UN agency says it is facing 'stalemate' with Iran over nuclear programme

The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog warned today that the agency has reached a deadlock with Iran over most aspects of its nuclear programme as he urged the country to credibly answer the international community's concerns over potential military dimensions to the programme.

Human rights must be paramount in policing, UN envoy says in Liberia

Respect for human rights must be central to police work, a senior United Nations official in Liberia has told the new members of an elite unit within the West African country's police force as she warned them never to misuse their strength and power.

Fresh round of UN-backed Darfur peace talks to start next month

United Nations-backed mediation talks aimed at resolving the long-running conflict in Darfur between the Sudanese Government and the region's armed movements will resume late next month, it was announced today.

Double standards II

As the Lisbon campaign in Ireland gets into full swing things are starting to get heated.

Ireland’s Defence Minister Willie O’Dea yesterday told us to butt out after we published research showing that the Irish government only managed to get 24 percent of their proposed amendments made to the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty, when it was negotiated back in 2002-2004 by Europe Minister Dick Roche. The fact is he was dead against some of the things the government is now pushing - such as a permanent EU President, a change to the voting weights, which will see Ireland lose 40% of its power to block decisions it disagrees with, and many of the important veto losses.

It seems fairly inevitable that the Government would have a pop at us for publishing facts they desperately would prefer to hide. But in light of the recent interventions from the EU Commission in the debate, it seems highly hypocritical to tell us to “butt out”.

Only two weeks ago, the Commission felt the need to weigh in and rebuff claims made by the ‘Farmers for No’ campaign. Maybe the Irish government was too busy that day to do the rebutting itself, or maybe it wasn’t considered to be up to the job by the “experts” (ha ha) occupying the corridors of DG Communication.

Other imaginative ways to use our taxes its resources to promote a Yes vote include sending EU officials into schools, to foster that all important pester power, and sending Communication Commissioner Margot Wallström to Ireland later this week to speak at various events, including the ‘Lisbon Treaty Business Lunch with European Chamber of Ireland’ and the ‘Labour Women’s Conference’. That’s not to mention the appearances already seen by EU Commissioners Neelie Kroes, Magelena Kuneva and senior EU Commission official Catherine Day.

Will their salaries be included in the public cost of the ‘yes’ campaign?

Presentation in Sequim, Washington

Ex-intelligence officer talks of water wars and terror

Article published Sep 5, 2009

By Diane Urbani de la Paz
Peninsula Daily News

SEQUIM — Rick Francona took Rotarians on a head-spinning tour of his own “axis of evil” and touched down on a problem people in Sequim — and elsewhere on the North Olympic Peninsula — can relate to.

Israel occupies the Golan Heights — a spine of border land along part of Syria — because they provide access to the Jordan River, which Israeli farmers can’t do without.

“Water is their lifeline,” just like “oil is ours,” said Francona, who should know.

A retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, he served in just about every nation in the Middle East, from Saudi Arabia to Syria to Iraq.

In his 90-minute speech to the Rotary Club of Sequim on Thursday, Francona offered his opinions on U.S. involvement in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan and on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

And unlike former President George W. Bush, who labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea the axis of evil, Francona considers Iran, North Korea and Syria more dangerous to global security.

“Iran is the largest supporter of terrorism in the world, bar none,” he said.

And “Iran is intent on building a nuclear weapon,” despite Iranian assertions to the contrary.

“Syria is the ally of Iran,” he added, so if one is attacked, the other will join the ensuing conflict.

Intermingled

Across the Middle East, “everything is intermingled,” with Syria and Israel locked in a stalemate over the Golan Heights, among other things.

And while the international media do sweeping coverage of nuclear arms development, petroleum prices and terrorism — again Francona should know since he was an NBC news analyst from 2003 to 2008 — he seeks to boil things down to a human scale.

The Golan Heights is a strategic position not just in terms of military buildup, Francona said, but also because if Israel gave them back to Syria, Syria could choke off Israeli access to the Jordan River.

“They won’t tell you that,” said Francona. But “Israel has turned the area into a bread basket,” an agricultural Eden with vineyards providing grapes for Israeli wine, among other products.

To gain a sense of what life is like on both sides of the heights, Francona recommended the movie, “The Syrian Bride,” about a woman who crosses over.

Mona, the bride, lives in a Golan village and is engaged to marry Tallel, a television comedian who works in Damascus, Syria. Once they marry, Mona will become Syrian and never see her family again.

