Russia published on 29 November its proposal for a new Euro-Atlantic security treaty that would restrict its ability to use military force unilaterally if the United States and its European allies agreed to do the same. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the European Security Treaty is needed to replace Cold War-era institutions like NATO that are ill-suited to defusing tensions in a multipolar world, but his proposals have received a muted reception in the West. Medvedev has invited proposals from Western countries on how to build a new security treaty. The draft, which would "finally do away with the legacy of the Cold War," has been sent to all relevant leaders, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the European Security Treaty is needed to replace Cold War-era institutions like NATO that are ill-suited to defusing tensions in a multipolar world, but his proposals have received a muted reception in the West.
Medvedev has invited proposals from Western countries on how to build a new security treaty. The draft, which would "finally do away with the legacy of the Cold War," has been sent to all relevant leaders, the Kremlin said in a statement.
US President Barack Obama has issued new orders for the US military in Afghanistan after deciding how many more troops to send, officials say. Mr Obama told senior military leaders about his long-awaited decision on troop numbers on Sunday night, a White House spokesman said. The president is now briefing the UK, French and Russian leaders on the plan.
Mr Obama told senior military leaders about his long-awaited decision on troop numbers on Sunday night, a White House spokesman said.
The president is now briefing the UK, French and Russian leaders on the plan.
Highlighting themes likely to be taken up by President Obama in his military policy speech on Tuesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain has demanded that Afghanistan and Pakistan match plans for increased allied troop levels in Afghanistan by taking tough actions of their own, including, in Pakistan, a stepped-up effort to capture Osama bin Laden. In two hard-edged statements over the weekend, Mr. Brown signaled a renewed sense of impatience in the approach that Britain and the United States plan to take toward the governments in Kabul and Islamabad as the allies step up their commitment to the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
In two hard-edged statements over the weekend, Mr. Brown signaled a renewed sense of impatience in the approach that Britain and the United States plan to take toward the governments in Kabul and Islamabad as the allies step up their commitment to the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
and to prove he is a leader, not a follower, he gets the news out before Obama.
Somali pirates have captured a tanker carrying oil to the US, officials say. The Greek-owned Maran Centaurus was about 1,300km (800 miles) off Somalia when it was hijacked on Sunday, said the EU Naval task force (Navfor). The ship was full of oil and is believed to be one of the largest yet seized by Somali pirates. There are 28 crew members on board.
The Greek-owned Maran Centaurus was about 1,300km (800 miles) off Somalia when it was hijacked on Sunday, said the EU Naval task force (Navfor).
The ship was full of oil and is believed to be one of the largest yet seized by Somali pirates. There are 28 crew members on board.
The U.S. Senate opens debate on a broad healthcare overhaul on Monday with senators seeking an elusive compromise on thorny issues like a government-run insurance plan, abortion coverage and holding down costs. The debate on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, which opens at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), is expected to last three weeks or more. Republicans have vowed to do whatever they can to block or delay the bill. The Senate plan is designed to rein in costs, expand coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans and halt industry practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions.
The debate on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, which opens at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), is expected to last three weeks or more. Republicans have vowed to do whatever they can to block or delay the bill.
The Senate plan is designed to rein in costs, expand coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans and halt industry practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions.
BlueCross BlueShield has been extremely aggressive in fighting healthcare reform, and they're taking the fight to their customers. In North Carolina, their tactics have resulted in an investigation by the state attorney general. In North Dakota and in Illinois, BCBS and its licensees have been sending what amount to extortion letters to customers, threatening huge premium increases should healthcare reform pass, and urging them to contact their members of Congress to fight it.
Five Britons have been detained in Iran after their racing yacht may have inadvertently strayed into Iranian waters, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday. The yacht, en route from Bahrain to Dubai, was stopped by Iranian naval vessels on November 25, he said in a statement. <...> The Volvo 60 class yacht, called Kingdom of Bahrain and owned by the Sail Bahrain project launched by the Team Pindar sailing team, was due to have reached Dubai on November 26 to take part in a 360-mile Dubai-Muscat race, local media reported last week. Along with the rest of the race fleet, it was to have passed through the shallows of the Gulf into the Indian Ocean before arriving in the Omani capital Muscat. ...
Five Britons have been detained in Iran after their racing yacht may have inadvertently strayed into Iranian waters, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday.
The yacht, en route from Bahrain to Dubai, was stopped by Iranian naval vessels on November 25, he said in a statement.
<...>
The Volvo 60 class yacht, called Kingdom of Bahrain and owned by the Sail Bahrain project launched by the Team Pindar sailing team, was due to have reached Dubai on November 26 to take part in a 360-mile Dubai-Muscat race, local media reported last week.
Along with the rest of the race fleet, it was to have passed through the shallows of the Gulf into the Indian Ocean before arriving in the Omani capital Muscat. ...
Russia plans to start up Iran's first nuclear power station in March 2010 to coincide with the Iranian New Year, two sources closely involved with the project told Reuters. Russia agreed in 1995 to build the 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the Gulf coast in south-western Iran, but delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has used it as a lever in relations with Tehran. The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, both said that Russia had ordered that the plant be ready for operation by the holiday which falls in the second half of March. ...
Russia plans to start up Iran's first nuclear power station in March 2010 to coincide with the Iranian New Year, two sources closely involved with the project told Reuters.
