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'US embassy official Blackwater agent'

Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:15AM

Pakistani media say the US embassy official charged with the murder of two
Pakistani citizens is an agent for the notorious security firm, Blackwater.

The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men
riding on a motorcycle in Lahore on Thursday in what he claimed was
self-defense during an attempted robbery.

A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by
a US consulate vehicle rushing to the scene to the American's aid.

The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular
official and says it is carrying out an investigation.

Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman
Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with
Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani
people.

The issue of American diplomats carrying weapons inside Pakistan was a
hot-button subject last year among certain politicians and sections of the
media purportedly worried about the country's sovereignty.

Many Pakistanis regard the United States with suspicion or outright enmity
because of its occupation of neighboring Afghanistan

MA/HRF

C Copyright 2010 Press TV. All rights reserved.

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http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2011/ 02/21/AR20110221 02801.html? hpid=

topnews

U.S. officials: Raymond Davis, accused in Pakistan shootings, worked for CIA

By Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 21, 2011; 12:35 PM

The American who fatally shot two men in Pakistan last month and who has been
described
publicly as a diplomat is a security contractor for the CIA who was part of a
secret
agency team operating out of a safe house in Lahore, U.S. officials said.

The disclosure compounds an already combustible stand-off between the two
countries at a
time of growing distrust between them and complicates U.S. efforts to win the
contractor's
release.

The contractor, Raymond A. Davis, 36, has been detained in a Pakistani jail
since his
arrest after opening fire on two Pakistani men whom Davis later said were
attempting to
rob him at a traffic signal in Lahore.

The Washington Post learned of Davis's CIA affiliation after his arrest, but
agreed not to
publish the information at the request of senior U.S. intelligence officials,
who cited
concern for Davis's safety if his true employment status were disclosed.

Those officials withdrew the request not to publish on Monday after other news
organizations identified Davis as a CIA employee, and after U.S. officials made
a final
attempt to prevail upon Pakistan's government to release Davis or move him to a
safer
facility.

U.S. officials reiterated their concern for Davis on Monday, and provided new
details on
the conditions at the jail where he is being held. One U.S. official said Davis
had been
moved to a separate section of the facility where the guards' guns had been
taken away
"for fear that one of them may kill him."

The official added that the jail holds about 4,000 inmates, and that three
detainees have
previously been killed by guards.

"The local police are allowing angry protesters very near the prison," the
official said.
He added that jail authorities were using dogs to taste or smell the food given
to Davis
"to make sure it doesn't contain poison."

But even while shedding new light on the circumstances of his detention, U.S.
officials
continued to provide scant information about his assignment. A former member of
the U.S.
Army Special Forces, Davis was hired as a contract employee of the CIA's Global
Response
Staff, a unit that is responsible for providing security for agency employees
and
facilities in other countries.

Current and former U.S. officials said that Davis had previously been employed
by the
sprawling security firm once known as Blackwater. A spokeswoman for the company,
now known
as Xe Services, did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. officials said that at the time of the shooting, Davis was doing what CIA
employees
refer to as "area familiarization, " meaning basic surveillance designed to
familiarize
operatives with their surroundings.

The work would help to explain a collection of items found in Davis's possession
when he
was arrested, including a camera, a small telescope, a first-aid kit,
flashlights, and a
Glock semi-automatic pistol.

The description of his activity is at odds with early accounts by U.S. officials
who had
indicated he was not on a particular assignment when the shooting occurred, and
was
attacked in his vehicle after withdrawing money from an automated teller
machine.

Davis has testified that he was approached by two Pakistani men on a motorcycle,
and that
they brandished a weapon in an apparent attempt to rob him.

 
.

http://www.nytimes. com/2011/ 02/22/world/ asia/22pakistan. html?emc= na

February 21, 2011

American Held in Pakistan Shootings Worked With the C.I.A.
By MARK MAZZETTI, ASHLEY PARKER, JANE PERLEZ and ERIC SCHMITT

This article was written by Mark Mazzetti, Ashley Parker, Jane Perlez and Eric
Schmitt.

WASHINGTON - The American arrested in Pakistan after shooting two men at a
crowded traffic
stop was part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team of operatives conducting surveillance
on
militant groups deep inside the country, according to American government
officials.

Working from a safe house in the eastern city of Lahore, the detained American
contractor,
Raymond A. Davis, a retired Special Forces soldier, carried out scouting and
other
reconnaissance missions for a Central Intelligence Agency task force of case
officers and
technical surveillance experts, the officials said.

Mr. Davis's arrest and detention, which came after what American officials have
described
as a botched robbery attempt, has inadvertently pulled back the curtain on a web
of covert
American operations inside Pakistan, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A. It
has
exacerbated already frayed relations between the American intelligence agency
and its
Pakistani counterpart, created a political dilemma for the weak, pro-American
Pakistani
government, and further threatened the stability of the country, which has the
world's
fastest growing nuclear arsenal.

