18 May 2011 — Stop NATO
Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
- Russian President: U.S. Missile Plans Can End START Pact
- Russia To Boost Nuclear Strike Potential If NATO Missile Talks Fail
- Message To NATO: Russia Unveils Plans For Invincible ICBM
- Anti-NATO Protest: 11 Afghans Killed, 85 Wounded; German Soldiers Injured
- Afghan Provincal Capital: 2,000 In Anti-NATO Demonstration
- Police Kill Ten Afghans In Protest Outside NATO Base
- Kazakhstan: NATO Recruits First SCO State Troops For Afghan War
- Libyan, Afghan Wars: Czechs Join NATO AWACS System
- United Arab Emirates First Arab State To Open NATO Embassy
- NATO Military Committee Chief, Georgian Vice Prime Minister Meet On Afghan War, Other Missions
- Delegation From NATO Headquarters Visits Belarus
Russian President: U.S. Missile Plans Can End START Pact
www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=5&id=244488
Interfax
May 18, 2011
START-3 could be terminated if U.S. presses ahead with European missile shield – Medvedev
SKOLKOVO: Russia reserves the right to withdraw from the new strategic arms reduction treaty in case the United States continues pressing ahead with deploying a missile shield in Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev said.
“The new START treaty has a direct reservation that further development of missile defense would be tantamount to breaking strategic parity, and it may be suspended and even terminated,” Medvedev said at a press conference on Wednesday.
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www.rbcnews.com/free/20110518145345.shtml
RosBusinessConsulting
May 18, 2011
Medvedev warns of counter measures vs. European anti-missile plans
Moscow: Russia will have to take counter measures, if it fails to work out with the U.S. a cooperation model on the European anti-missile defense program, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said during today’s press conference in Skolkovo. “This would be a bad scenario that would throw us back to Cold War times.”
In this case, Russia would have to speed up the development of its nuclear arms potential. Russia could also suspend the new strategic arms limitation treaty with the U.S., if the European anti-missile system is further developed,” he added.
The European anti-missile system ultimately curtails Russia’s potential because the countries against which the system is allegedly designed do not have a potential comparable to that of Russia, Medvedev said.
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Russia To Boost Nuclear Strike Potential If NATO Missile Talks Fail
en.rian.ru/russia/20110518/164091414.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
May 18, 2011
Russia to enhance strike potential if missile cooperation with NATO fails
-”It is clear that the missile defense shield is directed at blocking the strategic capabilities of certain states,” Medvedev said. “I understand that other states mentioned do not have Russia’s [nuclear] potential and are unlikely to receive them in the coming years…So, it is directed against us.”
Moscow: Russia will boost its strike nuclear capabilities if NATO refuses to cooperate with Moscow in the European missile defense project, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.
The United States refused to comply with a Russian request that it provide legally binding guarantees that its European missile defense system will not be directed at Russia.
“I hope we will be able to forge a missile defense cooperation model,” Medvedev told around 800 journalists at a news conference at the Skolkovo School of Management near Moscow. “If we don’t, we will have to take retaliatory measures, which we do not want to have to do. This will mean forcing the development of our strike nuclear potential.”
“This would be a very bad scenario, which would take us back to the Cold War era,” the president added.
Medvedev reiterated a warning issued by the Foreign Ministry that Moscow may pull out of the New START disarmament agreement, which entered into force this year, in response to the United State’s position on the shield.
“It is clear that the missile defense shield is directed at blocking the strategic capabilities of certain states,” Medvedev said. “I understand that other states mentioned do not have Russia’s [nuclear] potential and are unlikely to receive them in the coming years…So, it is directed against us.”
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so-called European missile shield during the NATO-Russia Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system.
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Message To NATO: Russia Unveils Plans For Invincible ICBM
rt.com/politics/nato-russia-missile-defense-europe/
RT
May 17, 2011
Russia unveils plans for “invincible” ICBM
Robert Bridge
In a thinly-disguised message to NATO, which remains uncommitted to the idea of co-operating with Russia in a European missile defense system, the commander of Russian Strategic Rocket Forces (RSVN) said its ICBMs will soon be “invincible”.
According to the commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces (RSVN), Lt. Gen. Sergey Karakayev, Russia’s RS-24 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) will be capable of defeating any possible missile defense system within the next 15-20 years.
