Yahoo - May 29th, 2005

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev said late on Saturday that militants under his control burned down a Moscow theater last week and that many more groups of fighters were preparing similar attacks across Russia.

In a letter published by Chechen rebel Web site www.kavkazcenter.com and purportedly from Basayev, he claimed responsibility for a fire early on Thursday at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in central Moscow.

"A report was received today from one of our sabotage groups who have been given the task of destroying economic, political, administrative and cultural propagandist centers in Russia, especially in Moscow, or doing maximum damage," Basayev said.

"During the night of May 26-27 the group carried out a successful special operation, burning down the Stanislavsky theatre in the center of Moscow."

Moscow authorities have not said they suspect arson in the theater, across the street from the upper house of parliament.

Full story here. Governments change, lies stay the same.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and driving while intoxicated, police said Saturday.

Stone, 58, was arrested Friday night at a police checkpoint on Sunset Boulevard after showing signs of alcohol intoxication, police Sgt. John Edmundson said. A search of his Mercedes turned up drugs, Edmundson said. He did not specify what kind, but Lt. Micaela Garland said police confiscated pills that were being analyzed at a lab.

Stone was released Saturday morning after posting $15,000 bail.

In 1999, the filmmaker pleaded guilty to drug possession and no contest to driving under the influence and was ordered into a rehabilitation program.

Full story here.

Chechen rebel field commander Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for the power cut that caused major disruption in Moscow on Wednesday.

A statement on a website with links to the rebels said Basayev's men had attacked an electricity substation, causing the outage.

In his alleged message to the Kavkaz Center website, Basayev said that on 24-25 May "sabotage groups of mujahideen conducted a successful special operation in territory of Moscow and the Moscow district, having put out of action a power supply system of the Central region of Russia".

"Our sabotage groups have delivered a sensitive blow on one of the most important systems of ability to live of the Russian empire," he said. "The result of the special operation has surpassed our expectations."

He criticised the "lies" from the Russian authorities that the power cut was due to technical problems.

The head of Russia's energy monopoly Unified Energy System (UES), Anatoly Chubais, was questioned by prosecutors over the power cut.

Full story here. Kremlin used this terrorist attack to blame Chubais to sack him from his post and put him in prison with Khodorkovsky:

LONDON (AP) -- Maverick British lawmaker George Galloway, who captured headlines this month during a fiery Senate appearance, plans on continuing his anti-war theme during a summer speaking tour of the United States.

Galloway appeared after the Senate committee released documents it claimed showed he and other international figures received valuable oil allocations from Saddam as a reward for opposing U.N. sanctions on Iraq. Galloway allegedly received 20 million barrels' worth between 2000 and 2003.

He vehemently denied the accusations and went on to accuse the U.S. of crimes in Iraq.

''As Oscar Wilde said, sometimes the most bitter trials turn out to be blessings in disguise,'' Galloway said Thursday. ''In America, people pay huge sums of money to hear you speak.''

Galloway said his talks would focus on America ''and the way in which the United States has dragged us into disaster.''

''They think they rule the world and everyone is afraid of them. But I'm not afraid,'' he said.

The lawmaker was re-elected to parliament this month as a representative of his own anti-war party Respect after being expelled from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party over his opposition to the war in Iraq. He said he plans to publish a book about his victory in the previously safe Labour seat of Bethnal Green and Bow in east London.

Editor's commentary: While millions of people can't obtain American visa deemed as unwelcome and treated as a security risk, Saddam worshiper is welcome to spend months and months in America as he is pleased, to stay indefinitely and preach Saddam's word of terror and fear to all Americans. No one is that stupid to think that Galloway is just a tourist or a visitor, he is simply being invited by Democrats who still run State Department in order to boost support for them by throwing mud at Bush and Republicans, by slanderously calling them liars and portraying Saddam as a "peace loving popular leader and promoter of liberal agenda" in the Middle East. There will be calls for no death penalty for Saddam and then for his early release and then for his political comeback to dictatorship scene in Iraq. This is something like Jane Fonda - John Kerry anti-war propaganda of lies from late '60s and early '70s. Fact that Galloway is hiding is that he got reelected thanks to large Arab extremist base in his election region that were and probably still are on Saddam's, bin Laden's and other Arab extremists and terrorists payroll. That fact alone indicates that Galloway is indeed supported by Saddam through his supporters in UK. He thinks that if he screams his lies very loud for long period of time that his collaboration with Saddam will go away. We don't live in late '60s and early '70s so his calculations are dead wrong. Why not open all those unopened letters he received lately as he brags about them so much? Why not hear people cursing him and his treachery and corruption, man who sold his soul to Saddam for oil. Try to check reality first not what people like John Kerry and Al Gore are telling you. You might be for a rude awakening when FBI cuffs you at the end of your American tour and you end up behind bars for long time.

