JULY 2006

vFrom: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/30/2006 12:17 PM
Qaradawi urges Muslims to support Hezbollah
Publish Date: Sunday,30 July, 2006, at 11:13 AM Doha Time

Staff Reporter

SUPPORTING Hezbollah is a religious duty of Muslims around the world because Shias are part of the Muslim Nation (Ummah), Doha-based Islamic scholar Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi told reporters in Cairo.

Qaradawi hailed resistance as the most noble act whether it was in Palestine or Lebanon. "Shias agree with the Sunnis in the main principles of Islam while the differences are only over the branches," he said.

Qaradawi also called upon the Sunnis and Shias of Iraq to stop what he named as "daily massacres", saying that such civil war was useful only to the occupation forces.

Asked about the silence adopted by some Arab countries towards the Israeli aggression, he said some Arab regimes believed that Israel was an invincible state. For that reason, he said, they regard the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah and Hamas as misadventures.

"It is as if the US is ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/31/2006 5:17 PM
MOSCOW QUIETLY RAISES ITS GAME IN THE MIDDLE EAST

July 31, 2006
By Pavel K. Baev

Three weeks after the eruption of hostilities in Lebanon, Russia has remained uncharacteristically cautious and reserved. President Vladimir Putin took a very active stance in the debates on the conflict at the July 15-17 G-8 summit in St. Petersburg and claimed credit for “softening” the joint statement in such a way that Syria was not mentioned, which prompted a few acrimonious “off-the-record” comments by U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair (Vremya novostei, July 18). A central point in Putin’s message was that the G-8 should not try to allocate blame or advance an initiative, because management of this conflict properly belongs with the UN Security Council. In the Security Council, however, Russia assumed a rather low profile giving ample chance for the United States to fall into the usual trap of having to veto a resolution condemning Israeli actions ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/19/2006 2:42 AM
The west folds before Putin's bluff
Publication time: 18 July 2006, 13:12
Anyone who has sat around a poker table knows the feeling. You have been dealt a strong hand but the steely eyed fellow opposite keeps raising the stakes. Eventually, your nerve breaks. Even as your adversary scoops the pot you know in your heart it was a bluff. Pride demands you pretend otherwise.

Vladimir Putin is a leader who has been enjoying his winnings. For Mr Putin, the purpose of the St Petersburg summit was to reassert Russia's role as a global superpower. The task was made easy by the fact that his fellow leaders in the Group of Eight leading nations had folded their cards even before they reached the summit table. On one level, St Petersburg testifies to the inconsequential nature of the G8. On another, to the Russian president's skill in exploiting what might best be called the new international disorder.

In the absence of anything ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/19/2006 2:48 AM
Putin's Summit Showcases Emerging Russia
Publication time: Today at 11:57 Djokhar time

For President Vladimir Putin, the Group of Eight summit was a chance to showcase the new Russia: more affluent and influential than any time since the Soviet collapse, and less likely to take a back seat to the United States. In hosting leaders from the world's richest democracies, the Russian leader risked scrutiny of the Kremlin's growing authoritarianism and heavy-handed foreign policies.

But thanks in part to a Mideast crisis that helped cast him as a statesman and distracted attention from domestic problems, Putin appears to have avoided embarrassment while flexing Russia's muscle in global affairs.

In the background was an emerging reality in which Russia's fellow G-8 members are increasingly dependent on Russia's vast supply of ever-more-expensive oil and gas - perhaps sapping the will to pressure Putin on the erosion of Russian democracy and media freedom.

"This is one of the lasting impressions of the summit - that ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/19/2006 3:02 AM
Hezbollah's arsenal growing in size and sophistication
Publication time: Today at 11:52 Djokhar time
In its fight with the far mightier Israeli military, the militant group Hezbollah has surprised many with its resilience and the range and aim of its rockets.

Experts say Hezbollah, already a formidable fighting force, is growing ever more sophisticated. Not only have its missiles damaged an Israeli warship and rained death on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, but it has augmented its arsenal with innovative technology such as night vision and aerial drones.

The boost to Hezbollah's capabilities raises fears that militant organizations from Chechnya to Iraq also can acquire cutting-edge weaponry despite Western efforts to contain it.

``Missiles are the mainstay,'' said Magnus Ranstorp, a Hezbollah expert at the Swedish National Defense College. But Hezbollah also is embracing other, readily available advances, he said.

For example, Hezbollah has flown remote-controlled drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, over northern Israel at least twice since 2004.

``It's also about operational innovation, how ...
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