Shahadat Imam Hussain: Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri

 Shahadat Imam Hussain


Shahadat Imam Hussain, written by Dr.Muhammad Tahirul-Qadri is a comprehensive writting explaining Wakiya-e-Karbala according to the references of history. The Book is based upon most reliable resources. The reference from a historical prospective are taken from books of Ahadees hein history based books like tareekh-e-Kamil and Tareekh-e-tabri by the great historian Ibn-e-Jareer Tabri.







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More Desireable but impossible: Nuclear-Free Middle East

More Desireable but impossible: Nuclear-Free Middle East

A number of discussion in the West, supports the idea of a nuclear-free zone for the Middle East. Such thinking is at rest treated as politically marginal, and hardly capable of being heard above the deafening beat of the war drums. To the extent proposed, it also tends to be defensively and sensibly phrased to reinforce the existing anti-Iran consensus.

For example, in a recent New York Times article by Shibley Telhami and Steven Kull a full discovery title gives the plot away: "Preventing a Nuclear Iran". The authors offer us a prudential dispute against attacking Iran to avoid a damaging Iranian retaliation and in view of the inability of an attack to do more than delay Iran's nuclear programme by a few years. Beyond this, an attack seems likely to create appealing pressures in Iran to do everything possible to obtain a nuclear option with a changed sense of urgency, as well as to disrupt Western interests wherever possible.

This Telhami/Kull position is reinforced by evidence that Israeli society is not as war-prone as claimed, and would be receptive to a more careful and less aggressive approach. They refer readers to a recent Israeli poll finding that only 43 per cent of Israelis favor a military strike, while 64 per cent support establishing a nuclear-free zone (NFZ) in the region that included Israel.

In effect, then, establishing a NFZ that includes Israel would seem politically possible, although not a course of action that seems within the range of options being measured by the current Israeli political leadership.

The failure of the United States to raise the possibility of a solution to the conflict other than either an Iranian surrender with respect to its enhancement rights or an impending military attack is also discouraging. The silence of Washington with respect to a peaceful regional solution to the conflict with Iran confirms what is extensively believed around the world - that the US Government will not deviate from the official Israeli line on security issues in the Middle East.

The fact that the Israeli public may be more peace-oriented than its elected leaders seems to make no difference to strategic thinking in the US, and what is more, the realisation that the exercise of the military option would have a likely huge negative impact on national and global interest is also put to one side.

Prince Turki's proposals

Another variant of NFZ thinking is more oriented to the realities of the Middle East. It has most clearly formulated by the influential Saudi Prince, Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the United States and once the head of his country's intelligence service. He argues that NFZ is preferable to the military option for many reasons, and he believes, in contrast to President Obama, that it should be removed from the bag of tricks at the disposal of diplomats.

Prince Turki believes that sanctions have not, and will not alter Iran's behaviour. His proposal is more elaborate than simply advocating a NFZ. He would be in favour of coercive steps against Iran if there is ever convincing evidence that it actually possesses nuclear weapons, but he also argues for the imposition of sanction on Israel if it fails to disclose openly the full extent of its nuclear weapons arsenal.  

Prince Turki's approach has several additional features: extending the scope of the undertaking to all weapons of mass destruction (WMD), that is, including biological and chemical weapons; a nuclear security umbrella for the region maintained by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council; a resolution of outstanding conflicts in the region in accordance with the Mecca Arab proposals of 2002 that calls for Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights occupied in 1967, as well as the political and commercial normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab world.

Prince Turki warns that if some such arrangement is not soon put in place, and Iran proceeds with its nuclear programme, other countries in the region, including Turkey, will almost certainly be drawn into an expensive and destabilising nuclear arms race.

In effect, as with Telhami/Kull, Prince Turki's approach is designed to make sure that worst case scenarios do not happen. It is more contextually framed to encompass several larger challenges in the Middle East, rather than confining its rationale to addressing the Israel/Iran confrontation.  

The Turki proposals have some exigent aspects, including the idea that governments in the region could be expected to rely on the five permanent members of the Security Council to co-operate effectively if faced with a challenge to the NFZ. From another perspective, the proposal might be questioned as a historically insensitive effort to allot authority over future security issues in the region to former colonial powers.

NFZ or WMDFZ without Israel

There is another baffling feature of Prince Turki's vision of a peaceful future for the Middle East. He urges the adoption of such a collective commitment to the elimination of WMD in the region with or without Israeli support at a consultation of parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty scheduled for later this year in Finland, which seems to play into the hands of Western hawks.

Israel is not even a party to the NPT, has so far not indicated its willingness to attend the conference, and if participating, would likely play an disruptive role. What is the point of a NFZ or WMDFZ without Israel? As long ago as the 1995 NPT Review Conference, the Arab countries put forward a proposal to institute in the Middle East a WMD-free zone, but it has never been consequently invoked.

Israel, which is not a member of the NPT, has time and again taken the position over the years that only after peace prevails throughout the region, will it consider lending support to a legal regime, keeping out the possession of nuclear weapons.

The NFZ or WMDFZ initiatives need to be seen in the setting established by the NPT regime. An initial observation involves Israel's failure to become a party to the NPT coupled with its covert nuclear programme that resulted in the acquisition of the weaponry more than 20 years ago with the complicity of the West as documented in Seymour Hersh's 1991 The Samson Option.

