BRUSSELS (AFP) -- NATO agreed Tuesday to gradually resume high-level talks with Russia, which were frozen over the August conflict in the Caucasus, and to deepen ties with former Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine.NATO foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, decided on a return to informal meetings of the so-called NATO-Russia Council, despite concern that Moscow is still not respecting a ceasefire that ended its brief war with Georgia."The allies agreed on a conditional and graduated re-engagement with Russia," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters at alliance headquarters.He said that he has been "mandated by the foreign ministers as I see fit, and of course if the other party would agree, to see what political contacts will be possible, can be possible."He added that the NATO-Russia Council will meet on an informal basis "to re-engage and to have discussions on the issues on which we will agree and, I would also like to add, on the issues on which we disagree."Scheffer later told AFP that the informal meeting of the 26 NATO allies with Russia would take place at the level of ambassadors.
BRUSSELS (AFP) -- NATO agreed Tuesday to gradually resume high-level talks with Russia, which were frozen over the August conflict in the Caucasus, and to deepen ties with former Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine.
NATO foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, decided on a return to informal meetings of the so-called NATO-Russia Council, despite concern that Moscow is still not respecting a ceasefire that ended its brief war with Georgia.
"The allies agreed on a conditional and graduated re-engagement with Russia," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters at alliance headquarters.
He said that he has been "mandated by the foreign ministers as I see fit, and of course if the other party would agree, to see what political contacts will be possible, can be possible."
He added that the NATO-Russia Council will meet on an informal basis "to re-engage and to have discussions on the issues on which we will agree and, I would also like to add, on the issues on which we disagree."
Scheffer later told AFP that the informal meeting of the 26 NATO allies with Russia would take place at the level of ambassadors.
GEORGIA: PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI DENIES THAT WASHINGTON GAVE OK FOR SOUTH OSSETIAN MILITARY -- EurasiaNet
Days after a stinging public attack from a former ally, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili testified [on November 28] about his course of action during the August war with Russia. Saakashvili emphatically denied an earlier allegation that he had received a thumbs-up from Washington to use force in South Ossetia. [...] The [Parliamentary investigation] commission's televised hearings have become center stage for an increasingly vociferous debate about the truth behind what led to the August 8-12 war with Russia. Senior government officials and generals have already taken turns explaining their actions, but the testimony attracted scant attention among ordinary Georgians until the November 25 testimony by the former Georgian ambassador to Russia, Erosi Kitsmarishvili. [...] Citing an unnamed Saakashvili aide, Kitsmarishvili said that the president decided to use force once he felt that such an action had American support. Kitsmarishvili claimed that he spoke with US Ambassador to Georgia John Teft about the claim, who, he said, categorically denied that Washington ever signaled its approval of sending Georgian troops into South Ossetia. After an angry outburst from most commission members, including Saakashvili loyalist Givi Targamadze, who threw a pen in the ambassador's direction, Kitsmarishvili walked out of the commission. [...]
The [Parliamentary investigation] commission's televised hearings have become center stage for an increasingly vociferous debate about the truth behind what led to the August 8-12 war with Russia. Senior government officials and generals have already taken turns explaining their actions, but the testimony attracted scant attention among ordinary Georgians until the November 25 testimony by the former Georgian ambassador to Russia, Erosi Kitsmarishvili. [...]
Citing an unnamed Saakashvili aide, Kitsmarishvili said that the president decided to use force once he felt that such an action had American support. Kitsmarishvili claimed that he spoke with US Ambassador to Georgia John Teft about the claim, who, he said, categorically denied that Washington ever signaled its approval of sending Georgian troops into South Ossetia.
After an angry outburst from most commission members, including Saakashvili loyalist Givi Targamadze, who threw a pen in the ambassador's direction, Kitsmarishvili walked out of the commission. [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group based in Pakistan may have been responsible for the attacks by militants in India's financial hub of Mumbai that killed 183 people, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday. The Pakistani government has offered to cooperate with India to find the attackers amid rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals over the three-day assault at two luxury hotels and other landmarks. "There are a lot of reasons to think it might be a group, partially or wholly a group, that is located on Pakistan's territory," the official told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. The official, who did not identify the source of his information, spoke hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to leave for New Delhi to discuss last week's attacks with the Indian government.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group based in Pakistan may have been responsible for the attacks by militants in India's financial hub of Mumbai that killed 183 people, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.
The Pakistani government has offered to cooperate with India to find the attackers amid rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals over the three-day assault at two luxury hotels and other landmarks.
