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Armenian PM
welcomes Turkish dialogue request
April 30, 2008
YEREVAN - Armenia is ready to start dialogue
with Turkey on improving relations if Ankara does not set preconditions
to talks, Armenia's new prime minister said Sunday.
The two neighbors have no diplomatic links after Ankara severed ties in
protest against Armenian occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, over
which Armenia fought Turkey's ally Azerbaijan in a war in the early
1990s.
"I confirm the readiness of the government of Armenia to engage in
constructive dialogue and establish relations without preconditions,"
the press office of the Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarksyan said he
wrote in a letter to Turkey.
An Armenian-backed administration controls the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are still officially at war over the mountainous
area.
Last week Turkey's foreign minister said he had sent a letter to Armenia
calling for dialogue. Armenia is a mainly Christian state of around
three million on the edge of the Caucasus which hosts a pipeline pumping
oil to Europe from Asia.
Armenia also accuses Turkey of genocide during the violence at the end of
World War I. Turkey denies the accusations and says that both Christian
Armenians and Muslim Turks died in the fighting.
"I assure you that our efforts will be aimed at ensuring peace, tolerance
and stability in our region," Sarksyan told Turkey in the letter.
Sarksyan took over as prime minister earlier this month. He had previously
been central bank chief.
Turkishpress
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Press
freedom has declined worldwide: researchers
April 30, 2008
WASHINGTON, April 29: Worldwide, the
environment for journalists grew more hostile last year, extending a
six-year downturn, US researchers reported on Tuesday.
Setbacks for press freedom outnumbered advances 2-to-1 across the globe,
although the Internet and blogs helped slow the decline, particularly in
Iran, reported the Freedom House, a non-profit organisation that
released the report in advance of the World Press Freedom Day on
Saturday.
ôThere have been repeated crackdowns in the past few years and Iran is on
the cusp of the bottom-performing category, but kept out by these forms
of expression,¤ said Karlin Karlekar, senior researcher for the Freedom
House.
Iraq, meanwhile, again was a disappointment. ôThere hasnút been the
improvement in Iraq one hoped for several years ago,¤ the researcher
said. ôOne of the reasons given for the invasion was to bring democracy
to Iraq. The democracy that has been established is highly problematic.¤
Still, the US-backed country was not listed among the worst countries for
press freedom. The worst-rated country was North Korea, while Burma was
second with a worsening crackdown in the media. Cuba, Libya,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea were
also among the worst-rated.
Since media played a key role covering coups and contested elections in
such countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Georgia, journalists became
prime targets of government crackdowns, according to the report.
ôFor every step forward in press freedom last year there were two steps
back,¤ said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, in a
statement accompanying the report. ôWhen press freedom is in retreat it
is an ominous sign that restrictions on other freedoms may soon follow.¤
And yet, journalists were credited with pushing the boundaries set by
authorities. In Egypt, for instance, their increased willingness to
cross ôred lines¤ was cited as boosting the country into the partly free
category from the not-free group.Violence against journalists was cited
in a wide range of countries, including Mexico, Russia and the
Philippines.
Abuse of libel laws increased in a number of countries, particularly
Africa.
The region of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, recorded the
largest region-wide setback, including declines in press freedom in
Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and several Central European countries.
Western Europe again had the highest level of press freedom in the world,
although declines were registered in Portugal, Malta and Turkey.
Of 195 countries and territories rated, 72 were cited as free, 59 as
partly free and 64 as not free.
AP
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Gas pipeline to provide money, jobs, energy: Afghan minister
April 30, 2008
KABUL - A planned gas pipeline from
Turkmenistan to India will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in
fees, as well as jobs, for Afghanistan and give the country much-needed
power, Kabul's mining minister said.
The multi-million-dollar scheme, which was planned years ago and also
includes Pakistan, was given fresh impetus at a meeting in Islamabad
last week where the nations agreed basic terms, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel
told reporters.
The agreement is expected to be finalised at a meeting in India later this
year, he said.
India officially agreed to join the project during the meeting in
Islamabad and promised to buy 50 percent of the gas from Turkmenistan,
he said.
The gathering also worked out how the gas would be distributed and fixed
prices, including for transit fees, the minister said.
The pipeline would bring cash-strapped Afghanistan "hundreds of millions
of dollars" in transit fees and provide jobs for more than 1,000 people,
Adel said.
If finalised, the seven-billion-dollar project, which will carry 33
billion cubic metres of gas every year from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan,
Pakistan and India, would start construction in late 2009 and finish
five years later.
