N.Korea rejects UN truce talks over ship sinking

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(For full North Korea coverage, click [ID:nNORKOR])

SEOUL, June 27 (Reuters) – North Korea said on Sunday it was ready for direct military talk with South Korea to discuss the sinking of one of Seoul’s warships, but only if the armistice commission overseeing the Korean War truce does not get involved.

South Korea has accused the North of sinking the Cheonan, and killing 46 sailors, after a multinational investigation concluded that a North Korean submarine had torpedoed the corvette, an incident that has ratcheted up tensions on the peninsula.

North Korea has denied involvement, saying the investigation was a fabrication. It has also threatened military action if it is punished by the United Nations for the incident.

South Korea said this week it has not given up on trying to persuade the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution against North Korea over the navy ship’s sinking.

“If the South Korean authorities respond to our proposal, we will promptly come out for a working contact for the opening of the military talks,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said.

“The U.S. forces side should no longer meddle in the issue of the North-South relations under the name of the ‘UN Forces Command’,” it said.

A multinational team from the U.S.-led United Nations Command is probing whether North Korea violated the Korean War armistice by sinking the Cheonan, a probe the North has denounced as a “bogus mechanism”.

North Korea’s military has proposed sending a team of military inspectors to review the multinational investigation into the Cheonan’s sinking, but South Korea has rejected that call and demanded the North make an unconditional apology and a pledge to end provocations.

U.S. President Barack Obama said after meeting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders in Toronto that the North will face consequences for the incident, pressing for a Security Council condemnation. [ID:nN26218623] (Reporting by Jack Kim, editing by Miral Fahmy)

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North Korea warns U.N. council of military “follow-up”

June 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – North Korea’s U.N. envoy said on Tuesday that any U.N. Security Council action over the sinking of a South Korean naval ship that was hostile to Pyongyang would be met by a military “follow-up.”

World | South Korea | North Korea

Seoul, which has accused North Korea of torpedoing the corvette Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 sailors, brought the dispute to the Security Council this month, asking the 15-nation body to take action to deter “further provocation.”

“If the Security Council release any documents against us condemning or questioning us in any document then myself as diplomat I can do nothing, but the follow-up measures will be carried out by our military forces,” North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Sin Son-ho told a rare news conference.

Sin, who was speaking in English, was asked if he meant that North Korea would take military action in response to the adoption of any resolution or statement by the council.

“I told you that if any action is taken by Security Council against us, I lose my job,” he said. “Military will have its own job, I mean follow-up. I gave you the answer. You can prejudge what is the meaning I have told you.”

Sin warned that the situation on the Korean peninsula remained tense due to what he called the “reckless maneuvers” of the South.

He said it was “a touch-and-go situation that war may break out at any time,” adding that “our people and our army will smash our aggressors.”

Delegations from the South and North presented the council on Monday with their positions on the events of March 26.

The council’s president, Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller, said after the two separate informal meetings that council members were gravely concerned about the incident and urged both sides to “refrain from any act that could escalate tensions in the region.” He did not say who was to blame.

“FUNNY STORY”

Council diplomats say South Korea is hoping the 15-nation body will rebuke the North. But North Korea’s sole major ally, China, has a veto on the council and is reluctant to support anything that would upset Pyongyang.

Sin reiterated Pyongyang’s position that the South’s allegations about March 26 are a “complete fabrication” and demanded that the North be allowed to send its own investigation crew to the site of the incident.

“This is indeed a funny story,” he said of South Korea’s investigation of the sinking. “Some kind of fiction.”

“If the South Koreans have nothing to hide there is no reason for them not to accept our inspection group,” he said.

The North Korean envoy presented a lengthy rebuttal of the South Korean evidence that Seoul says proved the North’s military torpedoed the Cheonan. He suggested that the actual cause of the sinking may have been rocks in the water.

“I am not here to blame anyone but to clarify what happened,” Sin said.

Sin also dismissed the idea that the investigation of the incident was international, saying that the foreign participants played no more than a symbolic role in what was essentially a South Korean probe.

According to Sin, the evidence against Pyongyang was “fabricated in pursuit of political objectives.” Those objectives included influencing South Korea’s recent elections and poisoning North Korea’s good ties with China, he said.

The United States, Sin said, also benefited politically from the incident, as it helped force Japan to back down from previous demands that the United States close a military base on the island of Okinawa.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip; editing by David Storey)

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Q+A-How serious is the Korean crisis and risk of war?

