28 July 2011 — Stop NATO
- NATO’s Asian, African Wars: Italy Extends Funding For Afghan, Libyan Missions
- NATO Troops Slay Pregnant Afghan Woman, Child, Young Man
- Kosovo: More Attacks On NATO Forces
- Kosovo Separatists Flex Muscles, Russia Concerned
- Canada Spends $3.3 Billion For Arctic Patrol Ships Against Russia
- Canadian Defence Chief Meets Troops Ahead Of Arctic Military Exercise
- NATO Integrates Armenia For Global War Zone Deployments
- Afghan War: French, Georgian Troops Conduct Artillery Training
- Pakistan: NATO Oil Tanker Blown Up
- NATO Gives Swedish Military ‘Unbelievably High Marks’
NATO’s Asian, African Wars: Italy Extends Funding For Afghan, Libyan Missions
Bloomberg News
July 27, 2011
Italian Senate Extends Funding for Afghanistan, Libya Missions
By Andrew Davis
The Italian Senate voted to extend funding for foreign military missions, supporting forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and a NATO-led effort in Libya.
The vote came a day after an Italian paratrooper was killed in Afghanistan, the 41st Italian soldier to die while serving there. Legislators held a minute of silence before debating the measure and casting the ballot for another six-month extension.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Northern League allies voted to back the extension, signaling support for the premier amid tension within the ruling coalition. The League has been critical of the peacekeeping missions and called for troops to be brought home. The opposition Democratic Party also approved the measure.
Italy’s 9,250 troops currently serving abroad will be reduced to 7,222, newspaper Corriere della Sera reported yesterday. Today’s vote, which must be followed by backing in the lower house Chamber of Deputies, approved 694 million euros ($1 billion) in funding for the missions, down from 911 million euros in the first half.
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NATO Troops Slay Pregnant Afghan Woman, Child, Young Man
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1676013&SM=1
RTT News
July 27, 2011
Three Afghan Civilians Shot Dead By NATO Troops
At least three civilians have been killed in an attack involving French soldiers from the NATO-led international coalition forces deployed in Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.
The incident happened after the French troops fired on a car in the Nijrab district of Kapisa province after its driver failed to stop the vehicle despite requests from the approaching soldiers.
The fatalities in the incident included a young man, a pregnant woman and a child. The French military said later that one woman and two men were also wounded in the incident.
The French military’s spokesman in Kabul, Lieutenant Colonel Eric de Lapresle, said an investigation has been launched to determine the exact circumstances that led to the shooting, and added: ‘The French army recognizes its responsibility in this tragedy.’
Meanwhile, the office of Afghan presidency in a statement said that President Hamid Karzai ‘strongly condemned’ the attack that led to the death of the three civilians.
‘The incident happened as NATO forces opened fire on a car that was moving towards them, thinking it was a suicide car,’ the statement said. ‘They opened fire on this car martyring one pregnant woman, one young man and a child.
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Civilian casualties are a sensitive issue in Afghanistan, where the West-backed government led by President Hamid Karzai is struggling to win back the Afghan people’s confidence after the recent escalation in militant attacks.
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Earlier on Wednesday, Ghulam Haidar Hameedi, the mayor of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar was killed in a suicide bomb attack claimed by the Taliban. Hameedi’s assassination was the third such incident in July after President Karzai’s half-brother and a key adviser were shot dead earlier in the month.
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Kosovo: More Attacks On NATO Forces
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110728/165425189.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
July 28, 2011
NATO peacekeepers attacked in northern Kosovo
BELGRADE: Unknown gunmen attacked NATO peacekeepers in northern Kosovo for the second time in the past few hours, the Kosovo Force (KFOR) said in a statement.
NATO peacekeepers have been deployed to Kosovo’s Serb-dominated north after clashes broke out in the area on Monday following the Kosovo authorities’ decision to send special police forces to the border to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia, a move opposed by local Serbs.
Kosovo officials later said they ordered the withdrawal from the border posts after government customs officers had been installed at the sites.
Late on Wednesday, a group of several dozen people in masks were reported to have attacked the Jarine border crossing post in northern Kosovo with Molotov cocktails. The attackers reportedly approached the checkpoint from the north (Serbian-controlled territory).
There have been no reports of victims of injuries.
Earlier on Wednesday, some media reports said the Brnyak border crossing post was attacked and set on fire by a group of Kosovo Serbs. The reports have not been confirmed, but KFOR said security was strengthened at both border crossings.
Several hours before the attack of the Jarine checkpoint, two Mil Mi-171 (Hip) helicopters carrying Croatian peacekeepers were attacked by unknown gunmen in the area, the Croatian Defense Ministry said. No one was wounded in the attack.
KFOR Commander Gen. Erhard Buehler has been negotiating with representatives of Kosovo Albanians and Serbs to settle the situation, the KFOR statement said.
Serbian President Boris Tadic has condemned the attacks on peacekeepers. He said, however, that Belgrade ‘will not go to war’ in response to Kosovo attempts to seize border checkpoints and will use only diplomatic means to resolve the conflict.
Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has blamed the violence on the Serbian side.
Kosovo, which unilaterally proclaimed its independence from Serbia in 2008, has been recognized by a total of 76 out of 192 UN member states.
Serbs account for up to 10 percent of Kosovo’s population, making up the biggest non-Albanian community remaining in the breakaway region following the 1998-99 Kosovan war of independence.
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Kosovo Separatists Flex Muscles, Russia Concerned
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/27/53812067.html
Voice of Russia
July 27, 2011
Kosovo separatists flexing muscle
At least 8 people are known to have been injured after separatist authorities in Kosovo attempted to seize border crossings between Serb-populated northern areas and Serbia.
Russia calls on the United Nations and the European Union to step in and restore order in the border area. In a statement from its Foreign Ministry Wednesday, it also says all disputes between Belgrade and Pristina must be resolved through talks, and what happened at the border crossings is a deliberate provocation.
Back in 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Serbia continues to see is as a renegade province.
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http://rt.com/news/kosovo-serbia-russia-tensions/
RT
July 27, 2011
Russia concerned over tensions in Kosovo
Video at URL above
Russia has joined the EU and US in condemning Kosovo’s decision to send Special Forces to seize border crossings along the shared frontier with Serbia. Moscow says it threatens to destabilize the region.
’The dramatic deterioration of the situation in northern Kosovo causes serious concerns,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website on Wednesday.
‘We believe that the Kosovo Albanian authorities’ provocative actions destabilize the already fragile situation in the region, escalate tensions and undermine the negotiating process between Belgrade and Pristina,’ it said.
NATO-led peacekeepers have been deployed to the area to help control the situation, which is stoking ethnic tensions. Hundreds of people blocked main roads in response to Kosovan police seizing two disputed border crossings. One police officer was killed in overnight clashes, two policemen have been wounded.
Kosovo says it is trying to enforce a ban on Serbian imports in response to a similar boycott of Kosovan goods.
Around 60,000 Serbs live in the north and do not recognize Kosovo’s independence, which it unilaterally declared in 2008.
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Canada Spends $3.3 Billion For Arctic Patrol Ships Against Russia
United Press International
July 25, 2011
Canada goes ahead with Arctic patrol ships
-Canada is keen to stamp its sovereignty on the area it sees as its own amid frequent challenges from Russia. It has bolstered and extended its military presence but is only now beginning to boost its forces.
-Canada plans to conduct more sea-borne surveillance to guard against what it sees as frequent Russian intrusions.
‘The Arctic is part of us. Was. Is. And always will be,’ former Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told Russian hosts when he visited Moscow in October last year.
OTTAWA: Canada is going ahead with a $3.3 billion plan to beef up Arctic security and assert its sovereignty amid competing measures by other countries increasingly interested in the thawing region’s immense potential.
The funds will be used to build up to eight Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships, the navy said. In addition to more than $3 billion in acquiring the vessels, another $4.5 billion will be needed to maintain them over an expected 25-year lifespan.
International efforts to flag ownership of parts of the Arctic has heated up in recent years as Arctic ice melts, offering numerous opportunities including alternative maritime routes.
Canada is keen to stamp its sovereignty on the area it sees as its own amid frequent challenges from Russia. It has bolstered and extended its military presence but is only now beginning to boost its forces.
In the current and future security environment, Canada must have effective tools for exercising control of Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zones, the 200-nautical-mile limit in all three oceans, particularly the Arctic, the Canadian navy said.
The navy ordered new ships to enable it to effectively patrol the Arctic even when iced. At present navy craft can only navigate the Arctic waters when there’s no ice.
Denmark, Russia and the United States have also boosted presence in the Arctic, introducing more ice-breaking vessels that can ply the frozen sea.
The ships would be built in Canada after an initial design and consultation period of at least two years but would likely be in service by the end of 2013.
Canada’s multipurpose, ice-capable offshore patrol ship ‘will enhance Canada’s ability to enforce its right, under international law, to be notified when foreign ships enter Canadian waters,’ the navy said.
Canada plans to conduct more sea-borne surveillance to guard against what it sees as frequent Russian intrusions.
‘The Arctic is part of us. Was. Is. And always will be,’ former Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told Russian hosts when he visited Moscow in October last year.
The Pravda newspaper complained Russia was painted as ‘the primary aggressor’ in Western media reports on the international competition for control in the Arctic.
The Canadian navy said the new patrol ships would need to be built to negotiate all-year the Arctic’s icy waters, Newfoundland, the northwest coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands as well as the Lawrence River and berth at Quebec City. All ships will be armed.
Last year’s budget cuts raised speculation that Ottawa may ditch or drastically cut the Arctic ships program.
At one point the government considered reducing the caliber of the main gun from 76mm or 57mm to 25mm, procuring less powerful engines and limiting the number of vessels to six.
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Canadian Defence Chief Meets Troops Ahead Of Arctic Military Exercise
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/MacKay+meets+with+Rangers+ahead+Arctic+exercises/5152110/story.html
Vancouver Sun/Postmedia News
July 24, 2011
MacKay meets with Rangers ahead of Arctic exercises
WHITEHORSE: Canada’s defence minister met Sunday with Canadian Rangers ahead of a major, annual Arctic sovereignty operation.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay presented members of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group with Canadian Forces decoration medals in honour of their 12 years of service.
