EU-DIGEST

Europeans need a ‘British’ navy, not a ‘German’ army

Over the weekend, the new British Defence Secretary, John Hutton, said in an interview in The Sunday Times that the time had come to consider the creation and mobilisation of a European army. He said the idea was simply ‘pragmatic’, and even went so far as to declare that while there were many anti-Europeans who opposed the idea in the United Kingdom, they were either ‘pathetic’ or at a loss with the times.

Labels: EU, Military

Turkish military to toe EU line

The government’s new national program, in line with the requirements of EU accession, calls for significant changes in Turkey’s military-civilian relations, an area of Turkey’s state structure that is frequently criticized by the EU.The package, prepared by the Foreign Ministry and the Secretariat-General for EU Affairs, is the draft of the Third National Program of Turkey. It calls for changes in the laws regarding the Court of Accounts that will enable military spending to be audited.

Labels: EU, Military, Turkey

U.S., U.K. officially pull out of Russia-NATO joint exercise

The U.S. and Britain have officially pulled out of a Russia-NATO naval exercise in the Sea of Japan slated for August 15-23, a spokesman for the Russian Pacific Fleet said on Friday. The destroyer, U.S.S. McCampbell (DDG-85), and Royal Navy frigate, HMS Kent were due to have taken part in the FRUKUS exercise off Russia's coast.He said that the French frigate, Vendemiaire, and Russia's Marshal Shaposhnikov ASW ship had successfully held bilateral drills in the Sea of Japan as had earlier been agreed.

Labels: EU, Georgia, Military, Russia

350 American nuclear warheads remain still in Europe

German peace group urges closure of US bases

A major German peace group on Saturday called for the closure of all US military bases in Germany and the removal of all American nuclear bombs.A major concern of Germans are the existence of American nuclear weapons on their soil as Besier made clear that a "short-term" objective was the removal of all US atomic arms. At least 20 US atomic warheads are reportedly still deployed underground at the German air base in the southwestern town of Buechel where they can be mounted on German Tornado fighter jets.Around 350 American nuclear warheads remain still in Europe, according to various media reports.

Labels: EU, Military, Nuclear, US

‘Ice warrior’ poised to repel rise of Islamic rule in Turkey - by John Swain

The next chief of the armed forces is being chosen this weekend at the end of a tumultuous week. Two PKK terrorist bombs exploded last Sunday night in Istanbul, killing 17 people, including five children whose bodies were riddled with shrapnel. Sandhurst-trained Basbug, 65, will have the top job for the next two years. He is a formidable military figure and an ideological hardliner who will ensure that Erdogan’s government - which was elected last year with 47% of the vote but is mistrusted by the military, which sees itself as guardian of a secular society - walks a narrow political line. For these reasons Basbug is almost certainly not the general Erdogan would choose to promote. The outgoing chief of the general staff, General Mehmet Yasar Buyukanit, was also a hardliner but he was impulsive and could be outmanoeuvred by the prime minister. “Erdogan will find Basbug is a much more formidable opponent than his predecessor. He is a lot more subtle,” said a military source.

Labels: Ilker Basbug, Military, PKK, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Galileo Key to European Defense, Says EU Parliament

While the European Parliament agrees that European space policy should not support the weaponization of space, it nevertheless recognizes the need for Galileo to serve the European Union's defense and security — a change from its earlier stance on the issue. Galileo proponents originally envisioned the European GNSS as existing completely in and for the civilian realm — one of the chief arguments for Galileo has been the fact that GPS is administered by the U.S. military. In fact the European Parliament in the past has rejected resolutions or legislation that hinted at a military role for Galileo. But with Europe having settled on public funding for the project, on Thursday it recognized the role of Galileo to European defense and military interests in space, effectively changing its collective mind.

Labels: EU, Galileo, GPS, Military

Arrests fuel Turkey coup rumblings

A senior Turkish general called for calm yesterday after two prominent retired generals were detained in a widening police investigation into a suspected coup plot against the Government. "Turkey is passing through difficult days. We all have to be acting with more common sense, more carefully and more responsibly," land forces commander General Ilker Basbug, who is the second-most powerful general in the Turkish military, said yesterday. Police detained 21 people on Tuesday as part of an investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy, ultra-nationalist and hard-line secularist group suspected of planning bombings and assassinations calculated to trigger an army takeover.

