The New Nation - Internet Edition

US plans to help Pakistan fight insurgents

Reuters, Washington

The American military is beginning a training effort inside Pakistan this week that holds promise as the US helps Pakistan fight tribal militants blamed for much of the increase in violence there as well as in neighboring Afghanistan.

But a separate initiative to provide jet fighters to the Pakistani Air Force that Bush administration officials believe will be instrumental in the fight has been held up over concerns that Pakistan will use the planes against India, not against extremist elements in its border with Afghanistan.

The US deployed a small unit of about 30 special forces personnel into Pakistan this week to bolster the ability of Pakistan's Frontier Corps to fight its own insurgency.

The team, which also includes some British special forces, is significant, not for its size, but for the expectation that it can give Pakistan the tools to fight militants on its own. That is key to American defense officials who are desperate to reverse violence in the region but say any counterinsurgency there must have a Pakistani face.

That is why a long-proposed sale of new and refurbished F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan has become so critical to the Bush administration, which believes the old fleet of fighters the Pakistani Air Force is using now aren't effective.

The older planes aren't able to fly night missions, and they aren't equipped to drop the kind of precision munitions that could be instrumental in the ground fight against militants. "Right now, they're basically dropping dumb bombs in the daylight, a fact that does not escape the enemy," says one defense official.

But Congress isn't so sure the Pakistani government can be trusted to use the planes against the tribal militants thought to be responsible for violence in Pakistan as well as in neighboring Afghanistan.

Members of Congress want to know why Pakistan would need a jet fighter that has "air-to-air" fighter capability when all the Pakistanis really need to fight militants from the air is a plane or helicopter with "air-to-ground" or "close air support" capabilities to support its efforts against militants on the ground.

Bush administration officials attempted to reassure lawmakers that the planes were actually being used for their intended purpose during a hearing on Capitol Hill last month as they attempted to get the proposed sales back on track.

"I don't know that it helps air-to-air with an entity such as Al Qaeda unless I'm missing something where they're in the air," said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D) of New York, who chaired the hearing. "Do we have flying Al Qaedas?"

The plan includes the sale of about 18 new F-16s, as well as the sale of older-model American F-16s the US military isn't using. Another program would refurbish some of the Pakistani Air Force's planes with more current technology and capability. But the bulk of the planes wouldn't be in the hands of the Pakistanis until the end of 2010, a Defense official says.

The concern over the use of the planes illustrates broader issues about the role Pakistan is playing in the Bush administration's so-called war on terrorism. American officials have grown impatient over Pakistan's inability to fight the insurgency, long perceived to be a US problem, not a Pakistani one.

But in recent months and under new civilian and military leadership, the Pakistani government appears to be making inroads against havens in Pakistan's border region with large operations in places such as the Bajaur region, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other Defense officials.

The bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad by militants last month also helped to solidify support for counterterrorism efforts, at least within the Pakistani government, though still not strongly among its population.

"From what I have seen, they recognize the problem, and there is a commitment to do something about it," Admiral Mullen said in an interview this week.

The Pakistanis have made greater use of their fleet of older F-16s as part of this effort. But their limitations have provoked greater urgency among Bush administration officials to get them the planes as soon as possible.

"We are in a bind here because we really need Pakistan in order to prosecute the war against the Taliban," says Loren Thompson, a senior analyst with the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va. "And yet there is a real danger that the weapons will be used for purposes other than that war."

Mr. Thompson believes that in the end the US will be able to sell the planes to Pakistan, albeit with restrictions. At the same time, the Pakistanis must meet other security requirements to house the planes once they receive them so the F-16's technology does not fall into the wrong hands, Defense officials say.

Bush to give pep talk to anxious country Friday

AP, Washington

Wild gyrations on Wall Street, a loss of confidence in the U.S. banking system and worries the economy will be weak for some time are raising Americans' anxiety level.

Against this backdrop, President Bush on Friday was to give the nation a more detailed explanation of what the government is doing to battle the worst financial crisis in more than a half-century.

