8 December 2011 — Stop NATO
- Russia To Counter Western Missile Deployments Near Border: Military Chief
- Russian Envoy Slams NATO Over Middle East, Interceptor Missiles
- French Foreign Minister: NATO-Russia Missiles Talks ‘Near Deadlock’
- West’s Most-Cherished Desire: Disintegration Of Russian Federation
- NATO Border: Belarus To Receive New Russian Air Defense Systems
- Top NATO Commander Wants Afghan Troop Withdrawal Stalled
- U.S. Completing Evacuation Of Pakistani Air Base
- Pakistan Reviews Ties With U.S. After Deadly NATO Strike
- Analysis: West Is Not ‘Godfather’ Of Global Democracy
- AFRICOM Commander: U.S. To Help Build New Libyan Army
- EASBRIG In Somalia: Kenyan Troops To Join Ugandan, Burundian Counterparts; Sierra Leone And Djibouti Forces Added To Ethiopia Soldiers
- 30,000-Troop Western-Trained African Standby Force Ready By 2015
- U.S. Naval Power Dwarfs China’s In Latter’s Backyard
Russia To Counter Western Missile Deployments Near Border: Military Chief
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2011-12/07/c_122391542.htm
Xinhua News Agency
December 7, 2011
Russia taking steps to counter Western missile deployment: military chief
MOSCOW: Russian armed forces have started taking measures to counter a European anti-missile defense deployment led by the United States, Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov said Wednesday.
Speaking to foreign military attaches, Makarov said the Western deployment already threatens Russia’s strategic nuclear forces and would trigger a new costly arms race.
‘The idea of creating the anti-missile defense in Europe could sharply aggravate our relations,’ Makarov said, adding that a deterioration of relations between Russia and NATO would not lead to stability in Europe.
He stressed that relations between Russia and NATO have reached a deadlock and would develop either to cooperation or to suspicion and distrust if the bottom line was crossed.
…
President Dmitry Medvedev warned in November that Russia might station missile defense systems in western and southern sections of the country if there were any additional U.S. missile deployments in Europe.
Moscow has long opposed the deployment of U.S.-led NATO missile defense facilities near its borders and intends to seek legally-binding guarantees from the United States and NATO that the missile defense shield is not targeting Russia.
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Russian Envoy Slams NATO Over Middle East, Interceptor Missiles
http://top.rbc.ru/english/index.shtml?/news/english/2011/12/07/07160050_bod.shtml
RosBusinessConsulting
December 7, 2011
Envoy slams NATO over Middle East, missile defense
Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin has criticized the North Atlantic Alliance for supporting Islamists in African and Middle Eastern states. The situation in these countries could switch from an ‘Arab spring’ to a ‘Hot Arab summer,’ he contended.
‘Russia would like to figure out whether NATO clearly comprehends that such actions could pave the way for radical Islamist regimes in these regions,’ Rogozin said, adding that the situation in North Africa and the Middle East could deteriorate after NATO’s military intervention, as was the case in Libya, where the Alliance ‘refashioned the U.N. Security Council’s resolution.’
Commenting on the deployment by the U.S. of a missile defense shield in Europe, Russia’s envoy said he was hopeful that the position voiced by President Dmitry Medvedev will get through to NATO members. On November 23, Medvedev threatened to withdraw from the Russian-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty (START) unless the U.S. abandons its European missile defense project, and ordered that an anti-missile radar station be rolled out in Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost territory.
However, Medvedev’s recent initiatives would not lead to a new arms race between Russia and the U.S., Rogozin went on to say, although the pundits argued that the move ordered by the Russian president may have put an end to the ‘reset’ in relations between the two countries.
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French Foreign Minister: NATO-Russia Missiles Talks ‘Near Deadlock’
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/europe/1966584.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
December 7, 2011
Juppe: ‘Near deadlock’ on missile defence talks with Russia
Negotiations with Russia over a NATO missile defence shield for Europe have reached a ‘near deadlock,’ French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday, DPA reported.
‘I say deadlock, … but no door is shut,’ he told reporters after a first day of meetings with his NATO counterparts in Brussels. ‘We have to convince Russia that this isn’t aimed at her … If we keep hammering in the nail, it will eventually go in.’
Juppe acknowledged that recent statements by the Russians may suggest a ‘cooling off in the relations between NATO and Russia,’ but also was quick to warn against ‘overreacting.’
‘We still have some way to go before (a May summit in) Chicago, so I hope that the deadlock will end,’ he said.
