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COMMENTARY -- WAR -- (the news is directly below):
You have gone back in time and are standing in the midst of a lush ancient forest. You hear and see some large vegetarian dinosaurs feeding on the moist soft leaves of brush and trees. You also see skulking about like a cat after a mouse, other smaller dinosaurs with a lighter build about them trying to catch and eat even smaller dinosaurs. You also see small dinosaurs feeding on the vegetation. Suddenly you hear a loud screech which terrifies every creature in this setting and sends them running for fear. The screech is coming from a large version of the lighter built and fast moving dinosaur with teeth designed to rip and tear other animal flesh. It quickly moves up on the large vegetarian. It lacks the weight of the vegetarian it is pursuing but has more speed and agility. It's massive and powerful jaws are set into motion as it lunges upon the vegetarian and immediately draws blood as it rips and tears away at a vital spot. The vegetarian tries to defend itself by using its heavy tail to whack the aggressor but it was too slow this time in defending itself and it quickly weakened because of pain and loss of blood. Dizzy and in weakness it dropped to the ground and took its last breath. The aggressor ruthlessly tore away at the most tasty spots and then left the carcass for scavengers.
In the natural world this story describes the "food chain" and the "predatory" character of those creatures at the top of the food chain. The predatory behavior is driven by hunger and the instinct of the predator to feed and care for it's young. Although all animals have some kind of reasoning capability their instincts most often prevail and their reasoning is subordinate to these instincts to make them more effective at surviving.
How does this story relate to war? Is war wrong? Is war necessary? What is accomplished by war?
Mankind is to be above the animals, that is he should be exercising his reasoning capabilities over his instincts. But mankind often does not do that. Tribal behavior is something like wolf pack behavior. There is a kind of civilized order within the pack but anything outside the pack is considered fair game. There is usually a pack leader. In many ways, the societies and cultures and communities of mankind are like the pack where the reasoning capabilities of the individuals in the pack and the consensus of the pack is directed at serving the primitive instincts of survival.
Although man is more technically capable as he sits atop the food chain, many of the nations, societies, cultures, and communities of man are more predatory in character with leaders that know how to control the pack and maintain their control over the pack. If allowed, these predatory packs of mankind will act just like the predatory dinosaur. No amount of talk or reasoning will prevent the attack because the overall social behavior is predatory and reason is used to make the predatory behavior more successful. The only defense against such predators is to be both prepared and more capable if attacked. But often a defensive posture will fail as it did with the vegetarian dinosaur which was no threat to the other dinosaurs. Many animal packs that are vegetarian adopt defensive and preventative postures as a pack to minimize any predatory attack on members within the vegetarian pack. Buffalo, cattle, and many other animals do this.
But only mankind has two things the animals don't have. Man is smart enough to anticipate a predatory attack and respond in a defensive manoeuvre of defense to disable or kill the predatory enemy before the "screech" of death is heard. Man has the means and abilities to develop sophisticated weaponry. Compare this weaponry to the teeth of the attacking dinosaur and the tail of the vegetarian dinosaur.
But if a society or community of man is not aware of such dangers by other predatory type societies and communities then it peacefully and obliviously eats, drinks, sleeps, reproduces, plays, and in other ways occupies itself. When the "screech" of impending death is heard it may be too late. This is especially true if the predatory society has technological superiority and readiness to use that technology in an aggressive manner. This susceptibility scenario is also true if a society or community of man has been deceived into thinking that the predators are their friends or that arbitration, deals, and discourse will stop the aggression. Nothing will stop the predatory nation or community from its behavior other than its own destruction. A predatory human or human society is far more committed to violent aggression than is a predatory animal seeking a prey for a source of food. A predator is ruthless and uncaring whether it be a dinosaur, a wolf, or man. The "whimper" (or dialog to prevent aggression) that precedes death is understood by the predator as victory and the prey can be savaged. There are those that feel that a kind of social remedial exercise involving discourse, and various other forms of reward and penalty administered against the predatory society, by some powerful majority, will cause such predatory communities to change. This is foolishness as long as the pack leader remains leader. The leaders drive the communities. This is true even in western democratic nations. Sometimes leaders reflect the views of the community that elected them and perhaps leaders exploit the community that elected them.