For the first two years, Afghanistan would buy up to two billion cubic
metres annually for power production, later boosting this to five
billion.
A lack of power is among a host of problems, not least an insurgency,
holding back development in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
AFP
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Greece, Russia sign accord on gas pipeline
April 30, 2008
MOSCOW, April 29: Greece and Russia on Tuesday
signed a deal to extend the proposed Russian-Italian South Stream gas
pipeline into Greek territory, boosting Moscowús presence on Europeús
energy supply routes.
Russian Minister for Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko and Greek
Development Minister Christos Folias signed the deal at a televised
ceremony in the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held
talks with Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis before the ceremony,
said both South Stream and a proposed Russian-backed oil pipeline
through Greece were in Europeús interest.
Their aim is to significantly increase the energy security not only of the
Balkans but of the entire European continent,¤ he said.
The 280-kilometre Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline will connect the
Black Sea to the Aegean as a vital alternative route bypassing the
tanker-congested Bosphorus Straits.
South Stream, meanwhile, is planned to pump up to 30 billion cubic metres
per year gas under Black Sea from Russia to Bulgaria before crossing
southern Europe in two branches, one northwest to Austria, the other
southwest to Greece and Italy. Developed by Gazprom with Italyús Eni,
the project is seen as crucial to Russiaús efforts to maintain a
dominant position on the European continentús gas supply.
AFP
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NATO
allies put pressure on Russia
April 30, 2008
What do you do when confronted by a bully? The
first lesson you learn as a child in the school yard is that reasoning
and turning the other cheek unfortunately does not work very well, and
will only get you a reputation as an easy victim. On the other hand,
knocking someone's teeth out because of a mean taunt is not the way to
go either. Producing an immediate, proportionate response is a skill you
have to learn.
In the schoolyard of international politics, much the same rules apply.
Some countries tend to behave like bullies. The more other nations try
to accommodate them in the cause of getting along, the more they will
bully. The Soviet Union — and Russia today had long history of subtle
and not-so-subtle aggression towards its much smaller neighbors — "the
garden of the red czars" was one of the names for the Soviet empire and
its "near abroad."
Unfortunately for the Russian leadership, many of those smaller neighbors
are acquiring new, powerful friends and therefore a measure of
protection. Bullies never like this. Three small former Soviet
republics, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, are now members of NATO,
allies of the United States, Canada and almost all of Europe. Other
former Soviet republics are applying to follow their lead, hoping to
escape Russian dominance.
At the NATO summit in Bucharest in early April, the United States pressed
for giving Georgia and Ukraine Membership Action Plans (MAPs) with a
view to future NATO membership. Such plans were granted to Albania,
Macedonia and Croatia, who have also been knocking on NATO's door.
Unfortunately, Russian lobbying — maybe threats would be a better word —
stopped the Europeans from endorsing MAPs for Georgia and Ukraine. The
NATO summit communique promised action in the short-term future, but
that was as far as it went. Russian bullying worked on this occasion.
But that's not the end of the story. Russia has also managed to entangle
the future of Georgia with the status of Kosovo, the small Balkan nation
that in February declared independence from Russia's ally Serbia. If the
international community recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence,
so the Russian government fumed, Moscow would go ahead and recognize the
independence of Russian minority enclaves in former Soviet republics,
such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These are part of Georgia and have
been beset by Russian "peacekeeping" troops since the civil wars that
followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The post-Soviet space is
littered with unresolved conflicts of this kind.
In the case of Kosovo's independence, Europe and the United States had
enough at stake not to allow the Russian threats to stop their
recognition of Kosovo. Almost a decade of involvement in the Balkans
with no end in sight prompted the international community to support
Kosovo, in the hope that some momentum for reconstruction and economic
development could be gained and eventually allow international
peacekeepers to come home. In the case of the United States, we still
have 7,000 troops stationed in Kosovo on an ongoing basis.
Last week, Russia made its move — which was actually not as bad as might
have been expected. It announced the opening of Russian consulates in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and offered to issue passports to any ethnic
Russian who desired it and who would then be able to travel visa free
across the border. (At least the Russian response was mainly of a
diplomatic nature; President Vladimir Putin at one point even threatened
Ukraine with nuclear war, if Ukraine persisted in seeking NATO
membership.) More menacingly, Russia shot down a Georgian unmanned
aerial vehicle on April 20.
Russia's maneuvers deserve a clear and firm response, first of all on
principle. The United States and Europe need to point out to the Russian
government that the situations in Kosovo and in the Georgian minority
enclaves are by no means parallel. Georgia has at no time tried to
ethnically cleanse and mass murder its Russian minorities, as Serbia
tried to do with its Albanian population in Kosovo. This action was
stopped by NATO in 1999, and it lost Serbia every moral right to govern
the Kosovars.