Labels: Military, Secularism, Turkey

TURKEY - Court Challenge for Leaders

The deputy prime minister defended his party in court against charges that it was steering Turkey toward Islamic rule. Turkey’s chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, wants to disband the governing Justice and Development Party and ban Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and 70 other party members from politics for five years. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek argued in the party’s defense. The party has been locked in a power struggle with secular groups supported by the military, the judiciary and other state institutions.

Labels: Military, Secularism, Turkey

Labels: EU, France, Military, Sarkozy

Russia marks Victory Day in muscular Soviet style - by Malcolm Gray

They can afford it now, so Russians celebrated victory over Nazi Germany by parading soldiers, tanks and missiles through Red Square yesterday for the first time since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. For Dmitry Medvedev, yesterday's Soviet-style Victory Fay parade was the first major event of a presidency only two days old. His predecessor, who months earlier gave the orders that saw 8,000 soldiers march across the square's historic cobbles, remained close by. Former president Vladimir Putin, now the prime minister, sat next to Medvedev on the reviewing stand as military hardware ranging from T-90 battle tanks to huge Topol-M ballistic missiles rolled past.

Labels: Military, Russia

France Adds Nuclear Sub and Vows to Cut Warheads - by Steven Erlanger

Dedicating France’s fourth nuclear-armed submarine, President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday defended his country’s arsenal as vital to deter a range of new threats, including the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran with intercontinental missiles.“The security of Europe is at stake,” he said, conflating the Continent’s interests with those of France.Mr. Sarkozy, stung by defeats in local elections in some large French cities, stuck to traditional presidential themes of national security and defense. His sudden divorce and remarriage, and his tendency to flit from one scheme to another, have made him seem slightly unserious, contributing to his party’s losses.

His mood on Friday was somber, as he inaugurated a new generation of nuclear submarine of the “Triomphant” class, this one named Le Terrible, which could be best translated as The Fearsome. It will be equipped with a new, nuclear-tipped missile, the M-51, whose range is secret but is understood, according to Le Monde, to be some 4,970 miles, able to reach Asia.

Labels: EU, France, Military

Labels: EU, Military

The Worldwide Network of US Military Bases including those in Europe - by Professor Jules Dufour

The US has established its control over 191 governments which are members of the United Nations. The conquest, occupation and/or otherwise supervision of these various regions of the World is supported by an integrated network of military bases and installations which covers the entire Planet (Continents, Oceans and Outer Space). All this pertains to the workings of an extensive Empire, the exact dimensions of which are not always easy to ascertain. Known and documented from information in the public domaine including Annual Reports of the US Congress, we have a fairly good understanding of the structure of US military expenditure, the network of US military bases and the shape of this US military-strategic configuration in different regions of the World. The objective of this article is to build a summary profile of the World network of military bases, which are under the jurisdiction and/or control of the US. The spatial distribution of these military bases is examined by Prof. Jules Dufour together with an analysis of the multi-billion dollar annual cost of their activities.

Labels: EU, Military, US

France to push for intervention force created by EU big six

French president Nicolas Sarkozy is spearheading an initiative to create an elite defence force made up of the six EU biggest states - France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland. French MP French MP Pierre Lellouche, a spokesman on defense for Mr Sarkozy recently presented the idea and conditions for countries to join the defense "hard core" group in the French daily Le Figaro. It is envisaged that the six countries would adopt common rules for reinforced co-operation, such as spending a minimum of two percent of their GDP on defense, join a common defence equipment market and provide 10,000 troops for an intervention force. Moreover, the elite group would commit to carry out joint security anti-terrorism projects, as well as defence infrastructure program, such as missile defense or space and intelligence technology.

According to the Brussels weekly European Voice, Paris aims to launch the initiative in 2009, after the new EU Lisbon treaty has been ratified in all member states.

