Gazette 04-25-14

Friday April 25th 2014

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West considers new Russia sanctions

Western heads of state say they are considering fresh sanctions against Russia over its alleged failure to help de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine.

France, Germany, the US, Britain and Italy accused Russia of disrespecting a deal to disarm pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Russia earlier accused the West of wanting to "seize" Ukraine.
Ukraine warned it would consider any crossing into its territory by Russian troops as a "military invasion".
Moscow has tens of thousands of troops stationed along its side of the border with Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists have been occupying key buildings in a dozen eastern towns, defying the central government in Kiev.

A week ago Ukraine and Russia struck an agreement in Geneva calling for the separatists to leave official premises and give up their arms. The pact included an amnesty for those agreeing to retreat peacefully.

In a separate development on Friday, Ukraine's interior ministry says armed separatists in the eastern city of Sloviansk have seized a bus carrying international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
'Concerning rhetoric' On Friday, the White House said US President Barack Obama had discussed the situation in Ukraine with French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the prime ministers of Britain and Italy.

Russia offers proposal to resolve Ukraine crisis

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, appears to have offered a deal to resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine, suggesting that if the country's government clears out the nationalist protest camp in Kiev, then pro-Moscow separatists will lay down their arms.
Western officials greeted the proposal with scepticism, noting that such confidence-building measures were at the heart of an international agreement reached last week, but which failed to end the separatists' occupation of public buildings in eastern Ukraine. They said the protest camp in Independence Square in Kiev, erected in February during the uprising that toppled the Russian-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych, was already being dismantled.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring the situation in Ukraine, reported that its team in the capital "observed the ongoing clearing of barricades in the Maidan square".
"The situation in the capital city was calm," the report added.
One western official raised the possibility that Lavrov might be seeking to use the dismantling of the camp as a face-saving way out of the crisis, but cautioned that there were few other signs of compromise from Moscow.

Russia fears Crimea water shortage as supply drops

Russian officials say a water shortage in Crimea is threatening to become acute as Ukraine has reduced the supply via a key canal.

Ukraine does not recognise the new authorities in Crimea who are backed by Moscow. Russia made the peninsula part of its territory last month.
Crimea's harvest of grapes, rice, maize and soya will be ruined if it does not get more water soon, officials say.
Russia says the Crimea-Ukraine border is now officially a state border.
The Russian government plans to establish permanent checkpoints there, as well as new rules for entering or leaving Crimea, Ria Novosti news agency reports.
The North Crimea Canal delivers water to Crimea from the River Dnieper, in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. The canal accounts for 80% of Crimea's water.
The current water shortage is threatening 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres) of Crimea's crops, which rely on irrigation, Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fedorov said.
A ruined harvest across that area would mean losses of up to 5bn roubles (£83m; $140m), he told the Gazeta.ru news website.

Israel halts peace talks with Palestinians

JERUSALEM –  The Israeli government on Thursday cut off Mideast peace talks and threatened to impose new sanctions against the Palestinians in response to a unity agreement between rival Palestinian factions, pushing an embattled U.S. peace initiative to the brink of collapse.
Israel's Security Cabinet made the decision during a marathon emergency meeting convened to discuss the new Palestinian deal. The rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah announced a reconciliation plan meant to end a seven-year rift on Wednesday.

Israel objects to any participation in Palestinian politics by Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks over the past two decades.
In a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the government said it would not hold negotiations with a government that "leans on Hamas."
"Instead of choosing peace, Abu Mazen made a pact with a murderous terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel," it said, using Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' nickname. "The alliance between Abu Mazen and Hamas was signed while Israel was making efforts to promote negotiations with the Palestinians. ... He who chooses Hamas' terror does not want peace."
The statement said Israel also will respond to Abbas' recent decision to join 15 international conventions "with a series of steps," language that typically refers to financial sanctions against the Palestinians.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki accuses Saudis of 'interference'

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has told the BBC that Saudi Arabia has "clearly interfered" in Syria and in Iraqi internal affairs.

