- Reward For Russian Appeasement Of U.S., NATO Is Futility
- GCC-Controlled Arab League Issues Syria 48-Hour Ultimatum
- BRICS Nations Demand No External Interference In Syria, Iran
- NATO Missile Shield In Turkey ‘Israel’s Eye’ Over Middle East: Iranian Official
- Kosovo: NATO Troops Retreat, Serbs At Barricades
- NATO-Ukraine Committee Charts Further Cooperation, Integration
- Armenia: NATO Experts Group ‘Assists’ Ministry Of Defense
- U.S. Senator Calls On U.S., NATO To Support Kenya’s Invasion Of Somalia
- Ethiopia To Join Expanded Military Intervention In Somalia
- Ohio: Predator Drones New Mainstay For Local Economy
Reward For Russian Appeasement Of U.S., NATO Is Futility
http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/685675/Reward-for-Russian-appeasement-is-futility.aspx
Global Times
November 25, 2011
Reward for Russian appeasement is futility
-The Russians realized that the US and the whole Western world did not truly wish to embrace Russia. What they want is to take advantage of Russia’s difficulties and extend their influences into the area Russia formerly controlled.
-The ups and downs between Moscow and the West are a vivid lesson for non-Western countries who hope to align themselves with the Western world. It demonstrates that for powers like Russia and China, they cannot obtain sincerity from the West through concessions and obedience.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a harsh warning to the US over its missile defense installations in Eastern Europe on Wednesday. Despite these strongly-toned remarks, the White House firmly insists on keeping its missile shield, risking the destruction of easing tensions and improving relations.
Moscow has been making efforts to reduce hostility with the US since Mikhail Gorbachev was in office. However it is frustrated because the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and the collapse of the Soviet Union did not remove US vigilance. Former US president Bill Clinton initiated NATO’s eastward expansion in the 1990s, which smashed the Russian dream of emerging into the West. The Russians realized that the US and the whole Western world did not truly wish to embrace Russia. What they want is to take advantage of Russia’s difficulties and extend their influences into the area Russia formerly controlled.
To avoid being isolated, Russia joined the G7, developing a partnership with NATO. It even considered joining NATO. This did not work. Russia is too big and has very strong national pride, so the West decides to keep it out.
Entering the Putin era, Russia was further alienated from the West. The West again began to criticize Russia from an ideological perspective, redefining Russia as an autocracy. Although strategic confrontations between the Soviet Union and the US have ceased, it is no easier for Russia to improve relations with the West than 20 years ago.
If Moscow really wants to please the US and the West, it needs to do the following things: implementing a Western-styled democracy, accepting US arrangements on nuclear disarmament, opening its energy to the West at low prices, allowing self-determination for the Russian people, and cooperating fully with the West in international affairs such as the Iran nuclear issue. Only such a Russia would no longer be seen as a threat by the West and would contribute to maintaining Western centralism. However, this might cause the second round of disintegration of the country. Responding to pressure from the West, Putin chose to be tough and Medvedev, known for being comparatively moderate, has also made strong reactions sometimes.
The ups and downs between Moscow and the West are a vivid lesson for non-Western countries who hope to align themselves with the Western world. It demonstrates that for powers like Russia and China, they cannot obtain sincerity from the West through concessions and obedience. They need to work out some innovative ways to see good relations with the West.
China in particular should learn lessons from Russia. It cannot initiate confrontation with the US but must develop some deterrents at the same time. China cannot be as innocent as Russia in the 1990s. The US will not give China outward respect, but China could force it to. As long as China is not naive, it can avoid confrontation with the US and not let itself be easily infuriated by any frustration in bilateral relations. China should learn to be patient when dealing with the US. Chinese philosophy, such as tai chi, will offer much help.
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GCC-Controlled Arab League Issues Syria 48-Hour Ultimatum
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-11/25/c_122332626.htm
Xinhua News Agency
November 24, 2011
AL gives Syria 48 hours to sign observer mission protocol
CAIRO: The Arab League (AL) foreign ministers on Thursday gave Syrian government a 48-hour deadline to sign the protocol of the AL observers mission to the country.