Russia agreed in 1995 to build the 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the Gulf coast in south-western Iran, but delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has used it as a lever in relations with Tehran.
The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, both said that Russia had ordered that the plant be ready for operation by the holiday which falls in the second half of March. ...
A few days ago, a man in Ohio was arrested following an explosion in his apartment, after which police discovered "about 35 pipe bombs, an assortment of firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition." In the intervening days, as far as I can tell (from my own watching), there has been zero coverage of this event in the national news.
Explanation: He wasn't Middle Eastern. "Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
José "Pepe" Mujica of the governing Broad Front (FA) won Sunday's runoff election against former President Luis Alberto Calle of the National Party. With 97 percent of the votes in, the country's electoral court showed Mujica pulling in 53 percent against 43 percent for Lacalle. During campaigns, Lacalle suggested Mujica would take Uruguay down a left-leaning road modeled on the path of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. [...] Mujica, a former agriculture minister, was a member of the Tupamaro guerilla group and imprisoned during the military regimes that governed during the 1970s and 1980s. He used his victory speech to heal rifts with other candidates and called for reconciliation. When he takes office in March, the new president will have the backing of Congress, where the FA and the Progressive Encounter command a majority. The coalition secured 50 seats in the lower house and nine senatorial seats during the October election.
On Monday afternoon, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-New York) told MSNBC host David Shuster that the Bush administration "intentionally let bin Laden get away" in order to justify the Iraq war. Hinchey is from a historically Republican district (though it includes Democrat-heavy in places like Woodstock and Ithaca) and his statement seemed to shock Shuster. "Look what happened. Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan. How we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away. How we intentionally did not follow the Taliban and al Qaeda." Hinchey alleged that bin Laden was let go because "the previous administration... knew very well that if they would capture al Qaeda there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq." Shuster, incredulous, pushed back: "You really believe that?" "Oh, there's no question about that because the leader of the military operation in the United States called back our military, called them back from going after the head of al Qaeda because there was a sense that they didn't want to capture him." Shuster began talking over Hinchey: "You can accuse them of malfeasance, you can accuse them of dropping the ball, of having an awful plan, and all of them would be justified, but to suggest that they would deliberately let, deliberately let Osama bin Laden get away so they could justify the war in Iraq... That will strike a lot of people as crazy." Hinchey leaned back and smiled wrily. "I don't think it'll strike a lot of people as crazy. I think it'll strike a lot of people as very accurate."
"Look what happened. Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan. How we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away. How we intentionally did not follow the Taliban and al Qaeda." Hinchey alleged that bin Laden was let go because "the previous administration... knew very well that if they would capture al Qaeda there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq."
Shuster, incredulous, pushed back: "You really believe that?"
"Oh, there's no question about that because the leader of the military operation in the United States called back our military, called them back from going after the head of al Qaeda because there was a sense that they didn't want to capture him." Shuster began talking over Hinchey: "You can accuse them of malfeasance, you can accuse them of dropping the ball, of having an awful plan, and all of them would be justified, but to suggest that they would deliberately let, deliberately let Osama bin Laden get away so they could justify the war in Iraq... That will strike a lot of people as crazy."
Hinchey leaned back and smiled wrily. "I don't think it'll strike a lot of people as crazy. I think it'll strike a lot of people as very accurate."
During the ultra-Orthodox demonstrations against Intel in Jerusalem two weeks ago, something strange happened: toward the end of the protest, when the police began pushing the demonstrators out of the Har Hotzvim industrial zone, the Haredim withdrew. But at one point they reached a pile of plastic boxes on the road, and suddenly refused to retreat any further. Some began fighting the police, while others simply fled to the sides of the road, giving the police more impetus to disperse them forcefully. The reason for the sudden panic was that under the boxes, on the street, someone had spray painted the name of God - Yahweh. The boxes had been placed on top of the graffiti as a holy roadblock by an anonymous group of secular Jerusalemites who have taken upon themselves to act lawfully and creatively against the Haredim.
But at one point they reached a pile of plastic boxes on the road, and suddenly refused to retreat any further. Some began fighting the police, while others simply fled to the sides of the road, giving the police more impetus to disperse them forcefully.
The reason for the sudden panic was that under the boxes, on the street, someone had spray painted the name of God - Yahweh. The boxes had been placed on top of the graffiti as a holy roadblock by an anonymous group of secular Jerusalemites who have taken upon themselves to act lawfully and creatively against the Haredim.
I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit," said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank. I called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it's true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn't call me back. The New York Police Department has told me that "as a preliminary matter" it believes some of the bankers I inquired about do have pistol permits. The NYPD also said it will be a while before it can name names.
I called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it's true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn't call me back. The New York Police Department has told me that "as a preliminary matter" it believes some of the bankers I inquired about do have pistol permits. The NYPD also said it will be a while before it can name names.
A Lowy Institute poll of Chinese public opinion on world affairs, to be released today, shows Australia is accepted as an Asian nation, with an important role to play in regional organisations, attractive values and a good political system. But the Chinese are wary of Australia's close ties to the United States, with 48 per cent of those surveyed regarding it as a negative influence on Australia-China relations.
But the Chinese are wary of Australia's close ties to the United States, with 48 per cent of those surveyed regarding it as a negative influence on Australia-China relations.