He said he believed Saudi Arabia was facilitating the entry of foreign "mercenaries" into Iraq, worsening the sectarian violence.
Mr Maliki said the violence in Syria was causing "security problems" in Iraq's Anbar province.
He also denied that Iraq was part of an Iranian-led Shia "axis" in the region.
"Anyone who classes Iraq as a Shia state or system is wrong," Mr Maliki told BBC Arabic.
'Fight al-Qaeda' Iraq has been going through a period of renewed violence in recent months, driven principally by widespread discontent among the country's Sunni minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Mr Maliki, who belongs to the Shia majority, has been accused of marginalising the Sunni minority, which has led to violence in Sunni-majority Anbar.
He has previously said claims of marginalisation come from sectarian groups with links to Saudi Arabia and Qatar and told the BBC that "terrorists" were "flooding into Iraq from Syria".
He went on to say it was Iraq's "national, human duty" to "fight al-Qaeda in Syria" and rejected the idea that there was popular opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

Egypt arrests spokesman for Muslim Brotherhood's political party

CAIRO –  An Egyptian security official says authorities have arrested the spokesman for the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, who spent the past ten months on the run evading a government crackdown on the Islamist group.
The security official says authorities detained Yasser Mehrez on Friday in Cairo. Mehrez is accused of inciting murder and violence after the military removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July.

Also Friday, health and security officials said two people were killed after clashes erupted during a pro-Morsi protest in the city of Fayoum south of Cairo. They said one man died from tear gas exposure, while a woman was killed by birdshot to the head and chest.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were authorized to brief the media.

Saudi Arabia Reports 4 More Deaths And 36 Infections From MERS, Including Pilgrim In Mecca

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — In the past 24 hours, Saudi Arabia has reported four new deaths from a Middle East virus related to SARS and 36 more cases of infection, including a Turkish pilgrim in Mecca.
Officials are struggling to alleviate concerns that the virus is spreading amid a spike in infections over the past several weeks. Many of the infections reported Wednesday and Thursday are health workers.
Prince Miteb, the son of ruler King Abdullah and the head of the Saudi National Guard, was quoted in newspapers Thursday saying that the king arrived in the eastern city of Jiddah sooner than usual in order to be with the people there, amid a rise in infections. The king traditionally spends his summers in Jiddah, where the seaside weather is cooler than in the capital.
"Every Saudi citizen is more valuable to the king than himself," the prince was quoted as saying in the state-backed al-Watan newspaper.
The Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, belongs to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses that include both the common cold and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. MERS can cause symptoms such as fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure.
The most recent deaths reported by the Saudi Health Ministry bring to 85 the number of people who have died in the kingdom from the virus that appeared in 2012. The kingdom has recorded a total of at least 297 confirmed cases.
There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, and it is still unclear how it is transmitted.

U.S. Confronts Consequences of Underestimating North Korean Leader

SEOUL, South Korea — Almost everything American intelligence agencies and North Korea-watchers thought they understood two years ago about Kim Jong-un, the North’s young leader, turns out to have been wrong.

The briefings given to President Obama after Mr. Kim inherited leadership said it was almost certain he would be kept in check by his more experienced uncle, Jang Song-thaek. Instead, Mr. Kim had his uncle and dozens of others executed.

The early betting was also that Mr. Kim, who was briefly educated in Switzerland, would emphasize economic overhaul over expanding the nuclear and missile arsenals that were his father’s and grandfather’s legacy. Instead, the nuclear program has surged forward, and recent missile tests are demonstrating that after years of spectacular failures, the North’s engineers are finally improving their aim. Their next big challenge is proving that an intercontinental missile they have shown only in mock-ups can reach America’s shores.

As a result, when Mr. Obama lands here on Friday on the second stop of his Asia tour, he will be confronting the question of whether his strategy of “strategic patience” with the North has been overtaken by reality: an unpredictable, though calculating, ruler in Mr. Kim, who has proved to be more ruthless, aggressive and tactically skilled than anyone expected.