June 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SEOUL, June 16 (Reuters) – North Korea has repeated its threat to take military action if the U.N. Security Council punishes it for what it says is a fabricated accusation by South Korea that it attacked and sank a navy ship, killing 46 sailors. [ID:nN15271522]

The sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March was the deadliest incident between the rival Koreas in decades.

Following are some questions about how serious the crisis is, whether it could escalate to an armed confrontation and how the North could react to the outcome of debate at the U.N.

(For more stories, click [ID:nNORKOR])

WILL THERE BE WAR?

Many analysts doubt there will be war, as long as South Korea holds its fire. North Korea’s obsolete conventional armed forces and military equipment mean quick and certain defeat if it wages full-scale war and Pyongyang is well aware of its limits.

South Korea has made it clear it will not retaliate despite investigations that found a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine sank the corvette Cheonan in March.

It knows the investment community will take fright if it does attack. President Lee Myung-bak’s government has taken the case to the Security Council, rather than take the law into its own hands.

IS EVERYTHING SAFE AND SOUND?

No. As the level of rhetoric rises, there is always a risk of skirmishes which could in turn develop into wider conflict.

Lee raised the stakes by saying in a national address the South would exercise its right to defend itself if the North provoked it again. North Korea has said much the same.

Both have carefully avoided sounding like the aggressor, promising to fight only if the other strikes first.

But South Korea said it would resume loudspeaker broadcasts against the North at their armed border. Pyongyang says it will shoot at the equipment.

South Korea’s defence minister has repeatedly said it would defend itself if the North begins shooting by quickly returning fire with overwhelming intensity.

Another risk could be the build-up of U.S. military forces on the peninsula that will be seen by the North as a sign of imminent invasion, something that leaders in Pyongyang are said to be genuinely afraid of.

The United States, which has about 28,000 troops stationed on the peninsula, threw its full support behind South Korea but said it was working hard to stop the escalation getting out of hand.

WHAT WILL THE SECURITY COUNCIL DO?

South Korea, not a member of the Security Council, and the United States, its key ally who is a permanent member, want the strongest action taken against the North that hits where it will hurt the destitute state’s leaders.

But China, another permanent member and the North’s major backer, will likely veto a resolution, possibly on grounds that the ship incident, unlike Pyongyang’s nuclear tests, is a localised issue that is better addressed by the two rivals and not by the international community.

The alternative is a strongly worded statement by the Security Council that condemns the North’s actions and calls for its pledge not to repeat provocative actions. Such a statement will be non-binding and will not involve prescriptions for sanctions such as a trade embargo.

As the North’s chief U.N. representative said on Tuesday, Pyongyang is also likely to protest against such a statement.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS TO INVESTORS?

Market players have tended to think that confrontation between the two Koreas will not escalate into armed conflict because they believe Seoul will not risk the damage to its own economy and its powerful neighbours in North Asia, who together account for about a sixth of the world’s economic output.

In South Korea, even a nuclear test does little to rattle financial markets, as market players are more concerned with direct armed confrontation and have become largely inured to the North’s rhetoric.

But the latest report of Kim Jong-il calling for war readiness has unnerved financial markets.

Some analysts say historic trends suggest any market losses will remain brief, as long as the two Koreas stop short of all-out war.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

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ANALYSIS-Iran spy ring reports set off Gulf Arab alarm bells

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

DUBAI, June 11 (Reuters) – Gulf Arab states, hosts to U.S. and Western military bases, fear the discovery of a purported Iranian spy ring in Kuwait will make it harder to stay out of the fray of any conflict over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The ensuing tensions following the Kuwaiti arrests, details of which remain scant, may further polarise Gulf states against non-Arab rival Tehran as a global row over Iran’s nuclear ambitions heats up.

News of the round-up, if proven, could also prompt security clampdowns by Gulf states aimed at ferreting out any more potential spies governments fear may be scouring their land for retaliatory targets in the event of a U.S. strike on Iran.

“What they are searching for is not being caught in the crossfire of a potential military strike on Iran,” said Theodore Karasik of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

“When you have the presence of spy rings and this drifting more towards the western position, it makes the situation a little more dangerous,” he said.

Tehran denies running spies in Kuwait, whose ties with the Islamic Republic have improved after turning poisonous during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war over Kuwait’s backing of Iraq.

The West suspects Iran, just across the water from the Western-allied Gulf states, is seeking nuclear weapons capability. The United Nations imposed this week new sanctions against Iran, which says it wants only to generate electricity.

But if diplomacy fails, neither the United States nor Israel, the only assumed nuclear power in the Middle East, have ruled out military action. That spells danger for oil-exporting Gulf states, as Iran has threatened to hit back at Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf if attacked.

