the IMF,

but the fears many are still surrounding the project as the process of lifting the zeros alone will be ineffective and increase the value of the dinar Iraqi unless accompanied by a set of economic decisions that support this project

as an ad import process wrong and reducing them to the extent necessities rather than leaving the door import wide open in drains hard currency and Iraqi forces as well as the review in order to reduce public spending to the state and its departments in terms of import furniture fantasy price and support local industry, and other procedures.

without which the process of lifting will add zeros at the most important application of other problems, the cost of printing currency for a small discharge of the new currency as well as the fear of loss of confidence in Iraqi dinars in the event of failure of the project .

Comments

Breivik set to take stand at Norway trial

One of the judges in the Oslo trial of a man accused over last year’s mass killings in Norway has been dismissed from the case after it emerged he had posted a comment online suggesting the perpetrator of the attacks should face the death penalty.

The trial of Anders Behring Breivik, entering its second day, was adjourned early on Tuesday after prosecutors and defence lawyers called for lay judge Thomas Indreboe to be removed over the post on his Facebook page.

Indreboe had said “the death penalty is the only just outcome” in the case.

Breivik was due to begin testifying on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to criminal and terror charges but acknowledging that he carried out the attacks in which 77 people died during Monday’s opening session.

Breivik is set to read out a 30-minute prepared statement during Tuesday’s court session, his lawyer said. Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Oslo, said his testimony, which is expected to last for several days, would not be shown live.

Dressed in a dark suit, Breivik again appeared to make a far-right salute as his handcuffs were removed inside the courtroom.

Breivik, 33, acknowleged carrying out the attacks but denied criminal guilt as he pleaded not guilty on the opening day of the trial.

Breivik is accused over the deaths in July 2011 of eight people in a car bombing in Oslo and 69 others on the island of Utoeya – mainly youths attending a summer camp organised by the governing Labour Party - who he said he targeted because he opposed multiculturalism promoted by the party.

‘Self-defence’

The defendant said he acted in “self-defence” against what he called a “Muslim invasion of Europe” in what is being seen as an unprecedented trial in Norway’s history.

“I do not recognise the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism”, Breivik told the court, adding that he wished to be tried in a military court. “I do not acknowledge the authority of the court.”

Breivik displayed little emotion as the prosecutor read out a list of those killed and how they had died as well as his charges, but later appeared tearful as the court was shown a 12-minute film that he had posted online on the day of the attacks.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull recaps the Oslo attacks

The trial is expected to focus on whether or not Breivik is criminally sane and therefore accountable for his actions.

A first court-ordered psychiatric exam found him insane, while a second opinion came to the opposite conclusion.

Five judges will consider psychiatric evaluations presented to the court, with a verdict expected to be handed down in July.

But many Norwegians feel Breivik will use the trial as a platform for far-right views expounded in a more-than 1,500-page document published online prior to the attack.

In that self-styled manifesto, Breivik described a trial as offering “a stage to the world”.

G8 Ministers Urge Iran To Take Upcoming Talks Seriously

Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations are urging Iran to undertake “constructive and serious dialogue without preconditions” at this weekend’s nuclear negotiation talks with world powers in Istanbul.

According to the German news agency dpa, which obtained a copy of a draft statement, the ministers are expected to end their talks on April 12 in Washington with a statement that says, in part, “Iran’s persistent failure to comply with its obligations under [UN Security Council] resolutions and to meet the requirements of the [International Atomic Energy Agency] Board of Governors resolutions is a cause of urgent concern.”

Tehran says it will come to the bargaining table with “new” proposals to resolve the standoff over its nuclear program, which they insist is peaceful but the international community suspects is hiding a weapons program.

They have not offered details of what those new proposals might be.

Based on reporting by dpa and AP

Pakistani President To Take Private Trip To India

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to visit India on April 8, the first visit by the Pakistani head of state in seven years.

Zardari is expected to have lunch with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before heading to a famous Muslim shrine in Rajasthan to offer prayers.

Relations between the two South Asian countries have long been tense, with three wars having been fought since independence from Britain in 1947.

