US general booted for Afghan remarks

'They don't understand the sacrifices that America is making,' he said of Afghan leaders 

MSNBC, NBC, Nov, 4, 2011

Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller  /  U.S. Army

WASHINGTON — A top U.S. general in Afghanistan was relieved of duty Friday for "inappropriate public comments" after calling the Afghan government "isolated from reality" and President Hamid Karzai "erratic."

Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, deputy commander for training Afghan security forces, blasted the Afghan government, military and Karzai in an interview with POLITICO published on Thursday.

He called Karzai "erratic" for recently saying Afghanistan would side with Pakistan if the latter declared war on the U.S.

"Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle!," Fuller was quoted as saying. "You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, 'I don’t really care'?"

Fuller also said he had trouble explaining to Afghan officials that Western funds were limited. 

"You guys are isolated from reality" he said he told Afghan generals. "If you're in a very poor country like Afghanistan, you think that America has roads paved in gold, everybody lives in Hollywood."

"I actually had someone senior tell me, 'All I want to do is put them [tanks] on a flat bed and drive them around in a parade'," he added.

Fuller said Afghan leaders "don't understand the sacrifices that America is making to provide for their security. And I think that's part of my job to educate 'em."

Fuller was relieved of duty by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen.

"The Afghan people are an honorable people, and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission: bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan," Allen said in a statement.

Story: Cash flows, but can Afghan training legacy last?

It was not clear what Fuller would do next, but such disciplinary action usually ends military careers.

In June 2010, Gen. Stanley McChrystal resigned as the top U.S. officer in Afghanistan after disparaging remarks about civilian bosses in a Rolling Stone magazine article. He retired from the Army a month later and went on to teach at Yale University.

NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

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"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."

Chinese president, other BRICS leaders meet ahead of G-20 summit

English.news.cn   2011-11-03

Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and
South Africa hold a meeting in Cannes, France, Nov. 3, 2011. (Xinhua) 

CANNES, France, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa met Thursday in Cannes, France, ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit.

Hu said that the world's current economic situation is severe and complicated while the prominent sovereign debt issues in some developed countries have created turbulence in the financial markets.

Many developing countries also face inflationary pressure and world economic growth has slowed to some extent, Hu said during the meeting.

Under the current circumstances, Hu said, the G-20 countries should work together better to ride out the hard times and boost robust, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy.

Both developed and developing countries should keep a balanced and relatively rapid economic growth, Hu said.

Only in this way, he said, could the world economy achieve recovering growth.

The Chinese president stressed that Europe is the largest economy in the world and the global economy can realize recovery only if Europe understands that.

China hopes Europe can achieve economic recovery and development as soon as possible, he said.

Hu also said that the solution of Europe's debt issues mainly relies on Europe itself. He said that China believes that Europe absolutely has the wisdom and ability to solve the issues while the international community should tender support and assistance.

The Chinese president suggested that the BRICS countries create a consultative mechanism to closely watch the development of the situation,exchange ideas on relevant issues and strengthen coordination.

At the meeting, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, or BRICS, also discussed stronger cooperation among BRICS countries and exchanged views on the world economic situation and the debt issues in Europe.

The leaders agreed to maintain close communications and coordination and work together to make the G-20 summit generate positive results.

The Cannes G-20 summit, slated for Thursday and Friday, will address the major problems affecting the world economic recovery and the stability of the global financial market.

President Hu arrived in Cannes for the G-20 summit on Wednesday.

Special Report: President Hu visits Austria, attends G20 summit in Cannes, France

Xinhua Insight: With or without yuan added in SDR, global monetary system should reform

English.news.cn   2011-11-03

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The latest news regarding the eurozone's two-year-long debt crisis has overshadowed discussions on reshuffling the dollar-based global monetary system, although China has called for more efforts to reform the system.

President Hu Jintao once again suggested accelerating the reform of the international monetary and financial system, a topic on the initial agenda of the ongoing G20 summit, in talks ahead of the meeting.

Despite an ongoing debate regarding the super-sovereign Special Drawing Rights (SDR), which were designed to augment international liquidity by supplementing standard reserve currencies, experts are convinced that a crisis-resilient global monetary system should rely on a basket of currencies rather than a single currency.

DOORS OPEN FOR CHANGE

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is presiding over the Nov. 3-4 G20 meeting in Cannes, has not been the first person to prompt a fundamental rethink of the global monetary system. But his voice has echoed a wider yearning for change, which may indicate that global monetary reform is more likely, analysts said.