Despite a flurry of radical actions by the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve, banks in the United States and abroad are still wary of lending money to each other and to their customers. The credit clog is depriving the wheezing U.S. economy of oxygen. Financial and credit problems have dragged on for more than a year and took a dangerous turn for the worse last month. All the fallout threatens to plunge the U.S. economy - as well as the world economy - into a painful recession.

White House officials said Bush didn't intend to put forward any new policy actions. The president was delivering his address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters across from the White House.

Earlier this week, the Treasury Department announced it would inject up to $250 billion in U.S. banks in return for partial ownership stakes, something that hasn't been done since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The government hopes banks will use the capital infusions to rebuild their reserves and bolster lending to customers.

Bush and his top economic aides have repeatedly asked Americans to be patient and give the government's relief efforts time to work. Democrats on Capitol Hill, though, insist another round of economic stimulus is needed.

So far this year, 15 banks have failed, compared with three last year. And Wall Street's five biggest investment firms were swallowed by other companies, filed bankruptcy or converted themselves into commercial banks to weather the financial storm.

At the same time of the Treasury announcement, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it would temporarily guarantee new issues of bank debt - fully protecting the money even if the institution fails.

The FDIC also said it would provide unlimited deposit insurance for non-interest bearing accounts, which are mainly used by small businesses to cover payrolls and other expenses. Frequently, these accounts exceed the current $250,000 insurance limit, so the expanded insurance should discourage nervous companies from pulling their money out.

Last week, the Fed and the world's other major central banks joined forces to slice interest rates, the first coordinated action of that kind in the Fed's history. The United States and other top economic powers adopted a five-point action plan last week and pledged to do all they can to stem the crisis.

Even with so many unprecedented steps taken, Wall Street has convulsed. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrials finished up 401.35 points, after falling 380 points early in the session. A day earlier, the Dow fell a staggering 733 points. The index started the week with a record-shattering 936-point gain.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned this week that even if financial markets were to stabilize, the economy would not quickly snap back to good health.

Unemployment - now at 6.1 percent - could hit 7.5 percent or higher by next year. Many analysts predict the economy will shrink later this year and early next year, meeting the classic definition of a recession. Some believe the economy already jolted into reverse during the July-to-September quarter.

Thousands of Thais rally in Bangkok

AFP, Bangkok

Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in Bangkok's business district Friday, police said, as pressure mounts on the prime minister to step down after last week's deadly street clashes.

Police hung back by the roadside as some 5,000 supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) marched down a busy street carrying pictures of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat emblazoned with the word "murderer".

Two people were killed and nearly 500 injured on October 7 when police fired tear gas to prevent thousands of PAD supporters from blocking parliament, prompting some protesters to fight back.

Speaking from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck, Somsak Kosaisuk, a PAD leader, said they were planning on handing out 100,000 books and CDs with photos and accounts of the violence.

"The truth will show why the government has no legitimacy to run the country," Somsak told the crowd, many wearing black to mourn the dead supporters or yellow out of allegiance to the king. "The government thinks that people are their enemy and used the police to kill people on October 7."

The full-colour booklets showed graphic images of protesters whose limbs were blown off in the clashes-injuries blamed by a forensic expert on dangerous Chinese-made tear gas canisters.

The front page of the PAD leaflet showed a man clutching the bloodied stump of his leg, allegedly after it was blown off in the police crackdown.

"We have brought pieces of cloth, water bottles and masks in case the police use tear gas again," said Dusadee Siriwanlop, 42, a PAD supporter.

The PAD launched its campaign in May, claiming that the ruling People Power Party elected in December was a puppet of ousted and exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they accuse of corruption and nepotism.

The demonstrators seemed largely cheerful Friday, sheltering from the sun under a sea of umbrellas.

"More than 5,000 people have joined the march. Today the police prepared around 150 policemen to help maintain safety," a police colonel told AFP.

