Thursday, February 15, 2007

FT.com / World / US & Canada - Russia threatens to quit arms treaty

FT.com / World / US & Canada - Russia threatens to quit arms treaty

Russia threatens to quit arms treaty
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington, Neil Buckley in Moscow, Daniel Dombey in London and Jan Cienski in Warsaw

Published: February 15 2007 19:04 | Last updated: February 15 2007 19:04

Russia threatened on Thursday to pull out of a landmark nuclear arms control treaty unless the US backed away from plans to install its missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.

Yury Baluyevsky, the Russian army chief of staff, said Moscow might unilaterally withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, which forced the US and the Soviet Union to ban nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500km.

There was “convincing evidence” for leaving the agreement because “many countries are developing and perfecting medium-range rockets”, he said.

But the general also explicitly linked Russia’s stance to the US’s plans to extend its missile defence into central Europe.

The Pentagon is preparing to start negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic about hosting missile interceptors and radars. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Polish prime minister, on Thursday expressed conditional support for participating in the system.

A senior Pentagon official said the US would “resist” the Russian move, which he said would have serious implications for American allies in Europe.

The INF treaty includes the right for a party to withdraw with six months’ notice if “extraordinary events ... jeopardised its supreme interests”. The State Department said Russia had not formally notified the US of any move to abrogate the treaty.

Gen Baluyevsky’s comments came days after Vladimir Putin, Russian president, warned that US attempts to deploy part of its missile shield in Poland could spark a new arms race.

Mr Putin said the INF treaty was no longer in its interests because of proliferation of short and medium-range missiles. He rejected US assertions that the system was aimed at countries such as North Korea and Iran, not at Russia.

The US official said Russia had privately told the US it wanted medium-range missiles to counter Iranian threats while arguing publicly that the lack of Iranian missiles meant the US did not need a defence system.

Col-Gen Leonid Ivashov, a former senior Russian defence official, said Moscow had “every reason” to pull out of the treaty. He pointed to the US withdrawal in 2002 from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

Yuri Solomonov, director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, which manufactures missiles, told Itar-Tass news agency Russia was ready to resume production of medium-range ballistic missiles.

Nato officials said Russia intended to pressure Poland and the Czech Republic to reject US plans, but added that what Moscow really wanted was to be included in a European-wide anti-missile system.

“We are already talking to the Russians about co-operating on tactical missile defence for armies in the field,” said a senior Nato diplomat.



Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

FT.com / In depth - Iraq closes borders with Iran and Syria

FT.com / In depth - Iraq closes borders with Iran and Syria

Iraq closes borders with Iran and Syria

By Reuters Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:54AM GMT

Iraq closed its borders with Iran and Syria as U.S. and Iraqi troops tightened their grip on Baghdad on Thursday, setting up more checkpoints that stopped and searched even official convoys for weapons.

An Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the closure of Iraq’s four border crossings with Iran and two with Syria took effect on Wednesday.

U.S. officials have long accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross its long, porous border into Iraq, and at the weekend presented evidence of what they said was Iranian-manufactured weapons being smuggled into Iraq.

“The plan to close the borders went into effect last night. Many points were closed, but I can’t confirm that all were shut,” Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver told Reuters.

There was no immediate confirmation from Tehran or Damascus, both of which deny involvement in Iraq’s chaos.

Iraq had said it would shut the borders for 72 hours. The U.S. military said on Wednesday the aim was to choke off the flow of weapons and foreign fighters into the country.

The closures came as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops stepped up operations in Baghdad, the epicentre of sectarian violence between minority Sunnis and majority Shi’ites that has pitched the country towards all-out civil war.

Fewer members of the Mehdi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr have been seen on the streets of their stronghold, the sprawling Sadr City slum in east Baghdad, in the past week.

Several Mehdi Army commanders are also reported to have left the capital to avoid arrest.

The United States has identified the militia as the greatest threat to peace in Iraq and hundreds of Mehdi Army members have been arrested.

The U.S. military and Iraqi government officials have said Sadr himself left Iraq for Iran ahead of the crackdown, but Maliki said he was still in Iraq.

