Putin party triumphs in Russia Parliament poll

MOSCOW, Dec 8: President Vladimir Putin’s allies won an overwhelming electoral victory today, crushing communist and liberal opponents and giving nationalists and bureaucrats a stranglehold over Parliament.

The fourth such poll since the Soviet Union’s collapse also effectively guaranteed Putin a second term in next spring’s Presidential election and could give him enough votes to change the constitution so he can run for a third term.

Putin’s supporters say a pro-Kremlin majority would hand the ex-KGB spy more power to push economic reform and fight corruption. But critics fear the death of democracy in the the vast nation after liberal parties were all but wiped out.

The rouble rose against the dollar but stocks opened down on concerns about liberal parties’ poor showing, which could push key reformists off powerful Parliament committees.

United Russia, created by the Kremlin for the last election in 1999 to help secure Putin’s rise to power, won 36.8 percent of the vote for the state Duma lower house, latest results showed. Its main slogan was "together with the President".

Ultra-Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Party — which backs the Kremlin on key issues — won 11.8 per cent and motherland, seen by many as a Kremlin creation to draw off votes from the communists, had nine per cent.

"This should bring him to a two-thirds majority, with the backing of at least one of the parties which united Russia will depend on for support," said Alex Garrard at Ubs. "Backing for those guys could change the constitution, to initiate a referendum to extend Putin’s term."

The badly Mauled Communist Party — which had only 12.8 per cent, well down from the 24 percent they garnered in 1999 — called yesterday polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of fraud.

Liberal party leaders said the vote concentrated too much power in the hands of united Russia and of nationalists.

"We will have an entirely different political picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business union of right-wing forces may scrape only a few seats in the Duma.

The vote reflected widespread support for Putin’s efforts to restore central control since succeeding Boris Yeltsin in 2000 and bringing an end to the chaos of the early reform years.

But critics said campaigning, criticised for media bias towards united Russia, was a throw-back to Soviet days.

In a drab election campaign, there was no mention of rebel Chechnya despite almost daily bloodshed. Yesterday, gunmen shot dead an Election Commission official there and four Russian soldiers were killed in a rebel ambush.

Some analysts worry that Putin may have too much power.

"You are now very firmly down to one-man risks, to the risk of President Putin, whether he stays committed to the investment case he set out over last few years," Alfa-bank strategist Chris Weafer said.

A big concern has been a Kremlin-led attack on Russia’s richest businessman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which many fear could herald a bid by hardliners in Putin’s circle to curb business leaders and put the economy under more state control.

Khodorkovsky was arrested in October on charges of tax evasion and fraud.

"We will return wealth to the people," Dmitry Rogozin, co-leader of motherland, told Ekho Moskvy radio station, in comments that will be heard with some unease by investors wary of any attempt to reverse the privatisations of the 1990s. (AGENCIES)

Militant attack is worst nightmare for US ports

WASHINGTON, Dec 8: Militants ship a nuclear bomb into a US port and ravage an entire city. More than the plot of a Tom Clancy thriller, it is the ultimate nightmare for many US officials, ports and businesses.

Clancy’s book "the sum of all fears" predated the September 11 attacks by roughly a decade, but officials and analysts say the vulnerability of US ports has only recently sunk in.

"The thousands of cargo containers arriving at US ports every day help fuel our economy, but they’re also tempting delivery devices for terrorists trying to strike America," Congressman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts democrat, said in a statement .

"I worry about a nuclear terrorist incident" at a port, said Graham Allison, a former Assistant Secretary of Defence. "even if it were a small nuclear weapon (which explodes) in New York, Washington or Boston, you’ll end up with half a million dead. The whole world will change as much as it did on 9/11."

Analysts, politicians and officials say militants may also try to smuggle in arms, chemicals or people to destroy ports, kill civilians or cripple trade.

"Terrorism is a real security threat," said Gene Bailey, Executive Director at the port of Wilmington, a top US port for the import of fresh fruit. He said Wilmington had taken steps, like beefing up gates, to boost security.

Nonetheless, some politicians and executives worry a port attack would bring maritime traffic to a halt and cause staggering damage to the US economy, in addition to the catastrophic human cost.

Almost seven million containers and about 50 percent of all imports arrive at the 361 US ports each year,

In the aftermath of the Sept 11 hijacked aircraft attacks, the US Government launched several international programs to tighten the screening of containers before they reach the united states. New laws also require US ports to submit detailed security plans by the end of 2003 and implement those measures by mid-2004.

But porous borders, global logistics chains, limited funds and the trade-off between security and commerce make failsafe protection impossible, port experts say.

Some politicians and analysts say the US coast guard, charged with patrolling 152,000 Km of coastline, is overstretched and underfunded. Cost-cutting before 9/11 had trimmed staff to its lowest level since the 1960s, but officials say funding has increased substantially since then.

Ron Maehl, a vice president at the homeland division of boeing, America’s single biggest exporter, said the ability to tamper with containers between their origin and destination was "shocking" and "scary."

A European port official said even the best US security regimes were flawed unless the entire supply chain was secure.

"The human factor is always the most vulnerable. There are so many people involved, from agents and forwarders to stevedores. What level of screening are you going to do with everyone?" he said.

Robert Housman, a lawyer for several ports and Maritime industries, said less than four percent of containerized cargo was currently inspected on arrival in the United States.

