Obama ‘Hopeful’ about New Year

President Barack Obama tapes the weekly address in Kailua, Hawaii, White House Photo, Pete Souza, 12/29/11

 

Weekly Address: Working Together in the New Year

 

U.S. President Barack Obama says he is “hopeful” the new year will bring about more progress for the United States, including the ability to grow the economy and create jobs.

In his weekly address Saturday, Mr. Obama said he is hopeful because lawmakers did “the right thing” for millions of Americans before Christmas by preventing a payroll tax hike and extending unemployment benefits.

The president said the two-month continuation of the measures was possible only because Americans added their voices to the debate through email, social media and over the phone to their representatives. Mr. Obama recorded the address while vacationing with his family in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Republican and Democratic leaders will take up the payroll tax fight and seek to agree on the terms of a year-long extension when Congress returns to work in Washington in January.

In the weekly Republican address, Senator Johnny Isakson said Republicans’ “number one goal” for 2012 is to continue to make it easier for American small businesses to create jobs. He said lawmakers in his party will accomplish this by continuing to fight for tax reform, regulatory reform and energy security.

President Obama said in his address that he will do everything he can to make America a place where hard work and responsibility are rewarded. He said “that’s the America we’ve always known.”  (*)

 

 

SOURCE : VOA

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet visits Afghanistan

French defence minister Gerard Longuet gives a speech to French soldiers on New Year's Eve at the Nijrab Forward Operating Base military base in Kapisa province, Afghanistan. Longuet has held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a two-day visit to Afghanistan

 

French defence minister Gerard Longuet held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday on a two-day visit toAfghanistan to meet troops over the New Year.

Longuet touched down in Kabul two days after two French Foreign Legion soldiers were shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform in eastern Kapisa province.

The minister and Karzai discussed the strategic partnership deal being negotiated between the two countries, which will govern their relationship after troops pull out in 2014.

The partnership is set to be signed in late January, a statement from the president’s office said.

“Thanking France for its assistance especially in training the Afghan National Army, the president also expressed his condolences over the loss of two French soldiers,” the statement said.

Thursday’s incident took the death toll among French troops since the start of the war in 2001 to 78.

After the withdrawal of 400 troops this year, France now has 3,600 soldiers in Afghanistan serving under ISAF.

The French death toll in 2011 stands at 26, the highest for the country in the 10-year war, and includes five who were killed in a suicide attack in Kapisa in July.

There are about 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan fighting alongside Afghan government forces against a Taliban-led insurgency.

NATO is handing security over to Afghan forces ahead of the withdrawal of all its combat troops by the end of 2014 and the French have been involved in training up the Afghan army.

After the two deaths in the Tagab valley, France said it was committed to helping develop the Afghan military and described the shooting as an isolated incident.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomes US remarks on Taliban

Afghan President Hamid Karzai

 

KABUL, Afghanistan   —   Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday welcomed remarks from the Obama administration that the Taliban were not necessarily America’s enemies.

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with Newsweek magazine that the Islamist militants did not represent a threat to U.S. interests unless they continued to shelter al-Qaida.

“Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests,” Biden was quoted as saying by Newsweek.

The Obama administration and other governments are trying to establish a peace process with the Taliban to help end the 10-year war.

“I am very happy that the American government has announced that the Taliban are not their enemies,” Karzai said in a speech to the Afghan Academy of Sciences. “We hope that this message will help the Afghans reach peace and stability.”

A senior U.S. official has told The Associated Press that Washington plans to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives in Europe and the Persian Gulf region next year.

The U.S. outreach this year had progressed to the point that there was active discussion of two steps the Taliban seeks as precursors to negotiations, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Trust-building measures under discussion involve setting up a Taliban headquarters office and the release from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of about five Afghan prisoners believed to be affiliated with the Taliban.

On Tuesday, Karzai said his government would accept the Taliban establishing a liaison office in Turkey, Qatar or Saudi Arabia for the purpose of holding peace talks.

Meanwhile, NATO troops on Saturday handed over responsibility for security in three districts of the embattled southern Helmand province to Afghan forces.

The Helmand governor’s office said these included Marjah district, the site of a major offensive by coalition forces last year. Coalition operations to rout the Taliban in February 2010 yielded slower than expected returns, but a troop buildup later in the year pushed insurgents out of the main center of the district.

Nad Ali, which had been run by British troops, also transitioned from NATO to Afghan security control, a statement said.

The handovers in Helmand are part of the second phase in a transition NATO and Karzai hope will leave Afghan forces in control of the entire country by the end of 2014, when the U.S.-led coalition’s combat mission is scheduled to end.

Meanwhile, in London the U.K. Ministry of Defense announced that one of two NATO service members killed in Afghanistan on Friday was a British soldier. The death brought to 394 the number of British troops who have died since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001.

A total of 27 NATO troops have died so far in December, while the year’s toll is 543. The yearly total is considerably lower than that for 2010, when more than 700 troops died.  (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AP

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

Lee, Chinese President Hu vow to move relations forward in New Year’s messages

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak gives his New Year's speech at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Dec. 31, 2011. Lee, entering his final year in office, set taming inflation and job creation as two of his top goals for 2012 and vowed to reinforce the national defense posture against the hostility shown by North Korea's new leadership. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL  —  South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged Sunday to further move relations between the two countries forward as they exchanged New Year’s messages celebrating 20 years of diplomatic ties.

Lee said in his letter to Hu that relations between the two countries have rapidly expanded in all sectors since the 1992 establishment of diplomatic ties and the sides “are more closely communicating and cooperating” with each other for the sake of the “common goal of peace, stability and prosperity in East Asia.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

Addressing the nation, Angela Merkel predicts a new year of greater challenges

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

 

GERMANY  —  As the troubled euro turns 10, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel sees another tough year ahead to follow the last one. In her yearly televised address, Merkel has heralded 2012 with muted optimism.

In her New Year’s address, which stressed challenges of the past and the future, German Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to strike the tone of confidence familiar to Germans from past chancellors’ speeches.

In her televised speech, Merkel looked back on 2011, referring to ongoing unrest across the Arab world, a massive natural-turned-nuclear disaster in Japan, the birth of the world’s seven-billionth person and, of course, the financial crisis that continues to threaten Europe’s common currency.

“2011 was, without a doubt, doubt a year of profound change,” she said.

Looming euro crisis

 

Merkel stressed that the values of peace, freedom and justice had held Europe together over the last half century, and that they were once again needed, “especially now, at a time when Europe is facing its toughest currency test in decades, when I know many of you are concerned about the stability of our currency.”

Hours from the tenth anniversary of the euro’s introduction, the chancellor predicted the financial challenges of the coming year to be even more difficult – but pledged that Germany could trust her to do everything in her power to strengthen the common currency.

