West Asia News and Discussions

[shyamd]

^^ Wouldn't read too much into it. I think this occassion was US sponsored, because US has asked Oman to tighten up surveillance and interdict militants leaving Karachi and heading into the Hadramout via places near Salalah in Oman. Hence calls of intelligence sharing and defence agreements, TSP and Omani relations are actually fraying with planned terror attacks in Oman last Jan/Feb which led to Sarfraz Nawaz extradition to India. Its clear that ISI was behind that probably due to Omani/US activity in Balochistan.

From Above Link

Dilating upon the scope and potential to upgrade defence and security ties between the two countries, Majid underscored the importance of regular operational coordination and instituting a mechanism for real time intelligence sharing.

In addition to offering enhanced assistance to meet training, technical manpower, logistics and maintenance support and military hardware needs of Oman’s Armed Forces, he also proposed a partnership for joint ventures with the defence industry of Pakistan.

Later, in a separate meeting with Royal Navy of Oman Commander Rear Admiral Abdullah bin Khamis bin Abdullah Al Raisi Majid explored prospective Naval cooperation between the two countries.

Majid also held separate meetings with Ministry of Defence Under Secretary Mohammed Bin Nassar Al Rasabi and Police and Customs General Inspector Lieutenant General Malik Bin Suleman Al-Mamamri to discuss ways to enhance bilateral cooperation.

This is defo US sponsored, this after the US told Oman to step up surveillance. Its old news really, but US put Oman on high alert recently, hence the need for real time intelligence with Paki's.
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$100 mn Oman India investment fund to be launched soon

'Oman-India ties poised for a big leap forward in 2010'
25 January 2010

MUSCAT -- Talks on India-Oman Joint Investment Fund with a seed capital of $100 million that will go up to $1.5 billion are now at the final stage, said Anil Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador to the Sultanate.

India-Oman Joint Investment Fund assumes special significance because it is the first of its kind that India is setting up with any country in the world and will invest in sectors that not only yield high returns, but also are vital to the two economies. The ambassador was speaking to the Observer on the occasion of India's 61st Republic Day.

Oman and India have recently formed a Joint Working Group on Higher Education. The recent visits of the Secretary-General of the Research Council of Oman and the Vice Chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University, Dr Ali bin Saud bin Ali Al Bimani, assume special importance in this context of growing co-operation between Oman and India, he added. The ties between India and Oman are poised to strengthen further in the future with economic co-operation becoming the thrust area. The coming days are likely to witness a slew of activities, which will accelerate the flow of investments to both sides benefiting the two growing economies, said Wadhwa.

"We are confident that 2010 will turn out to be a milestone year in bilateral relations. The India-Oman Joint Investment Fund will become operational in the near future and India-GCC Free Trade agreement will progress this year," he added. India and Oman are set to sign MoUs in various fields of co-operation like tourism, culture, education, science and technology. The bilateral trade between India and the Sultanate is nearing 2.5 billion now despite the economic recession. India and the Sultanate remained on the course of growth and recession had only minimal impact on both the economies. Exports from Oman to India have increased during the period and significantly, the basket of goods exported has expanded.

A number of new commodities have been added to the list of exports from Oman to India and vise-e versa. Indian companies have started to source limestone, chrome and copper from Oman. Other than Indo-Oman Business Forum meetings, which will be organised at the Indian Embassy, the embassy will also organise road shows in various cities in Oman other than Muscat to promote the Indian trade basket, focusing "on our facilities for medical tourism and tourism in general". The commercial engagements between the two countries were satisfactory in 2008 and 2009 but there is an opportunity for Indian companies to export more items to Oman.

There are unexploited two-way investment opportunities in the field of realty sector, hydrocarbons, IT and communication as well as infrastructure in both countries, India and the Sultanate. Omani companies have invested in several companies in real estate, refineries and ports in India. You can almost feel the strong trade relations between the two friendly countries as around 130 Indian companies operate in Oman and almost 30 Omani companies have their presence in India. The flow of investments between both the countries in tourism sector has increased. The resort with the participation of Indian hospitality major Oberoi group at Bandar al Khairan is likely to be open in 18 months.

The resort is being developed by Alargan Towell. Tourist flow from Oman to India has been increasing steadily. This year, The Oman authorities are expected to start a campaign in India similar on the lines of 'Incredible India' campaign to attract Indian tourists to the Sultanate. Thus, after the landmark visit of the Indian Prime Minister (November 8-9, 2008), the year 2009 can be termed as a very dynamic year whether it is commercial interaction, cultural ties or diplomatic relations between the two countries.

During 2009, high level visits to India by Minister of Oil and Gas Mohammed bin Hamad al Rumhy, Minister of Commerce and Industry Maqbool bin Ali Sultan and Chairman of the Majlis Addawla Dr Yahya bin Mahfoudh al Mantheri have further added to the tempo of bilateral co-operation between the two countries. Ensuring the safety of Indian workers along with industrial labourers, housemaids and blue collar workers in Oman is the embassy's priority. "We are trying to fix minimum wages for all blue collar Indian workers on the lines of the household workers. The embassy uses its limited fund for helping Indian expatriates in distress and for payment of medical bills".

By Hasan Kamoonpuri

© Oman Daily Observer 2010

Folks, higher education is in a very poor state in Oman, hence they want to further links with India. Many Omani ministry officials are sent to India for training. A friend of mine is currently in Dilli taking training in Parliament. Its been a real eye opener for them, they are quite dissappointed with the computers in parliament (its extremely slow!). The Omani contingent will be present at the R Day parade and have been invited for the presidents reception later.

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Rumour in Oman that state owned PDO has found a huge oil field. His Majesty hasn't cleared the find to be released to the public yet.
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UAE businessman to get India's top civilian honour
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Arjun a great host at this do

LAP saw a lot of activity recently when visiting Middle Eastern royalty made a stopover at the lounge bar
Arjun Rampal, host, was one of the first to turn up – but he too came at midnight only. Arjun was soon followed by AD Singh and wife Sabina. Siddharth Tytler too came in early with his friends. Kalyani Chawla came with friends, but left soon after.

IN THE MIDDLE: Guests began coming in around one in the night, the royalty being part of the first batch of guests. We saw Prince of Qatar HH Sheikh Nawaf Bin Nasser Al Thani, Prince of Bahrain and Prince of Sharjah HH Sheikh Sultan Qasimi. We also met Vnee Yeh of the Hong Kong cabinet, Simon Wong, Marat Zagyadelec of the Russian parliament, Gratian Anda, Bassam Ghais of the Hariri family of Lebanon, Ziad Al Turki and Samir Fancy of the Oman royal family.

BIRTHDAY BOYS: Samir Thapar too came in with a bunch of friends and made his way inside quickly. A staff member told us that the birthday boy was there to celebrate with friends. A little later, another birthday boy Amol Vadehra walked in with his friends. In quick succession, then came Ameeta Seth and Ayesha Thapar. When designer Rohit Gandhi walked in, he was surprised to know that another party was underway. Rohit asked us, “We heard there’s already a bash taking place. What’s that about?”

[svinayak]

Many relatives of mine are going to Muscat for teaching and work.

[shyamd]

^^ How are they finding it?

KSA Cabinet approved this back in Oct/Nov.
Extradition treaty with Saudi soon

India and Saudi Arabia are going to soon have an extradition treaty to deny underworld fugitives such as Dawood Ibrahim one more hideout, and a very popular one at that.

“The draft agreement has been finalised and the treaty will be signed soon,” a home ministry official told Hindustan Times. The final touches were given during a visit of a Saudi delegation on January 15-16.

Some countries that India has extradition treaties with are Nepal, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Bhutan, Hong Kong, U.S.A, Spain and Turkey. India has been extremely keen on an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia for many years, but the two countries were unable to breast the tape for one reason or the other.

Underworld figures such as Dawood, who is wanted in India for the 1993 bomb bombings in Mumbai, have often been spotted in Saudi Arabia.

An Indian diplomat recalled finding Dawood at the next table at a Riyadh diner some years ago. The extradition treaty will enable New Delhi to seek Dawood’s arrest and extradition if and when he is seen there next.

West Asian countries have been popular with fleeing Indian underworld figures or those planning attacks against India.

United Arab Emirates, for instance, was a great favourite of these fugitives until India signed an extradition treaty with the kingdom in 1999. (My comment: LOL! HT love to take a positive tune on such issues. What about Dawood's brother who was arrested and then allowed to fly to Karachi despite interpol warrant/Indian police trying to extradite using the treaty? Article is positive spin)

On a request from New Delhi, UAE arrested and handed over underworld don Aftab Ansari wanted in India for the bombing of the American Centre in Kolkata in 2002. (well it was a plain target against American interests hence the handover duhh....)

Security agencies have maintained many people arrested with terror connections in India had visited Saudi Arabia and collaborated with their contacts there for funding as well.