Criticism of a "hegemonic dollar" has not been new, but explicit requests for a new global monetary system have been relatively scarce, said Li Jianjun, an analyst with the state-owned Bank of China.

However, since the global financial meltdown in 2008, the idea has gained momentum. Calls for international monetary reform have come not only from once-peripheral emerging economies, but also from long-term U.S. allies in Europe like France and Germany, Li said.

Many have started to recognize the problems that have emerged from using a single dominant currency in global markets.

The deep root of the current financial crisis lies in the dollar standard, said Zuo Xiaolei, chief economist at Galaxy Securities.

The real purchasing power of the greenback vanished with the breakup of the Bretton Woods regime, which pegged the dollar to gold and all other currencies to the dollar, Zuo said.

Yet under the dollar standard, investors were eventually kidnapped by U.S. Treasuries, which served as a "final alternative" for any other investment vehicle, Zuo said.

In addition, Li pointed out that market confidence in the dollar has been unraveling, as the world's largest economy has been stuck with a debt crisis and stagnant growth.

"The world is now loath to see the dominance of the dollar, which opens doors for change," Li said.

SDR UNDER DEBATE

Although economists are still largely at odds concerning the SDR's possible role, many have agreed that a future international currency system should be built on a basket of currencies, including the dollar, the euro, the yen, the sterling and the yuan.

They have unanimously ruled out the possibility of returning to the gold standard, and many say other currencies like the euro and the yuan are not strong enough to overtake the dollar's key role.

A real debate is heating up over the super-sovereign SDR as a possible alternative.

Some economists believe the SDR, created by the International Monetary Fund, could become an ideal global reserve currency to eliminate the word's reliance on the dollar, while others have deemed it infeasible for now.

Nobel Prize laureate Robert Mundell, known as the "father of the euro," said Monday in Beijing that the SDR will play a significant role in the post-crisis global monetary system.

He also backed Sarkozy's proposal to include the yuan in the SDR basket, which now includes four currencies: the dollar, the euro, the sterling and the yen.

The inclusion of the yuan would better reflect the new realities of global economics, Mundell said.

Ba Shusong, an economist with the Development Research Center under China's State Council, said the role of the SDR should be strengthened to create diversity and reestablish global financial order.

However, others have been pessimistic about the super-national currency and do not see much need for China to join the SDR.

"The crux of issuing a super-sovereign currency is determining who gets the final say. Both issuance and allocation involve a lot of political give-and-take. Without seeing great benefits, countries will have little incentive to take the onus," Li said

The expansion of the SDR will not solve the fundamental problems in the current monetary system, said Cao Tong, deputy governor of Citic Bank.

China should focus on its own business and not worry about the entry, nor alter its own schedule regarding yuan reform, Cao said.

China's former central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in early September that China is in no hurry to have the yuan added to the SDR basket.

"Chinese currency will become more powerful as the country's economy grows stronger. Sooner or later, the yuan will be added to the SDR," Zhou said.

YUAN REFORM PROGRESS

China has pledged to increase the yuan's flexibility, while stressing that exchange rate policies will be reformed in a gradual and controlled manner and the currency's basic stability will be maintained.

To push forward the internationalization of its currency, the Chinese government has encouraged the use of the yuan in cross-border trade and investment settlement.

China is still in the process of signing a yuan-denominated trade settlement agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) , Jin Qi, assistant to the central bank's governor, said in late October.

The government first allowed trials of cross-border trade settlement in yuan in some Chinese cities in July 2009. Hong Kong, Macao and ASEAN were chosen as trial areas.

China's yuan settlement in cross-border trade surged to 957.57 billion yuan (149.62 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2011, 13 times more than that of the same period last year, according to statistics released by the central bank.

The country also approved foreign direct investment in yuan legally obtained overseas on Oct. 14. The move was aimed at further boosting cross-border use of the yuan, as well as supporting the yuan market in Hong Kong, the central bank said.

Editor: yan

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China eyes creation of Asean Bank

ASEAN to hold symposium ahead of summit

Antara News, Thu, November 3 2011

Related News

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will organize a symposium connecting all stakeholders in the region in Bali on November 8-9.

"The symposium will review the latest developments in the implementation of a master plan approved in October last year," chief of the event`s organizing committee I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, said here on Tuesday.

Themed "enhancing ties in pursuit of an ASEAN Community by 2015" the symposium would bring together more than 200 government officials, academics, practitioners, representatives of international organizations in ASEAN, he said.

