NightWatch

For the Night of 16 August 2009

Japan: For the record. The BBC reported Japan has exited recession after recording growth of 0.9% in the April-June quarter, compared to the first. The prior four quarters reported contraction of the economy. Japan joins France and Germany on the road to recovery.

South Korea: Update. Authorities announced 19 August is now the date the Korean Space Launch Vehicle will be test launched from the Naro Space Center.

North Korea-South Korea: The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published the contents of a joint press release between the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and the Hyundai Group of South Korea on 17 August.

“Kim Cho'ng-il, Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, on 16 August granted a long audience to and had a cordial talk with Hyon Jong Un, Chairperson of the Hyundai Group, and her party on a visit to Pyongyang, and complied with all her requests. “

“Accordingly, the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and the Hyundai Group will execute as follows:

1. It was decided to resume the suspended tourism of Mt. Kumgang as soon as possible and launch the tour of Pirobong, the highest peak in the mountain. All necessary facilities and security for tourism will be reliably provided according to the special measure taken by Kim Chong-il, Chairman of the National Defence Commission.

2. It was decided to restore land passage of the south side's personnel through the Military Demarcation Line and their stay in the north side's area as they were according to the spirit of the historic 4 October declaration.

3. It was decided to resume the tourism of Kaesong soon and energize the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Zone as the land passage through the MDL is put on a normal basis.

4. The Hyundai Group decided to begin tourism of Mt. Paektu in accordance with the progress of its preparations.

5. It was decided to provide reunion of separated families and relatives from the north and the south in Mt. Kumgang on the day of Chusok (harvest moon day), a folk holiday of the Korean nation, this year. Both sides expressed will to improve the north-south relations and further develop the cooperation for the common prosperity of the nation under the historic 15 June joint declaration and the 4 October declaration.”

Comment: The Hyundai Chairman came close to restoring all the economic contacts that were cut last year, plus added trips to Mount Paektu on the China border, one of the most revered, scenic sites in North Korea.

The initiatives have three common characteristics. They have the explicit approval of Kim Chong-il which means that the government is now confident it can manage the programs. They allow South Koreans into North Korea. Finally, all five are hard currency generators for North Korea, if not for Hyundai.

Burma: US Senator Webb said in a press conference before departing Yangon (Rangoon) International Airport with John William Yettaw, the US citizen who violated the terms of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest and was sentenced to seven years of hard labor, that the United States should reassess its policy toward Myanmar (Burma) and that he will offer proposals to that end after arriving back in the United States. Webb ended his three-day visit to Myanmar on 16 August, arriving in Bangkok.

Pakistan: President Zardari on 14 August lifted a ban on political activity in the Pashtun tribal belt on the Afghan border, Reuters reported. Zardari said Pashtun tribesmen should not have a different identity, and because they are Pakistani citizens, all laws and rights should be apply to the people who live in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The story behind the story is that the government is slowly using its political powers to break the political autonomy of the tribal agencies. The Constitution guarantees the agencies a large measure of political and administrative autonomy, under the Presidency, not the parliament.

In opening the agencies to Pakistan’s political parties, the Presidency is undermining the isolation and provincialism of the tribes that the current Constitutional arrangement promotes. Pakistan just took an important step in the direction of breaking the hold of the elders, imams and the district agents.

Security. At least 17 members of the Maulvi Nazir faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP aka the Pakistani Taliban), including Maulvi Nazir himself, have been killed in fighting with the Baitullah Mehsud group, rival leader Turkistan Bhittani told a private TV channel on Sunday.

The significance of this is that Maulvi Nazir and his fighters were pro-government militants for more than a year. The Maulvi sought to steer the movement to support fighting in Afghanistan to force US forces to leave. Baitullah Mehsud focused the movement against the Pakistan government as an agent of the US. The two factions regularly skirmish.

