There is no reasonable explanation for any political entity to be oppressed in Russia. The current President is well liked and supported by the Duma.
There is every reason for Russia to be generous to dessenters and allow them to prove they have a better plan for Russia. I doubt they ever could.
Russia has been forced to pull up it's welcome mat because of the extremist agenda of Bush that surplanted a missile shield at Russia's borders. It's ridiculous to realize Russia should welcome it and even more stupid to realize after it's built it won't be bombed into oblivion.
Click on picture to enlarge.
Launch of an RS-18 ballistic missile. INFOgraphics
15:38
07/ 11/ 2007
A successful test launch of an RS-18 (NATO reporting name SS-19 Stiletto) has allowed Russia to extend its service life to 31 years.
Russia will bomb it. Yep.
RIA Novosti
Russia begins mass production of Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters. INFOgraphics
01/ 11/ 2007
The Night Hunter is primarily designed to locate and destroy enemy armored vehicles, personnel, small surface ships, and low-speed air targets and fortifications, and to lay mine fields day or night in adverse weather conditions.
http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20071101/86210156.html
MiG-31 modernization. INFOgraphics
21/ 11/ 2007
The interceptor is equipped with two D-30F6 turbofan two-shaft engines with a common afterburner and variable supersonic nozzle, which allow the aircraft to fly at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 2.83.
The modernized interceptor will also feature unique air-to-air missiles capable of hitting targets at ranges exceeding 200 kilometers (125 miles), including aircraft with stealth capabilities, cruise missiles, and supersonic aircraft.
http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20071121/88998069.html
Appeals chamber declines to bar Putin from December poll
24/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Appeals Chamber of Russia's Supreme Court has rejected the demand by a Russian opposition party that the president be denied the right to run in next month's parliamentary vote.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court threw out the claim of the Union of Right Forces (SPS), accusing the president of using administrative resources to promote the ruling United Russia party.
"The party appealed to the Supreme Court to demand that Vladimir Putin be removed from United Russia's list of candidates for the State Duma for repeated violations of the law," SPS leader Nikita Belykh said earlier.
Vladimir Putin tops ruling United Russia's list of candidates for the December 2 parliamentary elections to the lower house. Critics accuse Putin of using administrative resources to promote the party.
Belykh said the Kremlin had "used all opportunities provided by the state machinery" to lessen the chances of other parties.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071124/89401849.html
Poland's new PM may visit Moscow soon
24/ 11/ 2007
WARSAW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - Poland's new prime minister said on Saturday he might visit Moscow in the foreseeable future.
Poland's parliament voted earlier on Saturday to endorse the government of new Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Deputies of the lower house (Sejm) voted 238 to 204, with two abstentions, to support the new cabinet.
"You will be pleasantly surprised by how quickly Polish-Russian relations will improve," Donald Tusk told reporters.
He said it was too early to talk about a time frame for his visit to Moscow, but "that will happen very soon," he added.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he would meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Brussels on December 6.
Tusk said earlier today that Polish-Russian relations could be improved within 24 hours.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071124/89422919.html
Russia slams U.S. written proposals on missile shield, CFE
23/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - The United States has gone back on previous initiatives concerning its missile shield in Europe in a written proposal earlier received by Russia, a source in Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday.
Russia's foreign and defense ministers held talks on October 12 with their U.S. counterparts in Moscow, at which the U.S. side made 'counter proposals' in a bid to allay Russia's concerns over Washington's missile shield plans in Europe, including inviting Russian experts to inspect mooted missile defense sites.
"This time [in written proposals], there is no mention of a joint assessment of threats, the presence of Russian experts at U.S. missile defense sites in Europe. The document does not confirm U.S. willingness not to activate the [missile] shield if there is no real threat," the source said.
The United States plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. Moscow views the plans as a threat to its national security.
"Everything is so vague that it is hard to discern previous initiatives in the document," the source said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071123/89356224.html
Moscow, New Delhi set to develop a fifth-generation fighter
21/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW. (Yury Zaitsev for RIA Novosti) - Although the Russian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum air-superiority fighter with a vectored-thrust engine is currently stealing the limelight at the Dubai Air Show 2007, this warplane will become obsolete in the foreseeable future.
