US Pushes For Georgian Bases In Black Sea, Caucasus [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.civil.ge/cgi-bin/newspro/fullnews.cgi?newsid1046709285,59309, Civil Georgia March 3, 2003 US-Georgian Military Agreement Stirs Parliament Controversy -According to the document, the US government is entitled to access and use of mutually agreed territories and facilities in Georgia for use by the US governments military and civilian personnel, transport, vessels, and aircraft or for any other purpose. -The agreement has too many uncertainties. It does not clarify exactly what kind of arms the military and civilian personnel will have the right to carry. Besides, talking generally, why should an American military serviceman have the right to carry firearms on the whole territory of Georgia? I am against this. (Tbilisi, March 3, Civil Georgia) The US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles will meet the representatives of the Parliamentary factions, to lobby for ratification of the US-Georgian Agreement on Defense Cooperation. On February 27, the Parliament launched the discussion on an Agreement, signed by the government of Georgia on December 10. But instead of an easy go-ahead for a step at increased defense partnership with the US, numerous objections of the MPs forced the parliament to postpone the voting. Some parliamentarians said the Agreement is discriminating against Georgia. According to the document, the US government is entitled to access and use of mutually agreed territories and facilities in Georgia for use by the US governments military and civilian personnel, transport, vessels, and aircraft or for any other purpose. If the agreement is ratified, the US governments military and civilian personnel will also be able to enter and leave the country without visas and passports, using only their ID cards, or under collective or individual orders. They will also enjoy privileges and immunities, similar to those of the administrative and technical staff of the embassy. According to the agreement, the military and civilian personnel will have the right to possess and carry arms on the Georgian territory. These simplified entry requirements and immunities triggered the basic objections of the MPs. The agreement has too many uncertainties. It does not clarify exactly what kind of arms the military and civilian personnel will have the right to carry. Besides, talking generally, why should an American military serviceman have the right to carry firearms on the whole territory of Georgia? I am against this, MP Hamlet Chipashvili of Revival faction, one of the most active opponents of the Agreement told Civil Georgia. Chipashvili also says that this agreement will be damaging for the budget, because according to the agreement, this personnel, as well as any income or imported goods, or any property purchased or owned within Georgia, will be tax-exempt. The executive authorities are extremely concerned by the Parliaments position. They say a failure to ratify the document might jeopardize the USD 64 million Train and Equip Program (GTEP) for the Georgian army. Ratification of the agreement is the necessary condition for successful implementation of the Train and Equip Program, says Zviad Mukbaniani, Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee. In his traditional radio interview on March 3, President Shevardnadze criticized those Parliament members, who have forced postponement of discussion of the agreement. I cannot understand such attitude of these MPs towards the US-Georgian military cooperation agreement. Dont they realize the importance of the matter? Such approach to the United State, which has already provided and continues providing such significant financial and military assistance, is completely incorrect, Shevardnadze said. On February 27, the agreement was returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Relations Committee for further adjustments. But the chairman of the committee Zviad Mukbaniani believes there is nothing to be adjusted in the document. I am strongly against revising the agreement. This is a bilateral agreement, which the Parliament should either approve or reject. I am confident that next week the Parliament will ratify the agreement without unnecessary debates and discussions, says Mukbaniani. By Nino Khutsidze, Civil Georgia __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
With 20% Jobless, Poland Spends Billions For 48 US Warplanes [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.U
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Polpg=0id=5622597req= [To become 'NATO interoperable'] Interfax March 4, 2003 Poland will likely sign deal to buy F-16 combat jets with Lockheed Martin by end-April -Poland picked Lockheed Martin's offer of 48 F-16 jets at the end of December over Anglo-Swedish BAE Systems/Saab's offer of Gripen plans and Dassault's offer of Mirages. The Americans put forward an offset worth USD 9.8 bln Warsaw. (Interfax-Europe) - Poland is likely to sign the main deal to buy 48 F-16 combat jets at end- April instead of at end-February, as earlier planned, due to problems negotiating the compensatory offset deal offered by Lockheed Martin, the supplier of the jets, Polish Deputy Defense Minster Janusz Zemke told reporters Tuesday (February 25). We have the main agreement about the purchase of the F-16s and ammunition ready to sign. But work on the offset agreement is still going on and we think that from Poland's point of view it is better to sign all agreements on the same day. We have until the end of April for that, Zemke said. The minister added that the government would have only 60 days to negotiate the offset deal -- which is designed to compensate Poland for the USD 3.5 bln price tag by channeling investment into the economy -- if it signs the main agreement. The offset deal is required for the main agreement to be valid, according to Polish law. Poland picked Lockheed Martin's offer of 48 F-16 jets at the end of December over Anglo-Swedish BAE Systems/Saab's offer of Gripen plans and Dassault's offer of Mirages. The Americans put forward an offset worth USD 9.8 bln, though the Polish commission overseeing negotiation of the offset program have revised this amount to USD 6.2 bln. Zemke said in December that if the agreement with the winner of the tender fails to be signed, talks would be started with the runner-up, namely, BAE/Saab. Zemke said the Anglo-Swedish group prolonged the validity of its offer to the end of June. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Netizens Unite [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=39162787 The Times Of India February 4, 2003 TODAY'S EDITORIALS Netizens Unite -But what can all those around the world who oppose this mindless militarism do other than feel powerless? We believe that one easily accessible way for world citizens to protest against this war is literally a mouse click away. As inhabitants of an increasingly globalised and borderless world, they should use the ultimate instrument of supra-nationalism the Internet to register their opposition and say no to the war. Netizens of the world unite, you've nothing to lose but your chains of chauvinism. America's threatened war against Iraq has divided the world. First between the few friendly governments that support its unilateral action and the many that don't. And second between officialdom on the one hand and the people on the other. This latter division is particularly significant because it has pitted democratically elected governments that back Washington against the overwhelming anti-war sentiment of their own people. But none of this has made the slightest difference to president Bush and his team of hawks. In the Security Council where a cleverly-worded resolution, implicitly authorising the use of military force, awaits approval Washington has used its immense diplomatic and financial muscle to browbeat dissenting member-states into changing their minds. Nor has this carrot and stick approach remained confined to backdoor official channels. According to a report published on Sunday in the London-based Observer, Washington has embarked on an unprecedented 'dirty tricks' campaign involving aggressive surveillance, phone intercepts, the works to force recalcitrant Council delegates to fall in line. Given the overt and covert pressures, it seems likely that before the vote on the joint US-UK resolution is finally called, Washington might well have secured the grudging backing of the required two-thirds majority in the Council. In such an eventuality, the three permanent Council members France, Russia and China who have thus far resisted the US war cry, may well conclude that the price of formally opposing the resolution, through a veto, is perhaps too heavy to pay. The irony, of course, is that the US is bent on waging a war just when Iraq has shown ever greater willingness to cooperate with the UN weapons inspection programme; the latest being its decision to destroy the Al Samoud missiles. In other words, contrary to the US position, the case in favour of extending the time-frame of the inspections regime for a peaceful disarmament of Iraq is today stronger than ever. But what can all those around the world who oppose this mindless militarism do other than feel powerless? We believe that one easily accessible way for world citizens to protest against this war is literally a mouse click away. As inhabitants of an increasingly globalised and borderless world, they should use the ultimate instrument of supra-nationalism the Internet to register their opposition and say no to the war. Netizens of the world