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UN Chief calls for broad global talks on Syria crisis

UN chief Ban Ki-moon holds a press conference during a visit to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) headquarters in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah. Ban has called for broad international talks on the rising Syrian crisis, urging Security Council members to consider Arab League demands for stronger UN action in the strife-torn country. (AFP Photo/Amer Hilabi)

 

 

(AP)   —  UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Sunday for broad international talks on the rising Syrian crisis, urging Security Council members to consider Arab League demands for stronger UN action in the strife-torn country.

“Our priority at this time is to help the Syrian people…I want to welcome a wider international discussion on the future course of actions,” Ban told reporters after a meeting with Organisation of Islamic Cooperation chief, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

Ban said he had “taken note” of Arab League calls for more peace monitors on the ground in Syria and “setting a certain time limit” for implementing international envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point Syria peace plan.

“All these are very important recommendations and I hope that these will be discussed by the Security Council members,” he said, adding that the UN and OIC will “do all what we can in close coordination…to support (Annan’s) efforts.”

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, who heads the Arab League Syria committee said on Saturday that it was “unacceptable that massacres and bloodshed continue while (Annan’s) mission is ongoing indefinitely.”

Speaking during a meeting attended by Annan in Doha, he said the Arab League “demand the UN Security Council refer (the peace plan) to Chapter VII so that the international community could assume responsibilities.”

Chapter VII outlines action the Security Council might take, including military force, in response to threats to international peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression.

Up to 300 unarmed UN military observers have deployed in Syria since a putative ceasefire brokered by Annan went into effect in April.

The plan calls for a halt to violence, daily two-hour humanitarian truce, media access to areas of fighting, the launching of a political dialogue, the right to demonstrate and the release of detainees.

OIC chief Ihsanoglu, meanwhile, said that new clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian regime gunmen in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli are a “dangerous development.”

“Lebanon has a long history with civil war…and I hope it doesn’t slide back” into it, Ihsanoglu told reporters after his meeting with Ban.

“That is why we say that the conflict and killing in Syria must stop,” he added.

The violence in Tripoli has left 14 people dead and 48 wounded since Saturday, according to a security official.

The talks came ahead of the second advisory meeting of the United Nations Counter-terrorism Centre, established in late 2011 to support the implementation of the UN’s counter-terrorism strategies.

Saudi Arabia has pledged $10 million over three years to support the centre.  (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Sunday, June 3, 2012

Bashar Al Assad Berlindung Dibalik Putin Power Versus Obama Power

Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin dan Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama

 

 Putin: Russia not ‘propping up’ Syrian regime

Merkel, Putin call for ‘political’ solution in Syria

 

Jakarta, 3 Juni 2012 (KATAKAMI.COM)   —  Semakin memburuknya situasi di Suriah (Syria), terutama terjadinya pembunuhan massal, membuat Dewan Hak Asasi Manusia di Perserikatan Bangsa Bangsa (PBB) pun telah mengutuk tragedi di Houla yang menewaskan lebih dari seratus orang pada pekan lalu.

Seperti yang diberitakan Al Jazeera (2/6/2012), Komisi Hak Asasi Manusia Perserikatan Bangsa Bangsa (PBB) scara remi mengecam Suriah atas terjadinya tragedi pembantaian di Houla dan menyerukan penyelidikan PBB untuk mengidentifikasi pelaku dan mengumpulkan bukti untuk bisa segera melakukan tuntutan pidana.

Sebanyak 47-anggota Komisi HAM PBB, mengadakan sidang darurat di Jenewa pada hari Jumat (2/6/2012), untuk bisa mengadopsi sebuah resolusi dengan perolehan suara sebanyak 41 negara mendukung) dan 3 melawan – diantaranya Cina dan Rusia.

Awal pekan ini, seperti yang dikutip dari Republika Online (29/5/2012), Rusia mengatakan bahwa pemerintah Suriah dan oposisi bertanggung jawab atas pembantaian yang menewaskan 108 orang di Houla, Suriah.

“Di sini kita menghadapi situasi dimana kedua belah pihak bertanggung jawab atas kematian warga,” kata Menteri Luar Negeri Rusia, Sergei Lavrov, Senin (28/5) saat menggelar konferensi pers bersama Menlu Inggris, William Hague.

Pada pertemuan itu, Rusia dan Inggris sepakat bahwa rencana perdamaian utusan Liga Arab dan PBB, Kofi Annan, adalah satu-satunya harapan menyelesaikan krisis di Suriah.

Rusia mengkritik negara-negara yang mengatakan tidak ada solusi di Suriah selain penurunan kekuasaan.

Lavrov juga mengatakan bahwa Alqaidah berperan atas pembantaian di Suriah.

Dan pernyataan terbaru dari Rusia, disampaikan oleh Presiden Vladimir Putin saat berkunjung ke Jerman hari Jumat (2/5/2012) bahwa solusi politik adalah solusi yang terbaik untuk menyelesaikan masalah di Suriah.

 

Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama

 

(BBC)  AS: Kebijakan Rusia berpotensi picu perang saudara Suriah

PBB kecam ‘kekejaman’ di Suriah

 
Bentrokan-bentrokan di seluruh Suriah masih terus berlangsung meskipun telah berlaku gencatan senjata 12 April yang ditengahi oleh utusan PBB-Liga Arab Kofi Annan.

Lebih dari 12.000 orang, sebagian besar warga sipil, tewas sejak pemberontakan terhadap Presiden Suriah Bashar al-Assad dimulai pada Maret 2011, termasuk lebih dari 900 orang tewas sejak gencatan senjata mulai berlaku, kata para aktivis hak asasi manusia.

Amerika sendiri tampaknya tak senang pada kecenderungan Suriah berlindung di balik Rusia.

Seperti yang diberitakan BBC Jumat (2/6/2012), Menteri Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat Hillary Clinton mengatakan bahwa kebijakan Rusia akan membantu potensi terjadinya perang saudara di Suriah.

“Rusia mengatakan kepada saya bahwa mereka tidak menginginkan perang saudara. Saya sudah mengatakan kepada mereka bahwa kebijakan mereka akan membantu timbulnya perang saudara,” kata Hillary Clinton.

Menlu Amerika Serikat mengatakan hal itu di hadapan para mahasiswa Denmark di Copenhagen hari Kamis (31/5/2012).

Pernyataan itu disampaikan setelah Rusia dan Cina kembali menyuarakan penentangan terhadap tindakan lebih tegas Dewan Keamanan PBB.

Menurut Clinton, sejauh ini tidak ada dukungan internasional yang cukup karena Rusia dan Cina menentang aksi Dewan Keamanan dan telah dua kali memveto resolusi mengenai Suriah.

“Banyak pihak berusaha memikirkan campur tangan seperti apa yang bisa efektif yang tidak akan memakan korban lebih besar dan penderitaan lebih lanjut,” jelasnya.

Presiden Barack Obama juga sudah lebih dahulu mengkritik situasi di Suriah saat menghadiri KTT NATO di Camp David.

Obama secara tegas dan keras mengatakan bahwa Kelompok G8 – termasuk Rusia – sepakat bahwa proses politik di Suriah harus bergerak maju dalam waktu yang telah ditentukan.

“Kami melakukan diskusi tentang Suriah, kita semua percaya bahwa resolusi damai dan transisi politik di Suriah adalah lebih baik,” kata Obama, yang diapit para pemimpin negara-negara industri Kelompok Delapan (G8) pada pertemuan puncak Camp David.

“Kami semua sangat prihatin tentang kekerasan yang sedang terjadi di sana, hilangnya nyawa,” kata Obama.

 

Perdana Menteri Rusia Vladimir Putin, didampingi Presiden Dmitry Medvedev, berbicara kepada pendukungnya saat Putin berhasil menang dalam pemilihan umum kepresidenan, 4 Maret 2012

 

Suriah, harus diingatkan secara khusus tentang kecenderungan mereka berlindung di balik Rusia.

Dari perjalanan waktu, Rusia (termasuk Cina) secara tegas menentang semua bentuk intervensi asing dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan di Suriah.

Tetapi, semua pihak harus bijaksana dalam memandang permasalahan ini.

Jika saat ini seluruh dunia sedang menyoroti masalah Suriah, maka otomatis seluruh duniapun saat ini akan memandang pada satu sosok yang sangat penting perananannya yaitu Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin.

Putin, adalah sosok yang sangat menentukan berhasil atau tidaknya utusan khusus PBB Kofi Annan dalam menyelesaikan konflik di Suriah.

Putin, yang kembali menjadi Presiden (didampingi Dmitry Medvedev sebagai Perdana Menteri), punya kekuatan atau POWER yang tak akan bisa dipandang enteng oleh kekuatan dunia manapun.

Putin menang secara demokratis di negaranya dan ia tetap mempercayai sejumlah menteri-menteri penting yang dianggapnya loyal dan profesional selama ini.

Dua diantaranya adalah Menteri Pertahanan Anatoly Serdyukov dan Menteri Luar Negeri Sergei Lavrov.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin lahir pada tanggal 7 Oktober 1952 di St Petersburg yang pada saat itu dikenal dengan nama Leningrad.

Putin sebagai anak tunggal karena kedua saudaranya meninggal ketika masih kecil.

Ketika masa muda, Putin sering dipanggil Putka. Ayahnya, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, adalah karyawan lepas dari sebuah pabrik dan meninggal pada bulan Agustus 1999. Ibunya Maria Ivanovna Putina, meninggal 6 bulan lebih awal.

Putin memiliki keterampilan dalam bela diri khususnya sambo (bela diri ala Rusia) dan judo.

Putin menikahi Lyudmila pada tahun 1978 dan memiliki dua anak Katya (1985) dan Masha (1986). Kedua duanya lahir di Dresden, Jerman.

 

Presiden Rusia Dmitry Medvedev berjalan bersama Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama di Washington, 24 Juni 2010.

 

Sebagai salah seorang pemimpin dunia yang sangat POWERFUL di era kekinian, Putin sungguh sangat penting posisinya dalam menyelesaikan masalah Suriah.

Barangkali ia memang masih menyimpan kemarahan yang sangat dalam saat Amerika mengkritik beberapa kali peluang Putin untuk maju dan menang dalam pemilihan umum kepresidenan di Rusia.

