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Supreme Cowardice
By Larry Thornberry
Published 6/13/2008 12:08:17 AM
Bumble was right. The Law IS an ass.
Bumble, the officious, fat old soak of a beadle in Oliver Twist, proclaimed the law an ass for supposing that wives act under the direction of their husbands. A dodgy proposition even in 1838, the year the world first met the engaging Oliver. But since then legal asininity has been a steady growth industry. Bumble never saw the half of it.
Yesterday the al-Qaeda wing of the U.S. Supreme Court -- the firm of Stevens, Ginsburg, Souter, Kennedy, and Breyer (Why can't he stick to what he's good at -- making ice cream -- instead of making hash of American law?) -- perpetuated the latest outrage, once again creating faux-law out of left fantasies. And once again prompting Americans who are not lawyers (there are a few of us left) to ask: What the hell kind of questions are on the Bar Exam?
Thanks to lefties on the court, the latest way for foreigners to bring themselves under the umbrella of the U.S. Constitution, without the messiness and bother of trying to immigrate, or even trying to sneak across the border, is to attack U.S. forces on the field of battle. In a 5-4 decision that would have made the Queen of Hearts proud, the usual suspects decided that terrorists who engage American warriors on the field of battle are to be treated in much the same way as those accused of sticking up a liquor store in Newark.
Specifically, the prisoners at Club Gitmo, many of them the most vicious terrorists on the planet, now have access to American civilian courts, where they can challenge their incarcerations and, perhaps, eventually get sprung and return to the battle against the Great Satan.
Imagine if in 1944 Corporal Hostettler, captured at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, had been entitled to Miranda rights and a paid public defender (a larval Alan Dershowitz, perhaps). What a dandy little mess that would have been. But 1944 was well before common sense was declared unconstitutional, so no much insane process was mandated.
In all of our previous wars, combatants who've engaged American fighting men on the battle field, and who were lucky enough to be captured rather than shot or somehow vaporized, were jugged for the duration. An eminently sensible approach that kept, say, Waffen SS soldiers captured on the battlefield from returning to the fray. The need for this in wartime would seem to be so obvious that even highly trained legal scholars could grasp it.
That war is categorically different from street crime would also seem to be crystal clear, at least to those not fretted with deep legal theory and leftist politics (increasingly indistinguishable, one from the other). Missing this obvious distinction altogether, Justice Kennedy, writing for the court, gave us this stunning non sequitur: "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."
These are extraordinary times indeed when enemy combatants, in the current case hardened jihadists who've attempted to kill U.S. troops on the battlefield, are to be treated the same way as a teenage punk who tries to improve his cash flow with the aid of a ski-mask and a small-caliber handgun on an American city street.
As usual, Justice Antonin Scalia got it right in his dissent when he said the court's decision "will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to die."
Just so. Wonder if Stevens, et al., gave this a second's thought? This is another thoroughly political decision that has nothing to do with law and will weaken America's ability to resist its enemies. The five justices who saddled us with this abomination should be ashamed of themselves. But they almost certainly won't be. It's easier to teach an armadillo to make change than to shame a lefty.
Larry Thornberry is a writer living in Tampa.
The American Spectator
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Adiós, Guantánamo
By JAMES TARANTO
June 12, 2008
Wall Street Journal
"The Nation will live to regret what the Court had done today," Justice Antonin Scalia writes at the end of his dissent in Boumediene v. Bush1, the case in which a bare majority of the Supreme Court, for the first time ever, extended rights under the U.S. constitution to enemy combatants who have never set foot on U.S. soil.
It's worth noting that the nation has lived to regret things the court has done in earlier wars. In Schenck v. U.S.2 (1919), the court upheld the conviction of a Socialist Party leader for distributing an anticonscription flier3 during World War I--material that would unquestionably be protected by the First Amendment under Brandenburg v. Ohio4 (1969). In Korematsu v. U.S.5 (1944), the court held that the government had the authority to ban Japanese-Americans from certain areas of California, simply on the ground that their ethnic heritage rendered their loyalty suspect. Korematsu has never been overturned, but there is no doubt that it would be in the vanishingly unlikely event that the question ever came up again.
This war was different. Almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks, we began hearing dire warnings about threats to civil liberties. Five members of the high court seem to have internalized these warnings. As Justice Anthony Kennedy put it in his majority opinion today, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." Kennedy and his colleagues seemed determined to err on the side of an expansive interpretation of constitutional rights.
And err they did. As Justice Scalia writes:
[Today's decision] will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed. That consequence would be tolerable if necessary to preserve a time-honored legal principle vital to our constitutional Republic. But it is this Court's blatant abandonment of such a principle that produces the decision today.
