Zimbabwe should postpone its election; Southern African leaders urge Mugabe, discuss Madagascar

The summit of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, came two days after Mugabe declared the election day, a date immediately rejected by Tsvangirai, his partner in coalition and main political rival.

The bloc leaders told Zimbabwe to ask its courts to extend a July 31 deadline to hold elections, amid high tension between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over the timing of the vote.

The argument of Mugabe was that he was following an order from the Constitutional Court to hold the election by the end of July which sounds more like an excuse of convenience. Tsvangirai said it was too soon to allow the reforms of the media and security forces required for a free and fair vote.

"The summit acknowledged the ruling of the constitutional court on the election date and it will be respected," Tomaz Salomao, Secretary General of SADC, said after the one-day meeting.

"What the summit recommended was, in recognising that there was a need for more time, that the government of Zimbabwe engage the constitutional court to ask for more time beyond the deadline of July 31." SADC leaders had earlier feared that hurrying the elections would increase the chances of a disputed result and violence.

In 2008 hundreds of Zimbabweans, mostly Tsvangirai's supporters, were beaten and killed, creating a flood of refugees into neighboring countries. Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also secretary general of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, said SADC had "ordered a return to constitutionalism".

"We Zimbabweans want an election yesterday. However, it must be legitimate and credible," Biti said. The SADC summit, postponed by a week at Mugabe's request, had also been expected to discuss finance for the elections, expected to cost the cash-strapped country $132 million. The funding was not debated during the summit.

Madagascar was also discussed as wife of the former President, Marc Ravalomanana, ousted by Disc Jockey-turned-politician - Andriy Rajolina - said she will not step down. Rajolina rejoined the race when she decided to contest. Calls have also been made for Rajolina to step down by the African Union.

Foreign donors froze budget support and the Indian Ocean island was suspended from the African Union. Succumbing to regional pressure, both men agreed in January not to run in a presidential election in August.

Rajolina was assisted by the military to oust Ravalomanana in 2009. The wife of Ravalomanana said her husband's supporters want her and her mission is to end the food crisis in the country while her husband takes care of the business of the family.

The summit said there was need for international political and diplomatic pressure for "illegitimate presidential candidates to withdraw their candidatures for the sake of peace and stability in Madagascar". France also threatened not to recognise the election.

Middle East Dilemma: Washington calls on France and Britain to arm Rebels; Iran to send troops to Assad

The Middle East is edging closer to a more precarious situation with the recent turn of events. The announcement by Washington to arm Syrian rebels and the recent meeting of Sunnis in Cairo have all added fuel to the Syrian crisis. The Sunnis vow to end the regime of Bashar al Assad.

The prompt result of this was the severing of diplomatic and political ties by the Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, with President Assad. President Morsi said there is 'no space or place for Hezbollah is Syria'. He made it resoundingly clear that Hezbollah must leave Syria. Morsi went further to demand a no-fly zone be imposed over Syria.

All this events happening barely 24 hours before the Iranian election (that of Washington) and within 24 hours after the election (that of President Morsi). Within 24 hours after Morsi's declaration, reports came out from Iran that the Islamic Republic will be sending 4,000 soldiers to Syria to help Assad.

Russia too is to go ahead in supplying his S-300 missile batteries to Assad. The US also calls on France and Britain to supply weapons to Syrian rebels thus creating a cold-war-like conflict in Syria. Syria definitely represents one of the last bastions of Cold War alongside North Korea and Cuba.

Hezbollah's involvement and its seemingly rising power after the Qusayr victory seems to have 'alarmed' Israel and its powerful lobby group in Washington. Hassan Nasrallah has vowed that Hezbollah will not leave Syria because it cannot afford it falling into the hands of Israel, the US and al Qaeda.

Washington upon the imposition of a Shi'ite regime in Iraq saw it bolstered Iran, hence, roughly calculates to counter-balance the trend by supporting rebels (Sunni and al Qaeda-linked rebels in Syria) while overlooking the brutality in Bahrain for fear of losing it to another Shi'ite group. Saudi, Bahrain and 'Syria' together will be a great buffer zone to cage Iran for the benefits of oil and Israel.

In now looks as if the main targets of the US and Israel are now becoming full participants; Iran and Hezbollah. This will definitely be a bad, catastrophic and colossal precedent for the Middle East as Washington and Israel have 'effectively' used the Sunni-Shi'ite divide well to their advantage. Arabs are the epitome of their own failure, instability and regional chaos with so-called Sunni-Shi'ite divide.

Their wall has cracked beyond repair to the advantage of Israel and Washington. Palestine is on its own once Iran is taken off the radar. Other Arab nations will only make much noise and Washington cum Tel Aviv can easily pocket them. Iran has been a kind of 'rational' player Israel finds hard to 'effectively' get off the table and the Syrian war looks pretty good for the job to be done. In all these calculations, it is the people that will get to suffer.

Nightmare over Hezbollah's rising power is the basis of US involvement in Syria

Indications are pointing to the US decisions to arm rebels in Syria as a resultant effect of Hezbollah’s involvement in the conflict, with Washington and Jerusalem seeing it as a chance to counter anti-Israeli actions, author and historian Gerald Horne has told RT.

US President Barack Obama has given the green light to military support for the Syrian opposition after his administration concluded that Assad’s regime had used chemical weapons against rebels numerous times over the last year. Allegations which are still unsubstantiated.

However, Horne, from the University of Houston, does not believe that the US will be able to produce evidence of the use of chemical agent sarin by regime troops, saying that he doubts such evidence exists.

Gerald Horne said they are under enormous pressure. Former US President Bill Clinton has released a statement criticizing the Obama administration for not intervening more deeply into the Syrian morass. Obama’s former election rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, just took to the floor of the US Senate saying that arming the rebels is not enough.

Presumably, he has called for airstrikes to create a so-called no-fly zone. It seems this is a very dangerous and ominous moment, Horne said. Particularly since the Sunni clerics have just met in Cairo, Egypt and called for a Holy War against the Assad regime and Damascus. Instead of trying to calm things down, it seems that the Obama administration is about to throw fuel on the fire according to Horne.

The UN has suggested that everyone is on board for this Geneva conference, except the Syrians. The opposition, the rebels have made clear that they have no interest in negotiating with Assad. As they see it, they will win this conflict on the battlefield, and the Europeans; particularly the British and French will be sending them more weapons sooner rather than later. And, as they see it, they can win.

It is in contradiction with Washington's allegations, bearing in mind also that, just a few weeks ago, Turkish authorities found that some rebels residing in Turkey had sarin weapons. It is difficult to say whether these weapons were used, and if so, who used them?  For example, what was the chain of custody that allowed the Obama administration to conclude that it was Damascus and not the rebels?

How did those samples get from the battlefield to Washington? How do we know that a renegade soldier in the Syrian military used these weapons precisely to invite an intervention to Washington? There are so many questions. Horne revealed he is looking forward to seeing the evidence, though he doubts the administration will be able to provide any.

Horne said one reason the Obama administration is edging towards more direct intervention in Syria is that Assad’s forces are triumphing on the battlefield, not least because of the assistance they are receiving from Hezbollah forces in neighbouring Lebanon. This assistance has outraged the Israelis and the Israeli lobby in Washington. As they see it, they would like to see Hezbollah degraded on the battlefield of Syria and, therefore, the new call from Washington for military intervention in Syria in the views of Horne.

