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Flying towards war? Drone race signals escalation in Sino-Japanese tensions


RT.com
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:01 UTC
Image
The development and acquisition of drones has become crucial to the ever-expanding arms race between China and Japan, as tensions over disputed islands in the East China Sea could soon reach boiling point.

Weaknesses in Japan's surveillance capability and the ongoing territorial dispute over the Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, have spurred Tokyo to purchase an advanced drone model from the US.

Japan's vulnerability was highlighted late last year when Japanese radar failed to detect a low-flying Chinese aircraft passing over the group of disputed islands.

The drones will seemingly be deployed "to counter China's growing assertiveness at sea, especially when it comes to the Senkaku islands," the Kyodo news agency quoted an unnamed defense ministry official as saying.

Japanese concerns that the islands will be used by China as a prelude to testing regional power balances, prompted Japan's Defense Ministry to request $2.4 billion dollars from hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose conservative government swept to power on December 26.
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Passport

Syria and Iran swap prisoners after months of complex international talks

Ian Black and Saeed Kamali Dehghan
Guardian
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:46 UTC
Image
© Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/ Getty Images
Freed Iranian men arrive at a hotel in Damascus.
Assad regime frees more than 2,000 people believed to have opposition links in exchange for 48 detained Iranians.

Syria has released 2,130 opposition prisoners in exchange for 48 Iranians who were abducted while apparently on a pilgrimage in Damascus five months ago.

The first big prisoner swap of the 21-month war, brokered by a Turkish humanitarian group and the Qatari government, was a reminder of the sheer scale of the Syrian crisis, and of its complex geopolitical ramifications.

Syrian state media made no mention of the mass exchange but it was confirmed by the Iranian government and officials of the Turkish humanitarian aid group IHH. "This is the result of months of civil diplomacy carried out by our organisation," said an IHH spokesman, Serkan Nergis. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said the freed prisoners would return home shortly.

Syrian government forces have struck deals with rebel groups to swap prisoners but the mass release is the first time any non-Syrians have been freed. The detainees included a number of Turks.
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Attention

U.S. warns Britain against leaving European Union

Julian Borger and Ian Traynor
Guardian
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:42 UTC
Image
© Photograph: Kerim Okten/EPA
David Cameron’s stated strategy on securing a looser UK-EU relationship to be laid out in a major speech within weeks.
Intervention from senior US official comes as UK position on EU membership is criticised in Brussels and Dublin.

The US has issued a blunt warning to the UK not to leave the European Union, saying Britain would undermine its influence in Washington by trying to renegotiate membership.

The forthright American intervention in the European debate, from a senior US official, came on a day David Cameron's campaign to reset the terms of Britain's EU membership also came under concerted assault from Brussels and Dublin, with senior figures warning the prime minister against renegotiating the European treaties to secure a new deal and signalling bluntly that this was not on the agenda.

"We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU," Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for Europe, said on a visit to London "That is in America's interests. We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it."

Gordon stressed that it was up to the UK define its own interests, but in what appeared a clear reference to the government's proposal to renegotiate membership and repatriate some powers from Brussels, he stressed that an inward-looking EU, preoccupied with its own internal procedures would be seen as a lesser ally by Washington.
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Attention

Permanent checkpoints in the U.S?

Eric Peters
EricPetersAuto
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:53 UTC
We are Here to Help
© EricPetersAuto
Well, why not?

If the occasional random roadside stop n' frisk is a good idea - and not a violation of anyone's rights - why not make such gantlets ubiquitous - and permanent? That's the nut of San Antonio Deputy Police Chief Anthony Trevino's argument in favor of establishing permanent DWI checkpoints. He'd like them in the vicinity of what he calls "hot spots" - that is, establishments where alcohol is served, such as restaurants and bars. (See here for the news story.) But why not everywhere? After all, "drunk driving" is a possibility anywhere.

If Trevino's wish is granted, the price of going out to dinner will include not merely the possibility of having to submit to an unwarranted (and unwanted) interrogation and inspection by the likes of Trevino and his pals. It will be a certain thing. The new normal - part of the routine. Just like being forced to assume the I surrender pose at the airport, spread your legs and let a blue-shirted goon have his (or her) way with you as the price of getting on an airplane.

It has already been established in law - sanctified by the black-clad priests of legalese - that it is not "unreasonable" (and so, not a violation of the Fourth Amendment) to stop vehicles at random - that is, without any specific probable cause - and require drivers to roll down their window, provide ID, answer questions and - at the arbitrary discretion of the costumed enforcer - remove themselves from their vehicle and submit to a sobriety test of one kind or another. To prove to his satisfaction, in other words, that you aren't "drunk." As opposed to the old-fashioned idea that it's up to the law to prove you are.
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Cowboy Hat

Berlusconi accuses judges of 'feminist' bias over divorce deal

Lizzy Davies
Guardian
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:32 UTC
Image
© Photograph: Remo Casilli/REUTERS
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, speaking on La7 television, accused Milan courts of 'feminist, communist' bias over his divorce from his second wife, Veronica Lario.
Milan judges reject former prime minister's 'persecution' claim over €36m alimony settlement to ex-wife Veronica Lario.

Senior judges in Milan issued a stern rebuke to Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday after the former Italian prime minister tried to blame his huge alimony payments on the biased views of "feminist, communist" magistrates.