Slovenia has charged a former senior communist official with genocide, over the massacre of 234 people in the aftermath of World War II.

Mitja Ribicic, 86, was a chief in the security forces under Yugoslavia's post-war communist leader Tito.

Slovene television said newly unearthed documents suggested Mr Ribicic ordered the summary execution of suspected Nazi collaborators.

Some reports say there are hundreds of mass graves in Slovenia filled with the bodies of thousands of people massacred by the communist regime in the early post-war years.

Documents found in the Slovene National Archive reportedly suggest that in 1945 and 1946 Mr Ribicic helped draft a hit list of 234 people for execution.

He faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty of the charges.

Full story here.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder appeared headed on Monday for a mid-September showdown with conservative rival Angela Merkel after his shock decision to bring forward federal elections by a year.

Schroeder's office said he would seek a vote of confidence on July 1, the first legal step toward dissolving parliament as polls put his Social Democrats far behind the conservatives, suggesting Germany could soon have its first woman chancellor.

``The Chancellor will, given the constitutional deadlines, seek a vote of confidence on July 1,'' government spokesman Thomas Steg said in a statement after Schroeder held talks with Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Merkel and representatives of other opposition parties.

The statement added the aim was to hold elections after the summer holidays have ended in all of Germany's 16 states -- making Sept. 18 the most likely date, assuming Schroeder's unusual move does not hit any constitutional hurdles.

Schroeder stunned the country on Sunday, announcing the high-risk early election plan shortly after his Social Democrats (SPD) were booted out of office in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany's most populous state, ruled by the party for 39 years.

Bringing forward the election by one year carries huge risks for Schroeder, who has seen his ratings plunge as unemployment has surged to post-war highs and his economic reforms have failed to boost Europe's largest economy.

``It will be extremely difficult for him to come back, but it would have been more difficult a year down the road. That was his calculation,'' said Gary Smith, director of the American Academy, a Berlin think-tank.

A fresh poll underlined the mountain he will have to climb to win a third term, putting support for his SPD-Greens coalition on 37 percent behind 53 percent for the conservatives and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), their most likely partner.

The Infratest Dimap poll for ARD television found 43 percent would like a conservative/FDP coalition compared with just 25 percent who favored another term for the SPD and Greens.

Merkel grew up in the former East Germany and became a protege of ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

``It comes down to a single question,'' Merkel said after winning the backing of all the leading CDU members. ``Who do the people trust to make Germany strong once again? On this question we are very confident.''

BOLD GAMBLE, TOUGH TASK

To win, Schroeder must convince Germans that the conservatives, who have backed his efforts to overhaul Germany's welfare system and labor market, will push for even more painful reforms, analysts said.

Two years ago, Schroeder unveiled a reform package known as ``Agenda 2010'' that included cuts in jobless benefits and sparked protests across the country. But the reforms have yet to create jobs, or boost growth -- projected at only 1 percent this year.

Schroeder may also be gambling that when given a choice between himself and Merkel, seen by many as less charismatic than the chancellor, voters will opt for the status quo.

A Forsa poll for RTL television and Stern magazine showed on Monday that, when asked their preference, 42 percent of voters favored Schroeder and only 30 percent backed Merkel.

Both the NRW election and one in Schleswig Holstein earlier this year suggest many Germans just want change -- but it is unclear how much change a Merkel government would bring.

She has been compared to Margaret Thatcher and given the nickname ``Maggie Merkel,'' but her reform record does not match that of the pugnacious former British prime minister.

Merkel has struggled to unite a fractious conservative coalition, a point underscored on Monday when influential Bavarian premier and Christian Social Union leader Edmund Stoiber, who lost to Schroeder in 2002, put off endorsing her.

She has been forced to row back on reform proposals of her own, shelving plans for an overhaul of Germany's tax laws and burying a plan to impose a flat-rate health premium.

German companies, while welcoming the prospect of new elections to break a right-left deadlock, warned against a let-up in reforming the economy.

``Reform of the social system, labor market and taxation policy that has been started must continue,'' said Germany's biggest insurer Allianz AG.

One area where Merkel would spark change is in foreign policy. A CDU-led government would probably forge closer links with Washington. Party members have criticized Schroeder's close ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and opposed his support for Turkish membership of the European Union.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany looks set to hold a national election within a few months after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder shocked the country by calling for an early vote in the aftermath of a crushing regional poll defeat.