While Germans cannot expect the traditional message of confidence from their chancellor this New Year’s Eve, there is one other New Year’s Eve television classic that is sure to deliver.

The English-language comedy sketch known as “The 90th Birthday,” or, “Dinner for One,” has been running on German television on New Year’s Eve since 1963. Virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, the film has two characters: the wealthy Miss Sophie who, despite having outlived her friends, decides to celebrate her 90th birthday by dining with their memories; and James, her butler who must enact her four deceased best friends – and drink for all of them.

But even this cult classic has felt the crisis. With New Year’s approaching, a parody called “The 90th Rescue Summit” or “Euros for No One” has swept the Internet. In it, Merkel’s face is superimposed on the body of Miss Sophie. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, superimposed on the butler, drinks for leaders not present, such as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who stepped down last month amidst Greece’s financial crisis. Germany’s chancellor, as always, is portrayed as the eurozone’s taskmaster; in the end it all comes down to her and her somewhat subservient French counterpart, whether the others are present or not.

Meanwhile, the real Merkel in her address to be televised Saturday spoke of increased cooperation, saying the “common currency can only really be successful if we in Europe work together more than we have until now.”

A freer Germany

The euro crisis was not the only shadow looming over Germany in 2011. The chancellor also made mention of a small “right-extremist band of terrorist murderers” exposed this autumn and believed to have killed ten people over a decade.

Germans, Merkel said, owed it to the victims and themselves to get to the bottom of the crimes.

“It is our duty to defend with determination the values of our free and open society - at all times and against all forms of violence.”

Promises for improvement

For the year 2012, Merkel named strengthening families and improving elderly and disabled care as her central goals.

The chancellor also pledged advances in Germany’s transition to sustainable energy, saying, “We must think of tomorrow.” Earlier this year, in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, her ruling coalition gave way to left-wing uproar over its plans to extend the country’s nuclear program and promised to shut down Germany’s atomic plants by 2022.

Having forecast a year of continued uncertainty, Merkel announced she was opening a dialog with citizens as to Germany’s future. The chancellor said she had already begun discussing the matter with over 100 experts and that the public would be invited to take part in her conversations online beginning in February.

Merkel ended her speech that stressed the future’s challenges on a positive note, wishing viewers “and your families a happy, healthy and blessed new year 2012.”   (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : Deutsche Welle

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

Myanmar sets April by-elections, Suu Kyi set to run

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech to mark a so-called 'International Democracy Day' organised by the regime, at the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters in Yangon on September 15, 2011. A new US envoy to Myanmar ended his first visit to the country on September 14 by urging "genuine and concrete" reforms by the army-backed regime and said Washington would respond "in kind". AFP PHOTO / Soe Than WIN

 

Myanmar  —   Myanmar has set a date of April 1, 2012, for by-elections that could see pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi enter parliament, although the military’s grip on the assembly will not be threatened.

State television announced the date late Friday.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) refused to take part in elections in November 2010, disagreeing with the electoral process set in place by the former military leaders.

But, after a series of reforms initiated by the new, nominally civilian government this year, the NLD has agreed to register as a political party and now wants a voice in parliament.

NLD official Nyan Win said the Election Commission had not yet finished processing the application and its candidates would only be announced officially once that was done.

But he said Nobel peace laureate Suu Kii, 66, was expected to run for the lower house in the constituency of Kawhmu, about 30 km (20 miles) south of the main city, Yangon, where she lives.

A quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for the military and a party close to the military won a huge majority of the contested seats in the 2010 election.

Election Commission Chairman Tin Aye told Aung San Suu Kyi recently at a meeting in the capital, Naypyitaw, that the commission would do its best to ensure a free and fair vote in the upcoming by-elections.

At least 48 seats will be contested in April — 40 in the lower house, six in the upper house and two in regional parliaments. These are mainly for seats vacated by lawmakers who became ministers.

The government has also recently reached agreements with some armed ethnic groups to hold elections in the areas they control.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AP

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

South Korean President sets 2012 policy goals on taming inflation, job creation

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ( Photo : Yonhap )

 

SEOUL  — South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Saturday set taming inflation and job creation as two of his top goals for 2012 and vowed to reinforce the national defense posture against the hostility shown by North Korea’s new leadership.

“The government will make its utmost efforts to defend the country under any circumstances and to create jobs and tame inflation,” Lee said in his New Year message.

Entering his final year in office, Lee said he will “put forth every ounce of my energy to make people feel at ease in their livelihoods.” National defense has long been a top priority for South Korea, which shares the world’s most heavily armed border with North Korea.

In his message, Lee didn’t mention the power transition in North Korea following the Dec. 17 death of Kim Jong-il but said “the situation on the Korean Peninsula will be fluid next year.”

While wrapping up its official mourning period for Kim, the North’s powerful National Defense Commission issued a bellicose statement on Friday, threatening not to deal with the Lee government and ruling out any policy changes.

While North Korea publicly declared Kim Jong-un, the designated son of the late leader, to be the regime’s supreme leader, outside experts remain cautious on whether he will be able to consolidate his grip on power. Little is known about the North’s next leader, who is believed to be in his late 20s, and the succession process has been shrouded in secrecy.

Inter-Korean ties are currently at one of their lowest levels in years. In its latest hostilities against South Korea last year, North Korea sank a South Korean warship and attacked a border island with artillery fire, killing a total of 50 South Koreans.

North Korea is expected to outline its policy goals on Sunday in its New Year statement to be carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, state radio and television.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

Bila Perang Gaza 2008 Terulang, “Israel & Hamas Must Be Crazy”

Militan Palestina memeriksa puing-puing yang berserakan di markas latihan mereka akibat serangan udara militer Israel di Jalur Gaza, 29 Desember 2011 ( Foto : Xinhua )

 

Pesan Natal Untuk Benjamin Netanyahu Tentang Perdamaian

Vox Populi Vox Dei Saat HAMAS Berpeluang Menangkan Pemilu Palestina

 

Jakarta, 30 Desember 2011 (KATAKAMI.COM)  —  Dalam seminggu terakhir, terjadi berulang kali serangan militer yang saling bersahut-sahutan antara militer Israel dan sayap militer HAMAS di Jalur Gaza.

HAMAS menyerang.

Lalu militer Israel atau IDF (Israel Defense Force) membalas.

Setelah dibalas, maka HAMAS tetap menyerang.

Lalu, IDF juga menghantam balik.

Dan untuk melampiaskan kekesalan mereka, sayap militer HAMAS membuat plesetan tersendiri untuk Angkatan Udara Israel.

Angkatan Udara Israel atau IAF ( Israel Air Force ) saat ini dipimpin oleh Mayor Jenderal Ido Nehushtan.