Putin memutuskan untuk tidak hadir pada KTT NATO di Camp David yang diselenggarakan oleh Amerika Serikat.

Putin mengutus Perdana Menteri Dmitry Medvedev untuk hadir di NATO Summit.

Tampaknya ada “perang dingin” dan jarak yang membentang cukup jauh antara Rusia dan Amerika pasca kemenangan Putin yang sangat gemilang.

Tetapi dengan segala respek dan hormat, ada baiknya Putin diminta untuk melembutkan hatinya dan menyadari sepenuhnya bahwa begitu besar harapan dunia kepada dirinya untuk menjadi tonggak penyelesaian yang terbaik dalam masalah Suriah.

Lupakan segala ketidaksenangan dan ketidak-nyaman atas kebijakan-kebijakan politik yang dibuat pemerintahan Obama selama ini, yang barangkali memang dianggap tak sejalan dan tak satu suara dengan kebijakan-kebijakan politik Rusia.

Tapi Putin tak bisa menampik harapan dari begitu banyak pemimpin dunia dan komunitas internasional bahwa dibutuhkan perubahan yang sangat signifikan dalam waktu yang secepat-cepatnya di Suriah.

Artinya, Presiden Bashar Al Assad jangan lagi berlindung di balik kebaikan hati Rusia dibawah kepemimpinan Putin sebab Rusia sudah menyatakan berkali-kali bahwa Rusia sangat MENENTANG semua bentuk pembunuhan massal dan pertumpahan darah yang terus menerus terjadi Suriah.

Sudah saatnya semua pertumpahan darah dan pembunuhan massal di Suriah dihentikan.

Rusia, terutama Presiden Putin, dibutuhkan oleh komunitas internasional untuk menempatkan posisi mereka dengan sangat tegas dan jelas bersama-sama negara-negara lain yang mendorong percepatan transisi politik di Suriah.

Permasalahan di Suriah jangan lagi menjadi pertarungan antara Putin dan Obama.

Jangan lagi ada Putin Power versus Obama Power.

Putin dan Obama, adalah dua pemimpin dunia, yang sama-sama dibutuhkan oleh dunia untuk ikut menjaga kestabilan dan keamanan dunia.

Putin dan Obama, adalah dua pemimpin dunia, yang sama-sama punya kekuatan, kekuasaan dan kewibawaan, untuk menyatukan sinergi mereka menjadikan dunia ini lebih aman dan nyaman.

Disinilah dibutuhkan peran yang sangat strategis dari Perdana Menteri Dmitry Medvedev, sebagai tangan kanan Presiden Putin. Medvedev harus mau membujuk Putin untuk memperkuat dukungan Rusia pada Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa. Medvedev harus mau membujuk Putin untuk menunjukkan konsistensi Rusia mendukung prinsip-prinsip perdamaian dan keamanan dunia.

Hanya Medvedev yang akan mampu membujuk Putin dan pasti didengarkan oleh Putin !

Dunia membutuhkan Rusia, sama seperti dunia juga membutuhkan Amerika, untuk memastikan bahwa tidak akan rezim manapun yang bisa bertindak sewenang-wenang pada nilai-nilai kemanusiaan.

 

 

(MS)

Merkel, Putin call for ‘political’ solution in Syria

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose on the roof of the Chancellery in Berlin, Friday, June 1, 2012. Putin said Friday that Moscow wants to help U.N. envoy Kofi Annan achieve “positive results” and prevent an all-out civil war in Syria.(AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Government Press Service)

 

 

(AFP)  —  Germany and Russia agreed on the need for a political solution to end the Syrian bloodshed, their leaders said here Friday, asVladimir Putin warned the country could be on the brink of civil war.

The Russian president said the situation in strife-wracked Syria was “extremely dangerous” but underlined his opposition to military intervention, after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the second leg of his first foreign tour since returning to the Kremlin.

Amid mounting pressure for Moscow to drop its resistance to tougher UN action on Syria, Putin, who was later due in Paris, warned at a joint press conference with Merkel: “You cannot do anything by force.”

“Today we are seeing emerging elements of civil war,” he said after arriving in Berlin from Belarus.

Putin insisted that Russia did not deliver arms to be deployed in civil strife such as Syria’s.

“As far as arms supplies are concerned, Russia does not supply the weapons that could be used in a civil conflict,” he said.

Putin’s brief trips to Berlin and Paris come amid mounting outrage in the West against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after a massacre of 108 people, including women and children, in the town of Houla last week.

The UN’s top human rights chief said the massacre could be a crime against humanity.

Putin said Russia, Germany and their partners would do their utmost to stop the violence from escalating and help UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has brokered a peace plan for Syria, achieve “positive results”.

“We both made clear that we are pushing for a political solution, that the Annan plan can be a starting point but that everything must be done in the United Nations Security Council to implement this plan,” Merkel said.

Her comments set a more conciliatory tone after the United States criticised Moscow over its stance on Syria and new French President Francois Hollande, who meets Putin later in Paris, refused to rule out foreign military intervention as long as it is carried out with UN backing.

Putin said Moscow was not taking sides in the strife rocking Syria, where the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 13,000 people have been killed since Assad’s regime launched a brutal crackdown on the opposition in March last year.

“This is what we talked about with the German chancellor — to find a political solution to these problems. Can it be done or not? On the whole, I believe it is possible,” Putin said.

“It requires certain professionalism and patience. You cannot do anything by force and expect an immediate effect. A lot of people are involved in the conflict with various interests.

“There is a need to find a convergence of these interests and have them sit down at a negotiating table. That’s the direction we are going to work in.”

Merkel earlier greeted Putin with military honours as demonstrators waving Syrian flags shouted and whistled outside.

Another protestor held a banner in the shape of a Russian flag with the Russian words “Putin is a thief” emblazoned across it.

“We were agreed that every country — I said this for the Federal Republic of Germany — must do everything to prevent a civil war and prevent more people suffering,” Merkel told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague also said Syria was on the verge of a civil war, after meeting members of the Syrian opposition based in Istanbul.

Germany, France, Britain, the United States and other Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats in protest at the slaughter in Houla.

Syria allies China and Russia, which have both blocked previous attempts at the UN Security Council to condemn Damascus, joined other council members on Sunday in backing a statement condemning the Houla killings.

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday warned that Russia’s policy of propping up the Assad regime could contribute to a civil war and even lead to a wider proxy war because of Iran’s support for Damascus.

And she claimed Friday that Russia had continued to supply arms to the Assad regime, raising “serious concerns” in the United States.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will head to the region for talks on finding a way out of the Syrian crisis, a foreign ministry spokesman told reporters without giving details.

Amnesty International demanded that Putin immediately stop Russian weapons deliveries to Syria, while Human Rights Watch called for the Russian leader to make human rights a priority at home and abroad.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Saturday, June 3rd, 2012

Putin: Russia not ‘propping up’ Syrian regime

German Chacellor Angela Merkel (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the end of a joint press conference at the Chancellery June 1, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Putin is on a one-day state visit to Germany before heading to France. The two leaders were reportedly expected to talk about Syria. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

 

(CNN)  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denied that Russia is providing weapons that are killing Syrian civilians.

“We don’t supply weapons that can be used in civil conflicts,” he said.

A Russian-flagged ship docked this week in the Syrian port of Tartus, and some human rights groups say it was carrying weapons to be used in the conflict in Syria. The U.S. State Department said Thursday that it was looking into the matter but could not confirm that the ship was carrying arms.

Speaking with reporters in Berlin after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin also struck back at claims by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clintonthat Russia is “propping up the regime” of Bashar al-Assad.

“Those who say that Russia is propping up any regime, in this case President Assad unilaterally, all those people are wrong. We have good and long relations with Syria, but we do not support either of the sides.”

Putin said he agreed with Merkel that everything must be done to avoid a civil war in Syria. “Today, we see developing elements of civil war, and it’s very dangerous,” he added.

The Russian president said he still supports the six-point plan of Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League special envoy. The United States and other countries have said the plan is failing its primary mission: stopping the violence.

“We shouldn’t say it’s going to fail,” he said. “We shouldn’t have a negative prognosis. Annan is a former U.N. secretary general and a very experienced man. Our task is to stop the violence, and we agreed with the chancellor that we must use all our efforts – Germany, Russia and all our partners – not to allow the escalation of the violence.”

The focus should be on a political solution, not on using force, Putin said. “We will maintain contact with President Assad and the leadership of Syria and with regional countries, Arab countries … in order to find a political solution.”

The German chancellor, meanwhile, agreed with the Russian president, avoiding expressing any opinion on whether Moscow is propping up the Assad regime. She told reporters that she “has the impression that nobody wants a civil war … everything must be done to avoid a civil war.”

“Everybody has to try to do his best to help a political solution,” she said. “That is what we talked about and how can we at the U.N. do more work and make sure that the Annan plan doesn’t sink into chaos. And then also try to make the political situation in Syria better. And we had a quiet discussion about that.”  (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : CNN

Posted Saturday, June 3rd, 2012

Photostream : Aung San Suu Kyi meets Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra

Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (L) shakes hands with Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra before a gala-dinner as part of the World Economic Forum on East Asia at Royal Thai Navy Convention Hall in Bangkok May 31, 2012. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (R) shakes hands with Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi prior the Gala dinner as part of the 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia at Royal Thai Navy Convention hall in Bangkok on May 31, 2012. The 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia is being held in Thailand from May 31 to June 1. AFP PHOTO/ PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (R) shakes hands with Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi prior to the Gala dinner as part of the 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia at Royal Thai Navy Convention hall in Bangkok on May 31, 2012. The 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia is being held in Thailand from May 31 to June 1. AFP PHOTO/ PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL

Benci Tapi Rindu Ala Direktur Dinas Intelijen Amerika CIA & Pakistan ISI

Direktur Dinas Rahasia Pakistan (ISI) Letnan Jenderal Zaheerul Islam, kiri, dan Direktur Dinas Rahasia Amerika Serikat David Howell Petraeus

 

ISI DG cancels US trip over Dr Afridi row

David Petraeus Melobi Pakistan Melanjutkan Misi Kontra-Terorisme

 

Jakarta, 30 Mei 2012 (KATAKAMI.COM)   — Seharusnya pekan ini, Direktur Dinas Intelijen Pakistan, Letnan Jenderal Zaheerul Islam, akan “terbang” ke Washington DC untuk menemui mitra kerjanya yaitu Direktur Dinas Rahasia Amerika Serikat, Jenderal David Howell Petraeus.

