China This Week: Sino-Russian Partnership; Cooperation With EU, Beijing Going to the Moon

China, Russia Talk Energy, Security, Finance:  China and Russia have issued a joint statement on strategic partnership in energy. 

The two sides pledged cooperation on crude oil, natural gas, coal, electric power, nuclear energy, energy efficiency, and renewable energy, and they looked for a quick consensus on the construction of the Sino-Russian natural gas pipeline. The two sides agreed to promote the development of coal mines, supported by railway and port construction, and to work together on trading of electric power and grid enhancement.

In a statement signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Beijing and Moscow called on Asian and Pacific countries to step up efforts to maintain regional security and stability amid mounting threats and challenges in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both sides also agreed to expand bilateral financial cooperation, including mutual trading between the renminbi (RMB), the Chinese currency, and the ruble.

Click to read more ...

Israel-Palestine: Netanyahu Seeks Cabinet Agreement to 2-Month Extension of Settlements Freeze

While Washington has denied that President Obama sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu giving assurances in return for an extension of the moratorium on settlement expansion in the West Bank, the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat quoted Israeli officials on Monday that Netanyahu has agreed to extend Israel's freeze for 60 days. 

According to rumours, Obama's offer included a continued Israel Defense Forces presence in the Jordan Valley, continued US political and military support with an annual increase of $3 billion, a commitment to veto any anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution in the next year, an agreement not to ask for any more extensions of the freeze, with that the fate of the settlements dealt with only as part of a final status agreement with the Palestinians, a series of guarantees to prevent the smuggling of weapons and missiles into a Palestinian state, and a comprehensive regional defense pact for protection from Iran. 

At a meeting of Likud ministers, Netanyahu hinted at a freeze extension, saying there were "a lot of reports on the subject, most of which are wrong, and we can't deny or correct everything".  He added: "Now there is interest in continuing the peace negotiations... Peace is a vital interest for the State of Israel."

Click to read more ...

Video: The Belly-Dancing Israeli Soldier and the Bound Palestinian Woman

UPDATE 5 October: There is also media attention this morning to the vandalism and burning of a mosque by Jewish settlers in the West Bank village of Beit Fajjar. Korans were also set on fire in the incident.

I was in two minds about whether to post this clip, which came out on YouTube, was picked up by an Israeli television station --- which has just broadcast a programme on the incident --- and has been reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The episode occurs in the context of other recent cases, including pictures posted by a former Israeli soldier in which she posed beside a bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoner and the arrest of three soldiers for taking photographs of themselves alongside cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainees.

The Israel Defense Forces have ordered an investigation of the most recent incident.

In the end, I decided to post this not as a specific indictment of the Israeli military --- that can be debated amongst readers --- but as a reminder of what happens when one group, in its occupation, wields power over another, such as the Abu Ghraib case in Iraq.

Watch the video (Warning: May be disturbing to some viewers)....

Click to read more ...

Iran Special: A Beginner's Guide to the "Currency Crisis"

The best way to understand the current foreign exchange crisis is by imagining that you are commuting back home from your job, driving on the same route you have been taking for the past decade. All the sudden, you see that the highway you take has been closed off. You immediately try the main road you know, but that is closed too. You go to the train station, only to learn that it not running.  You will feel very disoriented and may not know how to get to your destination.

That's where we are now with the Iranian banking system. Businesses and individuals are feeling disoriented because the banks and forex traders they have relied on for decades are suddenly unable to service them.

Over the next few weeks and months, they will start finding the side streets and figuring out how to move money again. It's unlikely that such a high spread will remain in place between the official and black market rate of the rial. I expect the spread to narrow, but it will persist at much higher levels than in the past. The traders will want to be compensated for the trouble of finding new routes and the few banks that do not worry about US pressure or their own government's cracking down will want a premium for their services.

My best assessment is that we can say with certainty that the sanctions are indeed "biting" and "painful", especially for ordinary Iranians and the private sector. But to say that sanctions are "working", we need evidence that they are contributing to their core purpose, which is supposedly to change Iranian behaviour on certain issues.

Click to read more ...

Pakistan: Tankers Burn While Petraeus and Washington Fiddle and Fret

The News in Pakistan reports, "Six people were killed and dozens sustained critical injuries [late Sunday night] when a group of bike-riding terrorists sprayed bullets at 28 Nato oil tankers and set them ablaze by throwing chemicals at them."

The Express Tribune is more conservative in its estimate, "At least 11 oil tankers carrying supplies for Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan were gutted and four people were killed when gunmen mounted a late night attack on a filling station in Islamabad."