The American people are totally against this intervention in Syria. They see no advantage in arming Al-Qaeda forces, who are the tip of the spear of the rebels. It thus seems that US politicians do not have the best of this argument. Arming Syrian rebels is also a de facto message to Iran, coming officially the day she was having her presidential election. Fight Hezbollah through Syrian rebels and wait for Iran's reactions.

Hassan Nasrallah has vowed that Hezbollah will not leave Syria to prevent the regime from falling into the hands of Washington, Tel Aviv and most importantly al Qaeda, which will definitely target Lebanon after such a victory.

Al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Mali may possess surface-to-air missiles

Before the state of emergency was declared in Nigeria, the army reported that members of the insurgent group, Boko Haram claimed they possessed surface-to-air-missiles which many dismissed as part of the lies of the military.

This became evident in a BBC report which showed similar weapon was fired at an aircraft of the Nigerian Airforce after the state of emergency was declared in Maiduguri. Recent discovery in Mali corroborated this position.

An Al-Qaeda missile manual found in Mali suggests jihadists in the region may possess the SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, capable of taking down commercial aircraft, AP reports. Suspicion are that the arms were looted from Libya during the war against Gaddafi.

The 26-page document that AP obtained was recovered from the building that was previously occupied by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Timbuktu. It is also evidence of militant groups actively training its fighters to use the so-called man-portable air-defence systems, or MANPADS.

The writing of the manual for the usage of the weapon indicated that the weapon was present because a manual cannot be written for an imaginary object. AQIM not only has the MANPADS, but also fighters who know how to use them effectively," AP cited Atlantic Council analyst Peter Pham, a former adviser to the United States' military command in Africa and an instructor to US Special Forces as saying.

According to residents, prior to fleeing Timbuktu ahead of French troops’ interference in January, the jihadists attempted to get rid of the paper apparently setting it on fire. However they failed to destroy it completely.

Remaining pages 313 through 338 of the manual to MANPADS contain step-by-step instructions and tips on how to use the weapon, aim the target and change the battery.  It is also illustrated with images of soldiers firing the hardware, which takes training and skill to use.

"This is not a 'Fire and forget' weapon," Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University told AP. "There's a paradox here. One the one hand it's not easy to use, but against any commercial aircraft there would be no defences against them. If terrorists start training and learn how to use them, we'll be in a lot of trouble.”

Another arms expert, N.R. Jenzen-Jones, confirmed that the information on the missile's engagement range, altitude and weight appeared largely correct. It’s not only the manual that suggests that Al-Qaeda fighters have been thoroughly trained to use MANPADS.

Locals have told AP they saw foreign fighters running laps each day, carrying out target practice and inhaling and holding their breath with a pipe-like object on their shoulder.

Those witness accounts could be backed by French forces’ findings during their ground operation in Mali earlier this year, which included elements of SA-7s, such as battery packs, launch tubes, according to unnamed aviation official AP talked to.  

It has been suggested that SA-7 drills have been part of the curriculum at ‘Jihad Academy’ that, according to one of the experts who examined the manual, was located in a former police station, some five kilometers away from the Ministry of Finance’s Budget Division building, where the document was found.

The US has long been concerned about surface-to-air missiles falling in the hands of Al-Qaeda fighters. Worries have been voiced especially loud after many of Gaddafi’s stockpiles in Libya were found looted.

Once launched, an SA-7 directs itself toward the source of the heat, the engine. While many military planes are equipped with anti-missile protection mechanism, civilian aviation and commercial flights are at risk.

“If someone manages to take down a civilian aircraft, it's hundreds of dead instantly. It's a high impact, low-frequency event, and it shows a lot of fear," expert N.R. Jenzen-Jones said.

According to the US Department of State, since 1975, at least 40 civilian aircraft have been hit by different types of MANPADS, causing about 28 crashes and more than 800 deaths around the world.

French forces - which due to the the possibility that SA-7s might have fallen in hands of jihadists, had to change the way they carry their offensive in Mali - continue monitoring the region. According to French aviation officials, who declined to be named, surveillance at Mali’s airport is being conducted constantly.

"There are patrols every day," AP quoted a French officer as saying. "It's one of the things we have not entrusted to the Malians, because the stakes are too high."

PATIENCE AND JUNE 12: If we had been patient (meaning: if IBB had been honest):

PATIENCE AND JUNE 12: If we had been patient (meaning: if IBB had been honest):

* MKO Abiola would have served his two terms out in 2001.

* Another president would have finished another 8 years in 2009.

* A 3rd president would by now be rounding off his 1st term and we would be in elections.

* Niger Delta militancy might not have occurred.

* There might have been no Boko Haram.

* Yar'Adua, Ige, Kudirat or even Abacha would still be alive while MKO would today be a wise 'owly' elder statesman and OBJ would not have gone to prison.

* Of course, all those innocent people whom Abacha mowed down on the streets or through Sgt Rogers might still be alive to pursue their dreams.

We must fix an eye behind our heads, like Janus, to behold a plethora of wasted opportunities as we gallop forward in anger, hopefully towards a better day in our leadership recruitment process.

That way we shall be doing MKO's memory a lot of good.

May God bless a united, egalitarian and truly Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Courtesy: Rt. Hon. Kehinde Ayoola JP (Former Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly)

Macky Sall, Senegalese President says 'It's easy to condemn Africa'

Senegal has long been revered as one of Africa’s model democracies, one of the very few West African states with a tradition of civilian rule.

'It's easy when you are far away to condemn Africa. Africa is a continent that suffered injustices for ages. We can go back to slavery, colonisation.... All this led to a situation of neo-colonialism ... This is a complex phenomenon and we, heads of states, are aware of it. Today this is our responsibility. Believe me when I say we will sort out this situation'. ~Macky Sall, the President of Senegal

The country gained independence from France in 1960, and has suffered no serious upheavals since. It has an established multi-party system and boasts one of the region’s most stable economies despite high unemployment and poverty. The relative stability in Senegal is now threatened by the conflict in  neighbouring Mali.

The presence of Senegalese soldiers together with the West African and French troops in the fight against Islamists in the north has raised fears of reprisal attacks.

This stability record is also threatened by is its long running separatist war in the southern Casamance region [since the 1980s] that has claimed hundreds of lives.

The government’s refusal to extradite former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, accused of crimes against humanity, has also led to widespread criticism. However, Senegal’s president strongly defends his country’s actions.

Elected in April 2012, over one year ago, Macky Sall, who describes himself as the “best-elected president in Africa”, has placed significant emphasis on the fight against corruption and bolstering Senegal’s position in Africa and the global stage.

After coming to power, Sall stated his intention of making peace with rebels in Casamance, as did his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade when he came to power in 2000.

Will he deliver on his promises or is it all just a political facade?

Courtesy: Aljazeera

Russia concerned over instability in Libya – Foreign Ministry

The Libyan debacle is still 'haunting' Moscow which automatically is making Moscow unyielding and extremely defiant on Syria. Russia, after abstaining from the UN vote that endorsed the no-fly zone in Libya, was appalled at the sudden turn of events which favoured NATO and its regime change music.

It tried to retrace its step, calling for diplomatic solution but hard due to the UN approval the no-fly zone turned NATO-agenda received.

Since the demise of Gaddafi, Libya has been embroiled in one form of violence or the other. The latest being the death of about 30 people when protesters demanding a regular and national army is formed and militias wielding of arms be stopped clashed with militias. The  militias are not ready to lay down their weapons, using them instead to hold the government to ransom at will.

