Russians Told Iraqi Regime of U.S. Troop Movements

WASHINGTON - Russian diplomats passed detailed but sometimes
inaccurate information about American troop movements to senior
Iraqi officials even as U.S. troops closed in on Baghdad during
the 2003 invasion. By Peter Spiegel and Greg Miller.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ezv...Io30G2B0HOtH0EL

Israeli Arabs Feel Little Stake in Vote

NAZARETH, Israel - As they gear up for Israel's election on
Tuesday, some in the minority electorate say they feel cut off
from the state. By Laura King.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ezv...Io30G2B0HOtK0EO

Pope Stresses Unity in Installing Cardinals

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI installed his first group of
cardinals, crowning 15 new princes of the Roman Catholic Church
with scarlet hats symbolizing their willingness to shed blood in
defense of the faith. By Tracy Wilkinson.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ezv...Io30G2B0HOtL0EP

March 25, 2006
Russia Denies Giving U.S. Intel to Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:14 a.m. ET

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia on Saturday denied that it provided information on U.S. troops movements and plans to Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Interfax news agency reported.

''Similar, baseless accusations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than once,'' Interfax quoted Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov as saying. ''We don't consider it necessary to comment on such fabrications.''

An unclassified Pentagon report released Friday cited two confiscated Iraqi documents as saying the Russians collected information from sources ''inside the American Central Command'' and that battlefield intelligence was provided to then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad.

The report also said the Russian government had sources inside the American military command as it planned and executed the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a respected independent Moscow-based military analyst, said the report was within the realm of possibility.

''It's quite plausible,'' he told The Associated Press.

He said a unit affiliated with the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Department, known by its abbreviation GRU, was actively working in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The unit apparently was shut down after the fall of Baghdad.



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March 25, 2006
US Soldier, 7 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle
By REUTERS
Filed at 7:59 a.m. ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. and Afghan government troops attacked a group of Taliban on Saturday and seven of the insurgents and one American were killed, an Afghan commander said.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in attacks by Taliban and their militant allies in recent months and the Taliban have vowed to launch a spring offensive against U.S.-led foreign forces and the Western-backed government.

Fighting erupted after U.S. troops backed by helicopter gunships and jets launched an operation in the Sangin district of the southern province of Helmand, after being tipped-off about the presence of Taliban in a village, police said.

U.S. and Afghan forces fought the biggest battle in months against Taliban fighters in the same district at the beginning of February.

On Saturday, U.S. and Afghan forces backed by aircraft attacked about 20 insurgents, the U.S. military said. One American was killed and one wounded. One Afghan soldier was wounded, it said.

``There are known Taliban extremists in the Sangin district, and the Afghan National Army and coalition forces will continue to attack,'' said senior U.S. commander Major General Benjamin C. Freakley.

Residents of the area said U.S. aircraft bombed a house where Taliban were staying.

The U.S. military did not comment on Taliban casualties saying battle damage was being assessed. An Afghan army commander, General Rehmatullah Raufi, said seven Taliban had been killed.

Helmand has been a bastion of Taliban insurgents since U.S. and Afghan opposition forces ousted their government in late 2001.

The province is also Afghanistan's main opium-growing region and the insurgents are in league with drug gangs, complicating efforts to bring security and stamp out drugs, officials say.

British troops have been arriving in the province in recent weeks as part of an expansion of a NATO-led peacekeeping force into the Afghan south. In all, 3,300 British troops will soon be based in Helmand.



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March 25, 2006
Security Council Too Often Ineffective: ElBaradei
By REUTERS
Filed at 7:53 a.m. ET

KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council has too often failed to act swiftly and effectively to contain international crises and needs to be reformed, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday.

``Too often, the Security Council's engagement is inadequate, selective, or after the fact,'' said Mohamed ElBaradei, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner.

``The tragedies of recent years in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Darfur are cases in point,'' he told an audience of mostly German dentists.

His criticism of the U.N. body responsible for maintaining international peace and security comes as its five permanent members struggle to agree on a draft statement rebuking Iran for pressing ahead with its nuclear enrichment program.

In an annual lecture organized by a Karlsruhe dental institute, the Egyptian diplomat said the 15-nation Security Council was still incapable of tackling violence in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

`` ... Darfur continues to suffer from the inability of the Security Council to muster sufficient peacekeeping troops and sufficient resources to prevent the continuing atrocities.''

On Friday, the Council voted to speed planning for a new U.N. peacekeeping force to be sent to Darfur later this year to relieve underfinanced African Union troops.

Speaking before receiving an award from the institute for ''global bridge building,'' ElBaradei said the Council's lack of success has also been visible in the field of arms control.

He said it ``has made little effort to address nuclear proliferation threats in context, by dealing with the 'drivers' of insecurity that give rise to proliferation.''

``In the case of Iraq, the Council for over a decade imposed a series of blanket economic sanctions -- which were manipulated to the advantage of the ruthless regime in power, and resulted in the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians,'' he said.

In 2003, the Council was unable to agree on either the need or timing of the use of force in Iraq, said the director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

``It is clearly time for the Security Council to be reformed, expanded and strengthened, as part of the current efforts to reform and revitalize the United Nations,'' ElBaradei added.

U.N. RESOLUTIONS IGNORED

There was also the problem of past Security Council resolutions that have been ignored, ElBaradei said.

He mentioned resolutions demanding that India and Pakistan refrain from any further testing and development of nuclear weapons or that Israel open its nuclear facilities to the IAEA.

Unlike the official nuclear weapons states -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- India, Pakistan and Israel have never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In the case of North Korea, which may already be the ninth state to acquire the bomb, the Council was unable to agree on a response when the IAEA's governing board referred the matter to it in 2003 after Pyongyang expelled the IAEA and quit the NPT.

ElBaradei reiterated his doubts about Iran's insistence that its atomic plans were purely peaceful.

`` ... the fact that its program was conducted so long in secret, and particularly that aspects of it have not been clarified, has created a confidence deficit regarding its nature and its direction,'' he said.

Iran's plans to press ahead with its uranium enrichment program, which can make fuel for electricity or bombs, could increase insecurity in an already unstable Middle East, he said.



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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...ticle353501.ece

Battle for Baghdad 'has already started'
By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil
Published: 25 March 2006
The battle between Sunni and Shia Muslims for control of Baghdad has already started, say Iraqi political leaders who predict fierce street fighting will break out as each community takes over districts in which it is strongest.

"The fighting will only stop when a new balance of power has emerged," Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish leader, said. "Sunni and Shia will each take control of their own area." He said sectarian cleansing had already begun.

Many Iraqi leaders now believe that civil war is inevitable but it will be confined, at least at first, to the capital and surrounding provinces where the population is mixed. "The real battle will be the battle for Baghdad where the Shia have increasing control," said one senior official who did not want his name published. "The army will disintegrate in the first moments of the war because the soldiers are loyal to the Shia, Sunni or Kurdish communities and not to the government." He expected the Americans to stay largely on the sidelines.

Throughout the capital, communities, both Sunni and Shia, are on the move, fleeing districts where they are in a minority and feel under threat. Sometimes they fight back. In the mixed but majority Shia al-Amel district, Sunni householders recently received envelopes containing a Kalashnikov bullet and a letter telling them to get out at once. In this case they contacted the insurgents who killed several Shia neighbours suspected of sending the letters.

"The Sunni will fight for Baghdad," said Mr Hussein. "The Baath party already controls al-Dohra and other Sunni groups dominate Ghazaliyah and Abu Ghraib [districts in south and west Baghdad]."

The Iraqi army is likely to fall apart once inter-communal fighting begins. According to Peter Galbraith, former US diplomat and expert on Iraq, the Iraqi army last summer contained 60 Shia battalions, 45 Sunni battalions, nine Kurdish battalions and one mixed battalion.