Speaking before journalists in Moscow, Karakayev said: “Speaking about combat effectiveness, it is necessary to note the new missiles’ ability to be invulnerable before launch thanks to their mobility, as well as their ability to tackle the task of defeating any possible missile defense system within the next 15-20 years, should such a need arise.”
Karakayev revealed that some missile complexes are already equipped with the RS-24 missiles.
“The first missile regiment, comprised of two batteries armed with Yars advanced land-based mobile missile systems, equipped with RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles with multiple warheads, entered duty at the Teikovo missile division, based in Ivanov region, on March 4,” the commander told a press conference at Interfax. “This is a weapon that has accumulated the best qualities of the Topol-M missile and has acquired new combat possibilities.”
The missile has characteristics that make it possible to speak about the invulnerability of (these weapons) at all of the sections of their flight course, he added.
Although the Russian commander did not directly mention US plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Moscow has said many times in the past that any missile defense system on its borders will necessarily be perceived as a potential national security threat.
At the NATO-Russia Summit in November, which saw the attendance of President Dmitry Medvedev, it appeared that the ground was set for a real co-operation between Moscow and NATO, the 28-nation military bloc that served as a balancing act against the Warsaw Pact countries during the height of the Cold War.
Medvedev stressed in no uncertain terms that Russia would be forced to defend itself if NATO went ahead and developed the system unilaterally.
If Moscow does not take part in the project, “we will have to defend ourselves,” he warned. The dialog on this issue will continue, but the results should be “clear” to Russia, he added.
Increasingly, and with tremendous possible repercussions for the much-hyped US-Russian reset, NATO seems reluctant to bring the Russians on board the system.
Meanwhile, as talks on missile defense sputter, NATO is attempting to “do its job without sharing know-how and its political and legal guarantees with Russia,” Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Monday.
Arguing that NATO is hoping the present standoff over missile defense in Europe will pass, Rogozin said there is no chance of this happening
“No, it won’t pass,” he said. “We will get what we want with Russia’s interests taken into account, one way or another.”
Meanwhile, Rogozin believes that Russia’s NATO partners will come around to the idea of creating a single European missile defense system with Russia’s direct participation.
Mutual participation in the ambitious project will not only enhance the level of our common security, he stressed, but create a unique co-operation potential.
However, in the unfortunate event that a shared missile defense system does not come to fruition, the NATO ambassador said “Russia will be forced to foot the expense of providing a military-technical answer.”
President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama are expected to continue their dialogue on missile defense, among other issues, in Deauville, France, where a G8 summit is scheduled for late May.
Preparations for the summit are continuing along diplomatic and military channels, Rogozin said, while mentioning that Russia is prepared to be patient on this extremely critical issue.
“We are in no hurry,” he said.
Although Russia has declared its willingness to show patience with NATO on the question of a joint missile defense system, it is clear that Russia’s missile designers will not wait for the last minute to develop their technologies.
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Anti-NATO Protest: 11 Afghans Killed, 85 Wounded; German Soldiers Injured
www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/05/18/11-dead-85-injured-protest-takhar
Pajhwok Afghan News
May 18, 2011
11 dead, 85 injured at protest in Takhar
by Waheedullah
TALOQAN: Nearly a dozen people were killed and 85 others wounded when a protest demonstration over the deaths of four people in a NATO raid turned violent in the northern Takhar province on Wednesday, officials said.
Police opened fire at hundreds of people protesting against the killing of four people, including two women, in the Gawmali area, three kilometers from Taloqan, the provincial capital.
NATO-led ISAF in a statement earlier said that a combined Afghan and coalition security force killed four insurgents, including two armed females, in Taloqan.
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But protestors said those killed in the operation were civilians. About 200 people took part in the demonstration. Some angry protestors attacked the governor’s office, and the Germany Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).
A doctor at the Taloqan civil hospital, Mohammad Hassan Bassejj, said there had been delivered 10 dead bodies and more than 50 injured at the hospital. Some of the wounded were in critical condition, he said.
However, he said the hospital lacked sufficient beds to accommodate the injured. He said some injured people were transferred to private clinics.
The protest turned violent after demonstrators clashed with police and tried to attack governmental office.
Security forces were trying to control the situation.
Ahmadullah, a protester, said that they were heading toward a NATO base to register their complaint against the deaths of four people when they were shot at. He said some protestors then threw hand grenades toward the base. Most of protestors were equipped with sticks and axes.
The main road leading to Taloqan city remained blocked for several hours. The Afghan National Army was called in to bring the situation under control, officials said.
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Governor Abdul Jabbar Taqwa said that foreign troops had been asked to provide evidence that the dead people had links with insurgents.
It was not immediately clear whether the casualties were victims of police bullets or from another source.
Two German soldiers were also injured in the disturbances, the country’s contingent in Afghanistan said, but did not give details.
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Afghan Provincal Capital: 2,000 In Anti-NATO Demonstration
en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1877773.html
Trend News Agency
May 18, 2011
Afghans protest against alleged killing of civilians by NATO
Some 2,000 Afghans in Taluqan city of Takhar province went to the street Wednesday to protest the alleged killing of four civilians by NATO-led troops, Xinhua reported.
About 2,000 people staged a protest demonstration in Takhar’s provincial capital, Taluqan city, 245 km north of the capital city of Kabul Wednesday morning alleging that NATO-led troops killed four civilians including two women during a raid outside Taluqan city.
Chanting anti-government and anti-NATO slogans, the protesters also brought the dead bodies to the Governor House, calling on the government to punish those responsible for the killing of non-combatant citizens.
The protestors said that the troops had arrested two more civilians during the raid carried out on Golami village outside Taluqan city late Tuesday night.
Provincial governor Abdul Jabbar Taqwa told Xinhua that he had confirmed the identity of three of those killed in the raid including two women. “An investigation is underway to find the fact behind the operation,” Taqwa told Xinhua.
The protestors hurled stones at police and policemen have begun aerial firing.
A protestor, who declined to give his name, said that several persons have injured due to firing by the police.
…
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Police Kill Ten Afghans In Protest Outside NATO Base
english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/18/50468156.html
Voice of Russia
May 18, 2011
Ten Afghans die in attack on NATO base
Police opened fire on participants in a spontaneous demonstration when they tried to take by storm a NATO base in the town of Talukan, in the north of Afghanistan. 10 people were killed, while 50 others wounded.
The unrest was sparked by last night’s NATO force special operation, with four civilians killed as a result. But the NATO military claims that all four were insurgents who put up armed resistance. But in the past, Afghan civilians repeatedly died because of NATO friendly fire.
The Afghan President’s cousin was killed in this kind of operation in March this year.
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Kazakhstan: NATO Recruits First SCO State Troops For Afghan War
www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=221170
Reuters
May 18, 2011
Kazakhs to join NATO-led troops in Afghanistan
ASTANA: …Kazakhstan will become the first nation of ex-Soviet Central Asia to send a military contingent to join NATO-led ISAF troops fighting in Afghanistan, Kazakh parliamentarians decided on Wednesday.
An unspecified number of Kazakh soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan on six-month missions with the International Security Assistance Force, in line with a bill passed by the lower house of parliament. The document did not say when the first Kazakh contingent would be going.
The vast nation, five times the size of France, has provided air and ground corridors for the delivery of supplies to Western troops in Afghanistan.
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Libyan, Afghan Wars: Czechs Join NATO AWACS System
praguemonitor.com/2011/05/18/czechs-definitively-join-natos-awacs-airborne-warning-system
Czech News Agency
May 18, 2011
Czechs join NATO’s AWACS System
-Brigadier General Burkhard Pototzky, commander of the fleet in Geilenkirchen, recalled that the AWACS fleet currently supports the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and the Operation Unified Protector over Libya and over the Mediterranean.
-”[T]his has actually been the first participation of Czech air force members within international forces in real operations since the end of World War Two.”
Geilenkirchen, Germany/Prague: The Czech Republic definitively joined NATO’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) with the hoisting of the Czech flag at the headquarters of the special Boeing E-3 AWACS fleet at the air base in Geilenkirchen Tuesday.
This ceremony has symbolically concluded the accession process and the Czech Republic has become the 18th full member of the AWACS system, known also as NAEW&C (NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control system).
The E-3 A aircraft with the characteristic rotating radardome to detect aircraft guard also the Czech airspace thanks to the country’s entry in the system.
The Czech government decided on joining NAEW&C in December 2009. The accession negotiations were completed in December 2010. On January 18, the Czech Republic officially joined the charter of NAPMO, NATO’s Airborne Early Warning & Control Program Management Organization.
Brigadier General Burkhard Pototzky, commander of the fleet in Geilenkirchen, recalled that the AWACS fleet currently supports the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and the Operation Unified Protector over Libya and over the Mediterranean.
Czech chief-of-staff Vladimir Picek said he was proud that the Czech military already had four soldiers actively participating in the programme.
Pilot Milan Vojacek and his navigator Jindrich Snehota joined the E-3 A fleet and two other Czech troops have been trained. In summer, a further four Czech soldiers are to operate in the fleet.
“We have been fully involved in the actions of the multinational team at the (Geilenkirchen) base from the very first day,” Mayor Vojacek said.
Vojacek said this has been an enormous experience “because this has actually been the first participation of Czech air force members within international forces in real operations since the end of World War Two.”
Vojacek said one of the most difficult tasks was refuelling of the E-3 plane during the flight over Afghan mountains.
He said he believes the experience of Czechs who would fly AWACS aircraft would definitely be a big contribution to the Czech military.
The Czech Republic will pay 170 million crowns for the modernisation of the NATO airborne early warning system by 2013 and it will annually pay about 90 million for the functioning of the system.
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Czech Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra said previously he expects the NAEW&C to enhance Czech participation in the development of NATO’s defence capability.
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United Arab Emirates First Arab State To Open NATO Embassy
www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20110518T130959ZMHL94
Agence France-Presse
May 18, 2011
UAE to be first Arab country with NATO embassy: Poland
WARSAW: The United Arab Emirates is to make a landmark move, becoming the first Arab country to send an ambassador to NATO, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Wednesday.
“We’re very happy that the United Arab Emirates is to become the first Arab country to open an embassy at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,” Sikorski told reporters after talks with his visiting UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Accrediting an ambassador to NATO is a key step for countries seeking to cement ties with the 28-nation, trans-Atlantic alliance.
The UAE already belongs to NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, launched at an alliance summit in the Turkish city in 2004, which aims to bolster bilateral security cooperation with countries in the Middle East.
The UAE and Gulf neighbour Qatar are unusual in the Arab world in that they are both taking part in the NATO-led military campaign against Moamer Kadhafi’s regime in Libya.
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NATO Military Committee Chief, Georgian Vice PM Meet On Afghan War, Other Missions
www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-E7E6B20B-C9CEFEA9/natolive/news_74423.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Transformation
May 17, 2011
Chairman of NATO Military Committee meets Georgian Vice-Prime Minister
NATO HQ
Brussels: The Georgian Vice-Prime Minister, Mr Giorgi Baramidze, met today with the Chairman of the Military Committee (CMC), Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, on the occasion of the exhibition held at NATO Headquarters on the subject of Georgian participation to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Alliance’s mission in Afghanistan.
Progresss and the way ahead for the mission were among the main topics of discussion between Mr Baramidze and Admiral Di Paola, where CMC took the opportunity to praise Georgia for the great contribution provided.
Georgia is not only actively contributing to the ISAF mission, but also supporting Operation Active Endeavour, NATO’s…operation in the Mediterranean Sea.
NATO and Georgia pursue an active political dialogue and practical cooperation, including through the unique framework provided by the NATO-Georgia Commission, in order to assist Georgia in achieving its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
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Delegation From NATO Headquarters Visits Belarus
www.defpro.com/news/details/24621/?SID=003234f0b102be60d1d711f2533bc10d
Defence Professionals
May 18, 2011
Consultations with Representatives of NATO Headquarters held in Belarus
On 16-18 May 2011, a delegation of the NATO headquarters is visiting Belarus. The visit is being paid within the framework of Belarusian participation in the Partnership for Peace Planning and Review Process (PARP) and under the Individual Partnership for Peace Programme of Belarus and NATO for 2010 – 2011.
The aim of the visit is to discuss the draft of the PARP Review Document and to hold consultations on the issues of implementing the Partnership Aims.
The delegation of the NATO headquarters, headed by Frank Boland, Director of the Force Planning Department, NATO Defence Policy and Planning Directorate, the military attaches of NATO member states such as Germany, Lithuania, Poland, France accredited to the Belarusian Defence Ministry and representatives of the Belarusian Defence Ministry will discuss the draft of the Review Document of PARP-2011, as well as the results and plans of our country’s implementation of the Partnership Aims in 2010.
The Belarusian delegation in the consultations is headed by Maj. Gen. Alexander Anisimov, State Secretary, Aide to Minister of Defence on Military Policy.
The New Dark Age 
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