Leaked Documents Show Decline of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

Sinking Peace: Leaked Documents Said to Show Decline of Middle East Talks

HuffPost Politics
January 23, 2011

The Guardian and Al Jazeera served the world a fresh batch of leaked documents Sunday, with the material spanning a decade in the Israel-Palestine peace process. The picture is nothing if not depressing; the story is one of desperation, humiliation and dead-ends.

The explosive news is the great concessions allegedly made by the Palestinians to the Israelis in round after round of talks. (The New York Times reports that State Department officials will not vouch for the documents' authenticity.) Palestinian negotiators appear to have offered to allow Israel to annex all but one of the East Jerusalem settlements, a point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians for decades.

Even the ever-unresolved question of a Palestinian Right of Return -- that is, the right of Palestinian refugees driven, forced or scared out of Israel in 1948 to return to their ancestral homeland -- appears, on the Palestinian side, to have been wobbly at best. The offer, apparently, was for a tiny number of returnees -- a thin veil, in other words, to save face for negotiators, but otherwise a complete caving-in on the issue.

Other major concessions included a proposal for a joint-committee to control the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Finally it seems there were back-room conversations between Israelis and Palestinians around Gaza. And most of these concessions were made two years ago, a desperate effort, well before this last process, to end this hundred-years war.

The appearance of this huge release of papers, which encompasses the bulk of the last decade of negotiations on the seemingly intractable issue of peace in the region, could not come at a worse time. After tremendous build-up and fanfare, and a joint State Department and White House launch this September, the peace process is at a standstill. Israel refused to extend a moratorium on settlement building and the Palestinians, to save face, refused to return to the table. The Obama administration is scrambling now to restart talks. It will be much more difficult in light of this material.

The Guardian calls the first impression of Palestinian negotiators in these leaks -- namely Saeb Erekat, who has been working on the peace process since the Madrid conference of 1991 -- as "weak" and "desperate."

In a conversation with the U.S. envoy George Mitchell -- sent last spring to conduct back-room conversations -- Palestinian senior negotiator Erekat is said to have cried out:

"Nineteen years of promises and you haven't made up your minds what you want to do with us. . . . We delivered on our road map obligations. Even Yuval Diskin [director of Israel's internal security service, Shabak] raises his hat on security. But no, they can't even give a six-month freeze to give me a figleaf."

Blasting the United States for caring only about "PR" and "quick news," he added, "What good am I if I'm the joke of my wife, if I'm so weak?"

On Al Jazeera, as reported by the Israeli daily Haaretz, Erekat's quiet and personal frustration was revealed even more. The negotiator complained that he couldn't get his calls returned by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And that even small niceties, like acknowledging the holidays each religion observed, were overlooked.

"I called Uzi Arad before Passover and arranged a call from Abbas to Netanyahu to congratulate him," Erekat said to U.S. diplomat David Hale. "I got nothing. Come Ramadan, the feast, nothing. I called them to meet from the beginning, they kept canceling. This is Netanyahu."

Hale was apparently pushing Erekat to restart negotiations. This was in the time period just before the 10-month moratorium on settlement building had begun. Erekat is angered that the United States won't be clearer on its position. And he believes the Israelis aren't sure partners in peace.

"Israelis want the two-state solution but they don't trust," Erekat told Hale. "They want it more than you think, sometimes more than Palestinians."

Then he mentions a position paper that explicitly sets out the Palestinian Authority's red lines.

"What is in that paper gives them the biggest Jerusalem in Jewish history, symbolic number of refugees return, demilitarized state. . . . What more can I give?" Erekat said.

The publication of these papers may be intended to embarrass the United States, or Israel, but in actuality, it is not so much "news" to those who have been following the years of front- and back-room deals for years as a very public declaration in a region that trades on quiet talk. It will more than likely be a blow to Palestinian leaders who have conceded more than they would like the public to know.

The publication will surely be another blow to what is terribly weakened, if not dead, process.

China

China's New Stealth Fighter May Use U.S. Technology

Associated Press
January 23, 2011

Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority — and some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself.

Balkan military officials and other experts have told The Associated Press that in all probability the Chinese gleaned some of their technological know-how from an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.

Nighthawks were the world's first stealth fighters, planes that were very hard for radar to detect. But on March 27, 1999, during NATO's aerial bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo war, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot one of the Nighthawks down. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

It was the first time one of the much-touted "invisible" fighters had ever been hit. The Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and sheer luck had allowed a Soviet-built SA-3 missile to bring down the jet.

The wreckage was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts — some the size of small cars — as souvenirs.

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," says Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war.

"We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them," Domazet-Loso said in a telephone interview.

A senior Serbian military official confirmed that pieces of the wreckage were removed by souvenir collectors, and that some ended up "in the hands of foreign military attaches."

Efforts to get comment from China's defense ministry and the Pentagon were unsuccessful.

China's multi-role stealth fighter — known as the Chengdu J-20 — made its inaugural flight Jan. 11, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies.

Although the twin-engine J-20 is at least eight or nine years from entering air force inventory, it could become a rival to America's top-of-the-line F-22 Raptor, the successor to the Nighthawk and the only stealth fighter currently in service.

China rolled out the J-20 just days before a visit to Beijing by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, leading some analysts to speculate that the timing was intended to demonstrate the growing might of China's armed forces.

Despite Chinese President Hu Jintao's high-profile visit to the United States this week, many in Washington see China as an economic threat to the U.S. and worry as well about Beijing's military might.

Parts of the downed F-117 wreckage — such as the left wing with US Air Force insignia, the cockpit canopy, ejection seat, pilot's helmet and radio — are exhibited at Belgrade's aviation museum.

"I don't know what happened to the rest of the plane," said Zoran Milicevic, deputy director of the museum. "A lot of delegations visited us in the past, including the Chinese, Russians and Americans ... but no one showed any interest in taking any part of the jet."

Zoran Kusovac, a Rome-based military consultant, said the regime of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic routinely shared captured Western equipment with its Chinese and Russian allies.

"The destroyed F-117 topped that wish-list for both the Russians and Chinese," Kusovac said.

Russia's Sukhoi T-50 prototype stealth fighter made its maiden flight last year and is due to enter service in about four years. It is likely that the Russians also gleaned knowledge of stealth technology from the downed Nighthawk.

The F-117, developed in great secrecy in the 1970s, began service in 1983.

While not completely invisible to radar, its shape and radar-absorbent coating made detection extremely difficult. The radar cross-section was further reduced because the wings' leading and trailing edges were composed of nonmetallic honeycomb structures that do not reflect radar rays.

Kusovac said insight into this critical technology, and particularly the plane's secret radiation-absorbent exterior coating, would have significantly enhanced China's stealth know-how.

Alexander Huang of Taipei's Tamkang University said the J-20 represented a major step forward for China. He described Domazet-Loso's claim as "a logical assessment."

"There is no other stronger source for the origin of the J-20's stealthy technology," said Huang, an expert on China's air force. "The argument the Croatian chief-of-staff makes is legitimate and cannot be ruled out."

