Stop NATO news: January 3, 2012
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Chicago: New NATO/G8 Ordinances Will Become Permanent
German Warplanes Take Over NATO Baltic Patrol
Canada Praises NATO Partner Qatar For Libyan, Syrian Roles
Qatar To Host Taliban Embassy
Libya: NATO Clients Continue To Murder Each Other
Canadian Analyst: U.S. Targets Syria to Change Region’s Geo-Political Reality
Raytheon Wins THAAD Radar Contracts With U.S. Army, United Arab Emirates
U.S. Opened Pandora’s Box With Drones
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline Study Finished
BRICS Should Have Bigger Say In World Economic Order
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Chicago: New NATO/G8 Ordinances Will Become Permanent
http://chicagoist.com/2012/01/03/new_natog8_ordinances_proposed_by_e.php
Chicagoist
January 3, 2012
New NATO/G8 Ordinances Proposed by Emanuel Would Become Permanent
When Mayor Emanuel introduced changes to the city’s parade ordinances last month that would increase fines for violations at protests and change park hours ahead of the NATO/G8 summits, he said the changes were “temporary…just for the conference and it’s appropriate.”
The Tribune reports the mayor’s office acknowledged yesterday however, that those changes would be permanent. In addition to a major increase in fines, the ordinance would also now reduce the hours for a legal demonstration to two hours.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said “Our goal is to ensure that participants and safe summits and that the First Amendment rights of those that wish to protest are protected.” The new rules however, will make demonstrations more difficult and give police an opportunity to impose harsh sanctions on protestors. Harvey Grossman, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois told the Trib:
“It’s clear the more stringent the provisions, the more numerous, the greater the difficulty in complying with those provisions. It’s an unnecessary show of authority and something that will have very little meaning in terms of altering conduct.”
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http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-01-02/news/ct-met-emanuel-protest-permits-20120102_1_protest-rules-nato-and-g-8-future-demonstrations
Chicago Tribune
January 3, 2012
Parade ordinance power grab
City Hall proposal for new rules and harsher penalties for violations, allegedly occasioned by anticipated NATO and G-8 protests, would restrict all future demonstrations in Chicago
By Kristen Mack
A City Hall rewrite to tighten rules for protesters at this spring’s gathering of international leaders in Chicago would also place permanent and little-publicized restrictions on all future demonstrations.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed the changes to the city’s parade ordinance in his December request to the City Council for expanded powers to deal with the NATO and G-8 summits, set to overlap between May 19-21. The mayor said his request for new spending authority and additional restrictions on public gatherings “is temporary and it’s just for the conference and it’s appropriate.”
But the mayor’s office now acknowledges the protest rules would be permanent. And a closer look at Emanuel’s proposals reveals a series of changes to arcane parade regulations that would be accompanied by a large boost in fines for violations — from the current $50 for some to a minimum $1,000 per violation.
Stiffening rules on typically fluid demonstrations will increase the likelihood of violations, giving police more opportunity to crack down and making it more costly for demonstrators, free speech advocates said.
“It’s clear the more stringent the provisions, the more numerous, the greater the difficulty in complying with those provisions,” said Harvey Grossman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “It’s an unnecessary show of authority and something that will have very little meaning in terms of altering conduct.”
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The City Council is expected to consider the changes at its Jan. 18 meeting. But before that, demonstration organizers for the most well-known local protest groups plan to submit applications for an assembly point and parade route on Tuesday, the day for groups wanting to be first in line for consideration.
To rally at Daley Plaza, where protesters want to start their demonstration, they must file an application with the private real estate company that manages the coveted gathering spot on behalf of the city. To march in Chicago’s streets, a separate form must be filed with the city’s Department of Transportation.
Joshua Kaunert, an Occupy Chicago protester who plans to demonstrate during the international summits, said Emanuel is attempting to “punish those who seek to voice their grievances, while simultaneously obstructing the permit process for rallies or marches.”
“This legislation is not a temporary solution to the perceived problems that the mayor supposes the upcoming NATO and G-8 summits will present the city of Chicago, but a permanent legislative change that will restrict our freedoms indefinitely,” Kaunert said.
The proposed changes would change the hours for legal demonstrations, add new requirements and boost punishments for all sorts of violations.