“The treaty signed with the UAE has helped us in bringing down subversive activities directed against India,” said the home ministry official. (Too a certain extent, but those who are well connected cannot be touched.)

India is also negotiating such treaties with Israel and Iran, said the official.

Some countries that India has extradition treaties with are Nepal, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Bhutan, Hong Kong, U.S.A, Spain and Turkey.

Dawood attended his own daughters wedding in Dubai regardless of any treaty of any sort. India must understand that it needs to build up relations with key individuals in order to get biz done in West asia.

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Australia, India Greeted

(Wam)

27 January 2010
ABU DHABI - The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent the cables of greetings to Quentin Bryce, Australia’s Governor-General on the occasion of her country’s National day and to Pratibha Patil, President of the Republic of India on the occasion of their republic day.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, also sent similar cables to Australia’s Governor-General and Indian President.

Also, General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, sent similar cables.

Interestingly Gulf News says that there was a tight security blanket at the Consuls home and nearby area in Dubai today, all visitors had to pass through metal detectors.. Those of you who have visited will be suprised because usually there is just a little wooden box for police to be stationed outside the house which is usually empty. Sounds like there was some sort of threat perception. Hmm...

The outgoing CGI presented his book to HH Sheikh Mohammed.
Indian diplomat's book on India-UAE ties presented to Dubai ruler

UAE Armed Forces begin training with Centcom
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Times Of Oman carried a special on India's Republic Day with an interview with the Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa. Detailing the business side to relationship.
Omanis welcome to invest in India’s infrastructure: Wadhwa

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has sent a cable of greetings to President Pratibha Patil of India on the occasion of her country’s Republic Day. His Majesty wished President Patil good health and happiness and the friendly people of India further progress.

The omani contingent delivered their greetings to the President personally during the reception today.

[sum]

An Indian diplomat recalled finding Dawood at the next table at a Riyadh diner some years ago.

[shyamd]

Food is going to be the next biggest crisis. Interesting article.
Mideast supplies: Slowdown in Gulf states’ dash for farmland

[Philip]

Israel accused of "assassinating" a to Hamas leader in Dubai.Dubai's reputation for violence has been growing.Apartf rom the murder of a Chechen leader,one report had it that there was a huge shootout (not reported in the media) in the new Burj tower between two factions of the Russian mafia a couple of months ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Dubai.html

Israel 'assassinates' Hamas commander in Dubai
Hamas has threatened vengeance after it accused Israel of assassinating a leading member of its military wing in Dubai.

By Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem
29 Jan 2010

Raising the prospect of renewed Palestinian-Israeli violence, the Islamist movement promised to retaliate for the alleged killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Described as one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, Mr Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on January 20.

Leading Gaza militant killed in Israeli air strike, threatening to reignite tensions in region

Six dead as Hamas-Fatah tension spreads to West BankAlthough a Palestinian news agency reported that the militant had died of cancer, security officials in the Emirate were quoted as saying that his body showed signs of a violent death.

In line with official policy, there was no response from Israel or its overseas intelligence agency Mossad, which has carried out a number of overseas assassinations in the past.

Police in Dubai said that they have identified several "European passport holders" as suspects - travel to Dubai is prohibited for Israeli passport holders - and that preliminary investigations indicated he was murdered by "a professional criminal gang".

Mabhouh is certainly the type of militant that Israel would have had in its sights.

According to Hamas, he was behind the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989 and is said to have played a leading role in bypassing an Israeli military blockade to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, which has been under Hamas control since 2007.

Mabhouh had been in Dubai for three days. Although he slept with a chair under the handle of his door, his assassins managed to break in.

His brother Fayeq said: "The first results of a joint investigation by Hamas and the Emirates show he was killed by an electrical appliance that was held to his head.

"He was then strangled with pieces of cloth."

Hamas said it delayed announcing Mabhouh's death while it tried to catch his assassins and waited for forensic evidence.

Mabhouh had been living in Syria, where the Hamas political leadership is based, since 1989.

As several thousand mourners gathered at his funeral in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk on the edge of Damascus on Friday, Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, promised revenge.

"I say to you Zionists: Do not rejoice," he said. "You killed him but his sons will fight you. God already took our leaders and loved ones, but resistance goes on. Palestine is a blessed land. It will not remain patient."

Last March, Sulim Yamadayev, a former Chechen rebel, was shot dead in a Dubai underground parking lot.

[shyamd]

quick post... date still not decided between ksa and india. expected to be feb or march. King of Bahrain due in feb sometime I think.

I don't have to worry about Muslims In India
Q&A: Faisal-al-Trad, Saudi Ambassador to India
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi January 31, 2010, 0:21 IST

Many security-related agreements will be signed between India and Saudi Arabia during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the country, Saudi Ambassador to India Faisal-al-Trad tells Aditi Phadnis

PM to ink 9 pacts in Riyadh visit

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plans yet another trip to Saudi Arabia (two previous attempts had to be aborted), Saudi Arabia said

it had "delivered" on its promise and had replaced the UAE as the prime source for India's crude oil imports.

Speaking to reporters, Saudi envoy Faisal H Trad said after King Abdullah promised India that the kingdom would take care of India's oil imports, over the past three years, India had shifted its primary source to Saudi Arabia. He said India now took $23.5 billion (or close to 600,000 barrels a day) worth of oil from Saudi Arabia.

The forthcoming visit by the PM, a sort of return visit after the king was chief guest at the Republic Day in 2006, will see India and Saudi Arabia signing some nine agreements, including an extradition treaty and one on transfer of sentenced persons.

The king's visit in 2006, the Saudi ambassador said, changed the strategic picture for the two countries. It was the first time the Saudi king visited India in 50 years. Singh's visit had to be aborted, first, because of his cardiac surgery, and second time due to the G-20 meeting in Washington in November 2008.

The shift to Saudi Arabia comes with some real and hoped-for political advantages. Saudi Arabia, as the biggest oil supplier in the Middle East, should essentially be India's biggest partner, specially since about 1.6 million Indians visit Saudi either as tourists or as workers, who send back about $5 billion as remittances back home.

India and Saudi Arabia are also expected to set up a joint investment fund of $750 million for infrastructure development, which will be announced during the visit. While the PM is expected to take along a big business delegation, there is also expected to be a big interest in Indian technical and scientific development, with two pacts scheduled to be signed on this. Two more agreements will be signed on education, for linkages between different universities.

Saudi Arabia is now insisting on police verification for people travelling to the kingdom, tightening conditions for agencies taking workers to Saudi Arabia. A large number of Indians travel to Saudi every year, the envoy said, adding the embassy and the consulate issued six lakh visas last year besides 1.6 lakh for Haj pilgrims.

US speeds up its own and Gulf allies' preparations for clash with Iran

DEBKAfile Special Report January 31, 2010, 12:27 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags: Gulf Emirates military deployment Saudi Arabia US-Iran

Aegis, US anti-missile missile
The Obama administration took the unusual step Saturday night, Jan. 30, of leaking word to major US media that the United States, Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies - the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain - have accelerated the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks. They are preparing for Iran, or its surrogate Hizballah, to hit back for a possible US or strikes on Tehran's nuclear facilities.
DEBKAfile's US military sources confirm that Washington plans to treble the 10,000-strong US troop contingent, already present in Saudi Arabia for guarding its oil fields and port facilities against medium or short-range Iranian missile attack, or sabotage by Hizballah marine units trained for their mission by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Additional US Aegis missile interceptor cruisers with advanced radar and anti-missile systems were also reported to be heading for round-the-clock patrol around Iranian shores, with more Patriot anti-missile missiles to reinforce the eight batteries already deployed in the four emirates.
The Obama administration set these exceptional steps in motion, DEBKAfile reports, in anticipation of nuclear provocations from Tehran while the regime celebrates the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution from Feb.1-11.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promised to announce Iran's attainment of a 20 percent uranium enrichment capability, a short step to weapons grade material.
Some high-ranking Revolutionary Guards officers have also said that Iran will parade a new type of surface missile during the celebrations, without revealing its features, while Iranian space scientists predicted the launch of a new spy satellite of the Toloo series.
All this was taken in Washington as a challenge that could not be left without an appropriate response. Administration officials also feared that Israel might be goaded into going forward with a military operation against Iran's nuclear facilities. The Gulf Arab states were in need of reassurance too.
The White House's decision to deploy additional defenses in the Gulf came only a day after National Security Adviser James Jones warned that Iran was liable to react to pressure by having its proxies Hizballah and Hamas attack Israel. The abruptness of this step pointed to the administration having woken up to the realization that its diplomatic and military position in the region was in grave jeopardy and in dire need of shoring up without delay

[shyamd]

US sanctions to hit Indian oil cos engaged in Iran

Italian-Iranian trade thrives, supports Tehran's nuclear program

debkafile's sources list seven glaring examples of the thriving relations between Italy and Iran:
1. Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini recently warned the European Union, on direct orders from Berlusconi, to refrain from expanding sanctions against Iran for its nuclear violations: "We must not burn every bridge," he said, "because Iran is a key figure and we must avoid those [sanctions] that are connected with Iranian national pride."