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West’s Most-Cherished Desire: Disintegration Of Russian Federation
http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/687648/Old-bear-does-not-dance-to-Western-tunes.aspx
Global Times
December 8, 2011
Old bear does not dance to Western tunes
-Should a ‘revolution’ take place, the primary target of shock will be Russia itself. The worst nightmare would be the disintegration of the Russian Federation. This is the result the West most desires to see most.
-Personal trust is the reason that facilitated the strategic relations between China and Russia. However, the foundation of these ties is built upon a mutual dream of national revival which outstripped the interests that connected the West and Russia. China wants a stable Russia. The West is on the opposite side.
Will a ‘Russian Spring’ occur? Russian police have arrested hundreds of protestors recently. But the pro-liberal protestors claimed that they will not succumb to such moves and continue to hold protests every day. This scenario is similar to the initial phrase of the Arab Spring, where the revolutionary movement was triggered by small- scale protests. It is hard to predict the outcome of the current protest on Russia’s election scandal, but everything is possible.
Vladimir Putin’s rule will face increasing scrutiny and it will become much harder for him to withstand the challenges. However, this is not a victory for the West. Putin losing authority will not automatically gain the West influence in Russia.
The future of Russia will be shaped according to its own interests. This is the principle set by its democratic environment. Putin’s own authority came because he put the country back to track. He saved Russia from the confusion and chaos when the USSR disintegrated two decades ago.
The relation between election and a candidate’s authority is complicated. However the latest State Duma elections did not suggest that Russia’s understanding of its national interests has become obscure, as during the Yeltsin era.
Ballots lost by the United Russia are now in the pocket of the Communists and the Liberal Democrats, which does not reflect the expanding of the West’s ideology.
Russian interests are dominated by a combination of geopolitics, culture and ambition. The differences and even the hostility between the West and Russia will persist if these interests contradict each other, no matter who sits in the Kremlin.
Should a ‘revolution’ take place, the primary target of shock will be Russia itself. The worst nightmare would be the disintegration of the Russian Federation. This is the result the West most desires to see most.
Russian society does not want to undergo this nightmare again. This concern has partly resulted from Putin’s lasting authority. The unity United Russia can bring to this country is limited, but unity under democracy is not that convincing either. The painful lessons of the past will make Russians more reluctant to give up their trust in strongman politics to its democratic peers.
Personal trust is the reason that facilitated the strategic relations between China and Russia. However, the foundation of these ties is built upon a mutual dream of national revival which outstripped the interests that connected the West and Russia. China wants a stable Russia. The West is on the opposite side.
Russia has undergone many tough challenges. The ‘revolutions’ in the Middle-East is a cakewalk compared to the movements the former communist state experienced. The country has made several twists and turns in choosing its own path.
Russia is not similar to the countries swept by the Arab Spring. It is a unique state and will remain so.
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NATO Border: Belarus To Receive New Russian Air Defense Systems
http://news.belta.by/en/news/society?id=668991
Belarusian Telegraph Agency
December, 7, 2011
Belarus to get Russian Tor-M2 air defense systems soon
MINSK: The Belarusian army will soon get Russian air defense missile systems Tor-M2, Major-General Piotr Tikhonovsky, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, First Deputy Defense Minister, told media on 7 December.
They are on the way already and will soon enter service in the air force and with air defense troops, he said.
Piotr Tikhonovsky added that they had finished the creation of a new Belarusian radar station, Rosa. The Chief of the General Staff said that this effective tool will soon enter service, too. Asked about the possibility of getting Russian Iskander complexes, Piotr Tikhonovsky said that time will tell. ‘The prospects for air force outfitting are rather serious,’ he added.
This year over 108 samples have entered the service. Among other things Belarusian-Russian military and technical cooperation includes purchases of small arms, ammunition, components, spare parts, equipment for aviation technology and communication technology. Aviation equipment gets repaired and modernized as well as air defense equipment and radio warfare equipment. Shelf life and operational life of guided air defense missiles get extended.
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Top NATO Commander Wants Afghan Troop Withdrawal Stalled
Daily Telegraph
December 7, 2011
Nato commander in Afghanistan pushes for year pause in troop drawdown
The senior Nato commander in Afghanistan is pushing for a year-long pause in the drawdown of American troops from the country, risking a confrontation with the White House
Gen Allen wants troop levels to plateau at 68,000 throughout 2013
By Ben Farmer
Kabul: Gen John Allen is opposing Barack Obama’s strategy of steadily pulling out troops over the next three years and argues a premature decline will jeopardise security gains made in the past year.