The Chinese are well-known perpetrators of industrial espionage in Western Europe and the United States, where the administration has also been increasingly aggressive in prosecuting cases of Chinese espionage.

Western diplomats have said China maintained an intelligence post in its Belgrade embassy during the Kosovo war. The building was mistakenly struck by U.S. bombers that May, killing three people inside.

"What that means is that the Serbs and Chinese would have been sharing their intelligence," said Alexander Neill, head of the Asia security program at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London. "It's very likely that they shared the technology they recovered from the F-117, and it's very plausible that elements of the F-117 got to China."

China-North Korea Alliance

China Moves Troops into North Korea

A South Korean official downplayed the report saying that it only permits China to come to North Korea's aid in the event of greater instability.

Helium.com
January 17, 2011

South Korea's daily newspaper is reporting that what Western analysts have feared has happened: Chinese troops have been deployed into North Korea. The Chinese now have a presence in the rogue state for the first time in more than 15 years.

China has had no military presence in the rogue country since 1994 after it quit the Military Armistice Commission that supervises the Armistice that suspended the Korean war. Since that time, Pyonyang has stridently announced that it will no longer abide by the agreement. During 2010 the North Korean government officially declared that it is once again in a state of war with South Korea and the U.S.

The South Korean government confirmed reports on January 18, 2011 that China has stationed military forces in the special economic zone of Rajin-Sonbong.

It's a move on China's part that has seen U.S. and South Korean military experts rushing back to reprogram their war games scenario computers.

A week earlier, the South Korean daily newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, carried quotes from a government official wishing to remain anonymous. The official who works for the South Korean president stated that Party leaders in Beijing and Pyongyang's leaders recently held "substantive" talks about the need to station Chinese troops in the troubled region.

"North Korea and China have discussed the issue of stationing a small number of Chinese troops to protect China-invested port facilities," said the official. "The presence of Chinese troops is apparently to guard facilities and protect Chinese nationals."

The unnamed official further revealed that the Chinese planned to deploy their troops in the city of Rason, within Rajin-Sonbong, a special economic zone located in North Korea's northeastern quadrant. The reasoning behind the Chinese troop deployment is presumably to afford protection for Chinese ports that might be at risk if a war breaks out on the Peninsula, but South Korean analysts consulted by the paper point out that the targeted location positions the troops in a militarily strategic location.

The city gives the Chinese direct access to the Sea of Japan.

One senior South Korean official downplayed the report saying that it only permits China to come to North Korea's aid in the event of greater North Korean instability.

"Pyongyang and Beijing have reportedly discussed the matter of stationing a small number of Chinese troops in the Rajin-Sonbong region to guard port facilities China has invested in," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "If it's true, they're apparently there to protect either facilities or Chinese residents rather than for political or military reasons."

The government of North Korea has grown increasingly dependent upon their giant communist neighbor. As the North's economy continues to deteriorate, their saber-rattling has become increasingly bellicose. During December of 2010 they warned that they were ready to annihilate any aggressor and would be more than willing to defend themselves with their nuclear stockpile.

Military nuclear experts estimate the North now has between six to twelve nuclear weapons. None have been successfully modified to arm missiles yet.

The South Korean paper also reported that Seoul's International Security Ambassador Nam Joo-Hong believed that China had the capability to rush large numbers of troops into the North if extreme stability became evident.

"The worst scenario China wants to avoid is a possibly chaotic situation in its northeastern provinces which might be created by massive inflows of North Korean refugees," Chosun Ilbo quoted Nam as saying.

A China based source told the South Korean newspaper:

"In the middle of the night around Dec. 15 last year, about 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks crossed the Duman (Tumen) River from Sanhe into the North Korean city of Hoeryong in North Hamgyong Province."

The Daily NK, a North Korean newspaper and online news source, claims the North and China signed an economic agreement the end of 2010. As part of the contract, China will construct three more piers at the seaport and build a new highway. Daily NK also reports that a new railroad will be built between Quanhe in Jilin and Rajin-Sonbong.

Both the North and South newspapers failed mentioning the concerns raised by South Korean and U.S. military leaders about the dangers of a Chinese involvement in a new Korean war.

Chinese Troops in Korea Make for Perplexing Situation

By Wen Long & Rona Rui, Epoch Times
January 20, 2011

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported on Jan. 15 that Chinese troops recently entered North Korea. If true, this would have been the first Chinese army to enter the Korean peninsula in the 50 years since the Korean War ended. Given the "blood alliance” between China and North Korea and the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the move is regarded as quite unusual.

Although the scale of the Chinese troops being stationed is unknown, sources said that, “At midnight on Dec. 15, 2010, more than 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks entered North Korea’s Hoeryong crossing the Tumen River (Duman River) from China’s Sanhe, and residents of Sanhe were awakened by the roar of the armored vehicles,” the Chosun Ilbo reported. (http://chinese.chosun.com/big5/site/data/html_dir/2011/01/15/20110115000006.html)

Around the same time, some people in China’s Dandong also saw military jeeps entering North Korea’s Sinuiju. “Chinese armored vehicles can be used to suppress riots, and the jeeps may be used to control refugees fleeing North Korea,” the report quoted another source as saying.

South Korean and Chinese media recently reported that Chinese workers have completed maintenance construction at the port of Rason. The motivation of the Chinese military’s entering North Korea is neither political nor military, but rather guarding facilities at the port and protecting Chinese workers, the report said, quoting a Cheongwadae (the South Korean White House) official.

The Chinese regime could use the opportunity of stationing soldiers in Rason and send in large numbers of troops to intervene in the Korean Peninsula on the grounds of protecting Chinese nationals in the event of any unrest, Nam Joo-Hong, Ambassador for International Security of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in the same report.

A source told South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo that it was possible that the Chinese military could send troops to Pyongyang by the end of 2010 in the name of providing assistance to North Korea's military modernization program; the troops were estimated to be two to three regiments with at least several thousand soldiers, and some commanders were receiving Korean language training and geography and customs-related education in China, according to an earlier report by Chosun Ilbo report on Oct. 20, 2010. (http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/10/20/2010102000337.html?Dep1=news&Dep2=headline1&Dep3=h1_01_rel01)

Dong-A Ilbo stated that although Kim Jong-il is still alive, North Korea in fact wants to rely on Chinese troops in Pyongyang to protect Kim Jong-un during the chaos when Kim Jong-il dies; South Korean government sources said that allowing Chinese troops to enter is against the principles of North Korean authorities, and therefore makes no sense, according to the same report.

South Korean public opinion holds that, the stationing of any Chinese in North Korea amidst the ever-growing tensions in the Korean Peninsula is quite unusual, and some South Korean Internet users regard Chinese troops’ entering North Korea to be something more serious than North Korea having nuclear weapons.
North Will Be Supported

Hu Ping of Beijing Spring Magazine told The Epoch Times that the Chinese regime dispatched troops to North Korea to support Kim Jong-il and his son. “It will be a big blow to China, if North Korea collapsed and unified with South Korea. The Chinese regime therefore will firmly support North Korea,” he said, adding that it is unrealistic for the United States and the international community to expect China to play the role of a serious and responsible nation in international affairs.

