Japan snubs US pressure on base pact

Press TV
October 22, 2009 05:37:31 GMT

The Kadena Air Base, in Okinawa, Japan

Tokyo is resisting Washington's pressure for accepting a military agreement between the two nations over the presence of US forces in the Asian country.

"I don't think we will act simply by accepting what the US tells us, just because the US is saying this, in such a short period of time," Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Thursday.

His remarks came after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday pressed the Japanese center-left government to quickly proceed with the deal.

Under the 2006 accord, the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Base would be closed and a new US base built in a coastal area of Okinawa by 2014, with about 8,000 Marines transferred off the island to Guam.

The new government in Tokyo that came to power last month has taken a more independent stance towards Washington, saying Japanese people voted against nearly half-century conservatives as they opposed their plans.

"The will of the people of Okinawa and the will of the people of Japan was expressed in the elections," Okada said.

The foreign minister noted that Gates had 'pressed and said Japan and the United States had negotiated this issue for as many as 13 years'.

"But I told him that we, as an opposition party, had opposed the plan for those years," Okada told Tokyo Broadcasting System Television.

He predicted that the issue won't be resolved before US president Barack Obama's scheduled visit in November.

Okinawa hosts more than half of the 47,000 American troops stationed in Japan. Their presence has often caused friction with the local community, especially when American servicemen have committed crimes.

In February 2008, US Marine Tyrone Hadnott was arrested over the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on the island. The news, reminiscent of a similar case in 1995, jolted the US-Japan alliance.

New Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama advocated reviewing the deal and suggested the base be moved out of Okinawa or even out of Japan.

Busting the Darfur Myth

The Real Genocide is Playing Out in Ethiopia--And the West is Funding It

By TOM MOUNTAIN
October 22, 2009
Asmara, Eritrea.

As one of the first to write about the problems in West Sudan/Darfur, in mid 2003, and living side by side here in Asmara for three years with representatives of the Darfur, and other Sudanese resistance, my investigation has found no evidence of genocide. Of course, genocide has and is being committed by Ethiopia against the Somalis in Ethiopia, but there has been no genocide in Darfur.

Let us start by comparing the two situations, the first being Darfur and the second the Ethiopian Ogaden.

The refugees of the Darfur conflict were and are the beneficiaries of one of the largest, and most effective relief works in history.

In contrast, relief aid to the Somalis living in the Ethiopian Ogaden, what little there was to begin with, has been effectively shut down now in almost all of the Ogaden for several years, despite one of the worst droughts in history.

Darfur has had an international police force in place for years, who work along side Sudanese security forces and most of the violence has ended.

In the Ogaden, Ethiopian death squads, funded by western “aid” have spent the better part of the past decade spreading murder and mayhem across the countryside. With almost everyone from the International Committee of the Red Cross to Doctors Without Borders being expelled, there has been miniscule coverage of this genocide in the western media let alone any exposure of the western role in funding the Ethiopian regime. Compare this to the saturation of the western media with the “Save Darfur” propaganda campaign and the tried and true golden rule of “show me the money” needs to be applied to explain what is really going on.

The Darfur genocide myth has been promoted by western “human rights” NGOs who have collected tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars under the rubric of “Enough” and “Preventing Genocide”. The claims of genocide are based on estimates of the number of deaths that were rapidly inflated as the dollars started rolling in. First it was 100,000, then 200,000, then 300,000 and finally, in a claim so ludicrous that even the British government media watchdog yanked it off the air, 400,000 people were supposed to have been victims of genocide in Darfur. None of the Darfur reps I have heard here in Asmara ever gave any credibility to the western figures. In fact, most everyone here in the Horn, at least those not on the western payroll, all agree the real number of those lost in the violence in west Sudan is in the tens of thousands, a tragic number but far surpassed by what has befallen those suffering in Somalia and the Ogaden where a real genocide has been taking place.

Today, the humanitarian situation in Somalia, where aid workers still operate, has been declared the worst in the world (and with what is happening to the Tamils in the concentration camps in Sri Lanka that is saying a lot). Next door in the Ethiopian Ogaden, conveniently there are almost no aid agencies, other than in a few towns, to witness what is as bad or more likely worse than in Somalia. Yet what do we hear from those who are collecting so much loot on behalf of suffering Africans about the real genocide going on in the Ogaden?