Second, NATO needs to revisit the question of MAPs for Georgia and Ukraine
as soon as possible, in order to reverse the decision taken in
Bucharest. Bending to Russian pressure was wrong in the first place, and
push-back in just such a measured and responsible form is certainly
justified. Who knows, it might even teach the Russian bullies a lesson.
washingtontimes
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Bush says Syria nuclear disclosure intended to prod North Korea and Iran
April 30, 2008
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush said
Tuesday that last week's disclosure of what senior American officials
called evidence of a nearly completed nuclear reactor in Syria was
intended to warn North Korea and Iran about the dangers of spreading
nuclear weapons.
Bush also defended his administration's decision to keep that evidence
secret for more than seven months after Israeli bombers destroyed the
Syrian building on Sept. 6.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last week criticized the United
States for withholding information about the site and Israel for
destroying it, saying both actions undermined efforts to verify whether
it was a nuclear reactor being built with the assistance of North Korea.
Making the first remarks in public about the Israeli attack by any
American official, Bush said that his administration maintained a cloak
of secrecy to avoid the risk of further military conflict in the region,
including possible Syrian retaliation against Israel. He said that risk
of conflict "was reduced" now.
Bush did not explain why exactly the administration disclosed the
information at this point, but the timing coincided with renewed efforts
to persuade North Korea to abide by last year's agreement to acknowledge
all of its nuclear activities. The North Korean activities include what
administration officials assert are a still undisclosed program to
enrich uranium and the sale of nuclear technology to countries like
Syria.
"We also wanted to advance certain policy objectives through the
disclosures, and one would be to the North Koreans to make it abundantly
clear that we, we may know more about you than you think," Bush said at
a White House news conference.
Senior officials have signaled that the administration may accept a
less-than-full disclosure, allowing North Korea, for example, not to
explain its nuclear cooperation with Syria in the kind of detail that
American officials have now done.
In his remarks on Tuesday and at Camp David on April 19, the president
appeared to back off such a compromise. He restated his demand that
North Korea make "a complete disclosure" about its proliferation and
enrichment activities.
Senior officials showed videos and photograph last week documenting what
they said was evidence of North Korean aid in the design and
construction of a plutonium reactor in eastern Syria.
The officials offered the most extensive information about the Israeli
military operation, revealing that Israeli bombs had badly damaged the
building, but that the Syrians worked feverishly for more than a month
to dismantle the ruins to conceal evidence of nuclear activity. Israeli
officials have never discussed the strike publicly.
Even as senior officials were making their case, a State Department
delegation held a new round of talks with the North Koreans last week,
but the talks failed to make progress in getting a declaration, which is
now four months overdue.
Bush said that the disclosure of a covert Syrian reactor, which Syria has
denied, should persuade other countries to support United Nations
Security Council resolutions intended to keep Iran and other countries
from developing nuclear arms.
"We have an interest in sending a message to Iran and the world for that
matter about just how destabilizing a nuclear proliferation would be in
the Middle East," he said.
Bush also criticized the militant Islamic group Hamas as an obstacle to
peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but he passed up a chance to
criticize former President Jimmy Carter, as his aides have, for meeting
with Hamas leaders last week.
"Foreign policy and peace is undermined by Hamas in the Middle East," he
said when asked whether Carter's meetings had undercut his efforts.
"They're the ones who are undermining peace. They're the ones whose
foreign policy objective is the destruction of Israel. They're the ones
who are trying to create enough violence to stop the advance of the
two-party state solution."
Asked about the political crisis in Zimbabwe, Bush sharply criticized
President Robert Mugabe, saying he had "failed the country."
He also made it clear that he was disappointed with other countries in the
region for not doing more to support the opposition in Zimbabwe. That
was an indirect but clear reference to South Africa, whose president,
Thabo Mbeki, has called the dispute over last month's elections an
internal matter.
"It's really incumbent upon the nations in the neighborhood to step up and
lead," Bush said, "and recognize that the will of the people must be
respected and recognize that that will come about because they're tired
of failed leadership."
worldnews
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Iran's
president visits India for gas pipeline talks
April 30, 2008
NEW DELHI -
A $7 billion gas pipeline that would link Iran and India topped the
agenda Tuesday as the Islamic republic's president made his first visit
to New Delhi, despite strong U.S. objections to the project.
The trip came as India and the United States are struggling to finalize a
landmark nuclear energy deal.