This Israeli pattern of behaviour needs to be contrasted with that of Iran, a party to the NPT that has reported to and accepted, although with some friction in recent years, international inspections on its territory by the Western oriented International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran has always denied any ambition to acquire nuclear weapons, but has insisted on its rights under Article IV of the treaty to exercise "… its inalienable right… to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination..."

Iran has been under constant threat of an attack by Israel. It has also been the target for several years of Israel's extremely dirty low intensity war, as well as being the subject of a US Congressionally funded destabilisation programme of the US that is reinforced by a diplomacy that constantly reaffirms the relevance of a military option, and operates in a political climate that excludes consideration of Israel's nuclear arsenal.

What is surprising under these circumstances is that Iran has not freed itself from NPT obligation as it is entitled to do. All parties to the NPT have a treaty right to withdraw set forth in Article X requiring only that a withdrawing state give notice to other treaty parties and provide an explanation of its reasons for withdrawing.

Geopolitical priorities

Comparing these Israeli and Iran patterns of behavior with respect to nuclear weapons, it would seem far more reasonable to conclude that it is Israel, not Iran, that should be subjected to sanctions, and put under pressure to participate in denuclearizing negotiations. After all, Israel acquired the weaponry secretly and defiantly, has not been even willing to accept the near universally applicable discipline of the NPT, and has engaged periodically in aggressive wars against its neighbors that have resulted in several long-term occupations.

It can be argued that Israel was entitled to enhance its security by remaining outside the NPT, and thus is acting within its sovereign rights. This is a coherent legalistic position, but we should also appreciate that the NPT is more a geopolitical than a legal regime, and that Iran, for instance, would be immediately subject to a punitive response if it tried to withdraw from the treaty. In other words, geopolitical priorities override legal rights in the NPT setting.

The history of the NPT has reflected its geopolitical nature. This is best illustrated by the utter refusal of the nuclear weapons states, above all the US, to fulfill its core obligation under Article VI "to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 1996 Advisory Opinion on The Legality of Nuclear Weapons unanimously affirmed in its findings the legal imperative embodied in Article VI: "There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament in all its aspects under strict international control."

This finding that has been completely ignored by the nuclear weapons states (who had made full use of their diplomatic leverage in a failed effort to encourage members of the UN General Assembly not to seek guidance from the ICJ with respect to the legal status of nuclear weapons and the obligations of the NPT). The refusal to uphold these obligations of Article VI would certainly appear to be a material breach of the treaty that under international law authorizes any party to regard the treaty as void.

Again, the international discourse on nuclear weapons is so distorted that it is a rarity to encounter criticism of its discriminatory application, its double standards as between nuclear and non-nuclear states, and its geopolitical style of discriminating enforcement. In this regard, it should be appreciated that the threat of military attack directed at Iran resembles reliance on the so-called Bush Doctrine of preventive war that had been used to justify aggression against Iraq in 2003, and represents a blatant geopolitical override of international law.

Need to avoid war

In summary, it is of utmost importance to avoid a war in the Middle East arising from the unresolved dispute about Iran's nuclear programmed. One way to do this is to seek a NFZ or a WMDFZ for the entire region that must include the participation of Israel. What has given this approach a renewed credibility for the West at this time is that such a measure seems to be the only way to prevent a lose/lose war option from materializing in an atmosphere where mainstream pundits are increasingly predicting an attack on Iran during 2012. 

A NFZ plan has some prudential appeal to change minds in Tehran and Tel Aviv before it is too late, and could also encourage Washington to take a less destructive and self-destructive course of action. Whether this prudential appeal is sufficiently strong to overcome the iron cage of militarism that constrains policy choices in Israel and the US remains doubtful.

Thinking outside the militarist box remains a forbidden activity, partly reflecting the domestic lock on the political and moral imagination of these countries by their respective military industrial media think-tank complexes.

I would conclude this commentary with three pessimistic assessments that casts a dark shadow over the regional future:

(1) an NFZ or WMDFZ for the Middle East is necessary and desirable, but it almost certainly will not be placed on the political agenda of American-led diplomacy relating to the conflict;

(2) moves toward nuclear disarmament negotiations that have been legally mandated and would be beneficial for the world, and for the nuclear weapons states and their peoples, will not be made in the current atmosphere that blocks all serious initiatives to abolish nuclear weapons;

(3) the drift toward a devastating attack on Iran will only be stopped by an urgent mobilisation of anti-war forces in civil society, which seems unlikely given other preoccupations. 

To overcome such pessimism requires a broader vision of peace and justice that is even broader than the relative approach taken by Prince Turki. It would centre on demilitarisation of the region through disarmament, as well as a firm regional commitment to avoid entangling alliances with external actors, meaning no military deployments or bases in the region. With drones engaging in lethal missions in the Middle East and an array of American military bases, this seems like a utopian fantasy, and maybe it is.

But maybe also we have reached a ironic stage in the region, and possibly the world, where only the utopian imagination can offer us a realistic vision of a hopeful human future.

General View About Islamic Middle East...