When leaders have control of the key social institutions they can use these institutions to brain wash the community as a whole. If leaders don't have control of the key social institutions then new potential pack leaders can use these institutions to brain wash the community and thereafter supplant the pack leader. For example, often the educational institutions are infiltrated with authority figures that have a profound influence on those they teach. So it is not unusual in just about every society to see social discontent first voiced by universities and institutions of higher learning. The so called media in the form of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV industry, the publishing industry, and the movie industry are powerful means of brainwashing a society and re-engineering the "average" social mentality. A third category is the religious institutions, seminaries, and related organizations. Whoever controls the content of these institutions inevitably controls the pack mentality. Laws and government are derived from this mentality. As the mentality changes so also do the laws and inclinations of government.
As long as the average human being allows himself or herself to be herded along in a pack type social environment there will be predatory societies that feed on the other societies. They will skulk about and wait for their moment. They will form unholy and wicked alliances with each other only to eventually turn on one another. War in this context simply realigns those at the top of the food chain. War is for the purpose of establishing different leaders, it rarely occurs for the purpose of true peace and prosperity directed from a global perspective. Although the word peace is used a lot today its meaning varies depending upon who uses it. Peace as used by world leaders means the establishment of their objectives at the cost of their opponents. World leaders shake each others hands in such deceptive gestures of peace. It is a paradox. It is a horrible dilemma. If any society disarms, adopts arbitration and dialog to effect change then they will be perceived as manipulatable through that dialog. They will also be perceived by the potential aggressor as weak because they rely too heavily on a so called diplomatic solution to disputes. Meanwhile the predatory society or societies will take whatever gain they can through the dialog and when their moment comes, lunge, and with their mighty jaws and sharp teeth rip and tear away at the vulnerabilities of their prey.
Therefore, God must manipulate the devil who influences man towards predatory behavior. The devil incarnate is Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ or Satan is any human being that uses their reasoning capabilities to serve their primitive instincts. By so doing they have opened up and turned over their mental "real estate" to the spiritual forces of darkness that bring only death. The spiritual force of evil is only able to influence the human mind through the mechanism of our primitive instincts for survival. If we lust and are preoccupied with the things and values of a world driven by such instincts then we have been deceived into a form of mental slavery that brings only hatred and death in its wake.
Jesus Christ is the answer. He is both an example of what we must be like as humans and he is the facilitator/mediator/interface whereby we can all know and experience the love/caring of God.
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. . . Day by Day with VOA .. . 19 December 2002 continued from daybydaywithVOA_6-01Dec2002.html because MS Internet Explorer running on XP pro appears unable to handle a very large html file. This does not appear to be the case with MS IE running on XP standard. BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 06:24 GMT . European press
review
.
A controversial immigration law attracts the attention of German
newspapers.
In Russia, the refusal by the head of army operations in Chechnya to take up a post in Siberia has caused a scandal. The Ukrainian parliament is in turmoil over a new central banker. And the French press reacts to new measures to tackle road deaths. Immigration setback Several German papers believe the decision by the Constitutional Court to block a new immigration act which would have opened the country's doors to thousands of skilled workers is only a temporary measure. Under the headline "Long live the immigration law", the Sueddeutsche Zeitung says the country needs the law. It believes it will just be a matter of time before the new law enters the statute book. "The constitutional judges have blocked it," it says, "but in this case, blocked just means postponed." The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also does not question the content of the law, saying it would put an end to the current system which is "far from satisfactory". The Berliner Zeitung agrees, believing that the new law is "the best we can achieve". Sent to Siberia Russian papers are
preoccupied by the public refusal by the head of army operations in Chechnya to
take up a new post in Siberia - a move which led to his
dismissal.
The popular tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda is shocked by General Gennady Troshev's decision to make his rejection of the offer public. "Troshev's actions smell a little bit rotten," it says. The mass-circulation daily Moskovskiy Komsomolets is equally disapproving: "Generals do not discuss their orders, and certainly don't comment on them in the media." But the paper concedes that he must have had his reasons, saying: "It has been known for a long time that the commander is a man of considerable ambition." Izvestiya argues that General Troshev, who was born and raised in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, is intent on running for the republic's presidency. "The 'trench general' has moved into the ranks of the 'political heavyweights'," it says. Ukraine turmoil In Ukraine, uproar
in parliament over a vote to appoint a central bank governor favoured by
President Leonid Kuchma hits the headlines.