Labels: EU, France, Military

Europe: Divorce the US Military - Charles De Gaulle must be turning in his grave - by Neil Clark

Five years ago, Donald Rumsfeld arrogantly stated that the US, would, if necessary, go it alone in Iraq and attacked "Old Europe" for its opposition to the illegal war. But now, the US empire builders realize they urgently need European support. With its own military forces overstretched and its economy heading into recession, the US desperately needs the EU to fall into line, and for European troops to be sent – in their thousands – to die on the front line. That's why Condoleezza Rice spent last week scurrying frantically around Europe's capitals. The opposition of most of the EU to the Iraq war still irks the neocons and they are determined to do all they can to ensure that Europe's governments are much more pliant in the future.As welcome as recent developments in France and Poland are to the neocons, what the serial warmongers require most is to have control of the EU itself. Which is where a certain former British Prime Minister comes in. The appointment of Tony Blair as President of the European Council, with extended powers in the sphere of defense and trade would be the culmination of the neocon dream: to fully neuter Europe as alternative source of global power. While the election of Sarkozy has already neutered France, traditionally the main European source of opposition to Pax Americana; the appointment of Blair as EU President would be the final piece of the jigsaw.

Labels: EU, Europe, Military, Nato, US

Why the US has really gone broke - by Chalmers Johnson

It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what the US government spends on the military. The Department of Defense’s planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 are larger than all other nations’ military budgets combined. The supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not part of the official defense budget, is itself larger than the combined military budgets of Russia and China. Defense-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. The US has become the largest single seller of arms and munitions to other nations on Earth. Leaving out President Bush’s two on-going wars, defense spending has doubled since the mid-1990s. The defense budget for fiscal 2008 is the largest since the second world war.

The fact that the US did not modernize or replace its capital assets is one of the main reasons why, by the turn of the 21st century, the US manufacturing base had all but evaporated. Machine tools, an industry on which Melman was an authority, are a particularly important symptom. In November 1968, a five-year inventory disclosed “that 64% of the metalworking machine tools used in US industry were 10 years old or older. The age of this industrial equipment (drills, lathes, etc.) marks the United States’ machine tool stock as the oldest among all major industrial nations, and it marks the continuation of a deterioration process that began with the end of the second world war. This deterioration at the base of the industrial system certifies to the continuous debilitating and depleting effect that the military use of capital and research and development talent has had on American industry.”

Some steps that the US urgently needs to take. These include reversing Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the wealthy, beginning to liquidate our global empire of over 800 military bases, cutting from the defense budget all projects that bear no relationship to national security and ceasing to use the defense budget as a Keynesian jobs program.

Labels: Economic Crises, Military, US Economy

Polish soldiers face more dangerous missions this year

This is going to be a year of more dangerous foreign missions for Polish soldiers. Although the decision to pull out 900 troops from Iraq by October has already been approved by Poland’s president, the present contingent of 1200 soldiers in Afghanistan is to be enlarged to 1600. Starting this spring Poland will also participate in the EU military mission in Chad.

Labels: Afghanistan, Chad, EU, Military, Poland

IRAQ - December 2007 - 4204 total of which 3897 US soldiers

During the above period there have also been been 38,876 wounded and 132 suicides. Twenty percent of the U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan come from the Army National Guard. Many are from small towns, and go to war alongside family and friends.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the strain of the war in Iraq is increasingly forcing senior Pentagon leaders to be blunter about the military's inability to sustain war operations indefinitely, a shift in tone that may mean more troops come home sooner.The Army is expected to grow to 547,000 soldiers by 2010, and Casey has left the door open for an even bigger increase beyond that. But time is running short for the Army now, Mr. McCaffrey says. "We can probably sustain a force in Iraq indefinitely (given adequate funding) of some 10-plus brigades," McCaffrey wrote in a post-trip report. "However, the US Army is starting to unravel."

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday painted a bleak picture of the situation of children in Iraq, where an estimated 2 million boys and girls continue suffer from poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education. Thousands of families have been obliged to leave their homes because of violence or threats, and hundreds of children have lost their lives in the violence, UNICEF said in a press release. Iraq Body Count’s research shows that 27,000 civilian deaths from violence were reported in 2006. This represents a huge increase compared to preceding years: 14,000 killed in 2005, 10,500 in 2004 and just under 12,000 in 2003 (7,000 during the actual war/invasion, and another 5,000 during the ‘peace’ that followed). Early indications are that roughly 20,000 violent civilian deaths will be recorded for the first 9 months of 2007. By year’s end, 2007 looks to be the second-worst calendar year for violence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, trailing only behind 2006, and still almost twice as deadly for civilians as the first year.

