[Al Arabiya Latest] ran, Cuba and Venezuela late on Thursday assailed the U.S. administration for a new report that lists Havana and Tehran as state sponsors of terrorism and raises concerns about Caracas.
The U.S. State Department report, which singled out Iran as "the most active state sponsor of terrorism" in the world, was released in Washington Thursday as ministers from some of the countries named in the report were here for a meeting of non-aligned countries.
"With its support for the Zionist regime, racism, occupation" and "all it has done in the prison at Guantanamo, the United States is not competent" to accuse other countries of terrorism, said Iranian Foreign Minister Monouchehr Mottaki.
He said President Barack Obama's administration speaks of change but some within it want past policies to continue.
"We do not recognize any political nor moral authority on the part of the United States ... to certify good or bad behavior," said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
International Delinquent
Rodriguez called the United States an "international delinquent" with "a long record of state terrorist actions, and not only against Cuba."
The release of the 2008 edition of the State Department's terrorist sponsor list followed overtures toward Cuba by Obama, who has sought to improve U.S. relations with Latin America.
But yesterday former Cuban leader Fidel Castro derided U.S. steps toward improving relations with his country, saying the United States wants Cuba to act like a slave willing to "accept again the whip and the yoke."
The 82-year-old Castro, writing in a column published on the Internet, said "the adversary should never be under the illusion that Cuba will surrender."
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#1
Castro gnashes his teeth most when we don't include him on such lists, because he is not important enough.
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] A general freed after nearly four years in jail in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri said Thursday his release by a UN-backed tribunal discredited Lebanon's judiciary and could shift the country's fragile political balance.
Brig. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyed, one of the former Lebanese security officials the tribunal ordered released on Wednesday citing insufficient evidence, called for the resignation of senior Lebanese judges.
"Inevitably, there will be political consequences," Sayyed told The Associated Press in an interview. "It was only natural that when the tribunal took a decision that goes against the politically motivated detention, there would be an opposite political impact."
The tribunal's decision was a setback for Lebanon's pro-Western political bloc headed by Hariri's son Saad. Senior judiciary officials who were in charge of the generals' case are considered by many to be close to Saad Hariri and his alliance. The bloc, which holds a majority in parliament, was struggling to contain the political damage heading into crucial elections in June against a Hizbullah-led faction.
Hariri was killed along with 22 others in a massive 2005 truck bombing on a Beirut street. The billionaire businessman and longtime ally of Syria was quietly challenging Damascus' three decades of domination over Lebanon at the time of his assassination and his killing sparked a domestic and international outcry that forced Syria and its tens of thousands of troops out of the country.
Hariri's supporters blamed Syria for the killing, a charge Damascus denies. The four released by the special international tribunal set up to find out who was behind Hariri's killing were the only suspects in custody.
Sayyed was considered Syria's strongman in Lebanon. He and the other three freed generals - Ali al-Hajj, Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan - directed the chief security and military intelligence services and the presidential guard. They were instrumental in implementing Syrian policy in Lebanon in the years before the Syrian army was forced to withdraw.
Their arrest nearly four years ago was a condemnation of Syria and its allies in Lebanon, so their release is likely to boost the pro-Syrian factions led by Hizbullah.
Sayyed was receiving well-wishers at a hotel as Lebanon was coming to grips with the new political reality after the release of the generals.
"What happened yesterday amounts to the downfall of the Lebanese judiciary at the hands of the international justice," he said. He said he would consider himself compensated "if the judges who erred, the officers and the journalists who fed the false witnesses with information, resign as a result of the court's decision."
He said he would wait for their resignation or dismissal, but if that does not happen, he and the others may eventually bring a lawsuit against those responsible for his detention.
"I do not seek revenge. ... But at the same time, I like accountability," he said.
The tribunal was imposed on Lebanon by the UN Security Council after deep divisions prevented parliament from ratifying its formation. The majority supported it as a way to limit Syria's influence and end a series of political assassinations that followed Hariri's. But the minority, particularly Hizbullah, saw it as a Western tool to pressure it and ally Damascus.
The generals were arrested after the first UN investigator, Detlev Mehlis, said the complexity of the assassination plot suggested a role by Syrian intelligence services and its pro-Syria Lebanese counterpart. An early draft of a report he issued in 2005 linked Syrian President Bashar Assad's inner circle but the two investigators who succeeded him did not repeat the accusations and said Syria was cooperating.
Hizbullah wasted no time in capitalizing on the release. Its officials flanked the freed generals Wednesday as supporters set off fireworks and danced.
"The priority is to hold accountable those responsible for the years of deception and stalling," a Hizbullah statement said.
Saad Hariri's political ally Walid Jumblatt, an outspoken critic of Syria, sought to rally supporters ahead of the elections.
"We will win the elections for the sake of justice and for the sake of Rafik Hariri," he told reporters Thursday. He said he accepts the court's decision but "we will not drop the political accusations" against Syria.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid speedy relationship developments between Belarus and Iran, a report says the former Soviet state is selling Tehran the Russian-made Iskander-M tactical missile systems.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said that he would like to implement top-level agreements with the government of Tehran.
"We will sacredly fulfill our agreements with Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and expect more activity in projects earmarked for joint implementation," President Lukashenko said in a message handed to the visiting Iranian Judicial chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi.
An article published by Ria Novosti said that the swiftness of relation-building between the two states is an indication that President Lukashenko is selling the short-range missiles to Iran.
The Iskander-M system is equipped with two solid-propellant single-stage 9M723K1 guided missiles with "quasi-ballistic" capability with a range of approximately 310 miles.
The report comes shortly after Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar visited Moscow to push for further military cooperation with Russia.
Iran is also interested in Russia's sophisticated air defense missiles, the S-300 surface-to-air system, to enhance its defensive prowess against a potential Israeli attack on the country's nuclear infrastructure.
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] After failing to reach agreement with Hamas over the formation of a Palestinian unity government, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to form a new government that would not include representatives of the Islamic movement, a PA official in Ramallah said Thursday. In response, Hamas warned that such a move would be regarded as a "fatal blow" to Egyptian efforts to end the power struggle with Fatah.
Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said that Abbas was expected to announce a new government soon. He did not give a date, but another PA official said the new government would most probably be established on the eve of Abbas's visit to Washington, where he is expected to meet for the first time with US President Barack Obama. "President Abbas still hasn't begun negotiations over the formation of a new government," Abu Rudaineh said. "But he does plan to form a government with a broad coalition in the near future."
Earlier this week, Fatah and Hamas representatives again failed to reach agreement over the formation of a joint government and other issues concerning the status of the PLO, the Palestinian security forces and the political program of the proposed coalition.
Representatives of the two sides who met in Cairo at the request of Egyptian General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman said the gap between them remained as wide as ever. They said the most significant difference was over whether the unity government would recognize Israel's right to exist and previous agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israelis. According to a source close to Abbas, the PA president is expected to ask the current prime minister, Salaam Fayad, to head the new government that would exclude Hamas.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] After failing to reach agreement with Hamas over the formation of a Palestinian unity government, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to form a new government that would not include representatives of the Islamic movement, a PA official in Ramallah said Thursday. In response, Hamas warned that such a move would be regarded as a "fatal blow" to Egyptian efforts to end the power struggle with Fatah.