The Chinese regime can’t possibly inform the United States about its military alliance with North Korea during the sensitive period ahead of Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States, said political commentator Wen Zhao during an interview with The Epoch Times.

Wen suspects that Kim Jong-il is in trouble if the Chinese regime is sending troops to North Korea. Kim worries that if he dies his son will need the protection of Chinese troops to “pull through a fragile and uncertain period of much turmoil.”

Wen also commented that the Chinese regime does not dare to openly state or admit that Chinese troops have entered North Korea.

Another political commentator, Chen Pokong, stated that North Korea has provoked South Korea with a series of military actions; Kim Jong-il fears that the United States and South Korea might really join forces to fight against North Korea; Kim is therefore depending on the Chinese army to strengthen his regime during any crisis. In addition, if Kim’s regime collapsed, the Chinese regime might become the United States’ next target; so it therefore felt the need to show off its military might in the Korean peninsula and send the message that it will not sit and watch if Kim’s regime is in danger.

Currently the alliance consisting of The United States, Japan and South Korea is growing stronger, and a fleet consisting of three U.S. aircraft carriers is stationed in East Asia. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak stated recently that, this year is a crucial year for a unified Korean peninsula. The deployment of Chinese troops in North Korea will undoubtedly complicate the situation in the Korean Peninsula, and add more unknown variables to Lee Myung-bak 's "reunification" plan.

Israel, the U.S. and the Arab World

Israel Calls for Attack on Iran

PressTV
January 12, 2011

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for “a credible military option against Iran” to force Tehran to end its nuclear energy program.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that military action should be taken by the international community and headed by the United States.

"You have to ratchet up the pressure and… I don't think that this pressure will be sufficient to have this regime change course without a credible military option that is put before them by the international community led by the United States," he stated.

He went on to say that sanctions are not enough to stop Iran's nuclear energy program, and they should be backed by some military action.

He has made similar bellicose remarks in the past, but they were always rejected by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Netanyahu made the comments a week after Tehran announced Iran's nuclear sites were being opened to envoys representing "geographical and political groups" in the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The invitation came ahead of the multifaceted talks between Iran and the P5+1 group — Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany — that are scheduled to be held in Turkey from January 21 to 22.

Iran and the P5+1 group wrapped up two days of comprehensive talks in Geneva on December 7, during which the two sides agreed to hold the next round of negotiations in Turkey.

Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili represented Iran at the talks and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton represented the P5+1 group.

The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran last year.

But Tehran says sanctions have failed to hamper its efforts to master peaceful nuclear technology.

And the IAEA continues to conduct regular inspections and camera surveillance of Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iranian officials say the talks provide an opportunity to display Iran's policy of nuclear transparency to the international community.

China

Can Obama Cut the Military in the Face of a Rising China?

Secretary Gates's trip to China only revealed an emboldened Beijing on the eve of President Hu's visit to Washington, especially on the issue of Taiwan.

Christian Science Monitor
January 11, 2011

China takes center stage in Washington next week. President Hu Jintao begins a state visit Tuesday that could not come at a more critical time for President Obama and his drive to cut the Pentagon budget.

China’s rapid modernization of its military, not to mention recent provocations of its neighbors, have left the Pentagon somewhat flummoxed over whether it can spend less money and still retain superiority in Asia, especially in helping Taiwan defend itself.

Years of trying to make nice with China – such as revealing how the US military operates – has yet to be reciprocated by a secretive Beijing bent on countering US military strength.

In the run-up to Mr. Hu’s visit, China did welcome US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Beijing this week. But he didn’t come away with very much, mainly a promise from Defense Minister Liang Guanglie to merely “study” a “framework” for further talks between the two militaries.

China, in fact, embarrassed the US defense chief by revealing a new stealth fighter jet, the J-20, that is designed to counter America’s radar-evading F-22 Raptor. And the US commander in the Pacific, Adm. Robert Willard, recently let it be known that China now has the initial capability to use a medium-range antiship missile, the Dong Feng 21D, that could possibly knock out an American aircraft carrier. The Pentagon has already begun to shift its weapons to match such surprising advances by the Chinese.

Preventing an arms race between the US and China is in both nations’ interest, especially as each faces challenges at home to create jobs. The first step is more cooperation between their militaries, such as better communication to prevent naval accidents at sea. The two can also work together to counter terrorism and sea piracy.

But it remains unclear how much the civilian leaders in China’s ruling Communist Party can restrain the ambitions of the 2.3 million-member People’s Liberation Army – and also deal with the PLA’s fears of being “encircled” by the US and its Asian allies.

Any way forward to reduce friction between a rising China and a United States trying to downsize its global role has to focus on Taiwan, the frontline of their struggle for regional supremacy. That island nation, with its own thriving democracy, is claimed by an autocratic China – so much so that the PLA keeps more than 1,000 missiles aimed at it.

During the Gates trip, China made clear that it will maintain a “red line” on any further US military sales to Taiwan. A year ago, Mr. Obama decided to sell up to $6.4 billion in weapons to Taiwan, putting a big chill in US-China military ties. And the Pentagon is now weighing whether to recommend that Taiwan be allowed to buy advanced F-16 fighter jets to counter China’s growing threat.

Gates wisely did not retreat from a longstanding US commitment to helping Taiwan’s military – a commitment in line with historic US assistance to all of Asia’s democracies.

China’s impatience in taking over Taiwan – an ambition contrary to the wishes of earlier Communist leaders to leave the issue to future generations – has to be met with American patience to retain its military role in Asia. Retrenchment of the US military in the region would only embolden hard liners in Beijing and worry American allies from Australia to Japan.

During his visit next week, Hu can come bearing a gift – namely, ways to avoid the budding arms race with the US. The PLA didn’t give that gift to Gates, making it all the more difficult for Obama as he tries to rein in the Pentagon’s 2012 budget.

China

U.S. Will Respond to Chinese Military Advances: Gates

Reuters
January 8, 2011

The United States will enhance its own capabilities in response to China's growing military muscle, Defense chief Robert Gates said on Saturday, as he to flew to Beijing for talks with China's political and military leaders.

As its economy booms, China has significantly increased investment in its military, and its faster-than-expected advances in its ballistic missile, combat aircraft and other strategic programs have raised eyebrows in the United States.

Gates acknowledge that some of China's advances, if confirmed, could eventually undermine traditional U.S. military capabilities in the Pacific region.

"They clearly have the potential to put some of our capabilities at risk and we have to pay attention to them. We have to respond appropriately with our own programs," Gates told reporters.

"My hope is that through the strategic dialogue that I'm talking about, that maybe the need for some of these capabilities is reduced."

Gates cited a five-year budget outline that he unveiled on Thursday as an example of how the U.S. military would maintain its edge. It included funding for a new generation of long-range nuclear bombers, new electronic jammers and radar, and new satellite launch technology.