Explore / World Cultures 

Islamic Middle East

Usually The term Islamic is used to define the art and material culture of those lands where the dominant religion is Islam, This religion was revealed to the prophet Muhammad in seventh century Arabia. The Islamic lands have encompassed at different times from Spain to the west and as far as the Malay world and China to the east. Within the broad definition of Islamic art there are both works made in the service of religious belief, such as Qur’ans or tombstones, as well as objects for secular use such as metalwork and ceramic vessels
Despite regional diversities and changes across the time and places, there are a number of defining features of Islamic art which include the pre-eminent role of Arabic calligraphy; the predominance of geometric and arabesque designs and the absence of figural representation in religious contexts.
Arabic is the language in which the Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, was revealed and it was in the Arabic script when it was written down. Beautiful scripts were developed to copy the Holy Qur’an and then were used in other contexts such as stone inscriptions or ceramic bowls. The script became both a method of communication and decoration. Other key elements are geometric designs: infinitely repeating units that include circles and squares, and vegetal ornament- designs that are often highly elaborate that feature elegant intertwining stems, scrolls and fleshy leaves. These elements either singly or combined, appear on many objects of Islamic art.

Mohsin Naqvi's great majlis on the topic of Jang-e-Safeen

Mohsin Naqvi's great majlis on the topic of Jang-e-Safeen
This war was Held in Rabi-ul-Awwal 37 Hijri, Between Hazrat Ameer-ul-Momineen, Successor and Son in Law of Holy Prophet Imam Ali Ibn-e-Abi Taalib, and Hazrat Ameer Maviya Ibn-e-Abu Suffiyan. The purpose of the war was that Imam Ali was Caliph of Islam and he didn't allow any one to create his individual state with in the state of Islam.Hazrat Ameer Mavia was not ready to give up his Territory i-e Syria.
 

Iraqi Foreign Ministry official calls for more ties with Iran

Iraqi Foreign Ministry official calls for more ties with Iran

File photo shows Iranian trucks parked at the Mehran border terminal, western Iran, and waiting for passage into Iraq.

Sun Jun 10, 2012 2:6PM GMT

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An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official has called for increasing cooperation between Tehran and Baghdad, especially in trade transactions and religious tourism.

Valid Hamid Shaltagh said the relations between Iran and Iraq cannot be harmed by potential problems and minor issues.

Shaltagh, heading a high-ranking delegation to Iran, made the comments in a meeting with senior officials of the western border province of Ilam.

Also in the meeting, Ilam Governor Mojtaba Alaee said some “good agreements” were made with the Iraqi delegation to facilitate economic and trade ties as well as religious tourism between the two countries.

Alaee added that there is a long history to cross-border connections between Iran and Iraq and expressed hope that such ties would lead to a more stable, powerful and developed Iraq.

On May 1, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the trade volume between Tehran and Baghdad would reach a figure between 12 and 15 billion dollars in the current Iranian calendar year (started March 20).

Mehmanparast also put the amount the trade balance between Iran and Iraq in the previous Iranian year (ended March 19, 2012) at USD 9.7 billion.

Regional states astonished by Iran's anti-piracy operations: Cmr.

Regional states astonished by Iran's anti-piracy operations: Cmr.

Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says regional countries are amazed by Iran's power in fighting pirates. (File photo)

Sun Jun 10, 2012 2:38PM GMT

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In that operation, all countries, especially regional ones, were amazed by Iran's power wondering how Iran had been able to carry out rescue operations without harm coming to the ships, hostages, and even the pirates [involved].”
Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari

Naval Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says the Iranian Navy's rescue operations for Iran-owned ships attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden have amazed regional countries.

“In those operations, all countries, especially regional ones, were amazed by Iran's power, wondering how Iran had been able to carry out rescue operations without harming the ships, hostages, and even the pirates [involved],” the commander said on Sunday.

Addressing a ceremony held to unveil the first computer game developed by the Iranian Army, Sayyari said global economic losses resulting from piracy amount to about USD 12 billion a year.

“Today, the global economy is being threatened by pirates and if we are not careful, our country’s economy will be damaged as well,” Sayyari added.

Turning to Iranian Army’s first computer game, he said computer games represent technological prowess of a country and "this game has tried to inform [Iranian] youths of all the capabilities and the high technological position of the [Iranian] Navy."

“This game shows why pirates are based in the Gulf of Aden and why we are defending our interests in that region,” Sayyari noted.

Iran's Navy has been increasing its naval presence in the international waters in recent years. In addition, in line with the international efforts to combat piracy, the Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008 to safeguard the vessels involved in maritime trade, especially the ships and oil tankers owned or leased by Iran.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos has described the anti-piracy efforts by Iran's Navy as “effective.”

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly asserted that its overseas naval presence is meant to convey a message of peace and friendship to regional countries.

Cyber attack on Iran Oil Ministry traced to US: Official

Cyber attack on Iran Oil Ministry traced to US: Official

Sat Jun 9, 2012 5:46PM GMT

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The head of Iran's cyber police says the perpetrators behind the recent cyber attack on the Iranian Oil Ministry have been traced to the US.

Kamal Hadianfar told reporters on Saturday that two suspicious American IP addresses were identified in the cyber attack.