"There are a lot of reasons to think it might be a group, partially or wholly a group, that is located on Pakistan's territory," the official told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
The official, who did not identify the source of his information, spoke hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to leave for New Delhi to discuss last week's attacks with the Indian government.
The US warned India last month of a pending raid by a Pakistan-based militant group it emerged yesterday, a revelation that will add to public anger over apparent security lapses and missed chances to stop the attack on Mumbai.Although the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined yesterday to comment on intelligence shared with allies round the world, a serving intelligence source confirmed to the Guardian that a warning had been passed to Indian counterparts.ABC News also quoted a US intelligence officer saying the warning had been specific, of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centres in Mumbai". The terrorists used boats to land on Mumbai's waterfront before attacking multiple targets which killed 183 people and led India to endure a four-day national nightmare.Indian intelligence sources told NDTV news yesterday they had issued several warnings about a strike on Mumbai. The latest was issued eight days before the attack, warning that the "sea wing" of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group accused by India of being behind the attack, was planning to target Mumbai.India's navy said a "systemic failure" of security and intelligence services led to the attacks in Mumbai, the Press Trust of India reported.
The US warned India last month of a pending raid by a Pakistan-based militant group it emerged yesterday, a revelation that will add to public anger over apparent security lapses and missed chances to stop the attack on Mumbai.
Although the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined yesterday to comment on intelligence shared with allies round the world, a serving intelligence source confirmed to the Guardian that a warning had been passed to Indian counterparts.
ABC News also quoted a US intelligence officer saying the warning had been specific, of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centres in Mumbai". The terrorists used boats to land on Mumbai's waterfront before attacking multiple targets which killed 183 people and led India to endure a four-day national nightmare.
Indian intelligence sources told NDTV news yesterday they had issued several warnings about a strike on Mumbai. The latest was issued eight days before the attack, warning that the "sea wing" of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group accused by India of being behind the attack, was planning to target Mumbai.
India's navy said a "systemic failure" of security and intelligence services led to the attacks in Mumbai, the Press Trust of India reported.
It's 9/11 all over again. Any guesses as to which uninvolved country they attack after picking a fight with Pakistan? The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: Pakistan urged India on Tuesday to provide credible information about people named in a list, provided to Islamabad, of suspects allegedly involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. A senior interior ministry official said the list was the same which New Delhi had been providing for several years and contained names of Pakistanis and Indian nationals. He said Pakistan had repeatedly told India that some of these people were not in Pakistan and that solid evidence was needed for taking action against those who were in the country. The list included the name of an Indian national and an alleged gangster Dawood Ibrahim, founder of militant organisation Jaish-i-Mohammad Maulana Masood Azhar, founder of another banned militant outfit Lashkar-i-Tayba Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, some Sikh Indian nationals who were allegedly involved in an abortive secessionist movement and said to be hiding in Pakistan.
Pakistan would do a lot to reduce tensions with India if it did the right thing and cracked down on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Whether or not they were behind the Mumbai attack (and I gather the probability is high that they were), the Pakistani government has already banned them, and they have admitted to the attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001. It would be a show of good faith to India. The question is, does Zardari have enough real power to crack down on L-e-T even if he wanted to? Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
India has accused a senior leader of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of orchestrating last week's terror attacks that killed at least 172 people here, and demanded the Pakistani government turn him over and take action against the group. Just two days before hitting the city, the group of 10 terrorists who ravaged India's financial capital communicated with Yusuf Muzammil and four other Lashkar leaders via a satellite phone that they left behind on a fishing trawler they hijacked to get to Mumbai, a senior Mumbai police official told The Wall Street Journal. The entire group also underwent rigorous training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the official said. Mr. Muzammil had earlier been in touch with an Indian Muslim extremist who scoped out Mumbai locations for possible attack before he was arrested early this year, said another senior Indian police official. The Indian man, Faheem Ahmed Ansari, had in his possession layouts drawn up for the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel and Mumbai's main railway station, both prime targets of last week's attack, the police official said. Mr. Ansari, who also made sketches and maps of locations in southern Mumbai that weren't attacked, had met Mr. Muzammil and trained at the same Lashkar camp as the terrorists in last week's attack, an official said.
India has accused a senior leader of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of orchestrating last week's terror attacks that killed at least 172 people here, and demanded the Pakistani government turn him over and take action against the group.
Just two days before hitting the city, the group of 10 terrorists who ravaged India's financial capital communicated with Yusuf Muzammil and four other Lashkar leaders via a satellite phone that they left behind on a fishing trawler they hijacked to get to Mumbai, a senior Mumbai police official told The Wall Street Journal. The entire group also underwent rigorous training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the official said.