As I mentioned earlier, I first wrote about what I believed was happening in Sudan and Ethiopia back in mid 2003. Sudan is estimated to have suffered some two million deaths during its decades long civil war between the north and the south. After many years of hard work, peace has slowly, almost tortuously, been nurtured in Sudan, with the major ground work laid during negotiations held here in Asmara. In contrast to this what is the program of action demanded by the “Save Darfur” lot? A western-led military invasion and occupation a la Iraq and Afghanistan! With half a million or more dead in Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to western military “intervention” who in their right mind could think that sending western soldiers to Sudan will do anything other than destroy the peace so painfully built these past few years and cause even more suffering?

While peace has been slowing taking hold in Darfur, in the Ogaden peace is a long lost memory. War, famine and disease are spreading across the Ogaden and is becoming a situation that is increasingly the norm in growing areas of Ethiopia. While the western hucksters rake in beaucoup millions of dollars while peddling their “Save Darfur” bunkum , Sudanese have seen peace break out. In contrast, Ethiopians, suffering under a regime that is the largest recipient of western aid in Africa see only a future of growing ethnic and religious conflict and worse, active programs of genocide.

The problems developing in Ethiopia can invariably be traced back to the west, mainly the USA. The west, in particular the USA are hell bent on keeping Africa in a state of crisis, the better to exploit. And the “Save Darfur” lobby is all for bringing more violence to Africa under the guise of “humanitarian intervention”, while little of the tens of millions they collect ever reaches the Sudanese who it was intended for.

Busting the Darfur genocide myth is long overdue. If people in the west really want to help Africa they should stop donating to the Save Darfur fraudsters and start demanding accountability for the tens of billions of western aid that is paying for a real genocide in the Ethiopian Ogaden.

Tom Mountain lives in Somalia and can be reached at thomascmountain@yahoo.com

Nozette's Israel connections

Christian Science Monitor - October 20, 2009

According to the criminal complaint, between 1998 and 2008 Stewart Nozette worked as a technical consultant for an aerospace company that was wholly owned by the Israeli state.

During much of that time the company requested that Nozette provide it with technical data. Once a month, Nozette answered these questions. In return he received payments of approximately $225,000, according to the US government.

On January 6, 2009, Nozette flew out of Dulles Airport, outside of Washington, to an unnamed foreign country. Security officers searched his luggage and found two small computer "thumb drives" in his possession.

Upon his return three weeks later, US agents thoroughly searched his luggage. Those computer drives were nowhere to be found, according to the criminal complaint.

Near the end of his initial conversation with the FBI agent who was posing as his new Mossad handler, Nozette also said this:

"I thought I was working for you already. I mean, that's what I always thought, [the foreign company] was just a front."

PetroChina's First West-to-East Pipeline Supplies 60 BCM

The once proposed TAPI pipeline of decades past which is widely cited in the alternative media as a rationale for ongoing occupation of Afghanistan has been superseded and made redundant by more recent developments.

Xinhua Economic News - 10/21/2009

PetroChina's First West-to-East pipeline has supplied an accumulative 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas since it entered operation in 2004, reported CNPC's website.

The First West-to-East pipeline is designed to have an annual transportation capacity of 12 billion cubic meters and in the past years it has been in full operation, helping meet China's climbing natural gas consumption that spiraled up from 41 billion cubic meters in 2004 to 78 billion cubic meters in 2008.

The report said China's accumulative additional gas consumption during the 2004-2008 period reached 83.4 billion cubic meters, PetroChina's First West-to-East pipeline sold a total of 46.699 billion cubic meters during the period.

PetroChina is currently building the Second West-to-East pipeline that will pump Turkmenistan gas from western Xinjiang to eastern Guangdong province with annual transportation capacity of 30 billion cubic meters.

Update: 01-08-10 | Asia Times

... Turkmenistan has committed its entire gas exports to China, Russia and Iran. It has no urgent need of the pipelines that the United States and the European Union have been advancing. Are we hearing the faint notes of a Russia-China-Iran symphony?

The 182-kilometer Turkmen-Iranian pipeline starts modestly with the pumping of 8 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Turkmen gas. But its annual capacity is 20bcm, and that would meet the energy requirements of Iran's Caspian region and enable Tehran to free its own gas production in the southern fields for export...

Iran: Uranium deal will expose West

Press TV - October 22, 2009 11:18:01 GMT

Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh

Iran says the yet to be signed uranium deal with the West will be a test of the participating countries' commitment to peaceful nuclear work.

"The Vienna talks are a new chapter in cooperation between Iran and the other participating states… We will be waiting to see whether they will stay true to their words and promises," Tehran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog told Al-Alam news channel.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be a witness to the other states' behaviors when it comes to technical cooperation on using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," said Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh.

Soltaniyeh had the interview with the Arabic news network on Wednesday night, following talks with diplomats from France, Russia and the US in Vienna on a deal to supply highly-enriched uranium for the Tehran research reactor.