Schroeder announced his dramatic gamble after voters in the large regional state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) kicked his Social Democrats (SPD) out of government after 39 years.

``We've had a political earthquake here,'' said Johann Michael Moeller, a commentator for the daily Die Welt. ``The SPD is on the ropes.''

The call for a new election carries enormous risks for Schroeder, who has seen his personal ratings plunge as unemployment has surged to post-war highs.

In an instant survey conducted by ARD television on Sunday night, 46 percent of respondents said they would vote for the CDU and 29 percent for the SPD.

Voters appeared to be punishing him for the fact that his painful welfare cutbacks have produced little or no visible gain. But he will hope to convince them that the plans of the conservatives, who have largely supported his reforms, will be even more painful.

``With the bitter election result for my party in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), political support for our reforms to continue has been called into question,'' a shaken-looking Schroeder told German television.

``I see it as my responsibility and duty as German chancellor to persuade the president ... to call new elections for the Bundestag as quickly as possible, realistically by autumn 2005.''

CONTROVERSIAL REFORMS

Two years ago, Schroeder unveiled a package of labor market reforms known as ``Agenda 2010'' that sparked protests across the country. They include cuts in jobless benefits and stricter rules on means-testing for the long-term unemployed.

Federal elections are held every four years for Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, with the next one due at the end of 2006. Early elections are possible only in exceptional circumstances and the final decision rests with the president, currently the conservative Horst Koehler.

Schroeder could seek a vote of confidence in the Bundestag as early as next month. Should he lose that vote -- which the government can try to lose deliberately -- Koehler would have 21 days to decide whether to dissolve parliament.

There is a precedent for an early election. The Bundestag was dissolved early at the behest of Christian Democrat Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who wanted new elections in March 1983 to expand his parliamentary majority.

Schroeder's shock announcement came after voters in NRW dealt the SPD its worst defeat since his re-election in 2002.

Preliminary results put the conservative Christian Democrats at 44.8 percent, against 37.1 percent for the SPD -- enough to win control of a region Schroeder's party has ruled since 1966.

The CDU's likely coalition partners, the liberal Free Democrats, stood at 6.2 percent, giving the two parties an absolute majority.

Once an SPD stronghold dominated by the coal and steel industry, NRW has fallen on hard times.

Unemployment in the state, which borders on the Netherlands and Belgium and is home to a fifth of the population, recently pushed above the one million mark to a post-war high. Voters have blamed Schroeder's reforms for their woes.

MERKEL STRENGTHENED

The result strengthens the hand of Merkel, who stands a good chance of running against Schroeder in a bid to become Germany's first woman chancellor.

The prospect of early elections was expected to boost German stocks on Monday. Brokers said foreign investors would be drawn by the hope that a victory for the CDU could mean more far-reaching economic reforms.

Some analysts saw the move as a bid to silence left-wingers in the SPD who have been clamouring for a change in direction, including a rollback of Schroeder's reforms and the introduction of more worker-friendly policies.

``It's sensational. I almost didn't believe it,'' said Uwe Andersen, a political scientist at Ruhr University in Bochum.

``The only rational explanation I can think of is that someone from the SPD's left wing signaled to (SPD party chairman Franz) Muentefering that they would not support the government's current policy.''

Regardless, Schroeder faces an uphill battle.

The SPD has now seen its support decline in nine consecutive state elections. NRW was the last German state ruled by a coalition of the SPD and the leftist-environmentalist Greens, leaving the federal coalition in Berlin as the last ``Red-Green'' alliance.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's hard-line constitutional watchdog has rejected all reformists who registered to run in next month's presidential elections, approving only six out of the 1,010 hopefuls, state-run television reported Sunday.

The announcement prompted a crisis meeting by reformers, who immediately threatened to boycott the election.

''We are warning the Guardian Council that we will not participate in the election if it doesn't reverse its decision,'' Rajabali Mazrouei, a top member of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, told The Associated Press.

''Barring reform candidates means there will be no free or fair election,'' he said.

There was similar outrage last year when the Council -- which supervises the elections -- disqualified more than 2,000 reformists from legislative elections, leading to a low turnout. Reformists denounced that vote as a ''historical fiasco.''

The council's announcement, however, appeared to be the final decision and effectively leaves reformers seeking democratic changes within the ruling Islamic establishment without a candidate.

Ruling clerics are seeking to consolidate their power following the departure of President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who is barred from seeking another term. Khatami came to power in a popular landslide in 1997, but hard-line clerics led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have succeeded in stifling his program for political and social reform.

The approved candidates for the June 17 presidential race included the powerful former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who moves frequently between the hard-line and more moderate camps and was seen as a front-runner.