"Can you get a needle through that big a haystack of commerce? the logical answer would be, yes," he said.

A US customs and border protection official put the inspection figure at just over 10 per cent. He said officials tried had to "shrink the haystack" by targeting suspicious shipments and those from areas which raise "an automatic red flag," like some middle eastern or Asian ports.

Costs and time pressure are also concerns. The coast guard expects the new port security regulations to cost 1.5 billion dollar in the first year and 7.3 billion dollar over the next 10 years, while the Aamerican association of port authorities says Congress has appropriated only 513.2 million dollar since 9/11.

Capt Kevin Dale, Chief of the Office of Port and Vessel Security at coast guard headquarters, said timelines for security measures had to be tight because ports were so vital. He said there was no question the new regulations imposed significant costs on ports and industry.

"The question is: what kinds of costs will be imposed if we have an incident?" he said.

Anne Moise, vice president for security at the south Carolina state port authority, said they were boosting security as much as possible, but there was only so much ports can do.

"I don’t think anybody at any port says we can make our port totally secure. ... We have to make sure cargo still flows. If cargo doesn’t flow, then the terrorists have won, and they didn’t even have to do anything," she said. (AGENCIES)

Taliban says kidnapped Indians safe in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Dec 8: A Taliban official said today that two Indians kidnapped at the weekend while working on a US-funded road project were alive and well, adding that demands would be made later for their release.

Mullah Roazi Khan, who the Government says was behind the abduction of a Turkish engineer on the same project in October, phoned to say the men were being held by guerrillas linked to the Taliban’s former Defence Minister Mullah Obaidullah.

"The group which holds the two Indians will announce their aims at a later stage," he said. "As far as I know they are safe and in good condition."

The two Indians, identified by their embassy as Murali, a soil sampler and Vardharai, a foreman, were abducted in the province of Zabul on Saturday.

Both are 24 and are employed by BSC-C C JV, an Indian firm contracted to Louis Berger Group INC, the US company leading the project to renovate the Kabul-Kandahar road.

An Indian embassy official said it had heard no word from the kidnappers: "There has been no contact at all."

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omar Samad also said there had been no contact.

"We are looking into this seriously and are hoping to find any information we can," he said. "We have to wait and see who we are dealing with. But as a matter of principle, this Government does not negotiate with terrorists."

Mullah Roazi also said the Taliban carried out a bombing in the centre of Kandahar at the weekend which wounded 18 people. He said the attack had been intended for US soldiers but a mistake meant only Afghans were hurt. On Saturday, another Taliban official denied the group had carried out the attack.

Officials in Kandahar said five locals had been arrested in and around the city in connection with the blast, several of whom were relatives of the renegade policeman who threw a grenade in the same marketplace last Wednesday, wounding two US soldiers.

The Indian workers were were abducted in the same Shah joy district of Zabul province where Turkish engineer Hassan Onal was kidnapped in late October. Their abductions came exactly a week after Onal was released following a month’s captivity.

Mullah Roazi told at the time that Taliban leaders, including Obaidullah, freed Onal after the Government let go two Taliban prisoners, but Kabul denied any deal. Roazi also said the main reason Onal was freed was that he was Muslim.

The kidnapping of the Indians is yet another blow to the road project, which has been hit by a wave of deadly attacks.

The United States has nevertheless vowed to finish by the year end what is the largest reconstruction scheme launched since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. (AGENCIES)

Israeli Police investigates Sharon’s caricature

JERUSALEM, Dec 8: Israeli Police is investigating the appearance of a caricature of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon kissing Adolph Hitler on a website and a rash of pictures of his Deputy, Ehud Olmert, stamping products from the territories with a Nazi-era yellow "jude" star of David in Jerusalem.

The star bears a provocative slogan "Olmert caves in to the EU demands to label Israel’s Yesha products."

Sharon’s picture appeared on the left-wing Indymedia web-site while his Deputy’s on Hanevi’im and Straus streets in downtown Jerusalem as well as on other streets around the capital.

The right wing settler community is annoyed with Olmert for agreeing to stamp products manufactured in the territories with the name of the place, instead of made in Israel stamp, complying to european demands which would lead to levies on the products that Israeli products are exempted from paying under special agreements. (UNI)

China’s wen warns Taiwan not to misuse democracy

NEW YORK, Dec 8: China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, at the start of a four-day visit to the United States, said Beijing would never allow rival Taiwan to use aspirations for democracy as a cover for separatism.

Wen, who visited UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in snow-swept New York before going to Washington, intends to seek assurances from the Bush administration that it will rein in Taiwan. He also will face criticism of China’s trade and currency policies while promoting closer economic cooperation.

Tensions have risen across the Taiwan Strait since last month, when the island’s Parliament passed a law allowing referendums. Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian has backed off an independence vote but instead planned a referendum in March asking China to withdraw ballistic missiles aimed at the island.

Asked about the March referendum, wen said China understood "the aspiration of the people in Taiwan for democracy."

"However, the essence of the problem now is that the separatist forces within the Taiwan authorities attempt to use democracy only as a cover to split Taiwan away from China and this is what we will never tolerate."

But he said that as long "as there is still a glimmer of hope, the Chinese Government will not give up its efforts for a peaceful unification and a peaceful settlement." (AGENCIES)

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