Mr Obama announced in June that United States troop levels would fall from their current 97,000 to around 68,000 by September 2012 and continue to leave Afghanistan afterwards at a ‘steady pace’.
Gen Allen instead wants troop levels to plateau at 68,000 throughout 2013, before withdrawal resumes in 2014, sources in Kabul said.
The American president has yet to respond to the general’s suggestion…
After Mr Obama’s June announcement to pull out the surge forces, Admiral Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the decisions were ‘more aggressive and incur more risk than I was originally prepared to accept.’
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A senior official in Kabul confirmed Nato top brass wanted to keep troop levels constant for at least a year, but predicted Mr Obama would seek to promise a further withdrawal before November’s US elections.
Lt Col Jimmie Cummings, spokesman for Nato forces in Kabul said: ‘General Allen communicates with his chain of command all the way up to the White House, but I cannot confirm the details of those conversations.
‘No final decisions have been made on future numbers, so speculating or making an impression that we have is just irresponsible.
‘Gen Allen’s planning is based off the current approved plan and if decisions are made that adjust levels, the plan will adapt accordingly.’
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Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, former British ambassador to Kabul, denounced the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of combat troops as ‘tactics without strategy’ if it was not accompanied by a push for a peace process.
He said: ‘It is very questionable – it’s worse than questionable, it’s disgraceful if it’s not accompanied by serious political strategy.’
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http://www.stripes.com/news/report-allen-backs-pause-in-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-in-2013-1.162727
Stars and Stripes
December 7, 2011
Report: Allen backs pause in withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2013
Stars and Stripes
Brian Tierce/U.S. Army
STUTTGART, Germany: The top military commander in Afghanistan is privately recommending that once the planned U.S. troop reductions for 2012 are completed there should be a pause for 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday citing anonymous sources.
The newspaper reported that Marine Gen. John Allen and other NATO officers are concerned that continued reductions in 2013 would make it harder to clear and hold insurgent havens.
Allen, who commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has shared his thinking with visiting congressional officials and delegations, the paper said.
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Allen’s position reflects the findings of an internal assessment by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, which warned that reducing U.S. troop levels below 68,000 would complicate efforts to protect supply lines and bases ahead of the scheduled security handover in 2014, WSJ reported.
However, officials in Afghanistan told WSJ that discussions about drawdown plans beyond 2012 are just now beginning within the military and the administration.
‘Gen. Allen continues to emphasize that decisions about troop presence post-September 2012 have not been made, and it is premature to speculate about those numbers,’ Rear Adm. Hal Pittman, the senior ISAF spokesman, told the WSJ.
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U.S. Completing Evacuation Of Pakistani Air Base
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011128story_8-12-2011_pg1_6
Daily Times
December 8, 2011
US evacuating Shamsi air base
QUETTA: At least seven aircraft landed at the Shamsi air base on Wednesday to airlift personnel and equipment out of Pakistan.
According to sources in the Washuk district, American officials were likely to vacate the airbase on Thursday.
‘Seven aircraft have landed here since morning,’ a local confirmed, adding, ‘They also set several containers on fire today and we saw their thick flames rising.’
The United States is evacuating the Shamsi air base following orders from the military incensed by a deadly NATO raid on the border that left 24 soldiers dead, officials said. The deadline for the removal of all US personnel and equipment from the base in the remote southwestern province of Balochistan was set for December 11.
‘They are evacuating the base, evacuation is in the process,’ confirmed a senior Pakistani government official in Islamabad.
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Pakistan Reviews Ties With U.S. After Deadly NATO Strike
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2011-12/07/c_122391536.htm
Xinhua News Agency
December 7, 2011
News Analysis: Pakistan set to review U.S. ties after deadly NATO strike
By Muhammad Tahir
-The November 26 attack was the 8th NATO strike on Pakistani posts in the last three years, according to the Pakistan army. A total of 72 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in such NATO strikes, but the latest strike has prompted an unprecedented angry reaction from the Pakistani military and civilian leadership…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani says parliament will meet soon to reassess its relations with the United States in the wake of the November 26 deadly attack by NATO fighter jets and helicopters on two border posts, killing 24 soldiers.
The attack had caused widespread anger across Pakistan and the country’s top civil and military leadership took unexpected and important decisions to review its future relationship with the U.S., close supply lines for NATO forces in Afghanistan, vacate a strategically important airbase in Balochistan province from the U. S. military and to boycott the December 5 Bonn Conference on Afghanistan’s future.