unite, you've nothing to lose but your chains of chauvinism. (To voice your views log on to no-war.indiatimes.com) __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Iraq War May Start On May 13th; France Next 'Casualty' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- 1) Report: War Against Iraq To Start Om March 13; French President To Be Next Target 2) US Congress Plans (Economic) War Against France http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_203299,00130018.htm The Hindustan Times March 4, 2003 Iraq war may start on Mar 13: Report Press Trust of India London, March 3 -One of the first casualties of the conflict - apart from Saddam - is likely to be French President Jacques Chirac who is against war on Iraq, the paper said. It said US President George W Bush telephoned Chirac last week and told him that we will not forgive and we will not forget. A US-led war against Iraq could start as soon as March 13, just hours after a crucial UN Security Council vote on Baghdad, a media report said on Monday. The moment we know we have the nine (UN Security Council) votes needed (for a military action against Iraq), we will go for it. The military won't hang around after that, a top US intelligence source was quoted as saying by Britain's Sun newspaper. The timing is tactical, the unnamed intelligence source said. A new Iraq resolution is expected to be put to vote in UN Security Council on March 12, following this Friday's report by UN Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix on Iraq. The paper also reported that allied commander warned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein last night that the war will be soon, it will be swift and it will be short. It said Saddam's palaces and other known hiding places will be targeted, and ground troops will go in as soon as possible after the bomb blitz. One of the first casualties of the conflict - apart from Saddam - is likely to be French President Jacques Chirac who is against war on Iraq, the paper said. It said US President George W Bush telephoned Chirac last week and told him that we will not forgive and we will not forget. Both France and US are the permanent members of the 15-member UN Security Council. The other three permanent members are Russia, China and Britain. --- http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStoryc=StoryFTcid=1045511291877p=1012571727166 Financial Times March 3, 2003 Congress considers measures against France By Deborah McGregor -His comments reflect a growing resentment in Congress that may yet result in punitive legislation, directed mainly at France but also extending to other European countries, including Germany. Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, has a reputation for being a calming presence among his highly strung troops. The former high-school wrestling coach is inclined to throw a burly arm around an irate colleague, counselling patience rather than revolution. But recently Mr Hastert has surprised many of his fellow Republicans with outbursts of frustration, both privately and publicly, against an unlikely target: France. At a recent closed-door gathering of House Republicans, he launched into an impassioned tirade against France that was greeted with resounding approval from the party rank and file. The most high-profile public outburst came in an interview Mr Hastert gave recently to his hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. He urged going nose-to-nose with Paris over its vocal opposition to US war plans for Iraq. Denouncing French obstreperousness, he slammed the European nation for being motivated by commercial interests in Iraqi oil production and for trying to use diplomatic tensions at the United Nations to increase its international influence. His comments reflect a growing resentment in Congress that may yet result in punitive legislation, directed mainly at France but also extending to other European countries, including Germany. Several Republicans have echoed Mr Hastert's sentiment, including Senator John McCain, who recently compared France to a fading beauty. They remind me of an ageing movie actress in the 1940s who's still trying to dine out on her looks, said Mr McCain. The cynical role France is playing proves that you cannot be a great nation unless you have great purpose, and they've lost their purpose. Reflecting the toughening attitude, Bill Thomas, the powerful Republican chairman of the House ways and means committee, has already suggested that if the EU does not substantially reform its agricultural policy the Congress may vote to leave the World Trade Organisation. Congress is due to vote on renewing the US's WTO membership in 2005. Mr Hastert has cited a list of trade-related grievances against France and recommended putting bright orange health warning labels on some imported French wines. He is preparing legislation that would require warnings that the wine may contain cow's blood, a traditional agent used to remove excess tannins from red wine that was banned by the European Union in 1998 because of concerns about mad cow disease. I think it's a health issue that we ought to at
Bulgaria: Frontline Of US Military Build-Up, More Warplanes Arrive [WWW.STOPNAT
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- 1,2) Two More US Planes Land At Black Sea Airport AS Warplanes, Troops, Equipment Pour Into Bulgaria 3) Bulgaria: Frontline Of US Military Build-Up http://www.online.bg/ASP/wwwbgweb2.asp?mode=articleartdate=2003/3/4artno=21 Bulgaria Online March 4, 2003 Another two US planes landed in Sarafovo The operation of transporting US military equipment and people to Bulgaria Burgas airport continued on Monday as two KC-10 Extender tanker jets landed there, Bulgarian Info radio reported. The aircraft that took off from a New Jersey base brought jet fuel, equipment and seventy combaters [combat troops]. Thus the US contingent in Burgas, some 390km east of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, already numbers 200. Unloaded and refuelled, the tanker jets left for the US the same day. The information center that US militaries equip at the Burgas airport will be ready within a month. On February 7 Bulgaria's Parliament agreed to allow the overflight and transit passage by US and allied troops through Bulgaria in a possible war against Iraq for a period of six months. The lawmakers also passed a motion authorising the use of the air base in the Burgas residential district of Sarafovo by the US -led coalition. --- http://www.online.bg/ASP/wwwbgweb2.asp?mode=articleartdate=2003/3/4artno=15 Bulgaria Online March 4, 2003 US aircraft arrive at Bulgaria's Black Sea airbase Source: The Times Of India US aircraft arrived at a Bulgarian airbase near the Black Sea town of Bourgas on Monday, as part of the build-up of forces for a possible war on Iraq, a Defence Ministry official said. The official told Reuters two of the US aircraft that flew into the base were refuelling planes. A third was carrying military equipment. The official indicated more US planes may arrive in the coming days. The base was used by US forces in late 2001 during the US-led military campaign against Afghanistan. Bulgaria, grateful for US support in winning it a NATO invitation last November, has offered Washington the use of the Bourgas base in the event of a war. It has also sanctioned the dispatch of 150 troops near Iraq to tackle non-conventional warfare threats. Washington, which accuses Baghdad of harbouring weapons of mass destruction, has threatened to attack Iraq if it does not disarm and warned time is fast running out. Bulgaria, once the Soviet Union's closest ally, is one of the strongest supporters of the US position on Iraq in the UN Security Council. On Saturday, the parliament in neighbouring Turkey narrowly blocked US troops from deploying in the country -- a setback for Washington's plans for a northern front against Iraq. --- http://www.online.bg/ASP/wwwbgweb2.asp?mode=articleartdate=2003/3/4artno=12 Bulgaria Online March 4, 2003 Bulgaria finds itself in the frontline of US military build-up On a beach by the grey waters of the Black sea, scores of young American airmen are racing against the clock to get ready for war. Surrounded by Kalashnikov-toting Bulgarian military police, fenced in by red corrugated iron, and shrouded by a pine grove, the men of the US air force's 409th air expeditionary group are pioneers in a mission that is reconfiguring decades of the US military presence in Europe and redrawing Europe's military map. We're in a rush, said Sergeant Jason Smith, just arrived from Charleston in North Carolina. Our main role is to support the global war on terror. And we're preparing for future operations. Since last Tuesday night when two US Hercules transport aircraft dropped out of the sky from Ramstein base in Germany on to Bulgaria's Burgas airport, 200 metres from the Americans' beachside encampment, the airmen, many barely out of their teens, have been working frantically to get Burgas fit for the US war machine. The battleship-grey transports - huge C-5 Galaxies, C-141s and the C-130 Hercules - have been landing almost every day over the past week, disgorging hot dogs and Coke, computers and secure phone systems, huge tarpaulins for a tent city, showers and tanks of water, and more troops and pilots. Yesterday afternoon a brace of KC-10A Extender jets, the biggest air tankers in the USAF, landed at Burgas to play a key role in the campaign against Saddam Hussein. The two tanker jets, capable of carrying more than 160,000kg of fuel, are to be followed by at least 14 others. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE!