Tetapi rencana kunjungan itu dibatalkan sepihak oleh Pakistan.

Pembatalan ini terjadi saat masing-masing pihak merasa jengkel antara satu dengan yang lainnya.

Amerika jengkel pada Pakistan karena Pengadilan di Pakistan menjatuhkan hukuman pidana kurungan selama 33 tahun penjara kepada Dr Shakil Afridi, yang divonis bersalah karena telah membantu Dinas Rahasia CIA saat menangkap Osama Bin Laden di Abbottabad, Pakistan pada 2 Mei 2011 lalu.

Sedangkan Pakistan jengkel karena pesawat tanpa awak alias sang predator milik Amerika ( dalam hal ini CIA ) terus menerus menggempur wilayah-wilayah tertentu di Pakistan.

Dua hari lalu misalnya, dua serangan drone CIA di wilayah utara Waziristan, Pakistan, menewaskan sedikitnya 11 orang militan. Dan hari-hari sebelumnya dalam bulan Mei ini, drone CIA juga tak henti menggempur Pakistan.

Barangkali Amerika kecewa karena Pakistan tak memberikan kebijakan baru saat menghadiri KTT NATO di Chicago (NATO Summit) bulan April lalu untuk membuka kembali blokade yang diberlakukan untuk rute penting guna mengirimkan pasokan-pasokan ke Afghanistan.

 

Menteri Pertahanan Amerika Serikat Leon Panetta, kiri, dan Direktur Dinas Rahasia Amerika Serikat, CIA, David Howell Petraeus

 

Jika permasalahan hendak dilokalisir maka dua poin penting yang menjadi “concern” Amerika adalah perlunya segera Pakistan membuka kembali rute pasokan dari pasukan NATO ke Afghanistan yang sudah 6 bulan ditutup.

Kemudian, beratnya hukuman yang dijatuhkan kepada Dr Shakil Afridi yang dianggap telah sangat berjasa kepada CIA dalam operasi besar mereka yang sangat gemilang saat menemukan dan menewaskan Osama Bin Laden.

Seorang jurnalis Pakistan menuliskan analisanya bahwa masih ditutupnya rute pasokan NATO ke Afghanistan itu semata-mata karena permintaan Pakistan untuk menarik pajak US 5000 untuk setiap truk yang akan memasuki wilayah Afghanistan dari Pakistan.

Lalu, jika permasalahan utama yang mengganjal normalisasi hubungan Pakistan dan Amerika adalah hal-hal tersebut, mengapa ISI dan CIA tidak melunakkan sikap keras mereka masing-masing ?

Jika Amerika (dalam hal ini Pentagon dan CIA) kurang puas atas penegakan hukum yang dilakukan Pakistan terhadap Dr Shakil Afridi, sebenarnya sah-sah saja.

Operasi Abbottabad bagi Amerika adalah sebuah prestasi besar bagi Departemen Pertahanan Amerika Serikat (Pentagon) dan CIA.

Jadi jika ada seseorang yang dianggap ikut berjasa dalam operasi besar tersebut, wajar jika Pentagon dan CIA kurang puas jika orang yang dianggap berjasa justru dihukum penjara.

Tetapi, satu hal yang tak bisa dipungkiri oleh Pentagon dan CIA, wilayah yurisdiksi hukum negara lain memang tak bisa dicampuri atau diintervensi.

Jika memang Pentagon dan CIA ingin menolong Dr Shakil Afridi maka harusnya sejak awal Amerika telah bergerak mengamankan sang dokter dari jerat hukum.

Saat palu sang hakim sudah diketuk untuk menyatakan bahwa sang dokter dinyatakan bersalah di hadapan hukum (Pakistan), maka pihak manapun tak mungkin lain mengubah keputusan hukum tersebut.

 

Presiden Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, kiri, dan Perdana Menteri Yousuf Raza Gilani

 

Sedangkan mengenai perlunya Pakistan membuka kembali rute pasokan bagi pasukan NATO ke Afghanistan, Islamabad harus lebih lentur dalam memberlakukan peraturan mereka di wilayah perbatasan antara Pakistan dan Afghanistan.

Rute-rute vital itu tertutup bagi truk-truk yang mengangkut pasokan untuk pasukan koalisi (NATO) sejak bulan November 2011, pasca serangan udara AS yang menewaskan 24 tentara Pakistan dalam satu insiden yang tidak disengaja.

Serangan udara itulah yang membuat membuat Islamabad sangat murka.

Apabila perbatasan itu dibuka kembali, Pakistan memang diperkirakan akan mengenakan pajak pada konvoi-konvoi NATO yang mengangkut pasokan yang dikirim ke pelabuhannya di Karachi dan diangkut melalui wilayahnya ke Afghanistan.

Rute tersebut dianggap sangat penting bagi penyusunan rencana penarikan pasukan internasional dari Afghanistan pimpinan NATO yang direncanakan akan ditarik seluruhnya dari Afghanistan sampai akhir tahun 2014.

Disinilah dibutuhkan pengertian yang sangat dalam dari Presiden Pakistan Asf Ali Zardari dan Perdana Menteri Yousuf Raza Gilani agar blokade terhadap rute pasokan di perbatasan itu jangan terus menerus ditutup.

Pasukan NATO tak mungkin bergerak leluasa dalam menjalankan tugas-tugas mereka jika Pakistan terus bersikeras mengumbar kemarahan dengan cara menutup rute pasokan.

Jika benar akan diberlakukan sejumlah pajak untuk setiap truk pasukan NATO yang akan melewati rute perbatasan tersebut, berapa jumlah pajak tersebut, dan bagaimana menyepakati angka dari pajak yang akan ditetapkan Pakistan bagi pasukan NATO ?

Ada begitu banyak pasukan multi nasional yang masih bertugas di Afghanistan. Bayangkan, betapa terancamnya keselamatan diri mereka jika rute-rute penting yang sangat dibutuhkan bagi kelancaran operasi mereka diblokade selama berbulan-bulan tanpa ada kejelasan.

Bahwa Pakistan sangat murka atas serangan udara Amerika yang menewaskan puluhan pasukan Pakistan, maka insiden itu harus dipisahkan dari misi pasukan NATO secara keseluruhan di Afghanistan.

Ada begitu banyak negara yang berpartisipasi dalam pasukan koalisi di Afghanistan sehingga tak cuma Amerika yang punya kepentingan disana.

Inilah yang sungguh diharapkan akan dipertimbangkan oleh Pakistan.

 

Direktur CIA, David Howell Petraeus

 

Kemudian CIA juga harus diingatkan kembali tentang membanjirnya pesawat tanpa awak (drone) mereka akhir-akhir ini di Pakistan.

Dalam hal ini Direktur CIA, David Howell Petraeus, harus mengurangi intensitas serangan-serangan drone ke Pakistan.

Sebab, CIA juga harus membantu mendinginkan suasana demi percepatan pembukaan blokade rute-rute pasokan tersebut.

Petraeus harus menyadari satu hal yang sangat penting bahwa ia pun ikut bertanggung-jawab mendorong percepatan normalisasi hubungan antara Amerika dan Pakistan yang memanas pasca serangan Amerika ke Abbottabad tahun lalu.

Petraeus harus menyadari bahwa serangan-serangan sang predator “DRONE” milik CIA, kerap kali membuat cemas dan keprihatinan mendalam jika ternyata target-target yang menjadi korban drone bukanlah pelaku-pelaku aksi terorisme.

Bagaimana Pakistan mau membuka blokade kalau wilayah mereka terus dibombardir drone milik CIA ?

Walaupun diyakini bahwa drone itu bukan ditujukan kepada pemerintah, militer atau dinas intelijen Pakistan (tetapi ditujukan kepada kelompok militan yang beraliansi kepada kelompok-kelompok teroris), tetapi lalulintas serangan drone CIA berseliweran di teritorial negara lain.

Semua akan menemui titik temu jika ada komunikasi dua arah yang baik.

Semua akan menemui titik temu jika masing-masing pihak tidak menunjukkan kegarangan yang sama keras.

Jadi, baik ISI, ataupun CIA, harus sama-sama menghormati keberadaan diri mereka sebagai mitra kerja yang saling membutuhkan.

Bukan justru saling berseberangan.

Jangan seolah-olah “benci tapi rindu“.

Saling bersiteru, padahal sangat membutuhkan antara satu dengan yang lainnya dalam tugas masing-masing dalam misi kontra terorisme.

Bukan justru saling berseberangan.

Jika Direktur Dinas Intelijen ISI memutuskan untuk membatalkan rencana kunjungannya ke Markas CIA, barangkali ada baiknya juga.

Paling tidak menunggu sampai situasi agak mendingin.

Saat ini memang BUKAN saat yang baik bagi Direktur ISI untuk berkunjung ke Washington.

Tetapi walaupun ada penundaan terhadap rencana kunjungan tersebut, Presiden Zardari dan Perdana Menteri Gilani tetap ditunggu dan sangat diharapkan untuk mengumumkan bahwa Islamabad memutuskan untuk membuka rute pasokan yang ditutup selama setengah tahun ini.

Bukalah rute tersebut, apapun konsekuensinya, demi kebaikan dan keamanan bersama.

Bukalah rute tersebut, apapun syarat dan ketentuan yang akan diterapkan, demi kebaikan dan keamanan bersama.

Please …

 

 

 

MS

Lady Gaga’s Indonesia concert cancelled

Lady Gaga

JAKARTA (AFP)  — Pop diva Lady Gaga’s show in Indonesia has been cancelled, her promoters said today after Islamic hardliners threatened “chaos” if she entered the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

“Lady Gaga’s management has considered the situation minute to minute, and  with threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga’s side is calling off the  concert,” Minola Sebayang, lawyer for promoters Big Daddy, told reporters.
   
“This is not only about Lady Gaga’s security, but extends to those who will  be watching her,” he added.
 
