Sporadic Gunfire, Bomb Blasts as Mumbai Siege Continues
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Police pursue last of terrorists in heart of Mumbai's tourist district
Clashes between Indian security forces and the remaining terrorists that launched a multi pronged assault on Mumbai continued into the night as authorities slowly regained control of the city . Raymond Thibodeaux has this report from Mumbai where explosions and gunfire rocked the city for a third day. The southern tip of Mumbai, the heart of the city's tourist district, was turned into a battle zone as police tried to capture or kill the last of the terrorists. Indian soldiers aim a grenade launcher at part of the facade of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai,28 Nov 2008At the historic Taj hotel in the southern tip of the city late Friday, the air was filled with the sound of grenades, sporadic machine-gun fire and helicopters hovering overhead. Indian special forces went room to room in an effort to end the three-day siege by militants who rampaged through the streets of Mumbai and took hostages in two posh Mumbai hotels and at a Jewish community center.By late afternoon, Indian commandos had freed another six hostages, who were escorted to the back of the Taj into a waiting ambulance. None of them appeared to be injured, just shaken up and hungry after more than two days with almost no food.Indian security forces so far have freed at least 200 hostages at the Taj. It is still unclear how many gunmen were involved in the assualt on the building.Security officials have confirmed that several foreigners were killed and more than 20 injured. It is known that among the dead: three Germans, one Japanese, one Canadian and one Australian.Firefighters and ambulances were rushed to the Taj late Friday as a fresh column of smoke could be seen rising from the luxury hotel's roof.Four bystanders were hit by gunfire near the front of the Taj where many journalists have gathered to cover the siege. One of those injured was a journalist for the French Press Agency. An Indian commando comes down a rope to reach the top of Nariman House, 28 Nov 2008Elsewhere in the city, loud blasts and sporadic gunfire erupted at the Nariman House as Indian security forces worked to end the hostage standoff at a Jewish outreach center. A security official told Indian television that commandoes found bodies of what are believed to be terrorists and hostages in the center.With Mumbai as the financial gateway to India, many of the hostages that had been held at the luxury hotels were in India on business. As the siege began, many of their companies apparently called in crisis consultants like Sanjay Vaswani to help the hostages through their ordeal and upon their eventual release. He declined to give the name of the company that had called him in."The eight people we were in charge of were glad to be out. It showed in their faces they were tired," he said.So far, it is unclear exactly how many people have been killed since the coordinated attacks began but authorities said the number is believed to be at least 140 and could go higher once security forces are able to slowly go through the devastated buildings where the fighting took place.
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Mumbai Terror Attack Escalates Tensions Between India, Pakistan
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Accusations by India's top diplomat and other politicians of Pakistani link to attacks causes immediate chill in relations between New Delhi, Islamabad
A diplomatic row between India and Pakistan has erupted over alleged Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. The chill in relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors comes as commandos in Mumbai launched their final assaults on three sites. The coordinated attacks by unknown militants have left at least 140 people dead and wounded more than 300. VOA correspondent Steve Herman in New Delhi has the story. An injured man leans on a railing after a series of attacks by terrorist gunmen in Mumbai, 26 Nov. 2008 Accusations by India's top diplomat and some of its politicians of a Pakistani hand in this week's terrorist attacks on Mumbai is causing an immediate chill in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has joined the voices here speaking of a Pakistani link to the terrorists who wreaked mayhem across India's commercial capital. The minister says initial evidence points to the terrorists having Pakistani links. Mukherjee also is calling on Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure in that country which he says assists terrorists. Other Indian politicians and military officials say those who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan by sea. Pakistan has been quick to respond, condemning such talk. Speaking to reporters in the Indian state of Rajasthan, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi accuses India of politicizing the issue."Do not play politics into this issue. This is a collective issue," said Qureshi. "We are facing a common enemy. And we have to join hands to defeat this enemy." In Islamabad, Pakistani officials say Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has called his Indian counterpart to pledge full support to jointly combat extremism and terrorism. In the conversation Mr. Gilani told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Pakistan strongly condemns the attacks on Mumbai. India media report that Mr. Singh asked the Pakistani prime minister to send the head of his country's intelligence service to New Delhi to exchange information about the militants who attacked Mumbai. Mr. Singh, on Thursday, in a national address, said the operation was planned outside the country and warned India's neighbors not to provide a haven for terrorists to launch attacks on India. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they both won independence from Britain in 1947. Militants opposed to Indian rule of the disputed Kashmir region attacked the Parliament here in 2001, pushing the two neighbors to the brink of another war the following year. This July, India accused the Pakistani intelligence service of helping Taliban terrorists bomb the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital. The blast killed 58 people, including two Indian diplomats.