Labels: Casualties, Europe, Iraq war, Military, Russia; US

Desi Delano Bouterse on trial for massacres

For the complete report from the Caribbean Net News click on this link

The Bouterse Trial-Suriname police arrest alleged assassins - by Ivan Cairo

In his address to thousands supporters Monday night, Bouterse insisted that the government and parliament are not functioning properly while he cast doubt on the bi-partisanship and objectivity of the court and the judiciary. Suriname Justice Minister Santokhi disclosed that the authorities received intelligence that several individuals in the remote interior were armed by Bouterse and his supporters, while a top official from his party, NDP, traveled to a “neighbouring country” to recruit individuals to commit violent attacks in Suriname, including arson and murders. The Justice Minister claims that the destabilization and assassination plots have more to do then just derailing the upcoming trial. Interests of organized crime are also at stake here, according to the government official.Recently top crime leaders held a meeting to discuss actions aimed at bringing a halt to the assaults on their criminal enterprises by the authorities. During the past three years police have dismantled 9 of the 10 major criminal organizations in Suriname, including major drug trafficking rings with links to the Columbian rebel organization FARC.

Note EU-Digest Suriname, independent since 1975 from the Netherlands has had a turbulent political history so far. Desi Delano Bouterse, the present leader of the NDP political party in that country is assumed to be closely bound, not only with ongoing political unrest and crime in Suriname, but also with a military regime that controlled Suriname from 1980 until the beginning of the 1990s.

On February 25, 1980, the government of newly-independent Suriname underwent a military coup and Bouterse became Chairman of the National Military Council. Though the Suriname Presidency was retained, Bouterse became the nation’s de-facto ruler until his resignation in 1988. He even served briefly as President himself for a period in 1982. Bouterse is also considered the leading figure in Suriname’s post-independence civil war, and the main culprit behind the so-called “December murders” of 1982, and massacres in the Maroon (Bosneger) village of Moiwana in 1986. Since then he has also been accused on various occasions of involvement in illegal drug trafficking. In July 1999 he was convicted in absentia by the Netherlands for cocaine-trafficking. The Netherlands still has an international warrant for his arrest, which makes it almost impossible for him to leave Suriname. Unfortunately Suriname has not been able to extradite him to the Netherlands, because he is a former head of state. Today Suriname is finally slowly waking up from their fear and ready to prosecute the former dictator and some of his accomplices, whom have held the country in their grip for 25 years. This morning, November 30, 25 suspects, including Bouterse will be asked to appear before a Suriname court martial and tried for the executions, which went down in history as the "December killings". At that time 15 opponents of the military regime were summarily executed at the historical Dutch historical fort Zeelandia. One can only hope that justice will prevail and that Suriname can finally get rid of a "cancer" which has caused enormous harm to the credibility of that country as a viable Democratic state.

Labels: Council of Europe, Desi Bouterse, Military, Suriname, The Netherlands, Trial

Britain scorns France's plans for EU defence - by Ian Traynor

Britain put itself on a collision course with France last night when the foreign secretary, David Miliband, attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy's ambitions for greater European military integration. Addressing the College of Europe in his first big speech on EU policy, Miliband said it was "frankly embarrassing" that a union of 27 states with around two million men and women under arms could deploy only 100,000 at any one time and "at a stretch".

Note EU-Digest: The speech of Mr. Miliband, representing the British point of view on Europe's future is depressingly shallow in long term vision and its support for a strong and united Europe. Referring to the United States as the only legitimate superpower in the world also makes it clear that Britain does not have a European sole and is only a member of the EU for economic reasons. The question arises: Can Britain be trusted as a European partner?

Labels: Britain, EU, European Unity, France, Military

Gen. Casey: Slowing Europe transformation would be the right decision - by Nancy Montgomery

McKiernan said he believed the Army should keep about 40,000 troops in Europe, down from 43,000 now stationed there. That’s some 20,000 fewer than there were three years ago and some 16,000 more than the plan for Europe envisioned when it was announced in 2003.