The pro-presidential Fakty I Kommentarii describes angry scenes in parliament as opposition leaders protested against the decision to appoint Serhiy Tyhypko, a former deputy prime minister, to the post. "It looks like the factions that refused to join the majority are unwilling to share the government's responsibility for Ukraine," it says, adding that they are "intent on getting parliament dissolved". The tabloid Vecherniye Vesti sees the move as an attempt by President Kuchma to bolster support for his leadership: "Part of the reason why Kuchma is still in power is that Ukrainians do not expect much from their leaders after 75 years of Soviet rule and 11 years of weak independence." Car sick Two leading French
dailies focus on the government's plans to crack down on traffic
violations.
The centre-right Le Figaro quotes Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin as describing the lack of road safety in France as "a national sickness". Le Monde welcomes the new measures noting that France's roads "are among the most dangerous in Western Europe", with an annual toll of some 8,000 deaths and many more injured. In a country with "voluminous literature on violence in America", such "slaughter bears witness to a violent behaviour unknown to our main neighbours". The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 17:15 GMT . Russia and
China 'broke Iraq embargo'
.
The firms are named in
the massive declaration Russian and Chinese firms exported military equipment and know-how to
Iraq despite a United Nations ban on arms sales, a German newspaper has
reported.
The Tageszeitung (Taz) says parts of the Iraqi arms declaration which it has obtained show that three Russian and one Chinese company broke the embargo imposed after the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
These companies assisted atomic, biological and chemical weapons development as well as aiding Iraq's missile and conventional arms programmes, according to Taz. They too may have continued to supply Iraq after the embargo came into force, the paper alleges. US indirect help Documents from the UN inspections team (Unscom) show the Russian firm Livinvest, prepared to export equipment and parts for M-17 helicopters to Iraq, Taz reports. However, the documents do not make it clear whether the equipment was in fact delivered.
These were transported to Baghdad by a Palestinian middleman in July 1995, the paper reports. The Chinese firm Huawei Technologies Co broke the embargo in 2000 and 2001 by supplying hi-tech fibreglass parts for air defence installations, according to Taz. The paper suggests that contracts signed between Huawei Technologies Co and the US firms IBM and AT&T may mean that US know-how could have found its way into Iraqi technology. The latest revelations come after a Taz article earlier in the week, which said that more than 80 German companies were listed in the Iraqi declaration - several of which were still involved in Iraq last year. Thursday's article also says companies from Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Sweden are named in the declaration. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 11:28 GMT . Turkish
Cypriot leader backs talks
.
Denktash has been
accused of stalling negotiations Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has said he is ready to hold
talks with the Greek Cypriots on a United Nations plan to reunify their
long-divided island.
Efforts to reach a preliminary agreement at an EU summit in Copenhagen last week failed after Mr Denktash pulled out of the summit because of ill health. Greek Cypriots and Western diplomats as well as opposition figures in northern Cyprus accused the veteran leader of obstructing peace efforts.
Mr Denktash told a news conference in Ankara he was not to blame for the failure to reach a solution before now and he called on the UN and the Greek side to show more understanding and flexibility. Earlier, the UN Security Council's current president, Alfonso Valdivieso, said it was regrettable that Mr Denktash, had not, as he put it, responded in a timely way to initiatives prior to last week's EU summit. Mr Denktash, who is recovering from a major heart operation, and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Glafcos Clerides have not met face-to-face since UN Secretary General Kofi Annan unveiled his peace plan for the island in November. If no deal is reached, only the internationally recognised Greek part of Cyprus will be admitted to the EU. Greek-Cypriot poll On Wednesday, the Greek Cypriot government said it would hold the first round of presidential elections on 16 February with a run-off, if needed, a week later on 23 February. President Clerides, who is 83, has said he does not intend to run for president again. The timing of the election means Mr Clerides could be replaced as the crucial talks resume ahead of the UN deadline. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 19:12 GMT . Turkish
leader's PM hopes dashed
.