The protest near the headquarters of the first brigade of the Libya Shield militia in the second-largest Libyan city, Benghazi, on June 8 devolved into clashes between local residents, Libya Shield members and the police.

Moscow revealed it is concerned by an armed incident in Benghazi, Libya, in which about 30 people died and 100 were injured, according to a comment from the Russian Foreign Ministry’s information and press department.

“Supporting the country's progress along the path of democratic renovations, we urge the Libyan sides to show self-control and good sense and step up efforts towards broad national consent on the future state model of post-conflict Libya,” Interfax said, citing the Monday statement.

Changing Syria: US to decide whether to arm Syrian rebels

The Syrian war has largely been ongoing with Washington taking serious caution, probably because it is an Obama not a Bush. The intervention in Libya which led to massive NATO bombardment in the guise of protecting civilians has also not helped matters.

The Libyan no-fly zone turned to songs of regime change barely some weeks after it was endorsed by the UN and France launched its first strike. In the case of Syria, Britain has been the front-runner in likely decisions to arm the rebels. Just as France was able to mount pressure on Washington in Libya, the pressure of Britain could soon play out to her favour too.

Washington may decide as early as this week on whether to arm Syrian rebels, a US official said on Monday. The question of whether to arm the rebels is on the agenda for White House meetings for the early part of this week, Reuters reported. US Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly delayed a planned trip to the Middle East in order to attend the meetings in Washington. This is coming at a time when the Syrian government is coasting closer to victory; first by winning Qusayr and now pounding Aleppo to wrestle it from the control of rebels.

Obama had earlier said the use of chemical weapons in Syria will amount to crossing the 'red line'. After this was fervently tied around his neck for him to act when allegations of such weapons' usage were leveled against the government of Assad, Obama said allegations must be corroborated by pure evidence and facts must be duly established.

Russia has acted to prove another Libya will not be possible. It is consistently ready to bolster the military capabilities of Bashar al Assad's Syria with the latest move being the shipment of S-300 missile batteries which Moscow says is to prevent 'hotheads' from entering into conflict and deter those who want to escalate the crisis.

Nightmare over Mali as uncertainty of battle outcome looms

Events in Mali despite the stride of France in stamping out militants from major cities are still uncertain. Young girls, some as low as 13 years, have reportedly taken to sex work to fend for themselves and survive in a country where the war has displaced up to 475,000 people.

According to a UN report, peacekeepers to be deployed in Mali next month could face serious risks from armed groups, Reuters reported. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the situation in Mali remains volatile, “with sporadic clashes between armed groups and continued asymmetric attacks across the three regions of the north."

France, which launched a military intervention in Mali in January, has begun troop withdrawals and will gradually hand over security responsibilities to UN peacekeepers by July 1. The Malian debacle has always been the likely resultant effect of any foreign intervention in countries across the globe taking Afghanistan and Iraq as studies.

France itself was part of the initial problem through an indirect funding of the militants.

Iran announces new Security-oriented 'space tracking centre'

The Iranian defence minister revealed that a new Iranian space monitoring centre will track orbiting objects. It is the latest of Iran's space programme claims, which include sending a monkey into orbit.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad praised the new centre as a benchmark in the country's space programme.

“This is a highly great achievement and we are among the few countries with such a centre and if we send a satellite into the space, we can receive its information in our country,” Ahmadinejad said in an address inaugurating the centre in Markazi province on Sunday.  He added that the "inauguration of this centre has brought us one step closer to the complete use of space."

Defence Minister General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters that the centre would mostly be used to monitor satellites passing overhead using radar, electro-optic and radio systems.

Iran already maintains a number of command and control stations around the country, and one inside the territory of its regional ally Syria.

The US has voiced fears that developments in space technology could bring Tehran closer to making long-range missiles. This is the main reason while it is targeting her and her oil industry with crippling sanctions to crumble her muscle to develop nuclear missiles.

Tehran has denied these claims, maintaining that the space programme is purely civilian-orientated. Of particular concern to Washington is Iran’s ambition to put more satellites into orbit, which Tehran says are aimed at monitoring earthquakes, improving security and increasing military surveillance.

Iran regularly boasts about its many technological advances. In March, the Aerospace Industries Organization claimed it sent a monkey into space aboard a Pioneer explorer rocket. The monkey allegedly returned to Earth alive after being sent into orbit at an altitude of 120 kilometers.

Iran has claimed it sent a number of smaller animals into space, including a rat, turtles and worms aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. The Director of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, hailed the mission as a huge success and said it was a prelude to sending a human into space.

One Dead, Several Others Injured in anti-Hezbollah Protest in Lebanon

As activists gathered to protest the involvement of the Islamist group in Syria, violence broke out. At least one person has been killed and several others injured in gunfire during an anti-Hezbollah protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. .

Men in black shirts began to scuffle with protesters as they arrived in front of the Embassy in preparation for the demonstration, reports Lebanese publication the Daily Star. They also fired gunshots into the air to disperse the activists.

Lebanese state news reported that the army quickly restored calm and cordoned off the area following the outbreak of violence.

Hezbollah helped Syrian government forces to expel armed rebels from the strategic region of Qusayr on Saturday, a move that was criticised by Washington.

"Hezbollah and Iran should immediately withdraw their fighters from Syria," State Department spokesperson Jay Carney said, accusing the two of aiding the Syrian government in its battle for Qusayr. The US regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The head of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, has justified the group’s involvement in the Syrian conflict, maintaining they are defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites.

Hezbollah has vowed never to allow Syria fall into the hands of Israel and the United States. It says it is ready to defend Syria and avoid the planting of a stooge of the two countries in Damascus.

Angolan President says it’s Human to think about Succession

Perhaps, the thinking of succession blindfolded Maummar Gaddafi to the reality when  protests began and he felt Libya will be left in no capable hands on his departure if sudden and swift as the revolution came, hence, he was extremely defiant.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Africa’s second-longest serving ruler, said he has thought about a transition of power almost 12 months after winning another five-year term.

“Yes, of course, it’s only human to do that,” Dos Santos said in an interview with Portuguese television channel SIC posted on the broadcaster’s website. The full interview is set to air today after 8 p.m. in Lisbon.

The 70-year-old won a new term at the helm of Africa’s second-largest oil producer in August 2012 in the first national elections to determine a president in 20 years. Manuel Domingos Vicente, the former head of state oil company Sonangol EP, was named vice president.

Dos Santos, who came to power in 1979 and is currently the longest serving ruler in Africa after President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, said he is in favour of growing Angolan investment in Portuguese companies.

“Sonangol has taken the first steps and in some cases it has been successful and in others not, but what matters is that it advances,” Dos Santos said. Sonangol is Banco Comercial Portugues SA’s biggest shareholder with a 19.4 percent stake, according to the website of Portugal’s second-biggest publicly traded lender by market value.

Angola seems the only African country that appears to be more of a real trading partner now to its erstwhile colonial master than been looked upon as a 'colony' like in the case of former French colonies and indirectly, the former British colonies. Portugal ran to Angola during the financial downturn.

Zimbabwe moves to normalise relations with the IMF on its terms

Zimbabwe has made a move to normalise relations with the IMF after its voting right was suspended in 2003 due to policy differences with President Robert Mugabe and non payment of arrears.

The IMF has approved Zimbabwe's plan to clear billions of dollars of arrears, while Harare has agreed to enter a staff-monitored programme with the Fund, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Friday.


"This programme is about showing that Zimbabwe can be trusted again," Biti told reporters in Harare. "We engaged with the IMF on our terms."

