A brief list of news clippings for the day:

Climate Structural Adjustment: We’ll Save Your Life On Our Terms. Unless every country here agrees to the U.S. terms, the Secretary [Clinton] explained, “there will not be that kind of a [financial] commitment, at least from the United States.” It was naked blackmail – forcing developing countries to choose between a strong fair deal that stands a chance of averting climate chaos and the funds they need to cope with the droughts and floods that have already arrived. I wanted to ask Clinton: Is this not climate structural adjustment, on a global scale? We’ll give you cash, but only with our draconian conditions? And who is the U.S. to call the shots when it carries the heaviest responsibility for emitting the gasses that are already wreaking havoc on the climates of the global south – what happened to the principle that the polluter pays? (The Nation)

Afghans fleeing Taliban are flooding Tajikistan. A growing number of refugees are fleeing escalating violence and lawlessness in Afghanistan for safety in Tajikistan, the most visible sign yet that the fallout from the Taliban insurgency is threatening to undermine Central Asia’s security, too. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says that more than 3,600 Afghans have fled to Tajikistan since January 2008. (Washington Post)

Credit Suisse ‘broke curbs on Iran’. Credit Suisse has agreed to pay a record $536m and admit it violated US sanctions by hiding business it was doing with Iranian banks, settling an investigation by the US justice department. (Al Jazeera)

Habash: Iran-Syria relations regressing. Iranian-Syrian relations are regressing due to Turkish-Syrian closeness; Italian News Agency AKI quoted Former Syrian Minister Marwan Habash as saying. The regression is due to Syria’s dissatisfaction over Iran’s interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, Habash added. (Alsumaria)

Domestic conflict shifts into higher gear. The uproar over former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s public insistence on Iran’s need to respect popular demands and the government-staged outrage over the burning of a picture of the Islamic revolution’s founder point to an ever-deepening crisis at the heart of the establishment. (Asia Times)

Sri Lanka poll nominations close. Nominations to run in Sri Lanka’s presidential election have closed, with a record 22 candidates registering to run in next month’s elections… Despite the large number of candidates, the battle will be between Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent president, and General Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief who led the army to victory over the Tigers in May this year. (Al Jazeera)

Iraq VP calls on PM to resign. Iraqi Vice President Tarek Al Hashemi called upon Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki to resign on account of Baghdad recent bombings (Alsumaria)

Taliban Offer. Some talk on a Taliban proposal that it would sever ties with al Qaeda in return for withdrawal of foreign troops. This seems to me like a very clever strategic move by the Taliban. If the US says no, the argument that they are there to safeguard against further 9/11 style attacks begins to disolve. If they say yes, then the Taliban get exactly what they want. The initial response seems to have been to query the credibility of the offer, that is the willingness and/or ability of the Afghan Taliban to separate from al Qaeda. Apparently Mullah Omar has interpreted this response as a rejection. (Registan)

U.S Policy in Afghanistan. Richard C. Holbrooke outlines U.S. policy toward Afghanistan following President Barack Obama’s address at the United States Military Academy at West Point. (CFR)

US: Up to 56,000 more contractors likely for Afghanistan. The surge of 30,000 U.S. troops into Afghanistan could be accompanied by a surge of up to 56,000 contractors, vastly expanding the presence of personnel from the U.S. private sector in a war zone, according to a study by the Congressional Research Service. CRS, which provides background information to members of Congress on a bipartisan basis, said it expects an additional 26,000 to 56,000 contractors to be sent to Afghanistan. That would bring the number of contractors in the country to anywhere from 130,000 to 160,000. (CorpWatch)

Saudi was top buyer of U.S. arms in 2005-08. Saudi Arabia was the biggest buyer of U.S. weapons during a four-year span with $11.2 billion in deals, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $10 billion, the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a new report. (Shamel Azemeh)

Insurgents hack U.S. drones. Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations. (Wall Street Journal)

34 killed in Yemen terror raids. Security forces raided locations in two Yemeni provinces killing and arresting dozens of suspected terrorists, the state news agency SABA reported Thursday. The raids took place in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the southern province of Abyan. Security forces killed 34 terrorists and and arrested 17 suspects that were linked to al Qaeda, the agency reported. (CNN)

Russian official: US-Russian arms deal not ready. Russia’s foreign minister urged U.S. officials on Thursday to accept deeper cuts and less intrusive verification measures in a nuclear weapons treaty the two countries are negotiating. Sergey Lavrov said disagreements over such issues during the past few days had slowed efforts to reach a deal, and he agreed with the White House’s assessment that President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are not expected to sign a nuclear weapons treaty when they travel to Copenhagen this week. (AP)

China’s naval prowess overblown. A former United States military advisor’s take on the growing power of the Chinese navy and a decline in American naval strength, depicted in his fictitious account of the sinking of a US aircraft carrier by China, is overblown and ends the year for US-China relations on a controversial note. (Asia Times)

New details on Obama’s $7.5 billion aid package to Pakistan. The administration sent Congress its first mandated report on Pakistan strategy yesterday, part of the terms of the Kerry-Lugar Pakistan aid bill. The document isn’t public, but a copy was obtained by The Cable, and it shows in new detail how the Obama team is thinking about Pakistan and how it intends to distribute the $7.5 billion in the package. The report is notable in that it doesn’t just focus on problem areas, as some observers had feared, and actually tackles nationwide and longer-term problems beyond the extremists now operating in Pakistan’s northwest region. The message of the report is clear: The administration intends to show demonstrable results soon to justify and vindicate the program, while sewing the seeds for longer-term progress all the while. The biggest chunk of the funds, $3.5 billion spread over five years, will go to “high impact, high visibility infrastructure programs,” according to the report, focusing on the energy and agricultural sectors — “programs that Pakistani citizens can see.” (The Cable)

Pakistan: Supreme Court declares NRO null and void. In what has been billed as a verdict that may change the course of country’s political history, the Supreme Court on Wednesday declared the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as never to have existed and against the Constitution by reviving all cases and reversing acquittals of its beneficiaries, thus putting the PPP parliamentarians and cabinet members and President Asif Zardari in a quandary. (Dawn)

NATO asked Russia to authorize ground military transit to Afghanistan. Russian President Medvedev promised to consider the request of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General on cooperation in Afghanistan, Interfax reports with the reference to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (Ferghana)

Qatar ready to consider India’s fresh gas demand. Qatar has agreed to consider meeting India’s additional long-term demand for natural gas following talks between the visiting Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Murli Deora, and Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah. India is seeking Liquefied Natural Gas for the Dahej and Kochi terminals. (The Hindu)

Pakistan: Country to face 1,000-1,400MW shortage from 27th. The country is once again going to face the scourge of power loadshedding from December 26, as it faces shortage of 1,000 to 1,400 MW of electricity. The reasons are canals’ closure and non-availability of natural gas, Managing Director of Pakistan Electric Power Company Tahir Basharat Cheema told The News. He said that the gas closure from Kohat to powerhouses had intensified the deficit. (The News)

Turkey: Another lieutenant sent to court on plot charges. A group of Naval Forces personnel testified to civilian prosecutors at the İstanbul Courthouse in Beşiktaş on Wednesday as part of an ongoing probe into an apparent plot to assassinate admirals at the Naval Forces Command. The number and names of the soldiers has not been made public. After their interrogation, a lieutenant was transferred to the İstanbul 11th High Criminal Court for arrest. However, it was not known whether the lieutenant had been arrested or released at the time Today’s Zaman went to print. In July seven naval lieutenants were arrested on charges of plotting to assassinate two admirals, Metin Ataç and Eşref Uğur Yiğit. (Today’s Zaman)

Iran's pretroleum sector facilities -- Source: CIA

Iran is said to have arrested an alleged Western spy in one of its nuclear enrichment facilities, the Fordo plant. This is to have taken place some two months ago, though the government has not spoken of this incident. News of this was released by Israel’s Channel 2 and elaborated by Hebrew Radio.

Times of London, on Monday, released a report based on its obtaining intelligence documents that claim strong evidence of nuclear weapon development. “The notes, from Iran’s most sensitive military nuclear project, describe a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion. Foreign intelligence agencies date them to early 2007, four years after Iran was thought to have suspended its weapons programme.”

From the same Times report: “A 2007 US National Intelligence Estimate concluded that weapons work was suspended in 2003 and officials said with “moderate confidence” that it had not resumed by mid-2007. Britain, Germany and France, however, believe that weapons work had already resumed by then.”

