France has suspended its training operations in Afghanistan and is threatening to withdraw its entire force from the country early, after an Afghan wearing an army uniform shot and killed four French troops on Friday and wounded others.
The attack - the second time this month an Afghan soldier has killed French forces - came during a particularly deadly 24 hours for the international military coalition. Six US Marines also died in a helicopter crash late on Thursday.
It was the latest in a series of attacks by members of the Afghan security forces, or those dressed in their uniforms, against coalition partners that have raised fears of increased Taliban infiltration of the Afghan police and army as foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw from the country by 2014.
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The impact of the French suspending training operations is unclear, but it would result in a major setback for the US-led coalition if other troop-contributing nations stopped training Afghan national security forces or decided to pull out earlier than planned.
French officials said the attack happened during a training exercise at a base jointly operated by French and Afghan forces.
American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report obtained by The New York Times.
A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other, never mind the Taliban. The ill will and mistrust run deep among civilians and militaries on both sides, raising questions about what future role the United States and its allies can expect to play in Afghanistan.
Underscoring the danger, four NATO service members were killed and a number were wounded on Friday when a gunman wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon on them, according to an Afghan police official in Kapisa Province in eastern Afghanistan where the incident occurred and a Western official in Kabul, who sopke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The Afghan police official, Asdullah Hamidi, said the shooting happened in Tagab District, an area that is viewed as dangerous and dominated by insurgent forces. French soldiers make up the majority of the forces operating in the area.
#1
It is the incredibly important role of "friendly forces management" that keeps this kind of crap down to a minimum. This essentially means that counterintelligence has to work hand in glove with allied personnel management, to carefully screen out the untrustworthy and to insure that morale is maintained.
After an incident like this, there should be a unit observation, with lots of interviews about the shooter, who his friends were, did they know and if they did, why they didn't inform on him to their supervisor.
Whenever a US unit has an event like this, we do it to our own people, so doing it to allied forces should be pro forma.
[An Nahar] Almost a decade after government-backed Janjaweed militias began a "genocide" in Sudan's Darfur, shootings, rapes, looting and arson continue, residents say.
But officials are touting a deal signed last year between the government and an alliance of rebel splinter factions as the best hope for peace, and say security is showing signs of improvement.
"Darfur is at a crossroads," Ibrahim Gambari, who leads UNAMID, the joint African Union-United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Mission in Darfur, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"One direction is toward more peace, more progress, more movement toward early recovery and development; and one side is leaning towards the enemies of peace, the spoilers."
Darfur plunged into uncertainty in December when government forces announced they had killed Khalil Ibrahim, who led the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), once Darfur's most heavily gang.
JEM said this week that it is "still active and still able to do what we want", despite the loss of Ibrahim.
The group has not signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, which Khartoum inked in Qatar.
"I think they still feel bitter about the death of their leader," said Khalil Adam, of a UNAMID-backed citizens' liaison group.
"The death of Khalil will affect the process of peace in Darfur", but if the current signatories honor the deal others will join, Adam told news hounds during a U.N.-organized visit to the North Darfur capital El Fasher, and a nearby camp for people displaced by the conflict.
Factions of Darfur's Sudan Liberation Army headed by Minni Minnawi and Abdelwahid Nur also rejected the Doha deal. Instead, in November they formed with the SPLM-N rebels, based elsewhere in Sudan, a "Revolutionary Front" to overthrow the Khartoum government.
JEM said key issues including power and wealth sharing, human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... violations, and the almost two million displaced had not been resolved with the Doha pact.
Among its provisions the document, which covers about 100 pages, calls for a truth and reconciliation committee, a national human rights commission, $2 billion in government support for reconstruction and development, compensation for refugees, and affirmative action for Darfuris in government and military service.
"It is a good document" which can create a momentum towards peace, Fouad Hikmat, of the International Crisis Group think-tank, said from Kenya.
But he said the agreement faces key challenges including how to bring non-signatories into the process.