But critics in Congress seized upon the budget outline's $78 billion in overall defense spending cuts as a sign that key U.S. military capabilities would be under-funded.

U.S. officials have taken note of disclosures in recent weeks of advances in China's capabilities, including in its anti-ship ballistic missile program, which could challenge U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific.

"I've been concerned about the development of the anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles ever since I took this job," Gates said. He added China appeared "fairly far along" with its anti-ship ballistic missile but he said he did not know if it was operational yet.

China may also be ready to launch its first aircraft carrier in 2011, faster than some estimates, and new photos indicate it has a prototype of a stealth fighter jet.

Still, Gates appeared to play down the Chinese program. Asked about its prototype, he said:

"I think there is some question about just how stealthy" it is.

NO DRAMATIC BREAKTHROUGHS

The stated goal of Gates' Jan 9-12 trip to China is to improve relations with China's military.

U.S. and Chinese military ties were suspended through most of 2010, as Beijing protested President Barack Obama's proposed arms sale to Taiwan. His trip to China is the most visible demonstration that relations have normalized.

Gates said he did not expect any dramatic breakthrough in relations with China's military during the visit, saying an improvement in ties was more likely to be gradual.

"I think this is evolutionary, particularly the military to military side," Gates said.

"So rather than something dramatic, some kind of dramatic breakthrough, I think just getting some things started would be a positive outcome," he added, after having spoken at length about ways the U.S. and China could improve dialogue.

Analysts warn that as China's military expands its reach, the risks of potentially dangerous misunderstandings between the U.S. and Chinese militaries will increase.

That bolsters U.S. arguments about the need for sustained U.S.-China contacts that can endure friction over issues like Taiwan, as opposed to on-again, off-again contacts that have characterized the relationship for years.

Gates' visit comes a week before Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington, creating diplomatic momentum that U.S. officials hope will allow Gates to make headway on sticky security issues.

"I think the Chinese' clear desire that I come first, come to China before President Hu goes to Washington, was an indication of their interest in strengthening this part of the relationship," Gates said.

He also praised China's efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula. As North Korea's main diplomatic and economic backer, China has been under pressure to rein in Pyongyang after the sinking of a South Korean warship and shelling of a South Korean island last year.

"We recognize that China played a constructive role in lessening tensions on the peninsula in the latter part of last year," he said.

Paris-Berlin-Moscow Alliance

Moscow as a Would-be Capital of Europe

By Alexandre Latsa, win.ru
December 20, 2010

From time immemorial — through the era of Carl the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte to Charles De Gaulle — France has been attempting to architect a united continental Europe. Today it seemingly shifts its role to Russia that has a chance to pave the way for new Europe — stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

Almost every French man is a staunch Europhile, which is quite paradoxical in fact — most part of foreigners, visiting France are often stricken by their relatively narrow views, lack of foreign languages knowledge and their (at times excessive) chauvinism. Nevertheless, it were the Frenchmen who backed up the first attempt of European integration.

By the end of his rule in the 9th century Carl the Great, Emperor of the West reigned over the continental empire that included contemporary France, parts of Spain and Italy, German territories and the Balkans. For many intellectuals and historians Carl the Great is the founding father of today’s Europe. Fortunately for Europe or not, but after his death the empire was disbanded.

Second French attempt to create united Europe belonged to Napoleon — he hoped to control vast territory, stretching from Corsica to Moscow. It is well-known (in Russia especially) that this armed attempt to unite the continent by the power of arms failed in 1812, having met fierce resistance of Russians and the terribly cold winter.

After the Second World War, Europe fetched itself divided into two blocs — American trans-Atlantic bloc and the Soviet continental one. Western Europe was restored for American Marshall Plan funds in exchange for NATO integration, which was a U.S.-controlled military alliance found in 1949 and intended to prevent any imperial aspirations of the Soviet Union. In 1955 countries of the Eastern Europe, being under the Soviet auspice, entered the Warsaw Treaty, yet another military alliance, created as the NATO counterpoise. French Europhilia made itself visible once again in 1967, when General De Gaulle withdrew his country from the NATO and gave it an access to the nuclear energy.

Turning his back to the Anglo-Saxon world, De Gaulle maintained his farseeing project of continental Europe, temporarily tore down the iron curtain and stood up for the historical proximity with Germany and Russia within the framework of continental Europe stretching from Atlantics to the Ural Mountains. In 1960 Paris established itself as a political capital and France undertaken yet another attempt to re-create Europe. This Gaullist idea of Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis and the concept of Russia (Soviet Union at that time) being a part of Europe tended to turn fairer as the time went by.

There have always been discussions whether Russia really belongs to Europe in France. Many people, poorly knowing Russia or not knowing it at all, were asking me about this Gaullist border, which the Ural Mountains might have been. They asked if the Ural — border line between Europe and Asia — really was a border right in the heart of Russia or Europe. And are the people living over the Ural Mountains really different from those, living in its western part? These questions may undoubtedly cause a smile on the faces of those who know the country but they are not make-believe. In my opinion, semantic mistake of General De Gaulle and the relative lack of knowledge about Russia among the common Europeans make this quite understandable.

Since I live in Russia, I can only confirm that before my arrival I considered it to be a completely European country — so to say, European in its essence, be it the mentality of its citizens (Orthodox Slavs) or the dominating cultural legacy of Rome and Athens. This European tint is present all along its territory — from Moscow to the heart of Siberia, in Vladivostok, at the Pacific coast, in the Caucasus and Northern Karelia. Even Kazan with its eastern culture is not less European than, say, Sarajevo.

But I have to admit that Russia is not like the rest of European countries. Sheer size, variety of nations inhabiting it, territories stretching to Asia and Pacific Ocean — Russia is an empire, colossus, which spine is European but certain vertebrae may be Asian, Tatar, Muslim or even Buddhist. I often tell French friends of mine that we have a lot to learn from Russia in the field of "multi-cultural model" that Europe is trying to establish with such great efforts.

Today, while Russia and NATO discuss the creation of security architecture in the Northern hemisphere, stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok, the discords remain. Via NATO, which extended itself up to the Eastern- and Western-European borders, the United States infiltrated the Eurasian continent — theater of war that is considered to be vitally important for orchestrating the world politics. Russia, being a member of Shanghai Treaty Organization, often called the Asian NATO is willing to attract Europe into new additional continental security system. In that sense, Russian initiatives on creation of continental security structure and a common integral economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok are every bit as Gaullist as they are farsighted.

The only difference is that this time political impulse comes from Moscow, rather than from Paris like 40 years ago. There’s a certain reason for that: gauging from Moscow, Europe stretches 4.000 km to the Atlantic and 6.500 km to the East, through Siberia to the Pacific Coast. European political centre of gravity just shifted to the East. Paris-Berlin-Moscow alliance would have allowed Europeans — who failed to gain real political and military autonomy after the 1945 — not to get stuck in the unilateral NATO ties and to obtain an exit to the utmost important regions of tomorrow: Caucasus, Central Asia and Asian-Pacific region. In the past Paris was the capital of Europe, today it is Brussels — what if Moscow to become one in future?

