Archive
Updates on Libyan war: March 31
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China, Russia Should Prevent West Further Abusing Libya Resolution
Miguel D’Escoto: United Nations Has Become Lethal Weapon Of The Empire
Gates, Mullen: Top U.S. Defense, Military Officials Warn Of Protracted Libya Conflict
Libyan War: 16 NATO Members Contribute Warplanes And Warships
Sweden: NATO’s Loyal Cohort In Libyan, Afghan Wars
Libyan War: NATO In Full Charge, Future Remains Uncertain
Vatican Envoy To Libya: NATO Air Strikes “Killing Dozens Of Civilians”
NATO Could Repeat Balkans (And Afghan, Iraq) Scenario In Libya
Leading Russia MP: NATO Could Be Defeated In Libyan Ground War
NATO Takes Over Full Command Of Libyan War
Doubts Over Purpose Of Libyan Military Intervention Intensify
Libya: U.S.-NATO Ground Operations More Likely
NATO Assumes Full Command Of Libyan War Operations
Obama Authorizes Covert Operations In Libya, CIA Already There
CIA And MI6 Aiding Libyan War Effort On The Ground
Poll: Americans Oppose Obama’s Libyan War, Ratings At All-Time Low
Defense Minister: NATO’s Libyan Operation Costs Greece $9 Million A Month
Venezuela On Libya: No Peace With Bombs, West Eyes Oil Reserves
NATO Air Strike Kills Libyan Infant
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China, Russia Should Prevent West Further Abusing Libya Resolution
http://en.huanqiu.com/opinion/editorial/2011-03/639891.html
Global Times
March 31, 2011
UN resolution legality needs a gatekeeper
-China should unite with Russia in requiring the US, Britain and France to respect Security Council resolutions. As the Security Council president this month, China should hold an emergency meeting at the ambassadorial level, and demand announcements about air strikes and plans for future intervention.
-The world must not allow the West to act unchecked, especially when using the name of the UN. They should hear the voices of opposition and face the problems they cause.
On March 29, Gaddafi’s army recaptured two cities. This new twist to the Libyan military situation has heaped political embarrassment on the West.
It is now time to prevent the West from further abusing Security Council Resolution No. 1973.
The Western powers have acted beyond the resolution. Although the leaders of the US, Britain and France have said their military actions are only aimed at establishing a no-fly zone, the Western air strikes have directly attacked Libyan government forces and provided air support for the opposition.
They have jointly demanded Gaddafi to step down immediately, which has nothing to do with Security Council resolutions.
In the absence of China, Russia, the African Union and most members of the Arab League, the London conference centered around the political landscape of the “post-Gaddafi era.”
This countermands the authority of the United Nations and goes against the Western declaration of “letting Libyan people determine by themselves.”
The intensification of Western direct military intervention could force Gaddafi to step down soon. But the West has two obstacles: the Security Council resolution does not grant them such authority and they have to consider public opinion. The greater the opposition of global opinion, the more hesitant the West will be.
China should unite with Russia in requiring the US, Britain and France to respect Security Council resolutions. As the Security Council president this month, China should hold an emergency meeting at the ambassadorial level, and demand announcements about air strikes and plans for future intervention. The Council should ask the West to guarantee no expansion of military operations.
China should let French President Sarkozy know that the air strikes he defends are widely opposed in China. If he is a president with political honor, he should face the questions posed by Chinese media and guarantee that he will abide by Resolution 1973.
The world must not allow the West to act unchecked, especially when using the name of the UN. They should hear the voices of opposition and face the problems they cause.
Maintenance of the Security Council resolution can achieve a moral high ground. China and Russia abstained, which does not mean the US, Britain and France gained carte blanche. China, Russia, Brazil and other emerging countries should take actions to let these three countries understand this.
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Miguel D’Escoto: United Nations Has Become Lethal Weapon Of The Empire
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=276625&Itemid=1
Prensa Latina
March 31, 2011
D’Escoto: The United Nations is a Deadly U.S.Weapon
Ana Julia Suarez Cruz
United Nations: Former Nicaraguan foreign minister Miguel D’Escoto, now appointed as the representative of Libya to the UN, said Thursday that the United Nations has become a “lethal weapon of the Empire (United States).”
USA Reportedly Supplied Weapons to Libyan Rebels
“We have to get it back, because if it dies it will not be born again,” warned D’Escoto, who was president of the 63rd period of sessions of the UN General Assembly (2008-2009).
In an interview with Prensa Latina in New York, D’Escoto, a Catholic priest, said the UN is dysfunctional, unable to fulfill the goals for which it was created.
D’Escoto harshly criticized UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, accusing him of betraying the UN Charter.
In that sense, he did not rule out coordination between the UN secretary general and the host country (the United States) to prevent former Libyan Foreign Minister Ali Treki from the entering U.S. territory.
Treki, who chaired the UN General Assembly until last September, was appointed Libyan ambassador to the UN two weeks ago by President Muammar Gaddafi, but he did not receive a U.S. visa to travel to New York.
“I don’t know what kind of effort Ban Ki-moon made with respect to that visa, as part of his duty as UN leader,” said D’Escoto .
Now, the appointment of D’Escoto as Libyan representative is in doubt, after the U.S. representative to the UN, Susan Rice, claimed the Nicaraguan does not have a diplomatic visa.
Following the statement by Rice, the UN press office cancelled a Thursday press conference with D’Escoto that had been announced on Wednesday by UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
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Gates, Mullen: Top U.S. Defense, Military Officials Warn Of Protracted Libya Conflict
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d99f8a0-5bb4-11e0-b8e7-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ICkFFsOM
Financial Times
March 31, 2011
Gates warns on protracted Libya conflict
By Daniel Dombey in Washington
Nato faces a protracted conflict in Libya, the US’s top two military chiefs signalled on Thursday, even as they promised that Washington would substantially scale down its participation in coming days.
Robert Gates, defence secretary, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, acknowledged the possibility of a stalemate as they sought to square growing congressional discontent about the military action with Libyan rebels’ calls for more aid to prevent a rout by Muammer Gaddafi’s forces.
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Appearing at hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Mr Gates said: “We have considered the possibility of this being a stalemate and being a drawn-out affair.” He said there could be an outcome “where you achieve the military goal [of establishing a no-fly zone…] but not achieve the political goal” of ousting Col Gaddafi.
Howard McKeon, the committee’s chairman, warned that Nato “could be expected to support a decade-long no-fly zone enforcement like the one over Iraq in the 1990s,” while a series of other members underlined their doubts about the rebels’ political orientation.
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Libyan War: 16 NATO Members Contribute Warplanes And Warships
Deutsche Prese-Agentur
March 31, 2011
BACKGROUND: 16 NATO members taking part in Libya military action
Brussels: NATO announced on its website Thursday that 16 out of its 28 members were taking part in the mission enforcing a United Nations resolution on Libya, which foresees a no-fly zone, a naval arms embargo and airstrikes….
Albania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia were exposed as the countries not contributing to the military effort.
NATO did not release information on third countries taking part in the operation. Sweden, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have confirmed separately that they are involved.
NATO indicated that the United States, France, Britain and Italy were the largest contributors to the ‘Unified Protector’ mission.
The full list of contributions was listed as follows:
Belgium: six fighter jets; Britain: 17 jets and two vessels; Bulgaria: one vessel; Canada: 11 jets and one vessel; Denmark: four jets; France: 33 jets and one vessel; Greece: two jets and one vessel; Italy: 16 jets and four vessels; Netherlands: seven jets and one vessel; Norway: six jets; Romania: one vessel; Spain: six jets and two vessels; Turkey: seven jets and six vessels; United States: 90 jets and one vessel.
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Sweden: NATO’s Loyal Cohort In Libyan, Afghan Wars
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-48A34226-82ACED3B/natolive/news_71925.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 31, 2011
Secretary General Rasmussen praises Sweden as an effective and reliable partner
On 31 March, Secretary General Rasmussen travelled to Sweden to discuss the excellent cooperation between NATO and Sweden. During his visit, the Secretary General met with H.M. King Carl XVI Gustav, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Minister of Defence Sten Tolgfors and members of the Foreign Relations and Defence Committees.
Rasmussen thanked Sweden for its planned contribution of 8 Gripen fighter jets and support personnel to NATO’s Operation Unified Protector to protect the Libyan population against the attacks of the Gaddafi regime. “Without prejudging deliberations in the Parliament, I would like to stress the importance of the Swedish contribution. Across the board, Sweden is an active provider of security and stability”, Rasmussen stated.
The Secretary General also highlighted Sweden’s other important contributions. “Sweden is a valuable partner of NATO. Sweden contributes in a very significant way to a number of NATO led operations, such as in Afghanistan and in KFOR. I express my strong appreciation for that”, said the Secretary General in a joint press conference with the Swedish Prime Minister. Mazar-e-Sharif, the city where the Swedish troops are based, is one of the seven districts and provinces where Afghans are starting to take the lead in the coming months. Sweden also provides an important contribution to NATO’s training efforts to build up the Afghan security forces.
The Secretary General also stressed Sweden’s leading role in calling for more cooperation with the EU. In view of the difficult financial climate, both organisations are trying to spend smarter, and it makes sense to work together. Pooling and sharing is the way ahead, Mr Rasmussen said.
Mr. Rasmussen concluded his visit by delivering a key-note speech on “The New NATO and Sweden’s Security” at the Foreign Policy Institute.
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Libyan War: NATO In Full Charge, Future Remains Uncertain
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/31/c_13807850.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 31, 2011
NATO in full charge, future remains elusive
BRUSSELS: NATO on Thursday took full command and control of military operations in Libya from the United States, however, the endgame of the military campaigns remains elusive.
“This transfer is completed. NATO is fully responsible for the military efforts. We have more than 100 fighter and support aircraft and more than a dozens maritime assets from several nations under NATO command,” said Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO mission, code-named Unified Protector.
Since NATO took full charge of military operations from 0600 GMT on Thursday, it has conducted more than 90 flying sorties and has more than 20 frigates patrolling in the Mediterranean and several supporting vessels, the Canadian general said via video conference from the alliance’s base in Naples, Itlay.
The general said that he hoped the NATO mission, a 90-day military plan, could last shorter, however, the operation would not end until the Libya civilians are no longer attacked.
NATO members agreed on Sunday to take on the whole military operation in Libya under the United Nations Security Council Resolution, ending a week of squabbling over the command structure mainly involving France, Turkey, the United States and Britain.
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NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told reporters that “NATO will do its utmost” to involve all partners in the Libya mission and invite partners to participate.
The chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, said all NATO members had provided “political support” for the mission, and some allies were willing to contribute and deploy military assets, as well as several none-NATO countries.
In addition, while the disputes over the command have settled down, the endgame in Libya remains elusive as participating countries are divided on a series of questions, the ultimate goal of the mission, whether to arm rebels in Libya, and so on.
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Vatican Envoy To Libya: NATO Air Strikes “Killing Dozens Of Civilians”
New York Daily News
March 31, 2011
40 civilians reportedly killed in NATO air strikes on Tripoli; Defense Secretary to address congress
BY Lukas I. Alpert
At least 40 civilians have been killed in NATO air strikes on Tripoli, the Vatican’s top envoy to Libya said Thursday.
“They are killing dozens of civilians,” said Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli. “In the Tajoura neighborhood, around 40 civilians were killed, and a house with a family inside collapsed.”
“In the Buslim neighborhood, due to bombardments, a civilian building came down, although it is not clear how many people were inside.”
Martinelli said that he had not seen any casualties himself, but was relying on reports from “contacts” among Tripoli’s residents.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to tell congress Thursday that Khadafy will ultimately be removed from power but not solely as the result of military force.
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“In my view, the removal of Colonel Khadafy will likely be achieved over time through political and economic measures and by his own people,” Gates said.
“However, this NATO-led operation can degrade Khadafy’s military capacity to the point where he – and those around him – will be forced into a very different set of choices and behaviors in the future.”
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With News Wire Services
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NATO Could Repeat Balkans (And Afghan, Iraq) Scenario In Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/31/48262650.html
Voice of Russia
March 31, 2011
Will NATO apply the Balkan scenario to Libya?
Pyotr Iskenderov
-Resolution 1973 stipulates the use of all measures against the Gaddafi regime, except an occupation. The transition of the ongoing aerial operation to a multinational mission means, as shown by the Kosovo experience, a shift to an occupation under the peacekeeping slogans.
Similar scenarios have been staged by the U.S., Britain and other Western countries also in Afghanistan and Iraq.
-“An allegedly humanitarian intervention by NATO against Yugoslavia in 1999 ended with the deployment of NATO forces in Kosovo and the setting up of the largest U.S. base Bondsteel Camp in the province. The U.S. and NATO may repeat this scenario in Libya.”
NATO is discussing the deployment of multinational forces in Libya, said Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. These forces will be under NATO command and will operate as they did in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The statement by Admiral Stavridis shifts the possible development in Libya onto a new level. It seems that the U.S. and NATO do not consider rendering assistance to the opposition groups in ousting the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as a priority. The Admiral believes that, clearly, there is a wide range of possibilities organizing a mission for stabilizing the situation in Libya under the aegis of NATO.
The West no longer considers the opposition groups as a means to oust Gaddafi for several reasons. Firstly, the opposition groups are very weak and divided. Secondly, according to Admiral Stavridis, al-Qaeda terrorists and pro-Iranian Hezbolla militants are among the rebels. In an interview with the NBC, President Barack Obama indirectly admitted this. He emphasized that there is no guarantee that there are no people who are unfriendly towards the U.S. and its interests among the rebels.
However, that the U.S. and NATO plan to carry out the operation in Libya in line with that of the Kosovo scenario has nothing to do with the state of affairs in the rebel camp.
A deployment of multinational forces on a long-term basis under the aegis of NATO paves the way for Brussels to bypass the only restriction imposed by the UN Security Council on an operation in Libya.
Resolution 1973 stipulates the use of all measures against the Gaddafi regime, except an occupation. The transition of the ongoing aerial operation to a multinational mission means, as shown by the Kosovo experience, a shift to an occupation under the peacekeeping slogans.
Similar scenarios have been staged by the U.S., Britain and other Western countries also in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Their military presence remains despite of restrictions imposed by the U.N.,” says Alexander Karasev, an expert at the Institute of Slavic Studies in an interview with our correspondent:
“The discussion of problems at the UN Security Council is aimed at finding a decision that will satisfy the international community and at the same time the interested parties. However, the latest developments show that the Western powers have lately learned to bypass formal restrictions imposed on them by the UN Charter and UN Security Council decisions. An allegedly humanitarian intervention by NATO against Yugoslavia in 1999 ended with the deployment of NATO forces in Kosovo and the setting up of the largest U.S. base Bondsteel Camp in the province. The U.S. and NATO may repeat this scenario in Libya,” Alexander Karasev said.
Speaking at the National Defence University, Barack Obama said that “we should not afraid to use our military swiftly and decisively, also unilaterally when there is a need to defend our people, our country, our allies and our innermost interests.”
Commenting on the speech, an expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Stephen Flanagan, emphasized that the President’s speech had reminded him of the one that President Clinton gave during the Kosovo crisis explaining the reasons that led to the launch of the NATO operation in Yugoslavia. Both presidents emphasized the need for defending the American “innermost and other interests and values that were threatened”.
It’s unclear whether all this has anything to do with humanitarian aims and interests of the Libyan people as stated in by the authors of the UN resolution.
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Leading Russia MP: NATO Could Be Defeated In Libyan Ground War
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=233186
Interfax
March 31, 2011
Kosachyov fears coalition forces’ involvement in Libya ground operation
MOSCOW: Duma International Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachyov has not ruled out a ground operation by the coalition forces in Libya.
“Currently, everyone is denying this possibility, however I think that if the coalition continues to lose its soldiers in Libya, sooner or later it could serve as a pretext for invasion,” Kosachyov said in an interview with the Russia Today television channel on Thursday.
Should the ground operation begin, “coalition forces will find themselves trapped, with neither party benefiting from it,” the MP said.
“It will be a defeat for coalition forces. I would not like that to happen, however today this scenario is quite possible,” Kosachyov said.
The terrorist group Al-Qaeda “will attempt to increase its influence in Libya,” he said.
“Such an evolvement of the situation is predictable, and this might become a very serious problem,” the MP said.
“Revolutionaries will not have a chance to quickly take the situation under control after the fall of the regime, which will give external forces a chance to interfere in the situation and seize control. Unfortunately, Al-Qaeda is the most organized among these three regional forces at the moment,” he said.
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NATO Takes Over Full Command Of Libyan War
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-CB7D5874-49B69AA2/natolive/news_71867.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 31, 2011
NATO takes command in Libya air operations
On Thursday morning at 0600 GMT, NATO took sole command of international air operations over Libya.
The Alliance has the assets in place to conduct its tasks under Operation Unified Protector – the arms embargo, no-fly zone and actions to protect civilians and civilian centres.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/31/48236881.html
Voice of Russia
March 31, 2011
NATO in charge of Libya operations
NATO has officially assumed command of all operations in Libya, taking over from an international coalition that has been in charge since the 19th of March, a diplomat told the AFP news agency on Thursday.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/31/c_13807330.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 31, 2011
NATO takes over full command of military campaign against Libya
BRUSSELS: NATO has taken over full command and control of military operations against Libya from the United States, a NATO official confirmed here on Thursday.
NATO will make an announcement shortly, the official told Xinhua, adding Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO mission, code-named Unified Protector, would hold a press briefing this afternoon via video conference from the alliance’s base in Naples, Italy.
NATO members agreed on Sunday to take full charge of military operations in Libya, including arms embargo, a no-fly zone and protecting civilians and civilian-populated areas, ending a week of squabbling over the command structure mainly involving France, Turkey, the U.S. and Britain.
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Doubts Over Purpose Of Libyan Military Intervention Intensify
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/31/c_13807391.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 31, 2011
Doubts over purpose of Libyan military intervention intensify
BEIJING: With Western-led coalition forces continuing their air strikes in Libya since March 19, doubts over the real purposes and goals of the mission have intensified globally.
The military operation was launched after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on March 17 to enforce a no-fly zone on Libya and to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in Libya.
Yet, the military action has raised doubts, despite assurances from Western leaders, such as British Prime Minister David Cameron, who emphasized “the legitimacy, necessity and correctness” of the action.
With the air strikes, launched by major Western powers including France, Britain, the United States, Denmark and Italy, having destroyed Libya’s air defense system and many of the tanks and heavy weapons of Libyan government forces, the doubts have intensified and many believe the mission has gone beyond the U.N. resolution.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa has criticized the international coalition force’s bombing, saying the assaults went beyond the U.N. resolution that endorsed a no-fly zone over Libya.
“What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing civilians,” Moussa said.
African Union (AU) chief Jean Ping has voiced similar disapproved, raising doubts about what would follow after a no-fly zone was “roughly” established.
“What’s the next step? Do you have a roadmap? I don’t see them at all,” he said.
Analysts and observers said the military intervention showed some Western powers were getting involved in the internal conflict in Libya, despite promises they wouldn’t interfere in Libya’s internal affairs.
The Western powers also stressed the importance of finding a political and diplomatic solution to the Libyan crisis, but the so-called “political solution,” which excluded the Gaddafi regime in the first place, was based on the military operation, analysts said.
The plan of the Western powers was to solve the country’s crisis through political solutions and make the North Africa country follow a road they map out for it after forcing Gaddafi out through military means, analysts said.
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The United States, still mired in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has somehow managed to overcome the jitters over waging another war in Libya.
An article published recently by the Wall Street Journal said the U.S. had transferred command to NATO on two major concerns: neither France nor Britain should take the lead instead of the U.S., and the swift evolution of the Libyan situation prompted Obama to believe the country’s involvement would pay off.
As to Britain, a country that has gradually lost the lead in international affairs, analysts pointed out it had seized the opportunity to expand its global influence. Prime Minister Cameron championed the idea of a no-fly zone from the moment unrest broke out last month.
Germany, a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has adopted a remarkable position on Libya. It has abstained from the U.N. vote on a no-fly zone over the country, refrained from joining forces with other Western powers, and even on some occasions indicated an “opposing attitude” to the West-led intervention. Germany said it actions were not out of support for Gaddafi, but concern military action was “too risky.”
The only Islamic country in NATO, Turkey, has repeatedly voiced its opposition since West-led airstrikes began. However, after days of negotiation, all NATO member states, including Turkey, agreed to take over command of the military operations against Libya. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu nevertheless stressed on several occasions that Turkey would never use military force, worrying about finding in Libya another Afghanistan or Iraq war.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria slammed the military action against Libya as an “adventure” driven by oil interests, the harshest criticism so far from a NATO member state.
Cameron vehemently defended the military intervention in Libya at the opening of the London Conference on Lybia on Tuesday.
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NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday he could not guess how long the alliance’s military mission would last in Libya….
“I am not going to guess,” he told Reuters when asked how long the NATO mission could last and whether it could become a financial burden for alliance states on top of their long commitment in Afghanistan.
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It is difficult to predict the future of military operations. Obama on Monday warned the United States may once again get drawn into a war.
“We went down that road in Iraq,” Obama told military officers at the National Defense University in Washington.
“Regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya,” he said.
Meanwhile, an article on the website of USA Today said: “U.S. intervention in Libya is a blunder. We intervene in support of an opposition that is unpredictable, at an expense that is unsupportable and with an endgame unknown.”
Some people worry the war may trigger a new wave of terrorism.
“In trying to figure out just what we have gotten ourselves into by applying military force to Libya, one set of consequences that has little comment so far concerns international terrorism,” said U.S. magazine National Interest in its website.
“Any use of Western and especially U.S. military force in a Muslim country runs the risk of energizing Islamist terrorism,” it said.
“The dimension that is hardest to gauge but ultimately may have the broadest impact is the effect on perceptions and resentments of many people far beyond Libya who might be recruited into terrorism, or at least might support or sympathize with it,” it said.
There is enormous financial pressure for Western countries with huge military expenditures. The British army is capable of participating in lightning wars against Libya, but prolonged wars may make Cameron reconsider his plan to cut the national defense budget.
Some countries are worried about their international image.
“Sarkozy wants France to play the hero in Libya, but fears that, if the intervention drags on and becomes muddied in the dirty business of occupying Tripoli or negotiating with Gaddafi loyalists, France could once again look the colonial power,” the U.S. magazine Atlantic Monthly said on its website.
“Italy, which held Libya until 1951, has similar fears. And no country wants to own a long-running, possibly sectarian conflict in Libya the way that the United States owns the war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” it said.
France has been reluctant to hand over command to NATO. Some analysts believe that France does not have enough authority after returning to NATO in 2009 and fears being marginalized. France finally agreed to hand over command to NATO, but insisted on limits to NATO’s power.
On March 24, the United States, Britain, France, and Turkey agreed to put all the Libya operations under a NATO umbrella….
As operations in Libya continue, the international community has become increasingly divided on the issue of intervention. Voices calling for peace have been running high, which puts the allies under great pressure.
Those attending Tuesday’s London Conference clearly reflected the opinion of related countries and international organizations on the military action.
The Arab League’s Moussa, who was courted by Western countries, and the African Union’s Ping, who was expected to attend, did not appear at all.
Meanwhile, more pressure came from anti-war demonstrations in countries such as the U.S., France, Turkey and Spain.
In Washington, protesters gathered outside the White House Saturday to call on the government to quit meddling in the country.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said: “The administration has a responsibility to define for the American people, the Congress and our troops, what the mission in Libya is.”
Obama may not have expected that, with the Arabic countries’ support and U.N. Security Council resolution, the military intervention would provoke severe domestic criticism and queries.
Italy’s parliament approved a government resolution involving the country’s participation in the military operations in Libya last Thursday, with 300 “yes” votes and 293 “no” votes.
However, considerable resistance against war is evident.
An opinion poll carried out by Corriere della Serra, the top-selling Italian daily newspaper, demonstrated the public mood, with 53 percent opposing the intervention and only 42 percent approving.
During the London conference, hundreds of Libyans lined outside expressing their opposition to the intervention.
They claimed Libya’s issues could only be solved by Libyans and they had the ability to protect their country without military intervention by any other countries.
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Libya: U.S.-NATO Ground Operations More Likely
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/31/48245163.html
Voice of Russia
March 31, 2011
Land operations in Libya more likely
Alexander Vatutin
US President Barack Obama has authorized secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Libya to support rebels in their fight against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. This only became known on March 30th, although a document to this effect was signed two or three weeks ago. A leak of information to the American media coincided with the beginning of an offensive by [government] troops against the opposition.
In fact, here we are dealing with supplying weapons to rebel fighters – even if not necessarily right now. However, the US president’s orders point to the need to explore ways to assist the opposition in Libya which is retreating across the country despite air support from the allied forces. Bombings of such a scale are hardly possible without coordination on the ground, military experts claim. This means that CIA agents, along with Britain’s MI6 intelligence service personnel, have long since been deployed on Libyan territory. They apparently not only coordinate air raids but also regularly come into contact with rebel leaders, the New York Times reported.
In practice, the activation of western secret services in Libya implies only one thing – an intervention into that country’s domestic affairs, which runs counter to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 aimed solely at protecting the civilian population. However the document’s vague wording lends itself to expanded interpretation of the scope to use force. This is exactly what generates ambiguity in implementing the resolution after all. Furthermore, the willingness of the western coalition to provide the rebel force with weapons overlooks the lack of coordination inside the opposition, inconsistency and the presence of extremist Islamic elements. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was among those to lay special emphasis on this issue.
“We’ve received disturbing reports about Al-Qaeda involvement. We understand that this evil can spread around the region. I am convinced that a ceasefire and immediate talks are priority tasks. Reforms are needed. But the Libyans themselves should decide what their state will be, without any external interference. It is clear that this will be another regime, a democratic one,” Sergei Lavrov stressed.
Many experts believe that the unilateral interpretation of the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council has little in common with the interests of the Libyan people. This is obviously explicable by entirely different objectives, according to Director of the Center for Comparative Political Studies Boris Shmelev, who does not rule out the possibility of an on-the-ground campaign being prepared by western secret services in Libya.
Despite rather positive relations between Gaddafi and the West that were formed recently, he always seemed to be a person beyond control. And this is the key to understanding what is actually happening in and around Libya. Using resolution 1973, Washington and its allies are attempting to oust Gaddafi and replace him with someone who can be more easily manipulated, Boris Shmelev said.
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NATO Assumes Full Command Of Libyan War Operations
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/north/NATO-Takes-Over-Libya-Air-Operations-118977889.html
Voice of America News
March 31, 2011
NATO Takes Over Libya Air Operations
NATO has assumed full command of all air operations over Libya, taking over from the U.S., which had played a leading role since international forces began enforcing a no-fly zone on March 19.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the transition was completed early Thursday. The NATO operation, called “Unified Protector”, includes enforcing the U.N. Security Council resolution that mandates the no-fly zone along with an arms embargo and airstrikes….
Meanwhile, U.S. media reports say the CIA has sent teams of operatives into Libya to gather intelligence and make contact with anti-Gadhafi forces….
British sources told The New York Times that British special forces and intelligence officers also are in the North African nation.
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Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Obama Authorizes Covert Operations In Libya, CIA Already There
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1853204.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 31, 2011
Report: CIA agents operating covertly in Libya
The CIA has deployed covert operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and initiate contacts with rebels seeking to oust leader Moamer Gaddafi, dpa cited The New York Times as reporting Wednesday.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper reported online that small groups of CIA agents have been in Libya for several weeks seeking to blunt the effectiveness of Gaddafi’s military. The United States and its allies have been trying to learn more about the rebels and their plans for Libya.
….
The New York Times reported that British intelligence officers are also deployed inside Libya to direct airstrikes.
The reports come as the US and other countries in NATO debate whether to arm the rebels, who have suffered a series of setbacks in recent days under attacks from Gaddafi’s better equipped forces. Obama said he has not ruled out providing weapons to the rebels.
NATO formally took command of the international intervention on Wednesday. The US initially led the air campaign, which began on March 19….
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20110331/163295796.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 31, 2011
U. S. president authorizes covert ops in Libya – media
Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama has a signed a secret order authorizing covert operations in support of Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddadi’s regime, the ABC News reported.
The United States is among 13 countries carrying out a military operation against Libya in line with the UN Security Council resolution 1973, which imposed a no-fly zone over Libya and authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.
“The presidential finding discusses a number of ways to help the opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, authorizing some assistance now and setting up a legal framework for more robust activities in the future,” the ABC News said Wednesday citing an unidentified source.
According to ABC News, the order “does not direct covert operatives to provide arms to the rebels immediately, although it does prepare for such a contingency and other contingencies should the president decide to go down that road in the future.”
The report comes amid a debate among coalition members on whether to supply the Libyan rebels with sophisticated weaponry as they are being pushed back by forces loyal to Gaddafi.
The White House press office did not comment on the report but said: “We’re assessing and reviewing options for all types of assistance that we could provide to the Libyan people.”
Although international airstrikes have neutralized Gaddafi’s air force and pounded his armor, rebel forces still lack weaponry and organization to fight the loyalists effectively.
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CIA And MI6 Aiding Libyan War Effort On The Ground
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/31/48231226.html
Voice of Russia
March 31, 2011
CIA and MI-6 helping Libyan rebels
Secret agents of the American CIA and British MI-6 intelligence agencies are operating in Libya.
The U.S. and British spies are collecting information, establishing ties with rebel leaders and aiming Western missiles and bombs at Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s troops and military bases, the New York Times newspaper reports.
It says that CIA spy groups have been in Libya for several weeks after President Barack Obama signed a secret directive on assistance to the anti-Gaddafi insurgents.
The White House has declined to comment on the report.
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Poll: Americans Oppose Obama’s Libyan War, Ratings At All-Time Low
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/31/c_13805909.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 31, 2011
U.S. survey says majority oppose Libya involvement
WASHINGTON: A survey released Wednesday indicated a majority of U.S. voters oppose the U.S. military campaign in Libya, while President Barack Obama’s approval rating hit an all-time low at 42 percent.
According to poll results released by Quinnipiac University, 47 percent surveyed oppose Washington’s involvement in Libya, while 41 percent support the mission.
The survey also gave Obama negative ratings how he handled the conflict, with 58 percent saying he has not clearly articulated the goal of U.S. involvement. Sixty-one percent of respondents in the poll said removing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from power is not worth having American troops “fight and possibly die.”
Obama has taken heat from both Democrats and Republicans for his handling of the Libya conflict. The Congress is worried with both its clarity and duration, while panning Obama for not consulting Congress before taking action. Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pentagon Chief Robert Gates and top military officer Mike Mullen to explain the campaign to Congress Wednesday.
Also according to the survey, Obama’s approval ratings took a major hit, with just 42 percent of voters approved of what he is doing in office, while 48 percent disapprove of it. What’s more troubling is that fifty percent of voters believe he does not deserve a second term next year while 41 percent said he does. The presidential election is next year.
The 42 percent marks a four percentage-point drop over the past month. A poll released March 3 said Obama had a 46 percent approval rating, while 45 percent of voters said he didn’t deserve a second term.
“President Barack Obama’s approval numbers are at their lowest level ever, slightly below where they were for most of 2010 before he got a bump up in surveys after the November election and into the early part of this year,” said Peter Brown, assistant director at the Quinnipiac Polling Institute.
Brown said federal deficit, economy, foreign policy and healthcare woes are driving Obama’s disapproval numbers up.
The poll surveyed 2,069 registered voters nationwide from March 22 to 28 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.2 percentage points.
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Defense Minister: NATO’s Libyan Operation Costs Greece $9 Million A Month
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=143727
Azeri Press Agency
March 30, 2011
Libya operation costs Greece 6.5 million euros monthly: official
Baku: Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Tuesday that the military operation under way to tackle the crisis in Libya costs Greece some 6.5 million euros ( about 9.15 million U.S. dollars) every month, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
Addressing a parliamentary committee over the issue, Venizelos stressed that debt-ridden Greece will continue to undertake its supporting role in the operation….
Meanwhile, Greek media reported that aided by the EU’s border monitoring agency Frontex, Greece is boosting sea patrols in the Mediterranean Sea in face of a new influx of illegal immigrants from troubled North Africa.
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Over the past few days, at least 5,000 people illegally reached Italy from north Africa and approximately 500 arrived in Malta.
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Venezuela On Libya: No Peace With Bombs, West Eyes Oil Reserves
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/31/c_13806525.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 31, 2011
Venezuela supports Gaddafi’s resistance to air raids
MONTEVIDEO: Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said here Wednesday he supports Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s military resistance to air raids by the international community.
Gaddafi “is doing what he has to do,” Chavez said during a joint press conference with Uruguayan President Jose Mujica.
Chavez said he cannot “give answers as to what Gaddafi is doing there, but there is no justification for a group of countries to bomb (Libya).”
The president repeated his proposal to set up a peace commission to mediate between the opposition forces and Gaddafi’s regime as an alternative to military intevention.
“How can we achieve peace with bombs?” Chavez asked. He said the bombing by the United States and other European countries was motivated by “taking the oil and stealing the reserves.”
Chavez met with Mujica earlier on Wednesday to sign a number of agreements on bilateral cooperation and energy. The trip to Uruguay is part of a regional tour which will also take the Venezuelan president to Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia.
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NATO Air Strike Kills Libyan Infant
http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1105ap_af_libya_civilian_death.html
Associated Press
March 30, 2011
Libyan toddler dies, family says from airstrike
By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI
KHORUM, Libya: The grieving mother sat on the ground rocking her 2-month old daughter under a blanket on her lap, crying softly and accepting the soft words of condolences from neighbors.
Nizha Abdel-Salam and her family say her 18-month old son Sirajuddin al-Sweisi was killed when debris pierced the wall of their home as NATO airstrikes hit an ammunition [dump?] near their village of Khorum early Tuesday morning.
“The house shook and there was so much dust everywhere we couldn’t see in front of us,” she said.
