At this moment 12.08.11, the world is just what G.W. Bush and the neo-cons Christian-Zionist wanted it to be, in a complete chaos; constructive or otherwise. According to many Judeo-Christian fundamentalists it is a sign for the upcoming of the 'Messiah' in order to save the world. The Americans, the Israelis, the Jewish financial mafia (s) and the American-led NATO are mainly to blame for the political mess and for the on-going economic and financial crises.
The invasion and the destruction of Iraq, on behalf of Israel, helped to put America on its knees. Bankrupting America by mainly Jewish financial mafia(s) was extended to include Europe. This has led to high unemployment and riots in Greece, Britain, Spain, Portugal and Italy. As to deepen the crises further, the Americans continue to insult the intelligence of Arabs and Muslims. The US denunciation of Iran nuclear program, the rush to bombard Libya and more recently to supporting rebels in Syria, but never to Israeli breach of 39 UN-Security council resolutions, to their war crimes against Palestinians or to their massive arsenal of nuclear weapons. If NATO arms and finances Libyan rebels, then Geddafi is justified in arming and financing the British anarchists the way he financed the Irish Republican Army. It seems that the political establishments in the US and Europe are not aware of the consequences of their actions which will be harmful to their strategic interests and of great benefit to China, to Russia and to countries unfriendly to the US-led West.
Hitler did turn the great German people into a nation of thugs committing crimes on industrial scale. Similarly, successive US presidents bomarded, invaded and destroyed countries and killed millions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Latin America, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Arabs can differentiate between good and bad Americans. Former President Jimmy Carter remains as one of the most respected Americans.
You forgot to mention Carter's book on Palestine. According to Wikipedia.org "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is a New York Times Best Seller book written by Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. It was published by Simon and Schuster in November 2006.
In this book Carter argues that "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East."
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
04 July , 11:01
(ANSAmed) - LA MADDALENA (OLBIA-TEMPIO), JULY 4 - The annual meeting of the special "Mediterranean and Middle East" group of NATO's parliamentary assembly has begun this morning in the Sardinian town of La Maddalena. The meeting will also analyse the political and military situation in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Gulf, with particular focus on the democratic transition in Arab countries, the role of Iran in the region, the situation in Iraq and NATO operations in the Mediterranean.
For the first time, Iran is among the countries present at the meeting, and is represented by the junior Foreign Minister, Ali Ahani. The group will also be attended by the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani and the head of the Allied Forces team in southern Europe, Admiral Samuel J. Locklear. The Italian government is represented by Stefania Craxi and Giuseppe Cossiga, the junior ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence respectively. Delegations from 25 countries, including Russia and Israel, are present at the meeting.(ANSAmed).
===
Bitter Feud Between Top Iraqi Leaders Stalls Government
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and TIM ARANGO
Published: June 25, 2011
BAGHDAD — Fifteen months after an election that was supposed to lay the groundwork for Iraq’s future, the government remains virtually paralyzed by a clash between the country’s two most powerful politicians, who refuse to speak to each other.
The paralysis is contributing to a rise in violence, and it is severely complicating negotiations on the most difficult and divisive question hanging over the country: Whether to ask the United States to keep a contingency force here after the scheduled withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year. The longer the deadlock persists, the harder it becomes for the American military to reverse or slow the withdrawal of the roughly 48,000 troops, the pace of which will pick up over the next few months.
In December, the two politicians, Ayad Allawi, the leader of the Iraqiya bloc, and the country’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, entered into an American-backed power-sharing agreement. But since then, the men have been unable to agree on who should run the Interior and Defense Ministries, the government’s two most important departments.
The United States has been unable to end the stalemate, demonstrating to some analysts and Iraqis its waning influence here.
Mr. Allawi, whose party received the most votes in last year’s election, has yet to show up in Parliament. Mr. Maliki has run the government on his own, and his aides have threatened to sue Mr. Allawi for calling them lying tyrants and claiming they are supported by Iran.
As the deadlock grinds on, political assassinations and attacks on American bases have increased significantly.
“This is the biggest dispute that has occurred here since 2003, and it will continue to escalate if a solution is not found, and that is our concern,” said Jabir al-Jabiri, a member of Parliament from Mr. Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc.
Without leaders in place at the Interior and Defense Ministries, decisions have been delayed about whether to single out terrorists, and the government has been unable to properly assess its military capabilities as it weighs whether to ask for the United States’ troops to remain, according to American officials.
