Protesters claim deaths happened at Damascus barracks as analysts report increasing number of troop defections Eight soldiers were executed in the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday for refusing to fire on protesters, activists have claimed. The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCCs), which monitor demonstrations in the country, said the soldiers were killed in the Kesweh area of the capital after a dispute at their barracks. Six people were injured, some of them critically, when security forces fired on demonstrators, the LCCs said. Analysts say the number of soldiers defecting from the Syrian army seems to be increasing, but this poses little threat to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime because there is no sign of senior figures deserting or heavy weaponry being lost. Army attacks on mosques in Hama and Deir Ezzor seem to have been the catalyst for some of the desertions. Elsewhere, two civilians were killed in the central city of Homs and Idlib province near the Turkish border as security forces fired on protesters across the country when demonstrations followed Friday prayers. Murhaf Jouejati, a Syria expert at the National Defense University in Washington DC, said the protests in Homs seemed “far larger than usual” and the pro-Assad militiamen, known as Shabiha or “ghosts”, had descended on the town in large numbers. Most foreign journalists are banned from Syria and it is impossible to properly verify what is happening in the country. Security forces were reported to have broken up a demonstration in another part of Damascus using pump-action shotguns and teargas, and a new video emerged purporting to show a mass grave in the capital. Protesters have been increasingly calling for international protection from the Assad regime’s crackdown as the death toll tops 2,200. The uprising began six months ago with modest calls for reform and an insistence that there be no foreign intervention such as the Nato operation that helped topple the government of Libya. But now protesters have called for observation missions and human rights monitors to help deter attacks on civilians. The calls are a sign of the growing frustration – and desperation – by a remarkably resilient movement that has nonetheless failed to bring down Assad, who still has the iron loyalty of the armed forces, which is key to his power. Widespread international condemnation and sanctions have done little to stop the crackdown. The regime has all but sealed off the country to foreigners, saying the unrest is being driven by terrorists and thugs who want to destroy Syria. The media blackout makes it difficult to independently confirm reports, but amateur video and other witness accounts have become vital lines of information. On Friday, videos showed crowds in flashpoint areas, including Damascus, Homs and Idlib, calling for Assad’s execution and hoisting signs that read: “Bashar: Game Over!” Security forces broke up most gatherings by firing bullets and teargas or chasing protesters with batons, activists said. Several people were killed, but the death toll was not immediately clear. On Thursday, a leading human rights group said Syrian security forces “forcibly removed” patients from a hospital and prevented doctors from reaching the wounded during a military siege in Homs this week. The New York-based Human Rights Watch cited testimony from witnesses, including doctors. “Snatching wounded people from the operating room is inhumane and illegal,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, its Middle East director. “Cutting people off from essential medical care causes grave suffering and perhaps irreparable harm.” Wednesday’s military operation in Homs killed at least 20 people. It was among the most severe crackdowns on an urban centre during the uprising. A doctor at the al-Barr hospital told Human Rights Watch that security forces seized some of the wounded from the hospital. “When we tried to help the wounded, the security forces pushed us back, saying these were criminals and rapists,” he said. “They were beating the wounded as they moved them out of the hospital.” There have been other reports of security forces targeting hospitals and rounding up the wounded in Syria and in Bahrain, where there have been widespread protests by the Shi’ite majority against the long-ruling Sunni monarchy. Doctors and nurses who treated protesters during rallies in Bahrain were rounded up in a crackdown that resulted in the arrests of hundreds of activists. Syria Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Paul Owen guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ministers accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over relaxation of planning regulations
September 9, 2011 No Comment
