Just Foreign Policy News, September 7, 2012
TPP buses to Leesburg; Hillary names Haqqanis; Greenwald calls out CNNi on Bahrain
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Go Straight to the News Summary
I) Actions and Featured Articles
Rally Sunday against the TPP: free buses from DC and Baltimore
As the 14th major round of closed-door negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership gets under way in northern Virginia, join Citizens Trade Campaign and labor, environmental, consumer, public health, family farm and other social justice allies at the "TPP: Out of the Shadows! Rally for Good Jobs, Affordable Medicine & a Healthy Environment" at 3:00pm on Sunday, September 9 outside the Lansdowne Resort at 44050 Woodridge Parkway in Leesburg.
GET ON THE BUS! Follow the link to RSVP and reserve seats on free buses to the rally from Washington, DC or Baltimore, or sign up to receive info on carpooling options throughout the region.
http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/blog/2012/08/09/no-back-room-deals-for-the-1/
Media Briefing: What TPP Means for Digital Rights and Patients’ Rights
Electronic Frontier Foundation, Knowledge Ecology International, Public Citizen, and Public Knowledge held a media briefing for reporters on the TPP: leaked documents show that U.S. negotiators are pushing for drastic expansions to copyright, trademark, and patent rights and enforcement that threaten individual rights. You can listen to what they told reporters here:
http://www.conferenceplayback.com/stream/23077523/MAYB0905.mp3
Glenn Greenwald: Why didn’t CNN’s international arm air its own documentary on Bahrain’s Arab Spring repression?
Former CNN correspondent Amber Lyon defies threats from CNN to speak out about self-censorship at the network.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/cnn-international-documentary-bahrain-arab-spring-repression
Glenn Greenwald: CNN and the business of state-sponsored TV news
CNN is seriously compromising its journalism in the Gulf states by blurring the line between advertising and editorial.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/04/cnn-business-state-sponsored-news
Glenn Greenwald: Reply to "response" from CNNi
Greenwald responds to a "non-denial denial" from CNN that fails to address his charges of self-censorship on Bahrain, of cozy business dealings with the government of Bahrain affecting its coverage on Bahrain, and of trying to intimidate former CNN reporter Amber Lyon from speaking out.
http://ggsidedocs.blogspot.com.br/2012/09/reply-to-response-from-cnni.html
Video: the CNN Bahrain documentary that CNNi refused to air
CNN International refused to air this CNN documentary about Bahrain. But you can watch it on YouTube – it’s just 13 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2DeZBgTEk
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) The U.S. plans to designate the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, the Washington Post reports. The action follows sharp debate within the administration, with many State Department and White House officials arguing that it would achieve no substantive purpose and would undermine hopes of a peace deal with the Taliban. Officials who opposed the action argued that attempts to separate the Haqqanis from the Taliban – which is not a designated terrorist organization – would inhibit the resumption of suspended U.S.-Taliban talks.
2) U.S. law permit exports of medicine to Iran even under the latest sanctions in theory, but not necessarily in practice, notes the Export Law Blog. It seems reasonable to conclude that U.S. sanctions have a chilling effect which extends beyond their actual scope. Even if banks might be permitted to deal with certain Iranian financial institutions in connection with exports of medicine, banks may well decide that parsing the General License, and the risk of punishment if mistakes are made, makes the enterprise more trouble than it’s worth. In addition, this General License would only cover licensed exports of medicine from the U.S. to Iran and not exports of medicine to Iran from other destinations.
Recent action by OFAC [Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control] in blocking two foreign banks for their dealings with Iran may make banks worry, the Export Law Blog notes. In that instance, OFAC appeared to be saying that transactions in the petroleum sector could be seen as aiding Iran’s nuclear program, which is one of the bases for imposing sanctions. By that logic, all transactions with Iran might be seen as aiding the nuclear program, so what bank is going to want to run the risk of financing any exports to Iran?
3) Amnesty International slammed the secrecy of the TPP negotiations. "It is time for TPP negotiators to show the public their cards and, more importantly, the draft text of the agreement," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director for Amnesty International USA. Leaked information suggests the TPP would attempt to achieve some of the same objectives of the widely criticized Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA), Amnesty notes. Leaked TPP draft text neglects protections for fair use and standard judicial guarantees – such as the presumption of innocence – and includes copyright provisions that could compromise free speech on the internet and access to educational materials.
