00.5.010110_VOA News
January 1, 2010
010110.01
Iranian Security Apparatus Beefs Up Presence in Tehran Edward Yeranian, Cairo
Iran's top security figures are stepping up their threats to prosecute and punish supporters and leaders of the country's opposition movement in what appears to be a calculated attempt to demonstrate that they are still in control of the situation.
Opposition websites also report troops in
Tehran have been reinforced.
Iranian government TV indicated the
country's top security officials met late
Wednesday to discuss the ongoing crisis
created by what the television called
"rioters and those fomenting sedition
against the Islamic Republic."
Intelligence Minister Haidar Moslehi
insisted the Marxist "People's Mujahideen"
movement is heavily involved in the
opposition movement and recent
demonstrations:
He called the recent opposition demonstrations anti-revolutionary and says a large number of people arrested for participating in them are Marxists or belong to the People's Mujahideen. He said Iran's intelligence apparatus has a good deal of information and has identified many of these instigators and he expects the judiciary to take tough action against them.
This photo, taken by an
individual not employed by
the Associated Press and
obtained by the AP outside
Iran, shows Iranian anti-riot
police officers make their way
on their bikes, during
anti-government protest in
Tehran, Iran, 27 Dec 2009
Iran's top prosecutor Abbas Jaafar Doulatabadi also said opposition protests over the disputed June presidential election were just an excuse to attack the Islamic republic and its leaders.
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani lashed out at the opposition during a visit to a provincial city, insisting the people are demanding an end to opposition demonstrations:
He says the people are losing patience with the sectarian conflict he claims some are trying to provoke. Both the government and the parliament, he argues, will do what is being asked of them and put and end to violence and seditious acts, like what he called the sacrilege against Imam Hussein by protesting during Ashoura.
Iran's top police official, Esmail Ahmedi-Moghaddam also warned the opposition the government would no longer be lenient. "The time of pardoning is over," he says. "We were patient at first, but now our reaction will be even more harsh."
Hundreds of opposition protesters, activists, and intellectuals have been arrested since Sunday's opposition demonstrations, in which protesters fought running-street battles against government security forces, leaving at least eight people dead.
Iranian TV also broadcast videos of pro-government marchers, chanting slogans in favor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and against the opposition and Western powers that allegedly support it. Some participants have been shown wearing white shrouds to indicate they are ready to die for the Islamic Republic.
010110.02
Former Indonesian President Remembered as Advocate for Tolerance, Democracy
Brian Padden, Jakarta
Thousands of mourners chanted the Islamic prayer, "there is no god but Allah," as former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was
buried near his home in East Java Thursday.
Better known by his nickname Gus Dur,
he died Wednesday at the age of 69 of
complications arising from diabetes and
strokes he had suffered.
Current President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono led the memorial service.
He says Indonesia has lost one of the
best sons of the nation and one of its
best statesmen.
Mr. Wahid rose to political prominence
through his role as leader of one of the
country's biggest Islamic movements,
the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). He was a critic of military strongman Mr. Suharto during his nearly three decades in power.
In 1999, soon after Mr. Suharto was forced to resign, national elections were held and Mr. Wahid was selected by the parliament to become Indonesia's fourth president.
Political commentator Wimar Witoelar was President Wahid's chief presidential spokesman. He says Mr. Wahid established national values of tolerance and equality that today define democracy in Indonesia.
"They have lived on. They have lived on," said Witoelar. "The things we are praised now for being, … the anti-corruption going on stream, the military which is taking a back seat into politics, the notion that Chinese and other minorities are equal, their holidays being celebrated, the multi-religiosity, the religious pluralism in which you can see fantastic Christmas carols in the malls of Jakarta are all an offspring of breakthroughs he did."
World leaders are sending their condolences to President Wahid's family and the people of Indonesia. U.S. President Barack Obama said Indonesian military carry the
coffin of former Indonesian
President Abdurrahman Wahid
at his family cemetery in
Jombang, East Java, Indonesia,
31 Dec 2009
President Wahid will be remembered for his commitment to democratic principles, inclusive politics, and religious tolerance.
Mr. Wahid sought dialogue and conciliation with ethnic separatists in Aceh and Papua. And he visited East Timor to apologize for Indonesian atrocities there and tried unsuccessfully to put in place a truth commission. He also cracked down on Islamist extremists in 2000 after terrorist bombings killed 18 people in Indonesia.
As president, Mr. Wahid challenged traditional power centers. He worked to roll back the role of the military in political life and to decentralize power to Indonesia's far-flung provinces. But his administration was characterized by unpredictable cabinet reshuffles and allegations of nepotism.
And he alienated some Muslim supporters by calling for diplomatic relations with Israel and an end to a Cold War-era ban on communism.
