Bush, Mukherjee discuss N-deal, bilateral ties

Washington: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met US President George W Bush here at the White House and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including the civil nuclear deal.The 35-minute meeting, held at the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, was described as one in which the atmospherics were said to have been excellent and cordial
Bush and Mukherjee are said to have exchanged not only pleasantries but also discussed the width and depth of the United States-India relations that included the civilian nuclear initiative.

Specific details of the meeting have not been made available to the media excepting the point that the Indian Minister would like to describe them first hand at the press conference, now scheduled for Tuesday.

"You will know tomorrow from the Minister" was all that a senior official would say when asked of the details of the Mukherjee-Bush meeting.

Apart from the Minister, the Indian delegation at the Oval Office were the Ambassador of India, Ronen Sen, the Foreign Secretary Sivshankar Menon, the Deputy Chief of the Indian Mission here Raminder Singh Jassal and the Joint Secretary (Americas) of the Ministry of External Affairs, Gayatri Kumar.

Present with Bush were his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley.

Yet another critical meeting that took place on Monday was the one-on-one dinner between Rice and Mukherjee in which the two top functionaries are supposed to have gone much beyond their brief interaction at Foggy Bottom earlier in the morning.

Both Rice and Mukherjee said at the State department in the media interaction that their morning meeting was basically confined to regional issues of interest to the two sides and that a "lot more" was slated to be discussed in the evening, including the civilian nuclear initiative.

"We will continue to work on that agreement," Rice said at her morning interaction after meeting Mukherjee.

"The Indians are now in a process of working with the IAEA and we will follow that progress and we will have further discussions on that matter," she added.

Mukherjee is visiting Washington for the first time in his capacity as External Affairs Minister

China pledges harsh measures against Tibet protesters

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese security forces exercised "massive restraint" in their response to riots in Tibet last week, the region's governor said on Monday, but he promised harsh punishment for those involved in the violent unrest.

"I can say with all responsibility we did not use lethal weapons, including opening fire," Qiangba Puncog, the government chief in Tibet, told a news conference in Beijing.

Tibet's government has set a midnight deadline for those who took part in the protests that he said had killed 13 "innocent civilians".

Those who complied and showed remorse would be treated leniently, and possibly punished with "re-education, but others could expect harsher treatment, Qiangba Puncog said.

"For those people who are still active or have committed serious crimes, we will deal with them harshly," he said.

"If these people can provide further information about those involved, then they could be treated more leniently."

Dozens of security personnel were injured after days of protests by Buddhist monks broadened on Friday into riots involving the general population in which houses and shops were burned and looted.

But Qiangba Puncog said calm was returning to Lhasa after the protests. Exiled representatives of Tibet in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama fled after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, said 80 were killed in the protests.

"China is a country ruled by law. No country would allow this violence," Qiangba Puncog said.

He also quashed suggestions that the broader unrest was fuelled by a feeling among Tibetans of being marginalized by Han Chinese, whose numbers in the region are growing.

Tibet was "in its best shape ever" in terms of social and economic development, Qiangba Puncog said, adding that a small group he described as lawless resorted to "extreme and radical means".

He said shops in Lhasa had reopened and life was returning to normal but at the same time he said the government had advised foreign media and foreign nationals to stay away. Foreigners require permits to travel to the remote, mountainous region.

Despite the calm in Lhasa, China was facing broader unrest in ethnic Tibetan enclaves across its western provinces, where protests and marches on government buildings have taken place.

(Reporting Chris Buckley, writing by Lindsay Beck; Editing by John Chalmers)

Talks with IAEA over, says Govt

DH News Service, New Delhi:

Negotiation with the IAEA has been completed Mukherjee said, when asked about the status of negotiations with the international nuclear watchdog panel on the India-specific safeguards agreement which is necessary for operationising the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement.

Three days after its Left partners set the March 15 deadline for convening the UPA-Left panel on the nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday disclosed that the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on India-specific safeguards agreement were over. Negotiation with the IAEA “has been completed” Mukherjee told mediapersons here, when asked about the status of negotiations with the international nuclear watchdog panel on the India-specific safeguards agreement which is necessary for operationising the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement. Mukherjee said that the UPA-Left panel meeting would be convened soon to brief the leaders, presumably on the draft of the agreement reached with the IAEA. He is also convener of the UPA-Left panel on the deal that was set up last November to iron out differences.

US missile strike targets 'Al-Qaeda leader' in Somalia

by Staff Writers
Mogadishu (AFP) March 3, 2008

The US military fired at least one cruise missile into southern Somalia near the Kenyan border, targeting an Al-Qaeda leader believed to be hiding there, a US military official said Monday.

"On March 2, the US conducted an attack against a known Al-Qaeda terrorist in southern Somalia," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington.

Whitman would provide no details on the type of attack, the identity of the target, or the outcome.

But another military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least one cruise missile, and possibly more, was launched at the target in southern Somalia.
"They're still trying to assess the damage, the effectiveness," the official said, but did not elaborate on how the assessment was being carried out.