4) Writing in The Hill, Kate Gould of FCNL notes four key facts about the recent IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program: Iran is still not building nuclear weapons; experts agree the report is not a "game-changer"; Iran doubled its enrichment capacity at Fordow but is not using its increased capacity; Iran reduced its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium usable for a nuclear weapon by converting it to fuel plates for its medical reactor.
5) In an interview with CNN, President Obama laid out the five rules he says the U.S. uses to target and kill alleged terrorists with drone strikes, notes Chris Woods for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. 1 ‘It has to be a target that is authorised by our laws.’; 2 ‘It has to be a threat that is serious and not speculative.’; 3 ‘It has to be a situation in which we can’t capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of operational plot against the United States.’; 4 ‘We’ve got to make sure that in whatever operations we conduct, we are very careful about avoiding civilian casualties.’; 5 ‘That while there is a legal justification for us to try and stop [American citizens] from carrying out plots… they are subject to the protections of the constitution and due process.’
With Obama now publicly laying out ground rules for the drone war, US Department of Justice’s claims in court, attempting to block public publication of administration legal opinions which allegedly provided the justification for the killing of US citizens, appear to be on even weaker ground than they were before, Woods notes. DoJ has insisted Obama’s January comments on the drone war could not be taken as an admission that it was taking place: ‘Plaintiffs speculate that the president must have been speaking about CIA involvement in lethal operations…. This is insufficient to support a claim of official disclosure.’
6) The State Department has suspended sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras after the Honduras Air Force shot down two suspected drug planes in violation of U.S. agreements, AP reports. The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras. The U.S. agreement with Honduras for information sharing exclusively prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft.
Iran
7) President Obama’s explicit warning that he will not accept a unilateral Israeli attack against Iran may force Netanyahu to step back from his ostensible threat of war, write Jim Lobe and Gareth Porter for Inter Press Service. Obama has gone further than ever before in warning Netanyahu not to expect U.S. backing in any war with Iran. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told reporters in Britain Aug. 30 that an Israeli strike would be ineffective, and then said, "I don’t want to be complicit if they (the Israelis) choose to do it." It was the first time that a senior U.S. official had made such an explicit public statement indicating the administration’s unwillingness to be a party to a war provoked by a unilateral Israeli attack.
Former Israeli national security adviser Giora Eiland suggested in an interview with Reuters Tuesday that the Dempsey statement had changed the political and policy calculus in Jerusalem, Lobe and Porter note. "Israeli leaders cannot do anything in the face of a very explicit ‘no’ from the U.S. president," Eiland said.
8) Yedioth Ahronot, Israel’s most widely read newspaper, reported disagreement in
Israel’s security cabinet over the purported imminent approach of a "zone of immunity" after which Israel would not be able to effectively attack Iran, the Washington Post reports. According to the Yedioth Ahronot report, representatives of Israel’s intelligence branches presented "opposing positions" on Iran, reflecting "lack of agreement in Israel regarding the stage at which Israel’s ability to strike the Iranian nuclear program loses its effectiveness." [This undermines the claim that there is urgency for an Israeli strike – JFP.]
Afghanistan
9) A third of young children in southern Afghanistan, where fighting is intense, are acutely malnourished, a level of deprivation similar to that found in famine zones, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid, the Guardian reports. "What’s shocking is that this is really very high by global standards," said Michael Keating, deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan. "This is the kind of malnutrition you associate with Africa and some of the most deprived parts of the world, not with an area that has received so much international attention and assistance."
Yemen
10) Yemeni authorities have sent tribal representatives to investigate civilian deaths in an apparent US drone strike, AFP reports. Three women and a child were among 14 people killed in Sunday’s strike near the town of Radaa, local officials said.
Colombia
11) President Santos said official peace negotiations with the FARC will open in October in Oslo before moving back to Havana, the Washington Post reports. According to the most optimistic assessment offered by senior government officials, a peace agreement would be reached by April. If a peace agreement is signed, the FARC would demobilize its units and disarm nearly 9,000 fighters. Santos’s administration would guarantee the FARC could transform itself into a legal social or political movement. "There’s never been so much freedom to talk about the possibility of a peace process as there is now," said Francisco Galan, a former commander in the ELN, who now works on peace-building initiatives. Obama welcomed Santos’s announcement.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Haqqani network to be designated a terrorist group
Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, Friday, September 7, 12:20 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/haqqani-network-to-be-designated-a-terrorist-group/2012/09/07/e6576ac0-f8f6-11e1-a073-78d05495927c_story.html
The United States plans to designate the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, triggering sanctions against the group and potentially worsening already-tense relations with Pakistan.