George Osborne and Eric Pickles are pushing for planning changes but oppose developments in their own constituencies All the government ministers pushing through a controversial relaxation of planning regulations have opposed developments in their own constituencies, including new housing and businesses, a care home for elderly people and a memorial to Princess Diana. The Guardian revelations leave the chancellor, George Osborne, and Eric Pickles and his ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government accused of “breathtaking hypocrisy” for saying major changes to planning laws are vital to boost economic growth and ease the shortage of homes, while fighting such developments in their own backyards. In August 2010, Osborne was the first of 25,000 people to sign a petition against an energy-from-waste plant in his Cheshire constituency, despite having described the company Brunner Mond as an ” important local employer “. He is also honorary president of a campaign against a second local incinerator . Pickles, the secretary of state for communities and local government, also campaigned against a waste facility , a composting site at Stondon Massey in his Essex constituency, saying approval would “open the doors for our county to become the waste dump for the south-east”. In addition, he successfully opposed a residential care home for 114 elderly people in Pilgrims Hatch in 2003, saying it would be a “heavy burden” on local services. “This is hypocrisy of the highest order,” said Craig Bennett, policy director of Friends of the Earth. “These ministers have used the planning system to stop developments like composting sites which are part of a sustainable economy. Now they are taking away the ability for people to oppose developments that are unsustainable. It is an outdated ideological mantra that a development free-for-all is needed for economic growth.” The government’s proposals to introduce a presumption in favour of development in planning applications have provoked a huge outcry from countryside and green groups including the National Trust, Friends of the Earth and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which described the plan as a “free for all” for developers. Politicians, including Conservatives, have decried the proposals as undermining local democracy. Ministers have responded aggressively, with planning minister Greg Clark accusing critics of “nihilistic selfishness” for preventing young people from getting on the housing ladder and Osborne lending his political weight by stating: “When planning acts as a brake on growth, and on the much needed new jobs and new businesses, reform is imperative.” In 2004, Pickles spoke out against previous efforts to liberalise the planning system, saying Gordon Brown’s Treasury “seems … determined to loosen control to make development easier ” and he feared “sprawling housing estates dumped by Whitehall on green land “. He argued that “adding to suburban sprawl will detract from rather than help urban regeneration” and that “there has to be a greater emphasis on … using previously developed brownfield land”. Pickles’s new national planning policy framework (NPPF) would end the “brownfield first” policy. Clark, who has been at the forefront of the government’s defence of the NPPF, fiercely opposed the previous government’s attempts to increase the number of homes built in and around his Tunbridge Wells constituency. He called the plan for 6,000 new homes a “nationally imposed hike in housing numbers [that] will place yet more pressure on our precious green spaces” and said brownfield sites must be the priority for building. Clark also waged a long campaign against the redevelopment of gardens in towns and cities, which increases the number of homes available. The practice, dubbed “garden grabbing” by critics, left whole streets “changed out of all recognition”, Clark said in 2006. The other four ministers in the department have also supported anti-development campaigns. Grant Shapps opposed plans for thousands of new houses in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency. Shapps, who holds a pilot’s licence, also defended a threatened small airfield as “good for biodiversity” and useful to “train pilots who eventually fly for airlines”. He also opposes an energy-from-waste incinerator plant in New Barnfield . Andrew Stunell, the only Liberal Democrat minister in the department, has mounted a long campaign against the building of mobile phone masts , putting a motion before parliament in 2007 saying that “the current planning system is not sufficiently robust”. He has also opposed new homes being built on gardens and the possibility of a new supermarket in his Hazel Grove constituency in Greater Manchester. Another minister, Bob Neill, promised in opposition to ” make it harder for developers to appeal against properly made local decisions” and opposed the conversion of a historic pub in his Chislehurst constituency into flats . The department’s minister in the House of Lords, Lady Hanham, led Kensington and Chelsea borough council from 1989 until 2000. In 1998, eight months after the death of Princess Diana, she objected to proposals for a memorial garden at Kensington Palace , saying its visitors would cause disruption. Under her leadership, the council also blocked proposals from Persimmon Homes for a residential tower in west London. Neil Sinden, CPRE policy director, said: “Wanting to protect a place or landscape you love is no bad thing, and it’s good to see these ministers standing up for the concerns of their constituents. However, it seems hypocritical for the same ministers to label those opposed to their planning reforms as nimbys and nihilists. Good planning can enable communities to grow without trashing the environment. But to give one aspect – economic growth – excessive weight will not result in sustainable development but a much diminished countryside.” Caroline Flint, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said: “Tory ministers are showing breathtaking hypocrisy. Time and again, they have decried the lack of housing, while cynically campaigning against new homes for families in their own constituencies. Labour supports the streamlining of the planning system but by ripping up 60 years of planning policy, the government has created chaos