"That might be a bit complicated," he said, adding that Darfuris also want evidence of progress on issues including justice and rehabilitation.
"First they have to provide the security. They have to provide some kind of confidence building," to encourage those displaced by the war to return home, said Ahmed Atim, the bearded chief of Abushouk camp which is home to almost 55,000 people.
After eight years, Abushouk resembles not a camp but a village, where people live behind mud-brick walls and donkey carts are the main mode of transport over garbage-strewn sand.
Atim said there have been "some reported cases of burned schools", while others spoke of gunfire.
"During the night there is heavy shooting," said a tea vendor in the market.
She quickly back-tracked when a plainclothes government security agent popped up behind her. "Everything's fine," she said.
The camp's youth leader said security has improved somewhat since the Doha agreement.
"The problem is only the shooting" and thefts, he said, blaming authorities for the gunfire.
"Because the government doesn't want the IDPs (internally displaced persons) in the camp. They want the IDPs to go back," he said.
Asked about the gunplay, Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud, who chairs a panel monitoring the peace pact's implementation, said there had been "a quarrel between two persons."
There are also reports of rape, looting and threats toward residents of Abushouk and a neighboring camp, most of whom are anti-government, said a source familiar with conditions there.
"It's very complicated," said the source.
Darfur's African rebel groups that rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003 were confronted by state-backed Janjaweed militia in a conflict that shocked the world and led to allegations of genocide.
The United Nations estimates at least 300,000 people have died because of the conflict, with about 300 killed in deadly armed festivities last year.
The government puts the total number of dead at 10,000.
"It is not easy to say tomorrow what will happen," said Adam of the citizens' liaison group.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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The Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi possessed a secret stash of chemical weapons that it had not declared, the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons has stated. Gaddafi had mustard gas shells which he had not declared as a member of the OPCW, the organisation said on Friday.
A team of OPCW inspectors had visited Libya this week to check a previously undisclosed stock of weapons discovered by the country's current rulers, the National Transitional Council.
"At the request of the Libyan authorities the inspectors examined munitions, mainly artillery shells, which they determined are chemical munitions and hence declarable," the OPCW said.
The shells were currently stocked at the Ruwagha depot in southeastern Libya, along with quantities of sulphur mustard and other chemicals that had been declared by the Gaddafi government but not yet destroyed, it said.
"Libya must now submit a detailed plan and completion date for destroying all of the declared materials to the OPCW not later than 29 April 2012, the date of the final extended deadline," it added
#2
But all Saddam's stuff we found in Iraq doesn't count.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/20/2012 18:17 Comments ||
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#3
"'Libya must now submit a detailed plan and completion date for destroying all of the declared materials to the OPCW not later than 29 April 2012, the date of the final extended deadline,' it added."
"Or we'll send a strongly worded letter."
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/20/2012 18:48 Comments ||
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#4
What does RON PAUL say about Libya? Does he say that like Iraq, it was illegal? Just like Afghanistan was illegal? And probably the Normandy invasion of Vichy France too? And the Union vs. the Confederates? And the American rebels vs. England?
[Yemen Post] A source in the Yemeni Prime Minister Mohammed Basindoh's office denied on Thursday what Rooters has reported regarding requesting Yemeni outgoing President to leave the country before the upcoming Presidential elections, the official Saba News Agency reported.
Asked whether Saleh will leave the country for US, Basindoh replied "we heard he would go to US," the identified source added.
The source urged Rooters to stick to accuracy and professionalism and not to magnify things.
Rueters quoted Basindoh as saying: "We request from Saleh to leave the country before the upcoming presidential elections,"
Basindoh was appointed as the head of National Reconciliation Government early in December in line with the GCC crafted deal under which Saleh transferred all his executive powers to VP Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who will be the sole candidate for the upcoming presidential elections due to be held on Feburary21.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... yesterday called upon all to forge a united anti-government movement to protect the country from a disaster.
"Please come together to save the country, people and education system from disaster. Nothing will be achieved through isolated movements," she told at a discussion at the auditorium of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in the city.