In a statement, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that she had sent a report to Congress saying that the group, based in Pakistan’s tribal region, meets the criteria for designation because it is involved in terrorist attacks against the United States and its citizens. She said it would be designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
[…] The action follows sharp debate within the administration, with many State Department and White House officials arguing that it would achieve no substantive purpose and would undermine hopes of a peace deal with the Taliban. U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan strongly favored the designation.
Clinton, who was said to favor the action personally, signed the document overnight and transmitted it to Congress on Friday morning. The congressional deadline for action was Sunday, Sept. 9.
Congress mandated the Clinton report this summer after asking the secretary of state to either designate the group or explain why it did not meet the criteria. The administration has long labeled the Haqqanis the most significant threat to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, including attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and military bases in the eastern part of the country.
The designation, which prohibits any "person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide material support or resources" to a designated organization, freezes any assets in U.S. financial institutions and blocks entry by any members to the United States.
Most Haqqani leaders are already designated as individual terrorists, and the group is not known to have assets in the United States.
The designation does not prohibit direct U.S. negotiations with the Haqqanis, who are part of the broad militant network under Taliban leader Mohammed Omar.
But officials who opposed the action argued that attempts to separate the Haqqanis from the Taliban – which is not a designated terrorist organization – would inhibit the resumption of suspended U.S.-Taliban talks. "I’m convinced that we’ll now see some reports about the Taliban saying it’s a sign we’re not interested in reconciliation, and are just trying to divide them," one U.S. official said.
The United States has accused Pakistan’s intelligence service of close operational ties with the Haqqanis. Pakistan denies that charge, but says that the network must be included in any Taliban talks.
[…]
2) U.S. Sanctions on Iran Hit Health Care
Clif Burns, Export Law Blog, September 6, 2012 at 6:06 pm
http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/4341
The Washington Post reprinted on Tuesday a Financial Times report that indicated that U.S. sanctions on Iran were making it difficult for Iranian doctors and hospitals to provide health care to sick patients.
"The tightening of U.S. banking sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program has had an impact on all sectors of the economy but is increasingly hitting vulnerable medical patients as deliveries of medicine and raw materials for Iranian pharmaceutical companies are either stopped or delayed, according to medical experts."
But, but, you ask, how can that be? Doesn’t U.S. law permit exports of medicine to Iran even under the new sanctions? Well, yes, in theory, but in practice, maybe not. The article points out difficulty in delivering raw materials to pharmaceutical factories in Iran as one factor, but U.S. law has only permitted exports of medicines, not raw products for medicines, so there’s nothing new here.
Perhaps it’s this:
‘"We hold a license from the OFAC, but our imports have dropped by more than half while we pay much more than before," one importer said.
"The exemption of medicine from sanctions is only in theory," said another. "International banks do not accept Iran’s money for fear of facing U.S. punishment."’
It seems reasonable to conclude that U.S. sanctions have a chilling effect which extends beyond their actual scope. Even if banks might be permitted under General License A to deal with certain Iranian financial institutions in connection with exports of medicine, banks may well decide that parsing the General License, and the risk of punishment if mistakes are made, makes the enterprise more trouble than it’s worth. Not to mention, of course, that this General License would only cover licensed exports of medicine from the U.S. to Iran and not exports of medicine to Iran from other destinations.
And even if the sanctions that can be imposed on foreign banks under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2010 ("CISADA") seem limited to specific situations that don’t involve financing medical exports, the recent action by OFAC in blocking two foreign banks for their dealings with Iran may make banks worry about the risk. In that instance, OFAC appeared to be saying that transactions in the petroleum sector could be seen as aiding Iran’s nuclear program, which is one of the bases for imposing CISADA sanctions. By that logic, all transactions with Iran might be seen as aiding the nuclear program, so what bank is going to want to run the risk of financing any exports to Iran?
3) TPP Must Not Trade Away Free Speech and Health
Amnesty International, 6 September 2012
http://amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/tpp-must-not-trade-away-free-speech-and-health-2012-09-06
Negotiators from nine countries gathering outside Washington DC to draft a new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement must ensure that any new rules on copyright and patents adhere to core principles of transparency and uphold human rights, Amnesty International said today.