Earlier this month Jakarta police refused approval for the show after the  hardline Islamic Defenders Front threatened violence if Lady Gaga performed,  calling her a “devil’s messenger” who wears only a “bra and panties” on stage.
 
The promoters had indicated that a deal was being hammered out to tone down  the star’s racy show, but her own management vowed no compromise to appease  religious conservatives or censors.
 
Big Daddy president director Michael Rusli said it was “unfortunate” that  the show had to be called off.
 
“For the past few days we have communicated with the government and Lady  Gaga’s side. The government has given support, but this is not about the  permit,” he said. “The cancellation is really due to concerns over security.”  (*)
SOURC :  AFP  
Posted Sunday, May 27, 2012

PM Medvedev Elected as United Russia Leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right center, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left center, arrive at the United Russia party annual congress in Moscow, Saturday, May 26, 2012. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Yekaterina Shtukina, Presidential Press Service)

 

(RIA NOVOSTI)  —  Members of Russia’s ruling United Russia party on Saturday elected Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as its leader at a party congress.

In late-April, President Vladimir Putin announced that he is stepping down from the helm of United Russia in favor of Medvedev. The move marked the latest in a string of attempts by Putin to distance himself from a political party that is rapidly loosing support.

Putin presided over the United Russia from 2008-2012. He has headed the party since he became prime minister in 2008.

Medvedev became a member of United Russia on May 22.

The 13th congress of the United Russia party in Moscow brought together 670 delegates and about 1,600 guests. Serbian President-elect Tomislav Nikolic and 30 foreign delegations attended the event.

On the eve of the congress, Medvedev proposed sweeping reforms within the party to make its work more efficient and transparent.

However, on May 20 Putin will unveiled a government dominated by loyalists, leaving Prime Minister Medvedev limited scope to pursue his reform agenda.

After the announcement of his election, Medvedev urged United Russia to retain majority in parliament. “I don’t think that anyone present here will argue that in five years when the next election to the State Duma is held… United Russia must be at the top again and win the parliamentary majority.”

If the party wins the parliamentary election, State Duma speaker candidates could be selected on competitive basis, Medvedev said. “In the future parliamentary election United Russia will again try to win the support of the majority of citizens. And if we resolve this task – which I don’t doubt it will – it would be right to consider the issue of our candidates to the leadership in the State Duma, in particular the post of Duma chairman, in a democratic, open way, on an alternative basis.”

Medvedev said that United Russia does not need a cleansing but should get rid of those members who discredit it. “The absolute majority of party members and people sympathizing with the party are honest and decent. But there is nothing extraordinary in the fact that some crooks are constantly trying to hang on.”

“We must get rid without delay of those who discredit themselves and thus discredit the party and instead attract to party ranks as many new, sincere, creatively-thinking people with initiative as possible.”   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : ROA NOVOSTI

Posted Saturday, May 26, 2012

“The Power Of Love” Ratu Elizabeth, Aung San Suu Kyi dan David Cameron

Perdana Menteri Inggris David Cameron dan Aung San Suu Kyi di Yangon, 13 April 2012

 

FIRST FOREIGN TRIP FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI

KESABARAN 20 TAHUN “THE LADY” AUNG SAN SUU KYI KE KURSI PARLEMEN

 

Jakarta, 26 Mei 2012 (KATAKAMI.COM)    —  Kalimat “The Power of Love” sungguh tepat dipinjam sejenak untuk menggambarkan betapa kuat dan dalam kecintaan Aung San Suu Kyi pada Inggris.

Dan berapa kuat dan dalam kecintaan Inggris pada Aung San Suu Kyi.

Inggris yang saat ini dipimpin oleh Perdana Menteri David Cameron yang berinisitaif mengundang Aung San Suu Kyi untuk berkunjung ke Inggris.

David Cameron merupakan pemimpin Barat pertama yang bertemu dengan Aung San Suu Kyi setelah dia menang dalam pemilihan sela parlemen pada 1 April lalu.

Dan undangan dari David Cameron disambut baik oleh Aung San Suu Kyi.

Dari foto yang tertera di berbagai media saat Cameron berkunjung ke Yangon, terlihat betul ada keakraban yang tak dibuat-buat. Begitu natural dan memberikan makna sangat dalam.

Aung San Suu Kyi tak pelit untuk memberikan senyumnya bila dikunjungi oleh pemimpin dunia atau tokoh penting manapun yang datang bertandang ke kediamannya untuk memberikan dukungan politik.

Suu Kyi biasanya hanya tersenyum sangat santun jika dikunjungi tamu-tamunya.

Atau paling tidak, belum ada kamera yang bisa menangkap sebuah pertemuan yang begitu dekat dan akrab antara Suu Kyi dan tamu-tamunya.

Tapi saat dikunjungi Perdana Menteri David Cameron, Suu Kyi begitu gembira dan tak ragu menunjukkan betapa ia begitu bahagia dikunjungi oleh perwakilan dari Pemerintah Inggris.

Dalam waktu dekat di bulan Juni mendatang, Aung San Suu Kyi akan mengunjungi Inggris dan akan menerima gelar Doktor Honoris Causa dari Universitas Oxford.

 

Ratu Elizabeth II didampingi Pangeran Philip saat menghadiri salah satu acara dalam rangka perayaan 60 tahun Ratu Elizabeth naik tahta

 

Dan jika kita berbicara tentang Inggris, maka mau tak mau kita semua harus berbicara juga tentang Ratu Elizabeth II, pemimpin monarki Inggris yang baru saja merayakan “diamond jubilee” memperingati 60 tahun naik tahktanya Ratu Elizabeth.

Apa yang akan diputuskan dan diperintahkan Ratu Elizabeth II untuk terus mendorong dukungan yang sangat kuat dari Inggris untuk Aung San Suu Kyi pasca kemenangannya dalam pemilihan umum parlemen di Burma.

Walaupun sebenarnya harus jujur diakui, dalam masa 20 tahun penahanannya oleh junta militer di Burma, dukungan terkuat yang diterima Aung San Suu Kyi adalah dari Pemerintah Inggris.

Lewat film “The Lady” yang berkisah tentang perjalanan hidup Aung San Suu Kyi, kita semua dapat melihat betapa luar biasanya dukungan Pemerintah Inggris (lewat Kedutaan Besar mereka di Burma) untuk siap setiap saat memberikan bantuan apapun untuk Suu Kyi dan keluarganya.

Sehingga ini membuktikan bahwa garis politik yang ditentukan Ratu Elizabeth untuk mendukung Aung San Suu Kyi tak luntur dan tak pernah berubah dari waktu ke waktu.

Bedanya sekarang, Suu Kyi dan partai Liga Demokrat (NLD) yang dipimpinnya sudah berhasil memenangkan pemilu sela di Burma.

Suu Kyi dn 42 anggota NLD lainnya juga telah dilantik secara resmi tanggal 2 Mei 2012 lalu.

Walau jumlah kursi yang bisa dikuasai NLD belum bisa maksimal di parlemen, dukungan kuat dari Inggris dan negara-negara lain yang sangat konsisten mendukung reformasi politik di Burma, tentu sangat dibutuhkan oleh Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sehingga, jika dalam kesempatannya berkunjung ke Inggris nanti, Suu Kyi memang dijadwalkan bertemu dengan Ratu Elizabeth maka peraih nobel perdamaian tahun 1991 ini tak perlu ragu untuk menyampaikan detail dukungan yang dibutuhkannya untuk memainkan peranan politiknya secara nyata.

Apapun yang memang dibutuhkan, baiklah jika itu diungkapkan Suu Kyi dalam kunjungan resminya nanti ke Inggris.

 

Perdana Menteri Inggris David Cameron dan Aung San Suu Kyi di Yangon, 13 April 2012

 

Perdana Menteri David Cameron juga harus membuktikan kesungguhan pemerintah Inggris untuk mendukung Suu Kyi.

Apa saja hal konkrit yang bisa diputuskan Cameron dalam kapasitasnya sebagai Perdana Menteri Inggris untuk mendukung Suu Kyi, harus lebih diperjelas dan diperkuat saat tamu pentingnya tiba di Downing Street 10.

Sebab Suu Kyi membutuhkan kebijakan-kebijakan konkrit dari semua negara yang memang satu suara bahwa sudah saatnya terjadi perubahan-perubahan yang sangat fundamental di Burma.

Dengan satu kesadaran yang pasti akan sangat sulit dilakukan Suu Kyi.

Untuk bisa berperan dalam perbaikan ekonomi di negaranya, Suu Kyi harus mempromosikan semua bidang yang ada disana.

Termasuk mempromosikan dan menawarkan berbagai kerjasama di bidang pertahanan dan keamanan.

Sementara dalam kehidupan nyata, kita tahu bersama bahwa ketidak-adilan dan penindasan yang dialami Suu Kyi selama 20 tahun ini dilakukan oleh militer di negaranya.

Disitulah Suu Kyi harus mengubah kepedihan hati yang begitu menusuk selama ini dalam jiwa dan kalbunya, menjadi sebuah maaf dan kesiapan melakukan rekonsiliasi menyeluruh dengan pihak-pihak yang selama ini berseberangan dengan dirinya.

Pasca kemenangannya dalam pemilu sela di Burma, terbuka peluang sangat besar untuk Suu Kyi menjadi Presiden.

Dan bila menjadi seorang Presiden, Suu Kyi akan menjadi panglima tertinggi bagi militernya.

Sungguh ironis memang.

Seorang perempuan yang dianggap tak berdaya ( dan nyata-nyata diperlukan sangat kejam dan tak adil selama puluhan tahun, kini bersiap untuk menjadi pemimpin baru di Burma ).

Aung San Suu Kyi, Sang Inspirasi Bagi Dunia !

 

Aung San Suu Kyi

 

‘Tetapi itulah kehidupan !

Hidup memang bagaikan  roda yang berputar.

Kadang dibawah.

Kadang diatas.

Tinggal tergantung bagaimana manusia menyikapi setiap bagian dari lembaran-lembaran kehidupan yang sedang dijalaninya.