Shikshak Karmachari Oikya Jote (SKOJ), a pro-BNP teachers' organization, hosted the event to mark "National Teachers' Day" as observed by the pro-BNP teachers on the birthday of BNP's founder late president Ziaur Rahman.
The country is now in deep crisis and the education sector is no exception, mentioned Khaleda. "The whole education sector is in trouble. A huge number of qualified teachers are losing their jobs due to politicisation. Even teachers are being assaulted."
Incompetent party leaders are running the governing bodies of private educational institutions, complained the leader of the opposition adding, discrimination between rural and urban areas is growing as regards the scope and quality of education.
Prices of educational items have increased a lot and the students are staging a movement demanding cut in additional fees, but the government is repressing them, she maintained.
Describing the steps taken during her government's time, Khaleda said, "I always stood beside you [teachers] to support your struggle and demands and this will continue in future. I hope you will also come forward to join the movement to end the national crisis."
The former prime minister pledged to nationalise the jobs of the teachers and employees of the non-government schools if her party is voted to power.
She also urged all to join the March 12 grand rally in the city.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, former education minister Dr Osman Farruk, Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, Dhaka University teacher Prof Sadrul Amin, among others, addressed the meeting, with SKOJ president Selim Bhuiyan in the chair.
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01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The head of Norway's intelligence service (PST) has resigned over remarks she made about the country's activities in Pakistain, the justice ministry announced yesterday.
Janne Kristiansen had already been criticised for her defence of the service's failure to anticipate the July attacks in which 77 people were killed.
She had informed the justice ministry that she would be resigning, said the statement, adding: "The reason is a possible breach of her duty to maintain confidentiality by revealing classified information."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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The chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona is refusing to testify before Congress regarding Operation Fast and Furious, the federal gun-running scandal that sent U.S. weapons to Mexico.
Patrick J. Cunningham informed the House Oversight Committee late Thursday through his attorney that he will use the Fifth Amendment protection. Oh look! It's Friday! And how about that cheatin' Newt...
Cunningham was ordered Wednesday to appear before Chairman Darrell Issa and the House Oversight Committee regarding his role in the operation that sent more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa Cartel. Guns from the failed operation were found at the murder scene of Border Agent Brian Terry.
The letter from Cunningham's Washington DC attorney stunned congressional staff. Last week, Cunningham, the second highest ranking U.S. Attorney in Arizona, was scheduled to appear before Issa's committee voluntarily. Then, he declined and Issa issued a subpoena.
Cunningham is represented by Tobin Romero of Williams and Connolly who is a specialist in white collar crime. In the letter, he suggests witnesses from the Department of Justice in Washington, who have spoken in support of Attorney General Eric Holder, are wrong or lying.
"Department of Justice officials have reported to the Committee that my client relayed inaccurate information to the Department upon which it relied in preparing its initial response to Congress. The fight over the letter -- the first letter sent to Issa detailing Fast & Furious, turned out to be full of "lies." Issa hammered Holder on who supplied the info that was in the letter. DOJ later pulled the letter, saying it was full of inaccuracies! What it said was, "there was no gun walking." Looks like Holder has selected this Mr. Cunningham as his fall guy. Holder is still scheduled before Issa's committee on Feb 4.
If, as you claim, Department officials have blamed my client, they have blamed him unfairly," the letter to Issa says.
Romero claims Cunningham did nothing wrong and acted in good faith, but the Department of Justice in Washington is making him the fall guy, claiming he failed to accurately provide the Oversight Committee with information on the execution of Fast and Furious.
"To avoid needless preparation by the Committee and its staff for a deposition next week, I am writing to advise you that my client is going to assert his constitutional privilege not to be compelled to be a witness against himself." Romero told Issa.
This schism is the first big break in what has been a unified front in the government's defense of itself in the gun-running scandal. Cunningham claims he is a victim of a conflict between two branches of government and will not be compelled to be a witnesses against himself, and make a statement that could be later used by a grand jury or special prosecutor to indict him on criminal charges.