Mr. Muzammil had earlier been in touch with an Indian Muslim extremist who scoped out Mumbai locations for possible attack before he was arrested early this year, said another senior Indian police official. The Indian man, Faheem Ahmed Ansari, had in his possession layouts drawn up for the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel and Mumbai's main railway station, both prime targets of last week's attack, the police official said.
Mr. Ansari, who also made sketches and maps of locations in southern Mumbai that weren't attacked, had met Mr. Muzammil and trained at the same Lashkar camp as the terrorists in last week's attack, an official said.
Even by the standards of a deep-cyclical industry, the "golden age" of oil refining has proved remarkably brief, lasting no more than three years, before giving way to a new dark age. Particularly in the United States, refiners have returned to the state of chronic unprofitability that plagued the industry before 2005. U.S. refiners now have too much capacity and produce the wrong products (gasoline) in a fuel economy increasingly dominated by ethanol and diesel. Capacity cuts of as much as 0.5-1.0 million bpd (equivalent to 4-8 average refineries) and expensive investment to reconfigure the system to increase the diesel yield seem inevitable. EVAPORATING PROFIT MARGINS In May 2007, U.S. refiners paid an average of about $64 a barrel to acquire high quality West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude (less for other grades) and sold gasoline for $97 per barrel - a margin of $33 per barrel or 52 percent. By November 2008, U.S. refiners were paying $62 to acquire WTI but selling gasoline at a loss for just $52 - a negative margin of $10 or 16 percent. Other outputs are still profitable (notably diesel and heating oil) and many refineries will have acquired lower-quality crudes for less than the WTI price. The overall gross margin was still (just) positive.
Even by the standards of a deep-cyclical industry, the "golden age" of oil refining has proved remarkably brief, lasting no more than three years, before giving way to a new dark age.
Particularly in the United States, refiners have returned to the state of chronic unprofitability that plagued the industry before 2005.
U.S. refiners now have too much capacity and produce the wrong products (gasoline) in a fuel economy increasingly dominated by ethanol and diesel. Capacity cuts of as much as 0.5-1.0 million bpd (equivalent to 4-8 average refineries) and expensive investment to reconfigure the system to increase the diesel yield seem inevitable.
EVAPORATING PROFIT MARGINS
In May 2007, U.S. refiners paid an average of about $64 a barrel to acquire high quality West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude (less for other grades) and sold gasoline for $97 per barrel - a margin of $33 per barrel or 52 percent.
By November 2008, U.S. refiners were paying $62 to acquire WTI but selling gasoline at a loss for just $52 - a negative margin of $10 or 16 percent.
Other outputs are still profitable (notably diesel and heating oil) and many refineries will have acquired lower-quality crudes for less than the WTI price. The overall gross margin was still (just) positive.
DEMAND DESTRUCTION Demand for gasoline and other refined products has been falling for more than a year, initially in response to high prices and now as a result of a weakening economy, leaving refiners with a huge overhang of unused capacity. The total volume of refined products supplied to the domestic market averaged just 19.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks ending Nov. 21, down 1.7 million bpd (8 percent) from 20.9 million bpd in the same period last year. The volume of motor gasoline supplied (9.0 million bpd) was down 300,000 bpd (3.3 percent) compared with last year (9.3 million bpd).
Demand for gasoline and other refined products has been falling for more than a year, initially in response to high prices and now as a result of a weakening economy, leaving refiners with a huge overhang of unused capacity.
The total volume of refined products supplied to the domestic market averaged just 19.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks ending Nov. 21, down 1.7 million bpd (8 percent) from 20.9 million bpd in the same period last year. The volume of motor gasoline supplied (9.0 million bpd) was down 300,000 bpd (3.3 percent) compared with last year (9.3 million bpd).