Other approved candidates were former police chief Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf; former radio and television chief Ali Larijani; Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; former parliamentary speaker Mahdi Karroubi; and former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezaei.

Former Culture Minister Mostafa Moin, who was the sole candidate of Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, was among those disqualified. Another top reformist hopeful was Vice President Mohsen Mehralizadeh, who heads Iran's sports organization.

The Guardian Council said in a statement that its announcement did not mean the other registrants could not get other government posts.

The Council is controlled by hard-liners loyal to Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters. The council barred women from running for the office.

The presidential election comes as Iran is facing international pressure over its controversial nuclear program, trying to convince the United States and Europe that it is not seeking to develop weapons.

Moin was the only hopeful who supported continued suspension of all uranium enrichment-related activities by Iran to avoid a nuclear crisis and reach a political compromise with the Europeans.

Iran has vowed to restart some uranium reprocessing activities soon, saying it will unilaterally resume such activities if last chance talks with Europeans fail later this week.

Rezaei, Larijani, Ahmadinejad and Qalibaf are widely seen as Khamenei candidates because of their strong loyalty to him. All of them are former military commanders. Karroubi is a hard-liner turned reformer who has shown increasing support of Khamenei and his hard-line policies.

With the reformist movement severely weakened, Rafsanjani is seen as the most credible force to stop hard-line allies of Iran's supreme leader from seizing the post of president -- although the savvy politician has changed his stripes frequently in the past, sometimes backing the hard-liner camp, sometimes taking a more moderate line and seeking to build ties with the West.

Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst, suggested hard-liners were hoping to avoid a candidate, like Moin, who has the support of young people.

''For hard-liners, Khatami's victory was equal to allowing the predominantly young nation criticizing the ruling establishment. Allowing Moin to run may repeat that historical event. They don't to take such a risk again,'' he said.

Leylaz said the disqualification of reformers undermines the legitimacy of the elections.

''Apparently hard-liners prefer discrediting the country rather than giving up power despite unpopularity,'' he said.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- A Polish magazine has called on its readers to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a postcard depicting him as the long-nosed lying fairy tale character Pinocchio for presenting a ''Stalinist version of history.''

The campaign comes amid a rise of anti-Russian sentiment in Poland and drew a statement of concern from Russia's foreign ministry about a ''worsening atmosphere'' in bilateral ties. Many in Poland were angered by Putin's May 9 Red Square speech marking the end of World War II in Europe, in which he failed to condemn the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland as many had hoped.

In response, this week's issue of Wprost magazine comes with a pre-addressed postcard that reads ''With greetings for Putinocchio'' above the computer-generated image.

On the other side, a brief text in Polish and Russian asks Putin to apologize for failing to condemn the 1939 secret Nazi-Soviet pact, which set the stage for World War II.

The card also said Poles felt humiliated that Putin thanked the Italian and German anti-fascist resistance but failed to mention the Polish sacrifice.

Ties between the two countries have been strained in recent months.

Russia was irked at Poland's intervention in the Ukrainian presidential election crisis last year, which led to the victory of pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko.

Formerly Communist Poland joined the European Union last year and has been one of the strongest supporters for Ukraine's EU membership hopes under Yushchenko, as he seeks to steer his former Soviet republic away from Russia's influence.

Russia, meanwhile, raised Poland's ire in March when the country's top military prosecutor said an investigation into the 1940 Katyn forest executions of 21,768 Polish military officers, intellectuals and priests had concluded that the massacre did not constitute genocide. The Soviet secret police executed the prisoners, taken during the invasion of Poland, on Josef Stalin's orders.

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that if he is assassinated, his government has a contingency plan to prevent his enemies from taking control of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

``Some people might want to kill me, but they don't dare ... because if they did, they fear what would happen the next day,'' the Venezuelan leader said in a television broadcast.

Chavez, a firebrand nationalist who often accuses the U.S. government and domestic opponents of plotting to topple or kill him, and who survived a coup in 2002, said his ministers, the armed forces and his supporters would know what to do if he were ever assassinated.

``We have a plan worked out in the event something happens to me. Those who are thinking about it should know this and that they won't have a good time of it if this happens,'' he said during his weekly ``Hello President'' TV and radio show.

Chavez, who was first elected in 1998, did not detail the plan. But he has said before that if he were killed, Venezuela would become ungovernable and its oil shipments to its biggest client, the United States, would be halted.

U.S. officials dismiss his allegations of a U.S. assassination plot as ridiculous. But they often criticize him as a left-wing trouble maker allied to Cuba's communist president, Fidel Castro, a longtime foe of Washington.

