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Iran ready to build nuclear

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iranian scientists have reached "nuclear weapons breakout capability," according to a new report based on findings of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
The Institute for Science and International Security report concludes Iran does not yet have a nuclear weapon but does have enough low-enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon.
The type of uranium the International Atomic Energy Agency report says Iran has would have to be further enriched to make it weapons-grade.
The institute drew its conclusions from an IAEA report dated February 19, 2009. An official in the IAEA confirmed the authenticity of the report for CNN, but didn't want to be named.
The IAEA report is posted on the Web site of ISIS, a Washington-based non-profit and non-partisan institution focused on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
It also finds that while Iran has dramatically increased installation of centrifuges that can be used for enriching uranium -- from 4,000 to 5,400 -- its scientists aren't using the new units yet. They remain in "research and development mode."
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In the IAEA report, the agency also says no substantive progress has been made in resolving issues about possible "military dimensions" to Iran's nuclear program.
Iran has consistently denied the weapons allegations, calling them "baseless" and "fabricated."
Iran says its nuclear program is necessary to provide civilian energy for the country, but other countries have voiced concern that its true purpose is to produce nuclear weapons.
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February 10, 2009 -- Updated 0603 GMT (1403 HKT)
Obama: U.S. looking for dialogue with Iran
(CNN) -- The United States is looking for opportunities for "face-to-face" dialogue with Iran after nearly three decades without diplomatic ties, President Barack Obama said Monday, but still has "deep concerns" about Tehran's actions.

There's been a lot of mistrust built up over the years, so it's not going to happen overnight," Obama said during his first prime-time news conference Monday night.
He said his administration is reviewing existing U.S. policy toward Iran, which supports groups Washington has branded terrorist organizations and has defied U.N. demands to halt its uranium enrichment program.
Despite those concerns, he said his administration wants to use "all the resources at the United States' disposal" to resolve those concerns.
"In the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face," Obama said.
Speaking on other foreign policy issues, Obama said he does not yet have a timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
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He said that, unlike in Iraq, there is not the sense that the political system in Afghanistan is functioning in a meaningful way.
"They've got elections coming up, but effectively the national government seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community," Obama said.
He said that, in addition, there hasn't been concerted effort to root out the Taliban and al Qaeda from their safe havens in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is necessary for success.
"My bottom line is that we cannot allow al Qaeda to operate. We cannot have those safe havens in that region," Obama said. Watch Obama explain why he wants to send troops to Afghanistan »
"I do not have yet a timetable for how long that's going to take. What I know is I'm not going to make -- I'm not going to allow al Qaeda or (Osama) bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland."

Obama said the administration will seek Pakistan's cooperation to root out the border safe havens and stressed the importance of ensuring Pakistan is a stalwart ally in fighting this threat.

On the issue of nuclear proliferation, Obama said it was important for the United States, in concert with Russia, to lead the way.
He said he has expressed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev the importance of restarting conversations about reducing each others' nuclear arsenals and stitching back together nonproliferation treaties which he said have been weakened over the last few years.

updated 37 minutes ago
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Afghan supply base eviction prompts U.S. access scramble

(CNN) -- Kyrgyzstan said Friday its president has ordered the closure of U.S. military's only base in Central Asia, further squeezing access for troops and supplies heading into Afghanistan.
However, the closure comes as two other central Asian nations -- Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - reportedly agreed to allow transit of U.S. cargo en route to Afghanistan.
Russia's Interfax news agency reported the Kyrgyz foreign minister has formally notified the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. Officials have said the U.S. military has 180 days to withdraw from the Manas base after notification.
With increased militant attacks on land routes through Pakistan and no likelihood of access through Afghanistan's major western border with Iran, the United States is under pressure to establish new supply chains from the north.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday his country hopes to retain the base in Kyrgyzstan -- a small landlocked Central Asian nation west of China that is home to about 5 million people -- but was considering alternatives.
"I continue to believe that this is not a closed issue and that there remains the potential at least to reopen this issue with the Kyrgyz and perhaps reach a new agreement," Gates said at a NATO meeting in Krakow, Poland. Watch why Kyrgyzstan wants to close the base »
"If we are unable to do that on reasonable terms then, as I have suggested, we are developing alternative methods to get resupply and people into Afghanistan."
He said one option may be to pay larger fees to Kyrgyzstan, but the U.S. was also looking elsewhere.
"Manas is important, but it is not irreplaceable," he said.
Manas' closure could deal a significant blow to U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan just as President Barack Obama plans to step up U.S. troop levels to halt a resurgence of the country's former Taliban rulers. How far is Manas from Afghanistan? View our map »
The air base currently employs more than 1,000 servicemen, 95 percent of whom are Americans, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. The base is used to transport personnel and cargo to Afghanistan and to refuel aircraft.
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Meanwhile, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which both border Afghanistan, have agreed to allow U.S. cargo to be transported to Afghanistan through their countries, Interfax reported Friday.
A Tajik government statement said only that the two sides discussed the issue, but a spokesman for the Tajik foreign ministry told CNN that "practically all issues" to allow U.S. cargo transit have been resolved.
The efficacy of the deals with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan would still depend on how much access the United States would have for flights and cargo, and it is unlikely they will fully replace capacity lost in Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile U.S. General David Petraeus, who oversees the war in Afghanistan, was in Uzbekistan, which also lies over the northern Afghan border, this week for talks on Afghanistan and other regional issues.

A Pentagon spokesman told CNN that his discussions included the regional supply network into Afghanistan.
The U.S. military leased a base in Uzbekistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. But after Uzbek troops were accused of killing at least 150 people during a demonstration in 2005, the autocratic government of President Islam Karimov came under criticism from Washington and severed most of its military ties with the United States.
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Chechen brothers cleared of murdering Kremlin critic

A court in Moscow has acquitted four men accused of involvement in the murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, in a verdict that was greeted with dismay by human rights activists.



China: CCTV to launch online TV station


CCTV logoChina Central Television (CCTV) is planning to start a national online TV station, the country's broadcasting authority said Wednesday. The move is seen as part of CCTV's efforts to expand its influence in cyberspace where video-sharing websites such as YouTube are gaining increasing popularity. CCTV.com, the website of CCTV, which already provides a VOD (video on demand) service, is researching 'well-known video websites at home and abroad', and is working on a plan to launch a national online TV station, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said in a statement posted on its website, without providing a timetable. The broadcaster will also start building a video-sharing platform globally, the statement said. CCTV is also considering forming a strategic partnership with China Mobile, the country's top mobile phone carrier, it said. China had 173 million online video viewers by the end of last year, according to Beijing-based research house Analysys International. The online video market peaked during the Olympics when many people turned to the Internet to watch the games. CCTV.com, which enjoyed the exclusive rights to broadcast Olympics online, was the biggest beneficiary. (chinadaily.com.cn via Media Network Weblog)

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Editorial
Democracy: the challenge of recession
Posted: 2009-02-20

What impact will the recession have on democracy? One instinctive response may be: well, the economic boom did not have a uniformly positive impact. High prices of oil and gas have fuelled autocratic and/or populist tendencies in many countries and regions. High-growth but non-democratic models of governance have been held up as providing alternatives to the traditional notion that democracy and development go hand in hand. High, not to say excessive, self-confidence of some leading democracies was projected in counterproductive policies and actions in the name of democracy promotion.
Lower commodity prices, lower growth and lower self-confidence now cut across democracies and non-democracies alike. A cloud of gloom hangs low as political leaders desperately search for the shortest and safest way out of the recession, while experts continue to forecast that things will get even worse before they get better.
What hopes can we hold for democratic opening, consolidation and strengthening (and international efforts in support of democracy) in this worrisome environment?
Firstly, it can be noted that the state is back in fashion in many countries where its role has receded in past decades. Opinions will differ whether this means more or less democracy. What is clear though, is that the dramatic state interventions in recent months have significantly strengthened the executive branch of government. Decisions which in normal situations would require lengthy deliberations by parliaments, have been made at higher speed and less consultation than is normal in representative democracy. Given the urgency of the crisis this is understandable, but nevertheless a shift has taken place in power balance between the executive and the legislature in many countries.
Secondly, people affected are reacting as millions are losing their jobs across the globe. In many countries calls for protectionist measures are difficult for politicians to resist. In the UK, workers have staged demonstrations against foreign companies and workers, leading to fears that xenophobic nationalism will be one fallout of the crisis. In China, people are voicing their anger on the streets and in cyberspace – in a country which saw tens of thousands of popular local protests even when the economy was peaking. Will grievances mutate from social to political? What will be the response of the government? Will there be a breakthrough towards democracy as we all hope, or a new Tiananmen? And if the former prevails, will the West be able to recognize the signs of a new opening which may well take a different path than the evolution of democracy in the West? Protests have been seen in Russia too, inviting the question: will countries with well-functioning democratic institutions and processes prove more stable and resilient because people have other channels than the streets for voicing their concern?
We have seen recent and positive examples of democracy in peaceful action in two major electoral processes in two poverty-stricken countries, Ghana and Bangladesh. Both carried out free and fair elections resulting in a peaceful change of government. Such examples are heartening as they clearly testify against the fatality of political regression following economic hardship. As argued by a number of scholars at a Democracy Round table hosted by International IDEA in New Delhi, the relationship between democracy and development is complex but not necessarily causal.
Hence, there is no fatality. And the recession should not overshadow positive changes in the global landscape:
The new US president and his administration made strong pledges to multilateralism and addressing common problems with others. If we saw the unilateralism and the aggressiveness of the previous US administration as making life easier for authoritarian leaders all over the world, we have similar reasons to hope that the new "listening and working together" style may do the opposite: weaken the hands of authoritarian "patriots" who are always happy to offer national independence as a substitute to democracy.
The European Union, on its part, has built its image of "soft power" and has exercised a clear and politically much less controversial influence on democracy-building worldwide. It has done so through its enlargement and neighbourhood policies, its development assistance, its political dialogue with a number of countries and, last but not least, through its own example of permanent debate and consensus-building among its constituent countries. The EU emanates an understanding of democracy as a system not only based on some universally shared principles, but also respectful of diversity and delivering welfare to its citizens. Thus, the EU has managed to overcome to a significant extent the heavy legacy of colonialism and to be seen as something more than the sum of its 27 entities. Yet, the EU still seems to have an underestimated political capital. Can it still do better? And will the recession affect its important "acquis communautaires" in the area of democracy-support?
International IDEA has launched an initiative to promote a more coherent, effective and partnership-oriented democracy-support policy by the EU. IDEA’s "EU Project" presented and discussed in this newsletter aims at providing the EU – not least through the upcoming Swedish Presidency, with an indispensible tool in this endeavour: a clearly documented feedback from the global South. Through a series of consultations to be held with regional and national actors in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab World, Europe’s key partners will say how they perceive EU’s efforts in the area of democracy-building. We hope that this endeavour will help the EU build its own narrative, in overcoming a perception that sees it mainly as a trade actor, using sometimes double standards when different agendas compete, talking a lot, but not walking the talk. The project should also help move the EU agenda forward in a way that takes the current global economic challenges as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Meeting the challenges of recession requires farsighted leadership and political courage. The positive experience of the EU and the power of its example, the new political landscape shaped by the change in the US administration, the clear commitments undertaken by donor countries jointly with their partners from the global South - as enshrined in the Accra Agenda for Action - should all be used as tools to counteract the effects of the crisis and resist the temptation of easy unilateral solutions that may be politically rewarding on the short run, but may carry immense political risks for long term development and democracy.
Vidar Helgesen

Secretary-General, International IDEA


What's New
NEEDS to link electoral observation with electoral assistance

Posted: 2009-02-13

Domenico Tuccinardi, Project Director for the NEEDS project
Interview with International IDEA’s Domenico Tuccinardi, Project Director for the NEEDS project 12 February 2009.
Interviewer: Monika Ericson, International IDEA's Communications Manager
If managed properly, electoral observation has the power to be a significant means of assessing not only the conduct and outcome of an election and the electoral system, but also to provide good indications on the state of democratic institutions in any given country. International IDEA is set to play a lead role in improving the ability of EU election observers to provide more informed and comprehensive assessments of electoral processes through the Network for Enhanced Electoral and Democratic Support (NEEDS) project.
The NEEDS will focus on the following three areas:
• Developing a consistent methodology for EU Election Observation Missions (EU EOMs) in line with international and regional standards for democratic elections.
• Improving EU observers’ capabilities through the development of a common EU approach to the recruitment and training of observers; and
• Strengthening the democratic process in third countries through targeted support and capacity building for domestic observer groups and other relevant civil society organizations.
The NEEDS Project office is located in Brussels, where most of the training and research activity will be carried out. The first training course for long-term observers took place in Brussels in February 2009.
Funded by the European Commission, the NEEDS project will focus on providing electoral observers a much deeper understanding of electoral systems and processes in order to increase their capacity to provide targeted recommendations for democratic reform. The overall objective is to ensure that the international and national observers’ recommendations are taken into account when determining democracy assistance priorities in the post-electoral period; and to become an effective instrument to facilitate dialogue between elected representatives, civil society and political parties.
“We believe that good recommendations could set the agenda for the next cycle of democracy assistance”, says International IDEA’s Domenico Tuccinardi, the Project Director for the NEEDS project. “This is particularly in line with the electoral cycle approach to electoral assistance support where we envisage the observation playing the key role in identifying weaknesses and areas of enhancement for the democratic institutions of a country. The recommendations of the observers would basically provide the elements for a good democratic dialogue and open up opportunities for reforms in the post-electoral period”.
International IDEA (as the lead organization) began work in October 2008 on this three-year project together with partner organizations - the International Organization for Migration (IOM), EISA, IIDH-CAPEL and Internews Europe.
“After analysing the terms of reference of the new NEEDS, International IDEA decided to bid for this project and then we won with a proposal which was centred on the synergies between electoral observation and electoral assistance and linking it all with the Paris Agenda on Aid Effectiveness. The project is also offering International IDEA a great opportunity to foster its cooperation with the European Commission in establishing a stronger cooperation in democracy and development initiativesm” says Tuccinardi.

(Reproduced:Muktidooth)