In establishing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, President Bush relied on a Supreme Court precedent of more than a half century's standing, Johnson v. Eisentrager6 (1950), which held that nonresident alien enemy combatants had no right to habeas corpus. As Scalia explains:
Had the law been otherwise, the military surely would not have transported prisoners [to Guantanamo], but would have kept them in Afghanistan, transferred them to another of our foreign military bases, or turned them over to allies for detention. Those other facilities might well have been worse for the detainees themselves.
This points to a key limitation in today's ruling. The majority distinguished Guantanamo from the facility at issue in Eisentrager--a U.S.-administered prison in occupied Germany--on the ground that although the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is technically on Cuban territory, America exercises "complete jurisdiction and control" over it. Thus, detainees have constitutional rights pursuant to today's ruling only if they are held at Guantanamo.
What does Boumediene mean in practice? Almost all Guantanamo detainees already have lawyers and have petitioned for habeas corpus. Those cases will go forward in the Washington, D.C., federal trial court. The judges there will have to settle on a standard of proof, and to rule on such tricky questions as how much classified material the government is obliged to provide to terrorists and their lawyers. Since the military's existing procedures are already overly lenient--Scalia lists several cases of released detainees showing up on the battlefield--it seems unlikely that many detainees will end up winning release.
Both Barack Obama and John McCain have said they want to close down Guantanamo, and this ruling makes that outcome more likely. There is little advantage to the U.S. in sending enemy combatants to a facility where they will immediately be able to lawyer up, and indeed, Guantanamo has admitted few new detainees in the past several years. A notable exception occurred in 2006, when President Bush transferred Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and a dozen or so other "high value" detainees there--a dramatic action that helped galvanize Congress to pass the Detainee Treatment Act This turns out to have been a mistake. KSM & Co. now have "constitutional rights." Had they been kept where they were, wherever that was, this would not be the case.
It's possible that Scalia is wrong when he predicts more Americans will die as a result of this ruling. It may be that al Qaeda is a weak enough enemy that America can vanquish it even with the Supreme Court tying one hand behind our back. Anyway, keeping future detainees away from Guantanamo should prevent them from coming within the reach of the justices' pettifogging.
Perhaps decades from now we will learn that detainees ended up being abused in some far-off place because the government closed Guantanamo in response to judicial meddling. Even those who support what the court did today may live to regret it.
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121328847934668413.html
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“Report: Troubling texts at Va. Islamic school”- Violence against unbelievers, us
Comment by Jerry Gordon, American Congress for Truth blog editor.
Yesterday the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report covering the translations of 17 textbooks used by the Saudi Embassy - backed Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), a private school using County facilities in McLean, Virginia. Last month the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors extended the lease of the ISA. Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, and a Commissioner of the USCIRF, pressed for the translation of these ISA texts. We’re appreciative that she did and have posted on this controversy frequently. As revealed in the USCIRF report, the contents are appalling. The USCIRF had recommended to the State Department that this Saudi-backed institution be closed. State turned a deaf ear, and the Washington Post in an editorial took the USCIRF to task for not being ‘tolerant’. Tolerant???
Note what the USCIRF translations found in the texts used at the ISA in McLean, Virginia:
The commission said it obtained 17 of the academy’s textbooks through a variety of channels, including from members of Congress. The texts did appear to contain numerous revisions, including pages that were removed or passages that were whited out, but numerous troubling passages remained, according to the panel:
The authors of a 12th-grade text on Quranic interpretation state that apostates (those who convert from Islam), adulterers and people who murder Muslims can be permissibly killed.
The authors of a 12th-grade text on monotheism write that “(m)ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,” meaning that a Muslim can take with impunity the life and property of someone believed guilty of polytheism. According to the panel, the strict Saudi interpretation of polytheism includes Shiite and Sufi Muslims as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists.
A social studies text offers the view that Jews were responsible for the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims: “The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims).”
More generally, the panel found that the academy textbooks hold the view that the Muslim world was strong when united under a single caliph, the Arabic language and the Sunni creed, and that Muslims have grown weak because of foreign influence and internal divisions.
The books say it’s OK for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts.
This Wahhabi doctrine is being poured with unrelenting hate into the minds of youngsters attending the ISA. Let us not forget that a Valedictorian in the Class of 1999 of the ISA was convicted for plotting the assassination of President Bush.
Citizens of Fairfax County should be outraged by what the County Board of supervisors is perpetrating. All of us should be enraged that our government permits this doctrinal hatred of us to go on unabated not only at the ISA but at hundreds of Saudi financed Madrassas here in the US.
