29 July 2011 — Stop NATO

• U.S. Plans Interceptor Missile Radar System In NATO States
• Russian Envoy Visits Turkey Over NATO Interceptor Missile System
• Japan To Allow Interceptor Missile Transfers To NATO Nations
• U.S. Missile Shield To Spark Nuclear Arms Race: North Korea
• Kosovo-Serbia: NATO Declares Crossings ‘Restricted Military Areas,’ Threatens Lethal Force
• Poland Loses 25th Soldier To NATO’s Afghan War
• After Libya And Syria, U.S. Targets Lebanese Government

U.S. Plans Interceptor Missile Radar System In NATO States

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20110729/165442215.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
July 29, 2011

U.S. in talks with NATO states on deployment of radar system in Europe

WASHINGTON: The United States is in talks with a number of NATO states on the deployment of a radar system as part of its mooted missile shield in Europe, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said.

‘We’re talking to a number of countries within NATO about this radar system and when it might be deployed but I don’t want to get into the substance of those discussions,’ Mark Toner told a daily press briefing adding that Turkey is among the possible countries.

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Russia has retained staunch opposition to the deployment of missile-defense systems near its borders, claiming they would be a security threat…

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Russian Envoy Visits Turkey Over NATO Interceptor Missile System

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/29/c_131016374.htm

Xinhua News Agency
July 29, 2011

Russian envoy visits Turkey to discuss NATO missile defense system

-Russia was against ‘militarization of Black Sea region,’ Rogozin said. ‘We don’t want players to play on this ground if they are not a part of this region,’ he noted.
-’Deploying a missile defense against a threat which does not exist, not only fail to defuse the situation in fact, but would lead to making it more serious,’ he said.
The diplomat said that deploying interceptors in Poland ‘will significantly affect Russian strategic forces.’

ANKARA: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s special envoy visited Turkey on Thursday to discuss Russia’s concerns on the U.S. led anti-missile network in Europe.

‘Having missile defense elements in someone’s territory makes a country a target. That’s why you have to think very well before you make the decision,’ Dmitry Rogozin, Russian envoy to NATO, told reporters on Thursday prior to his meetings with Turkish leaders.

The Russian diplomat arrived in Turkey following his visit to the U.S. to get a briefing on the planned anti-missile project. ‘We still had the same number of questions’ on the missile defense project after the visit to military base Colorado Springs where the U.S. century missile defense center is located, he said.

He said that was the reason why he would like to hear opinions of the Turkish leadership. ‘Turkey will have a direct influence on the decision to deploy U.S. radar here, which then will become a part of the overall U.S. system. Since Turkey has access to Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, it will have a direct influence on the decision to deploy the U.S. missile defense ships, cruises in these seas,’ he said.

Russia was against ‘militarization of Black Sea region,’ Rogozin said. ‘We don’t want players to play on this ground if they are not a part of this region,’ he noted.

‘Our U.S. colleagues try to put a basis for missile defense plans by demonizing Iranian missile program. But we differ from the U.S., concerning on real intentions of the Iranian leadership and their intentions in creating missiles and capabilities of this missiles,’ he said.

‘Deploying a missile defense against a threat which does not exist, not only fail to defuse the situation in fact, but would lead to making it more serious,’ he said.

The diplomat said that deploying interceptors in Poland ‘will significantly affect Russian strategic forces.’

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Japan To Allow Interceptor Missile Transfers To NATO Nations

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110728006799.htm

Yomiuri Shimbun
July 29, 2011

Govt sets terms for missile interceptor transfer

Japan would allow the United States to transfer a missile interceptor under joint development by the two nations to third parties, on the condition that the third parties can effectively control its re-export, according to draft guidelines compiled by the government.

The draft guidelines set criteria for making judgment on permitting the export of the next-generation Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor, which is to be positioned on a sea-based destroyer as part of the Japan-U.S. missile defense system, sources said Thursday.

The draft stipulates that Japan would allow the transfer on two conditions:

– Third-party nations have domestic systems for export control and information integrity, and are members of international frameworks on these matters.

– The transfer contributes to Japan’s security given the threat of ballistic missiles from North Korea and other nations.

The first condition is meant to prevent further transfer of the interceptor by a third-party nation. Nations that are party to the Missile Technology Control Regime, and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has signed the General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan, would possibly meet the criteria, according to the sources.

The MTCR has 34 member nations including Japan, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Poland, South Korea, Turkey and the United States; NATO has 28 member nations including Britain, the Czech Republic, France and Poland. Targeted third-party nations are likely to be allies of the United States, the sources said.

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The SM-3 Block IIA missile is to be an updated version of the existing SM-3 Block IA that intercepts ballistic missiles from outer space. The updated version has improved destructive, target discerning and tracking capabilities. The Japanese and U.S. governments have been jointly developing it since fiscal 2006 under a nine-year project.