Sementara itu, militer Israel secara keseluruhan atau Israel Defense Force (IDF) saat ini dipimpin oleh Letnan Jenderal Benny Gantz.

Oleh HAMAS, nama IDF ataupun IAF,  diplesetkan menjadi IOF atau Israeli Occupation Force (IOF).

Seperti yang dimuat dalam website Brigade Al Qassam, bahwa pesawat-pesawat tempur milik “IOF” telah melakukan serangan udara ke Jalur Gaza pada tanggal 29 Desember 2011 namun tidak ada korban yang jatuh akibat serangan tersebut.

Kalau hari Kamis (29/12/2011) kemarin, serangan udara Israel tidak memakan korban, maka lain lagi ceritanya pada hari Jumat (30/12/2011) ini.

Akibat serangan Angkatan Udara Israel ke Jalur Gaza, satu orang warga Gaza dikabarkan tewas, dan 5 orang lainnya terluka akibat serangan yang dilakukan Jumat (30/12/2011) pagi, seperti yang diberitakan oleh International  Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).

Barangkali, baik HAMAS atau Israel lagi sama-sama hendak melakukan pemanasan menuju perang yang sesungguhnya.

Yang jelas, meningkatnya tensi antara HAMAS dan Israel seminggu terakhir ini, dalam suasana peringatan 3 tahun Perang Gaza yang terjadi tanggal 27 Desember 2008.

 

Kepala Staf IDF (Israel Defense Force) Letnan Jenderal Benny Gantz ikut dalam latihan militer bersama pasukan-pasukannya

 

IDF Chief of Staff: Israel cannot live under the threat of Hamas in Gaza

IDF Chief: Gaza war against Hamas was an ‘excellent’ operation

 

Menandai 3 tahun Perang Gaza, hari Selasa (27/12/2011) lalu Kepala Staf IDF Letnan Jenderal Benny Gantz menyatakan bahwa dari waktu ke waktu, Israel terus menerus mendapatkan serangan roket dari Jalur Gaza.

Saya percaya, kata Gantz, bahwa sebagai sebuah negara, Israel tidak akan bisa hidup dibawah tekanan dari serangan-serangan militer yang dilakukan oleh Hamas.

Benny Gantz menyebutkan bahwa Perang Gaza yang dikenal juga dengan nama Operation Cast Lead adalah sebuah operasi militer yang sangat bagus ( EXCELLENT) yang pernah dilakukan untuk berhadap-hadapan secara langsung dengan HAMAS.

Dan di lain kesempatan pejabat militer Israel yang lain menyebutkan bahwa Israel telah menyiapkan sebuah operasi militer terbaru untuk dilakukan dalam menghadapi kelompok militan HAMAS.

Sementara itu, saat berkunjung ke Kairo hari Selasa (28/12/2011) lalu, Perdana Menteri HAMAS Ismail Haniyeh menyerukan agar Negara-Negara Arab memberikan bantuan dalam melakukan rekontruksi di Jalur Gaza.

Haniyeh juga mendesak Negara-Negara Arab untuk menyelamatkan Israel dan pendudukan Israel. Termasuk membantu agar 6000 orang warga Palestina yang masih mendekam di penjara-penjara Israel.

Peringatan 3 tahun Perang Gaza seakan menjadi semakin seru dengan keluarnya beragam pernyataan yang sama-sama keras dari kedua belah pihak.

Baik Israel, maupun Hamas, sama-sama menyadari betapa besar dan kuatnya pengaruh media, untuk saling menyodok lawan lewat perang “statement”.

 

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (R) speaks to the media with Hamas' Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh after meeting Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum December 29, 2011. REUTERS/ Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

 

Khaled Meshaal: Unity Government needed to end division

PM Ismail Haniyeh calls for Arab-Islamic plan to salvage Jerusalem

 

Pertanyaannya, perlukah Perang Gaza itu diulangi dalam bentuk apapun oleh Hamas dan IDF setelah tragedi itu berlalu 3 tahun lalu ?

Bagi Hamas, Perang Gaza adalah sebuah memori yang sangat pilu tentang sebuah kejahatan kemanusiaan yang menewaskan begitu banyak rakyat Palestina hanya dalam kurun waktu 22 hari.

Tapi bagi Israel, Perang Gaza adalah sebuah bentuk pertahanan diri dan perlawanan untuk menjaga kehormatan serta keamanan negara mereka atas penghinaan yang dilakukan Hamas yang melakukan serangan militer dengan mengirimkan ratusan roket persis di malam Natal (24/12/2008).

Tak akan ada yang mau dipersalahkan atas Perang Gaza tersebut.

Masing-masing pihak mempunyai pembelaan diri tentang apa yang mereka lakukan berdasarkan visi dan misi mereka masing-masing.

Mau sejauh apapun komunitas internasional melakukan inervensi dan penghakiman atas Israel mengenai Perang Gaza tersebut, fakta di lapangan tak bisa dipungkiri yaitu bahwa Israel tak akan melakukan serangan balasan jika negara mereka tak diancam dan diserang.

Namun untuk saat ini, sesungguhnya tak ada alasan bagi Israel dan Hamas untuk mengulangi peperangan itu dalam bentuk apapun.

Betul bahwa dalam banyak kesempatan, Israel memang kerap kali menggunakan kekuatan militer mereka secara berlebihan.

Tetapi, negara manapun didunia ini akan selalu mengandalkan kekuatan militer mereka masing-masing untuk menunjukkan bahwa sebagai sebuah negara adalah wajib hukumnya untuk menjaga kedaulatan dan kehormatan di bidang pertahanan dan keamanan.

Operasi militer yang dilakukan dalam rangka menjaga kedaulatan dan kehormatan dari negara masing-masing adalah sebuah bentuk tanggung-jawab yang wajib dipikul oleh pasukan militer manapun di muka bumi ini.

Sehingga, ekses yang timbul dari pelaksanaan operasi militer itu, tak bisa serta merta dikategorikan sebagai sebuah kejahatan terhadap kemanusiaan.

 

Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, paling kanan, bersama Menteri Pertahanan Ehud Barak dan Kepala Staf IDF Letnan Jenderal Benny Gantz (bertopi merah)

 

Namun dalam konteks Israel, tolak ukur negara yang satu ini dalam melakukan serangan balasan terhadap HAMAS pada tahun 2008 lalu misalnya, memang sangat sulit dipahami oleh akal sehat komunitas internasional.

Tak mungkin Israel tak tahu bahwa penggunaan kekuatan militer yang sangat berlebihan yang mereka lakukan selama ini, selalu mendapat sorotan tajam dan sering menjadi kecaman komunitas internasional.

Itu jugalah yang terjadi saat Angkatan Laut Israel memblokade wilayah perairan mereka, untuk menghalangi iring-iringan kapal Mavi Marmara datang bersama kapal-kapal lainnya dalam misi Freedom Flotilla bulan Mei 2010 lalu.