Fifth-generation fighters featuring entirely new engineering solutions will form the mainstay of national air forces in the 21st century.
On November 15, Russia's Sukhoi Military Aviation Complex and the Indian Defense Ministry launched a new round of talks on developing a fifth-generation fighter.
On October 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a televised news conference that Moscow would start developing such warplanes by 2015. Before that, First Deputy Prime Minister and former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said a prototype fifth-generation fighter would perform its maiden flight in 2009, and that serial production would commence in early 2010. But most experts were not so optimistic and predicted that the first warplane in this category would not appear before 2012-2014, which is supported by President Putin's statement.
However, the world's first fifth-generation fighter, the prototype US F-22 Raptor fighter, first took off on September 7, 1997. Two weeks later, Russia's Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut, another prototype fifth-generation fighter, flew for the first time.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071121/88962354.html
Nuclear fuel will soon be supplied to Bushehr
23/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - The recent report by Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei is similar to the previous one but for a sensational detail.
It says that the IAEA is getting ready to verify and seal the nuclear fuel which will be supplied to the Bushehr nuclear power plant on November 26, 2007. This procedure will precede the delivery of fuel from Russia to Iran.
This suggests that the nuclear plant will be commissioned earlier than planned - at the end of next year. This is why the delivery of fuel is being rushed. Otherwise, why conduct the verification procedure and store sealed nuclear fuel? Its quality will deteriorate because of radioactivity. Moreover, the Tvel Corporation, a Russian manufacturer of fuel, is already sustaining losses because it had to suspend the first full load of fuel for the plant.
For these reasons, it seems logical that the plant will be commissioned earlier - say the operational commissioning will take place in the fall, and the physical one closer to summer. September 2008 was already mentioned as the date of the plant's physical commissioning.
This scenario is quite probable but...
Nuclear fuel is loaded into reactors six months before the physical commissioning. If the plant is commissioned in September, fuel should be loaded in March. It will be supplied in consignments over a period of a month and a half to two months.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071123/89330317.html
Putin says Russia will not tolerate NATO military build up - 2
20/ 11/ 2007
(Adds Putin's comments, details in paras 4-6, 11-15)
MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would not ignore NATO's military build up near its borders and would provide an adequate response to any "muscle-flexing."
"In violation of previous agreements, NATO members' military resources are being built up next to our borders," Putin said at a Defense Ministry meeting with senior military staff. "Certainly, we cannot allow ourselves to remain indifferent to this obvious muscle-flexing."
He said Russia had been forced to impose a moratorium on the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty as the majority of other signatories had failed to ratify an adapted version of the cold war-era agreement.
The modified version of the 1990 CFE treaty, which Western countries consider a cornerstone of European security, was signed on November 19, 1999 by all NATO countries except Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia.
Only Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan have ratified the adapted version of the document, while NATO countries have insisted on Russia's withdrawal from Moldova and Georgia as a condition for their ratification of the modified CFE Treaty.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071120/88831563.html
Russian businessman keeps Euro 2008 Mercedes pledge to Croatia
22/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 22 (RIA Novosti) - A LUKoil vice-president announced on Thursday that he would keep his promise to give Mercedes cars to Croatian players after the Balkan side beat England 3-2 at Wembley.
Leonid Fedun, who is also the owner of Spartak Moscow, pledged to give a Mercedes to the four best Croatian players in the event of the side winning their Euro 2008 tie in London on Wednesday night.
The move came after Russia had lost 2-1 to Israel on Saturday, leaving the national side needing a win in Andorra coupled with an England defeat to progress to the final stage of the tournament, to be held in Austria and Switzerland next summer.
"I will fulfill my promise 100%," said Fedun, adding that it was up to the Croatians to decide which players received the cars.
"It would be logical to suppose that Pletikosa [who is also Spartak's goalkeeper] and the three players who scored will get them," the businessman added.
