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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

China-Japan-Koreas
The North’s nuclear test card
2006-08-19
It has always been a question of timing, and it has been expected. The experts predicted it would be the next step in Pyongyang’s playbook. In a North Korean foreign ministry statement on July 16, it responded to the United Nations Security Council’s resolution by declaring it would use "all means and methods" to strengthen its "war deterrent," reconfirming its intention to take what it has previously called "stronger physical action" if the U.S. and others attempt to pressure it over its missile tests.

A similar warning of what could come happened on July 5, local time, when the missile test took place. In its statement on June 1, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said that it would take "unavoidable, extremely strong measures" if the U.S. intensifies what the North calls hostility and pressure. In that sense, the current activity involving vehicles and large reels of cable at Punggye-ri, Kilchu-gun, North Hamgyong Province, when compared to the first signs Pyongyang would attempt a missile launch, make it seem like the North might eventually follow through with a nuclear test.

Movement in the mountainous area of Kilchu-gun that could be related to a nuclear test is nothing new. In April 2003, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, referring to activity there, said that moves towards a nuclear test are a "serious concern for the international community." It was the first time the U.S. officially suggested the possibility of North Korean nuclear test. Movement suspected of being potentially related to a nuclear test have been spotted in the Kilchu area sporadically since the summer of 2004. According to U.S. intelligence officials, the North was at one point making a deliberate effort to engage in "all activities" related to a test, including the building of an observation platform and the filling in of the entrance to a tunnel. That activity stopped in June 2005, perhaps because of the U.S.-South Korea summit on June 10, the meeting between Kim Jong-il and Chung Dong-young on June 17, and the resumption of the six-party talks.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
U.S.: Pakistani Extremists Aid Terrorists
2005-09-09
Al-Qaida leaders in hiding and foot-soldiers preparing for terrorist attacks are turning to outlawed Pakistani extremist groups for spiritual and military training, shelter and logistical support, say U.S. officials who see them as an emerging threat.

One group — Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Pure — is an example of how Osama bin Laden's followers take advantage of scattered Islamic militant allies to maintain momentum, four years after a U.S.-led military campaign destroyed al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan. Lashkar is among the organizations fighting for the disputed region of Kashmir. U.S. officials say the group stands out for a number of reasons, including its missionary work and other involvement outside the area.

Elements of Pakistan's intelligence services have supported Lashkar in the past. Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, banned Lashkar in 2002 for its alleged links to an attack on India's parliament. Lashkar leaders insist the group's focus is freeing Muslims in Indian-controlled Kashmir — not attacks on the West. Pakistani officials say the group is local, not international.

Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Jehangir Karamat, said in an Associated Press interview that he considers Lashkar incapable of international terrorism and particularly of working with al-Qaida because the groups have different languages and agendas. Al-Qaida has "no linkage with any organization in Pakistan," Karamat said. "They don't need it and they don't have it — never had it."

Still, the United States is closely watching Lashkar because of its apparent willingness to help those involved in the global jihad on a grass-roots level. The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity, said they do not believe Lashkar's leadership is coordinating international attacks with groups including the remnants of al-Qaida. Instead, they worry about connections among foot-soldiers — extremists who may point friends of friends to paramilitary camps. Last year, the State Department estimated the group had several thousand members.

The Lashkar organization represents a classic example of the diffusion of Islamic extremism — based in Afghanistan until the U.S. toppled the Taliban in 2001 — that CIA Director Porter Goss and other intelligence officials have warned of. Ken Katzman, a Middle East expert at the Congressional Research Service, said groups including Lashkar have revived the training structure once found in Afghanistan, setting up "Afghanistan East" in northern Pakistan. Some in Pakistan deny the camps' existence. "I think this is emerging as the next theater to test whether Pakistan is serious about eliminating the al-Qaida presence," Katzman said.

Some examples of high-profile moments where Lashkar's fingerprints are suspected or spotted:

• International authorities are looking into whether an Islamic school run by Lashkar trained at least one of the bombers who attacked four London buses on July 7. Officials are also looking closely at the associations of the three other bombers. Pakistani authorities have yet to find direct links and say any tie may be a small piece of the investigation.

• In Virginia, a prominent Islamic scholar was sentenced to life in prison this summer for encouraging his followers to join the Taliban and fight the United States after Sept. 11, 2001. After one fiery speech, several attendees went to Pakistan and received military training from Lashkar. The young men were part of the "Virginia jihad network" that sometimes trained for holy war by playing paintball games in the woods.

• U.S. officials say Abu Farraj al-Libbi, a top al-Qaida operational leader picked up in Pakistan in May, ran from a site associated with Lashkar before Pakistani forces captured him in a graveyard shootout. He is in U.S. custody, accused of planning two assassination attempts on Musharraf. Some Pakistani officials have said al-Libbi was sheltered by another Muslim militant organization.