Berhubung para aktivis Freedom Flotilla tak memperdulikan peringatan Israel untuk tidak memasuki wilayah perairan Israel, maka Pasukan Komando Israel diperintahkan menahan laju kapal-kapal tersebut sehingga menewaskan 9 orang warga negara Turki.

Israel seakan tak perduli.

Sebab sepertinya, setiap ancaman bagi Israel adalah sesuatu yang harus segera ditindak-lanjuti, lewat penggelaran operasi militer yang sesuai dengan prosedur tetap (protap) yang berlaku dalam internal militer mereka.

Tapi jika muncul pertanyaan tentang perlu atau tidaknya Perang Gaza tahun 2008 lalu diulang kembali ?

Maka jawabannya adalah T I D A K.

Baik Hamas, atau Israel, tak perlu mengkondisikan situasi agar suasana memanas dan layak untuk diarahkan ke dalam kerangka pertempuran.

 

Ilustrasi gambar

 

Perang Gaza 2008 itu sungguh tidak layak untuk dijadikan patokan untuk membuat perang-perang baru dalam bentuk apapun.

Pikiranlah konsekuensi dan dampak yang timbul bila operasi-operasi militer sekeras itu diulangi dalam era kekinian.

Mau seberapa banyak lagi korban yang harus berjatuhan ?

Mau seberapa panjang lagi penderitaan yang harus ditimbulkan ?

Dan mau seberapa besar lagi kecaman-kecaman internasional yang harus dikeluarkan untuk merespon perang sedashyat itu ?

Teringat pada sebuah film yang dikenal oleh seluruh dunia tahun 1981 lalu “The Gods Must Be Crazy”.

Judul film ini bisa dipinjam namun perlu diubah sedikit untuk menggambarkan kegilaan Israel dan Hamas bila kedua belah pihak tak bisa dinasehati lagi.

“Israel & Hamas Must Be Crazy !”

Baik Israel dan Hamas, barangkali memang sudah sama-sama GILA, kalau masih terus ingin berperang tanpa berkesudahan.

Terutama HAMAS, untuk apa berbicara dan melakukan semua gerakan-gerakan politik di tingkat atas ( bahkan sampai menempuh kebijakan persatuan atau UNITY dengan pihak Fatah), jika ternyata sayap militer mereka tak bisa dikendalikan ?

Jika menempuh jalur politik dalam melanjutkan perjuangan demi kepentingan rakyatnya, maka misi penting itu harus disterilkan dari hal-hal yang tak berguna atau bahkan yang sangat berlebihan sifatnya.

Misi politik akan mustahil bila terus mau dikawinkan dengan gerakan radikalisme yang mengandung seribu satu macam resiko di lapangan.

Silahkan HAMAS mengisyaratkan bahwa pihaknya belum berencana untuk mengajukan calon tertentu dalam pemilihan umum kepresidenan di Palestina tahun 2012 mendatang.

Tapi fakta yang sudah bergulir, HAMAS sudah memasuki wilayah-wilayah politik yang lebih signifikan sejak mereka memutuskan menyepakati persatuan (UNITY) dengan Pihak Fatah.

Buang waktu (westing time) jika HAMAS justru tidak maksimal dan tidak peka dalam memperjuangkan peluang emas yang bisa mereka dapatkan dapat pemilihan umum di Palestina.

Jika memang ada yang bisa dicalonkan dalam pemilu kepresidenan, kenapa tidak dicalonkan ? Calonkan saja dan silahkan galang kekuatan politik disemua lini dari mulai sekarang.

Untuk bisa melakukan hal lebih baik bagi kepentingan rakyat Palestina, maka KEKUASAAN harus ada di tangan.

Itulah rumusan sangat sederhana yang harus diingat HAMAS dalam melanjutkan misi-misi politik mereka memasuki tahun 2012 nanti.

Jadi, untuk HAMAS dan Israel, tataplah ke depan.

Dan lakukan semua hal yang lebih berguna daripada sekedar mengancam negara lain lewat kiriman-kiriman roket, atau melakukan serangan- serangan balasan yang sangat mematikan.

Terutama Israel, jangan terlalu “emosional” jika hendak melakukan serangan-serangan balasan ke Jalur Gaza. Sebab dampak dari serangan balasan mereka, tak pernah ada yang meleset.

Lokasi yang dituju pasti hancur dan luluh lantak secara mengerikan.

Masing-masing kekuatan militer Israel dan HAMAS, harus dikendalikan sebaik-mungkin.

Tahun 2011 sudah akan berlalu.

Sambutlah tahun baru 2012 dengan semangat perdamaian.

Jadi, singkat kata, untuk Israel dan HAMAS, jangan pada GILA deh lo  !

 

 

(MS)

Haiti leader paves way for new elections

Haitian President Michel Martelly

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  —  Haitian President Michel Martelly fired members of a nine-personelectoral council to make way for legislative and local elections planned for next year, a government official said Friday.

Presidential adviser Damian Merlo said the leader removed the council members through a decree that will allow him to begin the process of naming new members to the provisional electoral councilwho will then pick a date for the vote.

“This is the first step to ensure free and fair elections,” Merlo said by telephone.

According to precedent, the new body will likely be composed of allies.

The earlier provisional electoral council, whose members were appointed by former President Rene Preval, oversaw an election that was marred with fraud and irregularities and almost cost Martelly the presidency.

The former pop star was initially barred from a runoff election, a decision that sparked nearly three days of rioting that shut down the capital.

The Organization of American States determined those results were flawed, and the electoral council dropped a government-backed candidate from the runoff to make room for Martelly.

The upcoming elections will prove critical to the Martelly administration as it tries to jump start reconstruction efforts following a massive earthquake two years ago. Martelly’s Farmers’ Response Party holds no seats in the 30-member Senate and only three in the 99-member Chamber of Deputies.

One third of the Senate will be up for grabs in the planned elections along with mayoral posts for cities nationwide.

The decree came the same day that Martelly’s press office issued a statement saying the “former” members were “invited to submit” to election officials “state assets” still in their possession.  (*)

 

 

SOURCE :  AP

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

US wants 2012 talks for Taliban political office

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in New York. The Obama administration hopes to restore momentum in the spring to U.S. talks with the Taliban insurgency that had reached a critical point before falling apart this month because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration hopes to restore momentum in the spring to U.S. talks with the Talibaninsurgency that had reached a critical point before falling apart this month because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

One goal of renewed talks with the insurgents would be to identify cease-fire zones that could be used as a steppingstone toward a full peace agreement that stops most fighting, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. It is a goal that so far has remained far out of reach.

U.S. officials from the State Department and White House plan to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives in Europe and the Gulf region next year, two officials said, assuming a small group of Taliban emissaries the U.S. considers legitimate remains willing.