The United States has already grown its land- and sea-based missile defence systems in several Gulf countries to counter what it sees as Iran’s growing missile threat.

“These (Gulf Arab) countries now are assuming that definitely the (Iranian) revolutionary guard is already there in their country,” Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Centre said.

“If it (the Kuwait accusation) is proven … I think we are going to witness a major close look by intelligence in each country,” he added.

The United States has myriad air and naval installations in Gulf Arab states, some of which are little more than 200 km (124 miles) from Iran’s coast. The U.S. Central Command keeps its forward headquarters in Qatar, and Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s

Kuwait hosts Camp Arifjan, a vast U.S. logistics base in the desert south of the capital that serves as a staging ground for U.S. forces deploying in Iraq.

TENSE TIES

Kuwaiti media said in May authorities had detained a number of people — Kuwaitis and foreigners — suspected of spying for Iran, and the independent al-Qabas daily said they were accused of gathering information on military sites in Kuwait.

Kuwait, which has banned media coverage of the case, has said only that it was holding several people in an unspecified security probe and that details published in the media were inaccurate. It has not clarified the matter.

That the arrests happened in Kuwait, whose ties with Iran were among the better in the region, could spread alarm for other Gulf states whose own relations with Iran are more tense.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest site, sees Tehran as a rival for regional sway, and a dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over three Gulf islands picked up steam in recent months, despite strong trade ties between the states.

Bahrain had a brief spat last year with Tehran after an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying Iran had sovereignty over the tiny kingdom, where a Sunni family rules over a Shi’ite majority.

“The fear is that (if it were) equipped with a nuclear bomb, Iran will be able to fulfil its self-perception as the region’s powerhouse to be able to bully the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states at its will,” IHS Global Insight Middle East analyst Gala Riani said.

“In the case of an Israeli attack on Iran, the GCC states would likely fall back on their well-versed quietist approach, with their priority being to avoid inflaming the situation,” Riani said. “Privately some of them might welcome an attack that could retard the Iranian nuclear programme.”

Sunni-led Gulf countries, with often significant and marginalised Shi’ite minorities, also worry about Iran’s sway on their own Shi’ite populations. If the existence of an Iranian spy ring in Kuwait is proven, Gulf states could respond harshly.

A diplomat familiar with the investigation said the ring was made up of eight people — all Shi’ites — including Kuwaitis, Lebanese and Bahrainis.

Kuwait has in the past arrested Shi’ites for alleged plots in the 1980s to destabilise the country, including an attempt to kill Kuwait’s ruler and the hijacking of a Kuwaiti plane to demand the release of Shi’ite prisoners.

Kuwait deported some 27,000 expatriates, mostly Iranians, in 1985 and 1986 and stepped up security after Tehran fired missiles at its oil installations and attacked Kuwaiti tankers.

Analysts said Gulf states could slap entry or residency restrictions on Iranian expatriates, several hundred thousand of whom live in Gulf states. Some could be selectively deported.

But Iran, whose foreign ministry has said the reports were an attempt by enemies such as Israel to sow regional division, was likely to feel it had to watch its back.

“They have to collect information on the American bases or the capabilities of the GCC states because they can see on the horizon there is something going to happen sooner or later,” said Alani of the Gulf Research Centre.

But a senior Arab diplomat in Riyadh said reports about the spy cell’s size and importance may have been exaggerated, and cited a “general paranoia” over Iran’s role in the region.

“But if this affair gets confirmed, it will also prompt predominantly Sunni Arab countries to put their Shi’ite community under greater scrutiny,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl and Martin Dokoupil in Dubai, Souhail Karam in Riyadh; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

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NKorea threatens military action in disputed waters

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

North Korea on Tuesday threatened military action if the South continued to violate its waters off the west coast, further stoking tension on the peninsula after the sinking of a South Korean warship.

The increasingly war-like rhetoric hit Seoul’s financial markets, prompting financial policymakers to call an emergency meeting on Wednesday to look for ways to calm investors.

“Should the South side’s intrusions into the territorial waters of our side continue, the DPRK (North Korea) will put into force practical military measures to defend its waters as it had already clarified and the south side will be held fully accountable for all the ensuing consequences,” North Korea’s KCNA news agency quoted a senior official as saying.

The furious war of words — the North referred to the South’s government as “military gangsters, seized by fever for a war” — follows a report by international investigators last week which accused the hermit North of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors.

On Monday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak cut trade with his impoverished neighbour and blocked its commercial ships from sailing through the South’s waters.