The second round of the October talks ended with IAEA Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei sending a draft of an agreement drawn up by the Agency to the governments of Iran, Russia, the United States and France.

The Tehran reactor requires uranium enriched up to 20 percent supplies medical isotopes for treating cancer to more than 200 hospitals in Iran.

ElBaradei said the countries have until Friday, October 23, to inform the UN nuclear body whether or not they accept the deal.

In a similar Wednesday interview with the American news channel CNN, Soltaniyeh said that Tehran had accepted the offer 'in a general sense' to build confidence.

"In principle we have in fact accepted this offer for this Tehran ... reactor in spite of the fact that we are capable of producing the fuel," said Soltaniyeh.

"But we decided to welcome this offer in order not only to show our transparency and cooperation but prove that all activities are for exclusively peaceful purposes."

China's push for oil in Gulf of Mexico puts U.S. in awkward spot

By David Pierson
LA Times
Excerpts - October 22, 2009

The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, reportedly is negotiating the purchase of leases owned by the Norwegian StatoilHydro in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the source of about a quarter of U.S. crude oil production.

China's push to enter U.S. turf comes four years after CNOOC's $18.5-billion bid to buy Unocal Corp. was scuttled by Congress on national security grounds. The El Segundo oil firm eventually merged with Chevron Corp. of San Ramon.

Whether CNOOC's second attempt to lock up U.S. petroleum assets will trigger a similar political backlash remains to be seen. The sour U.S. economy and the need for Washington and Beijing to cooperate on potentially larger issues could mute any outcry.

The U.S. could also find it difficult to rebuff China when it has long welcomed other foreign investment in the gulf. In addition to StatoilHydro, foreign oil companies with stakes in deep-water projects there include Spain's Repsol, France's Total, Brazil's Petrobras, British oil giant BP and the Dutch-British multinational Shell.

The U.S. risks undercutting its foreign policy goals as well. Concern is growing over China's aggressive investment in oil-rich nations with anti-U.S. [anti-Zionist] regimes, including Iran and Sudan. Denying China a shot at drilling in U.S. waters would only encourage Beijing to make deals in volatile regions given that new oil reserves in stable, democratic nations are getting harder to find. [...]

Beijing has urged the four major state-run oil corporations -- China National Petroleum Corp., Sinopec, CNOOC and Sinochem -- to acquire more international assets. [...]

At $14.9 billion so far this year, the value of Chinese oil and gas mergers and acquisitions in 2009 is already double last year's figure, according to research firm Dealogic.

The largest this year was Sinopec's $8.9-billion purchase of the Swiss oil exploration company Addax Petroleum Corp. The deal, which was announced in June, gave the Chinese access to potentially vast oil deposits off the coast of West Africa and in northern Iraq.

China has also extended huge sums of credit, including a $25-billion loan to Russian companies Rosneft and Transneft, to pay off debt and develop the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline in exchange for 300,000 barrels a day of oil.

The Chinese Development Bank lent Brazil's Petrobras $10 billion to help with its $170-billion, five-year plan to increase its crude output. In exchange, Petrobras agreed to give the Chinese 200,000 barrels a day of oil exports.

China extended a $4-billion loan to Venezuela to expand various oil projects, according to the Energy Information Administration. Chinese companies are also reportedly eyeing new oil deals in Nigeria and Ghana.

The positive effect of all that investment, some analysts said, is that Beijing is helping expand the world's oil supply at a time when many major oil companies have scaled back.

"The [global economic] crisis has put a stop in foreign company expansion plans, freezing mergers and acquisitions because profits are deteriorating," said Lilian Luca, chief operating officer of advisory group Beijing Axis. "China remains one of the few sources of capital."

But much of that capital is being funneled to governments with poor human rights records and links to terrorism [support for anti-Zionist resistance].

China's importing of crude oil from war-torn Sudan increased 13.8% in August from a year earlier, according to Chinese state media.

Imports from Iran jumped 14.7% in the same period. Over the last five years, China has signed an estimated $120 billion in oil deals with Tehran -- money some worry will undermine efforts by the U.S. and its allies to tighten economic sanctions against Iran to pressure it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

China has defended its most controversial oil deals, contending that its investments will eventually spur stability in troubled states.

China's shopping spree has been aided by the nation's foreign reserves, which recently reached a record $2.3 trillion -- about two-thirds of which is estimated to be in U.S. dollars. Buying natural resources such as oil is a way for China to diversify holdings that have been heavily concentrated in U.S. securities.