Chavez, who won a referendum on his rule last August, said if his enemies did kill him, he did not think they could govern Venezuela. A recent opinion poll put his popularity level at 70.5 percent, a five-year high.

In a message to his supporters on Sunday, he said, ``You can't let anyone come and seize our country.''

``The revolution should be intensified,'' he added in a four-hour broadcast in which he criticized the U.S. model of capitalism and expressed his preference for socialism.

Chavez has been spending Venezuela's oil wealth to fund free health and education services for the poor and distribute subsidies and credits for workers' cooperatives he says should be the basis for a new kind of socialism.

His critics say his statist and interventionist economic policies, and systematic persecution of political opponents, are turning Venezuela into a replica of Castro's Cuba.

But Chavez denies this. ``The Cuban model can't be copied. We don't want to copy it and we won't,'' he said Sunday.

Editor's commentary: This only confirms that Chavez is a foreign sponsored terrorist whose goal is to destroy Venezuela and its people entirely. Instead of pledging to be remembered as a patriot who gave life to his country and to be remembered as a leader who did so many good things to his people, he is actually going to booby trap oil rigs and destroy entire economy, parliament and all other government institutions in order to send country to total chaos. No one who truly cares about his country would do such thing but in this case it is obvious that he never cared about Venezuela at all. His propaganda lies and empty promises to brainless masses who can't think for themselves are now fully uncovered. To make things even worse, he claims that 70% of Venezuelans support total destruction of country and its people as a retaliation if he is murdered!? Good question here is what happens if he dies in an accident or simply of a heart attack? Does that mean that whole country is going to be destroyed because of his paranoid militant terrorist supporters? This is reminiscent of the last days of Adolf Hitler who wanted Germany and Germans to be entirely destroyed if he is not allowed to be German dictator for life. Leaders should sacrifice themselves for the people not vice versa. The sooner he is removed from power the better for people in Venezuela.

MOSCOW - Tens of thousands of young people in red-and-white T-shirts bearing Soviet-style stars marched down one of Moscow's main avenues Sunday in a patriotic rally organized by a nationalist pro-Kremlin youth group.

The tightly choreographed rally featured young people thanking World War II veterans for the victory over Nazi Germany and was meant to demonstrate Russia's determination to hold a powerful place in the world.

"The veterans fought and died in the war and on the battlefield for our independence. We will have to defend this independence in business and the economy, in the factories and (university) lecture halls," said Vasily Yakemenko, the leader of Nashi (Ours), the group that organized the rally.

About 50,000 people grouped in columns walked down Lenin Avenue to the sound of military songs and marches. Many waved the group's flag, whose diagonal white cross on a red background mixes Soviet and Russian imperial-era imagery.

"We came here to support the veterans, to thank them for their victory," said Valya Lavrova, an 18-year-old business student from the city of Ivanovo, northwest of Moscow. "We want to see Russia united, to see it become a superpower again."

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: We would really like to hear from their boss Putin about this "Russia united" argument. When did Chechnya got independent or any other part of Russia after fall of USSR? The only logical explanation here is that Putin actually wants return of USSR, conquest of former Soviet republics, enslavement of their people and even a resurrection of old Soviet imperialism around the world. This makes Putin currently the most dangerous man (lunatic) in the world and the biggest threat to the world peace. Former Soviet republics didn't join United States but EU which is an organization of independent states located in geographical region of Europe. Putin's view is that Europe itself is a danger for Russia. He is so deranged, paranoid and uneducated that he thinks that foreign countries investments are some Stalinist plot to conquer Russia from inside. He doesn't know that foreign countries invest in America and the rest of the free world freely and that foreign nationals can own land in America. He is trapped in the past full of Stalinist paranoia from '30s.Bin Laden is nothing compared to Putin who is in control of thousands of nuclear missiles as well as thousands of tonnes of various biological and chemical weaponry. He should be stopped before his deranged mind and propaganda lies from Stalin's days permanently poison minds of millions of young Russians similar tow hat Hitler did in '30s Germany. No third presidential term for him!

KUWAIT CITY (AP) -- Kuwaiti prosecutors have drawn up a list of charges against ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and hundreds of his officials for alleged war crimes committed during Iraq's occupation of the Gulf nation, the prosecutor general said Wednesday.

The list will be delivered to the Iraqi court that will try Saddam and other former regime members and the new charges will be added to the existing allegations, prosecutor general Hamed al-Othman said, according to the state-owned Kuwait News Agency.

Saddam, who was captured in December 2003, already faces charges in Iraq that include killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991 after the U.S.-led Gulf War that liberated Kuwait.