Suu Kyi menuliskan dalam akun pribadinya di jejaring sosial bahwa ia sedang mempersiapkan pidatonya di Geneva bulan depan. Ia juga menuliskan bahwa saat ini ia sedang sangat sibuk mempersiapkan perjalanannya keluar negeri, terutama ke Inggris.

Dan Suu Kyi, begitu jujur mengakui lewat akun twittenya (24/5/2012) bahwa perjalanannya ke Inggris bulan depan, membuatnya terkenang pada almarhum suaminya ( Dr. Michael Aris, warga negara Inggris) yang wafat tanggal 27 Maret 1999 :

“I’m looking forward to reminiscing in Britain where my late husband and I shared much of our life before my detainment”

Suu Kyi begitu merindukan Inggris.

Suu Kyi begitu mencintai Inggris.

Sama seperti ia memang begitu mencintai Burma, tanah kelahirannya, yang dalam perjalanan waktu membutuhkan sosok Suu Kyi yang mampu mempimpin perlawanan rakyat melawan kekejaman tirani dan rezim militeristik.

Kekuatan cintalah ( The Power Of Love ) akan mengantarkan Suu Kyi kembali ke Inggris, ke sebuah tempat yang menyimpan begitu banyak memori cintanya kepada almarhum sang suami dan dua anak lelaki yang sangat bangga pada sang ibu.

Kekuatan cintalah ( The Power Of Love ) akan mengantarkan Suu Kyi bertemu dengan para pemimpin Inggris yang selama masa penahananya selama 20 tahun ini, telah menunjukkan secara nyata bahwa Inggris begitu kuat mendukung dan melindungi Suu Kyi sekeluarga.

Dan kekuatan cintalah (The Power Of Love) yang membuat komunitas internasional, termasuk ASEAN, PBB, Amerika, Negara-Negara Uni Eropa dan negara-negara lain didunia), yang turut mendukung pembebasan Aung San Suu Kyi serta mendukung reformasi di Burma.

The Power Of Love !

 

 

(MS)

First Foreign Trip for Aung San Suu Kyi

Supporters of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi reach out for her hand after she addressed them during a protest against the shortage of electricity in Yangon May 25, 2012. A week of protests in Myanmar over chronic power outages gained momentum on Friday after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi gave them her blessing and the government’s response added to popular outrage. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

 

(RADIO FREE ASIA)   —  Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is set to make her first visit to a foreign country in more than 20 years when she travels to Thailand next week to meet with the country’s prime minister and attend a regional conference, according to officials from her political party.

Suu Kyi spent the majority of the past two decades under house arrest during the rule of Burma’s former military junta and while free had refused to travel abroad for fear that she would be refused reentry to her homeland by the generals who considered her a threat to their grip on power.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentarian had originally been scheduled to visit Bangkok on May 28, but moved her trip back to accommodate the arrival to Burma of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said Han Thar Myint, member of the NLD Central Executive Committee.

“Aung San Suu Kyi was to travel to Thailand ahead of the World Economic Forum on Monday, but she will be meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 29 in Rangoon,” he said.

“She will attend the forum in Thailand after meeting with the prime minister,” he added, saying that she would leave for Thailand either that evening or the next day.

The World Economic Forum, which will hold its annual East Asian regional meeting in Bangkok from May 30 to June 1, aims to promote stronger ties between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ahead of that organization’s goal of forming a single market and production base by 2015.

Aung San Suu Kyi will address the World Economic Forum next week, but the NLD was unable to provide further details on what type of role the parliamentarian will play in the summit. Reformist Burmese President Thein Sein will be in attendance at the forum.

Meeting with PM

Suu Kyi also plans to meet with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, during her visit, the NLD confirmed, although details of the meeting were not immediately available. Yingluck became the first ever head of state to meet with Suu Kyi during a visit to Burma in December last year.

The Noble laureate had hoped to travel to the Mae La refugee camp, which is home to thousands of mostly Karen ethnic minorities who had fled fighting with the Burmese military, in Thailand’s Tak province, but NLD spokesman Nyan Win was unable to confirm the visit.

“We don’t know if Aung San Suu Kyi will be able to visit the refugee camp because we haven’t received approval from the Thai government,” Nyan Win told RFA Friday.

The Burmese government, which negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) in April, has called for the repatriation of the refugees before the rainy season this year, presumably in June, and reports indicate that Thai and Burmese officials have been engaging international organizations to assist in the process.

But nongovernmental organizations caution that no repatriation should take place before the peace process between the Burmese government and the KNU is guaranteed.

Some 150,000 refugees currently live in Thai camps along the border with Burma.

European tour

Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Thailand comes ahead of a longer planned tour of Europe next month.

During the trip, Suu Kyi will make a series of key addresses, including a June 14 talk at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, organized by the International Labor Organization.

On June 16, the opposition leader will travel to Oslo, Norway to give an acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded in absentia while under house arrest in 1991.

Afterwards, she will travel to Britain where she received her degree at Oxford University in the 1960s. She will be awarded an honorary doctorate in civil law at her alma mater on June 20, a day before addressing both houses of the British parliament—an honor bestowed on only a handful of world leaders.

She is also expected to travel to Dublin, Ireland sometime between her visits to Norway and the UK where she will meet with longtime supporter and musician Bono—front man for the rock group U2. A benefit concert is planned in her honor.

Suu Kyi, who spent most of the last 22 years under house arrest before being freed in November 2010, has not traveled outside of Burma since 1988.

She had returned to Burma from living in Britain that year at first to tend to her ailing mother, but later to lead the country’s pro-democracy movement against the then-ruling military junta. She was jailed in her lakeside residence in Rangoon soon after.

In 1997, while temporarily free from house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi refused to travel to the UK to visit her British husband Michael Aris who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, because she feared that the Burmese government would not let her return to the country. He later succumbed to his illness.

A new era

But all travel restrictions have now been lifted on Aung San Suu Kyi, who took office in early May after winning a parliamentary seat in by-elections in April.

The by-elections saw a resounding victory for her NLD party, which won 43 of the 45 parliamentary seats up for grabs, and could pave the way for Aung San Suu Kyi to run for the Burmese presidency in 2015, when the next general elections are scheduled to be held.

Allowing the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in the April 1 polls was the latest in a series of economic and political reforms by the government of President Thein Sein, who has also released a number of political prisoners and improved dialogue with ethnic minority groups since taking power a year ago.

Those reforms have prompted Western nations to relax longstanding sanctions against the economically impoverished country, which had been in place to punish the former junta for its history of human rights abuses.   (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : RFA.ORG

Posted Saturday, May 26, 2012

Grasi “Lebay” Untuk Corby Membuat Rindu Pada Megawati

Terpidana kasus narkoba asal Australia, Schapelle Leigh Corby

 

 

Jakarta, 24 Mei 2012 (KATAKAMI.COM)   —  Sebuah kabar tak sedap datang dari pihak Eksekutif di negara ini yaitu Pemerintah Indonesia memutuskan untuk memberikan pengampunan hukum dalam bentuk GRASI kepada terpidana narkoba asal Australia, SCHAPLLE CORBY.

Rekomendasi terhadap pemberian grasi kepada Corby berasal dari Departemen Hukum dan Ham serta Mahkamah Agung.

Khusus untuk rekomendasi yang diberikan Mahkamah Agung merujuk pada Pasal 14 UUD 45, demikian disampaikan Kepala Biro Hukum dan Humas Mahkamas Agung, Ridwan Mansur, seperti yang dikutip dari DETIK.COM.

“Pertimbangan grasi Corby telah diproses sejak 2010 lalu,” kata Kepala Biro Hukum dan Humas MA, Ridwan Mansur menirukan perkataan Ketua MA Hatta Ali kepada wartawan, Rabu (26/5/2012).

MA menerima permohonan grasi yang diajukan Corby dari Pengadilan Negeri Denpasar. Dalam berkas tersebut dicantumkan alasan grasi dari Kepala Lembaga Pemasyarakatan.

“Lalu MA membentuk majelis hakim dan memutuskan grasi dikembalikan kepada putusan semula yaitu 15 tahun. Alasan dikabulkanya permohonan grasi yaitu Corby di LP sering sakit-sakitan. Alasan kemanusiaan,” ujar Ridwan.

Lantas pertimbangan MA ini dikirim ke Presiden SBY untuk dijadikan pertimbangan pemberian grasi. “Pertimbangan menjadi 15 tahun itu sesuai putusan sebelumnya,” ungkap Ridwan.

 

Terpidana kasus narkoba asal Australia, Schapelle Leigh Corby

 

Seperti diketahui Presiden SBY akhirnya menandatangani pemberian grasi kepada terpidana ratu mariyuana asal Australia, Schapelle Corby. Corby mendapat pengurangan hukuman lima tahun penjara dari 20 tahun menjadi 15 tahun penjara.

Benar atau tidaknya Corby sakit-sakitan didalam penjara, sesungguhnya tak layak dari pertimbangan hukum.

Mengapa ?

Sebab seluruh terpidana di Indonesia inipun, bisa jadi sakit-sakitan saat mereka menjalani masa hukuman mereka. Lalu kenapa hanya Corby yang diberikan keringanan, pengurangan dan pengampunan dari pemerintah ?

Tidak boleh ada diskriminasi dalam masalah hukum.

Tidak boleh ada intervensi kekuasaan terhadap masalah hukum.

Eksekutif tak layak dan tak boleh memasuki domain tugas dari Yudikatif.

Ada aturan main yang harus dihormati antar lembaga tinggi dan tertinggi negara dalam menjalankan tugas mereka masing-masing.

Dan mari sejenak kita mengingat kembali bagaimana perilaku Corby didalam penjara !

Tahun 2008, publik Indonesia dikejutkan dengan sebuah informasi yang bocor ke media bahwa Corby bisa enak-enakan menikmati suasana nyaman dan pelayanan maksimal di sebuah salon kecantikan.

Seperti yang diberitakan oleh INILAH.COM, pada hari Rabu (2/7/2008), Corby, begitu dia biasa disapa, membuat lakon yang mengejutkan sekaligus menohok.

Dia (pura-pura) dikabarkan sakit dan harus menjalani perawatan di Rumah Sakit Sanglah, Denpasar.