He said that the issue has been pursued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and Interpol, adding that the US needs to disclose the identity of the hackers to Iran.

He said that the cyber attack on the Oil Ministry was successfully neutralized.

On Monday, April 23, the Iranian Oil Ministry spokesman said a cyber attack targeted the ministry and the National Iranian Oil Company, adding, however, that it had failed to damage any key data.

“The cyber attack has not damaged the main data of the Oil Ministry and the National Iranian Oil Company since public servers are separate from the main ones; they have different [network] wirings and are not connected to the Internet,” Ali-Reza Nikzad said.

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Hamdollah Mohammadnejad said later that the attack was “in the form of a virus that aimed to steal and damage data", adding that "those who designed the malware “pursued certain objectives.”

U.S. "disappointed" by failure of Iran-IAEA atom talks

 

VIENNA | Sun Jun 10, 2012 12:31am EDT

(Reuters) - Lack of progress in talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency is disappointing and it shows Tehran's continued failure to abide by its commitment to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, a U.S. envoy said on Saturday.
The IAEA and Iran failed at talks on Friday to unblock an investigation into suspected atom bomb research by the Islamic state, a setback dimming any chances for success in higher-level negotiations between Tehran and major powers later this month.

The IAEA, a Vienna-based U.N. agency, said no progress had been made in the meeting aimed at sealing a framework deal on resuming its long-stalled investigation.
Six world powers were scrutinizing the IAEA-Iran meeting to judge whether the Iranians were ready to make concessions before a resumption of wider-ranging negotiations with them in Moscow on June 18-19 on the decade-old nuclear dispute.
"We're disappointed," Robert Wood, the acting U.S. envoy to the IAEA, told Reuters in an emailed comment.
"Yesterday's outcome highlights Iran's continued failure to abide by its commitment to the IAEA, and further underscores the need for it to work with the IAEA to address international community's real concerns," he said.
The IAEA had been pressing Tehran for an accord that would give its inspectors immediate access to the Parchin military complex, where it believes explosives tests relevant for the development of nuclear arms have taken place, and suspects Iran may now be cleaning the site of any incriminating evidence.
PROGRESS POSSIBLE?
The United States, European powers and Israel want to curb Iranian atomic activities they fear are intended to produce nuclear bombs. The Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is meant purely to produce energy for civilian uses.
Both the IAEA and Iran - which insists it will work with the U.N. agency to prove allegations of a nuclear weapons agenda are "forged and fabricated" - said before Friday's meeting that significant headway had been made on the procedural document.
But differences persisted over how the IAEA should conduct its inquiry, in which U.N. inspectors want access to sites, documents and officials.
"The IAEA and Iran have on some points significantly diverging ideas of how a new agreement would look," said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
But Hibbs said "negative" signals from Vienna did not necessarily have to mean anything in the talks in Moscow between Iran and the six powers - the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and China.
The talks pursued by world powers are aimed at defusing tension over Iran's nuclear works that has led to increasingly tough Western sanctions on Iran, including an EU oil embargo from July 1, and stoked fears of another Middle East war.
Full transparency and cooperation with the IAEA is one of the elements the world powers are seeking from Iran.
But they also want Iran to stop its higher-grade uranium enrichment, which Tehran says it needs for a research reactor but which also takes it closer to potential bomb material.
For its part, Iran wants sanctions relief and international recognition of what it says is its right to refine uranium.
"If the West makes a serious offer to Iran, we could see real progress. But if Moscow fails to move forward, we'll have big problems," Hibbs said.
(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Iran to Crack Down on Web Censor-Beating Software

Iran's cyber police force is poised to launch a new crackdown on software that lets many Iranians circumvent the regime's Internet censorship, media reported on Sunday.

The operation will target VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, which use a secure protocol to encrypt users' data, foiling online blocks put in place by Iran's authorities, according to the head of the specialized police unit, Kamal Hadianfar.

"It has been agreed that a commission (within the cyber police) be formed to block illegal VPNs," he was quoted as saying in a report originally published by the Mehr news agency.

"About 20 to 30 percent of (Iranian internet) users use VPN," or more than seven million people out of the country's 36 million web users, he added.

Legal VPNs would only be used by "the likes of airlines, ministries, (state) organizations and banks," he said -- and even they would be monitored by the commission.

Iran has long tried to stop its population accessing millions of foreign websites authorities see as undermining the Islamic regime, including Facebook, Twitter, the online pages of the BBC and CNN, many torrent sites, blogs, and pornographic hubs.

"Some websites are obscene and others are officially hostile towards the Islamic republic's system. (Thus), in the interest of the people and in order to prevent the collapse of families... there is blocking of the Internet," Hadianfar said.

The Islamic republic's suppressing of the Internet has intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was returned to office in a disputed 2009 election that sparked a wave of anti-government protests, mostly organized online.

Many Iranian Internet users are used to getting around the censorship through the use of either VPNs or IP proxy software.

But they are being increasingly hemmed in by more sophisticated measures being deployed by officials, who are planning a closed "Islamic Internet" that some believe could be designed to supplant the world wide web within Iran.

Iran's telecommunications ministry last month reportedly ordered the country's banks, insurance firms and telephone operators to stop using foreign e-mail accounts such as Gmail to communicate with clients, and instead adopt e-mail domains ending with .ir, which belongs to Iran.