He also plans to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in China on Tuesday that Washington and Beijing would work together to come up with an “effective, appropriate” response to the sinking.

Both China and the United States say they want to see peace and stability on the peninsula, but agreeing on how to pursue it may be hard. Washington condemned the sinking, while China has been largely silent about the behaviour of its volatile ally.

Russia, which like China and the United States holds a veto in the Security Council, urged restraint. President Dmitry Medvedev urged both sides to “prevent a further escalation on the situation on the Korean peninsula”.

Most analysts doubt either side would risk a war, which would be suicidal for the North and economy-ruining for the South.

The initial markets falls were triggered by a story by the South’s Yonhap news agency quoting a local report that the North was gearing up for war. It later emerged that the report said only that the North would fight back if it was attacked.

“The Yonhap report … chilled investor sentiment as it highlighted South Korea’s geopolitical risks. And the timing for such news could not be worse, as market sentiment was already shaky with renewed euro zone financial fears,” said Hwang Keum-dan, a stock market analyst at Samsung Securities.

Key economic and financial authorities will meet early on Wednesday to discuss ways to stabilise local financial markets.

Some in the market saw the selling — which took stocks on the main index to their lowest close in 15 weeks — as overdone and triggered mostly by foreign selling.

“North Korea and related risks have always been there. It is like telling investors to quit the Japanese market because it has earthquakes. War is wanted neither by the North nor the South,” one fund manager at a foreign investment management house said.

FURIOUS RHETORIC

Both sides have stepped up their rhetoric over the Cheonan incident, one of their deadliest since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North charged South Korea’s government with fabricating the issue, partly to help the ruling party in next week’s local elections — important to cement President Lee’s power in the second half of his single five-year term.

The incident appears to have done nothing to dent Lee’s popularity, which one recent opinion poll shows running at well over 40 percent, unusually high for recent South Korean presidents halfway through their term.

A strong showing for Lee’s party in the June 2 local election, which many expect, will give him greater authority to push aside a fragmented opposition in parliament and continue with sweeping pro-business reforms.

His rule has also seen relations with the North turn increasingly chilly as he turned his back on a decade of generous aid to the North by his predecessors which had failed to end its attempts to build nuclear weapons.

PUSHED TOO FAR?

Some worry pushing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il too far may leave him little choice but to fight back to try to save his family’s more than 60-year hold over the destitute country as he tries to secure the succession for his youngest son.

Analysts say the main risk is that small skirmishes along the heavily armed border could turn into broader conflict.

China, the North’s only major ally and which effectively bankrolls its economy, has studiously tried to keep out of the fray, urging calm and refusing to voice support for the international report on the Cheonan sinking.

It means that South Korea has almost no chance of winning further U.N. sanctions against its neighbour.

The issue is certain to dominate talks in Seoul on Wednesday with Clinton, who is arriving from Beijing.

The United States, which backs Seoul, has said the situation was “highly precarious” and said it would take part in a joint naval exercise with the South.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim, Jungyoun Park, Yoo Choonsik, Kim Yeon-hee and Jack Kim in Seoul, Linda Sieg in Tokyo and Chris Buckley and Doug Palmer in Beijing; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Petraeus says need to give credit to anti-Taliban ops in Pak

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As pressure piles up on Pakistan to extend its military action against militants, a top US General has said the country should be given credit for going after the Taliban in its territory.

General David Petraeus, Commander of the US Central Command, said the Pakistani military went after the Taliban effectively last year in its northwest territories.

“There is a common enemy out there, and we all have to cooperate” in defeating it, Petraeus said in his key note address to the 2010 Joint War fighting Conference, in Virginia Beach.

Petraeus, who was in western Pakistan last week said: “It’s important to give Pakistan credit for what it has done”.

The praise for Pakistan Army’s anti-militant operations in its north west came as the Islamabad is under pressure to extend crack down to North Waziristan, believed to be the base of many al qaeda and Taliban leaders.

The US has been pursuing Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan, and the impetus has increased after the recent Times Square failed bombing attempt was found to have links to the region.

President Barack Obama has said that al Qaeda and the Taliban continue to plot from the Af-Pak border region.

“As we’ve seen in recent plots here in the United States, al Qaeda and its extremist allies continue to plot in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a growing Taliban insurgency could mean an even larger safe haven for al Qaeda and its affiliates,” Obama said yesterday.

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Obama open to Karazai plan for talks with Taliban

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (IANS) US President Barack Obama has indicated that he may accept Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s plan to reconcile with certain Taliban leaders to bring peace to the war-torn nation.