The duration of demonstrations would be reduced by 15 minutes to exactly two hours. Public parks and beaches would be closed until 6 a.m., two hours later than now. Loud noise, amplified sound and music at parades and public assemblies would be allowed only between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
One new requirement calls for organizers to provide a parade marshal for every 100 participants. The marshals would be responsible for ushering parade participants at the assembly point, along the route and at the disbanding areas.
None of the changes appear to account for the inherent unpredictably of public demonstrations, said Andy Thayer, with the group Coalition Against NATO/G-8 War & Poverty Agenda. It is hard enough to corral a large group of individuals who want to voice their dissent, much less keep them in line and get them to disband in a little more than two hours, organizers said.
“We never know how many people are going to show up. The changes are subtle …but it gives the city a lot more latitude to frankly punish demonstrating organizers,” said Thayer, a longtime activist who said he has repeatedly been cited for violations of city parade rules.
Under Emanuel’s proposed parade ordinance, the maximum fine for violations would double to $2,000. Emanuel also is asking aldermen to double the maximum fine to $1,000 for protesters charged with resisting or obstructing police officers. The minimum fine would be hiked from $25 to $200.
The threat of increased fines is unlikely to deter protesters, Grossman said, especially those who are interested in conducting themselves in a lawful and peaceful fashion.
“It’s a little bit of phony posturing and a lot of bravado,” Grossman said.
The back-to-back summits will be held at the McCormick Place convention center. The events are expected to bring roughly 10,000 visitors to Chicago, according to the host committee.
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German Warplanes Take Over NATO Baltic Patrol
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/31038/?SID=fdebb86975104a9ffd91183cca1466a2
Defence Professionals
January 2, 2012
NATO Air Policing mission to be transferred from Denmark to Germany
On January 2 four F-4 Phantom fighters of the German Air Force will land in the Siauliai Air Base. German air personnel will replace Danish troops currently on guard of the Baltic airspace with four F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters.
The Official date of transfer is January 4. The German air contingent will ensure security of the Baltic skies for the fifth time.
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Canada Praises NATO Partner Qatar For Libyan, Syrian Roles
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093468768
Qatar News Agency
January 2, 2012
Canadian FM Hails Qatar’s Role in the Liberation of Lib\an People
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has lauded the role of the State of Qatar for the liberation of the Libyan people, highlighting its political, diplomatic and military contributions to the success of this liberation.
Minister Baird pointed out to the partnership between Qatar and Canada in the liberation operation, which, he said, was important and essential among a number of member states of the NATO and some Arab countries.
Speaking to the Qatari daily (al-Sharq), the Canadian Foreign Minister believed that Canada and Qatar had played a major role in terms of the military involvement, noting that the Qatari role is not only recognized for its military contribution, but rather for its political and diplomatic contributions to the liberation.
Concerning the situation in Syria, Baird hailed the Arab League distinguished and extraordinary role to resolve the Syrian crisis.
He said that the United Nations had failed to deal with the Syrian crisis annd denounced the failure of the Security Council to make any move towards the situation so far.
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Qatar To Host Taliban Embassy
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/03/63352666.html
Voice of Russia
January 3, 2011
Taliban to open embassy in Qatar
The Afghan radical movement “Taliban” intends to open an embassy in Qatar.
As it was announced by the Islamist website “The Voice of Jihad” on Tuesday, the Taliban has already reached a preliminary agreement with Qatar to open an office for international talks, for, as the Taliban itself claims, “it has enough authority in Afghanistan”.
The Taliban demands that for peace in Afghanistan to be settled, all foreign troops must be withdrawn from the country. It also insists on exchanging prisoners, including those who are now held in the Guantanamo prison.
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Libya: NATO Clients Continue To Murder Each Other
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/03/63359802.html
Itar-Tass
January 3, 2012
Former revolutionaries clash in Libya
In Libya’s capital Tripoli, a clash between former oppositionists took place – local ones, on one side, and ones from the country’s third largest city of Misrata, on the other.
Both sides were armed with submachine guns and grenade guns.
5 people were killed and many others wounded.
Witnesses say that people from Misrata were trying to rescue their countryman who had been arrested for robbery.