Whatever the numbers, Sunday's attack is merely the latest development in an episode stemming not only from "terrorism" but from a dispute between US military commanders and the Pakistani Government. Upset at American bombings and raids that killed Pakistani troops as well as civilians and insurgents, Islamabad suspended permission for NATO tankers to cross the border and supply forces in Afghanistan. And sitting tankers make pretty attractive targets.

Steve Hynd calls out the US military and, specifically, American commander David Petraeus for the escalation in violence:

Click to read more ...

Iraq: Is There Now a Government and "Stability"?

Given Friday's headlines that Iraq was on the verge of a government, seven months after national elections, you might have expected a bit of relief today.

Not really.

It appears that current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki may retain office after a deal between his State of Law Party and the representatives of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. However, the combination of the Shi'a factions raises a question as to whether Sunnis, who make up 20% of Iraq's population and enjoyed predominance in the Iraqi system until 2003, will be shut out. There is also the possibility of intra-Shi'a tension, with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq excluded from the proposed Government.

So leading analyst Reidar Visser is more than cautious as well as scathing about what he sees as Washington's flailing, stemming from its long-time animosity towards Moqtada al-Sadr:

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (4 October): More of the Same

2100 GMT: Execution Watch. The death sentence of Kurdish activist Habibollah Golparipour, on charges of waging war through propaganda and membership in an illegal group, has been upheld.

2025 GMT: Musical Moment. US National Public Radio posts a profile of famous Iranian singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian, whose renditions of classical Persian songs have become the music of post-election protest.

2005 GMT: Come Together Right Now. Mehr has picked up on the "unity" theme in Ali Larijani's remarks at Mazandaran University (see 0725 GMT): "Given the current circumstances, the country will stand to lose from any dispute over unimportant issues, and thus officials should try to avoid making statements that would create discord."

I'm not sure about the meaning of the website's English translation of the Speaker of Parliament's remarks on sanctions: "The economic sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program should be viewed as an opportunity to make up for shortcomings in the country."

2000 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has frozen some Iranian bank accounts in line with UN resolutions, according to Abdul Rahim Al Awadi, the head of the Central Bank's anti-money laundering unit.

Al Awadi announced, "The UAE, with its commitment towards the UN, implemented all UN resolutions against Iranians."

Click to read more ...

False Drama, True Lies: How US and Britain Decided on the 2003 Iraq War...in March/April 2002

The headline in the Daily Mail of London is dramatic: "Britain Held Secret War Talks with U.S. General 11 Months Before Iraq Invasion".

The article continues breathlessly, "Details of the classified meeting" between General Tommy Franks, the US commander for the Iraq operation, and Britain's Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and top officers, "suggest Tony Blair’s Government was involved in detailed discussions about toppling the Iraqi dictator earlier than previously disclosed".

The paper is wrong, however. The revelation is not dramatic. Instead the significance is that, 7 1/2 years after the invasion of Iraq, it seems so mundane. For those who have watched the US-UK story closely during the time, the Franks meetings only confirms what we have known for a long time.

Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of Britain, had decided in April 2002 that the United Kingdom would join the Bush Administration in "regime change" in Baghdad. The choice of method would be new: it would occur not through attempts at an internal coup, supported by international economic pressure, but through military action.

And thus "history". Not as breathless as a British tabloid's highlighting of a snippet as the new story. "History", met not with anger but with a shrug of the shoulders. "History" --- not of truth but of lies, not of honesty but of deception --- shuffling rather than marching on.

Click to read more ...

Iran Guide: An Introduction to the Issue of Subsidies (Nikou)

The Government's plans to cut subsidies has become one of the most charged issues in Iran, with divisions within the conservative establishment --- and an escalating battle between some key members of Parliament and the President --- over the proposals.

The subsidy cut plan also comes at a time of economic tension, raising concerns that they might contribute to inflation and thus public discontent. The first reductions were supposed to be in place this week, but they have now been delayed to next month.

Writing for Tehran Bureau, Semira Nikou offers a beginner's guide.

Click to read more ...

The Unending War on Terror: Who Are the Men Left in Guantanamo? (Worthington)

Of the 13 men whose stories are described in this chapter, only one has had a ruling on his habeas corpus petition, and, although successful, that ruling was overturned on appeal in July this year. One other man, the last Tajik in Guantánamo, was cleared for release before a judge could rule on his petition, and, of the rest, two are Afghans, two are Saudis (who were cleared for release under the Bush administration), and the rest are Yemenis. As with the Yemenis discussed in other articles, it is certain that some are amongst the 58 Yemenis cleared for release by President Obama’s Guantánamo Review Task Force, who are only held because of the President’s unprincipled moratorium on releasing any Yemenis, which he announced in January.

Click to read more ...