• In March 2002, a senior al-Qaida lieutenant and planner, Abu Zubaydah, was captured at a Lashkar safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

• The Australian Taliban, David Hicks, whom U.S. forces captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, was trained by Lashkar in the late 1990s. He is being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Bush administration is cautious about pushing too hard on Pakistan, an ally in the fight against terrorism. The United States added Lashkar to its list of terrorist groups in 2001 and extended the designation in December 2003. "We hope this list will help to isolate these terrorist organizations ... and to prevent their members' movement across international borders," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said then.

U.S. officials acknowledge the differences between al-Qaida and Lashkar, including their respective roots in the Wahhabi and Deobandi sects of Islam. Yet they say that their histories have intersected since the 1990s, creating highly complex and dangerous relationships that authorities sometimes struggle to monitor.

The officials and counterterrorism experts note that camps affiliated with Lashkar may be particularly attractive to extremist recruits because they don't get the scrutiny of those run by al-Qaida, now largely underground. "What's crazy is that these groups, because they are a little bit more low key than al-Qaida, they have been able to operate, in Pakistan especially without hindrance," said Evan Kohlmann, an international terrorism consultant who has studied Lashkar.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan Hands Over al-Libbi to U.S.
2005-06-06
Pakistan has handed over to the United States senior al-Qaida suspect Abu Farraj al-Libbi, who was wanted for two assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, an official said Monday. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani confirmed a reported comment by Musharraf published in a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates on Monday that al-Libbi had been handed over, but gave no further details.
"The president made a statement to this effect. The president's statement was self-explanatory. I don't have further details," Jilani said at a news conference in Islamabad.
"I can say no more"
Some officials have described al-Libbi as al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, after Osama bin Laden and Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri. However, he does not appear on the FBI list of the world's most-wanted terrorists, and his exact role in al-Qaida is murky. He was arrested May 2 after a shootout in northwestern Pakistan.
An intelligence official said al-Libbi was whisked out of Pakistan with U.S. officials aboard an airplane "a few days ago."
"I'm a leaving, on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again..."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the clandestine nature of his job, did not know where al-Libbi was taken.
(cough)Diego Garcia(cough)
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad was not immediately available for comment.
On May 31, Musharraf told CNN that Pakistan would hand al-Libbi, who is a Libyan, to the United States. In an interview with United Arab Emirates daily al-Ittihad he confirmed that had happened. "Yes, we turned Abu Farraj al-Libbi over to the United States recently, and we don't want people like him in our country," Musharraf was quoted as saying. The Pakistani leader did not say when or how al-Libbi was handed over or provide other details.

In Pakistan, al-Libbi was wanted for allegedly masterminding two attempts on Musharraf's life in December 2003. The president was unhurt, but 17 people died in the second attack. The assassination attempts carry a maximum penalty in Pakistan of death by hanging. The personal nature of the attacks led many to believe Musharraf would seek to try al-Libbi here.
We can always give him back, after his brains have been removed

Pakistani officials also have said that al-Libbi was behind a suicide attack against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, weeks before he took office last year. Nine people died, including Aziz's driver. It was not entirely clear what charges if any al-Libbi might face in the United States, or if he has been indicted by any U.S. court. In Washington last week, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States was talking to Pakistan about al-Libbi but had not yet discussed his extradition.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Karimov still taking the gaspipe ...
2005-05-19
TASHKENT - Uzbekistan's autocratic President Islam Karimov faced pressure at home and abroad Wednesday over a deadly crackdown, after foreign diplomats slammed a state-run trip to the site of the violence for its lack of access and an opposition group called on him to resign.

After days of steadily increasing criticism over deadly clashes between troops and protestors in the eastern city of Andijan, Britain, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations called for an international inquiry into the unrest last Friday. "It is a matter of grave international concern that these killings took place," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told BBC radio.
This won't be a UN-style inquiry either ...
"The government has one version, the opposition has another. It is of crucial importance for the stability of society in Uzbekistan, as well as for the credibility of the government of Uzbekistan, that we get to the bottom of what happened," Straw said.

"We need to see action urgently to address the appalling events in Uzbekistan," Straw said during a speech to a Washington think tank. "I call now for an independent, international enquiry to find out why the killings happened, the full nature of the killings and who was responsible."

Opposition activists have said that based on data collected in a door-to-door survey at least 745 people died after soldiers called to disperse an anti-government rally in the city of Andijan last Friday fired indiscriminately into crowds of demonstrators. Karimov's government has said that 169 people died and described the clashes as a battle between Islamic radicals seeking to overthrow the government and law enforcement officials.