After the civil war, many people in Libya still have weapons on their hands. Some former “revolutionaries” have formed gangs and are robbing civilians. The new authorities still can’t cope with them.
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Canadian Analyst: U.S. Targets Syria to Change Region’s Geo-Political Reality
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2012/01/03/392066.htm
Syrian Arab News Agency
January 3, 2012
Region’s Geo-Political Reality
Canadian Researcher: US Targeting Syria to Change Region’s Geo-Political Reality
H. Sabbagh
OTTAWA: Canadian writer and researcher Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya said that the encirclement of Syria has long been in the works since 2001, and that permanent NATO presence in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Syrian Accountability Act are part of this initiative, adding that this roadmap is based on a 1996 Israeli document aimed at controlling Syria. The document’s name is “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.”
In an article published on the Canadian website globalresearch.ca, Nazemroaya said that the 1996 Israeli document, which included prominent U.S. policy figures as authors, calls for “rolling back Syria” in 2000 or afterward. The roadmap outlines pushing the Syrians out of Lebanon, diverting the attention of Damascus by using an anti-Syrian opposition in Lebanon, and then destabilizing Syria with the help of Turkey and other Arab countries, in addition to creating the March 14 Alliance and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
He said that the first step towards this was the war on Iraq and its balkanization, fomenting sectarian divisions as a means of conquering Syria and creating a regional alliance against it.
Nazemroaya noted that the US initiated a naval build-up off the Syrian and Lebanese coasts, which is part of Washington’s standard scare tactics that it has used as a form of intimidation and psychological warfare against Iran, Syria, and the Resistance Bloc, all while the mainstream media networks controlled by Arab clients of the US are focusing on the deployment of Russian naval vessels to Syria, which can be seen as a counter-move to NATO.
He also said that the city of al-Ramtha in Jordan is being used to launch attacks into Daraa and Syrian territory, adding that Turkish and Lebanese media said that France has sent its military trainers into Turkey and Lebanon to prepare conscripts against Syria, and that the so-called Free Syrian Army and other NATO-GCC front organizations are also using Turkish and Jordanian territory to stage raids into Syria, and Lebanon is also being used to smuggle weapon shipments into Syria.
Nazemroaya that there are companies that have not left Syria and are actually used to siphon money out of Syria, with the goal of preventing any money from going in, while they want to also drain the local economy as a catalyst to an internal implosion in Syria.
He said that, regarding Turkey, “Ankara has been playing a dirty game,” as Turkey initially pretended to be neutral during the start of NATO’s war against Libya while it was helping the National Transitional Council in Benghazi, stressing that Erdogan’s government does not care about the Syrian population but rather wants Syria to submit to Washington’s demands, adding that Turkey has been responsible for recruiting fighters against Syria.
“For several years Ankara has been silently trying to de-link Syria from Iran and to displace Iranian influence in the Middle East. Turkey has been working to promote itself and its image amongst the Arabs, but all along it has been a key component of the plans of Washington and NATO. At the same time, it has been upgrading its military capabilities in the Black Sea and on its borders with Iran and Syria,” Nazemroaya wrote, adding that Turkey also agreed to upgrade Turkish bases for NATO troops.
He affirmed that it’s no mere coincidence that Senator Joseph Lieberman started demanding at the start of 2011 that the Pentagon and NATO attack Syria and Iran, nor is it a coincidence that Tehran has been included in the recent Obama Administration sanctions imposed against Damascus, saying that Damascus is being targeted as a means of targeting Iran and, in broader terms, weakening Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing in the struggle for control over the Eurasian landmass.
Nazemroaya said that the US leaving Iraq will cement the Resistance Bloc, dealing major strategic blows to Israel and the US, stressing that Washington is working to create a new geo-political reality by eliminating Syria, in addition to activating the so-called “Coalition of the Moderate” that it created under George W. Bush Jr. and directing it against Iran, Syria, and their regional allies.
“For half a decade Washington has been directing a military arms build-up in the Middle East aimed at Iran and the Resistance Bloc,” he said, noting that the US sent massive arms shipments to countries in the region including Israel and started to openly discuss murdering figures, all of which constitutes a pathway towards possible military escalation that could go far beyond the boundaries of the Middle East and suck in Russia and China and their allies.