His term ended in 2001 with his impeachment for alleged corruption for misappropriation of state funds. Mr. Wahid initially attempted to remain in power by declaring a state of emergency but eventually stepped down. He denied any wrongdoing and was never tried on criminal charges.
Witoelar says Mr. Wahid was forced out of office because he was unwilling to compromise his political integrity and presidential authority.
"I was a witness into several negotiations in which the Golkar party and others offered a compromise solution but he never thought of accepting them," said Witoelar. "He said it is too important, his opportunity to uphold moral principles in politics was too important to be sacrificed for the sake of expediency."
While President Abdurrahman Wahid's time in office was short, his vision of Indonesia as a tolerant, pluralistic society endures.
010110.03
Eric Bibb Digs Deep into Delta Blues on 'Booker's Guitar'
Doug Levine, Washington
Eric Bibb claims he's a lifetime fan of the late Booker White, a Delta blues singer who gained fame with a series of recordings in the 1930s. White was also known for being B.B. King's older cousin.
While on tour in London a few years ago,
Bibb got a first-hand look at White's
1934 Resophonic National steel-body
guitar. It's now owned by one of Bibb's
closest fans, and it prompted him to
write and record the title song, using the
prized guitar, nicknamed "The Holy
Grail."
Eric Bibb keeps the acoustic blues
tradition alive on Booker's Guitar.
Bibb describes playing the guitar as "a rite of passage."
He says, "Once I had written that song, I really wanted to make a complete statement and document my connection to the Delta blues tradition." He recorded 14 other tracks using his own guitars.
In addition to his string of solo albums, Bibb has appeared on a variety of compilations, including Pre-War Blues Classics, Blue Haze - The Songs of Jimi Hendrix, folk and blues recordings for children, and the Putumayo Records' collections Mali To Memphis, American Blues, and Blues Around The World.
010110.04
Dutch to Use Full Body Scanners for US-Bound Flights
Selah Hennessy, London
Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst spoke at a news conference in Doug Levine, Washington 31
December 2009
The Hague Wednesday.
"No security is ever water proof, which is
why we will immediately be using body
scanners for all flights to the States,"
she said.
She said the body scanners will be in
place within three weeks. Schiphol
airport in Amsterdam already has at
least 15 body scanners, but their use
has been restricted because of fears
over privacy as the scanners reveal
intimate areas of passengers' bodies.
But Ter Horst said new software has eliminated that problem. The new software can scan the image and alert airport officials to foreign objects on the body so that a full body search can then take place.
"There is a way we can detect if they are carrying anything additional on their body and as soon as there is something - a foreign object or a foreign substance these can then be taken forward by a body search," she said.
Ter Horst said a passenger scanner may have been able to spot the explosives carried onto a transatlantic jet last week.
On Christmas Day 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a flight headed to the United States city of Detroit with explosives concealed under his clothes.
Abdulmuttalab was tackled on board the Northwest Airlines flight after attempting to detonate the explosives.
Ter Horst said before boarding the flight from Amsterdam Abdulmutallab had gone through a full security check, including passing through a metal detector and having his bags checked. She said he was carrying a valid Nigerian passport and a valid United States Dutch Interior Minister Guusje
Ter Horst speaks during a news
conference in The Hague,
Netherlands, 30 Dec 2009
visa.
010110.05
Conflict in Yemen Intensifies As More People Flee
Lisa Schlein, Geneva
The Red Cross says civilians trapped in conflict in northern Yemen are finding it hard just to survive. It says many people leave their homes and their belongings behind in a desperate attempt to find safety.
ICRC spokesman, Marcel Izard, tells
VOA in just the past two days about
2,000 new people have fled to Saada city.
He says such a large exodus indicates a
lot of fighting is going on.
"You have some people who are fleeing,
obviously who are coming now into
these huge camps that are centered in
Saada city and outside the city and other
places as well. And, you have other
people who are too scared to flee
because fighting is really taking place very close to the villages and who do not know what will happen to them if they flee," said Izard.
Fighting between the government and al-Houthi rebels has been going on since 2004. This latest wave of fighting erupted in August. Since then, aid agencies have been urgently appealing to the international community for support in assisting the civilians caught in the middle. But, the response has been very poor.
Since the recent aborted terrorist attack on a Delta airliner, worldwide attention has focused on Yemen because of the alleged al-Qaida connection.
While this issue is separate from the fighting in northern Yemen, Izard A Yemeni refugee woman
washes clothes at the Mazraq
Refugee Camp in northern
Yemen, 11 Dec 2009
says he hopes some of this attention will be paid to that conflict. He notes people are in desperate need of assistance. They lack water, food and other essentials.
He says all of northern Yemen is a combat zone. He says the fighting keeps shifting from one place to another adding to the uncertainties and instability in the region.