Russia beat Andorra 1-0 to book their place at Euro 2008.
http://en.rian.ru/sports/20071122/89120466.html
Dissenters clash with police in central Moscow
24/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - Protesters clashed with police during an authorized opposition rally in central Moscow on Saturday.
City authorities had given the go-ahead for a meeting, but turned down a request for a march.
After the rally, known as Dissenters' March, a group of about 20 people broke through police lines and walked into Moscow's major road, the Garden Ring.
Police detained several demonstrators.
City authorities said fewer than 1,000 people had turned up for the meeting, with about 300 reporters covering the event.
Earlier, Garry Kasparov, a leading figure in the opposition movement The Other Russia, said the Dissenters' March would be held in Moscow November 24 and in St. Petersburg November 25.
The Other Russia organization includes the People's Patriotic Union, led by former premier Mikhail Kasyanov, the banned National Bolshevik Party, headed by Russian writer Eduard Limonov, as well as chess grandmaster Kasparov's United Civil Front.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071124/89417074.html
Pro-Kremlin party could secure about 60% of Dec. vote - survey
20/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - More than half of respondents in a recent opinion poll said they would vote for the Kremlin-backed United Russia party at next month's parliamentary elections.
The Public Opinion Foundation said 57% of those surveyed November 17-18 said they would back the ruling party. The Communists and Liberal Democrats are the only other parties likely to make it into parliament, with 8% each, according to the pollster.
A Just Russia, a new party seen as another Kremlin project to poach votes from leftist forces, was supported by 5% of respondents and is close to overcoming the 7% Duma threshold, the opinion center said.
Other parties, including the liberal Yabloko and Union of Right Forces (SPS) - champions of western-style capitalism and free market reforms in the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin - received 1% of respondents' support.
SPS has unsuccessfully sought via a court to have President Vladimir Putin, who tops United Russia's list of candidates, barred from running in the December elections. It accused the president of using administrative resources to promote the party.
Three thousand people took part in the survey conducted across Russia. Statistical error does not exceed 2.5%, the foundation said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071120/88832022.html
Opposition leaders detained at protest rally in Moscow
24/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russian opposition leaders Garry Kasparov and Eduard Limonov were detained after a protest meeting in central Moscow, city police said on Saturday.
"Kasparov and Limonov were detained for violating meeting procedure rules, and were taken to the Krasnoselsky Borough police station," a spokesman for the Moscow city Internal Affairs Main Administration said.
Police previously denied that they had been detained.
Protesters clashed with police during an authorized opposition rally in central Moscow earlier on Saturday.
City authorities had given the go-ahead for a meeting, but turned down a request for a march.
After the rally, known as Dissenters' March, a group of about 20 people broke through police lines and walked onto Moscow's major road, the Garden Ring.
Police detained several demonstrators.
City authorities said fewer than 1,000 people had turned up for the meeting, with about 300 reporters covering the event.
Earlier, Garry Kasparov, a leading figure in the opposition movement The Other Russia, said the Dissenters' March would be held in Moscow November 24 and in St. Petersburg November 25.
The Other Russia organization includes the People's Patriotic Union, led by former premier Mikhail Kasyanov, the banned National Bolshevik Party, headed by Russian writer Eduard Limonov, as well as chess grandmaster Kasparov's United Civil Front.
Human rights advocates in Russia and abroad have criticized the Kremlin for tightening its grip on democracy and human rights ever since Vladimir Putin became president in 2000.
However, polls show that the majority of Russians support the country's leader, citing the stability and economic growth Russia that has enjoyed under his rule.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071124/89427826.html
Russian opposition candidate dies of his wounds
24/ 11/ 2007
MAKHACHKALA, November 24 (RIA Novosti) -- A parliamentary candidate has died after being shot and seriously wounded in an apparent assassination attempt in southern Russia, a local health official said on Saturday.
Farid Babayev, the leader of the liberal Yabloko party in the Republic of Daghestan, sustained four gunshot wounds, including one to the head, on Wednesday night.