Starting Aug. 8, the 1st Ranger patrol group will take part in Operation Nanook, the military’s annual northern training exercise.
The Rangers, a sub-component of the Canadian Forces Reserve, patrol remote parts of Canada’s North…
Their numbers continue to climb, MacKay said, to nearly 4,700 Rangers from the 4,100 in 2007. The government’s goal is to have 5,000 Rangers by the end of 2012.
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NATO Integrates Armenia For Global War Zone Deployments
PanArmenian.net
July 27, 2011
NATO praised Armenia’s implementation of Individual Partnership Action Plans
On July 27, the Armenian ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, Edward Nalbandian and Seyran Ohanyan, participated in a Brussels-hosted North Atlantic Alliance session in the 28+1 format.
During the session, Mr. Nalbandian dwelled on NATO–Armenia cooperation, Armenia’s foreign policy priorities, and recent developments in Karabakh settlement. The Foreign Minister gave a high assessment to Armenia-NATO collaboration in the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program and Individual Partnership Action Plans (IPAP). The Minister of Defence, in turn, briefed those present on the process and perspectives of reforms in Armenia’s defence system and security sector.
NATO representatives gave a high assessment to Armenia’s IPAP implementation, the process of reforms, and Armenia’s participation in Afghanistan and Kosovo peacekeeping missions, specifically noting Armenia’s expansion of its Afghanistan mission, while continuing the mission in Kosovo.
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Afghan War: French, Georgian Troops Conduct Artillery Training
http://www.aco.nato.int/page424201050.aspx
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
July 27, 2011
French, Georgian soldiers meld to train Afghan Army artillerymen
By Master Sgt. Paul M. Hughes
Regional Support Command-South/NTM-A Public Affairs
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan…Four eight-man teams from the Afghan National Army’s 4th Kandak, 1st Brigade, 205th Corps, hustle to set up their Russian-made 122-millimeter howitzer D-30 guns as fast as they can.
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In a unique partnership, the French instructors work with soldiers from the Georgian Army. The Georgians are experts with the D-30s as they use the same weapons. ‘We know it perfectly,’ said Georgian instructor, Capt. Bezhan Kiknavelidze.
The course is four months long, but the French and Georgian instructors have been together for longer than that. Before their deployments, the soldiers worked together in both France and Georgia, and when they arrived in Afghanistan, they spent a month in Kabul preparing for the course at Camp Hero.
The Georgians are the first ever to be sent abroad by their country as instructors…
During the artillery course, the French soldiers do most of the classroom instruction, while the Georgians spend most of their time teaching the hands-on aspects.
The ANA artillerymen are slated to complete their training following a live-fire exercise in late September.
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Pakistan: NATO Oil Tanker Blown Up
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=59922&Cat=2&dt=7/28/2011
News International
July 28, 2011
Nato oil tanker blown up
LANDIKOTAL: An oil-tanker carrying fuel for the Afghanistan-based Nato troops was destroyed in an explosion near an Army garrison, official and tribal sources said on Wednesday.
The sources said militants had attached a timing device with the tanker (621-TLA) that went off when it reached the Landikotal Bypass Road. The tanker caught fire after the explosion and caused the leakage of 50,000 litres of fuel…
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NATO Gives Swedish Military ‘Unbelievably High Marks’
http://www.thelocal.se/35174/20110726/
The Local
July 26, 2011
NATO gives high marks to Swedish military
David Landes
Sweden’s defence capabilities would allow it to independently defend itself against all but the most severe attacks, according to an analysis by NATO…
The positive review of Swedish military capabilities comes from NATO’s Planning and Review Process (PARP), which looked at Sweden’s defence capabilities as a part of the country’s participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP), which began in 1995.
‘Even if the Armed Forces in extreme cases will still need to be dependent on a mobilisation of reserves, with support from the Home Guard, Sweden’s newly developed functional combat forces have an operative capacity and combat competence which would in the first instance deter an attack and if that failed can defend the country against all but the most determined and drawn-out attacks,’ concluded NATO, according to a document published by the Swedish Defence Ministry.
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Speaking with Sveriges Radio (SR), Swedish defence minister Sten Tolgfors referred to the results of NATO’s review as ‘unbelievably high marks’ for the new Swedish defence model.
The report is based in part on a future constellation for Sweden’s Armed Forces set to be put in place starting in 2014.
Despite the overall positive review from NATO, Fredrik Lindvall, a security analyst with the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), told SR the review is line with the defence and security policy Sweden has had for the last 20 years which presupposes a reliance on other nations.
According to Tolgfors, Sweden’s move to voluntary recruitment of soldiers remains a challenge, something which NATO also points out in its review.
‘It’s the main challenge ahead of us but we can also point out that so far we’ve had ten applicants per vacancy in the new basic military training for new volunteers,’ he said.
The New Dark Age 