15.3.2007 by admin.

Osama bin Laden turns 50

Osama bin Laden’s principal contribution to jihadism has been strategic rather than ideological. By declaring war on the US, he sought to unite the fractious jihadist movement against a common enemy. Fawaz Gerges argues in his book The Far Enemy that “a small minority of jihadis, transnationalists led by Al-Qaeda, a network composed of several tiny militant groups, launched a systematic onslaught to hijack the whole jihadist movement and strategically change its direction and destination”.

The 11 September 2001 attacks were not intended to cow the US into pulling its troops out of the Middle East, but to provoke an aggressive response that would lead to a protracted conflict and encourage Muslims to join the jihadist movement, much as the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan had done in the 1980s.

Although the war initially went badly for Al-Qaeda and its Taliban hosts in Afghanistan, Bin Laden got what he wanted when the US invaded Iraq, outraging vast numbers of Muslims and opening a new jihadist front in an Arab country in the process.

Contemplating victory

Al-Qaeda will claim any US retreat from Iraq as a great victory and will look to complete the next phase in its strategy, the establishment of an ‘Islamic state’. This intention is clear: Al-Qaeda in Iraq and its allies are already operating under the name Islamic State in Iraq, which claims western and central Iraq as its territory.

However, victory in Iraq would undermine the unifying factor behind Al-Qaeda’s current success. While many Muslims see the Iraq conflict as a legitimate defensive jihad against a non-Muslim occupation, far fewer will support an offensive jihad intended to impose strict sharia in peaceful Muslim countries. So far, Islamic takeovers have only been possible in the most desperate, war-ravaged countries, namely Afghanistan and (briefly) Somalia.

Al-Qaeda also faces the possibility that the jihadist movement will again fragment as its adherents refocus on overthrowing the regimes in their home countries. While the destruction of Israel will remain the ultimate objective, the jihadists are likely to become divided over the best way of achieving this goal and the tactics that can be justifiably used. With many Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi and Syrian jihadists focusing on their home countries, the movement’s energies are likely to be stretched, even as popular support for the movement wanes

http://janes.com/security/international_security/news/jtsm/jtsm070309_1_n.shtml

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15.3.2007 by admin.

Careful planning is a must for euro adoption

12/03/2007

Countries planning on entry into the eurozone must not content themselves with meeting the nominal criteria, writes economist and former Romanian Finance Minister Daniel Daianu. They must take a hard look at the actual conditions for solid performance within the monetary union.

By Daniel Daianu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest – 12/03/07
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Joining the eurozone is not a simple matter. [AFP]

Adoption of the common EU currency, the euro, is not a simple matter, as several new EU members have been finding out. While Slovenia has adopted the euro, Lithuania has been asked by the European Commission in Brussels to wait. At the same time, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have decided to extend the timetable for adoption.

Under its accession treaty, Romania is also supposed to join the eurozone. Its convergence programme has set, as a strategic target, euro adoption and accession to the monetary union by 2012-2014. Clearly stating this aim may be a means to achieve a more consistent economic policy in Romania. However, there are difficulties involved in basing a comprehensive policy platform on an objective that is wrapped up in many technicalities. Furthermore, the platform needs to be easily digestible for the public at large.
http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/03/12/reportage-01

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15.3.2007 by admin.

15/03/2007

Serbia hopes the sale and subsequent modernisation of the Bor copper works will spur an economic revival in one of the country’s poorest towns.

By Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade – 15/03/07

The copper mining facility near the eastern town of Bor was one of the largest state-owned properties in Serbia. [EC]

On March 5th, the Romanian company Cuprom became the new owner of Serbia’s largest copper mines, having purchased the RTB Bor complex for a price of 303m euros — the largest privatisation deal of 2007.

Cuprom will invest an additional 137m euros in the company, while the Serbian government plans to pump in 60m euros to repair damage at the facilities, as well as another 60m euros for new, environmentally friendly equipment. If solving the pollution problem requires more than that amount, the Romanian company is contractually obliged to absorb the cost.