The publication of these documents coincide with increased pressure on Iran from Western governments, led by the US.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Ramin Mehmanparast, has responded to the Times story, reaffirming the country’s claim that the nuclear program is purely civilian. “This claim has political aims, and it is psychological warfare,” he said. Tehran Times has more on this. Beyond the Times report, the claims of a weapons program have not been confirmed, and though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed receipt of the intelligence documents it has made no ruling on their accuracy.

Middle East historian and expert on Middle East politics, Juan Cole, had in October written a salient article, Top Things you Think You Know about Iran that are not True, that addresses many of the assumptions made by the media. Cole’s article is good to keep in mind when assessing the political and security situation in relation to Iran, and it can help the reader sift through the many allegations and counter-claims between the West and Iran.

Some key points from Cole’s article:

Iran’s military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defense is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf region with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.

…Iran has a nuclear enrichment site at Natanz near Isfahan where it says it is trying to produce fuel for future civilian nuclear reactors to generate electricity. All Iranian leaders deny that this site is for weapons production, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly inspected it and found no weapons program. Iran is not being completely transparent, generating some doubts, but all the evidence the IAEA and the CIA can gather points to there not being a weapons program… While Germany, Israel and recently the UK intelligence is more suspicious of Iranian intentions, all of them were badly wrong about Iraq’s alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction and Germany in particular was taken in by Curveball, a drunk Iraqi braggart.

…Iranian politicians are rational actors. If they were madmen, why haven’t they invaded any of their neighbors? Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded both Iran and Kuwait. Israel invaded its neighbors more than once. In contrast, Iran has not started any wars. Demonizing people by calling them unbalanced is an old propaganda trick. The US elite was once unalterably opposed to China having nuclear science because they believed the Chinese are intrinsically irrational. This kind of talk is a form of racism.

Xinhua reports that the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council has called for a peaceful political solution to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. The PGCC consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to the news report, “the PGCC emphasized the right of all countries in the region to have peaceful nuclear energy within the framework of international agreements, based on regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency and under its supervision.”

These same Gulf countries have together, and individually, reiterated the same point on countries’ rights to a peaceful civilian nuclear program. This may well underscore their own nuclear ambitions. Many countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and North Africa already have nuclear programs or are planning to set up new ones with the help of the US, Russia, Europe, or China.

The Council officially expressed its desire to seek a civilian nuclear program after its December 2006 summit.

In 2007, the Council asked for help from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in developing a civilian nuclear program and has since had some positive response from the energy agency.

The US, under president George W. Bush, has signed nuclear cooperation agreement with a number of Council members: with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain (click on each country name to read the agreement). All of these agreements were signed in 2008, save one with the UAE in 2009.

You can read more about the nuclear programs of other regional actors in an earlier report: A swarm of nuclear deals in the Middle East and Asia

A day after the Times of London story, The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a sanctions bill against Iran, as a response to the nuclear program. The US Senate has still to review the legislation. According to Dawn news, “The measure would empower US President Barack Obama to effectively block firms that supply Iran with refined petroleum products, or the ability to import or produce them at home, from doing business in the United States… Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on gasoline imports to meet about 40 per cent of domestic consumption. Iran gets most of those imports from the Swiss firm Vitol, the Swiss/Dutch firm Trafigura, France’s Total, the Swiss firm Glencore and British Petroleum, as well as the Indian firm Reliance.”

Al Jazeera on the US sanctions bill:

Asia Times reports on the sanctions:

Americans for Peace Now (APN), which advocates for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opposed the sanctions legislation because ”it is about sanctions that target the Iranian people, in the hope that if the people become miserable enough they will pressure their government to change course. This is a strategy that few experts believe will work, and a strategy that has a very poor track record in other contexts (Iraq, Cuba, Gaza).”

”Indeed, experience has demonstrated with sanctions like these, the most likely and immediate result will be a backlash by the people of Iran against the United States, not against the Iranian regime,” APN concluded.”

I would argue that, in general, economic sanctions have some strong similarities with blockages and sieges. During the long history of blockades and sieges, non-combatants have always been the first to suffer. This is because the defending ruling forces will always reserve the most secure position for themselves, and have first access to necessary supplies. This is simple strategic logic. Proponents of a siege often argue their innocence by claiming that the enemy has forced civilians into the front lines by taking the best for themselves. This assumes that the attacking force did not intend to gain from the economic hardship and strangulation that provides military and psychological benefits in military, economic, and political warfare. The political philosopher, Michael Walzer, references the British military historian B.H. Liddell Hart’s assertion that in the First World War the British blockade was a decisive factor in Germany’s defeat. Hart argues that “the spectre of slow enfeeblement ending in eventual collapse,” drove the enemy military to make desperate and disastrous military decisions. (Michael Walzer, 2000. ‘Just and Unjust Wars’, Basic Books, p. 160.)

On Wednesday, Iran claims to have successfully test-fired an upgraded medium-range ground-to-ground missile. Iran’s PressTV has more on the test of the Sejjil-2 missile. It claims that the “new version of the Sejjil-2 is faster during the powered flight portion of its trajectory and also during the re-entry phase. It is also harder to detect for anti-missile systems, as it is covered with anti-radar material.” It is designed to be “more efficient as it requires less amount of time for prelaunch preparations. This quality reduces the possibility of it being targeted prior to take off. According to comments made by Iran’s defense minister, Brigadier Ahmad Vahidi, the missile-launch is part of Iran’s efforts to boost deterrence capabilities.”

The announcement was made only hours after US House approved the sanctions bill, in a time of increased tension regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

AP on the missile test:

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

This Is About Us. The talks at Copenhagen are not just about climate change. They represent a battle to redefine humanity. The meeting at Copenhagen confronts us with our primal tragedy. We are the universal ape, equipped with the ingenuity and aggression to bring down prey much larger than itself, break into new lands, roar its defiance of natural constraints. Now we find ourselves hedged in by the consequences of our nature, living meekly on this crowded planet for fear of provoking or damaging others. We have the hearts of lions and live the lives of clerks. The summit’s premise is that the age of heroism is over. We have entered the age of accomodation. No longer may we live without restraint. No longer may we swing our fists regardless of whose nose might be in the way. In everything we do we must now be mindful of the lives of others, cautious, constrained, meticulous. We may no longer live in the moment, as if there were no tomorrow. (Monbiot)

China ends Russia’s grip on Turkmen gas. The opening of a 1,833-kilometer pipeline from Turkmenistan to China this week ends Russia’s grip on the Central Asian country’s natural-gas exports. Backers of the proposed Nabucco pipeline to Europe will also gain heart from the success of the Turkmen-Chinese project. (Asia Times)

China wins struggle for Pipelinestan. A common explanation for the US presence in Afghanistan is Washington’s interest in Central Asian fuel sources– natural gas in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and petroleum in Kazakhstan. The idea of Zalmay Khalilzad and others was to bring a gas pipeline down through Afghanistan and Pakistan to energy-hungry India. Turkmenistan became independent of Moscow in 1991, making the project plausible. For this reason some on the political Right in the US actually supported the Taliban as a force for law and order. If that was the plan, it has failed. Instead, China has landed the big bid to develop a major gas field in Turkmenistan, along with a pipeline to Beijing. (Informed Comment)

Water Is the Missing Link in Copenhagen. When the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) announced the grim news that 2009 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record, the U.N. agency also stressed last week the widespread water-related calamities caused by global warming. China has suffered its worst drought in five decades. In East Africa, a drought has led to massive food shortages. In North America, Mexico experienced severe-to-exceptional drought conditions in September. And in central Argentina, a drought caused severe damage to agriculture, livestock and water resources. (IPS)

Israel angry over UK Livni warrant. Israel has reacted angrily to an arrest warrant issued, and later withdrawn, by a British court against Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former foreign minister, over her role during Israel’s war on Gaza. (Al Jazeera)

Growing China-Mideast Ties. China became the largest exporter to the Mideast in 2008, overtaking the United States with nearly $60 billion of exports. Ben Simpfendorfer, chief China economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong, says China’s growing demand for oil has resulted in high growth rates in the Arab world, which in turn looks to China for consumer goods. (CFR) [Recorded audio of interview is available at the CFR]

INDIA: 25 Years and Still Fighting for Justice: When Will Dow Chemical Clean Up Its Poisonous Legacy in Bhopal. On the night of December 2-3, 1984, Union Carbide’s pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, leaked a deadly cloud of methyl iso cyanate gas that floated out into the surrounding area. 8,000 people lost their lives in the immediate aftermath of that terrifying night. According to Bhopal Medical Appeal, at least 25,000 people have died in total as a result of the tragedy. Last week was the 25th Anniversary of this man-made disaster. And Dow Chemical has yet to clean up the contaminated site. The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal estimates 100,000 more people–now including 2nd generation impacted children–are still suffering. Deformities, disabilities, miscarriages and other illnesses such as chronic respiratory problems are among the maladies documented. (CorpWatch)

