discovery of large natural gas could lead to new Lebanon-Israel war

BEIRUT The discovery of large natural gas reserves under the waters of the eastern Mediterranean could potentially mean a huge economic windfall for Israel and Lebanon, both resource-poor nations – if it doesn’t spark new war between them.The Hezbollah militant group has blared warnings that Israel plans to steal natural gas from Lebanese territory and vows to defend the resources with its arsenal of rockets. Israel says the fields it is developing do not extend into Lebanese waters, a claim experts say appears to be correct, but the maritime boundary between the two countries – still officially at war – has never been precisely set.

“Lebanon’s need for the resistance has doubled today in light of Israeli threats to steal Lebanon’s oil wealth,” Hezbollah’s Executive Council chief Hashem Safieddine said last month. The need to protect the offshore wealth “pushes us in the future to strengthen the resistance’s capabilities.”The threats cast a shadow over what could be a financial boon for both nations, with energy companies finding what appear to be substantial natural gas deposits in their waters.

Israel is far ahead in the race to develop the resources. Two fields, Tamar and Dalit, discovered last year, are due to start producing in 2012, and experts say their estimated combined reserves of 5.5 trillion cubic feet (160 billion cubic meters) of natural gas can cover Israel’s energy needs for the next two decades.In June, the U.S. energy company Noble Energy, part of a consortium developing the fields, predicted that Israel will also have enough gas to export to Europe and Asia from a third field – Leviathan, thought to hold up to 16 trillion cubic feet (450 billion cubic meters) of gas.

Israel relies entirely on imports to meet its energy needs, spending billions to bring natural gas from Egypt and coal from a variety of countries. So just freeing the country from that reliance would have a major impact.When Tamar begins producing it could lower Israel’s energy costs by a $1 billion a year and bring $400 million a year in royalties into government coffers. That suggests a total of about $40 billion in savings and $16 billion in government revenues over the total yield of the field. Those numbers would only rise as Leviathan comes on line.

“Israel’s always looked for oil,” said Paul Rivlin, a senior research fellow with Tel Aviv University’s Dayan center. “But I don’t think it ever thought of itself as becoming a producer. And now that you’ve got a high-tech economy that’s doing quite well, this comes as an added bonus.”

Hezbollah’s warnings, however, quickly followed the announcement by Houston, Texas-based Noble Energy.Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, warned that Israel is “turning into an oil emirate while ignoring the fact that the field extends, according to the maps, into Lebanon’s territorial waters.”

Israel’s Petroleum and Mining commissioner at the National Infrastructure Ministry Yaakov Mimran, called those claims “nonsense,” saying Leviathan and the other two fields are all within Israel’s economic zone.”Those noises occur when they smell gas. Until then, they sit quietly and let the other side spend the money,” Mimran told the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Maps from Noble Energy show Leviathan within Israel’s waters. An official with Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services, which is surveying gas fields in Lebanese waters, told The Associated Press that from Noble’s reports there is no reason to think Leviathan extends into Lebanon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by his company to speak on the subject.

The rumblings are worrisome because Israel and Hezbollah each accuse the other of intending to spark a new conflict following their devastating 2006 war. That fighting, in which Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid sparked a massive Israeli bombardment, killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis.

Since then, there has been a rare interval of peace. Hezbollah, a close ally of Syria and Iran, has not fired a rocket into Israel since. Israeli officials, however, say they believe Hezbollah has managed to triple its prewar arms stockpile to more than 40,000 rockets.The warnings from Hezbollah and Berri could be as much for domestic consumption as directed as Israel, aiming to press for the passage of a long-delayed draft oil law, needed before any Lebanese fields can be developed.

Oil and gas exploration has been a source of disagreement between Lebanese politicians over the past decade. The change of several governments and disputes over what company should do the surveying have caused delays.In October, Petroleum Geo-Services said fields in Cypriot and Lebanese waters “may prove to be an exciting new province for oil and gas in the next few years,” noting signs of deposits in Lebanon, though their size is still not known. “It is very encouraging for Lebanon,” the PGS official told AP.

Any finds could help Lebanon’s government pay off what is one of the highest debt rates in the world, at about $52 billion, or 147 percent of the gross domestic product.Israel and Lebanon are among the few countries in the Middle East without substantial, lucrative natural resources. Israel has built a place for itself with a powerful high-tech sector, while Lebanon has boomed in recent years with tourism and real estate investment. While the gas may not transform them into Gulf-style spigots of petro-cash, it would be a major boost.