and confusion in the planning system, threatening the very areas they promised to protect.” A spokesperson for Pickles said: “All MPs are well within their rights to campaign against bad planning,” adding that the minister utterly rejected the accusation of hypocrisy. Osborne and the communities and local government department declined to comment. Planning policy George Osborne Eric Pickles Local government Communities Green politics Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media An open mike caught Vice President Joe Biden (D) and House Speaker John Boehner (R) joking before President Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress Thursday. “Hey, I’m one of those barbarians,” Boehner said, greeting Biden with a handshake. “You are,” Biden agreed, laughing. “We’re at the gate.” “I was playing golf in August,” Boehner volunteered. “Seven birdies, five bogies. I shoot two under. So, we have lunch, sitting around for about an hour and and I thought, ‘Why don’t we play nine more holes?’” “Six pars, three birdies and I missed a four-foot, straight-in birdie on the last hole,” the Speaker added. “No!” Biden remarked. “Oh, so the next day, I go to Sandhills, I shoot a 86,” Boehner added, with a big laugh. “One day I play great, the next day I play awful. But this is the round of the decade. I haven’t done this for 12 years. I shot a 67 one time.” EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s not a gotcha “news worthy” disclosure in this open mike video. What it is is a candid moment in the DC bubble with John Boehner. As much as the Speaker of the House and his ilk like to vilify the other side of the aisle, they actually are chummy when the cameras are off. It’s all theatrics for the media. Call it GOPeacocking. Plus, as a man who tends to, as Roger Ebert has pointed out, only cry at his own greatness – he also really likes to talk about how great he is too. You know what that’s not great for? Jobs. His or anyone else’s.
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Forecasters warn of risk of 70mph winds, putting some areas at risk of flooding, downed trees and transport disruption Weather forecasters have warned that northern Britain is likely to experience the tail end of Hurricane Katia later this weekend, with a risk of 70mph winds, flooding, downed trees and transport disruption. At moments like this, the awful example of weatherman Michael Fish rises like a wraith, with his famous dismissal of a hurricane in 1987 on the night before one descended. But the Met Office said that the winds expected to hit Scotland, northern England and northern Wales on Sunday will count as a post-tropical storm. If so, they will be the culmination of a wet and windy weekend across the whole country, extending into the start of next week. Michael Dukes of MeteoGroup UK, the Press Association’s weather division, said winds of up to 70mph have been predicted, which could result in flash flooding and trees coming down, causing structural damage and travel delays. Katia is the 11th hurricane of the season, following Irene, which caused extensive damage on the US east coast. The 12th, Lee, is barrelling into the Gulf of Mexico. Weather Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
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Police stopping all vans and lorries after reports that a car bomb was planned to disrupt Sunday’s 9/11 anniversary Vehicle checkpoints were in place in key locations of New York on Friday, with police stopping all vans and lorries passing through the city in response to specific and credible intelligence that a car bomb was planned to disrupt the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The Guardian understands that the dramatic security hike was carried out on the basis of an alert that came from a long-term intelligence source who has proved reliable in the past. But the source picked up the information second-hand, which is why it is being portrayed as “reliable but unconfirmed”. The department of homeland security has not raised the terrorist alert level, but it is being considered. As the final touches were being put in place for Sunday’s commemoration of the anniversary at Ground Zero, which both President Obama and his predecessor George Bush are expected to attend, the heightened security that had been promised by several federal and local agencies was clearly visible on the streets of Manhattan. All lorries were being stopped on George Washington Bridge and there were increased security at all other bridges and tunnels. Police road blocks were set up in key intersections of the city, including 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. In Times Square the police presence was especially evident, perhaps mindful of the car bomb of inflammable fuel and fireworks that came close to exploding there on a busy Saturday night in May 2010. A road block was set up in the middle of the square itself, and on main cross-streets leading into it, causing virtual gridlock. Despite the inconvenience, truck drivers who were the focus of police attention showed no signs of disgruntlement. “I’m happy in a way, as the truck in front of me could be stuffed with explosives,” said Henry Simon, shortly after his removal van was stopped and searched. A Scottish choir of 123 singers formed by the Lothian & Borders and Tayside police choirs went ahead with an impromptu performance in Times Square, but cancelled its plans to sing on the subway, fearing that they might be suspected as a decoy. “We are here to show Scotland’s compassion