The United States, which has been accused of toning down criticism of a nation it views as a key ally in its anti-terror campaign, was more restrained although Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for reform and openness in Uzbekistan. "We certainly do agree that there needs to be a credible and a transparent accounting to establish the facts of the matter of what occurred in Andijan," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in Washington.

"And I'm sure the international community will be prepared to be part of that process, either supporting it or undertaking it."
Wonder if Karimov is counting his kreugerrands?
Wednesday's international calls came after foreign ambassadors taken on a tour guided by Uzbek officials to Andijan complained that the three-hour visit had been too brief and that they were denied access to the city residents. "We had no contact with civilian people," one ambassador, who requested that his name not be used. "The trip was well organized to convince us of their (the Uzbek authorities') version."

"Can we not see some people?" British Ambassador David Moran asked a deputy foreign minister who accompanied the group, which included ambassadors from Britain, the United States and France, as well as 30 journalists.
In other words, it was the French ambassador who requested that his name not be used. Typical.
"We were expecting to leave at around 2:00 (pm) and I was a bit surprised to find myself at the airport at 12:30 and had hoped to have some time to wander around by myself," said Moran.

In the strongest domestic criticism of Karimov following the Andijan clashes, a secular opposition group called on the 67-year-old to resign after 15 years at the head of this poor nation of 24 million people on the northern border of Afghanistan. The leader of the secular Ozod Dehkonlar (Free Farmers) party, a group that has not been registered officially as a political party, called on Karimov and his government to resign over the clashes and appealed on the international community to support its stance.

The Andijan clashes showed that "the present regime is not fighting Islamic extremism but is simply clinging to power by way of government-sponsored terrorism against its citizens," Nigara Hidoyatova, the head of the party, said at a news conference. She said the party wanted Karimov and his government to resign and for fresh presidential elections to be held within three months. The party also appealed for the international community to support its stance.

Public criticism of Karimov is rare inside Uzbekistan, where the Soviet-era Communist leader has tried to stamp out all opposition and where torture, according to rights groups, is systematic inside police stations and jails. Many people who oppose his regime are hoping that the violence at Andijan will prompt people to reverse the trend and speak out more against the government.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US says Iran five years away from nuclear arms
2005-04-14
The United States, responding to reported Israeli fears on Iran nuclear program, said Tehran was at least five years away from developing nuclear arms.
US officials confirmed that Iran's nuclear ambitions were discussed by President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at their Texas summit Monday.
Sharon spread out photos of Iranian nuclear sites and cited Israeli intelligence that showed Iran was near "a point of no return" in developing the know-how to produce a bomb, a US daily reported.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the international community was concerned about Iran's intentions, but US intelligence suggested Tehran still had a ways to go in developing nuclear weapons.
"Our intelligence community has used in the past an estimate that said that Iran was not likely to acquire a nuclear weapon before the beginning of the next decade. That remains the case," he said.
This new "sweetness and light" attitude is becoming scary. My suspicions run deep.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US to fund democracy in Iran
2005-04-11
The United States is openly attempting to promote democracy in Iran for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, budgeting $3 million for groups there that are willing to work toward that goal.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said non-governmental educational and other groups inside Iran are eligible to compete for the funds. Humanitarian groups also may compete, he said.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called the plan "a clear violation" of a 1981 U.S-Iranian agreement, according to USA Today, which first reported the story.

That agreement, signed in Algiers, freed the 52 U.S. Embassy employees who were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days.

Boucher denied that the funding violates of the agreement.

Under the accord, the United States pledged "not to intervene directly or indirectly, politically or militarily in Iran's internal affairs."

It is not clear whether approval of the funding was linked to Iran's presidential election in June. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will step down after two terms in office.

The United States does not consider Iran's elections a fair test of public sentiment because only devout Islamists are allowed to run for office. It also has maintained consistently that U.S. pro-democracy activities abroad are nonpartisan and do not constitute intervention.

These activities normally include voter education and workshops on electoral rights.

Some governments have contended that such activities have the effect of supporting the opposition. These include Venezuela and the government that ruled Kyrgyzstan until last month when it was deposed.

Hostility between the United States and Iran has not abated since the hostage crisis of 1979. U.S. suspicion that Iran is developing nuclear weapons is just one of many sources of friction.

Aside from Cuba, Iran is the only country with which the United States does not maintain a political dialogue.

Iran has not been a U.S. aid recipient, although the Islamic government did accept U.S. assistance following a major earthquake in 2002.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan to host US troops, intelligence in the event of an attack on Iran
2005-03-21
The U.S. State Department has confirmed that the issue of the sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan did come up during Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's recent visit to Islamabad, and in return Washington may have sought President Musharraf's cooperation in dealing with Iran.