“I think they have a very, very hard time having a meaningful rational debate and fully exploring all of their capabilities and limitations” without interior and defense ministers in place, said Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the United States military’s top spokesman in Iraq.
He added: “These are big decisions. So is your government going to be formed to make those decisions? Or is somebody going to make it in isolation? So I think that’s why I see the issues being connected.”
The power-sharing agreement in December allows Mr. Allawi’s party to appoint the defense minister, although Mr. Maliki has to approve the selection. It also said that Mr. Allawi would become the head of a largely undefined strategic council that was supposed to provide a counterweight to the prime minister.
But at the first session of Parliament, the agreement unraveled when Mr. Maliki appointed himself as the minister of both interior and defense, claiming that because of the country’s tenuous security environment he needed more time to vet the candidates.
Mr. Maliki has continued to refuse to fill those jobs, claiming that many of the names submitted by Mr. Allawi are not suitable. Mr. Maliki has also refused to give the strategic council any power because he says it is unconstitutional, and Mr. Allawi has declined to become the council’s leader.
“After the United States failed to put together the government they wanted after the election, they pushed for a national unity government that took all of Iraq’s political problems and put them into the government,” said Kenneth M. Pollack, an expert on national security issues at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “There is a widespread recognition now among American officials that inclusiveness over effectiveness was a mistake.”
The tensions between the men have fueled the simmering sectarian issues.
Although Mr. Allawi worked with the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party, members of Mr. Maliki’s party have lately denigrated him by calling him a Baathist — a deadly insult given the abuse that Shiites like Mr. Maliki and Mr. Allawi sustained at the hands of the Sunni-dominated Baathist inner circle.
“He practices what the Baathists used to do,” Hussein al-Assadi, a leader of Mr. Maliki’s party, said. “He believes in Baathist principles.”
At a recent protest in Baghdad, Maliki supporters stomped on pictures of Mr. Allawi, called him a terrorist and attacked a group of anti-Maliki protesters with sticks.
The protesters claimed that a picture of Mr. Allawi with a man who security authorities said was behind a gruesome attack on a wedding in 2006 that left 70 people dead proved he was a terrorist himself.
Just a few days after the protest, Mr. Allawi escalated the rhetoric and addressed the nation in a televised speech, claiming that Mr. Maliki had recruited the protesters to defame him. Mr. Allawi also said Mr. Maliki and the members of his party were the “bats of darkness.”
Mr. Maliki’s aides responded by saying they were going to sue Mr. Allawi and would have him removed from Parliament for refusing to show up.
“Countries that had civil conflicts like Iraq fall back into civil wars all the time,” Dr. Pollack said. “You need progress in the political system to get out of the civil war track. If the political process doesn’t work, people get frustrated and resort to violence. I think we have to look at the increasing violence as potentially the beginning of that very dangerous process.”
Duraid Adnan and Omar al-Jawoshy contributed reporting.
===
Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They [the rebels] flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"
news24 Monday, August 15, 2011 8:36:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"
news24 Monday, August 15, 2011 8:36:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "Advance, challenge, pick up your weapons, and go to the fight to liberate Libya inch by inch from the traitors and NATO,"
xinhuanet_en Monday, August 15, 2011 8:17:00 AM CEST
মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"
MailGuardian Monday, August 15, 2011 8:02:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said (about Muamer Gaddafi): "The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gaddafi to power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO," "Get ready for the fight ... The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield,"
aljazeera-en Monday, August 15, 2011 7:24:00 AM CEST
Zeina Khodr reported (about Muamer Gaddafi): "because the Gaddafi forces' defences were weak and fighters received help from inside the city. As they expected, residents took up arms and fought alongside them when they arrived,"
aljazeera-en Monday, August 15, 2011 7:24:00 AM CEST
মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"
kyivpost Monday, August 15, 2011 7:00:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"
smh Monday, August 15, 2011 6:51:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"
smh Monday, August 15, 2011 6:51:00 AM CEST
মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"
thestar-my Monday, August 15, 2011 6:45:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"
haveeru Monday, August 15, 2011 6:25:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"
haveeru Monday, August 15, 2011 6:25:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "the end of the colonizer is close and the end of the rats is close,"
rian-en Monday, August 15, 2011 6:06:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"
rian-en Monday, August 15, 2011 6:06:00 AM CEST
মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"
guardian Monday, August 15, 2011 6:02:00 AM CEST
মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"
trust Monday, August 15, 2011 5:36:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"
smh Monday, August 15, 2011 3:30:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"
smh Monday, August 15, 2011 3:30:00 AM CEST
Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"
focus-news-en Monday, August 15, 2011 3:23:00 AM CEST
==
Gaddafi defiant, govt said talking with rebels
15 Aug 2011 03:28
Source: reuters // Reuters
By Missy Ryan
* Gaddafi urges people to 'liberate Libya' from NATO
* Rebels, gov't representatives talk in Tunisia-source
* Govt spokesman says no talks on Gaddafi departure
* Rebels occupy centre of Zawiyah, control supply route
(Adds details)
By Missy Ryan
TRIPOLI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged his people early on Monday to "liberate Libya" from NATO and traitors, a day after rebels captured a key town on the road west to Tunisia, severing Tripoli's main supply route.
