Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said at a press conference Tuesday that U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges was to be expelled for accusing the just-retired national police commander of corruption, and speculating that his misdeeds were known to President Rafael Correa.
The Wikileaks cable, dated July 10, 2009, quoted Hodges saying that commander Jaime Hurtado Vaco had used his position "to extort cash and property, misappropriate public funds, facilitate human trafficking, and obstruct the investigation and prosecution of corrupt colleagues." The cable was published Monday by the Madrid newspaper El Pais.
Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said Hodges is one of the department's most experienced ambassadors, and that the administration considers her expulsion "unjustified.". Buy cheap nike mens acg sandals 2011 He said the department had not decided whether it will reciprocate by expelling Ecuador's ambassador, or take other action.
Patino said Ecuador hopes the expulsion "will not affect the cordial relations between our two governments."
The 6,300 diplomatic cables released by the anti-secrecy website have caused turbulence for a growing list of diplomats since they began to be released last November.
Last month, U.S. ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual was forced to resign after the release of cables in which he discussed the shortcomings of the Mexican government's war on drugs. In January, Ambassador Gene Cretz was forced to leave Libya after the leak of Reebok ZigTech onlinea cable in which he speculated on leader Muammar Kadafi's health, and his dependence on a "voluptuous" Ukrainian nurse.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to sue former U.S. ambassador Eric Edelman over a 2004 cable in which he said the leader maintained eight Swiss bank accounts.
Disenchantment with the military was the focus of many speeches and chants, and participants milling about were all too ready to grumble about the generals. Buy nike running shoes online
“The military council is inexplicably slow in responding to our demands,” said Mohammad el-Qassas, a leader of the youth wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and a member of the coalition of those who organized the Jan. 25 revolution. “Protests and popular pressure must return, because they are only the real method of realizing the people’s demands.”
He reeled off a list of unaccomplished goals, including the arrest of leading members of the old government, serious trials for corrupt businessmen, the removal of university presidents appointed by former President Hosn Mubarak as well as his provincial governors.
Painted banners, hung between palm trees on the square’s south side, enumerated still more. They included the cancellation of a proposed law that would ban demonstrations, faster prosecution of those responsible for killing hundreds of protesters in January and February and trials for the Mubarak family on charges of plundering national wealth.
“Mubarak is still fishing in Sharm, as if nothing happened,” groused Hassan Ismail, 60, a housing manager. He was referring to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, where Mr. Mubarak and his family now live — after being barred from leaving the country.
Some noted that the military had taken steps through a national referendum to bring about legislative elections planned for September and a presidential vote two months later. But to many, those actions seem driven by what the military wants. Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals black,
“People are still skeptical about how this revolution is moving forward — they want to remind the army and all forces that the revolution did not end yet,” said Shaheer George, a 25-year-old independent activist.
The chants that erupted on the square included “The people want the fall of the field marshal,” referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the military council and another Mubarak confidant.
Among the most common complaints is that the military is utterly opaque, issuing edicts from behind closed doors. Despite its attempts to reach out by making announcements via Facebook and text messages, there is no sense of popular consultation.
The mood was a notable shift from two months ago, when the armed forces were being universally hailed as the country’s saviors for refusing to fire on the crowds demanding President Mubarak’s departure. A heavy military hand in breaking up demonstrations and credible allegations of torturing arrested protesters have also chipped away at the military’s reputation.
“The army needs to be reminded that we are the ones who started this revolution, and that is why they are in power now,” said Omniya Bahgat, a 26-year-old demonstrator. “We are tired of hearing that our demands will be met later.”
The crowd on Friday appeared to number about 4,000, a far cry from the hundreds of thousands who gathered there to demand Mr. Mubarak’s ouster. But it was too dense for the cars to penetrate, and the distinctive red berets of the military police were not in sight. People also turned out in droves in Alexandria and other large cities, activists said.
In part, the smaller crowds are attributable to the fact that the various political organizations no longer share the same simple goals like overthrowing the president, analysts said. Also there is a general debate about whether it is time to abandon the protests in the square as a method of change and wait for a nascent political system to grow stronger. Fivefingers Kso-Vibram fivefingers Kso
“Tahrir Square represents the possibility of getting people mobilized — hundreds of thousands of people,” said Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at the Ahram Center for Strategic and International Studies. “That still matters.”
Lara El Gibaly and Liam Stack contributed reporting.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may be risking a power struggle with Vladimir Putinafter an nike running shoes online, aide announced plans to oust Putin allies from some of the biggest state-owned companies a year before elections.