Without describing Mr. Davis's mission or intelligence affiliation, President
Obama last
week made a public plea for his release. Meanwhile, there have been a flurry of
private
phone calls to Pakistan from Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, and Adm. Mike
Mullen,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all intended to persuade the Pakistanis
to release
the secret operative. Mr. Davis has worked for years as a C.I.A. contractor,
including
time at Blackwater Worldwide, the controversial private security firm (now
called Xe) that
Pakistanis have long viewed as symbolizing a culture of American gun slinging
overseas.

George Little, a C.I.A. spokesman, declined to comment.

The New York Times had agreed to temporarily withhold information about Mr.
Davis's ties
to the agency at the request of the Obama administration, which argued that
disclosure of
his specific job would put his life at risk. Several foreign news organizations
have
disclosed some aspects of Mr. Davis's work with the C.I.A., and on Monday,
American
officials lifted their request to withhold publication.

Since the United States is not at war in Pakistan, the American military is
largely
restricted from operating in the country. So the Central Intelligence Agency has
taken on
an expanded role, operating armed drones that kill militants inside the country
and
running covert operations, sometimes without the knowledge of the Pakistanis.

Several American and Pakistani officials said that the C.I.A. team in Lahore
with which
Mr. Davis worked was tasked with tracking the movements of various Pakistani
militant
groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, a particularly violent group that Pakistan
uses as a
proxy force against India but that the United States considers a threat to
allied troops
in Afghanistan. For the Pakistanis, such spying inside their country is an
extremely
delicate issue, particularly since Lashkar has longstanding ties to Pakistan's
intelligence service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

Still, American and Pakistani officials use Lahore as a base of operations to
investigate
the militant groups and their madrasas in the surrounding area.

The officials gave various accounts of the makeup of the covert task force and
of Mr.
Davis, who at the time of his arrest was carrying a Glock pistol, a long-range
wireless
set, a small telescope and a headlamp. An American and a Pakistani official said
in
interviews that operatives from the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command
had been
assigned to the group to help with the surveillance missions. Other American
officials,
however, said that no military personnel were involved with the task force.

Special operations troops routinely work with the C.I.A. in Pakistan. Among
other things,
they helped the agency pinpoint the location of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the
deputy
Taliban commander who was arrested in January 2010 in Karachi.

Even before his arrest, Mr. Davis's C.I.A. affiliation was known to Pakistani
authorities,
who keep close tabs on the movements of Americans. His visa, presented to the
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in late 2009, describes his job as a "regional affairs officer,"
a common
job description for officials working with the agency.

According to that application, Mr. Davis carried an American diplomatic passport
and was
listed as "administrative and technical staff," a category that typically grants
diplomatic immunity to its holder.

American officials said that with Pakistan's government trying to clamp down on
the
increasing flow of Central Intelligence Agency officers and contractors trying
to gain
entry to Pakistan, more of these operatives have been granted "cover" as embassy
employees
and given diplomatic passports.

As Mr. Davis languishes in a jail cell in Lahore - the subject of an
international dispute
at the highest levels - new details are emerging of what happened in a dramatic
daytime
scene on the streets of central Lahore, a sprawling city, on Jan. 27.

By the American account, Mr. Davis was driving alone in an impoverished area
rarely
visited by foreigners, and stopped his car at a crowded intersection. Two
Pakistani men
brandishing weapons hopped off motorcycles and approached. Mr. Davis killed them
with the
Glock, an act American officials insisted was in self-defense against armed
robbers.

But on Sunday, the text of the Lahore Police Department's crime report was
published in
English by a prominent daily newspaper, The Daily Times, and it offered a
somewhat
different account.

It is based in part on the version of events Mr. Davis told Pakistani
authorities, and it
seems to raise doubts about his claim that the shootings were in self-defense.

According to that report, Mr. Davis told the police that after shooting the two
men, he
stepped out of the car to take photographs of one of them, then called the
United States
Consulate in Lahore for help.

But the report also said that the victims were shot several times in the back, a
detail
that some Pakistani officials say proves the killings were murder. By this
account, after
firing at the men through his windshield, Mr. Davis stepped out of the car and
continued
firing. The report said that Mr. Davis then got back in his car and "managed to
escape,"
but that the police gave chase and "overpowered" him at a traffic circle a short
distance
away.

In a bizarre twist that has further infuriated the Pakistanis, a third man was
killed when
an unmarked Toyota Land Cruiser racing to Mr. Davis's rescue, drove the wrong
way down a
one-way street and ran over a motorcyclist, killing him. As the Land Cruiser
drove
"recklessly" back to the consulate, the report said, items fell out of the
vehicle,
including 100 bullets, a black mask and a piece of cloth with the American flag.

