NightWatch
For the Night of 14
September 2009
North Korea-South Korea:
Last Friday, North Korean negotiators withdrew their demand for huge pay
increases for workers at the Kaesong
Joint Industrial
Park. Instead, they accepted a South Korean
proposal for a normal 5% increase for the North Koreans who work for the South
Korean firms at Kaesong.
This is the latest compromise of a hard line position that
North adopted when Kim Chong-il was reported having trouble recovering from his
stroke, about eight months ago.
South Korean media analysis linked it to the flooding from
the Imjim River Dam that killed six South Korean campers. The South’s analysts
reasoned the North made a gesture at Kaesong
to prevent escalation of the controversy over its having released the
flood. South Korean authorities are
still investigating the release of flood waters, but said satellite imagery
showed the Dam was in danger of breaching which would explain the release of
flood waters.
India-Pakistan-US: Indian External Affairs Minister Shashi
Tharoor has asked U.S.
officials to monitor the aid Washington sends
to Pakistan,
Indo-Asian
News Service reported today. Tharoor made the statement in response to
a question during a press conference about former Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf's admission that aid provided to Pakistan to fight terrorism was used
to strengthen defenses against India.
Musharraf admitted to the press today that his
administration diverted US
military aid. He said assistance intended to help Pakistan
combat terrorism went towards improving military capabilities for fighting India.
“We did right. What
we did, we did right. We have to ensure Pakistan's security. From whichever
side the threat comes, we will use the entire force there." Musharraf said he did not care if this
diversion of aid angered the US.
.
Musharraf appears determined to remain in the headlines by
exploding myths about the US
–Pakistani relationship, such as it was, when he was President. His version
always features himself as the clever Pakistani hero who deceives and
manipulates the gullible and misguided Americans. Apparently these disclosures
are related to his campaign to return himself to public office. His primary
credential appears to be his ability to handle the Americans by guile and
subterfuge. Many Pakistanis seem to like it.
Security. For the record. Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said today that many top level al Qaida leaders are leaving Pakistan and going to Somalia
and Yemen,
The News
reported, citing GEO News.
Preparation of a new database to track all foreigners in Pakistan is
underway, Malik added. He also said that al Qaida groups based in Egypt, Sudan
and Yemen
are backing the Taliban and other militant groups. Malik said that stern action
will be taken against landlords who rent out their property to foreigners
without informing local police and government agencies.
A Saudi Arabian charity, allegedly a front for al Qaida, has
provided $15 million to militant groups in Pakistan
to conduct attacks, Pakistan's
The
News reported, citing a report by Pakistani police. A large portion of
the money provided by the Al-Haramain Foundation went to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP).
The Saudis, one way or another, cannot fail to come out
ahead because they make all sides in the struggle against extremism, including
the extremists, beholden to their backing.
Somalia:
Unidentified soldiers conducted a helicopter operation against al
Shabaab militants in Barawe,
Somalia,
killing two people, the BBC reported. Witnesses said the
soldiers were wearing uniforms with French insignia, but French military
spokesman Christophe Prazuck denied any French military involvement.
The Los Angeles Times cited unidentified
US military sources who claimed US Special Operations Forces executed the raid,
in which two men died and two were seized by the commandos. According to the Wall Street Journal during
this Watch,
“A U.S.
official said forces from the Joint Special Operations Command were involved in
the attack on Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is suspected of building
the truck bomb that killed 15 people at a Kenyan hotel in 2002, as well as
involvement in a simultaneous, botched missile launch at an Israeli airliner.”
End of NightWatch
for 14 September.