AP, June 11, 2008
McLEAN, Va. - Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.
Other passages in the school’s textbooks state that “the Jews conspired against Islam and its people” and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed “polytheists.”
The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08 school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding from the Saudi government.
The academy has come under scrutiny from critics who allege that it fosters an intolerant brand of Islam similar to that taught in the conservative Saudi kingdom. In the review, the panel recommended that the school make all of its textbooks available to the State Department so changes can be made before the next school year.(Continue Reading This Article)
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Incident Foreshadows Future Attacks in Pakistan
June 11, 2008
By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart
In a June 10 press conference, Rehman Malik, the internal affairs advisor to Pakistan’s prime minister, reported that a suicide bombing plot had been thwarted when Pakistani authorities arrested nine individuals and seized four apparent vehicle-borne improvised explosives devices (VBIEDs) containing a total of over 1,100 kilograms of explosives.
Three of the VBIEDs were recovered by authorities on June 6. Of those, two vehicles contained 400 kilograms of explosives, while the third carried a 200-kilogram load, Malik said. On the same day, authorities advised that they were searching for a fourth VBIED, which appears to be the one they recovered June 9. According to Malik, it contained 180 kilograms of explosives.
The VBIED seizures follow the June 2 bombing of the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, which left eight people dead and many more wounded. In his press conference, Malik noted that three would-be suicide bombers were among those arrested. He also noted that the militants’ attack plans were “fully mature” and that the group was close to launching attacks with the VBIEDs at the time they were arrested.
Tactically, Malik’s assessment rings true, because militant groups do not make VBIEDs unless they intend to use them. Not only is the process expensive and labor-intensive, but it is far easier to cache and conceal bulk explosives than a fully assembled VBIED. Because VBIEDs are so easily discovered, one does not leave them sitting around; they are constructed and then quickly employed. Additionally, if an improvised explosive mixture is to be used as the main explosive charge in the device, many of these mixtures are unstable and tend to degrade over time. They are best used fresh.
With these facts in mind, it is understandable that the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad issued a warning message after the June 6 seizure alerting U.S. citizens and advising them to maintain a low profile. The fact that the fourth device was seized on June 9 shows that the U.S. concern was justified.
There are several militant actors in Pakistan, ranging from foreign groups like al Qaeda, which claimed credit for the Danish Embassy attack, to domestic actors such as Baitullah Mehsud’s militant jihadist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
It is not yet clear whether the seizure of the four VBIEDs resulted from the investigation into the Danish Embassy bombing (and is therefore tied to the perpetrators of that attack), or whether the devices belonged to another actor. There is, however, some indication of their provenance based on their size. There are also several other interesting points that can be gleaned by turning a protective intelligence lens on the facts at hand.
Prior Warning
Like many other attacks, the strike against the Danish Embassy did not occur out of the blue. In early 2006, following the September 2005 publication of a series of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed, protests erupted in many parts of the Islamic world. While many Muslims protested the cartoons by boycotting Danish goods, others displayed their displeasure with violence. The Danish embassies in Beirut and Damascus were set on fire, and threats to Danes abounded in many countries. In August 2007, this outrage was inflamed again when a Swedish newspaper printed a controversial cartoon of the Prophet.
Things came to a boil again in early 2008 when Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders released a controversial film called Fitna, which harshly criticized Islam and used images of the Danish cartoons from 2005. Many Muslims were outraged by the film. Among those who reacted was Osama bin Laden, who in a March 19 statement threatened attacks against European countries. In fact, bin Laden even said the images were more provocative than killing Muslim civilians.
In the wake of these most recent threats, the Danes drew down their embassy staff in Islamabad. Recognizing that their embassy was not very secure, the Danes had many of their remaining Danish staff in Islamabad work out of hotels, which they believed were safer.
The Dutch reacted similarly and actually moved their embassy to an Islamabad hotel in mid-April. In response to the threat, security was also ramped up around European embassies, including Denmark’s, which continued to conduct many of its consular functions in its embassy building.
The Target
The Danish Embassy was located in an upscale residential neighborhood outside of Islamabad’s protected diplomatic enclave. In fact, the embassy is located not far from Luna Caprese, a restaurant that was bombed on March 15, or the Marriott hotel, which was targeted by a suicide bombing in January 2007. While its location outside the diplomatic enclave made the facility more vulnerable to attack, perhaps the most critical factors in the embassy’s vulnerability were its location in relation to the street and its construction.