The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive and precarious American outreach to the Taliban leadership.

The U.S. outreach this year had fits and starts but had progressed to the point that there was active discussion of two steps the Taliban seeks as precursors to negotiations, the senior U.S. official said. Talks are on an unofficial hiatus at Karzai’s request, U.S. and other officials said.

The trust-building measures under discussion involve a would-be Taliban headquarters office and the release from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of about five Afghan prisoners considered affiliated with the Taliban.

Those steps were to be matched by assurances from at least part of the Taliban leadership that the insurgents would cut ties with al-Qaida, accept the elected civilian government of Afghanistan and bargain in good faith.

The U.S. describes its current Afghan policy as “fight, talk, build,” and maintains that it will not back off the military campaign that has ended Taliban control of key southern areas that had been the movement’s mainstay. The Taliban remains a potent fighting force and has shifted operations to other parts of the country.

Just Friday, for instance, a NATO service member died in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, while allied and Afghan forces killed three senior Taliban figures and captured 11 fighters and sympathizers, according to the alliance.

Although top U.S. military commanders say they cannot kill their way to military victory in Afghanistan, targeted raids on Taliban operatives are one of the tactical success stories of President Barack Obama’s shift in strategy that favors counter-terrorism tactics.

The longer-term strategic effect of those tactics is less clear; nighttime kill-and-capture raids, in which a number of civilians have died, have become a flashpoint for anger over foreign meddling in Afghanistan. Karzai has demanded that foreign troops stop breaking into homes.

The U.S. administration wants to use its current extensive military campaign and an acknowledged but incomplete plan for a long-term American military presence in Afghanistan as leverage to draw the Taliban to talks with Karzai’s representatives.

The gradual process of handing over areas of the country to Afghan security control would ideally be marshaled toward encouraging peace talks, by identifying areas where a test cease-fire could be tried, the official said.

More generally, the U.S. is trying to unify disparate elements of its strategy in Afghanistan after 10 tiring years of war and with an eye on the NATO deadline to withdraw combat forces by the end of 2014.

The likelihood that the Taliban insurgency continues as a fighting force after most foreign forces leave is driving the U.S. and NATO to seek even an incomplete bargain with the insurgents that would keep them talking with the Kabul government.

The U.S. goal is to midwife talks between the insurgents and the U.S.-backed Afghan government led by Karzai, who frequently has felt sidelined by the U.S. as it pursues talks with his enemies. He bills peace talks as an Afghan-led process, which the U.S. insists is also its goal. The U.S. outreach is meant to jump-start negotiations, U.S. officials have said, but they acknowledge that their efforts can feed the perception that Karzai is not fully in charge.

Although the Karzai government shares the goal of outreach and eventual political reconciliation with the Afghan Taliban movement, he resents the insurgents’ demand only to speak with what they call American occupiers. He has argued that the U.S. undercuts his leverage, and his inner circle derailed initial U.S.-Taliban talks earlier this year, several officials previously told the AP.

With Obama planning to host a large NATO summit in his hometown of Chicago in May, the administration would like some good news to announce.

Short of a clear military turning point in a war that is still stalemated in many areas, the summit is likely to focus on efforts to shore up the country while encouraging a political settlement with the Taliban.

One hope for the summit is a more coherent statement of how the military campaign is related to the effort to hand over areas of the country to Afghan control, the long-term U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Taliban reconciliation, the senior U.S. official said.

The Taliban headquarters office idea is seen the most likely to regain traction ahead of the summit, but it is unclear when it might open. A political office in a neutral third country would be authorized to conduct talks on a peaceful end to the 10-year war.

Karzai remains opposed to the more difficult prisoner transfer plan, which is further complicated by new congressional restrictions on any prisoner transfers. The U.S. tentatively had agreed to transfer a handful of Afghan prisoners to house arrest in a third country, probably Qatar, before the deal unraveled, U.S. officials said.

The Associated Press has learned the identity of some of the proposed transferees, including Khairullah Khairkhwa, former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mullah Mohammed Fazl, a former top Taliban military commander believed responsible for sectarian killings before the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001.

Karzai’s own advisers seeking peace with the Taliban had named those men among several Afghan Taliban prisoners it wanted released from Guantanamo as a goodwill gesture, but Karzai wants the prisoners to come to Afghanistan, not a third country, a senior Afghan official in the region said.

Sending Afghans to an Arab country could offend Afghans’ sense of sovereignty and suggest that the U.S. does not think Afghanistan is fit to hold or try the men, officials said.

“As soon as I was released, I met President Karzai and he promised that he would not allow Afghan prisoners to be sent anywhere except Afghanistan,” said Haji Ruhollah, an Afghan who was released from Guantanamo in 2010. “They are all Afghans and they should be brought and kept in Afghanistan.”

U.S. and Afghan officials also pointed to Karzai’s longstanding unease with what he sees as a rush by the U.S. to broker deals ahead of the planned exit of U.S. combat forces

Karzai has political problems at home, including newly resurgent militias, and the assassination of his chief peace negotiator in September clouds his own outreach to the Taliban.

The U.S. once swore off direct talks with the Taliban until the insurgents essentially were beaten but shifted position as the war dragged on near stalemate. Participants said they still consider a peace deal a long shot, and the insurgent leadership has shown no sign that it wants to stop fighting a guerrilla war it thinks it can sustain until after most foreign forces depart.

The Associated Press is not identifying U.S. officials involved in the direct talks, in consideration for their safety. One member of the Taliban negotiating team has been publicly identified as Tayyab Aga, an emissary of Pakistan-based Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Other participants include a former Taliban ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a former Taliban deputy health minister, the senior Afghan official said.

Karzai has supported the general idea of an office, preferably in Afghanistan, but he balked when the plan for Qatar appeared to have been settled without him, officials said. Earlier this month, Kabul recalled its ambassador to Qatar for consultations over reports that the Taliban was planning to open an office there.

On Tuesday, Karzai backed down. He said his government would accept the Qatar office to hold peace talks, although Saudi Arabia or Turkey would be preferable venues.  (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AP

Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

David Petraeus Almost Resigned Over Obama’s Decision To Withdraw Surge Forces From Afghanistan, New Book Claims

All In: The Education of General David Petraeus

 

WASHINGTON — Four-star general-turned-CIA director David Petraeus was urged to resign as Afghanistan war commander over President Barack Obama’s decision to quickly draw down surge forces, according to a new insider’s look at Petraeus’ 37-year Army career.

Conservative writer Max Boot had urged he take that course of action, but Petraeus decided that resigning would be a “selfish, grandstanding move with huge political ramifications” and that now was “time to salute and carry on,” according to a forthcoming biography.

