Defense-Technology News: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

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Wednesday, September 05, 2012

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China's Xi Cancels Clinton Meeting: US official

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China's Xi Cancels Clinton Meeting: US official

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 5, 2012: China's likely next president Xi Jinping has cancelled a meeting with the visiting US Secretary of State, a US official said Wednesday, amid friction between the two global powers.

Hillary Clinton had been due to meet Vice President Xi later Wednesday during a brief visit to Beijing that looks set to be dominated by a series of territorial disputes between China and its neighbours, notably in the South China Sea.

"We were informed after 11:00 pm last night by the Chinese side that for unexpected scheduling reasons, the meeting between Vice President Xi and Secretary Clinton is not going to happen today," said the official, who requested anonymity.

"We understand from the Chinese side that Vice President Xi's meetings with the prime minister of Singapore and a Russian official have also been cancelled today."

Clinton has voiced hope that China, which claims virtually all of the South China Sea, will agree to work out a code of conduct on regional territorial disputes, and has encouraged

Southeast Asian nations to stand united.

But Beijing has repeatedly expressed concern over what it sees as interference by Washington in the region.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said ahead of Clinton's arrival Tuesday that China hoped the United States would "do more to promote regional peace and stability, instead of the opposite."

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Afghanistan With Pakistan In US-Pak War Says Hamid Karzai

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Afghanistan With Pakistan In US-Pak War Says Hamid Karzai

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By TAREK EL-TABLAWY - Associated Press | AP

(NSI News Source Info) KOTTAKKAL, Kerala, India - October 23, 2011: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that if the United States and Pakistan ever went to war, his country would back Islamabad — a statement that contrasts with his harsh criticism of his eastern neighbor during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent visit to Kabul.

Such a scenario is exceedingly unlikely, and Karzai's remarks appeared to be less a serious statement of policy than an overture to Pakistan, whose cooperation is sorely needed if Afghanistan is to have a chance at stability after years of conflict and civil war.

Nonetheless, Karzai's comments during an interview with the private GEO television station in Pakistan broadcast on Saturday contrasted sharply with his show of alliance with Washington during Clinton's visit last week, during which the American ramped up the pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants using its territory for attacks into Afghanistan.

"If fighting starts between Pakistan and the U.S., we are beside Pakistan," Karzai said. "If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan's help, Afghanistan will be there with you."

He said his country was indebted to Pakistan for taking in millions of Afghan refugees over the years and stressed that Kabul would not allow any nation — be it the U.S., India, Russia, China or anyone else — to dictate its policies.

"Anybody that attacks Pakistan, Afghanistan will stand with Pakistan," he said. "Afghanistan will never betray its brother."

Both Washington and Kabul have repeatedly said Pakistan is providing sanctuary to terrorist groups launching attacks in Afghanistan.

Clinton, joined by a bevy of top U.S. officials including CIA director David Petraeus, flew to Pakistan after her Kabul visit with the blunt message that if Islamabad is unwilling or unable to take the fight to the al-Qaida and Taliban-linked Haqqani network operating from its western border with Afghanistan, the U.S. "would show" Pakistan how to eliminate that militant group's safe havens.

Even so, she said the U.S. has no intention of deploying U.S. forces across the border in Pakistan. She suggested that the favored solution would be reconciliation and peace efforts and that Islamabad needs to cooperate.

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces on Saturday concluded two operations aimed at disrupting insurgent operations in Kabul, provinces south of the Afghan capital and along the eastern border with Pakistan — all places where the Haqqani network has launched attacks.

"A number of Haqqani affiliated insurgents plus additional fighters have been either detained or killed," Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the coalition said Sunday. No further details were immediately available.

The focus on fighting those who refuse to embrace peace efforts while seeking reconciliation is pivotal in NATO's push to try to stabilize and secure Afghanistan as much as possible by the end of 2014, when foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw or move into support roles.

But the insurgents have remained intransigent and attacks and bombings plague Afghanistan, claiming the lives of civilians as well as those of Afghan and international forces.

NATO said that one of its service members was killed Sunday following an insurgent attack in the south of Afghanistan, a traditional Taliban stronghold.

Earlier, the alliance had reported the death of another of its troops in an attack in the eastern part of the country on Saturday.

NATO did not provide additional details, but the deaths raised to 473 the number of NATO service members killed so far this year in Afghanistan.

Separately, five villagers were killed while trying to remove a roadside mine planted by the Taliban in the Pashtun Zarghun district of the western province of Herat, the provincial governor's spokesman, Mohyaddin Noori, said Sunday.

The villagers had found six mines that were planted to target Afghan security forces in the area and, instead of notifying authorities, tried to move them themselves.