Pakistani officials have demanded that the Americans in the S.U.V. be turned
over to local
authorities, but American officials say they have already left the country.

Mr. Davis and the other Americans were heavily armed and carried sophisticated
equipment,
the report said.

The Pakistani Foreign Office, generally considered to work under the guidance of
the ISI,
has declined to grant Mr. Davis what it calls the "blanket immunity" from
prosecution that
diplomats enjoy. In a setback for Washington, the Lahore High Court last week
gave the
Pakistani government until March 14 to decide on the issue of Mr. Davis's
immunity.

The pro-American government led by President Asif Ali Zardari, fearful for its
survival in
the face of a surge of anti-American sentiment, has resisted strenuous pressure
from the
Obama administration to release Mr. Davis to the United States. Some militant
and
religious groups have demanded that Mr. Davis be tried in the Pakistani courts
and hanged.

Relations between the two spy agencies were tense even before the episode on the
streets
of Lahore. In December, the C.I.A.'s top clandestine officer in Pakistan
hurriedly left
the country after his identity was revealed. Some inside the agency believe that
ISI
operatives were behind the disclosure - retribution for the head of the ISI, Lt.
Gen.
Ahmed Shuja Pasha, being named in a New York City lawsuit filed in connection
with the
2008 terror attack in Mumbai, in which members of his agency are believed to
have played a
role. General Pasha denied that was the case.

One senior Pakistani official close to the ISI said Pakistani spies are
particularly
infuriated over the Davis episode because it was such a public spectacle.
Besides the
three Pakistanis who died at the scene, the widow of one of the victims
committed suicide
by swallowing rat poison.

Moreover, the official said, the case was embarrassing for the ISI for its
flagrancy,
revealing how much freedom American spies have to roam around the country.

"We all know the spy-versus-spy games, we all know it works in the shadows," the
official
said, "but you don't get caught, and you don't get caught committing murders."

Mr. Davis, bearded and burly at 36, appears to have arrived in Pakistan in late
2009 or
early 2010. American officials said he operated as part of the Central
Intelligence
Agency's Global Response Service in various parts of the country, including
Lahore and
Peshawar.

Documents released by Pakistan's foreign office show that Mr. Davis was paid
$200,000 a
year, including travel expenses and insurance.

He is a native of rural, southwest Virginia, described by those who know him as
an
unlikely figure to be at the center of international intrigue.

He grew up in Big Stone Gap, a small town named after the gap in the mountains
where the
Powell River emerges.

The youngest of three children, Mr. Davis enlisted in the military after
graduating from
Powell Valley High School in 1993.

"I guess about any man's dream is to serve his country," said his sister
Michelle Wade.

Shrugging off the portrait of him as an international spy comfortable with a
Glock, Ms.
Wade said: "He would always walk away from a fight. That's just who he is."

His high school friends remember him as good-natured, athletic, respectful. He
was also a
protector, they said, the type who stood up for the underdog.

"Friends with everyone, just a salt of the earth person," said Jennifer Boring,
who
graduated from high school with Mr. Davis.

Mr. Davis served in the infantry in Europe - including a short tour as a
peacekeeper in
Macedonia - before joining the Third Special Forces Group in 1998, where he
remained until
he left the Army in 2003. The Army Special Forces -known as the Green Berets -
are an
elite group trained in foreign languages and cultures and weapons.

It is unclear when Mr. Davis began working for the C.I.A., but American
officials said
that in recent years he worked for the spy agency as a Blackwater contractor and
later
founded his own small company, Hyperion Protective Services.

Mr. Davis and his wife have moved frequently, living in Las Vegas, Arizona and
Colorado.

One neighbor in Colorado, Gary Sollee, said that Mr. Davis described himself as
"former
military," adding that "he'd have to leave the country for work pretty often,
and when
he's gone, he's gone for an extended period of time."

Mr. Davis's sister, Ms. Wade, said she has been praying for her brother's safe
return.

"The only thing I'm going to say is I love my brother," she said. "I love my
brother, God
knows, I love him. I'm just praying for him."

Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, Jane Perlez from
Pakistan and
Ashley Parker from Big Stone Gap, Va. Ismail Khan contributed reporting from
Peshawar,
Pakistan, and Waqar Gillani from Lahore, Pakistan.

 
http://www.news. com.au/technolog y/sci-tech/ star-wars- us-recruiting- space-allies/ story-fn5fsgyc- 1226009220367

Associated Press
February 21, 2011

Star wars - US recruiting space allies

The US military wants to better protect its satellites and strengthen its
ability to use them as weapons.

As the uncharted battlefield becomes increasingly crowded and dangerous,
Pentagon leaders say a new military strategy for space is needed and called for
greater cooperation with other nations on space-based programs to improve
America's ability to deter enemies.