The police are even more divided and in Baghdad are largely controlled by the Mehdi Army of the radical nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organisation that has largely been in control of the interior ministry since last May. Sunni Arabs in Baghdad regard the ministry's paramilitary police commanders as Shia death squads.

Mr Hussein gave another reason why the army is weak. "Where you have 3,000 soldiers there will in fact be only 2,000 men [because of ghost soldiers who do not exist and whose salaries are taken by senior officers]," he said. "When it comes to fighting only 500 of those men will turn up."

Iraqi officials and ministers are increasingly in despair at the failure to put together an effective administration in Baghdad. A senior Arab minister, who asked not to be named, said: "The government could end up being only a few buildings in the Green Zone."

The mood among Iraqi leaders, both Arabs and Kurds, is far gloomier in private than the public declarations of the US and British governments. The US President George W Bush called this week for a national unity government in Iraq but Iraqi observers do not expect this to be any more effective than the present government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. One said this week: "The real problem is that the Shia and Sunni hate each other and not that we haven't been able to form a government."

The Shia and Kurds will have the advantage in the coming conflict because they have leaders and organisations. The Sunni are divided and only about 30 per cent of the population of the capital. Nevertheless they should be able to hold on to their stronghold in west Baghdad and the Adhamiyah district east of the Tigris. The Shia do not have the strength and probably do not wish to take over the Sunni towns and villages north and west of Baghdad.

Though the Kurds have long sought autonomy close to quasi-independence, their leaders are worried that civil war will increase Iranian and Turkish involvement in Iraq. Mr Hussein said he feared that civil war in Baghdad could spread north to Mosul and Kirkuk where the division is between Kurd and Arab rather than Sunni and Shia.

Already Baghdad resembles Beirut at the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, when Christians and Muslims fought each other for control of the city.

The battle between Sunni and Shia Muslims for control of Baghdad has already started, say Iraqi political leaders who predict fierce street fighting will break out as each community takes over districts in which it is strongest.

"The fighting will only stop when a new balance of power has emerged," Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish leader, said. "Sunni and Shia will each take control of their own area." He said sectarian cleansing had already begun.

Many Iraqi leaders now believe that civil war is inevitable but it will be confined, at least at first, to the capital and surrounding provinces where the population is mixed. "The real battle will be the battle for Baghdad where the Shia have increasing control," said one senior official who did not want his name published. "The army will disintegrate in the first moments of the war because the soldiers are loyal to the Shia, Sunni or Kurdish communities and not to the government." He expected the Americans to stay largely on the sidelines.

Throughout the capital, communities, both Sunni and Shia, are on the move, fleeing districts where they are in a minority and feel under threat. Sometimes they fight back. In the mixed but majority Shia al-Amel district, Sunni householders recently received envelopes containing a Kalashnikov bullet and a letter telling them to get out at once. In this case they contacted the insurgents who killed several Shia neighbours suspected of sending the letters.

"The Sunni will fight for Baghdad," said Mr Hussein. "The Baath party already controls al-Dohra and other Sunni groups dominate Ghazaliyah and Abu Ghraib [districts in south and west Baghdad]."

The Iraqi army is likely to fall apart once inter-communal fighting begins. According to Peter Galbraith, former US diplomat and expert on Iraq, the Iraqi army last summer contained 60 Shia battalions, 45 Sunni battalions, nine Kurdish battalions and one mixed battalion.

The police are even more divided and in Baghdad are largely controlled by the Mehdi Army of the radical nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organisation that has largely been in control of the interior ministry since last May. Sunni Arabs in Baghdad regard the ministry's paramilitary police commanders as Shia death squads.
Mr Hussein gave another reason why the army is weak. "Where you have 3,000 soldiers there will in fact be only 2,000 men [because of ghost soldiers who do not exist and whose salaries are taken by senior officers]," he said. "When it comes to fighting only 500 of those men will turn up."

Iraqi officials and ministers are increasingly in despair at the failure to put together an effective administration in Baghdad. A senior Arab minister, who asked not to be named, said: "The government could end up being only a few buildings in the Green Zone."

The mood among Iraqi leaders, both Arabs and Kurds, is far gloomier in private than the public declarations of the US and British governments. The US President George W Bush called this week for a national unity government in Iraq but Iraqi observers do not expect this to be any more effective than the present government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. One said this week: "The real problem is that the Shia and Sunni hate each other and not that we haven't been able to form a government."

The Shia and Kurds will have the advantage in the coming conflict because they have leaders and organisations. The Sunni are divided and only about 30 per cent of the population of the capital. Nevertheless they should be able to hold on to their stronghold in west Baghdad and the Adhamiyah district east of the Tigris. The Shia do not have the strength and probably do not wish to take over the Sunni towns and villages north and west of Baghdad.

Though the Kurds have long sought autonomy close to quasi-independence, their leaders are worried that civil war will increase Iranian and Turkish involvement in Iraq. Mr Hussein said he feared that civil war in Baghdad could spread north to Mosul and Kirkuk where the division is between Kurd and Arab rather than Sunni and Shia.

Already Baghdad resembles Beirut at the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, when Christians and Muslims fought each other for control of the city.

Belarusian Police Clash With Protesters ABC News
Belarusian Police Clash With Protesters Outside Jail; About 20 People Detained. Black-clad riot police clubbed demonstrators as government opponents marched Saturday in defiance of a show of force by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko that has drawn U.S. and European Union sanctions. A week into protests set off by the disputed election that handed Lukashenko a third term, opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich told a crowd of thousands that momentum is growing to bring democracy to Belarus. "We are starting work against dictatorship, and this work will sooner or later bear its fruit," he said. But Milinkevich also urged a monthlong recess in protests, apparently hoping to calm tensions and gain time to build opposition forces, which have fallen far short of the huge outpourings that peacefully overturned governments in Ukraine and Georgia. The day of confrontation and wildly swinging emotions left two big questions for the former Soviet republic of 10 million people, characterized in the West as Europe's last dictatorship: How much dissent are the authorities willing to allow and how much support does the opposition have? Milinkevich spoke at an impromptu rally in a park after hundreds of police blocked protesters from gathering on the central square that had been the focus of anti-Lukashenko demonstrations until riot squads swept in before dawn Friday and arrested dozens of people. Demonstrators held flowers, waved the red-and-white flag of the opposition and shouted "Milinkevich!" and "We are not afraid!" Police didn't interfere with the 7,000 people in the park, raising hopes that security forces' long history of violence against dissenters was softening. But authorities showed their tolerance had limits after part of the rally's participants marched off toward a jail holding some of those arrested during demonstrations against the March 19 presidential election that the protesters consider fraudulent. Cheerily chanting "police be with the people" as they passed officers along the way, the crowd of about 3,000 suddenly grew somber when a three-deep phalanx of riot police with shields confronted them at a railroad underpass. Banging truncheons on shields, the officers advanced on the marchers, causing some to scurry away. Police herded other protesters back along the street, beating some bloody and arresting about 20, as demonstrators shouted "Fascists!" At least four percussion grenades were detonated, adding to the chaos. Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov later denied the explosions were set off by police, but did not say what caused them. More than 100 people were arrested throughout the day, said Ales Byalyatsky of the human rights group Vasnya. The International Helsinki Federation said one demonstrator was severely injured with a fractured skull. A Russian journalist, Pavel Sheremet, was beaten and detained earlier in the central city, his father told The Associated Press. Among those arrested at the march was Alexander Kozulin, who like Milinkevich was a candidate against Lukashenko in the election. His spokeswoman, Nina Shedlovskaya, said he was beaten by police. Kozulin apparently initiated the march to the jail, angering Milinkevich, who said that "Kozulin decided to spoil this holiday for the people." The two have appeared together at opposition meetings over the past week, but Milinkevich clearly commands the crowds' affections. The rally at the park was the biggest since the first protest on election night, when about 10,000 people turned out. But the large number was counterbalanced by hundreds of others who walked by in apathy, disgust or fear of taking part. The crowd was mostly people younger than 30, with a large contingent of elderly. Middle-aged or middle-class people were few, underlining that the opposition so far isn't drawing broad-based support in public. Milinkevich nonetheless said he was elated by the turnout. "The people have come out today, they have come out in the face of truncheons, in the face of arrests," he said. "The more the authorities conduct repression, the closer they bring themselves to their end." Still, he acknowledged opposition numbers are not enough to defeat Lukashenko's government. "We can be proud of what we have already done: Fear is vanquished," he said. "But today there are not 200,000 or 500,000 of us coming out into the square. If there were, they (the authorities) would run away from the country." Milinkevich called for the next rally to take place April 26, the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, which sent radiation over Belarus. Many people are unhappy over Lukashenko's moves to repopulate evacuated areas of the contamination zone. Saturday's rally came on the anniversary of Belarus' first independence declaration in 1918, which Milinkevich hoped would spur a big turnout of discontented Belarusians. "I am tired of being afraid, and the fear is leaving me," said Yelena Sokolovskaya, 44, an accountant who listened to his speech. She said the government's claims that the economy is thriving are "a lie Milinkevich speaks the truth." The confrontation at the march came a day after police stormed a tent camp in the central October Square where around-the-clock protests began after Lukashenko won a new five-year term by a landslide. Among those arrested at the square was Poland's former ambassador to Belarus, Mariusz Maszkiewicz, the Polish Embassy said Saturday. Neighboring Poland, which shed Moscow's domination in 1989, has angered the pro-Russian Lukashenko with its support for the opposition. Responding to the crackdown on government opponents, the European Union and the United States said Friday that they would impose sanctions on Lukashenko. However, the sanctions seemed unlikely to influence Lukashenko, who despises the West and has allied his country with Russia. In a statement late Friday, the Foreign Ministry said that the sanctions had "no prospects" and that Belarus reserved the right to take retaliatory measures.
Belarus Opp leader held in cop-protestor clash The Statesman
Elation, explosions end day of protest Seattle Post Intelligencer
Reuters - Aljazeera.net - Jerusalem Post - Hindu - all 1,775 related »