The rally ended without incident at about 1:00 pm (0600 GMT) after the protesters marched to the main shopping district and dispersed.

SLanka military captures rebel-held town

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lankan troops captured a rebel-held town in the island's north following heavy fighting that killed a "large" group of guerrillas, the defence ministry said Friday.

Security forces took the town of Maniyakkulam, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south-west of the military's primary target of Kilinochchi, the political capital of the Tamil Tiger rebels, the ministry said. It did not say how many Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas were killed in Thursday's fighting. The violence forced the return of a food convoy that the United Nations was trying to escort into the rebel-held Wanni region, the organisation said.

The UN office said it would immediately seek "renewed security assurances from the two sides" before attempting to resend the 50-truck convoy with 750 tonnes of aid.

Earlier Thursday, the rebels accused the military of bombing bridges in rebel-held areas in a bid to block food reaching civilians. The military said the guerrillas fired at the convoy.

Most international aid agencies have quit the troubled region after a government order, leaving only the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Sri Lankan government, which pulled out of a Norwegian-backed truce with the rebels in January, is trying to capture the rebel political capital of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres north of the capital Colombo.

Sri Lanka's ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government is engaged in one of its biggest-ever offensives against the Tamil Tigers, who control part of the north of the island and want to carve out a separate state.

15 EU countries on track to meet Kyoto targets

AP, Copenhagen

The European Union's 15 original member nations are on target to meet Kyoto treaty commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the bloc's environment agency said Thursday.

The countries pledged by 2012 to reduce by 8 percent their emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases thought to contribute to global warming.

Only three countries - Denmark, Italy and Spain - were "off their Kyoto track" and unlikely to meet individual targets, the European Environment Agency said.

But their shortfalls would be made up by Britain, Germany and Sweden, which were expected to show "outstanding performance," according to agency's executive director, Jacqueline McGlade.

The 15 were the only nations in the European Union in 1997, when it joined the Kyoto Protocol under an "EU burden-sharing agreement." The 12 nations that have since joined the bloc are not obliged to help meet its Kyoto targets. The European Environment Agency released a report Thursday detailing each of the 15 nations' progress on cutting greenhouse gases, as well as an estimate of what Europe's long-term situation with emissions might be.

It said that while EU emissions were projected to decrease through 2020 - meeting its 20-percent reduction target compared with 1990 levels - the bloc was still far from implementing other measures, including a European Commission proposal that the bloc derives 20 percent of its energy from renewable supplies by 2020.

UN chief calls for improved security in Lebanon

AP, United Nations

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday praised improving ties between Lebanon and Syria, but called on the two countries to take further steps to bolster security along their border.

He also warned that Lebanon will not be a fully sovereign state until Hezbollah, and other militia groups are disarmed.

The secretary-general's six-month report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained by The Associated Press, focused on the country's progress in holding presidential elections, but underscored the immediate danger of armed groups.

"Over the last six months, Lebanon has experienced both the ruinous effects of sectarian violence and hope and optimism," he said in the report.

"I applaud the historical steps that have been taken so far by Presidents Suleiman and Al-Assad," he said. "For the first time since their independence, the two neighboring states are establishing diplomatic relations."

The foreign ministers of Syria and Lebanon signed a document Wednesday formalizing diplomatic ties between the two countries for the first time in their turbulent history.

The signing comes a day after Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree establishing diplomatic relations with its smaller neighbor - a long-standing demand of the West and Lebanese politicians opposed to Syria's influence in the country.

The two countries have not had formal diplomatic relations since both gained independence from France in the 1940s in an arrangement that many Lebanese viewed as a result of Syria's refusal to recognize Lebanese sovereignty.

Ban said Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's election on May 25 "represented a significant step forward," but said "I remain concerned by the political assassinations and explosions that continue to plague Lebanon."

In the report, Ban called on Lebanese parties to immediately halt all efforts to acquire and build paramilitary units.

He reiterated that militias should be reduced through political dialogue. "The ultimate purpose of disarmament is the establishment of a strong Lebanese state for all inhabitants of Lebanon," he said.