The AL said, at the conclusion of an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, if Syria rejected to sign the protocol, the Arab Economic and Social Council will convene on Saturday to discuss economic sanctions against Syria.
The sanctions include halting Arab transactions with the Syrian Central Bank as well as trade exchange with the government. Assets of the government will also be frozen and flights to the country will be cancelled.
The pan-Arab body decided to immediately send an Arab observers mission to the country in accordance with the protocol’s terms when Syria signs it.
The AL also called on Syrian government and the opposition to hold a national dialogue to stop violence and solve the Syrian crisis.
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BRICS Nations Demand No External Interference In Syria, Iran
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/11/24/60992747.html
Voice of Russia
November 24, 2011
BRICS countries against external interference into Syria’s affairs
The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have demanded the ruling out of external interference into Syria’s affairs.
The communiqué adopted in Moscow on Thursday on the results of the meeting of BRICS’ Deputy Foreign Ministers states that immediate talks involving all parties are the only option to resolving the crisis in Syria.
The deputy ministers also stressed that additional and unilateral sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive and would only lead to aggravation of the situation.
The diplomats have also spoken for the settlement of the Iranian nuclear problem only by political and diplomatic means.
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NATO Missile Shield In Turkey ‘Israel’s Eye’ Over Middle East: Iranian Official
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=160241
Azeri Press Agency
November 24, 2011
Iran says NATO missile shield system in Turkey to be ‘Israel’s eye’: lawmaker
Baku: Chairman of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Thursday that NATO’s plan to establish a missile shield system in Turkey will serve as Israel’s eye over regional countries, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
‘NATO’s missile or radar system in Turkey is in fact the eye of Israel in the region and this will not help the security of Turkey and the regional countries,’ Boroujerdi was quoted as saying.
NATO’s radar in Turkey is aimed at enhancing the Israeli regime’s surveillance over the Middle East, said Boroujerdi according to Press TV.
Iranian officials have called on Turkey to withdraw from the plan to deploy a NATO missile shield system in its territory.
…
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Kosovo: NATO Troops Retreat, Serbs At Barricades
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=11&dd=24&nav_id=77469
Beta News Agency/Serbian Radio and Television/Tanjug News Agency
November 24, 2011
KFOR troops withdraw, Serbs at barricades
ZVE?AN: KFOR troops withdrew about an hour and a half after midnight from a barricade in the village of Dudin Krš which they attempted to remove on Wednesday night.
Serbs built a new barricade at Dudin Krš during the night (Tanjug)
The local Serbs additionally reinforced the barricade last night by adding new amounts of gravel.
KFOR troops withdrew toward southern Kosovska Mitrovica while the Serbs continued to reinforce the barricade.
The barricades made of dirt, sand and large boulders are around two meters high and are blocking both lanes on a bridge near Zve?an.
When the Serbs started unloading the large amounts of gravel and building new barricades KFOR troops used tear gas to disperse them. Some of the citizens had gasmasks on and ambulance arrived to the scene to treat those did not have them.
Shots were heard in the area around 00:30 CET but it is still unknown who fired them. Majority of citizens left home around 02:00 and only a small number of them stayed at the barricade.
The barricade in the village of Dudin Krš was built almost four months ago and it is blocking the road leading to the Jarinje administrative crossing.
KFOR has already tried to remove the barricade near Dudin Krš twice, on October 18 and 22 but they were stopped by the citizens both times.
Explosion rocks Kosovska Mitrovica
A powerful explosion took place about 01:00 CET in northern Kosovska Mitrovica. Nobody was injured but two cars were damaged in the blast.
The explosion took place near the Faculty of Economy and police immediately came to the scene.
‘So far we have neither motive nor suspects for the bomb attack,’ Kosovo police regional Spokesman Besim Hoti has stated.
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NATO-Ukraine Committee Charts Further Cooperation, Integration
http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/86729/
Interfax-Ukraine
November 24, 2011
Ukraine and NATO to hold joint conference on problems of new challenges
Ukraine and NATO are planning to hold a joint conference on the problems of new challenges and bilateral cooperation in this sphere next year, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin told journalists at the end of the sitting of the Ukraine-NATO Committee in Brussels.