The Danish Embassy is not only in a residential neighborhood — it also is a converted residence. As such, it was built accordingly and therefore not constructed of materials meant to withstand the force of an explosive attack. The vulnerability presented by this type of construction was compounded by the fact that the building was situated very close to the street. In a bombing attack, construction is important, but the only thing that truly provides protection from the effects of a very large VBIED is standoff — keeping the bomb away from the protected building. With newer U.S. Embassy buildings (such as the one in Islamabad), the structures are not only built to withstand a blast or rocket attack, but also located a significant distance from the embassy compound perimeter. This positioning is intended to ensure protection from any blast.
In contrast, the Danish Embassy in Islamabad only had a few feet separating the perimeter wall from the building itself. Due to the building’s construction and location, very little could have been done for its protection other than to close the street in front of it or at the very least attempt to control traffic. Many older embassies and consulates are situated in former residences or commercial buildings. As a result, in the realm of embassy security there is often tension between security officers, who want to shut down streets and provide standoff protection for their facilities, and the host government, which does not want further congestion in the typically crowded cities in which they are often located. In the case of the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, which was not located on a main thoroughfare, it appears that the Pakistanis did establish roadblocks to control access to the area, which contained many other potential terrorist targets.
The Attack
The vehicle used in the attack was a small, white Toyota or Suzuki. According to several media reports, the vehicle bore counterfeit Danish diplomatic license plates. The attack was caught on the Embassy’s CCTV system which, according to the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, reportedly shows the vehicle passing by the embassy, stopping and then reversing toward the building’s vehicle gate before detonating.
The location of the seat of the blast (which marks where the vehicle was when it exploded) in relation to the embassy building and gate appears to confirm this report. In fact, the brunt of the force of the explosion missed the embassy building and instead destroyed a section of the embassy’s perimeter wall adjacent to a parking lot. However, a U.N. building located across the street was not as lucky and experienced heavy damage from the explosion.
The fact that the bomber drove past his target would seem to indicate that he was poorly prepared for his mission — much to the good fortune of the Danes. Had he been able to detonate the device while on the street parallel to the embassy building, or had he been able to jump the curb and position the device directly against the perimeter wall, the damage to the embassy building would have been far worse, and the casualty count might have been higher.
Tell Stratfor What You Think
This report may be forwarded or republished on your website with attribution to www.stratfor.com
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IEA: Russia is biggest oil producer
The International Energy Agency says Russia has turned into the biggest crude oil producer, a title traditionally belonged to Saudi Arabia.
The IEA declared on Tuesday that Russia has been the biggest crude oil producer in the first quarter of 2008, extracting 9.5 million barrels per day, ahead of Saudi Arabia at 9.2 million barrels, AFP reported.
The IEA ranks the United States as the third-biggest producer with 5.1 million barrels per day, followed by Iran, pumping 4 million barrels per day
China is in fifth place with output of 3.8 million barrels per day.
In principle, Russia’s oil bonanza could continue for years: it has the world’s seventh-biggest oil reserves, at 80 billion barrels, according to BP, a British oil firm.
And oilmen reckon there are 100 billion more barrels to find—“the biggest exploration prize in the world”, in the words of Robert Dudley, the boss of TNK-BP, BP’s Russian joint venture.
(Source: PRESSTV)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=170556
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Russians Vote, but What if Stalin Wins
TV-Run Popularity Contest?
By ANDREW OSBORN
June 13, 2008; Page A8
Wall Street Journal
MOSCOW -- A Kremlin TV station is organizing a contest to identify the most significant figure in Russian history, as the government redoubles its effort to stir feelings of patriotism, a key ratings driver for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his political allies.
The list of candidates was narrowed from 500 to 50 on Thursday as Russians celebrated "Russia Day," a holiday marking the country's 1990 declaration of its sovereignty. Among the final, eclectic 50: Soviet dictator Stalin, Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and Russia's first post-Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin.
Patriotism was a theme of Mr. Putin's eight-year presidency that has been picked up by his handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev. The patriotic drive "is one of the foundations used to legitimize political power," said Denis Volkov, an expert at the Moscow-based Levada Center polling agency. "It's an attempt to say that we can choose our own history."
Mr. Volkov said state-sponsored patriotism helped fuel the feeling that Russia was seizing back its great-power status after the chaotic 1990s and boosted a feel-good factor at a time when people's living standards were improving thanks to an oil-fired economic boom. The contest coincides with the introduction of a new history textbook that tells the events of the past six decades according to the Kremlin's preferred storyline. Encouraged by Mr. Putin -- who said Stalin's purges weren't as bad as the U.S.'s dropping an atom bomb on Hiroshima -- the book presents a view of Russia's history that Kremlin aides say engenders "self-respect."