Gen. Bantz Craddock previously said that even with current troop strength it was difficult to fulfill European Command missions, and that claims on the command were expected to increase. He said with so many Europe-based troops deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, there were too few left to do training exercises and other engagements with foreign militaries, and that many had been canceled.

Labels: EU, Military, US

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Thursday that plans to place a missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland will test Europe's willingness to defend itself."It's not primarily about a radar and 10 interceptors, it's mainly about expressing the willingness to defend ourselves," Topolanek told a conference in Prague Thursday. "Europe can survive without a radar, but without a will to defend itself, this civilization is lost," he said.
Note EU-Digest:"Agreeing to a EU constitution which includes an article that "an attack on one of the member states is to be considered an attack on all" and a a strong army, will eliminate the need for reliance on any foreign power."

Labels: Defence, EU, Military

"Turkey in trouble: An APK viewpoint on Turkey's political environment"

Mr. Berzeg who is a lawyer writes in Todays Zaman: "The events in Turkey dating back to the 1960 military coup prove that the biggest obstacle in Turkey membership to the EU has been the lack of civil control over the military. If the same pattern continues in Turkey, not only will Turkey lose the right to become a member of the European Union, an endeavor of Turkey’s since 1856, it will also lose its stance as a party in the European political arena." Note EU-Digest: "Zaman Today is one of the Turkish newspapers favorable to the policies of the ruling APK political party which wants a stronger Muslim identification and a gradual breakup of the established secular foundation of the Turkish Republic. The secular foundation is guaranteed in the constitution of the country and supported by the majority of the Turkish population. However, political opposition parties seem unable to form a common front against the APK to avoid potential political turmoil and military intervention in Turkey. The only way out of this critical situation seems to be that a political compromise is reached between the APK and opposition parties by selecting a presidential candidate who can get bipartisan support. The EU should help the Turkish government in reaching such a compromise."

Labels: Democracy, EU, Military, Turkey

"And Then There Were None" - by Richard May

Several European allies are quickly losing interest in fighting what they perceive as America’s expansionist war in the Middle East and South Asia, and have begun withdrawing and distancing themselves from Afghanistan. CDI Scoville Fellow Richard May examines the causes and indications of this phenomenon in his latest commentary.

Britain has announced that it would be pulling 1,600 troops out of Iraq and the Dutch have said that they will follow suit. This presents a sharp blow to the Bush administration and its efforts in the war in Iraq. The move signals that Europe is growing tired of American adventurism in the Middle East. Britain and the Netherlands, who are following the British lead, are not the only European countries that have grown weary of the United States presence in Iraq, but most countries don't have troops that they can withdraw to show their displeasure. Instead, the European countries that lack troops in Iraq may illustrate their dislike for the United States in another place: Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Iraq, Military, US

Analysts: Iran's military poses little threat

Iran's outdated military presents little current threat to its neighbors, despite the fierce rhetoric from its hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, military analysts said Monday at a security conference here in the Persian Gulf.

Iran has exaggerated its military capabilities, while U.S. and Israeli leaders have engaged in "provocative rhetoric" that overstates the Iranian threat, said Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In reality, Iran is more focused on national defense than using military power to boost its influence in the region, he said.

Labels: Military

Segolene Royal, the French Socialist candidate for president, pledged to maintain defense spending and nuclear weapons, a rare moment of agreement with her main electoral rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. In a speech last night in Paris in front of three former defense ministers, she said military spending should be kept at least at 2 percent of gross domestic product, the same figure mentioned in a speech by Sarkozy last week.

Defense spending ``may seem an excessive effort when we have peace on our borders,'' she said. ``But menaces haven't gone away, they've just changed. It's the price of our liberty.''

Labels: Military, Poltical

US pressure could destabilise Pakistan: Durrani

US pressure, including congressional threats to cut or put conditions on billions of dollars in aid, could destabilise Pakistan, and maybe even bring down President Gen Pervez Musharraf, said the Pakistani ambassador to the US on Thursday. In an interview with Reuters, Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani expressed concern that anti-terrorism cooperation among the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan was eroding, and rejected what he said were attempts to unfairly blame Islamabad for an upsurge in cross-border violence. He said that tampering with US aid levels would fan anti-Americanism, strengthen the extreme right and Taliban supporters, be counterproductive, and “create problems for Musharraf to be able to continue the way he is”.