Germany: Defense minister denies new accusations linked to Afghan airstrike. Germany’s beleaguered Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has rejected reports claiming he wrongly forced the resignations of two top officials linked to a controversial airstrike in Afghanistan believed to have killed civilians. (Deutsche Welle)

Turkey’s Kurd initiative goes up in smoke. The banning of Turkey’s Kurdish-based Democratic Society Party by a constitutional court has sparked violent protests across the country. The turmoil comes after the government had moved to broaden the rights of the 12-million-strong ethnic Kurdish minority in hopes of ending decades of conflict. (Asia Times)

DTP’s Tuğluk faces up to 50-year prison term. Now that the parliamentary membership of Aysel Tuğluk, the former co-chair of the now-defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP), has been rescinded, the former deputy faces the risk of being sentenced to up to 50 years in jail on charges of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization. (Today’s Zaman)

“Pakistan Army, CIA threat to government”. The differences between Pakistan’s civilian government and its all powerful military spilled out in the open on Monday with a lawyer representing the government telling the Supreme Court that the army and an American intelligence agency posed a threat to the country’s democracy. Later, Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called on Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. It was an unscheduled meeting, and came after he had already met the Prime Minister once before in the day along with the visiting U.S. Centcom chief, General David Petraeus. No details of the meeting were available. An official release from the Prime Minister’s office said only that they discussed issues relating to national security. (The Hindu)

Central Asia: Islamists in Prison. The number of Islamists in Kyrgyz and Kazakh prisons is small but growing, in both size and political significance. Well-organised Islamist proselytisers, mostly imprisoned on charges of religious extremism, are consolidating their position within the informal structures of power behind prison walls. Incarcerating determined activists is providing them with the opportunity to extend their influence among convicts, at first inside prison and then on their release. Problems within jails in Central Asia have been known to seep outside the prison walls; the expansion of radical Islamist thought within prisons is likely to have serious consequences. The paradox of the situation is that, in private at least, political leaders in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are intensely aware that the best way to defeat extremism is to address woeful social and economic conditions, fight the systemic top-to-bottom corruption that besets all the region’s regimes, and in the words of one regional leader, “give people a future”. (ICG)

Two Nato tankers torched near Quetta. Unknown assailants torched two Nato tankers on the periphery of Quetta city. The tankers were headed towards the border town of Chaman… The tankers were carrying fuel for Nato personnel in Afghanistan… (Dawn)

Gulf states step up defences. Arms purchases on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf used to follow a predictable pattern: for governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, they seemed as much about acquiring trophies as about strengthening national security. The prestige of owning the newest technology that the United States, the United Kingdom or France was willing to sell often seemed as important as any actual threat assessment. However, this pattern is changing as some Gulf states perceive a growing threat from Iran. (IISS)

Pacific nation recognises Abkhazia. The South Pacific island nation of Nauru has acknowledged Abkhazia declaration of independence, becoming the fourth nation to recognise the breakaway Georgian region. (Al Jazeera)

Searching times for Japan’s premier. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been in office three months and his method of handling the conflicting pressures of office is becoming only too evident. Whether he’s waffling over a United States base location, flip-flopping over a Chinese dignitary’s visit, or fighting to preserve party unity, the heat is intensifying. (Asia Times)

Japan Delays Decision on Moving U.S. Marine Base. The government delayed until next year a decision on whether to pursue changes in an accord on the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa. (New York Times)

How We Invaded Afghanistan. Thirty years ago this month, Soviet airborne troops parachuted into Kabul and began a fateful occupation that became Mikhail Gorbachev’s Vietnam. Here’s the inside story of how it happened, as told by the KGB general who planned it. (FP)

Zebari in Arab Cooperation Forum. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari is participating in the 2nd Turkish Arab Cooperation Forum on the ministerial level held in Damascus to discuss the situation in Iraq mainly in security and economic fields. (Alsumaria)

Gulf Arab states moving closer to single currency. Kuwait’s finance minister says a monetary pact between Gulf Arab nations has gone into effect _ a move that brings the nations closer to the so-far elusive goal of a unified currency… GCC nations have been working toward greater integration, but the plan for a unified currency suffered a blow when the UAE and Oman said they would not join. (Taiwan News / AP)

Mosul: a city still at war. Since 30th June 2009 American troops have formally pulled out of the urban centre, yet their sprawling base on Mosul airport is actually within city limits and US soldiers still conduct almost daily street patrols to check on aid projects. They move in heavily armoured convoys and take a pair of attack helicopters for protection with them when they go. Mosul’s police force is 8,000 men short of full strength and, despite being reinforced by a unit of heavily armed paramilitary federal police from Baghdad, it operates only on the west side of the city. The east side is too dangerous. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini’s oldest daughter Zahra Mostafavi declined to comment about the desecration of her father’s poster. While confronted about the desecration case by reporters at the 30th anniversary of Ayatollah Mohammad Mofateh’s death, Mostafavi said, “Permit me to not say anything [about this issue].” Mostafavi described Imam Khomeini as her father and leader, saying, “As the Imam’s daughter, I would rather remain silent and not say anything.” When asked for her opinion about the exploitation of the incident by certain political movements, Mostafavi said, “Like I said before, allow me to remain silent under the present circumstances.” (Tehran Bureau / Khabar Online)

The Iranian Minister of Industries and Mining walked away from reporters when asked about his imminent impeachment in Majlis. According to Mehr News Agency, on the sidelines of the breakfast for commerce, industries and mining chamber officials, Ali Akbar Mehrabian refused to offer any explanation regarding the Majlis’ motion for his impeachment. In an apparent change of stance, Mehrabian, who had previously claimed that the country’s industries are thriving and have no significant problems, said, “We must take this into consideration that due to a large number of investments in the industrial sector in recent years, the problems are numerous and resolving them requires more time.” (Tehran Bureau / Tabnak)

New Iraqi oil deals challenged in court. Dec. 22 hearing the first legal challenge to oil contracts concluded this year with foreign oil companies, including seven awarded Friday and Saturday. (Iraq Oil Report)

The Nomonhan Incident and the Politics of Friendship on the Russia-Mongolia-China Border. The summer of 2009 in Ulaanbaatar was unusually bustling for an otherwise sleepy city at a time when almost half of its one million strong population were out in summer camps drinking koumiss (Mo. airag) in the vast countryside. The whole nation was determined to enjoy the precious tranquillity after a peaceful presidential election, avoiding a repeat of last year’s violence in the wake of parliamentary elections. Amongst the few momentous events was the high-profile state-visit on August 25–26 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. His main agenda was to promote cooperation in Mongolia’s strategic mining sector, a sector for which all the major powers in the world jostled to befriend Mongolia in anticipation of the long awaited passage of mineral extraction laws by Mongolia’s parliament. (Japan Focus)

Arms Sales to Taiwan Will Proceed, U.S. Says. The U.S. relationship with Taiwan is one of the most serious diplomatic issues between China and the U.S. (New York Times)

Pakistan: Govt determined to address Balochistan issues: Zardari. President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said the government was determined to address the issues of Balochistan, including that of grant of amnesty, in an institutionalised manner through parliament and with the force of the Constitution. (The News)

Some say attack on Berlusconi reflects climate of hate in Italy. Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, who said he saved the attacker from a public lynching in Milan’s main square, said the attack was not an isolated case but rather the result of an “unprecedented” hate campaign mounted against Berlusconi… The incident follows weeks of growing political tension in Italy, with Berlusconi presenting himself as the victim of left-wing judges bent on overthrowing his government by dragging him before the courts on corruption charges. The attack is likely to strengthen his resolve to use Parliament to push fresh legislation to protect him from prosecution after the constitutional court stripped him of his immunity in October. (Washington Post)

A brief listing of news clippings for the day:

Afghanistan: Canada ‘defended’ torturer. A former governor of Kandahar who is accused of personally torturing Afghans might have been removed from office as far back as 2006 if Canadian officials hadn’t defended him, according to diplomatic memos that have never been made public by the Canadian government. (Toronto Star)

Copenhagen talks stall as African bloc accuses west. One of the two negotiating tracks at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen broke up in drama and confusion today when the Africa group of countries followed by other developing countries accused the chair of the conference of trying to “kill” the Kyoto protocol. They were also objecting to what they characterised as efforts to sideline the poorest countries. The crisis was then exacerbated after Australia said that rich countries should suspend talks about emission cuts. (Guardian)