"It's a domain, like air land and sea," General Kevin Chilton, who headed US
Strategic Command until he retired recently, said.

The US, he said, needed to make sure that it protected and maintained the
battlefield capabilities it got from space-based assets, including global
positioning data, missile warning system information, and communications with
fighters or unmanned drones.
....
Last year, the US launched the top secret space plane, the X-37B, in what some
onlookers called the first salvo in the "weaponisation of space".

It landed some nine months later, but to date, there has only been speculation
about its purpose based on observation of its movements.

The US plans to launch another space plane sometime around May. China and Russia
are both reported to be working on similar projects.

Recently, Russia suggested the US may have used an electromagnetic pulse weapon
to cripple the launch of one of its satellites.

While the new military strategy stresses the peaceful use of space, it also
underscores the importance of orbiting satellites in both waging and deterring
war.

"We need to ensure that we can continue to utilise space to navigate with
accuracy, to communicate with certainty, to strike with precision and to see the
battlefield with clarity," deputy defense secretary William Lynn said

Mr Lynn and other Pentagon leaders say space has become more congested,
competitive and contested, and the US needs to keep pace.

General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the
US and other nations must develop rules of the road for space that lay out what
is acceptable behaviour and movement there.

At a forum put on by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Gen
Cartwright said nations need to have guidelines that govern the approximately
22,000 manmade objects orbiting Earth, including about 1100 active satellites.

 
http://en.trend. az/news/politics /1832792. html

Trend News Agency
February 21, 2011

U.S. deputy secretary of state to arrive in Baku
E. Tariverdiyeva

Baku: U.S. First Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg will arrive in
Baku on Feb. 24, the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan said on Monday.

"Steinberg will arrive in Baku from Tbilisi," an embassy official said.

U.S. senior officials visited Azerbaijan last summer. Pentagon Chief Robert
Gates and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Baku.

As Armenian media outlets reported, citing the country's Foreign Ministry
spokesman Tigran Balayan, the delegation headed by Steinberg will also visit
Armenia on Feb. 23.

In December, after an 18-month absence of a U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, U.S.
President Barack Obama appointed Matthew Bryza to the post.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the candidates nominated by the president
must be approved by the Senate. However, as Congress is between sessions, the
president may make appointments independently.

 
http://en.trend. az/capital/ energy/1832943. html

Trend News Agency
February 21, 2011

Poland reiterates support for Nabucco project

Baku: Poland is backing the Nabucco gas pipeline, designed to transport gas from
the Caspian region and the Middle East to EU countries, but building
interconnectors between countries to help one another during a supply crisis is
key for Europe’s energy security, New Europe reported according to Poland’s top
diplomat.

“We support Nabucco,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told New Europe
in Strasbourg. Sikorski paid a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to
present the state of play of the preparations for Poland’s Presidency in the EU
Council.

According to Sikorski, Poland is the country which has concluded the first
agreement with an external supplier on energy based on the Third Energy Package.

"Europe as a whole has energy supplies from three directions but we need to
build the physical interconnectors and the legal basis so we can help one
another in a crisis so nothing that resembles the gas crisis of two years ago
happens," Sikorski said.

Nabucco gas pipeline project is worth 7.9 billion euro, with its construction
planned to start in 2012 and the first supplies to be commissioned in 2015. The
project's participants include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian
Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.

 
http://en.apa. az/news.php? id=141174

Azeri Press Agency
February 21, 2011

NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative to visit Azerbaijan in June
Viktoria Dementyeva

Baku: NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and
Central Asia James Appathurai plans to visit Azerbaijan in June, the office of
James Appathurai told APA.

Earlier the visit to Azerbaijan had been planned for March, but was put off as
it coincided with the Novruz holiday. James Appathurai will visit Georgia late
in March, but will not come to Azerbaijan. He will attend a NATO conference in
Tbilisi.

 
http://www.google. com/hostednews/ canadianpress/ article/ALeqM5iN 7alL6nGKq8xpqstX i0-MoSbwUQ? docId=6013317

Associated Press
February 21, 2011

Space: A competitive and hotly contested warfighting frontier for the US
military
By Lolita C. Baldor

-The U.S....needs to make it known that even if another nation attacks an
American satellite, the U.S. military response wouldn't be limited to a
space-based action, officials said. It could turn to any of its warfighting
capabilities.

WASHINGTON: The U.S. military needs to better protect its satellites and
strengthen its ability to use them as weapons as the uncharted battlefield of
space becomes increasingly crowded and dangerous, Pentagon leaders say.

A new military strategy for space, as mapped out by the Pentagon, calls for
greater co-operation with other nations on space-based programs to improve
America's ability to deter enemies.

"It's a domain, like air, land and sea," said Gen. Kevin Chilton, who led U.S.
Strategic Command until he retired late last month. "Space is not just a
convenience. It's become a critical part in every other (battlefield) domain."