#3
prosecute and extradite, starting with this mook and up to Holder
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/20/2012 12:14 Comments ||
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#4
Mook, I donno...
He's a big enough dog to not have been reassigned overseas, and now it looks like he's gonna stand up for an immunity testimony. If he did bad, he's gonna bring the house down.
#6
Instant dismissal from DOJ, please. You can't refuse to testify on the grounds that you'd incriminate yourself AND work for the top federal law enforcement agency.
Sir Salman Rushdie has announced his withdrawal from a leading Indian literature festival after officials warned professional assassins were on their way to kill him. He had been due to appear at the Jaipur Literature Festival in Rajasthan, Western India, along with leading authors and playwrights Tom Stoppard, Sir David Hare, Annie Proulx and Michael Ondaatje, despite threats of protests from Islamic fundamentalists.
Leaders of the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary, one of the most influential in the world, had earlier called for Sir Salman to be barred from India to stop him in appearing at the festival in protest over his controversial novel The Satanic Verses.
They said the author could never be forgiven for his narrator's claim blasphemous that disputed verses on the Koran were disclosed by the Archangel Gabriel.
The novel provoked anger throughout the Muslim world when it was published in 1988 and was also banned in India where the secular government feared it would cause communal tensions. Iran's then spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for him to be killed.
[An Nahar] Pakistain's embattled prime minister Thursday defended himself against contempt charges before the Supreme Court, refusing to back down in a case that could see him disqualified from office if convicted.
It is only the second time that Pakistain's highest court has initiated contempt proceedings against a sitting prime minister, plunging the weak government deeper into a crisis that could force early elections within months.
The government is also under enormous pressure from the army and judiciary over a memo asking Washington to prevent a feared coup last May, compounding widespread belief that the administration is staggering on its last legs.
The court summoned Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... to explain his refusal to ask Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... to re-open graft cases against the president, then adjourned until February 1 and conceded that premier would not have to appear next time.
The government refused to ask the Swiss authorities to re-open the long-standing cases on the grounds that Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... enjoys immunity from prosecution as head of state.
Gilani spoke of his respect for the judiciary but did not apologize or deviate from his long-standing position.
"I have come today to show my respect to this court," Gilani told the seven judges. "It will not give a good message to proceed against a president who is elected by a two-thirds majority."
"There is complete immunity for heads of state everywhere," Gilani stressed.
He appeared relaxed as he arrived at court, smiling and waving to the phalanx of television cameras lined up outside. Police and paramilitary troops deployed in a rigorous show of security as a helicopter circled overhead.
Analysts warn that unless the prime minister finds a way of satisfying the court order or decides to resign, he could be convicted, locked away for up to six months and disqualified from public office.
His lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, has argued that the government may as well write to the Swiss authorities, but on Thursday appeared to harden his stance.
"Bowing before them, I will God willing try to satisfy the court that there is complete immunity in this matter," Ahsan told news hounds.
In court, he told the judges he needed time to prepare and the hearing was adjourned until February 1.
"The prime minister is a busy man we cannot call him every day. The prime minister is exempted and needs not appear at its next hearing," judge Nasir-ul-Mulk said.
Ahsan is hugely respected by the judiciary for his role in forcing the government to reinstate independent judges in March 2009 and as such his appointment was seen as a conciliatory gesture from the prime minister's camp.
The Supreme Court judges have listed six options for resolving the case, which include disqualifying the prime minister and president "for violating oaths" and initiating contempt proceedings against Gilani.
Another option was that "if the president thinks he has constitutional immunity he may raise the issue now".
Outside court, dozens of lawyers protested against the president and prime minister, accusing them of bypassing the law. Gilani was accompanied by senior cabinet ministers and political allies in a show of support.
The allegations against Zardari were frozen by a political amnesty imposed by former military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in 2007. But the courts overturned the amnesty in late 2009 and demanded that the government revisit the cases.
Tainted by corruption allegations, Zardari is nicknamed "Mr 10 Percent" and spent 11 years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder, although his supporters point out that he was never convicted.