Authorities have also several times recently slowed connections through VPNs to an excruciatingly slow speed to dissuade their use, and have occasionally halted all access to Gmail, Yahoo mail and other foreign communication services.

Such tactics have drawn criticism, even from within the regime, with politicians lamenting the obstacle they present for import/export merchants, students and researchers.

Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a sidelined pragmatic figure who now heads an advisory council to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted two weeks ago by the ISNA news agency as saying Facebook was a "blessing".

"We see that a Facebook page costing nothing can outstrip several television and radio outlets, and can influence millions of people," he was quoted as saying.

Trying to block the Internet -- and banned although widely-watched foreign satellite television channels -- was futile because users will always find ways around, he said.

"People cannot be stopped in their pursuit of information," he was quoted as saying.

Rafsanjani said some in Iran's regime may dislike that, "but if we think about the happiness of human beings, we see that if social media did not exist, movements against tyranny and oppression would be endangered."

The United States, Iran's arch foe and the genitor of the Internet, is seeking to tear open what President Barack Obama in March termed the Islamic republic's "electronic curtain".

He announced measures to encourage U.S. software makers to market communication programs in Iran. And in April, he ordered new sanctions targeting companies that help Iran and its ally Syria oppress their people with surveillance software and monitoring technology.

The New York Times newspaper reported early this month that Obama had also accelerated cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear program, including the Stuxnet virus that destroyed hundreds of uranium enrichment centrifuges in Iran's Natanz facility.

Iran has said a new computer virus dubbed Flame that hit servers run by its oil sector appeared to be linked to Stuxnet, and it has cast suspicion on the United States as the perpetrator.

More die in Syria though Assad on 'last legs'

  

• An image from the Syrian opposition …
• An image from a UN Supervision …

The Syrian opposition's new leader said on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's regime was on its "last legs," even as Russia warned it would block any move at the UN to use force against its ally.

Britain declined to rule out military intervention, despite the strong opposition of China and Russia, as the death toll from the more than 15-month uprising topped 14,100, according to a human rights watchdog.
"We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs," Kurdish activist Abdel Basset Sayda told AFP shortly after he was named as the new leader of the opposition Syrian National Council.
"The multiplying massacres and shellings show that it is struggling," he added in allusion to a spate of mass killings of civilians, the most recent of which saw 20 people, most of them women and children, killed in the bombardment of a residential area of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday.
Sayda was elected as the SNC's new leader at a conference in Istanbul, replacing the opposition's first leader, Paris-based academic Burhan Ghalioun, who stepped down last month in the face of mounting splits that were undermining the group's credibility.
Activists accused Ghalioun of ignoring the Local Coordination Committees, which spearhead anti-government protests on the ground in Syria, and of giving the Muslim Brotherhood too big a role.
Sayda, who has lived in exile in Sweden for two decades, is seen as a consensus candidate capable of reconciling the rival factions within the SNC and of broadening its appeal among Syria's myriad of ethnic and confessional groups.
The 55-year-old does not belong to any political party and, although his name is not familiar to many Syrians, SNC officials say he is a "conciliatory" figure, "honest" and "independent".
The opposition grouping has been criticised for not representing the full diversity of Arabs, Kurds, Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Christians, Druze and other ethnic and religious groups in Syria.
Asked about his ambitions as SNC leader, Sayda said the opposition bloc "would focus its efforts on the international community to take a decisive move against the regime."
"We want to strengthen links with activists on the ground and the (rebel) Free Syrian Army, who we will support with all our means", he said.
"The Annan plan still exists but it has not been implemented," he added, in reference to a peace blueprint thrashed out by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that was supposed to begin with a ceasefire from April 12 but which has been violated daily.
"We will work for this plan to be included under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to force the regime to implement it and to leave all options open," he said.
Chapter VII allows for sanctions and, in extreme cases, military action.
Russia and China, infuriated by the NATO campaign in Libya last year, have vowed to oppose any military intervention but British Foreign Secretary William Hague refused on Sunday to rule out the possibility.
"We don't know how things are going to develop. Syria is on the edge of a collapse or of a sectarian civil war, and so I don't think we can rule anything out," Hague told Sky News television.
He said the situation in Syria resembled that of Bosnia in the 1990s.
"It is not so much like Libya last year, where we had, of course, a successful intervention to save lives," he said.
"It is looking more like Bosnia in the 1990s, of being on the edge of a sectarian conflict in which neighbouring villages are attacking and killing each other."
The violence has intensified in Syria despite the presence of 300 United Nations observers charged with monitoring a truce that was supposed to take effect from April 12.
On Saturday, at least 111 people -- 83 civilians and 28 soldiers -- were killed, according to Observatory figures, representing one of the heaviest single-day death tolls since the nominal start of the ceasefire.
By midday (0900 GMT) on Sunday, clashes and shelling had killed at least 12 people, the watchdog said.
Hundreds of rebel fighters meanwhile remained holed up in Latakia province, a loyalist stronghold on the Mediterranean coast.
The army sent troop reinforcements to the mainly Alawite province where rebels have grouped in a Sunni Muslim enclave around the town of Al-Heffa, the Observatory said.
Nearly 60 soldiers have died since June 5 in battles with opposition fighters in the enclave, which lies some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Turkish border. At least 46 civilians and rebels have also been killed.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said that the resistance being put up in a province where the majority of the population are members of Assad's Alawite minority showed that the uprising against his regime was truly nationwide.
"The coast is no longer a safe area, and the whole country is now involved in the revolt," he told AFP.