Copenhagen – Memo to Danes: Even You Cannot Control This Summit. The Danes have invested a huge amount of money co-branding their capitol city (now “Hopenhagen”) with a summit that will supposedly save the world. That would be fine if this summit actually were on track to save the world. But since it isn’t, the Danes are frantically trying to redesign us. Take the weekend’s protests. By the end, around 1,100 people had been arrested. That’s just nuts. Saturday’s march of roughly 100,000 people came at a crucial juncture in the climate negotiations, when all signs pointed either to break down or a dangerously weak deal. The march was festive and peaceful but also tough. “The Climate Doesn’t Negotiate” was the message, and western negotiators need to head it. (The Nation)

The Copenhagen Diagnosis: Sobering Update on the Science. On the eve of the Copenhagen conference, a group of scientists has issued an update on the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the face of an incredible din of disinformation from climate deniers, they have mustered the latest and most credible evidence to inform global leaders and attentive publics just how perilous our present situation is. Among other dire warnings, they conclude that the icecaps at both poles are melting faster than predicted, that claims of recent global cooling are false, and that world leaders must act fast if steep temperature rises are to be avoided. (Japan Focus)

The dust bowl of Babylon. As Iraq strives to emerge from years of war, crippling water shortages may be the next great threat. Drought is driving thousands of people away from the fabled southern marshlands, but inept water management, collapsing infrastructure and the government’s inability to stand up to its water-hoarding neighbors also play their part. (Asia Times)

New Oil Bids, Censorship, and the Fate of Iraq. The big news out of Iraq over the weekend was the awarding of a handful of new oil development contracts to companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Russia’s Lukoil. These bids follow earlier awards of fields for development to China. The American oil majors failed to conclude any new deals, though Exxon Mobil won a bid for West Qurna 1 in November. The Iraqi authorities have strong motivations to diversify their petroleum customer base given the current hegemonic position of the United States in their country. (Informed Comment)

In the Eye of the Storm: Updating the Economics of Global Turbulence. Out in the academic cemetery to which avatars of market fundamentalism thought they had consigned their intellectual and political opponents, one can hear today the unmistakable scrape of coffin lids opening. And climbing out of their graves are the bodies of those who contend that the reductionist assumptions of neo-classical/ rational choice orthodoxy are not simply inadequate but flawed in the most fundamental sense. The reason may seem obvious: the financial catastrophe of last year and the failure of so many established thinkers to see it coming. But there is more dogging the luminaries of mainstream finance and economics than the simple inability to have read the tea leaves properly – to their blindness, for example, in the face of the rise in U.S. housing prices to the point they no longer bore any relation to the earnings streams of much of the American population or to the fantastic assumptions about default rates built into the business models of too many Wall Street houses. (Japan Focus)

Israel: Livni reportedly cancels U.K. visit, fearing arrest. Opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Monday canceled her participation in a Jewish function in London, after a warrant for her arrest was issued over part in last winter’s Israel’s Gaza offensive, Arab-language media have reported. Al-Quds Al-Arabi claimed that Scotland Yard advised the organizers of the Jewish National Fund conference in Hendon, on the British capital’s northwest side, that the former foreign minister had canceled her scheduled address to the assembly over threats of a possible lawsuit by pro-Palestinian groups. (Haaretz)

Powerless in Gaza. The Palestinian power plant has endured bombings, embargoes and blockades: Can it ever fully power Gaza’s grid? Within days, the plant’s desperate engineers came up with a novel solution: They hooked up 170 twelve-volt car batteries to restart the plant’s turbines. To everyone’s amazement, including the engineers themselves, the impromptu kludge actually worked. “It was an abnormal situation,” notes Rafiq Maliha, one of the plant’s managers, who holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. Triumphs, even small ones, are uncommon these days in Gaza, which has endured a devastating run of strife, death, and dysfunction. A three-week war that began in late December 2008 killed 1660 Palestinians and 13 Israelis and left 4000 homes and 80 government buildings wrecked or seriously damaged. Since 2007, Gaza’s 360 square kilometers have been controlled by Hamas, a militant Islamic group that much of the world, including the European Union and the United States, regards as a terrorist organization. (Palestine Think Tank)

Jordan’s ace of spies. Like many Arab intelligence services, the GID has a reputation for using brutal interrogation methods, and I’m sure that it didn’t get the nickname “the fingernail factory” for nothing. But Kheir’s successes in interrogation often came from a different kind of intimidation. Colleagues recall him standing behind a suspect, his voice deep with menace, as he talked of the suspect’s family, friends and contacts. That was much scarier than physical violence would have been. He waited for them to break themselves, and it usually worked. Kheir ran afoul of his boss, King Abdullah, when he began pushing into politics and business. It was the classic overreach of intelligence chiefs in the Middle East, and he was sacked in 2005. (Washington Post)

Reshuffling the Cards? Syria’s Evolving Strategy. Syria’s foreign policy sits atop a mountain of apparent contradictions that have long bedevilled outsiders. Its self-proclaimed goal is peace with Israel, yet it has allied itself with partners vowed to Israel’s destruction. It takes pride in being a bastion of secularism even as it makes common cause with Islamist movements. It simultaneously has backed Iraqi Sunni insurgents and a Lebanese Shiite armed group…From Syria’s vantage point, there is good reason to cling to the status quo. For almost four decades, it has served Damascus well. Despite a turbulent and often hostile neighbourhood, the regime has proved resilient. It has used ties to various groups and states to amass political and material assets, acquiring a regional role disproportionate to its actual size or resources. One does not readily forsake such allies or walk away from such a track record. But satisfaction with the past does not necessarily mean complacency about the future. On virtually all fronts, Syria can see peril. (ICG)

Blair ‘would have supported’ Iraq war without WMD threat. Britain’s Iraq war inquiry said Sunday that former Prime Minister Tony Blair would be questioned “very much in public” amid fears that crucial evidence would only be heard in private. Blair, who is to appear before the a long-awaited official inquiry early next year, said in a BBC television interview screened Sunday that he would have backed the invasion of Iraq even if he had known that President Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction (WMD). (The Daily Star)

Guarding the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal. …policy concerning strategic nuclear forces is determined by the president and the Congress. They have decided that we will maintain a balanced triad of strategic nuclear forces consisting of sea-launched ballistic missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and long-range, nuclear-capable bombers. It’s the role of Air Force Global Strike Command to maintain two of those three legs of the triad, the intercontinental ballistic missile and [long-range, nuclear-capable bombers]. (CFR)

Abu Dhabi gives $10bn to Dubai. Dubai’s government has said it has received $10bn from Abu Dhabi to help it repay an Islamic bond and fund the troubled property developer Dubai World. The announcement on Monday came as Nakheel, the property development unit of the Dubai World investment fund, was due to settle the $4.1bn bond. The move by Abu Dhabi follows weeks of uncertainty in Gulf stock markets prompted by Dubai World’s request on November 25 for more time to pay $26bn in debt. (Al Jazeera)

Courtship and censure by US over China. The momentous impacts of recession on the China policy of the United States are apparent in the annual US Congress report that traditionally takes a different, harsher line towards the Middle Kingdom than the White House. This year, signs that hawkish forces in Washington are slowly accepting China’s military expansion contrast with the report’s claims that Beijing, rather than Wall Street, caused the global economic crisis. (Asia Times)

Pak PM takes U-turn, says ops will continue. Taking a U-turn, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the military offensive against Taliban in the restive South Waziristan tribal region would continue and that he could not provide a time frame for completing it, hours after declaring that it has ended. (Asian Age)

Pakistan: Operation in Orakzai displaces 40,000. About 40,000 people have fled Orakzai Agency and 10,000 more families are at the risk of being displaced amid reports an anti-militant operation is likely to be started in the area, a UN report says. (Dawn)

CIA drone strikes may be expanded to Quetta: report. Senior US officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond Pakistan’s tribal region and into a major city in an attempt to pressure the Pakistani government to pursue Taliban leaders based in the city of Quetta, The Los Angeles Times reported late Sunday… The concern has created tension among officials in the administration of President Barack Obama over whether unmanned aircraft strikes in a city of 850,000 are a realistic option, the paper said. (Dawn)

Turkey: Top court bans pro-Kudish party. Turkey’s Constitutional Court on Friday banned the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on charges of having links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organisation. (AKI)

Three US hikers face Iran trial. Iran is to put on trial three US citizens who crossed into Iran while hiking in Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said… Iranian officials have also alleged that Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were spying… The United States government has said there is “no evidence to support any charge whatsoever” and called for their release… (BBC)

Iraq 2010 budget expected soon. Iraqi Lawmakers are optimistic towards approving Iraq’s 2010 budget before the end of the present year. (Alsumaria)

Uzbekistan damages power network. The decision by Uzbekistan to officially quit the Central Asia power system affects all countries in the region, particularly Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The move also brings its own domestic problems, notably providing sufficient power during peak demand.