for those who lost their lives on 9/11, we don’t want to upset anyone,” said the musical director Andrew Russel. As New York knuckled down for what promises to be a tense weekend, US intelligence agencies were continuing to try to track down three men who, according to the threat warning, had entered the US since August with the aim of launching an attack. The report of a plot, which Obama was told about on Wednesday night, were said to be plausible and more specific than usual, although it came from one source and was uncorroborated. The vice-president, Joe Biden, said the intelligence gathered by the CIA suggested the three men might be planning a vehicle-based attack. “We do have talk about using a car bomb. But we do not have confirmation of that – we don’t have a smoking gun,” Biden told ABC News. The CIA is working with Pakistan to gather information about the men, who may be from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. One of the men is reported to be a US citizen, and the other two may have had US papers, and intelligence officials are understood to be scouring databases to track several names of individuals who entered the country after mid-August. Congressman Pete King, who sits on the House intelligence committee and receives regular briefings from the agencies, told CNN that the level of detail stretched to how it would be carried out and that “it is plausible, though there are some holes in it”. A US official said: “US counter-terrorism entities have been alert for any leads, and for the first time we’ve received specific and credible – but unconfirmed – threat information linked to the 9/11 anniversary. Any and all leads related to possible plots are of course being run to ground.” One of the key findings of the 9/11 commission report that looked at the events leading up to the attacks on New York and Washington 10 years ago was that there were ample warnings in the weeks leading up to 9/11 of a massive attack in the pipeline, yet the intelligence was not acted upon and shared between agencies. Everybody involved in the current scare, from Obama and the CIA through to the FBI and NYPD, is very aware of that finding and determined to avoid making the same mistakes again. New York United States Global terrorism September 11 2001 Barack Obama Ed Pilkington Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Click here to view this media A Wisconsin state employee has been fired after he revealed that a Department of Transportation official had instructed workers to not notify citizens that IDs necessary for voting could be obtained for free. State employee Chris Larsen told radio host John “Sly” Sylvester that his bosses at the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) had become upset because he sent an email to other employees Thursday to remind them that photo IDs were supposed to be available without charge. “Do you know someone who votes that does not have a State ID that meets requirements to vote?” Larsen asked in his email, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . “Tell them they can go to the DMV/DOT and get a free ID card. However they must ask for the free ID. a memo was sent out by the 3rd in command of the DMV/DOT. The memo specifically told the employees at the DMV/DOT not to inform individuals that the ID’s are free. So if the individuals seeking to get the free ID does not ask for a free ID, they will have to pay for it!!” Just a day earlier, The Capital Times had revealed the memo written by Department of Transportation’s Steve Krieser. “While you should certainly help customers who come in asking for a free ID to check the appropriate box, you should refrain from offering the free version to customers who do not ask for it,” Krieser told Division of Motor Vehicle employees. Moments after being fired, Larsen spoke to Sylvester in an interview. “I decided that I thought it would be prudent as a fellow citizen of the state and just a decent human being in general to send out an email to all of my constituents where I work that they should be informed,” Larsen recalled. “As a result, I am not apparently employed.” “At some point, my supervisor came in and wanted to talk to me so I left the room with her. We went and talked to another guy that’s a little higher up and they said that they decided that — they said that it was not appropriate for me to send that email… and they said that [DSPS Secretary] Dave Ross is going to be really mad when he sees the email and they figure it’s best if we part ways.” “I don’t know what to say other than this is the sort of authoritarian government we live under now,” Sylvester told him. “We have an administration that put out an edict warning DMV workers not to tell anyone that the ID that someone is requesting is free even though the legislature put funds away to make sure that someone who didn’t have a driver’s license could get an ID so they wouldn’t have to pay to vote,” the radio host added. “Mr. Larsen sent out an email reminding state workers [that the IDs were free] and for that they are so paranoid and so guilty of the very thing we accuse them of — and that is voter suppression — that they fired a man.” Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed the law requiring a photo ID to vote into law earlier this year. Critics claim that the new voting restrictions disenfranchise minorities, students, the poor and the elderly — all groups who tend to vote Democratic. A practice run in July found that nearly 20 percent of voters coming to the polls did not have a photo ID with them.