WASHINGTON: One of the most difficult challenges facing Barack Obama's national security team is the U.S. president-elect's vow to send thousands of U.S. troops to help defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. Military experts agree that more troops are required to carry out an effective counterinsurgency campaign, but they also caution that the reinforcements are unlikely to lead to the sort of rapid turnaround that the so-called troop surge produced in Iraq after 2007. After more than seven years of war, Afghanistan presents a unique set of problems: a rural-based insurgency, an enemy sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan, the chronic weakness of the Afghan government, a thriving narcotics trade, poorly developed infrastructure and forbidding terrain. Intelligence reports underscore the seriousness of the threat. In some recent months, the violence in Afghanistan outpaced the fighting in Iraq. Almost half of the insurgent attacks have been directed against U.S. and other foreign forces. The other attacks have been focused on Afghan security forces and civilians. "Afghanistan may be the 'good war,' but it is also the harder war," said David Kilcullen, a former Australian Army officer who recently left his job as senior adviser on counterinsurgency issues to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
WASHINGTON: One of the most difficult challenges facing Barack Obama's national security team is the U.S. president-elect's vow to send thousands of U.S. troops to help defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Military experts agree that more troops are required to carry out an effective counterinsurgency campaign, but they also caution that the reinforcements are unlikely to lead to the sort of rapid turnaround that the so-called troop surge produced in Iraq after 2007.
After more than seven years of war, Afghanistan presents a unique set of problems: a rural-based insurgency, an enemy sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan, the chronic weakness of the Afghan government, a thriving narcotics trade, poorly developed infrastructure and forbidding terrain.
Intelligence reports underscore the seriousness of the threat. In some recent months, the violence in Afghanistan outpaced the fighting in Iraq. Almost half of the insurgent attacks have been directed against U.S. and other foreign forces. The other attacks have been focused on Afghan security forces and civilians.
"Afghanistan may be the 'good war,' but it is also the harder war," said David Kilcullen, a former Australian Army officer who recently left his job as senior adviser on counterinsurgency issues to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Robert Kagan - When Security Trumps Sovereignty - washingtonpost.com
In Pakistan's case, the continuing complicity of the military and intelligence services with terrorist groups pretty much shreds any claim to sovereign protection. The Bush administration has tried for years to work with both the military and the civilian government, providing billions of dollars in aid and advanced weaponry. But as my Carnegie Endowment colleague Ashley Tellis has noted, the strategy hasn't shown much success. After Mumbai, it has to be judged a failure. Until now, the military and intelligence services have remained more interested in wielding influence in Afghanistan through the Taliban and fighting India in Kashmir through terrorist groups than in cracking down. Perhaps they need a further incentive -- such as the prospect of seeing parts of their country placed in an international receivership. Would the U.N. Security Council authorize such action? China has been Pakistan's ally and protector, and Russia might have its own reasons for opposing a resolution. Neither likes the idea of breaking down the walls of national sovereignty -- except, in Russia's case, in Georgia -- which is why they block foreign pressure on Sudan concerning Darfur, and on Iran and other rogue states. This would be yet another test of whether China and Russia, supposed allies in the war against terrorism, are really interested in fighting terrorism outside their own borders. But if such an action were under consideration at the United Nations, that might be enough to gain Pakistan's voluntary cooperation. Either way, it would be useful for the United States, Europe and other nations to begin establishing the principle that Pakistan and other states that harbor terrorists should not take their sovereignty for granted. In the 21st century, sovereign rights need to be earned.
In Pakistan's case, the continuing complicity of the military and intelligence services with terrorist groups pretty much shreds any claim to sovereign protection. The Bush administration has tried for years to work with both the military and the civilian government, providing billions of dollars in aid and advanced weaponry. But as my Carnegie Endowment colleague Ashley Tellis has noted, the strategy hasn't shown much success. After Mumbai, it has to be judged a failure. Until now, the military and intelligence services have remained more interested in wielding influence in Afghanistan through the Taliban and fighting India in Kashmir through terrorist groups than in cracking down. Perhaps they need a further incentive -- such as the prospect of seeing parts of their country placed in an international receivership.
Would the U.N. Security Council authorize such action? China has been Pakistan's ally and protector, and Russia might have its own reasons for opposing a resolution. Neither likes the idea of breaking down the walls of national sovereignty -- except, in Russia's case, in Georgia -- which is why they block foreign pressure on Sudan concerning Darfur, and on Iran and other rogue states. This would be yet another test of whether China and Russia, supposed allies in the war against terrorism, are really interested in fighting terrorism outside their own borders. But if such an action were under consideration at the United Nations, that might be enough to gain Pakistan's voluntary cooperation. Either way, it would be useful for the United States, Europe and other nations to begin establishing the principle that Pakistan and other states that harbor terrorists should not take their sovereignty for granted. In the 21st century, sovereign rights need to be earned.
it is indeed remarkable. why all the sudden urgency? Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
WASHINGTON -- The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush's last weeks in office. James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, confirmed in an interview that the rule had been approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget. That clears the way for publication in the Federal Register, the last stage in the rule-making process.
WASHINGTON -- The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush's last weeks in office.