Al Qaeda Offshoot Offers Camels for Obama's Head, Hens for Hillary Clinton's

By MOHAMED IBRAHIM | ABC News – 21 hrs ago

• Somalis Say US Rewards Will Help …

The al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia has mocked the new $33 million bounty on its top leaders heads by offering its own bounty for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – 10 camels for Obama and 20 chickens for Clinton.

"Anyone who helps the Mujahideen find the whereabouts of Obama and Hillary Clinton will be rewarded with 10 Camels to the information leading to Obama and 10 hens and 10 cocks for Hillary," said senior Shabaab commander Fuad Mohamed Khalaf in a statement reported on numerous websites.
Earlier this week, the U.S. offered a total of $33 million through the State Department's Rewards for Justice program for information leading to the capture of seven different Shabaab leaders, including Khalaf.
The U.S. offered $7 million for founder and commander Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamed, AKA Godane or Mukhtar Abu Zubeir, five million for Khalaf and three other men, and $3 million apiece for two other leaders.
The announcement of the U.S. bounties came as Somali and other African military forces have begun to squeeze Shabaab into a smaller and smaller section of Somalia. In a statement, the Somali government said the rewards would help crush the al Qaeda affiliate.
"The announcement from the U.S. government . . . will certainly help the Somali government's efforts to end al Qaeda's reign of terror in Somalia," said Somalia's transitional government in a statement Thursday. "This is an important juncture in Somali history, where the possibility of full recovery from years of chaos is within reach."
In his response to the U.S. rewards, Khalaf said that "infidels" offering bounties for Muslims was "nothing new."
"There is nothing new in the fact that infidels pay to have Muslim leaders killed," said Khalaf. "They already did that by offering camels for the head of Prophet Mohammed, and the dollar is the camel of today."
Khalaf was referencing a passage in the Koran in which 100 camels were offered for the Prophet Mohammed as he fled Mecca for Medina.
"I can assure you that these kind of things will never dissuade us from continuing the holy war against them," said Khalaf.
Mohamed Ibrahim, a veteran Somali journalist, is the first recipient of the Galloway Family Foundation Fellowship for International Investigative Reporting at the ABC News Brian Ross Investigative Unit. Prior to coming to the U.S., Ibrahim contributed reporting from Somalia to the New York Times and worked closely with Pulitzer prize-winning Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman.
Agence France Presse contributed to this report.

Mubarak issued prison uniform, has mugshot taken

Cairo, Mon Jun 04 2012, 09:33 hrs

Egypt's ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak was issued regulation blue prison uniform today a day after being sentenced to life and taken to a jail that once housed his opponents, official media reported.
The state news agency MENA reported that guards in the Cairo Tora prison took his official jail photograph and supplied him with his prisoner number.
Prison authorities turned down his request to continue receiving treatment from doctors at a military hospital where he was detained while on trial for involvement in the killings of protesters during last year's uprising.
The 84-year-old, who reportedly has a heart condition, is being kept in the prison's medical wing.
Security officials and state television had reported yesterday that Mubarak suffered a "health crisis" on arrival by helicopter at the prison after sentencing, and that he was revived with oxygen.
The former strongman broke down in tears and initially refused to leave the helicopter at the facility that once housed opponents of his regime, many of whom were freed after the uprising that toppled him in February 2011.

Mubarak supporters rally to demand shifting him to hospital

Cairo, Sun Jun 10 2012, 01:56 hrs

Around 200 supporters of Hosni Mubarak began a protest on Saturday which they said would continue until the deposed Egyptian President was transferred from prison to hospital.
Security officials and media have reported a severe deterioration in the 84-year-old’s health since he was sentenced to life last week for his role in the killing of hundreds of protesters during last year’s uprising that toppled him.
“There are around 200 supporters and lawyers in front of the Prisons Authority and we will not leave until Mubarak is transferred to either a military or private hospital,” said Mohamed Abdel Razek, one of Mubarak’s lawyers.
State news agency MENA said on Saturday that Mubarak — who was wheeled into court to attend his trial on a hospital bed — risked a stroke.