For the French, Joie de Vivre Fades Into Fear

By Molly Moore

PARIS, March 24 -- Outside the Grand Palais museum, people stood in line for hours in biting cold this winter to see the city's most popular art exhibit -- Mélancolie , a collection of paintings and sculptures evoking depression, sadness and despair.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Protest Takes Bloody Detour in Belarus

MOSCOW - In a clash over the March 19 vote, riot police confront
marchers, clubbing some to the ground and arresting dozens. By Kim
Murphy.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ezw...Io30G2B0HOuc0E3

Bolivia Bomb Suspect 'Own Worst Enemy'

BUENOS AIRES - Northern California native served time in state
youth and mental facilities and six months in Argentina for a 2005
blast at a bank. By Patrick J. McDonnell and Lee Romney.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ezw...Io30G2B0HOud0E4

U.S. Again Presses Iraqis on Task

BAGHDAD - For the second time in less than a week, a group of U.S.
senators met with Iraqi leaders to warn that American interest in
stabilizing the country could dwindle unless they speed up work to
form a unity government. By Richard Boudreaux.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ezw...Io30G2B0HOue0E5

Arabs pledge same level of aid for Palestinians Yahoo! NEWS
Arab foreign ministers on Sunday dismissed Western explanations for cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority but offered no extra money to compensate for a budget shortfall when Hamas Islamists take office. The ministers, meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to prepare for an Arab summit this week, renewed an old pledge to give the Palestinians some $50 million a month and left open the possibility of giving more later if the Palestinians need it. They rejected unilateral steps by Israel, as interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in Jerusalem he wanted to define Israel's borders without dealing with a Hamas government. The Palestinians say they already face a financial crisis because Israel refuses to hand over about $55 million a month which it collects in tax and customs revenue on their behalf. The United States, which calls Hamas a terrorist organization and demands it recognize Israel, insisted that the Palestinian Authority give back $50 million as part of a review of U.S. aid after Hamas won parliamentary elections in January. Hamas might take office on Monday when the Palestinian Legislative Council convenes for a confidence vote on a 24-member cabinet dominated by the Islamists, who reject the compromises the Palestinians have made with Israel since 1993. A resolution approved by the Arab ministers said: "(The council of ministers) calls on the international community to continue to provide grants and financial and economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority." It said the ministers "reject the pretexts (for threatening to cut aid) and point out the dangerous negative repercussions it would have on the economic and social circumstances of the Palestinian people and on stability and security in the region." They asked the Palestinian Authority to prepare a report on the amount of aid it will lose if donors cut aid and submit it to Arab governments "to take an appropriate decision on it." The Palestinian Authority, which remains led by President Mahmoud Abbas of the electorally defeated Fatah movement, did not invite any Hamas members to join the Palestinian delegation to Khartoum, postponing any dispute over the differences between an Arab peace initiative and Hamas's strategy toward Israel. Hamas has rejected demands that it recognize an Israeli right to exist, renounce violence and accept previous peace agreements, even at the risk of losing aid from Western donors. In Hamas's absence, the ministers reaffirmed the commitment of Arab governments to their 2002 offer to open normal relations with Israel if it withdraws to the borders as they stood on the eve of the Middle East war of 1967. Israel rejects the offer. They also added an endorsement of the international peace plan known as the road map, which commits the Palestinian Authority to disband unofficial militias such as that of Hamas. Delegates said that governments friendly toward the United States, including Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, had pressed for a mention of the road map against the objections of Syria. But Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, asked about the road map, said: "Before you ask about Hamas's attitude toward the peace process, ask Israel about its position." On Iraq, the ministers promised that their governments would set up a diplomatic presence in Baghdad as soon as possible, provided the Iraqi government ensures adequate protection. Few Arab countries have diplomatic missions in Iraq, for fear insurgents will kill or kidnap their diplomats in protest at what they see as recognition of the U.S.-backed government. The ministers also recommended that the Arab leaders, who meet in Khartoum on Tuesday and Wednesday, cancel Iraq's debts to Arab governments, estimated at billions of dollars dating back to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. Arab governments have little leverage over the main political factions in Iraq and are worried that ethnic and sectarian divisions will weaken or fragment what used to be a powerful and influential Arab state. Their main political initiative has been the reconciliation meeting the Arab League organized in Cairo last year, which had little effect on the conflict on the ground. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters after the meeting that another round of reconciliation talks would start in Iraq on June 1. He said possible venues were Baghdad, Basra in the south or Kurdistan in the north. "I think that the resolution we extracted from them (the other Arab ministers) is reasonable -- the minimum of what we expect the Arab countries to do to help," Zebari added.
By Suleiman al-Khalidi