In its developments, he said, the ASEAN Connectivity Coordination Committee (ACCC) had so far adopted 15 priority projects, including the Singapore-Kunming rail link (SKRL), ASEAN highway network (AHN), a feasibility study on the construction of a roll-on. roll-off (roro) port, one-stop operations, and a common visa system.

"In the initial stage roro will link Davao in the Philippines to Bitung in North Sulawesi," he said.

In this connection, a number of ASEAN member states had held dialogs as part of efforts to implement the master plan, he said.

To implement the master plan, ASEAN finance ministers had agreed on the first phase of the construction of ASEAN infrastructures which would cost US$485.2 million, he said.

"Hopefully, the figure will increase to US$3.6 billion in 2020," he said.

Deputy for Public Economy to the ASEAN Secretary General S Pushpanathan said the symposium was very important to unite stakeholders and develop mutually beneficial cooperation.

ASEAN groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Laos, and Myanmar.

Indonesia is currently ASEAN chair.

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

RI disagrees with US on Palestine`s UNESCO membership

Antara News, by Fardah, Wed, November 2 2011

Indonesia had been and still is a supporter, initiator and co-sponsor of Palestine`s efforts to become a full member of the Paris-based UNESCO and New York-based UN.

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Palestine`s bid for UNESCO membership is in accordance with the vision of a two-state solution and therefore Indonesia was supporting it, despite opposition from the US government.

"Indonesia`s stance is different, of course. Indonesia was even one of the co-sponsors of the Palestinian bid for UNESCO membership, as we also support Palestine`s bid for UN membership in New York," Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said in Paris on Tuesday (Nov 1).

Marty said Indonesia believed in a two state solution where Palestine and Israel could live side by side.

The admission of Palestine into the UN and UN agencies must not be necessarily seen as an obstacle to or the end of the peace process, because both could support each other, he said.

"We think, the fundamental issue here is that an independent Palestinian state needs to be given full membership in the UN and UNESCO. This is still a process and we don`t want to give the impression as if we don`t support the (Middle East) peace process. On the contrary, it (Palestine`s UNESCO membership) could be made to match (the peace process), they need not be two contradictory options," he said.

Indonesia had been and still is a supporter, initiator and co-sponsor of Palestine`s efforts to become a full member of the Paris-based UNESCO and New York-based UN.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted to admit Palestine as a full member on Monday (Oct 31).

Palestine`s wish which required the approval of two-thirds of the number of UNESCO members, passed with 107 votes in favor, 14 against, and 52 abstentions.It was the first such vote by a UN agency.

The United States decided to cut funding to UNESCO after the agency voted to accept Palestine`s bid for full membership, the US State Department said Monday (Oct 31).

"Today`s vote by the member states of UNESCO to admit Palestine as a member is regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal of a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the Middle East," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

An Indonesian legislator said the US decision to stop funding UNESCO was a step to drag UNESCO into the political arena.

"There was a statement that the (Palestinian) membership in UNESCO could undermine the efforts to find a peaceful solution. What is the correlation between UNESCO and a peaceful solution?" Sidarto Danusubroto, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission I, said here on Tuesday.

"It`s a concern if now Palestine is admitted as a full member of the UN agency, and then immediately the US cuts off the funding," Sidarto, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP), said.

He added the Indonesian government must support Palestine as full member of UNESCO.

"We should be happy because it`s a universal recognition for the Palestinian nation whose rights have been denied so far," he said.

"UNESCO has a program to educate the people and if Palestine is admitted as a UNESCO member, I think it`s because Palestine indeed needs UNESCO assistance," he added.

Hamdan Basyar, international affairs observer of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the US will definitely continue obstructing Palestine`s bid to become a UN member because the super power is applying a double standard policy when it concerns its ally`s interest, an international affairs observer said,

He called on other nations to pressure the US and question the US double standard policy.

"If necessary, take over the funding for UNESCO," he said.

Hamdan said the US` stance was not in accordance with President Barack Obama`s promise last year that he would support a Palestinian independent state and Palestine`s bid for UN full membership.

"The change in (Obama`s) stance has something to do with his bid for a second term in the next presidential elections," he said.

In anticipation of a funding shortfall in UNESCO, Zainuddin Djafar, an international relations expert at the University of Indonesia (UI) suggested that countries in the Arab League provide financial contribution to UNESCO.

"This is a momentum for Arab League member and other emerging countries such as China to play an active role and provide UNESCO with funds," he said.