Alexandre Latsa is 33-year-old French blogger living in Russia. Expert in the Slavic languages, he maintains the DISSONANCE blog, representing "different look upon Russia".

Paris and Berlin Outline Common 'Vision' for 2020

EurActiv.com
February 5, 2010

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sealed a wide-ranging cooperation programme for the next ten years in Paris on Thursday (4 February), launching 80 "concrete" projects to forge closer economic ties by 2020. EurActiv France reports.

Background

The Franco-German relationship has long been considered an engine of European integration.

Yesterday's meeting, held in Paris between government ministers from all departments, is the twelfth time that the two countries have held joint cabinet meetings.

The Franco-German pledge to work together more closely in future comes as EU leaders prepare to meet on 11 February for a summit aimed at launching a new ten-year economic plan for Europe, known as 'EU 2020'.

"The era of grand declarations and great treaties will begin to recede a little,"said Sarkozy, presenting 'Agenda 2020', a Franco-German blueprint for future relations between the two countries, at a joint press conference with his German counterpart yesterday.

"What is growth in the 21st century?"asked Chancellor Merkel. "We have to respond to this question together,"she said.

The announcement comes as EU leaders prepare to discuss the bloc's new '2020' strategy for economic growth at a summit on 11 February.

On foreign affairs, the pair spoke of "a common initiative for the Middle East,"preparing jointly for big international meetings like the G20 and "following up"together on Russian President Dimitry Medvedev's proposals to Europe.

"The Europe-Russia relationship is fundamental,"Merkel argued. "We have to end the Cold War once and for all."

The 10-page document of proposals for further Franco-German cooperation breaks down into six areas: the economy, energy and the climate, research, foreign policy and defence, citizenship, and institutional cooperation.

Concrete "projects"include a Franco-German storage facility to alleviate cross-border gas shortages, a joint school textbook on Europe and European integration, and the launch of a satellite to monitor greenhouse gas emissions.

The document also features plans to launch "the world's first cross-border demonstration project for electric cars [...] to illustrate the limitless possibilities of electric vehicles".

Other objectives are more vague, referring only to "common implementation" of energy and climate legislation, or pre-existing initiatives such as a promise to table "common proposals for a strong food and agriculture policy".

Both nations pledged to push for EU-level action to reduce CO2 emissions, but did not specifically mention a tax on carbon. Last month, France outlined plans to unilaterally impose a carbon tax on large industrial installations from July, but the German government is known to be divided on the issue (EurActiv 22/01/10).

Neither leader mentioned a specific timeframe or budget for implementing the new proposals.

Positions

"Some proposals are rehashes of the programme presented by France and Germany in 2003 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty,"Wolfram Vogel of the Paris-based Franco-German Institute told EurActiv France.

Vogel said around half of the forty proposals made at that time were taken up again in the 2020 agenda, including plans for French ministers to attend meetings of their German counterparts, and vice-versa.

The analyst was quick to stress that such "recycling" of old ideas is not necessarily a bad thing.

"Stressing once again the desire to work together is far from negative," Vogel said."Don't expect things to happen quickly," Vogel concluded, warning that it takes time for political declarations to produce tangible results.

"I think France and Germany are not so strong that they can convince the whole world to do what they want," Claira Demesmay, head of the French programme at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told Deutsche Welle.

"They are two nation states that are not all that big, and they know it. But just because you can't influence things, that's no reason not to act. They continue to try to convince the other countries, starting with the European Union and then moving further afield. But it's very difficult," Demesmay said.

As for the Agenda 2020 document, the analyst said "the focus seems to be quantitative, not qualitative. It's not a revolution".

Germany

German Soldiers Could Be Fighting Around the World if Conscription Phased Out Under New Plans

The Flu Case
June 7, 2010

The German government is on the verge of agreeing a major change to the army that will allow significant numbers of soldiers to serve abroad for the first time ever, and so could pave the way for Germany to engage in major conflicts in the Middle East and the rest of the world in the 21st century.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet looks set to push through a plan to phase out national service and its 60,000 school-leaver conscripts.

Conscripts in the German army cannot serve abroad.

By switching to a volunteer, professional army, it will be possible for the German government, for the first time since the second world war, to send significant numbers of troops abroad and to engage in offensive wars.

Earlier this month, President Horst Köhler resigned after facing strong criticism to remarks he made on a visit to Afghanistan that suggested that using German troops to protect corporate interests was legitimate. Such a use of troops is currently banned by the Constitution, which limits the army to a defensive role.

Merkel plans to cut €70bn in spending by 2014 to keep the shortfall between spending and tax intake within European Union limits, and Merkel says the defence budget must be cut.

However, there is no evidence that abolishing conscription will save money as Baden Württemberg’s Minister President Stefan Mappus has pointed out. He recently said that he had seen no evidence that professional armies are less costly than conscript-based forces.

http://de.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idDEBEE65403K20100605

In addition, Germany has only notched up such a gigantic mountain of debt recently because of the sums given to banks, first in the form of a bank bailout in 2008, and second, in the form of a so-called Greek and “eurozone” bailout this spring.

These enormous sums are not going not to the Greeks or other country’s in Europe, but straight to the banks under the pretext of government having to pay interest on the sovereign debt incurred by the banks.

Much of the bailout money will also go to the purchase of weapons by Greece as Der Spiegel recently reported.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,695569,00.html

Hans Olaf Henkel called for a parliamentary inquiry to be set up to investigate the financial crisis and the bailouts in a recent report in Die Welt.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,695569,00.html

A similar parliamentary inquiry in Iceland showed how bankers, government officials and regulators were jointly responsible for destroying the country's financial system by inflating paper debt, which was then nationalised in order to suck interest payments out of taxpayers, crash the economy, and buy up the assets of Iceland for a pittance. Several bankers in Iceland have already been arrested.

But the German government has so far failed to implement any such investigation in spite of the overwhelming evidence of criminal activity.

The SEC in the USA is investigating Deutsche Bank's role in the financial crisis along with Goldman Sachs.

The German financial authorities have taken no action.

Instead of dealing with the criminal behaviour of the banks in sucking billions from taxpayers, the Merkel government is embarking on huge and savage cuts in the welfare system. The effect of draining so much money from the state will depress demand more and deepen the recession. But Germans who lose their jobs will find that they have very reduced rights to welfare payments under the new budget plans to be unveiled by Merkel.

Perhaps joining the army will seen an attractive option for many?

Though small at the start, a professional army can be expanded far more easily than a conscript army – especially at a time of economic hardship when there is a boost to recruitment. Such an army can be sent to serve in Iraq and the Middle East at the cost of billions to the taxpayers under the pretext of a false flag security requirement.

That the war in Afghanistan was engineered is widely accepted, in the meantime, in the USA.

There is scientific, verifiable evidence, also enumerated by US architects and engineers for 9/11 truth that show that the World Trade Centers in New York were destroyed by explosives also by elements operating inside the government. This “false flag” attack on the WTC was used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Afghanistan and, later Iraq, in an operation which has cost maybe millions of lives and cost trillions of dollars, and which shows no signs of having an end.