According to a online report of Asia Times, Islamabad may have agreed to host US troops and intelligence assets near Pakistan's border with Iran in preparation for a possible attack on Iran and probably agreed to train American forces in Karachi in return for some kind of commitment on F-16 deliveries.

Rice, according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, thanked Musharraf for Pakistan's "superb support in the war on terror". The possible sale of F-16 fighter planes came up, Boucher said, but he gave no details, reports the Daily Times.
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Home Front: WoT
Rice appoints Pak-born woman her adviser
2005-03-13
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appointed Pakistani-American Dr Shirin Tahir-Kheli her senior adviser on the United Nations Reform. The appointment was announced by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in a statement on Saturday. Dr Tahir-Kheli would serve as the secretary of the state's senior adviser and chief interlocutor on the UN Reform. In collaboration with the assistant secretary for international organisations, Dr Tahir-Kheli will report directly to Rice. She will engage the UN secretary general and secretariat on UN reform efforts. She will coordinate within the State Department and interagency community about the US government's position on UN reform.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
State Department Suggests "1-2-3" Evacuation Process in Lebanon
2005-03-05
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher rejected the idea of a phased Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, suggesting a '1-2-3' process. "It could happen 1-2-3," Boucher said in a Washington briefing. "Why not? 1-2-3. You start, you continue and you finish. That's 1-2-3. That's immediately. That's what we're looking for."

The United States is talking to other governments about ways to help the Lebanese establish political control after the Syrians are gone, Boucher said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to her French counterpart on that subject Friday, he said. The two countries jointly sponsored a U.N. Security Council resolution last year demanding Syrian withdrawal.
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Home Front: Politix
US welcomes Australia's new Iraq deployment
2005-02-24
The United States has welcomed Australia's decision to send an additional 450 ground forces to Iraq to provide protection for multinational reconstruction crews and to train Iraqi security forces. Prime Minister John Howard announced on Tuesday that Australia will send an extra 450 troops to Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian mission in the south. The decision, which follows requests by the governments of Britain and Japan, will increase the size of Australia's contingent in Iraq from 950 to 1,400 troops. "The new Australian contribution, which adds to the positive momentum generated by Iraq's national elections on January 30, will assist Iraq's transition to a secure democracy," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "Australia continues to demonstrate that it is willing to make difficult and courageous choices to promote democracy and combat terrorism around the world."
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Europe
Disturbing article on the AKP and Saudi funding
2005-02-23
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan's Justice and Reconciliation Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) swept to victory in Turkey's parliamentary elections on November 3, 2002. More than two years later, the Islamic-oriented party finds itself more popular than ever. But while the AKP came to power on the strength of its image as fresh and honest amid a sea of corrupt establishment parties, the AKP's own finances have become murky and worrisome. At best, it appears that AKP leaders have blurred the distinction between business and politics. More troubling yet is the pattern of tying Turkish domestic and foreign policy to an influx of what is called Yesil Sermaye, "green money," from wealthy Islamist businessmen and Middle Eastern states.

Where goes the AKP? Is Erdoðan's party a threat to Turkish secularism, or the product of it? Does the AKP represent an Islamist Trojan horse, or the benign Islamic equivalent of Europe's numerous Christian Democrat political parties? While the political signs are contradictory, the financial indicators are consistently troubling.

On winning a majority, Erdoðan and the AKP leadership articulated a moderate policy. Erdoðan declared after the AKP's election victory,
Secularism is the protector of all beliefs and religions. We are the guarantors of this secularism, and our management will clearly prove that.[1]
Indeed, the AKP's 2002 election victory prompted much optimism. "AK Victory Heralds New Dawn for Turkey," headlined the Daily Telegraph.[2] "Turkey Takes the Plunge: Islam and Democracy Combine Forces" opined an editorial in The Guardian.[3] Official U.S. government reaction was cautious. "Let's not speculate on the future of the Turkish government, but let us at this point congratulate the Justice and Development Party on its electoral success," suggested State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.[4]
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Home Front: Politix
Cheney Daughter Also Rises -- at State Department
2005-02-15
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, will become the second-ranking U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, the State Department said on Monday. Cheney, who previously worked in the department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and left to work on her father's 2004 re-election campaign, will become the bureau's principal deputy assistant secretary of state.
"Someday, my daughter, this will all be yours"

This is the bureau's second ranking position and deputizes for the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East.
Excellent, we won't have to worry about a liberal state department lifer trying to screw things up.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Cheney would also serve as "coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives" -- a U.S.-backed idea to try to spread democratic and economic reform in the region. "Her duties will include a focus on U.S. bilateral and multilateral efforts to support freedom, democracy and expanded education and economic opportunities in the broader Middle East and North Africa," he said.
The local leaders will know she's got a pipeline direct to dear old dad, bypassing the ambassadors. Heh, heh, heh
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