Afghan judge says Christian convert case has flaws Yahoo! NEWS
The judge presiding over the case of an Afghan man who could face the death penalty for converting to Christianity said on Sunday the case against him had flaws and had been referred back to prosecutors. The row over the man, Abdur Rahman, 40, jailed this month for abandoning Islam, threatens to create a rift between Afghanistan and the United States and other Western backers who have been calling for the man's release. "The case, because of some technical as well as legal flaws and shortcomings, has been referred back to the prosecutor's office," the judge, Ansarullah Mawlavizada, told Reuters. He declined to elaborate on the flaws or say if the review would delay the trial, which had been due to begin in coming days. Rahman, detained this month for converting to Christianity, told an Italian newspaper from his Kabul jail cell that he was ready to die for his new faith. Death is the punishment stipulated by sharia, or Islamic law, for apostasy -- abandonment of the faith. The Afghan legal system is based on a mixture of civil and sharia law. The government is trying to satisfy Western demands for the man's release, while not angering powerful conservatives at home who have demanded a trial and death sentence under Islamic law. Officials in President Hamid Karzai's government declined to comment, except to say discussions on a solution were going on. "I'm hopeful something will be worked out," said one. Officials and analysts say they do not expect Rahman to be executed. Mawlavizada said earlier that Rahman's mental state could be taken into account. Rahman has denied he is mentally unstable but a prosecutor preparing the case him said he would be examined. "He will undergo a medical examination tomorrow for the reported mental issue," said the prosecutor, Zemarai, who uses only one name.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE"
U.S. President George W. Bush has urged Afghanistan to show it respects religious freedom and resolve the case quickly. Several other countries with troops in Afghanistan, including Canada, Italy, Germany and Australia, have voiced concern. Some foreign critics have urged that their troops be withdrawn. But the foreign pressure on Afghanistan has only been met in Afghanistan by threats of rebellion if the government gives in and frees Rahman. Rahman told a preliminary hearing 10 days ago he had become a Christian while working for an aid group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan 15 years ago. He later lived in Germany before returning to Afghanistan. He was detained after his family told authorities he had converted, apparently following a family dispute involving two daughters, a judicial official said. "I don't want to die. But if God decides, I am ready to face up to my choices, all the way," he was quoted as saying in Sunday's La Repubblica newspaper. The Italian newspaper conducted the interview by sending Rahman written questions via a human rights worker who visited him in jail outside Kabul. Rahman said he would defend himself in court as no lawyer would want to, and that he did not want to be forced to leave Afghanistan, a possible option if he is allowed to go free. Defying the conservative clamor, a newspaper made the first public call in Afghanistan for Rahman's release, saying the country could not ignore international opinion when it needed support to fight terrorism and rebuild. "Afghanistan cannot live in isolation," said the Outlook newspaper, which is funded by a member of parliament who led a faction during civil war in the 1990s.
By Sayed Salahuddin

IRAN'S NUCLEAR STEPS QUICKEN, DIPLOMATS SAY: TEHRAN REPORTEDLY IS GEARING UP FOR URANIUM ENRICHMENT. A SPLIT IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL MAY IMPEDE EFFORTS TO HALT THE PROGRAM - ALISSA J. RUBIN AND MAGGIE FARLEY (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 25)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/l...1,1197096.story

MISSION IMPROBABLE: EVEN THE NEOCONS, WHO LONG FOR WAR WITH IRAN, CONCEDE IT ISN?T FEASIBLE - SCOTT MCCONNELL (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE)
http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_03_27/feature.html

TOWARD A STRATEGY FOR REGIME CHANGE - ALEX ALEXIEV (FOCUS NEWS, MARCH 25): What needs to be done immediately is for the United States to formulate and begin executing a comprehensive strategy that aims to prevent or delay as long as possible the acquisition of a nuclear capability by Iran as the first step and effect regime change in Tehran as the ultimate objective.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?focus=a...aid=7846&acat=5

IRAN: NUKE TREATY MESS REACHES CRITICAL MASS - KAVEH L AFRASIABI (ASIA TIMES, MARCH 25): The Iran nuclear crisis carries both positive and negative potential with respect to the non-proliferation regime, and its eventual outcome is not pre-fixed; rather, it depends on the will and acumen of leaders and decision-makers who are involved in this crisis threatening the world peace.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC25Ak02.html

ISRAEL, AL QAEDA AND IRAN - MARJORIE COHN (TRUTHOUT, MARCH 23): Since George W. Bush gave his "axis of evil" speech, he invaded Iraq, changed its regime, and created a quagmire reminiscent of Vietnam. His administration is now sending clear signals that Iran is next in line for regime change. The raison d'être: Iran's nuclear program, an al Qaeda connection, and protecting Israel.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032306Z.shtml

CHINA AND AMERICA: CONVINCE ME -- PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BEGINS AT HOME - TOM PLATE (PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES, MARCH 21): Rather than seeking to enlist Asians in a China-hedging coalition, our national government needs to enlist the American people in a huge and historic national effort to understand how to maximize the harmony and minimize the friction. Public diplomacy -- for the all-important China question -- best begins at home, not abroad. We have to convince ourselves of what our vision is before we can convince anyone else of what their vision ought to be.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/columns.asp?parentid=41291
VIA
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/ (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)

IN THE NAME OF THE IRANIAN PEOPLE - REGIME CHANGE OR REGIME REFORM? - HOOSHANG AMIRAHMADI (PAYVAND, IRAN, MARCH 24): To complement the international isolation of Iran, the Bush Administration will put into action a funding package and actively "support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom.? The fund will be used to "empower civil society" and "promote democracy" in Iran, increase satellite TV and Radio broadcasting to the country, expand outreach to young and professional Iranians, and enhance communication for public diplomacy. As one official said, the Administration hopes to use the fund to "deepen" ties with the Iranian people and initiate a political movement in Iran akin to the Polish "solidarity model."
http://www.payvand.com/news/06/mar/1208.html

IT'S US POLICY THAT INFLAMES THE ARAB WORLD: BLAMING THE ISRAEL LOBBY - JOSEPH MASSAD (COUNTERPUNCH): Even without the pathetic and ineffective efforts at US propaganda in the guise of the television station Al-Hurra, or Radio Sawa and the now-defunct Hi magazine, not to mention US-paid journalists and newspapers in Iraq and elsewhere, a whole army of Arabic newspapers and state-television stations, not to mention myriad satellite television stations celebrate the US and its culture, broadcast American programmes, and attempt to sell the US point of view as effectively as possible encumbered only by the limitations that actual US policies in the region place on common sense. Note: Per its title, article also discusses the ?Israel lobby? controversy (see below items 51-54.
http://www.counterpunch.org/massad03252006.html

ESOPOTAMIAN SPEAKERS NEEDED: DETAILS OF THE WORK LIFE OF THE PRESS ATTACHÉ AT U.S. EMBASSY BAGHDAD - PAUL D. KRETKOWSKI (BEACON, MARCH 23): An account of time spent in Baghdad by Robert J. Callahan, a Foreign Service Officer who was the press attaché at the American Embassy makes several interesting points, including language environment for Americans working in Iraq -- in government, relief organizations, the media -- is even more complex than generally understood.
http://softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com/ (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)

NEIGHBORHOOD BRIEFING The Community Connections program, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and administered by World Learning, is designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values. It seeks to establish links with communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/121602

U.S. REVOKES VISA OF PAKISTANI SENATOR: MUSHARRAF CRITIC WAS TO BE STATE DEPT. GUEST - SHANKAR VEDANTAM (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 25): Sana Ullah Baloch, who had been invited by the State Department last year and issued a visa, was told recently by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad that he could not attend a State Department-sponsored program on accountability in government and business and that a visa he had already received had been revoked.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032401723.html

BY FORCE OF DEAD HABIT: MUSHARRAF'S FLASHY PEACEMAKING HAS ITS FLAWS, BUT THAT'S NO REASON TO SWITCH OFF - PREM SHANKAR JHA (OUTLOOK, INDIA, MARCH 24): New Delhi has reservations about both Musharraf?s style of public diplomacy and the studied vagueness of his prescriptions.
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodna...=Col+Prem&sid=1
SUBSCRIPTION NEEDED