The campaign is gathering pace. Last month, for the first time in 17 years, tanks and nuclear missiles rolled across Red Square in a display of national pride. Members of the ruling party's "patriotic club" say they want Russians to have the right to fly the national flag any day of the year. A parliamentary committee on youth affairs says it wants basic military training and "patriotic" indoctrination returned to high-school curricula, resurrecting a staple of the Soviet era. The ruling party says it is creating a national children's organization that will instill patriotism from an early age.
Filmmakers are making movies that lionize heroes from Russia's distant past, such as medieval Prince Alexander Nevsky, the subject of a recent blockbuster.
Rossiya, the state-run channel organizing the "Name of Russia" contest, loosely based on a BBC competition called Great Britons, says the exercise is a serious project. Alexander Lyubimov, a prominent presenter involved with the show, says it isn't crude propaganda. "We don't do patriotic propaganda," he said in a magazine interview. "But it is an exercise in patriotic thought."
Historians were unhappy with many of the candidates' initial online biographies the channel drafted. Boris Yeltsin was described as a symbol of perestroika (that was Mikhail Gorbachev), Czar Alexander III was described as the "heaviest-drinking" emperor, and the fact that writer Leo Tolstoy didn't complete higher education was highlighted. The inclusion in the initial list of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the infamous founder of what later became the KGB, prompted questions about the nature of the contest.
Write to Andrew Osborn at andrew.osborn@wsj.com1
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121331641220270099.html
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Spanish police swoop on Russian mafia
Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:23am EDT
(Adds confirmation, details)
MADRID, June 13 (Reuters) - Spanish police have launched a nationwide operation against money laundering by a Russian criminal organisation, court sources said on Friday.
They said the operation was launched by Judge Baltasar Garzon, a high-profile figure who tried to jail former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Garzon had issued some 30 arrest warrants and at least 15 people had so far been detained by police on charges including criminal association, money laundering and tax fraud.
The operation was under way in Madrid, the Balearic islands and southern coastal cities Malaga and Marbella, amongst other places.
Those arrested had been residing in Spain for 12 years and several bank accounts were under investigation. (Reporting Emma Pinedo; Writing by Martin Roberts; Editing by Stephen Weeks)
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Victims of Communist-Stalinist regime's reprisals mark 67 years from deportations to Siberia at meeting in Chisinau
About 200 people, victims of the Communist-Stalinist regime and their relatives, participated in a meeting dedicated to the 67th anniversary of the mass deportations to Siberia, in the Railway Station's Square in Chisinau. The event started with a commemoration service for the ones who never returned. The participants kept a moment of silence and lit candles, Info-Prim Neo reports.
The president of the Association of the Deported and Political Detainees, Valentina Sturza, has said that, loaded on train cars for cattle in inhumane conditions, most of the deported on June 13, 1941, never again saw the Basarabian lands. The duty of the good-faith people is to keep the memory of thousands of innocent people "who found death in Siberia's cold lands or in Kazakhstan's deserts."
"Those cars with two small windows, with doors locked, guarded by armed soldiers held 22,648 people, 3,470 men, heads of families, were taken nobody knew where,” Valentina Sturza recalls.
For Constantin Sava, an inhabitant of Truseni village, deported at his 11 years old together with his family, everything was a calvary lasting 9 years.
The mutilated lives and lost youth of thousands of Moldovans lie on the conscience of the Soviet totalitarian regime. Returning home, the deportation victims could not regain their households, says, eye in tears, an inhabitant from Hancesti, Lidia Belorusev.
The participants have been indignant that never any Communist official has participated in such events, despite being invited.
The meeting has been joined by representatives of the Chisinau local adminsitration. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca has said Moldova has not yet reached the day to commemorate the victims of the totalitarian regime, as it is due.
According to him, the Moldovan law, which shall return the rights of the deportees, is far from being loyal with these people subjected t o so much suffering. “The compensations of 540 lei monthly are absolutely ridiculous compared with the losses the deported families suffered,” he said.
The City Hall officials committed to erect a monument to the deportees till July 2009. As for the the deported church, Dorin Chirtoaca promises this problem is also going to be solved soon.
According to official statistics, about 22,648 Basarabians were deported, of which only 10 % being still alive. Yet the victims maintain the numbers are bigger. They reason the statistics took it for granted that a deported family had three members. Yet it is known there were families with 7-8 and even 14 children.
Although a number of modifications were operated to the law on rehabilitating the victims of political reprisals, up to now, many of them cannot get the compensations for the assets confiscated in 1940-1941 and after 1944.
