Obama assure friends security condemned Russian “aggression” in Ukraine.

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Posted on June 4, 2014 by sagarmedia

Obama assured US diligent help and security to his friends at need of the hour to preserve their sovereignty.

Speaking in Warsaw to mark 25 years since the fall of communism in Poland, he hailed Polish democracy as a beacon for neighboring Ukraine.”How can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th Century to define the 21st?” he said.

Mr Obama met Ukraine President-elect Petro Poroshenko, and pledged support for plans to restore peace to the country.

Mr Obama called Mr Poroshenko a “wise selection” to lead Ukraine, and said the nation could become a vibrant, thriving democracy if the world community stood behind it.

US has pledged additional military help to Ukraine as well as potential training of its law enforcement and military personnel. President Obama’s vows comes as Kiev continues air strikes as a part of its military operation in southeastern Ukraine.

Obama pledges $1bn for more troops, military drills in E. Europe

Since March, the White House has approved more than $23 million in security assistance to Ukraine. Now the US is providing additional $5 million aid for “the provision of body armor, night vision goggles and additional communications equipment.”

The White House said other aid for Ukraine has included 300,000 ready-to-eat meals and financing for medical supplies, helmets, hand-held radios and other equipment.

“The United States is absolutely committed to standing behind the Ukrainian people not just in the coming days, weeks, but in the coming years,” Obama said.

Obama said it was critical that other countries also support Poroshenko and Ukraine’s new government, including by training its military and police.

Obama’s statement comes a day after he pledged to invest $1 billion in stepping up the US military presence in Eastern Europe amid the Ukrainian crisis.

US has deployed 600 troops for military drills in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.

“As allies, we have a solemn duty – a binding treaty obligation – to defend your territorial integrity. And we will,” Obama said, according to Reuters. “Poland will never stand alone. Estonia will never stand alone. Latvia will never stand alone. Lithuania will never stand alone. Romania will never stand alone.”

At a separate meeting in Brussels, NATO has said that as an alliance it will not provide military assistance to Ukraine, although individual member states can do so.

NATO said it would “will finalize a comprehensive package of long-term measures to make Ukraine’s reforms more effective and its armed forces stronger” later this month.

“We agreed that we will continue to reinforce NATO’s collective defense with more air and sea patrols and more exercises and training from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

President Obama has called Poroshenko’s victory in the May 25 election a “wise selection.”

Media agencies

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Afghan govt agencies gearing up for poll runoff

Ten days are left for the second round of the Presidential election in Afghanistan that will decide the incumbent for the top post between Dr. Abdullah-Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. 

The government agencies responsible for holding the polling, including the Afghan Election Commission and the security forces have geared themselves up for the runoff round which is scheduled on June 14. 

The electoral material has reached the provincial headquarters of the Election Commission from where it is being dispatched to the district centers and polling centers. 

The Commission has said that ballot papers in sufficient numbers have been sent for the polling stations so that there is no shortage of it, as experienced in the first round of polling on April 5. 

For the convenience of the voters the Election Commission has also increased the number of polling stations in such polling centers where heavy voter turn out was witnessed in the first round.

Nearly 3,500 new polling stations are being opened across the country taking their total number to more than 23,300. However the number of polling centers will remain the same. 

Afghan security agencies have launched several clearance operations to in various insecure areas to flush out terrorists, so that the voters can exercise their democratic right in free and fair manner.

Meanwhile, hectic political campaigning by the two candidates in continuing with rallies and public meetings in different provinces of the country. Yesterday, Dr. Abdullah-Abdullah addressed a public meeting in norther Jowzjan province while Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai organized a rally in northern Balkh province. 

The main election issues being raised by the candidates include peace and security in the country, social and economic development, protection of human-rights, especially of women and employment for the youths. However, local issues are also cropping up during the rallies in the provinces.

Both the candidates has expressed their desire to sign the bilateral security agreement with the United States and are also in favor of carrying forward peace and reconciliation process with the armed opponents in the country.

One more prominent leader, Prof. Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf yesterday pledged his support to Dr. Abdullah-Abdullah. Prof. Sayyaf was among the eight candidates for the top post in the first round of the Presidential election and remained at fourth place in the vote tally securing 7.3 per cent of the total votes.