Zardari’s visit comes as the United States offered a $ 10 million bounty for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e Taiba, which India blames for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Zardari and Singh will use the occasion to further ties after recent breakthroughs in trade.

With reporting by AFP and dpa

* Central Bank to take new measures, foreign currency

BAGHDAD – and babysit – The Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Iraq the appearance of Mohammed Saleh, said that ”the Bank seemed to take new measures for those wishing to conduct foreign remittances of foreign currency.”

He said in a press statement that “the central bank measures included traders who wish to claim foreign remittances of foreign currency Aware of the type of trade that wants to withdraw because of the amounts in addition to providing notice of a tax and trade in a maximum period of / 15 / days.” He added that “these measures do not affect the traders something to it as a whole do not take their time more than one hour but necessary to find out the reasons that is for which transfer funds abroad to sort the trade standard for transfers that are used for operations of criminal or suspicious.”

He says he continued that “this measure does not include transfer applications for the purposes of travel is not to make any change it where it is entitled to withdraw a maximum amount of ten thousand dollars to convert them to the outside without any notices.”

The central bank has denied the rumors about stopping foreign remittances of foreign currency … p / i

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Muslim Brotherhood Seems Poised to Take Over in Egypt

Posted GMT 4-4-2012 23:16:40

The Egyptian revolution has led to economic bankruptcy, says Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former U.N. secretary-general. Factories are closed and Egyptian workers are no longer wanted abroad, he lamented.

Sub-Saharan Africans and Pakistanis from Baluchistan have replaced Egyptians who once worked in Libya and oil-rich Persian Gulf countries, adding millions to the 12 percent unemployed among Egypt’s 85 million.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali, a Coptic Christian, also says Egypt hasn’t found a leader who could benefit from last year’s revolution. But that’s not quite the way the much-feared Muslim Brotherhood sees it.

After lulling Egypt’s millions into a false sense of security by pledging they weren’t interested in running anyone for president of Egypt, they have reversed field. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat el-Shater, officially No. 2 in the radical religious order but in reality one of Egypt’s wealthiest men, will be the country’s next president, succeeding the ailing Hosni Mubarak, now confined to a prison hospital.

The Muslim Brotherhoodwon 49 percent of the seats in a relatively free election, and radical religious Salafists won 25 percent, more than enough to clinch the presidency. But some of the less-radical Muslim Brothers say it’s not a slam dunk. The army is still in charge of the country and its political landscape. Under the Mubarak regime, Mr. Shater was in and out of military prisons, and he knows this could happen again.

Regardless, the Muslim Brotherhood will have the principal voice in drafting a new constitution, which is bound to make it an Islamist document.

At first, the Muslim Brotherhood also said it didn’t want to interfere with Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Now Muslim Brotherhood watchers say that was tactical sleight-of-hand to pacify army brass, heavily dependent on $ 1.3 billion in U.S. aid annually for its part in keeping the peace with Israel. The military will be on guard against Muslim Brotherhood troublemakers on the Egyptian-Israeli border in Gaza and the Sinai.

Uncertainty on the Israeli-Egyptian border reinforces hard-liners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led coalition, which is determined not to bite the bullet for an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank – or at least not for one that would be truly independent.

One of the most optimistic Arab voices about the chances for a Palestinian state, come hell or high water, has been the moderate voice of one of Jordan’s best-known political figures, now vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister and deputy prime minister, now says, and a rapidly growing number of Mideast experts concur, that there isn’t a snowball’s chance in the Sahara for a Palestinian state in the West Bank – now, tomorrow, or anytime soon – and that Israel is now condemned to continue its army occupation of the West Bank for the foreseeable future.

Some 340,000 Israelis live in 120 settlements whose population grows by 5.5 percent a year, almost thrice the rate in Israel. They live under Israeli military protection. They have their own connecting roads that Palestinians aren’t allowed to use. And they control the aquifer water under the West Bank.

Palestinians now claim to be akin to South Africa’s black population under apartheid. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, when he was out of government, said at some future point, the number of settlers in the West Bank will become too great for the Jewish state to extricate itself, and thus Israel will become an “apartheid state,” and “that would be a tragedy for us.”