Pura-pura, karena kabar yang beredar, dia bisa pergi ke salon kecantikan. Salon yang dikunjungi terpidana asal Australia ini bernama Gardenia. Letaknya masih berada di kawasan RS Sanglah, Jalan Pulo Nias, Denpasar.

Di salon ini kabarnya, Corby menghabiskan waktu hingga tiga jam. Dia melakukan perawatan kuku kaki alias pedicure dan catok rambut yang menghabiskan biaya Rp 60 ribu.

Corby tidak datang sendirian ke salon itu. Dia didampingi dua orang polisi berseragam dan bersenjata. Tapi, apapun, lakon bule cantik ini patut dipertanyakan. Dan Indonesia tampaknya tidak sadar bahwa realita ini berpotensi menjadi bahan cemooh dan cibiran dari dunia internasional.

Bagaimana mungkin seorang terpidana bisa seenaknya hilir mudik melakukan kegiatan pribadi di luar penjara. Ironisnya, perbuatan terpidana terkesan dibiarkan begitu saja, demikian dikutip dari INILAH.COM.

 

Katakan tidak pada : NARKOBA !

 

Pemberian grasi kepada Corby dikecam oleh Mantan Menteri Kehakiman dan HAM Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Menurut Yusril yang juga mantan Menteri Sekretaris Negara ini, langkah Presiden memberikan grasi bertentangan dengan kebijakan pengetatan pemberian remisi kepada terpidana korupsi, narkotika, terorisme dan kejahatan transnasional terorganisir. Pengetatan ini diatur dalam PP No 28 Tahun 2006.

“Moratorium pemberian remisi kepada terpidana saja sudah menghebohkan tapi kini Presiden malah memberi pengampunan,” ujar Yusril, seperti yang diberitakan DETIK.COM ( 23/5/2012).

Remisi diberikan kepada terpidana karena kelakuan baik selama menjalani pidana, semacam imbalan atas perubahan sikap terpidana. Sementara grasi adalah pengampunan yang diberikan atas dasar belas kasihan oleh seorang Kepala Negara.

“Ketika saya jadi Menteri Kehakiman, Presiden Prancis Francois Mitterand menulis surat kepada Pemerintah Indonesia minta agar Presiden memberikan grasi kepada napi narkotika asal Prancis. Saya atas nama Presiden dengan tegas menolak permintaan itu. Dua minggu kemudian, Presiden Prancis mengirim utusan khusus, adik Pemimpin Libya Moammar Khaddafi menemui saya membawa pesan Presiden Mitterand. Saya tetap saja menolak permintaan itu. Saya katakan pada mereka bahwa Presiden Indonesia belum pernah memberi grasi dalam kasus narkotika kepada siapa saja,” kisah mantan penulis pidato 3 presiden ini.

Alhasil, Yusril menyayangkan keputusan Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). Menurut Yusril, SBY lemah terhadap pemerintah Australia.

 

Megawati Soekarno Putri

 

Apa yang disampaikan oleh Yusril Ihza Mahendra memang benar.

Salah satu contoh adalah pengakuan dari Mantan Presiden Megawati Soekarnoputri yang disampaikannya secara eksklusif kepada KATAKAMI.COM dalam sebuah kesempatan tentang pengalamannya menangani masalah narkoba saat menjabat sebagai Presiden di negara ini.

“Saya tidak pernah mau memberikan toleransi kepada kasus-kasus narkoba. Semua ajudan, staf dan menteri-menteri saya tahu bahwa saya konsisten mengenai hal ini. Saya perintahkan agar semua permohonan GRASI terhadap terpidana-terpidana kasus narkoba harus dimasukkan ke dalam map merah. Jadi, kalau ajudan masuk membawa map merah maka saya langsung tahu bahwa ada permohonan GRASI masalah narkoba yang disampaikan pada saya. Lalu tanpa ragu-ragu saya akan menolak permohonan itu. Tidak ada ampun dari saya untuk masalah narkoba ! Bayangkan berapa jumlah generasi muda kita yang akan jadi korban akibat narkoba ini” kata Megawati Soekarnoputri dalam sebuah kesempatan.

Sehingga, pemberian grasi pada Corby, secara tak langsung mengingatkan dan menimbulkan sebuah kerinduan pada sosok mantan presiden Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Megawati tegas dalam menangani narkoba.

Megawati kuat berprinsip bahwa tak akan pernah ada ampun bagi terpidana narkoba yang terbukti bersalah di hadapan hukum.

Singkat kata, mengutip istilah anak muda dalam bahasa gaul mereka saat ini, pemberian grasi kepada Corby adalah sesuatu yang agak LEBAY sifatnya.

Pemerintah Indonesia punya dalih tersendiri, mengapa Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono memutuskan untuk memberikan grasi kepada Corby.

Mengutip DETIK.COM (23/5/2012),  Menteri Sekretaris Negara Sudi Silalahi menjelaskan ada beberapa pertimbangan dalam pemberian grasi bagi Corby. Pertimbangan pertama, grasi itu merupakan sistem hukum yang sah di Indonesia. Selain itu, Sudi meminta saran dari Mahkamah Agung (MA) dan menteri yang terkait usulan ini.

“Tentu pertimbangan itu mengarah pada untuk dipenuhinya grasi,” ujar Sudi di Istana Negara, Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara, Jakarta Pusat.

Menurut Sudi, pemberian grasi ini bukan berarti memberikan toleransi kepada kasus narkoba di Indonesia. Sebab, sistem grasi ini sudah berlaku sejak lama dan berhak dikeluarkan oleh presiden. “Tidak..tidak (menoleransi kasus narkoba),” pungkas Sudi yang dimuat di DETIK.COM.

Pemerintah Indonesia boleh berdalih apa saja untuk “mengamankan” kebijakan kontroversial Presiden SBY mengenai grasi kepada Corby.

Tetapi, ya itu tadi, keputusan ini sungguh terdengar agak LEBAY.

Dari sekian banyak terpidana kasus-kasus narkoba di Indonesia (entah itu terpidana warga negara Indonesia atau warga negara asing), mengapa hanya Schapelle Corby yang bisa mendapatkan grasi dari Presiden SBY ?

Corby, Ratu Mariyuana 4,2 kg, yang pernah tercatat di media “ongkang-ongkang” di salon kecantikan, bisa segera menikmati udara bebas hasil kebaikan hati dari Presiden SBY, yang dipuji sebagai SEHABAT HEBAT” oleh Australia.

Luar biasa …. !

 

 

(MS)

IAEA chief says close to deal with Iran

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano briefs the media after his trip to Tehran upon his arrival at the international airport in Vienna May 22, 2012. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

 

VIENNA (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog director said on Tuesday he expected to sign a deal with Iran soon to unblock an investigation into suspected work on atom bombs, potentially brightening prospects for big-power talks with Tehran to stop a drift toward conflict.

Yukiya Amano was summarizing the outcome of rare talks he conducted in Tehran on Monday, two days before six powers meet Iran’s security council chief in Baghdad to test Iranian willingness to curb its nuclear program in a transparent way.

Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said his wish for access to Iran’s Parchin military complex where nuclear weapons-relevant tests may have occurred would be addressed as part of the accord.

But the powers will be wary of past failures to carry out extra inspection deals between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, and Western patience is wearing thin.

White House press secretary Jay Carney called the move “a step in the right direction” but stressed Washington wanted to see verifiable movement by Tehran.

“We will make judgments about Iran’s behavior based on actions, not just promises or agreements,” he told a news briefing, adding that Washington “will continue to pressure Iran, continue to move forward with the sanctions.” European sanctions to block Iran’s economically vital oil exports are to take force in July and Israel has mooted military action. A defiant Iran, which denies any ambition to acquire atom bombs, has threatened reprisals and oil prices have risen on fear of a new Middle East war hitting a wobbly world economy.

Amano acknowledged that “some differences” remained before the deal he discussed on his first visit to Tehran could be sealed, although chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili had assured him these would not thwart agreement.

“The decision was made to conclude and sign the agreement … At this stage, I can say it will be signed quite soon,” the veteran Japanese diplomat told reporters at Vienna airport on his return from the Iranian capital.

Amano, who flew impromptu to Tehran to capitalize on progress in talks with Iran in Vienna held by senior aides, described the outcome of his meeting in Iran as an “important development … We understood each other’s position better”.

Asked what differences persisted, Amano said only that they were “details of discussions on this document.”

Western diplomats suggested there were still unresolved issues concerning the way the IAEA’s probe would be conducted, with Iran wanting to control and restrict it in ways the U.N. agency could not accept.

“It is not a small issue,” one envoy said. Another said a final deal might not be struck quickly: “Even if we got an agreement … it is a milestone, but it is a small milestone.”

WARINESS

Driving home Western skepticism rooted in the checkered history of IAEA transparency deals with Iran, the acting U.S. ambassador to the agency urged the Islamic Republic to open up immediately and meaningfully to inspectors.

“While we appreciate the efforts (by the IAEA) to conclude a substantive agreement, we remain concerned by the urgent obligation for Iran to … cooperate fully with the verification efforts of the IAEA … to resolve all outstanding concerns about the nature of its nuclear program,” Robert Wood said.

Israel greeted word of a incipient IAEA-Iran pact with suspicion, citing an Iranian track record of evading and restricting inspections aimed at ensuring no military diversions of nuclear activity.

“Iran has proven over the years its lack of credibility, its dishonesty – telling the truth is not its strong side – and therefore we have to be suspicious of them all the time, and examine the agreement that is being formulated,” Civil Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Israel Radio.

Asked whether last-resort air strikes on Iran were still conceivable with apparent headway being made on the diplomatic track, Vilnai replied: “One shouldn’t get confused for even a moment – everything is on the table.”

Iran has for four years stonewalled IAEA requests to examine sites, especially the Parchin site southeast of Tehran, interview senior nuclear scientists and peruse documents to verify Western intelligence reports about Iranian research and experiments pertinent to manufacturing nuclear explosives.

Western diplomats accredited to the IAEA said that whether concerns about Iran’s nuclear intentions would be allayed by the deal would depend on how it was applied on the ground.

“There is skepticism until this is signed and then, once it is signed, there will be skepticism until it is implemented,” a official from one Western power in Vienna told Reuters.