‘With respect to perceived tensions between the US government and the Afghan government, let me begin by saying a lot of them were simply overstated,’ he said at a joint press conference with Karzai after a 45-minute meeting in his Oval office.

Tensions were bound to recur and that difficult work remained in addressing one another’s concerns, such as corruption in the Afghan government and civilian casualties resulting from US-led military action, they both said.

Karzai here for a strategic dialogue with the US, has over the last two days has met top US officials including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates and military leaders.

In his remarks, Karzai said he was committed to helping the White House meet its goals: defeating extremists, ridding his government of corruption, and setting up a viable security force that can step in once the US starts withdrawing troops in July 2011.

‘We are in a campaign against terrorism together,’ Karzai said. ‘There are days that we are happy; there are days that we are not happy. It’s a mutual relationship towards a common objective.’

Obama in turn indicated that he was open to Karzais peace plan of reconciling with some of the Taliban leaders. Obama said that the jirga, or tribal assembly of elders, would provide a basis for future talks.

‘What we’ve said is that so long as there’s a respect for the Afghan constitution, rule of law, human rights; so long as they are willing to renounce violence and ties to Al Qaeda and other extremist networks; that President Karzai should be able to work to reintegrate those individuals into Afghan society,’ Obama said.

To maximize leverage in such negotiations, the coalition needs more success in routing the Taliban, he said.

‘One of the things I emphasised to President Karzai, however, is, that the incentives for the Taliban to lay down arms, or at least portions of the Taliban to lay down arms, and make peace with the Afghan government in part depends on our effectiveness in breaking their momentum militarily,’ Obama said.

In a joint statement released Wednesday, Obama said it was his ‘strong desire’ to have Afghan security forces conduct all searches, arrests and detention operations.

In the news conference, Karzai said the agreement to form a team of advisors that will come up with a new timeline for handing over the prison was a ‘major point of progress.’

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

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Iran Guards test missiles, warn enemies

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards test-fired five missiles during war games in a waterway crucial for global oil supplies on Sunday, and a commander warned the Islamic Republic’s enemies they would regret any attack.

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Iran, which is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, often announces advances in its military capabilities and tests weaponry in an apparent bid to show its readiness for any strikes by Israel or the United States.

The Guards’ exercises in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz coincided with rising tension between Iran and the West, which says Tehran’s nuclear work is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies this.

Last week, the Pentagon said U.S. military action against Iran remained an option even as Washington pursues diplomacy and sanctions to halt the country’s atomic activities.

Speaking on the drills’ fourth day, Guards commander Massoud Jazayeri said Iran had a deterrence plan which would make the enemy “regretful” if they launched any attack against the country, the official IRNA news agency reported.

He also reiterated Iran’s position that foreign forces in the region should leave, apparently referring to the presence of U.S. troops in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Those who came from (far away) to our region must leave, because we consider them as the enemy,” he said.

Semi-official Fars News Agency said Guards’ naval units fired five missiles at a target, without making clear if they were newly designed missiles.

“Despite the different places from which the missiles were fired , they all hit the target simultaneously and completely destroyed it,” Fars said.

The missiles were surface-to-surface and surface-to-sea.

A second Guards commander, Brigadier General Ali Hajizadeh, said mass production of a new reconnaissance drone which was tested in the exercise would soon be launched, Fars reported.

On Thursday, Iranian media said the Guards successfully tested a new speedboat capable of destroying enemy ships.

The United States is pushing for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities as demanded by the U.N. Security Council, including proposed moves against members of the Guards.

Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, has described Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence and has not ruled out military action.

Iran, a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim state, has said it would respond to any attack by targeting U.S. interests in the region and Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz. About 40 percent of the world’s traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic narrows.

(Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Iran Revolutionary Guards hold “major” Gulf exercise

April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards began three days of large-scale war games in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, state television reported.

The military manoeuvres, in a waterway crucial for global crude supplies, coincided with rising tension between Iran and the West, which fears Tehran’s nuclear programme is aimed at developing bombs. Iran denies the charge.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon said U.S. military action against Iran remained an option even as Washington pursues diplomacy and sanctions to halt the Islamic Republic’s atomic activities.

Iran’s armed forces often hold drills in an apparent bid to show their readiness to deter any military action by Israel or the United States, its arch foes.

State Press TV said Iran had begun the exercise in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz “to show off its defensive capabilities and its determination to maintain security” in the region.

The Guards’ naval, air and ground forces were taking part in the “major drill that seeks to display Iran’s constructive and determined military power in establishing security in the strategic region”, the English-language station said.