The decisions are considered as a major setback in worsening Pakistan-U.S relations, which had been under stress since February this year when an undercover CIA agent, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani nationals in the eastern city of Lahore. The documents and mobile phone data of Raymond Davis mobile had unearthed a secret U.S. spy network in Pakistan, which prompted a call from Pakistan to seek details about all American secret agents and their activities in the country. Pakistan then had also asked the U.S. to withdraw its spies and U.S. trainers.
The unilateral U.S. military raid to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May proved to be another serious setback for the already strained relationship. Pakistan had described the U.S. raid as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
The U.S. had been trying to put its relationship with Pakistan on track over the past few months but last month’s U.S.-led NATO strike on border posts on Pakistani soil near the Afghan border has caused a severe blow to the uneasy relations.
The November 26 attack was the 8th NATO strike on Pakistani posts in the last three years, according to the Pakistan army. A total of 72 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in such NATO strikes, but the latest strike has prompted an unprecedented angry reaction from the Pakistani military and civilian leadership, which they have never shown before.
Apart from closing the supply lines for nearly 150,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, this time Pakistan has also asked the U.S. to vacate the Shamsi airbase in southwestern Balochistan province, which is near the border with Afghanistan and Iran. The U.S. military has reportedly been using the airbase for nearly 10 years to carry out military operations in Afghanistan and for drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions.
President Asif Zardari reportedly rejected a request from the Foreign Minister of the UAE, who flew to Islamabad just a few days after the NATO strike, to withdraw the vacation decision or postpone the 15-day ultimatum for the withdrawal from the air base.
Expecting no change in Pakistan’s decision, U.S. security personnel have now started to evacuate the Shamsi airbase and a couple of days ago an American plane arrived at the air base to bring back the U.S. personnel and equipment deployed there. The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan has confirmed the evacuation.
The Pakistani leadership seems deeply perturbed over the refusal so far by the U.S. and NATO to tender an apology over the deaths of the 24 soldiers. Pakistani leaders are now openly saying that future relations with the U.S. will be reviewed and new terms will be set for future cooperation with the U.S./NATO and ISAF. Pakistan has rejected the ‘regret’ by the U.S. and NATO over the deaths of Pakistani soldiers as insufficient. Pakistan says the NATO strike was intentional as they violated a defined ‘Red Line’.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani warned the United States in a CNN interview last month that ‘business as usual (with the U.S.) will not be there’ now. Gilani also said that the only scenario in which the two countries could continue their relations was if they worked on the principles of mutual respect, which he said that Pakistan was not getting from the Americans at the moment.
Pakistan had never been so tough on the U.S., but the NATO killing of Pakistani soldiers in ‘unprovoked’ raids brought the government under tremendous pressure to review its relations with the U.S. as enough is enough. The stand Pakistani leaders have shown since the November 26 NATO strikes is very clear, one in which they now have a mind to review what the majority in Pakistan considers an unnatural alliance with the U.S.
Pakistan’s decision to close the NATO supply line, order the U.S. to vacate its airbase, boycott the Bonn Conference and reject the U.S. regret reflect the country’s seriousness to review its relationship with the United States. There has been a long-awaited call from political parties, former diplomats, retired army generals, members of civil society and the media to review the country’s foreign policy towards Washington.
President Barrack Obama called President Asif Zardari on Sunday and Secretary of State Hilary made calls to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to soothe angry Pakistani leaders, but the efforts have not worked. Despite phone calls by President Obama and Clinton, several influential U.S. lawmakers are sending negative messages and are calling for a review of U.S. relations with Pakistan.
Now Pakistan is set to start a review of its relations with the U. S. in the coming days and parliament will be summoned for this purpose. Important decisions after the NATO attack have set the tone for a review for a review of ties with the U.S. Foreign Ministry sources say that Pakistan has called ambassadors from several important capitals to seek their input for the new foreign policy and new relationship with the U.S.
It is the hope of the majority of the Pakistanis that the parliament will chalk out a relationship with the U.S. on the basis of mutual respect in real terms and that Pakistan will never bow before U.S. pressure.
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Analysis: West Is Not ‘Godfather’ Of Global Democracy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2011-12/07/c_131293601.htm
Xinhua News Agency
December 7, 2011
West not ‘Godfather’ of Democracy
By Li Hongmei
BEIJING: It seems a forgone conclusion that Russia’s ruling United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has won the State Duma elections.