Late on Sunday, representatives of Gaddafi's government were holding talks with rebels at a hotel on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba, a source with direct knowledge of the talks said -- though the government spokesman denied it.
The talks followed a dramatic advance by the rebels that won them control of the town of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli on the coast, enabling them to halt food and fuel supplies from Tunisia to Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital.
Tripoli was not under immediate threat from a rebel attack, but rebel forces are now in their strongest position since the uprising against 41 years of Gaddafi's rule began in February, controlling the coast both east and west of Tripoli.
The rebels are helped by NATO aircraft which, under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, are bombing military facilities and equipment that are trying to crush the rebel fighters.
Gaddafi's speech on Monday, delivered over a poor quality telephone line and broadcast by state television in audio only, was his first public address since rebel fighters launched their latest offensive, the biggest in months.
"The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gaddafi to power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO," the Libyan leader said.
"Get ready for the fight ... The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield," he said, in what state television said was a live speech.
In Djerba late on Sunday, security staff turned away a Reuters reporter from the hotel where the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks between rebel and government representatives were being held. ID:nLDE77D089]
Lights were on inside the hotel and a man in jeans and t-shirt, a list in his hand, was standing outside with hotel security staff.
In Tripoli, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim blamed Western leaders and the media for the spread of rumours that the government was engaged in talks on the leader's departure from Libya.
"This information is absolutely incorrect and it is part of a media war against us. Their target is to confuse us, break our spirit, and shake our morale," he said.
"The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya," Ibrahim said.
Gaddafi's characteristically defiant speech followed a day of action across a swathe of northwest Libya during which rebels said they had seized the town of Surman, next door to Zawiyah, there was fighting in the town of Garyan that controls the southern access to Tripoli, and shooting could be heard near the main Libyan-Tunisian border crossing.
REBEL FLAG
Rebels from the Western Mountains region to the south advanced into Zawiyah late on Saturday, and early on Sunday, about 50 rebel fighters were milling around near the central market, triumphantly shouting "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is greatest").
The red, black and green rebel flag was flying from a shop. At the point where it passes through Zawiyah, the main highway linking Tripoli to Tunisia was empty of traffic.
Rebel fighters told Reuters there were still forces loyal to Gaddafi in the town, including snipers on tall buildings. Bursts of artillery and machinegun fire could be heard.
One rebel fighter said Gaddafi's forces controlled the oil refinery on the northern edge of Zawiyah -- a strategic target because it is the only one still functioning in western Libya and Gaddafi's forces depend on it for fuel.
The fighting was spreading west from Zawiyah along the coastal highway towards the main Ras Jdir border crossing with Tunisia. A rebel spokesman called Abdulrahman said rebels had seized Surman, the next town west along the coast from Zawiyah.
But at the border crossing to Tunisia, Libyan customs and immigration officers were operating as usual, despite reports of clashes between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the area late on Saturday.
On another front in Sunday's fighting, heavy gunfire could be heard from the town Of Garyan, a Reuters reporter in the area said. A rebel fighter told Reuters "We control 70 percent of Garyan. There is still fighting taking place at the moment."
Government spokesman Ibrahim said Zawiyah and Garyan were "under our full control" but that there were small pockets of fighting in two other locations in the area around Tripoli.