NATO and Afghan forces have been expanding their operations in the east, targeting the Haqqani network that operates out of Pakistan's North Waziristan region. Pakistan has been reluctant to move more forcefully against the Haqqani, arguing such an act could spark a broader tribal war in the region with which it is militarily ill-equipped militarily to handle.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By TAREK EL-TABLAWY - Associated Press | AP

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News
Contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

DTN News - Iran TODAY: Iran’s Leader Derides Protests; Lawmakers Urge Death For Opposition Leaders

DTN News - Iran TODAY: Iran’s Leader Derides Protests; Lawmakers Urge Death For Opposition Leaders

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By NEIL MacFARQUHAR Published: February 15, 2011 - The New York Times

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 16, 2011: A day after the largest antigovernment protests in Iran in more than a year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday dismissed opposition attempts to revive mass demonstrations as certain to fail, while members of the Iranian Parliament clamored for the two most prominent leaders of the protest movement to be executed.

Critics have called in the past for the two men, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, to be prosecuted for alleged crimes that would merit the death penalty. The calls for punishment on Tuesday, however, appeared to be the most strident yet — with members of Parliament shouting in unison, “Moussavi, Karroubi should be hanged!”

But while the government has tried and convicted many opposition members since large street protests in 2009, it has so far shied away from putting the two men on trial, perhaps fearing that would lead to further unrest.

The government on Tuesday continued to try to squelch reports about the demonstrations on Monday, arresting or sequestering critics and revoking the working credentials of about a dozen foreign correspondents who had been ordered not to cover the protests.

Opposition supporters were elated about the demonstrations, saying they felt people’s willingness to come out despite beatings by the police proved that the antigovernment movement born after Mr. Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election was still alive after 20 months of brutal government suppression.

“The friends I talked to in Iran were so happy that people had shown up after months of nothing going on,” said Sadra M. Shahab, who helped spread the word about the demonstrations from overseas.

Mr. Karroubi, who has been under house arrest since the eve of the protests, said Tuesday that “the government should take the cotton out of its ears and hear the voice of the people,” according to a statement posted on Saham News, his Web site.

“Violent and aggressive actions in response to the will of the people can halt continuing protests up to a point,” he said, addressing the government, “but you should learn from the history of the governments that have fled.” He was referring to the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, who were recently driven out by street protests.

Mr. Karroubi did not mention any future plans, and it is unclear if the opposition has a clear idea of what to do next. Organizers of a special Facebook page dedicated to the protests in Iran said the authorities would never allow Iranian demonstrators to set up the type of permanent encampment that came to represent the tenacity of the Egyptians in Tahrir Square in Cairo as they called for Hosni Mubarak to leave.

There were reports at least two people died in the protests in Iran on Monday. Few reporters were able to cover the demonstrations, but witness accounts and some news reports suggested that perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 people took to the streets in several cities, including Tehran.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, in a live interview on state television, pursued the government line that such demonstrations were foreign attempts to undermine a great nation, according to reports by the official news agency, IRNA.

“The Iranian nation is like the sun in that it is so brilliant. And of course this brilliance has enemies and they make true efforts,” he said. “but ultimately their efforts are like throwing dirt at the sun. It falls right back on them.”

By chanting against the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday, protesters were demanding that the entire government system should go, rather than simply attacking Mr. Ahmadinejad. In doing so, they forged rare unity between him and Parliament, which have been at odds over domestic policy.

Of the 290 Parliament members, 222 signed a statement on Tuesday demanding that the government prosecute Mr. Moussavi and Mr. Karroubi, according to IRNA. It was at least the third time that the two men have been threatened publicly with prosecution.

“They would like to provide an atmosphere for the government to take harder action against the opposition leaders,” said Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an exiled former member of Parliament now at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. “But I do not think they could do anything like execute the leaders — even if they arrested them, it would motivate a new round of the uprising.”

On Tuesday, pro-government demonstrators staged a sit-in at Mr. Karroubi’s house, according to opposition Web sites.

President Obama, speaking Tuesday at a Washington news conference, expressed support for the courage of the Iranian demonstrators and criticized the Tehran government’s response.

“I find it ironic that you’ve got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt,” he said, “when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully in Iran.”

The leadership of the Islamic republic has been hailing the demonstrations in the Arab world, saying they show the triumph of popular support for Islam, even though Islamists had a low profile in both the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also denounced Iran in a speech on Internet freedom, criticizing its government for using the Web to hunt down critics.

Reports of the number of people arrested over the latest protests in Iran varied, with the official number put at 150 and the opposition’s estimate at 1,500.

The protesters who died Monday were identified as Saane Zhaleh, a Kurdish student at Tehran Art University, and Mohammad Mokhtari, 22, a student at Islamic Azad University in Shahrood.

The government and the opposition issued conflicting accounts of what happened to Mr. Zhaleh. The authorities said Mr. Zhaleh was a Basij, one of the student vigilantes on many campuses, who was shot by a government opponent. Opposition accounts said plainclothes security officers roaming the streets beat him to death.

The government and the opposition have scheduled separate memorial services for Mr. Zhaleh on Wednesday, creating a potential for renewed clashes.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris, and Artin Afkhami from Washington.