Mr Erdogan has
been holding power behind the scenes The President of Turkey, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, has vetoed changes to
the constitution which would allow the leader of the ruling party to become
prime minister.
The Turkish parliament last week voted in favour of a series of constitutional amendments which would allow Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be elected to parliament and therefore become prime minister.
But Mr Erdogan was banned from taking part in the poll because of a past conviction for inciting religious hatred. Instead, party deputy Abdullah Gul has taken the prime minister's post. Mr Sezer objected to the changes, saying they were designed for Mr Erdogan and were based on "subjective, concrete and personal aims". President Sezer indicated soon after the AK Party's overwhelming election victory in early November that he would take a dim view of changes to the constitution that were aimed at a single individual, says the BBC's Istanbul correspondent Jonny Dymond. Parliament voted overwhelmingly last week to change a clause in the constitution that barred people who have been convicted of engaging in illegal "ideological and anarchic activities" from running for political office. The new clause bans those convicted of terrorism. Second run Parliament must now decide whether to vote on the laws again. If they pass again unchanged, the president has the power to force a referendum on the issue, which would almost certainly come too late for Mr Erdogan to get elected. The amendments, passed as part of efforts to meet EU membership criteria, would allow the immensely popular Mr Erdogan to stand in by-elections early next year. By-elections results in the south-eastern province of Siirt were cancelled earlier this month after evidence of irregularities were found. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 17:58 GMT . Technology allows in-flight care
.
Illness on
planes can force unscheduled landings Hi-tech computer medical technology is being used to offer expert
care to airline passengers who fall ill in-flight.
On average one plane a day has to make an unscheduled landing somewhere around the world because a passenger has fallen ill and requires medical treatment.
Airbus, in collaboration with the French Space Agency, has come up with a solution - an on-board, satellite-connected medical briefcase. A crew member with proper training can now take basic heart, blood, temperature and sugar level readings. The data is then downloaded by satellite in real time to a surgery or hospital connected to the same information system. A doctor can then determine whether the patient needs urgent treatment on the ground. Quick assessment Nicolas Poirot, a doctor with French Space Agency, said: "In two minutes you have a complete examination of the patient, you send this via the computer to the doctor, who is now able to make a complete assessment of the patient's status." The technology is not cheap - it costs about $50,000 - but the long-term savings for an airline could be enormous. As planes get bigger they are going to carry more and more passengers, which means there is more chance someone is going to be sick on board. Airbus spokesman Matthias Schmidlin said: "Diversions usually imply significant costs, mainly related to fuel costs and putting people in hotels. "Airlines want to keep costs to a minimum." Airbus believes there will be a growing market for the technology, particularly as its new generation of planes are more fuel-efficient, and can fly non-stop for 18 hours. Among the new models is the massive A380 - the super Jumbo - which, with seating for 550, will be the world's biggest passenger plane. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 23:03 GMT . Iraq
'not worried' about US accusations
.
Iraq says it
is not worried about US threats
General Amir al-Sa'adi, the most senior Iraqi official dealing with the United Nations weapons inspectors and an adviser to Saddam Hussein, gave his government's position in Baghdad.
General Sa'adi also said Iraq was not worried by ominous warnings from London and Washington. Baghdad, he said, was not worried because there was nothing that Britain and the United States could pin on the Iraqi leadership. Upping the pressure He said that if Iraq was hiding anything, it was for UN weapons inspectors on the ground to come up with the evidence. But there is no doubt that this crisis has now moved into a definitive phase. UN weapons inspections will now become more aggressive, and in the next two weeks comes a critical test, when Iraq will have to submit a list of its top scientists who could be taken out of the country with their families to be questioned. It will be a bitter pill for the Iraqi leadership to swallow. But there can be no mistaking the course of action that Britain and the United States will take if such a demand is not accepted. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 08:09 GMT . Israel removes settler outpost
.