The coastal highway between Tripoli and Tunisia had not been blocked by the fighting, Ibrahim said in a telephone interview on Sunday, but foreigners were not being allowed to use the route "to save them from any bullets here or there".
Rebels, backed by NATO warplanes, have been trying since February to end Gaddafi's rule in the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings convulsing the Middle East.
After a period of deadlock, the rebels' advance to the Mediterranean coast near Tripoli represents a major shift in the balance of forces.
Gaddafi says the rebels are armed criminals and al Qaeda militants, and has described the NATO campaign as an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya's oil. (Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing in Ras Jdir, Tunisia, Tarek Amara in Tunis, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Tim Pearce)
====
show all
Monday, August 15, 2011 | 11:12 Beirut Subscribe to NOW Lebanon RSS feeds
NOW News
Qaddafi spits defiance amid rumors of quitting
August 15, 2011 share
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Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi spat defiance at opposition forces and NATO on Monday amid rumors he was preparing to flee the country and as rebels made advances in several towns, especially in the west.
The veteran leader predicted a swift end for "the rats" and the "colonizer", referring to the rebels and NATO, in an audio message on Libyan television, extracts of which were published by Libyan news agency JANA.
"The end of the colonizer is close and the end of the rats is close. They [he rebels] flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them," Qaddafi declared in what the television said was a live broadcast.
"The colonizer and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed," Qaddafi said as rumors circulated on Twitter and other media about his imminent departure into exile.
Much of the message, his first in several weeks, was inaudible due to a "technical breakdown", according to the television station.
The veteran leader called on his supporters to resist and to "prepare for the battle to liberate" the towns held by the rebels, as the insurgents said they had advanced in western towns including Zawiyah, Sorman and Gharyan.
The television broadcast what it said were live images of the Green Square in the heart of Tripoli where hundreds of backers of the regime were assembled brandishing portraits of the "guide", as Qaddafi is known, and Libyan flags.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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===
Rebels kill 31 Gaddafi fighters in Tripoli - TV
21 Aug 2011 10:51
Source: reuters // Reuters
CAIRO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Rebels fighting for control of the Libyan capital Tripoli have killed 31 of Muammar Gaddafi's forces and captured 42, Al Jazeera television said on Sunday, citing its correspondent.
Explosions and gunfire rang out in Tripoli through Saturday night as opponents of Gaddafi launched an uprising and rebel forces edged towards the city, declaring a final push to end his four-decade rule. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Dina Zayed)
====
Libya rebels 'begin attack on Tripoli'
Aug 21 2011
Explosions and heavy gunfire were reported in the Libyan capital Tripoli as rebel forces claimed they had launched an offensive against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in coordination with Nato.
Gun battles and mortar rounds were heard clearly at the hotel where foreign correspondents stay in the capital.
Explosions also sounded in the same area as Nato aircraft carried out heavy bombing runs after nightfall.
The fighting erupted just hours after the opposition captured the key city of Zawiya nearby.
Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the rebel leadership council, told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera: “We planned this operation with Nato, our Arab associates and our rebel fighters in Tripoli with commanders in Benghazi.”
Benghazi, hundreds of miles east of Tripoli, is the rebels’ de facto capital.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim appeared on Libyan television to deny that there was an uprising in Tripoli.
“Sure, there were some armed militants who escaped into some neighbourhoods and there were some scuffles, but we dealt with it within a half hour and it is now calm,” he said.
The claims from both sides could not immediately be independently verified.
Rebels fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi have scored a number of victories in the six-month civil war, only to see towns fall out of their hands. Now the momentum appears to have firmly swung in the opposition’s favour after months of near-deadlock.
Col Fadlallah Haroun, a military commander in Benghazi, said the battles marked the beginning of Operation Mermaid – a nickname for Tripoli.
He also said the assault was coordinated with Nato. Col Haroun told reporters that weapons were assembled and sent by tugboats to Tripoli on Friday night.
“The fighters in Tripoli are rising up in two places at the moment – some are in the Tajoura neighbourhood and the other is near the Matiga (international) airport,” he told Al-Jazeera.
Tajoura has been known since the beginning of the uprising in February as the Tripoli neighbourhood most strongly opposed to Gaddafi’s regime.
Earlier yesterday, the government organised a trip for reporters to the airport to show them it was still in government hands.