2. Encouraged by the Rome government, more than 1,000 Italian firms operate inside Iran, including the energy giant Eni, Fiat Ansaldo, Danieli-Duferco and Maire Technimont.
3. Only this month, Maire Tecnimont signed a contract for the purchase of 220 million euros-worth of Iranian gas to Italy. This company also furnishes the Iranian army, as well as its space and nuclear programs, with equipment.

4. Carlo Gavazzi Space is helping Iran construct its Mesbah communications satellite, even though this program is the front for the manufacture of surveillance satellites for spying on Israel.
5. The Iveco, a subsidiary of Fiat, supplies the Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards with their fleets of heavy trucks. They are seen at every military parade in Tehran, trundling past carrying Iranian ballistic missiles.

6. Levrievo speed boats, made by the Italian FB Design, are the model for the swift craft used as seaborne bombs by the Revolutionary Guards marine units and the Hizballah commando squads, which are currently training in Iran for in-depth terrorist raids in Israel.
7. The large Italian construction firm Seli is the source of Iran's heavy earthmoving equipment for digging tunnels. Its personnel work closely with the Iranian Ghaem company, which US intelligence has discovered to be an arm of the Revolutionary Guards. Italian heavy equipment therefore helps burrow the secret fortified bunkers where Iran conceals banned projects of its nuclear program and a top priority as US or Israeli targets of attack.
The Italians claim all these transactions as civilian in nature and they have no idea what eventual use Iran may make its purchases.

IOL:
The Detroit bomber: The young Nigerian had no baggage and bought his ticket with cash at the last moment. As the plane was landing at Detroit he tried to set off a bomb. Founded in 1982 by former Shin Bet operatives, An israeli firm operates security at Schiphol cleared the chap, denied any responsibility for the incident on Dec. 28.

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Libya wants the Rafale, but deal currently frozen due to politics.
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Political scene is heating up in Bahrain. The Crown Prince in a bid to undermine the current PM, has launched corruption charges against his uncle's (PM) associates . The prince currently has little political clout - it remains firmly in the hands of his father, the sovereign, Sheikh Hamad bin Issa al Khalifa, and his great uncle - and he is struggling to carve out a place in the leadership for himself.

Certain quarters in Bahrain’s ruling circles worry about the eventual impact of the crown prince’s campaign on the local political situation. The Shi’ite opposition is already using cases of corruption at Alba as ammunition against the Sunni monarchy. Shi’ites account for 70% of Bahrain’s population but are totally excluded from any role in government, which remains the prerogative of the Sunni minority.
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More on US-Jordan co-operation and the Jordanian suicide bomber in Af-Pak:
US used to rely on Egyptian Intel for nearly a decade, then started cooperating with the Jordanians.

The Jordanian anti-terrorist unit named Knights of Justice has itself carried out operations against Al Qaeda elements in Iraq and Afghanistan in conjunction with the CIA

Balawi:
A former member of the Jordanian branch of the Moslem Brotherhood, he was arrested by the GID a year ago for publishing extremist propaganda on the Internet under the pseudonym of Abu Dujanah al Khorasani. While in jail he came to an understanding with GID which sent him to Afghanistan to infiltrate Al Qaeda in the tribal regions along the border with Pakistan and try to worm his way into the circle of the organization’s number two man, Ayman Zawahiri.

Al Balawi operated for a year in the tribal areas under the supervision of the head of GID’s contingent in Afghanistan, Sharif Ali bin Zeid, cousin of Jordan’s king AbullahII. While remaining in contact with his handler, he drew closer to the Pakistani Taliban movement headed by Baitullah Mehsud. Pretending to have detailed information about Zawahiri, he was brought back to the base at Khost on Dec. 30 where he exploded the bomb he was carrying, killing the seven CIA members as well as GID’s representative.
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Omar Suleiman, Egyptian Intel minister, secretly visited Israel for 2days in 20-21Dec for discussions with Netanyahu and Def min. Suleiman offered to break through the logjam between Hamas and israel for release of Israeli-French soldier Shalit.
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John McLaughlin, former number two man at the CIA, has been asked to identify the intelligence flaws that led to Nigeria’s Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab being allowed to board Northwest Airlines’ flight 253 on December 25 with enough explosives to blow up the plane.
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This week:
Washington imposes Houti ceasefire
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The surveillance mechanism put in place by the Franco-Emirati group 4C Controls in the United Arab Emirates, which was expected to be operational by mid-2009, was still being fine-tuned at the end of the year. Its purpose is to monitor Iran.

[shyamd]

Trade pact a road to $1-trillion Gulf market for India: Bahrain

[ramana]

Massa cant afford a three front war(iraq, Afghan and Iran) along with collapsed economy. Read Robert Gates interview in Esquire magazine.

[shyamd]

Tharoor expected in Oman today.

Oman denies receiving any offer from US

Times News Service
02 February 2010 05:52:16 Oman Time

MUSCAT: The Sultanate yesterday denied that it had received any offer from the United States offering to deploy missile shield in the Gulf against Iran.

This came in response to a report in The New York Times, published on its website on Saturday, indicating that military officials and administrative officials in the Sultanate had rejected this offer, which was apparently accepted by several countries in the Gulf region.

Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, secretary general, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the Sultanate’s position on such matters is fixed and that it does not accept bids from anyone or enter into alliances or axis against any state.

Al Busaidi also stressed that the country does not allow its territory to be used to carry out any military operations against any country in the region.

Patriot missiles

The New York Times, on its website, on Saturday quoted US military and administrative officials as saying that Qatar, the Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait had accepted the deployment of (Patriot) missiles of America in their territories.

The newspaper quoted a senior official in the US administration, who did not reveal his identity, as saying: “Our first objective is to deter Iranians and the second objective is to reassure Arab countries, so that they do not feel the need for nuclear weapons to defend themselves; there certainly is another factor as well, that is to calm the Israelis.”

Oman has also told Iran apparently that, there will be no US/Western attack against Iran that will take place from Omani soil. US/UK have 4 bases in Oman and currently Af-Pak operations staging ground is happening from Oman.
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Was told yesterday, a certain heavyweight KSA prince is invested in Oil production in Kurdistan. Not allowed to mention name.

[shyamd]

India pitches for more Gulf FDI

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New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) Calling for better regulation to check economic imbalances and reform of international financial institutions, India made a strong pitch Wednesday to woo foreign investment from Gulf countries.

"India is a more attractive destination for such investments than other places in the world," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said at a two-day India-Arab Economic Summit here.

Alluding to around $3-4 trillion disposable revenues with the Gulf countries, amounting to more than half the global sovereign wealth funds, Tharoor said some investments had already started coming but it is "far less than the potential particularly in the FDI segment".

"India has received FDI from GCC countries amounting to $1.59 billion in 2009," he said. "The 4.5 million Indians in GCC countries transfer about $30 billion in remittances to India annually. So the difference is apparent."

The conference, �Beyond the Meltdown: Search for Options,' has been organised by the Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum and Institute of Objective Studies.

Referring to the second India-Arab Investment Conclave here Feb 8-9, Tharoor said the meet, in which ministers and business delegations from the Gulf and Arab countries will participate, will focus on projects valued at $10-11 billion.

Bilateral trade between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has crossed $100 billion in 2009 making GCC, as a bloc, India's largest trading partner. Trade between India and the Arab world exceeded $110 billion in 2009.

Tharoor also stressed the urgent need to develop a better system of surveillance and regulation to detect early signs of systemic financial and economic imbalances and address them effectively in a timely manner.

"There should be a better and more transparent regulatory mechanism for banks, financial institutions and capital markets as well as a stronger voice for developing countries," he said.

These reforms would also help in a more effective and less market-driven approach to raise the economic standards of the poorer sections of the international community, he said.

India calls for greater counter-terror cooperation with Gulf

New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Saudi Arabia, India Wednesday called for expanding security cooperation with the Gulf region, home to 4.5 million-strong Indian diaspora, to combat "common threats of terrorism and Islamist radicalism".

"India has a vital stake in the stability, security and economic wellbeing of the Gulf," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said at the two-day India-Arab Economic Summit here.

"Emerging common threat perceptions create further opportunities for Gulf-India cooperation in the future," Tharoor said.

The conference entitled 'Beyond the Meltdown: Search for Options', has been organized by the Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum and Institute of Objective Studies.

Alluding to the ongoing transformation in India and the Gulf world, Tharoor said: "This envisages jointly preparing to meet emerging domestic and regional challenges, foremost being the common threat from terrorism and Islamist radicalism."