….
The Libyan government says more than 100 people have been killed by airstrikes since the international campaign began on March 19….
In an interview with the Associated Press, Abdel-Salam, 27, said the blast hit their house at around 6 a.m. Tuesday. She said she rushed to the living room where her son had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor with his father, and she saw that a hot piece of metal had embedded into the side of the child’s face.
She rushed to pick up her crying son.
“His blood was streaming down my arm,” she said Wednesday, choking back tears. “He was crying out, ‘Mama, Mama,’ reaching out with his hand to me.”
A hole was visible Wednesday piercing the outside wall of their home into their living room, and the opposite wall of the room was pockmarked with holes. Parts of the other walls had been broken off in the home, located on the third floor of a four-story building.
The boy’s uncle showed reporters a picture on his mobile phone of the baby on his deathbed. Sirajuddin’s left cheek has a deep dark brown burn mark, his body swathed in a white shroud.
“We took him to the hospital where they treated him for the burns and some broken bones,” said Abdel-Hakim al-Sweisi. “But by nightfall he was dead.”
Neighbors said they heard a large explosion early Tuesday morning and said planes were heard overhead. They said the ammunition depot, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Abdel-Salam’s home, had exploded and a number of homes were damaged by debris.
Some neighbors said there were injuries, but the only death in the town was young al-Sweisi. The impoverished village is tucked away in the mountains near the region’s main town, Gharyan, an area dotted with olive groves and grazing sheep. Its largely unpaved roads were muddy and partially flooded Wednesday from recent rains.
Stop NATO News March 30, 2011
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. Video And Text: Day That Shook The World, NATO Bombs Chinese Embassy
2. Serbia In NATO Represents Threat To Russia
3. General Petraeus Praises Georgia’s Military Role In Afghanistan
4. U.S. Navy To Expand Role In Black Sea: Top NATO Military Commander
5. U.S. Flies Drones Over Black Sea, Trains Georgian Military
6. U.S. Imposes New Sanctions On Belarus For Cooperation With Iran
7. Missile Defense Agency Grants Lockheed $789 Million For 28 THAAD Missile Interceptors
8. Missile Defense Agency Awards Raytheon $323 Million For Next-Generation Missile For NATO Missile Shield In Europe
9. Russia To Deploy Arctic Brigade This Year
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1. Video: Day That Shook The World, NATO Bombs Chinese Embassy
The Independent
March 30, 2011
A Day That Shook The World: Nato accidentally bombs the Chinese embassy
On 7 May 1999, Nato warplanes on a mission to bomb Belgrade accidentally hit the Chinese embassy, killing three journalists and nearly dragging them into the war on the Serbian side.
Beijing did not believe the attack to be a mistake, so NATO found itself desperately scrabbling to make amends.
The diplomatic crisis did not grow into a military one, but it did prolong the Kosovo conflict, causing no small extra friction with an angry China – whose citizens demonstrated in their droves.
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2. Serbia In NATO Represents Threat To Russia
http://www.b92.net/eng/insight/tvshows.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&nav_id=73523
Danas
March 30, 2011
“Serbia in NATO would represent threat to Russia”
Jelena Tasić
Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Vasilyevich Konuzin told the Belgrade-based daily Danas in an interview that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit last week had “completely met the principal expectations”.
It went in an atmosphere of close friendship and talks about trade and economic cooperation were very concrete and pragmatic, said the diplomat.
According to the Russian ambassador, Putin did not talk about relations between official Belgrade and NATO with Serbian President Boris Tadić and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković. The issue, as he said, was launched by heads of parliamentary groups in the Serbian parliament who showed Putin that they were not united in their stance regarding the possibility of Serbia joining the western military alliance.
“In that situation, Prime Minister Putin clearly presented the Russian position – Serbs should solve the issue by themselves, but Russia thinks that it is necessary to present its opinion about NATO’s expansion, which is jeopardizing its security.”
Stating a concrete example, he said that nobody asked small countries in the NATO for their opinion, but that that instead decisions were made which these countries then had to fulfill.
“Any possible decision about missile deployment in Serbia’s territory would be a threat to Russia’s security and Russia would be forced to take military actions in order to remove that military threat. Those measures would not be aimed against Serbia but against the missiles,” the Russian ambassador explained.
Q: Is this statement of Prime Minister Putin a “warning” to the Serbian authorities?
A: Serbia has the right to join any organization. We will respect the decision you make on your own, but we are counting on Belgrade to respectfully approach our thoughts that NATO accession would pose a threat to Russia’s security. I personally think that it is necessary to explain to Serbia what would happen if there was a threat to Russia’s security from its territory. We have been cooperating for 800 years and such a question never appeared. On the contrary, we fought wars against joint enemies and it is not quite clear for what reason weapons pointed against Russia could be deployed in Serbia.”
Q: The NATO forces in Kosovo and Metohija are effectively already in a part of the Serbian territory. How does Moscow assess their presence after Kosovo’s self-proclaimed independence?
A: The Kosovo territory is a part of Serbia in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1244. NATO’s military base is there despite Belgrade’s wishes. This means contrary to international law, and unlawfully. Russia sees it that way.
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3. General Petraeus Praises Georgia’s Military Role In Afghanistan
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23290
Civil Georgia
March 30, 2011
Gen. Petraeus Praises Georgian Troops in Afghanistan
Tbilisi: General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the Georgian troops in Afghanistan “have been integral to the growing success of our efforts to improve security and stability” in Helmand and Nimruz provinces.
In a letter sent to the Georgian Minister of Defense, Bacho Akhalaia, the U.S. general praised Georgian troops for “effective interactions with the Afghan people”, which, he said, had led to increased confidence in both NATO-led forces and Afghan government.
The text of letter was released by the Georgian Ministry of Defense on March 30.
….
“Your troops are truly courageous in conducting these foot patrols, which place them at greater risk of insurgent attacks,” the U.S. general writes.
Musa Qala in north of the Helmand province has seen some of the fiercest fighting in previous years….
With the latest death reported on March 14, the total number of Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, since joining the NATO-led operation in November, 2009, increased to seven.
Georgia first deployed a company-sized unit in Afghanistan in November, 2009 and increased its contribution to the NATO-led forces to about 950 soldiers in April, 2010 after sending a battalion in Helmand.
In February the Georgian parliament approved the government’s proposal to send to Afghanistan a team of artillery instructors to train the Afghan military.
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4. U.S. Navy To Expand Role In Black Sea: Top NATO Military Commander
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/31/c_13805896.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 31, 2011
U.S. Navy to widen activity area in Black Sea region: admiral
TBILISI: The U.S. Navy has planned to widen its activities in the Black Sea region by involving 14 countries in its envisaged military training drills this year, Georgian media reported on Wednesday.
Quoting four-star U.S. admiral James Stavridis, the Georgian television broadcaster Rustavi2 said that the chief of the U.S. European Command said on March 30 in his testimony in Congress that the Marine Operative-Tactic Corps would widen the area of its activities in the Black Sea region to include 14 countries.
There are six countries surrounding the Black Sea and they are Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia.
The admiral explained to Congress that the widening of the activity area aims at training partner states for the Afghanistan peace mission.
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5. U.S. Flies Drones Over Black Sea, Trains Georgian Military
http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=40916&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=
Rustavi2
March 30, 2011
US widens the area of its mission in Black Sea
The Marine Operative-Tactic Corps of the United States is widening the area of its activities in the Black Sea region, the commander of U.S. European Command, Admiral James Stavridis, announced in his testimony to Congress this morning.
The admiral said in 2011 the operative and tactical groups of the Navy have drafted a military training plan in which 14 countries of the Black Sea region were involved. The enhancement of the area aims at training the partner states for the Afghanistan peace mission.
Stavridis said US Marine forces have already conducted the first mission of drones in the Black Sea; however, he did not specify the date of the operation.
When questioned by Senator John McCain about military cooperation with Georgia, Admiral answered that American instructors continued to train Georgian soldiers, but denied that the US was supplying Georgia with weapons.
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6. U.S. Imposes New Sanctions On Belarus For Cooperation With Iran
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16099917&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 30, 2011
USA imposes sanctions on Belarusian energy company for cooperation with Iran
WASHINGTON DC: The United States has imposed sanctions on the Belarusian state energy company, Belarusneft, for cooperation with Iran, the Department of State announced on Tuesday.
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7. Missile Defense Agency Grants Lockheed $789 Million For 28 THAAD Missile Interceptors
Lockheed Martin
March 30, 2011
Lockheed Martin Awarded $789.8 Million THAAD Production Contract
DALLAS: Lockheed Martin has received a production contract totaling $789.8 million to produce the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon System for the Missile Defense Agency.
The contract includes $694.9 million and for the production of 48 THAAD interceptors, six THAAD launchers, four fire control units and additional support equipment. An option for additional launchers in the amount of $94.8 million was also award for a total value of $789.8 million. These components will be employed by THAAD Batteries 3 and 4 for the U.S. Army. Delivery to Batteries 3 and 4 will be completed in 2013.
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Since 2005, the THAAD development program has completed 11 flight tests, with seven intercepts in seven attempts. THAAD is the only missile defense system with the operational flexibility to intercept in both the endo- and exo-atmospheres to provide versatile capability to the warfighter.
Two THAAD batteries have been activated at Fort Bliss, Texas. The first THAAD Battery (A-4 ADA Battery) was activated in May 2008. In October 2009, the U.S. Army activated the second THAAD Battery (A-2 ADA Battery). Unit training for this Battery began earlier this year.
A key element of the nation’s Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), THAAD is a Missile Defense Agency program, with the program office located in Huntsville, Ala. The Agency is developing the BMDS to defend the United States, its deployed forces, friends and allies against ballistic missiles of all ranges and in all phases of flight.
….
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8. Missile Defense Agency Awards Raytheon $323 Million For Next-Generation Missile For NATO Missile Shield In Europe
http://azstarnet.com/business/local/article_2b75c55c-5b0f-11e0-9a59-001cc4c03286.html
Arizona Daily Star
March 30, 2011
Raytheon gets $312M contract for new missile interceptor
By David Wichner
Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $312 million contract for the Standard Missile-3 Block IB, a next-generation missile interceptor that is a key part of a planned missile shield for Europe.
The contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency provides funding to complete the development phase of the SM-3 Block IB program and deliver 24 developmental missile rounds to the MDA, said Wes Kremer, SM-3 program director for Raytheon.
The contract is a key milestone in preparation for the first SM-3 Block IB flight test, expected later this year.
“Development is ramping up here, and our first flight test is in late summer,” Kremer said.
The work will be performed in Tucson for completion in June 2013. Earlier this month, Raytheon was awarded a separate, $75 million contract for engineering development of the SM-3.
….
Adapted from the Standard Missile series of ship-defense missiles, the SM-3 is part of the seagoing Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system. The current Block IA version is deployed on U.S. and Japanese cruisers equipped with the Aegis missile-launching system.
The SM-3 is a key part of the the Obama administration’s “phased adaptive approach” to missile defense. The approach, unveiled in 2009 and approved by NATO last year, scrapped plans to deploy large, ground-based interceptors in Europe in favor of the sea-based and land-based versions of the Aegis system.
As part of the first phase of that program, a U.S. Navy cruiser equipped with SM-3 Block IA missiles sailed to the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month for a six-month deployment.
The Block IB missile, which adds important targeting capabilities, is planned for use with the second phase of the missile-defense plan, which includes deployment of the SM-3 Block IB by 2015.
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9. Russia To Deploy Arctic Brigade This Year
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/30/c_13805613.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 30, 2011
Russia to deploy Arctic brigade in 2011
MOSCOW: Russia is going to deploy a special motorized infantry brigade in its Arctic sector in 2011, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
The brigade will be deployed in the Kola Peninsula in the western part of Arctic but would be responsible for operations in the whole Arctic region, Interfax news agency reported.
The new Arctic brigade will be created on the grounds of an existing motorized infantry brigade and will be based in the town of Pechenga near Russia-Norway border.
The brigade will be armed with ordinary weapons, special clothing and equipment designed for use in Arctic conditions. The Defense Ministry said the experience of Norwegian and Finnish Arctic forces have been studied during the preparation for the brigade’s deployment.
Earlier, Russia’s Security Council approved the fundamental principles of the national Arctic policy until 2020. This document envisioned deployment of the armed forces in the region, capable to maintain security in various military-political conditions.
On Wednesday, the Russian Parliament’s upper house, the Federation Council, has ratified the agreement with Norway on the Barents Sea delimitation, which establishes a sea delimitation line dividing the disputed area approximately into two equal parts.
Jack London: War
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
American writers on peace and against war
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Jack London
War (1911)
He was a young man, not more than twenty-four or five, and he might have sat his horse with the careless grace of his youth had he not been so catlike and tense. His black eyes roved everywhere, catching the movements of twigs and branches where small birds hopped, questing ever onward through the changing vistas of trees and brush, and returning always to the clumps of undergrowth on either side. And as he watched, so did he listen, though he rode on in silence, save for the boom of heavy guns from far to the west. This had been sounding monotonously in his ears for hours, and only its cessation could have aroused his notice. For he had business closer to hand. Across his saddle-bow was balanced a carbine.
So tensely was he strung, that a bunch of quail, exploding into flight from under his horse’s nose, startled him to such an extent that automatically, instantly, he had reined in and fetched the carbine halfway to his shoulder. He grinned sheepishly, recovered himself, and rode on. So tense was he, so bent upon the work he had to do, that the sweat stung his eyes unwiped, and unheeded rolled down his nose and spattered his saddle pommel. The band of his cavalryman’s hat was fresh-stained with sweat. The roan horse under him was likewise wet. It was high noon of a breathless day of heat. Even the birds and squirrels did not dare the sun, but sheltered in shady hiding places among the trees.
Man and horse were littered with leaves and dusted with yellow pollen, for the open was ventured no more than was compulsory. They kept to the brush and trees, and invariably the man halted and peered out before crossing a dry glade or naked stretch of upland pasturage. He worked always to the north, though his way was devious, and it was from the north that he seemed most to apprehend that for which he was looking. He was no coward, but his courage was only that of the average civilized man, and he was looking to live, not die.
Up a small hillside he followed a cowpath through such dense scrub that he was forced to dismount and lead his horse. But when the path swung around to the west, he abandoned it and headed to the north again along the oak-covered top of the ridge.
The ridge ended in a steep descent-so steep that he zigzagged back and forth across the face of the slope, sliding and stumbling among the dead leaves and matted vines and keeping a watchful eye on the horse above that threatened to fall down upon him. The sweat ran from him, and the pollen-dust, settling pungently in mouth and nostrils, increased his thirst. Try as he would, nevertheless the descent was noisy, and frequently he stopped, panting in the dry heat an d listening for any warning from beneath.
At the bottom he came out on a flat, so densely forested that he could not make out its extent. Here the character of the woods changed, and he was able to remount. Instead of the twisted hillside oaks, tall straight trees, big-trunked and prosperous, rose from the damp fat soil. Only here and there were thickets, easily avoided, while he encountered winding, park-like glades where the cattle had pastured in the days before war had run them off.
His progress was more rapid now, as he came down into the valley, and at the end of half an hour he halted at an ancient rail fence on the edge of a clearing. He did not like the openness of it, yet his path lay across to the fringe of trees that marked the banks of the stream. It was a mere quarter of a mile across that open, but the thought of venturing out in it was repugnant. A rifle, a score of them, a thousand, might lurk in that fringe by the stream.
Twice he essayed to start, and twice he paused. He was appalled by his own loneliness. The pulse of war that beat from the West suggested the companionship of battling thousands; here was naught but silence, and himself, and possible death-dealing bullets from a myriad ambushes. And yet his task was to find what he feared to find. He must on, and on, till somewhere, some time, he encountered another man, or other men, from the other side, scouting, as he was scouting, to make report, as he must make report, of having come in touch.
Changing his mind, he skirted inside the woods for a distance, and again peeped forth. This time, in the middle of the clearing, he saw a small farmhouse. There were no signs of life. No smoke curled from the chimney, not a barnyard fowl clucked and strutted. The kitchen door stood open, and he gazed so long and hard into the black aperture that it seemed almost that a farmer’s wife must emerge at any moment.
He licked the pollen and dust from his dry lips, stiffened himself, mind and body, and rode out into the blazing sunshine. Nothing stirred. He went on past the house, and approached the wall of trees and bushes by the river’s bank. One thought persisted maddeningly. It was of the crash into his body of a high-velocity bullet. It made him feel very fragile and defenseless, and he crouched lower in the saddle.
Tethering his horse in the edge of the wood, he continued a hundred yards on foot till he came to the stream. Twenty feet wide it was, without perceptible current, cool and inviting, and he was very thirsty. But he waited inside his screen of leafage, his eyes fixed on the screen on the opposite side. To make the wait endurable, he sat down, his carbine resting on his knees. The minutes passed, and slowly his tenseness relaxed. At last he decided there was no danger; but just as he prepared to part the bushes and bend down to the water, a movement among the opposite bushes caught his eye.
It might be a bird. But he waited. Again there was an agitation of the bushes, and then, so suddenly that it almost startled a cry from him, the bushes parted and a face peered out. It was a face covered with several weeks’ growth of ginger-colored beard. The eyes were blue and wide apart, with laughter-wrinkles in the comers that showed despite the tired and anxious expression of the whole face.
All this he could see with microscopic clearness, for the distance was no more than twenty feet. And all this he saw in such brief time, that he saw it as he lifted his carbine to his shoulder. He glanced along the sights, and knew that he was gazing upon a man who was as good as dead. It was impossible to miss at such point blank range.
But he did not shoot. Slowly he lowered the carbine and watched. A hand, clutching a water-bottle, became visible and the ginger beard bent downward to fill the bottle. He could hear the gurgle of the water. Then arm and bottle and ginger beard disappeared behind the closing bushes. A long time he waited, when, with thirst unslaked, he crept back to his horse, rode slowly across the sun-washed clearing, and passed into the shelter of the woods beyond.
II
Another day, hot and breathless. A deserted farmhouse, large, with many outbuildings and an orchard, standing in a clearing. From the Woods, on a roan horse, carbine across pommel, rode the young man with the quick black eyes. He breathed with relief as he gained the house. That a fight had taken place here earlier in the season was evident. Clips and empty cartridges, tarnished with verdigris, lay on the ground, which, while wet, had been torn up by the hoofs of horses. Hard by the kitchen garden were graves, tagged and numbered. From the oak tree by the kitchen door, in tattered, weatherbeaten garments, hung the bodies of two men. The faces, shriveled and defaced, bore no likeness to the faces of men. The roan horse snorted beneath them, and the rider caressed and soothed it and tied it farther away.
Entering the house, he found the interior a wreck. He trod on empty cartridges as he walked from room to room to reconnoiter from the windows. Men had camped and slept everywhere, and on the floor of one room he came upon stains unmistakable where the wounded had been laid down.
Again outside, he led the horse around behind the barn and invaded the orchard. A dozen trees were burdened with ripe apples. He filled his pockets, eating while he picked. Then a thought came to him, and he glanced at the sun, calculating the time of his return to camp. He pulled off his shirt, tying the sleeves and making a bag. This he proceeded to fill with apples.
As he was about to mount his horse, the animal suddenly pricked up its ears. The man, too, listened, and heard, faintly, the thud of hoofs on soft earth. He crept to the corner of the barn and peered out. A dozen mounted men, strung out loosely, approaching from the opposite side of the clearing, were only a matter of a hundred yards or so away. They rode on to the house. Some dismounted, while others remained in the saddle as an earnest that their stay would be short. They seemed to be holding a council, for he could hear them talking excitedly in the detested tongue of the alien invader. The time passed, but they seemed unable to reach a decision. He put the carbine away in its boot, mounted, and waited impatiently, balancing the shirt of apples on the pommel.
He heard footsteps approaching, and drove his spurs so fiercely into the roan as to force a surprised groan from the animal as it leaped forward. At the comer of the barn he saw the intruder, a mere boy of nineteen or twenty for all of his uniform jump back to escape being run down. At the same moment the roan swerved and its rider caught a glimpse of the aroused men by the house. Some were springing from their horses, and he could see the rifles going to their shoulders. He passed the kitchen door and the dried corpses swinging in the shade, compelling his foes to run around the front of the house. A rifle cracked, and a second, but he was going fast, leaning forward, low in the saddle, one hand clutching the shirt of apples, the other guiding the horse.
The top bar of the fence was four feet high, but he knew his roan and leaped it at full career to the accompaniment of several scattered shots. Eight hundred yards straight away were the woods, and the roan was covering the distance with mighty strides. Every man was now firing. pumping their guns so rapidly that he no longer heard individual shots. A bullet went through his hat, but he was unaware, though he did know when another tore through the apples on the pommel. And he winced and ducked even lower when a third bullet, fired low, struck a stone between his horse’s legs and ricochetted off through the air, buzzing and humming like some incredible insect.
The shots died down as the magazines were emptied, until, quickly, there was no more shooting. The young man was elated. Through that astonishing fusillade he had come unscathed. He glanced back. Yes, they had emptied their magazines. He could see several reloading. Others were running back behind the house for their horses. As he looked, two already mounted, came back into view around the comer, riding hard. And at the same moment, he saw the man with the unmistakable ginger beard kneel down on the ground, level his gun, and coolly take his time for the long shot.
The young man threw his spurs into the horse, crouched very low, and swerved in his flight in order to distract the other’s aim. And still the shot did not come. With each jump of the horse, the woods sprang nearer. They were only two hundred yards away and still the shot was delayed.
And then he heard it, the last thing he was to hear, for he was dead ere he hit the ground in the long crashing fall from the saddle. And they, watching at the house, saw him fall, saw his body bounce when it struck the earth, and saw the burst of red-cheeked apples that rolled about him. They laughed at the unexpected eruption of apples, and clapped their hands in applause of the long shot by the man with the ginger beard.
NATO Wages War On Third Continent
Stop NATO
March 30, 2011
NATO Wages War On Third Continent
Rick Rozoff
At its summit in Lisbon, Portugal last November the North Atlantic Treaty Organization adopted its first strategic concept for the 21st century, one in keeping with its expansion into not only a pan-European but a self-styled international military force.
In addition to subordinating all of Europe to a U.S.-dominated interceptor missile system, complementing the new U.S. Cyber Command in waging cyberwarfare defensive and offensive, and erasing whatever distinction remained between NATO and European Union military functions on the continent and globally, the world’s only military bloc endorsed the nearly ten-year-old war in Afghanistan as its prime mission and affirmed its commitment to ongoing operations in the Balkans.
Almost all of the approximately 150,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan are currently under the command of the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force, which is also conducting deadly helicopter gunship raids and artillery attacks inside neighboring Pakistan.
The war in South Asia is NATO’s first armed conflict outside Europe and its first ground war. Its bombing campaign in Bosnia in 1995 and 78-day air war against Yugoslavia four years later were its first hostile military actions.
NATO is now waging a war in a third continent, Africa.
The Alliance’s summit last year placed particular emphasis on consolidating partnerships with nations outside Europe and North America; military relations and agreements with, counting NATO members and partners alike, over a third of the 192 members of the United Nations.
Mechanisms employed to extend NATO’s influence and operations worldwide include the Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, the Contact Countries format, the NATO-Afghanistan-Pakistan Tripartite Commission and the NATO-Russia Council.
Five of the seven members of the Mediterranean Dialogue – Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia – are African states.
With U.S. Africa Command achieving full operational capability on October 1, 2008, the whole continent has been placed under an American overseas military command (Egypt remains in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility), with plans underway to replicate that arrangement with NATO. [1]
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) assumed control of what is now a 12-day war against Libya, the only North African nation not subordinated to AFRICOM or CENTCOM and to binding NATO obligations, through its Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn.
With NATO assuming direct command of the war – air and cruise missile strikes, a naval blockade of the country, on-the-ground operations in conjunction with anti-government insurgents and afterward independently – AFRICOM and NATO are being merged into one warfighting force.
In addition to that unprecedented integration, two members of NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative – Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – are providing warplanes for Operation Odyssey Dawn and in the process engaging in a joint campaign with both NATO and AFRICOM for the first time. (The United Arab Emirates is one of 48 Troop Contributing Nations for NATO’s Afghan war and Bahrain, another Istanbul Cooperation Initiative partner, is supplying security forces for the International Security Assistance Force. Mediterranean Dialogue member Egypt is also an unofficial force contributor for NATO in Afghanistan.)
When on March 28 President Barack Obama repeatedly mentioned the international community and “international partners” and the “broad coalition” conducting the war against Libya along with the Pentagon, he could only cite eleven allies so involved: “[N]ations like the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey…all of whom have fought by our side for decades [and] Arab partners like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.”
Nevertheless, Washington has brought together North American and European NATO allies with Persian Gulf partners for a war in Africa, the latest step in solidifying an international military alliance under U.S. control, complementing the building of an Asia-Pacific NATO, consolidating military partnerships in the Persian Gulf and throughout the Middle East and integrating former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia into the Pentagon-NATO network.
Military operations currently under AFRICOM’s Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn and within hours to be transferred to NATO have included over 1,800 sorties and 214 Tomahawk cruise missile attacks since the beginning of the war on March 19.
NATO’s Lisbon summit declaration of last November highlighted an expanding role for the bloc in Africa, including supporting the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), for which it has airlifted thousands of Ugandan troops for combat in the nation’s capital, the Operation Ocean Shield naval operation off the Horn of Africa and the operationalization of the African Standby Force, modeled after the NATO Response Force.
In twelve years the U.S. has used NATO for the war against Yugoslavia – the first unprovoked attack against a sovereign European nation since World War Two – a nearly decade-long air and ground war in Asia, and now the opening stages of a war in Africa. None of those wars were launched either to defend a member of NATO or in the so-called Euro-Atlantic area the military bloc arrogates to itself the right to protect.
21st century NATO is a global military strike force to be employed wherever its leading member states, the U.S. in the first case, choose to use it. Other nations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Caucasus and even what is left of unsubjugated Europe had best take note of the fact.
1) Africa: Global NATO Seeks To Recruit 50 New Military Partners
Stop NATO, February 20, 2011
Updates on Libyan war: March 30
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U.S. Aircraft, Warship Attack Libyan Vessels
Libyan War: “NATO Command Is Up And Running”
NATO’s Libyan War Is American War
NATO Uses Depleted Uranium Bombs Against Libyans
Analyst: Libyans’ Turn For NATO Depleted Uranium Poisoning
Media Questions West’s Double Standards In Arab World
Syria Blames Outside Forces For Unrest
Brzezinski Blasts Germany, Poland For Lukewarm Support Of Libyan War
Argentine President Condemns NATO’s War In Libya
Sweden Accedes To NATO Demand, To Deploy Eight Warplanes For Libyan Campaign
NATO Orders Bulgarian Warship To Libyan Waters
NATO’s Assault On Libya: 1,800 Sorties, 214 Cruise Missile Attacks
70 Percent Of Britons Fear New Iraq-Style War In Libya
NATO’s Top Military Commander: Foreign Stabilization Force In Libya
Videos And Text: Obama Establishes Doctrine Around Libya
France Sends Envoy To Libyan Rebel Base: Report
Qatar Launches Television Channel For Libyan Insurgents
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U.S. Aircraft, Warship Attack Libyan Vessels
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=59406
Navy NewsStand
March 30, 2011
US Navy P-3C, USAF A-10 and USS Barry Engage Libyan Vessels
From Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn Public Affairs
USS MOUNT WHITNEY, At Sea: A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft and guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52), engaged Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller craft March 28.
….
The P-3C fired at Vittoria with AGM-65F Maverick missiles, rendering the 12-meter patrol vessel ineffective and forcing it to be beached after multiple explosions were observed in the vicinity of the port.
Two smaller Libyan craft were fired upon by the A-10 using its 30mm GAU-8/ Avenger cannon, destroying one and forcing the other to be abandoned.
Barry provided situational awareness for the aircraft by managing the airspace and maintaining the maritime picture.
The P-3C, A-10 and Barry are currently supporting operations for Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn.
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces….
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Libyan War: “NATO Command Is Up And Running”
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1853137.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 30, 2011
NATO starts taking over command of Libya military operations
NATO has officially started taking over the command of military operations in Libya, officials said Wednesday, DPA reported.
“NATO command is up and running,” a NATO official said. “We received all the pledges we need.”
Military sources said there are still some jets and military equipment that had to be placed under NATO’s control by their respective governments, but that was expected to happen within hours.
Belgian pilots have already transitioned to NATO command, the Belga news agency reported.
Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard is leading the NATO mission, code-named Unified Protector, from the alliance’s maritime headquarters in Naples, Italy.
NATO ambassadors had paved the way on Sunday for the military alliance to take total control of operations meant to protect civilians from Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi’s troops.
NATO had already been in charge of enforcing a no-fly zone over the North African country and patrolling an arms embargo in the Mediterranean.
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NATO’s Libyan War Is American War
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/30/48197480.html
Voice of Russia
March 30, 2011
The game’s not worth the Tomahawk
Boris Volkhonsky
-No matter how the US is trying to keep the low profile, its leading role is demonstrated by pure figures: 550 million dollars so far and an additional 40 million every consecutive week.
The US has calculated the cost of the military operation against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi which started on March 19. So far, it has already cost the US taxpayers about 550 million dollars. Most of the cost comes from the Tomahawk launches. There have been 192 launches by US alone, each costing about $1.5 million.
Also, the US Air Force has flown 983 sorties – 370 of them being air missions against military sites and forces and the rest for surveillance, refueling and so on. All in all, about 60 percent of the spending was on munitions.
The rest was due to “higher operating tempo” of U.S. forces and of getting them there, said Commander Kathleen Kesler, a Pentagon spokeswoman. The overall figure does not include certain expenditures which would have been spent in any case – such as relocating US soldiers and marines abroad, salaries to military personnel, etc.
As predicted, the cost of the operation will steadily grow at a pace of about $40 million per week. And that regards only the US troops.
The peculiarity of the situation is that the US has been trying to keep as low a profile in the whole operation as possible, trying to present it as a purely European (mainly, French and British) initiative.
But the bare language of figures shows that the whole case is “politics as usual”. Other participants of the coalition have not yet officially calculated how much it has and is likely to cost them. But as for the British, it has been estimated that until now the operation has cost British taxpayers about £25 million (which makes it more than ten times less than the overall US expenditures). There have been seven Tomahawk launches, and British planes have flown 120 missions.
The figures for the French forces have not yet been made public, but one may expect that they would hardly exceed the British.
The whole story makes any unbiased observer look closer at the issue of “qui prodest” (“who benefits”).
From the very beginning of the Libyan unrest, it has been the West’s intention to picture the whole situation as bearing completely regional (more precisely, Mediterranean) significance.
Unrest in Libya had a direct impact on its northern neighbors, most notably Italy and France, being the primary buyers of Libyan oil. More so, for Barack Obama, the whole case was an opportunity to demonstrate that he as a national leader is completely different from his predecessor, George W. Bush Junior.
Now that the two wars launched by George W, have not come to an end and the very possibility of ending them in any favorable manner for the USA seems to be vaguer and vaguer day by day, it would be a grave mistake for Barack Obama to get involved in a third war. Hence, all his statements of a “limited involvement” and his attempts to keep a low profile and present the whole operation as having nothing in common with wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.
Well, this might be the US administration’s intention. But we all know too well what road is paved with good intentions. And a bare figure is not something you can easily disregard.
The cost of the war shows openly and starkly in numbers. Those numbers do not directly reflect other costs – like human lives or future repercussions for regional cooperation in the Southern Mediterranean. But they clearly show, who the chief player in this gross geopolitical game is. No matter how the US is trying to keep the low profile, its leading role is demonstrated by pure figures: 550 million dollars so far and an additional 40 million every consecutive week.
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NATO Uses Depleted Uranium Bombs Against Libyans
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/30/48203222.html
Voice of Russia
March 30, 2011
NATO uses depleted uranium bombs against Libya
-Even if these shells explode in a desert far from residential areas, for many Libyans this is a postponed death sentence. The same happened in Iraq where depleted uranium bombs were also used in a desert. A brief look at cancer statistics in Iraq and former Yugoslavia is enough to imagine what awaits Libyans in the near future.
“An unacceptable threat to life and a violation of international law” – that’s how the United States’ former Justice Secretary Ramsey Clark slammed the use of depleted uranium weapons. The United States first used depleted uranium bombs during the military invasion of Iraq in 1991.
Apparently pleased with the debut, the Americans pounded them on Yugoslavia nine years later. These days, world news media have been awash with reports that NATO is using depleted uranium bombs against Libya.
Leaving aside the legal and moral aspect of the attacks, a question arises: can’t NATO crush Colonel Gaddafi’s Armed Forces without radioactive exposure?
Political observer Sergei Guk discussed the issue with Voice of Russia guests General Director of the Center for International and Strategic Research Vladimir Belous and Deputy Director of the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies Pavel Zolotaryov, both retired major generals.
Shells, bombs and cruise missiles stuffed with depleted uranium easily pierce through thick and heavy armor. That’s why the American military value them so much. According to political research centers in Germany, about 300 radioactive shells were fired at Saddam Hussein’s troops from the air and from the ground during the first campaign, launched in 1991. Twenty-one U.S. tanks were hit by mistake.
The consequences were not slow to arrive. In 2003, the World Health Organization reported a rise in cancer diseases in five provinces in southern Iraq. Air, water and soil were contaminated with radiation. Leukemia south of Baghdad assumed epidemic proportions. By 2009, cancer rates grew to thousands of new cases per year.
The uranium filling boomeranged on NATO troops. In the densely populated Yugoslavia, leukemia symptoms were particularly extensive with radiation levels 10 to 1,000 times above normal. More than 250 Italian soldiers died from cancer-related diseases. As for civilians, here’s just one example. Leukemia rates among new-born babies in former Yugoslavia have soared from one per 1,000 prior to NATO’s uranium attacks to between 10 and 15 per 1,000 now.