Medvedev this week will try to dismiss several government officials from state enterprises, including Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin as chairman of OAO Rosneft, the largest Russian oil company, Arkady Dvorkovich his chief economic aide, said yesterday. Sechin has worked with Prime Minister Putin in several capacities since the two were colleagues at the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the first half of the 1990s.
Putin, 58, a former KGB colonel, kept power as prime minister after selecting Medvedev, 45, in 2008 to succeed him as president because of a constitutional ban on three consecutive terms. With 12 months left before the next presidential vote, it’s still uncertain which of the two men will run and Medvedev’s move may cause the biggest rift between them yet.
“This risks triggering a war between the elites,” said Alexei Mukhin, director of the Moscow-based Center for Political Information, a research group. “It will mean a real conflict with Putin.”
Aside from Sechin, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin should also give up his post as chairman of the supervisory board of VTB Bank, Russia’s second-largest bank, Dvorkovich said.
St. Petersburg Connection
Transportation Minister Igor Levitin should be replaced at the biggest Russian airline OAO Aeroflot and Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, while First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov should leave his job at Russian Agricultural Bank, known as Rosselkhozbank, he said. Kudrin and Zubkov are also associates of Putin from his hometown St. Petersburg.
There’s “no conflict” between Medvedev and Putin, who agree on the need to “improve the efficiency of governance,” according to Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.
“The subject of replacing officials with independent directors has long been on the agenda,” he said by phone yesterday. “It is another matter, in the context of carrying out the instructions of the head of state, how we’ll monitor the implementation of state directives in those companies where the government is the majority shareholder.”
The president’s move to confront Putin allies who remain dominant in the government shows that he has decided to assert himself, said Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent political analyst in Moscow.
‘First Independent Move’“This is a major development which marks the first independent move by Medvedev touching the interests of influential members of Putin’s team,” he said. Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals black, white
Medvedev and Putin showed public discord last week over the U.N.-sanctioned military intervention in Libya. The president, who has spearheaded Russia’s efforts to improve ties with the U.S. and Europe, rebuked the prime minister for likening the allied campaign to a “crusade.”
A lawyer also from St. Petersburg, Medvedev has tried to widen Russia’s investment appeal beyond energy to help accelerate economic growth to 10 percent from last year’s 4 percent rate and match the pace of its BRIC rivals.
The president on March 30 announced that independent directors may replace ministers and other officials by mid-year as part of a plan to improve the investment climate. A proposal to cut a social tax for businesses, also part of Medvedev’s 10- point program, may cost the budget as much as 800 billion rubles ($28 billion) of revenue, Putin said yesterday.
‘No Textbook Solutions’“There are no textbook solutions and we will have to labor quite a bit to find” any, Peskov said. “We don’t yet know from which sources” to make up for the lost revenue.
Foreign direct investment is at an “unacceptably low level,” the president said on March 21. He has sought to lure capital by promoting Moscow as a financial center and creating a private equity fund to allow the government to share risks with foreign investors and help “modernize” the economy.
“Minority investors should see Medvedev’s move as a positive if there is a sweeping change at Rosneft and if these state companies become better managed and more transparent as a result,” said Dmitri Kryukov, founder of Moscow-based hedge fund Verno Capital, which manages about $140 million.
Sechin and the other officials will fight to keep their state company jobs, which give them financial opportunities beyond those provided by government salaries, said Mukhin of the Center for Political Information.
Searching for clashes within Russia’s elite is like “looking for a nonexistent black cat in a dark room,” said Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.
This “has become a favorite pastime for analysts,” he said. “Replacing officials with independent directors and lowering the social tax are coordinated positions.”
‘Show His Authority’Medvedev wants to win a second term in 2012, Dvorkovich said last year. Putin also hasn’t ruled out running for the top position again. Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals black, white
If the decision to remove Putin’s allies from state companies is implemented, it would show that Medvedev intends to carry out his free-market policies and is an independent politician, said Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
“This can be interpreted as an attempt to show his authority,” she said. “This would be a very important step weakening people who are very strong players, who are powerful by virtue of being close to Putin.”
Medvedev, who in his first year in office pushed through a constitutional change extending the presidential term to six years from four, and his team would be able to challenge the political and economic interests of Putin’s associates, said Oreshkin.
“He could show a completely different side,” he said. “The closer the elections come, the more aggressively he is acting.”
Muammar Gaddafi's authority inside Libya suffered a significant blow when his foreign minister quit and fled to the UK in a specially arranged flight organised by the British intelligence services.
Mousa Kousa, who was one of the Libyan leader's closest allies, arrived on a chartered plane from Tunisia and said he was "no longer willing" to represent the dictator's regime.