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Thai Police Take First Steps to Enforce State of Emergency and End Airport Protests
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Police have called for anti-government protesters to vacate main airports in Bangkok, which group seized earlier this week
Thai police have called for anti-government protesters to vacate the
main airports in Bangkok, which the group seized earlier this week. Ron
Corben has this report from Bangkok, where the government has declared
a state of emergency around the airports.Anti-government protesters sets up barrier in front of Don Mueang airport in Bangkok, 28 Nov 2008Thousands of
anti-government protesters occupying the international and domestic
airports in the capital were bracing Friday against efforts by security
forces to end the occupation.Leaders of the People's Alliance
for Democracy on Friday said they remain determined to press on with
the protest despite the threat of police action and a growing loss of
public support.The police say they want to negotiate with the
PAD, but it is possible they will use force to clear the terminals.
There is concern about violence, particularly because there are
children among the protesters.Sunai Pasuk, the Thai representative for Human Rights Watch, says the government realizes the world is watching the situation."No
one I believe in the outside world and the majority of the Thai public
- no one is siding with the PAD. [But] they don't want to see a
massacre at Don Muang and Suvanabhumi airport. The police need to take
incremental steps," he said. Sunai says the government is
offering the PAD an exit strategy by allowing the alliance to return to
the government house compound which it seized in late August. "If
they want to continue the protest - well go ahead - and this is a very
deliberate decision not to declare a state of emergency at the
government house as well. The government has thought through very
carefully this time by providing an exit and if the PAD still refuses
to take this opportunity then things can get [a] little ugly," he said.Thousands
of travelers have been stranded by the protest, which is costing the
economy millions of dollars in lost revenue. The airport blockades
particularly hurt the tourism industry, a cornerstone of the Thai
economy.The government is using airports just outside Bangkok
to move passengers, but only a limited number of flights have taken
off. Efforts also are under way to transport up to five thousand Thai
Muslims traveling to Saudi Arabia for the Haj. On
Thursday Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency
at the airports. He has rejected calls by the military and the PAD for
him to resign.Around the city this week there have been
sporadic outbursts of violence between the PAD and government
supporters. An anti-government TV station and a pro-government
community radio station have suffered attacks. Naishinawatra
Parboonpart is the manager of the community radio station, run by a
taxi radio service. He expects police to move against the PAD protest
later Friday. He says extra police have been brought in from
the provinces and they will move quickly and once the airports are
reopened it will be better for the nation.The PAD accuses Mr.
Somchai of acting as a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who fled Thailand in August in the face of corruption
charges. He was ousted in a coup two years ago.Many Thais
speculate that the military may stage a coup, although senior military
officers have denied it plans to unseat the government. Pro-Thaksin
supporters have vowed to challenge the army if there is a coup.
