Category: Asia and Pacific

Australia expels Mossad station chief over passports in Dubai killing

Babylon & Beyond

OBSERVATIONS FROM IRAQ, IRAN,
ISRAEL, THE ARAB WORLD AND BEYOND

ISRAEL: Australia expels Mossad station chief over passports in Dubai killing

It would be difficult to weave as intricate a web as the international spy thriller that first unraveled in Dubai in January. Yet another sinew has been threaded out of the ongoing, worldwide investigation on the killing of Hamas arms procurer Mahmoud Mabhouh.

In recent days, the Australian foreign minister informed the Israeli Embassy that its Mossad station chief, whose identity remains secret, would be leaving the island continent within a week.

Stephen Smith spoke to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, claiming that the officer in question was “involved in state intelligence.” He argued that Australian passports “were deliberately counterfeited and cloned for use” and investigations had proved “beyond doubt” that Israel was involved, reported the Australian publication International Business Times.

Israeli authorities had a warrant out for Mabhouh’s arrest, as did the Egyptians and Jordanians. In 1989, Israeli authorities had failed to arrest Mabhouh for his recently confessed participation in the murder of two Israeli soldiers.

Smith concluded that Australia “remains a firm friend of Israel.”

However, he lamented, “this is not what we expect from a nation with whom we have had such a close, friendly, and supportive relationship.”

The chief of Australia’s Security and Intelligence Organization, David Irvine, managed to convince the Australian government that Israel had a hand in the passport counterfeit after a clandestine trip to Israel earlier this month to investigate foul play. Upon his return, he claimed that four of the passports used during the assassination had been Australian counterfeits, according to news reports.

Smith first announced Canberra’s decision to the U.S. government and then to Israel, and later shared the ruling with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany and Ireland. The Brits had also expelled two Israeli diplomats in March because of the use of forged passports in the Mabhouh killing.

Intelligence-sharing between Australian and Israeli agencies has come to a halt, reported Haaretz.

Though it was not the first time that Israel had forged passports, Smith claimed, this time violated “confidential undertakings” between the two countries, the Associated Press reported.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yossi Levy responded, “We regret the Australian move, which in our opinion does not conform to the kind of relations we have with Canberra and their importance.”

Hamas spokesman Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri told the Palestinian Information Center that Australia should also prosecute Mabhouh’s assassins. At least, he explained, other countries have started to recognize the threat that the “Zionist entity” poses to global security.

— Becky Lee Katz in Beirut

Photos:

Top: One of possibly 26 forged passports, this copy of an Australian counterfeit was used in the assassination attempt. Credit: Dubai authorities.

Bottom: Chief of Australian intelligence David Irvine led the Australian investigation into the passport forgery case in Israel. Credit: Andrew Taylor / The Sydney Morning Herald.

, May 25, 2010

May 27, 2010
North Korean Troops ‘Prepare For Combat’

2:51pm UK, Tuesday May 25, 2010

Adam Arnold, Sky News Online

North Korea’s armed forces have reportedly been ordered to prepare for combat as tensions mount with the South over the deadly sinking of a warship.

The North’s leader Kim Jong-Il is thought to have told his military to be braced for war, as Seoul blares out its own propaganda into the neighbouring rival country.

As part of psychological warfare operations, South Korea is placing loudspeakers at the border and is also using radio to broadcast messages into the North.

South Korea is slashing trade and denying permission for the North’s cargo ships to pass through the South’s waters.

The tensions also spooked global markets, with the FTSE 100 index of leading British companies falling by more than 2%.

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for a torpedo strike that sank the warship Cheonan and killed 46 sailors on March 26.

A team of international investigators concluded last week that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine tore the Cheonan apart.

The sinking was the South’s worst military disaster since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The North denies any involvement and has warned retaliation would mean war. It has threatened to destroy any propaganda facilities installed at the heavily militarised border.

The claim that Kim had told his million-strong armed forces to prepare for combat was made by the South’s state-run Yonhap news agency, citing North Korean observers.

“We do not hope for war but, if South Korea, with the US and Japan on its back, tries to attack us, Kim Jong-Il has ordered us to finish the task of unification left undone during the… (Korean) war,” Yonhap quoted a May 20 broadcast as saying.

Pyongyang is already subject to a number of UN-backed sanctions in response to its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

The US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has thrown its full support behind its ally’s moves.

Washington is planning two major military exercises off the Korean peninsula in a display of force intended “to deter future aggression” by the North.

Also, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is stepping up pressure on China to back international action against North Korea over the sinking of the warship.

She said peace and security on the Korean peninsula is a shared responsibility between Washington and Beijing.

Mrs Clinton said the Obama administration expects to work closely with China to “fashion an effective response” to the sinking.

China, the communist country’s main ally, has remained neutral, but the US wants Beijing to support UN Security Council action against North Korea.

Sky News Online

May 25, 2010
Peaceful Protest: JOIN TURKISH AUSTRALIANS ON SATURDAY 29th MAY 2010

Where: In front of Fairfield Council 86 Avoca road, Wakeley-N.S.W
Time: 12:00 – 15:00

Turkish Australians have had enough of the so-called genocide claims by the Armenians & Assyrians and others, who are part of an International conspiracy!!..