Despite the recent activity, analysts say, China's oil production overseas will take years of development before it can match long-established companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP, which are huge players in the gulf.

Full article

New US Drone Strike Complicates Pakistan Battle

12 Reported Slain in Blast

by Jason Ditz, October 21, 2009

An apparent US drone strike along the border between Pakistan’s North and South Waziristan Agencies has left at least 12 dead, including several children. A “Taliban leader” named Abu Musa al-Misri was reported slain in the strike, but rebels were quick to note that he was also reported slain in two other recent US drone strikes in the same area.

Pakistani intelligence sources confirmed it was a drone strike, though some other sources speculated that it may have been a surface to surface missile fired from inside Afghanistan or an explosion mistakenly set off by the Taliban themselves.

Complicating matters is that the missiles reportedly struck the territory of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a militant leader which has just recently signed a neutrality agreement with the Pakistani government.

With the war in South Waziristan having a very real impact on life across Pakistan, the Pakistani military has been very keen to maintain pacts with some of the militants, if for no other reason than to prevent having to fight an unwinnable battle against nearly the entire population of the region.

But Pakistan’s war effort has focused on militants fighting inside Pakistan, and have made deals chiefly with groups fighting inside Afghanistan. The US is obviously keen to see Pakistan take on the later, but with them having trouble enough taking over small villages on South Waziristan’s periphery, the drone strikes risk worsening Pakistan’s instability.

Source

Yemeni fighters capture key government positions

Press TV - October 21, 2009 16:02:11 GMT

As Yemen's military offensive against Houthi fighters in the north enters its tenth week, Shia fighters say they have seized a number of key government positions in Saada province.

The Houthis said on Wednesday that they took control of an airport and a strategic military base in Razeh district near the Saudi border, after hours of heavy clashes.

The fighters also seized a military center and a government building in the region.

According to the office of Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, who heads the Shia group, Yemeni troops were forced to retreat from their positions, leaving behind a large haul of weapons, ammunition and military equipment.

While the Ministry of Defense claims to have repelled the rebels at Razeh, a government source confirmed that Razeh's airport had been lost to the rebels.

The Houthis have also claimed to have forced government troops out of a residential area around Saada city. The fighters say the troops had entered the area over night in an attempt to take control of the city's southern entry point.

Israeli tanks invaded southern Gaza areas, fighters respond

October 21, 2009 18:12 - by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies

A number of Israeli tanks invaded on Wednesday midday areas in Rafah city in southern Gaza, Palestinian fighters clashed with the invading force.

An Israeli tank in Gaza

Residents said that tanks invaded the border line areas close to the Egypt and opened fire at their homes. They reported damage but no injuries.

The Al Qudes brigades the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad said its fighter clashed with the invading force and fired two home made shells at them. No injuries were reported in both sides.

Goldman Sachs: Public must learn to 'tolerate the inequality' of bonuses

By Kathryn Hopkins
The Guardian
October 21, 2009

Conservative peer Lord Griffiths said banks should not be ashamed of rewarding staff.
Photograph: Rex Features

One of the City's leading figures has suggested that inequality created by bankers' huge salaries is a price worth paying for greater prosperity.

In remarks that will fuel the row around excessive pay, Lord Griffiths, vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said banks should not be ashamed of rewarding their staff.

Speaking to an audience at St Paul's Cathedral in London about morality in the marketplace last night, Griffiths said the British public should "tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all".

He added that he knew what inequality felt like after spending his childhood in a mining town in Wales. Both his grandfathers were miners who had to retire from work through injury.

With public anger mounting at the forecast of bumper bonuses for bankers only a year after the industry was rescued by the taxpayer, he said bankers' bonuses should be seen as part of a longer-term investment in Britain's economy. "I believe that we should be thinking about the medium-term common good, not the short-term common good ... We should not, therefore, be ashamed of offering compensation in an internationally competitive market which ensures the bank businesses here and employs British people," he said.

Griffiths said that many banks would relocate abroad if the government cracked down on bonus culture. "If we said we're not going to have as big bonuses or the same bonuses as last year, I think then you'd find that lots of City firms could easily hive off their operations to Switzerland or the far east," he said.

Goldman Sachs is currently on track to pay the biggest ever bonuses to its 31,700 employees after raking in profits at a rate of $35m (£21m) a day.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said today that City bonuses could soar to £6bn this year.

The chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Lord Turner, who was also present at the meeting, called once again for a global tax on financial transactions. He said that such a so-called "Tobin tax" could redistribute bank profits to help fight world poverty and climate change.

"The role of regulation is to bring a concordance between private actions and beneficial results," he said.