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Somali Power-Sharing Deal Lacks Support from Key Players
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However, international diplomats and some Somali politicians say they are hopeful that deal will pave way toward ending nearly two years of violence in country
International diplomats and some Somali politicians say they are hopeful that a deal signed on Wednesday to share power between the country's transitional federal government and an Islamist-led opposition faction will pave the way toward ending nearly two years of violence in Somalia. But as VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, the agreement still lacks support from several key players in the conflict.The agreement reached in the latest round of talks in Djibouti calls for the enlargement of the interim Somali parliament from 275 members to 550.Two-hundred seats are allocated to the opposition group. The remaining 75 seats will go to civil society leaders.The expanded parliament is to appoint a new speaker and hold new elections in January to elect an interim president. The unity transitional government has also been given two more years to consolidate power and to stabilize the country.The U.N. Special Envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, who has been the mediator of the peace talks since they began earlier this year in Djibouti, called the power-sharing deal "very encouraging." Somali interirm President Abdullahi Yusuf (file photo)In Nairobi, the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneburger told reporters that he, too, believed the peace process could yield positive results. But he acknowledged that an on-going personal dispute between Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Adde Hassan Hussein was not helpful to the process. The feud, which erupted in August, has further weakened the government by splitting it into factions."The challenge is to ensure that President Yusuf and the prime minister work together to ensure that this is implemented," said Ranneburger. "Obviously, that is not an ideal relationship. We also have the parliament with its own views. But we are certainly pressing all the institutions of the TFG [transitional federal government] to work together." Publicly, Mr. Yusuf has expressed support for the Djibouti peace talks. He has denied making a proposal last week to move the talks to Libya, where he reportedly enjoys support from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. But parliament members close to the president privately say that Mr. Yusuf strongly disapproves of the power-sharing agreement and does not feel bound by it.The latest agreement between the government and the opposition led by moderate Islamist leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed follows a deal signed in June to implement a ceasefire and replace thousands of Ethiopian troops in Somalia with a U.N. peacekeeping force in the coming months. The troops arrived in late 2006, when Ethiopia ousted the ruling Islamic Courts Union, installed the secular government in its place, and ignited an Islamist-led insurgency. The fighting in Somalia has killed thousands of people and has left millions displaced. The opposition has never been able to implement the ceasefire because Islamist insurgents on the ground, led by the militant al-Qaida-linked Shabab group, have refused to join the talks and have continued their fight to throw Ethiopia out of Somalia and to regain control of the country. The chief negotiator for the opposition alliance, Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, tells VOA that he is confident a ceasefire would come into effect as soon as Ethiopia withdrew its forces."Yes, the issue is how to deal with the complaints of those who are on the ground because the reason they are fighting is that they are against the presence of Ethiopian troops," he said. "And if you deal with that issue correctly, I think nobody will have the legitimacy to continue fighting."Ethiopia has resisted calls for an immediate withdrawal because it fears Islamists with goals of uniting ethnically-Somali areas of southern Ethiopia with Somalia could fill the power vacuum its troops would leave behind. But Ethiopia has been showing growing impatience with the transitional government in recent weeks and has indicated that it would begin withdrawing troops within the next few weeks.
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IAEA Frustrated Over Lack of Transparency in Iran, Syria
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Agency head Mohammed ElBaradei says Iran and Syria still need to clarify some outstanding issues regarding their nuclear activities
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed frustration Thursday that neither Iran nor Syria been completely transparent about their alleged nuclear activities. For VOA, Lisa Bryant has more on the agency's findings from Paris. IAEA Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, is seen before the IAEA's board meeting in Vienna, 27 Nov 2008The International Atomic Energy Agency is holding a two-day meeting to examine reports on the alleged nuclear activities of Iran and Syria, both of which has sparked international concern. In comments before the commission on Thursday, agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei said neither country had done enough to assuage concerns about their programs. He urged Iran to clarify a number of issues about its nuclear program and to stop obstructing an IAEA probe into intelligence materials that the United States says shows the country studied how to design atomic bombs."There remain a number of outstanding issues, relevant to the alleged studies and associated questions identified in my last report to the board which give rise to concern and need to be clarified in order to exclude the existence of a possible military dimension to Iran's nuclear program. Regrettably, the agency has not been able to make substantive progress on these issues," he said.Western nations fear Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. But Tehran insists the purpose of its nuclear enrichment program is to make energy.This undated image released during a briefing by senior US officials shows alleged Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help, which was hit by Israeli strikeElBaradei said also Syria has failed to clear suspicion that a desert site bombed by Israel last year was a nuclear reactor. "As I stated in the report, while it cannot be excluded that the building in question was intended for non-nuclear use, the features of the building, along with the availability of adequate pumping capacity of cooling water, are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site," he said. In light of this, it is important that Syria provide the agency with documentation in support of its statements concerning the nature and function of the destroyed building." In remarks to reporters earlier this week, the head of Syria's atomic energy commission ruled out follow-up visits to the site by IAEA experts. The IAEA's board has nonetheless approved a Syrian demand for technical assistance in planning a civilian nuclear power plant over U.S. objections.
