The New Dark Age

2 January 2012 — Stop NATO

• NATO Quint States To Sign Strategic Pacts With Afghanistan
• Pakistani Parliamentary Committee Deliberates On NATO Strike
• NATO Forces To Participate In First Drill In Israel
• Huntsville: From Missile City To Pentagon Of The South
• Russia To Modernize 60 MiG Interceptor Aircraft

NATO Quint States To Sign Strategic Pacts With Afghanistan

http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2012/01/01/strategic-pacts-3-european-countries-month

Pajhwok Afghan News
January 1, 2012

Strategic pacts with 3 European countries this month
By Mir Agha Samimi

-The US-Afghanistan accord was discussed almost two months ago…The delegates gave a conditional green signal to the agreement allowing the Americans to establish military bases in Afghanistan.

KABUL: Afghanistan will enter strategic cooperation agreements with three European countries this month (January), a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said on Saturday. 

Currently, talks over the agreements are in place with England, France and Italy, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Janan Musazai, told reporters in Kabul.

National interests would be kept supreme while signing the agreements, he said, adding talks were underway with NATO, European Union and Australian officials on political, security, economical, cultural and other aspects of the pacts.

Musazai also said more discussions over all aspects of the proposed strategic agreement between Afghanistan and the US were needed to take place.

…

The US-Afghanistan accord was discussed almost two months ago by the traditional Loya Jirga, attended by 2000 Afghan elders. The delegates gave a conditional green signal to the agreement allowing the Americans to establish military bases in Afghanistan.

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Pakistani Parliamentary Committee Deliberates On NATO Strike

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C01%5C02%5Cstory_2-1-2012_pg7_30

Daily Times
January 2, 2012

PCNS to discuss fallout of NATO attack today

ISLAMABAD: The top parliamentary body on national security will hold deliberations about the terms of engagement with the United States in the backdrop of the NATO air strike on November 26 in a meeting, scheduled to be held today (Monday).

The Parliament’s National Security Committee, which is also looking into the memogate scandal, will take up the situation arising from the NATO strike in Mohmand Agency and the subsequent blockage of NATO supply routes to allied forces in Afghanistan.

The committee’s meeting is also significant considering the immense US pressure for resumption of supply routes to its forces in Afghanistan, an issue that the government has asked the committee to decide about.

Interior Minister Rahman Malik recently said that the government would take a decision regarding NATO supplies passing through the country on the basis of recommendations of the committee.

Twenty-four Pakistani soldiers were killed on November 26, when NATO helicopter gunships attacked their border posts in Mohmand Agency. The killing triggered an outrage in the country and the government decided to cut off NATO supply routes. It also boycotted an international conference that focused on Afghanistan’s future and directed the US to vacate the key Shamsi airbase that was used to launch drone strikes.

According to official sources, the chances of supply routes reopening are remote. However, they added that persistent US pressure would require the government to find some way out from the current impasse over this issue.

Sources added that discussions had already started about imposing a tax on all the NATO supplies passing through Pakistan and that it would also come up during the national security committee meeting.

Sources said that apart from NATO supplies, there is a strong chance that the memogate scandal will also feature prominently during the deliberations of the committee, which has continuously been holding meetings on this particular issue.

The memogate scandal has pitted the country’s two largest political parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), against each after the PML-N took the matter to the Supreme Court.

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NATO Forces To Participate In First Drill In Israel

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4169962,00.html

Ynet News
January 2, 2011

NATO forces to attend drill in Israel
Organization’s search and rescue units, emergency services to take part for first time in Home Front Command drill simulating massive earthquake
Yoav Zitun

NATO forces are scheduled to participate, for the first time, in a home front drill that will be held in Israel next October.

In recent years, the IDF took part in several exercises held by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization abroad, but has never hosted its members in Israel.

The drill, dubbed ‘Turning Point 6,’ will simulate a massive earthquake leading to wide-scale destruction and large amounts of casualties.
 
NATO Search and rescue units, as well as supporting units will arrive in Israel to take part in the drill, which will also include Israel’s emergency services, the Police, Magen David Adom, fire services, as well as local authorities, governmental ministries, and representatives from the political echelon.

Two weeks ago, Minister for Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai met with NATO Deputy Secretary General Claudio Bisogniero in Brussels to discuss the details of the joint exercise.

During his visit, Vilnai also met with other senior members of the organization and officials from the European Union in order to discuss future cooperation between Israel and Europe on emergency and crisis management issues.

‘We have a big interest in deepening and widening our ties with the Union and with NATO,’ said Vilnai, adding that ‘both Europe and Israel can benefit from steady cooperation on preparedness and response to emergencies and crises.’

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Huntsville: From Missile City To Pentagon Of The South

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/01/pentagon.html

Huntsville Times
January 1, 2012

Is Huntsville becoming a ‘Pentagon of the South’?
By Kenneth Kesner
Phase III of the new Von Braun Complex at Redstone Arsenal is seen from the courtyard. Growth in commands and programs at the installation, which has spurred growth outside the gates, has led some to call this area a ‘Pentagon of the South.’