"Babayev died of his wounds without regaining consciousness," he said.
Babayev was shot by unknown assailants at the entranceway of his apartment block in Makhachkala, the capital of the North Caucasus republic.
Yabloko is running in the December 2 election to the State Duma.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071124/89399257.html
Poland to discuss missile shield with U.S. after consulting NATO
23/ 11/ 2007
WARSAW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Poland will be ready to resume dialogue with the United States on the missile defense issue after consultations with NATO and neighboring states, the prime minister said on Friday.
"We are aware of the political and military weight of the [U.S.] missile defense initiative," Donald Tusk said in a policy speech to parliament. "We will be ready to conduct further negotiations on the issue after a series of consultations with NATO and some of our neighbors."
The premier, addressing the legislature for the first time since his Civic Platform party's election victory, was not specific about which neighbors Poland wants to consult with, but Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Thursday he was in favor of further consultations with Russia.
Tusk earlier said his government had "no rigid doctrine regarding the deployment of a U.S. missile defense base in the country," and that issue was "open for all arguments for and against."
The center-right politician, widely expected to pursue warmer ties with Russia and Germany than under his predecessor Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said the new government would want to be certain that Warsaw will not finance a project that is not in the national security interest.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071123/89328897.html
A Myanmar suicide for the advocates of sanctions
22/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev) - As expected, the annual summit of the ten South East Asian nations, which form ASEAN, focused on undemocratic Myanmar.
If the latter did not exist, the summit would have habitually produced a package of documents on economic integration in this part of the world. The conflict among the ten over Myanmar shows that integration, free trade and the like are too closely connected with ideology and other political changes in any region of the world.
This is what has happened at the summit. The Philippines, which is the most peripheral and alien ASEAN member, has warned its partners that if all of them do not compel Myanmar to establish a more democratic regime, its senate may decide not to endorse the ASEAN Charter. The latter has been the key event of the Singapore summit from the very start. It will not become valid if it is not ratified by every single ASEAN member.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071122/89181420.html
Georgia says Russia failed to fulfill military pullout obligation
23/ 11/ 2007
TBILISI, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia's Foreign Ministry said Friday that Russia had not fulfilled all its obligations under previous agreements on the complete withdrawal of its military bases from the country.
The Georgian ministry said Moscow had not yet closed its base in Gudauta, in the zone of a conflict between Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia.
"Despite the June 2001 announcement of the closure of the base in Gudauta, it had not been closed and is still functioning. Its infrastructure is used in the interests of the Russian Armed Forces," the ministry said.
According to some sources, about 400 personnel are still stationed at Gudauta, along with some combat and transport helicopters, various military vehicles, a fuel storage area, and some other facilities.
Moscow has never allowed international inspections of the base and has provided no data on suspected stockpiles of arms and ammunition. The Russian military also maintains the Bombora airfield, which is part of the Gudauta base complex.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071123/89328738.html
Evraz Group secures $3.2 bln loan
23/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Evraz Group S.A. [LSE: EVR], Russia's largest steel and mining group, said on Friday that it had secured a $3.2 billion credit facility, which will be used to repay a bridging loan and for corporate purposes.
The company said in a news release the loan, with an interest rate of LIBOR+1.8%, would be received in two tranches consisting of a "$2.7 billion five-year tranche" and "a $500 million three-year unsecured tranche."
The loan is guaranteed by Mastercroft Ltd and underwritten by a group of 10 banks, including ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, ING, Tokyo-Mitsubishi among others.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071123/89316532.html
Turkey's first cloned sheep born at Istanbul University
22/ 11/ 2007
ANKARA, November 22 (RIA Novosti) - Scientists at Istanbul University announced they had successfully completed Turkey's first cloning project, local media said on Thursday.
Turkey's experiments with cloning began in 2005 and 69 cloned embryos were transplanted to eight ewes, two of which got pregnant. The sheep, named Oyali, was delivered by caesarean section in the university's veterinary teaching hospital.
"The newborn is in good condition," the project's chief, Sema Bilker, said.