Asked if it might trigger Musharraf’s ouster, he said, “I don’t know. Possibly it could bring him down. It could destabilise the whole country. It could cause mega-problems there. That is possible.” His comments came after top American intelligence officials said the front-line US ally in the war on terror had allowed a resurgence of Al Qaeda and Taliban forces and training camps in Pakistani tribal areas that could someday “lead to another September 11-type attack on the US”. “What I’m worried about today more than anything else is this unhinging of the cooperative relationship ... in this very critical field of (cooperation on) counter-terrorist operations, there seems to be a problem. We need to fix it,” said Durrani.

Labels: Military

Europe, America and the drumbeat of war with Iran - by JOSCHKA FISCHER

America’s capital is once again abuzz with talk of war, not only of the latest “strategy for victory” in Iraq, but now also of military action against Iran.As with Iraq, America’s strength may be enough to start a war, but not to win it. But the consequences of a military adventure in Iran would far surpass those of the war in Iraq.

So how has Europe, with its vital security interests at stake, responded to these developments? To be precise, two overriding EU security interests are at stake: avoiding a war with Iran and preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. These two apparently contradictory interests can be reconciled and translated into a common strategy by adopting a three-pronged approach based on efficient isolation, effective containment, and direct negotiations. The Europeans - led by Merkel, Blair, and Chirac - should agree to assure the US that Europe is ready to pay a high, perhaps very high, economic price by taking decisive action to intensify the sanctions against Iran. But they should offer this only on two strict preconditions: that the military option be taken off the table, and that all parties involved - including the US - enter into direct negotiations with Iran. *Joschka Fischer was Germany’s Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. A leader in the Green Party for nearly 20 years, he is now a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.

Labels: Military

ABM Defense: America's Meat May Be Europe's Poison

What does Europe stand to gain, or lose, from the forthcoming deployment of American antiballistic missile (ABM) systems in Poland and the Czech Republic? Officially, they are supposed to protect Europe from the missiles of "rogue" countries (such as North Korea and Iran). If this explanation weren't already as believable as Santa Clause, the facts (including geography, ballistics, and the data provided by all major intelligence agencies) serve to discredit it even further. Europe's only gain from it will be Washington's applause for doing "the right thing," applause that can be converted into something more profitable, though not security.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact strengthened the security of Western Europe to an unprecedented level. The Soviet Union liquidated its intermediate- and shorter-range missiles which had been targeted at Europe, and reduced its heavy weaponry (tanks, armored vehicles and artillery systems), which were the dominant force deployed in the direction of the West. These and several other conciliatory actions gave the world a chance to become a safer place.

Unfortunately, the world has not taken advantage of that chance. The West has not honored its commitments to the Soviet Union and Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin. Former members of the Warsaw Pact have joined NATO, which is advancing closer to the borders of Russia with every passing year.

Labels: Military

Blair to announce start of Iraq troop exit - by Deborah Haynes and Peter Graff

British Prime Minister Tony Blair looked set on Wednesday to outline a timetable for British troops to start withdrawing from Iraq, with media reports saying 3,000 soldiers could be home by the end of the year.

Confirmation of a pull-out plan would be symbolic for Blair, who is due to leave office later this year. His decision to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq four years ago was hugely unpopular and has blighted the final years of his premiership. Media reports said Blair would tell parliament 1,500 soldiers would leave Iraq by the summer. The Sun tabloid said the first batch would be home in April.

Labels: Military

Netherlands Sending Extra Troops To Afghanistan

The cabinet decided Friday to send about 130 extra troops to the Afghan province of Uruzgan. Currently, 1,400 Dutch troops are already operating there on behalf of NATO. The troops to be added are specially trained in protection and guarding. By deploying them in the area, the other Dutch troops in the NATO-led ISAF mission can concentrate more on helping the reconstruction of the country. This reconstruction is the aim of the Dutch mission. In some parts of the province, however, there is unrest, with heavy fighting with enemy units.

The leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and Socialist Party (SP) are furious. They want an emergency debate in the Lower House with Foreign Minister Ben Bot and Defence Minister Henk Kamp on Tuesday on the cabinet decision.