During Friday's meeting, state-run Radiocomunicatii re fused to offer sound-amplifying equipment, despite a relevant contract with the City Hall. The municipal authorities were told about this only an hour before the beginning of the event.
Info-Prim Neo
http://www.azi.md/print/49740/En
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Russia NATO envoy opposes Ukraine base pullout
Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:03pm EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's NATO envoy said on Thursday he did not expect his country's leaders to pull the Russian navy out of neighboring Ukraine, defying a demand by Kiev that Moscow close its Black Sea base by 2017.
The row over the base has developed into a fresh conflict between the former Soviet republics that have frequently clashed since an "Orange Revolution" in 2004 brought the pro-western President, Viktor Yushchenko, to power in Kiev.
Moscow also fiercely opposes Yushchenko's bid to push his country towards NATO membership.
"I think that in Russia there are no politicians who would agree that in their lifetime, under their leadership, the Black Sea Fleet should leave Sevastopol. That will not happen," said Dmitry Rogozin, speaking on Russian television.
Rogozin did not name the country's President Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by name.
Russia, which effectively ruled Ukraine from the mid-17th century to the end of Soviet rule in 1991 with varying degrees of autonomy, has traditionally viewed the country as part of its sphere of influence.
Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula under a lease which runs out in 2017 and Yushchenko has said Russia should end its presence there then. The port will celebrate its 225th anniversary on Saturday.
Previously part of Russia, Crimea was assigned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 by then-Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Some in Moscow have suggested its legal status could be in doubt.
"The Black Sea Fleet has no other home. So when President Yushchenko says that the Black Sea Fleet has to leave, that means the Black Sea fleet is being thrown out of its home, put out onto the street," Rogozin told the Vesti-24 television station.
"Sevastopol is not just the location of the Black Sea Fleet. Sevastopol as a town as a fortress ... was created specially for the Black Sea Fleet," he said.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was declared persona non grata in Ukraine this year after he said at celebration for the 225th anniversary of the Black Sea fleet that Russia should take back Sevastopol.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, is due to attend a function in Sevastapol on Saturday to mark the date.
(Reporting by Christian Lowe and Conor Sweeney; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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BP ups stakes by accusing Putin of failing to stop hijack by oligarchs
Terry Macalister
The Guardian,
Friday June 13 2008
Article history
BP has upped the stakes in its battle for control of its Russian joint venture, by accusing Vladimir Putin of damaging his country's reputation through failing to intervene in the escalating dispute.
John Sutherland, the BP chairman, used a press conference in Stockholm to lament the prime minister's lack of action to halt oligarchs using strong-arm tactics to try to take control of TNK-BP.
"This is just a return to the corporate raiding activities that were prevalent in Russia in the 1990s. Prime minister Putin has referred to these tactics as relics of the 1990s, but unfortunately our partners continue to use them," Sutherland said.
"The leaders of the country seem unwilling or unable to step in and stop them. This is bad for us, bad for the company, and, of course, very bad for Russia," he added.
Sutherland said the dispute between BP, which owns 50% of TNK-BP, and the oligarchs who own the other half, was about control, and possibly even ownership, of Russia's third-largest oil producer, rather than the operational matters of which the Russians have complained.
Tony Hayward, the BP chief executive, had been much more discreet when questioned 24 hours earlier about the row at a launch of a statistical review, saying the two sides remained in talks - although he admitted he was not expecting "an early resolution of a complicated issue".
Sutherland, a former EU commissioner with a formidable reputation as a political battler, threw caution to the wind by dragging in the Russian leadership. On Wednesday he had dismissed speculation by Kremlin-controlled Gazprom that oil prices could almost double to $250 per barrel as "apocalyptic".
That same day the quartet of billionaires - Mikhail Friedman and German Khan of the Alfa Group, Viktor Vekselberg, and Len Blavatnik - said they would sue the British company after it rejected their demands for more boardroom positions and influence.
They plan legal challenges in the international arbitration court in Stockholm, and in Russia. They have criticised governance at TNK-BP, which is headed by a former BP executive, Robert Dudley and have also claimed that BP had tried to buy them out.
Sources close to BP say that, on the contrary, the oligarchs themselves approached the British group, asking whether it would
consider buying out their half share. BP apparently agreed it would do so, but only if it could arrange an immediate deal to pass it on to Gazprom or another state-owned entity - a manoeuvre which was rejected by the oligarchs because it would diminish the potential price.
Both the oligarchs and BP executives seem convinced that the Kremlin is determined to continue its policies of "resource nationalism", and will at some stage make a bid to take control of TNK-BP.
