Gazette 01-17-14

Friday January 17th 2014

-------------------------

Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader Kadyrov says rebel warlord who threatened Sochi Games is dead

A Chechen rebel warlord who has threatened to attack the Sochi Olympics is dead, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed strongman said Thursday, but he offered no proof and his claim couldn't be verified.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on his Instagram that Doku Umarov, who urged his fighters to strike the Games, has died — a claim he has made repeatedly in the past. The information about Umarov's death came from intercepted communications between other rebel leaders who were discussing his replacement, he said, but he didn't make clear when the conversation took place or how it was heard.
The insurgents are too busy trying to find a replacement to Umarov to pose any threat to the Olympics that start Feb. 7. "That's why all the talks about the threat to Sochi are absolutely groundless," he said.
The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified source in Russian security agencies as saying they can't confirm Umarov's death.
Interfax also quoted Kadyrov as saying that Umarov's body hadn't been found but his forces were looking for it.
Umarov is the leader of the so-called Caucasus Emirate, a loose alliance of rebel groups seeking to create an independent Islamic state in Russia's North Caucasus.

US in talks plea to Syria opposition

US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Syria's opposition to join next week's peace talks.

The divided main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), is due to meet in Istanbul to vote on whether to go to the talks.
Mr Kerry stressed the aim of the so-called Geneva II talks was to begin the process of setting up a transitional government to end the war in Syria.
The three-year conflict has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people.
An estimated two million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million have been internally displaced.
A number of Syrian opposition leaders are reluctant to go to Switzerland unless Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is excluded from any future transitional government.
Damascus says there should be no pre-conditions for the talks. 

Syria proposes prisoner exchange

Syria's foreign minister has said Damascus is ready to offer a prisoner exchange with rebels.

Speaking in Moscow, Walid Muallem also said he had presented a ceasefire plan for the second city Aleppo to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
The moves came as the opposition Syrian National Coalition meets in Istanbul to decide whether to go to next week's peace conference.
The coalition is under Western pressure to participate in the Geneva II talks.
However, many of its members have already pulled out.

Some are reluctant to go unless President Bashar al-Assad is excluded from any transitional government, but Damascus says there should be no pre-conditions for the talks.

Meanwhile Lebanese security officials said rockets fired from Syria had hit the Lebanese border town of Arsal, killing at least seven people, among them several children, and injuring at least 15.
Arsal, in the Bekaa valley, is predominantly Sunni and its residents have been broadly supportive of the Sunni-dominated uprising against President Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam.

As enrichment deal is struck, Iran exercises diplomatic clout in numerous UN agencies 

Iran, already exulting about the “surrender” of the West in its nuclear enrichment negotiations, may soon have another diplomatic victory to celebrate: a role in the election of the next executive director of the U.N.’s World Property Organization (WIPO), a which deals in the complexities of international copyright and technology transfer.
The election takes place in early March, and Iran—along with North Korea—is a member of WIPO’s so-called “coordination committee”—a select group of less than half of the organization’s membership. It will nominate a leadership candidate for ratification by the entire 183-member organization.
Three other candidates are running, but WIPO’s current executive director, an Australian native named Francis Gurry, is considered by most observers to be a shoo-in.
As it happens, both Gurry and WIPO came in for searing criticism in late 2012 for their role in the shipment to North Korea and Iran-- both under U.N., U.S. and other sanctions for their extensive and illegal nuclear programs--of largely U.S.-made computers, servers and other equipment subject to U.S. export restrictions.

Thai anti-government protesters wounded in explosion

More than 30 people are hurt after explosive device is thrown into lorry driven by demonstrators during march in Bangkok
Dozens of people were wounded in Bangkok when a grenade was hurled at anti-government demonstrators marching through the Thai capital at midday on Friday, raising tensions in the country's political crisis.
The protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban was in the procession but was not wounded when the explosive device was thrown into a lorry driven by demonstrators that was several dozen metres ahead, the group's spokesman Akanat Promphan said. The city's emergency services centre put the number of injured at 31.
Police said the grenade was hurled from a nearby building.
Thailand has been wracked by repeated bouts of unrest since the military ousted the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 amid charges of corruption and alleged disrespect for the monarchy. The crisis boiled over again late last year after an attempt by the ruling party to push through an amnesty bill that would have allowed Thaksin to return from exile failed.
Anti-government demonstrators who are now seeking to oust the current prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, have taken over seven key roads and overpasses in Bangkok this week, blocking them off with sandbag walls and steel barricades.
The protests have been peaceful but small acts of violence have been reported nightly at protest venues, which have been targeted in shooting attacks. Small explosives have been hurled at the homes of top protest supporters.
Overnight, two motorcycle-riding suspects drove past the residence of the governor of Bangkok, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, and hurled a grenade inside, police said.