Rivlin doubts Israel could become a significant exporter, saying nearby countries don’t need or aren’t willing to buy from it, and the costs of liquifying gas for transport to further markets like Europe may be prohibitive. But Eytan Gilboa, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University, said that with the world “so hungry for energy,” Israel won’t have a problem finding buyers.But the development raises security worries, as the offshore gas infrastructure could become a target. During the 2006 fighting, Hezbollah succeeded in hitting Israeli warships off Lebanon with its rockets.”Once those rigs start producing gas, it’s going to be difficult to secure them,” Gilboa said. “So on the one hand, you reduce dependency on imports in times of crisis, but at the same time, you make yourself vulnerable because those sites are exposed.” (AP)

Afghan Soldiers Kill Three British soldiers

Kandahar, Afghanistan A renegade Afghan soldiers killed three British soldiers in patrolling together on Tuesday in Helmand, the southern provinces, local security sources said that the British news agency Reuters. Two more British soldiers wounded in the attack near Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, where about 9,000 British soldiers deployed as part of the NATO-led force. NATO said in a statement said that three soldiers were killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan, but did not elaborate. “We confirm that one Afghan soldier shot and killed three British soldiers,” said defense ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi Afghanistan told the French news agency AFP in Kabul.

The attack on Tuesday was not the first time foreign troops were killed by Afghan security forces, which raises concern in the West about the level of infiltration of the Taliban in the country’s security forces, trained and financed as part of NATO’s war against militants, who rose again. “If true, it is very regrettable,” said Waheed Omer, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. In the deadliest such attack, an Afghan police killed five British soldiers in training camp in Helmand province in November.

A month later, an Afghan soldier shot and killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two soldiers with the NATO base in Italy and Afghanistan in Badghis, northwest Afghanistan. Happened several other attacks by army and police uniforms against government and foreign troops. It makes 317 the number of deaths of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001. A number of 101 British soldiers killed in Sangin.Kendali those areas will be submitted to the United States troops at the end of this year.(AFP)

The U.S. military discovered "the untapped mineral reserves worth U.S. $ 1 billion

The U.S. military discovered “the untapped mineral reserves worth U.S. $ 1 billion” or more than Rp 9 trillion in Afghanistan. This report placed New York Times on the main page edition Monday.These findings, according to Yahoo! News, Tuesday, June 15, 2010, almost like an adventure in the Indiana Jones films: Geologist, Geological Survey geologist Afghan guard who had made the Soviet Union showed reserves of copper, lithium, iron and gold worth billions of dollars.According to the New York Times, this survey was collected in 2007. In 2009, the Pentagon and then learn the “translation of technical data to measure the potential economic value of mineral reserves that.” And was found number of Rp 9 trillion.

And these findings fit with that quoted by the Associated Press last month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai launched the mineral wealth of his country to reach three times that amount, U.S. $ 3 billion.John Cook, a writer for Yahoo!, Questioned why the data was out at the same time. According to him, this is an effort to Karzai to extend the United States intervention in his country.

“It is easier to imagine an end to a democratic and stable Afghanistan when you will get billions of dollars of minerals to be played,” said Cook.Mineral reserves has become the last way to get American aid Afghanistan due before U.S. President George W Bush, said no mining would develop oil in Afghanistan for fear of huge cost. Now the question is, who will benefit from copper and gold mineral reserves of this?

75 killed, 977 wound in Kyrgyzstan Violence

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan At least 75 people were killed and about a thousand other people were injured in ethnic violence that broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan, Saturday.”Due to the conflict in the region of Jalalabad and Osh, Tuesday, 977 people were injured and 75 people were killed,” the Kyrgyz Health Ministry was quoted by AFP.

Kyrgyzstan’s interim government leader Roza Otunbayeva trying to enforce the rules in the Central Asian countries since taking over control of various rioting following the termination of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s regime forced the beginning of 2010.Eyewitnesses said that physical conflicts among ethnic groups Kirgis and Uzbeks in Osh has ever broken into the bag main support Bakiyev.(AFP)

Helen Thomas / bulldog 1950 – 2010 stop of journalists

For the ten leaders of the United States (U.S.) who have inhabited the White House including the current president, Barack Obama – Helen Thomas is the name of a journalist who dared to speak out frankly and critically ask. However, after about 50 years as a correspondent at the White House, Thomas’s sudden retirement. Journalist who has 89-year-old announced his resignation as a correspondent for the Hearst News Service in the White House, Monday, June 7, 2010. The resignation followed a scathing criticism of Thomas’s comments against Israel, which turned out to offend Jewish people.

“Tell them to get out of Palestine. Remember, the people in that country was conquered and their land,” Thomas said in a videotape aired Breitbart.tv pages. The incident occurred on May 27, 2010 in a Jewish community event outside the White House. According to the daily page of the Huffington Post, Thomas’s controversial remarks when asked for opinions by a rabbi. When asked again where the people of Israel must go, Thomas casually replied, “They must return to their places of origin, to Poland, Germany … American, or other places.” Later, descendants of Lebanese journalist was expressed regret at the same time apologizing for his comments about Israel and Palestine.

However, what is meretricious, comments Thomas already reaped a storm of criticism from many quarters, including from the White House. According to the Associated Press, White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Thomas comments as an insult. Even his fellow reporters the White House said the comments were not worth Thomas brought up.

Thomas scathing comments about Israel soon spread on the internet. Offended parties canceled the contract a number of projects involving Thomas. Tail, he is mentioned to have to resign as a columnist for Hearst News Service. It was unclear whether the resignation was then made Thomas is no longer covering the White House or can be re-engaged in different media. Because, Thomas clearly was too senile to start a new career.

Nevertheless, the White House has become an integral part of Thomas’s career. His name was even printed permanently below normal stool she sat in the press room at the office of the U.S. presidency. Before retiring, Thomas regarded as the most senior journalists at the White House. He has covered the activities of the U.S. presidency since the days of the late Dwight Eisenhower in the late 1950s.

Thomas, who always sat in the front seat during a press conference and frequently asked questions that upset the leader of the United States, joined United Press International (UPI) in 1943 and began covering the White House in 1960. Thanks to its persistent and often ask critical questions, Thomas called a “bulldog” UPI. Through fierce competition, she became the first woman into the White House bureau chief for UPI in 1974.

In addition to being a pioneer of women in journalism, Thomas is also included in the management ranks of the National Press Club, which had banned women become members. Thomas joined Hearst in 2000. “Helen was like a vacuum cleaner of information,” says writer Kay Mills, who wrote the book “A Place in the News: From the Women’s Pages to the Front Page.”

“He always made sure already possess all the information,” said Mills. “Say he’s covered the Kennedy and Jackie’s birthday party one of their children. I tell you, he’s got every information needed.” During this time, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants was not conceal his view that the pro-Arab. During George W. Bush became president, almost all of the questions that Thomas always posed regarding the Iraq war.

Ferrari sports car super necessarily identical with the high speeds that can stimulate adrenaline

BEIJING-range Ferrari sports car super necessarily identical with the high speeds that can stimulate adrenaline. Hence cars like this so every man’s dream. hold on! It turned out that not only men who could have dreamed of for Ferrari, because the woman was actually fond of collecting sports cars ” the Prancing Horse”. Just ask the women in China. In China’s Domestic womenfolk starting to buy a Ferrari four-fold more than women from the western world.

Italian manufacturer was noted, from the Ferrari 220 that were sold in mainland China last year, 44 units purchased by women or equal to 20 percent of total sales. “I am very impressed with the women in China, 20 percent of women there to buy our cars, this figure is greater than the worldwide sales,” said Ferrari CEO, Amedeo Felisa, as quoted from Autoevolution, Tuesday (04/27/2010).

He also revealed, many women in that country who operate businesses in a very tough so they have a lot of money and can afford to buy a Ferrari. “It is surprise for us since we never expect the sale can be fueled by women, but in my opinion, this is a condition in China,” said Felisa.

Ferrari also saw sales growth in China is much better than in the United States (U.S.) and Europe, where the two regions are stagnating sales even before the global financial crisis. Even in honor of this country, intentionally pointing a Ferrari event in 2010 Beijing Motor Show to introduce the Ferrari 599 GTO which is the fastest road car Ferrari which is only produced as many as 599 units. In addition to the Panda Affairs, Taiwan and Hong Kong is also the largest market in Asia-Pacific Ferrari. More than 220 units were sold through 10 dealers Ferrari in China with 150 units sold in Hong Kong and 50 units in Taiwan.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that in March next year it will spread-made unmanned aircraft /KhAI-112 aircraft

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, on Saturday (04/24/2010), said that in March next year it will spread-made unmanned aircraft in the country capable of conducting air strikes.”Super-sophisticated unmanned aircraft is made by the Revolutionary Guards and will be operated in the second half of this year,” said the Guard Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, which refers to the end of Iranian year falling on March 20, 2011.

He did not give detailed explanation about the flight was unmanned. Iranian unmanned aircraft technology has raised concerns in the U.S..U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates recently warned they would make it harder for the military presence in Afghanistan.In February, Iran opened two production lines to manufacture the unmanned aircraft.Tehran said the unmanned aircraft will be capable of doing high-precision attack.

contractor attacks in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan  The message, very often, is sent with bloodshed.There was the suicide bombing last week on a fortified Kandahar guesthouse shared by Western contracting companies, killing four Afghans and injuring several Americans. There was the Afghan engineer, shot dead in March as he helped inspect a school not far from the Pakistan border. Or the Afghan woman, an employee for a U.S.-based consulting firm, shot by motorbike-riding gunmen as she returned home from work in this southern city.

As the United States presses ahead with an Afghan counterinsurgency strategy that depends on speeding up development of one of the world’s poorest countries, the U.S. contractors, construction companies and aid organizations needed to rebuild Afghanistan have faced a surge in attacks that puts the plan in jeopardy.

Overall figures for contractor attacks remain elusive, since the employees come from dozens of nations and work for hundreds of different organizations.But the death toll has jumped precipitously in the months since President Barack Obama launched a massive troop surge last December.

Of the 289 civilians working for U.S. contractors killed between the start of the Afghanistan war in late 2001 and the end of last year, 100 died in just the last six months of 2009, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.To a degree, those killings have mirrored an increase in U.S. service member deaths, which roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.

Many of the recent attacks against civilian contractors have been around Kandahar, the one-time Taliban capital where the U.S. is poised to launch a major operation in the coming weeks, but the rash of violence has spiked across Afghanistan.”The insurgents are trying to say ‘You can’t do it,'” Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in a speech last week in Paris, shortly after two bombings shook Kandahar. “I think we’ll see that for months as they make an effort to stop progress. But I don’t think that they’ll be successful.”

In some ways, though, they already have been successful.Although contractors say they are not leaving the country, the attacks have forced them to retreat even further behind blast walls and heavily armed security perimeters. The security drives up costs, makes it more difficult to interact with regular Afghans and slows reconstruction projects.

The attacks have forced many contractors, aid groups and Afghan officials to retreat even further behind blast walls and heavily armed security perimeters. The security drives up costs, makes it more difficult to interact with regular Afghans and slows reconstruction projects.

“We have become the targets of the Taliban,” said Azizullah, the owner of a construction company that builds bridges and irrigation projects in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, strongholds of the militant Muslim fighters. “If we travel, they try to kidnap us and hold us for huge ransoms. If we don’t pay, they kill us,” said Azizullah, who like many Afghans has only one name.

His workers now travel in U.S. military convoys whenever possible, he said, to give them additional protection.That doesn’t surprise Gulali, a tribal elder from Kandahar province.”Of course the Taliban are against any of these people working for the Afghan government or the Americans or other foreigners,” said the elder, who also uses only one name.

He believes many of the recent attacks are by militants simply looking for softer targets. While nearly all foreign companies in Afghanistan now work out of guarded compounds, they do not have the massive fortifications and overwhelming firepower found at nearly any American military installation.The Taliban “want to use the easiest option,” he said.But the attacks are challenging a key part of America’s aims in Afghanistan.

Washington’s counterinsurgency plans call for aggressive development to build up everything from Afghanistan’s roads to its sewer systems to its irrigation networks. Much of the actual work is paid for by USAID, the government’s main international aid agency, then contracted through corporations that often subcontract the actual the work to smaller companies. On the ground, many employees are Afghans overseen by small groups of Western administrators.

The attacks “are not about armed confrontation. They are about subversion of the government,” said Terrence K. Kelly, a senior researcher at the Washington-based RAND Corporation who has studied how rebuilding efforts work in war zones. America’s strategy counts on development work to increase the legitimacy and reach of the Karzai government. With these attacks the Taliban can “turn off the delivery of services – which makes the government look bad,” he said.USAID insists it will not scale back its work in Afghanistan because of the attacks, according to Rebecca Black, the agency’s deputy mission director for Afghanistan.

Contractors insist they are also staying.The Louis Berger Group/Black & Veatch, a joint venture building major infrastructure projects across the country, was among the companies based in the Kandahar guest house attacked last week.In a statement, the joint venture said they were “currently conducting a comprehensive review of the recent events in Kandahar to assess what changes, if any, are required to continue our work.”(AP)

Kuwait Open New Oil Storage Center

Sabriya,Kuwait on Thursday opened a new reception center at Sabriya oil fields as part of efforts to encourage the Gulf states to increase oil production to four million barrels per day in 2020. Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah inaugurated the center’s third largest oil fields near Kuwait’s northern border with Iraq. The facility was built by South Korean SK Engineering and Construction Co.. at a cost of 626.7 million dollars, can handle 165 000 barrels of crude per day and 85 million cubic feet of gas.