‘Next year we, together with NATO, will hold a conference on new threats, starting with security of energy supplies and finishing with cyber security. This event will be of great importance to our presidency of the OSCE from 2013…,’ the deputy minister said.
He said that the conference would be devoted to the problems of new challenges, and cooperation with NATO in this sphere.
‘The idea of the event is to discover in which spheres and directions there is extra potential for cooperation, and how to work with it,’ Klimkin said.
The time and place of the event have not been determined yet. The conference will be held in Ukraine in the second half of the year, ‘perhaps in September, but this is something we have to discuss,’ the deputy minister said.
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Armenia: NATO Experts Group ‘Assists’ Ministry Of Defense
http://news.am/eng/news/83115.html
Armenian News-NEWS.am
November 24, 2011
NATO experts to assist Armenian MOD
YEREVAN: A NATO-sponsored international expert group is in the Armenian capital Yerevan, from Wednesday to Saturday, within the framework of assistance to Armenia’s reforms in military education. The group comprises military and civil representatives from the US, Canada, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania, Switzerland, and NATO, the MOD Press Service informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.
On the first day of the group’s visit, discussions were held at the MOD, which were presided over by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan.
Ohanyan noted that Armenia underscores the establishment of an educational institution that provides military and defensive security education. He also stressed the Armenian side’s readiness to continue cooperation with its American partners along the lines of this program.
In his turn, Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan noted that his Ministry is ready to provide necessary educational and organizational assistance to establishment of the National Defense University.
On the same day, the expert group also met with Davit Tonoyan, Armenia’s First Deputy Minister of Defense.
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U.S. Senator Calls On U.S., NATO To Support Kenya’s Invasion Of Somalia
The Standard (Kenya)
November 25, 2011
US Senator asks US and NATO to support Kenya’s Somalia incursion
By Chris Wamalwa in USA
Pressure mounted on the US and NATO to recognize and support Kenya’s incursion into Somalia..when a US Senator rose on the floor of the senate to applaud Kenya’s move.
Addressing his colleagues in the Senate in Washington, DC, Senator Mark Kirk (IL) thanked the Government of Kenya and President Mwai Kibaki in particular for the difficult and bold decision made to invade Somalia to get rid of Al Shabaab.
The senator said he supported Kenya’s move and called on the US and NATO to support Kenya’s action.
‘I rise today to thank the Kenya government and President Mwai Kibaki for the difficult move made with regards to Somalia. I support Kenya’s move and ask the US government and NATO to support Kenya’s action. We all recall Somalia as the site of ‘Black Hawk Down’ tragedy in 1993 and as much as Americans might wish to ignore that troubled country, I think we can’t,’ he said.
Kenya deployed tanks and troops to the Al Shabaab-controlled southern Somalia on October 14…
Senator Kirk said…‘Somalia represents a new 21st century threat of piracy across America’s Persian Gulf supply oil lines, it is evident that the East Africa region deserves attention and support from the United States,’ he said.
…
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Ethiopia To Join Expanded Military Intervention In Somalia
Voice of America News
November 24, 2011
Ethiopia May Join Alliance Against Somalia’s Al-Shabab
Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa: An alliance of mostly East African nations is preparing a coordinated military campaign in Somalia to finish off the embattled al-Shabab…The plan includes possibly sending Ethiopian troops back to Somalia.
-Uganda and Burundi currently contribute the bulk of the nearly 10,000 AMISOM troops, with tiny Djibouti adding a small contingent. Kenya is said to be ready to contribute several thousand, and AU officials say Sierra Leone is preparing a few battalions that could be ready to join the operation within months.
[H]eads of state from the six-nation Horn of Africa regional bloc known as IGAD will meet next Friday to discuss a military strategy aimed at greatly expanding the control of Somalia’s weak Transitional Federal Government.
Planners say the Addis Ababa summit will encourage all IGAD countries, including Ethiopia, to contribute to the effort.
…
Dina said a decision on Ethiopia’s role in the offensive would probably be announced at next Friday’s summit.
Ethiopian troops are regarded unfavorably by many Somalis, who remember them for brutality during a previous incursion from 2006 to 2009, made to support the Somali government…
Uganda and Burundi currently contribute the bulk of the nearly 10,000 AMISOM troops, with tiny Djibouti adding a small contingent. Kenya is said to be ready to contribute several thousand, and AU officials say Sierra Leone is preparing a few battalions that could be ready to join the operation within months.
The United Nations, which funds a large portion of AMISOM, and several other countries are said to be ready to provide what are called ‘force enablers,’ such as helicopters and other equipment to support the mission.
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Ohio: Predator Drones New Mainstay For Local Economy
http://ysnews.com/news/2011/11/drones-projected-to-be-new-force-in-regional-economy
Yellow Springs News
November 24, 201
Drones projected to be new force in regional economy
By Diane Chiddister
-‘All relevant organizations must adapt to new realities, and here, the reality is an insatiable demand for UAS–borne capabilities…’
-[T]his country currently has 7,000 aerial drones, compared to about 50 a decade ago.
The 2012 Department of Defense budget includes $4.8 million for drones, and that number is expected to more than double, to $15.1 billion, over the decade, according to the Teal Group, a defense analysis firm.
-The Springfield Air National Guard’s new Predator project came after the end of the base’s previous mission of training F-16 pilots, most recently for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
-Defense Department Predators have seen combat in at least six countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and recently Libya.
They go by a variety of acronyms, including UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) RPA (remote piloted aircraft) and, most recently, UAS (unmanned aerial system) However, most people know the pilotless jets as drones. Whatever they’re called, they are the fastest growing weapons systems for the Department of Defense, and a growing economic driver in southwestern Ohio.
In 2010, the Springfield Air National Guard base, recently threatened with closure, was awarded a new mission by the Department of Defense and Air Force. The mission was for ground control operations for the MQ-1 Predator, the model of drone most frequently used by this country in both the war on terrorism and undeclared combat in several countries.
‘All relevant organizations must adapt to new realities, and here, the reality is an insatiable demand for UAS–borne capabilities, and an evolving relationship between people, machines and the sky,’ said General Norton Swartz, Air Force chief of staff at a 2009 graduation of UAS operators in Nevada, according to the Ohio Air National Guard Web site. And at a 2010 ceremony honoring the Springfield base’s new mission, Ohio National Guard Adjutant General Gregory Wayt stated, ‘You are on the cutting edge of new missions coming into the Air National Guard.’
Drones have become the weapon of choice in this country’s war…
First developed in the 1990s for gathering information over Bosnia, drones were initially brought into the American war…by President George W. Bush, but President Obama has significantly increased the number of drone attacks. According to an Oct. 21, 2011 New York Times article, this country currently has 7,000 aerial drones, compared to about 50 a decade ago.
The 2012 Department of Defense budget includes $4.8 million for drones, and that number is expected to more than double, to $15.1 billion, over the decade, according to the Teal Group, a defense analysis firm.
Drones are preferable to manned planes because they are less expensive to operate, and because, according to Ohio National Guard public relations head Dr. Mark Wayda, ‘You’re not putting [American] people at risk.’
However, some dispute that statement. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a London-based nonprofit organization, there have been 2,300 to 2,900 people killed in all by U.S. drones since 2003. That number includes from 392 to 781 civilians, including 175 children, according to the BIJ Web site.
Asked to clarify his statement that drone strikes don’t put people at risk, Dr. Wayda said, ‘Certainly targets are struck and those may include enemy combatants. When I’m talking about not putting people at risk, I’m talking about U.S. personnel.’
Local drone jobs
The Springfield Air National Guard’s new Predator project came after the end of the base’s previous mission of training F-16 pilots, most recently for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. That mission was discontinued as a result of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC, and the base was expected to be closed. However, National Guard leaders and Ohio politicians, including Senator Sherrod Brown, worked to find a new mission for the Springfield base and its 860 employees.
In February, 2011, Senator Brown, who stated that he led a bipartisan effort to keep the base open, announced that the 2012 federal budget included $6.7 million for the construction of a new Predator ground control operations center at the Springfield base.