While its voting rights were restored in 2010, Zimbabwe has not been able to borrow from international lenders since 1999 when it started defaulting on its debt. Its external debt stands at $10.7 billion (6.8 billion pounds).

The IMF board had agreed to allow Zimbabwe to negotiate debt relief and new financing by leveraging its natural resources according to Biti.

Under the staff-monitored programme, the IMF would want to see evidence of sound policies before agreeing to a lending programme.

Biti's comments came after Mugabe said he would hold elections by the end of July in line with a court order which has angered rivals who want them delayed to allow for reforms to ensure a fair vote. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has also threatened that its party might pull out of elections due to short time frame.

Zimbabwe is still emerging from a decade of economic decline and hyperinflation. The economy has slowly been on the mend since the formation of a unity government in 2009, and the government recently projected growth of 8.9 percent in 2013 which was 4.4 percent last year.

South Africa gets waiver from Washington on Iranian Oil

United States has given South Africa a six-month waiver on purchase of Iranian oil in exchange for promise to reduce oil transactions. South Africa is one of the 10 countries with such waiver.

The US State Department on Wednesday renewed waivers on Iran sanctions for South Africa, China, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan. Japan and 10 EU countries got waivers earlier this spring.

"The United States and the international community stand shoulder to shoulder in maintaining pressure on the Iranian regime until it fully addresses concerns about its nuclear programme," Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

The waivers, which the State Department calls exceptions mean that financial institutions in the consumer countries do not risk being cut off from the US financial system for the next six months.

Washington has adopted sanctions has the main focal point among the strategies meant to choke fund for Iran and its nuclear programme, which Western countries suspect seeks to develop the ability to make weapons. Iran insists the programme is for peaceful purposes.

State Department and Treasury officials have pushed consumer countries to "significantly reduce" their purchases of Iranian oil without defining the volumes that have to be cut.

US and EU sanctions more than halved Iran's oil shipments last year, helping to devalue the rial, the country's currency, and pushing up inflation.

This May the sanctions drove the Islamic Republic's crude exports to the lowest level in decades according to industry sources and tanker tracking data.

Despite the damage the sanctions have done to its economy, Iran's government has foreign currency reserves worth tens of billions of dollars with which it can fund the nuclear programme. There is little evidence the sanctions have slowed the programme ahead of a presidential election in Iran next week.

President Barack Obama on Monday issued an executive order imposing sanctions on foreign financial institutions that facilitate deals in the rial, which has lost two-thirds of its dollar value since late 2011.

Lawmakers in Congress also hope to pass legislation this year that could further limit Iran's oil sales and reduce Tehran's access to its foreign currency accounts, mostly held in euros.

The New Global War: Obama orders compilation of Global Cyber Targets

A top secret document has revealed President Barack Obama ordered national security leaders to compile a list of potential overseas “adversaries” for US cyber-attacks which could be targeted with “little or no warning”.

The 18-page, classified document, entitled Presidential Policy Directive 20, outlines plans for Offensive Cyber Effects Operations (OCEO), cyber-attacks which would target US adversaries around the world.

“OCEO can offer unique and unconventional capabilities to advance US national objectives around the world with little or no warning to the adversary or target and with potential effects ranging from subtle to severely damaging,” the Washington Post cites the document as saying.

“The United States government shall identify potential targets of national importance where OCEO can offer favourable balance of effectiveness and risk as compared with other instruments of national power,” it continues.

The directive also mulls the potential use of cyber actions within the US, though any such operations must be conducted with prior authorisation of the White House, unless “it qualifies as an Emergency Cyber Action.”

Under the heading "Policy Reviews and Preparation", a section marked "TS/NF" - top secret/no foreign - states: "The secretary of defence, the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], and the director of the CIA … shall prepare for approval by the president through the National Security Adviser a plan that identifies potential systems, processes and infrastructure against which the United States should establish and maintain OCEO capabilities…," the Guardian reports. The deadline for the plan is six months after the approval of the directive.

It further recognises the potential for collateral damage in the wake of cyber operations, noting: “even subtle and clandestine operations, may generate cyber effects in locations other than the intended target, with potential unintended or collateral consequences that may effect [sic] US national interests in many locations.”

The document states that all cyber operations should conform with US and international law, noting that any operations which are "reasonably likely to result in significant consequences require specific presidential approval." The directive, which was distributed to virtually every high-ranking member of the US Executive, was first signed by President Obama in mid-October though it was never published.

In November, a senior administration official told the Post how the directive was part and parcel of the White House effort to delineate between what constitutes an “offensive” or “defensive” action in the mercurial world of cyber-war and cyber-terrorism. “What it does, really for the first time, is it explicitly talks about how we will use cyber-operations,” the official said. “Network defence is what you’re doing inside your own networks. . . . Cyber-operations is stuff outside that space, and recognising that you could be doing that for what might be called defensive purposes.”

Select statements from the memo were declassified in January, though no mention was made of US efforts to draw up a target list or bolster its offensive capability. When asked about efforts to ratchet up US offensive capabilities as outlined in the directive, a senior administration official told the Guardian: "Once humans develop the capacity to build boats, we build navies. Once you build airplanes, we build air forces."

The official added: "As a citizen, you expect your government to plan for scenarios. We're very interested in having a discussion with our international partners about what the appropriate boundaries are." Reports of the directive came as Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Obama for an informal two-day summit in the resort city of Rancho Mirage, California on Friday.

In a bid to rebuff media reports that China regularly targeted the US military and corporations with cyber-attacks, President Xi told reporters with Obama at his side: “China is a victim of cyber-attacks and we hope that earnest measures can be taken to resolve this matter.”

Obama opted not to publicly accuse China of being behind a raft of cyber-attacks targeting US facilities and institutions. Rather, he called for “common rules of the road,” adding that China and the US should work together for a mutually beneficial cyber-security regime.

“As China continues in its development process and more of its economy is based on research and innovation and entrepreneurship, they’re going to have similar concerns, which is why I believe we can work together on this rather than at cross-purposes,” Obama said.

 Despite Obama’s reticence to challenge China, Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel recently issued a stern warning to China over its alleged cyber-attacks against the US: “We are also clear-eyed about the challenges in cyber. The United States has expressed our concerns about the growing threat of cyber intrusions, some of which appear to be tied to the Chinese government and military.”

Hagel’s comments came in the wake of a US Defence Science Board report which claimed around 40 Pentagon weapons programmes and almost 30 other defence technologies had been compromised by Chinese hackers, some purportedly tied to the military or government.

In April, Gen. Keith Alexander, who heads both the National Security Agency and the new Cyber Command, signaled that the United States would more aggressively counter cyber-attacks from abroad with offensive operations. Alexander told Congress that of 40 new CYBERCOM teams currently being assembled, 13 were being established to counter foreign cyber-attacks. Regarding the 13 teams of programmers and computer experts, the NSA chief stressed: “this defend-the-nation team, is not a defensive team.”

US Secretary of State urges Georgia to join NATO

After the fall of the Soviet Empire, the United States has been doing its best to incorporate the erstwhile Soviet states; Baltic states and others in Eastern Europe into her own 'empire'. Though she has succeeded in getting the Baltic states; Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to her chest, getting those closest to Russia, Georgia and Ukraine has been a major headache.

