Archive für 6.3.2007
Regional oil transport market faces tough competition
6.3.2007 by admin.
Regional oil transport market faces tough competition
05/03/2007
As energy becomes a hot topic worldwide, many Southeast European countries hope to become key links in oil pipelines connecting Europe and Asia. Competition on the regional oil transport market is getting tough, as at least three projects are to be revalued after years of delays.
By Gabriela Preda for Southeast European Times – 05/03/07
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Competition on the oil transport market has intensified in the region.
[Getty Images]
The regional energy market is experiencing busy times as many Southeastern European countries have decided to push ahead with long-debated oil transport projects — aiming to bring Caspian oil or even gas to the West. At least three pipelines have started to refuel dreams in the region of oil riches that would eventually boost local economies.
None of the projects has received the EU’s unconditional support, however. Unofficially, various EU experts fear that some pipelines would eventually affect the Union’s relations with Russia. Nevertheless, it’s no secret that Brussels is watching the race to determine which project will operate first and act as a liaison with the rich Caspian seaports believed to be sitting on trillions of dollars in untapped oil. Oil experts suspect that Moscow will ultimately have the final say on the projects, as it will be mainly Russia’s oil that will be pumped. Various energy-hungry EU member states have expressed concern, given Russia’s regular halting of oil exports.
While Brussels remains in standby mode, competition gets tougher every month on the Southeast European oil transport market. The first move became public in late January, when Romania announced a fresh start for the Pan European Oil Pipeline (PEOP). It would link the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta with the Italian port of Trieste, with involvement by Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The pipeline would dodge Russian control of the regional energy market and would contribute substantially to a lower European dependency on Russian and Middle Eastern oil.
The announcement was made during Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s visit to Bucharest. He officially reiterated Rome’s support for the 1,319km pipeline. According to its promoters, the PEOP has “enormous” advantages over its competitors — at least twice the capacity with an existing “pipe-to-pipe” connection to a line that crosses the Alps in Trieste.
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Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi pledged his country’s support for the PEOP. [Getty Images]
The project has been on hold for years, mainly due to the lack of consensus among the various states — especially on the tariffs for transportation. In the initial feasibility study, the project was budgeted at $2.4 billion. Talks started in 1994, but the political framework and regional conflicts prevented much progress. Moreover, the project has faced regular delays based on funding shortages and poor decisions, according to Italian newspaper Il Piccolo.
Rome and Bucharest seem recently to have put aside the past, and have clearly expressed a keen interest in advancing the project. The PEOP has become a key target for Romania’s energy policy, in light of more advanced rival projects, all crossing the Balkans and all, in theory, approved by Russia.
One of the PEOP’s main competitors is the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline that would carry Russian oil from Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast to a Greek port in the northeast Aegean. According to Greek news agency ANA, the 285km pipeline has an estimated investment cost of $800m and is expected to have an initial annual capacity of 35 million tonnes of oil.
After years of delays, the main backers — Greece, Russia and Bulgaria — have finally decided to act. A tri-partite working group recently met in Burgas, Bulgaria and finalised the initial interstate agreement on construction of the pipeline.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Greece and Bulgaria to reach a final agreement as soon as possible. “If the Bulgarian and Greek partners fail to reach accord, we will have to boost our exports through the territory of other countries,” Putin said during his annual news conference on February 2nd “Moreover, as Bulgaria and Greece are EU members, the EU should be highly interested in the implementation of this project,” Putin said.
According to various experts, Moscow is getting nervous not only because of the latest moves regarding the PEOP, but also because Russia had been excluded as the guarantor of supplies for a third rival pipeline in the region — the AMBO project, linking Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania. According to an accord signed in late January in Skopje, the third pipeline aims to carry oil from the Caspian region to the Black Sea port of Burgas in Bulgaria, and then through Macedonia to the Mediterranean port of Vlore in Albania. After years of slow work, optimistic scenarios suggest the 850km pipeline, with a capacity of 35 million metric tonnes per year and a cost of around $1.3 billion, may be ready by the end of the decade.
http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/03/05/reportage-01
Proteste gegen Präsident Gusmao und UN-Truppen
6.3.2007 by Lupo.