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Raytheon Wins THAAD Radar Contracts With U.S. Army, United Arab Emirates
http://www.boston.com/Boston/businessupdates/2012/01/raytheon-lands-radar-deals/tlax1fOMqSPLactAz2lWIP/index.html
Boston Globe
January 3, 2012
Raytheon lands 2 radar deals
By D.C. Denison
The Raytheon Company, based in Waltham, announced two radar contracts at the end of last week.
In the first, the Missile Defense Agency is awarding Raytheon a contract to provide two AN/TPY-2 radars to the U.S. Army as the radar component to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. The contract is for $363.9 million.
In the second deal, Raytheon will provide the same AN/TPY-2 radars, plus associated spares, training and other services through 2018, to the United Arab Emirates as the radar component to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense system. This $582.5 million contract for the radars is part of the first sale of THAAD missile systems to an international customer.
The AN/TPY-2 is a multi-functional radar that searches, detects, tracks and discriminates ballistic missile threats, seamlessly integrating with a variety of ballistic defense systems.
The work on the AN/TPY-2 radars for both contracts will be performed at Raytheon facilities in Massachusetts and by suppliers in 33 states.
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U.S. Opened Pandora’s Box With Drones
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20120101/OPINION02/201010305/U-S-opened-Pandora-s-box-drones
Zanesville Times Recorder
January 1, 2012
U.S. opened Pandora’s box with drones
Darrell L. Shahan
-By being the first to use drones, we have unleashed a Pandora’s box upon the world. Imagine a world where your every move outside your home is monitored. Drone warfare demands that we learn to settle conflicts without war.
Modern warfare has entered a new era. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, can fly thousands of miles, conduct surveillance or target and kill individuals with precision. Unfortunately, this precision does not prevent collateral damage, the military term for unintended civilian deaths. Military experts predict this will be the pattern for future military conflicts.
Quite often, the drones are operated by personnel who are far removed from the conflict. They kill enemy combatants by day and go home at night to their families. A definite advantage is the fact that unmanned aircraft do not place any pilots at risk.
Now for the dark side. A disadvantage is that this type of warfare depersonalizes warfare and reduces it to just another video game. The warfare acquires an antiseptic quality that could make the decision to go to war more likely and acceptable. The popular perception is that, because of our advanced technology, the United States has a virtual monopoly on drones. According to CNN, nothing could be farther from the truth. Quoting the article, “As many as 50 countries are developing or purchasing these systems, including China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran.”
In Palestine, Hezbollah used a small drone for surveillance. It flew so slowly that the Israeli jets could not reduce their speed enough to shoot it down.
Drones are now available commercially. Farmers could use them for the purposes of dusting crops. This application would appear to lend itself to the distribution of biological weapons over a metropolitan area, by an enemy. Terrorists could conceivably buy a commercial version.
The Iranian capture of a U.S stealth spy drone over Iran, which was conducting surveillance of their nuclear program, undoubtedly will aid the drone development program of other countries.
There also are disturbing legal questions. Military personnel are authorized to operate drones during war, but it is reported that they also are operated by civilian CIA members under their covert programs. This dilutes responsibility and prevents scrutiny by the public.
The FAA is expected to issue rules allowing drones to be used by law enforcement in the U.S. The ACLU fears drones might be used indiscriminately, leading to constant monitoring of the public, in any outdoor location, instead of only gathering evidence in specific cases. The ACLU wants specific guidelines defining their use. Citizens now are under constant monitoring in many municipal settings. The only privacy left would be in your own home. Would invasion of the sanctity your home be next? Freedom usually is not lost in one fell swoop. It usually disappears piecemeal. When the public becomes accustomed to the newest incremental change, the next one is implemented.
By being the first to use drones, we have unleashed a Pandora’s box upon the world. Imagine a world where your every move outside your home is monitored. Drone warfare demands that we learn to settle conflicts without war.
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Shahan is a retired, politically active and concerned senior citizen. He worked in the electrical power industry for 38 years, was an apartment owner and manager for 30 years and a dairy farmer for five years.