The world's first cloned mammal was Dolly, a sheep born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1996. In 2003 she was put to sleep because of a progressive lung disease.
http://en.rian.ru/science/20071122/89073344.html
UN study urges ban on human clone research
13/ 11/ 2007
UN, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - UN experts have called for a ban on research into human cloning, saying that otherwise governments will need to draw up measures to protect clones from "potential abuse, prejudice and discrimination".
In its report, the Japan-based United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies said a human clone could be produced before the international community has made its choice between banning reproductive human cloning and allowing strictly controlled cloning research for therapeutic purposes, including donor organs.
Dr. Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy, one of the four authors of the report, said the UN might otherwise have to adopt a convention on clone rights.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071113/87857126.html
Turkey's losses reach $300 bln over Kurdish conflict
23/ 11/ 2007
ANKARA, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Turkey has sustained about $300 billion in losses from the 24-year long confrontation with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish government spokesman said on Friday.
"The total losses since 1984 from the PKK terrorists in Turkey are around $300 billion. Had this country used those funds for other purposes, it would now rank as the world's seventh largest power," Cemil Cicek said.
He said the PPK, outlawed in Turkey and labeled by the U.S., NATO and the EU as a terrorist organization, cannot exist without outside support.
"The PKK is a tool and pawn of international terrorism," he said, adding that Ankara "has received no support from abroad" in its fight against the separatists.
He also said a possible cross-border operation against Kurdish militants based in the north of Iraq would be directed solely against the PKK.
In mid-October, Turkey's parliament sanctioned military cross-border operations against PKK separatists following an earlier government request and despite opposition from Washington and Baghdad.
Last week, national media quoted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying that the Turkish Army would launch a cross-border operation against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq before poor weather sets in.
However, the president of Iraq said earlier that the crisis on the Iraqi-Turkish border "is effectively over."
In an interview with the Cairo-based Al-Ahram weekly newspaper, Jalal Talabani said that an Iraqi delegation at a recent conference in Istanbul had managed to convince the Turkish leadership that Baghdad was "fighting against the Kurdistan Workers Party" based in northern Iraq.
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy status in southeast Turkey for nearly 25 years. The conflict has so far claimed about 40,000 lives.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071123/89324513.html
Turkmen gas price for Russia could jump 30% in 2008 - Gazprom
23/ 11/ 2007
ASHGABAT, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Turkmenistan plans to raise its natural gas price for Russia by at least 30% to $130 per 1,000 cubic meters next year, the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Friday.
Turkmenistan supplies about 50 billion cu m of gas annually to Russia at $100 per 1,000 cu m under a 2006-2009 deal signed by Gazprom and the Central Asian state's late leader Saparmurat Niyazov.
"We have not given a final answer to our Turkmen colleagues... Talks will resume next week," Alexei Miller said following talks in the Turkmen capital, adding the company needed time to assess the consequences of the move.
The price rise will affect Ukraine, which buys Turkmen gas from Russia. Talks on a price formula for gas supplies to Ukraine in 2008 are under way between Moscow and Kiev.
From early 2006 Ukraine paid an average of $95 per 1,000 cu m for a mixture of Turkmen and Russian gas supplied at the border. After the Central Asian state hiked its gas price, the rate for Ukraine was raised to $130 per 1,000 cu m from January 1, 2007.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20071123/89317254.html
Search continues for missing Russian divers in Egypt
23/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 11 vessels are involved in the search for three Russian divers, who went missing on Wednesday while diving at the Elphinstone Reef in Egypt's Red Sea, Russia's honorary consul in Egypt said Friday.
"Helicopters are also taking part in the search," he said, adding that the rescue operation is being hampered by poor weather - strong winds and waves.
Three divers from Barnaul in Southern Siberia - Vladimir Bukhmiller, Sergei Gurba and Natalia Doronina - planned to dive at the Elphinstone Reef and according to a fourth member of the group, planned to dive to a depth of 90 meters (295 feet). Diving deeper than 40 meters (131 feet) is not permitted in Egypt.