"Hezbollah's maintenance of separate military assets and infrastructure is a fundamental challenge to the government's attempts to consolidate the sovereignty and authority of the Lebanese state," he said, adding that several Palestinian militias also operate in the country.

17 civilians killed in Afghan air strike

AFP, Kandahar

At least 17 civilians, including women and children, were killed in a military operation in Afghanistan, according to a provincial government official giving the first official death toll on Friday.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which locals accuse of killing the villagers on Thursday in misguided air strikes, said it was trying to establish what had happened.

A spokesman for the government of the southern province of Helmand, Daud Ahmadi, said villagers had brought 17 bodies to the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, to show the governor. "Most of the bodies we saw had shrapnel wounds but at this stage we don't know if the shrapnel was from a rocket or a bomb which collapsed a house," Ahmadi said.

He would not say how many of the bodies he saw were women and children. The government was investigating how they were killed, he said.

Residents of Nad Ali district just east of Lashkar Gah said Thursday a military air strike had killed 25 civilians and they had taken the bodies of 16 to the town as "proof".

Provincial police chief Assadullah Shirzad confirmed civilians had been killed but would not give a number.

Nad Ali has seen weeks of heavy fighting between militants and Afghan and international troops. Afghan and British forces said on Sunday around 40 militants were killed in a three-day operation there.

Civilian casualties by foreign troops is a sensitive issue in Afghanistan, where the government and its allies need local support in their campaign against the Taliban.

A group that monitors the security of non-government organisations in Afghanistan said this week it estimated that 970 civilians had been killed in insurgent attacks this year, 373 in military action.

The ousting of the extreme Islamic Taliban government in 2001 led the war-torn country into a growing insurgency which Afghan officials say is attracting Islamic fighters from various countries.

Japanese lawmakers visit war shrine

AFP, Tokyo

Dozens of Japanese politicians visited Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni shrine to war dead on Friday, but new Prime Minister and past supporter Taro Aso stayed away, lawmakers' offices said.

Forty-eight parliamentarians -- 21 upper house members and 27 lower house politicians-visited the Yasukuni shrine on the first day of its four-day annual autumn festival.

No cabinet members were seen at the shrine, which honours 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including 14 top war criminals from World War II. Other Asian countries view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression.

Aso, who took office in late September, has not said clearly whether he would visit the Shinto shrine.

"He probably makes decisions by looking at his schedule of public duties," lawmaker Yoshinobu Shimamura said at the shrine, as quoted by Jiji Press.

He said he "frankly hopes" Aso will visit the Yasukuni shrine.

Former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi prayed once a year at the shrine during his 2001-2006 tenure, enraging China and South Korea which refused any summits with him.

Aso's predecessor Yasuo Fukuda advocated reconciliation with other Asian countries and openly opposed visits to the shrine by political leaders.

Aso has gone to the Yasukuni shrine in the past and has caused controversy for praising aspects of Japan's past imperialism.

But Aso, a Christian, unveiled a proposal in 2006 for the government to take over the shrine and strip it of its religious affiliation in the hope of ending the controversy.

Russia eases penalties against British Council

AFP, Moscow

The British Council won a victory in its politically charged dispute with Russian authorities on Friday when a Moscow court reduced its back-tax fines, news agencies reported.

The Moscow Arbitration Court overruled tax inspectors who had accused the cultural body of evading taxes from 2004 to 2006 amid a deep chill in Russian-British relations, RIA Novosti and Interfax reported.

In January, a secret police crackdown forced the British Council to shut down all but one of its Russian offices amid a diplomatic standoff triggered by the November 2006 radioactive poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko.

In Friday's ruling, judges sided with the British Council in a lawsuit it had filed against tax inspectors, reducing "the main part" of its tax bill and "significantly" lowering fines, Interfax said without giving exact numbers.

The British Council had been facing back-tax charges of 4.3 million pounds, according to the Kommersant daily.