At 94, this Briton is a living textbook on Pakistan

Chitral, Sun Jun 10 2012, 01:58 hrs

DECLAN WALSH
During a grand gathering of tribal elders in this rugged and remote mountain district recently, one guest of honour stood out - an elderly Englishman in a suit and polished shoes, his snowy hair carefully combed, the morning newspaper folded on his lap.
That man, Geoffrey D Langlands, has had a front-row seat on Pakistan’s many dramas since he arrived, at the country’s chaotic birth, 65 years ago. He has taken tea with princesses, dined with dictators, been kidnapped by tribesmen and scraped through several wars. Now, at 94, Langlands, a former British colonial officer who retired with the rank of major, and a lifelong educator, is striking out on a fresh adventure —retirement.
For the past quarter-century, his home and work have been in Chitral, a sweeping district of snow-dusted peaks at the northern tip of Pakistan.
The institution he founded and ran here, the Langlands School and College, has become a watchword for excellence; each year, the best of the school’s 1,000-plus students, one-third of them girls, go on to universities in bigger cities, the United States or the United Kingdom.
That success is all the more startling for its setting in a region awash with violence and intrigue: to the east of Chitral is the Swat Valley, where Pakistan’s army fought Taliban insurgents in 2009; to the west lies the Afghan province of Nuristan, where American troops have seen some of their toughest combat.
But for “the major,” as he is known, this has been a cherished chapter in a life that has mixed adventure and arithmetic in his adopted homeland. He is turning to the next one with a discernible touch of reluctance.

“Time to take life a little easier, I suppose,” he said. Then he sat up. “But there’s still so much to do.”
Doing nothing has never been an option for him.
After the other British left, Langlands stayed on, taking a teaching job at Aitchison College in Lahore, Pakistan’s most prestigious boarding school. Over a quarter-century there, he imparted algebra to the offspring of the Pakistani elite, some of whom went on to lead in politics, sports and the military.
Former charges include Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was prime minister between 2002 and 2004, and Imran Khan, the cricket hero turned politician.
“He stood out,” Khan said. “He had this mixture of being firm yet compassionate.”

Egypt plans to set up constitution panel again

Cairo, Sun Jun 10 2012, 02:06 hrs

Egypt will try again on Tuesday to set up an assembly to write a new constitution, the parliament speaker said on Saturday, after the previous such body was dissolved for failing to represent all interests following the fall of Hosni Mubarak's government.
The make-up of the constitutional committee has been in deadlock since April after a court ordered a previous body to be dissolved for being dominated by Islamists and failing to fairly represent Egypt's diverse society.
Islamists control around 70 percent of parliament.
“We have invited the elected parliament members to a joint meeting at 11 am on Tuesday...to elect a 100-member assembly to prepare a new constitution for the state,” Parliamentary speaker Saad al-Katatni said.
“All the political parties and powers have agreed that a full balance and representation of all powers and interests will be taken into consideration while forming the assembly,” he added.
Katatni, who heads the parliamentary committee in-charge of choosing the assembly's members and belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, the biggest parliamentary party, had asked public institutes, courts, syndicates and religious bodies on Friday for their nominations for the new assembly.
The new constitution is expected to define the president's powers and citizen rights. The delay in picking the panel has left Egypt in a constitutional vacuum a week before the final stage of the presidential vote on June 16-17.
The military council that took over after Mubarak was toppled last year has promised to hand over to a newly elected president by July 1, but it is unclear what authority the new head of state will have.
The military council on Tuesday gave political parties a 48-hour deadline to agree on the make-up of the new constitution-drafting assembly.

Suicides outpace war deaths for troops

We specialize in just APO/FPO  Order nowNew York, Sun Jun 10 2012, 02:05 hrs

TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
The suicide rate among the nation’s active-duty military personnel has spiked this year, eclipsing the number of troops dying in battle and on pace to set a record annual high since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Suicides have increased even as the United States military has withdrawn from Iraq and stepped up efforts to provide mental health, drug and alcohol, and financial counseling services.
The military said on Friday that there had been 154 suicides among active-duty troops through Thursday, a rate of nearly one each day this year. The figures were first reported this week by The Associated Press.
That number represents an 18 percent increase over the 130 active-duty military suicides for the same period in 2011. There were 123 suicides from January to early June in 2010, and 133 during that period in 2009, the Pentagon said.
By contrast, there were 124 American military fatalities in Afghanistan as of June 1 this year, Pentagon said.
Suicide rates of military personnel and combat veterans have risen sharply since 2005, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan intensified.
On Friday, Cynthia Smith, a Defence Department spokeswoman, said the Pentagon had sought to remind commanders that those who seek counseling should not be stigmatized. “This is a troubling issue, and we are committed to getting our service members the help they need,” she said. “I want to emphasize that getting help is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of strength.”
In a letter to military commanders last month, Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta said “suicide prevention is a leadership responsibility,” and added, “Commanders and supervisors cannot tolerate any actions that belittle, haze, humiliate or ostracize any individual, especially those who require or are responsibly seeking professional services.”
But veterans’ groups said Friday that the Pentagon had not done enough to moderate the tremendous stress under which combat troops live, including coping with multiple deployments.

ADB, UNEP, GEF to Finance Climate-Friendly Technologies in Asia

ADB, UNEP, GEF to Finance Climate-Friendly Technologies in Asia 
 Saturday, 9 June 2012

A new Climate Technology Network and Finance Center will expand the availability of low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies in Asia and the Pacific with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with core funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

"The countries of Asia and the Pacific need to rapidly deploy new technologies capable of decoupling their growth from high emissions of greenhouse gases, and they need to build their resilience to climate change impacts," said S. Chander, Director-General of ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

The technology finance center will be set up in Manila, Philippines, to be managed by ADB, while the climate technology network secretariat will be based in Bangkok, Thailand, to be managed by UNEP.