It said new weapon systems would be demonstrated during the exercise, but gave no details.

The United States is pushing for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities as demanded by the U.N. Security Council, including proposed moves against members of the Guards.

Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, has described Iran’s nuclear programme as a threat to its existence. Although it says it wants a diplomatic solution, Washington also has not ruled out military action.

Iran, a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim state, has said it would respond to any attack by targeting U.S. interests in the region and Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz.

About 40 percent of the world’s traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic narrows.

(Writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Michael Roddy)

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Naval blast inspection points finger at N Korea

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The likelihood North Korea sank a South Korean naval ship near their disputed border rose when Seoul said on Friday an external explosion probably caused the ship to split in two, killing dozens.

South Korea’s defence minister said this month the 1,200-tonne Cheonan may have been hit by a torpedo, immediately putting suspicion on North Korea and stoking concerns that the incident could start a conflict on the long divided peninsula.

“Conclusively, after a visual inspection, there is a higher chance of an outer explosion than an internal one,” Yoon Duk-yong, a top investigation official, told a news conference.

Local media is increasingly pinning the blame on North Korea, in the absence of any other likely reasons for the explosion which sank the corvette late last month, thought to have killed 46 sailors.

Mr Yoon said the twisting of metal from the salvaged stern that was raised on Thursday indicated the blast had come from outside, but the team will wait until the rest of the ship was raised and other evidence gathered before reaching a final conclusion.

“The Cheonan was also halved in the middle. Therefore, it is highly likely that a torpedo fired from a submarine or mine destroyed the ship,” military expert and former submarine captain Jung Sung wrote in the JoongAng Ilbo daily.

The threat of triggering a major conflict, and so hurting its own rapid economic recovery, means South Korea is unlikely to take military action against the North if it does turn out to have deliberately sunk the ship, analysts said.

Relations between the two have already turned frosty since President Lee Myung-bak came to power in Seoul over two years ago, angering Pyongyang by ending the financial largesse that had for years been a lifeline for the broken North Korean economy.

In a fit of pique, the North this week froze assets of a South Korean firm at a joint tourism project north of the border once hailed as a symbol of cooperation.

The North has made no public mention of the ship sinking.

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Iraq invasion would not have happened if Bush was not misled on WMD: Aide

March 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar. 5 (ANI): Former President George W Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, has claimed that Bush would not have ordered the invasion of Iraq had he known that intelligence on weapons of mass destruction was erroneous.

“Would the Iraq war have occurred without WMD? I doubt it. The Bush administration itself would probably have sought other ways to constrain Saddam,” the Independent quoted Rove, as saying in his memoir, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.

While the Rove book is being seen as a staunch defence of the eight years that Bush spent in office, it also confirms that the Iraq war was fought under entirely false pretences.

In his book, Rove admits that failure by the White House to counter the erroneous intelligence claims was “one of the biggest mistakes of the Bush years”.

The book comes after Blair admitted that he probably would have moved ahead with removing Saddam Hussein from power even had he known that the narrative about weapons of mass destruction was fictional by finding different ways to justify it.

Although not many people will accept the notion that the White House was as out-of-the-loop about the facts on WMD, Rove says that, without the WMD storyline, Bush would surely have backed away from military action even if he, the writer, still believes it would have been justified. (ANI)

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Pak Army rules out offensive in North Waziristan

July 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Peshawar, July 2 (ANI): The Pakistan Army has ruled out any possibility of a military offensive against the Taliban in North Waziristan.

The Army has said it would honour the peace deal inked with local tribes in the region despite a sudden increase in attacks on security forces.

Dispelling fears about a probable attack, the military air-dropped pamphlets in Pashto and Urdu to assure tribesmen that the Army has no intention of initiating military action in the region.

The pamphlets mentioned that ‘some miscreants were trying to destroy peace and damage ties between the government and Utmanzai Wazir tribes.’

The people were relieved to know that the military is not planning any action in the region, The News reports.

“The leaflets and assurance by the government not to launch any operation restored signs of life to the region,” said a resident of Miramshah, Muhammad Kaleem.

Referring to the recent attacks on security forces in the region, the pamphlet said some disgruntled elements could not tolerate development work in the underdeveloped tribal region, and therefore, have started terrorist attacks on government installations and security forces. (ANI)

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Military offensive to continue till all extremists rooted out : Zardari

July 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, July 2 (ANI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the military offensive against the Taliban would continue until all the extremists are rooted out from the country.

“The fight against militancy and terrorism will end with the complete elimination of militants,” Zardari said during a meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani here.