James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, confirmed in an interview that the rule had been approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget. That clears the way for publication in the Federal Register, the last stage in the rule-making process.
Wearing yellow badges and traveling in groups of 10 or more, agency review teams for President-elect Barack Obama have swarmed into dozens of government offices, from the Pentagon to the National Council on Disability. With pointed questions and clear ground rules, they are dissecting agency initiatives, poring over budgets and unearthing documents that may prove crucial as a new Democratic president assumes control. Their job is to minimize the natural tension between incoming and outgoing administrations, but their work also is creating anxiety among some Bush administration officials as the teams rigorously examine programs and policies. Lisa Brown, who served as counsel to Vice President Al Gore and is helping manage the reviews, said typical questions include: "Which is the division that has really run amok? Or that has run out of money? If someone is confirmed, what's going to be on their desk from Day One? What are the main things that need to happen, vis-a-vis Obama's priorities?"
Wearing yellow badges and traveling in groups of 10 or more, agency review teams for President-elect Barack Obama have swarmed into dozens of government offices, from the Pentagon to the National Council on Disability.
With pointed questions and clear ground rules, they are dissecting agency initiatives, poring over budgets and unearthing documents that may prove crucial as a new Democratic president assumes control. Their job is to minimize the natural tension between incoming and outgoing administrations, but their work also is creating anxiety among some Bush administration officials as the teams rigorously examine programs and policies.
Lisa Brown, who served as counsel to Vice President Al Gore and is helping manage the reviews, said typical questions include: "Which is the division that has really run amok? Or that has run out of money? If someone is confirmed, what's going to be on their desk from Day One? What are the main things that need to happen, vis-a-vis Obama's priorities?"
... China's roaring industrial economy has been abruptly quieted by the effects of the global financial crisis. Rural provinces that supplied much of China's factory manpower are watching the beginnings of a wave of reverse migration that has the potential to shake the stability of the world's most populous nation. <...> As the government tries to calm tensions in the cities, it also fears that newly unemployed migrants returning home could upend the already-strained social system in the countryside. <...> At a train station 30 miles from Mr. Fan's village, officials are keeping 24-hour tabs on arrivals to monitor how many of the surrounding area's two million migrants will return from industrial centers. Around 60,000 have already done so, they say -- and many more are expected, despite Beijing's efforts to persuade workers to stay in cities and train for potential new jobs. <...> Many of the returning workers, like Mr. Fan, have too little income from the land to support their families. Beijing has been encouraging many to lease out their farms to more profitable cooperatives -- which don't share their increased earnings from the crops with the landholders -- at the same time it encouraged their moves into the cities, by loosening rules for doing both in the past few years. Those rules were formalized earlier this year. <...> For workers accustomed to a decade of double-digit growth, China's sudden downturn has come as a shock to the system. Migrant workers -- estimated to make up a tenth of the country's population -- have powered China's economic success in the three decades since free-market reforms began. ...
As the government tries to calm tensions in the cities, it also fears that newly unemployed migrants returning home could upend the already-strained social system in the countryside. <...>
At a train station 30 miles from Mr. Fan's village, officials are keeping 24-hour tabs on arrivals to monitor how many of the surrounding area's two million migrants will return from industrial centers. Around 60,000 have already done so, they say -- and many more are expected, despite Beijing's efforts to persuade workers to stay in cities and train for potential new jobs. <...>
Many of the returning workers, like Mr. Fan, have too little income from the land to support their families. Beijing has been encouraging many to lease out their farms to more profitable cooperatives -- which don't share their increased earnings from the crops with the landholders -- at the same time it encouraged their moves into the cities, by loosening rules for doing both in the past few years. Those rules were formalized earlier this year. <...>
For workers accustomed to a decade of double-digit growth, China's sudden downturn has come as a shock to the system. Migrant workers -- estimated to make up a tenth of the country's population -- have powered China's economic success in the three decades since free-market reforms began. ...
... Beijing understands that it needs to boost consumption at home to achieve healthier growth, but Chinese consumers have been reluctant to spend without an adequate safety net. "Only when the Chinese are sure their government will take better care of their social welfare will they decide they are saving too much," says Andy Xie, an independent economist. "Growing consumption is a gradual process. It cannot immediately become an economic engine." <...> As multinationals suffer, their suppliers do, too, completing a vicious cycle: Ailing factories fire more workers, who then stop spending. The impact of the crisis on Chinese exporters in the Pearl River Delta north of Hong Kong has gotten so severe that Premier Wen Jiabao made a special tour of the region. On Nov. 14 he stopped in at Li Kai Shoes Manufacturing, a Dongguan company that makes New Balance sneakers. With orders at the plant down from9.3 million in 2007 to 7 million this year, Li Kai has laid off 22% of its 9,000 workers since January. "Consumers are unsure about the future so they're cutting down on expenses," says Stanley Chen, China boss for New Balance. ...