"No one has the right to trade away our hard-fought legal protections for free speech and the right to health, and much less to do it behind closed doors," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director for Amnesty International USA. "It is time for TPP negotiators to show the public their cards and, more importantly, the draft text of the agreement."
This text has been kept a secret since negotiations began in 2007, but leaked information suggests that it would attempt to achieve some of the same objectives of the widely criticized Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA).
Specifically, leaked TPP draft text neglects protections for fair use and standard judicial guarantees – such as the presumption of innocence – and includes copyright provisions that could compromise free speech on the internet and access to educational materials.
Moreover, draft TPP provisions related to patents for pharmaceuticals risk stifling the development and production of generic medicines, by strengthening and deepening monopoly protections. "Access to life-saving medicines is a right, not a privilege, and the TPP must put people ahead of profits," Nossel said.
[…]
4) Three things you need to know about IAEA report on Iran
Kate Gould [Friends Committee on National Legislation], The Hill, 09/05/12
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/247743-three-things-you-need-to-know-about-iaea-report-on-iran
As Iran war-fever again breaks out upon the release of another IAEA report, the sage advice from countless top national security officials becomes all the more relevant: diplomacy remains the single best way to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran and a devastating war.
1. Iran is still not building nuclear weapons
The IAEA report highlights troubling developments about Iran’s nuclear program, but it also confirms yet again that Iran is still using its enriched uranium strictly for peaceful purposes. Nonetheless, the report has unleashed new speculations about ‘how far Iran is from the bomb’. Breathless predictions that Iran is on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons have persisted for more than a quarter century. In 1992, for example, Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran was 3-5 years from the ability to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran, however, never decided to race toward the bomb, and diplomacy has the potential to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran forever.
In contrast, even proponents of a military strike admit that an attack would only delay Iran’s (currently civilian) nuclear program for a couple years at best. As U.S. and Israeli officials have warned, an attack could lead to a catastrophic war and encourage Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
2. Experts agree: Report is not a game changer
The Obama Administration and preeminent experts on Iran’s nuclear program, including Mark Fitzpatrick from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and Daryl Kimball and Tom Collina of the Arms Control Association, all agree that while the report is certainly troubling, it is "not a ‘game-changer’ and there is still time and space to pursue diplomacy.
Three major findings have defined the latest IAEA report:
A) Iran took a cue from my laundromat
Iran doubled its enrichment capacity at Fordow by doubling its centrifuges, but Iran has not turned the centrifuges on. An unnamed U.S. administration official told the New York Times, "they are creating a tremendous production capability, but they are not yet using it.
"It reminds me of a laundromat my family frequented when I was growing up. In response to complaints that there weren’t enough washing machines, the owner promised new machines. It was clear, however, from the snake of coils around the base of several machines that many of the ‘new’ washing machines wouldn’t be turned on for quite some time, and that this ‘expanded capacity’ was of questionable value. The administration official mentioned above described how Iran’s approach "gives them leverage, but they think it also stops short of creating the pretext for an attack."
B) Iran reduces potentially dangerous stockpile
While Iran increased its enrichment of 20-percent uranium, there is also some very good news: Iran reduced its stockpile of this uranium that could be used for ‘breaking out’ to weapons-grade uranium.
The Washington Post summed up this positive development by reporting: "the IAEA also found that Iran had converted much of the new material to metal form for use in a nuclear research reactor. Once the conversion has taken place, the uranium can’t be further enriched to weapons-grade material, Obama administration officials said."
C) Iran Fails to Fully Cooperate with IAEA
The IAEA reports Iran’s failure to fully cooperate with its investigations of Iran’s nuclear program underscores the urgency for full IAEA cooperation to be a central component of the negotiations with Iran.
3. Still time and space for diplomacy to work
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor rightfully asserted that "there is still time and space" for diplomacy to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. However, that time should not be squandered, and the U.S. should seize this opportunity to jumpstart its diplomatic efforts.
[…]
5) Obama’s five rules for covert drone strikes
Chris Woods, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, September 6th, 2012
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/09/06/obamas-five-rules-for-covert-drone-strikes/
In his most comprehensive public comments yet on the US covert drone war, President Barack Obama has laid out the five rules he says the United States uses to target and kill alleged terrorists – including US citizens.