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Colombia’s new defence minister told top priority is to see off the Farc
September 9, 2011 No Comment
Juan Carlos Pinzón sworn in with instructions to come up with a definitive strategy against the guerilla group Colombia’s new defence minister, Juan Carlos Pinzón, received the same instructions when he was sworn in this week as dozens of his predecessors: finish off the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), South America’s oldest leftwing insurgency. But though the rebels have been weakened by a series of bruising blows to their leadership and massive desertions, the Farc is back on the offensive, recruiting new fighters, ambushing government troops and creating the sense that security gains made in the past decade are slipping. Across the country, the guerrilla group – which first appeared in 1964 – has stepped up attacks on the military and civilians. In Puerto Guzmán, a small town in the southern Putumayo province, residents fear the guerrillas could attack at any time. The police are jumpy and suspicious of outsiders. The small army contingent in the centre of town hunkers down behind sandbag barricades, trying to maintain a sense of control. But outside the urban perimeter the Farc is still in charge. “We have to ask permission from the guerrillas to move around the countryside, and there are landmines everywhere,” said Yolanda, a woman in her 50s who spoke in hushed tones in the front room of her house. “You never know who might be listening,” she explained. Ten years ago there was no police presence and rebels placed a plaque in the town centre declaring Puerto Guzmán “Farc territory”. Every Monday residents were made to clean the streets and almost every day someone in the town was killed on rebel orders. Government forces returned in 2002, amid a nationwide military campaign launched by the then president, Álvaro Uribe. His tough security policies brought the country back from the brink of collapse but used questionable methods : civilians were murdered and passed off as guerrillas killed in combat, and illegal phone taps were put on opposition figures, journalists and human rights activists. A string of senior rebel leaders were killed while army operations and desertions cut Farc ranks from 18,000 in 2002 to about 8,000 today. Senior military commanders started talking about “victory” over the 47-year-old insurgency. But analysts and some army officers say such talk does more harm than good. The Nuevo Arco Iris organisation, a thinktank that monitors the conflict, said in its latest report that the security gains under Uribe were “overrated”. And one army colonel in southern Colombia said: “The worst thing that could have happened for us was when the commanders started talking about the ‘end of the end’ of the Farc. That’s when the rebels started changing their strategy.” The Farc rebels have gone back to their roots, using traditional guerrilla tactics, making themselves more mobile, more agile and more dangerous. They have also declared a truce with their smaller rival, the National Liberation Army, and according to intelligence sources the two groups now plan and execute attacks together in some areas. Elsewhere, the Farc is allied in the cocaine trade with criminal bands made up of former rightwing paramilitaries – once their arch-enemies. Intelligence sources say only a third of the Farc forces are armed fighters. The rest blend in with the civilian population, although they are well trained in the use of explosives or act as snipers. This makes it harder for the government to combat them and also places the civilian population at risk. One humanitarian worker in Putumayo said she received daily complaints of abuse by police and the military that “tend to think everyone is a guerrilla”. The president, Juan Manuel Santos, has dismissed concerns that security is deteriorating, but this week named a new defence minister and a new high command. Topping the new minister’s priorities is to “design a definitive strategy against the Farc”, he said. “We are right at the moment of confrontation when it is again necessary to innovate and respond effectively to the challenges that we face,” Pinzón said. Only the most hawkish of generals believes the Farc can be defeated militarily. Amid the increase in violence, both sides have been making overtures towards possible peace talks. Santos said the door to peace talks was not locked but insisted he needed to see real will on the part of the Farc. The rebels’ senior commander, Alfonso Cano, said the guerrillas were open to talks and even praised some of the government’s policies on land restitution. But Colombians are still wary about negotiations after a failed peace process from 1999-2002 only left the Farc stronger and richer. “The guerrillas will have to be weaker before any formal talks can start,” said one general overseeing counter-insurgency offensives in the southern jungles. Colombia Farc Sibylla Brodzinsky guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Colombia’s new defence minister told top priority is to see off the Farc
September 9, 2011 No Comment