Syrian regime under siege near Israel's border

Assad regime loyalist military forces have been under siege in the border area near Israel for many months, and attempts by the Syrian army to reverse rebel victories in the region have so far been a failure.
According to assessments by IDF Northern Command, the Syrian army controls just two locations along the border with Israel – the town of Quneitra and the Druse region of Khader – with all remaining border areas under the control of a myriad of rebel groups, which include radical jihadi organizations like Nusra Front.
Fierce battles have been raging at Tel Kudna, near the central Golan Heights, with inconclusive results thus far, according to army sources in northern Israel.
The IDF watches closely as rebels and Syrian army forces attack one another every day. It continues to make preparations for the day when jihadi gunmen turn their sights southward, toward the Israeli border.
“The pastoral scenery of the Golan Heights, awash with basalt and flowing streams, can change in a momentary bang to a battlefield of blood, fire and plumes of smoke,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz warned last October, in reference to the unstable and unpredictable nature of the Syrian border region, and the increase in terror groups in the area, including al-Qaida-affiliated groups, and Hezbollah, which sent units from Lebanon to fight for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Bomb kills 4, wounds 23 in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: A powerful bomb went off outside a mosque in the port city of Karachi on Friday, leaving four people dead and 23 injured.

The explosion occurred in Karachi's Delhi Colony area as worshipers were leaving the mosque after offering Friday prayers.

It came a day after Pakistani jets pounded hideouts of militants in the restive Khyber tribal region with military claiming to have killed more than 30 militants in airstrikes.

TV footage showed the windows of several building being shattered while ten cars, including three government vehicles, five auto rickshaws and several motorcycles were destroyed in the blast.

The victims were taken to the nearby Jinnah hospital where doctors said that five of the injured were critical.

"The bomb was planted on a motor cycle parked near the Mosque. Four people have died and dozens injured. The injured have been hospitalized and the death toll may climb as several of the injured have suffered critical injuries," said Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, a senior police official.

Sharjeel Memon, information minister of Sind province, said it seemed the target of the attack was provincial government as three government vehicles were destroyed in the attack. "The federal government needs to launch an offensive against terrorists in the country," he said, adding that earlier terrorists would take responsibility for the attacks but now they remain silent.

"The time for dialogue is over, the government should take action," Memon said.

There has been an escalation in bombings across the country since Pakistani Taliban called off their unilateral 40-day truce with the government on 10 of this month. 

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Pentagon: Russian spy ship operating near US

A Russian intelligence-gathering ship has been operating off the U.S. East Coast and near the Gulf of Mexico for the past month, the Pentagon said Thursday. 
"We are aware that the Russian ships Viktor Leonov and Nikolay Chiker are currently operating in waters that are beyond U.S. territorial seas but near Cuba," said Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman. "We respect the freedom of all nations, as reflected in international law, to operate military vessels beyond the territorial seas of other nations." 

The Leonov is an intelligence gathering ship outfitted with high-tech electronic spying gear. The Chiker is an ocean-going naval tug that has been accompanying the spy ship on its mission. Pentagon officials suspect the ships were part of a spying operation since March against the U.S. nuclear missile submarine base at Kings Bay, Ga. and other U.S. military facilities. 
Both ships were detected operating off the coast of Florida near the U.S. Naval Station Mayport, Fla., which is south of the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. 
The Russian intelligence gathering coincides with heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's recent military annexation of Ukraine's Crimea. 
An official said it is possible that the electronic spying is related to watching U.S. nuclear missile submarines as part of a Russian nuclear exercise.

Obama's Deportation Catch-22

President Obama celebrated with new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony Friday as both immigration advocates and Republicans expressed outrage at his deportation proposals.

President Obama celebrated the naturalization of 13 U.S. service members and seven military spouses in South Korea on Friday, congratulating the new American citizens and expressing his pride at joining the ceremony at the National War Memorial in Seoul.
“If there’s anything this should teach us, it is that America is strengthened by our immigrants," he said, repeating his determination to reform the U.S. immigration system. Meanwhile, back in Washington, his administration remains wedged between a congressional Republican-generated rock-and-hard-place on the issue of immigration reform, as it has for nearly a year.
Twenty-two Republican senators signed a letter to the president on Thursday, expressing “grave concerns” about changes to immigration enforcement that the Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering. 
The letter was penned by some of the Senate’s most conservative members, such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and David Vitter of Louisiana, among others. In it, they accuse Obama of “incrementally nullifying immigration enforcement” during the time he’s been in office and “allowing preventable crimes harming innocent people to take place every day.” The changes that DHS is reportedly considering, they write, “would represent a near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement and discard the rule of law and the notion that the United States has enforceable borders.”