The president has also warned of the need to avoid a ‘slippery slope’ when fighting terrorism, ‘in which you end up bending rules, thinking that the ends always justify the means.’
Obama’s comments were made in an on-camera interview with CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin. Only once before has the president publicly discussed the US covert drone policy, when he spoke briefly about strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Now Obama says there are five rules that need to be followed in covert US drone attacks. In his own words:
1 ‘It has to be a target that is authorised by our laws.’
2 ‘It has to be a threat that is serious and not speculative.’
3 ‘It has to be a situation in which we can’t capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of operational plot against the United States.’
4 ‘We’ve got to make sure that in whatever operations we conduct, we are very careful about avoiding civilian casualties.’
5 ‘That while there is a legal justification for us to try and stop [American citizens] from carrying out plots… they are subject to the protections of the constitution and due process.’
[…] The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is presently trying to block publication of administration legal opinions which allegedly provided the justification for the killing of US citizen Anwar al Awlaki and others.
In a recent court submission the DoJ insisted that Obama’s January comments on the covert drone war could not be taken as an admission that it was taking place: ‘Plaintiffs speculate that the president must have been speaking about CIA involvement in lethal operations…. This is insufficient to support a claim of official disclosure.’
With Obama now publicly laying out the ground rules for the covert drone war, the DoJ’s position appears further damaged.
[…]
6) US Suspends Anti-Drug Radar Support in Honduras
AP, September 7, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-suspends-anti-drug-radar-support-honduras-17184229
Tegucigalpa, Honduras – The U.S. State Department has suspended sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras after the Central American nation’s Air Force shot down two suspected drug planes in violation of U.S. agreements, the department confirmed Friday.
The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras, said William Ostick, Western Hemispheric Affairs Office spokesman. The U.S. bilateral agreement with Honduras for information sharing exclusively prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft. "We don’t have information about the occupants or the cargo," Ostick said.
The State Department and Drug Enforcement Administration agents ran a joint operation with Honduran forces until mid-July going after planes carrying cocaine into the country. It wasn’t clear Friday if the planes were shot down during the joint operation.
President Porfirio Lobo said Thursday he replaced the head of the Honduran Air Force in August because of one shoot-down that did occur under the joint offensive known as Operation Anvil. He denied it was because of U.S. pressure.
Ostick also said there was no pressure to replace the Air Force chief but that the U.S. is reviewing Honduran drug-interdiction procedures and protocols to prevent future incidents.
U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Lisa Kubiske "expressed our grave concern to senior Honduran officials and asked for a full account from the Honduran government on these two incidents," Ostick said. "She has insisted and we have insisted on the implementation of a series of remedial measure to assure this does not happen again."
Iran
7) After Dempsey Warning, Israel May Curb War Threat
Jim Lobe and Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, Sep 5 2012
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/09/after-dempsey-warning-israel-may-curb-war-threat/
Washington – President Barack Obama’s explicit warning that he will not accept a unilateral Israeli attack against Iran may force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from his ostensible threat of war.
Netanyahu had hoped that the Obama administration could be put under domestic political pressure during the election campaign to shift its policy on Iran to the much more confrontational stance that Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak have been demanding.
But that political pressure has not materialised, and Obama has gone further than ever before in warning Netanyahu not to expect U.S. backing in any war with Iran. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told reporters in Britain Aug. 30 that an Israeli strike would be ineffective, and then said, "I don’t want to be complicit if they (the Israelis) choose to do it."
It was the first time that a senior U.S. official had made such an explicit public statement indicating the administration’s unwillingness to be a party to a war provoked by a unilateral Israeli attack.
Dempsey had conveyed such a warning during meetings with Israeli leaders last January, as IPS reported Feb. 1, but a series of moves by the administration over the next several months, including the adoption of Israeli demands during two rounds of negotiations with Iran on the nuclear issue in May and June, appeared to represent a retreat from that private warning.
Dempsey’s warning was followed by an as-yet unconfirmed report by Time magazine that the Pentagon has decided to sharply cut back on its participation in the largest-ever joint military exercise with Israel designed to test the two countries’ missile-defence systems in late October.
Originally scheduled for last spring, the exercise was delayed in January following an earlier round of Israeli sabre-rattling and the apparent Israeli assassination of an Iranian scientist, which had further increased tensions between Netanyahu and President Obama.