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Syria polls close

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Syria, voting for the Presidential election came to end last midnight after polling hours were extended by five hours to allow the voters to cast their ballots.  The incumbent President Bashar Al Assad is predicted to win hands down for another seven year term. He is pitted against two lesser known opponents. Counting of votes began immediately after the close of polls and official results are expected tomorrow.  More than 15 million Syrians were eligible to cast their votes at around 9 000 polling stations across the country. Voting was held only in government-controlled areas. Syria’s internal and external opposition boycotted the polls calling it illegitimate. Syrian government however has maintained that the polls are democratic, transparent means to resolve the conflict.  The elections were held in the shadow of violence. Over three year long conflict in Syria has claimed more than 1,50,000 lives while around 3 million have taken refuge in the neighboring countries. The United States has called the Presidential election in Syria, a disgrace. The State Department Deputy Spokesperson, Marie Harf told reporters that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost his credibility which he had before the elections. Polls for the Syrian Presidential elections were held yesterday. She said, election was inconceivable in Syria, where the regime continued to reject the courageous calls for freedom and dignity that started more than three years ago. The Foreign Ministers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, have labeled the elections in Syria as a farce. In a statement after the GCC Ministerial meeting in Riyadh, they dismissed the vote as a way for President Bashar Assad to stay in power and prolong the conflict in the country.  They said that holding the elections and the resulting nomination of Assad would undermine Arab and international efforts to solve the ongoing crisis. The GCC also emphasized the importance of turning war criminals in Syria over to the International Criminal Court, ICC.  The GCC foreign ministers urged the international community to take strong punitive action against Syria. They also called on the P-5+1 group of nations to ensure that Iran scales down its uranium enrichment program.  Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Sabah, who holds the rotating presidency of the GCC urged the international community to take measures to protect unarmed citizens and to ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance to Syrian citizens in besieged areas.  Sabah said the GCC countries were looking forward to Iranian talks on a host of regional issues including Syria to ensure security and stability in the region. On the Palestinian issue, he reaffirmed the GCC support for a viable Palestine state.  On Egypt, he praised the government there for holding successful elections and hoped that the country’s strategic role would be enhanced regionally and internationally.  The meeting was attended by Omani Foreign Minister Yousef bin Alawi, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah.  Abdullateef Al-Zayani, the GCC secretary general, also attended the session.

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Iraq Violence

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Iraq violence kills 14    Attacks across Iraq killed 14 people on Tuesday, as politicians haggle over forming a new governing coalition after an April general election. Iraq is going through its worst protracted spell of violence since it emerged from a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict that left tens of thousands dead in 2006 and 2007. The worst of Tuesday’s bloodshed unrest was concentrated in the outskirts of Baghdad, with eight people killed in all, security and medical officials said. In Iskandiriyah, militants killed five people, two with guns and three with knives along a main road in the town before fleeing the scene. It was not clear why the victims were targeted. The town lies in a confessionally-mixed area south of Baghdad dubbed the “Triangle of Death” for its brutal violence in 2006-7. On the capital’s northern outskirts, two people were killed by mortar fire in Saba al-Bor, while a policeman was shot dead in Tarmiyah. Further north, attacks in Salaheddin, Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces killed six people, four of them policemen, officials said. Figures separately compiled by the United Nations and the government in Baghdad showed more than 900 people were killed last month alone. Officials blame external factors for the rise in bloodshed, particularly the civil war in neighbouring Syria, and insist wide-ranging operations against militants are having an impact. But the violence has continued unabated, with analysts and diplomats saying the Shiite-led government needs to do more to reach out to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority to reduce support for militancy.

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Abdel Fattah El Sissi the Egyptian Presidential Election 

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The Election Commission says former army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sissi won Egypt’s presidential elections by a landslide victory of 96.9 percent of the vote, with turnout 47.45 per cent.

Thousands celebrated in public squares around the country with cheers, fireworks and pro-military songs after the Election Commission officially announced el-Sissi’s victory with nearly 97 percent of the vote in an election that it said saw a turnout of just over 47 percent. El-Sissi brings Egypt into a new phase in its tumultuous drama since the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak after 29 years in power.  The following year, Islamist Mohammed Morsi became the country’s first democratically elected president, only to face massive protests by millions against him and his Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sissi, then the army chief, ousted Morsi last summer and led a heavy crackdown on the Brotherhood and other Islamists that killed hundreds and jailed thousands more. The now retired field marshal was elevated to heroic status among his supporters, who hailed his removal of Islamists and saw him as the hope for restoring stability after three years of turmoil. El-Sissi now restores a chain of five Egyptian presidents of military background since the 1952 coup against the monarchy with Morsi the sole exception, not counting two interim presidents. “I am happy the army is back to power, and that he got rid of the Muslim Brotherhood,” cheered one of his female supporters, Iman Adly, whose face was painted with the Egyptian flag, amid the celebration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Already, there have been sharp limits put on the right to protest, secular dissenters have been arrested, reports of police abuses have risen, and the president-elect himself has said many rights must take a backseat to restoring stability