While the German public has remained relatively apathetic to the engagement of German troops in Afghanistan because of their limited role there, the US and UK public are growing increasingly hostile to the wars that drag on for no purpose other than generating enormous profits for the military industrial complex.

As a result of growing resistance in the US and UK, international corporate interests seeking to expand world war for more profit need a fresh supply of troops – and they appear to be thinking of harnessing Germany’s army and weapons industry as the motor for an expanded conflict in the Middle East.

Bild Zeitung and Der Spiegel recently reported on the secretive Bilderberg meeting of the global elite in Sitges in Spain, attended also by Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defence Minister Karl Theodor zuu Guttenberg are also Bilderberg members.

It was reported by insiders that the Bilderberg group are considering a nuclear strike against Iran.

A nuclear exchange is a shocking event but it will not lead to an expansion of the war on the scale that the Bilderbergs are reported to envisage for large profits.

To generate significant profits, the military industrial complex requires a large-scale military forces and equipment to be deployed on the ground fighting other military forces or civilian populations for a protracted length of time without a breakthrough.

And it looks like it will now be the turn of the German soldiers to serve in a war manufactured with the help of the controlled media as soon as conscription is abolished. The plan to switch the German forces from a conscript-based force must be opposed by everyone who is interested in future peace around the world.

The merits of Guttenberg’s and Merkel’s sudden and low-profile proposal to transform the German army under the cover of saving money must be debated in the open, at the very least, and its gigantic implications considered.

Bild Reports on the Bilderberg Conference: 12 Million Germans Hear About the Secret Meeting

The Flu Case
June 5, 2010

Germany’s biggest newspaper, Bild Zeitung, has reported today on the Bilderberg meeting underway in Sitges.

In a factual online report -- eschewing talk of conspiracies but mentioning a possible “world government” agenda -- Bild lists some of the German politicians and bankers who have attended Bilderberg meetings. Bild also gives information about when the meetings started and who initiated them, notes the security and secrecy. The report also speculates that the group is trying to rescue their euro (scam) over the weekend as polls show 64% of the Germans want a return to the D Mark.

Believed to reach about 12 million people in Germany, Bild Zeitung’s coverage of the Bilderberg meeting breaks new ground.

The exposure will surely make it much harder for Bilderberg Chancellor Angela Merkel and Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann to collapse the German economy for the profit of the banks and start a war.

In another setback for the Bilderbergs in Germany, Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is meeting tougher than expected opposition to his plans to abolish conscription under the pretext of having to save money.

West Germany was banned from maintaining any armed forces after World War two, but established armed forces based on conscription in 1950 because conscription was believed to ensure that the army remains a defense force committed to the country’s interests. German conscripts are not allowed to serve abroad, for example.

http://www.bild.de/BILD/politik/2010/06/05/spar-gipfel-verteidigungsminister-guttenberg/will-wehrpflicht-ende-csu-chef-seehofer-pfeift-ihn-zurueck.html

But Guttenberg this week unilaterally announced plans to create a volunteer, professional army, which would also be more able to serve the needs of the international corporate crime syndicate by fighting in Afghanistan and Iran etc.

The head of the CSU faction, Horst Seehofer, has, however, blocked Guttenberg.

The unprecedented and enormous coverage of the Bilderberg conference in Spain by the German media -- Spiegel and Bild -- will make it much harder for the Globalists to push through their agenda for economic collapse and war in Germany.

This is the Bild report:

http://www.bild.de/BILD/politik/wirtschaft/2010/06/05/bilderberg-treffen-zum-finanzmarkt/geheim-gipfel-zur-eurokrise.html

Global Government, Carbon Tax Agenda Failing, But Majority of Elitists in Favor of Air Strikes on Iran

By Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet.com
June 5, 2010

The 2010 Bilderberg agenda has been revealed by veteran Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker and it paints a picture of crisis for the globalists, who are furious at the increased exposure their gatherings have received in recent years, as well as being dismayed at their failure to rescue both the euro and the failing carbon tax agenda, but more alarmingly according to Tucker, the majority of Bilderberg members are now in favor of military air strikes on Iran.

American Free Press muckraker Tucker has proven routinely accurate with the information he obtains from sources inside Bilderberg, which makes this year’s revelations all the more intriguing.

According to Tucker, Bilderberg luminaries are dismayed at the fact that “many important people” are not attending this year because, due to increasing exposure, invitees are “getting in trouble at home” and constituents are embarrassing them by asking irate questions such as “what are you doing with these monsters?”

“All these people are exposing us, we get all this mail and calls,” Tucker paraphrased Bilderberg members as complaining.

This dovetails with the revelations overheard by Guardian journalist Charlie Skelton at the Hotel Dolce Sitges before the meeting began when he heard conference organizers lamenting the fact that protest numbers are growing at Bilderberg events each year and that they represent a “threat” to Bilderberg’s agenda.

In addition, prominent Bilderberg Zbigniew Brzezinski, the man who warned recently that a “global political awakening” was threatening to derail the move towards global government, was expected to be in attendance at this year’s meeting.

Tucker named his source as an international financial consultant who personally knows Bilderberg members and has done business with them for the past 20 years.

Turning to Iran, Tucker said that many Bilderberg members, including Brzezinski, were in favor of U.S. air strikes on Iran and were “leaning towards war,” although 100 per cent of members were not supportive of an attack.

“Some of them in Europe are saying no we shouldn’t do it but most of them are in favor of American air strikes on Iran,” said Tucker, adding, “They’re tilting heavily towards green lighting a U.S. attack on Iran.”

An attack on Iran would provide a welcome distraction to the globalists’ failings in other areas and would also allow them to war profiteer, pointed out Tucker.

On the subject of the euro, Tucker said that the Bilderberg elitists were determined to save the single currency even as it collapsed to a new 4-year-low at $1.19 against the dollar yesterday afternoon. As we have highlighted, the globalists are panicking at the euro’s fall and the ECB keeps intervening to try and hasten its decline. If the euro were to cease to exist, it would all but derail the ultimate agenda for a global currency because the perceived stability of using one currency for a plethora of nations would be discredited.

“The euro is important because it’s part of their world government program, they’re very downbeat because they’ve fallen so far behind,” said Tucker, explaining that the globalists had planned by now to have the European Union, the American Union and the Asia-Pacific Union already up and running.

With regard to the climate change agenda, on which subject Microsoft founder Bill Gates was personally invited to the conference to discuss, Tucker said that Bilderberg were still intent on pushing it in pursuit of a carbon tax despite the fact that the whole move was massively eviscerated in the aftermath of the Climategate scandal.

Tucker quoted one Bilderberg member as all but admitting defeat on the mission to hoodwink the public into paying taxes in the name of fighting global warming.

“On climate change, we’re about whipped,” said one of the elitists in attendance.

However, Tucker said that the globalists were working on putting out more climate change propaganda “even as we speak”.