The U.S., Chilton said, needs to make sure that it protects and maintains the
battlefield capabilities it gets from space-based assets, including global
positioning data, missile warning system information, and communications with
fighters or unmanned drones that are providing surveillance or firing missiles
against the enemy.

As the U.S. and other countries depend more on their satellites for critical
data, those assets become greater targets for their enemies.

"It's prudent to anticipate that, at this point, we will not go into a future
conflict with a sophisticated adversary and not expect to be challenged in the
space domain," Chilton told The Associated Press in an interview. "We need to be
thinking about how we would go into future conflicts and make sure that we
un-level (that) battlefield in our favour."

While the new strategy — the first of its kind — stresses the peaceful use of
space, it also underscores the importance of satellites in both waging and
deterring war.

"We need to ensure that we can continue to utilize space to navigate with
accuracy, to communicate with certainty, to strike with precision and to see the
battlefield with clarity," said William Lynn, deputy defence secretary.
....
The strategy offers little detail about offensive operations in space. But
defence officials say that China, Iran and others have demonstrated their
abilities to take action in space.
....
The new space strategy, endorsed by top Pentagon and intelligence officials,
also shows the importance of having alternatives. For example, if a satellite
signal is being jammed, officials should be able to go to another or to an air
or sea-based signal.

The U.S. also needs to make it known that even if another nation attacks an
American satellite, the U.S. military response wouldn't be limited to a
space-based action, officials said. It could turn to any of its warfighting
capabilities.
___

Online:

National Space Strategy: http://tinyurl. com/4vsdopr

 
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&b=689705&ct= 9134575> &b=689705&ct= 9134575

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 21, 2011

Contact:
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Reports: Hezbollah Sent to Iran;
Mercenaries Quash Libya Protests

* 1,500 Hezbollah fighters suppressing opposition
* Qaddafi's son: "We will fight to the last drop"
* Libya and Iran are OPEC members; oil prices on the rise

North Africa turmoil

Jerusalem, Feb. 21 - While
<http://english. farsnews. com/newstext. php?nn=891201099 8> Iran has been
touting its support for protests around the Arab world, 1,500 Hezbollah
fighters are working to crush the opposition in Iran, according to the
London-based Arab daily
<http://www.aawsat. com/details. asp?section= 4&article= 609167&issueno= 11773>
Asharq al-Awsat.

Iran's opposition leaders are still calling for continued grassroots
protests but Tehran is trying to
<http://english. farsnews. com/newstext. php?nn=891201115 6> discredit the
demonstrations by saying they are foreign-born ideas that are intended to
spread chaos through the country.

Hired killers from African countries were also allegedly "shipped in or
flown into Libya over the past few days" to fight protesters, Al Jazeera
News TV reported.

Human rights groups estimate that more than 200 people were killed and 1,000
wounded. But the exact number is hard to determine because Tripoli is
severely restricting reportage in the country. The government has also cut
electronic communications

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, warned of civil war and
said people would suffer if the protests continue. The armed forces will
"fight to the last drop" will quash the uprising, he said in a speech
reported by Al Jazeera TV.

In Bahrain, Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said reform
is imminent. Yet people on the streets of the Bahraini capital Manama told
opposition members not to enter dialogue with the royal family because they
have "blood on their hands," Al Jazeera reported.

Oil Impact

Rising food prices have been a theme of concern among protesters in the
region.

Meanwhile, workers in southern Libyan oil fields, such as Al Nafoora, went
on strike today, according to Al Jazeera TV.

Oil prices are on the rise due to unrest in North Africa and the Middle
East. Oil prices rose to nearly $104 a barrel for Brent crude on Monday,
<http://www.bloomber g.com/energy/> Bloomberg reported.

Libya has one of Africa's largest reserves of crude oil, representing about
two percent of world oil production.

Libya and Iran are OPEC members.

Bahrain and Yemen, which are also facing unrest, border Saudi Arabia, the
world's largest petroleum exporter.

Each day some 17 million barrels of oil pass through The Gulf and the Strait
of Hormuz, which forms the narrow entryway into the Gulf between Iran and
the Arabian Peninsula.

The unrest in the Gulf region could potentially cause disruptions to the
flow of oil exports.

_____

<http://www.theisrae lproject. org/> The Israel Project is a non-profit
educational organization that provides factual information about Israel and
the Middle East to the press, policy makers and the public.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2011/feb/ 21/raymond- davis-pakistan- cia-blackwater

US gives fresh details of CIA agent who killed two men in Pakistan shootout

US reveals that CIA agent Raymond Davis worked for private security firm Xe,
formerly known as Blackwater

Ewen MacAskill and Declan Walsh
guardian.co. uk, Monday 21 February 2011 21.48 GMT

US officials have provided fresh details about at the centre of a diplomatic
stand-off in Pakistan, including confirmation that he had worked for the private
security contractor Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. They also disclosed for
the first time that he had been providing security for a CIA team tracking
militants.