BOUND, BLINDFOLDED AND DEAD: THE FACE OF ATROCITY IN BAGHDAD - JEFFREY GETTLEMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 25): In the last month, hundreds of men have been kidnapped, tortured and executed in Baghdad. Many Sunnis, who used to be the most anti-American community in Iraq, are asking for American help.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/internat...artner=homepage

MILITIAS KILL MORE IRAQIS THAN "TERRORISTS": US ENVOY (ISLAMONLINE.NET & NEWS AGENCIES) - US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday, March 25, that militias, many with strong ties to powerful Shiite leaders and well entrenched in security and police forces, are killing more Iraqis than "terrorists," urging Iraqi leaders to rein them in.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/20...article06.shtml

IT'S ALREADY BEGUN: THE BATTLE FOR BAGHDAD - PATRICK COCKBURN (COUNTERPUNCH, MARCH 25-26): Already Baghdad resembles Beirut at the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, when Christians and Muslims fought each other for control of the city.
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick03252006.html

A PROFESSOR'S BLEAK VIEW OF IRAQ'S FUTURE ? (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 25): "Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq" (Cornell), by Prof. Ahmed S. Hashim of the United States Naval War College, is a pessimistic analysis of the war that is causing controversy ahead of its May publication.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/weekinreview/26QandA.html

THE GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ: WE CAN'T HEAR IT -- THE BOMBS ARE TOO LOUD - JOHN DICKERSON (SLATE, MARCH 24): Reporters trying to cover the good news in Iraq face a formidable obstacle in the continual and overwhelming bad news. Journalists are kept busy covering explosions, mass killings, reprisals, and kidnappings, which a recent State Department report called "a daily occurrence throughout all regions and sectors of society."
http://www.slate.com/id/2138622/

A BALANCE SHEET FOR AMERICA'S IRAQ - SAMI MOUBAYED (ASIA TIMES, MARCH 25): Sadly, what probably Iraqis need is not a Saddam, but a powerful man who has the will and ability to be forceful on all sects and bring everybody under the strict authority of the central government. This is a concept that must be accepted by Iraqi politicians and the US administration. Otherwise, Iraq will remain in a state of civil war that could become one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 21st century -- despite the thundering assurances of Bush.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC25Ak03.html

Is Britain's Labour selling lordships?
A donor controversy has revived debate on how politics should be funded
there. By Mark Rice-Oxley
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0327/p04s01-woeu.html?s=hns


Israeli right nips at Kadima
The moderates are expected to win Tuesday's vote, but the right is
gaining. By Ilene R. Prusher
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0327/p06s02-wome.html?s=hns

Two faces of democracy: Belarus, Ukraine
The 'freest' vote ever was held in Ukraine Sunday. But Belarus is
cracking down on opponents. By Fred Weir
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0327/p07s03-woeu.html?s=hns

Backstory: Argentina's indigenous shadows
A nation that cultivates a European image barely sees the dwindling
culture that was here first. By Richard O'Mara
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0327/p20s01-woam.html?s=hns

March 27, 2006
Reform Leader Suffers Setback in Ukraine Vote
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
KIEV, Ukraine, Monday, March 27 — President Viktor A. Yushchenko, who led a wave of popular protest to office promising a freer Ukraine aligned with Europe and the United States, suffered a stunning political defeat in parliamentary elections on Sunday, leaving him weakened and his reformist policies in doubt.

Mr. Yushchenko called the vote for a new and newly empowered Parliament "the first fair, democratic elections in Ukraine," and his party appeared to have been routed.

Nearly a year and a half after the protests and international pressure swept Mr. Yushchenko to the presidency, his party fell far behind not only the party of the man he beat for the top job, Viktor F. Yanukovich, but also the party of his former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, according to an independent survey of voters leaving the polls, announced by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, after voting ended at 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Mr. Yanukovich's Party of Regions, which the survey showed with 33 percent of the vote, was poised to win the largest bloc of seats in the 450-seat Parliament, but not enough to win control outright. Ms. Tymoshenko's bloc received 22 percent, while Mr. Yushchenko's party, Our Ukraine, trailed in a distant third place, with only 13 percent, according to the survey.

Mr. Yanukovich, the former prime minister whose supporters were accused of having rigged the presidential race against Mr. Yushchenko in November 2004, declared "a decisive victory," using the sort of language that rallied those against him and his patron, the former president, Leonid D. Kuchma. "Ukraine made its choice," he said. "Its choice is freedom, democracy, stability and confidence in the future."

Mr. Yanukovich's strength is less a reflection of his political successes than it is of the failings of Mr. Yushchenko, whose reputation at home has suffered from one problem after another despite his image abroad as a reform-minded democrat.

His inability to help improve the weak economy and lessen the country's reliance on Russian gas, which caused painful shortages this winter in a price dispute, deeply hurt him.

The election results set the stage for a period of political jockeying that could last for days or even weeks before a new government is formed. Much will depend on the success of an array of smaller parties that needed to win at least 3 percent of the vote to secure seats.

The voting was the first electoral test of the sweeping changes Mr. Yushchenko promised during the huge street protests that came to be known as the "Orange Revolution."

If the results of the voter survey hold, the election will underscore the disastrous turnaround in Mr. Yushchenko's political fate, leaving him forced to compromise.

At stake are Mr. Yushchenko's stated policy goals, including integrating Ukraine into the European Union and NATO. Mr. Yanukovich's party has promised to restore economic stability and forge closer ties with Russia.

The election has added significance for Ukraine, a country of 47 million on the edge of a newly expanded European Union, because of a political compromise that cleared the way for Mr. Yushchenko's presidency. Under constitutional changes adopted then, the new Parliament will have the power to choose the prime minister and most of the cabinet, though Mr. Yushchenko will retain control over foreign affairs and security ministries.

Mr. Yushchenko's party now faces a choice of whether to repair the fractured coalition with Ms. Tymoshenko, who served as his first prime minister until a falling out amid infighting over policy and accusations of corruption, or possibly to face a hostile government. Together, their parties still drew more votes than Mr. Yanukovich's, according to the voter survey, but her showing increased her leverage in the talks.

Without Ms. Tymoshenko's support, Mr. Yushchenko's only other choice would be an improbable alliance with Mr. Yanukovich. The president remained noncommittal on Sunday, saying in televised remarks that he was considering "all kinds of various combinations."

Later, though, as the gravity of his party's poor showing became clear, Mr. Yushchenko's aides said they were prepared to revive the "orange" coalition. The mood at the party's headquarters was funereal, despite rock bands that performed on the central square of Kiev, the capital, and videos that evoked the 2004 protests there.

A scheduled appearance by the current prime minister and leader of the party, Yury I. Yekhanurov, was abruptly canceled without explanation early Monday morning.

Ms. Tymoshenko, by contrast, clearly relished a result that provided a measure of vengeance after her dismissal last September. She said those who supported the Orange Revolution were still a majority — now led by her, her remarks suggested, though she stopped short of declaring her insistence on becoming prime minister again.

"I would not like us to let the people down again," she said.

Although Mr. Yanukovich's party complained of widespread irregularities ahead of Sunday's vote, including names missing from voter lists or Russian ones mistranslated into Ukrainian, there were few immediate reports of fraud or significant disruptions. But long lines formed as voters slogged through a ballot with 45 parties, and a homemade firebomb damaged one polling place in the Kiev region.

For many of those who voted, the significance was not in the results, but in the process. They described a Ukraine that was freer and more democratic, if also unruly and still divided along the same ethnic, social and political lines of 2004.

"It is already a big victory," Mr. Yushchenko said, putting the best face on his party's performance.

The survey of voters was carried out for the Democratic Initiatives Foundation by the Razumkov Center and the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, which is part of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Final results are not expected at least until late Monday, and perhaps later.

Critics of Mr. Yushchenko's performance as president welcomed the freedom of choice.