On the issue of the BP oil spill, the Bilderbergers made it clear that President Obama’s apparent “outrage” at BP and his threat of criminal procedures against the company was an little more than an act and that British Petroleum, who have been represented at Bilderberg meetings in the past by people like Peter Sutherland, former non-executive chairman of BP, were still “one of our brothers,” according to the elitists.

The future of oil prices are always an important topic to Bilderberg and the leaks Tucker and other investigators relayed from previous Bilderberg meetings were proven accurate when oil prices hit $150 a barrel in 2008, which was precisely what Bilderberg had called for.

“Gas prices are going to be nice and cheap this summer,” said Tucker, adding that they would start to rise again to the $4 a gallon level around November when artificial scarcity is created.

On the march towards anti-democratic global government, Bilderberg members stated that America must be “Europeanized” and turned into a giant socialist welfare state with health rationing and higher income taxes.

Tucker said hat Bilderberg were intent on mandating a bank tax paid directly to the IMF to fund global governance and a global treasury department under the IMF, and that this would then merely be passed on to the consumer.

In summary, Tucker said that this year’s conference was the most downbeat and pessimistic Bilderberg meeting in history, with massive exposure of their agenda acting as a roadblock to the ultimate goal of an authoritarian world government run by the elite, for the elite.

Israel, the U.S. and the Arab World

Israel Preparing for ‘Large Scale War’: Cable

January 2, 2011

Agence France-Presse — Israel's army chief told a US Congress delegation in late 2009 he was preparing for a large war in the Middle East, probably against Hamas or Hezbollah, leaked US diplomatic cables showed on Sunday.

"I am preparing the Israeli army for a large scale war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite," Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi was quoted as saying in a cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv.

The document, dated November 15, 2009, was quoted Sunday in Norwegian by Oslo-based daily Aftenposten, which said it had obtained WikiLeaks' entire cache of 251,187 leaked US embassy cables.

"The rocket threat against Israel is more serious than ever. That is why Israel is putting such emphasis on rocket defence," Ashkenazi told the US delegation led by Democrat Ike Skelton, the cable showed.

The army chief lamented that Iran has some 300 Shihab rockets that can reach Israel and stressed that the Jewish state would have only between 10 and 12 minutes warning in case of an attack.

However, it was Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon that posed the most acute threat, he cautioned.

According to the quoted cable, Hezbollah is thought to have more than 40,000 rockets, many of which are believed capable of reaching deep into Israel.

US officials meanwhile reportedly estimate the militant group has acquired an arsenal of around 50,000 rockets.

A 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel killed 1,200 Lebanese, many of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

And in his comments made nearly a year after Israel on December 27, 2008 launched the deadly Gaza war, Ashkenazi said,

"Israel is on a collision course also with Hamas, which rules Gaza."

"Hamas will have the possibility to bombard Tel Aviv, with Israel's highest population concentration," he was quoted as saying.

The Gaza war -- a response to hundreds of rockets fired into the Jewish State -- killed some 1,400 mainly civilian Palestinians and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers. It ended on January 18, 2009.

Israel had been harshly criticized for putting civilians at risk during fighting in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

However, in the cable leaked Sunday Ashkenazi is quoted saying Israel next time will not accept "any restrictions on warfare in populated areas," and insisted the army had never intentionally attacked civilian targets.

Iran

WikiLeaks: Iran Can Reach Israel in 12 Minutes

JTA
January 2, 2011

Iran has missiles that can reach Israel in 12 minutes, according to cables released by WikiLeaks.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told a U.S. Congressional delegation in November 2009 that the Islamic Republic has over 300 missiles that can reach the Jewish state in up to 12 minutes, according to the cables released on Sunday.

He also reportedly told the lawmakers, led by Ike Skelton (D-Mo.),that he was preparing Israel's military for a major war against Hamas, saying that

"I'm preparing the Israeli army for a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite."

Ashkenazi told the delegation that the threat from Hamas and Hezbollah is more acute than the Iranian threat, due to their proximity to Israel. Iran funds both Hamas and Hezbollah. He predicted that the next big war for Israel would be either in Gaza or Lebanon.

He also said that Hezbollah has over 40,000 rockets capable of reaching all of Israel, and that Hamas could hit Tel Aviv.

Iran Invites World, Save U.S., to Tour Nuclear Sites

Associated Press
January 4, 2011

The Tehran government confirmed on Tuesday that it has invited world powers and its allies in the Arab and developing world - but apparently not chief critic the United States - to tour Iranian nuclear sites before a high-profile meeting late January on its disputed nuclear program.

The Associated Press reported the invitation to tour the facilities on Monday, citing a letter from a senior Iranian envoy that suggested the visit take place the weekend of Jan. 15 and 16.

A diplomat familiar with the invitation said the U.S. - the greatest critic of Iran's nuclear ambitions - and the other Western powers in the group were not invited, in an apparent attempt to split the six powers ahead of planned talks on Iran's nuclear program later this month.

An Iranian official speaking on condition of anonymity from a European capital said facilities to be visited include the nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz and the Arak site where Tehran is building a plutonium-producing heavy water reactor.

Both facilities are considered suspect by the West because they could be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads; Tehran's refusal to shut them down has triggered U.N. Security Council sanctions.

On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed the offer, saying it went to "the E.U, the non-aligned movement and representatives from 5+1 countries."

The "5+1" countries are the six world powers negotiationing with Iran over its nuclear program: the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.

Mehmanparast said Iran would identify the invited countries at a later time, adding that the invitation was a sign of Iran's "good will" and greater transparency about its nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program is designed to generate power, but the West suspects that's just a cover to build bombs.

Mehmanparast did not give a firm date, but said the tour would take place before the January talks.

The new round of negotiations is meant to explore whether there is common ground for more substantive talks on Iran's nuclear program. A round of talks in Geneva in December yielded no breakthrough.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran freeze uranium enrichment - a process that can produce both fuel and fissile warhead material. But Iranian negotiators flatly ruled out discussing such demands at the Istanbul meeting, Western diplomats familiar with the talks said.

The offer of a visit comes more than three years after six diplomats from developing nations visited Iran's uranium ore conversion site at Isfahan, which turns raw uranium into the gas that is then fed into enriching centrifuges. Participating diplomats told reporters they could not assess Iran's nuclear aims based on what they saw there.

The new offer appeared more wide ranging, both in terms of who was invited and sites to be visited.

Dated Dec. 27, the four-paragraph letter offered no details beyond offering an all-expenses paid "visit to Iran's nuclear sites."

But a diplomat familiar with its contents said it was mailed to Russia, China, Egypt, the group of nonaligned nations at the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, Cuba, Arab League members at the IAEA, and Hungary, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because his information was privileged.

China, and to a lesser degree Russia, have acted to dilute harsh sanctions proposed by the U.S. and its Western allies on the Security Council, leading to compromise penalties enacted by the council that are milder than the West had originally hoped.