TNK-BP was the largest foreign investment in Russia when set up in 2003. It is vital to BP because it accounts for a quarter of its worldwide output, and 20% of reserves. The treatment of BP is seen as a bellwether of Kremlin attitudes to foreign investors, following the effective seizure of assets from Shell at Sakhalin after a long period of destabilisation.
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This article appeared in the Guardian on Friday June 13 2008 on p31 of the Financial section. It was last updated at 00:57 on June 13 2008.
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Hydrogen Hybrid Technologies Commences Lithuanian Fleet Placement
At present, unprecedented high diesel fuel and petrol prices are forecasted in Lithuania
Last update: 9:41 a.m. EDT June 13, 2008
BOWMANVILLE, ON, June 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Hydrogen Hybrid Technologies Inc. (HYHY:
HYHY
and Canadian Hydrogen Energy are pleased to announce that preparations are under way to commence phase one of a Fleet Placement Program in Lithuania in association with a group of transportation professionals that are associated with the largest fleets in Eastern Europe.
At present, unprecedented high diesel fuel and petrol prices are forecasted in Lithuania. Specialists say that the prices can be expected to continue to rise, putting continued pressure on the Eastern European trucking industry.
HFI technology is installed as an add-on to diesel and gasoline engines where it significantly reduces a wide variety of emissions (CO, PM, HC, CO2 and NOx) while simultaneously reducing fuel consumption. HFI units are being used by long-haul transport trucks, ambulances, municipal buses and other heavy equipment, earning HFI the dominant position as the world's most widely-used on-board electrolysers. The technology is based on electrolysis and the units split water, on-board the ambulance, then vent the hydrogen and oxygen directly into the air intake of the engine. Adding hydrogen significantly improves the efficiency of combustion, in the engine, with significant financial and environmental benefits.
HFI is distributed through the world's largest retail distribution network for any hydrogen product, with over 140 Certified Installation Centres all across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Korea and the United Kingdom. Geographical distribution has been recently expanded internationally. The product is the first emission control technology to receive "Environmental Technology Verification" (ETV) by the Canadian government and the first hydrogen technology to receive ETV recognition anywhere in the world.
About Hydrogen Hybrid Technologies Inc: The OEM licensed of the world's most advanced on-board hydrogen generating system, the Hydrogen Fuel Injection system. This technology is patented, or patent-pending, worldwide. The system offers unparalleled benefits for virtually any internal combustion engine, with increased horsepower, decreased emissions and improvement in fuel economy. The HFI system is marketed through a network of certified installation centres in Canada, the U.S. and around the world.
SOURCE Hydrogen Hybrid Technologies Inc.
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
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LITHUANIA URGES THE INTERNATIONAL DONORS TO FINANCE MORE EVENLY THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFGHANISTAN PROVINCES
On 12 June Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas took part in the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan in Paris and urged the Government of the country and international donors to pay more attention to Ghor and similar provinces.
“The death of Lithuanian soldier in Chagcharan reminds that so-called “safe” provinces also require support. We hope that Afghan Government will take the initiative to concentrate the efforts of the international donors in such provinces as Ghor,” P. Vaitiekūnas said.
At the Conference the representatives of Afghan Government and international donors announced about the start of implementation of five-year Afghanistan National Development Strategy and defined their contribution.
Lithuania leads the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghor and since 2006 has allocated more than 10 million litas (about 3 million Euro) is support of civilian projects in this province.
During the Conference Minister P. Vaitiekūnas met Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Director of Saudi Arabia Development Fund Yousef Albassam and discussed possible contribution of these countries in building of the road Herat-Chagcharan-Kabul joining Ghor with neighbour provinces. This road is one of the principal infrastructure projects in Ghor, the success of which would determine the development of not only Ghor province but whole Western Afghanistan.
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Lithuanians restart national stadium project
Jun 11, 2008
Staff and wire reports
VILNIUS - Lithuanian lawmakers have breathed new life into the national stadium in Vilnius, agreeing on June 5 to allocate 100 million litas (29 million euros) to the stalled project. The stadium, which was supposed to be completed by June 2009, was brought to a standstill four months ago after the government froze funding. The government earlier had promised to allocate 200 million litas to the 380 million lita project.
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Saving Vilnius through music
Jun 11, 2008
By Adam Mullett
SYLVAN SAVIORS: The festival hopes that it will be able to raise awareness of environmental issues such as recycling in a fun atmosphere.
VILNIUS - A quick glace around Vilnius is all it takes to see how environmentally unfriendly the city has become.