The head of the rebel’s leadership council said they chose to start the assault on Tripoli on the 20th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which fell on Saturday. The date marks the ancient Islamic Battle of Badr, when Muslims conquered the holy city of Mecca in AD 624.
A representative for Tripoli on the rebel leadership council told the AP that rebels were surrounding almost every neighbourhood in the capital, and there was especially heavy fighting in Fashloum, Tajoura and Souq al-Jomaa.
Those three neighbourhoods have been bubbling with discontent ever since the beginning of the Libya uprising. They paid the highest price in deaths when protesters took the streets in anti-Gaddafi protests, only to be met with live ammunition by government militiamen.
“We don’t have exact numbers yet, but we are hearing that many fighters have fallen – very likely over 100,” said Mohammed al-Harizi.
State television showed calm, aerial scenes of Tripoli in the daytime and shots of a very sparse Green Square in Tripoli, the epicentre of pro-Gaddafi rallies since the uprising began.
A couple hours after the rebels said they had attacked Tripoli, state television ran what appeared to be a live audio message by Gaddafi.
He did not appear on television but sounded like he was calling the message in on a poor phone line which crackled at times. He announced the time and date twice to prove that he was speaking live.
Gaddafi condemned the rebels as traitors and “vermin” who are tearing Libya apart and said they were being chased from city to city – a mirror image of reality.
“Libyans wanted to enjoy a peaceful Ramadan,” he said. “Instead they have been made into refugees. What are we? Palestinians?”
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim appeared on Libyan television to deny there was an uprising in Tripoli. But he acknowledged that there was some kind of unusual activity.
“Sure there were some armed militants who escaped into some neighbourhoods and there were some scuffles, but we dealt with it within a half hour and it is now calm,” he said.
The claims from both sides could not immediately be independently verified.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/latest-world-news/2011/08/21/libya-rebels-begin-attack-on-tripoli-91466-29275976/#ixzz1VfAn8yNH
===========
Reuters
End game in Libya could herald oil slump
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own)
By Una Galani
DUBAI, Aug 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The end game in Libya could herald an oil price slump. Like the rebel advance into Tripoli, Libyan supplies to the global market could come sooner than expected. Brent has slipped by almost $3 to almost $106 per barrel in a matter of hours. A resolution in Libya, coupled with concerns over global growth, means tight markets could soon look oversupplied.
A return of Libyan oil production to pre-unrest levels of 1.7 million barrels per day, or 2 percent of global supply, would take until 2015, according to a June estimate of the International Energy Agency. The forecast may now look too pessimistic, with the rebel-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Co., Spain's Repsol , and Italy's ENI all suggesting normal supply could resume much faster once the crisis is resolved. Analysts reckon production could reach up to 1 mbpd within a year.
Oil prices have already eased almost $20 per barrel in four months. A supply increase, just as the U.S. and European economies look vulnerable to a new recession, will further weigh on prices. And Saudi Arabia's recent effort to offset the disruption from Libya, taking production to a record high of almost 10 mbpd, will inadvertently act to compound any supply glut, as will the IEA release of emergency reserves.
Yet any price slump is likely to be much less severe than in 2008, when oil prices crashed by more than $100 per barrel in six months. This time around, credit lines remain open to businesses. And oil demand remains strong from non-OECD countries like China, which now account for almost 50 percent of the total compared to 44 percent in 2008, according to Barclays Capital.
Politics will further support prices. Investors remain alert for any signs that the protest movement could yet spread to larger oil producers, namely Iran. And even if prices do continue to fall, high-spending Gulf oil countries have a big incentive to cut production quicker than before. Saudi Arabia needs roughly $84 per barrel to break even compared to around $50 per barrel three years ago. But with Brent prices some way off the pain threshold for producers, there's still room for a significant adjustment.
CONTEXT NEWS
-- Brent oil prices fell 2.8 percent to under $106 per barrel on Aug. 22 as Libyan rebel forces appeared close to taking control of the capital Tripoli and on the verge of ending Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power.
-- Two of Gaddafi's sons, including Saif Al-Islam, have been captured. The whereabouts of Gaddafi himself remain unknown. Saif Al-Islam and his father are both wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.
-- Libyan rebels have said they could resume oil output at two large fields in the east of the country within three weeks, which would ease fuel shortages and potentially restore some supply to global markets.
-- "Our fields are under maintenance and we're still waiting for security," Abdeljalil Mayouf, information manager at Libya's Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), which is operating the Sarir and Mesla fields, previously told Reuters.