The meeting was organized to discuss the overall security condition in the country and rehabilitation of displaced people, who have been rendered homeless due to the ongoing Swat military offensive.

“The government will now focus on the safe return of IDPs to their homes,” The Daily Times quoted Zardari, as saying.

During the meeting, General Kayani briefed Zardari and Gilani both over the future course of action in Swat, and the planned military action against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, sources said.

Kayani also briefed Gilani on his recent visits to France, Germany and Russia.(ANI)

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Blair urged Brown to hold Iraq war probe secretly

June 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 21 (ANI): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown decided to hold the independent inquiry into the Iraq war behind the closed doors because he was urged by his predecessor Tony Blair to do so, The Observer has claimed.

Blair was reportedly afraid of a “show trial” that he dreaded the prospect of giving evidence in public and under oath about the use of intelligence and about his numerous private discussions with US President George Bush over plans for war.

The report says that Blair, who resisted pressure for a full public inquiry while he was prime minister, deliberately didn’t express his view in person to Brown because he feared it might leak out.

Instead, messages on the issue were relayed through others to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, who conveyed them to Brown in the days leading up to the announcement of the inquiry last week.

A Downing Street spokesman, however, said: “This was a decision for the current prime minister, not for Tony Blair. We have always been clear that we consulted a number of people before announcing the commencement of the inquiry, including former government figures. We are not going to get into the nature of those discussions.”

The paper further claims that six weeks before the war, at a meeting in Washington, Bush and Blair were forced to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second UN resolution legitimising military action.

Bush told Blair that the US had drawn up a provocative plan “to fly U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, painted in UN colours, over Iraq with fighter cover.” Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes, he would put Iraq in breach of UN resolutions and legitimise military action.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, whose party opposed the war from the outset, said: “If this is true about Blair demanding secrecy, it is outrageous that an inquiry into the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez is being muzzled to suit the individual needs of the man who took us to war.” (ANI)

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William and Harry both set sights on military action in Afghanistan

June 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

William and Harry both set sights on military action in AfghanistanLondon, June 19 : British Prince William is desperate for an opportunity to fight for his country, while his younger brother Harry hopes that he will once again get a chance to return to Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot.

Both Princes are currently training at the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire.

While William is flying twin-engined Griffins on his way to becoming an RAF search-and-rescue pilot, Harry is training for the Army Air Corps in the single-engine Squirrel.

“I did not join the Forces to be mollycoddled or treated any different. As far as I’m concerned, if Harry can do it, I can do it,” Times Online quoted William, who has always been kept clear of frontline combat, as saying.

“As future head of the Armed Forces, it is really important to at least get the opportunity to be credible and to do the job I signed up for and do the best I can. It is all I ever wanted to do,” he added.

The 26-year-old Prince might have seen himself doing search and rescue for four or five years, but he hopes to serve in Afghanistan as part of his future operational roles.

“You talk to everyone else and it is impossible. I still remain hopeful that there is a chance,” he said.

Younger Prince Harry said if he could not return to Afghanistan with the Household Cavalry, he would try to go as a helicopter pilot.

“It’s my easiest way to get back to the front line. I love flying helicopters and I hope that I can be better than the best. That is what I have always strived to be, to go out to a front line. My best chance to do it is from a helicopter,” he said.

Harry no longer dreams of flying Apache attack helicopters.

Giving the reason for that, he said: “Brain capacity – I don’t know if I’ve got it for the Apache.”

He revealed that he would prefer the Lynx, a utility helicopter used for support and convoy protection as well as ferrying personnel.

If successful, he could be ready for operations as early 2011.

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Pro-LTTE supporters protest against Sri Lanka

May 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chennai, May 29 (ANI): Hundreds of pro-LTTE supporters under the banner of Viduthali Chiruthai Katchi, took out a mass rally in Chennai on Thursday to protest against Sri Lankan offensive on the ethnic Tamils in the island nation.

The protesters raised slogans against Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and demanded that he be declared a war criminal for initiating military action against the LTTE.

“On May 16, 17 Sinhalese many Tamils were killed. LTTE leaders went for compromise but they were killed … The party condemns action of Sri Lanka.

UN and international community should announce Mahinda Rajapaksa as a war criminal before a court. We urge the international community to give maximum punishment of hanging to Rajapaksa,” said Thol Thirumavalavan, General Secretary, Viduthali Chiruthai Katchi, Chennai.

The Sri Lankan military declared victory over the LTTE after a climactic gun battle in which the separatist rebels’ leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran was killed.