Davis was attached to the CIA's Global Response Staff, whose duties include
protecting case officers when they meet with sources. He was familiarising
himself with a sensitive area of Lahore on the day he shot dead two Pakistanis.

The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and other media outlets
reported for the first time that Davis is a CIA employee. They said they had
been aware of his status but kept it under wraps at the request of US officials
who said they feared for his safety if involvement with the spy agency was to
come out. The officials claimed that he is at risk in the prison in Lahore. The
officials released them from their obligation after the Guardian on Sunday
reported that Davis was a CIA agent.

Davis shot dead two Pakistanis in Lahore last month who he says he been trying
to rob him. A third Pakistani man was killed by a car driven by Americans
apparently on their way to rescue Davis.

Confirmation that he worked for Xe could prove even more problematic than
working for the CIA, given the extent of hatred towards Blackwater, whose staff
have gained a reputation in Pakistan as trigger-happy. For Pakistanis the word
"Blackwater" has become a byword for covert American operations targeting the
country's nuclear capability. Newspaper reports have been filled with lurid
reports of lawless operatives roaming the country.

US officials have reiterated their concern about Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail where
Davis is being held, saying he had been moved to a separate section of the
prison, that the guards' guns had been taken away from him for fear they might
kill him, and that detainees had been previously killed by guards. They are also
concerned about protesters storming the prison or that he might be poisoned, and
that dogs were being used to taste or smell the food for poison.

However, the authorities in Pakistan stressed the stringent measures they have
put in place to protect Davis in Kot Lakhpat following angry public rallies in
which his effigy was burned and threats from extremist clerics.

Surveillance cameras are trained on his cell in an isolation wing, his guards
have been disarmed, and a ring of paramilitary troops are posted outside. About
25 jihadi prisoners have been transferred to other facilities.

The revelations about Davis will complicate further the impasse between the US
and Pakistan. Washington says he has diplomatic immunity and should be released
but the Pakistan government is in a bind, facing the danger of a public backlash
if it complies.

Until Sunday, the US had said Davis was a diplomat, doing technical and
administrative work at the embassy. It says that because he has diplomatic
immunity, he should be released immediately.

The Pakistani prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, told parliament on Monday he
would safeguard the country's "sovereignty and dignity" as it dealt to resolve
the diplomatic impasse with the US. "We are firmly resolved to adopt a course
that accords with the dictates of justice and the rule of law. My government
will not compromise on Pakistan's sovereignty and dignity," said Gilani.

The CIA declined to comment but other US officials said Davis had been working
from a safe house in Lahore and had been carrying out scouting and other
reconnaissance mission for a task force of case officers and surveillance
experts.

The Obama administration is exerting fierce pressure on Pakistan to release
Davis. But President Asif Ali Zardari's government, faced with a wave of public
outrage, has prevaricated on the issue, and says it cannot decide on immunity
issue until 14 March. For many Pakistanis the case has come to represent their
difficult relationship with the US, in which multibillion dollar aid packages
are mingled with covert activities targeting Islamist extremists. Davis is
currently on Pakistan's "exit control list", meaning he cannot leave the country
without permission. But the two men who came to his rescue in a jeep that
knocked over and killed a motorcyclist are believed to have already fled the
country. Davis claimed to be acting in self-defence, firing on a pair of
suspected robbers. But eyebrows were raised when it emerged that he shot the men
10 times, one as he fled the scene.

Pakistani prosecutors say Davis used excessive force and have charged him with
two counts of murder and one of illegal possession of a Glock 9mm pistol. There
have also been claims that the dead men were working for the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) agency, with orders to follow Davis.

The military spy agency cooperates with the CIA in its tribal belt drone
programme, but resents US intelligence collection elsewhere in the country.In
spite of the lurid conspiracy tales in Pakistan about Blackwater, US officials
say that in reality Blackwater has had two major contracts in Pakistan - loading
missiles onto CIA drones at the secret Shamsi airbase in Balochistan, and
supervising the construction of a police training facility in Peshawar. The
Davis furore has not, however, stopped the controversial drone strike programme.
News emerged of a fresh attack on a militant target in South Waziristan, the
first in nearly one month. Pakistani intelligence officials told AP that
foreigners were among the dead including three people from Turkmenistan and two
Arabs.

Rocky relations

The CIA and Pakistan's ISI have long had a rocky relationship. It started in the
1980s jihad, when the ISI funnelled billions of dollars in CIA-funded weapons to
anti-Soviet rebels in Afghanistan.

But the two fell out in 2001 over CIA accusations that the ISI was playing a
"double game" – attacking some Islamist militants while secretly supporting
others.