Juan Carlos Pinzón sworn in with instructions to come up with a definitive strategy against the guerilla group Colombia’s new defence minister, Juan Carlos Pinzón, received the same instructions when he was sworn in this week as dozens of his predecessors: finish off the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), South America’s oldest leftwing insurgency. But though the rebels have been weakened by a series of bruising blows to their leadership and massive desertions, the Farc is back on the offensive, recruiting new fighters, ambushing government troops and creating the sense that security gains made in the past decade are slipping. Across the country, the guerrilla group – which first appeared in 1964 – has stepped up attacks on the military and civilians. In Puerto Guzmán, a small town in the southern Putumayo province, residents fear the guerrillas could attack at any time. The police are jumpy and suspicious of outsiders. The small army contingent in the centre of town hunkers down behind sandbag barricades, trying to maintain a sense of control. But outside the urban perimeter the Farc is still in charge. “We have to ask permission from the guerrillas to move around the countryside, and there are landmines everywhere,” said Yolanda, a woman in her 50s who spoke in hushed tones in the front room of her house. “You never know who might be listening,” she explained. Ten years ago there was no police presence and rebels placed a plaque in the town centre declaring Puerto Guzmán “Farc territory”. Every Monday residents were made to clean the streets and almost every day someone in the town was killed on rebel orders. Government forces returned in 2002, amid a nationwide military campaign launched by the then president, Álvaro Uribe. His tough security policies brought the country back from the brink of collapse but used questionable methods : civilians were murdered and passed off as guerrillas killed in combat, and illegal phone taps were put on opposition figures, journalists and human rights activists. A string of senior rebel leaders were killed while army operations and desertions cut Farc ranks from 18,000 in 2002 to about 8,000 today. Senior military commanders started talking about “victory” over the 47-year-old insurgency. But analysts and some army officers say such talk does more harm than good. The Nuevo Arco Iris organisation, a thinktank that monitors the conflict, said in its latest report that the security gains under Uribe were “overrated”. And one army colonel in southern Colombia said: “The worst thing that could have happened for us was when the commanders started talking about the ‘end of the end’ of the Farc. That’s when the rebels started changing their strategy.” The Farc rebels have gone back to their roots, using traditional guerrilla tactics, making themselves more mobile, more agile and more dangerous. They have also declared a truce with their smaller rival, the National Liberation Army, and according to intelligence sources the two groups now plan and execute attacks together in some areas. Elsewhere, the Farc is allied in the cocaine trade with criminal bands made up of former rightwing paramilitaries – once their arch-enemies. Intelligence sources say only a third of the Farc forces are armed fighters. The rest blend in with the civilian population, although they are well trained in the use of explosives or act as snipers. This makes it harder for the government to combat them and also places the civilian population at risk. One humanitarian worker in Putumayo said she received daily complaints of abuse by police and the military that “tend to think everyone is a guerrilla”. The president, Juan Manuel Santos, has dismissed concerns that security is deteriorating, but this week named a new defence minister and a new high command. Topping the new minister’s priorities is to “design a definitive strategy against the Farc”, he said. “We are right at the moment of confrontation when it is again necessary to innovate and respond effectively to the challenges that we face,” Pinzón said. Only the most hawkish of generals believes the Farc can be defeated militarily. Amid the increase in violence, both sides have been making overtures towards possible peace talks. Santos said the door to peace talks was not locked but insisted he needed to see real will on the part of the Farc. The rebels’ senior commander, Alfonso Cano, said the guerrillas were open to talks and even praised some of the government’s policies on land restitution. But Colombians are still wary about negotiations after a failed peace process from 1999-2002 only left the Farc stronger and richer. “The guerrillas will have to be weaker before any formal talks can start,” said one general overseeing counter-insurgency offensives in the southern jungles. Colombia Farc Sibylla Brodzinsky guardian.co.uk