Russia believes the joining of NATO by any of these two is a complete slap on her face and a mockery of her security and defence posture in her 'sphere of influence'. The US under George Bush promised to send missile defence shield to Poland and Radar to Czech Republic; moves fiercely opposed to by Moscow but the US presses on in her mission to win former Soviet states to her side completely. Russia on her part has gone a step forward to bolster her security.

In a phone conversation on Saturday between John Kerry and Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, the US Secretary of State expressed hope that Tbilisi would continue to integrate into the Euro-Atlantic region and eventually become a full member of NATO.

Kerry proposed to hold more talks soon to discuss the development of a strategic partnership between the US and Georgia. The US Secretary of State also expressed condolences to the Georgian people over the death of seven Georgian soldiers in a bomb blast in Afghanistan on June 6.

‘Missile defence killer’: Russia finalises testing on prototype ICBM

Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have reported a successful launch of a next-generation ICBM that can supposedly pierce any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. The test came after the US announced it would resume its ABM programme in Europe.

The test missile launched from a mobile pad at 9:45pm (17:45 GMT) on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The test was carried out in the Astrakhan region, deep inside Russian territory, and the prototype’s payload successfully hit the Balkhash range in Kazakhstan.

“The test launch was a success as the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set time frame,” the Russian Defence Ministry statement said. “This test launch was intended to confirm technical characteristics of the missile, as well as to check the safety of the launch procedures and equipment.”

The launch was the third successful test of the prototype ICBM. The development of a new solid-fuel ICBM was officially announced in 2012, and is set to gradually replace the existing Topol-M and later the recently developed Yars missile complex. Strategic Missile Forces expect to finalize testing by the end of 2013 and put the new missile into production in 2014.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin welcomed the test, calling the new ICBM a “missile defence killer... Neither current nor future American missile defense systems will be able to prevent that missile from hitting a target dead on.”

Russia maintains at least 58 silo-based Soviet-made P36M ('SS-18 Satan' NATO classification) ballistic missiles, believed to be the most powerful in the world with up to 10 megaton-class warheads. The Strategic Missile Forces have 160 mobile Topol-M ('SS-25 Sickle') missile systems, 50 silo-based and 18 road-mobile Topol-M ('SS-27 Sickle B') systems, and 18 RS-24 Yars systems.

In recent years, two missile divisions were re-armed with the newest Topol-M and Yars systems, and more will follow in 2013. The Defense Ministry is also preparing to introduce the latest automated battle management system (ASBU), enabling rapid retargeting of ICBMs.

Russia sped up development of new intercontinental ballistic missile systems after the US announced plans to continue deploying its missile defence system in Eastern Europe, near Russian borders.

The issue of the US missile shield in Europe has become a major stumbling block in Russia-US relations. Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defence systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. But Washington refused, citing a need to protect Europe from ‘rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.

In mid-March of 2013, Washington attempted to engage Moscow in new talks about further nuclear arms reduction, after presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev agreed to reduce their nuclear stocks with the New START arms reduction treaty. The US said it would no longer deploy SM-3 IIB ballistic missile interceptors in Poland until 2022.

Nevertheless, Moscow still demands legally binding guarantees from Washington that the system's intentions are peaceful.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Polish Foreign Minister, and committed to deploy missile defences in Poland by 2018 as planned. “We are on track to deploy a missile defence site in Poland by 2018 as part of NATO’s modernized approach to our security,” Kerry said.

Russia under Vladimir Putin is not likely to take any US missile defence shield deployment lightly. Putin  maintains Russia's stand as a real 'checker' to US activities.

The Syrian debacle perfectly illustrates Putin's stand viz a viz the US and NATO; he maintains that Libya will never repeat itself just as when he took over from Boris Yeltsin who was pro-US in a way and changed the course of Russia's foreign policy, becoming a facsimile of Soviet days.

Obama chief of staff, Senators Feinstein and McCain travel to Guantanamo Bay prison

President Obama fervently promised in his 2008 campaign speeches that he will see to the end of Guantanamo Bay. After spending his first term in office, many were disappointed in his inability to close the notorious Gitmo Bay. Despite frustration from congress just like in his healthcare deal, Obama pushes on and now seems more determined to bring down Guantanamo Bay.

President Obama‘s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, along with Senators Feinstein and McCain traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Friday to review the current situation and discuss steps towards closing the detention facility. Both McCain and Feinstein have supported the closing of the prison at Guantanamo, though the House of Representatives voted on tuesday in support of keeping the detention centre open.

The trip comes several weeks after the president reaffirmed a 2008 campaign promise to shut down the facility. On Friday, it was revealed that the prison’s medical team is presently force-feeding 41 of the facility’s 166 prisoners, with a total of 104 detainees now participating in the ongoing hunger strike. “We intend to work, with a plan by Congress and the Administration together, to take the steps necessary to make that [closing] happen,” said the trio via statement following their tour.

Anonymous, Syrian Electronic Army hack Turkish govt networks, leak emails including PM's

AFP Photo: Thomas Samson

Turkish government networks were hacked on Wednesday, compromising the private information of staffers in PM Tayyip Erdogan's office, a source in PM's office confirmed to Reuters. The attack was in support of the ongoing anti-government protests.

Staff email accounts were reportedly accessed after a phishing attack, and those affected were cut off from the network, a source said.

Anonymous hacked the Prime Minister’s official website (basbakanlik.gov.tr) and gained access to staff email addresses, passwords and phone numbers, the group said in a press release.

The group also stressed it will not share most of the hacked data because it “respects people's privacy” and “does not believe in the full use of power against the weak.”

At the same time, the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacked the website of the Turkish Ministry of Interior (http://icisleri.gov.tr) and released more than 60 email addresses and passwords.

The SEA declared it also hacked other government websites, including dosya.icisleri.gov.tr.

On Sunday the hacktivist group Anonymous has taken down the Turkish President’s website, along with that of the country’s ruling party, as operation #OpTurkey kicked off in support of the anti-government protests.

As of 22:40 GMT, the website of President Abdullah Gul has been offline, together with the website of the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the websites for the Istanbul Directorate of Security and the Istanbul Governor’s Office.

The hacktivists earlier targeted municipal governments in Mersin and Izmir.

The operation was kicked off in response to the police crackdown of protests which have taken the country by storm. The Gebze Institute of Technology has also come under digital fire.

US and China to join forces on cyber-security

The first stage of US-China talks on hot-button issues in bilateral relations have ended, and no landmark decisions were announced. After over two hours of talks, US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping said the two nations agreed to closer cooperation on issues of cyber-security, and to improve military ties. 

Ahead of the talks, Washington repeatedly blamed Beijing for hacking attacks against US intelligence and industries.

Beijing has consistently denied it is waging cyber wars on Washington. Recently, Washington accused China of hacking into its systems and stealing vital military documents; charges Beijing immediately denied. 

Beijing stated that Washington was limiting the capacity and capability of Chinese to develop their own military industrial complex. It went further to say that Washington was insulting the intelligence of Chinese, that China does not need to spy on Washington for its military power.

EU allocates €400M in further aid to Syria

After suspending the arms embargo placed on Syria due to the tireless efforts of Britain through its foreign secretary, William Hague in order to pressure Assad to 'negotiate seriously', the EU is now sending additional finance to Syria and its neighbours.

The EU will send €400 million ($523 million) in additional aid to Syria and its neighbours, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday. The non-humanitarian aid comprises budgetary support for states neighboring Syria, which have struggled to cope with a huge influx of refugees, Reuters said.