We can confirm that Mousa Kousa arrived at Farnborough airport on 30 March from Tunisia," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
Kousa's defection provides Britain with a figure of unparalleled intelligence value in terms of understanding the situation within Gaddafi's inner circle. The move also provides a morale boost to the disorganised rebel forces who have again suffered major reverses at the hands of pro-Gaddafi forces in the past 48 hours.
The Foreign Office said last night: "He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further detail in due course.
"Mousa Kousa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally – something that he is no longer willing to do."
Kousa's defection will be seen as a vindication of the coalition's efforts to intimidate key members of the regime by warning them that if they do not defect they will be taken to the international criminal court to face war crimes trials.
News of the defection first emerged after the official Tunisian news agency reported rumours that Kousa had crossed the border into Libya's western neighbour, but without any clear indication of his motives. The Libyan government, possibly misled by Mousa Kousa, insisted he had left the country on a diplomatic mission for Gaddafi, but the foreign office then disputed this account.
Britain and the US have been in regular contact with him in recent days, mainly through intelligence sources. Probably more than any other senior official inside the Libyan regime, Kousa is seen as the key figure who persuaded Gaddafi to make a deal with British intelligence agencies to stop developing weapons of mass destruction in return for the ending of its pariah status.
However, his relationship with Britain in the past has been far from convivial. Kousa has previously been seen as one of the controlling forces behind the Lockerbie bombing and it was not clear whether he was seeking political asylum.
In 1980, he was expelled from the UK and, for 15 years, he was head of Libyan foreign intelligence – including in the period of the Lockerbie bombing. He has always denied Libya was involved in the bombing.
The Foreign Office added: "We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people."
"He has defected from the regime," said Noman Benotman, a friend of Kousa and senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam thinktank.
"He wasn't happy at all. He doesn't support the government attacks on civilians," he said.
"He's seeking refuge in Britain and hopes he will be treated well," Benotman said.
Kousa's decision to abandon the regime came as it emerged that Barack Obama had signed a secret government order authorising covert US help to the Libyan rebels via such organisations as the CIA.
The order, known as a "finding" was signed within the last two or three weeks. The move will undoubtedly fuel speculation that the US and its allies are planning to arm the rebels. Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals
The New York Times has reported that small groups of CIA operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks gathering intelligence for military air strikes and making contacts with the rebels battling Gaddafi's forces, according to American officials. It also reported that "dozens" of British agents and special forces were also inside Libya, helping direct attacks by British aircraft.
Both sides in the Libya conflict are running short of weapons and ammunition after almost two weeks of intense fighting that has brutally exposed the military shortcomings of the rebels, the Guardian has been told.
The rebels were forced into yet another retreaton Wednesday, with Gaddafi's forces regaining much of the territory taken by the rebels at the weekend and threatening to humiliate the western coalition by again coming within striking distance of the city of Benghazi.
Concern is deepening in the coalition about the rebels' fragile morale and lack of military experience to mount a sustained challenge to the regime. A military stalemate is now a real possibility, partly as both sides are struggling to re-equip their forces.
With fighting continuing in Misrata and regime forces pushing east as far as the strategic town of Ajdabiya, the issue of rearming has become paramount.
Coalition bombing raids had helped "chop the legs off" Gaddafi's supply chain, meaning he could no longer get rockets and ammunition to the front line.
"Ammunition is going to become an issue," said a defence source. "The regime's logistics are very stretched. Their ability to move ammunition 400 to 500 miles is becoming constraining. Regime forces have been seriously degraded. But there is more to do to prevent more bloodshed, to prevent more loss of life."
While the regime is thought to be "hurting more and missing more" because many of its heavy weapons have been destroyed, the rebels could struggle to take advantage because of their own problems. They do not have a supply chain or logistical mechanisms.
Many of the rebels have not experienced being under fire before the last three weeks and there is no sign of any improvement in their fighting capability.
Though the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and British foreign secretary William Hague have hinted that arming the rebels might be allowed under the terms of the two UN resolutions, it is understood the UK has not provided any equipment so far, and there are no plans to do so. No training has been provided either.
A defence source insisted there had been "no request for ground forces" and that the coalition had "no intention" of providing them. People who had returned to Ajdabiya after it fell to the revolutionaries on Saturday again fled on Wednesday as the government's army seized two important oil towns further along the coastal highway, Ras Lanuf and Brega.
It was not immediately clear if the regime intended to try to take Ajdabiya again after air strikes last week destroyed a significant number of tanks and armoured vehicles. But the government has pressed ahead with its counteroffensive using not only the artillery that it still retains but what appears to be a larger ground force than previously deployed.
On Monday, the rebels moved within 45 miles of Sirte, the strategically and politically important birthplace of Gaddafi, and were proclaiming they would be in Tripoli before the end of the week after advancing about 200 miles in two days under the cover of the western air strikes.
But the regime's counterattack has outmanoeuvred the poorly disciplined and ill-trained rebels who barely made a stand at Brega before fleeing toward Ajdabiya. If the government were to move on Ajdabiya, that would once again open the road to Benghazi. brand shoes
The revolutionary leadership, which has called for an intensification of air strikes, said it was not concerned by the see-sawing military fortunes. "Whether we advance 50km or retreat 50km … it's a big country. They will go back the next day," said spokesman Mustafa Gheriani in Benghazi. But the situation has raised concerns that the rebels' inability to hold territory will undermine coalition commitment.
The coalition now believes it has a much clearer idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides and the issues that could be crucial in the coming days and weeks. It is now thought that:
• Thousands of foreign fighters are in Libya helping to support Gaddafi and more are still coming from countries such as Chad, Niger and Mali. Many are being lured to Tripoli because Gaddafi pays them well. The foreigners, some of them migrant workers, are being used for security in urban areas, freeing up other soldiers to fight the rebels.
• Misrata has become a crucible of the fighting and is the focus of the regime's attempts to snuff out the opposition. Coalition air strikes have crushed attempts by Gaddafi's navy to blockade the city and attack it from the sea. Four Libyan vessels have been sunk, and one beached.
• Al-Qaida has a negligible presence in Libya and is not considered a factor at all in the current fighting.
• Gaddafi has no chemical weapons in any usable form. It is thought that he only has the remnants of the weapons programme that was dismantled in 2004, and coalition air strikes have targeted the Scud missiles that could have been used to deliver them.
How the conflict now develops may depend on whether Gaddafi's opponents in the west of the country are prepared to rise up against a regime that has promoted a culture of fear for the last 40 years.
That culture is thought to be most acute inside the regime itself – Gaddafi is said to hold his lieutenants, extended family, and indeed his children in a state of near perpetual conflict and fear. The default position in society is assessed to be that any resistance to Gaddafi or his regime is something only talked about in the privacy of your own home.
The scale of the deployment by UK forces has also become clear. Ten Typhoon and eight Tornado aircraft are operating out of Italy, supported by the cruise missile submarine, HMS Turbulent, which has been replaced by HMS Triumph.
Getting equipment and armaments to the Mediterranean involved 24 transport aircraft, including nine C17s and 11 Hercules aircraft, and two chartered Antonov flights for 583 military personnel. The RAF so far has undertaken 130 hours of refuelling missions, involving 500,000 litres of aviation fuel.
Troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of November’s presidential nike running shoes onlineelection in Ivory Coast, moved closer to Abidjan and a key cocoa-exporting port, adding to pressure on embattled incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
The Republican Forces seized at least five towns this week and moved to within 240 kilometers (149 miles) of Abidjan, the commercial capital, after taking the eastern town of Abengourou yesterday, said Meite Sindou, spokesman for Ouattara’s prime minister and defense minister, Guillaume Soro.
“It seems the security forces of Laurent Gbagbo refused to fight when the rebels entered the town,” said Modeste Kouao, a resident of Abengourou.
Until now, the loyalty of the army and police has proved key to Gbagbo’s ability to retain control of much of the world’s top cocoa producer. He refuses to hand power to Ouattara, alleging electoral fraud in the election on Nov. 28.
“Militarily, Gbagbo is weak,” said Rinaldo Depagne, a Dakar-based analyst for International Crisis Group. “If he wants to stay, he’s got to put all the forces he has in Abidjan and he’s got to try to stop the progression of rebels inside Abidjan. Inside the army you’ve got mass desertions and mass divisions.”
Taking Cocoa TownsThe Republican Forces have stepped up their military campaign in the past month, mainly in the western cocoa- producing region, taking the towns of Duekoue, Guiglo and Daloa in the past few days, Sindou said. Duekoue sits on a major north-south transit corridor linking the west with the port of San Pedro. cheap nike mens acg sandals
“Except in Duekoue, there was no real resistance,” Sindou said. The fighters also seized the central-west town of Zuenoula, he said late yesterday.
“We are staying hidden at home for now, but we can hear the rebels shouting for joy,” said resident Alexandre Dje Bi.
The insurgents’ advance boosted Ivory Coast’s defaulted dollar-denominated bonds to their highest in at least two months yesterday, rallying 4.2 percent to 39.875 cents on the dollar at 7:51 p.m. in London. The yield fell 31 basis points to 8.6 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Cocoa for May delivery fell to the lowest in more than two months, declining $191, or 5.9 percent, to $3,057 per metric ton at 2:57 p.m. in New York.