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Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline Study Finished
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2012/01/02/feasibility-study-tapi-gas-pipeline-completed-shahrani
Pajhwok Afghan News
January 2, 2012
Feasibility study on TAPI gas pipeline completed: Shahrani
By Abdul Qadir Siddiqui
-Shahrani said the Ministry of Interior was able to keep security for the $7.5 billion project, adding the Taliban had said nothing about the project, but theHizb-i-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, had voiced its support for the plan.
KABUL: A feasibility study on laying the multibillion-dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline has been completed and work on the project’s design to finish this year, the mines minister said on Monday.
An agreement of the project was signed by the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Turkmenistan in 2010.
The pipeline would be able to deliver 34 billion cubic metre of gas annually and would be officially inaugurated in 2016.
The project would earn Afghanistan $400 million in income per year, the Minister of Mines, Wahidullah Shahrani, told Pajhwok Afghan News during an interview.
It was planned to start material procurement services for the project at the end of 2010, but the process has yet to be launched, he said.
He said the process was delayed due to the importance of the project that needed wide discussion.
The minister said the pipeline was 1,800 kilometres long, with 917 km passing through Afghanistan’s territories in Herat, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
The idea of the project was initiated during the rule of Taliban. India was lately included in the project in 2008.
Shahrani said the Ministry of Interior was able to keep security for the $7.5 billion project, adding the Taliban had said nothing about the project, but theHizb-i-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, had voiced its support for the plan.
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BRICS Should Have Bigger Say In World Economic Order
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-01/02/c_131339038.htm
Xinhua News Agency
January 2, 2012
BRICS should have bigger say in world economic order
By Yu Zhixiao
-[A] bigger say for BRICS will also help transform the current Western-dominated world economic order into a more reasonable, balanced and equitable one, which will better represent interests of developing economies and is essential for sustained world economic growth.
BEIJING: The world economy, short of a robust recovery, is likely to continue to face a sea of challenges and hobble forward in the new year.
As one dose of antidote to the current global economic malaise, BRICS, a bloc of five major emerging economies, should have a bigger say and play a more important role in the world economic mechanism.
A bigger say for BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, in the world economic system, particularly in the heavyweight financial blocs such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is a proper reflection and confirmation of BRICS’ rising economic clout and contribution to world economic growth.
There is no denying that the current world economic order is dominated by Western powers. For example, although China’s and India’s shares of voting power in the World Bank were increased from 2.77 percent to 4.42 percent and from 2.77 percent to 2.91 percent, respectively, after the Bank’s reforms in April 2010, the U.S. share is still 15.85 percent, which effectively gives the country a veto power at the organization.
According to the IMF, BRICS, the cooperative quintuplet, with roughly one third of the world’s total population and more than a quarter of the world’s land area, was estimated to have a combined nominal GDP of 13.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2011, accounting for 19.5 percent of the world’s total.
Meantime, Reuters’ investment outlook summit, held last December, predicted BRICS could become as big as the G7 (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy) by 2027.
A Goldman Sachs report in 2009 showed that, since the start of the 2008 global financial crisis, 45 percent of global growth had come from BRIC (before South Africa joined in late 2010), which was first coined as an economic concept in 2001 by Jim O’Neill, a senior Goldman Sachs economist.
BRICS countries have made tremendous contributions to the world economy by increasing employment, cutting poverty, pouring in capital, exporting and importing, among others.
The contributions should be reflected in BRICS’ bigger voice in the world economic system.
Meanwhile, a bigger say for BRICS will also help transform the current Western-dominated world economic order into a more reasonable, balanced and equitable one, which will better represent interests of developing economies and is essential for sustained world economic growth.
Developed countries, which are being confronted with dim economic prospects and slow recovery, should cooperate more closely with emerging economies, particularly BRICS, to work out their differences and achieve win-win results.
But it is worth noting that cooperation here does not merely mean persuading dynamic emerging economies to unilaterally shoulder more responsibilities, such as purchasing more European and U.S. sovereign debt bonds.
To tide over the current crises and more effectively boost the world economy, the United States and European countries should scrap protectionist measures, open their arms to investment from BRICS and other developing countries, and export more advanced technologies to them.
Closer coordination and cooperation are urged between BRICS members and developed economies, as well as between developing and developed countries.
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