The EU is already the biggest humanitarian donor in the Syrian crisis, committing more than €840 million to alleviate what Barroso called “the most dramatic humanitarian situation in the last decade.” He said unrestricted and unconditional humanitarian access is needed in Syria, as well as an inclusive transitional government.

The EU has so far restrained itself from interfering in the Syrian crisis, preferring rather to lend its voice on the need to avoid escalation that would lead to catastrophe.

Confirmed: NSA collection of millions of phone records 'renewal of ongoing practice'

The chairwoman of the US Senate Intelligence committee has said that the state has been collecting the telephone records of millions of US Verizon customers since 2006, and the order is a three-month renewal of a continuing practice.

The collection of records was “on an ongoing daily basis,” beginning on April 25, 2013 and ending July 19, 2013, Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic Senator from California confirmed to reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. However, the practice may have been ongoing for seven years prior to its exposure.

"As far as I know, this is the exact three-month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years. This renewal is carried out by the [foreign intelligence surveillance] court under the business records section of the Patriot Act. Therefore, it is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress," she told reporters.

One anonymous expert contacted by the Washington Post in the wake of the scandal reiterated that the order appeared to be a routine renewal of a strikingly similar order issued by the same court in 2006, and renewed every three months since.

The top secret order required Verizon, one of the largest telecom agencies in the US, to provide both the FBI and the NSA information on all telephone calls made through its systems, both domestically and to foreign countries. A copy was obtained by the Guardian and published on Wednesday.

According to a copy of the order, Verizon is required to disclose the numbers of both parties during a call, as well as location, call duration, and other unique data on an "ongoing, daily basis.” Meaning that, regardless of whether an individual is suspected of or linked to any crime, the data of all Verizon customers is currently being delivered in bulk to the intelligence agency.

Verizon did not confirm the existence of the top secret order. In a memo sent to employees on Thursday, they stated that they were forbidden "from revealing the order's existence."

The court order expressively forbade Verizon from disclosing the existence of any US government request for the company’s customer records, according to the original Guardian exclusive.

As to the authority claimed by the government via this order, that is specifically cited to fall under the “business records” provision of the PATRIOT Act of 2001, which was granted a four-year extension by President Obama in May of 2011.

It remains unclear as to whether the order, which spans a three-month period, represents a single instance, or is indicative of recurring cases of Verizon and other telephone providers being ordered to disclose all their clients' call records.

The practice may also be more widespread among communications data companies than initially believed: CNBC contacted Sprint, a global provider of internet and communications services. The company told CNBC on Thursday that it had no comment on whether it may have received a similar FISA court order.

“If they have them for telecom companies, they probably have similar orders for internet companies,” Alex Abdo, an attorney with the ACLU's national security project told NBC’s Rachel Maddow.

'America is our worst enemy': Pakistani victim of US Drone strikes speaks out

Drone strikes in Pakistan have killed 1,000 civilians, activists say, while the US maintains they only target terrorists. Victims of drone warfare and their families live in constant fear of another strike, and say they are “angry and want revenge.”

A review of classified US intelligence records has revealed that the CIA could not confirm the identity of about one-quarter of those killed by drone strikes in Pakistan during a period spanning 2010 and 2011. In a review of 14 months of classified records, 26 out of 114 attacks designate fatalities as “other militants,” and in four other attacks those killed are described as “foreign fighters.”

The CIA is reluctant to reveal information on its drone programme, Chris Woods of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism told RT.

“With so many civilians reported killed, and yet the CIA reporting that it’s killed no more than 50 or 60 civilians, I think there is need for an open, not only an open inquiry, but also for the CIA to share the information it has on who it believes it’s killed in places like Pakistan. President Obama’s speech the other week did seem to promise more openness but unfortunately we’re not seeing signs of that just yet,” Woods said.

In his post-election address to parliament, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for an end to US drone attacks in the country’s northern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

"This daily routine of drone attacks, this chapter shall now be closed," Sharif said to enthusiastic applause. "We do respect others' sovereignty. It is mandatory on others that they respect our sovereignty."

“Most of the strikes in Pakistan these days are really not related to Al-Qaeda or those terrorist activities but really to the war across the border in Afghanistan. The drone war has changed quite significantly over the ten years or so it’s been running. We see the US talking about using drones in Syria for example; we have had calls from Iraq and Rwanda recently for the US to use drones there. So there’s a concern among some that the US wants now to use these drones as an easy plank in their view of foreign policy,” Woods explained.

Residents of Pakistan say they are living “in constant fear of another strike.” Amin Ullah was on his way to work at a mine near his village when a drone struck the area. He lost his leg in the attack, and three other miners were killed. "The Americans should be able to tell an ordinary person from a Taliban leader. They should know who they're killing. What did we do to deserve this?" Ullah told RT.

“We are simple villagers who are stuck in a war that we didn’t ask for. It’s a hopeless feeling. Death is above our heads all the time,” he added.

Another victim of the drone attack, Nek Bahadar, lost part of his hearing and nearly his foot: “The drone’s shockwave was so intense that it threw us outside far from the place where we were sleeping. After several minutes there was another strike and it killed many more people.”

“Of course this has made me hate the Americans. We are angry and want revenge. They’ve destroyed our lives. My parents, my wife my children – we all see America our worst enemy now,” Bahadar said.

Pakistani human rights lawyer Shahzad Mirza Akbar has sued both the US and Pakistan on behalf of civilian victims in Waziristan, a mountainous region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

“I simply call it a concentration camp, that you've built a wall of military and militants, and behind this wall you are keeping more than 800,000 people who are not allowed to come out and no one from the rest of the country is allowed to go in. And that is kind of laboratory that US is using to use test its drone program,” Akbar told RT’s Lucy Kafanov.

Evidence of drone strikes is difficult to gather; fragments of the attacks were collected by a local journalist Noor Behram, who spent years documenting the civilian toll of drones, especially on children.

“Whenever my 3-year-old daughter hears the plane she runs inside and won’t sleep that night. The children here have been traumatized by the drones. The sound of a door banging shut is enough to terrify them,” Behram said.

There are fears that the US campaign to eliminate terrorists could end up creating more. “By carrying out drone strikes, killing innocent people who are not part of the conflict, you are just widening the conflict. You are giving the reason to people who were not part of the conflict here to become part of the conflict,” Akbar explained.
 
Breakthrough advances in unmanned aircraft technology have also sparked concerns at the UN. The UN’s rapporteur for extrajudicial killings, Christof Heyns, is calling for a worldwide ban on "killer robots" that could attack targets autonomously, without a human having to pull the trigger.

According to the report, the US, Japan, South Korea and Israel have developed various types of fully- or semi-autonomous weapons.

“It’s important to say there’s no particular day we’ll be able to say, now we have fully autonomous robots. But there are already very high levels of autonomy available, and full autonomy may be available within a few years. It’s important to emphasize the distinction between drones and lethal autonomous robots (LARs). With drones you have a human in the loop with somebody sitting behind the computer and taking the decision to pull the trigger. With robots there’s no human being in the loop, it’s a computer that takes a decision,” Heyns explained.

Courtesy: Russia Today

Mastermind of foiled Moscow bombing who 'fought in Afghanistan' arrested in Russia

Russia’s FSB secret service has captured the suspected mastermind behind a foiled terror attack in Moscow. His group, which fought in Afghanistan against the ISAF forces, was uncovered and neutralized last month by police.

A man identified as Yulay Davletbayev headed the terror cell, which was plotting an attack in Moscow. Two of his accomplices were killed in a May 20 police operation, while a third was captured alive. The items seized by law enforcers at the time included half-completed suicide vests, detonators and metal shrapnel.