Pakistan-Turkey-Iran: For the record. The BBC reported on Friday that Pakistan has begun its first international freight train service from Islamabad to Istanbul. The 6,500km (4,040 mile) trial service via Tehran is a pilot project of the regional Economic Co-operation Organization.

The train will pull 20 cars on its maiden journey from Islamabad railway station, delivering 14 to Tehran and six to Istanbul a fortnight after it sets off. The first journey will also take railway experts from the three countries on board to gauge performance and check for obstacles over the vast route.

Officials expect it to boost Pakistan's trade with Turkey and Iran - currently estimated at $1bn - by as much as 50%. There are also hopes the route will eventually provide a link to Europe and Central Asia, and carry passengers.

Afghanistan: Taliban militants in Afghanistan have threatened to attack prospective voters and polling stations for the 20 August presidential election, Al Jazeera reported today. Several of the threats were made in leaflets left in villages across southern Afghanistan. In some, the Taliban threatened to cut off fingers marked with the purple ink used to indicate when someone has cast a vote, and cut off the noses and ears of voters.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said the leaflets are authentic and that Taliban commanders have ordered a boycott of the vote, and said that attacks will accelerate as the election nears. Saturday’s suicide bombing at NATO headquarters in Kabul punctuated the surge threat.

Iran-France: Update. Iran freed on bail a 24-year-old French university lecturer who was charged with spying after last month's presidential election. A statement from the French presidency said Clotilde Reiss was in good health and would stay at the French embassy in Tehran awaiting a verdict in her trial. President Sarkozy's office said it had asked that all charges against her and an embassy employee be dropped.

Ms Reiss was on a six-month teaching and research assignment in the central city of Isfahan. She was arrested in Tehran on 1 July, after taking part in post-election street protests. She appeared before an Iranian tribunal in a mass trial on 8 August. Earlier today French Foreign Minister Kouchner told state television that a verdict was likely in about eight days.

President Sarkozy thanked the European Union and allies, specifically Syria, for their help in obtaining Ms Reiss's release from jail.

Gaza Strip: Hamas security forces were on patrol today in the Gaza Strip, following clashes with a rival Islamist splinter group with ties to al Qaida in the southern town of Rafah on 14 and 15 August, Reuters reported. At least 28 people were killed in fighting between Hamas and Jund Ansar Allah, including the leader of Jund Ansar Allah. A spokesman for Hamas' Interior Ministry said the situation is now under control, and Hamas security forces have been reported to be manning roadblocks and checking cars.

On Friday, Abdel-Latif Moussa, the leader of Jund Ansar Allah declared an "Islamic emirate" in Gaza in defiance of the Hamas rulers of Gaza, Reuters reported

Internecine fighting by Palestinian groups always is good news for Israel’s security. The weekend clashes are a reminder that groups more vicious than Hamas operate and seek control in the Gaza Strip.

Venezuela-Honduras: Bloomberg reported today President Chavez said he has information that indicates that US troops were involved in removing deposed Honduran President Zelaya from power and putting him on a plane to neighboring Costa Rica.

Zelaya told Chavez that when he was awakened by armed Honduran troops on June 28 he was taken to the U.S. military base in Honduras and that U.S. generals made the decision to send him to Costa Rica, Chavez said today.

“U.S. President Obama doesn’t understand what is happening in the region,” Chavez said, “and should close military bases in Honduras and Guantanamo, Cuba. ... I think Obama is lost, he’s confused,” Chavez said on his weekly television program. “We’re not asking him to intervene in Honduras. To the contrary, we’re asking him to take the empire’s hands off of Honduras and its claws out of Latin America.”

US Southern Command denied the allegation and clarified that the Honduran military aircraft that took Zelaya to Costa Rica refueled at a Honduran base where 600 US military personnel are stationed for support to counter-narcotics operations. No other source has made such a claim, which appears to have no foundation.

Zelaya is using fabrications and Chavez is indulging his usual penchant for exaggeration to try to recapture the attention of the international media, which is now gearing up to cover the Afghan elections.

End of NightWatch for 16 August.