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Speculation grows in Jerusalem over Turkey prime minister’s trip to Cairo amid concerns it could deepen regional tension The Turkish prime minister is to visit Cairo on Monday amid concern in Israel that he may seek an alliance between the two countries with the aim of increasing the Jewish state’s isolation in the region. The visit by Recep Tayyip Erdogan – the first by a Turkish leader to Egypt for 15 years – comes against the backdrop of a spiralling diplomatic offensive against Israel by Ankara, which the US is seeking to contain. A separate crisis between Israel and Egypt after the killing of five Egyptian security officers last month appears to have been averted. But relations between the two neighbours remain delicate, a situation Erdogan may seek to exploit. Turkey and Egypt are expected to explore areas of co-operation, and Erdogan may offer the post-Mubarak government much-needed financial aid, which would inevitably secure him leverage. “Turkey may be ready to invest a lot of money and effort into building Egypt as a regional ally,” said Alon Liel, a former Israeli envoy to Ankara. “He may try to persuade them to downgrade relations with Israel.” According to Yossi Alpher, an Israeli analyst and co-editor of the BitterLemons website, Erdogan “is flexing Turkey’s muscles. He’s now trying to project Turkish influence into Egypt. There’s concern that he will offer financial aid to Egypt, which needs it desperately, and that will give him a degree of influence. There’s concern that Erdogan will hook up with the Egyptian Islamists, who are growing in influence. And there’s concern that he will persuade the Egyptians to allow him to visit Gaza, where he will proclaim himself its saviour. None of this is good from Israel’s perspective.” In Gaza, the Turkish prime minister would be assured of both a hero’s welcome and of incurring Israel’s wrath. However, Israel has not so far picked up indications that the Egyptians have agreed to Erdogan crossing their border into Gaza, according to an Israeli government source. The visit to Cairo follows a series of punitive measures taken by the Turkish government – including expelling the Israeli ambassador, suspending defence trade agreements and threatening to deploy Turkish gunboats to patrol the eastern Mediterranean – in the aftermath of Israel’s refusal to apologise for its deadly attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla last May. A UN report published a week ago concluded that Israel had used “excessive and unreasonable” force in stopping the Mavi Marmara, although it also said its naval blockade of Gaza was legal. Nine Turkish activists were killed on board the ship, for which Turkey demanded an apology and compensation paid to the men’s families. The US, concerned about the breach between the allies, has stepped in to try to contain the crisis. Dan Shapiro, US ambassador to Israel, said: “We are encouraging both countries to find a way to work together to overcome their differences and restore at least some of the friendship that they previously had.” Israel’s refusal to apologise for the deaths was in contrast to its swift statement of regret three weeks ago after the fatal shooting of Egyptian security personnel in the aftermath of a militant attack near the Egypt-Israel border in which eight Israelis were killed. “The mistakes that Israel is making are much more evident in the case of Turkey than in the case of Israel,” said Alpher. “Damage control was relatively more forthcoming with the apology to Egypt than in the case of Turkey, where we basically allowed ourselves to walk right into repeated traps that Erdogan has set for us.” The regret expressed to Egypt was not enough to prevent days of vociferous anti-Israel protests in Cairo. To Israel’s alarm, the post-Mubarak government made it clear it was listening to the mood on the street. Israel can ill afford to lose regional allies, especially in the runup to an expected vote in favour of recognising a Palestinian state at the UN this month. Turkey and Egypt are backing the Palestinian bid. As well as wide political ramifications, a breach with Turkey could have serious economic consequences, Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, warned this week. Trade between the two countries is worth $3.5bn-$4bn a year. The breach “will affect tourism, trade, culture and sport” as well as diplomatic relations, said Liel. Israeli government ministers and officials have been issued clear instructions to refrain from comment in an attempt to de-escalate the crisis. However the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday that Avigdor Lieberman, the provocative rightwing foreign minister, was considering a series of measures against Turkey in retaliation for Ankara’s moves. According to Alpher, retaliatory steps would exacerbate the crisis. “We have a lot to lose not just economically but also regionally, to the extent that we get drawn deeper into a clash with Turkey,” he said. “We were foolish not to apologise [for the Mavi Marmara deaths]. We should still be trying to maintain a low profile and hope friends like the US can try to some extent mend fences here before things get worse.” Turkey Israel Egypt Gaza flotilla Gaza Recep Tayyip Erdogan Palestinian territories Middle East Africa Europe Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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