However, the result, as well as the earlier announcement that Mr. Medvedev asked the ruling United Russia party to support Mr. Putin’s run in next year’s presidential election, while Mr. Putin backed Mr. Medvedev to head the next government, has since met with a caricature-like description by the Western media; and the Medvedev-Putin tandem is finger-pointed by the West as a ‘pseudo-democracy’, only in a break with its historical tradition of one-man or one-woman autocracy.
Perhaps, were democracy merely defined by the Western examiner and only measured by the yardstick of the American model, Russia could not be portrayed as a ‘pure’ democracy.
Frankly speaking, Russia has already paid a heavy price for its ‘transition to democracy’. To build up a brand new society, the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s, then the whole country went through so-called ‘shock therapy’ in a wide range from the political skyline to the economic sphere; further, the new Russia underwent the Chechnya war, and Moscow has since been constantly hit by terrorist attacks, with many Russians struggling on the brink of starvation.
Unfortunately, the ‘goddess of democracy’ dressed up in the Western-style never descends upon the Russian soil. Rather, the Russian people, having reeled from ‘confusion’ and ‘shock’, have received some other unwanted fruits, say, scorn and even hostility from the Western world.
Is it that democracy is still an alien term to Russian people? Obviously not, they already have ‘standard’ democratic elections featuring ‘one person, one vote,’ the ‘standard’ multi-party political system, and ‘standard’ media privatization. At least in regards to the form only, Russia has done what it ought to do in its process of seeking democracy.
But, democracy with Russian characteristics can hardly convince the Western examiner, who is so accustomed to wielding the handy sticks of democracy and human rights to drive others onto a path of democratization defined only by Western standards.
Russia, however, remains always a unique great power in all directions. Its tanglesome past records and cultural memories, along with its obsessive state will and ideal, makes Russia most of time act of its own accord and, even if it would like to act on the Western practice, it could not be a precise docking.
Thus, it will be naïve to believe that ‘democratic reform’ will definitely win warm applause from the West.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit out at Russia’s parliamentary election immediately afterwards, saying it was a rigged one, when speaking to the election-monitoring Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
‘Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation,’ Clinton said.
As expected, Moscow dismissed Clinton’s criticism. ‘With regret, we are forced to say that Washington holds onto long-outdated stereotypes and continues to hang labels, not even trying to understand what is really going on in our electoral system,’ stated Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
Putin’s worldview is said to be ‘anti-Western.’ He doesn’t believe Western countries are genuine democracies. That’s perhaps why the West, in particular American politicians, have no interest in seeing the ‘tough guy’ at the apex of Russian power. The Obama administration put out a bland statement confirming that its ‘reset’ with the Kremlin will go on. Privately, however, the White House will not be delighted at the prospect of dealing with ‘prickly’ President Putin again.
The authentic interest of the West has long proved to consist not really in promoting democracy and freedom across the world, but in the fact that the West will hereby expand its interests globally. Russia’s election is just in line with its own interest, far from echoing the true need of Western countries. Ms. Clinton’s reaction seems understandable.
Regardless, a genuine democracy is not merely a campaign slogan, but a living force to vitalize human society. Russia’s democracy should be designed to benefit its people, not to please the West.
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AFRICOM Commander: U.S. To Help Build New Libyan Army
USA Today
December 7, 2011
U.S. in talks to help rebuild Libyan military
By Jim Michaels
The United States is in discussions with Libya over ways to help rebuild the country’s military, which the U.S. military considers essential to unify the country and bring rival militias under national control.
‘We’re looking for ways in which we can be helpful,’ said Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command. ‘They have to find some way to form a national army.’
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‘We’d like, for example, to begin having Libyan officers come to U.S. staff colleges,’ he said, adding that the United States could also sell Libya equipment and offer training.
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The new Libyan government is interested in maritime security, because of its long coastline, Ham said. That is also an area of defense in which the U.S. military can assist, he said.
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Contributing: Oren Dorell in McLean, Va.
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EASBRIG In Somalia: Kenyan Troops To Join Ugandan, Burundian Counterparts; Sierra Leone And Djibouti Forces Added To Ethiopia Soldiers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16077642
BBC News
December 7, 2011
Kenya troops to ‘join Somalia’s African Union force’
-Last month, Ethiopia denied that its troops had returned to Somalia – about two years after they withdrew after suffering heavy casualties…Djibouti and Sierra Leone have also promised to bolster the AU force by sending around 1,500 troops each.
