Syria's president promises a national dialogue to consider political reforms,

Syria's president promises a national dialogue to consider political reforms, but his vague overtures to a pro-democracy uprising fall flat as protesters take to the streets shouting "Liar!" and demanding his ouster. In only his third public appearance since the revolt erupted in March, Bashar Assad blames the unrest on "saboteurs," offers modest potential reforms, but gives no sign he'd move toward ending the Assad family's political domination.
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2 dead in insurgent attack in Afghan capital

A police officer and an eyewitness say suicide bombers have attacked a police station near the presidential palace in the heart of the Afghan capital, killing two police officers.

A police officer said one suicide bomber also had been killed in the attack in Kabul that started early Saturday afternoon. The officer requested anonymity as he was not authorized to brief the media.

A 32-year-old eyewitness, Mohammed Honayon, told The Associated Press the attackers were wearing Afghan army uniforms and opened fire as they tried to enter the police station.

A gun battle between insurgents and security forces was still going on for control of the station.

 

Four British men held on spying and terrorism charges in the Horn of Africa state of Eritrea have been freed after five months in captivity.

The two ex-Marine guards and two civilian crew members, working for an anti-piracy security firm, were expected to land at Heathrow airport late tonight.

But questions remained over the security contractors' activities in the isolationist country, including official allegations that they set up a "military base" on a remote island and stashed sniper rifles, silencers, pistols and "poison-tipped" bullets "intended for perpetrating acts of terrorism and sabotage".

The men worked for British maritime security company Protection Vessels International, which said they made an unscheduled stop in Eritrea last December owing to rough weather while en route to provide security for ships in an area where piracy is rife. PVI claimed they were arrested because of "confusion over fuel payments".

But Eritrea's government insisted that the men were detained as they tried to leave Eritrean waters without permission, and said its searches then uncovered a weapons cache on the island of Romia. The government alleged that a total of 21 PVI employees were involved in crimes "against Eritrean sovereignty", and that four were caught while trying to escape.

"On 19 December, 21 members of the PVI (including those four detained) infiltrated and deployed different types of weapons, poison-tipped bullets, bulletproof vests, specialised communication equipment and infrared night-vision binoculars in the sovereign Eritrean island of Romia," a government press release said last week.

"There is high possibility that such military hardware is intended for perpetrating acts of terrorism and sabotage. Hence, the members are accountable for infiltrating into the sovereign Eritrean island of Romia and stashing weaponry, for orchestrating acts of espionage and terrorism."

The statement also claimed that 11 seamen stayed in hiding on Romia for four days, along with military hardware, equipment and communication facilities. "These seamen were given directives to keep guard in twos and to pose as 'tourists keen to observe sharks'," it said, proving that the PVI had been using Romia "as its military base and arms depot".

PVI employs former British marines to provide armed on-board security and escort vessels for shipping operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It has denied Eritrea's claims.

Paul Gibbins, a company spokesman, said this was the worst event in the company's two-year history and a full investigation would be conducted into what had gone wrong.

"We need to find out what the pinch point was. Was there a confusion over the fuel? Was there an issue over the vessel's departure? We just don't know at this stage," he said. "The whole episode has been a series of unfortunate events."

Gibbins denied that the company was involved "any espionage or acts of assassination". He said that the ship had been forced to stop in Massawa for a crucial fuel resupply and equipment repair.

But, he insisted, the company had worked hard before it docked to ensure that the ship's presence was not regarded "as a threat or hostile action".

"Christopher Collison was dispatched to Massawa to liaise with the local shipping agent and the port authority," he said. "He was there for four days, explaining and negotiating. We had only intermittent contact with him during that time, because mobile phones don't work in that area. We worked very hard to ascertain if it was safe to enter the port."

Gibbins said that, despite the lack of contact, the company was eventually forced to make the decision to give the ship permission to enter the port. However, he said, it had tried to "desensitise" and "detune" the presence of both the ship and its crew by unloading the weapons they carried as part of their regular duties on Romia, an outlying and uninhabitated island, before landing.

"We did everything we could to make it clear our presence was not misconstrued as a hostile act," he said.

The ship spent five days at Massawa, but was eventually forced to leave before it had fully refuelled. "We needed 15 tonnes of fuel but could only get 1,500 litres before we were forced to leave to meet an engagement to provide security for clients," said Gibbins. "In hindsight, it's true we could have done things better but, given the time constraints and the immediacy of the decisions that needed to be made, we worked hard to facilitate safe entry to the port. We do regret those unfortunate events and apologise to everyone concerned."