Maria I. Kompaneyets, 63, said that she voted for Mr. Yanukovich in 2004, but that she had hopes that Mr. Yushchenko would use his popular mandate to improve life in Ukraine, especially the economy and pensions, recurrent complaints among those less well off.

"Nothing changed, at least nothing changed for better, neither in the country nor in our own life," she said, as she voted with her husband, Pyotr. "Of course we had hopes. So much had been said in those days. Who could expect that it would turn out so bad?"

Nikolai Khalip contributed reporting for this article.



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Ukraine Opposition Leads in Vote, Exit Poll Shows Bloomberg
The largest Ukrainian opposition party won the first parliamentary elections to be held following the Orange Revolution less than fifteen months ago, an exit poll showed. The Regions Party of Viktor Yanukovych, who wants to keep the country out of NATO and forge closer ties with Russia, had 33 percent of the vote, according to the exit poll released immediately after the end of voting today by the Democratic Initiatives research group. A party led by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who defeated Yanukovych in a re-run of disputed presidential elections in December 2004, finished third with 14 percent, the poll said. At stake is the future direction of the former Soviet republic. Yushchenko, 52, seeks to join the World Trade Organization, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, sell more state assets and woo foreign investors. Yanukovich, 55, has found support from voters who say the current government hasn't lived up to its promises to boost living standards and curb corruption. A political force led by former Premier Yulia Timoshenko was second, with 23 percent support, the poll showed. The poll surveyed 19,766 people through 6 p.m. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.

Crowded Field
Only six parties out of 45 made it past the three percent threshold needed to make it into the 450-seat parliament, according to the poll. The Central Electoral Committee in Kiev will begin releasing official results at 2 a.m. tomorrow. The Socialist Party had 5.4 percent, while the Communist Party took 3.4 percent, according to the poll. The Progressive Socialists Party of Natalia Vitrenko also had 3.4 percent, the poll said. The margin of error for the smaller parties is plus or minus 1 percent. Turnout of the 36.8 million eligible voters was over 58 percent as of 9 p.m. in Kiev., the Central Election Commission announced. No significant problems with the vote were reported. A new cabinet will enjoy broader power, with some authority being transferred from the president to parliament, including naming of the prime minister. The parliament's mandate will increase to five years from four previously. Optimism fostered by the revolution has dissipated amid slowing economic growth, accelerating inflation and a split between Yushchenko and Timoshenko after allegations of corruption. Voters today in the nation of 47 million also selected a mayor of Kiev and regional parliaments and city councils.
Russia-backed opposition leads in Ukraine - exit polls Reuters.uk
Ukraine vote may undermine Orange Revolution, polls suggest CBC News
Reuters Canada - Christian Science Monitor - Voice of America - The Moscow Times - all 603 related

EU cohesion fund needed to cement relationship Swissinfo, Switzerland
Switzerland's relationship with the European Union could suffer if voters refuse to contribute to the EU's enlargement eastwards, says the German ambassador. Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss echoed the diplomat's comments, criticising the rightwing Swiss People's Party for calling for a nationwide vote on the issue. Andreas von Stechow, Germany's new ambassador to Switzerland, told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that a "no" vote to the Swiss financial contribution to the so-called EU Cohesion Fund would damage Switzerland's reputation as a negotiating partner. The fund has helped EU member states reduce economic and social disparities and stabilise their economies since 1994. After the latest enlargement of the EU in 2004, the European Commission requested the Swiss make a financial contribution. Most of the ten newest EU members are former communist bloc states in eastern Europe. Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, pledged SFr1 billion ($760 million) to the fund after it signed a second set of bilateral accords with the Union in May 2004. The commission has said in the past that the financial contribution had to be seen in the context of Switzerland benefiting from access to the EU's enlarged internal market and to a number of EU programmes and activities. "The Swiss government has been right in saying that if Switzerland was going to benefit from the EU's enlargement to the east, then it had to offer some kind of compensation," said von Stechow.

Challenge
The Swiss parliament approved the funding during its last session, but immediately afterwards, rightwing parties called for a nationwide vote on the issue. The Lega dei Ticinesi group announced it would challenge the payment, followed by the far-right Swiss Democrats and the leading Swiss People's Party. They need to collect at least 50,000 signatures over the next three months to force a vote likely to take place next year ahead of parliamentary elections. Economics Minister Deiss criticised the People's Party decision to call for a ballot in an interview with the SonntagsZeitung on Sunday. While he admits that the rightwing party had always fought against closer ties with the EU, he believes this time round its members were playing politics. "It's a transparent attempt to use this issue to drum up support ahead of the 2007 parliamentary elections," he said. Deiss added that as one of four government parties, the People's Party was behaving irresponsibly for tactical reasons and threatening the good relationship between Switzerland and the EU.

Loss of goodwill
The minister, a centre-right Christian Democrat, said that a refusal to contribute to the EU enlargement would cost the Swiss a huge amount of goodwill in Europe. "The economic damage would be major as our companies would have to operate in an unfriendly environment," he told the Sonntagszeitung. According to Deiss, a refusal would also threaten a series of bilateral accords, such as the Schengen agreement on the free movement of people. "The EU or EU-member states could decide not ratify such an accord," he added. For the economics minister, the contribution to the EU fund is not an entry fee to new markets, but a gesture of solidarity and a defence of Switzerland's own economic interests. "Small gestures are sometimes important, just like an unexpected phone call or a bouquet of flowers can contribute a lot to a good relationship," he said.
EU cohesion fund needed to cement relationship NZZ Online
all 4 related »

Guantanamo tribunals under court scrutiny Yahoo! NEWS
Osama bin Laden's former driver is at the heart of a U.S. Supreme Court case this week that could determine whether President George W. Bush has the power to use military tribunals in his war on terrorism. The case, focusing on the war crimes tribunals for prisoners at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, also will weigh the balance of power between the presidency and the courts. In 90 minutes of arguments on Tuesday, the session could produce the most significant ruling on presidential war powers since the end of World War Two. "Reduced to its essence, the government's argument is that the federal judiciary has no real power to review actions taken by the president in the name of fighting terrorism," wrote University law professor Neal Katyal, who is defending bin Laden's former driver-bodyguard, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. In revisiting Bush's policies in the war on terrorism for the first time in nearly two years, the Supreme Court also will take up a second important issue on whether Guantanamo prisoners can go to court in the United States to enforce the protections of the Geneva Convention. The Bush administration says the president has the power to create the military tribunals and the protections of the Geneva Convention do not apply. In the past, the Supreme Court has provided a check on the president's powers in the war on terrorism. Before the justices can rule on either issue, they must decide a third crucial issue -- whether a recent law stripped the court of its jurisdiction over the appeal by a Yemeni accused of being Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver. The Detainee Treatment Act, signed by Bush on December 30, severely restricts the ability of prisoners at Guantanamo to bring challenges in federal court. The Bush administration argued the law applied to all existing cases and that the Supreme Court must dismiss Hamdan's appeal without deciding the key issues. Hamdan's attorneys disagreed. They said the U.S. Congress did not intend to strip the court of the power to decide challenges to the lawfulness of the tribunals.