The Human Face Of Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- For photographs click on: http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/2003/03/04/1046540145062.html __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
NEWSLETTER NO. 114, 3 MARCH 2003 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- (You are receiving this message because you are on the mailing list of the Organization for Defending Victims of Violence. If you would like not to receive such updates, just refer to the end of this email to unsubscribe. If you know anybody who is interested to receive such updates, please invite her or him to join us or forward this email to him or her. The Organization for Defending Victims of Violence does not endorse any product or service advertised on this email message.) NEWSLETTER NO. 114 3 MARCH 2003 Pakistan hands Alleged 9/11 Plotter To U.S. March 3 2003 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)-U.S. authorities have taken the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks out of Pakistan to an undisclosed location after capturing him in a joint raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, a senior government official said yesterday. The arrest Saturday of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a senior operative in Osama bin Ladens alQaeda network, and two other men outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad likely will hurt the terrorist organizations ability to strike and could provide the United States with new clues in the hunt for bin Laden. Its hard to overstates how significant this is, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Its a wonderful blow to inflict on al-Qaeda. Mohammed, 37, is perhaps the most senior al-Qaeda member after bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahri. A naturalized Pakistani who was born in Kuwait, Mohammed is on the FBIs most-wanted list and. Allegedly had a hand in many of alQaeda most notorious attacks. The reward of up $25 million for information leading to his capture. There also has been suspicion that Mohammed was involved in last years kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and mayhave even carried out his execution. A senior Pakistani government official, speaking on condition of anonymity said Mohammed was no longer in Pakistan and had been taken by U.S. officials to an undisclosed location, The official said the second foreigner has also been handed over to U.S. officials. Mohammed was arrested along with an unidentified man of Middle Eastern origin and a Pakistani identified as Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a 42-year-old member of one of the countrys main religious parties, hamaat-e-Islami. The government official said the Middle Estern suspect was also proving to be an important, but would not disclose his identity. Mohammed is the third senior al Qaeda figure to be arrested in Pakistan. He was taken Saturday in Rawalpindi, a city near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. CIA officers and Pakistani authorities carried out the operation that led to Mohammeds capture, according to American officials, who spoken on condition of anonymity. This is a great success today, but the war on terrorism goes on tomorrow, said Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman at U.S Central Command in Tampa, Florida. Theres still a lot of work to do. U.S. officials say Mohammed organized the Sept.11,2001, terror mission that sent hijacked passenger jets crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing more than 3,000 people. But even before then, mohammed was wanted in connection with plots in the Philippines to bomb transinto CIA headquarters. Those were broken up in 1995. He also has been linked to Aprils bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia. At least 19 tourists, mostly Germans, were killed then. Mohammed narrowly escaped capture in a raid about a week ago in the southwestern town of Quetta, a Pakistani government source said. During that raid, a Middle Eastern man, arrested, according to the source, who spoke to The associated Press on conition of anonymity. at the time of that raid in Quetta the authorities were looking for Khalid Shaikh but he escaped and from there they followed him to rawalpindi, the official said. They got information from the man they picked up in Quetta and from phone calls until they tracked him down to Rawalpindi. Senior government official said the three men were arrested about 3 a.m. local time Saturday at a house where Qadoos, Ahmeds cousin, said only Ahmed, his wife and two children were in the house. There also was a guard outside, he said. The police pounded on the gates and then they rushed through. There was some firing, but no one was hurt and then they beat the guard and broke the lock on the front door, Omar Qadoos said. He said police held the family at gunpoint while they collected cassettes, a computer and computer discs, leaving the floor littered with clothes, papers and other items. Mohammeds ties to terrorism are
US 'no comment' on NSA bugging of UN delegates [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 4 March 2003. US refuses to comment on report of 'dirty tricks' to win UN vote on Iraq. WASHINGTON -- The United States steadfastly refused to comment Monday on a report it is waging a secret dirty tricks campaign against UN Security Council members to win votes for a resolution opening the way for war against Iraq. Neither the White House nor the State Department would be drawn into making any statement on the report in London's Observer newspaper that said it had obtained a document detailing US surveillance of the home and office telephones and e-mails of UN delegates. The administration never comments on anything involving any people involved in intelligence, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. The administration does not answer questions of that nature. At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher repeatedly declined to respond to questions about the report and stayed mum even when asked if he could deny it. It doesn't matter what the paper is or whether it's true or not, I wouldn't have any comment on that kind of allegation, he told reporters. I would not have any comment whatsoever on that kind of question or allegation because we never comment on intelligence matters, and I'm not going to do it now, Boucher said. The paper said the disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency (NSA), the US body which intercepts communications around the world, and circulated to senior agents in his organization and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency. The memo describes orders to staff at the agency to step up surveillance particularly directed at ... UN Security Council members to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq, according to the Observer. The leaked memorandum, dated January 31, makes clear that the target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York, it said. Chile's foreign minister Soledad Alvear ordered Chile's embassy in London to look into The Observer's claims after meeting with Chile's UN Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdes and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Russian Press Analyses Of US Iraq War Plans [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- 1) US 'Seeking Not To Settle Iraqi Crisis, But To Provoke War' 2) Turkish Parliament's Refusal A Serious Political Defeat For George Bush 3) Vladimir Putin Applauds Turkish Parliament's Vote Against US Troop Deployment 4) Russian Military Expert On US War Plans 5) Russian Analyst: US Planning To 'Quickly Switch Over' From Massive Bombardments To All-Out War http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3075680startrow=11date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency March 4, 2003 RUSSIAN EXPERT: WAR IN IRAQ PREDETERMINED MOSCOW, March 4, 2003. /from a RIA Novosti correspondent/. - A sharp activation of US and UK air forces in Iraq testifies to the fact that the operation might begin just in a few days, Leonid Ivashov, Vice President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, said on Tuesday. According to him, the increase in air strikes by US and UK aircraft in Iraq proves first of all that the question whether the US operation against Iraq will take place or not has already been decided in Washington. The US is seeking not to settle the Iraqi crisis, but to provoke war. At present the US is actually conducting a preliminary stage of the operation to bring informational influence to bear upon and hold down morally and psychologically Iraq's army and civilians. The Russian expert also pointed out that a significant part of February's air strikes were targeted at communication centres. The US is reasonably seeking to disable Iraq's military infrastructure, first of all troops control systems. All the above-said tells of a decision to begin the operation, which might be taken in a few days, Ivashov believes. -- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3076020startrow=1date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency March 4, 2003 REFUSAL OF TURKISH PARLIAMENT IS GEORGE W. BUSH'S SERIOUS POLITICAL DEFEAT MOSCOW, March 4th, 2003. /From a RIA Novosti correspondent/. - Sergei Rogov, head of the USA-Canada Studies Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences sees the refusal of the Turkish Parliament to deploy the U.S. troops in Turkey as George W. Bush's serious political defeat. According to Mr. Rogov, the Northern Turkish front would have posed a serious threat to Iraq because a simultaneous military strike both from the north and from the south could have led to a rapid victory against Iraq. Now the U.S. troops, Mr. Rogov stressed, will have to attack Iraq from one direction only and it will be easier for Iraq to organize defence. According to him, it will cause more casualties among U.S. servicemen and protract hostilities. -- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3075255startrow=21date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency March 4, 2003 VLADIMIR PUTIN HIGHLY ASSESSES DECISION OF TURKISH PARLIAMENT MOSCOW, MARCH 4. (FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT). Vladimir Putin highly assessed the decision made by the Turkish parliament to bloc the possibility of using the country's military bases for US armed forces operations against Iraq. The Russian President declared at a session with government members in the Kremlin on Tuesday that this is the most important event of the last days. May be it was unexpected for somebody but not for Russia, said the head of state and added that we understand what the Turkish parliament was guided by. -- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3075969startrow=1date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency March 4, 2003 RUSSIAN MILITARY EXPERT ON SCENARIO OF POSSIBLE MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST IRAQ -[T]here is no ruling out a partisan war in the country with a population of 22 mln, which can drag out both the military operation and post-war settlement in Iraq, the official believes. Klyuchenok is sceptical about the intention to overthrow power in Baghdad, alluding to the example of Afghanistan, where the take-over resulted in a vigorous flourishing of drug production and trade. MOSCOW, March 4, 2003. /from a RIA Novosti corr./ - The scenario of a possible military operation against Iraq is unlikely to differ much from the Desert Storm operation, Lieutenant General Vasily Klyuchenok, deputy head of the Federation Council's Defence and Security Committee, said at Tuesday's press conference in RIA Novosti. The main constituent of the potential military operation will be the use of high-precision weapons and ample aviation, he believes. First of all, strikes will be targeted at the objects mentioned by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in the UN Security Council early in February, Klyuchenok said. The MP thinks the main target of the land operation to be the take-over of Baghdad. The coalition hopes for soonest and positive results of the military action in Iraq, Vasily Klyuchenok
Real Purpose Of Iraq War: Project For The New American Empire [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3075572startrow=11date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency (Novosti) March 4, 2003 THE SECRET PHILOSOPHY OF WAR IN IRAQ MOSCOW, March 4, 2003. /RIA Novosti political commentator Vladimir Simonov/. - The official reasons why the USA should go to war in Iraq have always featured a certain omission. The uncoordinated accusations by no means explain the severity of the sentence. Let's say that Baghdad destroys five Al-Samud-2 rockets on average a day. From the point of view of the UN inspectors working in the country, this zeal is gratifying, but Washington calls it the latest trap. Why? Iraq's links with al-Qaeda remain unproven. Nevertheless, the USA continues to claim that the Iraqi regime, which cannot lift a finger without the UN inspectors or US spy planes knowing about it, presents a lethal terrorist threat, justifying war, the loss of tens of thousands of lives, environmental disaster, a wave of terrorism and chaos in the Arab world. Who in their right mind would believe this? And who would also believe that sensible people in the US administration believe it? The justification for the war against Iraq clearly lacks some kind of a secret, main argument. Serious analysts see this argument in the form of Iraqi oil, defending Israeli interests, the opportunity to test new weapons on the battlefield or America's desire to rejuvenate its flagging economy through military orders. These are not empty words. However, to concentrate on just these details would be myopic. We would not see the most important aspect, because the main point is so massive that is well beyond the bounds of traditional thinking as practised by the international community. The heart of the matter is the following. If the war against Iraq is launched, then this will mean that the United States will turn into the centre of a global empire, where Washington will decide the fates of governments, divide up the riches of foreign economies and impose democracy in its own, American sense of the word. This is by no means improvisation, as some observers might think. The war will be the embodiment of a concept of US world domination worked out over ten years by the very same ambitious and energetic people who now occupy key posts in George Bush's administration. It is necessary to backtrack to 1997 to understand everything properly. A group of neo-conservatives then founded the New American century project [Project for the New American Century] dedicated to philosophical thinking about the USA's future role in global politics. In September 2000, when George Bush was running for presidency, the New American Century prepared a report called Rebuilding America's Defenses. The document's main idea, to quote the authors, was to exercise American leadership around the globe. In post Soviet Union era, the sole superpower of the United States sought to take on the role of a new empire stretching from the Khan Horde to Rome. Pax Americana would really mean Power Americana, or a world subjugated to American might. The Rebuilding America's Defenses report became a kind of geopolitical Bible for George Bush. His administration has done much of what it proposed. For example, the brains behind the report suggested tearing up the 1972 ABM Treaty and throwing it into the rubbish bin, while taking up plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in space. This has been done. The report recommended that military spending be increased from 3% of GDP to 3.8% to facilitate the creation of an infrastructure for the American order. In 2003, the Bush administration has demanded that Congress confirm an allotment of 379 billion dollars to the military's budget. This is the same 3.8% of GDP right down to the dollar. The administration's punctuality in following the recommendations of the New American century is not surprising if we recall the top posts the project's ideologues are now occupying. Paul Wolfowitz is now Deputy Defense Secretary. John Bolton is Undersecretary of State. Stephen A. Cambone is the Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation, while Eliot Cohen and Devon Cross sit on the Council of Defense Policy under Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Lewis Libby heads Vice-President Dick Cheney's administration. Accordingly, the entire host of the presidential entourage has come from the same corridor of the extremely conservative highly interventionist (in its philosophy) New American Century that envisages the advent of an epoch of America's unanswerable will in international affairs. If we understand this, then the enigma will cease to exist. For example, why is the American administration so thoroughly discussing its plans for a military attack against Iraq, but, apparently, is completely ignoring the no less crucial problem of its withdrawal from the country? The answer lies in the fact that the USA has no intention
US NATO Commander: Move Bases Nearer Next War Theaters [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2003/03/3-CEE/cee-040303.asp Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 4, 2003 NATO COMMANDER SPEAKS ON PLANS TO MOVE U.S. BASES FROM WESTERN TO EASTERN EUROPE NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General James Jones on 3 March told journalists in Stuttgart, Germany, that intensive talks are under way with NATO member countries about overhauling the U.S. military-base strategy, including the possibility of shifting resources to countries in East-Central Europe, AFP reported. Jones denied media reports that Washington is planning major base closures in Germany, in part in punishment for Germany's strident opposition to a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq [sic]. He said that by the end of July he will visit all 19 current NATO member countries as well as the seven countries invited last November to join the organization, and that he hopes to have a plan for transforming the U.S. base system ready by March 2004. Implementation would begin soon afterward, he said. The changes would involve scaling down the massive U.S. military presence in Western Europe established during the Cold War and creating a lily pad network of hubs to which forces would rotate according to changing military needs. Jones said the United States needs to respond more fully to asymmetric challenges, including terrorism by individuals and groups, rather than warfare organized by states. Jones also said he is holding ongoing talks with Russia about how it might view the U.S. plans to set up operations in Eastern Europe, adding, Russia should play an important role in the development. [sic] MS __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Until Bulgaria Is 'Baptized' As NATO Member, US Makes Rules [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.online.bg/ASP/wwwbgweb2.asp?mode=articleartdate=2003/3/4artno=38 Bulgaria Online March 4, 2003 The location of American bases in Bulgaria is unlikely before our NATO accession When we become a full NATO member we will be a part of this structure and then well be able to make proposals for location of foreign bases here, said for BNR the Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Lubomir Todorov. He defined the variant for bilateral agreement for location of US bases in Bulgaria in the period of pre-NATO accession as unlikely, but not impossible. Lubomir Todorov also pointed out that a new concept for structuring of the Alliance military forces is probably impending. It is to affect the new sources of threat and to optimize the system of security after the enlargement. Regarding the information that the delegations of some of the UN Security Council member countries, as well as the Bulgarian delegation have been tapped by the US special services, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman said that first of all the source of these statements should be made clear, then the case should be investigated and then we can talk of an official Bulgarian reaction. If the information is confirmed, there most probably will be a reaction on our part and it will be in the form of rapid protest, said Lubomir Todorov. -- http://www.online.bg/ASP/wwwbgweb2.asp?mode=articleartdate=2003/3/4artno=33 Bulgaria Today March 4, 2003 US Bases Location in State Possible The problem of location of NATO military bases in Bulgaria is to be discussed only after the country enters the Alliance, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. He explained that a new concept of NATO military forces restructures would probably be applied. It is to cover the new sources of threats and optimize the security system after the enlargement. When Bulgaria becomes a NATO member it will be a part of this structure and than location of foreign bases will be possible, Foreign Ministry spokesman declared. Todorov added that offering location of military bases in foreign countries was an ordinary NATO practice. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Bulgaria: But...NATO Uber Alles [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.online.bg/ASP/wwwbgweb2.asp?mode=articleartdate=2003/3/4artno=27 Bulgaria Online March 4, 2003 Military Bases Might Crop Up in Bulgaria before NATO Entry US military bases might be established in Bulgaria before the country has formally joined NATO. According to an official from Bulgaria's foreign ministry this was possible though not very likely. According to Lyubomir Todorov, spokesmen of the foreign ministry in Sofia, a new concept for dislocation of NATO military forces is looming. It will consider the epicenters of the modern threats and will optimize the security system after the enlargement of the alliance. Following Bulgaria's NATO entry, we will become a part of the structure and we will be able to make proposals for establishment of military bases in the country, Todorov pointed out. Last week, Bulgaria's defense minister said that Bulgaria might offer four to five bases to US militaries. He strongly favors this idea as the bases are expected to push upwards the economic development in host regions. Gen. James Jones, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, is to start a tour across NATO members and the seven NATO aspirants over the upcoming reform of the US military bases system and the transfer of resources to the candidate countries in Eastern Europe. The visits are scheduled to take place by the end of July. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
To Russia With Love From North American NATO 'Allies' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3076484startrow=1date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency (Novosti) March 4, 2003 US AND CANADIAN CONSULATES LEAD IN VISA REFUSALS TO RUSSIANS MOSCOW, March 4, 2003. /from a RIA Novosti correspondent/.- The US and Canadian Consulates lead in visa refusals to Russians. The Russian share of visa refusals by Canadian and US consulates amounts to 26% and 25% respectively, Igor Suzdaltsev, a member of the board of the Russo-American Visa Council public association, said at a press conference in RIA Novosti. By contrast, according to the council, less than 3% of Russians are refused visas in consulates of other countries, Suzdaltsev pointed out. Annually some 120,000 Russian nationals apply for visas to US consulates, and about 13,000 to Canadian ones, the official specified. According to Suzdaltsev, members of the council are concerned about the growing number of US entry refusals to Russian scientists, businessmen and cultural workers, which is considered by the Russian-American Visa Council to harm scientific and humanitarian relations between the two countries. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Russian FM: Will Take On 'War Party' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3076274startrow=11date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 RUSSIA NOT GOING TO STAY PASSIVE WHEN IRAQ COMES UP FOR DISCUSSION IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL Russian Information Agency March 4, 2003 LONDON, March 4, 2003. /From RIA Novosti correspondent/. Russia is not going to remain passive when the UN Security Council starts discussing the Iraqi issue. For Russia in a situation like this with Iraq, keeping aloof is not the right kind of policy, said Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Tuesday, at an Internet conference on the BBC. The minister recalled that Russia, like the other permanent UN Security Council members, has the right of veto. And if the need arises, Russia may use this right, Ivanov said. According to the minister, Moscow intends to press for unity in the UN Security Council. In Ivanov's view, a split in the Security Council may make the situation more complex. The Russian diplomatic chief made it clear that the US and the UK, in his view, would find it hard to persuade other Security Council members of the need to pass a second resolution on the Iraqi issue. We believe that Iraq's disarmament can be achieved, and there is no element of play in Russia's position. Refraining is not the kind of position Russia will take, he said. The Russian diplomatic supremo said that Russia is ready to take on the party of war. If, however, the war nevertheless breaks out, Russia will try to stop it and re-route settlement of the situation into political channels, the Russian minister said. Ivanov remarked that Russia is not ready to use force to solve the Iraqi crisis. -- http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160msg_id=3076265startrow=11date=2003-03-04do_alert=0 Russian Information Agency March 4, 2003 IF WAR BREAKS OUT IN IRAQ, MOSCOW WILL WORK TO STOP IT: FOREIGN MINISTER LONDON, March 4. /RIA Novosti/ - If war breaks out in Iraq, Moscow will work to stop it and re-route the situation into political channels, Igor Ivanov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said to a BBC web conference. There is still a chance to avoid use of force. Russia firmly insists on the crisis settled by political means, and will go on using such means. The USA and other countries which are out to sever the knot bypassing the UN Security Council are badly blundering, stressed the minister. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
TV Smash-In at NBC Studios to protest biased media [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=53342group=webcast Meet the People: No More Media Lies by Noah Hypocrisy 11:43am Sun Mar 2 '03 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fed-Up Viewers Say, No More Lies! People Smash Their TVs at NBC Studios FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: [EMAIL PROTECTED] March 2, 2003 Fed-Up Viewers Say, No More Lies! People Smash Their TVs at NBC Studios WASHINGTON, DC - Early Sunday morning, a group of disgruntled television viewers calling themselves Meet The People disowned their television sets in front of NBC studios to protest the pro-war media bias prevalent in Sunday morning talk shows. They then proceeded to smash the sets, under a banner that screamed, Dismantle Weapons of Mass Deception. One television smasher, Noah Hypocrisy, told reporters that he was fed-up with the invasion of the military-industrial-media complex in his life, especially in light of the impending war on Iraq: In the United States and other Western powers, the corporate-owned media depend on the military for information, accepting what military officers at the Pentagon or the White House spinners offer as undeniable fact. Im not that gullible, and Im mad as hell at what Im seeing on my television set! Hypocrisy said, in between hammer strokes with what seemed to be a Titleist golf pitching wedge. Another disenchanted viewer, Louisville Slugger in hand, lamented the heavy political biases she observes in the mainstream media: In 2001, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, and CBS Evening News interviewed U.S. sources who were 92% white, 85% male, and 75% Republican, cried Ceci Truth. How objective is that?!!! Timed for the taping of NBCs Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press, Meet the People barricaded the Nebraska Avenue entrance to the studios with a motley collection of their former television sets. Video of the dismantling will be available today at http://www.dc.indymedia.org . The People were determined that this was only the start. We wont stop here, and we encourage other thinking people to do similar actions. If the war on Iraq begins, we arent going to sit stupidly in our living rooms and accept the lies the corporate media try to feed us. We plan to seek out other weapons of mass deception: newspaper, radio, and other television studios. As their propaganda tries to drown out the truth, our level of disgust and resistance will escalate! http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=53342group=webcast = LMNOP http://lmno4p.org No War for Oil! __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Majority of Russians praise Stalin's role in history [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 4 March 2003. Majority of Russians praise Stalin's role in history. MOSCOW -- More than half of Russians think Joseph Stalin played a positive role in Russian history, according to a new poll published Tuesday on the eve of the Soviet leader's 50th death anniversary. Fifty-three percent said they thought he played a positive role, while 33 percent said they thought he played a negative role, the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research found. Fourteen percent said they could not answer. Some 36 percent said that despite his mistakes, Stalin should be celebrated for his role in leading the Soviet Union to win World War II -- up from 31 percent in a 1998 poll. Some 27 percent said they viewed him as a murderous tyrant, while 20 percent said they viewed him as a wise leader who led the Soviet Union to superpower status. The research center interviewed 1,600 Russians from February 28 to March 3, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Stalin's death on March 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Editorial: Russia's Andrew Jackson [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- 'In the visitors' book at the Man and Symbol exhibit, one person mused: I wonder, will our country live to see the moment when Stalin is perceived as an ordinary person, instead of as either the devil incarnate or the Father of the Peoples?' (AP, 2 March 2003). Is there really anything new to bring to the topic of Stalin? I doubt it, but I will briefly outline my position, if only to satisfy the curiosity of the Stalinists who call me a Trotskyist and the Trotskyists who call me a Stalinist. I see Stalin as the Soviet version of the US's Andrew Jackson -- a historical inevitability. Engels: '[H]istory is about the most cruel of all goddesses, and she leads her triumphal car over heaps of corpses, not only in war, but also in peaceful economic development' (letter to Danielson, 24 London 1893). (Engels happened to be talking about industrialization in Russia there.) Stalin was a builder and, like many other builders, he often used destructive forces with which to build. Molotov estimated some 20% of of purge victims were innocent (Molotov Remembers, 1993, pp. 257-58) -- and he came close to joining that number himself. 