-- OPEC member Libya is the third-largest oil producer in Africa and holds the continent's largest oil reserves. It produced 1.7 million barrels of oil a day, or around 2 percent of global supply, before the uprising began.
-- The International Energy Agency said in June that it could take until 2015 for Libyan oil production to return to pre-unrest levels.
((una.galani@thomsonreuters.com))
((pierre.briancon@thomsonreuters.com))
(Editing by Pierre Briançon and David Evans)
==========
For Pakistani truckers, NATO route row is all about the money
Wed, 30 May 2012 11:03 GMT
Source: reuters // Reuters
(Adds link to video)
By Imtiaz Shah
KARACHI, May 30 (Reuters) - Pakistani truck drivers who deliver supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan seethe whenever they recall a cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year.
Despite their anger, financial survival outweighs nationalist sentiment and the shame of helping what many see as the enemy.
The drivers hope that talks between the United States and Pakistan on reopening the routes, which were closed six months ago in protest over the raid, will soon produce a breakthrough.
They are eager to get back on the road, even though they will again risk running into attacks by Taliban militants who violently oppose the movement of goods to NATO through Pakistan.
Malik Abdul Raoof, 23, recalled how militants in dark clothes clutching AK-47 assault rifles often stopped and threatened him near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
"They asked 'why do you take supplies to the infidel Americans?'. They said 'you are an American informer'," he told Reuters at a massive makeshift truckers' parking lot that stretches for miles (km) along the coast in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi.
"They made me recite Koranic verses, quizzed me on how Muslims pray. When they let me go they told me to grow a beard. I am scared and I don't like it but I have to earn (money)."
The al Qaeda-linked Taliban routinely open fire on trucks. Casualties are limited, but the attacks are dramatic. Bullets puncture fuel tanks, igniting huge fires.
Militants also set off homemade bombs to destroy container trucks packed with food, clothes and other items for NATO.
Over 1,000 vehicles have been destroyed by militants or criminal gangs in the last decade, according to the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association.
Still, thousands of drivers are itching to get back to work to fetch 20,000-25,000 rupees ($215-269) per round trip.
To break the monotony, they play cards on cloth sheets spread on the dusty ground, listen to music and repair and paint their run-down vehicles. Some just sleep the time away in the shade of their trucks.
"DESPICABLE, FORBIDDEN" INCOME
The November NATO attack and Pakistan's closure of the routes - which account for just under one-third of all cargo that NATO moves into Afghanistan - plunged ties between Islamabad and Washington to their lowest point in years.
The supply lines are considered vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014.
U.S. and Pakistani negotiators are deadlocked on transit fees for container and fuel trucks. Pakistani officials have denied reports Islamabad is demanding unreasonable amounts.
Idle drivers care little about Pakistan's stance, or efforts to repair ties with the United States, the source of billions of dollars in aid. It all comes down to their own bottom line.
"The United States is responsible for killing our soldiers. The culprits should be shot dead," said Mohammed Nawaz, 24, looking across a sea of trucks. "I consider the money made from driving NATO trucks despicable, forbidden. But I'm desperate."
NATO, for its part, has been diversifying its supply lines into Afghanistan.
After a string of disruptions, the alliance and the U.S. military decided to reduce their reliance on Pakistan, turning instead to routes that pass through either Russia or the Caucasus across central Asia into northern Afghanistan.
That could spell bad news for those drivers who have become shady entrepreneurs of danger along the two routes through Pakistan - one across the Khyber Pass to Kabul, and another crossing the Baluchistan province to Kandahar.
Senior officials at the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association said some destroy their own trucks and claim it was a Taliban attack to collect insurance money.
"The fight is all about money, at every level. The governments, the Americans, the workers (truck drivers)," said Shafiq Kakar, a senior member of the association.
Some truckers stage explosions and pretend NATO goods are lost in attacks, then sell part of the consignment to traders, said association officials.
"I am praying that NATO supplies are resumed soon so that my business can take off again," said one trader in the northwestern city of Peshawar who does business with corrupt truckers and contractors.
"A lot of the material stolen from containers, especially uniforms and boots, is (even) bought by the Taliban's people."
(1 U.S. dollar = 92.8 Pakistani rupees) (Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by John Chalmers and Daniel Magnowski)
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