In Abkhazia, the country that isn’t, incumbent wins vote. Abkhaz incumbent leader Sergei Bagapsh on Sunday was declared the winner of his region’s presidential elections by a wide margin amid allegations of fraud. The neighboring country of Georgia greeted the news by reminding the world that Abkhazia in fact is not a country, but rather a Georgian territory occupied by Russian troops. (McClatchy)

EU Presses Russia Over Georgia. European Union monitors in Georgia called on Russian forces on Saturday to pull back from a disputed village and warned that detentions on both sides of the de facto border with South Ossetia were raising tension. (Moscow Times)

Indian State in Paralysis Over Proposed Division. The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh sunk into a seething political paralysis on Monday, as local lawmakers adjourned indefinitely without addressing a controversial resolution to divide the state. Elsewhere in India, demands for statehood intensified in several regions as the issue mushrooms into a nationwide political tempest for the governing Congress Party. (New York Times)

China-Kazakhstan gas pipeline inaugurated. Starting at the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the pipeline runs through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China’s northwest region of Xinjiang. (The Hindu)

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

10,000 new settlers within 10 months: Israel minister. An Israeli minister has predicted there will be 10,000 new settlers in the occupied West Bank over the next 10 months and insisted that a moratorium did not freeze but only limited construction, AFP reported. (Dawn)

Blackwater tied to clandestine CIA raids. Highly trained personnel employed with the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide sometimes operated side by side with CIA field officers in Iraq and Afghanistan as the agency undertook missions to kill or capture members of insurgent groups in those countries, according to a former government official and a source familiar with the operations… Still, the involvement of Blackwater’s officers in raids is likely to raise new questions about the degree to which deadly actions in Iraq and Afghanistan were outsourced to contract personnel who operated without direct contractual authority or without the kind of oversight and accountability applied to CIA and military personnel. (Washington Post)

S Lanka army chief slams president. Sri Lanka’s former army chief has accused the president of corruption, nepotism and abuse of power ahead of next month’s election. (Al Jazeera)

Barack Obama does the world. It’s official. US President Barack Obama, long suspected of being the type of person who wanted to have his cake and eat it too, wine and dine with Wall Street while tossing rhetorical crumbs to the poor, dispossessed and hungry, all the while hobnobbing with the rich and famous and amassing draconic executive privilege, has, in his Nobel speech, just proved himself to be the world’s biggest phony. The two-faced master of the mellow sound-bite has just outdone himself in trying to convince a jaded world that war is peace, that imperialism is liberation, that down is up and two plus two equals five. (Frontier International)

YEMEN: Child soldiers used by both sides in northern conflict – NGOs. Rights groups estimate several thousand child soldiers have been involved in the war between government forces and Houthi rebels in northern Yemen since 2004. (IRIN)

Iran intel chief warns of extent of opposition. Iran’s top intelligence official denounced senior clerics who he said support the country’s opposition, an acknowledgment of the split in the leadership amid the postelection turmoil and a sign of growing pressure by hard-liners within the government to extend the crackdown. The comments, reported Thursday by the state news agency IRNA, came after this week’s widespread student protests, the biggest anti-government rallies in months. The unrest appears to have raised authorities’ frustration that a fierce crackdown since the June election has failed to crush the opposition. Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi spoke to a gathering of pro-government clerics in the holy city of Qom and warned that the opposition movement — which authorities label as a foreign-backed plot to overthrow clerical rule — extended into the country’s high ranks. (AP)

Western envoys hint at tougher Iran sanctions. The United States and other envoys at the United Nations slammed Iran on Thursday for transporting arms and ammunition to Syria, saying the clock is ticking for the Islamic republic — which could face tougher sanctions next year over its nuclear program. (CNN)

Speak Persian? The Shin Bet wants you. The Shin Bet security service published an unusual want ad in the newspapers this week, seeking “Persian-speaking field coordinators.” Training for the position, the ad said, was open to both men and women, and would begin in April. (Haaretz)

China poses a riddle in US backyard. The strengthening economic alliance between China and Brazil, the two giants of the developing world, is unnerving the powers in Washington. But the South American country has much to do, and ask of itself, if it wants to expand beyond commodities trade to become a true strategic partner. (Asia Times)

U.N. Afghan Mission Chief to Resign. The leader, Kai Eide, a 60-year-old Norwegian diplomat who was appointed head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in March 2008, had widely been expected to step down early next year. In the tumultuous aftermath of the Aug. 20 Afghan presidential elections, Mr. Eide was sharply criticized by his deputy, the American diplomat Peter W. Galbraith, who accused him of concealing electoral fraud that benefited the campaign of the incumbent president, Hamid Karzai. Mr. Eide disputed the assertions. (New York Times)

Is Syria to Blame for the Bombings in Iraq? Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has accused Syria of being behind the car bombs that have killed several hundred Iraqis. The Guardian reports, based on a dossier provided to them by Iraqi authorities, that a conspiracy involving leaders of Islamic militant organizations [al-Qaida], Iraqi Baathists and the Syrian government hatched a plan “to topple the [Iraqi] government,.” “They elected a leader and made a unified front.” This is explosive stuff. Oddly, reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times have not picked up on this plot or the Iraqi intelligence dossier. The US papers, although they report on Maliki’s blaming of Syria, concentrate on the confusion and back-biting taking place within Iraq, due to upcoming elections and the ongoing power struggle between parties and between sectarian groups. (Syria Comment)

Key Copenhagen group releases draft climate plan. In one of the most significant developments to date at the U.N.-sponsored climate talks, the ad-hoc group charged with charting a new path forward released a draft text Friday morning outlining the critical questions that need to be resolved before the talks end Dec. 18. (Washington Post)

A Missile Shield by Any Other Name. No one wants to sit on a sofa that’s uncomfortable for too long, so why would Eastern Europeans, let alone the world? The ‘SOFA’ in question (a Status of Forces Agreement, regulating military bases and personnel abroad) with the U.S. is as far from the Ikea-seating kind as possible, except metaphorically. Nevertheless, Poland was left standing in its regards until December 10, 2009 after the latest round of their military negotiations, the end of which was announced December 4. What will transpire is likely to be highly indicative of President Obama’s Eastern European and global military strategies to come. (Informed Comment)

Ukraine reaches $2.5B arms deal with Iraq. A senior Ukrainian lawmaker says Ukraine has reached an agreement to supply $2.5 billion worth of weapons to Iraq. Anatoly Grytsenko, the chairman of the Ukrainian’s parliament’s security and defense committe, said Wednesday the deal will see Ukraine provide Iraq with 420 armored personnel carriers, 6 AN-32B cargo planes and other military hardware. Grytsenko formerly served as Ukraine’s defense minister. (Forbes / AP)

F-35 Controversies and Counterclaims, December 2009. The $300 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program could well become the largest single weapon program in modern history. (Defense Industry Daily)

DJ Elliott maintains a site with a full breakdown of military deployment in Iraq, maps included. This ‘Order of Battle,’ as he states, contains “regular Army, Special Forces, Navy, Air Force, and Paramilitary Police.” The site, Montrose Toast, is regularly updated, one of the recent points of interest being a detailed map of Iraqi and US armed forces updated on 30 November 2009. This resource is very useful for those interested in learning about the details of military presence in Iraq.

Excerpt from Pulse, with video of the speech available on their website:

Pilger covers issues of both Australian and international import, from Iraq to Palestine and US foreign policy, to the Australian federal government’s racist intervention into remote Aboriginal communities. He calls for a breaking of media and public silence and for a peoples fifth estate as an alternative to our corporatist Murdochracies.

From the White House release:

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women some known, some obscure to all but those they help to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 43 other countries including Norway in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill. Some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.

These questions are not new. War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man. At the dawn of history, its morality was not questioned; it was simply a fact, like drought or disease the manner in which tribes and then civilizations sought power and settled their differences.

Over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers, clerics and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war. The concept of a “just war” emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when it meets certain preconditions: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the forced used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.

For most of history, this concept of just war was rarely observed. The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible, as did our capacity to exempt from mercy those who look different or pray to a different God. Wars between armies gave way to wars between nations total wars in which the distinction between combatant and civilian became blurred. In the span of 30 years, such carnage would twice engulf this continent. And while it is hard to conceive of a cause more just than the defeat of the Third Reich and the Axis powers, World War II was a conflict in which the total number of civilians who died exceeded the number of soldiers who perished.

