Charge from the "opposition". On January 17, Syrian insurgents announced that the day before, government forces and Shabiha militias massacred Homs. Reports about it "Lenta.ru" with reference to the Guardian newspaper in the Middle East.
More than a hundred people, the newspaper writes, including women and children, were shot, killed, and burned by entire families in their homes in the Sunni neighborhoods of the city. Government forces broke into the area of Basatin Hassavia (poor suburb) and, under the pretext of searching for terrorists, allegedly began to kill everyone.
Official Damascus has not yet responded to these messages.
Algerian assault completed. 30 hostages are dead. In the course of the military operation of the Algerian army to free the militants of the oil and gas complex, thirty hostages were killed. As transmits correspondent ITAR-TASS Dina Drunk With reference to "APS", the assault, which lasted more than six hours, was completed.
Among those killed were eight Algerian hostages and seven foreign nationals: two Britons, two Japanese and a Frenchman. The national identity of the remaining victims has not yet been established.
During the operation, eleven terrorists were killed, including the leader of one of the terrorist organizations involved in the attack - the Sons of the Desert for Islamic Justice. The leader of the Algerian grouping "Abu al-Baraa", the Moorish Abdullah Ould Ahmida, was also killed. It was these structures that formed the backbone of the gang under the leadership of the organization "Blood Signed."
Washington recognized the Somali government. The United States officially recognized the Somali government. As transmits "Lenta.ru" With reference to France-Presse, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this yesterday after meeting with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamad.
According to Clinton, Washington hopes for an “open, transparent dialogue about what else the US can do to help the people of Somalia realize their dreams.”
Lenta recalls that Hassan Sheikh Mohamad was elected president of Somalia in September 2012. Thus, the formation of a new state leadership was completed. Today, the Somali authorities are trying to take control of the country's territory, in which they are helped by the troops of the African Union. By September, they were able to win back all the major settlements, including Mogadishu, from the Islamists.
The trial of the son of Gaddafi. The eldest son of Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam, yesterday appeared before a court in Libya. Reports about it "Lenta.ru" with reference to France-Presse.
Safe al-Islam is accused of "threatening national security." These charges were brought after his meeting in prison with the representative of the International Criminal Court Melinda Taylor in June 2012. According to the Libyan authorities, Taylor passed two spy camcorders to Seif al-Islam, as well as a message from his assistant, Mohammad Ismail, who is being sought.
Taylor, and with her three other employees of the ICC, including the Russian Alexander Khodakov, were also arrested. A few weeks later, the Libyan authorities allowed them to leave the country.
Yesterday's 17 trial in January was closed to the press. Only representatives of the state television channel Al-Watania were allowed to attend.
As recalled by Lenta, al-Islam Gaddafi has been detained since November 2011. The main accusations made against him by the authorities relate to corruption and war crimes committed during the civil war in Libya. The process for these cases is expected to start in February 2013. In the event that his guilt is proven, Seifu al-Islam may face the death penalty.
"Reconciliation" of India and Pakistan. The military commanders of India and Pakistan ordered their troops in Kashmir not to cross the line of control. A spokesman for the Indian Army assured the Air Force that Pakistan had assured India of its “conciliatory” position, reports "Sight".
The newspaper "The View" recalls that tensions on the line of control held in Jammu and Kashmir, increased after the January 6 shootout, when a Pakistani soldier died. Two days later, two Indian soldiers were killed, one of whom was later beheaded.
On Monday, the sides held a meeting at the level of brigadier generals, during which India expressed protest to Pakistan, but Islamabad rejected the accusations. In addition, the General Staff of India demanded that the Pakistanis return the head of one of those killed - the younger corporal Hemrai Singh.
Language number two. There are more and more Spanish-speaking people in the world. Their number reached in 2012. 495 million. At the same time, there are fewer people who speak Chinese and English. This is reported in the annual report of the Instituto Cervantes "Spanish in the world."
In 2030, it is projected that 7,5% of the world's population (535 million) will be Hispanic. And through the 3-4 generation, this figure will reach 10%. The largest number of Hispanic citizens will reside in the United States.