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U.S. Missile Shield To Spark Nuclear Arms Race: North Korea

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-korea-north-un-idUSTRE76Q63M20110727

Reuters
July 28, 2011

Missile shield will spark nuclear arms race: North Korea

-Last month the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security bloc that includes Russia, China and four former Soviet Central Asian states, signed a declaration condemning any unilateral build-up of missile defenses.

UNITED NATIONS: If U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield to protect Europe against a possible attack by Iran are realized, it will spark a new nuclear arms race, North Korea’s U.N. ambassador said Wednesday.

The U.S. plan, which is being developed in consultation with NATO, calls for the gradual deployment of interceptor missiles, based on land and sea, by 2020.

‘The MDS (missile defense system) being pushed under the pretext of responding to so-called ballistic missile developments by what they call ‘rogue states’ is far from carrying logic,’ North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Sin Son-ho told a U.N. General Assembly meeting on disarmament.

Sin said that the real purpose of the missile shield is ‘none other than the gaining of absolute superiority and global hegemony over the other nuclear power rivals.’

‘This dangerous move will eventually spark a new nuclear arms race,’ he said.

Sin’s remarks come as North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan arrived in New York, where he is expected to meet Washington’s envoy for Korean peninsula affairs, Stephen Bosworth.

North Korea withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the global anti-nuclear weapons pact, in 2003 and tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009. This prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose two rounds of sanctions on Pyongyang to pressure it to end its missile and nuclear programs.

Last month the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security bloc that includes Russia, China and four former Soviet Central Asian states, signed a declaration condemning any unilateral build-up of missile defenses.

…

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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Kosovo-Serbia: NATO Declares Crossings ‘Restricted Military Areas,’ Threatens Lethal Force

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=07&dd=28&nav_id=75667

Tanjug News Agency
July 28, 2011

NATO declares crossings ‘restricted military areas’

PRIŠTINA: KFOR commander Erhard Buehler says NATO had declared two crossings on the administrative line between Kosovo and Serbia a restricted military area.

He threatened the use of lethal force in the case of attack on Jarinje and Brnjak.

‘I cannot exclude another attempt. Both gates are declared military restricted areas and the rules of engagement are very clear,’ Buehler told Reuters in an interview.

According to Buehler, the soldiers can employ lethal force, they can employ their weapons to defend themselves, to defend…the military restricted area.

‘Nobody who is not authorized to work in the gates or to cross the gates should be near the gates,’ Buehler added.

KFOR is a NATO-led force deployed in the province with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 that ended the 1999 war.

Serbian officials today accused KFOR of ‘enforcing decisions of the (Kosovo Albanian) Priština government’ and stepping outside the UN resolution.

Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians unilaterally declared independence more than three years ago, which Serbia rejected.

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Poland Loses 25th Soldier To NATO’s Afghan War

http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/52502,Polish-soldier-dies-in-Afghanistan

Polish Radio
July 28, 2011

Polish soldier dies in Afghanistan

A Polish soldier has been killed in Ghazni, south east Afghanistan, after a roadside bomb exploded under his armoured vehicle.

PFC Pawel Poswiat sustained serious injuries when a blast damaged the Rosomak APC he was driving on a routine patrol mission.

The soldier was rushed in critical state to a Polish field hospital by a MEDEVAC helicopter but despite quick medical assistance the soldier died of heavy wounds.

PFC Pawel Powsiat served in the 17th Mechanized Brigade and was stationed with the Polish contingent in Ghazni province of Afghanistan.

He was 29 years old and single.

Pawel Powsiat is the 25th Polish soldier to die in action in Afghanistan, where Poland has around 2,500 troops stationed.

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After Libya And Syria, U.S. Targets Lebanese Government

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/29/c_131016420.htm

Xinhua News Agency
July 29, 2011

U.S. says new Lebanese government reflects foreign will

BEIRUT: The ambassador of the United States to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, said the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati reflected external will.

In a statement circulated by the embassy in Beirut Thursday, Connelly said the current Lebanese government ‘appears to reflect less the will of the people and more the will of external interests.’

The Hezbollah-led government, headed by Mikati, came into power in June after nearly five months of political vacuum, following the collapse of the government of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri following a dispute over a UN backed court probing the assassination of his father Rafik Hariri.

In its first round of indictments, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is believed to have pointed the finger at four Hezbollah members into the 2005 killing. Hezbollah denies involvement and slammed the court a U.S. project to deal a blow to the party’s struggle against Israel.

Many fear that since Hezbollah now dominates the new government it will attempt to cut ties with the Netherlands-based court.