Sri Lanka is now completely under the control of the government for the first time since the LTTE waged a war in 1983 fighting for a separate nation for the minority Tamils in the Sinhalese-majority country. (ANI)

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Tamilians in Coimbatore demonstrate against Sri Lankan President

May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Coimbatore, May 26 (ANI): Over a hundred activists here today demonstrated against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The protesters raised slogans against Rajapakse and demanded that he be declared a war criminal for initiating military action against the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Wearing photographs of LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the protesters criticised Government of India for supporting Rajapakse Government.

“The Indian Government led by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi is supporting Rajapakse, who is a human flesh eater and is not declaring Rajapkase as war criminal. The Central Government is betraying the trust of Tamilians in Tamil Nadu and that is why we are protesting today,” said Susi Kalaiarasan, a protester.

The Tamil Tigers for the first time acknowledged the death of their founder and leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

A statement from the remnants of the rebel group issued late on Sunday said he had been killed a week before in the final battle of what had become Asia’s longest modern war. Sri Lanka declared total victory on May 18. (ANI)

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Pakistani troops battle Taliban in Swat’s main city

May 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Pakistani troops battle Taliban in Swat's main city Islamabad – Pakistani troops have begun street battles with entrenched Taliban forces in Mingora, the main town in north-western Swat district, an army spokesman said on Saturday.

Major General Athar Abbas also said 17 militants, including an important commander named Usman, alias Butcher, have been killed over the last 24 hours in Swat and its adjoining districts.

The army launched its operation in Swat on May 8 to eliminate the Taliban and end their rule. The move was prompted when the Taliban refused to honour a peace deal with the government.

“Today (Saturday), the most important phase of operation “Rah-e- Rast”, the clearance of Mingora, has commenced,” Abbas told reporters in Islamabad.

“It is a difficult operation because we have to make a house-to- house search. We have cleared some of the area in the city,” he added.

Capturing Mingora is critical to Pakistan’s efforts to regain control over Swat, which is located some 140 kilometres north-west of Islamabad.

Nearly 1.7 million people have been rendered homeless by the recent fighting in Swat and neighbouring areas, according to the United Nation’s refugee agency (UNHCR). They come on top of another 500,000 uprooted last year.

The United Nations on Friday appealed to the international community to immediately provide 543 million dollars to help the displaced. So far, more than 1,100 militants and over 60 troops have been killed in the operation.

The military action has the support of all major Pakistani political parties, plus strong backing from the United States and other Western countries, many of which have often blamed Pakistan in the past for not doing enough against Taliban terrorists.

But the support at home could fade if the displaced are not properly cared for in a timely manner.

The army also claimed Saturday that it had achieved substantial gains in Peochar, a side valley where al-Qaeda and Taliban had set-up training camps and a command-and-control system.

Abbas said militants’ losses in the conflict have boost confidence in the armed forces while shattering some of the myths that the Taliban forces were interested in the well-being of the people.

Locals in the area of Peochar voluntarily surrendered weapons which they had been ordered to hold. They also revealed that they had been subjected to forced labour and other atrocities, the spokesman said. (dpa)

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All parties’ conference divided on supporting Pak Army action in Swat

May 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 19 (ANI): An all-parties conference (APC), which vowed to unite the nation against the insurgency in Swat and Malakand, is clearly divided in providing support to Pakistan’s armed forces for the protection of the lives and property of citizens.

The APC in a 16-point resolution drafted by PPP leader Raza Rabbani asked the government to implement a resolution passed last October during a joint sitting of parliament and subsequent recommendations by a parliamentary committee on national security.

Surprisingly, there was no specific mention of the Taliban in the resolution, which reaffirmed to protect and defend the constitution and sovereignty of Pakistan. It called for the establishment of the writ of the state.

In Clause 5 of a government-prepared draft, it was proposed to endorse the role of the armed and security forces in the current situation, but Pakistan Muslim League-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain sought an amendment in the draft, and proposed support for the “positive role of the armed and security forces of Pakistan.”

Besides the government, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement supported this proposal, the Daily Times reports.

Sources said the PML-N, JUI-F, JUI-Sami, Jamait Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani, Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and some other smaller parties opposed the proposal, and said they would not agree to any clause supporting military action.

“If you do not delete this clause from the draft, we will walk out from the APC,” they threatened.

The clause was deleted from the draft. These parties agreed that the APC might pass a resolution to support the constitution and the writ of the government, in addition to supporting the efforts aimed at the welfare of IDPs.

“This concession was, in fact, given to the government as a face saving gesture,” the sources said. (ANI)

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