Titles:

• America’s economic power in decline
• Libya’s Interim Leader asks crusaders to continue their war until end of 2011
• Sudan armed Libyan rebels, says President Bashir
• Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels
• U.S. reacts with dismay after Karzai says he would side with Pakistan in a war against America

News Details:

America’s economic power in decline

A Harvard University atlas on world economic growth was released in Boston on Thursday and it contains some worrying predictions for America’s economic standing in the world. Professor Ricardo Hausmann is the director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University which developed the report. He was previously the chief economist of the Inter-American Development Bank and was also chair of the IMF-World Bank Development Committee and says he is deeply concerned about the current European debt crisis. He spoke to World Today program and stated: “US is already a fairly rich country so rich countries have trouble growing. US also is striking because in this expansion of exports around the world, the US has been a laggard. The US is in the 17th percentile, that is there are 83 per cent of countries have expanded their exports faster than the US. US exports have grown at a fourth of the average of the Germans over the last 10 years. The way I would characterise the situation is that the world is catching up on the US. So by 1970 the US was 20 times richer than China in per-capita terms. Now the US is about four and a half times richer than China in per-capita terms.’

Libya’s Interim Leader asks crusaders to continue their war until end of 2011

Libya’s interim leader said Wednesday that he had asked NATO to prolong its air patrols through December and add military advisers on the ground, despite his official declaration on Sunday of the country’s liberation after the killing of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. “We have asked NATO to stay until the end of the year, and it certainly has the international legitimacy to remain in Libya to protect the civilians from Qaddafi loyalists,” the interim leader, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, chairman of the Transitional National Council, said in an interview with the pan-Arab news channel Al Jazeera. “Qaddafi still has supporters in neighboring countries, and we fear those loyalists could be launching attacks against us and infiltrating our borders,” he said. “We need technical support and training for our troops on the ground. We also need communications equipment, and we need aerial intelligence to monitor our borders.”

Sudan armed Libyan rebels, says President Bashir

This week the BBC reported Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says his country gave military support to the Libyan rebels who overthrew Col Muammar Gaddafi. In a speech broadcast live on state television, Mr Bashir said the move was in response to Col Gaddafi’s support for Sudanese rebels three years ago. Sudan and Libya have had a complicated and frequently antagonistic relationship for many years. Libya was declared liberated on Sunday, two days after Col Gaddafi’s death. President Bashir said the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfuri rebel group, had attacked Khartoum three years ago using Libyan trucks, equipment, arms, ammunition and money. He said God had given Sudan a chance to respond, by sending arms, ammunition and humanitarian support to the Libyan revolutionaries. “Our God, high and exalted, from above the seven skies, gave us the opportunity to reciprocate the visit,” he said. “The forces which entered Tripoli, part of their arms and capabilities, were 100% Sudanese,” he told the crowd. His speech was well received by a large crowd in the eastern Sudanese town of Kassala. JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim lived for some time in southern Libya. Now he is back in Darfur, in western Sudan, where an eight-year-old civil war continues. Mr Bashir’s remarks show a desire to forge firm links with Libya’s new government. But the easy availability of weapons in Libya, and that country’s porous border with Darfur, are also of great concern to the Sudanese authorities.

Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels

Qatar has admitted for the first time that it sent hundreds of troops to support the Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The Gulf state had previously acknowledged only that its air force took part in Nato-led attacks. The revelation came as Qatar hosted a conference on the post-Gaddafi era that was attended by the leader of Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who described the Qataris as having planned the battles that paved the way for victory. It also has emerged that now the fighting is over, Qatar is to lead international efforts to train the Libyan military, collect weapons and integrate often autonomous rebel units into newly established military and security institutions – seen by the UN and western governments as the key challenge facing the NTC. Qatar played a key role in galvanising Arab support for the UN security council resolution that mandated Nato to defend Libyan civilians in March. It also delivered weapons and ammunition on a large scale – without any clear legal basis. There were repeated rumours about and occasional sightings of Qatari special forces in Libya during the war. Until now, however, there had been no official confirmation of actions that were not explicitly authorised by the UN. The Qatari chief-of-staff, Major-General Hamad bin Ali al-Atiya, said: “We were among them and the numbers of Qataris on the ground were hundreds in every region. Training and communications had been in Qatari hands. Qatar … supervised the rebels’ plans because they are civilians and did not have enough military experience,” AFP quoted him as saying. “We acted as the link between the rebels and Nato forces.” Qatari special forces are reported to have provided infantry training to Libyan fighters in the western Nafusa mountains and in eastern Libya. Qatar’s military even brought Libyan rebels back to Doha for exercises. And in the final assault on Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli in late August, Qatari special forces were seen on the frontline. Qatar also gave $400m to the rebels, helped them export oil from Benghazi and set up a TV station in Doha.

U.S. reacts with dismay after Karzai says he would side with Pakistan in a war against America

America has been angered after Afghanistan’s leader declared his country would back Pakistan if war ever broke out. President Hamid Karzai said on Pakistani TV his country would stand with its neighbour whoever attacked it – even the U.S. ‘If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan’s help, Afghanistan will be there with you.’He said his country was indebted to Pakistan for taking in millions of Afghan refugees over the years and stressed that Kabul would not allow any nation – be it the U.S., India, Russia, China or anyone else – to dictate its policies. ‘Anybody that attacks Pakistan, Afghanistan will stand with Pakistan,’ he said. ‘Afghanistan will never betray its brother.’

30 Dhu al-Qi’dah 1432
2011/10/27