Peaceful Protest against the claims of so-called genocide has been organised by Turkish Australians, we urge all Australians to attend and let Fairfield Councillors know that we Australians are not happy with the actions of the councillors who have no idea what happened in 1915, A.T.A.G calls on the Australian Government to accept the offer made by the Prime Minister of Turkey to set up a Independent Executive Committee made up of Historians, Forensic Scientists, Academics and Experts to look in to the claims of the co-called genocide, this is the only way that will once and for all set the record straight.. The Armenians and others are refusing to take part in such an Independent Enquiry by an Independent Executive Commission, WHY, yet they continue to LOBBY Local, State and Federal politicians to accept their version of the 1915 incidents… Liberal M.P Joe Hockey (aka, HOKEDONIAN) IS PART OF THE SAME CONSPRICY, that continues to paddle the same LIES AND DISTORTION OF HISTORICAL FACTS…
more information on this issue to be continued;…

May 24, 2010
Ban Ki-Moon calls on Turkish youth to take role in world politics

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called for young people to take an active role in the world of politics in a remarking speech at Boğaziçi University on Friday.

“As young people living in Turkey you should aim beyond here for broader security and prosperity in the world,” said Ban.

Referring to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Greece last week and Turkey’ efforts to come to an agreement with Iran on the exchange of enriched uranium, Ban said Turkey has a dynamic diplomacy and a solid economy in times of crisis.

He said Turkey’s credibility is increasing more and added that Turkey has three ways to go further in the international arena. First is by increasing its active contribution to the issues in its region and the world. “Turkey has learned the right to speak up, let your voice be heard and clear on the issues of security and peace. You have to become a force of progress in the region,” said Ban.

Secondly, Turkey should do more efforts to give power to women. Thirdly, the alliance of civilizations, an initiative supported by Turkey and many other states, should be an ongoing project. “I feel proud to be part of this process and the United States will join as the hundredth member. Turkey has been second to none in supporting this initiative and as students of this university you have the power to contribute,” said Ban.

As a former diplomat from South Korea, Ban made an emotional speech on Turkey’s deployment of troops to Korea back in the early 1950s. “We are all grateful to your sacrifice; you were one of the first to answer the call from the U.N. back then. Turkish soldiers went to fight for liberty and peace in a place where they didn’t know following their government’s orders. Out of 5,000 Turks who fought, nearly 500 of them died, but in the end they were there celebrating the victory with us,” said Ban, adding that Turks and South Koreans have been friends and brothers since then.

Meanwhile, Ban said the Cyprus issue would definitely be on his agenda on his meeting with Erdoğan on Saturday.

Hürriyet Daily News

May 22, 2010
Press release of the Embassy of Azerbaijan

From: consul@azembassy.ca

Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan

PRESS-RELEASE

May 17, 2010 No. 5

STATEMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

According to the reports circulated by the mass media outlets of the Republic of Armenia so-called “parliament elections” are being arranged to take place in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan on 23 May, 2010.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan reiterates in this regard that the unrecognized separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan represents nothing but an illegal structure established by Armenia on the basis of ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani population. The so-called “elections” are conducted in order to camouflage the annexation policy of Armenia and are aimed at consolidation of the results of the continued occupation of the Azerbaijani territories.

Conduct of such “elections” gravely violates the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law, since they are held in absence of the original Azerbaijani population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and therefore shall have no legal effect whatsoever.

Any kind of elections in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan may be recognized as fair and free once the expelled Azerbaijani population takes full, direct and equal part in their conduct in lawful and democratic environment equally to the Armenian population of the region. Holding such elections will be possible after the withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces, normalization of the life in the region, creation of necessary conditions for restoration of the dialogue and cooperation between the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh. These steps will open up possibility for the elaboration of the self-rule status for the Nagorno-Karabakh population within Azerbaijan.

The Republic of Azerbaijan calls upon the Armenian side to stop its destructive practice of illegal steps, which does not have any prospects, and instead to demonstrate a good will and take a constructive position in the negotiation process, which has dynamically evolved through the last year, in order to find a soonest and durable solution to the conflict on the basis of the norms and principles of international law.

Baku, May 14, 2010

275 Slater Street, Suite 904. Ottawa ON K1P 5H9 Canada Tel: (613) 288 0497 Fax: (613) 230 8089

E-Mail: press.service@azembassy.ca

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May 21, 2010
Pakistan bans Facebook website

A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities temporarily to block the Facebook social networking site.

The order came when a petition was filed following reports that the site was holding a competition featuring caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

The petition, filed by a lawyers’ group called the Islamic Lawyers’ Movement, said the contest was “blasphemous”.

Internet is free in Pakistan but the government monitors content by routing all traffic through a central exchange.

Justice Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court ordered the department of communications to block the website until 31 May, and to submit a written reply to the petition by that date.

An official told the court that parts of the website that were holding the competition had been blocked, reports the BBC Urdu service’s Abdul Haq in Lahore.

But the petitioner said a partial blockade of a website was not possible and that the entire link had to be blocked.

The lawyers’ group says Pakistan is an Islamic country and its laws do not allow activities that are “un-Islamic” or “blasphemous”.

The judge also directed Pakistan’s foreign ministry to raise the issue at international level.

In the past, Pakistan has often blocked access to pornographic sites and sites with anti-Islamic content.

It has deemed such material as offensive to the political and security establishment of the country, says the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad.

In 2007, the government banned the YouTube site, allegedly to block material offensive to the government of Pervez Musharraf.

The action led to widespread disruption of access to the site for several hours. The ban was later lifted.

BBC

May 19, 2010