The Kuwaiti charges include allegations that Saddam's regime kidnapped 605 Kuwaitis and nationals of other countries who lived in the oil-rich state at the time of the 1990-91 occupation, al-Othman said. The remains of 147 of them were found in mass graves in Iraq after Saddam was toppled in April 2003.

Another 5,733 were tortured by electric shock, beaten, starved and sexually abused, and 139 were seriously injured by shooting or by land mines planted by Iraqis, he added.

The Kuwaiti charges are against Saddam and nine other senior regime figures -- including Ali Hassan al-Majid, who ruled Kuwait during the seven-month occupation; Tariq Aziz, Saddam's foreign minister; and Taha Yassin Ramadan, who served as vice president. The three men are in U.S. custody awaiting trial.

The names of 293 other lower officials and their alleged crimes also were included, according to the prosecutor general. It was not clear how many of these officials are in custody in Iraq.

Among the other charges were murder, torture, theft and damaging the environment, the prosecutor general said. Senior Iraqi officials ordered in writing the theft and destruction of the country's archives, and the Iraqis sabotaged some 700 oil wells before their troops withdrew from the country.

Kuwait was the launch pad for the invasion of 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and it was the only Arab country that supported it openly. Ties with Baghdad resumed after Saddam's regime was overthrown.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- The chummy exchanges between U.S. and Russian leaders at the VE Day celebrations in Moscow glossed over a growing debate on the spread of democracy -- one underscored by President Bush's visit to Georgia, which boycotted Moscow's Red Square extravaganza and looks to the U.S. as a powerful friend as it tries to maneuver out of Russia's orbit.

Bush, the first American president to come to Georgia, was greeted Monday by giant billboards bearing his image, U.S. flags and a spruced-up city center. The freshly paved roads where Georgians kicked soccer balls a day earlier were emptied, as police shooed pedestrians away. But few complained.

''When the leader of today's free world turns his attention to you, you should be proud,'' said Katya Chichua, 50, as she surveyed workers laying intricately patterned rugs on a stage in Tbilisi's old town.

The White House has said the trip is a chance to praise rising pro-democracy sentiment in the former Soviet sphere -- a movement Georgians proudly claim to have started with their peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution.

By showcasing change in the former communist world, the U.S. administration maintains Bush can send a powerful message to people in the Middle East and North Korea that democracy is possible for them, too -- the main foreign policy theme the president laid out in his second inauguration speech.

But Kremlin officials might see such activity as interference in a part of the world that Russia considers its backyard.

Bush caused consternation among some Russian officials by preceding the Moscow ceremonies with meetings with the leaders of the Baltic states who are demanding an apology for Soviet annexation after World War II.

Georgians, for their part, want Russia to withdraw two Soviet-era-holdover bases it maintains on their territory and to stop giving support to two separatist regions, aims that U.S.-educated President Mikhail Saakashvili hopes Bush will openly endorse during his visit.

Bush and his wife, Laura, received a lively welcome Monday night in Tbilisi's Old Town. Georgian dancers wearing red-black-and-white costumes performed dozens of routines around Bush, who smiled, clapped and even shook his hips. The event was capped by a fireworks show above an ancient church on a hillside.

Afterward, Bush and his entourage got a taste of traditional Georgian hospitality, dining at a restaurant and emerging to another fireworks show. ''It was great food, really good food,'' Bush said, rubbing his stomach. ''I recommend getting a bite here.''

Georgia also has declared its desire to join NATO and the European Union. While those goals are still far off for this impoverished nation of 5 million, an expression of support by Bush may help set into motion the process for the dreams to become a reality.

The United States for several years has provided training and equipment to Georgia's poorly funded military. Georgian troops now take part in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

''Now we have the privilege and honor to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S., sharing the gifts of liberty and democracy with our neighbors,'' Saakashvili said in a statement welcoming the U.S. delegation.

Saakashvili refused Russia's invitation to Monday's Victory in Europe Day celebrations in Moscow to protest Russia's reluctance to withdraw the two bases.

''It is because of Bush's visit that Saakashvili was able to do the right thing,'' said Shato Baliashvili, 81, whose chest shone with medals he earned for spending three years on the front lines in World War II with the Red Army.

In an interview with Georgia's Rustavi 2 television that aired Sunday night, Bush said Washington was ready to provide help on the bases dispute but emphasized that dialogue between Moscow and Tbilisi would bring the best results.

Saakashvili will be pressing Bush for support for his bid to restore federal control over the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which border Russia.