But New Delhi has made it clear that it will look to any source to feed
its energy hungry economy, and India saw the brief visit by Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a chance kick-start the long-stalled
pipeline project.
Ahmadinejad arrived in the evening and met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and President Pratibha Patil during his five hours in New Delhi,
India's foreign ministry said. His visit was the first by an Iranian
leader in five years.
The pipeline needs to run through Pakistan, India's longtime rival. But
disagreements between the two over costs, and Indian fears about the
pipeline's security have held up the project.
However, the South Asian countries are reportedly close to striking a deal
on how much New Delhi should pay Islamabad for the fuel shipped through
Pakistani territory.
That would put the project back on track , a prospect that clearly dismays
Washington, which has repeatedly pressed India to back its efforts to
end Iran's nuclear program.
The United States last week said India should press Ahmadinejad to end
Iran's atomic program and its alleged aid to Iraqi militants. Washington
also said India should tell Ahmadinejad to stop supporting Islamic
militant groups in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
India responded by saying it would decide what , if anything , to discuss
with Ahmadinejad, tartly telling Washington that it did not need "any
guidance on the future conduct" of its foreign affairs.
On Tuesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters
that India believes engaging with Iran is far more productive than
isolating the Islamic republic.
"From our point of view, the more engagement there is, the more Iran
becomes a factor of stability in the region," he said after meeting
Ahmadinejad.
Apart from the pipeline, the two sides agreed to try to triple trade from
$10 billion a year but did not set a timeframe. They also discussed the
situation in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.
India's desire to build on its long-standing ties to Iran highlight New
Delhi's eagerness to avoid taking sides in international disputes and
work with as many countries as possible , even if its partners disdain
each other.
Its willingness to seek energy supplies from both Tehran and Washington is
one example of New Delhi's desire to play the middle. Another is its
developing relationship with Iran's archenemy Israel. Earlier this year
India launched an Israeli spy satellite, which is in part intended to
monitor Iran's nuclear program.
Menon said Ahmadinejad did not bring up the satellite during his time in
New Delhi.
The Associated Press
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Iran president says peace proposal to Russia is 'comprehensive'
April 30, 2008
NEW DELHI (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said that a "comprehensive" package offered to Russia was
aimed at "eradicating" the threats of war.
The comments follow statements by Tehran's top national security official
that he had held talks with his Russian counterpart on a new Iranian
proposals to solve world problems, including the nuclear standoff with
the West.
Ahmadinejad, after meeting Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in New
Delhi, said the "comprehensive" package was based on mutual friendship.
"We have offered a proposal for comprehensive cooperation and constructive
dialogue based on friendship and sustainable security to eradicate
threats of war," Ahmadinejad told reporters.
"Its a valued issue we have proposed to discuss with them," the Iranian
leader said, without giving further details of the proposals, which
appear to be a wide friendship treaty rather than a specific offer to
end the nuclear crisis.
On Monday Iran's top national security official Saeed Jalili said after
talks with Russia's Valentin Sobolev that Tehran planned to have a "good
basis for negotiations" with the West.
The package also appears to emphasise what Iran sees as its growing power
in the world and the supposed decline of Britain and the United States.
"The world is no longer unilateral," Jalili told a news conference
alongside Sobolev, the acting head of Russia's security council.
It would be a major surprise if the package contained any concession from
Iran to break the deadlock in the nuclear standoff as Ahmadinejad has
repeatedly said Tehran will not budge.
The West fears Iran wants to use nuclear technology to make an atomic
weapon but Ahmadinejad in New Delhi insisted that developed nations
planned to monopolise nuclear energy to meet their needs.
"They (the West) want to deny the world cheap nuclear energy and they are
bringing political pressure on countries to discourage them from their
nuclear energy programmes," Ahmadinejad said.
"The ruling parties of the world (West) want all the good things
exclusively for themselves and their stand that we are building nuclear
weapons is a lie," he said through an interpreter.
Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power station in the southern city
of Bushehr, a much delayed project due to come online in 2008. It is
also contracted to supply nuclear fuel for the facility.
With robust political and economic ties with Tehran, Moscow has played a
key role in the nuclear standoff.
It has repeatedly urged the West to solve the crisis through diplomacy but
as a veto-wielding UN Security Council permanent member it has also
backed three resolutions imposing sanctions against Tehran.
Moscow has also told Tehran it currently has no need to enrich uranium on
its own soil and should obey the resolutions' calls to stop the process,
which can be used to make nuclear weapons.
India, which carried out nuclear weapons tests in 1998, is bound to Russia
with a 20-year friendship treaty
AFP
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