SCALIA QUESTIONS RIGHTS
During the weekend Newsweek magazine reported Justice
Antonin Scalia in a private meeting in Switzerland dismissed the idea that Guantanamo detainees have constitutional rights. Critics complained that he was prejudging the issue and should step aside, although there was no indication he would. Formally called military commissions, the special tribunals were authorized by Bush after the September 11 attacks and have been criticized by human rights groups as being fundamentally unfair. Katyal said Bush lacked the authority to establish the tribunals, based on the president's inherent powers or the joint resolution authorizing military force that the U.S. Congress approved after the September 11 attacks. "Here, the president seeks not merely to detain temporarily but to dispense life imprisonment and death through a judicial system of his own design," Katyal told the court in a written brief filed on March 14. But Solicitor General Paul Clement of the U.S. Justice Department argued the United States throughout its history has used military commissions to try violations of the law of war. "Ninety years ago, in revising the articles of war, Congress recognized that historic practice and approved its continuing use," he said. "And this court upheld the use of military commissions during and after World War Two." Clement repeated Bush's position that the Geneva Convention does not cover or give prisoner-of-war status to al Qaeda members like Hamdan. The Hamdan case will be heard by eight justices. Chief Justice John Roberts has removed himself because before joining the Supreme Court, he was part of a U.S. appeals court panel that ruled against Hamdan. A 4-4 tie would not produce a ruling on the merits but would affirm the appeals court decision for the government. In June 2004, the court dealt the administration a stinging defeat by ruling that Guantanamo prisoners could bring challenges in U.S. courts and that Americans held as enemy combatants must be allowed to contest their detention.
By James Vicini

Pacifist Japan Puts Troops Under Unified Command
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Pacifist_J...ed_Command.html

Tokyo (AFP) Mar 28, 2006 - Japan placed its ground, air and sea forces under a new integrated chain of command Monday, hoping to improve efficiency in the face of threats from North Korea and terrorism. In a major change, the Self-Defense Force, which was set up in 1954 after a defeated Japan was forced to renounce war, abolished the separate commands for each service.

Ukraine Teeters Between Two Futures After Voting

KIEV, Ukraine-Two former allies in the Orange Revolution may unite
again to form a ruling coalition - or one may join with its former
nemesis. By David Holley.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ez1...Io30G2B0HPKY0Ee


Russia's Stance on Neighbors Irks U.S.

WASHINGTON-In another sign of friction with Moscow, a Bush
administration official criticizes its approach to elections in
Belarus and Ukraine. By Paul Richter.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ez1...Io30G2B0HPKZ0Ef


China's Clash of Cultures in Cyberspace

BEIJING-A blogger's video spoof of a big-budget film is swept up
in the debate over censorship and the freedom to speak one's mind
on the Internet. By Ching-Ching Ni.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ez1...Io30G2B0HPKa0Em

Israelis vote, polls predict Olmert victory Yahoo! NEWS
Israelis voted on Tuesday in an election seen as a referendum on uprooting some West Bank settlements while enlarging others to impose Israel's final borders if peacemaking with the Palestinians stays frozen. Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party is expected to win, aims unilaterally to dismantle remote settlements by 2010 and move thousands of dislodged settlers to bigger blocs on occupied land Palestinians want for a state. Some 20,000 police and volunteers were on patrol for possible Palestinian bombings as Israelis voted. In southern Israel, two Israeli Arab shepherds were killed in a suspected rocket attack from Gaza, medics said. The army said it was investigating whether the rocket had been fired on Tuesday or had lain unexploded until set off by the shepherds. Opinion polls have shown Kadima will win some 34 seats, enough to form a governing coalition in the 120-member parliament. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon founded Kadima last November before he suffered a stroke and went into a coma. Unilateralism appeals to many Israelis worn down by a five-year-old Palestinian uprising and concerned by the rise to power of Hamas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the Islamist militant group won elections in January. "I'm in favor of some withdrawals. I hope there won't be any more wars," said Tovah Weiss, an elderly woman in Jerusalem who said she voted for Kadima. Israelis were voting a day after Hamas presented its cabinet to the Palestinian parliament for approval, showing no sign of softening its stance on the Jewish state. Hamas is formally sworn to Israel's destruction. Media exit polls will be issued after balloting ends at 10 p.m. (3.00 a.m. EST). For Olmert, victory would mean approval of "consolidation," his term for the go-it-alone steps he plans should Hamas refuse to recognize Israel, disarm and accept interim peace accords. The World Court has ruled that all settlements are illegal. Israel disputes this. "These elections will determine the state's character, its borders and moral identity," elder statesman and Kadima candidate Shimon Peres said after voting. Palestinians condemn Olmert's proposal, saying it would destroy any prospects for peace and deny them a viable state by grabbing land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. One Hamas official said all major Israeli political parties were hostile toward the Palestinians. "We will confront whatever is the result of the election by uniting against the occupier and against the Israeli aggression ... by all possible means," said lawmaker Mushir al-Masri.

UPHEAVAL
The trauma for settlers of any withdrawal from land they see as a biblical birthright could dwarf that of last year's Gaza pullout, which Sharon championed in a reversal of policy. Some 60,000 West Bank settlers could be affected by Olmert's plan, far more than the 8,500 removed from Gaza. Around 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Israeli right-wingers say removing more settlements would reward and encourage Palestinian violence. Opinion polls published at the close of a lackluster but high-stakes campaign showed the centre-left Labor Party running second, with about 21 seats, making it a likely coalition partner for Kadima. The right-wing Likud party was touted to take some 14 seats. Turnout after a few hours of voting was 9.9 percent of registered voters, the lowest in any Israel election but close to the last polls in 2003. Analysts say turnout could be crucial in deciding the shape of a coalition government. Olmert's policy of imposing Israel's borders on its own terms is incompatible with a peace "road map," which envisaged a cessation of violence and the start of mutual steps leading to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Neither side has fulfilled its commitments under the plan sponsored by the "Quartet" of Middle East mediators -- Russia, the United States, the
European Union and the United Nations.
By Dean Yates

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC29Ak01.html
Talking to the enemy
By Iason Athanasiadis

BAGHDAD - The press conference room inside Baghdad's Green Zone is an improvised tangle of television wires snaking along the floor of the trailer. At the far end of the room, nine US senators led by Vietnam War veteran and presidential hopeful John McCain stand in front of the made-for-TV background featuring American and Iraqi flags abutting a State Department logo.



"We have conveyed to them [Iraqi politicians] a sense of urgency," McCain announces. McCain is alluding to the underlying concerns bedeviling negotiations between the American occupying authority and Iraq's politicians to form a government, that a stable national unity government must be put in place if the country is not to fall further apart.

The US's position has been complicated by the killing of at least 40 worshipers in a Shi'ite community hall near a mosque in Sadr City, a large Shi'ite ghetto in Baghdad and support base for powerful Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army. The US has repeatedly urged the government to disband militias linked to political parties. The victims are believed to have been killed in an operation involving combined US and Iraqi forces.

The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the Shi'ite bloc with the largest number of seats in parliament, promptly called for the US occupation to turn over control of all security operations to the Iraqi government. Some UIA politicians also indicated that they now wanted to pull out of the protracted talks to form a government that have dragged on since elections in January.

Increasingly, it is dawning on Washington that the US must leave Iraq sooner rather than later. "I think they want us out, but not now," McCain says. "And we want out."

And to do this, the US has had to turn to Iran, with which it has had no diplomatic relations since 1979, which it accuses of developing a nuclear weapons program and which it consistently accuses of meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Stepping out of the press conference in Baghdad, one of the senators told Asia Times Online that talks with Iran "have been ongoing for some time and I feel that they've reached some tentative agreement". This confirms an earlier comment by a European diplomat in Tehran who told Asia Times Online that the "talks have been going on for some time through the Iranian and US embassies in Kabul".

The US Embassy in Baghdad, however, denies that the talks have begun.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted on Monday by the official IRNA news agency as saying that Iran would talk with the US to pave the way for the withdrawal of US forces from the country.

"Although Tehran does not trust Washington, it is seriously concerned about the repercussions of wrong US policies in Iraq, which is the main reason it has accepted Iraqi officials' request that it hold negotiations with the US," Asefi said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has confirmed that the US will talk to Iran about Washington's accusations of Iranian destabilization of Iraq.