Proteste gegen Präsident Gusmao und UN-Truppen
Tausende Rebellen- Anhänger demonstrieren in der Hauptstadt Dili - Australien rät Botschaftsmitglieder zur Ausreise
Dili - Tausende Rebellenanhänger haben am Montag in Osttimor gegen einen Einsatz internationaler Truppen protestiert, der sich gegen ihren Anführer Alfredo Reinado richtete. Die Demonstranten warfen im Zentrum der Hauptstadt Dili Steine, setzen Autoreifen in Brand und riefen “Lang lebe Alfredo!”. Sie beschimpften Staatspräsident José Alexandre (”Xanana”) Gusmao, der den Einsatz gegen den flüchtigen Rebellenführer angeordnet hatte. UNO-Soldaten versuchten, die Menschenmenge auseinanderzutreiben.
Überfall auf Polizeiwache
Bei der Razzia unter der Führung australischer Einheiten wurden am Samstag vier Menschen getötet, dem Rebellenchef gelang die Flucht. Gusmao hatte nach einem Überfall auf eine Polizeiwache im vergangenen Monat die Festnahme Reinados angeordnet. In Osttimor sind im Rahmen eines UNO-Mandats rund 1000 Polizeikräfte stationiert. Australien und Neuseeland haben zudem rund 900 Soldaten auf die Insel entsandt.
Australien warnt vor neuer Gewalt
Australien riet indessen den Angehörigen seiner Botschaftsmitglieder in Dili am Montag zur Abreise. “Die Sicherheitslage in Osttimor ist sehr unübersichtlich und das Risiko von Unruhen ist hoch”, teilte Außenminister Alexander Downer mit. (APA/Reuters/Red)
Croatia upholds sentences of eight war crimes convicts
6.3.2007 by Lupo.
Croatia upholds sentences of eight war crimes convicts
06/03/2007
Croatia’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld last year’s ruling by a lower court, convicting eight former military policemen of war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs.
(FT - 06/03/07; HINA, AP, UPI - 05/03/07)
 Croatia’s Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling in the Lora case. [Croatian government]
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Croatia’s Supreme Court announced on Monday (March 5th) its decision to uphold a lower court’s verdict against eight former military policemen, convicted of war crimes committed against Serbs at the Lora detention facility near the southern coastal city of Split in 1992.
At the end of a retrial in March 2006, the Split County Court sentenced the eight — Tomislav Duic, who was in charge of the prison at the time of the events, and guards Tonci Vrkic, Davor Banic, Miljenko Bajic, Josip Bikic, Emilio Bungur, Ante Gudic and Andjelko Botic — to six to eight years in prison. The former policemen were convicted of torturing and beating Serb civilians held at the camp, and of killing two inmates and seriously injuring two others.
iting the Supreme Court’s decision, which was taken about a month before being published on Monday, reports said the defence team’s appeal, including demands that the men be released or granted a retrial, had been turned down.
The original trial against the eight the Split County Court ended in November 2002 with their acquittal. Human rights activists sharply criticised the proceedings as marred by controversy, bias, mishandling of evidence and harassment of witnesses. Some of the survivors of the atrocities committed at Lora refused to take the witness stand, citing personal safety concerns.
In late 2004, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the same court, ruling that the first trial was biased and “fraught with serious flaws in criminal procedure as well as erroneous and incomplete facts”. The retrial, handled by a different panel of judges, opened in September the following year.
Only three of the defendants were in custody at the start of the retrial and a fourth turned himself in a month later. The rest, including Duic, were tried in absentia. They have been on the run since their 2002 acquittal.
As it handed down its verdict last year, the Split County Court decided that time already spent in detention would be credited towards the sentences. It also took as mitigating circumstances the fact that the defendants participated in the defence of their country in the 1991-1995 conflict and that they were family men with young children, Croatian news agency HINA reported on Monday.
Given the gravity of the charges and the way it was initially handled, the Lora case was viewed as a test of the Croatian judiciary’s ability to conduct its own war crimes trials.
According to HINA, five of the defendants in the Lora case, including Duic, are also still being investigated on charges of inhumane treatment of about 30 Serb prisoners of war at the camp in 1992. Three of the prisoners died as a result.
http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/03/06/feature-01
6.3.2007 by Lupo.