He said the US` reaction to Palestine having become a permanent member of UNESCO was a reflection of panic about a sign that US global influence was waning.

"The decision to cut its financial assistance to UNESCO can also be seen as an effort to show off its power, especially to China as the latter was one of the countries that voted in favor of Palestine`s admission as a permanent UNESCO member," he said.

Begi Hersutanto, a researcher from the Indonesian Center for Democracy, Defense and Diplomacy, warned the US` decision to stop its financial assistance to UNESCO could boomerang.

"The US decision could boomerang because it has the potential of causing an escalation in radical anti-American movements and fundamentalism," he said.

He also criticized the US for its double standards which were reflected in the fact that while the US Constitution upholds the American people`s human rights, the US government`s foreign policy supports or allows the occupation of one country by another.

"The US also tends to take other devious measures, including diplomatic steps and lobbies to pressure various international entities, including Indonesia, not to support Palestine," Begi said.

"It should be remembered that the future of UNESCO will not solely depend on the US because the organization has more than 100 members. However, the funding cut would affect the UN agency`s performance," he said.

The Monday vote made UNESCO the first UN agency to accept Palestine as a full member since Palestine`s President Mahmoud Abbas applied for formal UN membership at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.

Despite heavy lobbying by US diplomats, 107 nations voted in favour of Palestinian membership, while only 14 countries opposed it. Fifty-two countries abstained, while 21 states were absent. Admission as a new member requires a two-thirds majority vote by UNESCO`s General Conference.

Voting against Palestinian membership with the US and Israel were Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Panama and a handful of South Pacific island-nations.

Membership in UNESCO normally translates into automatic membership in several other UN agencies, including the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), as a result of reciprocity agreements between them.

The US has threatened to veto the UN membership application, which is currently under study by UN technical experts, if and when it comes to a vote. The UN Security Council has decided to discuss the matter in November.

Editor: Heru

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Russia and China come bottom of bribe-paying survey

BBC News, 2 November 2011

Transparency International wants more action
to outlaw bribery

Companies from Russia and China are most likely to pay bribes when doing business abroad, a new survey suggests.The two scored worst out of 28 countries in a poll of 3,000 business executives conducted by anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI).

The Netherlands and Switzerland came top, while the UK ranked eighth, just ahead of the US and France.

Bribery was reportedly most common to win public sector works and construction contracts.

'No integrity'

"It is of particular concern that China and Russia are at the bottom of the index," said TI in its report.

"Given the increasing global presence of businesses from the countries, bribery and corruption are likely to have a substantial impact on societies in which they operate and on the ability of companies to compete fairly in these markets."

Other major developing economies came much higher up the rankings. India was 19th, while Brazil, in 14th place, was one spot ahead of Italy.

The report called for more international action to outlaw companies from paying bribes in foreign countries.

Bribe Rankings - worst offenders last

• 1. Netherlands, Switzerland 
• 3. Belgium 
• 4. Germany, Japan 
• 6. Australia, Canada 
• 8. Singapore, UK 
• 10. US 
• 11. France, Spain 
• 13. South Korea 
• 14. Brazil 
• 15. Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, South Africa 
• 19. India, Turkey 
• 22. Saudi Arabia 
• 23. Argentina, UAE 
• 25. Indonesia
• 26. Mexico 
• 27. China 
• 28. Russia

"G20 governments must tackle foreign bribery as a matter of urgency," said Huguette Labelle, chair of TI, who said that more resources must be dedicated to investigations and prosecutions.

Russia, which came bottom of the league, was seen by TI as a particularly challenging case.

"Unfortunately... there are no islands of integrity in Russian public and business life," said TI Russian director, Elena Panfilova.

'Cheating taxpayers'

Survey respondents were asked to say how likely companies from each of the foreign countries were to offer back-handers.

Bribe-paying was seen as much more common by businessmen from countries whose governments were also considered to have the least integrity, according to a separate "corruption perceptions" survey carried out by TI last year.

The sector most affected by bribery was public procurement - where companies compete to win contracts from governments for everything from waste collection to road building.

TI noted that the nature of public sector contracts - which are usually large, complex and involve many sub-contractors - makes it much easier to inflate costs and hide inappropriate payments.

However, TI said that paying bribes to win major infrastructure and housing projects "effectively cheats taxpayers out of their money" and can undermine safety standards.

The survey indicated that companies paid bribes almost as routinely to other businesses as they do to government officials.

The mining and the oil and gas sectors - in which Russia and China are most active - also scored low in the poll.

Agriculture was considered the least bribe-prone, while banking ranked the fourth least-corrupt out of 19 industries. 

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Nepal parties 'agree' last part of landmark peace deal

BBC News, 1 November 2011

NEPAL AT A CROSSROADS 

• Challenges facing new PM
• Deadlock reaches crisis point
• Uncertainty as UN mission ends
• High hopes for Himalayan road

The future of former Maoist insurgents has been one
of the biggest barriers to the peace process

Nepal's main political parties say they have agreed the last part of a landmark peace deal after years of wrangling.

A spokesman for the prime minister said the deal revolves around the future of about 19,000 former Maoist fighters.

About a third of them will be integrated into the security forces. The remainder will receive a pay-off.

The Maoists ended a long-running insurgency five years ago. Peace moves had stalled over the future of former rebel fighters and a new constitution.

All weapons held by the former fighters will now be surrendered to the state.

The BBC's Jill McGivering says that the end of the civil war raised hopes in Nepal - but since then many became increasingly disillusioned with successive political stalemates and resignations.

Current Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is the fifth in the five years since the peace process started.

He is from the Maoist party and has been described by some as the country's last hope.

Despite the breakthrough with the country's two other main parties - the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML - many challenges still lie ahead.

One of the most pressing is the search to find consensus on drafting a new constitution, and that may mean yet another extension for the current Constituent Assembly.

Japan: Damaged reactors at nuclear plant could take 30 years to retire

CNN News, From Junko Ogura, CNN, November 1, 2011

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Unit 1 reactor building is
covered by a steel frame as a safety measure.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Plant owner: A "cold shutdown" of damaged reactors could be completed by the end of the year
• Government officials say the removal of nuclear fuel should begin by 2021
• The panel predicts it will take more than 10 years to remove nuclear fuel
• The damaged reactors might not be retired until at least 2041

Tokyo (CNN) -- The decommissioning of four reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will likely take more than 30 years to complete, according to a report by Japanese officials.

The draft report, released by Japan's Atomic Energy Commission of the Cabinet Office on Friday, said the removal of debris -- or nuclear fuel -- should begin by the end of 2021.

"We set a goal to start taking out the debris within a 10-year period, and it is estimated that it would take 30 years or more (after the cold shutdown) to finish decommissioning because the process at Fukushima would be complicated," the report states.

Last month, the plant's owner -- Tokyo Electric Power Company -- said engineers might be able to complete the cold shutdown of damaged reactors by the end of the year.

Temperatures in the three reactors where meltdowns occurred in the wake of the historic March 11 earthquake and tsunami have already been brought down below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), but the company has to maintain those conditions for some time before declaring the reactors in cold shutdown, Tokyo Electric spokesman Yoshikazu Nagai said.

Experts have said it will take years -- perhaps decades -- to fully clean up the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Hydrogen explosions blew apart the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor housings, while another hydrogen blast is suspected to have damaged the No. 2 reactor. Fires believed caused by heat from the No. 4 spent fuel pool damaged that unit's reactor building.

The atomic energy commission's report noted it took 10 years to remove nuclear fuel after the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster in the United States. The commission predicted removing fuel at Fukushima would require more time because the situation is more severe.

CNN's Matt Smith contributed to this report.

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Myanmar gets support to lead ASEAN

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/01/2011

Support has grown for Myanmar’s potential to chair ASEAN after Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa visited the country last week.

University of Indonesia international relations specialist Hariyadi Wirawan said Monday he always believed that a persuasive approach was the best way in dealing with Myanmar.

“[Marty’s] visit to Myanmar was to make sure that democratization is ongoing in Myanmar as suggested by ASEAN,” he told The Jakarta Post.

“Every little step Myanmar takes during that process should be appreciated.”

On the sidelines of his trip, Marty said Myanmar’s political reforms looked “irreversible” and put the country on course to chair ASEAN, while urging the United States and the European Union to ease sanctions as the embargoes had done more harm than good in the country, Reuters reported.

The US and the EU have imposed a number of sanctions on Myanmar due to a long record of human rights abuses in the country, although the EU claimed earlier this year that it had lifted some of the sanctions.

“I wish to believe and I get the sense that they are meant to be irreversible,” Marty said of the reforms as quoted by Reuters. “I did not get any indication that the process will stop.”

The ministry’s director for East Asia and Pacific affairs Dewi Savitri Wahab said the minister would further discuss the results of his trip with other ASEAN foreign ministers while taking into ccount dynamics developing outside the regional grouping.