In August 2008 the CIA deputy chief, Stephen Kappes, flew to Islamabad with
evidence suggesting the ISI plotted the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul
that killed 54 people. The ISI, in turn, complained that the US came with
unrealistic expectations and an aggressive attitude.

Yet at the same time the agencies co-operated closely, mostly on the CIA drone
campaign against al-Qaida militants along the Afghan border.

In 2009 the ISI praised the CIA for killing the Pakistani Taliban leader
Baitullah Mehsud. But recently things soured again. Last December the CIA
station chief was forced to quit Pakistan after being publicly identified (US
officials blamed an ISI leak); while Pakistani spies were angered that their
chief, General Shuja Pasha, was named in a US lawsuit brought in a New York
court by victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

 
http://www.interfax .com/newsinf. asp?pg=3& id=223923

Interfax
February 21, 2011

U.S. ambassador summoned to Russian Foreign Ministry over Kuril Islands issue

MOSCOW: U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle was invited to the Russian Foreign
Ministry on Monday, where he was informed of Russia's fundamental position on
the South Kuril Islands.

"U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle was invited to the Russian Foreign
Ministry on February 21 for talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei
Borodavkin. John Beyrle's attention was drawn to the recent statement made by
officials with the U.S. Department of State and of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow,
which expressed support for Japan's territorial claims to Russia," the Russian
Foreign Ministry said in a statement, posted on its official website on Monday.

"In this connection Russia's basic and invariable position on Russian
sovereignty over the South Kuril islands was set forth once again," the Russian
Foreign Ministry said.

 
http://blogs. aljazeera. net/middle- east/2011/ 02/17/live- blog-libya

12:49am: Reports emerge that BP is preparing to evacuate its employees from
Libya. The corporation has major contracts with Libya, the EU's
third-largest supplier of oil

12:34am: Images of bodies gutted in the attacks are too harrowing to be
shown. Our colleagues on the TV side of the newsroom have had to pixellate
the bloodied bodies, where limbs have been hacked off and torsos maimed.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 
http://www.thenews. pl/international /artykul149775_ eastern-partners hip-central- to-polands- eu-presidency. html

Polish Radio
February 21, 2011

Eastern Partnership central to Poland’s EU presidency

Preparations for Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU by in July this year
are in full swing at the Foreign Ministry with the Eastern Partnership to take
centre stage.

The Eastern Partnership is a project initiated by Poland and Sweden aiming to
integrate six Eastern European states within EU structures.

The Polish presidency will host an Eastern Partnership summit in the autumn,
after it was agreed to move it from Budapest in March. Participating will be the
EU’s head of diplomacy Catherine Ashton, as well as various meetings of economy
ministers, heads of border structures and various NGOs.

Andrzej Cieszkowski, the representative at the Foreign Ministry for Eastern
Partnership, says that the Polish presidency is expected to be the most active
in promoting the Eastern Partnership.

“We have opened negotiations with all the participating states, except Belarus.
Negotiations concerning both the association deals as well as deals pertaining
to free trade zones, talks on this issue are underway with Ukraine, Moldova and
Georgia and Armenia is soon to join in,” he told Polish Radio.

The Eastern Partnership has also opened projects such as anticorruption
programmes, support for developing small enterprises as well as border control.
The European Investment Bank has opened a special fund supporting investments in
the Eastern Partnership states amounting to over one and a half billion euro.

The Eastern Partnership programme was launched in 2009 and embraces Ukraine,
Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan as well as Belarus.

 
http://www.dailytim es.com.pk/ default.asp? page=2011\02\22\story_ 22-2-2011_ pg4_5

Reuters
February 21, 2011

US offers Tunisia security aid for ‘model’ revolution

* Senator John McCain says Tunisia has become a model for the region

TUNIS: Washington has offered Tunisia help in shoring up security following its
“model” revolution, US Senator John McCain said on Monday.

A popular uprising in the North African state last month ended president Zine
al-Abidine Ben Ali’s 23 years of rule, sending shock waves through the Arab
world and inspiring further revolts, one of which toppled Egypt’s president 10
days ago.

“The revolution in Tunisia has been very successful and it has become a model
for the region,” McCain, the leading Republican on the powerful Senate Armed
Services Committee, told Reuters after meetings with Tunisian government
officials.

“We stand ready to provide training to help Tunisia’s military to provide
security,” he said.

Elections to replace Ben Ali are expected by July or August. But new protests
have erupted in recent days against the interim government tasked with
organising the vote for failing to address rising crime rates and lingering
poverty.

Tunisia’s ouster of Ben Ali...inspired Egypt’s uprising and has also encouraged
mass demonstrations elsewhere in the Arab world, including in neighbouring Libya
where scores of people have been shot dead by security forces.

US Senator Joe Lieberman, travelling with McCain, said the situation in Libya
was “tragic”.