‘The Predator mission will maintain positions for more than 800 Ohioans and preserve southwest Ohio’s position as a stronghold for our nation’s security viability,’ Brown stated in a press release.
Along with the continuation of current jobs, the new Predator program is expected to generate new jobs in the area. That job growth has already begun, and last month the state of Ohio Controlling Board announced a grant of $550,000 to Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, to add 180 jobs to its Beavercreek office and 35 in the Springfield area in the next three years in support of the UAS program.
…
SAIC’s expanded presence in the Dayton area is a result of the new emphasis on UAS research and development at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, according to the press release.
‘Due to the prolific growth in demand for UAS technology…SAIC is consolidating many aspects of the UAS business in the Dayton region — aligning it with the Air Force UAS research and development and testing vision in rapid UAS technology transition to the warfighter,’ according to SAIC Dayton Regional Executive Director Dennis Andersh in an e-mail.
SAIC’s project partners on the UAS project include the Wright State University Research Institute, the Ohio Department of Development, the cities of Springfield and Beavercreek and the Dayton Development Coalition.
How it works
The Springfield Predator control center has not yet been built, and is scheduled to begin construction in 2012, according to Communications Director James Sims of the Ohio National Guard. Out of the base’s 866 employees, about 300 will be involved in the Predator control center. Some of the Springfield guard employees are already performing Predator operations control work, but in locations that Sims said he could not disclose.
‘Overall this mission is not a secret, but there are some aspects that I can’t talk about for reasons of operational security,’ he said.
According to Sims, at the control center each drone has an operations team of three specialists who study real-time images taking place thousands of miles away. The pilot controls the plane, the sensor operator operates the various cameras on board and a mission intelligence operator gathers the information.
The number of Predators controlled by the Springfield base operators will vary according to the daily needs of the commanders on the ground, Sims said.
For security reasons Sims said he could not say where the Predators controlled by the Springfield guard members are actually flying. Asked if the Predators controlled by Springfield operate in Pakistan, Sims said, ‘I can’t say specifically, I can only say they include Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the world.’
Defense Department Predators have seen combat in at least six countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and recently Libya.
Sims said he was also not sure if the operators are aware of the location of the Predators that they control.
…
The operators ‘can provide information to others to direct fire based on what the UAV is seeing,’ according to Wayda of the National Guard.
Asked who makes the decisions based on the data — which involves dropping bombs on suspected enemy combatants — Sims said he did not know. After checking with National Guard employees, Sims stated that those who work in control operations were not sure who made the decisions to bomb targets.
‘Our folks say they’re not sure who makes this decision,’ Sims said. ‘All they know is that decisions to take actions on targets are made at a higher level.’
…
Protest growing
In Pakistan, protest about civilian deaths from drone strikes is growing, according to a Nov. 2 BBC news report. That day the BBC reported on an Oct. 28 Islamabad protest against drones, attended by several thousand people.
In that report Pakistani lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar spoke about why civilians as well as terrorists have been killed.
‘A Taliban or non-Taliban would be dressed in the same way,’ he said. ‘Everyone has a beard, a turban and an AK-47 because every person carries a weapon in that area, so anyone could be target.’
In a separate meeting that weekend, about 60 tribal elders met with Western representatives to talk about their concerns over civilian deaths, and the terror unleashed on innocent lives by the American effort, according to the Nov. 4 New York Times, in an op ed piece by American lawyer Clive Smith, who attended the meeting. The elders were told that physical evidence would help make the case that there have been civilian deaths from drone strikes.
One teen-ager offered to take on the dangerous job of collecting evidence. But he was not able to do so, according to the article. Only a few days later the boy, 16-year-old Tariq Khan, and his 12-year-old cousin, who were walking along a road to see a relative, were killed by Hellfire missiles dropped by drones overhead, according to Smith.
Asked about his response to the growing protest in Pakistan around civilian deaths from drones, Sims said he was not able to answer the question.
‘The question you’re talking about is on a policy level and I’m not qualified to answer,’ he said.
The New Dark Age 