A civil war next door in Syria also is not conducive to Israeli concessions.

Some Israelis are hoping that a successful air attack on some of Iran’s key nuclear installations will once again elicit the admiration of the world, much as the Six Day War victory did in 1967. But this won’t remove the apartheid stigma in the West Bank. Nor does it take into account Iran’s still formidable, asymmetrical retaliatory capabilities.

By Arnaud de Borchgrave
Washington Times

* Shahristani calls for the government to take legal action against Kurdistan to stop oil exports

Asked the Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussein al-Shahristani, the federal government to take legal action against the province Krdsttan to stop the recent oil exports.

Shahristani said at a joint news conference with the Minister of Oil Abdul Karim and coffee attended by the correspondent of the agency all of Iraq [where] the day Monday, “We affirm the announcement by the Kurdistan Regional Government to stop the exports of the region’s oil has already been so at five thirty in the evening on Sunday and we are in time which show the surprised and We like this move we call the federal government as responsible for the management of oil wealth, according to the text of the Constitution to take legal action against the province to this matter at the time achieved when Iraq made progress in this field to record the month of March, the highest proportion of Exports of oil Since 1990. “

He added that “the step region to reduce its exports and according to our report took place gradually where, according to the agreement between the governments in Baghdad and Erbil to be the amount of exports from Kurdistan [175] thousand barrels per day, and after months fell to [70] thousand barrels and has now been suspended exports and this will deprive Iraq of billions of dollars. “

The al-Shahristani said that “the value of oil imports that have not received the financial side of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the federal government in 2010 and 2011 amounted to about six billion dollars and about [650] million dollars.”

“There are also amounts not paid by these years while the 17% allocated to the Kurdistan region from the financial budget of the Federal, which are based mainly on oil export revenues of the country is carved out of exports of various oil-producing provinces in contrast to 5% of Iraq’s oil in Kurdistan, I receive to Baghdad, so it became our duty Kmatmanan the wealth of the people have swore that we learn that the people on this information. “

Shahristani said that “the decision of the Kurdistan regional government to stop exports of the region’s oil would deprive Iraq as we have said billions of dollars are expected to be losses greater during the current year because the export rate of [175] thousand barrels per day of Iraqi oil in the region with the high price of a barrel of oil in world markets note that the average export price of Iraqi oil exports to outside the range of 105-110 dollars per barrel, while the same percentage for last year and less so in 2010 at $ 76 a barrel so we say that there Amola great if not delivered to the State Treasury, the Federal benefits Kurdistan oil will cause Bgr in the budget of public finances, so the central government to recover this right and take the measures required for retrieval. “

In the gallery asked about the possibility of the existence of political deals in the relationship of oil between Baghdad and Erbil, Shahristani said, “It is not possible to accept any violation or manipulation of the Kurdistan Region or other provinces in the management of oil wealth and will not accept any political bargains and can not affect the unity and independence of Iraq and wealth which are the property of all the sons of the Iraqi people. “

For his part, reviewed the oil minister, Abdul Karim and coffee for the most prominent issues in the management of oil wealth and the relationship of the center in the region in terms of management of oil over the past years, saying that “we evaluate sales of oil province of Kurdistan, which had not submitted to the federal government in Baghdad, at five times the value of the benefits claimed by the province So by now it is virtually the Kurdistan actually recovered years before the financial entitlements demanded by today. “

“Either talk about the existence of charges against the Ministry of Oil not to treat them fairly in the distribution of petroleum products to the provinces and between provinces of Kurdistan, it is not true because we and the Weekly Bulletin of the Ministry confirm that the Kurdistan region and depending on the ratio of the population receives its share fully and more of these derivatives to the fact that The atmosphere of the region and need to cool larger quantities of these derivatives into account this aspect. “

The Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan region has announced Sunday in a statement on the region’s oil Sardat stop until the settlement of the dispute with the federal government in the capital Baghdad on the region’s share of the financial revenues of the quantities of oil exported from Kurdistan.