Saakashvili has offered both autonomy, but his proposals have been rejected and the issue remains a painful one for many Georgians who were forced to flee their homes and remain barred from visiting. Russia has developed close ties with both regions.

Political analyst Givi Bolotashvili said that simply by his presence, Bush will strengthen Saakashvili's hand by showing that he has the United States' moral support, which could lead to a settlement.

After face-to-face meetings with Saakashvili on Tuesday, Bush is expected to address the nation on Tbilisi's Freedom Square before departing.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the disorder that seized Georgia marred this nation's reputation as a resort destination, but many are hoping a successful visit by Bush will put Georgia back on the map.

''It is a big honor for us,'' said Nino Bakradze, 26, who spoke in hesitant English, which is fast replacing Russian as the foreign language of choice among students here. ''It is giving a chance that we haven't had in years.''

Bulgaria's first democratically elected President Zhelyu Zhelev has suggested a NATO bombing campaign over former Yugoslavia as early as 1993 to stop the raging ethnic violence.

Zhelyu Zhelev announced that at the opening of the international seminar "Youth and politics - crucial factors in democratic decision making", which opened in Sofia on Saturday.

Zhelev voiced his proposal on April 17, 1993 during a lecture for the Republican Party in Washington.

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was forced to withdraw his troops after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign in 1999.

"Moral and politics must be considered in an objective manner," Zhelev underlined in the first lecture delivered at the seminar.

Representatives of more than 20 countries joined the seminar (May 7 - May 12), which is organized jointly by the ruling party's Liberal Youth Assembly and the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLY).

"Young people are returning to Bulgaria to develop their ideas because they know that to be a Bulgarian citizen means to be a dignified European citizen", said at the opening Plamen Panayotov, Deputy Prime Minister and first deputy head of the ruling party.

He underlined that the ruling liberal alliance Simeon II National Movement and its junior coalition partner the Movement for Rights and Freedoms set great store by the young people and gave them lots of opportunities.

Panayotov called on the young people in Bulgaria to cast their vote in the upcoming elections, as each vote could make a difference.

The seminar is IFLY attempt to bring the participants closer to the topic of "youth politics" and aims at explaining why youth should be empowered for the benefit of the democratic society. The organizers are convinced that there is an urgent need to direct attention to the proper utilization of world's youth by providing them audience, counsel and support.

PARIS (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said NATO enlargement has not necessarily improved world security, and warned in a television interview broadcast Saturday that bringing Ukraine into the alliance could pose problems.

Ukrainian officials say they want their country to join NATO eventually, but Putin said Russia would not keep sensitive weapons in Ukraine if the alliance had a military presence there.

Russia's current cooperation with its southern neighbor is ''enormous,'' Putin said in the interview with France-3 recorded Friday. But ''if there were a NATO military presence in Ukraine, I wouldn't maintain our latest technologies and our sensitive armaments.''

''Ukraine could have problems,'' Putin said through a translator.

Russia's relations with former Soviet states became a subject of discontent with the United States after President Bush decided to bracket his visit to Moscow for Monday's World War II commemoration with trips to Latvia and Georgia, which is in the Caucasus.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko last month set joining NATO and the European Union as a key goal, and Putin was likely reacting to the new push that would move Ukraine further from Moscow's influence.

In the interview, he said NATO's decision to admit the Baltic states to the alliance last year did not enhance security in the world.

''The fact that NATO exercises a great influence on the Ukraine or Georgia does not indispose us,'' Putin was quoted as saying by the translator. ''On the other hand, all enlargement of NATO does not (necessarily) improve security in the world.''

''I don't see in what way enlarging to our Baltic neighbors, for instance, can improve the security of the world.''

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the only Baltic leader to accept an invitation to attend the commemoration in Moscow. The leaders of Estonia and Lithuania said they could not go because Russia has refused to acknowledge five decades of Soviet domination of the Baltics following WWII.

Putin reiterated that Russia will not answer the demands of Baltic states to repent for years of Soviet domination.

''I would like to underscore in this regard that such pretensions are useless,'' Putin wrote in the daily Le Figaro.

He suggested that in 1989 the Supreme Soviet had already made amends, giving a ''judicial and moral appreciation'' of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany that led to the Soviet role in the Baltics.

Russia insists the three Baltic states willingly joined the Soviet Union on the basis of the pact. Putin said Friday that the 1989 resolution criticized the pact as ''a personal decision by (Soviet leader Josef) Stalin that contradicted the interests of the Soviet people.''

Putin suggested the Baltic states are using their complaints ''to justify a discriminatory, reprehensible policy of governments toward a considerable part of their own Russian-speaking population,'' referring to claims that Russian speakers face discrimination today in the Baltics.