In the latest skirmish between the billionaire media magnate and the judiciary, the heads of the Milan tribunal and court of appeal issued a curt statement saying they "firmly rejected any insinuation of partiality" on the part of the magistrates who drew up the three-time premier's divorce settlement, which he claims amounts to €200,000 (£163,000) a day.

Livia Pomodoro and Giovanni Canzio added that their colleagues were "diligent professionals", and called on politicians to avoid making "any expression of derision" that could cause the public to think otherwise.
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Dollars

Ethics group questions who picked up tab for lawmaker lunches

Al Kamen
Washington Post
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:54 UTC
Image
The House members' dining room is a lovely space. Cloth napkins, good service, and while the food's not exactly haute cuisine, the room is nice for lunches with colleagues, constituents or, problematically, campaign donors.

Members of Congress frequently eat meals there that they list in federal filings as "campaign" or "political" expenses, apparently counter to House rules barring them from conducting their campaign business on House property, according to an upcoming report. That rule - the same one that sends lawmakers scurrying from their offices to nearby rental spaces to make fundraising calls - is designed to keep taxpayer-funded official business separate from the dirtier matter of pursuing reelection.

But according to a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, it appears that lawmakers may frequently mix the two over repasts in the members' dining room. A dozen current and former House members described meals there in filings with the Federal Election Commission covering the last two election cycles as "campaign"or "political," CREW found.
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Chess

The Syria Endgame: Strategic Stage in the Pentagon's Covert War on Iran

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:08 UTC
Syria army sniper
© Alessio Romenzi/TIME
A Free Syrian Army sniper position in al-Qsair, Syria, on Feb. 9, 2012
Since the kindling of the conflict inside Syria in 2011, it was recognized, by friend and foe alike, that the events in that country were tied to a game plan that ultimately targets Iran, Syria's number one ally. [1] De-linking Syria from Iran and unhinging the Resistance Bloc that Damascus and Tehran have formed has been one of the objectives of the foreign-supported anti-government militias inside Syria. Such a schism between Damascus and Tehran would change the Middle East's strategic balance in favour of the US and Israel.

If this cannot be accomplished, however, then crippling Syria to effectively prevent it from providing Iran any form of diplomatic, political, economic, and military support in the face of common threats has been a primary objective. Preventing any continued cooperation between the two republics has been a strategic goal. This includes preventing the Iran-Iraq-Syria energy terminal from being built and ending the military pact between the two partners.
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Folder

WikiLeaks case likened to Civil War espionage

David Dishneau
Seattle pi
Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00 UTC
Bradley Manning
© unknown
Pfc. Bradley Manning
Fort Meade - The defense says military prosecutors are drawing comparisons between an Army private's alleged leak of classified documents to Civil War-era cases involving coded messages in newspapers.

The argument emerged Tuesday during a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade for Pfc. Bradley Manning. The hearing continues Wednesday.

The issue is whether Manning's motive is relevant to a charge he aided the enemy by sending reams of classified documents to the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks. The government contends Manning knew, or should have known, that the information would be seen by al-Qaida.

Defense attorney David Coombs said Tuesday that prosecutors are citing Civil War-era cases concerning soldiers who placed coded messages in newspaper ads.

Coombs says Manning's alleged offenses are more akin to providing government documents to a newspaper.
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USA

U.S. mulls over pulling out all its troops from Afghanistan after 2014


RTT News
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:26 UTC
US troops, Afghanistan
© Reuters/Susan Walsh
US troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan
A complete pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after the 2014 deadline is one of the options that the Obama administration is considering, the White House said in a briefing on Tuesday ahead of a meeting between leaders of the two countries later this week.

The centerpiece of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington will be meetings on Friday at the White House, where he and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama can discuss the changes in Afghanistan and how the United States can work with the country in the future.

Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes said during a phone-in news conference that the U.S. would continue drawing down the number of its troops in Afghanistan through this year and next. Around 68,000 American soldiers are in Afghanistan today. The United States "will not plateau" at that number through 2014, he said, but would continue the gradual drawdown.

Depending on the situation on the ground, Rhodes said, there could conceivably be no American forces in the country in 2015. All aspects are under discussion, he added.

The U.S. is helping train Afghan soldiers and police, and the country's forces already have assumed much of the security burden, he noted. "We want to have an Afghan partner that is capable of standing on its own with our support and denying safe haven [to terrorists] and having the ability to take the lead for its own security," Rhodes said.
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Dollar Gold

Defense contractor agrees to pay $5 million to Iraqis over Abu Ghraib

Pete Yost
SFGate
Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:53 UTC
Image
© Photo: Khalid Mohammed / AP
In this Sept. 2, 2006, file photo, Iraqi army soldiers stand guard at the Abu Ghraib prison, after taking over from U.S. soldiers, on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq.
A defense contractor whose subsidiary was accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to torture detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has paid $5.28 million to 71 former inmates held there and at other U.S.-run detention sites between 2003 and 2007.

The settlement in the case involving Engility Holdings Inc. of Chantilly, Va., marks the first successful effort by lawyers for former prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers to collect money from a U.S. defense contractor in lawsuits alleging torture. Another contractor, CACI, is expected to go to trial over similar allegations this summer.

The payments were disclosed in a document that Engility filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission two months ago but which has gone essentially unnoticed.

The defendant in the lawsuit, L-3 Services Inc., now an Engility subsidiary, provided translators to the U.S. military in Iraq. In 2006, L-3 Services had more than 6,000 translators in Iraq under a $450 million-a-year contract, an L-3 executive told an investors conference at the time.
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