20% is a lot. Of course, Stalin prevailed over Hitler. Intense industrialization, intense collectivization, even intense purges (recall the separatist campaigns in the Ukraine as late as the 1950s) built -- and defended -- socialism in Russia. Stalin: 'We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We must cover this distance in ten years. Either we do this or they will crush us' (4 February 1931). Before Stalin came to power, Russia was the geopolitical equivalent of, say, Brazil; by the time he died, it was the geopolitical equivalent of ... the USSR. And that was truly something. Fifty-three percent of Russians said they thought Stalin played a positive role in Russian history, according to the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (AFP, 4 March 2003). Of course, the Soviet Union famously confronted its Stalinist history, starting with Khrushchev's 'secret speech' in the 1950s, whereas the US still honors Jackson daily, as his portrait graces every 20 dollar bill.* * Even a soft commie like Pete Seeger said 'I'll apologize for... thinking that Stalin was simply a hard driver and not a supremely cruel leader,' quickly adding: 'White people in the USA should [also] consider apologizing for stealing land from Native Americans and enslaving blacks' (Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Musical Autobiography, p. 22). It was all the same historical process, that harsh process Engels spoke of in the above quote. Here it is, 50 years after the death of Stalin and the media is full of 'gulag museums' and 'previously unknown Kremlin archives.' Horrors abound. Nobody mentions the liberation of Berlin or the first woman astronaut or the universal healthcare, of course. When Andrew Jackson's birthday or date-of-death rolls around, do we see Dan Rather interviewing Cherokees on their miserable reservations, asking questions like 'how do you feel about the Indian Removal Act of 1830?' I think not. Too much has been made of 'deStalinization' in the West, however. It was Khrushchev who said of Stalin, unequivocally, in his memoirs: 'He was incorruptible and irreconcilable in class questions. It was one of his strongest qualities, and he was greatly respected for it' (Khrushchev Remembers, 1970, p. 222). Most Russians today seem to agree. Of course, it's a hard, confusing topic -- evaluating Stalin. A great man with great flaws, a great era marked by great errors. It's hard to praise him; it's wrong to damn him. How does one separate Stalin from the Stalin era? One cannot -- the man and the era were the same; it is all inexorably combined, a dialectical tapestry as confounding, as frustrating as life (and death) itself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller, editor, ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Re: (FCDSM/CFDSM ) SUPPORT TO DR SESELJ AND PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC! [WWW.STOPN
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- I wonder if a major reason for NATO wanting to jail Dr Seselj is because of his outspoken support for Iraq. peacefully yours, Nancy Hey mart-remote wrote: From: "Comit_International_pour_la_Dfense_de_Slobodan_Milosevic" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: SUPPORT TO DR SESELJ AND PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ! Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 18:36:02 +0100 Statement from FCDSM/CFDSM (Frenchspeaking Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic) http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st February 26, 2003 SUPPORT TO DR SESELJ AND PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ! THE INIQUITOUS JUDGES OF THE ICTY ARE THE WHORES OF AMERICA AND NATO IS THEIR PANDER ! Dr Seselj has been jailed this day in the gaols of the so-called ICTY. After the kidnapping of President Milosevic and the jailing of numerous Serbian patriots, this new prosecution show again that the ICTY is not a normal court, but a political machine in service of Washin! gton and NATO. Dr Seselj is, in fact, indicted in 2003 for so-called war crimes perpetrate in 1991-1993, so Ten years after. This indiction arrive in reality a few weeks after the shinning success of Dr Seselj, candidate of the United Patriotic Opposition (SPS, JUL, SRS), with the support of Slobodan Milosevic, at the Serbian presidential election. The ICTY, under command of NATO, demonstrate here that its only goal is to impeach the Serbian Patriotic Opposition to restablish Socialism and to overthrow the Western muppets who are in power in Beograd after the ramping coup of October 2000, in depriving it of its charismatic leaders Milosevic and Seselj. The iniquitous Judges of the ICTY are the whores of America and NATO is their pander. FCDSM proclaim again its active support to Dr Seselj and President Milosevic. In order to answer to the persecution of the ICTY, FCDSM decide also to make its action wider and to give its help not only to! President Milosevic, the fist Resistant to NATO and New World Order, but also to Dr Seselj and to all the Serbian Patriots jailed in Den Hague by NATO. The FCDSM has decided in order that to participate in the activities of the International Committee to Defend the Serbian Political Prisonners (ICDSPP / CIDPPS), launched this February 24 in Brussels. In this way of united struggle, the Internet site of the FCDSM (http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/) become from this day common to the two committees and the Newspaper SOLIDARITY MILOSEVIC will be published by the two committees. FREE SLOBO AND SESELJ ! FCDSM/CFDSM [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st Brussels Tel. 02/218.73.09 (Internat. + 32 2 218 73 09) Fax 02/218.73.59 (Internat. + 32 2 218 73 59) Paris Tl/Fax 01.43.83.75.32 (Internat. + 33.1.43.83.75.32) Communiqu de presse du FCDSM/CFDSM (Comit Francophone po! ur la Dfense de Slobodan Milosevic) http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/ 26 fvrier 2003 SOUTIEN AU DR SESELJ ET AU PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ! LES JUGES INIQUES DU TPIY SONT LES PUTAINS DE LAMERIQUE ET LOTAN EST LEUR MAQUEREAU ! Le Dr Seselj vient dtre emprisonn ce jour dans les geles du soi-disant TPIY . Aprs le kidnapping du Prsident Milosevic et lemprisonnement de dizaines de patriotes serbes, cette nouvelle procdure rvle nouveau que le TPIY nest pas un tribunal mais une machinerie politique au service de Washington et de lOTAN. Le Dr Seselj est, en effet, inculp en 2003, pour des crimes de guerre soi-disant commis en 1991-93, soit dix ans aprs les faits. Cette inculpation intervient en fait quelques semaines aprs la brillante perce du Dr Seselj, candidat de lopposition patriotique unie (SPS, JUL, SRS), soutenu par Slobodan Milosevic, llection prsidentielle serbe. Le TPIY, aux ordres de lOTAN, dmontre! ainsi que son seul but est dempcher lopposition patriotique serbe de rtablir le Socialisme et de renverser les marionnettes pro-occidentales au pouvoir Belgrade depuis le coup dtat rampant doctobre 2000, en la privant de ses leaders charismatiques, Milosevic et Seselj. Les juges iniques du TPIY sont les putains de lAmrique et lOTAN est leur maquereau ! Le CFDSM raffirme son soutien actif au Dr Seselj et au Prsident Milosevic. Afin de rpondre aux agissements du TPIY, le CFDSM dcide galement dlargir son champ daction et dapporter son soutien non seulement au Prsident Milosevic, le premier des rsistants lOTAN et au Nouvel Ordre Mondial , mais aussi au Dr Seselj et tous les patriotes serbes dtenus dans les geles de La Haye. Le CFDSM a donc dcid en consquence de participer troitement aux activits de l International Committee to Defend the Serbian Political Prisonners / Comit International pour la Dfense des Pri! sonniers Politiques Serbes (ICDSPP / CIDPPS), cr ce 24 fvrier Bruxelles. Dans cette optique unitaire, le site internet du CFDSM (http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/) devient ds ce jour commun aux deux Comits et le bulletin SOLIDARITE MILOSEVIC sera publi par les deux comits. FREE SLOBO AND SESELJ ! FCDSM/CFDSM [EMAIL
Re: Arch-capitalist Soros slams Bush's 'imperialist vision' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Thanks. I was aware of your recent article in Covert Action Quarterly, and have been planning to read it for quite some time, but have been so busy! Hopefully, I'll get to it soon, though. peacefully yours, Nancy Hey [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Nancy, read the Covert Action Quarterly, number 74 fori my major breakdown on many of his nefarious activities. Scum is too good for him, It's an insult to paramecia. ~HC --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^^=== This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^^===