“Gbagbo is isolated financially, politically, and now he’s losing ground militarily,” said Drew Geraghty, buy Reebok ZigTech a commodity broker at ICAP Futures LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey. “Traders are taking this as a sign that the risk premium is coming out of the market.”
Rights ViolationsThe Republican Forces trace their roots to an uprising of mutinous military officers in 2002, which led to the division of the country into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south. The election was meant to unify the country, which was once the second-biggest economy in West Africa.
“All parties to the conflict have committed serious human rights violations including unlawful killings and rape and sexual violence against women,” U.K.-based Amnesty International said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Rebels fired on and missed a United Nations helicopter that was flying over Duekoue on March 28, the UN mission in the country said in a statement.
Lass Com, a spokesman for the fighters, said troops thought the helicopter belonged to Gbagbo.
“There was a lot of confusion,” he said.
My best guess is that for the moment, at least,y nike running shoes Gingrich kind of supports President Obama’s decision to use military force against Libyan despot Moammar Gaddafi, or at least that he hopes it succeeds. But it’s hard to be certain. On Libya, the former House speaker has shown the ability to be both pro and con with equal moral certainty and intellectual arrogance.
Why does it matter if a man known for rhetorical bomb-throwing happens to lob a few contradictory grenades? Because when Gingrich said on “Fox News Sunday” that he hopes to announce his candidacy for president within a month, nobody laughed. There’s no clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, and one has to assume that anything can happen.
In that same interview, Gingrich completed the final full twist in a “flip-flop-flip” maneuver that would have merited perfect “10s” in an Olympic diving competition — demonstrating why he should never, ever be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.
Gingrich launched himself from the springboard on March 7, when Fox News host Greta Van Susteren asked what he would do about Gaddafi’s use of heavy weapons and deadly force against peaceful demonstrators.
“Exercise a no-fly zone this evening,” he replied “All we have to say is that we think that slaughtering your own citizens is unacceptable and that we’re intervening.”
His first somersault came on March 23, days after the U.N.-authorized military intervention had begun. You’d think he might applaud the operation — enforcement of a no-fly zone and attacks on Gaddafi’s armored columns, all in an attempt to protect civilians from an impending massacre — since that was what he had suggested. But you’d be wrong.
“I would not have intervened,” he told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “I would not have used American and European forces, nike mens acg sandals bombing Arabs and that country.” The next day, he elaborated “We are not in a position to go around the world every time there’s a local problem and intervene,” he told Fox.
But then on Saturday, at an appearance in Iowa, he spun to what looked suspiciously like his original position, arguing that the United States and its allies should “defeat Gaddafi as rapidly as possible.”
Gingrich seems to be having a particularly heated argument with himself over the whole “air power” thing. On March 7, pro-intervention Newt declared: “We don’t have to send troops. All we have to do is suppress [Gaddafi’s] air force, which we could do in minutes.” On March 24, anti-intervention Newt scoffed to Fox: “If they’re serious about protecting civilians, you can’t do that from the air. . . . This is a fundamental mistake, and I think is a typical politician’s overreliance on air power.” On March 26, defeat-Gaddafi-rapidly Newt said that vanquishing the dictator should involve “using all of Western air power as decisively as possible.”
In a rare understatement, Gingrich acknowledged Saturday that “obviously there were contradictions” in his various statements. Typically, however, he defended them all.
The fact that he had appeared to take so many sides of the issue, he claimed, was somehow Obama’s fault. Just like not intervening was Obama’s fault, intervening was Obama’s fault, and whatever the allies are doing with air power is Obama’s fault.
Obama moved painstakingly toward committing U.S. forces to the Libya intervention, first securing a U.N. mandate,Reebok ZigTech online some measure of support from Arab nations and a guarantee of meaningful involvement by our European allies. He thought about the precedent this kind of humanitarian military action might set. He tried to assess how the other beleaguered autocrats in the region might react to U.S. action or inaction.
Leave aside, for the moment, whether Obama made the right call. At least he tried. Gingrich, by contrast, reflexively shoots from the lip. On any conceivable subject, he’s always ready to tell you more than he knows. He is certain that his view is 100 percent right — until he decides it’s 100 percent wrong.
I realize his criticism of Obama from all sides of the Libya question is fundamentally a political tactic — go on the attack, make a lot of noise, attract some attention. But his cavalier recklessness on a matter of war and peace should send chills up the spine of anyone who sees the words “Newt Gingrich” and “presidential candidate” in the same sentence. Heaven help us.