Editor's commentary: Is he for serious or is he just seeking a job on SNL in 2008 when his presidential mandate expires? We all remember how WWI and WWII made an easy prey on small undefended countries and in today's world under constant terrorist threat, imperative of joining powerful alliances as NATO is the only option to prevent the worst case scenario of nuclear terrorism from ever happening.

1. How will these countries become safer if they don't join NATO is the first question for Putin?

2. Why Russia is still keeping sensitive weapons in Ukraine?

3. Why is he still insisting on building another Warsaw Pact with former members of USSR?

4. When and how did official governments of Baltic republics asked in 1940 to be saved by Stalin by giving up their independence?

5. Was partioning of Poland by Germany and USSR also approved by Polish government in 1939?

6. Is presence of millions of Russians in former republics of USSR caused because they lived there for centuries or were they colonists forcefully sent by Stalin to grab these lands for Russia similar to what Germans did in Eastern Europe in 19th and 20th century?

For more info check out Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact here and Timeline of Occupation of Baltic Republics in World War II here.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Friday the fall of the Berlin Wall, rather than Nazi Germany, was the ``end of dictatorship'' in Europe, risking upsetting Russia as it prepares to celebrate World War II victory.

``We honor the many innocent victims of past conflicts and those who paid the highest price in defense of freedom and democracy,'' the EU's executive Commission said in a declaration marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe.

``We remember as well the many millions for whom the end of the Second World War was not the end of dictatorship, and for whom true freedom was only to come with the fall of the Berlin Wall.''

World leaders will converge on Moscow on May 9 for anniversary celebrations and three days of high diplomacy.

The EU has been forced into a delicate balancing act over how to mark the anniversary since it enlarged to 25 countries last May.

Three new member states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were integral members of the Soviet Union, while several other new members are former communist countries in eastern Europe, which Moscow effectively controlled after the war.

The presidents of Estonia and Lithuania will boycott the celebrations in Moscow.

The Baltic republics in particular see May 9, which Russia celebrates as Victory Day, as marking the beginning of Soviet occupation rather than as liberation.

The collapse of communism in eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and break-up of the Soviet Union two years later paved the way for east European states to join the EU.

OCCUPATION OR LIBERATION?

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Poland expected its allies' support if Putin made statements that offended Warsaw, for example by glorifying Russia's Soviet past.

``Today we are in the EU and in NATO, and we expect our allies to fight for historical truth and against any lies,'' he told reporters.

The European Commission's vice president, Guenter Verheugen, recently called on Russia to recognize the Soviet presence in the Baltic republics as an occupation, to Moscow's dismay.

``Verheugen's statement was inappropriate and inopportune in the runup to an outstanding historic date,'' Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Russia's presidential representative for EU relations, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

The EU and Russia hold a summit in Moscow the day after the Victory Day celebration, making the EU comments on dictatorship even more sensitive as both sides hope to sign a comprehensive deal redefining their relationship following EU enlargement.

President Bush will weigh into the argument when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow after a brief visit to Latvia, where he will see all three Baltic presidents in a pointed gesture of solidarity.

He told reporters before leaving for Europe that there was ``great angst'' in the Baltic states because ``people don't view this as a liberating moment.''

``Of course I'll remind him of that,'' he told Lithuanian state television when asked if he would remind Putin that the end of the war brought Soviet occupation to the Baltics.

Editor's commentary: Europe is still not entirely liberated even after 60 years of the end of WWII. Russian occupation of East Prussia and Trans-Dniester region, Russian lackeys in Belarus and Serbia (Lukashenko and Kostunica) still remind us of totalitarian horrors Europe experienced in the 20th century. There is nothing much to celebrate this year because some parts of Europe are still not free.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York doctors were charged on Thursday with giving large amounts of Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs to mob members in return for construction and auto repair work done by mafia-controlled businesses.

Arlen Fleisher, Stephen Klass and George Shapiro, all doctors in Westchester County, a suburban area north of New York City, were accused of trading prescription drugs and drug samples with members and associates of the Gambino crime family. The one-count complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court.

If convicted, the men could face a maximum 10-year prison term. They were arrested at their homes on Thursday morning and released after each posted a $50,000 bond.

In addition to Viagra, the doctors are accused of giving out Cialis, Levitra and other prescription drugs. According to court papers, Gambino members used the drugs and also gave them to others. In one instance, a high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family asked Klass to get him the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor for his barber, court papers said.

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: It seems that Gambinos are not so tough as they want to us to believe. Impotent fatso losers who saw crime enterprise as their escape from reality is a truth they wanted to hide until now.