“Director Petraeus has publicly stated that he never contemplated resignation,” CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said Thursday.

Author and Petraeus confidante Paula Broadwell had extensive access to the general in Afghanistan and Washington for “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” due from Penguin Press in January.

The Associated Press was given an advance copy.

The account traces Petraeus’ career from West Point cadet to his command of two wars deemed unwinnable: Iraq and Afghanistan. Co-authored with The Washington Post’s Vernon Loeb, the nearly 400-page biography is part history lesson through Petraeus’ eyes, part hagiography and part defense of the counterinsurgency strategy he applied in both wars.

Critics of counterinsurgency argue the strategy has not yet proved a success, with violence spiking in Iraq after the departure of U.S. troops, and Afghan local forces deemed ill-prepared to take over by the 2014 deadline.

The book unapologetically casts Petraeus in the hero’s role, as in this description of the Afghanistan campaign: “There was a new strategic force released on Kabul: Petraeus’ will.”

Broadwell does acknowledge that Petraeus rubs some people the wrong way.

“His critics fault him for ambition and self-promotion,” she writes. But she adds that “his energy, optimism and will to win stand out more for me.”

The book also is peppered with Petraeus quotes that sound like olive branches meant to soothe Obama aides who feared Petraeus would challenge their boss for the White House.

“Petraeus tried to make clear that he and Obama were in synch,” Broadwell writes of Petraeus’ Senate testimony on the Afghan war.

The book describes Petraeus’ frustration at still being labeled an outsider from the Obama administration, even as he retired from the military at Obama’s request before taking the job last summer as the CIA’s 20th director.

The book depicts Petraeus’ rise at an unrelenting, near-superhuman pace. He starts his career as a fiercely competitive West Point cadet known as “Peaches,” where he famously wooed the school superintendent’s daughter, Holly Knowlton. He went on to command the 101st Airborne Division as part of the invasion of Iraq, then masterminded the rewrite of the Army and Marine Corps’ counterinsurgency training manual before returning to command the surge in Baghdad. He was then appointed to head Central Command, overseeing the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as military affairs across much of the Gulf and the Mideast.

He accepted a cut in authority and pay to lead the Afghanistan war campaign when Gen. Stanley McChrystal was forced to resign after a Rolling Stone article that “scorched the general (McChrystal) and his aides, caricaturing them as testosterone-addled frat boys as they insulted Obama” and other officials, Broadwell writes.

She describes how Petraeus’ first act was to lift McChrystal’s restrictions on the use of force – especially on airstrikes – if civilians were nearby.

“There is no question about our commitment to reducing civilian loss of life,” Petraeus told his staff. There was, however, “a clear moral imperative to make sure we are fully supporting our troops in combat.”

Broadwell adds that the problem, according to Petraeus, was less McChrystal’s order than how it was even more strictly re-interpreted by lower commanders.

In her account, Petraeus also faults McChrystal for overpromising and underdelivering in places like Taliban-riddled Marjah in the south, producing months of embarrassing headlines that hurt the war effort back in Washington.

But the book also includes Petraeus’ own Rolling Stone-esque moment, when he was quoted badmouthing the White House in Bob Woodward’s latest book, “Obama’s Wars.” A frustrated Petraeus is described as telling his inner circle, on a flight after a glass of wine, that “the administration was (expletive) with the wrong guy.”

“Petraeus later expressed his displeasure to all of them for betraying his confidence,” Broadwell wrote. “But he knew he was ultimately responsible for making the intemperate remark,” a candid admission, through Broadwell, of his lapse in judgment.

He also concedes the Afghan war is not yet won.

“He had wanted to hand (Marine Corps Gen. John) Allen … a war that had taken a decisive turn,” Broadwell writes of what had been Petraeus’ goal for his successor. “He knew that, despite the hard-fought progress, that wasn’t yet the case.”

Yet that admission also presents a get-out clause when combined with the book’s account that he considered resigning over the rapid drawdown of troops, neatly removing Petraeus from responsibility if the war goes wrong.

And the account does nothing to puncture the mythology his troops built up around him, something an early mentor, retired Gen. Jack Galvin, told Petraeus to embrace.

“They want you to be bigger than you are, so they magnify you,” Galvin said in an interview with Broadwell. “Live up to it all with the highest standards of integrity. You become part of a legend.”

“All In” fits neatly into that.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : Huffington Post
Posted Saturday, December 31, 2011

US Congress frees up $40 million for Palestinians

 

The US State Department said Congress has released $40 million in aid to the Palestinians, part of the nearly $200 million that was frozen over their bid for full UN recognition.

“We have been working with Congress for some time, because we don’t think it’s in US national interests to keep this money frozen,”State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters, saying US diplomats were “gratified” by the move.

The monies, provided through the Economic Support Fund, are targeted for economic and humanitarian support.

“We will continue to work with Congress when they come back in session to secure additional funding for these programs, because we think they’re important,” Nuland said.

“We think they aid in stability and security and development for the Palestinian people. That’s in our interest, it’s in their interest and we believe it’s also in Israel’s interest.”

In November, officials said US lawmakers lifted a hold on nearly $200 million in aid to the Palestinians, mainly money for the police force, that had been suspended in response to the Palestinian bid for full UN membership.

However, officials also said lawmakers were maintaining a block on some $192 million in aid for infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, and the Fatah-controlled West Bank.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Congress in October to preserve the aid to the Palestinian Authority, warning that Hamas militants could otherwise try to fill the void.

During the UN General Assembly in September, the Palestinians launched a bid for full UN membership. They need nine votes out of 15 in the Security Council, but the United States has made clear that it would veto the bid.

The Unites States and Israel insist the only route to Palestinian statehood is through direct negotiations with Israel.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has said efforts were continuing to gain full UN membership and admission to other international institutions.  (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Friday, December 30, 2011

South Korean, U.S. Defense Ministers say North Korea power transition stable

(File) : Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin speak at a joint press conference in Seoul on October 28, 2011. The U.S. and South Korean defence chiefs vowed to raise combat readiness near the disputed sea border with North Korea.

 

SEOUL  —  Defense ministers of South Korea and the United States stated on Friday that North Korea’s latest father-to-son power transition has been stable to date, the South Korean defense ministry said.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta shared the view in a telephone conversation to discuss political situations on the Korean Peninsula after the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and ways to coordinate policies of the two countries, the ministry said.

During the 20-minute-long talk that began at 9 a.m., the defense ministers agreed to continue the countries’ heightened level of surveillance against the North to closely monitor the communist regime’s internal developments, it said.

They notably shared the opinion that it is important to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula based on a firm alliance between the nations, the ministry said.