Francona spoke next of what he calls the “Islam bomb.” It’s not a nuclear weapon, he said; it’s the birth rate among Muslims.

Birth rates

“Jewish families average two or three children,” he said. “Arabs average seven or eight kids per family . . . by 2050 or 2060, Israel is going to be an Arab country because of the birth rate.”

After discussing Israeli-Palestinian strife, Francona worked his way over to Afghanistan.

“[President Barack Obama] did the right thing by sending in 28,000 more troops,” he began. “We’re seeing more casualties because we’re being more aggressive . . . and I’m not an Obama fan, but he’s done the right thing here, by killing the bad guys,” and disrupting the al-Qaida structure in the region.

“We still need to hunt them down,” Francona added, now that al-Qaida operatives are on the move.

Finally, he returned to Iran, which lies at the center of the region the United States still depends on to provide the oil that can stabilize prices on the world market.

“We are fast losing leverage in that part of the world” because of our dependence on foreign oil, he said.

Francona reminded the Rotarians of 1973, when they probably waited in lines at gas stations amid that era’s energy crisis.

Now as then, Francona said, what this country must do is come up with a coherent national energy policy.

That, he believes, is the primary task before President Obama — along with defusing nuclear-weapons development in Iran, disabling al-Qaida and dealing with the rest of the tangled Mideast web.
________

Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
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All materials Copyright © 2008 Horvitz Newspapers.

Who gets to wear the pants in the Sudanese Muslim family?

Venezuela will export gasoline to Iran in return for ‘machinery’ and ‘technology’

China Urged to Subsidize ‘New Energy’ Vehicles

By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU
TIANJIN, China—The head of BYD Co., one of China’s leading makers of electric vehicles, urged the Chinese government to subsidize private purchases of all-electric battery cars and other “new energy” vehicles, saying their widespread adoption in China depends on it.
Speaking at an industry conference Sunday, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said a lack of consumer incentives and subsidies has kept BYD from making a plug-in hybrid car available for private buyers. He warned that a continued lack of government assistance might doom all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the marketplace because of their currently high cost.
“We’re at a critical make-or-break juncture in our effort” to make electric vehicles mainstream, Mr. Wang told the conference. To help accelerate an adoption of heavily electrified vehicles “the government needs to play a key role and help us reduce their cost, especially for private buyers.”
Mr. Wang called for rebates, tax cuts, and policies to pave the way for more taxi companies to use electric cabs, among other measures.
BYD, which makes both batteries and cars and is part-owned by a company controlled by American investor Warren Buffett, is gearing to launch an all-electric battery car called e6 in China this year. The Shenzhen-based company already sells a plug-in hybrid car here called the F3DM, with a small gasoline engine to charge its batteries. BYD began selling the F3DM in December to fleet customers, such as banks, but hasn’t made it available for consumers. Mr. Wang has said the delay is because the car, priced at about 150,000 yuan, or roughly $22,000, is too expensive for most private buyers in China.
Mr. Wang and other industry and government officials at the Tianjin conference pointed to what they described as good prospects overall for electrified “green” cars to become more mainstream. But it remains unclear whether makers of environmentally friendly cars like BYD might get the consumer incentives they are looking for.
One senior Chinese industrial policy maker, speaking at the conference Sunday, pointed to reservations among some Chinese officials about providing consumer incentives to spur electric-car sales. “Why do we need to provide subsidies and rebates for wealthy private buyers who would be the first in line to buy electric cars? That’s a question some of us in the government are asking,” said Chen Jianguo, a senior official at the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s main economic planning agency.
Other officials sounded a more enthusiastic note. Wan Gang, China’s minister of science and technology, told the conference that electric vehicles provided opportunities for China to “catch up with and exceed developed countries” in the auto industry.
They are a “key driver for a new economy” for the world, but an especially strategic area of interest for China, he said. He pointed to the advantage of large deposits within China of lithium and other rare-earth metals that are needed to produce key electric car components, such as batteries and high-power electric motors, and improve their performance.
New-energy cars are “the way forward” and “a new source of growth” for China, and the country thus stands ready to allot more subsidies to accelerate related research and development activity, he said.
—Ellen Zhu in Shanghai contributed to this article.
Write to Norihiko Shirouzu at norihiko.shirouzu@wsj.com