In the wake of such destruction, and with the advent of the nuclear age, it became clear to victor and vanquished alike that the world needed institutions to prevent another World War. And so, a quarter century after the United States Senate rejected the League of Nations an idea for which Woodrow Wilson received this Prize America led the world in constructing an architecture to keep the peace: a Marshall Plan and a United Nations, mechanisms to govern the waging of war, treaties to protect human rights, prevent genocide and restrict the most dangerous weapons.

In many ways, these efforts succeeded. Yes, terrible wars have been fought, and atrocities committed. But there has been no Third World War. The Cold War ended with jubilant crowds dismantling a wall. Commerce has stitched much of the world together. Billions have been lifted from poverty. The ideals of liberty, self-determination, equality and the rule of law have haltingly advanced. We are the heirs of the fortitude and foresight of generations past, and it is a legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud.

A decade into a new century, this old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats. The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsized rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale.

Moreover, wars between nations have increasingly given way to wars within nations. The resurgence of ethnic or sectarian conflicts, the growth of secessionist movements, insurgencies and failed states have increasingly trapped civilians in unending chaos. In today’s wars, many more civilians are killed than soldiers; the seeds of future conflict are sown, economies are wrecked, civil societies torn asunder, refugees amassed and children scarred.

I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.

We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations acting individually or in concert will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago: “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: It merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak, nothing passive, nothing naive in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism it is a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.

Yet the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions not just treaties and declarations that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other people’s children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.

So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldier’s courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause and to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.

So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable truths that war is sometimes necessary, and war is at some level an expression of human feelings. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. “Let us focus,” he said, “on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.”

What might this evolution look like? What might these practical steps be?

To begin with, I believe that all nations strong and weak alike must adhere to standards that govern the use of force. I like any head of state reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation. Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards strengthens those who do, and isolates and weakens those who don’t.

The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks, and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan, because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense. Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression.

Furthermore, America cannot insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we don’t, our action can appear arbitrary, and undercut the legitimacy of future intervention no matter how justified.

This becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self-defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.

I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.

America’s commitment to global security will never waver. But in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.

The leaders and soldiers of NATO countries and other friends and allies demonstrate this truth through the capacity and courage they have shown in Afghanistan. But in many countries, there is a disconnect between the efforts of those who serve and the ambivalence of the broader public. I understand why war is not popular. But I also know this: The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That is why NATO continues to be indispensable. That is why we must strengthen U.N. and regional peacekeeping, and not leave the task to a few countries. That is why we honor those who return home from peacekeeping and training abroad to Oslo and Rome; to Ottawa and Sydney; to Dhaka and Kigali we honor them not as makers of war, but as wagers of peace.

Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it. The Nobel Committee recognized this truth in awarding its first prize for peace to Henry Dunant the founder of the Red Cross, and a driving force behind the Geneva Conventions.

Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America’s commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.

I have spoken to the questions that must weigh on our minds and our hearts as we choose to wage war. But let me turn now to our effort to avoid such tragic choices, and speak of three ways that we can build a just and lasting peace.

First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.

One urgent example is the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them. In the middle of the last century, nations agreed to be bound by a treaty whose bargain is clear: All will have access to peaceful nuclear power; those without nuclear weapons will forsake them; and those with nuclear weapons will work toward disarmament. I am committed to upholding this treaty. It is a centerpiece of my foreign policy. And I am working with President Medvedev to reduce America and Russia’s nuclear stockpiles.

But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.

The same principle applies to those who violate international law by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo or repression in Burma there must be consequences. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.

This brings me to a second point the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.

It was this insight that drove drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War. In the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise.

And yet all too often, these words are ignored. In some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation’s development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values.

I reject this choice. I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please, choose their own leaders or assemble without fear. Pent up grievances fester, and the suppression of tribal and religious identity can lead to violence. We also know that the opposite is true. Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace. America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens. No matter how callously defined, neither America’s interests nor the world’s are served by the denial of human aspirations.

So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear to these movements that hope and history are on their side.

Let me also say this: The promotion of human rights cannot be about exhortation alone. At times, it must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy. I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach and condemnation without discussion can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.

In light of the Cultural Revolution’s horrors, Nixon’s meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable and yet it surely helped set China on a path where millions of its citizens have been lifted from poverty, and connected to open societies. Pope John Paul’s engagement with Poland created space not just for the Catholic Church, but for labor leaders like Lech Walesa. Ronald Reagan’s efforts on arms control and embrace of perestroika not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe. There is no simple formula here. But we must try as best we can to balance isolation and engagement, pressure and incentives, so that human rights and dignity are advanced over time.

Third, a just peace includes not only civil and political rights it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.

It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.

And that is why helping farmers feed their own people or nations educate their children and care for the sick is not mere charity. It is also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and activists who call for swift and forceful action it is military leaders in my country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance.

Agreements among nations. Strong institutions. Support for human rights. Investments in development. All of these are vital ingredients in bringing about the evolution that President Kennedy spoke about. And yet, I do not believe that we will have the will, or the staying power, to complete this work without something more and that is the continued expansion of our moral imagination, an insistence that there is something irreducible that we all share.

As the world grows smaller, you might think it would be easier for human beings to recognize how similar we are, to understand that we all basically want the same things, that we all hope for the chance to live out our lives with some measure of happiness and fulfillment for ourselves and our families.

And yet, given the dizzying pace of globalization, and the cultural leveling of modernity, it should come as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they cherish about their particular identities their race, their tribe and, perhaps most powerfully, their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we are moving backwards. We see it in the Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines.

Most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan. These extremists are not the first to kill in the name of God; the cruelties of the Crusades are amply recorded. But they remind us that no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or even a person of one’s own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but the purpose of faith for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

Adhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature. We are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.

But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The nonviolence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached their faith in human progress must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.

For if we lose that faith if we dismiss it as silly or naive, if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace then we lose what is best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass.

Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago: “I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.”

So let us reach for the world that ought to be that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. Somewhere today, in the here and now, a soldier sees he’s outgunned but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams.

Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of deprivation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

Poor nations at Copenhagen claimate summit outraged by leaked memo. The Copenhagen climate summit has been thrown into disarray after developing countries said the current plans for a deal on global warming condemned millions of people to ‘absolute devastation.’ The row broke out after a draft text of a deal prepared by the Danish government was leaked and published online by The Guardian. The draft agreement has been criticised by campaigners who have argued that it risks alienating poor nations. The proposal has been interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on carbon emissions for developed and developing countries – meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much. (openDemocracy)

Crapshoot in Copenhagen. In the Maldives, the cabinet strapped on scuba gear and met under water to emphasize the risk of global warming to their island nation. In Nepal, the ministers put on oxygen tanks and conducted their business high up on Mt. Everest to focus attention on the impact of climate change on the world’s highest peak. President Obama won’t show up until the end of the Copenhagen confab. But no one is expecting him to make a major splash. Obama has said that he can’t go further than what Congress is willing to do. The bill in front of the House calls for a 17% reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 levels by 2020. “This works out to a 4% cut from 1990 levels, the standard baseline for measurement, and yet scientists have calculated that the major industrialized nations need to cut their emissions by 40% to have any hope of getting us on a path back towards safety…” (Foreign Policy in Focus)

Canadian general says military knew of abuse risk. Canada’s top general says there is evidence that a prisoner captured by the military in 2006 and handed over to Afghan authorities was abused. Gen. Walt Natynczyk’s disclosure contradicts Defense Minister Peter MacKay’s repeated insistence that not a single case of torture of detainees could be proven. The revelation raises questions about whether Canada violated international law by continuing to transfer prisoners to Afghan custody after it had evidence of abuse. (AP)

Iraq: Al-Qaeda claims deadly Baghdad bombings. Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings which killed at least 127 people and injured around 500 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad on Tuesday. The message, posted to extremist websites on Thursday, also promised more deadly attacks. (AKI)

Yemen’s proxy war that isn’t. The conflict in Yemen initially started off as a local affair between the country’s Sunni-dominated central government and Shia rebels in the north, known as the Houthis. It now has a regional dimension that pits two regional powerhouses against each other: Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran. But for all the hype and conspiracy theories that abound, there is no significant Iranian support for the Houthis, despite Yemeni and Saudi protests… The Houthis require no military training from outside, given that most members have been through the state military service system, and require no arms, with weapons coming from a black market that underwent a boom after the 1994 Yemeni civil war. The Yemeni government did say it had seized an Iranian-crewed vessel containing weapons near the Houthi stronghold in the north. Yet its failure to parade the seizures made it difficult to confirm and verify its claims. (Guardian)