The FSB captured Davletbayev, who is in his early 40s, in a suburb of Moscow after weeks of searching, the committee said. “This job took considerable effort and cooperation from troops, national bodies and local authorities. Several regions of the Russian Federation conducted search and screening operations. This allowed identifying the location where the criminal was hiding.”

All of the militants were Russian citizens, Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee said Thursday. The group trained in combat and demolition along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a region controlled by the Taliban.

They are also known to have fought against the US-led ISAF coalition deployed in Afghanistan, the committee reported.

The cell was sent to Moscow by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party, a terrorist organization that seeks to establish an Islamic state inside the Chinese border.

The group’s goal was to organize a series of attack in the Russian capital during Victory Day celebrations on May 9. Davletbayev got a job as taxi driver to familiarize himself with the city and pick high-value targets for future attacks, the committee said.

“While navigating around the city in his taxi, he was selecting places most vulnerable for a terrorist attack, which would suffer most damage and cause greatest loss of life,” the committee said.

They failed to meet their timetable, and were ultimately exposed by the Russian security services. The arrest of the cell’s leader came after the arrested member, Robert Amerkhanov, decided to cooperate with investigators.

The group is suspected of committing several crimes in Russia’s southern regions before 2010, when they moved to Afghanistan.

The FSB also has information on Davletbayev’s links to another militant leader, who was responsible for bombing a natural gas pipeline and at least two attacks on Russian police officers; the leader was killed in 2010 by anti-terrorism forces.

The Russian capital has seen a number of deadly terror attacks in recent years. The most recent was in January 2011, when a suicide bomber set off an explosive device in the arrival zone of Domodedovo Airport, killing 36 people and injuring 180 others. In March 2010, bombings in the Moscow Metro killed 41 people and injured around 100.

Courtesy: Russia Today

Classified documents reveal CIA drone strikes often killed unknown people

A review of classified US intelligence records has revealed that the CIA could not confirm the identity of about a quarter of the people killed by drone strikes in Pakistan during a period spanning from 2010 to 2011.

According to a purportedly exclusive report by NBC News that mirrors findings of an April analysis by McClatchy, between September 3, 2010 and October 30, 2011 the agency’s drone programme over Pakistan routinely designated those killed as “other militants,” a label used when the CIA could not determine affiliation, if any.

The review by NBC News paints both a confusing and troubling picture of the CIA’s reported drone strike success, which three former Obama administration officials feared could have missed or simply ignored mistakes.

Of the 14 months worth of classified documents reviewed, 26 out of 114 attacks designate fatalities as “other militants,” while in four other attacks those killed are only described as “foreign fighters.”

Even more irregular are the cases when entry records conflict on the number of those killed, with one such example indicating a drone attack had killed seven to 10 combatants, and another estimating 20 to 22 fatalities.

By comparison, McClatchy’s April review of drone strikes revealed that at least 265 of up to 482 people that the CIA killed during a 12-month period ending in September 2011 were not senior al-Qaeda leaders, but were instead “assessed” as Afghan, Pakistani and “unknown extremists.” Corroborating media accounts show that US drones killed only six top al-Qaeda leaders during the same period.

One key term in analyzing drone strike records are what are known as “signature” strikes, when drones kill suspects based on behaviour patterns but without positive identification, versus “personality” strike, which is when drone targets are known terrorist affiliates whose identities are verified.

According to an anonymous senior intelligence official who spoke to NBC, at the peak of drone operations in Pakistan in 2009 and 2010 as many as half of all kills were classified as “signature” strikes.

One former senior intelligence official said that at the height of the drone programme in Pakistan in 2009 and 2010, as many as half of the strikes were classified as signature strikes.

Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, the former Director of National Intelligence from 2009 to 2010, addressed NBC’s report with the claim that the precision of drone strikes was superior to those of traditional battlefield weapons.

“In Afghanistan and Iraq and places where you have troops in combat ... you know better with drones who you’re killing than you do when you’re calling in artillery fire from a spotter [or] calling in an airplane strike,” he said.

“This is no different from decisions that are made on the battlefield all the time by soldiers and Marines who are being shot at, not knowing who fired the shot, having to make judgements on shooting back or not. This is the nature of warfare,” added Blair.

As to just how analysts arrive at determining unverified, “signature” drone targets, that system relies on data which draws connections between the unidentified individuals and known militants. That might entail monitoring everything from the frequency that a suspect visits a particular location, meets certain individuals, or makes phone calls and sends emails.  

During a key speech defending his administration’s use of targeted drone killings in May, President Obama defended the CIA’s drone programme as a “legal,” “lethal” and “effective” counterterrorism tool, while at the same time acknowledging some civilian casualties.

A report entitled “Living Under Drones,” jointly released by Stanford University and New York University in 2012, is far less muted on civilian casualties, and argues that the civilian death toll in drone strikes over Pakistan is far higher than is reported.

In the classified reports reviewed by NBC News, for example, of the 600 some killed only one is listed as a civilian, a statistic which Micah Zenko, a drone expert at the Council on Foreign Relations described as “incredible.”

The Stanford-NYU report, for its part, bases its conclusions on 130 interviews, as well as a review of media reports, though the methodology employed can itself be a subject of debate.

Separately, an Associated Press investigation in 2012 reported that out of 10 drone strikes over a period of 18 months, Pakistani villagers claimed that only 70 per cent of those killed by US strikes were militants, with the rest either civilians or tribal police.

The new Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif has called for an end to drone strikes in Pakistan.

Courtesy: Russian Times

New Cold-War?: FBI, Microsoft team up against global cyber-crime ring

Cyber espionage and cyber-attacks are the new form of waging sophisticated wars; hacking and stealing vital official secrets and documents and using it against targets in countries.

Kaspersky Lab recently uncovered a cyber espionage ring linked to China. The United States has been doing all within it capabilities to stem the tide with the latest being the partnership of Microsoft and FBI on cyber-crime.

Microsoft Corp. and the FBI, in cooperation with officials from more than 80 countries, have launched a major operation against one of the world's most powerful cyber-crime rings, believed to have stolen more than $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months.

Microsoft said its Digital Crimes Unit on Wednesday successfully took down about 1,000 of an estimated 1,400 infected computer networks known as Citadel Botnets, which infected as many as 5 million PCs around the world and, according to Microsoft, were being used to steal from dozens of financial institutions.

The FBI told Reuters it is working closely with Europol and other overseas authorities in an effort to capture the unknown criminals. The FBI has obtained search warrants as part of what it called a "fairly advanced" criminal investigation.

London mosque burns down, arson feared over discovery of EDL ‘stamp’

A two-story Islamic centre (Al-Rahma Islamic Centre) burned down overnight in north London in an incident being treated as possible arson. Rescuers found ‘EDL’ scrawled on the building’s remains, fueling fears of a racially motivated revenge for the bloody Woolwich execution.

The fire broke out at around 3:15am local time at a mosque in Muswell Hill, north London, an area which also contains the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre and the Bravanese Centre. All had existed undisturbed for at least 20 years.

“The place has been absolutely destroyed. The community is shocked and very distressed because they have been here in peace for the past 20 years,” Mohamed Ali of Somali charity BritSom told local newspaper the Evening Standard. He said that he was certain the event was linked to the Woolwich attack.

Some 35 firefighters in six different fire engines were called out to battle the blaze, with locals also reporting the presence of helicopters. Police and fire officials said that it took around an hour and a half to bring the blaze under control.