Former Israeli national security adviser Giora Eiland suggested in an interview with Reuters Tuesday that the Dempsey statement had changed the political and policy calculus in Jerusalem. "Israeli leaders cannot do anything in the face of a very explicit ‘no’ from the U.S. president," Eiland said. "So they are exploring what space is left to operate."
Eiland explained that Netanyahu had previously maintained that the U.S. "might not like (an Israeli attack) but they will accept it the day after. However, such a public, bold statement meant the situation had to be reassessed."
[…]
8) Israeli security cabinet meeting adjourned due to leaks on secret Iran strategy talks
Joel Greenberg, Washington Post, September 5
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-cabinet-meeting-adjourned-due-to-leaks-on-secret-iran-strategy-talks/2012/09/05/0052c9cc-f75f-11e1-8b93-c4f4ab1c8d13_story.html
Jerusalem – In an unusual move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly adjourned a meeting of his security cabinet Wednesday, citing leaks of its classified discussions on the Iranian nuclear program.
The move followed a report in Yedioth Ahronot, Israel’s most widely read newspaper, that in the first session of the meeting Tuesday, disagreement emerged among Israeli intelligence agencies over the point at which Iranian nuclear facilities would be beyond the reach of an Israeli military strike.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that the Iranian program is approaching a "zone of immunity," wherein its facilities would be protected from bombardment in bunkers deep underground. However, the point at which such potential targets would become impervious to attack remains a subject of debate.
According to the Yedioth Ahronot report, representatives of Israel’s intelligence branches presented "opposing positions" on Iran, reflecting "lack of agreement in Israel regarding the stage at which Israel’s ability to strike the Iranian nuclear program loses its effectiveness."
[…]
Afghanistan
9) Prevalence of malnutrition in southern Afghanistan ‘shocking’
Despite huge amounts of foreign aid, the levels of deprivation are similar to that found in famine zones, says UN-backed report
Emma Graham-Harrison, Guardian, Tuesday 4 September 2012 14.14 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/malnutrition-southern-afghanistan-shocking-levels
Kandahar – Around a third of young children in southern Afghanistan are acutely malnourished, with a level of deprivation similar to that found in famine zones, a government survey has found, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid that has been poured into the region.
Around a million Afghans under five are acutely malnourished, according to the UN-backed survey. By far the worst affected area is the southern region – centred around Kandahar and Helmand – that was the Taliban’s birthplace and has seen some of the heaviest fighting of the decade-long war.
"What’s shocking is that this is really very high by global standards," said Michael Keating, deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan. "This is the kind of malnutrition you associate with Africa and some of the most deprived parts of the world, not with an area that has received so much international attention and assistance."
The Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) found 29.5% of children are suffering from acute malnutrition there. A level of more than 30% among young children is considered one sign of a famine.
The data does not mean there is a famine in the south. Under UN guidelines, child malnutrition is just one of several criteria used to decide if an area is suffering a famine; others include death rates and families’ access to food.
Southern Afghanistan has adequate food supplies, experts say, but a serious problem with nutrition. Some families are too poor to buy supplies while others have little education about how to nourish their children; common illnesses like diarrhoea also sap children’s strength.
[…]
Yemen
10) Yemen probes civilian deaths in apparent US drone strike
AFP, September 4, 2012
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g-lcy97e1q00-ocw0WVO2B1-J2AQ
Sanaa – Yemeni authorities have sent tribal representatives to investigate civilian deaths in an apparent US drone strike targeting an Al-Qaeda commander, one of them told AFP on Tuesday.
Three women and a child were among 14 people killed in Sunday’s strike near the town of Radaa, 130 kilometres (80 miles) southeast of Sanaa, targeting Al-Qaeda’s Abdelrauf al-Dahab who escaped unharmed, local officials said.
Initial reports said the male dead were Al-Qaeda militants but other sources said they were fellow tribesmen of Dahab unconnected to the jihadist network. "We have been sent by the government to establish the reasons for the error," delegation member Tawfic al-Jahmi said.
The suspected drone fired two rockets, one of which missed the vehicle carrying Dahab and the second of which hit a following minibus killing all those inside.
Angry relatives of the dead blocked the main road linking Radaa to the town of Dhammar and the capital beyond.
Jahmi said his delegation had received an undertaking to reopen the highway in return for a promise of 20 million rials (nearly 100,000 dollars) in compensation.
The Common Forum bloc of former opposition groups now in the national unity government in Sanaa condemned the "killing of civilians by a drone."