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South Korean Officials Return From North As Joint Projects Halt
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Both sides are getting ready for a complete border closure the North has promised to enforce next week
South Korean officials who usually work in North Korea have returned home as ties between the two cold war rivals worsen. Both sides are getting ready for a complete border closure the North has promised to enforce next week. VOA's Kurt Achin has more from Seoul.South Korean tourists return after visiting North Korea city of Kaesong at customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju near the border village of Panmunjom (DMZ) north of Seoul, South Korea, 28 Nov 2008A South Korean freight train made its final scheduled crossing into North Korea Friday. The daily rail crossings were seen to have such symbolic value that the train often made its journey north completely empty of cargo.The train conductor, Shin Jang-cheol says even though the train service is halted for now, he hopes it can resume again in the future.The train route and a tour program to the North Korean city of Kaesong are the latest inter-Korean projects to go into a deep freeze as ties between the two sides worsen. A joint tourism zone was suspended in July after North Korean soldiers shot a visiting South Korean housewife to death, then refused to cooperate in an investigation.Six South Korean government officials were among those who crossed into the South Friday after leaving their jobs at a joint industrial park in Kaesong. South Korean Unification Ministry Spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon says hundreds more South Koreans will also return.He says out of more than 4,000 South Koreans who have visas from the North to stay in the Kaesong complex, about 1,500 have gotten permission to stay after December 1.December 1 is Monday - when North Korea has vowed to completely restrict crossings of its southern border. Pyongyang is angry at South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whom North Korean media frequently describe as a "traitor" for his conservative policies.When he took office in January, President Lee ended ten years of efforts by previous governments to seek friendship with the North in exchange for massive aid and investment. North Korea accuses the Lee administration of dragging its feet on implementing agreements made by his two predecessors which promise billions of dollars in South Korean backing for projects in the North. The North has also expressed anger at South Korea's failure to prevent the launch of balloon-carried leaflets into the North by private groups. The leaflets harshly criticize North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and contain sensitive information about his apparent recovery from a stroke.Former President Kim Dae-jung, architect of the so-called "sunshine policy" of open-ended assistance to the North, accused President Lee this week of "intentionally harming" North-South relations.Yoon Sang-hyun, a legislator with the South Korean president's ruling party, says Mr. Lee is right to make South Korean aid consistent with North Korea's cooperation on iss ues like nuclear disarmament.He says the main crisis here is the North Korean government itself. It's not South Korea's policies that need to change, he says, it is North Korea that needs to change.Many analysts say major North-South projects like the Kaesong zone are now in danger of coming to a complete end. Even if Kaesong continues, economists say investors are probably much more fearful about committing resources and staff to the project.
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Ethiopia to Withdraw Troops From Somalia by Year End
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Ethiopians to remain on Somali border, says AU; Withdrawal too dangerous, some diplomats caution
Ethiopia has announced its intention to withdraw its troops from neighboring Somalia by the end of this year. But as correspondent Peter Heinlein reports from Addis Ababa, Ethiopian officials have assured the African Union their forces will remain on alert at the border to support the remaining AU peacekeepers if necessary.Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu, (file photo)Ethiopia has sent a letter to the United Nations and the African Union saying it will withdraw its forces from positions inside Somalia by the end of December. African and western diplomats confirmed to VOA the letter was delivered several days ago.The pullout would come two years after Ethiopian troops invaded their lawless Horn of Africa neighbor to drive out Islamists who had imposed Sharia law on a large part of the country. Since then, the Ethiopian contingent of between 10,000 and 15,000 troops has been the prime force propping up Somalia's fragile transitional government. They operate alongside a 3,400 strong AU peacekeeping unit known as AMISOM, made up of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers.The letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping announcing the intent to withdraw was sent after Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin publicly warned Somalia's feuding president and prime minister to patch up their differences or be left alone to fight among themselves.The bodies of alleged insurgents lie in Mogadishu after fighting broke out on 21 Nov 2008Many African diplomats have openly expressed fears that an Ethiopian pullout could lead to an immediate collapse of the TFG, as the Somali government is known. But AU Commission Chairman Ping told reporters Wednesday he has received assurances from Ethiopia that they will not completely abandon Somalia, and will remain on the border, poised to return if conditions deteriorate."In spite of withdrawal of the Ethiopians, they will remain committed, just in the other side of the border, and they will