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Debris Forces Space Station Astronauts To Take Shelter

A discarded chunk of a Russian rocket missed the International Space Station early on March 24.

However, it came close enough to force the station’s multinational crew of astronauts — two Americans, three Russians, and a Dutchman — to seek shelter in escape capsules.

NASA says the space junk was barely close enough to be a threat.

This is the third time in 12 years that astronauts have had to seek shelter from space junk.

Based on reporting by AP

Russian Official Says Syria’s Assad Needs To ‘Take First Step’

Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the foreign policy committee for Russia’s upper house of parliament, has said that the conflict in Syria needs to be stopped and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should take the first step.

Margelov, who is also the Russian president’s special envoy for Africa, pointed to a UN Security Council statement supporting UN special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan’s peace initiative.

Margelov said it wasn’t a mandatory resolution but he said Syrian officials should note that the statement was “adopted unanimously” by the Security Council.

“This means President Bashar al-Assad should immediately rectify a multitude of mistakes, which he, according to the official opinion of Russia, has made.”

Margelov said trhat as part of his “first step,” Assad should “withdraw the Syrian Army from large cities and send humanitarian aid to those who have suffered during the conflict.”

Violence Continues Despite International Pressure

In related news, opposition activists say clashes flared across Syria on March 22 despite the UN Security Council’s plea for all sides to stop fighting and seek a negotiated settlement to the year-long violence.

The appeal had little impact on the ground, where opposition sources said tanks shelled the central city of Hama after fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

In Vienna, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for an international action plan to stop the “human tragedy” in Syria, saying that “just making calls is not enough.”

Meanwhile, reports said EU foreign ministers were set to slap a travel ban and assets freeze on President Bashar al-Assad’s wife, Asma, and other members of his family on March 23.

The UN estimates more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Assad’s government began last year.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP ITAR-TASS Rus. and AP

Russian Police Say Prepared To Take Measures at Arbat Opposition Rally

Police in Moscow say they will take any necessary measures in the instance of violations at a critical opposition rally on March 10 in Moscow.

The protest, to be held on Moscow’s central Novy Arbat Street, comes nearly a week after an election handed Russia’s dominant political figure, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a controversial third term as the country’s president.

City authorities have approved the demonstration but limited it to no more than 50,000 participants.

The rally is seen as a test of the enduring appeal of the Russian opposition, which swelled in ranks in the months before the election but may grow weaker following Putin’s win.

Police forcibly detained more than 500 people in Moscow and St. Petersburg during anti-Putin rallies on March 5, one day after the vote.

With Interfax and AP reporting

Iran Tries to Take the Moral High Ground on Nukes

On February 22, Iran’s Press TV reported: “Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the Iranian nation has never sought and will never seek nuclear weapons. … In a Wednesday meeting in Tehran with the director and officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and nuclear scientists the Leader described the country’s nuclear and technological achievements.”

Below are excerpts from the speech in which Khameini disavows nuclear weapons. (Thanks to Bernhard of Moon of Alabama for bringing this site — the Center for Preserving and Publishing the Works of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khomeini — to our attention.)

Nuclear weapons are not at all beneficial to us. Moreover, from an ideological and fiqhi perspective, we consider developing nuclear weapons as unlawful. We consider using such weapons as a big sin. We also believe that keeping such weapons is futile and dangerous, and we will never go after them. They know this, but they stress the issue in order to stop our movement.

Furthermore …

We want to say that we are not after nuclear weapons, that we do not believe nuclear weapons bring about power and that we can break the kind of power that is based on nuclear weapons. By Allah’s favor, our nation will do this.

Then, on Feb. 29, the New York Times reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi:

… denied the nuclear program had a military purpose, saying Iran would be a stronger country without nuclear arms.

“We do not see any glory, pride or power in the nuclear weapons, quite the opposite,” he said, adding that on the basis of a religious decree issued by Ayatollah Khamenei, “the production possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons are illegitimate, futile, harmful, dangerous and prohibited as a great sin.”

He said the existence of nearly 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world posed “the gravest threat” to sustainable international security and that as long as they existed there would always be a risk of their use and proliferation.