On the Internet, Spanish ranks third as the most frequently used language (English and Chinese are the first and second).
Over the past 10 years, the presence of Spanish on the Web has increased by 800%. It significantly overtakes Japanese, Portuguese and German. And in social networks, he left behind Arabic, Russian, Italian, French and German. Today, 18% of schoolchildren in the world are learning Spanish as a second foreign language, notes MIGnews.com with reference to "La Vanguardia".
Athenian vandalism. The remains of the sacred olive tree of Plato, in the shadow of which the great Greek philosopher taught the disciples, were strangled by unknown vandals on Thursday night. This tells RIA News" with reference to the Greek media. The tree grew near the agricultural university of Athens.
According to legend, it was one of the twelve olive trees of the Academy, which grew from the sacred olive - a gift to the goddess Athena, who won the competition with Poseidon and became the patroness of the city. The tree suffered in the middle of the 1970s, when a bus that lost control ran into it. The split trunk was cut down and placed in a special showcase at the Agrarian University, and new shoots started from the remaining huge root.
Experts believe that there were several intruders. After all, the root weighed to 250 to 350 kg, and one person could not carry it. It is assumed that the vandals uprooted the root ... for firewood.
Salvation of drowning people is the work of the EU. Elena Gladkova ("But") reports that the IMF has approved the allocation of the next monetary tranches of Portugal and Greece, stating that countries are "moving in the right direction."
The tranche size for Portugal will be 839 million euros. Greece was among the “lucky ones”: a new credit “dose” of Greece would be either 3,24 billion euros or 4,3 billion euros.
Will Britain leave the EU? As transmits correspondent ITAR-TASS Vladimir Kalinin, The UK can withdraw from the EU if Brussels does not agree to change the formula for the participation of the kingdom in the community. This is reported in published excerpts from David Cameron's Amsterdam speech.
Earlier it was assumed that in the capital of the Netherlands the head of the British government would answer the question about his country's relations with the EU in the coming years. But because of the hostage taking in Algeria, the prime minister had to postpone the visit.
Nevertheless, the prime minister found it possible to satisfy the public interest. Therefore, his press office today published a number of program statements of the failed speech.
So, Cameron confirmed that he would like the UK to play an "important and active role in the community" in the future. However, if the existing contradictions within the EU persist, this seems unlikely.
According to Cameron, the main problems of the EU are the economic crisis, lack of competitiveness and a significant reduction in public support for the idea of a federal Europe. “If the status quo is maintained, there is a danger that the European project may fail,” says Cameron’s speech. “Ignoring the existing problems will force the British to move in the direction of the exit.”
True, Cameron admitted: “I do not want this to happen. I wish the united Europe success and strive for such a format of relations that would allow us to stay in the EU ”.
According to the prime minister, in order to "save Britain in the European Union, the community itself must change." "Otherwise, the region will become even less competitive, and economic growth and the creation of new jobs will slow down."
Previously, Cameron said that if he wins the next general election, he intends to hold a referendum on the relationship of the United Kingdom with the European Union within five years. At the same time, he made it clear that the government is now preparing a special plan to change the structure of relations with Brussels, with the help of which London will try to return to the national parliament some of the sovereign powers previously transferred to the jurisdiction of the single EU bodies.
According to recent opinion polls, if a referendum on the question of the future finding of Britain in the EU were held tomorrow, 51% of Britons would be against it.
About German gold. Anton Urinovskiy ("Voice of Russia") told that Germany decided within three years to return tons of gold bullion stored abroad to their 674 storages.
The decision of the "Bundesbank" was made at the request of the Federal Accounts Chamber.
The gold reserve of Germany, like the Voice of Russia, is almost 3,4 thousand tons. It is the second largest after the US gold reserve (8,1 thousand tons). In the Bundesbank depositories in 2012, 1036 tons of gold were stored (31% of the country's gold reserve). The largest part of German gold, 1536 tons, or 45%, lies in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 450 and 374 are also stored in the central banks of England and France.
Germany is going to return only 674 tons to storage.
Most of the ingots acquired by Germany in the post-war decades were never stored on the territory of the country, since the ingots were bought from the United States, France and Great Britain. And it was more convenient to keep gold in their vaults for the quick execution of currency transactions as collateral.
France will return to Germany all tons of gold belonging to the Bundesbank 374. More 300 tons will be moved to Germany from the USA.
The decision to return gold to Germany may be due to uncertainty about the reliability of world currencies, especially American.
Suicide in Amsterdam. One of the defendants in the case of the unrest in Bolotnaya Square, the designer of the defense enterprise in Korolev, Alexander Dolmatov, made his life count in Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities denied him political asylum, but Alexander filed an appeal and was awaiting a court decision. The experts drew attention to the fact that Dolmatov committed suicide without waiting for the appeal. About this tells Olesya Beloborodova ("Sight").
Director of the Center for Socio-Political Research "Aspect" George Fedorov does not exclude that Dolmatov's suicide was the result of a mental disorder: "... Such people tend to take tonic or narcotic drugs. Any radicalism borders on mental disorders. The more people are radical and obsessed with some ideas, the more often mental breakdowns occur ... It cannot be said that this is a regularity, that if a radical oppositionist is, then he is necessarily inclined to suicide. But I think if a person is radical, this is the way to trouble, to put it mildly. ”
Probably add on our own, US senators should immediately sit down to develop the "Dolmatov law." No, this time the “respondent” by law will not be Russian officials, but Dutch. Indeed, as a result of their refusal, a person suffered a mental breakdown, which led to suicide. Exemplary Democrats from Washington should teach the inhumane Dutch people a lesson.
Yanukovych found saboteurs in the government. The President of Ukraine accused the government of the country, led by Mykola Azarov, in sabotaging reforms, reports "Voice of Russia".
Analyzing the latest report of the Prime Minister on the implementation of the reform plan for the 2012 year, Yanukovych was greatly surprised: “How can 35%, 25% be implemented? This is sabotage. It's just that people have lost all responsibility. ”
The head of government explained the low rates of Ukrainian economic growth by the intensification of the global crisis: “Last year was very difficult for the country. The intensification of the global crisis does not allow any state to rest; it has an impact on our country. Our economic development indicators are lower than we expected. We ended the budget year in a very economical mode. ”
Gosdepovskie plans about "Manas" did not pass. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake 16 January arrived in Bishkek to conduct a “Kyrgyz-American consultation”, reports "But".
On the eve of the visit, Mr. Blake gave an interview to Voice of America, in which he indicated that he would try to extend the lease period of the base: Manas is of great importance for the United States in terms of logistics. It is also a center through which almost all of our troops are sent to Afghanistan. ”
But following the meeting, Almazbek Atambayev only confirmed Bishkek’s position on Manas: “In 2014, the Agreement between the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Government of the United States regarding the transit center at Manas International Airport expires and after the agreement expires at the airport Manas should not have a military component, ”Atambayev stressed during a meeting with Blake.
“The decision of the leadership of Kyrgyzstan to transform the American transit center at Manas airport into a civilian transport hub officially testifies to the reorientation of the republic to Russian security projects,” said Alexei Vlasov, general director of the Information and Analytical Center for the Study of the Post-Soviet Space ".
It is significant that the other day, the Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Temir Sariev said that before the end of 2013, Kyrgyzstan should complete all conciliation procedures for joining the Customs Union, since "from an economic and political point of view, this entry is beneficial to us."
Rakhmon wants to settle the Russian Tajiks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Tajikistan. It turns out that, contrary to promises, Tajikistan does not intend to ratify an agreement on the stay on its territory of a Russian military base - until Russia provides a preferential regime for Tajik migrants and does not cancel the duty on the supply of oil products to Dushanbe. Told about it Kommersant correspondent Elena Chernenko.
Hamrokhon Zarifi, Tajik counterpart of Sergei Lavrov, first called the President of the Russian Federation "Vladimir Viktorovich", and then also turned to Lavrov.
As for the Dushanbe ratification of the agreement with Moscow on the status of the 201 military base, Zarifi did not forget what he was told to convey: first, Russia must fulfill the conditions of two memorandums signed at the time of concluding the base agreement, and then begin to fulfill its Dushanbe conditions.
On the issue of liberalizing the regime for migrants, the two countries had previously agreed that Tajiks would be able to stay on the territory of the Russian Federation up to 15 days without registration and receive a work permit for up to 3 years. However, before easing the regime, Moscow would like Dushanbe to streamline the flow of labor migrants, sending them, for example, through special organizations. The authorities of Tajikistan insist that the preferential regime come into force immediately. By the way, according to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, remittances from Russia account for almost half of Tajikistan’s GDP.
Another question is about duty-free deliveries of Russian oil products to Tajikistan. Moscow, against Tajikistan reselling Russian fuel to third countries, Dushanbe is not ready to provide such guarantees.
President Rakhmon is very important in the implementation of the agreements reached with Moscow: in November, in Tajikistan, elections, and the electorate must be appeased.
Forty-four bullets for Victor Hara. In Chile, six officers involved in the murder of Chilean singer Victor Jara in 1973 were arrested. All of them voluntarily surrendered to the police. The seventh suspect lives in the US today. The Chilean authorities are preparing a request for his extradition. This was told Viktor Cheburashkin ("Voice of Russia").
September 11 1973 in the country there was a military coup. The legally elected socialist president, Salvador Allende, perished, and the dictatorship of General Pinochet was established in the republic. Chilean society split into two camps: the overthrown government supported more than half of the population. Bringing "order", caudillo killed more than forty thousand people.
The painful death of Viktor Hara has become one of the most notorious crimes of the dictator. The Chilean journalist and personal friend of the musician Marcel Garces recalls:
“He was tortured for several days and then riddled with an automaton: 44 bullets were found in the body during an autopsy. He was killed for his songs, for his belief in democracy, which he believed was the only possible development for Chile. There is no excuse for striking one’s composure and cruelty to murder. ”
For many years, relatives of Hara sought to investigate the crime. But only now the case has shifted from a dead end. Arrested six former officers involved in the massacre, including Colonel Sanchez Marmonti - one of the alleged murderers. All these people surrendered voluntarily.
The last suspect is ex-Colonel Pedro Barrientos, who lives in the United States. This gentleman denies any involvement in the shooting of Hara. Former prisoners of a concentration camp in Santiago remember him as a lover of "Russian roulette." The victims of the "game" was not one prisoner. The colonel was nicknamed El Loco ("Madman"). In the near future, the Chilean authorities will send a request for his extradition to the United States.
Who attacked the students? Ten people were injured yesterday as a result of an attack, allegedly by supporters of President Hugo Chávez, on university students in the state of Merida, conducting a peaceful rally demanding the provision of reliable information about the state of health of the head of state, reports correspondent RIA "News" Dmitry Znamensky with reference to the TV channel "Globovision".
Leaders of the students reported that about fifty people with hoods on their heads broke into motorcycles on the territory of the university’s medical faculty. Then they began to beat the students, and also broke the equipment. The attackers had posters of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Bolivian wrestling. Bolivian President Evo Morales intends to seek permission from the UN for the export of coca leaves after having already received approval for the use of leaves for traditional purposes. correspondent RIA "News" Dmitry Znamensky, referring to Latin American media.
"The next battle is, of course, for the export of coca leaves, based on the UN document," Morales said yesterday at a press conference in La Paz. The first stage of this struggle, he called the holding of relevant negotiations with the partner countries of Bolivia, primarily on the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA).
As the correspondent reminds. RIA "News“Recently, Bolivia managed to achieve for itself the exclusion from the text of the UN Convention on Drugs, according to which the cultivation of coca bushes and the use of leaves for medical and ritual purposes are officially allowed in this country.
According to the President of the country, in the case of permission for industrial exports, coca leaves will not contain any substances that could harm human health. At the same time, there are countries ready to support such a request to the UN, Morales stressed. These include, for example, China, which would like to purchase tons of coca leaves. For medical purposes, of course.
New Cuban wave? Pavel Tarasenko (Kommersant) told that the abolition of exit visas for Cubans has caused a stir in the country. The decision to cancel special permits for traveling abroad was taken by the Cuban authorities in October and entered into force on Monday. Now the citizens of Cuba do not regret several monthly salaries for obtaining a foreign passport and buying air tickets, and some Cubans set out to leave their homeland forever. Cuban immigrants, who have long lived in Florida, sounded the alarm. According to them, the massive influx of refugees in the United States could seriously hit the political opponents of the Castro brothers.
Guillermo Fariñas, the dissident and laureate of the Sakharov Prize, has already admitted that he was mistaken when he spoke about the decorative nature of the changes.
As for the US government, they positively assessed the liberalization of Cuban immigration legislation.
Meanwhile, Cuban émigrés of the first waves warned that the Cuban Act adopted by the US Congress in 1966, which protects opponents of the Castro regime who fled the country, is under threat. The document guarantees the automatic granting of residence permits to Cuban dissidents a year and one day after they set foot on American soil.
What are old migrants afraid of? According to the representative of the Cuban Party’s Miami Liberal Party, Pedro Perez, “now millions of people will leave, not for political reasons, but for economic reasons,” and Washington can repeal the law under the pretext of not being able to cope with the massive influx of illegal immigrants. “But this is a very useful tool for protecting oppositionists, bloggers and other Cubans who are striving for the same thing that we once did - Cuba’s democracy and freedom.”
Obama is facing impeachment from the arms lobby. Andrey Ptashnikov ("Voice of Russia") told that the congressmen are threatening Obama with an impeachment - in case he establishes new rules bypassing the legislative bodies.
Steve Stockman, a congressman from the state of Texas, said that the president of the United States was carrying out an "unconstitutional and shameless attack on the fundamental principles of the republic." Stockman intends to start the impeachment procedure.
US National Rifle Association, Main Lobbyist weapons in America, plans to spend tomorrow "Day of gratitude to the weapon".
This office is both rich and powerful. She constantly sponsored almost half of the congressmen. Only during last year’s election campaign, she spent over 20 million dollars for this purpose. Under its "roof" live and flourish various social organizations. NSA has offices in almost all states of the country. One of the activists of the organization is Alex Jones from the alarm site Infowars.com. The Day’s organizers want the Americans to buy as many weapons and ammunition as possible on this day.
According to some estimates, Americans now have about 300 million units of firearms: almost one barrel per resident, including infants and old people. And after the tragedy in Newtown, when Adam Lanza killed his mother, and then another 26 people, including 20 children, the demand for weapons in the United States increased several times. Since mid-December last year, 250 of thousands of Americans have become members of the NSA.
All this suggests that in the United States began a confrontation between supporters and opponents of the free sale of weapons. Would not Senator Joseph Lieberman be right when he predicted a “real battle”?
First grader with a gun. In the knapsack of a first grader in a school in New York, a loaded pistol was found. He writes about it RIA News" with reference to the New York Post.
The weapons were confiscated, and the boy was sent to the police for an interview. The school in Queens, which was attended by a seven year old offender, was temporarily closed.
According to the police, the boy has an older brother, part of one of the gangster groups of the metropolis.
The Russian government put on the counter. As reported today RIA News", the US authorities objected to the introduction of court sanctions against the Russian Federation for refusing to fulfill the Hasidic requirement to return the Schneerson library. This was stated by representatives of the US Department of Justice. However, in America, as they say, the branches of the authorities do not grow on one bitch.
On the eve of the District of Columbia, the court ordered the Russian government to pay thousands of dollars (daily!) For 50 for refusing to return Rabbi Schneerson’s library in the Russian Federation’s collections to the American Hasidim. The lawsuit against the Russian Federation was made by the Jewish religious movement Chabad Lubavitch.
“The Justice Ministry stated to the court that it cannot impose such sanctions, as well as that these measures do not correspond to the interests of American foreign policy. Also, the Justice Ministry warned the judge that the sanctions would cause similar actions against the United States by other countries, ”a spokeswoman for the ministry’s office told RIA Novosti.
According to her, the judge, after hearing the arguments, refused to comply with the request of the Ministry. The agency interlocutor recalled that "the US administration has always sought to resolve this dispute through negotiations and the search for compromise opinions."
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the court decision on the Schneerson library provocative and legally void.
America negotiates with the winners. The fact that the Taliban gathered quite legal way to come to power in Afghanistan, has been told more than once in the "VO". Last review - here. And recently, there was news in the media that the “world hegemon” is really giving up, and from secret talks with the Taliban is moving to the obvious. And not only to the negotiations, but also to the recognition of the Taliban movement. So, the time is not far distant when Washington, in the person of the Taliban, welcomes the legally elected democratic power in Afghanistan.
Sergey Duz ("Voice of Russia") reports that the US president made a sensational statement. Following a meeting with Hamid Karzai, he expressed willingness to negotiate with the Taliban.
This is an incredible statement by Obama, says Douz, fundamentally changing the US benchmarks in the Afghan direction. At the very beginning of the campaign, the Americans adhered to the “no negotiation with terrorists” strategy.
“Now, in the eyes of the White House, the Taliban suddenly ceased to be such, or the Obama administration frantically tries to find at least some opportunities to launch the Afghan peace process, without paying special attention to reputational costs (since war is still more expensive there).”
But America is America. There are some democratic institutions there. The “legalization” of the Taliban simply won't work for Obama. The people will demand explanations from the White House.
“... Since it is likely that such a turn on 180 degrees will understand, not all American taxpayers. After all, it turns out that a lot of money for the war (and this is about 300 million dollars a day) was spent in vain; that from the very beginning it was possible to get by with the means of diplomacy and avoid human sacrifice. ”
After all, if the ability to find a compromise before the start of a fight is wisdom, then expressing readiness to compromise after a fight is already defeatism.
Today, Obama proposes the Taliban to join the political process and demands that they recognize the current Afghan constitution, including the liberal Western standards set there.
This is just an attempt to save face. And at the same time, we add from ourselves that this is laying the path to the power of the Taliban. They "recognize" and make the necessary promises, but, having come to power, they will begin to pursue their medieval policy.
Alexander Gusev, Director of the Institute for Strategic Planning and Forecasting, believes that there is a transformation in the mood with which the Americans entered Afghanistan:
Along with Al-Qaida, the Taliban were called terrorist organizations No. XXUMX and No. XXUMX. Now the departure from these principles is due to the fact that the Americans are permanently bogged down in Afghanistan and can’t get out of this country ...
Relief against the Taliban is a kind of retribution for the fact that the Americans lost this war. Of course, Barack Obama is involved in the problem. But I would not blame him for the situation in Afghanistan. He is responsible for the withdrawal of troops. He actually initiated it. It seems to me that the Taliban largely determine the course of political events in this country.
Moreover, it determines the course of development of the political and economic situation in the countries of Central Asia. I mean those Soviet republics that were once part of the Soviet Union. In fact, this is the real power today in Afghanistan. This will explain such a peculiar curtsy towards the Taliban by the American administration ... ”
Relief against the Taliban is a kind of retribution for the fact that the Americans lost this war. Of course, Barack Obama is involved in the problem. But I would not blame him for the situation in Afghanistan. He is responsible for the withdrawal of troops. He actually initiated it. It seems to me that the Taliban largely determine the course of political events in this country.
Moreover, it determines the course of development of the political and economic situation in the countries of Central Asia. I mean those Soviet republics that were once part of the Soviet Union. In fact, this is the real power today in Afghanistan. This will explain such a peculiar curtsy towards the Taliban by the American administration ... ”
The best politician of our days. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave a long interview to Euronews. Quotes from him led "Vesti". It turned out that Comrade Berlusconi, who was friends and has been friends with many politicians, considers Vladimir Putin to be the best politician in the world:
“... I have always had excellent relations with the presidents of the United States. I developed a strong friendship with George Bush. There was a good relationship with Clinton and his wife, Mrs. Clinton. I have a good relationship with Obama, whom I appreciate for his great abilities and common sense. I have fraternal relations with Vladimir Putin. I think he is the best politician in the world today. Russia is very lucky that she has such a leader. ”
They say that Berlusconi loves Russia so much that he even tapped wood.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru