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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joseph krinsky who wrote (9919)	11/5/2001 3:18:04 PM
From: Lola	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27666

Just in time ... US to resume defence supplies to India TIMES NEWS NETWORK NEW DELHI: The US has agreed to resume defence supplies to India and asked New Delhi to send its requirements to work out the details. The assurance about defence supplies was given by US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld during his two-hour talks with defence minister George Fernandes here Monday. Defence ministry officials said the specifics and details of the supplies would be decided later. Defence supplies have been frozen since the Pokhran-II tests. Rumsfeld, here on a brief working visit after a trip to Islamabad, said Indo-US military-to-military ties were poised to take a big leap forward. The Indo-US defence ties would be sharply boosted in the coming days, with US under-secretary of defence for policy Douglas Feith and Pacific Command chief Admiral Dennis Blair scheduled to visit New Delhi soon. During a joint news conference after the talks, Fernandes, whom Rumsfeld invited to visit the US, said the two countries looked forward to establishing a long-lasting strategic relationship. "We discussed some specifics about our defence partnership, including certain items we need to acquire and collaborations we can have," he said. He did not elaborate. During the talks, the issue of US sanctions also came up. Rumsfeld said the US state department and the Indian government would soon discuss "the status" of the few remaining sanctions still in place against New Delhi, imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests, which deal with prohibitions against technology transfer in the nuclear and missile programmes. The US also reassured India that its war against terrorism was indeed going to be a global one, with the Taliban, bin Laden and his Al-Qaida network being the clear and present targets at the moment. Though Rumsfeld deftly side-stepped specific questions on Pakistan's role in abetting cross-border terrorism in India, he emphasised the US efforts would target terrorist networks wherever they exist once the Afghanistan campaign came to a logical end. "President Bush has been very clear that the effort against terrorism is a global one," he said. timesofindia.com

To: joseph krinsky who wrote (9919)	11/5/2001 3:29:06 PM
From: Lola	Respond to of 27666

Is Saudi Arabia heading towards a coup? By Amir Mateen WASHINGTON: The United States is concerned about a possible fall of the House of Sauds in Saudi Arabia. "Is Saudi Arabia heading for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution?" is the question that continues to be debated on major TV networks and newspapers. The New York Times says the issue of Saudi stability has been factored into Washington's strategic thinking for several years. One reason for subjecting Saudi Arabia to the CIA's "hard-target strategy" was concern that the United States could lose its closest ally in the Persian Gulf, just as it lost Iran in the 1979 Revolution. Task forces established after the Alkhober bombing warned that Washington's information void about the threats facing a closed society was so vast that such a conclusion was far from certain. After claims by federal investigators that 15 of the 19 hijackers in the September 11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia and that some recruiting, financing and planning for the attacks occurred on Saudi soil, there is anxiety once again that the kingdom may be vulnerable to 'enemies' in its midst. That anxiety is compounded by charges from critics in the kingdom that the Saudi royal family is too close to Washington, and by critics in the United States that the family is not close enough, says the Times. It is believed that the Saudis are in a tight fix. The Islamists think the Saudis have sold out to the Americans and the Americans think they have sold out to the terrorists. Eventually this translates into an erosion of legitimacy. But does that translate into popular revolution in the name of Islam? Asks the NY Times. Many believe there are parallels between the House of Saud and the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran. Like pre-revolutionary Iran, Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian, oil-rich monarchy with a Muslim population. It is notorious for corruption and profligate spending, resistant to democratization, viewed increasingly as subservient to the will of Washington, dependent on American weaponry and criticized by radicals in exile and some conservative clerics for not being Islamic enough. But others believe the Shah of Iran was a singular, isolated ruler, while the Saudis have dispersed power throughout the royal family. Many of its 7,000 members hold key political positions (the governors and military commanders in nearly every province are members) and run important businesses. All eyes are on Crown Prince Abdullah. He is regarded as a pious, incorruptible leader more responsive to the people and more willing than his predecessor, King Fahd, to take on Washington, particularly when it comes to policy toward the Palestinians. (King Fadís illness has left him unable to govern.) The strongest nationalist voice in Saudi Arabia today is Abdullah, so he may be able to respond in a way that the Shah could not.The problem today is that the House of Saud is suffering from a steady degradation of support rather than widespread opposition to its rule, says the report. Saudi Arabia has 30 percent unemployment and one of the highest birth rates in the world. Average income has dropped by at least half since the heyday of the oil boom of the early 1980's. Most of the people are under 15, a population bulge that will put even more pressure on an already crumbling infrastructure. jang.com.pk