"Thus, both the Gulf region and India need to cooperate and coordinate their efforts to combat such forces to meet the challenge of terrorism and religious extremism," he said.

India has instituted a political and strategic dialogue with nearly all countries in the region and this is being intensified, he stressed.

Tharoor's remarks come days before Manmohan Singh's likely visit to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's most influential nation, in the next four months. An extradition treaty, aimed at expanding security and counter-terror cooperation, is expected to be signed during the visit.

FM Krishna in Kuwait.

Shashi Tharoor to visit Oman from February 5-7

Submitted by admin2 on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:09
in

NetIndian News Network
New Delhi, February 4, 2010


Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor will pay a three-day visit to Oman from February 5-7 for strategic dialogue and consultations with the leadership of the Gulf state.

An official statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said Dr Tharoor would be accompanied by an 11-member business delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Apart from substantive discussions on areas of mutual, bilateral and regional interest with Mr Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood al Busaidi, Secretary General in the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Tharoor will also meet Minister of Foreign Affairs Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Defence Affairs Sayyid Badr bin Saud al Busaidi and other dignitaries.

Dr Tharoor will also give an address at the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on "Indian Foreign Policy Imperatives in the 21st Century".

According to the statement, India and Oman enjoy warm and cordial relations, which can be ascribed to historical contacts as well as contributions made by the Indian expatriate workforce numbering over 556,000 for the development of the Sultanate.

Following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Oman in November, 2008, the relationship between the two countries has moved to a strategic partnership.

Trade between the two countries is on the upswing despite the global economic slowdown. India ranked as the fifth largest source of imports into Oman in 2009. Omani investments in India have exceeded $ 200 million primarily in refineries, tourism, pharmaceutial industry and home furniture. In 2008, major Indian companies, independently or in collaboration, bagged contracts worth $ 836 million.

"The visit of the Minister of State is expected to further strengthen and deepen the strategic relationship to our mutual advantage," the statement added.

FM Krishna in Kuwait since Wednesday. I expect certain strategic pacts to be sealed. The Kuwaiti's hinted to Vice President Hamid Ansari about security agreements, the Kuwaiti AF has visited schools in India. I think they want anti piracy agreements too.

India, Kuwait discuss terrorism, other issues

Kuwait City India and Kuwait on Wednesday discussed a gamut of issues, including terrorism, developments in Pakistan and energy security on the first day of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's maiden visit to a Gulf country.

Krishna held meetings with Kuwait Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah, Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al Ahmed Al-Sabah and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

During the meetings, Krishna discussed with Kuwaiti leaders issues related to terrorism, developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan, energy security, Middle-East peace process, developments in Iraq and Iran, UN Security Council reforms, culture and people-to-people contact.

The Kuwaiti leaders were of the view that India should play a greater role in the international arena.

"There are no special concerns in the relationship between India and Kuwait. This is my first visit to a Gulf country after I took over. This shows the importance India attaches to Kuwait and it is necessary to keep in mind that the relationship is cordial," Krishna, who is the first External Affairs Minister to visit Kuwait in 18 years, said.

Briefing reporters on the meetings, MEA Secretary (East) V Lata Reddy told reporters that both the countries discussed the need to exchange information on how terror groups operate.

"The question of how the nexus exists between different groups of terrorists and how it can be combated were discussed. These groups are not operating in isolation anymore," Reddy said.

Asked about problems faced by domestic servants from India, Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Ajay Malhotra said that they were aware of the presence of large number of Indian domestic servants working in the Gulf country.

"As far as non-applicability of labour laws in Kuwait goes, it applies to all communities not Indians alone. We had a meeting in January on this with Kuwaiti authorities.

Egyptian sources: Israel prepares to strike Iran from Gulf and N. Iraq

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 3, 2010, 10:12 PM (GMT+02:00)

Arab voices were fanning Middle East war fever Wednesday night, Feb. 3. debkafile's military sources report that not only are Syrian leaders beating war drums - Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said in Damascus: "Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities" - but Egyptian military sources have put out information purporting to outline Israel's preparations to strike Iran.

They report that the Israeli Navy together with the US Fifth Fleet have for some weeks been charting Persian Gulf waters and Iranian shorelines in preparation for attacks by Israeli naval and special operations forces.

IDF intelligence and special forces officers, they also say, have been marking out routes for their air and ground forces to drive into Iran and hit its nuclear installations.

According to these Egyptian sources, Saudi Arabia has demanded clarifications from Washington about reported US-assisted Israeli preparations to strike Iran and asks why they were not brought to the notice of Riyadh and the Gulf Arab governments.

The Saudis added that several Gulf intelligence and naval units had tracked Israeli movements and gathered documentary evidence.

Some of this information was leaked in Cairo Wednesday night to Shorouk, a publication which Egyptian intelligence often uses as an outlet for information held to be credible.
Shorouk was first out with the story of the Israeli Air Force attack on Iranian arms convoys in Sudan in January 2009.

Link

Both sides agreed on the need to jointly combat terrorism and discussed the need to exchange more information, especially among intelligence agencies on the manner in which terrorists operate. “The leaders also discussed the nexus between terrorists operating in different parts of the world and how to curb their activities at the global level,” said Ms. Reddy.

[sum]

Tharoor's remarks come days before Manmohan Singh's likely visit to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's most influential nation, in the next four months. An extradition treaty, aimed at expanding security and counter-terror cooperation, is expected to be signed during the visit.

Is the treaty worth the paper it is signed on, given the Saudi love for Paki and IM terrorists?

[Philip]

A long overdue move.Syria and the Golan Heights are part of the knotty Middle East puzzle and cannot be ignored as it occupies critical geo-strategic space.However,Iran's latest statements about agreeing to send its N-material overseas for enrichment has to be looked at under a microscope.Is it genuine or just another ploy?Its latest satellite launch also indicates that Iran cannot be stooped from developing its scientific base and defence industry,aided by China in the main,with a little help also from Russia.Any Israeli military attack against Iran would however plunge the region and the globe into a devastating crisis,leading to a regional war that could cripple energy resources and send the global economy into a fatal downspin.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 013725.ece

US picks veteran envoy in push for Middle East peaceGiles Whittell in Washington

In a new effort to loosen the gridlock that is blocking progress towards peace in the Middle East, the US State Department has appointed one of its foremost Arabists as its new Ambassador to Syria.

Robert Ford, whose appointment has yet to be confirmed by the Syrian Government, would be the first US Ambassador to Damascus since his predecessor was withdrawn in 2005 because of apparent Syrian involvement in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister.

A former ambassador in Algiers who also has long experience in Iraq, Mr Ford’s task will be to attempt to coax the Government of President ssad away from Iran and from its longstanding support of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

He will also press urgently for a peace deal between Israel and Syria, which Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, said yesterday was the only alternative to a slide to war. “In the absence of a deal with Syria we could reach an armed conflict that could develop into a full-fledged war,” Mr Barak told Israeli army officers.

Related Links
Obama woos Syria in push for peace
Syria key to US hopes of unlocking Middle East
Will Syria come in from the political cold?

Walid Moallem, the Syrian Foreign Minister, responded by warning Israel to “stop being the neighbourhood bully” and said that if war broke out it would be “all-out and [would] take place inside your cities”. Syria has never acknowledged any role in the murder of Mr Hariri but has been seeking ways to avoid diplomatic isolation over the incident ever since.

Mr Ford’s name was mentioned in talks last week between President Assad and George Mitchell, the US Special Envoy to the Middle East. Mr Moallem confirmed yesterday that his name had been submitted. “The United States has nominated an ambassador,” he said. “This is an American sovereign issue and it is Syria’s right to study the nomination.” An official at the US Embassy in Damascus said that Washington hoped that Mr Ford’s appointment, if approved, would “help change Syria’s attitude in the region in order to ensure stability and security. Washington hopes that Syria will play an essential role in eliminating US concerns regarding its attitude in the region.”

Besides hoping that President Assad will rein in his country’s hostility to Israel and assert control over Iranian-sponsored terrorist organisations operating on its soil, the US wants Syrian co-operation in policing the country’s porous border with Iraq — hitherto a favourite entry point for suicide bombers affiliated with al-Qaeda.

[ramana]

Tharoor's remarks come days before Manmohan Singh's likely visit to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's most influential nation, in the next four months. An extradition treaty, aimed at expanding security and counter-terror cooperation, is expected to be signed during the visit.

Is the treaty worth the paper it is signed on, given the Saudi love for Paki and IM terrorists?

Saudis are hedging. Recall the KSA ambassodor interview to an Indian newspaper. They want to reduce Indo-Iranian ties for one thing.

[chetak]

Tharoor's remarks come days before Manmohan Singh's likely visit to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's most influential nation, in the next four months. An extradition treaty, aimed at expanding security and counter-terror cooperation, is expected to be signed during the visit.