As multinationals suffer, their suppliers do, too, completing a vicious cycle: Ailing factories fire more workers, who then stop spending. The impact of the crisis on Chinese exporters in the Pearl River Delta north of Hong Kong has gotten so severe that Premier Wen Jiabao made a special tour of the region. On Nov. 14 he stopped in at Li Kai Shoes Manufacturing, a Dongguan company that makes New Balance sneakers. With orders at the plant down from9.3 million in 2007 to 7 million this year, Li Kai has laid off 22% of its 9,000 workers since January. "Consumers are unsure about the future so they're cutting down on expenses," says Stanley Chen, China boss for New Balance. ...
There are no witnesses to what happened to Mikhail Beketov when he returned home on the night of Nov. 13, but the beating that left him in a coma for two weeks must have been brutal. Beketov, the owner and editor of Khimkinskaya Pravda, a local newspaper, was found by a neighbor more than 24 hours later, lying in a pool of his own blood outside his home in Khimki, a town just northwest of Moscow, with fractured limbs and severe frostbite. "This was a result of his professional activities, because he did not have a comfortable relationship with the mayor's office," said Vladimir Kursa, his half-brother. On Saturday and Sunday, more than 1,000 people gathered in Khimki and Moscow to protest the attack on Beketov, most of them pointing the finger at the administration of Khimki mayor Vladimir Strelchenko. Oleg Mitvol, until recently a senior figure at of the country's environmental watchdog, agreed. "Beketov is already the third editor to end up in intensive care," he told the more than 100 protesters gathered outside Chistiye Prudy metro station. ...
The Russian journalist Mikhail Beketov knew the risks he was taking. <...> Beketov continued to publish his newspaper, Khimkinskaya Pravda, which regularly lambasted local officials for corruption and abuse. Finally, it seems, the administration had had enough. On November 11 a gang lay in wait outside his home. When he returned, they savagely attacked him with clubs, breaking his fingers and skull, and leaving him for dead. <...> ... Beketov's fate is a graphic illustration of the dangers of working as a journalist in Vladimir Putin's Russia. His story is depressingly typical: according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Russia is now the third most dangerous place in the world to work as a reporter, after Iraq and Algeria. <...> Investigators have failed to find Politkovskaya's killer or the person who ordered her murder. Indeed, those responsible for the murder of journalists in Russia are never caught. (There has been only one prosecution.) According to the CPJ, investigators are reluctant to solve cases - fearing for their own safety, as the trail invariably leads back to those in power. "There are a number of taboo topics for journalists in Russia," says Nina Ognianova, the CPJ's programme coordinator in Europe and Central Asia. These include writing about corruption inside the Kremlin and Russia's secretive spy agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), she says. Also off-limits is Russia's North Caucasus - a subject Poltikovskaya addressed repeatedly with her criticism of human rights abuses in Chechnya. ...
The Russian journalist Mikhail Beketov knew the risks he was taking. <...>
Beketov continued to publish his newspaper, Khimkinskaya Pravda, which regularly lambasted local officials for corruption and abuse. Finally, it seems, the administration had had enough. On November 11 a gang lay in wait outside his home. When he returned, they savagely attacked him with clubs, breaking his fingers and skull, and leaving him for dead. <...>
... Beketov's fate is a graphic illustration of the dangers of working as a journalist in Vladimir Putin's Russia. His story is depressingly typical: according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Russia is now the third most dangerous place in the world to work as a reporter, after Iraq and Algeria. <...>
Investigators have failed to find Politkovskaya's killer or the person who ordered her murder. Indeed, those responsible for the murder of journalists in Russia are never caught. (There has been only one prosecution.) According to the CPJ, investigators are reluctant to solve cases - fearing for their own safety, as the trail invariably leads back to those in power.
"There are a number of taboo topics for journalists in Russia," says Nina Ognianova, the CPJ's programme coordinator in Europe and Central Asia. These include writing about corruption inside the Kremlin and Russia's secretive spy agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), she says. Also off-limits is Russia's North Caucasus - a subject Poltikovskaya addressed repeatedly with her criticism of human rights abuses in Chechnya. ...