STOP AND SEARCH

The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Major-General William Caldwell, said checkpoints were to be revamped to establish “transfer points” so vehicles could be searched.

The U.S. military said last week the operation was under way, but Baghdad residents had noticed little change until Wednesday, when checkpoints began springing up in the city.

Operation Imposing Law is seen as a last-ditch effort to stabilise the capital. Shi’ite officials have warned that failure could mean a collapse of the Shi’ite-led government. U.S. President George W. Bush is sending more than 17,000 additional troops for the crackdown.

More checkpoints appeared overnight and residents reported that even official government or security convoys were stopped and asked for weapons permits and identification papers.


A Reuters photographer said only people with Interior and Defence Ministry badges were allowed to keep their weapons.


Civilians with permits still had their guns seized. He saw two people arrested for not having identification documents.


Policemen and soldiers searched vehicles thoroughly, using long metal rods to prod piles of vegetables to look for bombs or weapons. The city is blighted by daily car bombings that have killed thousands.


Similar operations in the past have ended in failure, partly because Shi’ite militias tied to parties within the government were seen as off-limits, but Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said this time militants will be targeted regardless of their religious affiliation.


Military analysts say many militiamen were likely to lie low or leave Baghdad until the operation is completed rather than seek confrontation with U.S. and Iraqi forces.


“Some of the brothers who are wanted by the Americans have moved house because we’ve been targeted before,” Salam al-Maliki, a senior Sadr official, told Reuters.


Sadr official Maliki said the movement backed the crackdown. “That’s why there is no resistance to the security forces in our areas. The prime minister assured us that we won’t be targeted as an organisation but only death squads, terrorists and criminals wanted by the authorities.”

Al Qaeda calls for attacks on oil facilities | csmonitor.com

Al Qaeda calls for attacks on oil facilities | csmonitor.com

posted February 15, 2007 at 11:45 am EST - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0215/p99s01-duts.html
Al Qaeda calls for attacks on oil facilities

A Saudi-based Al Qaeda group wants attacks in order to weaken US economy.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
A Saudi Arabian terrorist group with ties to Al Qaeda has called for Muslims around the world to attack oil installations – including those in Canada, Venezuela, and Mexico – in order to stop the flow of oil to the United States.

NBC reports that the group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, posted the message on its online magazine Sawt al-Jihad, or Voice of the Holy War.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said in its monthly magazine posted on an Islamic Web site that "cutting oil supplies to the United States, or at least curtailing it, would contribute to the ending of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan." The group said it was making the statements as part of Osama bin Laden's declared policy. It was not possible to verify independently that the posting was from the terror faction.

Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for last year's attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia and Yemen after bin Laden called on militants to stop the flow of oil to the West. The group also was behind the 2002 attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person in the Gulf of Aden.

NBC also reports that until 2004, Al Qaeda had refrained from calling for attacks on oil installations, seeing the money generated by oil as a boon to the Muslim world. But in a message he issued that year, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called for attacks in order to cripple the Western economy.

"One of the main causes for our enemies' gaining hegemony over our country is their stealing our oil; therefore, you should make every effort in your power to stop the greatest theft in history of the natural resources of both present and future generations, which is being carried out through collaboration between foreigners and [native] agents," bin Laden said. "Focus your operations on [oil production], especially in Iraq and the Gulf area, since this [lack of oil] will cause them to die off [on their own]."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that in Canada, one of the countries mentioned on Al Qaeda's list of targets, the premier of Alberta – Canada's richest oil province – said security experts were aware of the threat and were monitoring the situation. But some Canadian oil producers feel the threat is very serious and that the group is "motivated to attack."

Greg Stringham, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, told CanWest News that they too are taking the threat seriously.

"It's not the first time that it's happened and we have no credible threat to substantiate it, but still, we are taking it seriously and we've informed all of our members and contacts about that – especially those with critical infrastructure — to pay extra attention and be vigilant."

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Department of Homeland Security dismissed the threat saying it had no proof that the group was planning any kind of an attack in Mexico. And while some there are taking the threat seriously, others were openly scoffing at it.

"It would have much more force if it came from one of Osama bin Laden's allies" instead of an unknown writer, said Gabriel Guerra, an international policy analyst. "Pemex [Mexico's national oil company] has much more important things to worry about."