"People have been displaced four, five times in a row. People cannot even resettle in an area because once they are in one camp in one area, it might happen to them that fighting reaches this area as well and suddenly they have to move again, which is one of the solutions," he said. "People see what they are facing and they are on the constant move and they do not really feel safe anywhere where they are. And, now it is winter. Even in Yemen it is wintertime. It is cold in the nighttime, so it is also a very difficult time for them."
The International Committee of the Red Cross says dozens of civilians reportedly have been killed or injured in attacks in several parts of Saada governorate. It says it has not been able to verify this information because of lack of access to the areas.
Since mid-August, the Red Cross says at least 150,000 people have been affected by the armed conflict. It says around half of them are internally displaced.
010110.06
Concerns Rise That Indian Students Will Desert Australia Because of Safety Fears
Phil Mercer, Sydney
Tourism officials estimate a decline in students from India will cost Australia $70 million in lost revenue.
There are concerns that young Indians
have been scared off by a series of
assaults in Sydney and Melbourne over
the past year.
Australian police say that while some of
the assaults were racially motivated, the
majority were opportunistic crimes by
thugs preying on easy targets.
Security around trouble spots, such as
suburban railway stations, has increased.
Senior government officials, including
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, have visited
India to try to reassure potential students that appropriate safety measures have been taken.
But Tourism Australia, the government agency that promotes the country overseas, thinks deep- seated fears remain in India about the violence.
Tourism Australia spokesman Bernard Salt says the outlook for 2010 does not look good.
"The number of Indians arriving in Australia for education purposes will decrease by more than 20 percent in 2010," he said. "This is a segment that has grown strongly throughout this decade but the downturn is expected in response to concerns that the Indian community has had about safety."
The news media in India accused Australia of being a racist country, and the attacks have tarnished Australia's image as a friendly and relaxed place.
In recent years about 90,000 young Indians have arrived to study in Australia. Now the multi-billion dollar education industry worries about the effect of large decline in foreign students.
Indian students hold protest
signs during a rally to stamp
out violence against
international students and
racism in Sydney, Australia, 07
Jun 2009
Despite concerns about Indian students, tourism authorities expect more international vacationers to visit Australia in the coming year as the travel trade recovers from the global financial crisis.
Most of the foreigners heading here on vacation in 2010 are expected to come from the United States and China.
010110.07
Arms Control: Key Issue Between Washington, Moscow
Andre de Nesnera, Washington
Many analysts agree that during the eight years of the Bush administration, U.S.-Russia relations steadily deteriorated. And experts wondered whether President Barack Obama would reverse that downward trend.
Only weeks after Mr. Obama was
inaugurated, Vice President Joe Biden
answered that question in a speech to an
international security conference in
Munich, Germany.
"It's time - to paraphrase President
Obama - it's time to press the reset
button," he said. "And to revisit the many
areas where we can and should be
working together with Russia."
Experts say that speech set a new,
positive tone for relations between Washington and Moscow.
Former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft describes the current relationship as "prickly, but improving."
"The whole notion, the 'reset button,' is psychologically the right thing to do," he said. "Our relationship has been increasingly souring for a President Barack Obama and
Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev shake hands
following meeting at UN
Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen, 18 Dec 2009
number of years now and it's important to turn it around. And I think we're on the verge now."
The two sides are working on a follow-on agreement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START 1, which expired on December 5. But both sides say they will abide by the treaty provisions until a new accord is reached.
At a July summit in Moscow, President Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, agreed on the basic terms of a new treaty. They said they will reduce their countries' arsenals of strategic nuclear warheads as well as delivery systems, such as missiles and long-range bombers.
The START 1 treaty also has strict verification provisions that many experts say must be included in any follow-on accord.
One of those experts is former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger.
"The real question is the details," he said. "As you know, to this point, the START treaty has included verification of, in particular, what the Russians have been doing with regard to their offensive forces and their production complex. And we certainly are interested in seeing a continuation of the verification process."
Many experts say Moscow wants to have less intrusive verification procedures put into the follow-on to the START 1 treaty, while Washington wants stronger measures.
Former Secretary of State [1992] Lawrence Eagleburger says the Russians are tough bargainers.
"The Russians are now, for instance, on the nuclear issues that have bedeviled us in the past, the Russians have, I gather, recently toughened their stance on some of those questions," he said.
"And under those circumstances, well in fact this administration, this regime - because it's so anxious to work a relationship with the
Russians - may in fact make some compromises that I think would be very unwise," he added.
Those compromises, says Eagleburger, could be in the form of lax verification provisions.
But other experts say that because any treaty must be ratified by the U.S. Senate, every provision will be scrutinized very carefully - especially the one dealing with verification. The treaty must also be ratified by the Russian parliament, or Duma. But analysts say that is a foregone conclusion.