The Hebron
ambush was one of the bloodiest in months Israeli troops have dismantled a Jewish settler outpost on the edge
of Hebron in the West Bank, near the site of a Palestinian ambush that killed
12 Israelis in November.
The office of the Israeli Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, said the outpost at the Kiryat Arba settlement was illegal because it had been built "on private Palestinian land". About 200 settlers put up largely passive resistance and three were arrested for lashing out at troops, the AFP news agency reported. On 15 November nine Israeli security force members and three settlers were ambushed and killed near Kiryat Arba by Palestinian militants, who threw hand grenades and fired upon them as they returned from prayers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs shrine. Violent attack It was one of the most violent attacks in Hebron in months, with the most senior Israeli military officer to have been killed in the present intifada - army commander for Hebron Colonel Dror Weinberg - among the dead.
Three Palestinian militants who carried out the attack, believed to belong to Islamic Jihad, were also killed. About 450 Israeli settlers live in heavily-protected enclaves among Hebron's 130,000 Palestinians. The November attack prompted Israeli soldiers to impose curfews and take control of Palestinian sections of Hebron, which was divided under a 1997 interim peace deal. Sharon pledge Jewish settlers also called on the Israeli Government to permit them to build a continuous strip of housing that would link Kiryat Arba with Hebron so that they could pray at Jewish holy sites. Since then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to build a Jewish-controlled corridor through the centre of Hebron despite strong Arab and international criticism. Attacks have continued in Hebron despite the security presence, with two Israeli soldiers shot dead on 12 December after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an army outpost. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 19:26 GMT . Small molecule 2002's major find
.
2002 was a vintage year for science with major advances in biological and physical research, new views of the Cosmos and a new insight into human evolution. The discovery that molecules called "small RNAs" control much of a gene's behaviour - which may further research on cancer and stem cells - was named this year's top scientific achievement. Other highlights of 2002 include sharp views of the Sun and stars, a three-million-year-old human ancestor and new details about the Universe's most elusive particles - neutrinos. Genetic control Until recently RNA was thought to do little more than carry out DNA's instructions for building proteins. However, the new picture, which Science says came into focus this year, shows small RNAs at the heart of many of the cell's genetic workings. This new approach is causing biologists to rethink their understanding of the cell and its evolution, and, hopefully, uncover new leads for treating diseases, such as cancer, caused by errors in the genome.
Researchers say this discovery raises the possibility that these processes may go wrong in certain diseases, producing cancer-causing mutations, for example. From the Sun's heart Research in 2002 also solved a longstanding mystery about some of the least understood particles in the Universe, neutrinos. They come in three varieties, including "electron neutrinos" that are produced in the Sun's core by its nuclear furnace. But for decades, scientists have puzzled over why the number of electron neutrinos reaching Earth are much smaller than expected.
2002 also marked the first year that scientists announced genome sequences for organisms with major agriculture and public health relevance for the developing world. The sequences of the indica rice sub-species and the short grain japonica sub-species may help efforts to improve rice's nutritional quality and crop yield. During the year the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and the mosquito that carries it, Anopheles gambiae, also provided information that may make it possible to develop mosquito repellents, insecticides, and mosquito vaccines. In the background New observations of the relic radiation from just after the Big Bang have allowed new insights into the Universe's past and future.
In 2002, the Cosmic Background Imager, a microwave telescope in Chile, detected patterns in the CMB structure that revealed structures far smaller than any seen before allowing new insights into the motion of matter in the early Universe. Additional discoveries in 2002 helped explain why spicy food feels hot, and breath mints give the mouth a chill. Researchers identified several proteins, embedded in the surfaces of certain cells, that respond to certain chemical and changes in temperature. Researchers also caught a glimpse of electrons whizzing around atoms, and made it into a movie. The high-speed film-making technique relies on ultra short pulses of laser light to freeze motion in frames just attoseconds (billionths of a billionth of a second) apart. Body clock
These cells help reset the body's daily, or "circadian," clock, making it a critical part of human physiology. Understanding them may lead to new insights on countering the effects of jet lag or winter depression. During the year new technology countered the blurring effect of Earth's atmosphere on telescopes' view of the heavens. The result, enabled by the flexing of thin mirrors hundred of times each second, was a suite of space images crisper than any taken before. Those images included the best evidence yet of a supermassive black hole at our Galaxy's heart. Other images included a volcanic eruption on Jupiter's moon, Io, and ultra-clear pictures of the Sun's surface. A technology for taking three-dimensional pictures of a cell overcame key technical obstacles in 2002, providing insights into how the cell's machinery carries out some of the basic processes of life. Oldest hominid
In July they reported the discovery of a primate skull between six and seven million years old. The fossil is almost 3 million years older than any known hominid, the lineage that includes humans but not the apes. The location of the skull, by the ancient Lake Chad in western Africa, was a surprise. Until now, humans' earliest ancestors had been found in east Africa. The skull's features look like a mix of chimpanzee, gorilla, and human, leading the researchers to classify their discovery as an altogether new genus and species of hominid - although some researchers disagree. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 13:38 GMT . Suspected militants held in Pakistan
.
