Docudharma Times Thursday October 1

On War, Obama Could Turn to GOP

Democrats Oppose Larger Afghan Effort

By Scott Wilson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, October 1, 2009

With much of his party largely opposed to expanding military operations in Afghanistan, President Obama could be forced into the awkward political position of turning to congressional Republicans for support if he follows the recommendations of the commanding U.S. general there.

Congressional Democrats have begun promoting a compromise package of additional resources for Afghanistan that would emphasize training for Afghan security forces but deny Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal the additional combat troops he has indicated he needs to regain the initiative against the Taliban insurgency. The emerging Democratic consensus is likely to constrain the president as he considers how best to proceed with an increasingly unpopular war.

Samoa Islands and Indonesia quake death tolls continue to rise

Two powerful earthquakes struck Sumatra, Indonesia, leaving at least 467 dead. Less than a day earlier, a quake in the South Pacific spawned a tsunami that has claimed more than 120 lives.

By David Pierson

October 1, 2009

Reporting from Beijing – The death tolls from two powerful underwater earthquakes less than a day apart continued to climb today as residents of the islands of Samoa and the Indonesian island of Sumatra began to dig out from the natural disasters that tore through their cities and villages.

An earthquake that struck western Indonesia on Wednesday killed at least 467 people, most of them in the coastal Sumatran city of Padang, according to news reports. Thousands more were believed dead, said Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, including many trapped in an estimated 500 buildings that toppled or were damaged in the magnitude 7.6 quake.

USA

Plan Outlines Removal of Four Dams on Klamath River



By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: September 30, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – A draft plan to remove four aging dams along the Klamath River in Oregon and California was released Wednesday, a long-awaited step toward ending a protracted dispute over the waterway.

The Klamath dams, built from 1918 to 1961 along an upstream stretch of the river, are owned by PacifiCorp, which uses them to generate electricity. But they have angered Indian tribes along the river, as well as fishermen and environmentalists, who blamed them for a decline in salmon populations and subsequent economic hardships.

Last year, federal and other officials announced a nonbinding agreement to remove the dams, and Wednesday’s draft plan added a specific, nuts-and-bolts dimension to that agreement.

Supreme Court decision may open up other gun laws to challenges

By agreeing to hear a 2nd Amendment challenge to Chicago’s handgun ban, the justices may open the door to similar lawsuits in cities and states nationwide.

By David G. Savage

October 1, 2009

Reporting from Washington – The Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday to hear a 2nd Amendment challenge to Chicago’s handgun ban could open the door to similar lawsuits in cities and states across the nation.

At issue is whether the right to keep and bear arms is a full-fledged constitutional privilege that can be invoked by individuals against the government at all levels, or a freedom that applies only as it concerns the federal government.

Last year, the justices in a 5-4 ruling said for the first time that the 2nd Amendment protected an individual’s right to have a handgun at home for self-defense.

Asia

China shows off military might at 60th anniversary parade

Tanks and lorries roll through Beijing to mark 60th anniversary of communism in China

Tania Branigan in Beijing

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 October 2009 07.42 BST

Tanks and lorries bearing nuclear missiles rolled through the streets of the Chinese capital today, fighter planes roared overhead and tens of thousands of military and security forces marched through Tiananmen Square as the People’s Republic celebrated its 60th anniversary.

But few of the people of Beijing were allowed anywhere near the vast parade. While about 30,000 guests were invited, other residents were told to stay indoors and watch the 1.9 mile (3km) procession on television.

The huge display of might – China’s biggest ever show of military hardware – combined the ideological slogans and massed ranks of previous parades with unprecedented security levels and extraordinary choreography.

Sacked envoy Peter Galbraith accuses UN of ‘cover-up’ on Afghan vote fraud

From The Times

October 1, 2009

James Bone in New York

The top American in the UN mission in Afghanistan was fired yesterday after refusing to take part in what he called “a cover-up” of fraud in the Afghan election.

Peter Galbraith, the son of the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith, left the country abruptly last month after a clash with his Norwegian boss, Kai Eide.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, announced yesterday he was dismissing Mr Galbraith “in the best interest of the mission”.

Europe

Once more with feeling, Ireland

Last time, many Irish voters felt uninformed about the Lisbon treaty. As they return to the polls, will ‘no’ still mean ‘don’t know’?



Elizabeth Monaghan

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 October 2009 08.30 BST

Tomorrow Irish voters will be asked whether they want their parliament to change the constitution in order to allow for the ratification of the EU’s Lisbon treaty, the majority of those who voted having said no to the same question 15 months earlier. The Irish government’s decision to hold a second referendum has been criticised, particularly – but not only – by those opposed to the treaty, for not accepting that no means no.

Yet those in support of the treaty argued that its rejection by 53% of those who voted, was due to lack of knowledge about, or misunderstandings of, the treaty and its implications – in other words, in this case no didn’t mean “no”, it meant “don’t know”.

Georgia began war with Russia, but it was provoked, inquiry finds

1,000-page European Union analysis of South Ossetian conflict points finger of blame at both sides

By Shaun Walker in Moscow

 Thursday, 1 October 2009  

The first authoritative study of the war over South Ossetia has concluded that Georgia started the conflict with Russia with an attack that was in violation of international law.

But the exhaustive 1,000 page analysis published yesterday by the EU also concluded that Russia was responsible for a long history of provocation in the region and reacted disproportionately.

“Much of the Russian military action went far beyond the reasonable limits of defence,” concluded the report.

It also said that there was evidence of widespread ethnic cleansing by South Ossetian forces of Georgian villages within South Ossetia that the Russian Army had failed to stop. And it denied the Russian allegation that the Georgian attack had amounted to a genocide of the Ossetian people.

Middle East

Israel to free women for video proving Shalit is alive

Father of Israeli corporal held hostage for three years praises German negotiators

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Israel is to release 20 female Palestinian prisoners in return for new video footage proving definitively that Gilad Shalit, the army corporal who was abducted more than three years ago by Gaza militants, is alive.

The move, which may be made tomorrow, is the first concrete evidence of real, if slow, progress in the German-mediated negotiations for the release of the 23-year-old corporal and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including Hamas ones, held in Israeli jails.

An official statement released by the mediators in Jerusalem yesterday said that mediators had told Israel it would receive “updated and unequivocal proof regarding the well-being and status of Gilad Shalit”.

Nuclear watchdog condemns Tehran as showdown looms over uranium facility



From The Times

October 1, 2009

 Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent

Pressure mounted on Iran before today’s nuclear negotiations in Geneva after the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog declared that Tehran was “on the wrong side of the law” for failing to declare a clandestine uranium enrichment plant.

Mohamed ElBaradei’s remarks, the first official assessment of the plant since it was exposed last week, throw Iran on the defensive as it enters negotiations with six leading world powers that could determine whether it faces new sanctions.

The joint American, British and French revelation that Iran had built an undeclared uranium enrichment plant inside a mountain on a heavily guarded military base has increased pressure on Iran to prove that its programme is peaceful.