Iraq elections adjourned till March 7. Iraq Presidency Council decided to adjourn the date of legislative elections in Iraq till March 7 instead of March 6, the date set by the Independent High Electoral Commission on Tuesday. (Alsumaria)

Sri Lanka: power and accountability. Sri Lanka’s government prosecuted a brutal military campaign from mid-2008 to spring 2009 to inflict a final defeat on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eilam (LTTE / Tamil Tigers) after twenty-six years of war. Many thousands of civilians died amid the horrors of this last battle. (openDemocracy)

Jailed Fatah chief emerges as Palestinian presidential contender. Marwan Barghouti, the senior Fatah leader who could be set free in a prisoner swap with Israel, appears to be already testing the waters for a possible bid to succeed the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. In an interview yesterday in al-Quds newspaper, the charismatic leader criticised his rival for relying on negotiations alone in dealing with the Jewish state and said he is considering standing as a candidate if an agreement is reached to hold presidential elections. (The Independent)

Gates: U.S. will be in Afghanistan beyond 2011. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates ended a two-day trip to Afghanistan on Thursday, telling a group of Afghan soldiers that America will maintain a presence beyond the troop pullout set to begin in 2011. “While we hope to transfer power in July 2011, we will have a large number of forces here for some time beyond that,” Gates told the group at Kabul International Airport. “This is the first time in Afghan history when foreign forces are here to help, and we intend to be your partner for a long time.” (CNN)

China unveils its new worldview. Beijing has released a five-pronged foreign policy vision, signaling it is ready to play a bigger part on the global stage. Most notable on the ambitious agenda are the twin theories of “shared responsibility and enthusiastic participation”, which imply that China will acquit itself in a way that it feels is commensurate with its quasi- superpower status. (Asia Times)

Afghanistan: Exemplary models of governance. Corruption in the country has reached such a scale that Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank executive and presidential candidate, says that a senior Karzai adviser told him that one government minister made $25 million in a single year, and a northern governor, $75 million. Two of Karzai’s brothers — Mahmoud Karzai and Ahmed Wali Karzai — and relatives of at least one governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, and the country’s defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, have either earned money with questionable tactics or been awarded lucrative Western contracts with little fair competition. They have been helped by their relatives’ political clout and suspicious bidding practices. (Angry Arab / Foreign Affairs)

Reviewing the fleets. OVER 80% of world trade by volume is carried on ships. Greece and Japan dominate ship owning with over 30% of the world tonnage. However, their ships rarely fly the flag of the home countries, choosing instead “flags of convenience”. Panama is the favoured country for Japan; while Greece prefers the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus; Liberia’s flag flies on many German vessels. Just 15 countries control 80% of the world’s merchant ships. And that fleet’s tonnage grew by 6% in 2008 as new ships ordered before the financial crisis hit the waves. (The Economist)

AFGHANISTAN: More Questions Than Answers. In a speech at West Point, the U.S.’s most famous and prestigious military academy, Obama laid out how he will send 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, in addition to thousands more from allies like Britain. The forces are to be divided into two groups: one, including a large contingent of U.S. Marines, will fight the insurgency head-on, with a special focus on the south of Afghanistan. The other group will focus on training Afghan security forces, increasing the strength of Afghan National Army and Police to 400,000 strong. (IPS)

EU parliament members denied entry into Gaza. The European parliament demanded Wednesday that Israel explain why it prevented a delegation of MEPs from travelling to the Gaza Strip despite initially authorizing the visit. “Israel had yesterday afternoon granted final permission for all members of our delegation to travel. However, some three hours later entry for all members of the delegation was rescinded ‘on security grounds’, without further explanation,” it said in a statement. (The Daily Star)

US a step closer to Tehran sanctions. While a United States deadline nears for a breakthrough on Iran’s nuclear program, the US Congress is pushing through legislation imposing tough economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The bill has raised fears it will alienate the Iranian people and key international allies, while its timing may derail the US’s attempts at engagement. (Asia Times)

On Syria border: No sign of Saddam loyalists. Iraq’s border with Syria runs for hundreds of miles through barren land patrolled by a relative scattering of security forces. But despite claims about exiled Saddam Hussein loyalists sneaking across to disrupt Iraq’s upcoming elections, the only evidence around one key outpost is faded slogans of Saddam’s banned Baath Party painted on the wall of a decaying grain elevator. (AP)

General Discusses Exercise in Africa. The largest U.S. Defense Department-sponsored exercise in Africa this year yielded many important lessons, the commander of U.S. Army Africa said yesterday. Army Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III discussed Natural Fire 10 — a multinational partnership that brought together troops from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and the United States — during a “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable. (US Department of Defense)

Lebedev: Central Asian leaders dissatisfied with Russian TV content. Some leaders of Central Asian countries express dissatisfaction with content of the Russian TV programs, Sergei Lebedev, Executive Secretary for the Commonwealth of Independent States said Wednesday at the European and Asian Media Forum in Moscow. (24)

In India 97,000 kids are AIDS positive. The highest was in Andhra Pradesh with 22,559 children testing positive for the disease followed by 21,835 in Maharashtra and 15,082 in Tamil Nadu. (Times of India)

Pakistan: New Zardari strategy to face NRO charges. While not wholeheartedly defending the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) inside the Supreme Court, President Asif Ali Zardari and his advisers have decided to forcefully fight their case outside the court… So far, the proceedings on the NRO have been one-sided as nobody, not even any of its beneficiary, has shown willingness to defend it. The court is unlikely to review the public rejoinders issued outside the court to the points stressed during the arguments unless these were brought to its notice. The source said that the president and his team would aptly respond whenever efforts would be made to malign, weaken or damage his position in any way. (The News)

Pakistan: Cabinet reshuffle delayed until SC ruling on NRO: Gilani. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said reshuffling of federal cabinet would be done after the decision of court on National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)… Gilani dispelled the rumours of government’s instability and said, ‘We have been given the mandate of five years and others should wait for this term to complete.’ (Dawn)

Iran’s subsidy bill to be sent back to Majlis. Iran’s Guardian Council Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei says the supervisory body has found problems with a bill that is aimed at reforming the country’s subsidy system… The bill aims to lift subsidies that the government has placed on key consumer goods such as fuel and redirect the allocated funds to low income Iranians. (Press TV)

Obama defends war as he accepts Nobel peace prize. President Barack Obama evoked the cause of a just war on Thursday, accepting his Nobel Peace Prize just nine days after sending 30,000 more US troops to war in Afghanistan but promising to use the prestigious prize to ‘reach for the world that ought to be.’ (Dawn)

Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle: 2009-12. DJ Elliott is a retired USN Intelligence Specialist (22 years active duty) who has been analyzing and writing on Iraqi Security Forces developments since 2006. His Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle is an open-source compilation that attempts to map and detail Iraqi units and equipment, as their military branches and internal security forces grow and mature. (Defense Industry Daily)

FLIR to Supply Surveillance Systems to Middle East/North African Customers. FLIR Systems received a $6.7 million contract to supply infrared multi-sensor surveillance systems to unidentified customers in the Middle East and North Africa. (Defense Industry Daily)

Just Say No to Mega-Media Marriages. It’s a bad marriage—the kind that makes you want to run down the aisle yelling, “Stop the wedding!” The planned union between Comcast and NBC Universal (NBCU) spells disaster: it paves the way for a new era of mega-media consolidation that reaches across content creation and distribution, wielding enormous power over TV and Internet content. (In These Times)

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

YEMEN: Population of biggest IDP camp doubles. The population of Yemen’s main camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) has doubled over the past few weeks as fighting between Houthi-led rebels and government forces continues, according to officials. “We now have about 20,000 IDPs in al-Mazraq 1 camp [northern Yemen] and the camp is very overcrowded. We have about 1,000 families [about 7,000 individuals] in the reception area alone,” Mai Barazi, a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) team leader in Harrad (about 20 minutes’ drive from the camp) in Hajjah Governorate, told IRIN. (IRIN)

Russia: Medvedev’s New Security Vision. In June 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev first floated the idea for a new, broader structure for European-Atlantic security. The Kremlin turned the idea into a concrete proposal Nov. 29 when its web site posted a 14-article draft document titled “The European Security Treaty.” Under the motto of “From Vancouver to Vladivostok,” Medvedev’s treaty attempts to encompass, among others, NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Not surprisingly, the West has reacted to the security treaty skeptically at best. At worst, many in the West interpret Medvedev’s proposal as an attempt to restore its lost global influence, if not its empire. (Moscow Times)