It was their second telephone conversation following the first on Dec. 20, a day after the North announced Kim’s death.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

Posted Friday, December 30, 2011

Photostream : Light painting signs of “2012″ greet coming New Year

The light painting photo taken on Dec. 26, 2011 in front of the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, China, shows the sign of "2012", to greet the coming New Year. (Photo : Xinhua/Chen Duo)

The light painting photo taken on Dec. 29, 2011 in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, shows the sign of "2012", to greet the coming New Year. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

The light painting photo taken on Dec. 29, 2011 in front of the Parliament Buildings in London, Britain, shows the sign of "2012", to greet the coming New Year. (Xinhua/Zeng Yi)

The light painting photo taken on Dec. 29, 2011 in front of the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium, shows the sign of "2012", to greet the coming New Year. (Xinhua/Zhou Lei)

 

North Koreans vow allegiance to new ‘supreme’ leader Kim Jong-un

North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un looks on, as he is flanked by President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea Kim Yong-nam (R) and Chief of General Staff of the Korea People's Army Ri Yong-ho (L), during the memorial for late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, in this still image taken from video December 29, 2011. North Korea's military staged a huge funeral procession on Wednesday in the snowy streets of the capital Pyongyang for its deceased "dear leader," Kim Jong-il, readying a transition to his son, Kim Jong-un. REUTERS/KRT via Reuters TV

 

SEOUL  —  North Korean officials pledged allegiance to their new leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday in a solemn memorial service for Kim’s late father Kim Jong-il.

Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s octogenarian ceremonial head of state, lauded Kim Jong-un who is in his late 20s as “the supreme leader of our party and army and people,” claiming the successor fully personified the ideas, leadership, personality, virtues, grit and courage of his late father.

“We will turn sorrow into thousand-fold strength and courage, and tide over the present difficulties,” Kim Yong-nam told tens of thousands of troops in Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang.

He also vowed to build “a thriving socialist nation,” by “holding Kim Jong-un in high esteem as another General and supreme leader.”

North Korea, one of the poorest countries in the world, has vowed to build a prosperous nation by next year, the centennial of the birth of late Kim’s father, the country’s late founder Kim Il-sung.

The memorial service is an official proclamation that Kim Jong-un will lead the communist country through the political and diplomatic challenges of the crucial transition period.

The new leader had been groomed to succeed his father as the country’s next leader only since his father suffered a stroke in 2008. The junior Kim made his public debut last year when he was named a four-star general and vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party.

Kim Jong-gak, a top military officer, told the packed audience in the square in cold weather that the country’s 1.1 million soldiers “will safeguard comrade Kim Jong-un with their lives.”

Winning support from the military, which served as a key backbone of the late Kim’s totalitarian rule, is seen as key for the young leader in consolidating his power.

Kim Jong-un, wearing a black coat, did not make any public comment as he watched the somber memorial service for his father, who was reported to have died suddenly of heart failure on Dec. 17.

The young leader, flanked by key party and military officials, observed three minutes’ silence along with the troops packed into the square, as soldiers fired volleys in memory of his father.

“Locomotives and ships also blew whistles and those units with sirens sounded them all at once,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The memorial service came a day after North Koreans paid an emotional tribute to the late Kim. His body lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, home to the embalmed body of his father and North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

Posted Thursday, Wednesday 29, 2011

Photostream : Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh visits Sudan

Palestinian Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya arrives at Khartoum's international airport on December 27, 2011, to attend a conference on Jerusalem on his first regional tour since the Islamist movement took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. AFP PHOTO/EBRAHIM HAMID

Sudanese Secretary General of the ruling National Congress Ibrahim Ahmed Omar (L) greets Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya on December 27, 2011, upon his arrival at Khartoum's international airport to attend a conference on Jerusalem on his first regional tour since the Islamist movement took over Gaza in 2007. AFP PHOTO/EBRAHIM HAMID

Palestinian Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya (top L) is received by Sudanese officials upon his arrival at Khartoum's international airport on December 27, 2011, to attend a conference on Jerusalem on his first regional tour since the Islamist movement took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. AFP PHOTO/EBRAHIM HAMID

Israel plans tourism centre, homes in east Jerusalem

Jerusalem city council on Wednesday backed plans for a large tourism complex in the heart of a flashpoint neighbourhood of Arab east Jerusalem, a city councillor told AFP. (AFP Photo/Awad Awad)

 

JERUSALEM  —  Israel on Wednesday approved plans for a large tourism complex in the heart of Arab east Jerusalem and another 130 homes for Jews elsewhere in the Holy City’s annexed eastern sector, an official said.

Both new construction plans were rubber-stamped at a meeting of Jerusalem city council’s district planning committee, angering thePalestinians.

The new tourism venture will be built in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Silwan, which lies just south of Jerusalem’s Old City.

“The municipality authorised construction of a tourist complex that includes 250 parking spaces, an archaeological park, an events hall and a library,” city councillor Pepe Alalu of the left-wing Meretz party told AFP.

The project is to be built on a plot of land currently being used as a car park opposite the Dung Gate, the main entrance to the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

It would be managed by Elad, a hardline settler organisation which seeks to increase Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem and which runs the nearby archaeological site at David’s City.

“Jerusalem municipality attaches great importance to the development of this tourism and archaeology site in David’s City,” municipal spokesman Stephan Miller told AFP.

“The plans which were presented to the city council will allow for the establishment of visitors’ centres, exhibition centres, a conference hall and other facilities which will allow the most important archaeological finds discovered at the site to be put on display,” he said.

But local Palestinian activists lashed out at the move, saying the 8,400 square metre project (90,400 square feet), was another step in Israel’s plans to take over their neighbourhood.

“This project aims to promote settler tourism and religious tourism,” said Fakhri Abu Diab, head of the Silwan Defence Committee, who said the city had confiscated local land for the project.

“This complex will change the character of the area and will emphasise the idea that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people — because it is a political project too,” he charged.

The complex would be a multi-storey affair which would be higher than the Old City walls and would in some places block Silwan’s view of the walled Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Silwan is part of the so-called Holy Basin around the Old City and believed to be the site of ancient Jerusalem during the time of the biblical kings David and Solomon.

The densely populated neighbourhood, which is built on the steep hillsides of the Kidron Valley, has seen regular clashes between locals and a 400-strong community of hardline Jewish settlers living in their midst.

Earlier on Wednesday, city councillors had approved plans for another 130 housing units in Gilo, a settlement neighbourhood which lies close to Bethlehem, Meretz’s Alalu said.

“An agreement has been reached for construction of 130 apartments in three towers of 12 storeys each,” he told AFP, saying construction was likely to begin “in about three years.”

Wednesday’s approval did little to improve the mood between Israel and the Palestinians, who have not sat down for face-to-face talks for more than a year after direct negotiations collapsed following a dispute over settlements.

“I guess this is the New Year message that the government of Israel is sending us for 2012: ‘We will continue destroying the peace process and killing the two-state solution through continuing and escalating settlement activity,’” remarked Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.