Netanyahu says if Rouhani agrees to recognize Israel, he would consider meeting him

In interview with Canadian TV, the prime minister says the Middle East is undergoing change and that many Arab states understand they are in league with Israel against Iran, Islamic radicalism.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may not meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next week, but if Tehran says it is willing to recognize Israel, Netanyahu might consider a meeting.
"If Rouhani said 'we recognize the Jewish state. We, Iran, are prepared to have peace with Israel, Israel would be here forever,' well that would peak my interest, in Davos or anywhere else," Netanyahu told Canadian CTV News on Thursday, when asked whether or not he would be willing to meet with the Iranian president.

North Korea sends mixed messages

Seoul: North Korea demanded that South Korea and the United States halt annual military drills due in February and March, saying they were a direct provocation, a statement that suggested a re-run of a sharp escalation in tension last year.
But in a bizarre twist, it also offered a Lunar New Year truce in hostilities, provocations and mutual criticism.
In 2013, North Korea said it would retaliate against any hostile moves by striking at the United States, Japan and South Korea, triggering a military buildup on the Korean peninsula and months of fiery rhetoric.
The reclusive North has regularly denounced annual drills such as "Key Resolve" and "Ulchi-Freedom-Guardian" staged by South Korea and the US as a prelude to invasion.

Advertisement

"We sternly warn the US and the South Korean authorities to stop the dangerous military exercises which may push the situation on the peninsula and the North-South ties to a catastrophe,"  said  an organisation in charge of efforts to promote Korean unification, the North's KCNA state news reported.
Similar bellicose rhetoric from the North set South Korea, the US and Japan on edge a year ago. As a result, Washington flew Stealth bomber missions over South Korea and strengthened its military presence in the South, where nearly 30,000 US troops are based.
South Korea said the drills were going ahead as planned and despite the threat, North Korea's military has showed no sign of unusual activities.
"If North Korea actually commits military aggression at the excuse of what is a normal exercise we conduct as preparation for emergency, our military will mercilessly and decisively punish them," Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
Later, North Korea appeared more conciliatory.

British cuts limiting military partnership with US: Former US defence secy
  
LONDON: Britain's military cuts mean it will no longer be able to be a full partner alongside United States forces, former US defence secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
Gates, who served under US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said Britain no longer had the complete spectrum of capabilities, meaning its relationship with the US military was shifting.

The comments suggest Britain's military downsizing could have a negative impact on the "special relationship" between Washington and London.

Gates, speaking to BBC radio, highlighted the Royal Navy's lack of an aircraft carrier able to launch strike jets.

"What we have always been able to count on, on this side of the Atlantic, were British forces that had full spectrum capabilities very much along the lines of our own forces, that they could perform a variety of different missions," Gates said.

"With the fairly substantial reductions in defence spending in Great Britain what we are finding is they won't have full spectrum capabilities and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past.

"I also lament that reality."

Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government announced heavy defence cuts in 2010 as part of its bid to rein in Britain's massive deficit.

The defence budget is being slashed by eight percent over four years.

Between 2010 and 2020, Britain is reducing the size of its regular military from 178,000 to 147,000, while boosting the number of reservists.

Britain has three helicopter landing craft: HMS Illustrious, Ocean and Bulwark.

However, it will not have carrier strike capability until the new aicraft carrier Queen Elizabeth -- which will be Britain's biggest-ever ship on the seas -- enters service in 2020 with F35 fighter jets.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan sacks military chiefs

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked his military high command, his spokesman Reuben Abati has said.

No reason was given but the dismissals come amid growing concern about the military's failure to end the Islamist-led insurgency in northern Nigeria.
Mr Abati said Air Marshal Alex Badeh replaces Admiral Ola Ibrahim as the new chief of defence staff, the most senior post in the military.
Boko Haram has been waging a four-year insurgency in Nigeria.
Mr Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in three northern states in May 2013, giving the military wide-ranging powers to end the insurgency.
'Tradition of sackings' However, Boko Haram has continued with its campaign of violence - including attacks on two military barracks and an air base last month.
On Tuesday, the group carried out a car bomb attack in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, killing at least 17 people.
United Nations figures suggest more than 1,200 people have been killed in Islamist-related violence since the state of emergency started.

Bombing at Pakistani mosque observing evening prayers kills 6

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A bomb ripped through a crowded mosque where evening prayers were being held Thursday, killing six people and wounding 60 others, officials said. The dead included two children.
The explosion occurred in the main prayer hall of a sprawling Islamic seminary near a military cantonment on the outskirts of Peshawar, a provincial capital in northwest Pakistan, said police official Najeebur Rehman. Two people were killed instantly while four others died of their injuries at a hospital, Rehman said.
A state of emergency was declared in Peshawar’s hospitals and officials asked for blood donations as the dead and wounded were brought to overwhelmed health facilities.
Witnesses said a loud explosion occurred during the evening prayers at a mosque frequented by followers of the Tablighi Jamaat, an evangelical Sunni Muslim movement that claims millions of adherents in South Asia.
Jamal Khan, whose leg was fractured in the stampede, said he was standing in a row of...