After two decades the Myanmar government held its first elections in December last year, albeit imperfectly, as admitted by Indonesia. The new Myanmar government, however, has called for peace with ethnic minority groups, has offered easing media control, released about 200 political prisoners and has been more communicative with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hariyadi said Marty’s trip to the restive country showed that Myanmar’s democracy was encouragingly developing in an ASEAN way, but that did not necessarily satisfy the US and the EU because they had stricter standards in terms of democracy and human rights values.

“What the US and European countries want is instant changes in Myanmar. They will never be satisfied with small improvements,” he said.

Burma Partnership coordinator Khin Omar has urged Indonesia not to allow Malaysia’s ASEAN chair bid to pass because reforms Malaysia had carried out were merely cosmetic.

Another international relations analyst, Bonggas Adi Chandra, said he supported the Indonesian government and ASEAN should give Myanmar incentives rather than punishments.

“By giving Myanmar our trust, we are actually pushing Myanmar to accelerate its improvement in democracy and human rights by 2015, when the ASEAN Community is officially effective,” he told the Post.

Chinese Shenzhou craft launches on key space mission

BBC News, By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent,  31 October 2011

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It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou 8 is in
a position to attempt the docking

China has taken the next step in its quest to become a major space power with the launch of the unmanned Shenzhou 8 vehicle.

The spacecraft rode a Long March 2F rocket into orbit where it will attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Tiangong-1 lab, launched in September.

It would be the first time China has joined two space vehicles together.

The capability is required if the country is to carry through its plan to build a space station by about 2020.

The Long March carrier rocket lifted away from the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert at 05:58, Tuesday (21:58 GMT Monday). TV cameras relayed the ascent to orbit.

Shenzhou separated from the rocket's upper-stage about nine minutes into the flight. Confirmation that its solar panels had been deployed was received a short while after.

It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou is in a position to attempt the docking, which will occur some 340km above the Earth.

The vehicles will be using a radar-based system to compute their proximity to each other and guide their final approach and contact.

The pair will then spend 12 days circling the globe before they separate and attempt a re-docking. Finally, Shenzhou 8 will detach and its re-entry capsule will head back to Earth.

This will allow experiments carried into orbit to be recovered for analysis. The German space agency has supplied an experimental box containing fish, plants, worms, bacteria and even human cancer cells for a series of biological studies.

  

• Tiangong-1 was launched in September on a Long March 2F rocket
• The unmanned laboratory unit was put in a 350km-high orbit
• Shenzhou 8 will will try to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1
• The project will test key technologies such as life-support systems
• China aims to start building a 60-tonne space station by about 2020

Assuming the venture goes well, two manned missions (Shenzhou 9 and 10) are likely to try to make similar dockings in 2012.  

Shenzhou 8 carries experiments developed
 with the German space agency

Chinese astronauts - yuhangyuans - are expected to live aboard the conjoined vehicles for up to two weeks. There is speculation in the Chinese media that one of these missions could also include the country's first female yuhangyuan.

The 10.5m-long Tiangong-1 module was launched on 29 September and has been operating well, according to Chinese officials.

Its orbit has been lowered slightly and the vehicle turned 180 degrees in preparation for its upcoming union with Shenzhou 8.

Beijing sees the Tiangong and Shenzhou dockings as the next phase in its step-by-step approach to acquiring the skills of human spaceflight operations.

It is a learning curve China hopes will eventually lead to the construction of a space station, starting at the end of the decade.

At about 60 tonnes in mass, this future station would be considerably smaller than the 400-tonne international platform operated by the US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, but its mere presence in the sky would nonetheless represent a remarkable achievement. 

Tiangong-1 was launched in September

Concept drawings describe a core module weighing some 20-22 tonnes, flanked by two slightly smaller laboratory vessels.

Officials say it would be supplied by freighters in exactly the same way that robotic cargo ships keep the International Space Station (ISS) today stocked with fuel, food, water, air, and spare parts.

China is investing billions of dollars in its space programme. It has a strong space science effort under way, with two orbiting satellites having already been launched to the Moon and a third mission expected to put a rover on the lunar surface.

Next week should see its first Mars orbiter - Yinghuo-1 - begin its journey to the Red Planet.

The Asian country is also deploying its own satellite-navigation system known as BeiDou-Compass.

Bigger rockets are coming, too. The Long March 5 will be capable of putting more than 20 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit. This lifting muscle, again, will be necessary for the construction of a space station.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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