Election rules lost on the Arab world

IF the Western world does not tie specific demands to the dollars it is giving away, Egypt will go the way of the Palestinians.

In 2006 the Palestinians held what was touted as their first democratic election and the most un-democratic of parties took the plurality. Hamas, the terrorist organisation, won. Hamas was charged with choosing a prime minister and with carving out a government.

In the end, it didn't totally happen. Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the opposition party Fatah, ousted Hamas's prime minister and unceremoniously inserted his own choice. Hamas revolted and kicked Fatah out of Gaza. Now five years later, in a move understood only by the Palestinian leadership, Fatah and Hamas have forged a unity government.

The Arab world watched what happened in the Palestinian Authority. And the Arab world learned a lesson.



The US along with the rest of the Western world watched, but they did not learn. The US has just pledged $US1 billion dollars to the Egyptians. The G-8 has promised $US40bn to Arab countries willing to implement democratic transformations. The Western world has high hopes for the Arab world and, understandably, the limelight is shining on Egypt. Hosni Mubarak, the brutal dictator, was ousted in February and the ruling military authority in Egypt has promised elections for September. Not just any elections, democratic elections.

But it can't happen. September is only three months from now. More time elapsed from the fall of Mubarak to the call for elections than will elapse from the call for elections to the time of elections. In other words, the Egyptians now running the country took more time to think about calling for elections than they are giving themselves to re-organise, re-orient and re-group for democratic elections which have never been held before in their country.

It's a game. The Egyptian military knows that it cannot happen. It is toying with the West. The military is still busy clamping down on restless protesters and is too busy and too preoccupied to concentrate on laying down the framework for a democratic infrastructure. Even if they had the time, the generals in charge have no inclination to prepare for a democratic election in their new Egypt. They want to hold on to their power for as long as they possibly can. They want to cement their control over the people and convince them that their best chance for a better life comes through continued military rule.

Egypt's generals realise how dangerous democracy can be.

Hamas is to the Palestinian Authority what the Muslim Brotherhood is to the new Egypt. If elections are held in September this Islamic, terrorist, anti-democratic organisation has a significant chance of having a strong turnout. If the Muslim Brotherhood gets its expected 20 per cent of the vote it might become the second most powerful party and the pivotal force of Egypt.

The rule throughout much of Europe is that anti-democratic forces are not permitted to stand for election in new, fledgling democracies. In Germany, in particular, where the tradition of democracy is still new, that rule is strongly enforced. There are clear and unbiased ways of evaluating a political party and their players. Platforms and statements are studied to determine if they express democratic or anti- and un-democratic values and policies. When the Palestinians first spoke of a democratically held election, the US and Israel insisted Hamas be prohibited from participating. But with building pressure came capitulation. The rest is history.

Democracy has but one major responsibility and that is to guard itself against those who want to destroy it.

The most significant lesson of Hitler's rise to power was the two elections of 1932. In both those ballots, Hitler received a plurality, he was democratically elected. When he ascended to power in January of 1933 one the first things Hitler did was pass the Enabling Act, which eliminated democracy. Hitler used democracy to gain power and then destroyed the democracy that put him in place.

If there are to be democratic elections in the Arab world, then first teach them about equality. Teach them to disagree without killing the person with whom you disagree. Teach them to defend the rights of the minority.

Teach them what democracy means. Then, maybe, democracy will have a chance of succeeding in the Arab world. Without that infrastructure, just keep the thugs in place and save a few billion dollars.

 

A Yemeni colonel, two soldiers and four suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed in clashes in the flashpoint southern city of Zinjibar

A Yemeni colonel, two soldiers and four suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed in clashes in the flashpoint southern city of Zinjibar on Sunday, a military official and medics said.
"I lost one of my men, Colonel Salem al-Zuba," who was killed in fierce clashes with Al-Qaeda gunmen, an officer of the besieged 25th mechanised brigade told AFP.
A medic at a military hospital in Aden said the bodies of two soldiers were brought in from clashes in Zinjibar, which was mostly overrun by suspected Al-Qaeda militants last month.
Al-Razi hospital in the nearby town of Jaar, meanwhile, "received the bodies of four Al-Qaeda militants, in addition to five others wounded," a medic told AFP.
An unidentified spokeman claiming to represent the gunmen in Zinjibar told AFP by telephone that the jihadists "stormed part of the camp of the 25th brigade," a report denied by the officer.
Residents said fighter planes overflew Zinjibar on Sunday.