Labels: Military

Protesters Oppose Plan to Expand American Base in Northern Italy - by PETER KIEFER

Tens of thousands of people converged Saturday on this small city in the Veneto region of northern Italy for a peaceful protest against the planned expansion of an American military base here.The expansion would essentially double the base’s size so it could house the full 173rd Airborne Brigade. The number of military personnel here would grow to about 4,500 from 2,750.

Fueling the tensions in advance of the march, an Italian judge indicted 26 Americans on Friday, most of them C.I.A. officers, in connection with the 2003 kidnapping in Milan of a radical Egyptian cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar.

Labels: Military

Germany says U.S. should have included Russia in talks about Eastern Europe missile defense

Germany's foreign minister said the United States should have included Moscow in discussions of a proposed missile defense project in Poland and the Czech Republic, according to comments released Sunday. In an interview for Monday's edition of the German daily Handelsblatt, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that because the proposed missile defense project is so close to Russia, the U.S. should have been talking with Moscow all along, and encouraged Washington to include Russia in continuing discussions.

"Given that the places (the missile defense bases are to be stationed) are close to Russia, they should have been included in discussions earlier," Steinmeier said in an advance release of the interview.

Labels: Military

U.S.-Russia interests on collision course - by Lionel Beehner

U.S.-Russia relations during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tenure have seesawed between mutual cooperation and confrontation. Recently tensions have escalated over American moves to establish an antimissile shield, further expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and encourage the installation of pro-Western governments across Eastern Europe, Moscow’s former sphere of influence. During a biting speech at a recent international security conference in Munich, Putin accused Washington of creating a unipolar world, reviving a nuclear arms race, and demonstrating an “almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations.” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates disputed accusations the United States was reverting back to a Cold War-like atmosphere of bilateral relations.

Labels: Military

Canadian Senator Kenny: "anyone who expected a sophisticated, Western-style democracy to develop quickly is "dreaming in Technicolour".

Canada should consider withdrawing from Afghanistan unless its NATO allies deliver additional troops to the international mission, a Canadian Senate committee has recommended.

Australia, which has a 400-member reconstruction force, helicopters and a support team in Afghanistan, has already called for NATO troops to come to the aid of Australian and Dutch troops in the country's south if they come under threat from the Taliban. In the 45-page Canadian report, the Senate's national security and defence committee described the mission of stabilising Afghanistan as an uphill battle that could take decades.

The reluctance of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey to provide more combat troops in southern Afghanistan has irked nations on the front lines, raising concern over a split in the alliance.

Labels: Military

Russia intensifies efforts to rebuild its military machine - by Fred Weir

At a major security conference this past weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the US for its militaristic approach to foreign policy, saying its actions were "nourishing an arms race." But little noticed amid the sharp US and European response to Mr. Putin's comments is Russia's burgeoning military-industrial complex, generally thought to have collapsed with the Soviet Union.

At a recent press conference, Putin said that Russia has nothing to fear from US missile defense systems because the new Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile has stealth characteristics that enable it to penetrate the American shield. "But this is not all," he added, mentioning a "new generation ... of strategic weapons systems," against which missile defense systems would be "powerless."

Last week Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov unveiled a $189 billion rearmament program that will replace about half of Russia's current military equipment by 2015. Among the armed forces' acquisitions will be a completely revamped early-warning radar network, new intercontinental missiles, a fleet of supersonic Tu-160 strategic bombers, and 31 new warships, including aircraft carriers.

Labels: Military

Russia will put several dozen silo launchers and over 50 Topol-M mobile missile systems on combat duty before 2015, the defense minister said Wednesday. Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, said 50 Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95 MS Bear strategic bombers would be in use in Russia's Air Force in 2007-2015 according to the $189 billion armaments program for the period. Delivering a report in parliament, the minister outlined plans to create space reconnaissance, communications, retransmission and topographical surveying systems and systems to spot launches of new-generation ballistic missiles.

A Defense Ministry official said last week that Russia's defense spending would be over 860 billion rubles ($32.42 billion) in 2007, 23% more than in 2006. Over 300 billion rubles ($11.28 billion) has been earmarked for procurement.

Labels: Military