-BRAC moves include the Missile Defense Agency relocation of more than 2,200 positions into the giant Phase III addition to the Von Braun Complex of offices, solidifying Huntsville as the agency’s ‘center of gravity.’ (MDA, which is ‘joint’ in that it involves the Army, Navy and Air Force, is led by a three-star general.)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama: Huntsville, long known as ‘Rocket City,’ lately also is saluted as a ‘Pentagon of the South.’

The title sneaks into conversations and even into print every once in a while as a shorthand way of referring to the growth of commands, programs and influence at Redstone Arsenal and, by extension, area defense contractors and businesses.

…

The famous five-sided facility is also where the U.S. military’s ultimate geopolitical strategy is formed in consultation with civilian leadership in the nation’s capital.

‘I actually don’t have a problem with ‘Pentagon of the South,’’ said former Col. John Olshefski, now Huntsville’s District 3 City Councilman. He spent 27 years in the Army – including ‘a year of penance in the Pentagon’ – and served as Redstone Arsenal Garrison Commander before retiring in 2008.

He said that, other than the Pentagon itself and really big installations such as Fort Bragg – also often called the Pentagon of the South – there aren’t many places with more generals on post than Redstone Arsenal.

And Olshefski doesn’t think anywhere else except the real Pentagon has as many members of the Senior Executive Service, which are Department of the Army civilian counterparts to generals.

Mini-Pentagon

And not many places can, like Huntsville, boast of having more than 100 retired generals living and working in their cities.

‘We send our general officers to the Pentagon to get trained and then let them retire here and produce more and more for this community,’ said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, only half joking.

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‘We are more of a technological hub than the Pentagon is,’ Battle said. ‘The Pentagon is a management agency.’

Plenty of program management goes on here, too. And perhaps the hundreds of billions of dollars that is handled by arsenal-based commands and agencies is itself enough to justify comparison with the Pentagon.

But there is also aviation, missile defense, software, energy and other research, development and engineering work that goes on in our laboratories, hangars and offices, he said.

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If it’s possible to justify pinning a ‘small Pentagon’ badge on the Huntsville area it’s largely because of what’s happened during the past year.

September of 2011 was the deadline for completing the massive movement of military commands and federal positions under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision.

‘BRAC was good to us,’ Brown said, engaging in a bit of understatement.

The 2005 BRAC moved the Army Materiel Command’s headquarters from Fort Belvoir, Va., into a new building on Redstone Arsenal, along with more than 1,350 AMC positions and commander Gen. Ann Dunwoody.

…

AMC…is the first four-star command to have its headquarters in Alabama.

Other BRAC moves include the Missile Defense Agency relocation of more than 2,200 positions into the giant Phase III addition to the Von Braun Complex of offices, solidifying Huntsville as the agency’s ‘center of gravity.’ (MDA, which is ‘joint’ in that it involves the Army, Navy and Air Force, is led by a three-star general.)

$500 million construction

More than 200 positions were added to the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic headquarters that was already here (a three-star command); and the U.S. Security Assistance Command’s move into a new headquarters adjoining AMC brought another 340 or so jobs (USASAC is a two-star command).

The Aviation Technical Test Center was moved from Fort Rucker and merged with an agency here to create the Redstone Test Center, a big new hangar facility and more than 300 new jobs. BRAC also moved the headquarters for the Army’s 2nd Recruiting Brigade and 75 jobs to the arsenal into yet another new building, and did much more.

The 2005 BRAC moves alone spurred about $500 million in construction on the arsenal.

All that is in addition to what was already here. Thanks to the 1995 BRAC, Redstone Arsenal has long been home to what is now the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (led by a two-star general). The arsenal can also count the Program Executive Office for Aviation and PEO Missiles and Space, which report to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, among its many military tenants.

…

Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville may become home to more ‘joint’ programs involving all the services. Battle said it makes sense, with the Army and NASA aviation and propulsion expertise on the arsenal and among the companies in Huntsville, for Air Force and Navy or joint helicopter, missile and rocket programs to grow here.

…

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Russia To Modernize 60 MiG Interceptor Aircraft

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120102/170592615.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 2, 2012

Russia to modernize 60 MiG-31 interceptors by 2020

-MiG-31 interceptors are an integral part of a comprehensive aerospace defense network being created in Russia to thwart any potential airborne threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles.

MOSCOW: The Russian Air Force will receive over 60 modernized MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor aircraft by 2020, the Defense Ministry said.

A modernization contract was signed by the ministry and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation in December last year.

‘We are planning to upgrade more than 60 MiG-31 interceptors to the MiG-31BM version by 2020,’ Air Force spokesman Vladimir Drik said last week.

Relatively few MiG-31s have been modernized to the MiG-31BM version since the heavy interceptor entered service with the Russian Air Force in 1982.

The modernized version is fitted with upgraded avionics and digital data links, a new multimode radar, color multi-function cockpit displays, and a more powerful weapons-control system. It can detect airborne targets at the range of 320 kilometers (200 miles) and simultaneously track up to 10 targets.

The MiG-31BM can carry new air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles such as the AS-17 Krypton anti-radar missile.

MiG-31 interceptors are an integral part of a comprehensive aerospace defense network being created in Russia to thwart any potential airborne threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles.