Síntesis informativa -11 de marzo 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Trump Administration Steps Up Air War in Somalia
WASHINGTON — The American military has escalated a battle against the Shabab, an extremist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, in Somalia even as President Trump seeks to scale back operations against similar Islamist insurgencies elsewhere in the world, from Syria and Afghanistan to West Africa.
A surge in American airstrikes over the last four months of 2018 pushed the annual death toll of suspected Shabab fighters in Somalia to the third record high in three years. Last year, the strikes killed 326 people in 47 disclosed attacks, Defense Department data show.
And so far this year, the intensity is on a pace to eclipse the 2018 record. During January and February, the United States Africa Command reported killing 225 people in 24 strikes in Somalia. Double-digit death tolls are becoming routine, including a bloody five-day stretch in late February in which the military disclosed that it had killed 35, 20 and 26 people in three separate attacks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/us/politics/us-somalia-airstrikes-shabab.html
Netanyahu-Trump Partnership Is Stronger Than Ever. Are These Its Final Days?
JERUSALEM — In his increasingly uphill re-election battle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s secret weapon is no secret.
It’s President Trump.
Giant campaign billboards went up in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem a month ago showing the prime minister and the president shaking hands and grinning under the words “A Different League,” implicitly dismissing Mr. Netanyahu’s challengers as amateurs. Hours before Israel’s attorney general announced his intention to indict Mr. Netanyahu on corruption charges last month, Mr. Trump told reporters in Vietnamthat the Israeli leader was “tough, smart, strong” and “has done a great job as prime minister.”
And on Monday, the Pentagon announced a small, temporary American troop deployment in Israel. By Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu — barred under an anti-propaganda law from exploiting Israeli soldiers as campaign props — had circulated a video and snapshotsshowing him surrounded by American troops instead.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/middleeast/netanyahu-trump-election-scandal.html
Iran Tries to Expand Business in Iraq to Blunt U.S. Sanctions
BAGHDAD — From financing the expansion of the vast courtyards that lead into the Shiite shrines of the holy city of Najaf, to ensuring that a Tehran-friendly candidate gets the job of interior minister, Iran’s role in Iraq keeps growing.
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran arrived in Baghdad on Monday for a visit to a place that his country has shaped in ways big and small over the past several years. Iran was the real winner of last year’s parliamentary elections in Iraq: The parties linked to the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces, most of them with ties to Tehran, emerged as the kingmakers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/world/middleeast/iran-iraq-rouhani.html
13 Civilians Reported Killed in U.S. Airstrikes in Afghanistan
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — At least 13 civilians, including several children, were killed in American airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan that were carried out in support of an Afghan-led operation against the Taliban, local officials and tribal elders said on Sunday.
Members of a C.I.A.-sponsored Afghan strike force called in air support after coming under fire on Saturday as they mounted an assault on Taliban fighters in the district of Hesarak in Nangarhar Province, the officials said.
The airstrikes hit two houses in the village of Naser Khil, said a tribal elder, Ruzi Khan Maruf. In one house, the village’s lone doctor, his wife and their five teenage daughters were killed, Mr. Maruf said by telephone. In the other, the doctor’s brother, his wife and their four children — three teenage girls and a boy — reportedly died. The brother was an Afghan soldier, Mr. Maruf said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/asia/airstrikes-nangarhar-afghanistan.html
Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Nicolás Maduro Burned Aid Convoy
CÚCUTA, Colombia — The narrative seemed to fit Venezuela’s authoritarian rule: Security forces, on the order of President Nicolás Maduro, had torched a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in his country were suffering from illness and hunger.
Vice President Mike Pence wrote that “the tyrant in Caracas danced” as his henchmen “burned food & medicine.” The State Department released a video saying Mr. Maduro had ordered the trucks burned. And Venezuela’s opposition held up the images of the burning aid, reproduced on dozens of news sites and television screens throughout Latin America, as evidence of Mr. Maduro’s cruelty.
But there is a problem: The opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro’s men, appears to have set the cargo alight accidentally.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/americas/venezuela-aid-fire-video.html
THE GUARDIAN
Libyan army chief strengthens hand by taking more territory
Haftar, the head of the Libyan national army, has been strengthened by a successful offensive into the often lawless south-west, and some observers say he is in a better position to dictate terms to his rival Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the UN-recognised government of national accord in Tripoli.
The push into the Fezzan region has left Haftar in control of two-thirds of the country, most border crossings and many key oil installations, including the large oil fields in the Murzuk basin.
SDF launches assault on last Isis enclave in eastern Syria
The assault by the SDF aims to wipe out the last vestige of Isis’s self-declared “caliphate” that once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria. While the Baghuz enclave represents the last shred of populated land held by the jihadists, the group is still widely seen as a big security threat with remote territory elsewhere and the continued capacity to launch guerrilla attacks.
Since suffering devastating territorial losses in 2017, Isis has steadily turned again to such tactics. Sleeper cells in Iraq have staged a scatter-gun campaign of kidnappings and killings to undermine the Baghdad government.
The group has also carried out many bombings in northeast Syria, which is controlled by US-backed Kurdish forces, including one that killed four Americans in January. Kurdish and US officials say it remains a menace there.
AL JAZEERA
Trump reviving his border wall fight with new budget request
Officials say president will seek $8.6bn in funding for border wall, a request Democrats strongly oppose.
Trump's budget proposes increasing defence spending to $750bn - and standing up the new Space Force as a military branch - while reducing nondefence accounts by five percent, with cuts recommended to safety-net programmes used by many Americans.
While pushing down spending in some areas, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the proposal will seek to increase funding in others to align with the president's priorities, according to one official.
The administration will invest more than $80bn for veterans services, a nearly 10 percent increase from current levels, including "significant" investments in rehabilitation, employment assistance and suicide prevention.
It will also increase resources to fight the opioid epidemic with money for prevention, treatment, research and recovery, the administration said. And it seeks to shift some federal student loan costs to colleges and universities.
Iran President Rouhani in Baghdad to 'expand ties with Iraq'
During the three-day visit, agreements will be signed in fields such as energy, transport, agriculture and more.
Since Rouhani's election in 2013, Iraq has relied on Iranian paramilitary support to fight ISIL following the group's capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul and other territories in both Iraq and Syria.
"We are very much interested to expand our ties with Iraq, particularly our transport cooperation," Rouhani said at Tehran's Mehrabad airport before departing for Iraq.
Iran and Iraq plan to raise their annual bilateral trade to $20bn from the current level of $12bn, according to Rouhani. The bulk of the trade balance is tilted towards Iran with gas and energy exports.
Sudanese protesters 'defiant' in face of Bashir's emergency laws
Protests have continued in Sudan despite President Omar al-Bashir's launch of year-long state of emergency last month.
Arwa Ibrahim.- The one-year state of emergency announced on February 22 gives state authorities extended powers to detain protesters and crack down on public gatherings, but activists who have been protesting against Bashir for nearly three months say they are more determined than ever to take to the streets.
Turkey falls into recession for first time in a decade
The release of new figures, which show worst economic performance since 2009, comes just weeks before local polls.
Overall, growth came in at 2.6 percent for 2018 overall, but that was still much lower than the 7.4 percent recorded in 2017, a turbulent period following a failed coup the previous year and a number of attacks.
Inflation has also remained high. It struck a 15-year peak in October at 25.24 percent before falling below 20 percent in February, with food prices hit particularly hard.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/turkey-falls-recession-time-decade-190311121710318.html
Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel is a state 'only of the Jewish people'
Israeli prime minister admits the state is not one for 'all of its citizens' in response to a critical Instagram post.
The law, passed last summer, downgraded the Arabic language from an official language to a language with "special status", making Hebrew the only official language, and stipulated that "Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it".
It also states that an undivided Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
The prime minister has continually warned that his opponents will receive the support of Arab parties and that they will make significant concessions to the Palestinians.
Netanyahu, who may face indictment for corruption, is facing a tough challenge from a centrist political alliance led by Benny Gantz, a former military chief of staff, and Yair Lapid, a former finance minister.
RUSSIA TODAY
Ending war with another war? Erik Prince wants to send 1,000s of mercenaries to fix Afghan quagmire
Founder of the notorious Blackwater firm Erik Prince wants to end the 18-year Afghan stalemate with… another war which could see 6,000 mercenaries replace US troops on the ground once they leave the country.
Prince, a private war mogul who made a fortune during the post-9/11 conflicts, believes he has a recipe for bringing the Afghanistan stalemate to an end. “I do want to end the war by giving the Afghan forces the means to survive and to be much more [offensive],” he proclaimed on Al Jazeera last week.
Some 2,000 Special Forces and around 6,000 Blackwater mercenaries would be enough to help the Afghan national army pacify the enemy, he explained. One question remains wide open, however: What would be the cost of a new private war for local civilians?
https://www.rt.com/news/453500-blackwater-afghanistan-deployment-prince/
Taliban leader lived out last days near US base in Afghanistan as CIA looked elsewhere, book reveals
The Taliban’s one-eyed leader and co-founder Mullah Omar – who’d had a $10 million bounty on his head – lived out his final days in relative peace and within walking distance of a US base, a Dutch journalist claims.
Omar’s rise to power began when he joined the Afghan Mujahideen to fight the Soviet army in the 1980s. He co-founded the Taliban in 1994 and within two years had captured large swathes of territory, including the capital, Kabul. Accused of harboring Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks, Omar became a prized US target during the invasion of Afghanistan, but eluded his pursuers until his death in 2013.
In the twelve years between the invasion and Omar’s death, US officials and the CIA believed him to be hiding out in Pakistan. In reality, Dutch journalist Bette Dam claims in a forthcoming book, all along he was right under their noses.
https://www.rt.com/news/453484-taliban-leader-hiding-us-base/
VIDEO captures test of Russian military device, dreaded in UK media for its ‘hallucinating’ effects
After causing a meltdown in British tabloids over the “hallucinating effect” it might cause, Russia’s Filin visual optical interference device, fitted to some Navy ships, has been captured in action by the Russian defense channel.
The first-ever public footage of Filin 5P-42 in use was broadcast on the Russian Defense Ministry’s channel Zvezda, which filmed them being tested in St. Petersburg. The undated trial was held at twilight in the Gulf of Finland.
The optical interference system is capable of neutralizing scopes, laser position finders and the aiming systems of guided missiles, and of blinding enemy personnel at a distance of up to five kilometers. It works at night and in twilight, but the Russian manufacturer Roselectronica is currently working on a device that will be as effective during daytime as well.
https://www.rt.com/news/453480-russia-hallucinating-device-test-frigate/
Russia preparing to be cut off from Internet, but doesn’t want to disconnect – Kremlin
Russian authorities support online freedom, just like those who rallied in Moscow on weekend, and only want to protect the Russian web from foreign intrusion, Dmitry Peskov, the presidential press secretary, said.
Some 6,500 people took to the streets in the Russian capital on weekend to decry the draft law regulating autonomous operations of the Russian segment of the internet, according to police estimations.
But Peskov insisted that fears of the protestors that the legislation will put the web under strict state control were misplaced because “everybody stands for internet freedom – the authors of this law; the presidential administration; the government.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/453529-russia-internet-freedom-peskov/
AL MAYADEEN
Ejército egipcio aniquila a 46 terroristas durante enfrentamientos en el norte del Sinaí
Según el comunicado, se colocaron más de 200 artefactos explosivos para atacar las redadas, así como para atacar y destruir a 15 grupos armados.
Prosigue recuperación eléctrica mientras voces opositoras reclaman intervención extranjera en Venezuela
Maduro informó el sábado que se había avanzado en la reconexión de casi un 70 por ciento del país, pero otro ataque —aseguró— “tumbó todo lo logrado”.
El Gobierno venezolano acusa a Estados Unidos y al diputado opositor Juan Guaidó, autoproclamado presidente encargado, de ser los responsables del sabotaje eléctrico que dejó al menos a 18 estados del país en un completo apagón desde el jueves.
Guaidó dijo que solicitará a la Asamblea Nacional (en descato desde 2016) de la cual es presidente, que declare el “estado de alarma”, con el fin de solicitar ayuda internacional.
Pero el sábado Guaidó amenazó con el artículo 187, "cuando llegue el momento". En la Carta Magna, el punto 11 del referido artículo indica que corresponde a la Asamblea Nacional "Autorizar el empleo de misiones militares venezolanas en el exterior o extranjeras en el país".
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