Is the treaty worth the paper it is signed on, given the Saudi love for Paki and IM terrorists?


Saudis are hedging. Recall the KSA ambassodor interview to an Indian newspaper. They want to reduce Indo-Iranian ties for one thing.

Whatever will happen to our "ancient" ties with iran, saar?

[ramana]

It will lead to balanced decision making. IOW sometimes one side wins and other times it loses provided India wins all the time.

[shyamd]

^^ Exactly. I don't think the Yindu top tier expect security pacts in the region to be enacted, if I am honest. Its our country that will benefit either way. Only worry for India is if war with Iran kicks off, will Indian troops be airlifted to Qatar/Oman for their protection and the protection of PIO/NRI's? I don't see Iran invading any country (maybe Qatar to get their gas fields).

Even if its not worth the paper, it can make your Dawoods of the world to think twice before going to that country, it increases the cost of your operations. May put more pressure on Dawood. Like putting Dawood on international terror list, now it means its a bit more harder for him to travel to other countries freely.

Gulf is turning into major LeT hub, was listening to the Times Now report on Maldives, they were saying intel agencies have identified many individuals who have been recruited in the Gulf, and then travelled to pak for training, to then return to Maldives.

India, Kuwait to set up jt mechanism on combating terrorism

Underlining the need to exchange information on terror groups, India and Kuwait have decided to set up a joint mechanism to combat the scourge of terrorism.

The decision to set up 'India-Kuwait Joint Mechanism on Combating International Terrorism' came following a series of meetings External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had with Kuwaiti leaders here.

The discussions on terrorism centred around the need to exchange information on how terror groups operate as well as the question of how the nexus exists among them. “We have agreed on setting up an India-Kuwait Joint Mechanism on Combating International Terrorism”, Krishna, who is the first External Affairs Minister to visit Kuwait since 1992, said.

“The well-being of India and that of this region are inter-linked. We have a vested interest to see that we live in surroundings that are calm, where our peoples have the opportunity to develop and prosper in the shadow of peace”, he said. Besides terrorism, Krishna discussed with Kuwaiti leaders issues related to developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan, energy security, Middle East peace process, developments in Iraq and Iran, UN Security Council reforms, culture and people-to-people contacts.

Intelligence agreements with Oman/Qatar/Kuwait. So basically, India will probably get access to databases that Kuwait and Saudi GID share. Its a step in the right direction. Now, its important to utilise the info for greater good.

The CCS also discussed MMS upcoming trip to KSA, shows there is defo security angle to the relationship, something in the offing I feel.
------------------
Washington told Yemen, that ceasefire with Houtis is a must, otherwise US will not provide aid according to IOL.
------------------
Tharoor visit, saturday will be a day full of govt meetings

[shyamd]

Nahyan attends release of book on UAE-India relations

[derkonig]

Glory of islam in full force from Turkey, the so-called secular state...AoA

Honour killing: Girl buried alive in Turkey

[shyamd]

Tharoor is making a name for himself in Oman.

Good news - some tweets from Shashi Tharoor:


Grt mtg w Manpower Minister who gave us everything we asked for! Flexibility on repatn deadline,permission to feed illegals at authrzd camps


ManpwrMin contd: will open Thurs morngs 2process Indn cases,companies not returning workers' passports will be punished.What responsiveness!


Helpfulness of ManpowerMin on plight of Indn workers typical of the warmth&friendliness w which Govt has recd us.&mtg wasn't even scheduled!



Met w Indn workers at Embassy, discussed issues in Hindi&Malayalam. Many have serious probms,some starvng. Still, ended w rousing "JaiHind"!


Great but long day in Oman. Mtgs w eminent Omanis/ministers/advisers. DPM Fahad (who chairs Council ofMinisters) graciously gave us 90mins



Also met w 2rival overseas Congress factions who promise to unite. Skipped lunch as mtgs overflowd but terrific dinner chez SayyidBadr, SG/FM

Big issue in Oman is changed labour law which has made life difficult for 18,300 Indn workers w improper documentn..Emb has had fines waived

--------------------
He also had a twitter meet up with Omani's and Indian twitterers in Muscat. Was reported in almost all the local newspapers.

Tharoor all praise for Tweeters of Muscat

By Kabeer Yousuf
MUSACT — Shashi Tharoor, the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, is all praises for the Tweeters of Muscat after a tête-à-tête he had with his online acquaintances at the Indian embassy and mentions on Twitter site that the discussions were very useful and the group was strong. “The Muscat Tweeter Group is a strong one with more than 250 members and I had a really nice discussion session with them and I’m looking forward to meet tweeters all over the Middle East”, he mentions on the site after the first international tweet meet held outside India, in Oman.

Tharoor, who has recently been shot to limelight for his comments on the Twitter in India is on an official three-day visit to the Sultanate which will conclude today. During his visit, he and his delegation met ministers and officials for further exploring avenues of partnership. Speaking on the relevance and importance of tweeting amid the busy schedules of a politician, he said, “As far as I’m concerned, Twitter is a very easy medium of getting to know what the opinion makers and the voices of the future think about various issues. It is also a forum for me to give a portrait of my personal and political interests, that helps me establish a link with people.

Moreover, it helps me to know the issues concerning people and to find solutions to their queries”. Tharoor is one of the very few politicians in India who is actively involved in social networking, and has a fan following numbering 642,525 on Twitter. “It was a Tuesday night dream that Shashi Tharoor confirmed the meeting with the tweeters of Muscat”, remembers Sangita Sridhar, a Muscat-based IT wizard who actively tweets.

“When I heard that Tharoor would be here in Muscat last Friday, I wanted to confirm it from the horse’s mouth and also wanted to confirm if he would be meeting with his ‘e-friends’ during his official visit in the Sultanate and in no time, he replied he would have a chat with all of us”, said Sangita, who is also a columnist for the Observer. She says his meeting with the net users shows the power of electronic communication and modern IT developments.

[abhishek_sharma]

Fareed Zakaria interviews the King of Jordan. Good interview.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/podcas ... .02.07.cnn

[shyamd]

'Top UAE diplomat in India has Dawood links'

‘Terrorists’ took flight to the UAE

Monday 8 Feb, 2010


A husband and wife are being quizzed over suspected terror links after a tip-off that members of a violent Islamic militant group were on board a flight from India to Dubai.

Emirates flight EK505 was told to turn back just before take-off at 9.30am after air traffic control at Mumbai Airport received a call claiming the couple were “terrorists”.

Indian authorities said the anonymous caller contacted staff to warn that two of the 356 passengers onboard were members of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Television channels in India claimed the man was aged 70 and the call came from one of his sons.

The aircraft was taken to an isolated bay where passengers disembarked and security personnel detained two people for questioning.

“The flight was on the taxi-way when the call came through which said that there were Lashkar-e-Taiba suspects on board,” an airport spokesman said.

The rest of the passengers reboarded and the flight left four hours later.

Last month, India increased airport security and warned its domestic airlines about a possible hijack attempt after a tip-off from Western intelligence services.

The alert warned that flights could be targeted by Islamic groups aligned to Al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba.

New Delhi blames Lashkar-e-Taiba for plotting and carrying out the November 2008 Mumbai siege in which ten gunmen targeted multiple locations in India’s financial and entertainment capital, killing 166 people.

An Emirates spokesman said: “The airline is extending full co-operation.”

The telephone call originated from Dubai, according to some media reports.

India aims to double trade with Arab world
Indo Arab conclave today.

Added later: Bahrain FM due to visit India on 11-12th Feb.

[shyamd]

Tharoor visit to open new vistas

MUSCAT: Even as he himself described his visit as an effort to ‘initiate new strategic dialogue with Oman in bilateral trade and commerce’, the question
“What brought the Indian minister of state for foreign affairs, Shashi Tharoor to Oman?” still remains unanswered.

Though there appears no apparent reason for speculations about his current three-day visit to Oman, the Indian diaspora in this country remains proving.

And at the root lies a studied silence of the minister himself on the recent controversy over ‘illegal’ Indian workers that arose in the wake of Oman government’s implementation of a new labour regulation. According to a rough estimate, there are at least 550,000 Indian workers at present in Oman, and over half of which are in the country without valid work permits.

Has Tharoor’s visit got anything to do with it? Probably, not. Though the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is believed to have been keeping a close watch on the situation, and has brought some significant diplomatic maneuverings into play to ensure, at least, that the Indian workers are not arrested and incarcerated. (ref: Twitter posts above)

General amnesty

Shashi Tharoor’s ministry is also believed to have played a key role in Oman Government’s subsequent announcement of general amnesty allowing the expatriate workers without proper visa and work permits to leave Oman without paying any financial penalty and incarceration.