intervene, and the African troops will remain there. The AMISOM will remain there and we'll continue to ask strengthening of AMISOM by asking new troops and also financial assistance," he said. Ping said he is preparing for a number of possible scenarios to protect Somalia and the remaining peacekeepers when Ethiopia pulls out. But he expressed hope the Ethiopians could be persuaded to postpone their withdrawal if Somalia's leaders settle their internal dispute."This depends on the behavior of the Transitional Government of Somalia," Ping said. We hope they will understand they are there to help the country to help them and they should stop quarreling… So we hope that this will be the case and then we can continue this operation in Somalia." Ping said negotiations are on to attract more African troops to bolster the AU force so it could shoulder the entire peacekeeping burden once Ethiopia withdraws. Kenya has already said it will soon dispatch a battalion to Somalia. Ping said he is also urging the U.N. Security Council to provide help, in view of the surge of piracy that threatens vital shipping lanes of the Somali coast."We already have a request to the Security Council. [There is] a need for them to come as quick as possible, because the disorder we are seeing on the ocean with piracy is an extension on the sea of the disorder that is going on on the mainland," he said.African diplomats Thursday expressed hope that the current crisis could force governments in the region and the international community to take a fresh look at ways to prevent a turn for the worse in Somalia. The country has been without a functioning government for 18 years. Newly arrived Somali refugees at the Dadaab camp, northeastern Kenya, 16 Oct 2008A combination of lawlessness and civil war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. The United Nations estimates 3.2 million people, about 40 percent of the population, are in need of emergency assistance.While asking for anonymity, one senior diplomat from a country considering a troop contribution to AMISOM told VOA, "Ethiopia can't leave now. It's just too dangerous."
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Concern Grows Over Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe
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Senior health official appeals for international aid to fight growing epidemic of cholera which has killed nearly 400 people
Humanitarian officials are expressing growing concern over deteriorating health and sanitation conditions in Zimbabwe as crisis talks between political parties show no signs of progress. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from our Southern African Bureau in Johannesburg.A child walks barefoot past rain water and sewage near Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 Nov 2008A senior Zimbabwean health official Thursday appealed for international aid to fight a growing epidemic of cholera which he said has killed nearly 400 people.His call came as cholera cases were detected in neighboring South Africa and Botswana, mostly among travelers arriving from Zimbabwe.South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan said South African health services are trying to care for the Zimbabwean victims."Given the scale of the outbreak, the weakened health system in Zimbabwe and the extended cross border movement of people it was agreed that all aspects of our interventions needed to be scaled up and a renewed sense of urgency to deal with this outbreak is needed at all levels," she said.But she added that a major focus should be to help repair sanitation plants and provide clean water in Zimbabwe.The United Nations reported nearly 9,000 cases of cholera in Zimbabwe, saying the water-borne disease had spread due to collapsing health and sanitation systems. Zimbabwe's public services have experienced serious decay due to economic decline, shortages of basic goods and the flight of skilled workers.U.N. officials also said nearly half of the country's population of 10 million people needed food assistance and this number was likely to increase in the coming months. But they said food aid would run out in January unless additional donations were forthcoming. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, left, and new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai pose after signing the power-sharing accord, 15 Sept 2008There have been calls for increased isolation of the government of President Robert Mugabe because of a lack of progress in crisis talks between the country's three main parties.The talks are aimed at forming a government of national unity more than two months after the parties signed a power-sharing accord. Under the accord, Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party is to divide government ministries with two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change which won a majority of parliamentary seats in elections eight months ago.The leader of the main MDC faction, Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai, Wednesday issued a statement saying his party was shifting its focus from the power-sharing talks to the humanitarian crisis.He accused Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party of refusing to implement the power-sharing accord. He also called the mediator in the talks, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, to step down accusing him of failing to understand the country's problems and of supporting ZANU-PF.The statement also criticized the reappointment Wednesday of Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono to a new five-year term. It accused Gono of being the architect of Zimbabwe's economic crisis, characterized by falling productivity, hyper-inflation and 80 percent unemployment.However, Mr. Tsvangirai said his party was not withdrawing from the power-sharing talks and would continue to participate in the discussions.
