A new, and perhaps the deadliest, confrontation between the War Allies United States, Britain and the World has emerged recently with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stating that the War Leaders, Bush and Blair, could face war crimes charges in the Hague.

The London Sunday Telegraph is reporting this news on March 18, and as we can read:

“Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph that it was frustrating that the court was viewed in the Arab world as biased in favor of the West.

Asked whether he could envision a situation in which Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair found themselves in the dock answering charges of war crimes in Iraq, he replied: “Of course, that could be a possibility … whatever country joins the court can know that whoever commits a crime in their country could be prosecuted by me.”

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A one-year-old diplomatic boycott of the Palestinian government has been eased after a Norwegian diplomat met the Palestinian prime minister in Gaza.

Western powers imposed an economic and diplomatic blockade in March 2006 in a bid to pressure the ruling Hamas group to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.

But Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, restored full relations with the Palestinian Authority on Monday after Ismail Haniya’s Hamas movement and Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction formed a unity government on Saturday.

Raymond Johansen, Norway’s deputy foreign minister, said: “We hope that all the European countries, and even other countries, will … support this unity government.

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Iran’s efforts to produce highly enriched uranium, the material used to make nuclear bombs, are in chaos and the country is still years from mastering the required technology.

Iran’s uranium enrichment programme has been plagued by constant technical problems, lack of access to outside technology and knowhow, and a failure to master the complex production-engineering processes involved. The country denies developing weapons, saying its pursuit of uranium enrichment is for energy purposes.

Despite Iran being presented as an urgent threat to nuclear non-proliferation and regional and world peace - in particular by an increasingly bellicose Israel and its closest ally, the US - a number of Western diplomats and technical experts close to the Iranian programme have told The Observer it is archaic, prone to breakdown and lacks the materials for industrial-scale production.
The disclosures come as Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], that it plans to install a new ‘cascade’ of 3,000 high-speed centrifuges at its controversial underground facility at Natanz in central Iran next month.

The centrifuges were supposed to have been installed almost a year ago and many experts are extremely doubtful that Iran has yet mastered the skills to install and run it. Instead, they argue, the ‘installation’ will more probably be about propaganda than reality.

The detailed descriptions of Iran’s problems in enriching more than a few grams of uranium using high-speed centrifuges - 50kg is required for two nuclear devices - comes in stark contrast to the apocalyptic picture being painted of Iran’s imminent acquisition of a nuclear weapon with which to attack Israel. Instead, say experts, the break-up of the nuclear smuggling organisation of the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadheer Khan has massively set back an Iran heavily dependent on his network.

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Although international concern is growing about Iran’s nuclear program and its regional ambitions, diplomats here say most U.S. intelligence shared with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has proved inaccurate and none has led to significant discoveries inside Iran.

The officials said the CIA and other Western spy services had provided sensitive information to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency at least since 2002, when Iran’s long-secret nuclear program was exposed. But none of the tips about supposed secret weapons sites provided clear evidence that the Islamic Republic was developing illicit weapons.

“Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that’s come to us has proved to be wrong,” a senior diplomat at the IAEA said. Another official here described the agency’s intelligence stream as “very cold now” because “so little panned out.”

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Three explosions have occurred in the south of Iran, an Iranian news agency reported.

The explosions were recorded on Thursday in Khorramshahr in the Iranian border province of Khuzestan.

“The three explosions were so strong that they shook windows of houses,” the semi-official Fars news agency said.

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Deputy Governor General of Kerman province Abulghassem Nasrollahi told FNA that the crash which was followed by an explosion and a thick spiral of smoke has caused no casualties or damage to properties.

He further denied earlier reports that the explosion has been the result of a plane or chopper crash, reminding that all the passing aircrafts have been reported as sound and safe.

The official further stated that investigations are underway by police and other relevant authorities in this regard.

While other reports spoke of meteors, Nasrollahi said there were no conclusive witnesses in this regard but he did not dismiss the possibility that the crash has been caused by a meteor.

Eye-witnesses assure that the explosion has been caused as a result of the crash of a radiant unidentified flying object onto the ground.

Meantime, an informed source told FNA that the object has been on fire and there has been thick smoke coming out of it prior to the crash, concluding that the object couldn’t have been a meteor as meteors do not smoke.

The source also said that the crash has been witnessed by people in several cities, and mentioned that the rendezvous point is located 100 kilometers from the provincial capital city of Kerman.

He said that people in the city of Rafsanjan also reported to have witnessed a similar incident several days ago.

Similar crash incidents have been witnessed frequently during the last year all across Iran, and officials believe that the objects could be spy planes or a hi-tech espionage device.

Source

The Arabic television news channel al-Jazeera has launched its new English-language station.
Al-Jazeera English began broadcasting from the station’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar, at 1500 (1200 GMT).

A screen graphic with a clock ticking down the minutes gave way to a photo montage of the biggest news stories of recent years, including 9/11.

Al-Jazeera in Arabic is known for its forthright style, frank journalism and willingness to discuss taboo issues.

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[Why is it Israel can do as they please-ed]

Two Israeli warplanes have fired over a German naval vessel patrolling off the Lebanese coast, the defence ministry in Berlin says.

Two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the ship, firing twice, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper quoted a German junior defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee.

The jets also activated infrared countermeasures to ward off any rocket attack, the paper said, in an advance release ahead of Thursday’s edition.

The minister did not say when the incident happened or what had caused it.

“I can confirm that there was an incident,” a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. He declined to give further details as an investigation was under way.

An Israeli military spokeswoman denied that the incident had taken place.

Germany assumed command of a United Nations naval force off Lebanon 10 days ago, and has sent eight ships and 1,000 service personnel to join the international peace operation in the region.

The naval force is charged with preventing weapons-smuggling and helping maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

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Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat

A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.

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Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in the British city of Manchester calling for Tony Blair’s resignation and an end to the country’s involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The protest comes on the eve of the Labour Party conference in the city, and security in the city is tight.

Stop The War Coalition, which helped organise the event, says more than 80 percent of Britons think Prime Minister Blair should stop supporting the United States’ foreign policies.

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