“The Tunisian military played a constructive role... but the military in Libya
has been against the people,” Lieberman told Reuters. “That is unacceptable.”

....

 
http://www.rnw. nl/english/ bulletin/ pakistan- intelligence- says-us-gunman- cia-0

Agence France-Presse
February 21, 2011

Pakistan intelligence says US gunman is CIA

A Pakistani intelligence official said Monday that an American in custody for
killing two men was an undercover CIA contractor, setting off new friction in a
crisis with the United States.

Washington voiced fear for the safety of Raymond Davis, who says he acted in
self-defence. The United States has put intense pressure on Pakistan to free
him, arguing that he enjoys diplomatic immunity.

But the unpopular government in Pakistan is also feeling heat from the political
opposition not to cave in to US demands, with analysts even warning that the
case could bring down the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

"It is beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was working for CIA," an official
from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency told AFP on condition
of anonymity.

"He's on contract. He's not a regular CIA guy, but he's working for CIA. That's
confirmed," the Pakistani official said.

US Senator Lindsey Graham also last week referred to Davis as an "agent." Davis
was arrested in eastern Pakistan, the base of virulently anti-Indian groups such
as Lashkar-e-Taiba which was linked to the 2008 siege of Mumbai.

Police told AFP they recovered a Glock pistol, four loaded magazines, a GPS
navigation system and a small telescope from his car, after the shooting on a
busy street in Lahore on January 27.

A third Pakistani was struck down and killed by a US diplomatic vehicle that
came to Davis's assistance. US officials denied Pakistan access to the vehicle
and the occupants are widely believed to have left the country.

Washington has postponed a round of talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan, but
Islamabad has said the matter is before the courts, although one compromise
would be for the families to pardon Davis, in keeping with Islamic law.

"We remain concerned about him and our message to Pakistan remains he should be
released as soon as possible," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in
Washington.

Crowley said Pakistan has told the United States that Davis is staying "in the
safest possible location in Lahore," adding: "Clearly, we hold the government of
Pakistan fully responsible for his safety."

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the lower house on Monday that he was
confident "that both the Pakistani and the US governments will not allow the
Davis case to come in the way of mutually beneficial partnership" .

He said Pakistan was mindful of its international obligations under the Vienna
Convention and other agreements.

But he added: "I want to assure this House and the nation that my government
will not compromise on Pakistan's sovereignty and dignity. We are a responsible
government and conscious of the sentiments of our people."

On Monday, a judge at Lahore's top court ordered the government to appear on
March 14 to respond to private petitions related to Davis' incarceration, the
law on diplomatic privileges.

The court last week deferred any judgement on whether Davis has diplomatic
immunity and gave the foreign ministry until March 14 to determine his status.

In Washington, a US official said that the diplomatic immunity was "about as
clear as it gets under international law."
....

 
http://www.defense. gov/news/ newsarticle. aspx?id=62878

U.S. Department of Defense
February 21, 2011
American Forces Press Service

Mullen Continues Middle East Trip in Qatar
By Donna Miles

DOHA, Qatar: The top U.S. military officer arrived here in the Qatari capital
today, continuing his weeklong trip through the Middle East after concluding
what he called frank, reassuring talks with leaders in Saudi Arabia about
widespread regional unrest.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters
concern about violence surrounding many of the pro-democratic movements that
have rippled through the region – and how Iran might exert its power in the
process – dominated his talks today with Saudi political and military leaders.

The chairman emphasized that he does not believe Iran played a role in toppling
the regimes of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak or in stirring up other protest movements. “These are, by and
large, internal issues, as opposed to issues fomented by some external force,”
he said.

But nonetheless, Mullen said, the United States and its allies in the region are
wary that Iran might use the upheaval as a chance to exert influence. He called
Iran “a country that continues to foment instability in the region and take
advantage of every opportunity.”

“There are always concerns in this region with Iran. Certainly the United States
has them, as well as all the regional players,” he told reporters after
concluding today’s meetings in Riyadh. “Certainly that was part of the
discussion today with the Saudis.”

In the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the chairman met with Prince Mohammed bin Niyif,
assistant interior minister for security affairs; Prince Miteb bin Abdullah,
commander of Saudi Arabia’s national guard; Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdul
Aziz al-Saud, assistant defense and aviation minister for military affairs; and
Lt. Gen. Qubail, deputy chief of the general staff. He also met with U.S.
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith and his staff.

Mullen said his talks focused largely on the tumult in Bahrain, where a violent
weekend left many anti-government protestors dead. “Obviously the Saudis, in
particular -- but everybody in the region -- is watching what’s happening in
Bahrain very closely,” he said.

The Saudi government, concerned that whatever happens there could spill over to
Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, has expressed support for Bahrain’s ruling
Khalifa family and sent a warning to Iran.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands with all its capabilities behind the state
and th