Irina Tyurina of the Russian Union of Travel Industry said the incident was rare, as the three Russians were highly skilled divers, who decided to set a record by diving to a depth of 90 meters using an ordinary air mixture.
http://en.rian.ru/onlinenews/20071123/89339216.html
Litvinenko remembered on anniversary of death - 2
23/ 11/ 2007
(Adds new information about the status of Marina Litvinenko's lawsuit in paras 13-16)
LONDON, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Relatives and friends have paid tribute to Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB officer and Kremlin critic, who died in London exactly a year ago.
Litvinenko died after being poisoned with the radioactive element polonium-210. In a letter reportedly penned by Litvinenko on his deathbed, the dying man accused President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his murder. The Kremlin strongly denied the accusation.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071123/89329638.html
Orthodox Church warns against force in Penza sect standoff
23/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Orthodox Church has spoken out against using force in a standoff with a religious sect, who have sealed themselves in a cave to await the end of the world, the Russian church's chief spokesman said Friday.
The sect, which calls itself The True Russian Orthodox Church, was formed by one Father Pyotr, a 43-year-old diagnosed schizophrenic currently in custody. He is believed to have ordered his followers underground last week. The group of 28 adults and four children are threatening to set themselves on fire if police try to force them out.
"Persuasion and negotiations should be used, as people there [in the cave] are brainwashed and difficult to reason with," Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad said. "A violent solution should be avoided at all costs, it is very dangerous."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071123/89354573.html
Palestine, a suitcase without the handle
22/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW. (Yevgeny Satanovsky for RIA Novosti) - Diplomats, policymakers, journalists and experts are all discussing the upcoming conference on the Middle East in Annapolis as if something depends on it.
Almost sixty years have passed since the world community started tackling the Palestinian problem, but it is further away from its resolution than ever before.
There is no other issue that attracts so much attention from politicians, diplomats, religious and public figures, and the media. Refugees from Palestine have received more money over the decades than any others. The Palestinians do not have a state, but this is not because they have been ignored. Quite the contrary, so many people have attended to this problem and so intensively that moving toward the goal has become more important than the result. There is no Palestinian state primarily because Yasser Arafat preferred to remain a revolutionary leader rather than the president of a small and poor country. None of his successors has a fraction of his power and the times have irreversibly changed.
The roadmap, which the conference is supposed to revive, has never had a chance to succeed, nor can it now be implemented. What success can one speak about at the peak of the civil war in Palestine, after HAMAS severed its agreement with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, an agreement, which was concluded on the Koran in the shade of the Kaaba? Only al-Qaeda and Iran can exert influence on the Palestinian radicals.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071122/89055871.html
Arab countries to attend Mideast peace conference
23/ 11/ 2007
CAIRO, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Arab countries have agreed to participate in a Middle East peace forum in the United States, foreign ministers of the Arab League said on Friday.
The conference, to be held in Annapolis, U.S., on November 27, will seek to make progress on the issue of Palestinian statehood.
"The Arab peace follow up group has decided to accept the invitation to attend the Annapolis Middle East peace conference at a ministerial level to discuss the peace process," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said, adding that the Arab countries would be represented by their foreign ministers.
Arab countries urged the U.S. to include the issue of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on its agenda.
The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority, who met on Thursday to coordinate positions for the U.S.-sponsored conference, said they were optimistic.
President Hosni Mubarak held separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier urged the Arab countries "not to miss a historic chance and attend the forum."
Arab leaders previously expressed doubts over the conference, demanding a more specific agenda and questioning whether it will be effective given the current outbreak of violence in the region.
The Palestinians want a detailed agreement specifying each party's commitment concerning key points, such as future borders, the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, and Israeli settlements. Israel is looking for a more general guideline.
Israel has sought to retain control over East Jerusalem and key settlements in the West Bank as part of an eventual agreement.
Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said on Tuesday following a meeting with the Egyptian president that he expected a final peace deal to be signed with the Palestinians in 2008 shortly after the conference in the U.S.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071123/89343091.html
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