 Police in the Pakistani city of Lahore have
arrested nine members of a doctor's family on suspicion of having links with
al-Qaeda or the Taleban.
The suspects, who are reported to include two Americans and a Canadian national, were arrested in the middle of the night. These are the latest in a series of arrests made by Pakistani police in the last few months, with the help of the FBI. Those arrested from Lahore include a medical practitioner, Dr Ahmed Javed Khawaja. He had visited Afghanistan a number of times in the last few years and officials believe he may still be in contact with the Taleban or al-Qaeda members. Americans and Canadians Further arrests from the house include his two sons and some other members of the family.
A resident of the area told reporters that initially someone fired an automatic gun from inside the house, thinking that bandits were trying to break in, but they gave up once the police informed them of the raid. None of the arrested people have been charged and police have refused to give more details. In recent weeks, the security agencies have been investigating the role of several non-governmental organisations that were involved in social and welfare activities in Afghanistan when the Taleban were ruling the country. Officials say it is possible some of them may still have links with the Taleban or al-Qaeda. Two months ago, another doctor was arrested in Lahore on suspicion of Taleban links and was interrogated by Pakistani and American security officials before being released. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 17:07 GMT . AOL wins instant messaging case
.
AOL
has added new patent to its armoury AOL has been granted a patent on instant
messaging systems which means it could potentially sue rivals Microsoft and
Yahoo.
Instant messaging has become a popular way of chatting online, allowing internet users' instant communication with their friends and colleagues. AOL originally filed the patent for the technology, invented by its subsidiary company ICQ, in 1997. The patent covers anything resembling a network that lets multiple instant messaging (IM) users see when other people are present and then communicate with them. Legal action unlikely
An AOL spokesman did not rule out the possibility of legal action in the future but said there were no immediate plans. "We have no plans at this stage about what we will do with it. We have hundreds of patents," he said. Jupiter Research analyst Dylan Brooks said it unlikely that AOL will take the IM battle for market share to court. "AOL is not proven to be the type of company that fights its battles using patent litigation," he said. "They could have stopped the march of Internet Explorer with Netscape patents but chose not to," he added. Bitter rivalry Instant messaging is a lucrative market, with 200 billion messages sent globally each month - 63 billion of these come from AOL software. Both Yahoo and Microsoft have gained market share in recent years and there is also a greater demand for secure instant messaging service for businesses. Interestingly the original inventor of IM, ICQ, has fallen off the map in terms of usage, largely due to the fact it does not have the distribution power of Microsoft and Yahoo. There has been a bitter row between AOL and its rivals over opening up the systems so that they can all work together. It is in this area that Mr Brooks can see AOL using its new-found patent power. "It could come into play as part of ongoing efforts to prevent interoperability," he said. New standards are expected to be worked out to allow people to send and receive IMs from and to their mobile phones. . BBC -- Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 17:27 GMT . Armed air marshals for UK flights
.
Security has already been stepped up at UK airports
Armed undercover police have been trained for
use on UK passenger flights, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling has
announced.
The news came the day after a senior Whitehall source said there was a "high probability" international terrorists would sooner or later launch an attack on the UK.
The threat to UK aviation remained "a real one", he said, but the new measure - following the example of Israel and Australia - had not been developed "in response to any new or specific intelligence". Airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, have raised concerns about the prospect of guns being carried on board planes. A warning of a continuing threat from al-Qaeda - possibly targeting planes - was issued at a briefing for reporters on Wednesday. In a statement on Thursday Mr Darling said: "This further security measure joins others the government has taken to increase security both on the ground at airports and in flight since the attacks in the USA." Mr Darling said the government was "moving faster than the international community at large" to ensure UK aircraft were fitted with reinforced flight deck doors.