The real objective of Tharoor’s visit, however, does not seem to be as mysterious as it appears apparently. An important member of his entourage, under the condition of anonymity, said India’s relations with Oman, a strategic Arab state and an important member of the GCC, was in need of revaluation and revamping.

The explanation appears plausible, especially in view of India’s long neglect of its historic and strategic partner, Oman, in the Arab world. “Any relation, be it diplomatic or personal, demands period revaluation and brushing,” said the sources.

India’s relation with Oman dates back to centuries and yet signs of rusting had become perceptible in the historic friendship.

A few issues, especially in trade and commerce, needed revaluation as much as the strategic relation.

11-member delegation

Though no Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) are on agenda during Shashi Tharoor’s current visit to Oman, the trip is considered to be of extreme importance. His entourage of an 11-member Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) delegation suggests that he is on an exploratory visit to GCC nation.

Oman’s economic and political stability offers unique investment opportunities for Indian companies seeking off shore greener pastures. Oman offers a remarkable investment destination for Indian companies in several sectors including real estate, software development and application, tourism, medical tourism, telecommunication and non-conventional energy.

And if Shashi Tharoor can bedazzle the Omani business community as he has done the tweeting community, Oman can witness a spurt in Indian investments, which is already in excess of $800 million at present.


Tweeter Shashi plays it safe

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s recent experience as a politician tweeter has discouraged several other politicians in India to tweet, and interact with people at large.

Stating this here in Muscat, on Friday, during his 30-minute interaction with some members of Oman tweeting community at the Indian Embassy auditorium, Tharoor appeared cautious and guarded in his comments.

Making his stand more than evident in response to one of the questions, Tharoor said he does acknowledge the fact that he needs to be more responsible and respectful of the political ethos in making his comment while tweeting.

He, however, regretted that though he never was the inventor nor was the only one to use the phrase, ‘cattle class’ has got stuck with him like a post-it pad.

Cattle class

“You can at least remove the post-it pads but the phrase has got pasted on me in a way that I cannot even remove it,” wailed the minister, who charmed the tweeting community with his wits.
Acknowledging the sensitivity of indulging in realtime communications and the possibility of misinterpretations due to brevity of twitter posts, Shashi said when ‘cattle class’ was translated into some of the Indian languages, the meaning changed and created raucous.

The minister, who incidentally experienced his first ever international tweet meet outside mainland India in Oman, admitted that if more Indian politicians would take to tweeting, it may change the perception of politicians and administrators if not the entire future face of politics.

Tharoor said tweeting offered him a unique platform to interact with the people, not with an intention to expand his constituency and learn about the outlook firsthand.

Tweeting, he reiterated, was an extremely useful source of information

.

Another very interesting article
Deadline likely to be extended for overstayers

DEBASISH MITRA
Monday, February 08, 2010 5:50:08 AM Oman Time

MUSCAT: In a clear display of further benevolence towards Indian workers in Oman, the Sultanate’s government had assured visiting Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, that the March 31 deadline, set earlier for “illegal” workers to leave the country, could be extended by a few more months if need arose. (ref: his tweets above)

The assurance was given when the Indian minister sought an extension of the amnesty citing the veritable impossibilities to evacuate all “illegal” Indian workers by March 31.

And in further exhibition of its “special” diplomatic ties with India, the Sultanate’s Manpower Minister assured Tharoor that Oman may not indefinitely ban the Indian “illegal” workers and blacklist their passports. In fact, Tharoor said, he had been assured that after going back home, these Indian workers could regularise their status and come back to Oman for working again with proper visa and work permits.

Oman’s magnanimity

Announcing the possibility of the extension of Oman government’s amnesty here yesterday at a press conference in the Indian Embassy, Tharoor said the
issue of “illegal” workers and their evacuation had been taken up very seriously during his meetings with the Oman Manpower Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, where he impressed upon the Omani minister the enormity of the task, vis-à-vis, paucity of time. As the Indian minister waxed eloquent on the magnanimity of the Oman government in taking a considerate and positive stand on an “extremely sensitive” manpower issue, Tharoor said given the magnitude of the matter, it would be impossible to complete all official paper works within the stipulated time of March 31.

The processing of exit applications exclusively of Indian “illegal” workers will begin on Thursday morning in an effort to evacuate the Indians at the earliest. Oman’s readiness to extend amnesty, if required, clearly suggested not only its humanitarian approach to problems of “illegal” workers, but also its special and deep bonds with India.

Tharoor also said he and his government were eagerly looking forward to a visit by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to India at the earliest.

“It would be excellent if His Majesty can personally visit India to accept the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Peace Award,” Shashi Tharoor said. (My comment: His Majesty doesn't often leave the country, he did visit Iran in a historic visit after elections, and doesnt travel too far e.g recent visit to Abu Dhabi, or maybe big GCC meetings. But it would be excellent to bring him to Delhi)

Appreciating Oman government’s gesture, Tharoor said the administration in the Sultanate was aware of the fact that these “illegal” workers had been duped and were victims of unscrupulous agents.

Passports

The Manpower Minister, Tharoor said, had also assured him of taking appropriate actions against companies found to be illegally holding on to the passports of workers willing to leave the country. The forced custody of passports of Indian expatriate workers by companies, he said, was in sharp contradiction to ILO conventions.

About 3,000 impoverished Indian workers, who have been hiding to avoid arrest and living in virtual squalor, will be given priority to fly back home.

The Indian Embassy and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs have already requested a few companies in Muscat to set up some temporary camps for these Indian workers, which the Indian minister felt would come up soon.

Civil nuclear energy

Though India currently does not have any cooperation with Oman in civilian nuclear energy, it is one area where India will certainly like to forge
cooperation with Oman sooner than later. India, Tharoor said, would also like to develop close cooperation with Oman in development of non-conventional or alternative energy.

Describing his three-day trip in the company of a 14-member delegation of Confederation of Indian Industry as “eventful and positive,” Shashi Tharoor announced the commencement of operation of the long-awaited Oman-India
Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF) within a “couple of months”.

“All impediments on the way to the fund have been removed and the corpus of the fund will be raised shortly as it become operative,” he announced.

During his 90-minute meeting with His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister, Government of Oman, Tharoor
expressed India’s keenness to receive increased investment from Oman in India, both in forms of equity participation and FDI. He, in all his meetings with Oman ministers and during interactions with prominent Omani business fraternity, offered better growth opportunity for their investments in India than anything countries in the West could offer.

Railway construction tender

“We are trying to be helpful and redefine our bilateral relation by adding further values to an already existing pattern of cooperation,” said Shashi Tharoor.

Expressing his government’s readiness to extent any kind of help to Oman, Tharoor said that Indian Railway and other associated companies in India would certainly participate in the tender for construction of railway in Oman and other AAGCC nations.

Tharoor also held strategic and diplomatic consultations with the Sultanate’s senior defence officials. I am also told that the minister of National economy will be coming to India to sign the Joint Investment Fund soon.

[Rupesh]

Tharoor seems to be doing well in Middle East ( and Africa too ). He should be allowed full flexibility in those regions and SMK can focus on the rest of the world

[SaraLax]

Qatar to invest $2 billion in India

DUBAI: Stating that New Delhi is a "key partner" of the Gulf Cooperation Council and that 'cash-rich' countries were now "increasingly looking towards India", Qatar has said it will invest a whopping $ 2 billion in the country.

Qatar, which has the highest per capita income in the Arab region, has plans to invest $2 billion in India in infrastructure and other promising sectors, secretary-general of the GCC Chambers, Abdulraheem Naqi said.

India was a key trade partner of the GCC and that cash-rich countries were now increasingly looking towards India to park their investments, Naqi was quoted as saying by 'The Peninsula' newspaper.

"The trend has changed after 9/11. We are looking more towards China, India and Malaysia to make investments," he said.

"These are the three most important nations in Asia that the GCC countries are now keen to invest in, and not in the West anymore," Naqi said.

India aims to double trade with Arab region by 2014

........"We look at doubling our (India and Arab region) bilateral trade by 2014. We can do it ... set your goals for investments (in India)," Sharma said here at Ficci's India-Arab Investment Projects Conclave.

Sharma also sought investments from the region in the sectors like ship building, infrastructure, pharmaceutical, IT, agro-processing and energy.

He said that returns from investments in India are huge and assured.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Secretary General of League of Arab States, Ahmed Benhelli said that there are huge opportunities in the region for investments and both regions should cooperate each other in enhancing economic ties. "We can cooperate in the areas like infrastructure, human resource development, health and tourism."

India should quickly get all the major influential rich and developed countries to invest in India and get tied to India for their own benefits, future prosperity of their people - by making them put their money in our reality sector, oil field development plans, pipelines, Mobile telephone services (like how Russia is investing via Systema Shyam) , fertilizer /oil refinery plants (oman and qatar's investments), in setting up their R&D centres and providing core IT services to them, White goods / electronics and car manufacturing plants (most of the western & east asian MNCs), training their armed forces and helping build technical talent wherever possible (for mid-east and developing countries), in servicing their patients and helping them build their hospitality/medical sectors.