Syrian troops fought with ''armed gangs'' in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur yesterday,

Syrian troops fought with ''armed gangs'' in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur yesterday, state television reported, as international outrage mounted at Syria's brutal crackdown on protesters.

''Army divisions entered Jisr al-Shughur and purged the state hospital of armed groups,'' the report said.

''Violent clashes pitched the army divisions against armed groups positioned inside and around the town,'' it added.

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Jisr al-Shughur, in north-western Syria near the border with Turkey, has been the focus of military operations for days, following what the authorities said was the massacre of 120 policemen by ''armed gangs'' in the town last Monday.

Human rights activists and residents deny the allegations of a massacre and say a number of policemen were executed by other security force members when they refused to fire on protesters in the town.

Harrowing reports of atrocities committed during Syria's crackdown, including deserting soldiers' accounts of massacred civilians, have sparked fresh international outrage.

The United Nations chief, Ban Ki-moon, expressed concern at the mounting death toll, while the US and the European Union urged the President, Bashar al-Assad, to let aid workers in.

As the death toll mounted, detailed accounts emerged from some of the thousands who fled to Turkey from the bloodshed in Jisr al-Shughur.

Among them were Syrian army deserters who told of atrocities committed by soldiers, who were under the threat of execution if they disobeyed orders.

Tahal al-Lush described the operation, in Ar-Rastan, a town of 50,000 people in Homs province, that had pushed him to desert.

''We were told that people were armed there. But when we arrived, we saw that they were ordinary civilians. We were ordered to shoot them,'' he said.

''When we entered the houses, we opened fire on everyone, the young, the old … Women were raped in front of their husbands and children,'' he said.

The turmoil has pushed 4600 Syrians to seek refuge in Turkey, a government official said.

Both the EU and the US are backing a UN Security Council resolution proposed by Britain and France that condemns Syria for its crackdown.

Libya condemns visit of foreign officials in Benghazi, threatens retaliation

Libya Thursday strongly condemned the visit of foreign officials to the eastern part of the country, particularly Benghazi, the stronghold of the rebel army fighting the regime of Mouammar Kadhafi. The Libyan General People's Committee for External Relations and International Cooperation issued a statement condemning the visits, which it described as 'a flagrant violation of international law, an encroachment on the sovereignty of the Libyan people, a blatant interference in its internal affairs and support to the separatist rebel groups under flimsy pretexts.'

In the statement, Libya threatened retaliation against foreign leaders who visit Benghazi.

Libya said it now reserved the right to establish contacts with movements claiming independence in the Canary Islands, for example, to work towards the liberation of enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla; to forge an alliance with the Basque country to provide support for independence of Scotland, the island of Lampedusa and Pantriya for the return of these territories to Tunisia, their motherland.

Senegal is also targeted by Libya, according to the statement, as President Abdoulaye Wade was expected Thursday in Benghazi.

'The Libyan people have the right to support Casamance rebels, who have been fighting for almost three decades for the independence of their region,' the statement said.

 

About a thousand protesters return to Baghdad's Tahrir Square

About a thousand protesters return to Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Many protesters there and in other cities around the country opposed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to not fire anyone in his Cabinet after this week's expiration of a self-imposed 100-day deadline for reforms. Al-Maliki had promised to purge his government of corruption and dysfunction and provide more electricity and better public services, but the deadline passed earlier this week with little fallout.

Bahrain's most senior Shiite cleric says there is no chance for talks with the Gulf nation's Sunni rulers

Bahrain's most senior Shiite cleric says there is no chance for talks with the Gulf nation's Sunni rulers while security forces maintain their clampdown on protesters calling for equal rights and political freedoms. The sermon by Sheik Isa Qassim underscores the deep discontent among Bahrain's Shiite majority despite the lifting of martial law-style rules earlier this month and appeals for dialogue by the Sunni monarchy. It also marks another blow to the ruling establishment after organizers of Bahrain's prestigious Formula One race called off efforts to reschedule the 2011 event, which was canceled in March amid the unrest.

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Libyan government forces pound the outskirts of the rebel-held city of Misrata

Libyan government forces pound the outskirts of the rebel-held city of Misrata, killing at least 22 people, a hospital physician says. The doctor at Hikma Hospital, who would only give his first name, Ayman, said Moammar Gadhafi's forces used tanks, artillery and incendiary rockets in the bombardment of Dafniya, about 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Misrata. He said at least 61 people are wounded in the attacks which began about 10 a.m. local time. Gadhafi forces had renewed their shelling near Misrata on Wednesday. The city is one of the few footholds rebels have in western Libya and controls the country's largest port.