"We have also placed strict limits on those able to be on the flight deck of UK aircraft." The marshals will be used on both domestic and international flights but officials refused to say whether government would insist marshals were used.A Downing Street spokesman said: "We are not going into details of when and where and how many.
"We are not taking a bobby off the beat and putting him on an aeroplane." And an independent security expert said crucially, their guns would be made especially for use inside a plane. "The type of weaponry and the calibre of ammunition used is designed not to penetrate the skin of the aircraft, but to actually deal with a human target," said Mike Bluestone, head of BSB Group security consultants. The idea has prompted concern in the aviation industry. A British Airways spokesman said: "We are concerned about the presence and use of firearms on board our aircraft.
UK airline pilots' association Balpa, said the emphasis should be on preventing terrorists from boarding planes in the first place. Balpa's technical secretary, Carolyn Evans, told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "We do not believe that putting armed police on the aircraft is necessarily the cure. "The risk of the terrorist disarming the guard and using the weapon himself is a high one to take." Public alarm? That was a worry echoed by Gwyneth Dunwoody, chairman of the Commons transport committee. Conservative shadow transport secretary Tim Collins said the idea should be tried if security services were convinced it was the way forward. "Many people, however, will be anxious to be reassured that taking guns onto an airliner does not create any additional opportunities for hijackers," added Mr Collins. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said using air marshals where there was a specific threat to planes could be justified. But he warned: "Armed air marshals as a matter of course are not going to add to public confidence, only to public alarm." 'Serious threat' Government officials believe the most likely form of an terrorist attack is against the transport system or some form of unsophisticated chemical warfare, or using high-explosives in a conventional bomb.
An attack was "not inevitable" but such groups were extremely determined. "The sensible precaution for the nation is a sustained campaign to improve our national resilience," he added. Since 11 September, the government has stepped up searches on staff, passengers and their hand and hold baggage, vehicles, cargo and catering, with a particular emphasis on flights going to key destinations such as the USA. The range of articles not allowed aboard aircraft has been extended and more funding has been channelled into airport policing. . Breakaway Chechnya Remains a Challenge for Russia . . ,
President Putin said he wants to find a way to end the more than three year long conflict in Chechnya, a war that has killed thousands of Russian soldiers, civilians and Chechen rebels and shows no sign of stopping. But the president also repeated his refusal to negotiate with the Chechen rebels, who he calls terrorists. Rather, he said he wants to find a way to hand control of local Chechnya affairs back to the Chechen people. President Putin did not say exactly how he will do that, but there are plans to hold a referendum and elect a president of republic.
Earlier this week, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov offered General Troshev a transfer to Siberia. The general publicly rejected the offer, saying it would be a betrayal of the military and the people in Chechnya. President Putin then dismissed General Troshev, saying he could not allow such a conflict between a general and the defense minister. Russian defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer says the Kremlin is not happy with how the war in Chechnya is proceeding and some officials see General Troshev as a hindrance to negotiating an end to the conflict. "If you want to begin to negotiate something, of course, you have to remove General Troshev, who is accused by international human rights groups of committing war crimes and mass murder of civilians," he said. But Mr. Felgenhauer and other analysts point out that it may not be that simple. General Troshev has also been mentioned as a possible candidate for President of Chechnya in elections scheduled to happen this spring. The director of the Moscow office of the Center for Defense Information, Ivan Safranchuk, says General Troshev, who is a native of Chechnya, is popular among some Chechens. But many other Chechens view him with suspicion. They accuse the Russian military of gross human rights violations under his command. Mr. Safranchuk says that by going against the military and the president, General Troshev may have gained some points in his presidential campaign. "He's now presented as someone who wants to bring peace to Chechnya, but he's dismissed by the military Russian leadership," he said. "So I think this is more a supportive factor for his Chechen presidency ambitions." The public way in which General Troshev rejected his transfer to Siberia has also raised questions about the military and its civilian control. Defense Minister Ivanov is the first civilian to run the military, which during Soviet times was answerable to no one but itself. So far, it is not clear whether General Troshev will be assigned to another post within the military or fired from the army altogether.