-

Obama to reveal curbs on NSA spying

President Barack Obama is to announce changes to US electronic spy programmes after revelations made by ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

He aims to restore public confidence in the intelligence community.
Mr Obama is expected to create a public advocate at the secretive court that approves intelligence collection.
His proposals come hours after UK media reports that the US has collected and stored almost 200 million text messages per day across the globe.
A National Security Agency (NSA) programme extracted and stored data from the SMS messages to gather location information, contacts and financial data, according to the Guardian newspaper and Channel Four News.
Continue reading the main story

Christie, CNN and the Media: Tale of the ‘investigation’ that wasn’t

The story crashed upon Chris Christie’s administration like a powerful wave, just as he was drowning in the George Washington Bridge scandal.
Nearly everyone in the media jumped on a report that Christie is facing a second investigation for the possible misuse of Hurricane Sandy relief funds.
Which turns out to be an old story, an overhyped story, and one pushed by a Democrat.
None of this is to suggest that the Republican governor doesn’t deserve serious scrutiny over the scandal in which his close aides deliberately created a traffic nightmare, or over bullying tactics and the way he has conducted himself in office. But this one looks like a fumble for the media.
CNN broke the story on Monday, labeling it an “exclusive.” The network said that “a new federal investigation into how the New Jersey governor spent some of the Sandy relief money could threaten to wash away the foundation of his political brain.” CNN reported the story more than a dozen times that day, and later interviewed Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, who said it was fine to spend some of the federal aid to promote tourism but that ads should not have been made featuring Christie and his family.
Was this news? Back in August, the Bergen Record reported: “U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone has asked an inspector general to look into whether Governor Christie misappropriated federal funds to appear in a state tourism ad campaign.”

VA bill offers chance to repeal military pension cut after passage of spending bill

Congress on Thursday gave final approval to a massive spending bill that will trim pensions for younger military retirees, but lawmakers still have a chance to end the controversial provision before it takes full effect in 2015.

An omnibus Veterans Affairs bill awaiting action in the Senate would repeal the cut, offering perhaps the next best opportunity to roll back the policy. The bill is expected to be considered after next week’s recess, according to an aide for Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who introduced the legislation.
During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sanders said the measure “delivers on the promises that we have made to our service members,” adding that it “addresses virtually every single issue that the veterans community has been concerned about.”
A slew of other proposals to end the pension cut are likely to find less support than the sweeping VA bill, since most of them include provisions to replace the savings with alternative reductions that could meet with greater resistance, such as a plan to end Saturday mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.

A First Lady at 50, Finding Her Own Path

WASHINGTON — She has perfected a mean forehand, is working on her yoga poses, dishes with girlfriends over brussels sprouts and dirty martinis (one olive) at the Mediterranean hotspot Zaytinya, pushes her two daughters to play two sports — one of her choosing and one of theirs — and said this week that the wonders of modern dermatology, like Botox, are in the realm of possibility for her.

Michelle Obama is in many ways the embodiment of the contemporary, urban, well-heeled middle-aged American woman. She likes to take “me time,” as she did during an extra vacation week this month without family in Hawaii, setting off a tabloid furor over the state of her marriage. She frets that her older daughter, 15-year-old Malia, hangs out with the boys a grade above her. She gardens, although unlike the rest of us, she has significant weeding help.

New Koch-Linked Political Firm Aims to Handpick "Electable" Candidates

A new political consulting firm with deep ties to the Koch brothers has quietly set up shop in Arlington, Virginia. Its mission: to prevent future Todd Akins and Richard Mourdocks from tanking the Republican Party's electoral prospects. The firm, named Aegis Strategic, is run by a former top executive at Charles and David Koch's flagship advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, and it was founded with the blessing of the brothers' political advisors, three Republican operatives tell Mother Jones.
The consulting firm plans to handpick local, state, and federal candidates who share the Kochs' free-market, limited government agenda, and groom them to win elections. "We seek out electable advocates of the freedom and opportunity agenda who will be forceful at both the policy and political levels," the company notes on its website. Aegis says it can manage every aspect of a campaign, including advertising, direct mail, social media, and fundraising.
Aegis' president is Jeff Crank, a two-time failed Republican congressional candidate who ran the Colorado chapter of Americans for Prosperity and served as the chief operating officer of the national organization. The firm's six-person staff boasts two others with connections to the Kochs. The group's lead strategist is Karl Crow, a former project coordinator for the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, where he focused "on how political advocates for economic freedom are identified, trained, and promoted," according to his bio on Aegis' website. Crow, who was scheduled to speak at an invite-only Koch donor summit in 2010 on the subject of voter mobilization, subsequently worked for Themis, the Koch brothers' voter microtargeting operation. Brad Stevens, the former state director for Americans for Prosperity-Nebraska, is Aegis' director of candidate identification.
-