Unused bike paths wind through the streets. Colorful domes that are supposed to be full of recyclables dot the cityscape. Inside the giant recycle bins, however, is a load of plastic bags full of regular rubbish.
Fortunately, someone is now trying to change all this – and let us all have a bit of fun while doing it.
The Atvirdangis (Open Sky) festival is due to kickoff on June 13. For two days, music, education, sport, art and a lot more will be rolled into one in one of Vilnius’s most lovely settings – the Pavilniai Regional Park.
The festival is an effort to get people in Lithuania to change their attitude toward living a healthy lifestyle in a healthy environment. Seminars, concerts and classes will fill the weekend with excitement, fun and learning.
“We are trying to get people to change the way they think to make [Vilnius] a better place,” said Salomeja Aliukaite, communications ‘minister’ for the festival.
The festival organizers are trying to convey the feeling of an ecological and healthy republic, and hence refer to themselves as “ministers.” Within this special nation there is a “prime minister,” “minister of communications,” “minister of events” and more.
A major goal for the organizers is to get more citizens of Vilnius to ride their bikes on a regular basis. By riding bikes, the organizers say residents of Vilnius will benefit themselves in many ways.
“There is a terrible traffic problem in Vilnius with cars and there is so much pollution – we want people to ride bikes for health and the environment,” Aliukaite said.
Part of their commitment to ecological transport is a sizable discount on entry to the festival if you arrive on a bicycle. For those who don’t own a bicycle or cannot ride one, the same discount applies for arrival by canoe or kayak.
The “entertainment minister” will keep visitors happy during the festival by bringing some of the best bands in Lithuania together to play throughout the events. There will be a wide range of music.
“We are not trying to be a pop festival and we are not trying to be an alternative music festival either – we are just bringing you good music from Lithuania,” the communications minister said.
Despite the fact that seminars will be held in Lithuanian, Aliukaite said a wide range of activities would ensure that foreigners will not be bored.
Mothers will be happy to know that there will be a creche where they can leave their children while they enjoy the surroundings. In the creche, children will be taught how to recycle, how to sort rubbish into categories and other fun activities.
The Pavilniai Regional Park is a historic place that exhibits the best things of Lithuanian nature. Natural and partly natural landscape occupies over 75 percent of the territory of the regional park. There are over 750 different plant species that have been found in the park, some of which are rare and all of which are on display for visitors and explorer-types.
Pavilniai Regional Park is important not only for the natural landscape, but also because it contains several interesting archaeological objects. The most important of these are the Puckoriai mound and the remains of a stone-age settlement, the Rokantiskes castle hill and numerous burial mounds.
Atvirdangis festival
June 13-15
www.atvirdangis.lt
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Swedbank chief defends lending policy, braces for losses in Baltics
Jun 11, 2008
Staff and wire reports
RIGA - The president of the largest banking group in the Baltics acknowledged that Latvia’s economy was headed toward a rough period but that Hansabank’s lending policies during the past boom years, often criticized as too liberal, were adequate. Jan Liden, president of Swedbank, which owns the Hansabank Group, said in a June 5 interview to Latvian public radio that hard times lie ahead for Latvia. “I believe that more serious economic difficulties await Latvia, its residents and companies.
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Estonia postpones decision on oil shale industry
Jun 04, 2008
From wire reports
TALLINN - The government at its weekly meeting failed to endorse a national development plan for the use of oil shale, the country’s primary source of energy, for the years 2008-2015 that would have set the annual mining limit at 20 million tons. The government press office said that the draft of the plan, as well as the bills of amendment to the laws on natural resources and sustainable development, needed further discussion.
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Agency says Lithuania will have soft landing
May 22, 2008
From wire reports
VILNIUS - Standard & Poor’s, a rating agency, has predicted that Lithuania’s economy would likely undergo a soft landing, with GDP growth amounting to 4 percent this year. After fresh data showed that Estonia’s economy nearly flattened out in the first quarter and Latvia’s is showing signs of braking fast, the news was a breath of fresh air for the Baltics. Standard and Poor’s credit analyst Eileen Zhang said that Lithuania’s economic development would slow down considerably in coming year.
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Negative growth around corner for Estonia
Jun 11, 2008
By TBT staff
TALLINN - Baltic markets were in a state of shock this week to learn that Estonia’s economy nearly flattened out in the first quarter of the year on the basis of revised GDP data released by the statistics agency. The agency announced June 9 that gross domestic product came to a screeching halt, plummeting to 0.1 percent for the three month period. By comparison, in the fourth quarter of 2007 GDP grew 4.5 percent. The result is a downward revision on an earlier estimate of 0.4 percent.
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