Canada's National Post reports that other experts also believe the threat is minimal at this particular time, but could portend trouble down the road.

Tom Quiggan, a senior fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, cautioned yesterday: "We should not be overly concerned at this exact moment. Al-Qaeda is an organization has been severely weakened."

Even so, "Sawt al-Jihad has correctly analysed the oil-importing situation of the United States and concluded that it is not just Middle Eastern suppliers that are important," he said. The posting appears to be "intended to send a message to its followers that they should consider a wider set of targets than just those in the Middle East."

Agence France-Presse reports that world oil markets "shrugged off" the threatened Al Qaeda attack. Oil continued to hover around $60 a barrel.

Action: Congress wants to monitor all emails, IMs, etc.

seminal

A bill introduced last week by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) is beginning to raise eyebrows.

[It] would require ISPs to record all users' surfing activity, IM conversations and email traffic indefinitely . The bill, dubbed the Safety Act by sponsor Lamar Smith, a republican congressman from Texas, would impose fines and a prison term of one year on ISPs which failed to keep full records. (emphasis mine)

This is a terrifying development and it must be stopped before it gains any significant momentum. Background, Action items and contact information below the fold.

Under the guise of reducing child pornography, the SAFETY (Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth) Act is currently the gravest threat to digital privacy rights on the Internet. Given the increasing tendency of people, especially young people, to use the Internet as a primary means of communication, this measure would affect nearly all Americans in ways we are only beginning to understand. Also, given the fact that the Act requires all Internet Service Providers to record the web surfing activity of all Internet users, this amounts to the warrantless wiretapping of the entire Internet.

Amazingly, although the bill was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday Feb. 6, it has been virtually ignored by both the corporate media and major blogs alike. By combining such draconian legislation with several child pornography measures, Smith is trying to pull a fast one on the Judiciary Committee and on the democratically controlled Congress as a whole. I say we don't let this happen. So, first, a little background information. Then below, I've outlined a few actions you can take if you'd like to spread the word on this.

Background :
The original SAFETY Act, introduced in June of 2006 by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), was shot down due to free speech concerns over aspects of the bill other than the ones I've focused on here. At the time, the Center for Democracy and Technology wrote that the bill “would undermine First Amendment free speech protections and do nothing to protect children on the Internet.”

So what was Lamar Smith's response, you ask? He added the misguided measures discussed above in an attempt to fulfill the demands of the FBI. In an October 2006 conference of police chiefs, FBI Director Robert Mueller made the following statement :

Terrorists coordinate their plans cloaked in the anonymity of the Internet, as do violent sexual predators prowling chat rooms. All too often, we find that before we can catch these offenders, Internet service providers have unwittingly deleted the very records that would help us identify these offenders and protect future victims.

Mueller was signaling to Congress that he would like to see measures put in place that would require ISPs to store records of all Internet usage so he could access it when he felt it was neccessary. But, as has been pointed out :

The thing about retention laws is that they require all data to be maintained, not simply the data from child pornographers and terrorists. This means that such laws are usually favored by other, unrelated groups who would like access to such log files. Groups like the music labels. In Europe, where retention rules are already in place, the entertainment industry has already stated its belief that the data should be available for use in the investigation of any crime, even copyright infringement.

Action:
There are two ways to make members of Congress listen to your concerns.

1. Inundate them with phone calls and emails.
2. Get negative media coverage of what they are trying to accomplish.

Please contact any or all of the people and organizations listed below. Let them know that the SAFETY ACT, as it is written, is not acceptable.

Sponsor:
Rep. Lamar Smith, web form , 202-225-4236

Cosponsors:
Rep. Steve Chabot, (202) 225-2216
Rep. Tom Feeney, (202) 225-2706
Rep. J. Randy Forbes, (202) 225-6365
Rep. Trent Franks, (202) 225-4576
Rep. Elton Gallegly, (202) 225-5811
Rep. Dan Lungren, (202) 225-5716
Rep. Mike Pence, (202) 225-3021

House Judiciary Committee Chair:
Rep. John Conyers, (202) 225-5126