 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

 

On November 1, Israel’s inner cabinet decided to speed up construction of homes for Jews in Arab east Jerusalem and in other nearby settlements to punish the Palestinians for winning membership in the UN cultural agency, UNESCO.

Since then, Israel has issued announcements for 2,057 new homes in Arab east Jerusalem and 1,241 in the West Bank, official figures show.

At least 200,000 Israelis live in a dozen settlement neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967 and annexed in a move never recognised internationally.

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state and oppose any attempts to extend Israel’s control over the part of the city that was captured in the 1967 Six Day War.

Israel considers the whole of Jerusalem its “eternal and indivisible” capital.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2011

Indonesia supports Myanmar’s democratization

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (R) meets with the press following her meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa at her house in Yangon on December 28, 2011. AFP PHOTO / Soe Than Win

 

YANGON, Burma/Myanmar   —  Indonesia’s foreign minister says his country is a forefront partner in Burma’s current democratization process.

Marty Natelegawa said Indonesia can help Burma strengthen its democratization efforts in the same way his country has the past decade. He spoke Wednesday after meeting his counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin and later pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Natelegawa said Burma’s government has committed to genuine peace talks with ethnic groups, free and fair elections and to release more political prisoners.

He said Indonesia can help ensure the “irreversibility in the democratization process” taking hold in Burma.

He added the countries agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and ways to increase trade, which reached $300 million this year.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AP

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2011

North Korea holds memorial service for late leader Kim Jong-il

In this image made from KRT video, North Koreans bow as they take a moment of silence during a memorial service for late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il's son and successor, was declared "supreme leader" of North Korea's ruling party, military and the people during a memorial Thursday for his father in the first public endorsement of his leadership by the government. (AP Photo/KRT via APTN)

 

SEOUL  —  North Korea began a nation-wide memorial service for Kim Jong-il on Thursday as the final event in the official mourning period for the late leader, who ruled the communist country with an iron fist.

North Korea plans to fire rifle volleys in Pyongyang and other major cities at noon, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency has reported.

“All the people will observe three minutes’ silence and all locomotives and ships will blow their whistles and those units with sirens will sound them all at once,” the agency said in an earlier dispatch.

The memorial service comes a day after North Koreans paid an emotional tribute to Kim, who was reported to have died suddenly of heart failure on Dec. 17 at the age of 69.

Kim’s body lies in state at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, where the embalmed body of his father and North Korea founder Kim Il-sung also rests.

The memorial service is an official proclamation that Kim’s youngest son, Kim Jong-un, will lead the country through the political and diplomatic challenges of the crucial transition period.

The new leader in his late 20s had been groomed to succeed his father as the country’s next leader only since his father suffered a stroke in 2008. The junior Kim made his public debut last year when he was named a four-star general and vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party.

North Korea has urged its people to faithfully follow the new leader, calling him “an outstanding leader and a great sun.”  (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2011

North Korea calls Kim Jong Un ‘supreme leader’

In this image made from KRT video, North Korea's next leader Kim Jong Un, 2nd left, and ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam, center, attend a memorial service for late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/KRT via APTN)

 

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea declared Kim Jong Il’s son and successor “supreme leader” of the ruling party, military and the people during a memorial Thursday for his father in the government’s first public endorsement of his leadership.

Kim Jong Un — head bowed and somber in a dark overcoat — stood watching from a balcony at the Grand People’s Study House overlooking Kim Il Sung Square, flanked by the top party and military officials. Also on the balcony was Kim Jong Il’s younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, who is expected to play a guardian role for her young nephew.

Given Kim Jong Un’s inexperience and age — he is in his late 20s — there are questions outside North Korea about whether he is equipped to lead a nation engaged in sensitive negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.

But support among North Korea’s power brokers was unequivocal at the memorial service, attended by hundreds of thousands of people filling Kim Il Sung Square and other plazas in central Pyongyang.

“The fact that he completely resolved the succession matter is Great Comrade Kim Jong Il’s most noble achievement,” Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, told the massive audience at the Kim Il Sung Square.

“Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is our party, military and country’s supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong Il’s ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage,” said Kim, considered North Korea’s ceremonial head of state.

Life in Pyongyang came to a standstill as mourners packed the plaza from the Grand People’s Study to the Taedong River for the second day of funeral ceremonies for the late leader.

Kim Jong Il, who led his 24 million people with absolute power for 17 years, died of a heart attack Dec. 17 at age 69, according to state media. He inherited power from his father, North Korea founderKim Il Sung, who died of a heart attack in 1994, in what was the communist world’s first hereditary succession.

Attention turned to Kim Jong Un after he was revealed last year as his father’s choice among three sons to carry the Kim dynasty into a third generation.

The process to groom him was rushed compared to the 20 years Kim Jong Il had to prepare to take over from his father, and relied heavily on Kim family legacy as guerrilla fighters and the nation’s founders.

Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general last year and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party. Since his father’s death, state media have bestowed on him a series of new titles signifying that his succession campaign was gaining momentum: Great Successor, Supreme Leader and Sagacious Leader.

Kim Jong Un’s leadership is not expected to become formal until top party, parliamentary and government representatives convene to confirm his ascension.

He is expected to formally assume command of the 1.2 million-strong military, and become general secretary of the Workers’ Party and chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission, said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University in South Korea.

In a speech during the memorial, Gen. Kim Jong Gak, a top political officer in the Korean People’s Army, said the military will dedicate itself to protecting Kim Jong Un, calling him the “supreme leader of our revolutionary armed forces.”

This week’s events have been watched closely for clues to who in the military and Workers’ Party will form Kim’s inner circle of trusted aides during the sensitive transition to leadership.

During the mourning period, Kim made at least five visits to his father’s begonia-bedecked bier when the late leader was lying in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, accompanied at times by the old guard that is expected to support him.

At Wednesday’s funeral procession, he was accompanied by Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il’s brother-in-law and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, who has family ties to the military and is expected to be crucial in giving his nephew guidance.

On Thursday, North Koreans packed the main square as well as the plaza in front of a Workers’ Party monument of a hammer, sickle and writing brush.

They bowed their heads as eight artillery guns fired; military officers removed their hats while the booms resonated across the square.

North Korea’s senior officials, including Kim Jong Il’s sister, Kim Kyong Hui, stood in silence on the platform during the gun salute.

Workers, citizens, children and soldiers across the country then bowed for three minutes of tribute to Kim Jong Il as trains and boats blew their sirens.

State TV showed people lined up neatly in rows, or outside their places of work, on sidewalks, in squares, beneath giant portraits of Kim Jong Il.

His two other sons, Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Chol, were not spotted at either the funeral or memorial.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AP

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2011