The political deadlock and rising violence that prompted the Bush administration to open talks with Tehran have also deepened the rift between Shi'ite prime minister-elect Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Talabani, a Kurd, was angered by a trip by Jaafari to Ankara to meet arch-rival Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey's diplomats have increasingly sought to build an alliance with Iraq's Shi'ite community as they have seen traditional allies such as the Turkmens failing to project their power at the ballot box.

"I hope the US and Iran will start their meetings and talks as soon as possible and the knot in relations between the two countries would be untied through the negotiations," Jaafari was reported by IRNA as saying.

But on Sunday, Talabani demanded that no negotiations take place over his head, according to American officials in Baghdad. His objection centered on the absence of an Iraqi government. Talabani's Kurdish constituency has increasingly accused Tehran of hiding behind attempts to destabilize the north, such as the recent riots in a small town called Halabjah that was the target of a gas-attack by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

These allegations mirror similar charges made by Iranian officials in the aftermath of the rumbling ethnic violence that has plagued Iran's western Kurdistan and Khuzestan regions, along the long border with Iraq.

Despite being Iranian citizens, the Arab and Kurdish inhabitants of these provinces have been accused by Tehran of receiving aid from the British Army occupying southern Iraq. Halabjah could be an example of Iran demonstrating that it can hit back, not only in Shi'ite southern Iraq, but also in the till now peaceful north. On Monday, more than 40 people were killed by a bomb explosion set of by a suicide attacker inside a joint US-Iraqi military base in the northern city of Mosul.

An emerging alliance between Iraq's Kurdish political elite and Sunni politicians has not gone unnoticed in Tehran, which - other than supporting Iraq's majority Shi'ite community - has also cultivated both sides of the Kurdish leadership.

The Kurdish "defection" and Iran's search for new strategic partners may have been part of the reason why Tehran is now talking with US Ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad. These follow negotiations conducted between Tehran and Washington in the run-up and aftermath of the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that were kept secret at the time.

"Informally they are cooperating with each other," an Iranian academic told Asia Times Online. "It's better for Iran to see a balanced government than a Shi'ite state which could cause instability in the region. Even Iran is happy to see some important Sunnis taking key posts. It's not good that we put all our eggs into one basket."

While Tehran publicly complains about the US presence in Iraq, the Bush administration-led war against Saddam toppled Iran's bitterest adversary, against which it fought a bloody eight-year war in the 1980s that claimed the lives of an estimated million soldiers on both sides.

Historically, Iran has never managed to expand its influence in the region without the support of foreign powers. The Shah's closest ally was the US. Before that, the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas allowed the British Empire into his sphere of influence so they could expel the Portuguese from the strategic Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. As current allies Russia and China become decreasingly supportive of Tehran, it appears to be turning towards Washington.

Speaking to the Asia Times Online last year, a former deputy foreign minister said that it is "neither in Iran's interest to have a stable Iraq, nor do we want a fragmented Iraq. Ambiguity is the cornerstone of the policy."

Iason Athanasiadis is an Iran-based correspondent.

(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC29Ak02.html
Fighting with friends
By Ehsan Ahrari

The US military is now fighting with Shi'ite militias, raising the question of whether this is a deliberate attempt by the Bush administration to diminish the power of these militias, or an unwitting consequence of appearing to be impartial in the growing sectarian violence in the country. Either way, the result is that the US is alienating Shi'ites, on whom they have, up to now, pinned most of their hopes for stabilizing the country.

On Sunday, at least 40 Iraqis were killed after elite US and Iraqi troops staged an operation in Sadr City in Baghdad, the stronghold of influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army, a militia with which the US has clashed before. Police said the incident erupted after the Mehdi Army tried to stop troops from entering a mosque, but accounts vary widely.

The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the dominant Shi'ite bloc in parliament, called for the US to turn over control of all security operations to the Iraqi government, while some UIA politicians said they would pull out of the talks to form a government.

Shi'ites in Iraq look on US forces in their country as a necessary evil: a reality that will help cement their rule, but still an "evil" force given its pro-Israeli posture. The Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the powerful cleric to whom Shi'ites defer, probably has the best idea of exploiting the American presence in his country: he has used it to institutionalize Shi'ite dominance, with a clear Islamist twist.

The fly in the ointment, from the Shi'ite perspective, was the decision of Sunnis in January to participate in elections. Consequently, they emerged as a respectable bloc, with every intention of becoming involved in the intricate game of coalition-building following the elections. This process is still under way.

In this sense, the elections became extremely crucial. The UIA lost its dominance of the previous election. So did the Kurds. However, in the horse-trading to choose a premier, a major split emerged among the Shi'ites and between the Kurds when Ibrahim al-Jaafari was elected by one vote, after Muqtada supported him.

Kurdish President Jalal Talabani, although he holds a largely ceremonial position, was unhappy with the choice of Jaafari, and has said he will not accept him. These are some of the undercurrents that are playing an important role in the inability of the various Iraqi factions to formulate a national government.

To understand the growing US-Shi'ite rift, one has to keep several factors in mind. The Bush administration is increasingly wary of the growing power of Muqtada. The young and relatively junior cleric has proved to be an adept political actor. By maneuvering the election of Jaafari as prime minister designate, he clearly established himself as a power that the US military had to reckon with.

He also started making confusing statements regarding Iran, with which the US has signaled it will hold talks on Iraq's future. Muqtada has stated that Iraq would not follow the Iranian example of adopting a vilayat-e-faqih (rule of the clergy) model of governance. On other occasions, he showed a clear affinity toward Iran by stating that any US attack on Iran would be deemed as an attack on Shi'ite identity.

Muqtada has also made a point of building an alliance with Sunni groups. The Sunnis don't exactly trust him, but they have ample reason to have more positive feelings toward him than toward other Shi'ite leaders who are much closer to Iran. These Shi'ites also want Iraq to be carved into virtually independent zones, something that would marginalize the Sunnis, certainly economically, as they would be excluded from oil-rich areas.

As the US becomes focused on creating a "national unity" government, Muqtada's role is appearing as a major obstacle. Besides, the bloody role played by Shi'ite militias in Iraq has also provided ample reasons for the US military to confront the Mehdi Army. Sunday's clash might have been the moment of showdown that most observers have been expecting.

Whether this is an isolated incident, or the beginning of an era of confrontation between Shi'ites and US forces, is unclear. There is little doubt, though, that US forces have shown their resolve to confront Muqtada.

Considering the growing combustibility of the political situation in Iraq and amid increasing speculation about the outbreak of full-blown civil war, the last thing the Bush administration needed was to confront Shi'ite forces. But this is exactly what is developing.

In the wake of the explosion at the Shi'ite Golden Dome in Samarra last month, US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has urged Shi'ite leaders to be politically accommodating toward Sunnis, even as the incident inflamed sectarian violence between the groups.

However, the Shi'ites are depicting the US diplomat's suggestion as an appeasement of Sunnis. Thus, Sunday's raid is being interpreted by Shi'ites as more evidence of strong-arm tactic used by the US government to force a concession from them regarding Sunnis, including the "real" objective of the Bush administration - to drop Jaafari as the nominee of the UIA for prime minister.

The most important aspect of the growing rift between the US and Shi'ites is that Sistani's reaction has not been forthcoming. It appears that he is unwilling to show his hand until he is convinced who is at fault in this latest development. Sistani is no fan of the American forces, but he is not likely to be critical of the Americans at this sensitive time.

There is little doubt that the Americans are not interested in unnecessarily inflaming the situation by confronting Muqtada. At the same time, they are not likely to back down if there is no unity government within the next few days. The chief culprits, in their estimation, are Muqtada, his Mehdi Army and other Shi'ite militias.

They seem to have concluded that they have reached a point when they must confront or ev