This way...and through such a tight embrace between some of these nations and our country...these investors countries also get interested in the safety of their investments and personnel in India and would make their intelligence agencies/government help out India with crucial information that can help in the temporary period for staving of terrorist attacks by Pakistan based terrorists, their army and any mis-adventure by Chinese army hawks (recently...German intelligence agency helped out India with some info in preventing a certain imminent terrorist attack... PC has said in his interview with the Hindu).

[brihaspati]

Massive investments (soft or hard) from countries that may harbour hostilities out of ideological or geopolitical ambitions - need not be an unadulterated blessing. Financial world (political economics) has been abuzz about the role of strategic movement of capital in international financial flows towards destabilization of regional or country specific economies. Any investment from ME has to be carefully controlled.

It is not just about protecting their "investments" - but also about the imapct and clout of that "investment" in the internal affairs of the host country. History of finance has a very dark side story of political and covert intervention using such investments..

[abhishek_sharma]

Gaza war reports

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... n_anything

The Use of White Phosphorous

White phosphorous is a chemical compound that ignites when exposed to air, burning fiercely. Used as an incendiary weapon, white phosphorous sticks to clothes and skin and causes gruesome chemical burns. However, the substance also quickly creates a smokescreen. For this reason, it is favored by armies, including the IDF, for concealing their armored units from enemy anti-tank teams. The Goldstone report accuses Israel of using white phosphorous munitions with a reckless disregard for the civilian population in Gaza; Israel insists that it only used white phosphorous to shield ground units from attack.

Goldstone:

[T]he Mission, while accepting that white phosphorous is not at this stage proscribed under international law, finds that the Israeli armed forces were systematically reckless in determining its use in built-up areas. Moreover, doctors who treated patients with white phosphorous wounds spoke about the severity and sometimes untreatable nature of the burns caused by the substance. The Mission believes that serious consideration should be given to banning the use of white phosphorous in built-up areas.
On 15 January 2009, the UNRWA field office compound in Gaza City came under shelling with high explosive and white phosphorous munitions. The Mission notes that the attack was extremely dangerous, as the compound offered shelter to between 600 and 700 civilians and contained a huge fuel depot. The Israeli forces continued the attack over several hours in spite of having been fully alerted to the risks they created.

Israel:

With respect to smoke projectiles, the Military Advocate General found that international law does not prohibit use of smoke projectiles containing phosphorous. Specifically, such projectiles are not 'incendiary weapons.'
The Military Advocate General further determined that during the Gaza Operation, the IDF used such smoke projectiles for military purposes only, for instance to camouflage IDF armor forces from Hamas's anti-tank units by creating smoke screens.

[shyamd]

New IOL Issue out today

Top story is that West is broke and is looking and Saudi to fund anti AQAP ops in Yemen, ops in Af-Pak(pacification of taleban) and fund the arming of Pak Army. Washington has spent $8.7 bil to date on Paki army ops. Zardari spoke to Saudi FM in Istanbul meet. GID chief has established contact with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar via a US/Afghani businessman called Dawood Abidi. Prince Abdulaziz bin Bandar, the GID's number two, contacted Jalaluddin Haqqani. Karzai was in Riyadh officially for a pilgrimage on Feb 3rd but he did have a lengthy chat with King of KSA and Prince Muqrin (Head of KSA GID). Karzai asked for KSA help in mediating political settlement with Taleban.

-----------------
Iran-US secret negotiations in Geneva. Meshaie the iranian vice president was officially there to encourage investors to come invest in the iranian free trade zone in Kish Island. Looks like there is a further exchange of prisoners that will take place. Ahmadinejad wants to develop Kish Island to circumvent sanctions. Karimi the head of the Sea City project in Kish Island was in Italy meeting investors, whilst Meshaie was in Geneva. The US turned up as a large delegation of US nuclear experts going to meetings to finalize the new Start treaty with their Russian counterparts at the UN office. Mashaie also took part in secret meetings with American officials, just days before Iran announced its 20% enrichment thing.

While Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie was presenting the Persian Gulf Sea City project to Swiss investors last week, Karimi was in Italy meeting. Kish Islands is used to import sensitive nuclear and military gear.

--------------------
To stop Houthi rebels and jihadist militants from getting into the country via Yemen, Saudi Arabia's Army has established a security perimeter around Mount Daoub, north of the town of Jizan. Saudi forces took the zone from Houthi rebels last year and they have established a 10km-deep buffer zone on Yemeni soil patrolled jointly.

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The Dubai police, directed by General Dhahi Khalfan al-Tamimi, have established that the assassination was the work of a

Dubai police are refusing to let Hamas get involved in the investigation, but they have asked Jordanian and Egyptian intelligence services as well as Interpol to help. Although it has been shut out of the investigation, Hamas is carrying out its own probe into al-Mabhouh's death, led by Moussa Abu Marzuk. The police have reconstructed al-Mabhouh's movements from the time he arrived in Dubai January 19 on Emirates' flight EK912 from Damascus till he was found dead at room 130 of Hotel Rotana. (My comment: Whole of Dubai is filled with CCTV camera's). The Hamas official, in charge of buying and transporting arms, arrived at the hotel at 4.30pm. At 5pm he went to the Iranian Consulate. Helping him are Syrian and Iranian officials who were in contact with al-Mabhouh until the day he died. Hamas was quick to point the finger at Israel's Mossad. Al Mabhouh's demise is a big loss for Hamas operationally: he had perfected the the transportation of arms to the Gaza strip via Sudan and Sinai desert routes protected by Egyptian Bedouins. The arms would find their way into Gaza via underground contraband tunnels crossing

So far Dubai Police say it was a 10 person commando team that included three blonde women who came into who came into the country on European passports(My comment: smells like an israeli op to me). The State Security of AbudHabi Sheikh Hazaa bin Zayed alNahyan is in charge of the investigation.

(My Comment: I think this op was planned because Abu Dhabi/US were forcing Dubai to cut ties with Israel, therefore, Israel thought, what the hell, we got nothing to lose. Dubai thrives on the fact that it is a safe place to visit for tourism and business. I recall, in the last underworld shooting, Sheikh Mohd was seriously pissed off and sent a serious warning not to mess about to Dawood)
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Israeli ambassador was targetted in a roadside bomb attack on his way back for the weekend. Jordan officially blamed Tehran. The bomb was planted at a sharp turn in the road near to the King Hussein Bridge, over the River Jordan. It exploded before the convoy reached.

The Mossad had anticipated terrorist attacks against Amman based israeli staff. Israeli embassy chaps who often go back to Israel at weekends, have recently taken to travelling in unmarked cars, often wearing Keffieh headscarves now

For the moment Jordan's GID do not believe Iran carried out the attack through Hezbollah. Four of its members detained in Jordan last year, ever since the Lebanese group struck a tacit nonaggression pact with Jordan. GID says Hamas also had nothing to do with it.
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Bahrain FM is in Delhi. Lots to talk about, but not enough time.

[shyamd]

India Offers Iraq Oil Storage at Tanks to Be Built in Two Years

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- India is building terminals to stockpile crude oil and has offered Iraq the use of some of the space as part of negotiations to secure supplies from the holder of the world’s third-largest reserves.

Iraq is offering to increase supply to Indian refiners via long-term contracts, the South Asian nation’s oil ministry said in a statement in New Delhi today. India will complete its first storage terminal by the middle of 2011 and add two more by 2012, Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan said in an interview yesterday.

India, which imports 77 percent of its oil needs, is emulating programs in the U.S., Japan and China to build an emergency stockpile. Iraq is offering to increase sales to India by as much as 60 percent, said an oil ministry official who was at the meeting between Oil Minister Murli Deora and Iraq’s Industry and Minerals Minister Fawzi Hariri in New Delhi today.

Iraqi officials “told us they would be ready to offer us longer contracts after five years,” Sarthak Behuria, chairman of state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp., said by telephone today. “They have the reserves and they have plans to raise output significantly.”

India’s second-biggest refiner, currently buys about 11 metric million tons, or about 220,000 barrels a day, of Iraqi crude, said Behuria, who was present at the meeting between the two ministers today.

Storage Tanks

Iraq is awarding fields to oil companies around the world as it seeks to rebuild its war-ravaged infrastructure and increase oil output fivefold to 12 million barrels a day over the next six years. Indian refiners are raising capacity to meet growing demand and seeking long-term contracts where the cost of buying the oil is cheaper than purchases from the spot market.

India is building storage tanks near its refineries. The first terminal will be built at Visakhapatnam on the east coast and have a capacity of 1.33 million metric tons, according to Oil Secretary Sundareshan. The nation’s storage capability will rise to 5 million tons when two more terminals are built at Mangalore on the west coast by 2012, he said. That’s equal to two weeks of current imports.