HIGH-STAKES BAGHDAD NEGOTIATIONS

In Baghdad, Jalili – the personal representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – will meet Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief heading a coalition of the five U.N. Security Council permanent members – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany.

Their main goal is expected to be an Iranian agreement to shut down the higher-grade uranium enrichment that it launched in 2010 and has since expanded in an underground plant at Fordow largely impervious to attack from the air, effectively shortening the time needed to weaponize nuclear technology.

“Cooperation with the IAEA like access to Parchin is important but not sufficient. The 20 percent enrichment has to be addressed as a priority,” a European diplomat said.

Iran maintains it needs uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent for its medical isotope reactor. Enrichment to 5 percent of fissile purity is suitable for power plant fuel, while 90 percent constitutes fuel for bombs.

Iranian state television quoted Amano as saying that his talks would have a “positive impact” on the Baghdad meeting.

But diverging agendas stand in the way of a breakthrough.

Iran has suggested it will try to leverage its reported rapprochement with the IAEA into a deal in Baghdad to relax sanctions inflicting increasing damage to its economy. But Western officials ruled out such a weighty concession so soon.

“We are not going to do anything concrete in exchange for nice words,” a senior Western diplomat cautioned.

BARGAINING POWER

In an apparent move to beef up its bargaining position, Iran announced on Tuesday that it had delivered its first two batches of domestically made nuclear fuel to a Tehran research reactor.

If confirmed, Iran’s ability to run the reactor with its own fuel could remove any basis for a mooted deal under which Iran would ship most of its enriched uranium abroad in a swap for such fuel, reducing its stocks of potential atom bomb material.

Tehran tentatively agreed to the swap in 2009 talks with the powers but the deal collapsed over details of implementation. Iran’s foreign minister had said last month it was willing to consider an updated version of the idea.

Iran insists it wants nuclear energy only for electricity generation and medical treatments, but has long defied U.N. resolutions calling for a confidence-building suspension of uranium enrichment and unfettered IAEA access.

U.S. analyst Graham Allison said Iran had been “cautiously, but steadily, putting in place all the elements it needs to construct a nuclear weapon in short order”, but so far astutely stopped short of a decision to do so.

“Any scenario that requires months between tripping the IAEA’s alarm and testing a bomb would mean taking a huge risk of being attacked, something Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has so far assiduously avoided,” Allison, director of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said in an article for the Scientific American.

U.S. WIDENS ENERGY SANCTIONS

Cranking up pressure on Iran, the U.S. Senate on Monday extended sanctions on its oil sector to cover dealings with the National Iranian Oil Co and National Iranian Tanker Co to close a potential loophole that could have allowed Tehran to continue selling some of its petroleum using its own fleet.

As if the diplomatic challenges in Baghdad were not daunting enough, the weather threatened to play havoc with the talks.

As delegations prepared to head for Iraq, Baghdad airport was closed on Tuesday after a sandstorm blanketed the Iraqi capital in choking dust, reducing visibility and grounding flights from neighboring Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Iraq’s transport ministry said the sandstorm could last through Friday, risking further disruptions to air traffic.

Jalili arrived on Monday night in Baghdad while Western delegations were scheduled to arrive on Wednesday morning.  (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : REUTERS

Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Iran’s Ahmadinejad to visit China: Embassy

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,

 

(AFP)  —  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Beijing next month, a spokesman for the Islamic republic’s embassy said Wednesday, amid an escalating crisis over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Ahmadinejad will be in the Chinese capital for a meeting of theShanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Central Asian grouping headed by Beijing and Moscow, said spokesman Mohammad AliZiaei.

“Yes, it has been confirmed. The exact date of arrival is not set, but for sure the president will be here on June 7,” the spokesman said, giving no further details.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend the June 6-7 gathering, to be chaired by China’s President Hu Jintao.

Tehran insists that its nuclear programme is for peaceful use, but it faces a raft of sanctions from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union over suspicions that it is trying to develop atomic weapons.

China, a close ally of Iran, has criticised the measures.

Ahmadinejad last visited China in 2010, when he attended the World Expo in Shanghai.

Iran has observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and focuses on regional issues including anti-terrorism.   (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Queen told William to rip up wedding guest list

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth (6th R) and her husband Prince Philip (4th R) and members of the Royal family watch a fly-past from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending the Trooping the Colour ceremony in central London in this June 11, 2011 file photo. (L-R) Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Sophie, Duchess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Louise Windsor, Tim Lawrence, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Harry, Prince Philip, Prince Andrew, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles. Prince Philip was taken to a specialist heart hospital December 23, 2011 for tests after suffering chest pains, Buckingham Palace said. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/Files

 

 

(AFP)  —  Queen Elizabeth II told her grandson Prince William to rip up the guest list he was given for his wedding and do it again himself to include his friends, he said in an interview.

The Duke of Cambridge also said he got got just half an hour’s sleep before last year’s wedding to Catherine Middleton, which was watched by billions around the world.

In extracts released Tuesday from a forthcoming ITV television documentary to mark the queen’s jubilee, William said he went to his grandmother with his concerns about the guest list drawn up by royal officials.

“There was very much a subdued moment when I was handed a list with 777 names on — not one person I knew or Catherine knew,” he said.

“I went to her (the Queen) and said, ‘Listen, I’ve got this list, not one person I know — what do I do?’ and she went, ‘Get rid of it. Start from your friends and then we’ll add those we need to in due course. It’s your day’.”

The April 29 wedding at Westminster Abbey in London was attended by around 2,000 people and more than one million people lined the processional route to see the happy couple.

William, the second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, admitted that his grandmother was a tough act to follow.

“There’s not much wriggle room left for me to try and find my own path but I will do,” said the search-and-rescue helicopter pilot in the extracts published in the Radio Times magazine.

“It’s just a matter of learning what’s gone before me. She’s an incredible role model. I would like to take all of her experiences, all of her knowledge and put it in a small box and to be able to constantly refer to it.”

The 29-year-old said he was much closer to his grandmother now than he was as a child.

“We’re definitely a lot closer than we used to be,” he said.

“Being a small boy it’s very daunting seeing the Queen around and not really quite knowing what to talk about.”  (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : AFP

Posted Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Becomes United Russia Member

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev receives his party card of the ruling party United Russia in Moscow, on May 22, 2012. Medvedev joined today the ruling party United Russia after over four years in power where he kept his distance from the dominant political faction. AFP PHOTO/ RIA-NOVOSTI/ POOL/ DMITRY ASTAKHOV

 

(RIA NOVOSTI)   —- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who in a few days will take up the leadership of Russia’s ruling United Russia party, became a member on Tuesday.

It is the first time in Russia’s recent history that the leader of a party has held the post of head of the government.

The Prime Minister only applied for party membership on Monday, and did not have to wait six months after applying as a candidate member required by the party charter.

The rule was waived for Medvedev as he has always been a supporter and headed the United Russia party list in parliamentary elections in December 2011, said Alexander Neverov, a United Russia senior official.

In late April, Medvedev, who was then head of state, agreed to head the ruling party and become a member. The incumbent president, Vladimir Putin, who presided over United Russia from 2008-2012, never formally joined the party.

Medvedev told Russian television in April that he sees the party as  a strong “center-conservative force” which must exist in the country’s political arena. He also warned United Russia that it can and should change.

Medvedev also believes that the United Russia party will permanently retain its leading position, as there are no political forces in the country that are equal to it.

“In my opinion, the party has every opportunity to maintain a long-term leading position,” Medvedev said at a meeting after he joined the party.

 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev holds a United Russia Party’s identity card in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Medvedev on Tuesday formally joined United Russia, which dominates the Russian parliament.(AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service)

 

 

He noted that the question is not about how many votes it got in the elections, but in taking responsibility. “In my opinion, there are no competitors to the United Russia in the potential for now,” he added.

“It has to keep its own brand … and, of course, make it more attractive,” Medvedev said at the meeting.

The party failed to preserve its constitutional majority in the lower house of parliament at the last December 2012 State Duma elections, though it still has a working majority of more than half of the deputies.

The election of a new party chairman will be a key issue when the Party Congress is held on May 26.  (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE : RIA NOVOSTI

Posted Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Greece’s new prime minister meets party leaders

Greek President Carolos Papoulias (L) shakes hands with newly appointed caretaker Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos (R) in Athens on May 16, 2012. Greece put a senior judge in charge of an emergency government to lead it to new elections on June 17 and bankers sought to calm public fears after the president said political chaos risked causing panic and a run on deposits. (Xinhua photo)

 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s newly installed caretaker prime minister is holding talks with party leaders ahead of Wednesday’s European Union summit as campaigning gets underway for next month’s elections.

Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos, a senior judge, is holding successive meetings Monday with all party leaders to ensure that all goes smoothly until the June 17 poll.

Pikrammenos has no power to make any binding decisions while parliament, which was elected in the inconclusive May 6 elections, has been dissolved.

The May 6 poll triggered a political crisis and raised questions whether debt-stricken Greece will stay in Europe’s monetary union. The vote was split between parties insisting the country lives up to its austerity pledges and those that want to revoke them.

Greece is reliant on outside assistance to stave off bankruptcy.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE : AP

Postd Monday, May 21, 2012

Photostream : Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg marries sweetheart

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are seen in this screengrab of a wedding photo posted on Zuckerberg’s Facebook page May 19, 2012. Zuckerberg wed longtime girlfriend Chan on Saturday, announcing the nuptials through a status update on the social networking site. REUTERS

This photo provided by Facebook shows Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at their wedding ceremony in Palo Alto, Calif., Saturday, May 19, 2012. Zuckerberg updated his status to “married” on Saturday. The ceremony took place in Zuckerberg’s backyard before fewer than 100 guests, who all thought they were there to celebrate Chan’s graduation. (AP Photo/Facebook, Allyson Magda Photography)

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are seen in this wedding photo May 19, 2012. Zuckerberg wed longtime girlfriend Chan on Saturday, announcing the nuptials through a status update on the social networking site. REUTERS/Allyson Magda/Facebook.com/Handout

UN nuclear chief in Iran on key mission

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano from Japan speaks to the media before his flight to Iran at the Vienna International Airport, Austria, on Sunday, May 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The head of the U.N. nuclear agency arrived Monday in Tehran on a key mission that could lead to the resumption of probes by the watchdog on whether Iran has secretly worked on an atomic weapon.

It would also strength the Islamic Republic’s negotiating hand in crucial nuclear talks with six world powers later this week in Baghdad.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano and his two aides were quickly whisked away after landing at the Tehran airport before dawn Monday. They are to meet Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, as well as Iran’s foreign minister and other officials later in the day.

The visit — Amano’s first since becoming the IAEA chief in 2009 — is focused on getting Iran to agree to terms that will allow IAEA probes of suspect Iranian sites, including the Parchin military complex where the agency had reported suspicious activities in the past.

Tehran denies having worked on atomic weapons, saying Parchin is only a conventional weapons site.

Inspecting Parchin, southeast of the capital Tehran, was a key request made by senior IAEA teams that visited Tehran in January and February. Iran rebuffed those demands at the time.

But with both Iran and the IAEA reporting progress in a previous round of talks last week, anticipation ahead of the visit was high. While expressing some optimism, Amano said he could not predict whether he would clinch a deal that would allow his agency to renew its long-stalled probe.

“Nothing is certain in life, in diplomacy,” he told reporters before departing from the Vienna airport. “But there has been good progress.

“I really think this is the right time to reach agreement,” he added.

Amano’s one-day trip is significant both for what it can achieve in terms of probing Iran’s secretive nuclear program and as a mood-setter for talks Wednesday in Baghdad between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

The six world powers are at the forefront of trying to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear program and ease concerns it wants to use it to make nuclear weapons. For its part, Iran will seek to stay looming U.S. and European Union sanctions on its oil exports at the Baghdad talks.

The six will attempt to get Iran to commit to stop enriching uranium to a level that can be turned quickly into the fissile core of nuclear warheads, while ignoring — for now— its program of lower enrichment, which would take longer to turn toward weapons-making.

Iran insists it is enriching uranium only to produce nuclear fuel and for cancer treatment. It denies that it worked secretly on developing components of a nuclear arms program, despite what the IAEA describes as credible intelligence and other evidence that it hid work “specific to nuclear weapons.”

Parchin is especially significant since the IAEA believes Iran in 2003 ran explosive tests needed to set off a nuclear charge. The suspected blasts took place inside a pressure chamber. Iran has never said whether the chamber existed.

As Amano arrived, Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahtpisheh told The Associated Press that Tehran will likely accept more inspections of Parchin, “if it feels there is good will within the (IAEA) agency.”

But Falahtpisheh, a member of the influential parliamentary committee of national security and foreign policy, warned that this new openness will likely come with expectations that the West would in return ease international sanctions on Iran.

“In opening up to more inspections, Iran aims at lowering the crisis over its nuclear case,” said Falahtpisheh. “But if the sanctions continue, Iran would stop this.”

A political analyst in Tehran, Hamid Reza Shokouhi, said Iran is carefully watching to see if the West shows more “flexibility and pays attention to Iranian demands” during Amano’s trip.

“Then Iran will show flexibility, too,” said Shokouhi.   (*)

 

 

SOURCE :  AP

Posted Monday, May 21, 2012

Defense Ministry : South Korea working to forge military cooperation pact with China

South Korean Defense Ministry’s spokesman Kim Min-seok speaks during a briefing on North Korea’s long-range rocket at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, South Korean and U.S. officials said, defying international warnings against moving forward with a launch widely seen as a provocation. (AP Photo/Newsis)

 

SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) — South Korea is working on a plan to forge a military cooperation pact with China, the defense ministry said Monday, in what appears to be an effort to soften the possible backlash a similar accord with Japan could cause.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said that South Korea and China have shared the need for a mutual logistical support treaty for years as the two countries have conducted joint maritime exercises for humanitarian search and rescue operations.

Kim also said South Korea already signed such a treaty with Russia in 2009.

The pact, known as the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement or Mutual Logistic Support Agreement, calls for exchanging most common types of support, such as food, fuel, transportation, ammunition and equipment, during peacekeeping and other operations.

South Korea has also pushed to conclude one with Japan, which would mark the first-ever military agreement between the two countries since Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. But the government has been cautious because forging a military pact with the former colonial ruler could cause a public backlash.

The two sides have been in final stages of talks on two agreements, one on logistics and the other on sharing military intelligence. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin had planned to visit Japan to sign the intelligence sharing pact, but the visit has been postponed at the last minute.

“We are still in talks with Japan,” ministry spokesman Kim said. “It is not that our push for a Korea-Japan information sharing agreement has been halted. We will continue to hold working-level consultations.”

The spokesman also stressed that the two countries are trying to forge the information sharing deal because it is necessary for U.N. peacekeeping operations and the two countries also want to share intelligence on missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.

Kim also dismissed speculation that military cooperation agreements between South Korea and Japan could escalate regional tensions as it would bring South Korea, Japan and the United States more militarily close against North Korea, China and Russia.

“We plan to push for military agreements between Korea and Japan after carefully taking various issues into consideration, such as the unique status of the relations between the two countries,” Kim said.  (*)

 

 

SOURCE : YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

Posted Monday, May 21, 2012

Putin to dominate new Russian Government

Russian President Vladimir Putin

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will unveil a government dominated by loyalists on Monday, leaving Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev limited scope to pursue his reform agenda and entrenching the Kremlin’s grip over the economy’s commanding heights.

Medvedev, 46, named premier after Putin returned to the Kremlin on May 7, has pledged to launch pro-growth policies and a privatisation drive to wean Russia’s $1.7 billion economy off its dependence on oil.

But, even though the partners in Russia’s ruling ‘tandem’ announced they would switch jobs as long ago as last September, the lengthy and secretive process of forming a government has raised concerns that it will be riven by factional conflict.

Medvedev, speaking at a Group of Eight summit at the weekend where leaders discussed how to contain the euro zone’s debt crisis, rebutted the skeptics.

“The government will be substantially renewed – that’s why forming it has taken longer than in the past,” he said at Camp David, U.S. President Barack Obama’s retreat outside Washington.

“We have a plan of action … that was tested in the first phase of the crisis,” Medvedev told reporters. “If needed, we can put it into effect – in that sense all our guns are loaded.”

The line-up to be unveiled on Monday will bring in new faces from the team of young market liberals who served in the Kremlin during Medvedev’s four-year term as president.

One, Arkady Dvorkovich, shared smiles with Medvedev’s spokeswoman as the prime minister took questions from reporters outside a log cabin at Camp David.

Dvorkovich has been tipped as a deputy premier, sources and media reports say, with Monday’s edition of financial daily Vedomosti naming him among seven deputy prime ministers who will report to Medvedev. Four of the seven already hold that post.

WHO’S IN CHARGE?

Sources say Putin, 59, is likely to extend his influence over economic policy by ensuring that the finance and economy portfolios are taken by placemen who identify with his credo of state-led economic development.

Career bureaucrat Anton Siluanov is expected to stay on as finance minister while Andrei Belousov should be promoted to economy minister, in a sign Putin wants to take control of the economy, traditionally the preserve of the prime minister.

Putin’s return to the Kremlin has been accompanied by the biggest protests of his 12-year rule against alleged fraud in the national elections, led by an emerging opposition that says its views – and those of millions of Russians who want political change – are being ignored by the country’s leaders.

“They are making (forming a government) as conspiratorial as possible, and that doesn’t sell well in this political climate,” said Vladimir Frolov of government-relations firm LEFF Group.

The country’s top banker German Gref, a former economy minister, said however that Putin was ready to heed the views of Russians and act to put the economy on a sustainable footing.

“The election campaign has shown that Putin is ready for a serious transformation – I know there is a lot of skepticism about that,” Gref, who is chief executive of Sberbank, told reporters travelling with Medvedev.

Although latest figures show Russia’s economy grew at a 4.9 percent rate in the first quarter, that has been pumped up by lavish pre-election spending that has driven up the oil price at which Russia’s budget will balance in the future.

“The oil curse will get us sooner or later,” added Gref. “The government has no option but to create a favorable climate for investment and growth.”

Yet Putin, who opted out of attending the G8 summit to hold meetings on the new government, showed a more populist than reformist streak in decisions he took while Medvedev was away.

He signed an order slashing the number of officials’ cars allowed to use flashing blue lights – hated by drivers on Moscow’s choked roads – and appointed a production worker at a tank factory as his representative to the Urals industrial belt.

Putin’s new Urals envoy, Igor Kholmanskikh, made waves when he offered in a video link-up with Putin in December to come to Moscow with “the boys” to chase protesters off the streets.

PROXY BATTLEFIELD

Gref’s bank is at the top of a list of state assets slated for privatisation, but the sale of a 7.6 percent stake planned for last September has been repeatedly delayed.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov recently slapped a veto on a near-term sale due to poor market conditions, that have since deteriorated further, reducing the value of the stake to $4.3 billion.

Shuvalov, according to sources and reports, should stay despite media reports over his wife’s lucrative financial dealings with Russia’s billionaire oligarchs. He has admitted the deals but denied any impropriety.

The English-speaking lawyer is seen as one of the few officials who can mediate in the battles for power and influence between the market liberals and another faction of men with a background, like former KGB spy Putin, in the security services.

The greatest mystery surrounds the political future of Igor Sechin, the informal head of the siloviki – or men of power – who as Putin’s energy ‘tsar’ has enjoyed sweeping control over the oil industry in the world’s largest crude producer.

In his last act as prime minister, Putin nominated Sechin to the board of Russia’s main state energy holding company, a position that would allow Sechin to wield huge influence even if he loses his post as deputy premier.

Since Putin’s election victory on March 4, Sechin has brokered three major offshore exploration deals involving state oil major Rosneft, sought to block the privatisation of state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and acted to reassert state control over the power sector.

That sets the scene for a possible confrontation should Medvedev appoint billionaire former power industry boss Mikhail Abyzov, a co-author of reforms to break up the state power monopoly in 2007, to an energy role.

It could also spell trouble for Medvedev, whose durability has been called into question by what many saw as his humiliating agreement to step down to pave the way for Putin to return for one, and possibly two, six-year terms.   (*)

 

 

 

SOURCE  :  REUTERS

Posted Monday, May 21, 2012

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