Zardari and his late wife, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about $12 million in alleged bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistain in the 1990s.
A Swiss prosecutor has since said it would be "impossible" to reopen the case against Zardari since he benefits from immunity as a head of state.
Zardari has separately been accused over a controversial May 10 memo that sought U.S. assistance to curb the powerful military.
His ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, was forced to resign and a judicial inquiry is examining who was responsible for the note.
The domestic turmoil has temporarily overshadowed a drastic deterioration in relations with the United States that plummeted disastrously in 2011 over a series of crises, largely America's covert killing of the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... on May 2.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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"When I first went to Israel about 15% of the Palestinians were Christians... Now they've almost been removed from Palestine because of some pressures and encouragement from the Israelis." Video at link. And pay no attention to the islamic supremacists behind the curtain!
I wonder if, in Carter's world Israel is applying 'pressure' to Christians in Nigeria, Hindus in Kashmir and Buddhists in Thailand.
#3
If I'm not mistaken they've been "removing" themselves from Palestine, where their lives are in danger, to Israel - where they in fact are not. One of the many groups the dastardly Israelis have encouraged to not die over the years.
BTW has Carter converted to Salafist Islam yet? Or will that be a "death bed" thing?
#7
They're comin' ta git ya, Jimmuh!
Bettah run an' skedaddle an' hide!
'Cause if'n they lay mitts on ya, Jimmuh,
Th' Pookas will skin your tanned hide!
Them Pookas is friend-e-like critters,
They's peaceable an' lovin' an' fair,
But a villain who sets out to rile them,
Sets hisself on a path of despair.
Pookas is parful mag'cal bein's,
Found in mineshafts, th' air, an' water,
They can cause double-digit inflation,
Or make emerods larger than they autter.
They're comin' ta git ya, Jimmuh!
Bettah run an' skedaddle an' hide!
'Cause if'n they lay mitts on ya, Jimmuh,
Th' Pookas will skin your tanned hide!
#9
Why do we end up with malevolent idiots such as Carter in leadership positions?
Cause the system is rigged. Failure and unethical behavior are rewarded. Consequently, even the most mundane individual appears to be a giant among those in the same occupation. Just like journalism.
#11
Why do we end up with malevolent idiots such as Carter in leadership positions?
I think the common wisdom is that jimmuh owes his career, such as it was, to Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon. Ford pardoned Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. IMHO it was the decent thing for Ford to do but by that time with the bitter memories of Vietnam still fresh the American people turned to Carter in the 1976 election over Ford. IMHO Ford was one of the best presidents we ever had, relentlessly battling Lyndon Johnson's Great Society inflation with his veto power. We'd been through hell as a country and Ford, it seemed to me, was having some success in bringing us out of it but after jimmuh took office things went south again in a big, ugly way. Thank God for Ronald Reagan who deposed this spiteful little man.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/20/2012 18:05 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Thank God for Ronald Reagan who deposed this spiteful little man.
amen, but a public ass-whipping might've done some good too.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/20/2012 20:53 Comments ||
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#13
Jimmah crack 'dat corn an' jus leeve us a-lown. Tell Amy dat she still be fugly as DEM p-nutz o yurs..
[An Nahar] The Israeli army has changed its operational assessment "regarding the threat from Leb and is currently working under the assumption that Hizbullah has obtained sophisticated long-range surface-to-air missile systems from Syria," the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
"According to Western intelligence assessments, Hizbullah is believed to have taken advantage of the ongoing upheaval in Syria to obtain advanced weapons systems, such as additional long-range rockets as well as Russian-made air-defense systems," TJP said.
"While Hizbullah is known to have a large quantity of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, the IDF now assumes that the Lebanese Islamist group has received the SA-8, a truck-mounted Russian tactical surface-to-air missile system reported to have a range of 30 kilometers," the newspaper added.
Israel has serious concerns about what will happen to "huge stockpiles" of chemical and biological weapons in Syria should the Assad regime collapse, a senior military official said on Tuesday.