, Bush to Mubarak: Peace Plan Is Not Ready . . President Bush has told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that a U.S. Middle East peace plan is not ready to be finalized this week, but that he is committed to moving it forward "at the soonest possible moment." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday that the two leaders discussed the "roadmap" by telephone. Mr. Fleischer said the United States has many ideas that it wants to share at Friday's Washington meeting of senior officials from Russia, the European Union, United Nations and the United States. The session is to focus on ways to keep the Middle East peace process moving forward. European and Arab leaders have been urging Washington to release a final draft of the plan, which calls for a permanent Palestinian state by 2005 and a complete halt to construction in the Jewish settlements at Friday's meeting. But, U.S. officials say the plan will not be released until after Israel's January elections. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat charged that the decision shows Washington is trying to help Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the elections. Meanwhile, in continuing violence in the occupied territories, Palestinian security sources say an 11-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers Thursday. Palestinians say the girl was looking out a window of her home in the town of Rafah, when the soldiers at the nearby border post opened fire.
. French Police Find Detonator Components in Paris Apartment . . .
The electrical components, which police say could have been used to detonate a bomb, were found hidden in a washing machine in the apartment in La Corneuve. One investigator told the French news agency AFP that a real terrorist operation was being planned but was stopped in time. Investigators at first thought the people were planning a chemical attack, but now believe they were planning to plant a bomb. It is not know when or where the bomb was to be placed. Police found two gas containers in the apartment in the first raid Monday, according to the newspaper Le Parisien. They are said to be of the same type as those used in a series of bomb attacks in Paris in the late 1990's. The police also found two flasks of chemicals, one of which has been identified as iron trichloride, which could also be used in a bomb. Investigators say the four people detained are part of a terrorist cell and that they came closer to carrying out an attack in France than anyone has since since the September 11 attacks last year. They have been identified as Mirouane Ben Ahmed, who has been wanted by police for two years; his wife, who is also of Algerian origin, another Algerian man and a Moroccan. They were under surveillance in a judicial investigation into what is called the Chechen network. The Le Monde newspaper says investigators believe at least 20 French citizens of North African origin have passed through Chechnya recently for various types of training and coordination with other militants.
. Ivorian Rebels Recapture Key Town . .
Rebels from the Ivorian Popular Movement for the Far West, or MPIGO overran the strategic town of Man less than two days after launching a three-pronged attack on government forces there. Speaking to VOA by satellite phone, MPIGO leader Felix Doh says his fighters are in full control of Man. Residents of the city say rebel soldiers are patrolling the streets, and Ivorian government troops have fled. A French military spokesman has confirmed to VOA that Man is now in rebel hands. Man is the largest city in western Ivory Coast and has been the center of the heaviest fighting over recent weeks. It has changed hands several times. Phone lines into Man appear to have been cut. Repeated attempts to reach residents of the city by telephone have failed. Meanwhile, at a meeting in Dakar, Senegal, West African leaders from the regional group ECOWAS have decided to deploy about 1,500 troops to Ivory Coast. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade says the ECOWAS soldiers will arrive by the end of the year. An ECOWAS spokesman says a Senegalese commander will lead the force. An Ivorian government official tells VOA it is also not clear what their mandate will be, but he believes they will be monitoring the cease-fire and not fighting in support of government troops. The ECOWAS forces were originally supposed to replace the French troops already deployed in Ivory Coast. But it now appears they will work side by side. France on Wednesday announced it is sending another 300 paratroopers to enforce the tattered cease fire in its former colony. A French transport ship is scheduled to dock in Ivory Coast by the end of next week, carrying the 300 French soldiers, as well as helicopters and light armored vehicles. Roughly 1,500 French soldiers are already deployed in Ivory Coast, mainly in the north and west. French officials have said they intend to increase the total troop strength to 2,500. They have authorized their soldiers to shoot anyone who violates the cease-fire. The decision to deploy West African peacekeepers came at what was supposed to be a special head of state summit of ECOWAS. But only four heads of state actually showed up for the meeting, including the host, Mr. Wade of Senegal, and Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo. Mr. Gbagbo told the meeting he will present his own comprehensive peace plan by the end of next week.
. Japanese Abductees Choose to Stay in Japan . . . | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Generals do not
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