The United States is the only country that has drones in the region and in recent months has been carrying out strikes on Al-Qaeda targets in the south and east of the country.
[…]
Colombia
11) Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos says talks with rebels will start next month
Juan Forero, Washington Post, September 4
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/colombias-president-juan-manuel-santos-says-talks-with-rebels-will-start-next-month/2012/09/04/18b41272-f6c5-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_story.html
Bogota, Colombia – In a Cuban government house in a leafy Havana neighborhood earlier this year, Colombian rebel commanders and their government adversaries secretly debated how to carve out a path to peace and end Latin America’s most intractable guerrilla war.
Colombia has been embroiled in violence since 1964, and as recently as 10 days ago there were few public signs that the two sides were considering a peaceful end to a conflict marked by hit-and-run strikes and terrorist bombings. But on Tuesday, President Juan Manuel Santos revealed that the talks in Cuba, which began in February and lasted six months, had produced a streamlined, five-point framework agenda for official negotiations that will open in October in Oslo before moving back to Havana.
"It’s a difficult road, no doubt very difficult, but it is a road that we have to explore," Santos said in a nationally televised speech, flanked as he spoke by top military and political leaders. "Any responsible leader knows that you cannot pass up a possibility like this one to end the conflict."
According to the most optimistic assessment offered by senior government officials, a peace agreement would be reached by April. That would bring to a close a drug-fueled war that has bedeviled not only numerous Colombian leaders but also the United States, Bogota’s closest ally and benefactor, which has spent on average $700 million a year here in mostly military aid.
Beginning with President Bill Clinton’s administration, the United States has steadily involved itself in Colombia’s fight to stem the northward flow of cocaine as well as in its broad anti-guerrilla strategy.
If a peace agreement is signed, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, would demobilize its far-flung units, disarm nearly 9,000 fighters and give up its long-stated aim of toppling the government.
Santos’s administration would guarantee that a rebel army that began its fight as a tiny peasant force in the hamlet of Marquetalia 48 years ago could transform itself into a legal social or political movement, government officials say. According to analysts, that is the most vital point for FARC commanders – and the most challenging for the government, which along with the United States blacklists the FARC as a terrorist group and accuses many of its leaders of war crimes and drug trafficking.
With a few scant details about the talks leaking out over the weekend, the FARC has signaled its support, even issuing a rap video Monday in which young rebels sing "about going to Havana – this time to converse." The video ends with the guerrillas marching off, carrying a suitcase, a playful note for a group that inspires fear in many Colombians.
On Tuesday, the FARC’s leader, Rodrigo Londoño, better known by his alias Timochenko, said in a video released in Cuba that the guerrillas want "a lasting peace, democratic and just."
In Washington, President Obama welcomed Santos’s announcement and called on the FARC to "take this opportunity to end its decades of terrorism and narcotics trafficking," according to a White House statement.
Other governments have played an active role in the talks, with Cuba and Norway named as "guarantors" that will closely monitor formal negotiations. The leftist government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which has had ties with leading FARC commanders, will have a supporting role. Chavez’s envoys will not sit in on talks, but will be on hand to provide assistance to both sides. The center-right government of Chile will have a similar function.
Under the framework agreement, the two sides said they would work together to battle drug trafficking, which is rife in regions where the FARC wields influence. The rights of victims will be paramount in the negotiations, Santos said, a priority that could result in a truth commission to probe crimes both sides committed. "All Colombians have the right to know what happened and who was responsible," Santos said.
The government also agrees to discuss development programs in Colombia’s poor rural regions, an issue it has previously largely ignored. "This means more access to land, providing infrastructure to the distant regions, making sure prosperity and government services reach all people in the countryside," Santos said.
[…] A former defense minister who oversaw some of the government’s biggest blows against the FARC, Santos has since becoming president two years ago introduced laws to compensate victims of violence and distribute land to those displaced by the rebels and other armed groups.
Those measures, along with diplomatic initiatives that improved once-bitter relations with Venezuela’s government, have served as signs to the FARC that it can work with Santos, analysts here say.
"I think that the president’s actions provide a level of confidence so that the FARC can take a step," said Francisco Galan, a former commander in a smaller guerrilla band, the National Liberation Army, who now lives in Bogota and works on peace-building initiatives. "There’s never been so much freedom to talk about the possibility of a peace process as there is now."
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