India-Russia civil nuclear agreement practically sealed. India and Russia have practically sealed the framework agreement on an omnibus nuclear energy agreement and bridged differences on the price to refurbish aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov) that will project the country’s naval power in the Indian Ocean for at least two decades, said highly placed government sources. (The Hindu)

The security architecture of the Euroatlantic space needs to change. The security architecture of the Euroatlantic space needs to change. Last year’s conflict in the Caucasus vividly demonstrated both the current system’s nascent but developing, instability, and its fragility. The potential for a just and sustainable security architecture in the spirit of the Charter of Paris and a Europe united has been compromised over the post cold war years by the failure to establish a link of trust in relations between East and West, between Russia, the U.S. and its NATO allies. (RIA Novosti)

Will Copenhagen Catalyze a Movement? The struggle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is not only a struggle against corporate polluters. It is a struggle for the hearts and minds of the American people who are constantly being distracted from the life and death questions of war and global warming by “reality” shows, football, and the search for bargains. It is a struggle to help the American people recognize that in living more simply so that others can simply live, we can grow our souls instead of a polluting, life threatening economy. Movement building today requires actions that can bring about this kind of radical value shift or transformation. (In These Times)

Case Studies. Here’s the evidence for the contentions in The Real Climate Scandal. In 1991 the Western Fuels Association, National Coal Association and Edison Electric Institute set up a group called the Information Council for the Environment (ICE). Its founding documents were leaked. The text has been made available online by the scientist Naomi Oreskes[1]. The strategy was spelt out in a document produced by the Western Fuels Association: to “reposition global warming as theory (not fact)”[2]. ICE was given $510,000 to test its messages in key markets, all of which happened to be the homes of members of the Energy and Commerce or Ways and Means Committees of the US House of Representatives. (Monbiot)

Israeli MPs pass referendum bill. The Israeli parliament has passed the first reading of a bill requiring a referendum to approve a pullout from annexed east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. At least 31 members of parliament were absent from the voting on Wednesday, 68 were in favour of the bill, 22 were against and one abstained. The bill requires that any peace agreement reached between the Israeli government which entails an Israeli withdrawal from annexed territories must first be approved by a 61-MP majority in the 120-member parliament. (Al Jazeera)

Nanotech market. The global market for nanotechnology was valued in 2007 at $135bn. Research and development in this field keeps growing, and many promising applications are already at the laboratory stage. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

Kosovo: Russia and US adopt opposite views on independence. The United States and Russia on Tuesday took opposite positions regarding the independence of Kosovo in arguments before the International Court of Justice. At the request of the United Nations general assembly, the court is assessing the legality of its unilateral declaration of independence, which Serbia opposes. (AKI)

Pakistan: Militant toll reaches 589 in South Waziristan operation. Security forces have killed 589 terrorists in the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan. Meanwhile, 79 troops have also lost their lives while fighting militant groups hiding in the area. (Dawn)

US secures drones market. The global market for drones was worth around £4.4bn in 2009, the lion’s share of which (70%) went to US companies such as Northrop Grumman and General Atomics. Northrop Grumman is the manufacturer of the Global Hawk, a long-endurance drone capable of 36-hour surveillance flights. General Atomics makes the Predator. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

Drones command the skies. The US is planning a future in which pilotless drones do the killing, remotely controlled. It looks and plays like an Xbox game, but it’s for real. It may not defeat its intended enemies, thoughTwo Hellfire missiles from a US drone hit Laddah, a village in a remote part of South Waziristan in Pakistan very early in the morning of 5 August this year. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

Kuwait opposition MPs file motion for non-cooperation against Premier. Ten opposition MPs filed on Tuesday a “motion for non-cooperation” against the premier Nasser Mohmmad Al Sabah. The motion, if passed, would still need to be sent to the emir who decides to either sack the premier, or dissolve parliament and call fresh elections. (Alsumaria)

Comment & Analysis: The economics of Iraq oil investment. Why the world’s largest oil companies have reversed their earlier position that the oil ministry’s terms for major development deals were not profitable enough. (Iraq Oil Report)

Official electoral coalitions list released. Iraq’s electoral commission releases the official listing of coalitions standing in the March 7 national election, which will be a tense vote and contentious attempt to form the next government. (Iraq Oil Report)

Japan’s economic growth slows threatening recovery. Japan’s economy grew at a dramatically slower pace than previously thought in the three months to September, in a further sign that the country’s fledgling recovery is already running out of puff. The economy grew at an annualised pace of 1.3% from July to September, drastically down on an earlier estimate of 4.8%, the cabinet office said today. (Guardian)

Official: Ankara Doesn’t Need NATO Nukes. [Ibrahim Kalin, chief foreign policy adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister] reiterated that “Turkey wants a nuclear-free Middle East, and this applies to Iran as well as other countries suspected of having nuclear bombs.” This is a very sensible position, but — since the two powers in “the region” that have nuclear weapons are Israel and NATO — it also provided an opening to ask about where Ankara was on those U.S. nuclear weapons believed to be stationed at Incirlik Airbase in Turkey. (Arms Control Wonk)

Afghanistan: The Results of the Strategic Review, Part Iand Part II. Today, the House Armed Services Committee meets to receive testimony on ‘Afghanistan: Results of the Strategic Review.’ Our witnesses today are: the Honorable Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Honorable Jacob Lew, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. (Afghanistan Conflict Monitor / US House of Representatives)

Dubai markets fall on debt worries. Share prices on Dubai’s stock market have fallen to their lowest level in almost a year, a day after the country’s investment arm lost a New York luxury hotel in a foreclosure auction. (Al Jazeera)

India: US team lobbies for Nuclear-liability bill. Members of the US Commercial Nuclear Mission (USCNM) are lobbying hard to facilitate the passing of the Indian Nuclear Liability and Damages Bill (NLDB) during the current session of Parliament. Expected to be tabled in the Lok Sabha in the next few days by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), the bill seeks to cap the level of compensation at $450 million in the event of an accident and makes the operator, which in this case is the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPC) and the Indian companies, who will in all eventuality be running these plants, pay the compensation amount. (Asian Age)

VSD to Provide Patrol Boat Training Systems to Iraqi Navy. VSD, a Virginia Beach, VA-based subsidiary of QED Systems, received a $23 million contract from prime contractor Swiftships Shipbuilders to provide the Iraqi Navy with training and training systems. (Defense Industry Daily)

Up to $18.7M in Military Sealift Command Ship Overhaul Work. The mission of the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) is to support US forces by delivering supplies and conducting specialized missions across the world’s oceans. (Defense Industry Daily)

Tajikistan: The Tablighi Jamaat members are brought to trial in Dushanbe. The members of Tablighi Jamaat Islamic group are brought to trial in Dushanbe. BBC reports that 56 citizens of Tajikistan were detained during the prayer in one of the mosques of the capital city. (Ferghana)

Yemen’s afternoon high. The average Yemeni spends one quarter to one third of his income on qat. Three quarters of the population devote four to six hours daily to buying and chewing the leaves, consumed in the later afternoon after the day’s main meal. Although qat has no nutritional value, a third of Yemen’s agricultural land — double the acreage of a decade ago — is devoted to it. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

Who needs Nafta? The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), now 15 years old, is returning to the forefront of the economic debate. Barack Obama began this by talking about it during his election campaign. He has always expressed a wish to renegotiate the Nafta treaty, which he claims is responsible for heavy job losses in the US. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

The (Many) Problems with the Iran Sanctions Bill. It now appears that the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), Howard Berman’s sanctions bill targeting Iran’s refined petroleum sector, is likely to come up for a vote in the near future… Sanctions proponents’ reasoning is based on the rather dubious belief that if the U.S. starves the Iranian civilian population of resources they will blame their own government rather than ours. (Lobelog)

Japan to Give a Plan on Okinawa Base. Japan’s prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, said Wednesday that he wants to present concrete proposals to President Obama next week in hopes of ending a growing rift between his new government and Washington over an American military air base in Okinawa. (New York Times)

EU eyes bigger role in Mideast peace. Israeli leaders are breathing a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday, a day after European Union(EU) foreign ministers agreed not to accept a Swedish proposal on the future of Jerusalem. Stockholm suggests that East Jerusalem become the capital of any future Palestinian state. However, meeting in Brussels, the EU ministers softened the wording of the policy statement. The EU believes that there should be two capitals in Jerusalem but their demarcation should be determined by the parties through negotiations. The European deliberations not only cause concern for Israel, which sees Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, but also leave analysts wondering what impact this policy statement will have and what role the EU sees for itself in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. (Xinhua)