Nordkorea hat besseres Image als die USA
06. Mrz 10:44
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Gar kein so schlechtes Image: Nordkoreas Machthaber Kim Jong Il
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| Foto: AP |
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Streben nach militärischer Macht kommt bei den Bürgern weltweit nicht gut an. Da wundert es kaum, dass in einer Umfrage dem Iran ein schlechtes Image bescheinigt wird - andere Einschätzung überraschen da schon mehr.
Israel, der Iran und die USA haben nach einer BBC-Umfrage in weltweit 27 Staaten das schlechteste Image. Kanada, Japan und Frankreich kommen dagegen unter den zwölf zur Auswahl stehenden Ländern am besten weg, wie aus der am Dienstag veröffentlichten Studie hervorgeht. Nach der Einschätzung Deutschlands wurde nicht gefragt. Israel hat nach Meinung von 56 Prozent der gut 28.000 befragten Menschen einen schlechten Einfluss auf die Welt - und nur für 17 Prozent einen positiven. Den Iran sehen 54 Prozent negativ, die Vereinigten Staaten 51 Prozent. Damit liegen die USA noch hinter Nordkorea, denen 48 Prozent der Befragten Böses unterstellen.
Kanada mit gutem Image
Dagegen hat Kanada für 54 Prozent ein gutes Image. Auch der Einfluss der Europäischen Union wurde von 53 Prozent der Befragten als positiv eingestuft.«Es sieht so aus, als ob die Menschen weltweit dazu neigen, Länder negativ zu sehen, deren Profil vom Streben nach militärischer Macht geprägt ist», sagte Steven Kull von der University of Maryland, die die Untersuchung gemeinsam mit dem Meinungsforschungsinstitut Globescan durchführte.
Bewertet wurden die Länder China, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Indien, Iran, Israel, Kanada, Japan, Nordkorea, Russland, die USA und Venezuela. Gefragt wurden jeweils 1000 Personen in Argentinien, Australien, Ägypten, Brasilien, Chile, China, Deutschland, Frankreich, Griechenland, Großbritannien, Indien, Indonesien, Italien, Kanada, Kenia, Libanon, Mexiko, Nigeria, Philippinen, Polen, Portugal, Russland, Südkorea, Türkei, Ungarn, USA und den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten. (AP)
Burns: NATO membership for Albania, Macedonia, Croatia is key priority
6.3.2007 by Lupo.
Burns: NATO membership for Albania, Macedonia, Croatia is key priority
06/03/2007
It is time to break down the barriers that have thwarted progress in the Balkans, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said late last month.
By Zoran Nikolovski for Southeast European Times in Skopje — 06/03/07
 US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns. [File]
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Albania, Croatia and Macedonia’s entry into NATO in 2008 or 2009 should be a priority, according to US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns. At a gathering of NATO representatives and policymakers in Washington late last month, he stressed the importance of Euro-Atlantic accession for building stability in the region.
It is time to “finally break down the institutional and national barriers that have retarded the progress of the people of the Balkans, compared, say, to the peoples of Central Europe”, Burns said.
A future in NATO and the EU would “solidify for the people of the Balkans the same advantages that the West and Central Europeans have had since the end of communism 15, 16 years ago,” he added.
His remarks were welcomed in the three countries, members of the so-called Adriatic Charter. Together with Albania and Croatia, Macedonia is hoping to prove its readiness for membership in time for the next NATO summit, scheduled for early 2008.
Nikola Dimitrov, Macedonia’s national co-ordinator for NATO, described the statement from Burns as “very positive”.
At the same time, he stressed, it was not a promise of membership, but rather amounted to strong encouragement for Macedonia to finish its preparations and meet all requirements. While NATO has made a positive assessment of defence reform in Macedonia, criticisms are still being made concerning political dialogue in the country and about the progress of judicial reform.
During his speech, Burns listed Kosovo’s status and updating the Dayton Peace Accord as top policy goals for the Balkans. In addition, securing the NATO entry of the three Adriatic Charter members is an important priority for both the United States and the EU, he said.
Other countries in the region that aspire to join the Alliance are Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/03/06/feature-02
![[Getty Images]](http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/images/2007/03/05/GABRIELAphoto1.jpg){kind=link}