Eric Holder To Remain As Attorney General Through Midterm Elections

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to stay on through November's mid-term elections and has no timeline for an exit after that, a Justice Department official told Reuters on Friday.

"The Attorney General does not plan to leave before the mid-terms. That does not mean that he is definitely leaving after the mid-terms, just that he is at least staying through that time," the official said.

There has been speculation over when Holder, 63, might step down from the post he has held since shortly after President Barack Obama took office in 2009. Should Republicans win control of both chambers of Congress in the November elections, it may be difficult for a potential replacement for Holder to be confirmed.

Among Obama's cabinet members, Holder is said to have one of the closest relationships with the president. During his time in office, Holder has taken on issues in line with the president's agenda, such as civil rights, voting rights, and most recently, reducing sentencing for low-level drug offenders.

The Washington Post reported earlier that Holder planned to stay through the elections but could not confirm his plans beyond that.

Holder cancels speech in Oklahoma City amid conservative protests

WASHINGTON—Eric H. Holder Jr. is a traveling attorney general, with a penchant for trips around the country and the world to give speeches or inspect offices.
But Thursday he canceled a planned speech in Oklahoma City at the 130th Police Academy graduation ceremony, after local Republicans announced that they planned to bring out “hundreds” of protesters.
Oklahoma gun rights activists, citing the bungled "Fast and Furious" scheme to catch gun traffickers, and a conservative state representative called the invitation to Holder an outrage.
The Justice Department said Holder was forced to cancel the speech because a meeting in Washington ran late, though he did go to Oklahoma City to visit the U.S. attorney’s office there. It did not immediately address questions about whether the protest was a factor.
There may have been security concerns about the appearance. A libertarian website, Liberty Voice, said Wednesday that “Eric Holder may want some extra security on his visit to Oklahoma City,” citing the planned protests.
An estimated 50 protesters turned out anyway despite the attorney general’s absence.

Senate reform can't be done by Ottawa alone

The Supreme Court of Canada says the federal government does not have the power to enact most of the changes it has proposed for the Senate without the support of the provinces.

In a unanimous decision released Friday, eight judges of the top court concluded that implementing fixed terms for senators or provincial elections for Senate candidates would require the consent of seven provinces representing half the population. The government had asked whether it could legislate these changes on its own.
On the key question of how the Senate could be abolished, the court said the consent of all the provinces would be necessary.
The only reform the government can make unilaterally, according to the court, is to eliminate the archaic requirement that senators must own at least $4,000 worth of property in the province they represent.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking at an event in Kitchener, Ont., said the ruling was a "decision for the status quo," a status quo that "is supported by virtually no Canadian."
"The Supreme Court today essentially said that for any important Senate reform of any kind, as well as abolition, these are (steps) only the provinces can take. We know that there is no consensus among the provinces on reform, no consensus on abolition, and no desire of anyone to re-open the constitution and have a bunch of constitutional negotiations," Harper said before a question-and-answer session with a business group.
"I think that given that the Supreme Court has said we're essentially stuck with the status quo for the time being and that significant reform and abolition are off the table, ... it's a decision that I'm disappointed with, I think it's a decision that the vast majority of Canadians will be very disappointed with, but obviously we will respect that decision " he said.
Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre was to offer more reaction at 1 p.m. ET on Parliament Hill.
The court made it clear in its ruling that it is merely providing a legal framework for implementing specific changes to the Senate and that is has no opinion as to the merit of the proposals.
“The desirability of these changes is not a question for the court; it is an issue for Canadians and their legislatures,” the judges said in a 59-page decision.
The decision marks the first time the highest court has taken a comprehensive look at the amending formula set out in the Constitution Act of 1982.
The decision is one that profoundly impacts the nature of the federation of Canada.
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