Kenya’s parliament has approved the integration of government troops in Somalia into the African Union (AU)…
The decision comes after the AU last week asked Kenyan troops to join its 9,000-strong force in Somalia…
The AU has about 9,000 troops in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
Kenya already has troops in Somalia pursuing al-Shabab which it blames for a spate of recent abductions.
Al-Shabab denies the allegation that it is behind kidnappings in Kenya and says it views the presence of Kenyan troops in southern Somalia as an act of war.
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Last month, Ethiopia denied that its troops had returned to Somalia – about two years after they withdrew after suffering heavy casualties.
Reports said the troops were in Somalia’s Gurel town in Galgudud region and in several other areas as well.
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Kenyan troops have been active in parts of southern Somalia since October. Kenyan military spokesman, Maj Emmanuel Chirchir, said they intended to capture 10 towns under al-Shabab’s control – including the port city of Kismayo.
Djibouti and Sierra Leone have also promised to bolster the AU force by sending around 1,500 troops each.
AU commanders in Somalia say they need about 20,000 troops to hold on to territory captured from al-Shabab.
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30,000-Troop Western-Trained African Standby Force Ready By 2015
http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201112/77812.php
Ghanaian Times
December 8, 2011
African standby force operational by 2015
An African Standby Force (ASF) with the mandate to promptly respond to conflicts in the sub-region will be operational by 2015.
The 30,000 African Standby Force (ASF) would be composed of the military, police and civilians.
Sivuyile Bam, Head of Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) of the AU Commission, who told the Times on the sidelines of the ASF force 5th Annual Training Implementation Workshop in Accra Tuesday, said that each of the regional blocks would provide 6,000 personnel.
The two-day workshop being attended by senior military officers as well as officials of AU from about 40 African countries is the last of preparatory workshop towards the establishment of the ASF.
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The Commandant of the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Air Vice Marshall (AVM) Christian E. K Dovlo, in a statement read on his behalf said the workshop was in line with the centre’s vision of building the capacities of peace actors and institutions to promote peace in the sub-region.
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U.S. Naval Power Dwarfs China’s In Latter’s Backyard
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/us-navy-still-eclipses-chinas-expanded-fleet
Agence France-Presse
December 7, 2011
US navy still eclipses China’s expanded fleet
-Six of America’s 11 aircraft carriers have their base in the Pacific, including the USS George Washington, which is docked at the Yokosuka naval base in Japan. At any given point, there are around 50 US naval ships in the west Pacific.
America’s huge naval operations combined with its geopolitical alliances in the region have enabled it to contain China within what is known as a ‘brown water navy’.
China’s navy has hundreds of vessels at its disposal, among them nuclear submarines and an aircraft carrier, but it still does not come close to the huge naval firepower wielded by the United States.
Chinese President Hu Jintao called Tuesday for the country’s navy to ‘make extended preparations for military combat’…
The United States, which recently reasserted its role as a Pacific power and said it will post troops in Australia, responded by saying China had the right to develop its military capabilities, but should do so ‘transparently’.
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This year [China] unveiled its first aircraft carrier, a 300-metre-long (990-foot) former Soviet naval vessel that had its first sea trial on August 10.
By contrast, India – another major military power in the region – has around 132 warships, including an aircraft carrier, and 16 submarines, one of which is a nuclear submarine undergoing sea trials.
[E]xperts say China’s naval capability pales in comparison with America’s huge and technically highly sophisticated maritime force.
The US Pacific fleet is the country’s largest, with 79 ships and submarines off America’s west coast, 29 in Hawaii, 19 in Japan and four in the Pacific territory of Guam.
Six of America’s 11 aircraft carriers have their base in the Pacific, including the USS George Washington, which is docked at the Yokosuka naval base in Japan. At any given point, there are around 50 US naval ships in the west Pacific.
America’s huge naval operations combined with its geopolitical alliances in the region have enabled it to contain China within what is known as a ‘brown water navy’.
Hemmed in by an arc of powerful rivals in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, China suffers from severely limited access to the oceans that surround it.
‘The Chinese are also acutely aware of US military capabilities, as demonstrated in combat actions every year since 1991, and the gap between their capabilities and those of the US and its allies,’ said Dennis Blasko, a Chinese military expert with the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation think tank.
‘The Chinese are conducting their modernisation process with no recent combat experience, no experience in fighting the kind of informationised war they are preparing to fight.’
The New Dark Age 
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