Major-General Amir Eshel, head of the Israeli military's planning division, said the working assumption was the Assad regime would eventually fall.
"The question is when, not if. And the big question is what's going to come the day after," he said.
"The immediate concern is the huge stockpiles of chemicals, biological (weapons), strategic capabilities that are still going into Syria, mainly from eastern Europe," Eshel said.
"That's a major concern because I don't know who is going to own those the day after. Up till now, what has been transferred to Hizbullah? What will be transferred to Hizbullah? What will be divided between those factions inside Syria? What is that going to create?
"We are talking about huge stockpiles," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Let's see, SA-8 surface-to-air with a range of 30 kilometers * 5/8=18.75 miles against a target moving @150 mph? Yeah, that's about 7 minutes to alert, acquire and launch from a stationary position. Maybe an earlier relayed acquisition and subtract the travel time of the missile? Say 50:50 for 4 minutes?
The Maverick is good for 12 miles?
In 4 minutes the F15 travels 10 miles at cruise?
So, well within capability range of the F15 and Maverick, with time for lunch. High risk, much higher loss cost, but a suggestively reasonable kill on the SA-8 when cruising at idle.
Anybody see any reason to think these numbers are even real? Call it bogus if it is.
I seem to remember the Geckos could run OR pop, but not run AND pop like the 6's. Some setup time is required.
[An Nahar] EU nations agreed Thursday to slap sanctions on Iran's central bank, freezing assets potentially used to finance its nuclear drive, but have not yet clinched an oil embargo deal, EU diplomats said.
"The text was considered closed and agreed," a source said of the financial sanctions after talks between senior diplomats from the 27 EU nations.
Diplomats have held lengthy meetings through the week in Brussels to agree an oil and financial embargo against Tehran that is to be formally adopted at talks between European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... foreign ministers on Monday.
The freeze on assets held by Tehran's central bank is to be partial, "enabling legitimate trade to go ahead", while ensuring continued payment of outstanding Iranian debts to Europe, an EU diplomat said.
"The idea is to dry up sources of finance for Iran's nuclear program," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the high-level diplomats finessing the action on Iran were unable to clinch details on an oil embargo, the source added.
"They'll have another go on Monday morning" ahead of the foreign ministers' meeting, "but it is likely that the oil embargo will have to go directly to the foreign affairs council" of ministers, said another diplomat.
The new EU sanctions are part of a concerted effort with the United States to pressure Iran into halting its controversial nuclear activities, which the West suspects are aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
The EU imported some 600,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day last year, according to the International Energy Agency, making it a key market alongside China, which has refused to bow to pressure from Washington, and India.
But Greek concerns are holding up a final deal on the oil embargo.
"The issue is how to reassure the delegation that depends most on Iranian oil that all is done to protect them," said a diplomat.
Iranian oil accounted for 34.2 percent of Greece's total oil imports, 14.9 percent of Spain's and 12.4 percent of Italia's in the first nine months of last year, according to the latest EU statistics.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said this week that the kingdom's output could be boosted by around 2.6 million barrels a day to offset a potential cut in Iranian exports.
But Iran warned Soddy Arabia to reconsider its vow to make up for any shortfall.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2012 00:00 ||
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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.
The Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi possessed a secret stash of chemical weapons that it had not declared, the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons has stated. Gaddafi had mustard gas shells which he had not declared as a member of the OPCW, the organisation said on Friday.
Khaleda Zia
Sir Salman Rushdie has announced his withdrawal from a leading Indian literature festival after officials warned professional assassins were on their way to kill him. He had been due to appear at the Jaipur Literature Festival in Rajasthan, Western India, along with leading authors and playwrights Tom Stoppard, Sir David Hare, Annie Proulx and Michael Ondaatje, despite threats of protests from Islamic fundamentalists.
Asif Ali 
Pervez 
"When I first went to Israel about 15% of the Palestinians were Christians... Now they've almost been removed from Palestine because of some pressures and encouragement from the Israelis."