“The center is one of the facilities that contribute to the strategic direction in 2020,” said Sami al-Rasheed, chairman of the Kuwait Oil Co.., The state-owned company responsible for production. Reception center to the physical separation of crude oil, natural gas, water and other impurities before pumping clean oil, either for export or for gas and oil refineries to power plants.

President SK Choi Kwang-Chul said the project was completed six months ahead of schedule and went online a month ago. Reception center is already scheduled to be completed in September. Original center, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border with Iraq, have been damaged during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by Saddam Hussein’s forces. Sheikh Ahmad said the center and a number of other projects are part of a long-term strategy of OPEC member Kuwait to increase production capacity to four million barrels per day.

“Currently, we are able to produce three million barrels per day,” the minister told reporters after the opening ceremony, but declined to say whether this is sustainable for a long time. Kuwait, OPEC’s fourth largest exporter, said that occupy 10 percent of global crude reserves. It had been pumping about 2.2 million barrels per day. (AFP)

3 People Killed In Clashes in North Yemen

Sanaa Three people were killed in clashes in northern Yemen, according to several sources, Thursday, in the latest violence threatened to disrupt the truce that has lasted two months. Shia rebels and government agreed a ceasefire to end the war in the region in February. Several previous truce failed to be enforced. The truce which came into force Friday (12 / 2) it is the government’s latest effort to end the rebellion in the north that has killed thousands of people and caused 250,000 people to flee.

A number of rebels and tribal sources provide information about the maze of clashes Thursday, which highlights the confusion surrounding the conflict in Saada, north Yemen. “Houthi rebels opened fire towards the position of the central security forces, who then shot back,” said one source about the clash Yemeni tribe, who added that three rebels were killed. Rebels denied involvement in the incident, saying the armed tribesmen who clashed with security forces after they tried to extort money from them at a checkpoint in Saada on Wednesday.

The rebels said on their news site, the three people killed were civilians caught in the cross fire. A Yemeni government official denied there has been violence. However, several people were injured in separate clashes between rebels Houthi and pro-government militia, and dozens of pro-rebel gunmen held a peaceful march to protest that Sanaa did not mean an end to the conflict. Zaidi or Houthi rebel group, the name of their deceased leader, based in the mountains on the border of Saudi Arabia, where they engaged in battle with Yemeni and Saudi forces.

Government forces engaged in sporadic battles with Shiite groups since 2004. Violence in southern Yemen has also increased in recent time was when separatist protesting against the administration of President Ali Abdullah Saleh who clashed with security forces killed three policemen and five protestors.

Tensions rose in southern Yemen after a protester was shot dead the police on February 13. The incident sparked riots in which the separatists set fire to shops owned by people north and attempted to blockade a main road. Authorities conduct security operations and arrested about 180 people in the southern provinces. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has urged people not to listen to appeals for secession, which he said the same as treason. North Yemen and South Yemen formally united to form the Republic of Yemen in 1990, but many parties in the southern region, which is where most of the oil in Yemen, says that northern people use it to dominate the unification of natural resources and discriminate against them.

Western countries and Saudi Arabia, Yemen neighbors, worried that the country will fail and Al-Qaeda used the turmoil to strengthen their grip on the impoverished Arab country and turn it into a place to launch further attacks. Yemen into the world spotlight when the regional wing of Al-Qaeda of masterminding a bomb attack AQAP states fail against U.S. passenger plane on Christmas Day.

AQAP declared in late December, they gave Nigerians suspect “means that technically sophisticated” and told Americans that more attacks would be carried out. Analysts fear that Yemen will collapse under Shia rebellion in the northern region, the separatist movement in the southern region and the attacks of Al-Qaeda. Poor country that borders Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporting country. Sanaa said that Yemeni forces kill dozens of al-Qaeda members in two attacks in December.

British Embassy in Sanaa also become targets of suicide attacks planned Al-Qaeda Yemeni security forces foiled in mid-December. An Al Qaeda cell that was destroyed in Arhab, 35 kilometers north of the Yemeni capital, “aims to infiltrate and blow up targets including the British Embassy, government buildings and foreign interests”, according to a statement posted on the site 26Sep.net letter news of the defense ministry. Besides the rebellion, Yemen was hit by kidnappings of foreigners in recent years.( Reuters)