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Oil Price Decline Undercuts Policies of Oil-Rich Nations
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Countries like Iran, Russia, Venezuela can no longer count on high petrodollar revenues
The plummeting price of oil is having an impact on nations that restrict oil exploration and production to state-owned companies. Analysts say many use the revenues to further their ideological objectives and expand their influence, and falling prices could affect such policies. VOA's Bill Rodgers reports.
The price of oil is down dramatically, from $147 a barrel to less than $55The price of oil is down dramatically, from a record high of $147 a barrel earlier this year to less than $55 in recent days.And analysts say this is having an impact on petroleum-producing countries that have used oil revenues to further their ideological ambitions. Russia's new military resurgence is considered to be fueled by petrodollars. Iran has used its oil revenues to extend its influence in the Middle East and defy sanctions aimed at blocking its nuclear ambitions. And, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has gained power and influence to counter U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere because of the steady flow of oil money. But falling oil prices could weaken a government's hold on power, says energy analyst Kenneth Medlock at Rice University in Houston."It makes it very difficult for the government to remain solvent, basically," Medlock said, "and continue the types of programs that they've had in place when oil prices were higher, or initiated when oil prices rose. And that, of course, for the politicians who are in power, puts them in a very tenuous position."In Iran, concern is rising that the country could face an economic crisisIn Iran, concern is rising that the country could face an economic crisis because of declining oil revenues. This comes as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks re-election next year.In Venezuela, spending on social programs and other initiatives to build President Chavez' socialist-inspired state could be affected - though he recently downplayed the effects of falling oil prices. "We're not singing victory, no," Chavez said. "But we have the capacity to resist the crisis. And not just resist it, but to continue investing."Yet Venezuela's opposition scored significant victories in local elections Sunday, in part because of fears the country's oil-fueled economy is sputtering. Venezuela's oil, like that of many countries, is tapped exclusively by its state-run company, PDVSA.Many of these nations have shut out major Western oil companies from accessing their petroleum-rich regions in a policy known as "resource nationalism." The so-called petroleum "majors" like ExxonMobile now control much less oil, says Conoco-Philips head James Mulva. "The state-owned oil companies represent the top 10 reserve holders internationally, and the western international oil majors control less than 10 percent of the world's oil and gas resource base," Mulva said.
Many nations have shut out major Western oil companies from
accessing their petroleum-rich regions in a policy known as "resource
nationalism"One reason for this is the belief by some countries that nationally-owned companies can better protect a nation's oil wealth. But energy analyst Jerry Taylor of the libertarian CATO Institute says there is another reason. "When you have large private corporations generating revenue you are creating potential pockets of resistance in society to the political regime," Taylor said. "And since a lot of these countries find that oil extraction is the major source of income for their economies, owning those industries actually helps crowd out the potential development of opposition."Taylor says while Saudi Arabia's ARAMCO is an example of an efficient and productive state-owned oil company, many others are like Mexico's PEMEX - inefficient and unproductive. According to Medlock, "they've demonstrated in many cases an inability to develop those resources in a timely, efficient manner. And the international majors have the ability to do that. They have adequate commercial incentive to go in and make these things work." And the prospect of pumping more oil and increasing revenues could be attractive to governments, opening opportunities for the western oil majors while eroding resource nationalism.
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Shuttle Crew Departs International Space Station
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16-day mission delivered new facilities, equipment, water recycling system to double space station crew capacity
A NASA image of Endeavor's cargo bay framed through a window on the International Space Station, 26 Nov 2008The space shuttle Endeavor has undocked from the International Space Station after bringing equipment needed to expand its capacity from three to six people.The shuttle left the orbiting outpost Friday with seven astronauts.The astronauts shared a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday with the three-person crew aboard the International Space Station before saying their goodbyes and sealing the hatches between the shuttle and the space station.The shuttle is scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida on Sunday. As the shuttle departed Friday, it was to loop around the space station so the shuttle crew could photograph its exterior.As part of the 16-day mission, the shuttle crew delivered and installed a new toilet, kitchen equipment, and water recycling system meant to allow the space station to double its crew capacity.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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