Khameini spoke about nuclear weapons at more length in 2011.

Iran is not after an atomic bomb, and it is even opposed to possession of chemical weapons. Even when Iraq used chemical weapons against Iran, we did not try to manufacture chemical weapons. Such things are not in line with the principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Khameini declared that nuclear weapons “are useless except for intimidation, massacre and a false sense of security based on pre-emptive power resulting from guaranteed annihilation of everyone.” Citing the atom bombs that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said (emphasis added):

The use of nuclear weapons resulted not only in large-scale killings and destruction, but also in indiscriminate massacre of people — military members and civilians, young and old, men and women. And its anti-human effects went beyond political and geographic borders, even inflicting irreparable harm on future generations. Therefore, using or even threatening to use such weapons is considered a serious violation of the most basic humanitarian rules and is a clear manifestation of war crimes.

But, even though Iran doesn’t seem to be developing or acquiring nuclear weapons at the moment, Khameini neglected to mention developing the capacity to build nuclear weapons. Renouncing that is obviously implied in denouncing the use of weapons. Still, theological types are as notorious as lawyers for resorting to hair-splitting legalisms as lawyers. Khameini again:

… the greatest violators of the NPT are the powers that have reneged on their obligation to dispose of nuclear weapons mentioned in Article 6 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It’s tough to deny that here he has nuclear weapons states — especially in the West: the United States, to be specific — dead to rights.

FPIF Latest Content

* Marc Faber: US ‘Financial Mess’ Will Force Government to Take Your Gold

Read more: Marc Faber: US ‘Financial Mess’ Will Force Government to Take Your Gold Economist Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report, says the government will seize privately held gold, even as he continues to buy physical gold himself.

“I prefer to play the commodity space by owning physical gold,” Faber tells Chiefsworld. “If I were an American, I would store it outside the U.S., because in the U.S., it is not completely unlikely that they will eventually take it away.”

“Like in 1933, gold will be purchased back by the government” because eventually the financial mess will be so bad that gold prices “will go ballistic, and the government will take away something from a minority, and not many people own gold.”

Editor’s Note: Economist Unapologetically Calls Out Bernanke, Obama for Mishandling Economy. See What They Did

“When gold prices shoot up, it will be quite a popular measure to take it away from these rich people,” Faber says. “It’s happened before.”

Faber says he’s not in a hurry to buy gold, but accumulates gold every month because he believes the gold market is still under a correction.

Faber notes that the Chinese economy is slowing, and says it will slow further and perhaps crash at some point, which is why he is staying out of commodities other than gold.

Meanwhile, Nomura’s Bob Janjuah says markets are so rigged by government policies that investing dangers lurk virtually everywhere.

“My personal recommendation is to sit in gold and non-financial high quality corporate credit and blue-chip big cap non-financial global equities,” Janjuah writes at Zero Hedge.

“Bond and currency markets are now so rigged by policy makers that I have no meaningful insights to offer, other than my bubble fears.”

Elsewhere, Gold traders are getting more bullish after billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending.

Twelve of 22 surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to gain next week and five were neutral. Paulson & Co. is already the biggest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded product backed by bullion, with a stake valued at $ 2.9 billion, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Feb. 14 showed.

Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, rose $ 10.90, or 0.6 percent, to settle Thursday at $ 1,722.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Read more: Marc Faber: US ‘Financial Mess’ Will Force Government to Take Your Gold

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Thousands Take Part In Opposition Protest In Southern Kyrgyzstan

By RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service

March 01, 2012

OSH, Kyrgyzstan – Thousands of people have taken part in an opposition protest in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, ahead of local elections in the city.

Home to a significant Uzbek minority, Osh was at the center of clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in June 2010 in which around 450 people were killed and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed.

RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service says more than 10,000 people took part in the March 1 protest, voicing support for Osh Mayor Melis Myrzakhmatov and criticizing Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev.

Officials said security measures were increased around Osh in advance of the protest, which is being held ahead of March 4 elections.

Voters will choose members of the 45-seat city council from candidates representing eight parties.