Judge in Chevron Case Agrees to Step Aside

By MERCEDES ALVARO
QUITO — The Ecuadorean judge purportedly caught on videotape discussing a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Chevron Corp. over environmental damage in the Amazon has recused himself from the case.
Ecuador’s attorney general, Washington Pezantes, said Friday that he had asked Judge Juan Núñez to withdraw from the case, which has garnered international attention and highlighted Ecuador’s uncertain investment climate.
The recusal is a significant victory for Chevron, which has argued that the Ecuadorian judicial system is too corrupt to render a fair verdict in the long-running environmental lawsuit. The move could delay a ruling in the case, which had been expected by the end of the year and was widely expected by both sides to be against the San Ramon, Calif., oil company.
Chevron released recordings Monday that it claims show Mr. Núñez, who oversees the Lago Agrio court where the trial is being held, affirming that he would hold the company culpable for environmental damages. The company said the videos prove the judge, who was still considering evidence, is biased and should be disqualified from the case.
Mr. Núñez has contended that the video footage was manipulated. Chevron has said the videos are authentic and haven’t been doctored.
“I have communicated with both sides in this case that I recuse myself from continuing with this case,” Mr. Núñez said. “However, I will continue with my work as a judge, and as president of the Lago Agrio court, because I have not committed any illegality or irregularity.”
Mr. Núñez declined to explain the reason for his recusal. He said he had notified Chevron and the plaintiffs, a group residing in the Amazon region that is suing Chevron for contamination caused decades ago by the oil operations of Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001, of his decision. Chevron has said Ecuador released it from liabilities after a cleanup by the company. The plaintiffs say the release applied only to claims by the government, not those made by private citizens.
Chevron has said in recent months that it expects to lose the case in Ecuador, but will fight enforcement of the ruling in the United States in part on the grounds that Ecuador’s judiciary is insufficiently independent.
Steven Donziger, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Mr. Núñez’s recusal shows the Ecuadorian judicial system is fair. He repeated earlier questions about the recording’s authenticity.
“We again call on competent authorities in Ecuador and the United States to investigate any role Chevron and its officials might have played to script a bribery scheme for purposes of extracting an advantage in a private litigation,” Mr. Donziger said in a statement.
Chevron has said the videos are authentic and haven’t been manipulated.
Mr. Pezantes told reporters at a press conference Friday he had asked Judge Núñez to recuse himself from the case to give greater transparency to the investigation of the videos that his office is conducting.
“I presume the innocence of the judge,” Mr. Pezantes said, adding that he trusts in the judge’s honesty. But to remove any doubts about the investigation, the judge must recuse himself, he said.
Over the years, many different judges have overseen the long-running litigation.
Chevron General Counsel Hewitt Pate said the judge’s recusal is insufficient, arguing his prior rulings in the case should also be annulled.
“We also hope that the removal of Judge Nunez is not an attempt to deflect attention from the serious indications of political interference with the case that appear in the video recordings,” Mr. Pate said, calling for “an independent and honest investigation of the evidence that Chevron brought forward.”
Write to Mercedes Alvaro at mercedes.alvaro@dowjones.com

From the Inbox - Help Stop Trade in Polar Bear Parts

Strengthen Polar Bear Protections! Polar bears are already feeling the heat from global warming, oil drilling and pollution. Tell the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to propose an international ban on the trade of polar bear products. With 2009 sea ice well below average, polar bear homes are literally melting away. It’s so bad that these amazing animals could even disappear from the U.S. by mid-century. But in some countries, collectors can still buy polar bear skin rugs, claws, skulls and other parts of these animals — even as these beloved bears struggle for survival in a warming world. The U.S. can strengthen protections for polar bears under international law by proposing to end commercial trade in polar bear products. But officials need to hear from you. Take action now: Urge the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to propose an international ban on the trade of polar bear products. The U.S. government is considering offering a proposal for increased protections for polar bears through the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) — a landmark international agreement that protects vanishing wildlife by regulating trade. As polar bears struggle to survive in a warming world, they’re already facing threats from oil drilling, poaching and pollution. Ending international trade in polar bear parts will help save hundreds of these bears each year — and give polar bears a fighting chance at a lasting future. Speak out for these arctic icons — write to the Fish & Wildlife Service today and urge them to fight for strengthened international protections for polar bears. Please take action today – the deadline for comments is Friday, September 11th. Together, we can make a difference for our polar bears. Sincerely, Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife