Ukraine, Turkey, Kurdistan Conflicts, A Tale of Two Realities, Iran-Iraq War, Dana Gas and Egypt

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Regarding the Iran-Iraq war. In a past blog entry of August 24, 2005 I quoted from a French book from 1981 regarding initiation of the Iran-Iraq conflict. In a current entry at the uruknet website, more is quoted from this very same source. I will link to the uruknet entry, first, and, then, after, I will link to a blog entry of my own from March 10, 2006, with some further commentary as well as an embedded link refering back to the August 24, 2005 book quotes. It's unfortunate that the entire book is not available on line, since there's much more background and historical context, including the contested area in the South called Arabistan. However, I'm very glad uruknet posted at least alittle more from this book. First link, www.uruknet.de/?p=m32038&hd=&size=1&l=e
For some further commentary on this subject from my blog entry from March 10, 2005, which includes embedded link back to my blog of August 24, 2005, www.karlmarxwasright.blogspot.com/2006/03/what-really-happened-to-shah-of-iran.html
Extending from the previous material and other entries, a translation (a thank you note for the effort of translating) which HELPS to shed some light on the current situation, "Entrapped," www.uruknet.de/?p=m32023&hd=&size=1&l=e
and, from an Arab source, this time, basically, recapitulating the information on some of my previous blogs, www.arablinks.blogspot.com/2007/04/advice-for-iraqi-resistance-on-us.html
In addition, the Arab Baath Socialist Party's own statement on the matters, above, www.uruknet.de/?p=m32064&hd=&size=1&l=e
By the way, a personal note as to the question surfacing regarding the American use of a neutron bomb in Iraq. I am definitely NOT a military specialist. As a matter of fact, I don't even know the names and differences between one gun and another and what they do. HOWEVER, I happen to recall a talk I heard awhile back regarding a "new" weapon PRIOR to the FIRST Gulf War that was to be possibly tested at that time. I cannot presently recall it's name for sure, but, I believe it is/was a "fuel air explosive???" However, I remember it functioned SIMILAR to a neutron bomb but was NOT a neutron bomb. Apparently, as I recall, it killed EVERYTHING that moved, breathed, crawled and was alive underneath it, but, left the structural edifices standing. The way it worked had something to do with creating an enormous explosion/fire in the atmosphere that sucked oxygen from the ground, thus suffocating and incinerating everything alive underneath but left structures standing. Could this be the weapon instead of a neutron bomb to which everyone is referring?? I can also tell everyone who is/was the person who gave the talk to which I referred, above. His name is David F. Noble and the last time I heard he is/was a Professor of History, I believe, at York University in Canada. (He was then living and working near here, instead, which is why I heard him). For those who might be interested in his works or contacting him, here's a wikipedia reference ( I do NOT recommend wikipedia, however, this is a SNAPSHOT link), www.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Noble
Or, do a search for yourself under his name.
Regarding my above heading a "Tale of Two Realities," I am, of course, referring to the ongoing, economic "internationalization and privatization of Iraq" moving ahead as if oblivious to the direction of the military realities exploding on the ground with more explosions, dislocations and destablization in the offing vis-a-vis Turkey and Kurdistan, as well as Ukraine and elsewhere. In case the reader STILL doesn't get it after voluminous information on my blogs, I can hit you/her/him/them over the head with a blunt instrument, "Iraq PM Calls for International Help to Rebuild," www.petroleumworld.com/story07041202.htm
Developments are fluid, ongoing, dynamic, so, I can only highlight a few points.
On the Turkish elections and Kurdistan, for example, "US-Kurdish Rift Emerges on Kirkuk Referendum Timing," www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70448
Then, "Turks [that is, private Turkish companies] Are Reconstructing Northern Iraq" www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70442 and, lastly, exemplifying THE fundamental contradiction represented by the above and the following, "Top [Turkish] General Talks Today," www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70504
As an aside, there's an English translation from a Turkish language source, Hurriyet, suggesting the following, "Barzani Bribed Former Iraq Justice Minister," regarding the deportation of Arabs from Kirkuk, www.uruknet.de/?p=m32053&hd=&size=1&l=e
However, there's no question on which side in Turkey stands the US Fascist state. With private business, naturally. The economic state of Turkey be damned! And, likewise, the economic state of Iraq! Both of which have been and are being privatized, destroyed, sold out, sold off and deconstructed as I write. "For whom the State tolls/toils, NOT for thee my fellow working class."
As an aside about privatization, in consideration of my previous blogs documenting US labor/union pension fund investment in this process, there was an interesting article, ironically, in the Turkish press gleaned from the Independent, about pension fund and privatization in Canada. Here's the link, "Pension Fund Set to Lead World's Largest Leverage Buyout," regarding Bell Canada, www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70443
As for the "battle for Ukraine," well, that's being reported ad nauseum. Try some international and Russian websites. For starters, www.rian.ru (English).
Meanwhile, in the ongoing saga of Dana Gas and Crescent Oil of the UAE which I've been following since its emergence, Dana has recently expanded into Egypt, with the distinct possibilities of supplying gas to Israel and well beyond, www.ameinfo.com/111787.html (If you happen to be unfamiliar with the Dana Gas, Crescent Oil saga, go to my blog of March 27, 2007 and work backwards, www.karlmarxwasright.blogspot.com/2007/03/crescent-dana-gas-internationalizing.html Previous links contained in that blog entry).
ALL of this, of course, merely being the extension, continuation, realization of economic plans after the dissolution of the Soviet Union to transform this highly nationalized, energy rich and strategic region into a center, pivotal point of a privatized, commodified and capitalized "Middle East Free Trade Zone," a critical component of the larger, greater global economic transformation.
So, along these lines, let me end on two opposite notes. First, the Pakistanis militant trade unionists, "Meeting in Solidarity with Airbus Workers in Multan," www.ptudc.org/content/view/120/36 A refreshing antidote to the American AFL-CIA.
And, lastly, an HYPOTHESIS on the "Eagle Group of Iraq." Since I have so far been unable to ascertain from any public sources available on the internet WHO precisely constitutes (private individuals and/or corporations) the "Eagle Group of Iraq" in what can only be described as a potential EXTRAORDINARILY lucrative oil bonanza, agreement between Canada's Heritage Oil Company, Mr. 5% Gulbenkian, and the KRG, Kurdistan Regional Govt, then, let's suppose, for example, it turns out that the Eagle Group of Iraq is none other than either Talabani and/or Barzani himself/themselves??!!! I challenge anyone reading this to disprove my HYPOTHESIS by publicly PROVIDING me (or others) the exact names of the investors and/or individuals who compromise the "Eagle Group of Iraq."

Is Cheney Trying To Break Up Ukraine?

This article appears in the April 13, 2007 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

by EIR Staff

Evidence is mounting that Vice President Dick Cheney may be personally handling a "Ukraine portfolio," involving the destabilization of Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych's government, or even splitting the country in two, at the same time that Cheney is running "special forces" operations inside Iran, against the Iranian government.

A March 28 Interfax-Ukraine wire noted that Cheney had just met in Washington with Ukrainian Central Election Commission Chairman Yaroslav Davydovych, to discuss "development of democracy in Ukraine." This followed Cheney's late-February consultations with visiting ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a celebrity of the U.S. Project Democracy-backed Orange Revolution of 2004. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as EIR Online reported March 6, Tymoshenko cast herself as the person to relaunch the Orange movement. She met with Cheney and with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Back in Kiev, Tymoshenko crowed that "Cheney and Rice" support new elections.

Cheney-friend Tymoshenko's push for new elections escalated April 2, when her on-again/off-again ally President Victor Yushchenko announced dissolution of the Supreme Rada (parliament) and called new elections for May 27. The legalistic pretext was the defection of 11 members of his own and Tymoshenko's parties to the parliamentary majority (Yanukovych's Party of the Regions, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party), becoming members of the Yanukovych cabinet. Yushchenko said this was unconstitutional because those individuals would be leaving the blocs, under whose banners they were elected. The Supreme Rada majority rejected Yushchenko's decree, sending the matter to the Constitutional Court. In the meantime, Yanukovych supporters poured into central Kiev, and a new round of heated politicking began.

Defense Minister Anatoli Hrytsenko, a Yushchenko ally, reflected the high level of tension on April 3, when he stated that the Armed Forces were at their permanent stations, with no advance of troops or tank units.

There has been virtually a dual-power situation in Ukraine for months. After the Orange coalition of Yushchenko and Tymoshenko disintegrated in 2005, Yanukovych's Party of the Regions was the top vote-getter in 2006 elections. A months-long political crisis ended with the return of Yanukovych—who had suffered defeat in the Orange coup—as Prime Minister in August 2006. His government and the Supreme Rada majority oppose Yushchenko's commitment to join NATO, among other things. By late autumn, they were at loggerheads, with the Supreme Rada refusing to ratify appointments made by Yushchenko, and Yanukovych recruiting cabinet members from Yushchenko's own party, and others, whom Yushchenko will not accept.

Tymoshenko has been working to drive these conflicts to a new, full-scale power crisis. When Yushchenko finally acquiesced to formation of a government under Yanukovych, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc went into what she called "hard opposition." Later, however, Tymoshenko rekindled her alliance with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, and the two parties signed an alliance in February of this year. She then rushed off to the U.S.A. for the consultations with Cheney. Moscow Kommersant wrote on March 5 that their agenda had to have included three points, related to recent energy agreements between Kiev and Moscow: "The possible loss of Ukraine's economic sovereignty as a result of the pro-Russian orientation of ... Yanukovych; plans for diversifying Europe's energy supplies; and the consequences that Yanukovych's moves may have for the development of democracy in the countries of the former Soviet Union." Tymoshenko told Cheney, Kommersant claimed, that Yanukovych might hand over control of much of Ukraine's energy sector to RosUkrEnergo, the intermediary firm involved in settling Ukraine's conflict with Russian Gazprom over prices in 2006.

Western media are once again playing up the scenario of a "pro-West" vs. "pro-Russia" split of Ukraine.

The new outbreak of a Ukrainian political crisis was top news in Russia, whose Foreign Ministry issued a statement that, "Russia is watching the development of the situation in Ukraine closely and with concern. We assume it will not go out of the bounds of the 'legal field'—the country's current laws." Yushchenko cancelled a planned visit to Moscow.

On April 5, Yanukovych spoke against calls from within the parliamentary majority to impeach Yushchenko, saying he did not want to "deepen the crisis." Rumors swept the Supreme Rada, as well as Ukrainian and Russian media, that Yushchenko would declare a state of emergency and attempt to impose direct Presidential rule right after Easter. U.S. connections to the destabilization were the subject of sensational claims, such as the assertion by Socialist Party Rada member Vasili Volga, that Tymoshenko had received $1 billion from the Shell Oil Company during her U.S. trip, "to organize a coup in Ukraine." On the Russian web site KM.ru, analyst Alexei Pushkov claimed that Tymoshenko was interrogated by American investigators about her connections with ex-PM Pavel Lazarenko, jailed in California on a large-scale embezzlement conviction (the public record shows only that Tymoshenko was asked about this during her appearance at the CSIS), and that therefore she is vulnerable to blackmail by U.S. authorities.

As of April 6, Yanukovych and Yushchenko were meeting to discuss a possible compromise.

Ukraine's leaders trade threats, crisis deepens

By Elizbaeth Piper 14 minutes ago

A power struggle between Ukraine's president and prime minister deepened on Thursday with both men refusing to back down over a new election and threatening each other with prosecution.

President Viktor Yushchenko has issued a decree to dissolve parliament and stage an election in what is regarded as a final bid to reassert his authority. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has refused to take part in the poll.

The pro-Western president's popularity has slid after accusations he betrayed the promise of the "Orange Revolution" 2-1/2 years ago to take ex-Soviet Ukraine closer to the West and eventually join the European Union.

He accuses Yanukovich, whom he swept aside in that upheaval, of violating the constitution by poaching members of his team to enlarge the majority in parliament underpinning the government.

Thousands of the prime minister's supporters, many brought by bus from his power base in eastern Ukraine, have taken to the streets, calling for Yushchenko to step down.

Unlike in 2004, gatherings in Kiev's Independence Square were relatively small and low-key.

"I stress one more time that it is obligatory to implement the decree of Ukraine's president. Any refusal to implement it will result in criminal proceedings," Yushchenko told a meeting of Ukraine's Security Council, where he sat next to Yanukovich.

"I will not take a single step towards rescinding the decree."

After meeting leaders of opposition parties, his former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sacked after only eight months in office, said "orange" groups once again were pulling together and would support the president.

MEDIATION

Yanukovich rebuffed the Security Council's approval for the election and said Ukraine should wait for the Constitutional Court to rule on whether parliament's dissolution was legal.

The court said on Thursday it had started examining the petition but a ruling could be expected no earlier than a month from now.

"We reject any form of early elections," Yanukovich told a news conference.

He urged the president to start talks and asked Austria to mediate to help resolve the crisis. Polish President Lech Kaczynski offered his services as a mediator -- a role his predecessor performed during the 2004 revolution.

"If the decree is unconstitutional, then the heads of law enforcement agencies ... should get involved to look into how the situation got to this point and who started it," Yanukovich said.

For the first time, analysts voiced concern the crisis could hurt the economy. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut the outlook on its rating on Ukraine, citing the deteriorating political climate as posing risks to economic policies.

The stand-off has underlined disenchantment in the West with Ukraine's slow progress in reforms after the revolution.

The revolution's bold aspirations have been whittled away and the setbacks, compounded by rows in the president's team, have sown widespread disillusion. The country remains poor by European standards, with average monthly wages at about $150.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana telephoned the main protagonists to appeal for a political solution, his spokeswoman said. "We need a solution that respects the democratic rights of the people," spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.

Ukraine Lawmaker Dead After Hunting 'Mishap'

Ukraine Lawmaker Dead After Hunting Mishap

Evhen Kushnarev, a leaders of Ukraine's pro-Russia political faction, died on Wednesday as a result of a hunting accident, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kushnarev, 56, had been one of the top figures in the Regions Ukraine political party, whose political strength is based in the industrial east and south of the country.

A companion shot Kushnarev one time in the stomach, while the former Kharkiv province governor was hunting for boar in a Kharkiv region nature reserve.

The slug severely damaged his intestine, liver, stomach, and kidney.

Police on Wednesday detained a suspect in the reportedly accidental shooting. Foul play is not suspected.

Surgeons at provincial hospital in the town Izium operated on Kushnarev twice to remove a kidney, 50 centimetres of intestine, and to stop severe bleeding in his liver.

Kushnarev never regained consciousness, and died of a heart failure Wednesday afternoon.

Kushnarev, an outspoken politician, was widely unpopular in the pro-Europe portions of Ukraine, in no small part because of his public suggestion during Ukraine's 2005 Orange Revolution the country's Russian-speaking East secede, by force if necessary.

Regions Ukraine under Kushnarev's guidance regained control over the Ukrainian parliament in September 2006, and pushed through a series of laws dramatically weakening the country's pro-Europe executive branch.

© 2007 DPA