Is there any point in using radioactive shells in Libya? Can’t NATO manage without them? Pavel Zolotaryov gives his view:
“There is absolutely no point in that. It could be that the Americans have something to test, considering the tasks they need to fulfill. But how does all that fit in with the UN resolution on Libya?”
Vladimir Belous agrees:
“At present, there is absolutely no need for using such kinds of shells. Although the quantity of uranium is small, radioactive shrapnel, when penetrating into a human body, creates big problems for the treatment of the wounded.”
The aim of the UN resolution on a no-fly zone over Libya, which took shape before our very eyes, is formulated very precisely: not just shutting the air space but protecting civilians. Nothing beyond that. No one authorized NATO to fight on the side of one warring faction against the other, let alone use depleted uranium shells.
Even if these shells explode in a desert far from residential areas, for many Libyans this is a postponed death sentence. The same happened in Iraq where depleted uranium bombs were also used in a desert. A brief look at cancer statistics in Iraq and former Yugoslavia is enough to imagine what awaits Libyans in the near future.
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Analyst: Libyans’ Turn For NATO Depleted Uranium Poisoning
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/65650/
PanArmenian.net
March 30, 2011
NATO forces use uranium weapons in Libya
There’s a suspicion that armor-piercing, radioactive weapons are being deployed by foreign forces on Libya.
The U.S. says ‘it’s not aware’ that depleted uranium is being used, while the UK is flatly denying it. Political observer Christoph Hoerstel said NATO’s chief members have a habit of using uranium weapons – and it’s likely Libya’s in line.
Naming it a dirty habit, Mr. Hoerstel said that the U.S. used uranium weapons in Iraq, the Balkans and Afghanistan. “Unfortunately Libya is not an exception. If this happens, it will be impossible to keep the Libyan population from suffering. Uranium bombs mean that the genetic code in the people is broken. The nano-particles will give rise to the birth of mutilated children,” he said.
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Media Question West’s Double Standards In Arab World
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/30/c_13805722.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 30, 2011
Media question West’s “double standards” in Arab unrest
BRUSSELS: As rebel forces backed by Western coalition air strikes battled for advantage in fierce fighting with Libyan government troops, voices questioning the West’s “selective policy” in dealing with unrest in different countries in the Arab world became louder.
The United States, France, and Britain wasted no time in launching air and missile strikes on Libya just one day after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution mandating a no-fly zone in the North African country.
Apart from measures to set up the no-fly zone, coalition forces also have pounded armored vehicles, the heavy artillery of Libyan government forces, and a residential compound occupied by leader Muammar Gaddafi.
“The coalition has taken sides. It’s only targeting Gaddafi’s forces, including those that aren’t in direct action against the rebels. We have reports of air strikes against convoys far from the front line. This is a far cry from the U.N. Security Council resolution,” said Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO.
Russia, which abstained in the U.N. vote that sanctioned the military operation, has been voicing concern about civilian casualties and excessive use of force since the operation began.
Records showed that more than 100 civilians have been killed in the coalition bombardments declared to protect innocent Libyan people.
A sharp contrast to what took place in Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops to quell opposition street protests in Bahrain.
The double standard is obvious in the Saudi behavior, said an article on the CNN website.
“In the eyes of many Arabs in the region, a deeply troubling Western double standard is emerging,” said Omer Taspinar, a professor at the U.S. National War College and director of the Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution.
According to Taspinar, many in the region are asking a simple question: Why is the West willing to intervene in Libya, while there is total Western silence about Bahrain?
In countries like Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, they accept or actively support constitutional changes, but in other Arab countries, like Bahrain, the rights of citizens are secondary to wider energy and security needs, Taspinar cited an analyst from Lebanon as saying.
Chanting its universal values, “the United States has often been unable or unwilling to live up to the values it preaches,” said Bernd Debusmann, a Reuters columnist.
So why Libya and not Yemen or Bahrain, asked Debusmann.
“Here is where lofty talk of universal values collides with self-interest,” he said.
Debusmann cited a speech by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a 2005 speech in Cairo: “For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy … here in the Middle East.”
Debusmann went on to explain U.S. favor for the current Yemeni President Ali Abudullah Saleh by quoting a recently disclosed cable from the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital that said “Saleh has provided Yemen with relative stability.”
U.S. President Barack Obama has left “more questions than answers about his emerging ‘Obama doctrine and what it means for other crisis in the Middle East,'” Reuters writer Matt Spetalnick wrote about the president’s speech Monday night.
“Embedded in Obama’s televised response to critics of his Libya policy on Monday night was an attempt to set forth his rationale for intervening militarily in some conflicts but not in others,” Spetalnick said.
Obama fell short of even mentioning Yemen, Syria or Bahrain, the latest hotspots of chaos in the Arab world, observed Spetalnick.
Obama is trying to “stake out a middle ground” on wider Middle East policy, said Spetalnick. The obscurity has already drawn a lot of criticism from the left and the right at home, he said.
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Syria Blames Outside Forces For Unrest
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110330/163289958.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 30, 2011
Assad blames Syria unrest on foreign plotters
Damascus: In his first address since the outbreak of anti-government protests in Syria, President Bashar Assad blamed foreign and domestic “conspirators” for the unrest.
Protests demanding radical change have been raging in Libya since March 15. Tens of people have died so far. The Syrian leadership pledged last week to implement economic and political reform. On Tuesday, Syria’s cabinet resigned in an attempt to appease demonstrators.
Assad said the aim of the conspirators was to “fragment and bring down Syria” and “enforce an Israeli agenda.”
The Syrian president slammed what he called foreign “plots hatched against our country,” saying that the people and leadership of Syria would overcome them.
“We should draw a lesson from what has happened,” Assad noted.
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Brzezinski Blasts Germany, Poland For Lukewarm Support Of Libyan War
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14953281,00.html
Deutsche Welle
March 30, 2011
Brzezinski criticizes German and Polish stance on Libya
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski calls Berlin’s abstention in the Security Council an unfortunate decision. He’s also critical of Poland’s stance on Libya.
Zbigniew Brzezinski served as US National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981 and has also advised Barack Obama on foreign policy. He is a counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
Deutsche Welle: Germany, in a move that surprised many allies, decided to abstain in a UN Security Council vote on establishing a no-fly zone over Libya, siding with China and Russia, instead of its traditional allies France, Britain and the US. What’s your assessment of Berlin’s decision and the motives behind it?
Zbigniew Brzezinski: I think the motives behind it are understandable and credible and obviously rooted in Germany’s historical experience. However, from a strategic point of view I think it was an unfortunate decision. It seems to me that the crisis involving Libya is a crisis that provides the West with a rather unique opportunity for united action and I would have been more pleased if Germany had chosen to be in some fashion part of it, even if not necessarily a direct military participant.
I may say in passing that I feel the same way about the somewhat passively neutral stand that Poland has taken on this issue. And for obvious reasons I have an interest in observing how Poland conducts itself in the international arena.
….
I think it was unfortunate that for whatever reasons Germany took that stance, because I think what is involved here is a missed opportunity to underline, to affirm something that is desirable and important, namely the ability of the West to act in common.
You have supported military action against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. But isn’t there a real danger that this protracted conflict could drag on for a long time and turn into a slippery slope that makes NATO ground troops necessary to finally end the violence?
The more united the West is, the shorter the conflict will be. Because obviously Gadhafi and his associates want to prolong the conflict, create a stalemate and in some fashion remain in power. So it’s not irrelevant to the outcome how united the West is and how determined it is. I think if it is determined and if it applies its military efforts with some degree of firmness bearing in mind that the UN resolution permits all necessary actions I think the chances are that we will avoid a protracted conflict.
I think the only possible outcome that assures security for Libyan people and their freedom of choice politically is an outcome that does not include him as part of the political picture.
While the West is engaged in Libya, it appears that many other Arab regimes are also on the brink of collapse. Do you also consider the intervention in Libya as a warning shot for other Arab rulers as the French President has said?
I think each case has to be looked at on its own merit in terms both of the possibilities of responding effectively to it and also in terms of the dangers that a particular case poses for the region and for international stability more generally. So I don’t think that you can draw some sort of arbitrary conclusion from one single case important though it is.
The situation in Syria, a key country in the Middle East, seems very volatile. How strong is Assad’s grip on power in your assessment and what would his fall mean for the region?
It’s very difficult for me to assess how strong is grip on power is, especially since it appears that he himself perhaps doesn’t know how strong it is….
The governments in Bahrain and Yemen, two vital US allies, also look very fragile. Can the US square the circle to support the democracy movements and at the same time prop up or help those autocratic rulers stay in power?
I think as I said each case has to be looked at on its own merits and in the context of its own specificity. In general, the United States has gone quite far in expressing its support for democratic movements. But the circumstances in each of these countries are not quite the same as they have emerged in Libya and for that matter they are not quite the same as they are now in Egypt or in Saudi Arabia.
Compared to the most other countries, the situation in Saudi Arabia has been relatively stable so far. Why in your opinion is this so and do you think that the Saudi King can feel ‘safe?’
He probably cannot feel safe entirely in view of what has been happening with his neighbors. Nonetheless, the fact is that the Saudi monarchy seems to have deeper roots in the society. The society still is somewhat more traditional and the country is very rich and the political leadership is intelligently sharing some of that wealth with the public. Whether that is sufficient to a degree only time will tell.
….
What’s your take on Iran, also a country where there have been some protests, but compared to other countries in the region, the situation there appears to be reasonably calm at the moment?
We have to bear in mind that there was a major outburst of democratic aspirations not such a long time ago and that it was effectively crushed by the regime….The urban parts, particularly in Tehran itself, are more similar to Turkey and through Turkey even to Europe. Certainly the young people who were demonstrating against the regime not such a long time ago looked very similar both in their appearance, but also even in their aspirations and language to the young people in Europe.
….
In the long run, I think that kind of theocratic, fundamentalist authority is as vulnerable or even more so than the hereditary royal systems. So that in the long run – provided the West does not isolate Iran to the point that Iranian nationalism is fused with fundamentalism – I think Iran will have to change and will change.
…NATO is a defensive alliance. If something happened that threatened its members, which includes the United States also, it would be duty bound to respond.
Germany has said that it wouldn’t take part in any military mission in Libya. Could Germany do anything else in your opinion to perhaps support the mission with nonmilitary means? Do you have any ideas what Berlin could do?
I don’t have any ideas that I want to propound publicly. But certainly Germany has ways of indicating its solidarity and its support for what is being done by the NATO alliance of which Germany is a very very important member….
Interview: Michael Knigge
Editor: Rob Mudge
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Argentine President Condemns NATO’s War In Libya
Reuters
March 30, 2011
Argentine President slams NATO for Libya mission
Buenos Aires, Argentina: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez to sign a raft of oil transport and other agreements on Tuesday (March 29).
….
Chavez spoke of progress in bilateral relations between the two South American countries.
But President Fernandez struck out against NATO in a thinly veiled attack on the mission in Libya.
Chavez has previously denounced military action in Libya, saying it is aimed at seizing the North African country’s oil reserves.
“When someone looks at the world, and observes the people who are supposed to be civilized resolving their problems by launching bombs, it really makes me proud to be South American and proud to be part of [the] UNASUR [political bloc] and to honor this tradition of peace and harmony that we have here in our beloved home of UNASUR,” Fernandez said.
Later, the two visited one of South America’s largest ship repair yards.
Tandanor is run by a workers cooperative and will build 16 new oil tankers for the Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, after a new contract was signed by Fernandez and Chavez at the site.
The tankers will cost US$83 million, measure 90 metres (295 feet) in length and have will each be able to ship between 2,500 and 7,500 cubic metres of petrol, according to the Argentine government.
Venezuela signed an agreement with Argentina last year to renovate its oil transport fleet, and includes the construction of tug boats and repair of various vessels.
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Sweden Accedes To NATO Demand, To Deploy Eight Warplanes For Libyan Campaign
http://www.thelocal.se/32886/20110329/
The Local
March 30, 2011
Government yes to Gripen deployment
The Swedish government has given the green light to sending JAS Gripen fighters to Libya following a request from the NATO general secretary, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, for Swedish assistance.
During an extra meeting Tuesday the government decided to propose to the Riksdag that Sweden contribute to the NATO led military attack on Libya.
“The government has decided today … to put to parliament the proposal to participate with JAS Gripen (jets) in the international military operation in Libya under the leadership of NATO,” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in parliament on Tuesday.
….
Reinfeldt informed the Riksdag that there were many among the government parties who had wanted the fighters to be allowed to strike against land-based targets to protect civilians.
….
The government proposed eight JAS Gripen fighters to be sent, along with one Hercules aircraft and one reconnaissance plane.
In addition to the aircraft, around 130 personnel, including pilots and ground crew will be involved in the mission. However, the number of service personnel may be increased to a maximum of 250.
The government proposes to deploy the aircraft initially for three months. The cost to Sweden is not to exceed 200 million kronor ($31 million).
….
Sweden is not a member of NATO, although it has been in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and participates in the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan with some 500 troops.
The last time Swedish fighter jets were in action was at the start of the 1960s, in a UN-mandated operation in the former Belgian Congo.
The Gripen fighter jets are made by Swedish defence group Saab, which is in the running with France’s Dassault and the US’s Boeing for a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply the Brazilian air force.
….
The Swedish Riksdag could be ready to reach a decision Friday.
====
NATO Orders Bulgarian Warship To Libyan Waters
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/30/c_13805590.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 30, 2011
Bulgaria sends frigate to patrol near Libya
SOFIA: The Bulgarian government here on Wednesday decided to send the frigate Drazki (Daring) to support the arms embargo against Libya.
According to the Government Information Service, Drazki would participate in the NATO’s operation Unified Protector aiming to patrol the approaches to Libyan territorial waters to reduce the flow of arms, related material and mercenaries to Libya.
The frigate would sail to the area of operation as early as April 15 for not more than three months since its deployment. Up to 160 people, including a 12-member group for special operations, would be on board.
Bulgarian troops would provide visible and significant contribution to the NATO joint efforts demonstrating determination and unified will…the government said.
====
NATO’s Assault On Libya: 1,800 Sorties, 214 Cruise Missile Attacks
Agence France-Presse
March 29, 2011
For no-fly zone, four NATO sorties: US military
-As part of “Operation Odyssey Dawn,” the US military also launched 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the past 24 hours, bringing to 214 the total number of missile strikes since the operation began on March 19, the Pentagon said.
WASHINGTON: Enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya required four sorties by NATO aircraft in the past 24 hours, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
As of 1000 GMT, NATO carried out four flights to police the no-fly zone against the Libyan regime, along with four other sorties in support of the mission, according to information released by the Pentagon.
The figures followed comments from US and allied commanders that the regime’s air defenses have been knocked out in earlier coalition raids, with Moamer Kadhafi’s aircraft effectively shut down under a no-fly zone now firmly in place.
The four no-fly zone sorties were flown by Canada and Spain, using F-18 fighter jets, said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
NATO is due on Thursday to take over from the US military the command of the coalition air campaign, launched under a UN resolution to protect civilians.
As part of “Operation Odyssey Dawn,” the US military also launched 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the past 24 hours, bringing to 214 the total number of missile strikes since the operation began on March 19, the Pentagon said.
The Tomahawks targeted “storage facilities” for the Libyan regime’s Scud missiles, the defense official said.
The international coalition carried out a total of 200 sorties in the past 24 hours, with about 60 percent of the missions flown by the American military.
During the same period, the international coalition carried out 115 strike sorties, in which combat aircraft sought out targets in Moamer Kadhafi’s armed forces.
Since the air operation began on March 19, the coalition has carried out 1,802 sorties.
President Barack Obama’s administration has said it will soon play more of a supporting role in the air campaign.
The number of “strike” missions by US aircraft has declined slightly in recent days.
In the past 24 hours, the United States conducted 52 sorties, about 45 percent of all the strike flights, compared to 63 percent flown by other countries.
====
70 Percent Of Britons Fear New Iraq-Style War In Libya
http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE72S08220110329
Reuters
March 29, 2011
Britons fear Libya becoming another Iraq – poll
Seven of 10 Britons fear Iraq-style conflict
LONDON: Seven out of 10 Britons think coalition forces enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya could get sucked into another Iraq-style conflict, a poll showed on Tuesday.
The ComRes poll carried out for the Independent newspaper found 47 percent think the government was wrong to launch air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, while 43 percent approve of the decision.
Tuesday’s poll found that 71 percent of those questioned feared the intervention could drag on, despite Prime Minister David Cameron insisting that Libya is “not another Iraq”.
Respondents’ views were split along party political lines. A majority (58 percent) of Conservative voters, the leading voice in the coalition government, backed the intervention, while coalition partner Liberal Democrats and opposition Labour were less supportive.
A ComRes/ITN poll undertaken a week ago found that 43 of the public disagreed with the action, suggesting opposition was hardening.
ComRes interviewed a random sample of 1,000 adults by telephone between March 25 and March 27.
(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by Michael Roddy)
====
NATO’s Top Military Commander: Foreign Stabilization Force In Libya
Voice of America News
March 29, 2011
NATO Commander Says Libya May Need Foreign Stabilization Force
Al Pessin
The top NATO military commander says Libya may need a foreign stabilization force if rebels supported by international airstrikes succeed in ousting the country’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi. U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis made the comment in an appearance Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Admiral Stavridis says there has been no discussion at NATO of sending ground forces to stabilize Libya, but he believes it may be necessary.
“When you look at the history of NATO, having gone through this, as many on this committee have, with Bosnia and Kosovo, it’s quite clear that the possibility of [the need for] a stabilization regime exists,” he said. “And so, I have not heard any discussion about it yet, but I think that history is in everybody’s mind as we look at the events in Libya.”
….
He predicted that the military operation, plus international diplomatic and financial pressure and attacks by the rebels, will likely result in Gadhafi’s departure or overthrow.
And he said even without the specific mission to oust Gadhafi, NATO forces are operating under sufficiently broad rules that they can attack wherever necessary in Libya.
“I think that any Gadhafi forces that are demonstrating hostile intent against the Libyan population are legitimate targets,” said Stavridis.
….
The admiral’s’ NATO forces have taken command of the arms embargo and no-fly zone enforcement from U.S. Africa Command, and he says NATO will take command of the humanitarian and protection of civilians effort within the next day or two….
====
Videos And Text: Obama Establishes Doctrine Around Libya
http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-libya-doctrine-usa/
RT
March 29, 2011
Obama sets doctrine on Libya
In a televised international speech US President Barack Obama spoke for nearly a half hour on the NATO lead, US backed coalition at war in Libya.
The speech focused on Libya as opposed to grander strategy, emphasizing America’s responsibility as a global leader and the specific Libyan intervention.
“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and -– more profoundly -– our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are,” the US President said. “Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”
Although the details were sketchy, no vision of an endgame was given and many things remain unknown or elusive, one thing is for sure in Obama’s mind – Libya will not be another Iraq.
The US president wants to topple Gaddafi, but swore he would not fall at the hands of US troops. Obama insisted American involvement would end as soon as possible – whenever that may be.
“Broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake,” he stated.
The man who campaigned on an anti-war and pro-diplomacy platform has found himself answering his formed supporters who want to know when Obama shifted his views.
“I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars,” Obama exclaimed, expressing his disapproval of Iraq, but support for his war in Libya. “I’ve made it clear that I will never hesitate to use our military swiftly, decisively, and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our homeland, our allies and our core interests.”
The Obama doctrine is revealed – use force when I deem necessary.
However, some critics feel his approach does not go far enough.
“If we tell Gaddafi, ‘Don’t worry you’re not going to be removed by force,’– I think that’s very encouraging to Gaddafi,” Republican Senator John McCain told CNN.
On the other side of the spectrum, many Democratic leaders felt the lack of clarity and specific endgame goals was too similar of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Congress needs to ask some tough questions about the endgame,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich blasted Obama for his stance on Libya, saying “The economy is falling apart. Our cities are starved.
People are without health care. All we’re getting is war.”
He argued Libya could easily become Obama’s Iraq and has even proposed, along with Republican Congressman Ron Paul, legislation to defund the entire operation.
“The only real power Congress has here to assert itself as the people’s representatives is to stop funding,” Kucinich said.
The war power belongs to the democratic body, to the Congress, he explained. The US Constitution is clear.
Even President Bush went before Congress to get permission to enter into war with Iraq, he noted.
In addition, Kucinich explained using the military in conflict mode for humanitarian aid simply does not work.
“There’s no way you can avoid civilian casualties,” he said. “What we’re doing here is enlarging a humanitarian crisis with more people becoming refugees, with more civilians put at risk of injury or death due to the bombing.”
In order to get involved in a conflict congress must have a say – even if the conflict is by way of the UN, NATO or other organizations. This is the law of the United States, he explained.
As more and more people seek information on Obama’s war in Libya, it is becoming harder to get factual information from on the ground beyond what NATO and coalition governments claim.
Veteran war correspondent Keith Harmon Snow explained the US and coalition forces are leading an imperialist information war, targeting journalist and preventing truth from being told in Libya.
“Most journalists are not honest,” he said, explaining they are forced to tell half truths.
Journalists are embedded with one side or the other and what they can say is censored by the powers that be. Thus, no one really reports what might actually be going on or what motives may be at play in Libya.
The inability to tell the truth or report all the facts prevents the public from knowing why America may really be in Libya – humanitarianism, access to resources or imperialism.
Radio host Alex Jones argued the war is full of classic propaganda and misinformation, and the US has no business being involved.
The same formula that was used in past interventions is playing out again, he said. Even al-Qaeda is part of the mix. Jones argued the terrorist organization was created by the CIA. It is all part of a major globalist agenda to take away American liberties.
“British Special Forces, US Special Forces were there [Libya] before this began,” said Jones. “The west is setting a precedent through the UN that they can fund rebels to start wars against regimes not favorable to the globalist system.”
Libya is just another piece of the puzzle. It is the beginning of a new front of a global war – it is not humanitarian.
This has nothing to do with humanitarianism, Jones argued. It is about the new world order and their army – al-Qaeda – which is used to strike at America, Russia and others to progress the globalist agenda.
====
France Sends Envoy To Libyan Rebel Base: Report
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/30/c_13803989.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 30, 2011
France sends envoy to Libyan rebels base in Benghazi: press
PARIS: France has sent an envoy to Benghazi in eastern Libya where the rebels are based, local press quoted an unnamed official on Tuesday as saying.
According to AFP, the veteran French diplomat Antoine Sivan, 55 years old and an Arabic speaker, departed France on Sunday and was on the way to Benghazi via Egypt.
Benghazi is the stronghold of Libyan rebels and now locates their rebel administration National Transition Council (NTC), which France has taken the lead to recognize as the unique legitimate body to represent Libya people.
France has expressed the intention to dispatch an “ambassador” to the rebels’ base in Benghazi after two rebel representatives had a talk with President Nicolas Sarkozy in Elysee Palace on March 10. French foreign ministry later on received rebel representatives one more time and said they had regular contacts with the rebels’ body.
There was no official confirmation from the French administration about the “ambassador,” but local press said a possible confirmation could be unveiled on the sidelines of the Libya-focused international meeting hosting over 35 nations in London.
….
====
Qatar Launches Television Channel For Libyan Insurgents
http://en.rian.ru/trend/libya_2011/
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 30, 2011
Libyan opposition launches TV channel with Qatar
The Libyan opposition is launching a satellite television channel, Ahrar TV, on Wednesday with the help of the Qatari government in counterbalance to state-controlled media.
====
Rimbaud: Evil
Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Arthur Rimbaud
Evil (1870)
Translated by Paul Schmidt
While the red-stained mouths of machine guns ring
Across the infinite expanse of day;
While red or green, before their posturing King,
The massed battalions break and melt away;
And while a monstrous frenzy runs a course
That makes of a thousand men a smoking pile –
Poor fools! – dead, in summer, in the grass,
On Nature’s breast, who meant these men to smile;
There is a God, who smiles upon us through
The gleam of gold, the incense-laden air,
Who drowses in a cloud of murmured prayer,
And only wakes when weeping mothers bow
Themselves in anguish, wrapped in old black shawls –
And their last small coin into his coffer falls.
Le Mal
Tandis que les crachats rouges de la mitraille
Sifflent tout le jour par l’infini du ciel bleu;
Qu’écarlates ou verts, près du Roi qui les raille,
Croulent les bataillons en masse dans le feu;
Tandis qu’une folie épouvantable, broie
Et fait de cent milliers d’hommes un tas fumant;
– Pauvres morts dans l’été, dans l’herbe, dans ta joie,
Nature, ô toi qui fis ces hommes saintement !… –
– Il est un Dieu qui rit aux nappes damassées
Des autels, à l’encens, aux grands calices d’or;
Qui dans le bercement des hosanna s’endort,
Et se réveille quand des mères, ramassées
Dans l’angoisse et pleurant sous leur vieux bonnet noir,
Lui donnent un gros sou lié dans leur mouchoir!
Barack Hussein Reagan And Ronald Wilson Obama On Libya
Stop NATO
March 29, 2011
Barack Hussein Reagan And Ronald Wilson Obama On Libya
Compiled by Rick Rozoff
Ronald Reagan (RR) April 14, 1986
Barack Obama (BO) March 28, 2011
====
RR:
At 7 o’clock this evening eastern time air and naval forces of the United States launched a series of strikes against the headquarters, terrorist facilities, and military assets that support Mu`ammar Qadhafi’s subversive activities.
BO:
Confronted by…brutal repression and a looming humanitarian crisis, I ordered warships into the Mediterranean…It was not in our national interest to let that happen. I refused to let that happen. And so nine days ago…I authorized military action….
RR:
Several weeks ago in New Orleans, I warned Colonel Qadhafi we would hold his regime accountable….
BO:
Ten days ago, having tried to end the violence without using force, the international community offered Gaddafi a final chance to stop his campaign of killing, or face the consequences.
RR:
Colonel Qadhafi is not only an enemy of the United States. His record of subversion and aggression against the neighboring States in Africa is well documented and well known. He has ordered the murder of fellow Libyans in countless countries.
BO:
For more than four decades, the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant – Moammar Gaddafi. He has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorized innocent people around the world – including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents.
RR:
Today we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again.
BO:
So for those who doubted our capacity to carry out this operation, I want to be clear: the United States of America has done what we said we would do.
RR:
To our friends and allies in Europe who cooperated in today’s mission, I would only say you have the permanent gratitude of the American people.
BO:
In this effort, the United States has not acted alone….Our most effective alliance, NATO, has taken command of the enforcement of the arms embargo and No Fly Zone.
RR:
Self-defense is not only our right, it is our duty. It is the purpose behind the mission undertaken tonight.
BO:
[W]hen our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act. That is what happened in Libya over the course of these last six weeks….I have made it clear that I will never hesitate to use our military swiftly, decisively, and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our homeland, our allies, and our core interests.
RR:
I have no illusion that tonight’s action will ring down the curtain on Qadhafi’s reign of terror. But this mission, violent though it was, can bring closer a safer and more secure world for decent men and women. We will persevere.
BO:
That is not to say that our work is complete….Gaddafi has not yet stepped down from power, and until he does, Libya will remain dangerous.
RR:
Tonight I salute the skill and professionalism of the men and women of our Armed Forces who carried out this mission. It’s an honor to be your Commander in Chief.
BO:
I want to begin by paying tribute to our men and women in uniform who, once again, have acted with courage, professionalism and patriotism. They have moved with incredible speed and strength.
RR:
We Americans are slow to anger. We always seek peaceful avenues before resorting to the use of force – and we did. We tried quiet diplomacy, public condemnation, economic sanctions, and demonstrations of military force. None succeeded. Despite our repeated warnings, Qadhafi continued his reckless policy of intimidation….
BO:
For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and advocate for human freedom. Mindful of the risks and costs of military action, we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world’s many challenges. But when our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.
Stop NATO News March 29, 2011
====
Updates on Libyan war: March 29
Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean
====
====
1. If Serbia Joins NATO, Russia To Defend Against Long-Range Missiles
2. Afghanistan: Insurgents Overrun District, Three NATO Soldiers Killed
3. Russia Warns Georgia Against Harboring Chechen Rebels
4. Africa Partnership Station: U.S., NATO Allies Drill In Gulf Of Guinea
5. German Navy Vessels Return To Mediterranean Under NATO Control
6. Pakistan: NATO Tanker Destroyed In Balochistan
7. 3,000 More Ugandan, Burundian Troops Headed To Somalia
8. U.S. Joins Scramble For Arctic With Nuclear Submarines
9. Alabama: U.S. Trains Romanian Pilots For F-16 Use
10. Afghan Boy Shot In Firefight With Australian Troops
11. Afghanistan: NATO Loses 100th Soldier This Year
12. NATO Air Strike Kills Seven Afghan Civilians, Wounds Five
13. War Stories: Promoting The War In Afghanistan
14. Georgia: NATO Membership To Foster “Unification”
====
1. If Serbia Joins NATO, Russia To Defend Against Long-Range Missiles
Bloomberg News
March 29, 2011
Russia Sees Security Concern If Serbia Joins NATO, Danas Reports
By Misha Savic
If Serbia joins NATO, the alliance will want to install long-range missiles in its territory, which Russia may see as a threat to its own security, Danas newspaper reported, citing Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Konuzin.
Konuzin said Serbia, which declared military neutrality in 2007 while being in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, remains free to join any organization it chooses, “but we count that Belgrade will respect our thinking that entering NATO would represent a threat to Russia’s security,” the newspaper quoted Konuzin as saying.
Russia would have to “take military measures to remove such threats. The measures would not be against Serbia, but against the missiles,” Konuzin reportedly said in the interview, following last week’s visit to Belgrade by Premier Vladimir Putin.
====
2. Afghanistan: Insurgents Overrun District, Three NATO Soldiers Killed
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 29, 2011
Taliban overrun district; three NATO soldiers killed
Kabul: Taliban militants overran a district in the north-eastern Afghan province of Nuristan after overpowering local forces, while three NATO soldiers died in other attacks in the same region, officials said Tuesday.
Over 300 heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked the Waigal district early Tuesday and captured the main town of Shamsul, provincial police chief Rahman Zahid said.
‘We had to retreat because we did not have enough men or weapons to defend the district against over 300 Taliban fighters,’ Zahid told the German Press Agency dpa.
The locally recruited policemen scattered to villages surrounding the district, he said.
‘There were no foreign forces or Afghan army soldiers and the Taliban had also blocked all the roads linking to the district,’ he said.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement sent to media that their fighters captured 12 armed police and 19 vehicles during the operation.
The rest of the police fled the area after short resistance, he said, adding the Taliban had hoisted their flag in the centre of the district.
Major Tim James, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said the military was aware of the situation, saying ‘all I can say is we are looking into it.’
James said NATO troops were not stationed in the district.
Separately, three ISAF soldiers died Tuesday following two separate insurgent attacks in the eastern region, the alliance said in statements.
The military did not reveal the nationalities of the deceased, nor did it say where exactly in the volatile region the attacks took place. Most of the troops stationed in area are from the United States.
More than 100 foreign troops – two-thirds of them US personnel – have been killed in the Afghan conflict so far this year, according to iCasualties.org, an independent website that tracks NATO fatalities in Afghanistan.
….
Insurgents claimed to have taken hostage 50 Afghan policemen in the eastern province of Kunar on Sunday. Afghan officials confirmed having lost contact with up to 40 off-duty police personnel who were en route to their hometown when they went missing.
====
3. Russia Warns Georgia Against Harboring Chechen Rebels
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/29/48141800.html
Voice of Russia
March 29, 2011
Russia warns Georgia about Chechen rebels
Chechen militants who escaped to Georgia may be posing a threat to Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev`s representative on terrorism Anatoly Safonov said during a press-briefing in Moscow on Tuesday.
He said he did not rule out that Georgia could be standing behind some of the attacks carried out in Russia.
He advised Tbilisi to stay on alert about possible provocations by militants on Georgian territory.
====
4. Africa Partnership Station: U.S., NATO Allies Drill In Gulf Of Guinea
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=6346&lang=0
U.S. Africa Command
March 28, 2011
Robert G. Bradley Completes APS Exercise Obangame Express 2011
By Petty Officer 1st Class Darryl Wood
U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
DOUALA, Cameroon: USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49) concluded exercise Obangame Express off the coast of Cameroon as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS) West, March 23, 2011.
Robert G. Bradleym, along with ships from Belgium, Cameroon, France, Gabon, Nigeria, and Spain, participated in the exercise which focused on maritime domain awareness with the specific challenges faced by the interoperability of a multinational force to improve its proficiency at sea.
….
The pre-sail conference and post-exercise debrief was held at the Cameroon Navy Base in Douala….This multinational cooperation ensures continued success for interoperability and proficiency of the regional maritime stake holders in the Gulf of Guinea.
….
Robert G. Bradley, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is homeported out of Mayport, Florida, and is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. Naval Forces Africa area of responsibility.
APS is an international security cooperation initiative, facilitated by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, aimed at strengthening global maritime partnerships through training and collaborative activities….
====
5. German Navy Vessels Return To Mediterranean Under NATO Control
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 28, 2011
German navy ships in Mediterranean return to NATO control
Berlin: Two German navy vessels in the Mediterranean are to be placed back under NATO command, a week after the military alliance became involved in the Libya conflict, a defence ministry spokesman said in Berlin Monday.
But the warships will not be available for the NATO military campaign to deny airspace and arms supplies to Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, the spokesman told the German Press Agency dpa.
The frigate Luebeck and the minesweeper will instead be deployed ‘soon’ with Active Endeavour, a NATO operation….
Germany upset its allies this month by abstaining when the UN Security Council ordered a no-fly zone to stop bloodshed by Gaddafi.
Germany then withdrew its warships from the NATO force, which is led by France, Britain and the United States. One task of the NATO force off the Libyan coast is preventing Gaddafi from shipping in arms.
Surveys show the German public, which tends to be pacifist, approved of Berlin’s efforts to keep its distance from the Libyan conflict, but senior politicians and think-tank officials in Berlin called the break in alliance ranks a blunder.
….
A third navy vessel, the Oker, a supply ship, is in the Mediterranean but will remain under direct command from Berlin. A frigate, the Hamburg, has left the Mediterranean to return to its home base in Wilhelmshaven.
===
6. Pakistan: NATO Tanker Destroyed In Balochistan
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=177055
News International
March 28, 2011
Unidentified men set NATO container on fire
Quetta: Unidentified persons opened indiscriminate fire on a NATO container and set it on fire whereas the driver of the container received bullet wounds.
A NATO container heading towards Afghanistan from Karachi through Balochistan came under indiscriminate fire that was set on fire by unidentified men at Jeeva Cross in Kalat. The driver, Jahangir Khan, of the container sustained injuries whereas unidentified armed men fled from the scene.
Local authorities reached the spot of incident and removed the injured man to the hospital for treatment. They registered a case against the unidentified men.
In Sohrab drivers of the NATO containers blocked the road and staged a strong protest against the continuous incidents of such sort.
They urged the government to take solid steps for the safe passage and security of NATO supplies.
====
7. 3,000 More Ugandan, Burundian Troops Headed To Somalia
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=143541
Azeri Press Agency
March 27, 2011
Burundi, Uganda to send 3,000 more troops to Somalia
Baku: Uganda and Burundi said on Saturday they have committed 3,000 extra troops to the African Union mission in Somalia, bolstering the fight against insurgents, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.
The U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls part of the capital, and AMISOM — AU troops from Uganda and Burundi — is fighting to keep two hardline Islamist insurgent groups from taking over the rest.
….
AMISOM said in a statement on Saturday that after a visit to Mogadishu this week by Major General Godefroid Niyombare and General Aronda Nyakairima, the defense chiefs in Burundi and Uganda, the two countries committed more soldiers.
“In a joint statement to field commanders, the chiefs declared that both Burundi and Uganda had committed the additional 4,000 troops…and that they were already heading for pre-deployment training.”
“Each country has pledged a further 2,000 troops and anticipate an efficient deployment around the middle of the year.” Burundi has already deployed 1,000 of the 4,000 extra troops in mid March.
….
====
8. U.S. Joins Scramble For Arctic With Nuclear Submarines
http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/03/25/u-s-navy-scrambles-for-piece-of-the-arctic-pie/
Forbes
March 25, 2011
U.S. Navy Scrambles for Piece of Arctic Pie
By WILLIAM PENTLAND
The U.S. Navy is staging exercises] in the Arctic Ocean this month with…nuclear-powered submarines.
The military exercises are designed to bolster U.S. claims on emerging – and likely lucrative – commercial opportunities in the region, which have attracted intense interest in recent years as global warming accelerates what appears to be the permanent loss of sea ice in the Arctic.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported in early March that 2011 has tied with 2006 for the record low sea-ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean (in the satellite record). By the mid-2030s, scientists have predicted that the Arctic will be ice-free for at least one month of every summer, which will expand to two-to-three ice-free months by around mid-century.
The U.S. Navy has deployed two nuclear-powered submarines off the coast of Alaska close to a temporary camp constructed on the ice roughly 150 miles north of Prudhoe Bay. The submarines are conducting military training exercises.
….
A delegation of defense contractors and military brass visited the camp last week, according to Reuters. The training was meant to ensure that the United States maintained access to the Arctic, home to the world’s largest undiscovered oil and gas reserves. Russia, the United States, Denmark, Greenland, Canada and Norway, which border the Arctic, and China are also scrambling to control the region and access to the commercial ventures there.
“It is a key potential transit line between the Atlantic and the Pacific,” U.S. Navy Captain Rhett Jaehn, told Reuters. “We want to be able to demonstrate that we have global reach. That we can operate in all oceans, and that we can operate proficiently in any environment.”
….
====
9. Alabama: U.S. Trains Romanian Pilots For F-16 Use
http://readme.readmedia.com/Romanian-Air-Force-Officers-Visit-Local-Alabama-Guard-Unit/2222661
Alabama National Guard
March 22, 2011
Romanian Air Force Officers Visit Local Alabama Guard Unit
by Alabama National Guard
MONTGOMERY, AL : Five officers from the Romanian Air Force visited the Alabama National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing recently. Over their five-day visit, the Romanian officers received a broad overview of the F-16 fighter jet operations and sustainment programs of the Alabama National Guard.
The Romanian Air Force is considering plans to change their fighter aircraft force to the F-16, so the visit to a fully operational fighter wing was a source of invaluable insight into the requirements, maintenance, operations, reliability and capabilities of the F-16.
The visit was part of the State Partnership Program (SPP) which was created by NATO after the end of the Cold War. The SPP paired state National Guard organizations with former communist countries in a program intended to establish or normalize relations….
Romania, the first Warsaw Pact nation to enter the program, was paired with the Alabama Guard in 1994. Since then, Alabama Guard and Romanian military personnel have participated in dozens of training exercises, activities and assistance visits in both Alabama and Romania.
“The Alabama National Guard and Romania partnership is a mature relationship, established more than 17 years ago,” said Alabama National Guard SPP Coordinator, Lt. Col. William A. Overby. “Alabama continues to be a valuable partner in enabling Romania to build capacity to support deploying troops, enhance military capabilities, improve NATO interoperability, and reinforce the principles of responsible governance.”
The 187th Fighter Wing has plans to continue to share its lessons learned from years of F-16 experience with their Romanian Air Force counterparts through the Alabama National Guard SPP in the future.
====
10. Afghan Boy Shot In Firefight With Australian Troops
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/29/c_13803083.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 29, 2011
Australian troops involved in Afghanistan battle
CANBERRA: A young Afghan boy has been shot and is in a critical condition after a battle between Australian troops and insurgents, the Australian Defense Force confirmed on Tuesday.
….
According to the Department of Defense, one insurgent was killed in the battle and the local boy was later found with gunshot wounds to the upper body.
….
“He remains in a critical but stable condition, and has since been moved to intensive-care facilities in Kandahar,” the Defence said in a statement released on Tuesday.
….
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11. Afghanistan: NATO Loses 100th Soldier This Year
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7332827.html
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
NATO soldier killed in S Afghanistan
A solider with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Sunday in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Afghanistan southern region, the military alliance said.
“An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today,” said a statement released here by ISAF.
However, the brief statement did not reveal the nationality of the victim, saying “it ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.”
Troops mainly from United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have been stationed in the southern Afghan region within the framework of ISAF to fight Taliban militants.
Sunday’s casualty brings to 100 the number of NATO service members, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.
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12. NATO Air Strike Kills Seven Afghan Civilians, Wounds Five
Associated Press
March 26, 2011
Afghan official: NATO airstrike kills 7 civilians
KABUL, Afghanistan: A provincial governor in Afghanistan’s dangerous south said Saturday that seven civilians were…killed when a NATO helicopter fired on two vehicles believed to be carrying Taliban fighters.
….
In the aftermath of the strike, coalition troops found bodies of civilians in the wreckage, NATO said. It did not released the number of the dead and wounded.
A statement issued by the Helmand provincial governor’s office said seven people — two men, two women and three children — were killed when coalition forces fired on the suspects. Those killed were in another vehicle traveling near the targeted ones. Five others Afghan civilians — a man, woman and three children — were wounded, the governor’s office said.
Helmand provincial Governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal condemned the civilian casualties.
The deaths came only two days after the international coalition…killed two civilians in the eastern province of Khost….
At least four other people were killed in three separate attacks in southern Afghanistan on Friday, including a child, a NATO soldier, and two civilians on a motorcycle.
….
A coalition soldier died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, NATO announced. The international force provided no other details about the casualty, pending notification of next of kin.
The death brings to 26 of NATO service members who have died so far this month in Afghanistan.
….
Germany’s Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere visited Afghanistan on Saturday, his first trip to the battleground since taking the job this month. German lawmakers Friday endorsed sending up to 300 crew members to man surveillance planes in Afghanistan — a move meant to take pressure off NATO allies enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
….
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13. War Stories: Promoting The War In Afghanistan
http://rt.com/usa/news/promoting-war-libya-usa/
RT
March 26, 2011
War Stories: Promoting the war in Afghanistan
The Pentagon, NATO, and others fight an information war to go alongside the real ones in the battlefield. This was is to sell the reality of a conflict where people are dying and billions are being spent to a public back home.
“War is hell and that’s why you only go to war when it’s in the absolute interest to your national security,” said Matthew Hoh, a former US State Department official.
That harsh reality of war is one reason why coalition forces do battle with an information war.
They fight it alongside the real one playing out on the ground in Afghanistan, for example, so the war is not widely known by milestones such as surpassing the Soviet campaign there, becoming the longest war in American history, or costing an exceptional amount of money.
But instead, is a story of hope and reconstruction. That’s the NATO version told, for example, in a promotional film given to international journalists at the annual NATO summit.
Public relations efforts to sell the war are nothing new. And commander of the NATO forces – the United States – spends billions to sell its version of the war to the world through PR at home and abroad, state-sponsored media, and psychological operations.
For example, a leaked classified CIA document revealed a plan for allies.
“Astrategic communication program across NATO troop contributors that taps into the key concerns of specific Western European audiences that could provide a buffer if apathy becomes opposition.”
To fight declining public support for the war from France and Germany the CIA tapped Afghan women as the perfect messenger to make an emotional appeal about the Taliban and their aspirations for the future, as a woman does in the NATO video.
Some media has picked up on this message, too.
A TIME magazine cover equated pulling out US troops from Afghanistan with brutality against women when it pictured an Afghan woman with her nose cut off along with the headline “What happens if we leave.”
“The thing to remember about this poor girl – this happened while US troops were there,” recalled Hoh.
And some like feminist writer Jill Filipovic argue these PR tactics are an assault on women, too.
“I think it absolutely exploits the women’s issue and exploits women,” said Filipovic, editor of the blog Feministe.
“They certainly weren’t interested in women’s rights in that region until it became strategically important to them in the war on terror,” she said.
And it is not clear efforts like this even work.
“It’s impossible to tell and I would venture to say it’s been ineffective,” said Jake Diliberto, a veteran and critic of the Afghan war.
Maybe US defense secretary Robert Gates would agree. As his recent NATO speech can attest, he’s now resorting to scolding allies for getting ready to abandon the war.
Meanwhile Hillary Clinton said the US is losing when it comes to broadcasting the message on state-funded TV stations, “and unfortunately we are paying a big price for it,” she told members of Congress.
Even though the US has spent more than $1 billion dollars alone to broadcast its message to the Arab world where it’s at war through the state-funded news network Al Hurra, the network has locked in just a half percent of viewership.
All showing perhaps you can’t sell the war unless you have a buyer.
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14. Georgia: NATO Membership To Foster “Unification”
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1851895.html
Trend News Agency
March 29, 2011
Deputy PM: Georgia may join NATO despite separatist territories
N. Kirtskhalia
Tbilisi: Georgia may be admitted to NATO despite the separatist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Baramidze said on Tuesday.
“There is a precedent, when Germany, which was 40 percent occupied by the former Soviet Union, became a member of NATO, and this precedent creates favorable conditions for Georgia,” State Minister for European Integration Baramidze said.
Georgia’s accession to NATO has been discussed for a long time. NATO officials periodically make statements about their readiness to accept Georgia into the alliance, but in practice the sides have not moved forward in this matter.
Baramidze said Georgia will join NATO as soon as it meets its requirements.
There is an Annual Action Program between Georgia and NATO, which the minister said is “an important mechanism” to join the alliance.
“NATO will decide on Georgia’s NATO membership as soon as we are ready,” Baramidze said.
At the meeting, in addition to Georgia’s NATO membership, the sides discussed the liberation of the Georgian territories by peaceful means and prospects of reunifying the country.
Although NATO membership is an important task for Georgia, the primary goal is peaceful reunification, Baramidze said.
“Being under the NATO umbrella will ensure our country’s security, peaceful and stable development, as well as unification,” he said, adding that he expects from Moscow a more constructive approach toward Tbilisi.
Military actions were launched in the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia in August 2008. Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia and later Russian troops occupied the city and drove the Georgian military back to Georgia. Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Aug. 26 and established diplomatic relations with them on Sept. 9, 2008. Georgia’s autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia unilaterally declared independence from Georgia after the August 2008 war.
Updates on Libyan war: March 29
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Obama Doctrine: Eternal War For Imperfect Mankind
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Libya: Cruise Missile Strikes Exceed 200 In Latest U.S. Barrage
NATO Military Chief Opens The Door To Ground Forces In Libya
Fidel Castro: NATO’s Fascist War
American UN Envoy: Washington Can Arm Libyan Insurgents
NATO Conducts More Air Strikes West Of Libyan Capital
NATO Bombs Libya With Depleted Uranium Warheads
More Countries Slam NATO Attacks In Libya
U.S., Britain, France, Germany: NATO Quad Heads Of State Hold Libya Talks
U.S. Low-Flying Attack Planes Intervene In Libyan Ground War
NATO Official: Regime Change Is Goal, Even If UN Resolution Doesn’t Say So
Shadow NATO Member Sweden Offers Eight Warplanes For Libyan War
Canadian Warplanes Join NATO Bombing Frenzy In Libya
After Afghan, Iraqi Wars: U.S. To Use Romania Air Base For Libyan War
Joschka Fischer Excoriates Berlin For Not Plunging Into Libyan War
NATO’s “International” Partner: UAE Warplanes In Italy For Libya War
Libya And The “International Community”: Humanitarian Imperialism, Like Colonialism, Will Come To An End
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Libya: Cruise Missile Strikes Exceed 200 In Latest U.S. Barrage
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_17725146
Associated Press
March 29, 2011
U.S. launches new missile barrage at Libya
By Lolita C. Baldor and Donna Cassata
WASHINGTON: A U.S. defense official says U.S. ships and submarines unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles at Libyan missile storage facilities in the Tripoli area late Monday and early Tuesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discussed military details, said 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from the Mediterranean — the most in at least several days.
The latest barrage raised to well over 200 the total number of Tomahawks that have been fired at Libya since the Western military intervention began March 19.
The bulk of U.S. and NATO missile and bomb attacks on Libya have targeted air defenses, ammunition bunkers and other facilities that support Libyan ground forces and enable NATO to maintain a no-fly zone over the country.
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NATO Military Chief Opens The Door To Ground Forces In Libya
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/nato-chief-opens-the-door-to-libya-ground-troops/#
Wired
March 29, 2011
NATO Chief Opens The Door to Libya Ground Troops
By Spencer Ackerman
The mantra, from President Obama on down, is that ground forces are totally ruled out for Libya. After all, the United Nations Security Council Resolution authorizing the war explicitly rules out any “occupation” forces. But leave it to the top military officer of NATO, which takes over the war on Wednesday, to add an asterisk to that ban.
During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island asked Adm. James Stavridis about NATO putting forces into “post-Gadhafi” Libya to make sure the country doesn’t fall apart. Stavridis said he “wouldn’t say NATO’s considering it yet.” But because of NATO’s history of putting peacekeepers in the Balkans — as pictured above — “the possibility of a stabilization regime exists.”
So welcome to a new possible “endgame” for Libya. Western troops patrolling Libya’s cities during a shaky transition after Moammar Gadhafi’s regime has fallen, however that’s supposed to happen….
In fact, Stavridis told Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma that he saw “flickers of intelligence” indicating “al-Qaeda [and] Hezbollah” have fighters amongst the Libyan rebels. The Supreme Allied Commander of NATO noted that the leadership of the rebels are “responsible men and women struggling against Col. Gadhafi” and couldn’t say if the terrorist element in the opposition is “significant.” But the U.S. knows precious little about who the Libyan rebels are.
The new prospect of NATO force on the ground in Libya seemed to alarm Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who got Stavridis to say that there’s “no discussion of the insertion of ground troops” in NATO circles. (And “to my knowledge” there aren’t troops there now, he said.) But Stavridis told Reed that the memory of the long NATO peacekeeping efforts in the Balkans is “in everyone’s mind.”
President Obama boasted about the rapidity with which the U.S. and its allies got involved in Libya. Some defense wonks, like Andrew Exum of the Center for a New American Security, criticized Obama’s team for not exhibiting diligent planning before Operation Odyssey Dawn began. Obama didn’t signal an endgame in his Monday speech, just vowing not to use any ground forces to get there.
That was exactly what President Clinton promised in Bosnia — right before sending 20,000 U.S. soldiers to enforce the 1995 Balkans peace deal. Because of the U.S.’ commitments to NATO and NATO’s commitments to enforcing the peace accord, U.S. peacekeepers ended up staying there for a decade. That history may be weighing on officers in Europe, but the Obama administration doesn’t seem to be so troubled.
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Fidel Castro: NATO’s Fascist War
Radio Cadena Agramonet
March 28, 2011
Reflections by Comrade Fidel Castro: NATO’s Fascist War
You didn’t have to be clairvoyant to foresee what I wrote with great detail in three Reflection Articles I published on the CubaDebate website between February 21 and March 3: “The NATO Plan Is to Occupy Libya,” “The Cynical Danse Macabre,” and “NATO’s Inevitable War”.
Not even the fascist leaders of Germany and Italy were so blatantly shameless regarding the Spanish Civil War unleashed in 1936, an event that maybe a lot of people have been recalling over these past days.
Almost 75 years to the day have passed since then, but nothing that has happened over the last 75 centuries, or even 75 millenniums of human life on our planet can compare.
Sometimes it seems that those of us who serenely voice our opinions on these issues are exaggerating. I dare say that we have actually been naive to assume that we all should be aware of the deception or colossal ignorance that humanity has been dragged into.
In 1936 there was an intense clash between two systems and ideologies of more or less equal military power.
The arms back then seemed more like toys compared with today’s weapons. Humanity’s survival was not threatened despite the destructive power and the locally lethal force deployed. Entire cities and even nations could have been virtually destroyed. But never was the human race, in its totality, at risk of being exterminated several times over for the stupid and suicidal power developed by modern science and technology.
With these current realities in mind, it is embarrassing to read the continuous news reports on the use of powerful laser-guided rockets with 100% accuracy, fighter-bombers that go twice the speed of light, potent explosives that blow apart uranium-hardened metals that have an everlasting effect on the inhabitants and their descendants.
Cuba stated its position regarding the internal situation in Libya at the meeting in Geneva. Without hesitating, Cuba defended the idea of a political solution to the conflict in Libya and was categorically opposed to any foreign military intervention.
In a world where the alliance between the United States and the developed capitalist powers of Europe increasingly take hold of the people’s resources and fruits of their labor, any honest citizen, whatever their standpoint to the government, would be opposed to a foreign military intervention in their country.
But most absurd about the current situation is the fact that before the brutal war broke out in Northern Africa, in another region of the world, nearly 10,000 kilometers away, a nuclear accident had occurred in one of the most populated areas of the world following a tsunami caused by a 9.0 earthquake, which has already cost a hard-working nation like Japan nearly 30 000 lives. Such accident would have not occurred 75 years before.
In Haiti, a poor and underdeveloped country, a nearly 7.0 quake according to the Richter scale, caused over 300 000 deaths, countless people wounded and hundreds of thousands harmed.
However, what was terribly tragic in Japan was the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant, whose consequences are still to be assessed.
I will only recall some of the main stories published by the news agencies:
ANSA.- Fukushima 1 nuclear plant is releasing “extremely high and potentially lethal radiations,” said Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the US nuclear entity.
EFE.- The nuclear threat stemming from the serious situation at a Japanese plant, following the earthquake, has triggered security revisions in atomic plants around the world and has made some countries paralyze their plans.
Reuters.- Japan’s devastating earthquake and deepening nuclear crisis could result in losses of up to $200 billion for Japanese economy, but the global impact remains hard to gauge.
EFE.- The deterioration of one reactor after another at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear center continued to feed fears of a pending nuclear disaster as desperate attempts to control a radioactive leak did nothing to provide even a glimmer of hope.
AFP.- Japan´s Emperor Akihito expressed concern about the unpredictable character of the nuclear crisis hitting Japan following the quake and tsunami that killed thousands of people and left 500 000 homeless. New quake reported in the Tokyo area.
There are reports talking about even more concerning issues.
Some refer to the presence of toxic radioactive iodine in Tokyo’s drinking water, which doubles the tolerable amount that can be consumed by the smallest children in the Japanese capital. One of these reports says that the stocks of bottled water are shrinking in Tokyo, a city located in a prefecture at more than 200 kilometers from Fukushima.
This series of circumstances poses a dramatic situation on our world.
I can express freely my views on the war in Libya.
I do not share political or religious views with the leader of that country. I am a Marxist-Leninist and a follower of Marti, as I have already said.
I see Libya as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and a sovereign state of the nearly 200 members of the United Nations.
Never, a large or small country, in this case with only 5 million inhabitants, was the victim of such a brutal attack by the air force of a militaristic organization with thousands of fighter-bombers, more than 100 submarines, nuclear aircraft carriers, and a sufficient arsenal to destroy the planet many times over. Our species had never encountered this situation and there had been nothing similar 75 years ago, when the Nazi bombers attacked targets in Spain.
Now, however, the criminal and discredited NATO will write a “beautiful” little story about its “humanitarian” bombing.
If Gaddafi honors the traditions of his people and decides to fight to the last breath, as he has promised, together with the Libyans who are facing the worst bombing a country has ever suffered, NATO and its criminal projects will sink into the mire of shame.
The people respect and believe in men who fulfill their duty.
More than 50 years ago, when the United States killed more than a hundred Cubans with the explosion of merchant ship “La Coubre” our people proclaimed “Patria o Muerte.” (Homeland or Death). They have fulfilled this, and have always been determined to keep their word.
“Anyone who tries to seize Cuba,” said the most glorious fighter in our history-“will only gather the dust of her soil soaked in blood.”
I beg you to excuse the frankness with which I address the issue.
Fidel Castro Ruz
28 March 2011
8:14 p.m.
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American UN Envoy: Washington Can Arm Libyan Insurgents
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110329/163270550.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 29, 2011
U.S. may arm Gaddafi rebels
Alexander Stelliferovsky
Moscow: The U.S. administration has not ruled out providing military support and arms supplies to Libyan rebels, ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said on Tuesday.
The U.S. goal is “squeezing Gaddafi’s resources and cutting off his money, his mercenaries, his arms, providing assistance to the rebels and the opposition,” she said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.
Asked whether that could include some military support, Rice said: “We have not made that decision, but we’ve not certainly ruled that out.”
According to some media reports, the U.S. has been looking for a legal framework to allow limited supplies of arms to the rebels if they can prove they need them to defend themselves from attack.
Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for Susan Rice, said on March 25 that UN Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973, imposing tough measures and a no-fly zone on Libya, “read together, neither specify nor preclude such an action.”
A diplomatic official from a coalition member state was quoted by Sky News as saying that the resolution “authorizes all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack.”
Moscow, which abstained from resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, has urged coalition forces to act strictly within the UN mandate and answer directly to the Security Council.
On Saturday Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin said the alliance, now leading the coalition, risked being caught up in a war in Libya similar to the NATO mission in Afghanistan and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
NATO began taking command from the United States of all aerial operations to ensure the no-fly zone and an arms embargo in Libya on Sunday. The transfer of authority will take up to three days and should be completed by Wednesday.
Libyan television has reported that dozens of civilians have been killed and wounded in the strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed. Coalition commanders deny the claims.
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NATO Conducts More Air Strikes West Of Libyan Capital
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/29/48117871.html
Voice of Russia
March 29, 2011
More Coalition airstrikes on Libya
The Western coalition has delivered more airstrikes at targets west of Tripoli. This comes in reports by the Arab TV channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, although they fail to specify the facilities destroyed.
Meanwhile US President Barack Obama rejected, in his address to the nation, the use of force to topple the Gaddafi regime in Libya, but admitted that the coalition did manage to check the advance of Gaddafi troops against the rebels.
Russia said earlier that the West’s interference in Libya’s civil war has gone beyond the framework of the relevant UN Security Council resolution.
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NATO Bombs Libya With Depleted Uranium Warheads
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=275747&Itemid=1
Prensa Latina
March 28, 2011
NATO Bombs Libya with Depleted Uranium Warheads
London: Planes of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched about 45 bombs with depleted uranium warheads in the start of attacks against Libya, an anti-war intellectual activist announced.
David Wilson, an expert of the Stop the War Coalition in Britain, indicated that the enormous bombs, of about 907 kg each, and the missiles launched from allied ships contained the highly harmful radioactive mineral.
This type of armament, with depleted uranium warheads, “is the perfect weapon to kill a lot of people,” he warned, quoting a US expert in physical chemistry.
The radioactive substance, contained in the black dust that emanates to the atmosphere after the explosion, can harm the kidneys and cause lung and bone cancers, skin disorders, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immunodeficiency syndromes and kidney and intestinal diseases.
Who and what are they protecting this time in Libya?, he wondered, as he recalled attacks against Baghdad, after which radiation levels exceeded between 1,000 and 1,900 times normal levels in residential areas, and recalled remarks made by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who referred to the alleged humanitarian NATO mission in Libya “to protect civilians and their residential areas.”
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More Countries Slam NATO Attacks In Libya
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/201103/s3177136.htm
Radio Australia
March 29, 2011
More countries slam NATO action in Libya
US President Barak Obama has defended his decision to involve the US in the Libyan conflict. Ten days after the international community intervened, President Obama used the prime time speech to answer his critics and explain his case. The speech came as Russia and Indonesia called for an immediate ceasefire and Turkey offered to act as mediator.
Correspondent: Karon Snowdon
….
SNOWDON: Public support is the lowest ever for a military intervention by the US, Professor James Fallows from the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney told Mark Colvin.
FALLOWS: If it becomes a matter of the three wars, the US is in, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, then the more that’s the case, then the worse it is politically, for Barack Obama because essentially there is for good reason, there’s no appetite for yet another war in the Muslim world or elsewhere, from the American public.
SNOWDON: Looking to the future, 35 governments and international organisations are meeting in London to try to lay the groundwork for a Libya without Muammar Gaddafi. It’s to be attended by members of the Libyan opposition but no representative from the government.
Speaking in Tripoli, the Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim again accused the international force of being responsible for civilian casualties.
KHALED KAIM: (translation) I would like especially to call upon the American President, Barack Obama, and all the other western leaders to be peace-makers, not war-mongers, and not to push Libyans towards a civil war.
SNOWDON: The international airstrikes have allowed the rebels to push back Libyan forces and have possibly turned the tide in their favour. They’re now eager to take Sirte the hometown of Colonel Gadaffi. If successful, it would be a powerful symbolic defeat that might undermine support for Gadaffi elsewhere.
Support for the NATO strikes though isn’t universal.
Russia and Indonesia are calling for an immedicate ceasefire. Concern over civilian casualties, the level of which is almost impossible to verify, is says Russia, the reason behind its call for a ceasefire.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the mission has gone far beyond the U-N mandate.
LAVROV: (translation) Reports are coming in about strikes being inflicted by coalition aircraft on lines of Gadaffi’s troops – reports about support for the attacks of the armed rebels. There is a need to negotiate, this requires an immediate ceasefire.
SNOWDON: Indonesia too is increasing its efforts for a ceasefire.
The Jakarta Post reports its lobbied Latin American states and India to jointly send a letter to the UN calling for a cease-fire and to promote a political settlement
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa reportedly told the media any violence puts civilians in danger. Attempts to speak to a Foreign ministry spokesman were not successful.
….
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U.S., Britain, France, Germany: NATO Quad Heads Of State Hold Libya Talks
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/us-french-british-germa
n-leaders-hold-libya-talks/articleshow/7812576.cms
Agence France-Presse
March 29, 2011
US, French, British, German leaders hold Libya talks
PARIS: The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and the United States Monday discussed NATO’s takeover of operations in Libya and voiced support for a conference on the country’s future, the French presidency said.
US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke during a video conference that also touched on reforms in Egypt and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the French president’s office said in a statement.
The four leaders discussed “the Libyan situation and the implementation of resolution 1973 the day after the transfer by the United States of the conduct of operations to NATO ,” the statement said.
“They also expressed their support for the conference taking place tomorrow (Tuesday) March 29 in London which should bring together the international community in support of the political transition in Libya,” it said.
The talks also focused on “support for the transition process in Egypt and the need to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian negotiation process,” it said.
More than 35 countries will attend the conference in London on Tuesday to map out a future for Libya.
A spokesman for Cameron’s office said the British leader had told his counterparts that the conference should “strengthen and broaden the coalition of countries committed to implementing the UN resolutions” on Libya.
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U.S. Low-Flying Attack Planes Intervene In Libyan Ground War
Washington Post
March 28, 2011
U.S. deploys low-flying attack planes in Libya
By Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung
-Military officials consider AC-130s and A-10s well suited to attacks in built-up areas, although they…has been criticized as indiscriminate in past wars. The gunships, developed from a Hercules C-130 transport plane for use in Vietnam, have been used in virtually every U.S. military combat operation since then, including Grenada, Panama, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U.S. military dramatically stepped up its assault on Libyan government ground forces this weekend, launching its first attacks with AC-130 flying gunships and A-10 attack aircraft, which are designed to strike enemy ground troops and supply convoys, according to senior U.S. military officials.
Their use, during several days of heavy fighting in which the momentum seemed to swing in favor of the rebels, demonstrated how allied military forces have been drawn deeper into the chaotic fight in Libya. A mission that initially seemed to revolve around establishing a no-fly zone has become focused on halting advances by ground forces in and around Libya’s key coastal cities.
The AC-130s, which fly low and slow over the battlefield and are typically more vulnerable to enemy fire than fast-moving fighter jets, were deployed only after a week of sustained coalition attacks on Libyan government air defenses and radar. Armed with heavy machine guns and cannons that rake the ground, they allow strikes on dug-in Libyan ground forces and convoys in closer proximity to civilians.
Their use in Libya could be “a significant game changer,” said a senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Military officials consider AC-130s and A-10s well suited to attacks in built-up areas, although they pose more risk for pilots and their lethality has been criticized as indiscriminate in past wars. The gunships, developed from a Hercules C-130 transport plane for use in Vietnam, have been used in virtually every U.S. military combat operation since then, including Grenada, Panama, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan.
AC-130s were used to great effect during both of the U.S. attacks into Fallujah…in the early days of the Iraq war. In Afghanistan, the military considers them a particularly effective weapon against dug-in militants and commanders have frequently complained that they are in too short supply.
In Libya, “we are determined to step up the mission, to attack his tanks and [troop] columns every day until he withdraws,” a French official said of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and the forces loyal to him.
The AC-130s, which are flying from a base in Italy, were requested by Gen. Carter Ham, the senior American general overseeing the battle, and are likely to continue flying over Libya in the coming days as allied forces attempt to increase the pressure on Gaddafi’s ground forces….
In response to the rebel advance Gaddafi’s ground troops appear to be digging in and moving tanks into the cities of Zintan and Sirte.
….
Meanwhile, the U.S., Britain and France were making their own preparations for stopping a ground assault by Libyan forces. There was little support within Obama’s national security team for a mission that revolved solely around a no-fly zone seen as likely to do too little….
Pushed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U. N. Ambassador Susan Rice, the administration took control of a British-French draft resolution for a no-fly zone that had been languishing at the U.N., worked with them to strengthen it and began making the case to the rest of the Security Council that stronger action was needed. The resolution passed on March 17, authorizing the use of “all necessary measures” to protect civilians and civilian areas under threat.
….
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NATO Official: Regime Change Is Goal, Even If UN Resolution Doesn’t Say So
Bloomberg News
March 29, 2011
NATO Allies Look to Tripoli to Topple Qaddafi in Libyan Endgame
By Leon Mangasarian
The U.K. and France are banking on Libyans in the capital Tripoli to give them an exit strategy as they try to work out how to topple Muammar Qaddafi.
With the rebels advancing on Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, about 570 kilometers (355 miles) from their Benghazi base, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron are exhorting Libyan officials to undermine the regime from within.
“Ideally, everybody wants the Libyan rebels to topple Qaddafi in Tripoli,” said Florence Gaub, a North Africa expert at the NATO Defense College in Rome. “Regime change is what it’s all about, even if the UN resolution doesn’t say this.”
….
“There are two options: either Qaddafi leaves the country or is killed,” said Mats Berdal, a professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. “And he’s not likely to leave Libya.”
….
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Shadow NATO Member Sweden Offers Eight Warplanes For Libyan War
Associated Press
March 29, 2011
Sweden plans to join Libya no-fly zone with fighter jets, but no ground attacks
-Sweden is not a member of NATO but has contributed ground forces to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
STOCKHOLM: Sweden plans to send up to eight fighter jets to help enforce the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over Libya after receiving a request for assistance from NATO, the prime minister said Tuesday.
….
The Swedish offer also includes a transport plane and 130 personnel and will be made available for three months, Reinfeldt told lawmakers….
Veronika Wand-Danielsson, Sweden’s ambassador to NATO, told AP that alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen made an informal request last week to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt about contributing to the operation.
With a long tradition of neutrality in war, Sweden is not a member of NATO but has contributed ground forces to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
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Canadian Warplanes Join NATO Bombing Frenzy In Libya
Canadian Press
March 28, 2011
Canadian jets bomb second Libyan ammo dump; take greater role in air war
By: Murray Brewster
OTTAWA: Canadian CF-18s flattened an ammunition depot and have co-ordinated other coalition air raids over Libya involving up to 20 warplanes, the military confirmed Monday.
A reinforced bunker, 92 kilometres south of the battered city of Misrata, was hit with 225-kilogram, laser-guided bombs. It was the second ammunition dump taken out by the Canadian air contingent in a week.
Four Hornet jetfighters from 425 Squadron out of Bagotville, Que., took part in the Sunday raid.
….
[Lt.-Col. Chris] Lemay could not provide details about targets hit by other coalition aircraft, only that the missions were planned and co-ordinated by the Canadian air group operating out of Trapani, Italy.
The increased planning responsibility reflects Ottawa’s deeper involvement in the crisis following the appointment Friday of Canadian Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard as the NATO joint task force commander for the Libyan campaign.
There are seven CF-18s deployed as part of the international air effort.
One of two CP-140 maritime surveillance planes which were dispatched last week by the Harper government to enforce the UN arms embargo against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, flew its first long-range patrol mission without incident on Monday.
The military, which had provided daily Ottawa briefings on the Libyan campaign, said it would no longer give regularly scheduled updates on combat operations.
Information on Canada’s involvement in the bombardment of Libya would be dished out on a need-to-know basis, said a Defence Department spokesman, who was authorized to speak on background only.
Routine information would be posted to the department’s web site and intermittent technical briefings would be held only in the event of major developments, the spokesman added.
….
The tightening of information on the war also came as some defence observers, notably retired general Lewis MacKenzie, questioned how the mission is evolving and whether the coalition is exceeding its mandate by attacking Libyan military targets that did not present a direct a threat to civilians.
NATO took formal control of the no-fly zone and the naval arms blockade….
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After Afghan, Iraqi Wars: U.S. To Use Romania Air Base For Libyan War
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/29/c_13802202.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 29, 2011
Romania’s top defense council OKs U.S. aircraft to refuel in territory
BUCHAREST: Romania’s Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT) Monday decided
to allow the refueling on its aerodromes of the U.S. military aircraft used in Libya mission.
According to a press release of Romania’s Presidential administration, the CSAT has favorably replied to Washinton’s request on the basis of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
….
Currently, there are four U.S. military bases in southeastern Romania, including the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base, which has been heavily used by the United States to transport troops and equipment for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A week ago, the same council decided to send a frigate carrying 207 Navy soldiers and officers to help enforce the embargo against Libya in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Joschka Fischer Excoriates Berlin For Not Plunging Into Libyan War
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/03/137_83986.html
Project Syndicate
March 29, 2011
Wrong German foreign policy
By Joschka Fischer
-Like the Balkans, the far shores of the Mediterranean are part of the EU’s immediate security zone.
-Germany seems to be congealing into an introspective provincialism, and that at a time when its potential, its leadership even, are more urgently needed than ever.
BERLIN: German chancellor Angela Merkel likes to navigate politically by line of sight ― and a very short line of sight at that. But when fog clouds your visibility, you’re not an instinctive driver (as seems to be the case here), and you have misplaced your eyeglasses, you place not only yourself at peril, but others as well.
That scenario sums up Germany’s foreign policy on Libya. The ensuing damage for Germany and its international standing is plain to see: never has Germany been more isolated. The country has lost its credibility with the United Nations and in the Middle East; its claim to a permanent seat on the Security Council has just been trashed for good; and one really must fear the worst for Europe.
….
And that will not be forgotten in the region, in the U.N., or among Germany’s friends.
All I can say is that I feel ashamed for this failure of the German government and ― unfortunately ― also for the leaders of the red and green opposition parties who at first applauded this scandalous mistake!
….
I don’t know what Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, could have been thinking. He rightly sided with the Arab freedom movements, then ― when the matter was decided ― traveled to Cairo’s Tahrir Square to receive his applause, and then rightly called for Moammar Gadhafi’s overthrow and his rendition to the International Criminal Court, only to chicken out when it came to the Security Council vote. The rationale has nothing to do with an ethical foreign policy or with German and European interests.
The situation in Libya, we are told, is too dangerous; Germany’s government doesn’t want to get caught on a slippery slope and eventually have to commit ground troops in a civil war. Well, if you’re afraid of slippery slopes, stay out of government, because balancing on all sorts of slippery slopes is what the job is about.
….
Libya is neither Afghanistan nor Iraq. Germany and other European countries went to Afghanistan in solidarity with a NATO partner ― our most important security guarantor, the United States ― after it had been attacked from there on Sept. 11, 2001. And solidarity within NATO ― a term all but shunned these days in official German circles ― is mutual: left to its own devices, Germany could one day wake up in a very precarious situation.
And Libya is certainly not Iraq, either, where the dominant Western power, the U.S., started a war for ideological reasons and against the majority of the Security Council, a war that that had to ― and did ― end in disaster.
If anything, Libya probably should be compared to Bosnia. It looks as if Merkel’s government today has adopted the position of Germany’s Greens back then! But, while the rejection of humanitarian military intervention had an element of tragedy in that case, Germany’s behavior today is pure farce.
Like the Balkans, the far shores of the Mediterranean are part of the EU’s immediate security zone. It is naive to assume that the most populous EU member state could and should keep out of a crisis situation in a region with immediate manifold European and German security interests….
And if you view Germany’s behavior in respect to Libya in connection with its whining and dithering regarding the consequences for Europe of the financial crisis, you can’t but start worrying about the future of both Europe and NATO. Germany seems to be congealing into an introspective provincialism, and that at a time when its potential, its leadership even, are more urgently needed than ever. Unfortunately, you can forget about that.
Joschka Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister and vice-chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader in the German Green Party for almost 20 years.
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NATO’s “International” Partner: UAE Warplanes In Italy For Libya War
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/uae-warplanes-in-sardinia-ahead-of-dispatch-to-libya
The National (United Arab Emirates)
March 29, 2011
UAE warplanes in Sardinia ahead of dispatch to Libya
Haneen Dajani
ABU DHABI: UAE fighter jets due to help patrol the Libyan no-fly zone began arriving in Sardinia on Sunday.
The Emirates pledged six F-16s and six Mirage warplanes to the coalition, although it is not yet known when they will begin flight operations over the North African nation.
The UAE and Qatar are the only Arab countries to join the coalition with warplanes in patrolling the no-fly zone over Libya. The decision to involve UAE aircraft in the coalition was announced last Friday by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
….
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Libya And The “International Community”: Humanitarian Imperialism, Like Colonialism, Will Come To An End
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011328story_28-3-2011_pg3_1
Daily Times
March 28, 2011
EDITORIAL: Libya and the ‘international community’
-We…need to question the term ‘international community’. Basically the term refers to powerful countries of the west led by the US. This term has been used whenever an imperialist intervention has taken place on so-called ‘humanitarian grounds’. The west continues to support autocrats in countries that do not threaten its hegemony, in fact help keep it intact, such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia.
-Ever since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has seen a horizontal expansion of capitalism into the formerly socialist countries and under the rubric of globalisation into the rest of the world. The world’s dominant countries, who like to call themselves the ‘international community’, have set out to re-conquer the world through military means. It started with the Balkans, and via Afghanistan and Iraq, is now being witnessed in Libya. The goal is Pax Americana (global empire).
Finally Pakistan has woken up to the disastrous military intervention by the western forces in Libya. On Saturday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office expressed serious concerns over the foreign forces’ strikes on Libya.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said, “Pakistan’s position is very clear and principled. Everyone should respect a country’s sovereignty.” Mr Bashir said that the UN resolution on Libya was faulty and allowed the west to do “anything”. He further stated, “The prescription of democracy, pluralism and human rights is acceptable but it has to be done as people want and through peaceful means.”
The UN resolution on Libya is indeed faulty and quite vague. The consequences of passing such a resolution can now be seen. Even though it was not mandated in the UN resolution, the west now wants to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The mandate of the resolution was ambiguous. We also need to question the term ‘international community’. Basically the term refers to powerful countries of the west led by the US. This term has been used whenever an imperialist intervention has taken place on so-called ‘humanitarian grounds’. The west continues to support autocrats in countries that do not threaten its hegemony, in fact help keep it intact, such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia. Military dictators in Pakistan were supported by the west till the time that the tide turned against those despots.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has tried to justify this war by saying, “We are beginning to see, because of the good work of the coalition, his [Gaddafi’s] troops begin to turn back toward the west — and to see the opposition begin to reclaim the ground they had lost.”
The US and its allies should know that though their attacks on Gaddafi’s forces and air force have weakened the Libyan forces, there is little possibility that Gaddafi would give up easily.
It is now clear that the west actually set out to effect a regime change in Libya as has been stated by the British and French leaders. How is it justified that if the west does not like a leader, it intervenes militarily to achieve its aims?
This is not the first time such things have happened and is unlikely to be the last. Ever since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has seen a horizontal expansion of capitalism into the formerly socialist countries and under the rubric of globalisation into the rest of the world. The world’s dominant countries, who like to call themselves the ‘international community’, have set out to re-conquer the world through military means. It started with the Balkans, and via Afghanistan and Iraq, is now being witnessed in Libya. The goal is Pax Americana (global empire).
The US is on the decline as an economic power despite the triumphalism of the US after the Cold War ended in 1991. The global recession may not have affected the US’s military power, but it increasingly resembles nothing more than a colossus with feet of clay. Europe, which was seen to be the next world power, has been rendered hollow after the global recession and remains the US’s subservient ally.
Libya is a relatively weak country when it comes to the global powers but this provides no justification for attacking it.
The world today is emerging as a multi-polar world where many countries like China, India, and Brazil are now economically getting stronger. Russia, too, is re-emerging as a global power.
History’s verdict will one day be witness to the fact that like colonialism came to an end, imperialism, whether masquerading as ‘humanitarian’ or otherwise, too will not last forever. The sooner the ‘international community’ comes to terms with this fact, the better all round.
Updates on Libyan war: March 28
====
Libya And The “International Community”: Humanitarian Imperialism, Like Colonialism, Will Come To An End
From U.S. To NATO Command Of Libyan War: Only Name Changes
Latin America On Libyan War: Saving Lives With Bombs Makes No Sense
NATO Runs Libyan War From Headquarters In Italy And Turkey
German Navy Vessels Return To Mediterranean Under NATO Control
French Destroyer Joins U.S. Amphibious Strike Group Off Libya
Bloodbath: NATO Bombs Path For Rebel Advance On Libyan Capital
French Warplanes Destroy Libyan Command Center, Government Soldiers Told To Defect Or Die
NATO Air Strike Wounds Libyan Civilians, Including Children, And Destroys Homes
Russian Foreign Minister: Military Intervention In Libya Not Sanctioned By United Nations Resolution
Russia Slams NATO Attack On Libya
William Blum: Libya And The Holy Triumvirate
NATO Operations: Turkey To Control Benghazi Airport, Blockade Libya
NATO Formally Takes Command Of Libyan War
Air Strikes Expanded Throughout Libya As NATO Takes Command
All-Out Assault: British Missiles Destroy Libyan Depots, Bunkers
1,424 Missions: U.S. Still Main Force In Libyan Strikes – Pentagon
Western Jets Bomb Residential Areas In Southern Libya
After Kosovo, Afghanistan: Dutch F-16s Fly Libyan Sorties
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative: “Soldier Of Fortune” NATO Hands Libyan Oil To Persian Gulf States
NATO Warplanes Launch Fresh Assault On Libyan Capital
US-Led Libyan Ground Assault Planned
Pentagon Chief: “No Idea” How Long Libyan Campaign Will Last
“Odyssey” Nor Bringing “Dawn” To Libya
Libya: NATO Terrorizing, Killing Civilians
Open Letter From Russian Doctors In Libya To The President Of The Russian Federation
Libya Conflict Highlights NATO’s Imperialist Mission
Syria Being Prepared For Libya Scenario
====
Libya And The “International Community”: Humanitarian Imperialism, Like Colonialism, Will Come To An End
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011328story_28-3-2011_pg3_1
Daily Times
March 28, 2011
EDITORIAL: Libya and the ‘international community’
-We…need to question the term ‘international community’. Basically the term refers to powerful countries of the west led by the US. This term has been used whenever an imperialist intervention has taken place on so-called ‘humanitarian grounds’. The west continues to support autocrats in countries that do not threaten its hegemony, in fact help keep it intact, such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia.
-Ever since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has seen a horizontal expansion of capitalism into the formerly socialist countries and under the rubric of globalisation into the rest of the world. The world’s dominant countries, who like to call themselves the ‘international community’, have set out to re-conquer the world through military means. It started with the Balkans, and via Afghanistan and Iraq, is now being witnessed in Libya. The goal is Pax Americana (global empire).
Finally Pakistan has woken up to the disastrous military intervention by the western forces in Libya. On Saturday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office expressed serious concerns over the foreign forces’ strikes on Libya.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said, “Pakistan’s position is very clear and principled. Everyone should respect a country’s sovereignty.” Mr Bashir said that the UN resolution on Libya was faulty and allowed the west to do “anything”. He further stated, “The prescription of democracy, pluralism and human rights is acceptable but it has to be done as people want and through peaceful means.”
The UN resolution on Libya is indeed faulty and quite vague. The consequences of passing such a resolution can now be seen. Even though it was not mandated in the UN resolution, the west now wants to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The mandate of the resolution was ambiguous. We also need to question the term ‘international community’. Basically the term refers to powerful countries of the west led by the US. This term has been used whenever an imperialist intervention has taken place on so-called ‘humanitarian grounds’. The west continues to support autocrats in countries that do not threaten its hegemony, in fact help keep it intact, such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia. Military dictators in Pakistan were supported by the west till the time that the tide turned against those despots.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has tried to justify this war by saying, “We are beginning to see, because of the good work of the coalition, his [Gaddafi’s] troops begin to turn back toward the west — and to see the opposition begin to reclaim the ground they had lost.”
The US and its allies should know that though their attacks on Gaddafi’s forces and air force have weakened the Libyan forces, there is little possibility that Gaddafi would give up easily.
It is now clear that the west actually set out to effect a regime change in Libya as has been stated by the British and French leaders. How is it justified that if the west does not like a leader, it intervenes militarily to achieve its aims?
This is not the first time such things have happened and is unlikely to be the last. Ever since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has seen a horizontal expansion of capitalism into the formerly socialist countries and under the rubric of globalisation into the rest of the world. The world’s dominant countries, who like to call themselves the ‘international community’, have set out to re-conquer the world through military means. It started with the Balkans, and via Afghanistan and Iraq, is now being witnessed in Libya. The goal is Pax Americana (global empire).
The US is on the decline as an economic power despite the triumphalism of the US after the Cold War ended in 1991. The global recession may not have affected the US’s military power, but it increasingly resembles nothing more than a colossus with feet of clay. Europe, which was seen to be the next world power, has been rendered hollow after the global recession and remains the US’s subservient ally.
Libya is a relatively weak country when it comes to the global powers but this provides no justification for attacking it.
The world today is emerging as a multi-polar world where many countries like China, India, and Brazil are now economically getting stronger. Russia, too, is re-emerging as a global power.
History’s verdict will one day be witness to the fact that like colonialism came to an end, imperialism, whether masquerading as ‘humanitarian’ or otherwise, too will not last forever. The sooner the ‘international community’ comes to terms with this fact, the better all round.
====
From U.S. To NATO Command Of Libyan War: Only Name Changes
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/28/c_13801887.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
From U.S. to NATO: a name change game
-“[E]ven if it does hand over the command, it will still back the military operations. U.S. cruise missiles, submarines, destroyers and aircraft carriers will continue to provide military support.”
BEIJING: NATO member states decided on Sunday to take over full command of the military operations against Libya from the United States, a move many believe does not change the dominant role of the United States since NATO is a U.S.-led military alliance.
The attitude change of the United States, rare in its diplomatic and military history, is only a name change game designed to ease its increasing pressure domestically and internationally.
….
However, if Washington actively directed and participated in the military action against Libya, Obama might be regarded as a pro-war president. As Obama has vowed to win his re-election, he has to be cautious.
….
Meanwhile, many countries said they opposed West-led operations against Libya in the name of enforcing the UN resolution, calling on countries involved to hand power back to the Libyan people.
Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, who used to support the creation of a no-fly zone, said the military operation has overstepped the UN resolution.
Under these circumstances, Obama’s decision to transfer command to NATO was to shift domestic attention and shake off his political predicament, media reported.
LEADER POSITION TO CONTINUE
Although the United States is handing over command of the military intervention against Libya to NATO, its influence and leadership will likely continue. Analysts said since NATO is a U.S.-led military alliance, the United States would maintain its leadership position in military operations against Libya even after it hands command off to NATO.
Brian Becker, national director of the ANSWER coalition, an anti-war umbrella group, said during its protest outside the White House Saturday that transferring command to NATO is merely self-deception.
“That’s a fraud,” said Becker. “When the U.S. hands the mission to NATO, it’s handing the mission over to itself.” He said NATO has been a U.S.-led military bloc since it was formed.
The U.S.’s intention is only camouflaged by its effort to shift command to NATO. On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN the alliance would take over the command of enforcing the no-fly zone “in a couple of days” from the United States, and NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, would assume overall command of the mission.
Stavridis is a United States Navy four-star admiral who also serves as the current commander of U.S. European Command.
Handing over command to another party doesn’t change the nature of U.S.’s role in the joint military intervention against Libya, Gao Zugui, director of the Institute of World Politics of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations said.
“Because even if it does hand over the command, it will still back the military operations. U.S. cruise missiles, submarines, destroyers and aircraft carriers will continue to provide military support,” he added.
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Latin America On Libyan War: Saving Lives With Bombs Makes No Sense
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14944709,00.html
Deutsche Welle
March 28, 2011
‘Saving lives with bombs makes no sense’
-“Countries with a past of being colonized have another view of the world than Europeans. I don’t consider the positioning of Latin America with regards to Libya as a strategic distancing from the United States but I do think that the Latin American countries discern the possibility that the military operation will culminate in the invasion and occupation of Libyan territory.”
The majority of Latin American countries do not agree with the legitimacy or practicality of foreign military intervention in Libya. Two German experts, Günther Maihold and Manuel Paulus, explain why.
Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin was expected to explain to the country’s congress on Tuesday why the country had voted in favor of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorizes, among other things, the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya.
Deputies from the ruling party support the position of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, which is to back the majority of NATO and European Union nations in supporting the intervention.
However, the opposition has complained that backing the action contradicts the stance that most countries in the region are taking. Though Peru has broken off relations with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, that course of action has not been typical.
No: the prevailing response
Of the diplomatic voices coming out of Latin America, most are demanding a ceasefire and dialogue – disapproving of both the legitimacy and the practicality of Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya. “The idea of saving lives with bombs doesn’t make any sense,” said Uruguayan President Jose Mujica.
Brazil, the only other country with a voice and vote as a temporary member of the UN Security Council, refused to support Resolution 1973.
Günther Maihold, deputy director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and Manuel Paulus, a political scientist from the University of Rostock, are united in identifying the main motive behind the condemnation from Latin America against the creation of a united front against Gadhafi.
A matter of principle
“The determining factor is the perception that this military operation is an act of aggression against Libyan sovereignty, like a foreign intervention into a country afflicted by civil war. This violates one of the fundamental principles of the external politics of Latin American countries, that of not meddling in the internal affairs of their neighbors,” said Maihold.
Paulus agreed, adding that there was another element.
“Brazil is trying to establish a multi-polar world order in which Washington does not play the principal role. Its position and that of its neighbors can only be described as a consequence of this,” said Paulus, adding that the policy of Latin American countries in relation to Libya cannot be explained solely from the point of view of its ambivalent relationship with the United States or Europe.
“Countries with a past of being colonized have another view of the world than Europeans. I don’t consider the positioning of Latin America with regards to Libya as a strategic distancing from the United States but I do think that the Latin American countries discern the possibility that the military operation will culminate in the invasion and occupation of Libyan territory,” said Paulus.
“They compare that scenario with the experiences of their own countries,” he continued. “It is fitting to ask if the past political and military excesses of the United States and Europe, as colonizers, as those acting in their own interests, as champions of ideological and economic systems, have weakened their credibility as protectors of the Libyan people.”
The burdens of the past
….
According to Maihold, the colonial and post-colonial traumas of Latin America continue to be “important rallying points of identity that influence analysis of current events.”
….
Author: Evan Romero-Castillo / rc
Editor: Rob Mudge
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NATO Runs Libyan War From Headquarters In Italy And Turkey
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/29/c_13802176.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
NATO command of Libya mission is based in Naples
ROME: NATO decided Monday to run the Libya mission, including enforcing a no-fly zone over the country, in Naples, Italy, under the command of Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard.
The alliance also said the operations had a secondary base in Izmir, Turkey.
Naples, around 200 km southeast of Rome, used to be the base for enforcing an arms embargo against Libya.
The latest development signified a significant increase of Italy’s involvement in the conflict.
Italy has strong historical, political, and commercial ties with Libya. The two countries reached a bilateral “friendship treaty” a month ago, excluding military action against each other. However, with the evolution of the situation in Libya, the Italian leadership declared the document null and void.
….
Bouchard was selected to head the operation codenamed “Unified Protector” on Friday before NATO members agreed on the transfer of command from the United States. The transition is expected to be completed no later than Wednesday.
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German Navy Vessels Return To Mediterranean Under NATO Control
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 28, 2011
German navy ships in Mediterranean return to NATO control
Berlin: Two German navy vessels in the Mediterranean are to be placed back under NATO command, a week after the military alliance became involved in the Libya conflict, a defence ministry spokesman said in Berlin Monday.
But the warships will not be available for the NATO military campaign to deny airspace and arms supplies to Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, the spokesman told the German Press Agency dpa.
The frigate Luebeck and the minesweeper will instead be deployed ‘soon’ with Active Endeavour, a NATO operation….
Germany upset its allies this month by abstaining when the UN Security Council ordered a no-fly zone to stop bloodshed by Gaddafi.
Germany then withdrew its warships from the NATO force, which is led by France, Britain and the United States. One task of the NATO force off the Libyan coast is preventing Gaddafi from shipping in arms.
Surveys show the German public, which tends to be pacifist, approved of Berlin’s efforts to keep its distance from the Libyan conflict, but senior politicians and think-tank officials in Berlin called the break in alliance ranks a blunder.
….
A third navy vessel, the Oker, a supply ship, is in the Mediterranean but will remain under direct command from Berlin. A frigate, the Hamburg, has left the Mediterranean to return to its home base in Wilhelmshaven.
====
French Destroyer Joins U.S. Amphibious Strike Group Off Libya
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=6343&lang=0
U.S. Africa Command
March 28, 2011
French Destroyer Forbin Joins Kearsarge ESG
By Petty Officer 1st Class Phil Beaufort
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn Public Affairs
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Commander Jean-Mathieu Rey, commanding officer of the French ship FS Forbin (D 620), and several crew members made a visit to the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) while off the coast of Libya March 26, 2011.
The French ship joined Joint Task Force (JTF) Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector last week after recently completing a four-month deployment to the Arabian Gulf.
….
Captain Dan Shaffer, commander of the Destroyer Squadron 60, currently embarked aboard Kearsarge, said the destroyer Forbin has been working with air controllers on Kearsarge to help control the air space in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
….
According to Commander of Expeditionary Strike Group Five, Rear Admiral Peg Klein, the combined staffs were able to accomplish a lot in a short visit.
….
With its advanced anti-air capability and well trained crew, Klein added that Forbin is a real asset to the mission.
….
Captain Peter Pagano, commander of Amphibious Squadron Four, said that the entire JTF is benefiting from working with foreign military services.
….
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces….JTF Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel L. Locklear, III.
====
Bloodbath: NATO Bombs Path For Rebel Advance On Libyan Capital
http://rt.com/news/libya-opposition-nato-interference/
RT
March 28, 2011
Fighting moves to Libya’s center, NATO accused of taking sides
Armed conflict between Gaddafi’s troops and Libyan rebels has moved away from the sea coast into the central part of the country. Meanwhile, Russia has said NATO’s actions contradict the UN resolution and called them interference in a civil war.
There are conflicting reports on whether the opposition forces have captured the city of Sirt, which holds a special symbolic value as Gaddafi’s hometown.
On Monday, state television reported coalition planes had bombed the city of Sabha in central Libya at dawn, killing several civilians. British air force warplanes have also destroyed ammunition depots used by Gaddafi’s forces.
The situation in the capital Tripoli remains dire as medical supplies as well as food, water and fuel continue to dwindle.
“We have been told that in just a matter of days the city will completely have run out of water,” said RT’s correspondent Paula Slier who is in Tripoli.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered NATO’s approval of a “no-fly plus” plan and their consequent actions interference in a Libyan civil war.
NATO took the lead in the military operation in Libya, approving a so-called “no-fly plus” plan that will make the alliance responsible for protecting civilians as well as enforcing a no-fly zone and an arms embargo on Sunday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned reports about the coalition’s air strikes on Gaddafi’s troops and reports about NATO’s support of the rebels’ offensive.
“There is a clear contradiction here. We believe that interference of the coalition in the internal – as a matter of fact – civil war, has not been sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution,” said Lavrov.
Lavrov stressed again that the sole aim of the resolution was the implementation of a no-fly zone for the protection of the civilian population – a goal that NATO claims to support.
….
As NATO proceeds with the transfer of control over the mission, its first planes took to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya on Sunday evening.
“Yesterday NATO aircraft flew the first no-fly zone enforcement over Libya,” said General Charles Bouchard, who is in charge of the operation called “Unified Protector”.
Cashing in on military success
Rebels have been able to make a dramatic advance in recent days, regaining control of such key strategic points as the town of Ras-Lanouf, Marsa-el-Brega, and Ajdabiya.
The progress has been possible due to the no-fly zone established by international forces, which seriously damaged Gaddafi’s air defenses and batteries.
With crucial oil ports now in the hands of the opposition, its representatives said they were producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day with plans to increase that amount to up to 300,000 a day.
According to AFP, the rebels have also promised to begin exporting oil “in less than a week.” They also announced that they have signed an oil export agreement with Qatar – the only Arab country known to have actively participated in the military operation in Libya.
Qatar has agreed to sell Libya’s oil on international markets, channeling the money back into the opposition’s accounts.
Since the beginning of military action in Libya, oil production has decreased to three times normal. Oil exports were practically paralyzed as world banks refused to accept any payments for Libyan oil in US dollars due to international sanctions.
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French Warplanes Destroy Libyan Command Center, Government Soldiers Told To Defect Or Die
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110328/163252709.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 28, 2011
French warplanes destroy Gaddafi’s command center
Paris: French military planes have destroyed the command center of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, spokesman for the French Armed forces Thierry Burkhard said on Monday.
NATO took over command of the coalition military intervention in Libya from the United States on Sunday. The mission is trying to ensure a no-fly zone and arms embargo over the country.
The strikes, conducted by two French Rafale fighter patrols, struck the center, located 10 kilometers from Tripoli, on Sunday.
No further strikes were conducted by French forces on Monday, Burkhard said.
Earlier on Monday, France and Britain urged Gaddafi’s supporters to “defect before it is too late.”
The rebel army, which has been fighting pro-Gaddafi forces since mid-February, has made rapid advancements into the west of Libya since the coalition mission began.
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NATO Air Strike Wounds Libyan Civilians, Including Children, And Destroys Homes
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1851537.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 28, 2011
Report: Civilians injured in coalition airstrike in Libya
A number of civilians were wounded in a coalition airstrike early Monday on a weapons depot in the south-west city of Jabal al-Sabha, dpa reported according Libyan sources.
The opposition Libya al-Youm said the proximity of the airstrike to stores and residential areas caused a number of injuries to civilians and destroyed several homes.
There were no numbers given for how many people were injured, but no deaths were reported.
According to the Libyan state-run JANA news agency, children were among the wounded.
NATO ambassadors decided late Sunday to take over control of all UN-mandated military operations in Libya, including any airstrikes aimed at protecting civilians from the embattled leader’s troops.
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Russian Foreign Minister: Military Intervention In Libya Not Sanctioned By United Nations Resolution
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16094253&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 28, 2011
UN Res 1973 not sanction interference in civil war in Libya – FM
“We believe that the interference of the coalition into the internal, civil war in Libya has not been sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution,” Lavrov said.
At the same time, the minister stressed, “The protection of civilians in Libya is our priority.”
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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110328/163245789.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 28, 2011
Intervention in Libya at odds with UN resolution – Russia’s Lavrov
Topic: International sanctions against Gaddafi regime
Moscow: The military intervention by the Western-led coalition force in Libya’s civil war is out of tune with the relevant UN Security Council resolution, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
“We believe that the coalition’s intervention in the civil war [in Libya] has not, essentially, been sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution,” said, adding its only purpose “is to ensure the protection of the civilian population.”
“This resolution contains no other goals,” he said.
Russia abstained from the Security Council vote.
On Sunday, NATO began taking command of all aerial operations in Libya from the US-led force. The transfer of authority will take up to three days.
Russia abstained from a UN Security Council resolution adopted on March 17 imposing a no-fly zone over Libya….
Western-led military strikes against Gaddafi, whose forces have been attacking rebels in the east of the North African country since mid-February, began last Saturday.
Libyan television has reported that at least 100 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in the strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed….
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Russia Slams NATO Attack On Libya
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Node=B1&Id=1584701
RTT News
March 28, 2011
Russia Slams NATO Attack On Libya
Russia has criticized NATO’s military intervention in Libya, which it said was not in conformity with the U.N. resolution that authorized no-fly zones.
Responding to questions at a joint news conference along with his visiting Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbayev in Moscow on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “We believe that the coalition’s intervention in the civil war [in Libya] has not, essentially, been sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution.
“This resolution contains no other goals than to ensure the protection of the civilian population,” he added. He made Moscow’s stand on the Western-led coalition force’s aerial strikes in the north African country clear by saying that “the interference of the coalition into the internal, civil war in Libya has not been sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution.”
He reminded that the “protection of civilians in Libya is our priority.”
A UNSC resolution, passed on March 17, decided to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilians from aerial bombings and authorized any military action needed to implement such a ban, short of an occupation.
Despite having veto power, Russia abstained from voting along with China, Brazil, India and Germany, while rest of the 15-member Council voted in favor of the measure.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin went to the extent of comparing the resolution to “medieval calls for crusades.”
After a week of joint air strikes by American, British and French forces to enforce the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over strife-torn Libya, NATO agreed at the weekend to take over the command and control of the military operations.
President Barack Obama is set to address the nation on Monday night that will answer questions over the objectives of U.S. military mission in Libya.
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William Blum: Libya And The Holy Triumvirate
http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html
March 28th, 2011
The Anti-Empire Report
by William Blum
Libya and The Holy Triumvirate
The words they find it very difficult to say — “civil war”.
Libya is engaged in a civil war. The United States and the European Union and NATO — The Holy Triumvirate — are intervening, bloodily, in a civil war. To overthrow Moammar Gaddafi. First The Holy Triumvirate spoke only of imposing a no-fly zone. After getting support from international bodies on that understanding they immediately began to wage war against Libyan military forces, and whoever was nearby, on a daily basis. In the world of commerce this is called “bait and switch”.
Gaddafi’s crime? He was never respectful enough of The Holy Triumvirate, which recognizes no higher power, and maneuvers the United Nations for its own purposes, depending on China and Russia to be as spineless and hypocritical as Barack Obama. The man the Triumvirate allows to replace Gaddafi will be more respectful.
So who are the good guys? The Libyan rebels, we’re told. The ones who go around murdering and raping African blacks on the supposition that they’re all mercenaries for Gaddafi. One or more of the victims may indeed have been members of a Libyan government military battalion; or may not have been. During the 1990s, in the name of pan-African unity, Gaddafi opened the borders to tens of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans to live and work in Libya. That, along with his earlier pan-Arab vision, did not win him points with The Holy Triumvirate. Corporate bosses have the same problem about their employees forming unions. Oh, and did I mention that Gaddafi is strongly anti-Zionist?
Does anyone know what kind of government the rebels would create? The Triumvirate has no idea. To what extent will the new government embody an Islamic influence as opposed to the present secular government? What jihadi forces might they unleash? (And these forces do indeed exist in eastern Libya, where the rebels are concentrated.) Will they do away with much of the welfare state that Gaddafi used his oil money to create? Will the state-dominated economy be privatized? Who will wind up owning Libya’s oil? Will the new regime continue to invest Libyan oil revenues in sub-Saharan African development projects? Will they allow a US military base and NATO exercises? Will we find out before long that the “rebels” were instigated and armed by Holy Triumvirate intelligence services?
In the 1990s, Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia was guilty of “crimes” similar to Gaddafi’s. His country was commonly referred to as “the last communists of Europe”. The Holy Triumvirate bombed him, arrested him, and let him die in prison. The Libyan government, it should be noted, refers to itself as the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. American foreign policy is never far removed from the Cold War.
We must look closely at the no-fly zone set up for Iraq by the US and the UK (falsely claimed by them as being authorized by the United Nations) beginning in the early 1990s and lasting more than a decade. It was in actuality a license for very frequent bombing and killing of Iraqi citizens; softening up the country for the coming invasion. The no-fly zone-cum invasion force in Libya is killing people every day with no end in sight, softening up the country for regime change. Who in the universe can stand up to The Holy Triumvirate? Has the entire history of the world ever seen such power and such arrogance?
And by the way, for the 10th time, Gaddafi did not carry out the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 in 1988.1 Please enlighten your favorite progressive writers on this.
Barack “I’d kill for a peace prize” Obama
Is anyone keeping count?
I am. Libya makes six.
Six countries that Barack H. Obama has waged war against in his 26 months in office. (To anyone who disputes that dropping bombs on a populated land is act of war, I would ask what they think of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.)
America’s first black president now invades Africa.
Is there anyone left who still thinks that Barack Obama is some kind of improvement over George W. Bush?
Probably two types still think so. 1) Those to whom color matters a lot; 2) Those who are very impressed by the ability to put together grammatically correct sentences.
It certainly can’t have much otherwise to do with intellect or intelligence. Obama has said numerous things, which if uttered by Bush would have inspired lots of rolled eyeballs, snickers, and chuckling reports in the columns and broadcasts of mainstream media. Like the one the president has repeated on a number of occasions when pressed to investigate Bush and Cheney for war crimes, along the lines of “I prefer to look forward rather than backwards”. Picture a defendant before a judge asking to be found innocent on such grounds. It simply makes laws, law enforcement, crime, justice, and facts irrelevant.
There’s also the excuse given by Obama to not prosecute those engaged in torture: because they were following orders. Has this “educated” man never heard of the Nuremberg Trials, where this defense was summarily rejected? Forever, it was assumed.
Just 18 days before the Gulf oil spill Obama said: “It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced.” (Washington Post, May 27, 2010) Picture George W. having said this, and the later reaction.
“All the forces that we’re seeing at work in Egypt are forces that naturally should be aligned with us, should be aligned with Israel,” Obama said in early March.2 Imagine if Bush had implied this — that the Arab protesters in Egypt against a man receiving billions in US aid including the means to repress and torture them, should “naturally” be aligned with the United States and — God help us — Israel.
A week later, on March 10, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a forum in Cambridge, Mass. that Wikileaks hero Bradley Manning’s treatment by the Defense Department in a Marine prison was “ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.” The next day our “brainy” president was asked about Crowley’s comment. Replied the Great Black Hope: “I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are.”
Right, George. I mean Barack. Bush should have asked Donald Rumsfeld whether anyone in US custody was being tortured anywhere in the world. He could then have held a news conference like Obama did to announce the happy news — “No torture by America!” We would still be chortling at that one.
Obama closed his remark with: “I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Pvt. Manning’s safety as well.” 3
Ah yes, of course, Manning is being tortured for his own good. Someone please remind me — Did Georgieboy ever stoop to using that particular absurdity to excuse prisoner hell at Guantanamo?
Is it that Barack Obama is not bothered by the insult to Bradley Manning’s human rights, the daily wearing away of this brave young man’s mental stability?
The answer to the question is No. The president is not bothered by these things.
How do I know? Because Barack Obama is not bothered by anything as long as he can exult in being the president of the United States, eat his hamburgers, and play his basketball. Let me repeat once again what I first wrote in May 2009:
The problem, I’m increasingly afraid, is that the man doesn’t really believe strongly in anything, certainly not in controversial areas. He learned a long time ago how to take positions that avoid controversy, how to express opinions without clearly taking sides, how to talk eloquently without actually saying anything, how to leave his listeners’ heads filled with stirring clichés, platitudes, and slogans. And it worked. Oh how it worked! What could happen now, having reached the presidency of the United States, to induce him to change his style?
Remember that in his own book, “The Audacity of Hope”, Obama wrote: “I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
Obama is a product of marketing. He is the prime example of the product “As seen on TV”.
Writer Sam Smith recently wrote that Obama is the most conservative Democratic president we’ve ever had. “In an earlier time, there would have been a name for him: Republican.”
Indeed, if John McCain had won the 2008 election, and then done everything that Obama has done in exactly the same way, liberals would be raging about such awful policies.
I believe that Barack Obama is one of the worst things that has ever happened to the American left. The millions of young people who jubilantly supported him in 2008, and numerous older supporters, will need a long recovery period before they’re ready to once again offer their idealism and their passion on the alter of political activism.
If you don’t like how things have turned out, next time find out exactly what your candidate means when he talks of “change”.
….
1. killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm ↩
2. March 4, 2011, Democratic Party function, Miami, FL, CQ Transcriptions
3. Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2011
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NATO Operations: Turkey To Control Benghazi Airport, Blockade Libya
Hurriyet Daily News
March 28, 2011
Turkey to assume control of Benghazi airport in Libya
-Turkey is now taking a critical role in NATO operations in Libya, pledging five vessels and one submarine to a NATO patrol mission to enforce a U.N. arms embargo against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.
Additionally, Turkey’s NATO base in the Aegean province of İzmir was selected as the center for operations monitoring the no-fly zone in Libya….
ANKARA: Turkey is assuming control of the Benghazi airport, and sending naval forces to patrol the corridor between the rebel-held city and Crete, as it prepares to join a London meeting on the international response to Libya.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday that Turkey would take control of the airport in order to coordinate humanitarian assistance to the crisis-hit North African country as part of the multinational task force now under NATO command.
“Turkey said ‘yes’ to three tasks within NATO: the takeover of Benghazi airport for the delivery of humanitarian aid, the task about control of the air corridor and the involvement of Turkish naval forces in the corridor between Benghazi and Crete,” Erdoğan told a news conference at Ankara’s Esenboğa airport before departing for neighboring Iraq.
NATO member states reached a consensus last week about leading Libya operations under the alliance’s command. The Turkish Parliament passed a motion Thursday authorizing the country’s military to participate in the international force in Libya and the government to make a “multi-dimensional contribution.”
….
Turkey will be represented in an international conference about Libya set to be held Tuesday in London. Erdoğan said Turkey’s insistence on ensuring broad-based participation in the summit was acknowledged. “Thus NATO will not be left alone in Libya,” he said.
….
The meeting is expected to establish a contact group of nations. Though it is not yet clear if Turkey will join this grouping, a Turkish diplomat said such mechanisms are sometimes useful – as in the case of Kosovo – and that Ankara would evaluate the situation if it were asked to participate.
Once-reluctant Turkey is now taking a critical role in NATO operations in Libya, pledging five vessels and one submarine to a NATO patrol mission to enforce a U.N. arms embargo against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.
Additionally, Turkey’s NATO base in the Aegean province of İzmir was selected as the center for operations monitoring the no-fly zone in Libya following the lifting of Turkey’s previous opposition to any kind of NATO involvement in the North African country.
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NATO Formally Takes Command Of Libyan War
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/28/c_13800624.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
NATO decides to take full command of Libya mission
-A NATO official said that ambassadors approved on Sunday the airstrike plans against Libyan ground forces…broadening the alliance’s previous role of enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo.
BRUSSELS: NATO’s top decision-making body decided on Sunday to implement all aspects of the UN resolution on Libya, thus paving the way for the alliance to take over full command of the military operations against Libya from the United States.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced following a special session of NATO ambassadors that “NATO allies have decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya under the United Nations Security Council resolution.”
….
“We will be acting in close coordination with our international and regional partners to protect the people of Libya,” Rasmussen said, adding NATO’s operations will be implemented “with immediate effect.”
“This is a very significant step, which proves NATO’s capability to take decisive action,” Rasmussen said.
A NATO official said that ambassadors approved on Sunday the airstrike plans against Libyan ground forces…broadening the alliance’s previous role of enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo.
The latest decision will pave the way for NATO to assume full command of Libya operations from the United States next week, as the latter has been eager to step back and in favor of NATO to take the reins.
….
Britain will host an international conference on Libya in London on Tuesday, which is expected to set “the wide political guidance” for the military operation as NATO takes the full military command.
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Air Strikes Expanded Throughout Libya As NATO Takes Command
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/28/c_13801909.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
Air strikes go on over Libya, NATO in command
TRIPOLI: Western-led coalition forces Sunday continued their air strikes on Libyan government forces after NATO decided to take full command of the Libya air campaign, as rebels reportedly retook control of a key oil exporting terminal.
Explosions were heard in the capital and both civilian and military targets were hit by the “colonialist aggressors,” Libya’s state TV reported.
Explosions occurred near the Gaser Ben Ghasher region, some 30 km south of the capital, and plumes of heavy smoke and flames were seen rising from the area. A road leading to the international airport and a neighborhood in Tripoli reportedly were among the areas hit by the coalition forces.
Libya’s state TV also said Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte city was also struck by the coalition forces Sunday night.
The city was under attack by Western warplanes Saturday night and many targets were destroyed.
French media reported that French fighter jets on Sunday launched attacks on Libyan armored vehicles and a military arsenal in the Misrata and Zintan regions.
So far, at least 114 Libyans have been killed and 445 others wounded since the air strikes began on March 19, according to Libyan health authorities.
Earlier on Sunday, Libyan rebels reportedly recaptured the major oil exporting terminal of Ras Lanuf and the town of Bin Jawad, 525 km east of Tripoli.
….
Ambassadors from 28 NATO member countries held a special meeting in Brussels on Sunday and decided to implement all aspects of the UN resolution on Libya, paving the way for NATO to take over full command of the military operation against Libya from the United States.
“NATO allies have decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya under the United Nations Security Council resolution,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced after the meeting.
….
“This is a very significant step, which proves NATO’s capability to take decisive action,” Rasmussen stressed.
The air raids against Libyan forces by NATO…have broadened the alliance’s previous role of enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo.
….
[Italian Foreign Minister Franco] Frattini stressed that Italy wanted all military interventions in Libya under one single command, and said the country was against the so-called “coalition of the willing” sponsored by France.
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All-Out Assault: British Missiles Destroy Libyan Depots, Bunkers
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 28, 2011
Britain says fighter planes destroy Gaddafi ammunition dumps
London: Ammunition dumps and bunkers used by the forces of Libya’s Moamer Gaddafi have been destroyed in airstrikes flown by Britain’s Royal Air Force, the Ministry of Defence in London said Monday.
A spokesman said the ammunition held in the bunkers in the Sabha desert in southern Libya were designated for use in attacks on the cities of Misurata and other targets in northern Libya.
Major General John Lorimer said the fighter aircraft used Storm Shadow missiles to destroy the dumps following armed reconnaissance sorties over Libya over the weekend.
‘Initial reports suggest that the bunkers have been destroyed and that the Libyan government has been denied ammunition…,’ said Lorimer.
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1,424 Missions: U.S. Still Main Force In Libyan Strikes – Pentagon
Agence France-Presse
March 28, 2011
US still main force in anti-Libya strikes: Pentagon
WASHINGTON: The United States has undertaken the lion’s share of coalition military sorties against Libya late Saturday and Sunday, despite NATO formally taking command of operations, Pentagon figures showed.
Of 167 sorties flown between 1930 GMT Saturday and 1500 GMT Sunday, more than half – some 97 – used US aircraft, the US Defense Department said.
That figure is only slightly less than the 62 percent of sorties flown by the US planes since Operation Odyssey Dawn got underway on March 19.
The latest Pentagon figures showed some 1,424 missions conducted during the operation so far as it imposes a United Nations Security Council-mandated no-fly zone over Libya.
The international coalition enforcing the no-fly zone, headed by the United States, Britain and France, has struck Kadhafi’s defense and air capabilities….
As rebels pushed towards Tripoli after nine days of Western bombings on Kadhafi forces, NATO ambassadors overcame objections from Turkey and France after days of tense talks and agreed to take control of the campaign.
….
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Western Jets Bomb Residential Areas In Southern Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/28/48082397.html
Voice of Russia
March 28, 2011
Coalition jets strike Sabha in southern Libya.
Western coalition forces on Monday delivered an air strike upon the city of Sabha in southern Libya.
Libyan information agency JANA says residential areas were bombed, resulting in civilian casualties and destruction.
Planes of the coalition that includes the US, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Canada are bombing installations of the Libyan government forces in order to stop Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from delivering blows against the rebels.
….
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After Kosovo, Afghanistan: Dutch F-16s Fly Libyan Sorties
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-f-16s-operational-over-libya
Radio Netherlands
March 28, 2011
Dutch F-16s operational over Libya
-“We are ready. The first mission has got to go well. Our group consists of experienced people who served in Afghanistan and Kosovo. They know what to do.”
Dutch newspapers AD and de Volkskrant report today that the four Dutch F-16s stationed on the Italian island of Sardinia will fly their first mission on Monday.
The four jet fighters are part of the mission…enforcing a UN no-fly zone over Libya.
The 150 Dutch military personnel and pilots now stationed at the Decimomannu airbase on Sardinia have spent the past few days settling in and making test flights. For the time being, the Dutch planes will not take part in any action against ground forces.
The commander of the Dutch mission, Johan van Deventer, says: “We are ready. The first mission has got to go well. Our group consists of experienced people who served in Afghanistan and Kosovo. They know what to do.”
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Istanbul Cooperation Initiative: “Soldier Of Fortune” NATO Hands Libyan Oil To Persian Gulf States
http://abc.az/eng/news/main/52557.html
Azerbaijan Business Center
Match 28, 2011
NATO conquered from Gaddafi control over Libyan oil for Qatar
Baku: NATO’s operation, worth about $300-500 million a day, on sweeping the sky over Libya opens a new historical era: the beginning of colonial conquests by the Persian Gulf states. At the same time NATO acts as a “soldier of fortune” – a professional mercenary, ensuring colonial conquest itself.
The defeat of Colonel Qaddafi’s ground forces by NATO aviation has opened possibilities for the opposition for restoration of oil exports from Libya. As a result, according to a representative on the economy and oil of the “transitional government” of the opposition, Ali Tarkhuni, the opposition has already reached an agreement on oil exports under the supervision of Qatar.
“We have agreed with Qatar, and our next shipment will be carried out in less than a week,” Tarkhuni said.
The opposition controls the production of 100,000-130,000 barrels of oil a day and is ready to raise production up to 300,000 bpd. This amounts to only a fifth of production in the country prior to anti-government protests (1.5 million bpd).
Nevertheless, for the first time in history control over the “opposition” export has been transferred not to traditional “monsters” like BP and RD Shell, but to “humble” Qatar, which is using the channel Al Jazeera, which has contributed a lot to the start of anti-government protests in the Arab world and Libya.
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20110328/163247336.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 28, 2011
Qatar becomes first Arab country to recognize Libyan National Council
Cairo: Qatar has officially recognized the Libyan National Council as the only legitimate governing body in the North African country, becoming the first Arab country to do so, the Qatar News Agency said on Monday.
“The council, which includes representatives of various Libyan regions, has already begun representing the whole of Libya and has been recognized by the Libyan people,” the news agency quoted a source in the Qatari Foreign Ministry as saying.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are the only Arab countries officially involved in the international military operation against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that has been under way since March 19.
The Libyan National Council, based in the main opposition stronghold of Benghazi, consists of 31 representatives of Libya’s largest cities. The council controls the eastern part of the country, while the west remains under control of the embattled Libyan leader.
France was the first country to recognize the Libyan National Council as the country’s only legitimate government. International organizations, such as the European Union, the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council have expressed their readiness to cooperate with the council.
The military operation to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya is being conducted jointly by 13 states, including the United States, Britain and France, under a UN mandate. The Libyan state-run television has accused the allied forces of killing dozens of civilians while attacking civilian facilities in Libya along with military objects.
On Sunday, NATO began taking command of all aerial operations in Libya from the US-led force. The transfer of authority will take up to three days.
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NATO Warplanes Launch Fresh Assault On Libyan Capital
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/28/c_13800639.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
Western forces launch fresh airstrikes on Tripoli
TRIPOLI: The Western coalition launched fresh airstrikes Sunday evening on the Libyan capital city of Tripoli and its outskirts, and explosions were heard near Gaser Ben Ghasher region, some 30 km south of the capital, eyewitnesses said.
They said that after the explosions plumes of heavy smoke and flames were seen.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte city is witnessing airstrikes at the moment by the coalition forces, the Libyan TV quoted a military source as saying.
It is also said that the city was under attack by airstrikes last night, when a lot of targets were destroyed.
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US-Led Libyan Ground Assault Planned
March 27, 2011
US-Led Libyan Ground Assault Planned
by Stephen Lendman
In his weekly March 26 address, Obama said:
“As I pledged at the outset, the role of American forces has been limited. We are not putting any ground forces into Libya….And as agreed this week, responsibility for this operation is being transferred from the United States to our NATO allies and partners.”
Earlier he said:
“United States forces are conducting a limited and well-defined mission in support of international efforts to protect civilians and prevent a humanitarian disaster.”
As an earlier article explained, American aggression caused a humanitarian crisis. Moreover, the alleged NATO handover is a ruse. NATO is code language for Washington, the Pentagon. It’s America’s tool, its “missile,” reigning death and destruction across Libya and other operational theaters. European allies concur. They’re more pawns than partners. Reports now suggest they’ll participate in a late April or early May ground operation if air attacks don’t oust Gaddafi.
On March 25, Russia’s RIA Novosti news service headlined, “Ground operation in Libya could start in April – Russian Intelligence,” saying:
According to an unnamed high-ranking Russian intelligence official, “(t)he international coalition force is planning a ground operation that could start in late April. Information coming via different channels shows that NATO countries, with active participation of Britain and the United States, are developing a plan….From all indications, (it’ll) be launched if the alliance fails to force Gaddafi….to capitulate.”
The official estimates a late April-early May timetable. UN Resolution 1973 prohibits an occupation force, but authorizes “all necessary measures,” including boots on the ground. Hawkish Western military analysts urge it, a March 25 Wall Street Journal report saying:
“The history of air-only military actions is that they rarely, if ever, defeat an adversary without” ground forces.
On March 26, Rick Rozoff’s Stop NATO web site mentioned reports of US forces in Libya with a planned ground invasion coming next month. Various March 26 sources were cited, including:
(1) Sofia News Agency reporting:
“US forces are rumored to be already present on the ground in Libya,” despite official denials. According to Reserve Colonel David Hand, American soldiers have been in Libya for 12 days. US intelligence Colonel Tony Scheffer confirmed it.
(2) Voice of Russia’s Alexander Vatutin said:
“We are witnessing an attempt to seize oil and gas reserves by means of force. Apparently, coalition forces are pursuing targets other than humanitarian operations….” Dozens of civilian deaths are reported.
“In the meantime, NATO has suggested the possibility of a ground operation in Libya unless Gaddafi chooses to surrender. The military are guided by the Second World War saying ‘Put on the Ground’ which means you can never expect to win unless you reach the enemy’s positions on the ground.” About 4,000 US marines are positioned in the Mediterranean to invade.
According to Russian Strategic Research Institute’s Azhdar Kurtov, “a ground operation is inevitable” whether or not Gaddafi stays or goes, to seize Libya’s strategic oil and gas reserves.
(3) AFP reported:
Washington and NATO partners may supply weapons to opposition forces. According to the Washington Post, “recently withdrawn US ambassador to Libya” Gene Cretz said “administration officials were having ‘the full gamut’ of discussions on ‘potential assistance we might offer,’ both on the non-lethal and the lethal side.”
(4) RIA Novosti said:
“Any foreign military ground operation in Libya will be considered as occupying the country, Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Saturday,” in violation of Resolution 1973.
(5) Russia Today reported St. Petersburg State University Professor Guman Isayev saying:
Libya, like Iraq, is becoming a “black hole….As soon as it became clear that insurgents lost the battle,” Resolution 1973 was passed, providing wide latitude for intervention. As a result, “Libya may cease to exist, de facto, the way Iraq did. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that Gaddafi’s regime can be overthrown by air strikes alone. The hopes that insurgents (could oust him) are failing despite active external support.”
On Monday, March 28, Obama will address the nation on the Libyan conflict. Expect none of this to be mentioned, just the usual boilerplate propaganda about “humanitarian intervention,” when, in fact, Washington’s aims are always imperial.
As previous articles explained, a protracted, destructive conflict is likely, including mass casualties so America can solidify its grip on the entire Mediterranean Basin, exploiting its resources and people freely.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
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Pentagon Chief: “No Idea” How Long Libyan Campaign Will Last
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110327/163234646.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 27, 2011
Defense Secretary does not know how long no-fly zone might be in place in Libya
Washington: The U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he does not know how long the no-fly zone might be in place in Libya, CBS News TV-channel reported.
The UN Security Council imposed the no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, along with ordering “all necessary measures”….
“I don’t think anybody has any idea,” Gates said.
….
The military operation in Libya, codenamed Odyssey Dawn, has been conducted so far jointly by 13 states, including the United States, Britain and France.
….
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“Odyssey” Nor Bringing “Dawn” To Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/28/c_13800622.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 28, 2011
“Odyssey” apparently not bringing “dawn” to Libya
BEIJING: The ongoing West-led “Odyssey Dawn” military operation against Libya, which was launched on March 19, apparently is adding fuel to the fire of the Libyan crisis instead of bringing the light of “dawn” to the North African country.
The operation, dominated by Western powers including France, Britain, the United States and Italy, has caused huge civilian casualties, building and infrastructure damage and hundreds of thousands of refugees. It has escalated the Libyan conflict, which started in mid-February.
It apparently has overstepped the authorization of the UN resolution on Libya adopted on March 17, raised questions and triggered disturbance in the region and around the world at large.
The resolution imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, but the West-led air strikes went far beyond the limit as they vehemently hit the Libyan army’s tanks, artillery and rocket projectiles.
As early as last Sunday, Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa said, “What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone.”
Meanwhile, the operation was initiated under the pretext of “humanitarian” assistance and protecting Libyan civilians, but the results, ironically, turned out to be more civilian deaths and a deteriorating humanitarian crisis.
Libyan authorities said over 100 civilians had been killed by the air strikes, and the UN Refugee Agency said over 350,000 Libyan refugees had fled the country up to Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flatly questioned the operation: “What do we see today? Strikes are being carried out across the entire territory of the country. How can you, with the aim of protecting the peaceful population, choose means that lead to an increase of deaths among the civilian population?”
The operation may prolong volatility and insurgency in Libya, which might spill over to neighboring countries.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa recently said, “Our fear is that what is happening now in Libya may motivate terrorist groups in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq to regroup on African soil.”
In Homer’s glorious ancient Greek epic poem “The Odyssey,” the Greek hero Odysseus, after the fall of the Troy city, finally managed to return home and accomplished his long-cherished dream after a 10-year arduous trek.
However, the West-led Odyssey Dawn operation is complicating and worsening the situation in Libya and bringing about more sufferings to the Libyan people. The real “dawn” for the Libyan people, alleged as the operation’s aim, apparently is still far, far away.
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Libya: NATO Terrorizing, Killing Civilians
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE72Q0O920110327
Reuters
March 27, 2011
Libya says NATO “terrorising” its civilians
TRIPOLI: Libya accused NATO on Sunday of “terrorising” and killing its people as part of a global plot to humiliate and weaken the North African country.
The government says Western-led air attacks have killed more than 100 civilians….
“The terror people live in, the fear, the tension is everywhere. And these are civilians who are being terrorised every day,” said Mussa Ibrahim, a Libyan government spokesman.
“We believe the unnecessary continuation of the air strikes is a plan to put the Libyan government in a weak negotiating position. NATO is prepared to kill people, destroy army training camps and army checkpoints and other locations.”
Earlier on Sunday, NATO officials said the alliance had agreed to take command of military operations in Libya.
Ibrahim acknowledged that rebel forces in the east were advancing westwards but declined to give any details on the retreat of government troops.
“The rebels are making their advances,” he said.
“(Western nations) are starving the Libyan population, (they want) to put Libya on its knees, to beg for mercy.
“It’s a very simple plan. We can see it happening in front of our eyes. They are not trying to protect civilians.”
Ibrahim said three Libyan civilian sailors were killed in a coalition air strike on a fishing harbour in the city of Sirte on Saturday.
(Writing by Maria Golovnina)
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Open Letter From Russian Doctors In Libya To The President Of The Russian Federation
Open letter from Russian doctors in Libya to the President of the Russian Federation
OPEN LETTER
President of the Russian Federation Medvedev DA
Prime Minister of Russian Federation VV Putin
from citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, working and living in Libya
March 24, 2011, Tripoli, Libya
Dear Mr. Medvedev and Vladimir Putin,
You said that citizens of the former Soviet Union were destined to become today citizens of different Slavic CIS countries – Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Despite this, we all believe that it is Russia as successor to the USSR, which is our SOLE safeguard for the interests of our countries and the security of our citizens. Therefore, we appeal to you for help and justice.
Today, there is blatant external aggression of USA and NATO against a sovereign country – Libya. And if anyone can doubt this, then we say this obvious fact is well known, because all this is happening before our eyes, and the actions of U.S. and NATO threaten the lives of not only the citizens of Libya, but to us who are on its territory. We are outraged by the barbaric bombing of Libya, which is currently carried out by a coalition of U.S. and NATO.
The bombing of Tripoli and other cities in Libya is aimed not only at the objects of air defense and Libya’s Air Force and not only against the Libyan army, but also the object of military and civilian infrastructure. Today, 24 March 2011, NATO aircraft and the U.S. all night and all morning bombed a suburb of Tripoli – Tajhura (where, in particular, is Libya’s Nuclear Research Center). Air Defense and Air Force facilities in Tajhura were destroyed back in the first 2 days of strikes and more active military facilities in the city remained, but today the object of bombing are barracks of the Libyan army, around which are densely populated residential areas, and next to it – the largest in Libya’s Heart Centers. Civilians and the doctors could not assume that common residential quarters will be about to become destroyed, so none of the residents or hospital patients was evacuated.
Bombs and rockets struck residential houses and fell near the hospital. The glass of the Cardiac Center building was broken, and in the building of the maternity ward for pregnant women with heart disease a wall collapsed and part of the roof. This resulted in ten miscarriages whereby babies died, the women are in intensive care, doctors are fighting for their lives. Our colleagues and we are working seven days a week, to save people. This is a direct consequence of falling bombs and missiles in residential buildings resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, which are operated and reviewed now by our doctors. Such a large number of wounded and killed, as during today, did not result during the total of all the riots in Libya. And this is called “protecting the civilian population”?
With full responsibility as witnesses and participants of what is happening, we state that the United States and its allies are thus carrying out genocide against the Libyan people – as was the case in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Crimes against humanity, carried out by coalition forces akin to those crimes committed by the fathers and grandfathers of today’s Western leaders and their henchmen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and in Dresden in Germany, where civilians were also being destroyed in order to deter, to break the will of the people to resist (Germany remembers it, and therefore refused to participate in this new slaughterhouse). Today they want in such ways to make the Libyan people surrender their leader and the legitimate government and meekly lay down their national oil wealth for the countries of the coalition.
We understand that applying to the “international community” to save the people of Libya and we were living in Libya, is useless. Our only hope – is Russia that has the right of veto in the UN, and specifically its leaders – the President and the Prime Minister.
We still hope for you, as hoped in the past, when we took the decision to stay in Libya, and to help its people, medical duty playing its role in the first place. After an abortive coup attempt in late February, the situation calmed down in Libya and the government had successfully restored order. To everyone in Libya, it was clear that without American intervention the country would soon return to normal life. Convinced that Russia, which has veto power, would not allow the aggression of the United States and its allies, we decided to stay in Libya, but were mistaken: Russia, unfortunately, believed the false assurances of Americans and did not oppose the criminal decision of France and the U.S.
We are Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians, the people of various professions (mainly doctors), working in Libya for more than a year (from 2 to 20 years). During this time, we became well acquainted with the life of the Libyan people and state with few citizens of other nations living in this social comfort, as the Libyans. They are entitled to free treatment, and their hospitals provide the best in the world of medical equipment. Education in Libya is free, capable young people have the opportunity to study abroad at government expense. When marrying, young couples receive 60,000 Libyan dinars (about 50,000 U.S. dollars) of financial assistance. Non-interest state loans, and as practice shows, undated. Due to government subsidies the price of cars is much lower than in Europe, and they are affordable for every family. Gasoline and bread cost a penny, no taxes for those who are engaged in agriculture. The Libyan people are quiet and peaceful, are not inclined to drink, and are very religious. Today, the people are suffering. In February, the peaceful life of the people was violated by gangs of criminals and insane drugged youth – whom the Western media for some reason called “peaceful demonstrators”. They used weapons and attacked police stations, government agencies, military units – resulting in bloodshed. Those who direct them, pursue a clear objective – to create chaos and establish control over Libya’s oil. They misinformed the international community, and said that the Libyans are struggling against the regime. Tell us, who would not like such a regime? If such a regime were in Ukraine or Russia, we would not have been here and worked and enjoyed the social comfort at home in our own countries and in every possible way such a regime would be maintained.
If the U.S. and the EU today have nothing to do, let them turn their attention to the plight of Japan, the Israeli bombing of Palestine, the audacity and impunity of Somali pirates, or the plight of Arab immigrants in France, and leave the Libyans themselves to sort out their internal problems. We see that today in Libya they want to do another Iraq. Carrying out the genocide of an entire people and those who are found with him. We perform MEDICAL DEBT and cannot leave Libyans alone in trouble, leaving them to be destroyed by the forces of the coalition, in addition, we understand that when all the foreigners leave and no one will tell the truth (the small staff of diplomatic missions have long been silenced), the Americans will arrange here a bloodbath. Our only chance of survival – is a solid civil position of Russia in the UN Security Council.
We hope that you, Mr. President, and you, Mr. Prime Minister, as citizens of Russia and as decent people will not allow American and European fascists of the 21st century to destroy the freedom-loving people of Libya and of those who today turned out to be with them.
We therefore urgently request that Russia uses its right of veto, the right earned by millions of lives of the Soviet people during World War II to stop the aggression against a sovereign state, to seek immediate cessation of U.S. and NATO bombing campaign and to demand the introduction of African Union troops in the conflict zone Libya.
Note: The African Union Peace & Security Council delegates that had been accepted by both the Libyan government and the rebel leaders to mediate a peaceful solution between the various parties, were refused entry into Libya by the UN Security Council. This act should have been reprimanded by Russia and China, who should study the AU resolutions, mandate and support its wise decisions]
HANDS OFF LIBYA!
With Respect and Hope
Your Wisdom and Honesty,
Citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia,
located in Libya
Bordovsky S., Vasilenko, S., Vegerkina A., Henry IV, Henry H., L. Grigorenko, DraBragg, A., Drobot V. Drobot, N., Yemets E., Kolesnikova, T., Kuzin, I., Kuzmenko, B., Kulebyakin V. Kulmenko T., Nikolaev AG, Papelyuk V. Selizar V. Selizar About . Smirnov, O. Smirnova, R., Soloviev DA, Stadnik VA, Stolpakova T. Streschalin G. Stakhovich Yu, Sukacheva L. Sukachev V. Tarakanov, T., Tikhon N. Tikhonov VI, Tkachev AV, Hadareva E., Tchaikovsky, O., Chukhno D. Chukhno O. Yakovenko D. et al
The collection of signatures under the Appeal to the heads of Russia and under the request of an international tribunal in The Hague for crimes of U.S. and NATO in Libya.
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Libya Conflict Highlights NATO’s Imperialist Mission
From:
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://www.space4peace.org
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/ (blog)
http://www.truth-out.org/libya-conflict-highlights-natos-imperialist-mission68753
Libya Conflict Highlights NATO’s Imperialist Mission
By Joseph Gerson
Having launched its Libyan regime change war to oust the Qaddafi dictatorship from the United States’ German-based Africa Command, the Obama administration this week arranged to continue its air war under cover of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance.
Long understood to be a relatively benign and defensive alliance focused on European security needs, people across Europe and, increasingly, in the United States, are questioning how and why NATO is now focused on waging non-defensive wars beyond Europe.
From the beginning, 1948, NATO was about more than containing the Soviet Union, which in the immediate aftermath of World War II was a devastated nation whose occupation of Eastern Europe was as, George Kennan wrote, primarily designed to ensure a buffer against future invasions from the West. Think in terms of the devastation wrought by Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler.
Like the unequal treaties that defined 19th- and early 21st-century European colonialism in Asia, NATO has served as a fig leaf, providing a degree of legitimacy for the continuing US military occupation and related US political influence across Western Eurasia.
Recall that Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser, wrote that US global dominance requires US hegemony of Eurasia, which in turn necessitates that the United States maintain toeholds (or more) on its western, southern, and eastern peripheries.
Twenty-first century NATO isn’t the cold war alliance that many of us grew up with. The collapse of the Soviet Union eliminated NATO’s cold war raison d’etre, thereby undermining the rationales for the foreign deployment of hundreds of thousands of US warriors on hundreds of US and “NATO” bases across Europe. The Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations responded by transforming NATO into a global alliance to reinforce US imperial ambitions and the privileges of sectors of the European elite.
Violating President George H.W. Bush’s pledge not to expand NATO a centimeter nearer to Moscow, in exchange for Gorbachev’s blessing of German reunification on Western terms Clinton began the process of expanding NATO to Russia’s borders, along the way creating the foundation for Donald Rumsfeld and company to renew the game of divide and conquer by playing “New Europe” against “Old Europe.”
The US now has bases across Eastern Europe, and there will be more to come with “missile defense” deployments.
In violation of the UN Charter, the Clinton administration used NATO to fight its war against Serbia, making possible the creation of Kosovo and the rise of its corrupt client political leadership there.
As the cold war wound down, NATO adopted doctrines permitting “out of area operations,” i.e. military interventions in Africa, the Middle East and beyond. With NATO’s role in the Afghan war, “out of area operations” became the alliance’s primary mission.
Today, with 22 additional partnerships still more being planned for Japan, Korea and Southeast Asian nations, NATO is also being used to ensure access to the mineral resources of the Global South and to reinforce the encirclement of China, as well as Russia.
Thus, we can identify a major reason that NATO is today fighting in support of a ragtag collection of Libyan rebels in that oil-rich nation.
And, as a recent edition of Foreign Affairs put it, China’s rise does not inevitably mean it will become the world’s dominant nation.
If NATO can be merged with the European Union, the West, it argued, will remain dominant through the 21st century.
During its recent summits in Strasbourg – enforced by massive and brutal police state repression against nonviolent protesters – and Lisbon, and under pressure from the United States, NATO has resolved to remain at war in Afghanistan at least until 2014.
It has adopted a new “strategic concept” consolidating and pointing toward the expansion of the global alliance that can serve as a military enforcer for the United Nations or act in violation of the UN Charter.
And NATO has been reaffirmed as a nuclear alliance, while its members have been urged to further increase their military spending.
The 2012 summit to be held in the United States, likely in or near Washington, DC, will be used to plan and build support for the continuing Central Asian and Long wars, to continue the “containment” and encirclement of China and Russia, to bolster the Pentagon and its obscene budget and to reinforce President Obama’s re-election campaign.
Western European peace activists and progressives have long opposed NATO. This opposition grew with the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, and it is worth noting that there is anything but unity about NATO’s Libyan war in elite European circles.
Even Germany has turned its back on the war, leaving the goal of a united European foreign policy a short-lived dream, while Norway has reversed course, no longer contributing its air force to the war.
At the popular level, growing out of the 2008 International Conference on Afghanistan held in Hanover, Germany, a “No to NATO/No to War” network of leading European and US peace organizations has come into being.
It organized counter-summit conferences and protests in both Strasbourg and Lisbon. Its members are rallying to oppose NATO’s Libya war and are planning a major demonstration in Bonn this November, when the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Karzai government there will be celebrated.
And, with the next NATO summit to be held in the US in 2012, plans on both sides of the Atlantic pond are gearing up to oppose NATO’s wars, related military spending that is robbing our communities of essential social services and the alliance itself.
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Syria Being Prepared For Libya Scenario
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/27/48051654.html
Voice of Russia
March 27, 2011
Syria on the brink
Yevgeny Kryshkin
The Syrian port city of Latakia is under patrol by troops after rioting crowds ransacked shops, overturned cars and torched local offices of the governing Al Baath party.
In Deraa further south, where Syria’s latest unrest first erupted on Wednesday, rioters have toppled an outdoor statue of late President Hafez Assad, father of the beleaguered incumbent Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government speaks of outside attempts to wreck age-old ethnic and confessional harmony in Syria.
For an assessment of the situation, we turned to Dr Vladimir Akhmedov of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
“Latakia and Deraa are far from a catastrophe at this stage, but probably mark an important turning point for the Syrians. As soon as the powers that be are no longer able to instill awe, they are likely to be faced with a violent uprising along the lines of Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.”
The Syrian leadership appears to be rolling out a response to the challenge. In Damascus Saturday, President Bashar Assad convened an executive meeting of his Al Baath party to discuss initiatives for political pluralism, freedom of expression, changes to the judiciary and an end to an almost 50-year-old state of emergency in Syria. Reshuffles in the Cabinet are in the offing, as are further releases of political detainees. Two hundred and sixty have already walked free under a government amnesty.
Overall, observers believe Bashar Assad is not without support in his Middle East country and can cope.
Updates on Libyan War: March 27
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Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean
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Video And Text: U.S. Launches 170 “Humanitarian” Tomahawks
Clinton Cites Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo To Justify Libyan War
NATO Takes Total Control Of Libyan War
Western Attack On Libya Opens Pandora’s Box Of Chaos
NATO Wages Air Strikes On Behalf Of Rebel Proxies
Libya: U.S. And NATO Can Be Drawn Into Another Afghanistan, Iraq – Russian Envoy
NATO’s Libyan War Can Last Months, Even Years: Norwegian Expert
Western Military Intervention In Libyan Can Lead To Another Iraq
NATO Targets Libyan Air Force, Army Ahead Of Invasion Plans
White House, Pentagon, NATO, AFRICOM: Mechanics Of Libyan War
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Video/Text: U.S. launches 170 “Humanitarian” Tomahawks
Sunday Telegraph
March 27, 2011
US fire Tomahawk missiles at Libyan targets
A US Navy warship launches several Tomahawk cruise missiles towards targets in Libya on Friday
The US Department of Defense has released footage of the USS Stout launching several Tomahawk cruise missiles towards Libya on Friday.
In total the United States fired 16 missiles at Libyan targets on Thursday and Friday as part of the country’s role in the UN-mandated mission to protect Libyan civilians from forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, the Pentagon said.
The new launches brought the total number of Tomahawks used by US and coalition forces to at least 170 as they enforce a UN resolution to set up a no-fly zone over Libya.
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Clinton Cites Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo To Justify Libyan War
ABC News
March 27, 2011
Clinton Cites Rwanda, Bosnia in Rationale for Libya Intervention
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized the humanitarian rationale for the U.S. military intervention in Libya, recalling instances from recent history when a lack of U.S. intervention had left hundreds of thousands dead.
In an interview with ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper on “This Week,” Clinton said that the United Nations-backed military intervention in Libya “is a watershed moment in international decision making. We learned a lot in the 1990s. We saw what happened in Rwanda. It took a long time in the Balkans, in Kosovo to deal with a tyrant. But I think in what has happened since March 1st, and we’re not even done with the month, demonstrates really remarkable leadership.”
Appearing with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates – the two secretaries first joint interview since the Libya operation began – Clinton played out a hypothetical of what non-intervention by the United States might have looked like.
“Imagine we were sitting here and Benghazi,” the Libyan opposition forces’ stronghold, “had been overrun, a city of 700,000 people, and tens of thousands of people had been slaughtered, hundreds of thousands had fled and, as Bob [Gates] said, either with nowhere to go or overwhelming Egypt while it’s in its own difficult transition. And we were sitting here, the cries would be, why did the United States not do anything?” she said
….
In an interview on “This Week” in December, 2007, Clinton told George Stephanopoulos that she urged President Clinton to intervene in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide there.
….
The New York Times reported that Clinton, along with National Security aide Samantha Power and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, helped convince President Obama to take action on Libya. Rice…has expressed regret for not doing more to encourage intervention to stop the killing. Powers, formerly a journalist, wrote the seminal book on U.S. non-intervention during massive humanitarian crises.
….
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NATO Takes Total Control Of Libyan War
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703576204576226270529662098.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal
March 27, 2011
NATO to Take Total Libya Control Article Comments (3) more in Middle By STEPHEN FIDLER
BRUSSELS: The top military committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization approved plans Sunday for the takeover of all international military operations in and around Libya, diplomats said.
The technical decision, which approves operational plans put together by military planners over the previous two days, opens the way for a political decision by NATO’s key decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council. That could come as soon as Sunday evening at a scheduled meeting of the NAC, which comprises the ambassadors to NATO of the 28 member nations.
The alliance’s phased takeover of the no-fly zone is already underway, after agreement late Thursday for NATO to take responsibility for that part of the operation. NATO is also enforcing an arms embargo on the country.
———————————————————————
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/27/c_13800594.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 27, 2011
NATO poised to take full command of Libya mission
by Zhang Wei
BRUSSELS: NATO ambassadors are meeting on Sunday to decide whether to approve airstrike plans against Libyan ground forces to protect civilians, which will pave the way for the alliance to assume full command of Libya operations from the United States.
….
As NATO has approved the plans of the no-fly zone and arms embargo, NATO ambassadors are due to meet late Sunday to discuss remaining military operations that it hasn’t covered in order to protect civilians in Libya, a NATO official told Xinhua, without giving further details.
….
If the North Atlantic Council reaches a consensus on attacking Libyan ground forces, the alliance would take full command of the coalition operations against Libya next week, the no-fly zone and airstrike, which are currently led by the United States that has been eager to step back and in favor of NATO to take the reins.
Meanwhile, NATO is working on enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya and is expected to take over command from the United States on Monday.
A NATO official said that the operations would require “a significant number of aircraft,” involving 5-10 AWACS surveillance planes, 10-15 refuelling aircraft and dozens of fighters.
The force generation conference will be held soon, with 10 NATO members and the Gulf state of Qatar having pledged to contribute, he said.
In addition, NATO has named Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, a Canadian, to command the alliance’s Libya operations from NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy.
However, while the disputes over the military command structure mainly between France, Britain, the United States and Turkey are about to settle down, who will lead politically remains elusive.
Britain will host an international conference on Libya in London on March 29, which is to set “the wide political guidance” for the military operation, as NATO takes the military command.
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Western Attack On Libya Opens Pandora’s Box Of Chaos
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/27/c_13800334.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 27, 2011
Coalition strikes against Libya open “Pandora’s Box” of chaos
BEIJING: The ongoing multinational intervention in Libya has not only increased the risk of civilian casualties in the North African country but also added more uncertainties and destabilizing factors to an already volatile situation in the Middle East.
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Thursday that nearly 100 civilians had been killed in the Western-led air strikes, which have been described by many as “opening a Pandora’s Box” of chaos.
….
As the air strikes, launched by major Western powers including France, Britain, the United States, Denmark and Italy, entered their ninth day on Sunday, questions and doubts are beginning to surface about the goal and purpose of the mission.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa has criticized the international coalition force’s bombing, saying the assaults went beyond the UN resolution that endorsed a no-fly zone over Libya.
“What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing civilians,” Moussa said.
Top Republicans in the U.S. Congress have also questioned the purpose and goals of U.S. military intervention in Libya and complained that lawmakers were not consulted before President Barack Obama decided that America would join the mission.
….
Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has severely criticized the U.S. role in the military operation against Libya.
“The use of force against other countries became a steady trend in U.S. policy,” Putin noted, adding this trend was “disturbing.”
The UN resolution “is, surely, flawed and lame …as it allows intervention in a sovereign country,” he said.
Last Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov renewed in the Algerian capital Algiers his country’s condemnation of the “use of force” in Libya.
“We have a common position with Algeria regarding respect for fundamental rights to human life. And, thus, we condemn any use of force” in all the countries, Lavrov said.
The chief of the African Union (AU) on Thursday also reaffirmed his reservations about the multinational intervention in Libya and questioned the participants’ coordination.
Although three African countries, namely South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon, voted for the UN resolution endorsing a no-fly zone over Libya, the AU still disapproves of foreign military intervention, said Jean Ping, chairperson of the AU Commission.
“We will not oppose a decision by the international community,” but “we marked our reserves” by abstaining from the Paris meeting, held shortly before France sent its warplanes to bomb Libyan targets, the AU chief said.
Earlier in the day, when giving a lecture at a university in Paris, the veteran African diplomat raised doubts about what would follow after a no-fly zone was “roughly” established.
“What’s the next step? Do you have a roadmap? I don’t see them at all,” he said.
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NATO Wages Air Strikes On Behalf Of Rebel Proxies
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110327/163229620.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 27, 2011
Allied air strikes hit Gaddafi’s stronghold of Sabha – Libyan state TV
Moscow: Coalition warplanes attacked Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s stronghold of Sabha in southwest Libya on Sunday, the country’s state television reported.
The air strikes targeted Gaddafi’s military base located in the town, which is a major air and auto transport center. There have been no reports about casualties among civilians and the military so far.
On Saturday, Libyan rebels backed by allied airstrikes retook Ajdabiya, a strategic oil town about 60 miles to the south of their main stronghold of Benghazi, from Gaddafi loyalists. Libya’s Jana national news agency quoted a military source as saying the coalition’s airstrikes eliminated almost all the tanks of Gaddafi’s forces in Ajdabiya, leaving them no chance for defense.
French aircraft attacked on Saturday an air base outside a key rebel-held town of Misrata, about 120 miles east of Tripoli, destroying five Libyan warplanes and two helicopters.
Libyan military officials have said the international coalition’s warplanes attack both military and civilian targets in Libya to pave the rebels’ way to oil facilities, suggesting that the allies coordinate their actions with the rebels.
….
Libyan state media outlets have reported that dozens of people have been killed by the airstrikes.
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Libya: U.S. And NATO Can Be Drawn Into Another Afghanistan, Iraq – Russian Envoy
http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE72P0BO20110326
Reuters
March 26, 2011
Russia NATO envoy warns of full-scale war in Libya
MOSCOW: NATO could be dragged into a full-scale war in Libya, like those being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia’s ambassador to the military alliance was quoted as saying on Saturday.
NATO has control of an arms embargo on Libya and agreed this week to assume command of a no-fly zone over its territory but Washington has been left in control of conducting air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s ground forces.
The United States hopes to hand over control of the air strikes as soon as possible and said on Friday it expected NATO to take command of it, although it was still being discussed.
“Just as we forecast, NATO is being drawn deeper and deeper into war in North Africa,” Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told Interfax news agency.
“The statements we are hearing today from NATO members and the alliance on the whole could draw this bloc into a full-scale operation on Libyan territory, which means essentially the U.S. and its closest allies could be drawn into a third war in addition to those in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Russia backed U.N. sanctions against Gaddafi and his government earlier this month but abstained in a Security Council vote that authorised a no-fly zone, allowing armed intervention by a Western coalition.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed concern over the possibility of civilian deaths and told U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation earlier this week that such casualties had to be prevented.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia’s paramount leader, has taken a harder stance, comparing the U.N. resolution to “medieval calls for crusades”.
(Reporting by Thomas Grove; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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NATO’s Libyan War Can Last Months, Even Years: Norwegian Expert
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/27/c_13799946.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 27, 2011
Norwegian expert worried over possible fallouts of Libya war
OSLO: Libya could end up eventually in division with two de-facto regimes running business side by side while the eight-day Western-led military campaign against the North African country is expected to last for months or even years, warned a Norwegian researcher on Saturday.
In an interview with Xinhua on Saturday morning in Oslo, Helge Luraas, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, said, “I believe the war in Libya will drag on for quite some time because the situation we have is locked in a stalemate and that looks to continue. I am afraid that the international coalition will have to enforce the no-fly zone actually for months, perhaps years.”
On what the ongoing military campaign against Libya will lead to, Luraas said that it looks difficult to dislodge Colonel Muammar Gaddafi from power and that the Libyan leader seems to have superior forces on the ground.
Luraas expressed the opinion that as long as NATO is not willing to deploy its troops on the ground, “I doubt very much that the rebels will be able to make significant progress against Gaddafi.”
In that sense there could be a sort of division in Libya with de facto two regimes operating side by side, he added.
“But I am afraid that will not be a very stable situation either. Firstly, there will be accusations that the West intervened in order to get at Libya’s oil because most of Libya’s oil resources are in the eastern part, the rebel-held areas,” he said.
….
Luraas elaborated on how the war could affect the world economy, saying that the main impact of the war on the global economic situation is through its affect on crude oil prices.
“We have already seen over one and half million barrels of oil is taken away from the market every day. That had at least raised the prices ten dollars per barrel. I expect this to continue raising oil prices also because the market hasn’t completely factored in how long this delay, this stoppage of oil shipments might last,” he said.
He said that the military campaign is definitely not good at all for the European economies.
As those countries most affected by the financial and debt crises are close to the Mediterranean and Libya is on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, an exodus of refugees is expected to enter South European countries, which “will definitely put a strain on the system,” said Luraas.
The interest rates as a consequence of worldwide high inflation brought about by oil shortages in the market are already very high for countries like Portugal, Spain and Greece, and the situation for Italy could worsen, he added. Although Norway would benefit from the increase in oil prices, ordinary Norwegians, many of whom are heavily indebted, will be adversely affected by high interest rates caused by worldwide high inflation as a result of high oil prices, said the researcher.
There is an argument that oil shortages caused by the Libya campaign can be compensated by increased supplies from other countries, especially Saudi Arabia, which, according to Luraas, is the only country with spare capacity.
“And now we also have unrest spreading in Bahrain, that is very much affecting Saudi Arabia,” he said, the unrest could further spread to Iraq, and possibly to Iran as well after it had happened in Yemen.
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Western Military Intervention In Libyan Can Lead To Another Iraq
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/26/c_13799170.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 26, 2011
Big question marks still hang over Libyan intervention
-“It’s very difficult if you don’t have what’s called a hammer and anvil strategy with ground troops complementing air power.”
London: A week after the military intervention in Libya began, a number of big question marks still hang over the multinational air campaign led by Western countries.
The first one is about the objective of the intervention. The March 17 United Nations resolution sets the goal of protecting Libyan civilians by all necessary means, but an intense debate has ensued over whether to force a leadership change there.
Pointing out the differing voices within NATO about whether the operation should oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Dr. Alexis Crow from London-based think tank Chatham House said the Western military bloc has to decide whether Libya is in “a tribal conflict or a war for democracy.”
Dr. Christian Le Miere, a research fellow in naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, another London-based think tank, said that although the stated intent of British policy is not necessarily a leadership change, Prime Minister David Cameron would not be too unhappy to see the back of Gaddafi.
However, in the wake of the controversial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, British politicians are wary of being associated with leadership changes in other countries, Le Miere added.
Another question mark is that what if Libyan government troops hide out in towns to protect themselves from airstrikes of the intervening parties, which have ruled out deploying ground troops in the Northern African country.
“It’s very difficult if you don’t have what’s called a hammer and anvil strategy with ground troops complementing air power,” Crow said.
Then she put forth another question: What if a stalemate took place, with government troops held off by air attacks but the rebels unable to make headway because of lack of arms? Such a scenario would turn Libya into another Iraq, she said.
Meanwhile, the use of force drains resources, and Britain is in no economic shape to continue a military intervention, Crow cautioned.
Command and control of the multinational operation is also a problem. NATO has agreed to take over command of efforts aimed at enforcing a no-fly zone and an arms embargo, but faces internal disputes on taking charge of offensive operations.
Military strikes against Libyan targets are still led by the United States, which Crow said has been drained “both materially and ideologically in terms of military intervention.”
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said he has “every expectation that there will be a NATO command of the entire operation, not just the no-fly zone and the arms embargo.”
Representatives of intervening countries and international organizations are expected to meet in London next week to map out the political direction for operations in Libya.
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NATO Targets Libyan Air Force, Army Ahead Of Invasion Plans
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/27/48029592.html
Voice of Russia
March 27, 2011
Coalition forces pound Gaddafi troops
In Libya coalition air forces pounded on Saturday morning troops loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi, deployed outside the capital Tripoli and also in Misrata and Adjdabiya.
Official Pentagon spokesman Darrin James said the airstrikes had helped the opposition forces to recapture earlier lost positions near Adjdabiya.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/27/48029192.html
Voice of Russia
March 27, 2011
France downs 5 planes, 2 choppers in Libya
In the past 24 hours French war jets have destroyed 5 Libyan planes and two helicopters.
According to French military reports, the destroyed aircraft were being prepared to used against opposition forces near the northwestern city of Misrata.
On March 17 the UN Security Council passed a resolution to establish no-fly zones over Libya. The joint operation against the forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, being carried since March 19 by Britain, France, the US, Belgium, Italy and several other countries to enforce the no-fly-zones, has so far failed to bring desired results, Russia’s military chief of staff, Nikolai Makarov, told Interfax on Saturday.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/27/c_13799609.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 27, 2011
French warplanes destroy several Libyan aircraft
PARIS: French warplanes involved in the coalition operation from Friday to Saturday have destroyed several fighter jets and helicopters belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s force, the French general staff said Saturday in a statement.
According to the statement, during the last 24-hour operation till Saturday, at least five Galeb fighters and two MI-35 helicopters were destroyed on the ground in the western city of Misrata and near Tripoli by the French air force.
The operation involved some 20 warplanes with the support of four refueling aircraft and an Awacs plane…said the statement.
In addition, a detachment consisting of four Mirage 2000-5 fighters from the French and Qatari air forces carried out a surveillance mission over Libya on Saturday, the statement added.
France increased its input into the coalition operation on March 20 by sending its battle group based on Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. The battle group started its participation with a reconnaissance flight by a Rafale F3 on March 22.
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White House, Pentagon, NATO, AFRICOM: Mechanics Of Libyan War
Ha’aretz
March 27, 2011
U.S. treats the Libya mission like a hit-and-run accident
The U.S. army hates the idea of being trapped in a third open-ended military confrontation. Defense Secretary Robert Gates would be happy to pass the job to NATO after the first strike
By Amir Oren
[Edited]
-A civil war is taking place in Libya – the regime of Muammar Gadhafi against rebels. The Obama administration prefers to call it “Gadhafi’s war against his own people.” There have certainly have been many civilian casualties, mainly in army attacks but also in rebel actions. That is deplorable but not unusual.
-Democratic presidents conducted the U.S. military campaigns in Korea (Harry Truman ) and Vietnam (Lyndon Johnson). Consequently their successors have sought to avoid similar entanglements and to condemn Republican presidents such as the Bushes, who dived headfirst into the empty swimming pools that are Iraq and Afghanistan. Bill Clinton, and now Obama, resorted to verbal gymnastics in their efforts to explain why Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and now Libya were different.
-The commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, U.S. Navy Adm. Sam Locklear, is hosting on the command ship, the USS Mount Whitney, senior naval officers from participating countries.
Locklear is commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Force Command, Naples. He is subordinate to Adm. James Stavridis, who is both Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of the U.S. European Command, and Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. African Command.
-Africom has no forces, with the exception of the Horn of Africa. Its headquarters are in Stuttgart because no African capital was willing to host a U.S. military command – a synonym for occupation, aggression and foreign rule by powers.
-Half of Stavridis’ authority comes from NATO, but the greater half is from Obama and from Gates, who before his retirement will advise Obama on his choice for the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Stavridis is a leading candidate. Like Gates, he has a university doctorate, as well as a Ph.D. in life sciences in political Washington. Gadhafi, if he acts in accordance with his own logic, not the logic attributed to him at the White House, will outlast them.
One of the directors of the CIA used to have a a sign hanging on his office wall that said that the greatest strategic surprise is when an adversary does something that is totally contrary to his own self-interest.” Had there been room for a footnote he surely would have added that the same applies when his own boss, the president, surprises everyone – and perhaps even himself – with such an act.
That former CIA chief is Robert Gates, now the U.S. Secretary of Defense (whose doctoral dissertation was on Sino-Soviet relations ). He arrived here on Thursday for a short visit centered on one more in an endless series of meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Gates flew here from Russia; in a few months he will retire after four and a half years in the position, under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
A civil war is taking place in Libya – the regime of Muammar Gadhafi against rebels. The Obama administration prefers to call it “Gadhafi’s war against his own people.” There have certainly have been many civilian casualties, mainly in army attacks but also in rebel actions. That is deplorable but not unusual. The Turkish army has killed many more civilians in operations against Kurdish separatists (who have also not quailed at killing noncombatants ). Turkey, of course, is an important member of NATO, and no levelheaded U.S. statesman would dare propose extending air cover to the Kurds in Diyarbakir.
Democratic presidents conducted the U.S. military campaigns in Korea (Harry Truman ) and Vietnam (Lyndon Johnson). Consequently their successors have sought to avoid similar entanglements and to condemn Republican presidents such as the Bushes, who dived headfirst into the empty swimming pools that are Iraq and Afghanistan. Bill Clinton, and now Obama, resorted to verbal gymnastics in their efforts to explain why Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and now Libya were different.
The difference is purportedly twofold, in being both limited and primarily multinational rather than American. Limited in terms of aims, targets, duration and the means employed; multinational in terms of both the participating forces and the way decisions are made.
Gates, who has served all U.S. presidents (except Clinton) since joining the CIA in the mid-1960s, has no such illusions. He hopes that by the end of his watch the U.S. army will have handed over responsibility to the Iraqi government – that is set to happen this summer – and the situation in Afghanistan will have improved.
While the defense secretary is only an advisor to the president and commander in chief, Obama cannot fire Gates, who has already announced his imminent departure, and must consult him. Gates did not walk out, but he did serve as a counterweight to those aides who urged Obama to take action in Libya.
If it is true that most of this pressure was from civilians – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Ambassador Susan Rice and National Security Council member Samantha Power – this follows tradition in Washington, where soldiers tend to caution against military leaps into the unknown while civilians are itching for battle. In his memoir of the 1991 Gulf War, when he was deputy national security advisor, Gates wrote that in Washington the doves are in uniform. In the run-up to the decision on Libya it was the civilians who pushed for action and the Pentagon – led by Gates and Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were the brakes.
The compromise solution gave Clinton and Co. the operation while specifying limitations, for Gates and the top brass.
The officers’ biggest fear is of an overly loose, open-ended definition of the mission. For that reason it was decided at the outset that the command, and the headaches, would be handed off to someone else – presumably NATO, though that wasn’t clear – within “days, not weeks.”
NATO has no armed forces of its own. It has command headquarters that control the forces of member states. The commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, U.S. Navy Adm. Sam Locklear, is hosting on the command ship, the USS Mount Whitney, senior naval officers from participating countries.
Locklear is commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Force Command, Naples. He is subordinate to Adm. James Stavridis, who is both Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of the U.S. European Command, and Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. African Command.
….
Missions from other regional commands were expropriated to it [AFRICOM] and it was given the entire continent with the exception of Egypt, which remained in the Central Command. Israel, which from the U.S. perspective is in the European Command, participates in NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, together with Central Command members Egypt and Jordan and Africom members Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania. Planning and operations cross three separate commands.
Africom has no forces, with the exception of the Horn of Africa. Its headquarters are in Stuttgart because no African capital was willing to host a U.S. military command – a synonym for occupation, aggression and foreign rule by powers.
….
Last week NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that Stavridis was deploying NATO ships and aircraft in the central Mediterranean, “to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries” for Gadhafi’s forces.
Half of Stavridis’ authority comes from NATO, but the greater half is from Obama and from Gates, who before his retirement will advise Obama on his choice for the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Stavridis is a leading candidate. Like Gates, he has a university doctorate, as well as a Ph.D. in life sciences in political Washington. Gadhafi, if he acts in accordance with his own logic, not the logic attributed to him at the White House, will outlast them.
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Stop NATO News March 26, 2011
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. NATO Air Strike Kills Seven Afghan Civilians, Wounds Five
2. Afghanistan: NATO’s 2011 Death Toll Nears 100
3. War Stories: Promoting The War In Afghanistan. Video And Text
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1. NATO Air Strike Kills Seven Afghan Civilians, Wounds Five
Associated Press
March 26, 2011
Afghan official: NATO airstrike kills 7 civilians
KABUL, Afghanistan: A provincial governor in Afghanistan’s dangerous south said Saturday that seven civilians were…killed when a NATO helicopter fired on two vehicles believed to be carrying Taliban fighters.
….
In the aftermath of the strike, coalition troops found bodies of civilians in the wreckage, NATO said. It did not released the number of the dead and wounded.
A statement issued by the Helmand provincial governor’s office said seven people — two men, two women and three children — were killed when coalition forces fired on the suspects. Those killed were in another vehicle traveling near the targeted ones. Five others Afghan civilians — a man, woman and three children — were wounded, the governor’s office said.
Helmand provincial Governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal condemned the civilian casualties.
The deaths came only two days after the international coalition…killed two civilians in the eastern province of Khost….
At least four other people were killed in three separate attacks in southern Afghanistan on Friday, including a child, a NATO soldier, and two civilians on a motorcycle.
….
A coalition soldier died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, NATO announced. The international force provided no other details about the casualty, pending notification of next of kin.
The death brings to 26 of NATO service members who have died so far this month in Afghanistan.
….
Germany’s Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere visited Afghanistan on Saturday, his first trip to the battleground since taking the job this month. German lawmakers Friday endorsed sending up to 300 crew members to man surveillance planes in Afghanistan — a move meant to take pressure off NATO allies enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
….
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Afghanistan: NATO’s 2011 Death Toll Nears 100
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/26/c_13799373.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 26, 2011
NATO soldier killed in insurgent attack in S Afghanistan
Kabul: A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Saturday in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan’s restive southern region, the military alliance said in a statement.
“An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan today.” the statement said.
However, the brief statement did not reveal the nationality of the victim, saying “It’s the ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.”
Troops mainly from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia have been stationed in the southern Afghan region within the framework of ISAF to fight Taliban militants.
Saturday’s casualty brings to 99 the number of NATO service members who have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.
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3. War Stories: Promoting The War In Afghanistan. Video And Text
http://rt.com/usa/news/promoting-war-libya-usa/
RT
March 26, 2011
War Stories: Promoting the war in Afghanistan
The Pentagon, NATO, and others fight an information war to go alongside the real ones in the battlefield. This was is to sell the reality of a conflict where people are dying and billions are being spent to a public back home.
“War is hell and that’s why you only go to war when it’s in the absolute interest to your national security,” said Matthew Hoh, a former US State Department official.
That harsh reality of war is one reason why coalition forces do battle with an information war.
They fight it alongside the real one playing out on the ground in Afghanistan, for example, so the war is not widely known by milestones such as surpassing the Soviet campaign there, becoming the longest war in American history, or costing an exceptional amount of money.
But instead, is a story of hope and reconstruction. That’s the NATO version told, for example, in a promotional film given to international journalists at the annual NATO summit.
Public relations efforts to sell the war are nothing new. And commander of the NATO forces – the United States – spends billions to sell its version of the war to the world through PR at home and abroad, state-sponsored media, and psychological operations.
For example, a leaked classified CIA document revealed a plan for allies.
“Astrategic communication program across NATO troop contributors that taps into the key concerns of specific Western European audiences that could provide a buffer if apathy becomes opposition.”
To fight declining public support for the war from France and Germany the CIA tapped Afghan women as the perfect messenger to make an emotional appeal about the Taliban and their aspirations for the future, as a woman does in the NATO video.
Some media has picked up on this message, too.
A TIME magazine cover equated pulling out US troops from Afghanistan with brutality against women when it pictured an Afghan woman with her nose cut off along with the headline “What happens if we leave.”
“The thing to remember about this poor girl – this happened while US troops were there,” recalled Hoh.
And some like feminist writer Jill Filipovic argue these PR tactics are an assault on women, too.
“I think it absolutely exploits the women’s issue and exploits women,” said Filipovic, editor of the blog Feministe.
“They certainly weren’t interested in women’s rights in that region until it became strategically important to them in the war on terror,” she said.
And it is not clear efforts like this even work.
“It’s impossible to tell and I would venture to say it’s been ineffective,” said Jake Diliberto, a veteran and critic of the Afghan war.
Maybe US defense secretary Robert Gates would agree. As his recent NATO speech can attest, he’s now resorting to scolding allies for getting ready to abandon the war.
Meanwhile Hillary Clinton said the US is losing when it comes to broadcasting the message on state-funded TV stations, “and unfortunately we are paying a big price for it,” she told members of Congress.
Even though the US has spent more than $1 billion dollars alone to broadcast its message to the Arab world where it’s at war through the state-funded news network Al Hurra, the network has locked in just a half percent of viewership.
All showing perhaps you can’t sell the war unless you have a buyer.
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Updates on Libyan war: March 26
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Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean
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Reports: U.S. Forces On Ground In Libya, Invasion Can Follow Next Month
War For Oil And Gas: NATO Ground War In Libya Inevitable
U.S. Army, CIA In Libya For 12 Days Already: Former Intelligence Officers
Obama Boasts Of Lopsided Victory In Libya
U.S., NATO To Arm Libyan Insurgents
Western Ground Operations Qualify As Occupying Libya: Russian Envoy
Libya: Western Strikes Continue As Hundreds Die, Thousands Flee. Video And Text
Pentagon Plans Aircraft For Ground Combat Role In Libya
Video And Text: Libya, NATO Blockade Under NATO Command
After Iraq, West Turns Libya Into Black Hole With More To Follow
Croatia To Join NATO’s Libyan War Effort
Albania: NATO Patrols Adriatic To Halt “Arms To Libya”
Over 350 Western Aircraft Involved In Libyan Onslaught
Ivory Coast: France, U.S. Prepare Next Libya-Style Intervention
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Reports: U.S. Forces On Ground In Libya, Invasion Can Follow Next Month
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=126657
Sofia News Agency
March 26, 2011
US Said to Have Launched Land Operation in Libya as NATO Takes Over
US forces are rumored to be already present on the ground in Libya, despite official sources saying the States has no intention to carry out a land operation.
This information was released by American channel Fox News, referring to Reserve Colonel David Hand, according to whom the Pentagon is not carrying out massive air strikes against Libya since there are US forces already present on the ground.
American soldiers have been in Libya for 12 days, according to Hant, whose statements were confirmed by US intelligence Colonel Tony Scheffer.
At the same time, Reuters reports that within 72 hours NATO is expected to completely take over the command on the operation carried out officially to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
The center of command is expected to be the Turkish military base in Izmir. The operation head will be Canadian general Charles Bouchard.
Earlier RIA Novosti had reported that the international coalition carrying out the Libya operation is “actively developing a plan” for a land invasion set to start end of April.
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War For Oil And Gas: NATO Ground War In Libya Inevitable
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/26/48012462.html
Voice of Russia
March 26, 2011
NATO to launch ground operation in Libya
Alexander Vatutin
-“We’re witnessing an attempt to seize oil and gas reserves by means of force. Apparently, coalition forces are pursuing targets other than humanitarian operations, ending government attacks on civilians or removal of Gaddafi. What they are after is oil and gas.”
Coalition forces continue to strike at military facilities in Libya. In the past 24 hours they have carried out more than 150 assault flights and fired 16 cruise missiles and 4 remote-controlled air bombs, targeting the artillery, mechanized divisions and command infrastructure of forces loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
Meanwhile, sources in Gaddafi’s entourage report 114 civilian deaths as a result of the bombardments.
….
As a civil war in Libya gathers pace, coalition forces have failed so far to deplete Gaddafi’s strength for quelling the rebels. The more so since the coalition commanders are at odds over their current goals, except for the departure of Muammar Gaddafi.
Even though the operation in Libya will be managed by NATO, the bulk of responsibility for the bombardments rests with the United States.
….
In the meantime, NATO has suggested the possibility of a ground operation in Libya unless Gaddafi chooses to surrender.
The military are guided by the Second World War saying “Put on the Ground” which means you can never expect to win unless you reach the enemy’s positions on the ground.
If Gaddafi doesn’t go, a ground operation will begin at the end of April or early May. The United States is reported to have sent four thousand marines to the Mediterranean to back Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya.
An expert with the Russian Strategic Research Institute, Azhdar Kurtov, told a Voice of Russia correspondent that a ground operation is inevitable.
A ground operation is bound to take place irrespective of whether Gaddafi will go or stay, he says. Western politicians keep saying that it cannot be avoided under the circumstances and that air strikes alone will not be enough. Gaddafi has provided his men with firearms and heavy weapons. And even though they are backed by NATO, opposition forces have failed so far to win any major victories over government troops.
Coalition forces are also set on establishing control over oil and gas reserves, expert Azhdar Kurtov says.
“We’re witnessing an attempt to seize oil and gas reserves by means of force. Apparently, coalition forces are pursuing targets other than humanitarian operations, ending government attacks on civilians or removal of Gaddafi. What they are after is oil and gas.
“This seems to be the only reason for absence of accord on the purposes of the military operation in Libya. France and Germany are demonstrating clearly different approaches. President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned Arab leaders against carrying out repressions against their own people.