Crude declined from a record $147.27 a barrel in July 2008 as demand fell following the worst global recession since World War II. Prices have gained 96 percent in the past year as economies recover.

“Given the volatility in crude prices, the storage terminals are intended as a buffer for the economy,” said Dharmakirti Joshi, an economist at Mumbai-based Crisil Ltd., the local unit of Standard & Poor’s. “This should ideally have been done when oil prices were at their lows.”

Construction Cost

Spending to build three storage terminals was estimated at 24 billion rupees ($514 million) in 2005, excluding the cost of filling the underground caverns with crude, according to the Web site of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd., the government company overseeing the construction.

India has approved an emergency oil storage capacity of 15 million tons to be built in phases, Oil Minister Deora told parliament in April 2008.

China plans to build oil reserves equal to 100 days of net imports before 2020, China Petrochemical Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, said in September. The country is building the second phase of reserves after completing the first stage, which can hold about 30 days of net imports.

Indian refineries are expanding capacity to meet demand in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. plans to process 15 million tons of crude a year by 2012 from the current 9.69 million tons.

Iraq Imports

Indian Oil is building a 15 million ton-a-year project in the eastern state of Orissa and Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Oman Oil Co. are jointly setting up a 6 million ton-a-year plant in Madhya Pradesh state.

Crude futures in New York may reach $85 a barrel in 2011, according to the median estimate of 26 analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Crude oil for March delivery was 14 cents higher at $73.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:52 a.m. in London.

India imported 109.32 million tons of oil in the nine months ended Dec. 31, a 12 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

^^India has pulled a blinder here! Good move imo! But I would wait a while before the contract is signed, once the kurdish oil comes on stream, oil is gonna be very very cheap for a while to come! Kurdistan is sitting on a sea of oil. RIL is currently drilling at the moment. India needs to engage big time with Iraq, I think Iraq is going to be the next KSA. They have access to the cheapest oil in the world. Forget the deep sea oil projects, its Iraqi/Kurdish oil thats going to make a HUGE amount of profit in the long run.


India revives under-sea pipeline project
Sandeep Dikshit

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In talks with the Turkmenistan leadership in Ashkhabad earlier this week, India discussed the prospects of sourcing gas from the central Asian country by an under-sea pipeline project from Iran, a project considered unviable till a few years back.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline also figured in talks between Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and her Turkmen interlocutors, said government officials.

While talks on the TAPI pipeline are intended to keep the issue alive, an under-sea pipeline could make the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline irrelevant. The offshore route proposal envisages transporting Turkmen gas to northern Iran and a swap arrangement would bring gas from southern Iran via the proposed “SAGE” (South Asia Gas Enterprise Pvt. Ltd.) pipeline to India.

The SAGE project envisages a Middle-East natural gas gathering system connecting gas sources to the coast of the Arabian peninsula. From there, the SAGE family of pipelines plan to follow a route surveyed 15 years back and declared unviable at that time as techniques of deepwater pipe-laying and manufacturing had not matured.

“Technology has made this feasible now. This is an idea we will discuss,” said an official. SAGE is understood to have finalised a memorandum of understanding with National Iranian Gas Export Company for developing gas exports through this route, bypassing Pakistan. The Gas Authority of India Limited has also entered into a “principles of cooperation arrangement” for this sea route.

The prospects of another offshore route from Iran to India via Oman are also bright following indications that Muscat could be interested.

Talking to The Hindu, Ambassador of Oman Sheikh Humaid Bin Ali Bin Sultan Al-Mani confirmed that both countries were considering the off-shore pipeline after it had been rejected as too expensive in the 1990s because at a certain point its depth would have been 3,500 meters or four times deeper than any under-sea pipeline laid then. An Indian consortium has already been allocated Block 18 in Oman to prospect for oil and gas.

[Malayappan]

Can Gulf states really help Yemen? from the Guardian

Yemen has always been a particular concern for Saudi Arabia, the dominant power in the GCC. The kingdom has a long history of meddling and manipulation in Yemen (much in the way that the US has meddled in other countries) and for this reason Saudi Arabia is probably even more unpopular in Yemen than the United States is.

The effect of this Saudi involvement in the war is overwhelmingly negative. On one hand it props up the regime responsible for many of Yemen's problems and on the other it highlights the regime's weakness – encouraging disaffected elements elsewhere in the country to take up arms against it.
Saudi meddling was also one factor that helped to trigger the Houthi conflict in the first place: the rebels felt threatened by Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi missionary activities in what had traditionally been Zaydi Shia areas.

[shyamd]

Just adding on to my post above. Lot of the former taliban commanders and officials are in Riyadh like the former taleban ambassador to Islamabad. The KSA is looking to increase its influence in the US once again.

[RayC]

Yemen's alliance with radical Sunnis in internal war poses complication for U.S.

Problems for the US

[RayC]

Can Gaza Become a Somalia or Yemen?

Gaza

[arun]

India announces USD 10 million grant to Palestine

[svinayak]

^^India has pulled a blinder here! Good move imo! But I would wait a while before the contract is signed, once the kurdish oil comes on stream, oil is gonna be very very cheap for a while to come! Kurdistan is sitting on a sea of oil. RIL is currently drilling at the moment. India needs to engage big time with Iraq, I think Iraq is going to be the next KSA. They have access to the cheapest oil in the world. Forget the deep sea oil projects, its Iraqi/Kurdish oil thats going to make a HUGE amount of profit in the long run.

Is RIL in Kurdistan?
What is important is the SLOC - transit route of the oil. That will be the most coveted one in the new century.

[shyamd]

Acharya, yes they have one block there. Scouting a possible second. SLOC - Sea lines of Communications?

[svinayak]

Acharya, yes they have one block there. Scouting a possible second. SLOC - Sea lines of Communications?

Yes. It will be most coveted "commodity" in the 21st century.

[shyamd]

If they strike oil, Reliance will be the biggest cost leader in refining imo. SLOC is inportant.

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Foreign Minister meets India's National Security Advisor

date: 12 02, 2010

Manama, Feb. 12 (BNA) – Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, currently on an official visit to India, met here today with India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.
They discussed bilateral cooperation in all fields, notably in security areas, and ways of enhancing them in addition to issues of common concern. Shaikh Khalid expressed Bahrain's desire to boost its security cooperation with India for the benefit of both countries and peoples. MTQ

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Ahmadinejad watching avatar
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Plane Victims' Families Accuse US of Spying

Anger flared up after a body and some limbs floated off Al-Naimah coast yesterday with many observers claiming that the foreign ships were wasting time or were not doing their work as required but instead were waiting for the bodies to float ashore by themselves. Some even considered the Western ships to be exploiting this chance to photograph the coast and depths which Hezbollah overlooks, especially as this sea area could be a possible site in any future battle between the party and Israel, and this is a golden opportunity for the Americans.

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Big thing causing shockwaves in Arabia is Israeli Danny Ayalon shaking hands with Prince Turki in Munich security conference. Ayalon is the official liason with the House of Saud apparently.

This video is blocked in KSA.

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Link

Israeli sources say CIA director Leon Panetta traveled to Israel this past week. He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Mossad chief Meir Dagan, one former Israeli official said. The main subject of conversation was Iran, as well as "relations" in general, the former official said. A CIA spokesman said that they don't as a rule discuss the CIA director's travel. Regional news reports said that Panetta also traveled to Cairo for meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and other officials. Earlier this month, Obama National Security Advisor Jim Jones traveled to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, accompanied by the NSC's Dennis Ross.

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Check out this tweet by the Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington office of The Jewish Federations of North America.

Amazing dinner w/Bahrain Foreign Minister @KhalidalKhalifa - a real ally re combating #Iran's nuclear ambitions.

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Report: Lebanese officer suspected of spying for Israel

Security officials tell Kuwait paper Lebanese army arrested colonel who had access to sensitive information, allege he headed network of spies on Israel's behalf

Local reports say that 2 israeli spy networks have been broken in Lebanon so far this year.

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Intelligence chief acknowledges U.S. may target Americans involved in terrorism

"Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are "taking action that threatens Americans.""

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Report: Syria renews intel sharing with U.S., U.K.

"Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on Wednesday reported that a senior Syrian official told him Damascus has renewed intelligence-sharing efforts with the United States and Britain after a special request was made by U.S. president Barack Obama."

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Just adding on to everything I said above: Times online says that Mabhouh was tracked by 2 men who entered the country with european passports. the person poisoned Mabhouh, his blood was sent to Paris for testing and confirmed poisoning. Someone entered the room and photographed documents in the room, left leaving a do not disturb sign on the door.
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Added Later: All sorts of rumours that a Hamas unit and Hezbollah unit is supporting houthi rebel operations.

[Gerard]

Ultraconservative jihadists challenge Hamas rule in Gaza