The outreach to Moscow and Beijing in Tehran's offer to visit appeared to be an attempt to leverage any differences between the Eastern and Western powers meeting the Iranians in Istanbul.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei acknowledged that Beijing has received an invitation and hopes the dispute over Iran's nuclear program would be resolved through dialogue.

The Foreign Ministry of Hungary also confirmed receiving the Iranian letter and said it is discussing the offer with other EU member nations and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Iran 'Shoots Down Western Spy Drones' in Gulf

BBC News
January 2, 2011

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have shot down two "Western spy drones" in the Gulf, a senior Iranian commander has been quoted as saying.

"Many" other drones have been shot down over an unspecified period of time, the Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

The head of the Revolutionary Guards' air force wing, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, produced no evidence to support the report.

He said this was the first time news of the incidents had been reported.

The drones were mainly being used in Iraq and Afghanistan but "some violations against our soil" had also occurred, the commander said.

The Revolutionary Guards were set up following the Islamic revolution in 1979, and its commanders have frequently delivered warnings to Israel.

Last August Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically built drone, the Karrar.

It said it had a range of 1,000km (620 miles) and could carry two 250-pound (115kg) bombs, or a precision bomb of 500 pounds.

There is no independent corroboration of the latest Iranian claims.

The Fifth Fleet of the US navy is based in Bahrain, on the other side of the Gulf from Iran.

Iranian commanders have threatened to block shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it is attacked.

China

China Preparing for Armed Conflict 'in Every Direction'

China is preparing for conflict 'in every direction', the defence minister said on Wednesday in remarks that threaten to overshadow a visit to Beijing by his US counterpart next month.

The Telegraph
December 29, 2010

"In the coming five years, our military will push forward preparations for military conflict in every strategic direction," said Liang Guanglie in an interview published by several state-backed newspapers in China. "We may be living in peaceful times, but we can never forget war, never send the horses south or put the bayonets and guns away," Mr Liang added.

China repeatedly says it is planning a "peaceful rise" but the recent pace and scale of its military modernisation has alarmed many of its neighbours in the Asia-Pacific, including Japan which described China's military build-up as a "global concern" this month.

Mr Liang's remarks come at a time of increasingly difficult relations between the Chinese and US armed forces which a three-day visit by his counterpart Robert Gates is intended to address. A year ago China froze substantive military relations in protest at US arms sales to Taiwan and relations deteriorated further this summer when China objected to US plans to deploy one of its nuclear supercarriers, the USS George Washington, into the Yellow Sea off the Korean peninsula.

China also announced this month that it was preparing to launch its own aircraft carrier next year in a signal that China is determined to punch its weight as a rising superpower. The news came a year earlier than many US defence analysts had predicted.

China is also working on a "carrier-killing" ballistic missile that could sink US carriers from afar, fundamentally reordering the balance of power in a region that has been dominated by the US since the end of the Second World War.

A US Navy commander, Admiral Robert Willard, told Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper this week that he believes the Chinese anti-ship missile, the Dong Feng 21, has already achieved "initial operational capability", although it would require years of testing.

Analysts remain divided over whether China is initiating an Asian arms race. Even allowing for undeclared spending, China's annual defence budget is still less than one-sixth of America's $663bn a year, or less than half the US figure when expressed as a percentage of GDP.

However in a speech earlier this year Mr Gates warned that China's new weapons, including its carrier-killing missile, "threaten America's primary way to project power and help allies in the Pacific", underscoring the difficulties that lie ahead as China and the US seek to contain growing strategic frictions.

As China modernises, Mr Liang pledged that its armed forces would also increasingly use homegrown Chinese technology, which analysts say still lags behind Western technology even as China races to catch up.

"The modernisation of the Chinese military cannot depend on others, and cannot be bought," Mr Liang added, "In the next five years, our economy and society will develop faster, boosting comprehensive national power. We will take the opportunity and speed up modernisation of the military."

North Korea Warns War Will Bring 'Nuclear Holocaust

North Korea Warns War Will Bring 'Nuclear Holocaust'

The Associated Press
December 31, 2010

North Korea welcomed the new year Saturday with a push for better ties with rival South Korea, warning that war "will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust."

Despite calls in its annual New Year's message for a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, the North, which has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006, also said its military was ready for "prompt, merciless and annihilatory action" against its enemies.

The North's holiday message — scrutinized by officials and analysts in neighboring countries for policy clues — comes in the wake of its Nov. 23 artillery attack on a front-line South Korean island near the countries' disputed western sea border. That barrage, which followed an alleged North Korean torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March, sent tensions between the Koreas soaring and fueled fears of war during the last weeks of 2010.

In a joint editorial in three newspapers, carried in the official Korean Central News Agency, the North said confrontation between the two Koreas should be quickly defused and called for a push to improve Korean relations.

"The danger of war should be removed and peace safeguarded in the Korean peninsula," said the message, which was also emphatically read by a North Korean anchorwoman, wearing traditional Korean dress, in a state television broadcast monitored in Seoul. "If a war breaks out on this land, it will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust."

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said its officials were analyzing the North's message; it had no immediate comment.

Four South Koreans, including two civilians, were killed in the November shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, which North Korea carried out after warning Seoul against conducting live-fire drills there. The attack was the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The South Korean government has strengthened security and deployed additional troops and weaponry to Yeonpyeong, which lies just seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores.

North Korea does not recognize the maritime border drawn by the U.N. in 1953, and it claims the waters around the island as its own. The Korean peninsula remains technically in a state of war because the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, dressed in traditional Korean clothes, told his people he was full of hope for 2011.

"I am confident that we will be able to establish peace on the Korean peninsula and continue sustained economic growth," he said in a videotaped message.

In the North's New Year's message, Pyongyang repeated its vow to "launch an all-out, vigorous offensive" to build a prosperous country by 2012. That year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the revered guerrilla fighter-turned-political leader who founded the communist state in 1948 and was the father of current leader, Kim Jong Il.

That impending anniversary has South Korean leaders worried that the North's push for prosperity could involve more aggression against the South.

President Lee said Wednesday that diplomats must persuade the North to abandon its nuclear aspirations before 2012. A South Korean Foreign Ministry-affiliated think tank, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, warned in a recent report that North Korea could be planning another nuclear test for next year.

The North's New Year's editorial said the North "is consistent in its stand and will to achieve peace in Northeast Asia and denuclearization of the whole of the Korean peninsula."

The message shows the North wants to rejoin international nuclear disarmament talks, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea analyst at Seoul's Dongguk University, noting there was no criticism of the United States, which the North often lashes out at.

The editorial said North Korea will strive to develop cooperative relations with countries that are friendly toward it, a reference Kim said was designed to send a message to Washington.

Six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program have been stalled for nearly two years.

The North has previously used aggression to force negotiations. Recently, it has said it is willing to return to the talks. Washington and Seoul, however, are insisting that the North make progress on past disarmament commitments before negotiations can resume.

North Korea also stoked new worries about its nuclear program in November when it revealed a uranium enrichment facility — which could give it a second way to make atomic bombs. North Korea is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen atomic bombs.