Indian woman beheads alleged attacker

AP, Lucknow

A woman chopped the head off a man who allegedly tried to attack her and then paraded the head through a market in northern India, police said Friday. Police arrested the woman late Thursday after receiving calls from frightened witnesses who reported a blood-soaked woman holding a severed head was walking through the village, said police officer Ram Bharose.

The woman, 35, told police she had gone to a nearby forest to cut grass for fodder for her cattle when a man attacked her from behind. "In a bid to save her dignity she beheaded him with a sickle," Bharose said, adding that the woman had bite marks on her neck and cheek. The woman also told police that the man had been harassing and stalking her for three months and she had no regrets about killing him, he said, adding that she would probably be charged with culpable homicide.

The incident took place in Makkapurva village, some 125 miles southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

Gates consulting Congress on Iraq agreement

AFP, Washington

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is satisfied with a draft agreement with Baghdad on the legal status of US forces in Iraq and has begun consultations with Congress, his spokesman said Thursday.

Gates believes the draft agreement "adequately" protects US troops in all facets of their operations from combat to legal protections, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

"We would never advocate for a document for a t status of forces agreement that did not adequately protect our forces," Morrell said. The status of forces agreement would replace a UN mandate as the legal basis for the US military presence in Iraq, and also set in motion a timeline for the withdrawal of US combat forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Morrell said the agreement reached by US and Iraqi negotiators would not be final until it had been approved by leaders in both countries, but it was close enough that Gates had decided to consult key members of Congress.

On Thursday, the secretary began making calls to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to discuss key points of agreement contained in the draft, the spokesman said.

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, raised a warning flag on Wednesday on the question of whether Iraq would be given jurisdiction over US military personnel.

"I am skeptical of any agreement that would subject US servicemen and women to the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts in the middle of a chaotic war and in the absence of a judicial system that has been proven to be fair and protective of the rights of individuals," he said in a statement.

Morrell would not go into specifics but indicated that Gates believed an acceptable compromise had been reached on the issue, which has been a major stumbling block in the months long negotiations.

The United States has previously ceded jurisdiction over US military personnel accused of committing crimes while off duty or off base to host countries, notably Japan and South Korea.

Petraeus seeking broad support for US strategy

Reuters, Washington

Even before he takes command of U.S. military strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gen. David Petraeus is reaching beyond the military sphere to encourage international support for stabilizing the region.

Petraeus, whose innovative thinking is credited with helping save Iraq from civil war, met International Monetary Fund and World Bank representatives last week in preparation for new efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.

The move, unusual for a military commander, underscores the Pentagon's emphasis on unifying military, economic, political and diplomatic aid to help the two countries cope with militant violence and economic dislocation, officials said. On October 31, the Army general will become head of Central Command, responsible for American military interests in 20 countries across the Middle East and Central and South Asia.

"The purpose (of the World Bank and IMF meetings) was to touch base and note the Central Command's interest in supporting comprehensive approaches in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and others," said a military official close to Petraeus.

His arrival at Centcom is widely expected to reinvigorate U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO efforts face grave challenges from an increasingly confident Taliban.

The United States has 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 19,000 under Centcom command and 13,000 under NATO.

Petraeus will launch a 100-day assessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other countries in the Centcom region once he takes over, officials said.

He has already spoken publicly of the strategic value of reconciling members of the Taliban with the Afghan government as a possible way to reduce violence in areas of Afghanistan where security has deteriorated this year.

Military officials say they are studying the country's tribal landscape to identify leaders who might be willing to join the West against hard core insurgents.

Petraeus has also spoken out about the need for military strategy to be sustained by major financial and development support for the region from the international community.

Thai army chief: 'If I were prime minister, I would resign’

AFP, Bangkok

Thailand's powerful army chief Thursday piled the pressure on Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, saying that if he were in the premier's position, he would resign as protests against his rule drag on. Somchai has been losing allies since two people died in clashes on October 7 between anti-government protesters and police, with opponents and demonstrators calling on him to step down and dissolve parliament.

"I am not prejudiced against any government, but if I were prime minister I would resign. I would not stay in power," General Anupong Paojinda said in an interview with local television. The influential Anupong insisted he would not pressure Somchai to step down, but said the public would be looking for someone to take responsibility for the clashes, which also left nearly 500 people injured.

The army chief again said he would not stage a coup, and denied the military was involved in the recent street violence, which erupted when police fired tear gas to try and stop protesters from blockading parliament.

"Nobody should allow that kind of tragedy to happen-I did not expect that things could turn that bad," he said.

Soon after Anupong's comments, Somchai told reporters that he planned to remain as prime minister until he had overseen amendments to the constitution-a plan with no timeline and one of the prime reasons for the protests.

"I am not attached to the position (of prime minister), but if I am leaving people must be able to live in peace," he told reporters.

An anti-government alliance launched a campaign in May, claiming that the ruling People Power Party elected in December is just a puppet of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who they accuse of corruption and nepotism.

Financial crisis undercuts global food aid: Annan

AP, Dublin

Wealthy nations are reneging on commitments to help feed the world's hungry and may cite the banking crisis as a reason why they cannot do more, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told an international conference on combating starvation Thursday.

Annan's address on World Food Day emphasized that 10,000 children in the Third World would die from malnutrition on Thursday alone - and this should be viewed as great a tragedy as the collapse of a bank.

"The financial crisis deserves urgent attention and focus. But so does the question of hunger. Millions (this year) are liable to die. Is that any less urgent?" Annan told journalists at the Fighting Hunger conference attended by 200 foreign-aid experts from Europe, Africa and the United States.

"I agree that politicians being what they are, and under pressure from their own voters to improve their own local economic conditions - they will take their eyes off of poverty," he said.

Annan questioned whether governments were really serious when they proclaimed aid commitments at a Group of Eight summit in Scotland in 2005 and at a 181-nation Food Summit in Rome in June.

The G-8 meeting produced promises to boost development aid to Africa to US$50 billion by 2010. The Rome Food Summit ended with nations committing US$12 billion toward measures to modernize agricultural practices, including promises to buy more food from small African farmers and to help them boost their yields with fertilizer, high-tech seeds, irrigation and mechanical equipment.

If the promises were kept, Third World hunger would decline, Annan said.

Instead, hunger experts at Thursday's conference agreed that the current 920 million hungry worldwide is likely to grow this year to about 970 million.

Annan suggested that the US$12 billion pledge was an illusion.

India rumbles over Sri Lanka war

Reuters, Colombo

Indian political pressure on Sri Lanka to throttle back an offensive to wipe out the Tamil Tigers will do little to sway a Sri Lankan government increasingly confident it can end one of Asia's longest insurgencies. Despite threats from Tamil politicians at home, India is loath to repeat its disastrous 1980s intervention in the war on its doorstep, leaving Sri Lanka free to wage a military campaign that has energised President Mahinda Rajapaksa's political base.

"The military is very unlikely to stop now, because this is the government's key political agenda item," said Maria Kuusisto, an analyst with Eurasia Group. "Now when they have gone this far, to backtrack would be a negative." India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week expressed concern at the escalation in the conflict, which has raged on and off for 25 years, and called for a negotiated settlement.

Singh's comments, which echoed India's existing diplomatic stance, were described by analysts as pre-election manoeuvres by a government that must call a national poll by May 2009.

The Indian leader is under pressure from his administration's southern allies in Tamil Nadu state, where the mainly Tamil population accuses largely Sinhalese Sri Lanka of trying to wipe out the island's Tamils.

And despite his criticism, Singh also endorsed Sri Lanka's position that the country must not allow the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to split the Indian Ocean island nation in two, nor tolerate the actions of a group on U.S., EU and Indian terrorism lists.

"India loves to play all sides, and has always done that," said Reva Bhalla, an analyst with the U.S. private intelligence firm Stratfor.