US warships and submarines are armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, but the official would not say whether the strike was launched from a US warship and would not give the identity of the Al-Qaeda leader targeted in the strike.
A spokesman for the Islamist movement that is leading an insurgency against the Somali government said an Islamist-held town was bombed, and civilian targets were hit, in an attack carried out by a US AC-130 gunship.
The US military official said he knew nothing of any AC-130 gunships -- a modified military cargo plane equipped with night-vision gear and powerful canons -- being used in what was essentially a missile attack.
A town elder told AFP that the raid, which he said occurred early Monday, appeared to have focused on three targets in the town. A local elder, Abdullahi Sheikh Duale, said four civilians were killed.
The township is home to thousands of refugees who fled clashes in Mogadishu.
It was unclear whether the United States coordinated the attack with the Somali government or other governments in the region. Somali officials refused to comment.
"As we have repeatedly said, we will continue to pursue terrorist activities and their operations wherever we may find them," Whitman said.
"We do work very closely with our partners in the region in the conduct of our military operations," he said, reading from a prepared statement.
"We will continue to seek out identify, capture and if necessary kill terrorists where they plan their activities, carry out their operations, or seek safe harbor," he said.
The attack is at least the third the US military has conducted inside Somalia since the start of 2007.

Before that it gave Ethiopian army tacit support to evict the Islamist militia which has taken control of much of southern and central Somalia.
In June last year, a US Navy destroyer shelled suspected Al-Qaeda targets in mountainous and remote areas in northeastern Somalia where local Islamist militants are also believed to have bases.
Earlier last year a US gunship bombed insurgent positions in southern Somalia, coming to the aid of the Somali government forces which had ousted the Islamists from most of the country's southern and central regions.
US officials said the previous attacks were aimed at "high-value" Al-Qaeda militants -- among them the Comoros islander Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, blamed for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.

Since the Islamists were ousted from power in early 2007, they have been carrying out attacks against government officials, the Ethiopian forces that are backing the Somali government and African Union peacekeepers.
Also on Monday, Islamist fighters killed five people when they briefly took control of the southern town of Burhakaba township, southwest of the capital, from Ethiopia-backed Somali security forces.
Despite numerous peacemaking and nation-building manouvers, Somalia has never really recovered since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the Horn of Africa nation into widespread clan fighting.

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Gates denies seeing India as military 'hedge' against China

By Demetri Sevastopulo and Jo Johnson in New Delhi

Published: February 28 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 28 2008 02:00

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, denied yesterday that US efforts to boost military relations with India were aimed at creating a "hedge" strategy against the rise of China.

"I don't see our improving military relationship in this region in the context of any other country, including China," said Mr Gates.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Mr Gates rejected suggestions that efforts to improve relations with other militaries in the Asia-Pacific region were aimed at China. In the case of India, Mr Gates said the Pentagon wanted to bolster the ability of the US and Indian militaries to work together on issues such as piracy, terrorism, and providing disaster relief.

"When you look at the kinds of activities that we are engaged in and the kind of exercises that we conduct . . . these expanding relationships don't necessarily have to be directed against anybody," said Mr Gates. "They are a set of bilateral relationships that are aimed at improving our co-ordination and the closeness of our relationships for a variety of reasons."

The Pentagon chief arrived in Delhi from Jakarta where he offered the Indonesian military help with its modernisation programme. He also visited Canberra amid concerns that Australia's increasing economic dependence on China could complicate security relations with the US.

One senior Pentagon official travelling with Mr Gates denied that India was in the middle of a "tug of war" between the US and China. But he suggested the US was attempting to bolster relations with Asian countries to counter China.

DAD OF ALL BOMBS

Cold War memories return as The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world’s most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia’s state television reported yesterday.It was the latest show of Russia’s military muscle amid chilly relations with the United States.Channel One television said that the new weapon, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs."

Global Weapon Market Flashes Lot Of Skin

Proxy war for Global Weapon market engulfs the South Asian subcontinent with strategic regrouping in Indian Ocean with US Lead. Omnipresence of US strike power rearranges this divided Geopolitics accordingly as it would suit the US MNC interests. It is no secret that the US Economy has turned bankrupt and it would not survive without escalating the War Zone from Middle east to right into the heart of this part of Asia consisting of two neighboring giants China and India, the Great markets of consumers as well as weapons of mass destruction.
The proxy war flashes lot of Skin and amidst the parlimentary democratic Ramp show we are so spellbound that never recognise the danger. We never realise the elements making the chemistry of the War against Terrorism. This War is nothing but a post modern marketing ploy made with the capital of Islamophobia and it is the United States of America which created Bin Laden, the Best ever Icon for Weapon Industry, a US supremacy.
This proxy war has led us to Global Warming. The Nature is destroyed and the Man is surrounded by calamities.
Coastal areas of this region are chosen for disastrous industries like chemical Hubs and Nuclear power Plant while the Tsunami threats the very existence of mankind in this continent!