The new center will help mobilize financing for clean technology by folding technology considerations into national investment plans and strategies, and by piloting innovative financing mechanisms. The network, meanwhile, will provide complementary technical support and policy advice and be a forum for knowledge sharing.

A pilot technology marketplace to spur transactions in climate-friendly technologies will also be established.

Asia and the Pacific is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, with emissions from the energy sector alone up 183% since 1990, and has more people at risk who live in the region's coastal cities, and in rural areas where livelihoods are heavily dependent on agriculture and other climate-sensitive sectors.

The new center and secretariat aim to generate investments that will cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the next 10 years. During the same period, they hope to cut energy use by the equivalent of 1.5 million barrels of oil or 12.3 million megawatt hours of electricity.

GEF is providing a grant of roughly $11 million to support the center. "The project shows GEF's commitment to technology transfer and innovative approaches that encompass both mitigation and adaptation. It is an example of GEF's support for the operationalization and activities of Climate Technology Network and Finance Centers in response to the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change decision received as guidance from the 2011 Durban Conference of the Parties, in line with GEF procedures," said Monique Barbut, GEF Chief Executive Officer.

Further cofinancing will come from the governments of Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research NV.

Clinton Presses Baku on Rights Amid Violence

Clinton Presses Baku on Rights Amid Violence
 Thursday, 7 June 2012

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Azerbaijan yesterday to show greater respect for human rights during her visit to Caspian Sea nation amid an upsurge of violence in the region.

In a roughly five-hour visit, Clinton balanced her concerns about Azerbaijan’s rights record with U.S. interest in its energy resources, making time to meet with activists for a more open government as well as to tour an annual energy trade show. “We ... urge the government to respect their citizens’ right to express (their) views peacefully (and) to release those who have been detained for doing so,” Clinton said after meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The call came as Azerbaijani forces killed an Armenian soldier in clashes in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, according to Karabakh officials. The incident came after recent killings of five Azerbaijani and three Armenian soldiers in two days. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday that they were watching the spread of incidents in to the common border of Azerbaijan and Armenia with deep sadness and concern, Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkey Says Georgia, Azerbaijan Meeting Opportunity for Peace in Region

Turkey Says Georgia, Azerbaijan Meeting Opportunity for Peace in Region

 Saturday, 9 June 2012

Turkey hosts a trilateral meeting with Georgia and Azerbaijan in a bid to deepen ties between the three allies, where Turkey says it believes the cooperation mechanism will become an effective way to restore peace and stability in the region, Today's Zaman reported.

"This three-way mechanism will provide an important opportunity to transform Black Sea, Caucasus and Caspian region to an area of peace, stability and prosperity," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters after the talks with his Georgian and Azerbaijani counterparts.

Davutoglu met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze within the scope of Turkey-Azerbaijan-Georgia foreign ministers' tripartite meeting in the northeastern province of Trabzon on Friday.

During the meeting, the ministers discussed bilateral and regional issues, increasing cooperation between the countries and regional stability and security. The parties also exchanged views on regional cooperation on the issues of common interest to all three countries.

Davutoglu told reporters that the mechanism between the three countries are not does not have "excluding" nature and the foreign ministers consider the mechanism as a way to widen areas of cooperation.

He added that the three nations have successfully realized very significant peace and stability projects.

The meeting coincided with increasing tension along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on Friday.

Davutoglu said the foreign ministers discussing during the meeting cooperation opportunities and ongoing projects. He added that the the second session of the meeting will be held in the second half of 2012 in Georgia's Batumi city and the next one will be held in the first half of 2013 in Azerbaijan.

In the final declaration of the Trabzon meeting, foreign minsiters said they underline the importance of stability and prosperity of the South Caucasus region, located at the crossroads of energy, transport and communication corridors between East and West and North and South, for the regional and global stability and security. They said they acknowledge that protracted conflicts emanating from existing occupations are the main obstacle to peace and stability in the South Caucasus and pointing out that resolution of these conflicts will help to build an atmosphere of peace, stability and prosperity.

The countries said they agreed in the final declaration to enhance the existing cooperative partnerships among the countries to promote common development and contribute to peace, security, stability and prosperity of the region.

They said they note the importance of the earliest resolution of the conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, and the conflict over Abkhazia, Georgia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan and Georgia respectively and emphasize the right to safe and dignified return of the refugees and internally displaced persons to their places of origin.

Azerbaijanis Kill Armenian Soldier in Karabakh: Reports

Azerbaijanis Kill Armenian Soldier in Karabakh: Reports
 Saturday, 9 June 2012

Azerbaijani forces killed an Armenian soldier in clashes in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region today amid an upsurge of violence between the ex-Soviet enemies, Nagorno-Karabakh officials said.

"An Azerbaijani reconnaissance-sabotage group attempted to penetrate the combat positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh defense army," an official said in a statement.

"Karabakh's vanguard units noticed the enemy's offensive actions in time and took military action, throwing the enemy back," the statement said.

Junior Sergeant Vardan Ohanian was killed and two more Armenian soldiers were wounded during the firefight, it said.

Eight soldiers had already been killed this week in armed clashes on the ex-Soviet states' mutual border -- five Azerbaijanis and three Armenians.

The worst violence for months erupted in the week that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited both countries and called on them to refrain from using force.