Petition to call for the impeachment of Pres. George Bush for war crimes [WWW.ST
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Petition to call for the impeachment of Pres. George Bush for war crimes Dear friends, Please go to: http://www.VoteToImpeach.org to sign the following petition for the impeachment of Pres. George Bush for war crimes committed against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. The murder of innocent civilians is a war crime under the Geneva Convention, and the aggressive wars against sovereign nations have made the United States hated and viewed as a bully by much of the world. This is a chance to show the world that not all Americans are war-mongers. These crimes against peace should be punishable by impeachment and removal from office. Peacefully yours, Nancy Hey Articles Of Impeachment Of President George W. Bush Vice President Richard B. Cheney Secretary Of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld And Attorney General John David Ashcroft The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors. --Article II, Section 4 of The Constitution of the United States of America Acts which require the impeachment of President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; and Attorney General John David Ashcroft include: 1) Ordering and directing a proclaimed pre-emptive, or first strike war of aggression against Afghanistan causing thousands of deaths indiscriminately, a major proportion non combatants, leaving millions homeless and hungry and installing a government of their choice in Kabul. 2) Authorizing daily intrusions into the airspace of Iraq by U.S. military aircraft in violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and aerial attacks on facilities and persons, on the soil of Iraq, killing hundreds of people indiscriminately, initially falsely claiming self defense though over a period of eleven years not a single U.S. aircraft has been struck or damaged by gunfire from Iraq, but later admitting the targeting of defense installations in Iraq, as war preparations they ordered progressed. 3) Authorizing, ordering and condoning direct attacks on civilians, civilians facilities and locations where civilian casualties are unavoidable. 4) Threatening Iraq with proclaimed pre-emptive, or first strike attack and a war of aggression by overwhelming force and military superiority including specific threats to use nuclear weapons while engaged in a massive military build-up in nations and waters surrounding Iraq. 5) Threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently proclaiming an intention to change its government by force while preparing to assault Iraq in a war of aggression. 6) Authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, kidnappings, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners to obtain false statements concerning acts and intentions of governments and individuals and violating within the United States, and by authorizing U.S. forces and agents elsewhere, the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 7) Authorizing, directing and condoning bribery and coercion of governments and individuals to cause them to act in violation of their duty and the law, including to maintain and tighten enforcement of economic sanctions against Iraq which continue to increase the death rate of infants, children and elderly persons; to attack and kill designated groups, or persons; to permit use of land, facilities, territorial waters, or air space for U.S. attacks on Iraq; to vote, abstain in a vote, or publicly proclaim support for a U.S. or U.N. attack on Iraq; to defect from Iraq, or to falsely accuse it of weapons concealment to break down opposition to a U.S. war of aggression; and to reject ratification of the Treaty creating an International Criminal Court, or reject its jurisdiction over the United States. 8) Making, ordering and condoning false statements and propaganda about the conduct of foreign governments and individuals and acts by U.S. government personnel; manipulating the media and foreign governments with false information; concealing information vital to public discussion and informed judgment concerning acts, intentions and possession, or efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in order to falsely create a climate of fear and destroy opposition to U.S. wars of aggression and first strike attacks by the U.S. 9) Violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to commit with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes in pre-emptive wars, first strike attacks and threats of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and other
Re: Madeleine 'Half Million Dead Children Worth It' Albright: I Pity Iraqi Peo
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Right. Anything that Madeline Albright says about 'pitying" the Iraqi people is worth less than dirt. peacefully yours, Nancy Hey Rick Rozoff wrote: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- [Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it? Ambassador to the U.N. Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.] http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2cid=540u=/ap/20030303/ap_on_re_mi_ea/albright_iraqprinter=1 Agence France-Presse March 3, 2003 Albright: Bush Should Hold Off on Iraq WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged President Bush on Monday to wait longer before attacking Iraq, saying current pressure was forcing Baghdad to disarm. Albright, who addressed a conference on increasing the number of women in politics, said the buildup of military force in the Middle East has led to new inspections and Iraq's decision to dismantle its outlawed Al Samoud 2 missiles. "We are actually accomplishing something," said Albright, secretary of state under President Clinton. "The president should take credit for the fact they are disarming." As an alternative to war, she suggested more intrusive inspections and even the threat to destroy suspected weapons facilities that the government refuses to open to U.N. personnel, the way U.S. and British pilots attack missile sites in the Iraqi no-fly zones. "The momentum seems to be moving in the direction of war," Albright said. "We might get the war over, but we night not get the postwar over." She said there has been increased anti-American feelings overseas in response to Bush's Iraq policy. "There must be some way to do what we wanted without alienating everybody," she said. Albright said her concern about going to war does not mean any support for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "I think Saddam Hussein is a terrible dictator," she said. "There's nothing to defend about him. I pity the Iraqi people." __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^^=== This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^^===
UN: Annan Plots With US For 'Kosovo Style' Occupation Of Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-600029,00.html The Times (London) March 5, 2003 UN leaders draw up secret blueprint for postwar Iraq From James Bone in New York US forces will hand over three months after Saddam is defeated -The UN is breaking a taboo, and arguably breaching its charter, by considering plans for Iraqs future governance while it deals daily with President Saddam Husseins regime as a legitimate member. The 60-page plan was ordered by Louise Frechette, the Canadian deputy of Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, and was drawn up at the UNs New York headquarters by a six-member pre-planning group. -UN sources expected the plan to be implemented even if the US goes to war without a UN resolution authorising military action. -[M]s Frechette had a 90-minute meeting on Monday with Jay Garner, the retired US Army general who is in line to be the US governor of postwar Iraq. Lieutenant-General Garner heads the Pentagon office of reconstruction and humanitarian affairs formed in January, which is assembling a government-in-waiting of Iraqi exiles and American advisers to head Iraqs major ministries and public works agencies. -UN sources say that Britain, which is loath to occupy Iraq because of its colonial history there, pushed for a full-blown UN administration along the lines of those in Kosovo and East Timor, and a UN agency to control Iraqs oil. The United Nations has drawn up a confidential plan to establish a post-Saddam government in Iraq in a move that suggests its leaders now consider war all but inevitable. The plan, obtained by The Times, has been produced in great secrecy over the past month, even though Security Council approval of a war resolution hangs in the balance. The UN is breaking a taboo, and arguably breaching its charter, by considering plans for Iraqs future governance while it deals daily with President Saddam Husseins regime as a legitimate member. The 60-page plan was ordered by Louise Frechette, the Canadian deputy of Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, and was drawn up at the UNs New York headquarters by a six-member pre-planning group. It envisages the UN stepping in about three months after a successful conquest of Iraq, and steering the country towards self-government, as in Afghanistan. The plan resists British pressure to set up a full-scale UN administration. It also says that the UN should avoid taking direct control of Iraqi oil or becoming involved in vetting Iraqi officials for links to the President or staging elections under US military occupation. It proposes instead the creation of a UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, to be known as Unami, to help to establish a new government. UN sources expected the plan to be implemented even if the US goes to war without a UN resolution authorising military action. It recommends that the UN immediately appoint a senior official to co-ordinate its strategy, who would become the UN special representative in post-war Iraq. Sources said that Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN troubleshooter who organised the creation of the Government in Afghanistan, would be approached about a similar role in Iraq. Mr Brahimi, a former Algerian Foreign Minister whose journalist-daughter has been reporting for the CNN television network from Baghdad, is said to be reluctant to take on a major assignment at the age of 68 but is expected to accept. A clause in the UN Charter bars it from interfering in a member states internal affairs. When Mr Annan wanted to discuss contingency plans for war-time humanitarian operations with the Security Council last month, Russia insisted that he do so informally in his own office rather than in the council chamber. Yet Ms Frechette had a 90-minute meeting on Monday with Jay Garner, the retired US Army general who is in line to be the US governor of postwar Iraq. Lieutenant-General Garner heads the Pentagon office of reconstruction and humanitarian affairs formed in January, which is assembling a government-in-waiting of Iraqi exiles and American advisers to head Iraqs major ministries and public works agencies. Although the US plans to take control of Iraq immediately after a war, diplomats say that Washington is now more prepared to accept an international role there later on. General Garner told Ms Frechette that he wanted to get out of the job as quickly as possible to be replaced by a respected international figure. He foresaw Iraqi exiles in the transitional administration being replaced in one to six months. Everyone can swallow up to three months of US government in Iraq, one UN official said. The UN plan predicts that, despite the acrimonious divisions in the Security Council, it will inevitably be called on to play a role in postwar Iraq. The considered opinion of the pre-planning group is that, while public statements assert that the coalition forces will be responsible for military
Albanian Client Offers NATO Air, Naval Bases For Iraq War [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dc/Qiraq-albania-nato.Rv9N_DM4.html [The excerpts from Nano's Boston Globe article - wonder how that was arranged? - were no doubt authored by Bruce Jackson, NATO's preeminent ghost writer.] Albania to open bases to NATO in case of war on Iraq TIRANA, March 4 (AFP) - The Albanian parliament Monday voted unanimously to open the country's air and naval bases to NATO in case of a war on Iraq and reiterated the government's hardline stance in the crisis. The parliament also authorized the government to use all of Albania's military resources to assist efforts aimed against the regime of Iraq President Saddam Hussein, according to the parliamentary press office. Baghdad continues to be a potential threat to peace and security, parliament said in its resolution, echoing recent statement by senior Albanian officials. In a recent article in the Boston Globe daily, which was reprinted by the Albanian press, Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano strongly backed the US stance in the Iraq crisis. Maybe today is the time for European leaders to visit the Normandy beaches to see what the United States did in the name of freedom, Nano said. It is thanks to the courage and the generosity of Americans that today countries like France and Germany... have become free countries. Europeans should remember the help that the United States and Britain brought during the Second World War, he said. Britain has been the staunchest supporter of the United States on the Iraq standoff, while France and Germany have led European opposition in the crisis. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Macedonia: Two NATO Occupiers Injured In Blast [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/co/Qmacedonia-nato-blast.RGgl_DM4.html Two NATO peacekeepers injured in Macedonia blast ['(A)n explosive device they were thought to be handling.' Anyone care to speculate on this subject?] SKOPJE, March 4 (AFP) - Two soldiers serving with NATO forces in Macedonia were injured Tuesday along with three civilans when an explosive device they were thought to be handling went off unexpectedly, a spokesman said. The soldiers' nationality was not revealed but private television station A1 reported that they were Polish. Craig Ratcliff, a spokesman for international troops serving with the military alliance in the Balkan country said he did not know how serious the injuries were, adding that details surrounding the incident were unclear. At this point (we think the troops were handling) an explosive device that somebody was trying to get rid of, Ratcliff said. The explosion occurred in the northern region of Kumanovo, he added, describing the incident as serious. NATO forces have been deployed in the former Yugoslav republic since September 2001 after a Western-brokered peace deal ended fighting between Macedonian government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels. A peacekeeping force from the European Union is due to start a tour of duty on the ground in Macedonia this month, the EU presidency has said, spearheading the bloc's first ever such role. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^
Vote for David needed at ToryDraft [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- All Orchard supporters need to go to www.torydraft.com and vote in the new poll asking who won the debate March 2. At 11 pm (Atlantic time), MacKay led with 21%, followed by David with 17%, Bachand and Prentice tied with 16%,Brison with 15%, Grafftey 9% and Chandler 6%. Sue --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^==^= This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^==^=
News, 4.3.2003, 16:00 UTC [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Deutsche Welle English Service News March 4th 2003, 16:00 UTC -- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Chancellor Fails to Bring Unions and Employers Together Gerhard Schröder has failed to budge the country's unions and employers' groups over the issue of job creation. The chancellor is now turning his focus to his own solutions. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_792300_1_A,00.html -- US to send 60,000 more troops to Gulf The United States has ordered up to 60,000 additional troops to deploy to the Gulf to join the massive build-up of U.S. and British forces already in the region for a possible war with Iraq, U.S. defense officials said on Tuesday. They would join more than 250,000 U.S. and British troops already in the Gulf region along with dozens of warships and more than 500 attack aircraft for a possible attack on Iraq that could be launched within weeks. Russia says it may use veto power to stop war Speaking on BBC, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Tuesday that Moscow would not support any measure leading to a war on Iraq and might be prepared to use its veto in the U.N. Security Council. Mr.Ivanov said Moscow, which like China, France and Germany opposes the hawkish stance by Washington and London against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, would not abstain in any future U.N. Security Council vote on Iraq. He said it would be a serious mistake with serious consequences, if the United States went to war against Iraq without the approval of a Security Council second resolution. Germany warns its nationals to leave Iraq Germany warned its nationals Tuesday to leave Iraq and avoid all travel to the Gulf state given the growing threat of war, the foreign ministry said.It said on its Internet site that Germans in Iraq were invited to immediately plan for their departure. On February 12th, it warned Germans against travelling to Kuwait, which borders Iraq, because of security concerns in the region. The ministry currently has travel warnings out on 11 countries, most of them in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East or near Afghanistan. At least 209 killed in Phillipine explosion The U.S. embassy in Manila confirmed on Tuesday that one American had died after being severely wounded by a powerful explosion at an airport in the southern Philippines. At least 20 people were killed and more than 145 wounded, including three other Americans, in the explosion in a shelter outside the airport in Davao, the second-biggest city after the capital, Manila. The attack came amid heightened security against attacks by Muslim separatist rebels in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country. U.S. special forces are now on the southern island of Mindanao, training Philippine units in counter-terrorism tactics. Alleged 9/11 mastermind flown to US base in Afghanistan Alleged al-Qaeda terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was flown to Afghanistan early Tuesday, after three days of interrogation in Pakistan. Along with a Middle Eastern al-Qaeda suspect, arrested in the pre-dawn raid Saturday, Khalid Mohammed was handed over to US custody and flown to the US base at Bagram north of Kabul, after permission was granted by Kuwait. He was was born in Kuwait to Pakistani parents, but Pakistan considers him a Kuwaiti national.His capture is the biggest coup of the 18-month old war on terrorism. Khalid Mohammed is believed to be al-Qaeda's operational commander and the architect of the September 11 terror attacks in the US that killed more than 3,000 people. Sri Lanka offers amnesty to 51,000 army deserters amid truce Sri Lanka Tuesday offered immunity from prosecution to some 51,000 military deserters in line with a truce with Tamil Tiger rebels. The defence ministry said deserters would be legally discharged from the security forces, after they pay any money they owe the military for training them, while those wanting to rejoin will also be considered. An official spokesman said the move would help a large number of young men to come out of hiding and seek employment without taking up a career of crime. Both government troops and the rebels are currently observing a truce arranged by peace broker Norway, since February 23rd last year. More cheering crowds as Chirac ends Algeria visit Algerian crowds gave French President Jacques Chirac another rousing welcome on Tuesday in the city of Oran, where he ends a state visit meant to help reconcile France to its former colony. Tens of