“The purchase of the Bor copper mines is one of the biggest transactions in the Balkans, and with our Romanian capacities we will create an important participant in the European copper industry,” Cuprom managing board director Horia Simu said. “The Serbian government has been given the highest possible price and it made a good move in deciding to sell Bor at a time when the price of copper is at its highest.”

Serbian Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo said World Bank experts had proposed that the copper mines be shut down, but the government instead decided to give them a chance on the market.

However, the sale has generated controversy. Zoran Drakulic, owner of second-place bidder East Point Holdings, says his firm is considering an appeal. He claims the Serbian government may have eased some of the conditions in the tender to unfairly benefit Cuprom.

Bor Mayor Branislav Rankic, a member of the ultra nationalist Serbian Radical Party, accused the government of selling the mines at an unrealistically low price. Company management also opposed the Romanian firm’s bid.

After the January general election, the Serbian government announced that it would halt privatisations until the formation of a new government. The Bor sale was brought to a close, however, because the procedure started before the election.

The government hopes that privatising the mines will spur an economic revival in Bor, one of Serbia’s poorest towns. Cuprom has pledged not to dismiss any of the current 4,500 workers over the next three years. Personnel cut after that will receive 400 euros severance pay for each year spent with the company

http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/03/15/feature-02

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15.3.2007 by admin.

NATO entsendet ein zusätzliches Kampf Battalion in den Kosovo

NATO sends 600 soldiers to Kosovo for rehearsal

15/03/2007

Six hundred German soldiers will arrive in Kosovo by the end of this week to take part in a planned rehearsal, KFOR said on Wednesday, stressing that the operation was not in anticipation of a change in the situation on the ground.

(Reuters - 15/03/07; AP, DPA, KFOR, Beta, B92, UPI, Makfax, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network - 14/03/07)
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NATO is sending an additional 600 German soldiers to Kosovo.

A 600-strong German battalion assigned to NATO will deploy to Kosovo by the end of this week to take part in regular operational exercises, KFOR announced on Wednesday (March 14th).

One of the purposes of the rehearsal, scheduled last autumn, is to familiarise NATO troops and Reserves with the environment on the ground. It is part of a series of operational rehearsals, dubbed Determined Effort 2007, planned for this year. The first exercises under this programme, again involving German reserve troops, took place in Kosovo from September to December 2006, KFOR explained in a statement.

The announcement came days before UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari is due to submit his proposal for a settlement to the Kosovo status issue to the Security Council, which is then expected to decide on the province’s future later this year.

The proposed solution includes granting internationally supervised statehood to Kosovo, which, although technically still part of Serbia, has been a de facto UN protectorate since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict. The plan also envisions broad rights for the approximately 100,000 Kosovo Serbs living in the province.

Serbia, which insists on retaining some sovereignty over Kosovo, is firmly opposed to the proposed settlement. Although it does not provide for the outright independence their community has been demanding, the Kosovo Albanian leaders have accepted Ahtisaari’s blueprint.

KFOR stressed on Wednesday that the upcoming rehearsal was “not in response to, or in preparation for, any current situation either on-going or expected” on the ground.

Tasked with establishing and maintaining security in Kosovo, NATO peacekeepers entered the province in June 1999. KFOR currently numbers some 16,500 troops from 36 nations, including 24 NATO member states. Germany has a 2,700-strong contingent stationed in Kosovo.

During the past eight years, the Alliance has conducted a number of different operational exercises in the province.

“Like those … this rehearsal sends a renewed clear message of NATO’s and the international community’s strong resolve and commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the overall Balkans region,” KFOR said on Wednesday. “It also demonstrates NATO’s ability to reinforce already in-theatre NATO-led forces at very short notice with so-called Reserve Forces.”

setimes

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