“There were several fire engines and I think even a helicopter. It was terrible. This will really shake the community up,” one witness identified as ‘Nurein’ told the Evening Standard.

A statement released by the local metropolitan police commander said “We are at the very early stages of investigating what happened in the matter,” and reiterated the importance of the Bravanese Centre in the local Somali community.

No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, although one woman suffered from shock.

Anti-Islamic hatred has spiked in London since the brutal killing and beheading of Lee Rigby, 25, by two men who said the murder was motivated by the UK’s involvement in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

The UK saw Islamophobic sentiment intensify in the wake of the killing, with the English Defense League (EDL) arranging thousand-strong marches and religious campaign group Faith Matters reporting an explosion in calls related to incidents of anti-Islamic violence.

Two men have already been arrested for firebombing a mosque in an Islamic district of the northeastern seaport of Grimsby on May 27, fueling fears that a divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK’s cities is deepening.

Courtesy: Russian Times

Another Hezbollah-linked arms and ammunition found in Nigeria

Security operatives in Kano have discovered another Hezbollah-linked cache of arms and ammunition in the same location as they were unearthed last week.

Military spokesman Captain Ikedichi Iweha said the new cache involves a bunker beneath the master bedroom.  Three Lebanese nationals have been arrested.

The new discovery was made yesterday at the 3 Gaya Road, Bompai address where, last week, a large quantity of arms and ammunition was found in a warehouse, and four foreigners were arrested.

“After painstaking search of the whole premises, the search team uncovered an underground bunker in the master bed room where a large quantity of assorted weapons of different types and caliber and ammunition which were properly wrapped was recovered.

Report has it that the owner of the warehouse, a Lebanese national is under interrogation over the discovery.  The property was later found out to belong to one Abdul Hassan Taher Fadlalla, a Lebanese national, but that he is currently out of the country.

“On further search of the property, a cooler was recovered buried under the wardrobe which had in it, 80 indicators, 5 PPK pistols, 334 rds of 7.62mm special, 9 magazines, 4 pistol silencers, 18 36 hand grenades caps, 4 explosive fuses and 2 explosive devices.”

He recalled that on 28 May 2013, a combined team of the DSS and 3 Brigade Nigerian Army conducted a thorough search of a house at No 3 Gaya Road off Bompai Road Kano after a tip-off by the Israelis as revealed by the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria.

Lebanese consul denied a Lebanese owned the building housing the previously discovered weapons. He claimed it belonged to a Sierra Leonean.

Newly elected Pakistani PM, Sharif demands end to US drone strikes

Nawaz Sharif after his swearing in faced the most contentious issue in Pakistan, noticeable in its political campaigns and other facets of its society; activities of US drones on its soil. The US drones have allegedly killed more innocent civilians than militants. Upon the return of Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan, he was booed and looked askance at because he instituted and signed the drone menace.

Pakistan’s parliament elected Nawaz Sharif as prime minister Wednesday. He received 244 votes in the 342-seat parliament, returning him to the Prime Minister’s office for an unprecedented third term. In his first address since taking office, Sharif called on the US to end its campaign of drone attacks in the country’s tribal northwest.

“We respect the sovereignty of others and they should also respect our sovereignty and independence. This campaign should come to an end,” AFP quoted him as saying. Sharif, who was deposed in a military coup in 1999, won the May 11 elections as part of his Pakistan Muslim League-N party.

Yemen launches army operation against Al-Qaeda in East

Recently, United States drone attacks killed top al Qaeda chiefs in Yemen as well as in Pakistan. Days after, al Qaeda appointed other commanders to prove the war must go on.

This definitely was a perfect signal for both the United States and Yemen cum Pakistan that it is battle galore. Yemen understood the message, hence, it is launching an assault.

Yemeni troops backed by tanks and helicopters assaulted an Eastern city on Wednesday to drive out Al-Qaeda-linked militants. Clashes involving dozens of soldiers began early in the morning.

Three soldiers and several militants were killed in fighting at Ghail Bawazeer, north of the Hadramout provincial capital of al-Mukalla, Reuters said. Islamist militants in Hadramout have distributed leaflets in Ghail Bawazeer, the province’s fourth-largest city, saying they planned to establish an Islamist emirate there.

Obama to appoint Susan Rice as top Security Adviser

United States ambassador to the United Nations who was once tipped to be the Secretary of State but lost out to John Kerry based on the Benghazi attack and her presumed 'incoherent' role, Susan Rice to be appointed to a new position by President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama reportedly plans to appoint Susan Rice as his national security adviser, replacing Tom Donilon, who is resigning. Obama plans to make the appointment later on Wednesday, Reuters said.

The White House confirmed a New York Times report on the major change to the foreign policy team. The president will also nominate Samantha Power, a former White House aide and Harvard professor, to replace Rice as US ambassador to the UN, a White House official said.

China discovered to be involved in a string of Cyber Espionage Activities -Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab has discovered a years-long cyber-espionage operation that victimized hundreds of high-profile targets in 40 countries. The malware, known as NetTraveler, was used for covert computer surveillance and appears to have originated in China.

The Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Lab best known for exposing Flame and Stuxnet - sophisticated spywares launched by the US government - has uncovered a global cyber-espionage network targeting the world's diplomatic, government and military agencies.

In a report published on June 4 the malware that especially targeted Asian countries was identified as an “advanced persistent threat” similar to the Red October unveiled in January.

“Based on the collected intelligence, we estimate the [controlling] group side to about 50 individuals, most of which speak Chinese natively and have working knowledge of the English language,” the report said.

However, nowhere in the Kaspersky report is the Chinese government accused of any wrongdoing and only speculation links China to the infection software.

According to the report, NetTraveler was designed to "steal sensitive data as well as log keystrokes, and retrieve file system listings and various Office or PDF documents.”

The amount of stolen data discovered on the malware’s command-and-control servers exceeded 22 gigabytes, with that being a small fraction of the total data stolen since the rest of it was previously downloaded by the attackers and deleted from the servers.


The countries most frequently targeted by NetTraveler – Russia, India, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan – all border China. The first evidence of NetTraveler appeared in 2004, but the report said the most attacks came between 2010 and 2013.

Diplomats were targeted most often, followed by government workers, and high-level private officials then international military contractors. Tibetan/Uyghur activists and oil industry companies also ranked among the favourite targets.

The hackers did not use any advanced vulnerabilities and relied on phishing attacks, which often distribute infected links via email or social media.

“NetTraveler victims get infected through spear-phishing attacks using Office documents which exploit two publicly known vulnerabilities,” the report states with analysts surprised that such unsophisticated attacks can still be successful with high profile targets. “Although these vulnerabilities have been patched by Microsoft, they remain effective and are among the most exploited in targeted attacks.”

The researchers discovered that at least six NetTraveler targets – a Russian military contractor, a government organization in Tajikistan, and embassies in Belgium, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Belarus – were previously hacked by the Red October campaign that was likely launched from Eastern Europe. Kurt Baumgartner, a senior security researcher for the Americas on the Global Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky, told DarkReading.com the attempts from separate phishing schemes indicates those locations are highly valued.

“Threat actors infiltrate victims simultaneously and may or may not be concerned about victim overlap,” he said. “Most likely, with these two groups in particular, the operators have a specific set of tasks at the victim organizations. If they happen to see another piece of malware on the target network, and it doesn’t interrupt their operation, they just go back to completing their assignments.”

Courtesy: Russian Times