“Otherwise,” he said, “they will follow Muammar Gaddafi. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in his turn that this kind of dispute is dangerous and fraught with far-reaching circumstances for the Arab world.
“Apparently, international disputes should be settled by negotiation.
“Libyans do need help but should settle their current domestic crisis on their own.”
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U.S. Army, CIA In Libya For 12 Days Already: Former Intelligence Officers
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/26/48012234.html
Voice of Russia
March 26, 2011
US Army, CIA officers in Libya for 12 days already
The US TV channel Fox News quotes a Retired Army Colonel David Hunt as saying that US Army and CIA officers infiltrated Libya 12 days ago.
Another interviewee, an Intelligence Service Lieutenant Colonel Tony Schaeffer, said David Hunt was perfectly correct.
When commenting on the White House statements to the contrary, the two officers said it was regular practice to hush up things like that.
Meanwhile the US President Barack Obama offered assurances earlier today that Washington would not use the armed forces to topple the political regime in Libya.
But according to various unofficial sources, the western coalition is actively drawing up a ground operation plan.
According to the latest reports, more than 110 people have died in the last three days of airstrikes in Libya.
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Obama Boasts Of Lopsided Victory In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/26/c_13799504.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 26, 2011
Obama says military mission in Libya succeeding
WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday the military mission in Libya was “clear and focused” and achieving success.
Obama asserted in his weekly radio and Internet address that the U.S.-led coalition was succeeding in its mission by taking out Libya’s air defenses and preventing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from “advancing across Libya.”
Obama said it was in the U.S. national interest as well as U.S. responsibility to act in Libya.
“Our military mission in Libya is clear and focused,” Obama told his audience, saying the United States and its allies were protecting Libyan civilians and had put in place a no-fly zone over Libya and other measures to prevent “further atrocities.”
….
“And as agreed this week, responsibility for this operation is being transferred from the United States to our NATO allies and partners,” he said, stressing that “this is how the international community should work — more nations, not just the United States, bearing the responsibility and cost of upholding peace and security.” [With only 13 of 192 nations in the United Nations involved.]
NATO on Thursday agreed to assume command of the Libya no-fly zone from the United States, but remained undecided over whether to take on broader responsibility, including airstrikes on ground assets in the North African country.
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[Obama] will update the American people Monday evening on the events unfolding in Libya, including the ongoing military actions, the transition to NATO command and control and his policy for the future of the operation, according to the White House.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper are scheduled to hold a classified briefing on Libya next Wednesday for lawmakers.
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U.S., NATO To Arm Libyan Insurgents
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1118959/1/.html
Agence France-Presse
March 26, 2011
US, NATO consider arming Libyan opposition
WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies are considering supplying weapons to the Libyan opposition, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
President Barack Obama’s administration believe the UN resolution that authorised international intervention in Libya has the “flexibility” to allow such assistance, it reported, citing unnamed US and European officials.
According to The Post, Gene Cretz, the recently withdrawn US ambassador to Libya, said administration officials were having “the full gamut” of discussions on “potential assistance we might offer, both on the non-lethal and the lethal side.”
….
France meanwhile backed training and arming the rebels, the report added.
Obama will address the nation about his Libya strategy Monday, the White House announced Friday, as coalition forces launched a fresh wave of air and missile strikes against the Libyan regime’s forces.
Allied warplanes carried out raids late Friday on the town of Zliten, 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli, and in the western el Watiya region, Libyan state television reported.
A military site in Tripoli’s eastern Tajura suburb was also in flames after three major explosions rocked the district.
According to the White House announcement, Obama will speak to the nation from the National Defense University in Washington at 7:30 pm (2320 GMT) to update Americans on the campaign so far, on plans to turn over control to NATO, and “our policy going forward.”
On Friday, the US president also briefed key congressional leaders about the operation.
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Western Ground Operations Qualify As Occupying Libya: Russian Envoy
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110326/163216284.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 27, 2011
Military ground operations qualify as occupying Libya – Russia NATO envoy
Moscow: Any foreign military ground operations in Libya will be considered as occupying the country, Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Saturday.
“Holding [military] ground operations will be qualified as occupying Libya and that directly contradicts the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council,” Rogozin told RIA Novosti.
The UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, also permitting “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.
The operation to enforce the no-fly zone, codenamed Odyssey Dawn, is being conducted jointly by 13 states, including the United States, Britain and France.
Rogozin said that on March 29, the Russian-NATO Council will meet in order “to confirm the limits that the UN Security Council has placed on the participants of the conflict.”
Western warplanes have flown more than 300 sorties over the North African country and fired 162 Tomahawk missiles in the UN-mandated mission. Libyan state media outlets have reported that dozens of people have been killed by the airstrikes.
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Libya: Western Strikes Continue As Hundreds Die, Thousands Flee. Video And Text
http://rt.com/news/libya-nato-refugees-victims/
RT
March 26, 2011
Libyan operation continues as hundreds die and thousands flee
Coalition forces leave Colonel Gaddafi’s air defense in tatters, but on the ground tensions remain high; according to reports, at least 114 people have been killed in the first four days of the operation while 300,000 have already fled the country.
Saturday was marked by the rebels gaining control over Ajdabiya. The first major turnaround in the uprising, this victory could not have been achieved without the international air strikes on Gaddafi’s troops.
On Friday, British and French planes destroyed Gaddafi’s artillery battery and armored vehicles located in and around Ajdabiya.
Saturday, on the outskirts of Misrata, allied aviation initiated an attack on forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi that had been shelling the city occupied by rebels.
The US military command claims allied forces are focusing on ruining the communications and supply lines between Gaddafi’s military units, not bombing the cities themselves and risking the lives of civilians, AP reports.
The question of civilian deaths on the ground remains a major issue. Libyan state television is continuously reporting that the number of civilian deaths stands at more than a hundred, while people in the capital city remain particularly worried.
In Tripoli people woke up to fresh explosions amid fears of more bloodshed on Saturday, as three explosions rocked the area in and around the suburbs. For the third straight night the suburb of Tajura was hit. Also, the town of Zliten which is 160 kilometers to the East of Tripoli was hit with air strikes, as well as the town of Ajdabia. The coalition air force insists that it is targeting important facilities of Gaddafi’s air force.
At a short overnight press conference, the Libyan government’s spokesperson announced that at least 114 people have been killed and 445 injured in the first 4 days of the coalition’s week long series of air strikes. It was unclear whether these deaths and injuries are actually civilians or fighters, and ascertaining exactly who is who on the casualty list remains a problem. The people are frightened of increasing death tolls among civilians and soldiers alike.
The American military has announced that the coalition has fired 16 Tomahawk missiles and flown 153 air sorties in the last 24 hours. The focal point has been the town of Ajdabiya which is just a short distance outside Benghazi.
This has helped rebel forces actually enter the town, which is a significant gain on their behalf, as they had been struggling for over a week to recapture some of the towns in the East that they had lost. But the road to Tripoli is lined with government forces, and the fight on the ground is intense.
NATO to take over coalition leadership
Meanwhile, NATO is gearing up to replace the US in leading the campaign aimed to protect civilians. The fundamental question as NATO moves forward to lead the coalition is whether or not it will increase the number of casualties on the ground.
Rebel fighters don’t care much who takes over the command and control of the coalition air-strikes; they want more air-strikes, more weapons, and more international community involvement. However, the rebel leaders understand that the wider the coalition is, the more countries will have a say in terms of how to move forward, resulting in the risk that decisiveness and the use of force could be compromised. As such, the opposition leaders would prefer to see a much smaller coalition in terms of the leadership structure.
It is assumed NATO will formally take over control and enforcement of the no-fly on Sunday night. NATO itself, particularly France, is very uneasy about the change, and has voiced concerns about taking over the leadership role.
Thousands of refugees flee the country every day Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the region has not improved much so far.
Tens of thousands of people are continuing to flee the country each day, looking for safety and better living conditions.
According to the UN, over 300,000 people have already left the country.
The main flow of refugees is occurring on Libya’s western border with Tunisia, however many people have also escaped to Egypt.
People want to stay in bordering countries to see what happens next, waiting for things to settle down.
Families fleeing from Benghazi say the humanitarian situation in the city is critical and claim they decided to leave not because their homes had been destroyed, but simply because they did not feel safe anymore.
Security has been strengthened in many Egyptian cities on the border with Libya, with soldiers and tanks patrolling the streets and providing law and order. It remains unclear whether the army’s presence is related to the military operation in Libya or the political unrest in Egypt itself.
Also, while several weeks ago the Libyan-Egyptian border was being enforced only by the Egyptian side, now it is being patrolled by both countries; there are representatives of the so-called National Police on the Libyan side.
Thus, it may seem that the opposition is gaining some control over the country and slowly implementing some discipline.
However, judging by the number of refugees, the situation within the country has not improved much and the goal of the military operation, which claimed making the lives of the civilians safer as its objective, has not yet been fulfilled.
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Pentagon Plans Aircraft For Ground Combat Role In Libya
http://ap.stripes.com/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_LIBYA?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press
March 25, 2011
Pentagon may add air power in Libya conflict
Robert Burns
WASHINGTON: Even as other nations begin taking a larger role in the international air assault mission in Libya, the Pentagon is considering adding Air Force gunships and other attack aircraft that are better suited for tangling with Libyan ground forces in contested urban areas like Misrata, a senior Pentagon official said Friday.
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Video And Text: Libya, NATO Blockade Under NATO Command
Daily Telegraph
March 25, 2010
Royal Navy blockades Libyan coast
Captain Karl Evans says the Royal Navy is taking part in a Nato blockade to stop arms and mercenaries entering Libya.
Captain Evans announced today that Nato’s Unified Protector operation to enforce the Libyan arms embargo had been launched.
The main focus of the operation is a naval blockade….
It will be no easy task. The coastline controlled by Col Gaddafi’s forces is approximatley 600 miles long, the equivalent of Dover to Aberdeen.
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After Iraq, West Turns Libya Into Black Hole With More To Follow
http://rt.com/news/libya-iraq-gaddafi-middle-east/
RT
March 25, 2011
Libya and Iraq turning into “black holes”
-[T]he internal uprising against Gaddafi which started in February developed into armed aggression against Libya by March, and God knows what it will be like by April….
-[U]nlike the peaceful protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Libya’s uprising was armed, and quite possibly relied on some external support….There are witnesses who confirm that the uprising was pre-planned, that groups of youths attacked police and local authorities’ buildings in different towns at the same time. But the crucial role was played by the fact that Gaddafi secured the support of a large share of the population, especially in the country’s capital and in the West.
-Therefore it is not about Gaddafi’s Western partners suddenly becoming appalled at his being cruel to the rebels. Western powers simply took advantage of the situation, i.e. a temporary weakness of the Libyan leader, to back up the uprising.
-The recipe for intervening in internal affairs of countries in disfavor is basically the same. The parallels with Iraq are obvious. Aggression was preceded by a media attack whose goal was to justify the necessity to overthrow the ruling regime.
-As soon as it became clear that insurgents have lost the battle, the UN Security Council was called up to pass Resolution 1973 whose ample wording in their essence granted freedom to the anti-Libyan coalition and resulted in the country being bombed. On top of all the similarities with the situation in Iraq, one more thing might get similar – the end result. Libya may cease to exist de facto, the way Iraq did. And both Libya and Iraq would degrade into “black holes.”
-Leaders of the anti-Libyan coalition have gone too far to back down. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that Gaddafi’s regime can be overthrown by air strikes alone. The hopes that insurgents would do the dirty job are failing despite active external support, bombings, and NATO troops already on Libya’s territory.
-Iraq has been done away with, Libya is being done away with right now as we are watching, and Iran has long since been waiting for its turn.
-Outbursts of people’s anger have recently taken place in Syria, which in my opinion is among the candidates for the ‘black list’.
Gumer Isayev, Middle East expert and faculty professor at St. Petersburg State University, talks to Gazeta.ru about causes behind the conflict in Libya, Jamahiriya, the Green Book, and Russia’s stand in regard to the Libyan conflict.
West Takes Advantage of the Situation
Q: Being an expert on the Middle East, how do you assess the recent events in Libya? What’s actually happening there, is it a “clash of civilizations”, a “crusade’, an attempt to protect democracy in Libya, or an attempt to overthrow Gaddafi’s regime orchestrated by some countries, or perhaps a war for Libya’s natural resources, or still something else?
A: Any attempts to explain the events in Libya drawing on the abstract concepts produced by the West – such as for instance the “clash of civilizations” – are doomed to fail just as much as the attempts to come up with a strictly rational explanation. Revolutions, overthrows, and uprisings are irrational by nature and often develop in an unpredictable manner which does not fit any conventional theories. The events in Libya unrolled rapidly and were shaped by a number of factors, and while both the Egyptian and Tunisian presidents gave up quite quickly, Muammar Gaddafi made it clear right away that he will fight to the end.
Consequently, the internal uprising against Gaddafi which started in February developed into armed aggression against Libya by March, and God knows what it will be like by April…
Obviously, the “uprising” in Libya was inspired by popular unrest in the neighboring Arab countries.
But unlike the peaceful protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Libya’s uprising was armed, and quite possibly relied on some external support.
The revolution bug appears to have bitten a large number of Arab
countries, but in Libya it seems to have developed into an acute condition. There are witnesses who confirm that the uprising was pre-planned, that groups of youths attacked police and local authorities’ buildings in different towns at the same time. But the crucial role was played by the fact that Gaddafi secured the support of a large share of the population, especially in the country’s capital and in the West. There were no massive protests in Tripoli, and the rebellious East has demonstrated the breakaway ambitions of Cyrenaica that Libyan Jamahiriya had already dealt with before (although the number of rebels there did not exceed a few thousand). Gaddafi wisely waited out the critical phase and went on to some successful attempts to re-unite the country but faced serious counteraction from the West.
The attempt to overthrow Gaddafi by “global effort” has been quite cynical.
Libya’s business partners, including Italy, France and other European countries, which until recently were signing multi-million dollar contracts with Gaddafi, now all of a sudden claimed his regime to be illegitimate and openly took the rebels’ side. It’s no secret that Gaddafi has ceased to be a thorn the West’s side over the last decade as he gave up a number of notorious projects related to development of weapons of mass destruction, let the U.S. oil companies in on the Libyan market, paid compensation for the Lockerbie bombing, and started liberalizing the domestic economy.
Nevertheless, the colonel didn’t entirely “mend his ways”: the Americans got hold only of a small share of Libya’s oil reserves; the Lockerbie bombing, though paid for, was never admitted guilt for, and the project to privatize the state oil production company also fell through.
Gaddafi was actively promoting the idea of African unity and a single currency pegged to gold, and he heavily criticized the West’s policies in Asia and Africa. Removal of sanctions in 2003 stimulated economic growth and turned Libya in a rapidly developing economy capable of making Gaddafi’s dream come true, i.e. turning Libya into the leading power of the region.
Therefore it is not about Gaddafi’s Western partners suddenly becoming appalled at his being cruel to the rebels. Western powers simply took advantage of the situation, i.e. a temporary weakness of the Libyan leader, to back up the uprising.
An unstable situation in Libya is in the European and U.S. hawks’ opinion better than a strong and ambitious Gaddafi. That is why the desperate West started to stir up the almost-gone fire of the civil war. And whereas for the United States, this war would be across the ocean, Europe might harvest some big problems ensuing from it in the very near future. And this tells us that in fact European leaders followed their U.S. counterparts.
Q: How do you explain the fact it wasn’t the U.S. but France who was the first to bomb Libya? Is it simply part of the West’s overall campaign against Gaddafi’s regime, or maybe France has its own interests and accounts to square?
A: The United States is already running two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq. The incumbent president, Barack Obama, came to power surfing a wave of anti-war sentiment in American society. He positioned himself as a man to dramatically change U.S. foreign policy and withdraw the troops from Iraq.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in anticipation of his achievements.
Therefore Obama hardly stands a chance of convincing the voters that the United States must get involved in yet another war. According to recent polls, the majority of Americans do not support the idea of the U.S. intervening with Libya’s affairs in any way.
Voters won’t forgive their president any more losses. It was no coincidence that as soon as a report of an F-15 fighter aircraft being shot down was released, Robert Gates hurried to make a statement that the active phase of the operation is nearing its end. The U.S. fear getting involved in a war for the same reason Germany had to give up aggression. They fear the public reaction. But that seems to be of no concern to Sarkozy who was never hiding the special nature of his relations with the United States.
While the U.S. is resting in the shade, Sarkozy is willing to do the dirty work and take the risks as he has nothing to lose.
The French president’s ratings are quite low, and he badly needs a “little glorious victory.” Neither is Sarkozy concerned with the fact that destabilizing Libya will send off new waves of illegal immigrants straight to France. “After us, the deluge” – this famous French by-word aptly characterizes the president’s demeanor.
Under current circumstances, it would be appropriate to recall the events of 1956 when the U.K., France, and Israel attacked Egypt attempting to win back the Suez Canal nationalized by Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein. The initiative belonged to Israel while France and the U.K played peacemakers while breaking into Egypt’s territory. The United States stayed out of this, not wishing to mar their reputation with the Arab world.
Q: The fact that the Libyan conflict has been broken into by the Western powers means that it’s altogether a different story than that in Tunisia or Egypt. Can we say that Libya is going through what Afghanistan and Iraq did? Can we draw parallels between Muammar Gaddafi and, for instance, Saddam Hussein?
A: The recipe for intervening in internal affairs of countries in disfavor is basically the same. The parallels with Iraq are obvious. Aggression was preceded by a media attack whose goal was to justify the necessity to overthrow the ruling regime. In case of Iraq, Hussein’s regime was accused of secretly developing weapons of mass destruction, and the media unrolled a massive misinformation campaign. It only needs be to recall Colin Powell flashing photographs of Iraq’s alleged secret WMD facilities and mobile laboratories to media cameras.
In the case of Libya, the focus was made on the “bloodthirstiness” of the regime, and the story of dealing cruelly with peaceful protesters circled the world. The global community was thus prepared for the news of air strikes and bombings.
As soon as it became clear that insurgents have lost the battle, the UN Security Council was called up to pass Resolution 1973 whose ample wording in their essence granted freedom to the anti-Libyan coalition and resulted in the country being bombed. On top of all the similarities with the situation in Iraq, one more thing might get similar – the end result. Libya may cease to exist de facto, the way Iraq did. And both Libya and Iraq would degrade into “black holes.”
….
Q: What is your forecast for the situation in Libya?
A: Leaders of the anti-Libyan coalition have gone too far to back down. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that Gaddafi’s regime can be overthrown by air strikes alone. The hopes that insurgents would do the dirty job are failing despite active external support, bombings, and NATO troops already on Libya’s territory.
Libya’s East is now attempting to set up some governing bodies with the help from the West, but it hasn’t gone far beyond some loud statements which is only indicative of the poor organization of the insurgents, poor leadership, and absence of political goals except just one – to overthrow Gaddafi. At best, the insurgents might be able to win back a few towns in the East and set up an insurgent state there with support from the West. Things in the way of a military land campaign are disagreements among anti-Libyan powers, fear of assured casualties, and public opinion in Europe and the United States.
Besides, aggression from outside has inspired increased support of Libyans for their leader.
It is true that the most adamant opponents of the regime continue to fight, but those who used to waver, and even those who once supported the uprising, realize now that the changes they hoped for might turn into a bloody anarchy and a replay of Iraq’s scenario.
Q: This year has been marked by public turmoil in many Arab countries. First, Tunisia, then Egypt, now Libya, and the Libyan conflict is drawing in more states. Your colleague Igor Alekseev in his interview to Gazeta.ru made a suggestion that the events in Egypt signified the end of the “concept of the third world.” Would you agree with this opinion?
A: Indeed, considering the large scale of the turmoil in the Arab world, we may say that these processes bear signs of a new paradigm evolving in global politics. Obviously, Western powers wish to keep their position in the changing world. The United States is trying to curb the social protest by feeding the Arab world with a new “democratization” concept which, as it turns out, requires overthrowing “dictatorships.”
The Arab world had a similar experience after World War II when the system of colonies built up by Britain and France collapsed. Yet, with the help of the U.S. policymakers, Middle East had been fully managed by the end of 20th century. Only a handful of states remained there which didn’t fit the prescribed patterns and tried to maintain an active political stand – Iraq, Iran, and Libya. Iraq has been done away with, Libya is being done away with right now as we are watching, and Iran has long since been waiting for its turn.
Iran and Libya are a particular threat since they have been promoting a different way of development and tried to pursue alternative projects.
The West would celebrate a glorious victory, should it succeed in deflecting the powerful impetus generated by today’s turmoil in the Middle East from solving the problems in this region and instead make use of it to overthrow the ruling regimes of Libya and Iran. Disrupting the situation in the Middle East may once again weaken this region and impede its further development.
Q: What could you say about the situation in other Arab states hit by turmoil and violence this year, I mean Yemen and Bahrain? Where else might similar events yet take place? Would this chain of uprisings be contained within the boundaries of the Arab Third World countries or could it spread beyond? Do you think it true that the modern world experiences a deep conflict between Western and Islamic civilizations?
A: Despite many differences, Arab countries have a common history, religion, language. Events in Tunisia are expressed in protests in all the Middle East. But it’s hard to forecast, because in every region there are their hidden problems and conflicts, which in certain conditions may provoke political tempests. Outbursts of people’s anger have recently taken place in Syria, which in my opinion is among the candidates for the ‘black list’.
As for the conflict of civilizations, I dislike such theories.
Civilizations should be primarily viewed as cultural-historic communities, as it was designed by the classics of civilization theories. The Muslim world is divided at the moment and does not have clear guides – it’s not a civilization in the full political meaning of the world, and economically it’s included into the Western system. Support of certain Arab states for the aggression against Libya says that the lines of rent are not between the civilizations.
Q: What should be Russia’s position in the Libyan conflict? From the historic viewpoint? From the political viewpoint? From the economic viewpoint?
A: Russia’s position on Libya is very important, as a landmark, as a litmus test. If it’s a pro-Western vector of development of the situation and rejection of the ambitions of the great power, then Russia’s timid policy in Libya is clear. By being timid I mean Russia’s abstention in the UN Security Council when voting for Resolution 1973.
Instead of timid you can say indifferent or impassive – the idea will not change.
If we speak about more serious ambitions than participating in Eurovision, Russia needs to build up a serious Middle East strategy. In the above mentioned 1956 the USSR condemned aggression against Egypt and in polite and diplomatic messages promised London, Paris and Tel-Aviv serious problems. The war ended immediately, and the USSR entrenched itself in the Middle East.
In contemporary history Russia has already tried to decide on its strategy. At the beginning of the 1990s, the USSR-Russia made a strong step in its political orientation by supporting the UN resolution against Iraq (1990) and Libya (1992). Despite certain ‘outbursts’ related first of all to Russian companies’ successful contracts in Arab countries, we did not get any definite Middle East strategy in the end.
I am not talking about messiah tasks, like Americans set forward for themselves as ‘promoting democracy’. Russia could have been far more effectively promoting the interests of Russian companies, if we speak of pragmatism.
The paradox situation has been shown in the newspapers, when strong criticism of the ‘dictator regime’ in Libya is suddenly finished by words about ‘Russia’s huge losses in Libya in case of Gaddafi’s overthrow’. Even inside the tandem there are different opinions about the events in Libya. Isn’t it a sign of Russia still not having an articulate foreign policy in the Middle East?
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Croatia To Join NATO’s Libyan War Effort
Croatian Times
March 25, 2011
Croatia to aid NATO´s take-over of no-fly zone in Libya
NATO is taking over the control of the no-fly zone in Libya, with Croatians possibly aiding the operation from command centers in Italy and Belgium.
It is unlikely that Croatia will participate with ships and planes in the “Operation Odyssey Dawn,” a joint action to enforce the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire with the aim to prevent civilian casualties in Libya.
….
Croatia’s minister of Defense Davor Bozinovic said that Croatia supports the joint action against the dictator, the daily Jutarnji List writes.
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Albania: NATO Patrols Adriatic To Halt “Arms To Libya”
http://english.albeu.com/albania-news/nato-controls-the-albania-s-marine-waters/32900/
Albeu (Albania)
March 25, 2011
NATO controls Albania’s marine waters
NATO has stepped up [activity in] the sea routes of Albania to prevent the supply of arms to the regime of Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi.
The INA news agency has learned that in international waters is captured a suspected weapons shipment from Albania, but did not specify that the boat was from Albania or China.
….
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Over 350 Western Aircraft Involved In Libyan Onslaught
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=143459
Azeri Press Agency
March 25, 2011
More than 350 aircraft involved in Libya campaign
Baku: More than 350 aircraft have been involved in the military operations against the Gaddafi regime in Libya, APA reports quoting AFP.
More than half the 350 aircraft involved belong to the United States, said head of the joint committee of chiefs of staff, US Vice Admiral William Gortney.
Gortney called on the Libyan army not to resist and to dismiss Gaddafi’s orders.
The coalition’s military operations in Libya began on March 19.
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Ivory Coast: France, U.S. Prepare Next Libya-Style Intervention
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=143490
Azeri Press Agency
March 26, 2011
UN Resolution Seeks Ivory Coast Sanctions
[As the propaganda mills churn out canards about military helicopters from Belarus, small arms from Zimbabawe and, most recently, mercenaries from Libya sent to aid Laurent Gbagbo’s government.]
Baku – APA. France and Nigeria have proposed a U.N. resolution that seek sanctions against Ivory Coast’s incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, who is resisting pressure to give up power, APA reports quoting “The Voice of America”.
The measure calls for Mr. Gbagbo to immediately step down, stop using force against civilians and forbids the heavy use of weapons in the main city of Abidjan. It also seeks sanctions against Mr. Gbagbo’s closest advisors.
The French ambassador to the United Nations, Gerard Araud, warned during a Security Council meeting on Friday that Abidjan is “very close to civil war.”
Abidjan has been the scene of intense fighting between supporters of Mr. Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara….
The U.N. refugee agency said Friday up to one million people, most of them from Abidjan, have fled their homes. Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming blamed the exodus on “fears of an all-out war.”
A coalition of 32 international groups has warned that the humanitarian situation had reached a “critical level.”
In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council agreed on Friday to form an independent, international commission to investigate reports of human rights violations in Ivory Coast.
The Security Council is expected to take up the Ivory Coast resolution next week.
The United Nations says at least 462 people have been killed in violence since the crisis began.
Stop NATO News March 25, 2011
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Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean
Updates on Libyan war: March 25
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1. The Hidden Alliance – Sweden’s Secret NATO Association
2. Germany Sends 300 Airman To Afghanistan To Help NATO In Libya
3. NATO Continues Integration Of Ukraine
4. Prompt Global Strike: U.S. Plans New Hypersonic Missile Test
5. Arctic: U.S. Submarines, NATO Allies Prepare For Confrontation With Russia And China
6. Pakistani Opposition Party To Obstruct NATO Convoys Over Drone Killings
7. New Jersey Base New Home Of NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan
8. NATO Trains Kuwaiti Armed Forces
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The Hidden Alliance – Sweden’s Secret NATO Association
http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=6948
Stockholm News
March 24, 2011
Secret military unit flew NATO agents
David Jonasson
Sweden had a top secret aircraft unit, which was trained for war up until 1997. The so far unknown “Air Unit 66” exercised with NATO members Norway and Denmark, according to a new book about Sweden during the Cold War.
In outward appearance, Sweden stood alone and non-aligned during the Cold War, which lasted between 1945 and 1991. Official statements declared that the country would be neutral in war. But there never was a defence plan based on neutrality. In fact, there were a series of top secret collaboration with the Nordic NATO members Norway and Denmark.
This shows a new book, ‘Den dolda alliansen – Sveriges hemliga Nato-förbindelser’ (The Hidden Alliance – Sweden’s Secret NATO Association), by Michael Holmström, journalist at the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
A security guarantee from the United States was that the U.S. Marines had units that could be deployed in the northern or southern Sweden. The U.S. Air Force was able to land in Sweden within six to eight days.
Another finding in the book is that high-ranking officers and other key people were reported to military duty at Swedish embassies in strategic NATO countries.
Holmström also writes about a top secret air force unit: Flygenhet 66 (Air Unit 66), with the mission to, among else, secretly transfer people. The units military training could be about getting key figures out of the country, or deploy agents at the Finnish border to the Soviet Union. The unit used civilian air-planes, mostly small planes of Cessna-type.
Much of the planning was all about keeping the whole thing a secret. The Swedish Security Service protected the operations from civilian authorities. The pilots had code names, and got paid in cash.
One of the sources for the book, the chief of staff for Air Unit 66, Sven Hugosson, has today gone out in public and explain why he has chosen to talk about the secret military unit.
“I think it’s time to talk about this since it has been surrounded by so much hypocrisy over the years,” he told public radio SR.
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2. Germany Sends 300 Airman To Afghanistan To Help NATO In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/26/c_13798627.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 25, 2011
German parliament approves sending more troops to Afghanistan
-As the third largest foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan, this is the sixth time that German parliament approved to increase troops there, making the total number reach about 5,300.
BERLIN: German parliament on Friday approved the government’s bill to send 300 airforce crew to Afghanistan to ease the pressure of its NATO allies in Libya.
The Bundestag, the lower house of German parliament, has endorsed the bill with a large majority of 407-113. There were 32 abstentions.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle described this action as “a rational policy of solidarity.” He said Germany will not join in the military actions against Libya, but Germany will not put its allies in danger and will reduce their burden.
The 300 airforce crew will serve on NATO airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft to watch the airspace of Afghanistan, however, the timetable for starting this mission is still not clear.
As the third largest foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan, this is the sixth time that German parliament approved to increase troops there, making the total number reach about 5,300.
….
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3. NATO Continues Integration Of Ukraine
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16085992&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 25, 2011
Ukraine-NATO partnership commission holds constituent conf in Kiev
KIEV: The commission for Ukraine’s partnership with NATO held a constituent conference in Kiev Thursday. It was chaired by Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko.
According to the Foreign Ministry’s press service, participants in the conference gave special focus to preparations for the commission’s session at the level of foreign ministers. It will be held in Berlin April 15.
The commission in charge of overseeing the promotion of partnership with the North-Atlantic pact was set up under President Viktor Yanukovich’s decree as “an auxiliary consultative agency reporting to the head of state.”
Yanukovich appointed five national coordinators of partnership with NATO at the beginning of this month and endorsed the list of commission members with Konstantin Grishchenko in the lead.
The President said during NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s visit to Ukraine that, being a special partner, this country is ready to step up cooperative activities with the alliance.
July 15, 2010, Yanukovich signed a decree on the foundations of Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy. The Verkhovna Rada, the national parliament ratified it July 1.
….
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Prompt Global Strike: U.S. Plans New Hypersonic Missile Test
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hypersonic-missile-20110324,0,377247.story
Los Angeles Times
March 24, 2011
Air Force to retest X-51 Wave
The unmanned X-51 WaveRider is designed to deliver warheads at very high speeds with pinpoint accuracy almost anywhere on Earth
By W.J. Hennigan
-While supersonic means that an object is traveling beyond the speed of sound, or Mach 1, “hypersonic” refers to an aircraft blasting through the air at five times that speed or more.
-The WaveRider detached, falling about four seconds before its booster rocket engine ignited and propelled the aircraft to more than 70,000 feet. It then separated from the rocket and sped across the sky, powered by an air-breathing combustion engine, for more than two minutes, reaching about 3,500 mph.
-“In fiscal year 2012, we will begin weaponizing the X-51 research vehicle,” Stephen Walker, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for science, told a congressional panel.
The U.S. Air Force plans to launch an experimental aircraft Thursday that could potentially reach speeds of 4,000 mph over the Pacific Ocean in a test flight that could give the Pentagon a new way to deliver a military strike anywhere around the globe within minutes.
Built in Southern California, the unmanned X-51 WaveRider is being developed to deliver powerful warheads at tremendously high speeds with pinpoint accuracy almost anywhere on Earth.
….
[W]ith a hypersonic missile, such as the one being tested on the X-51, “[an] attack would have been cut to just over 12 minutes,” Richard Hallion, a former Air Force senior advisor, said last year in an Air Force Assn. report about hypersonic technology.
While supersonic means that an object is traveling beyond the speed of sound, or Mach 1, “hypersonic” refers to an aircraft blasting through the air at five times that speed or more.
Developing an engine that can reach and maintain those speeds hasn’t been easy. For decades, the development of the hypersonic engine has been fraught with setbacks.
But engineers at Boeing Co.’s Phantom Works research center in Huntington Beach and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Canoga Park proved they were on the right track last May when the X-51 made its first flight from Edwards Air Force Base.
The 14-foot aircraft was launched midair off the coast near Point Mugu, slung underneath the wing of a B-52 bomber. The WaveRider detached, falling about four seconds before its booster rocket engine ignited and propelled the aircraft to more than 70,000 feet. It then separated from the rocket and sped across the sky, powered by an air-breathing combustion engine, for more than two minutes, reaching about 3,500 mph.
The launch was considered successful because the longest prior hypersonic flight lasted about 10 seconds. But it did not reach the goals the Air Force had set. The military had hoped the plane would reach around 4,000 mph and fly for five minutes. It didn’t because a design flaw forced a shutdown.
Regardless, the flight was “a big deal” to Pentagon officials, said Charlie Brink, the X-51 program manager for the Air Force. The X-51 was built under a $250-million contract, but the government has spent millions more trying to achieve sustained hypersonic flight.
Initially, NASA led the program, fueling speculation that hypersonic engines could help propel spacecraft into orbit. Throughout the 1980s, NASA worked to develop a vehicle that could take off from a runway using jet engines until hypersonic engines kicked in and took it to the edge of space. But the space agency dropped the program because of a lack of funding.
Seeing potential for aircraft and missile systems, the Air Force picked up research on the X-51, which led to its flight last year.
“That flight made believers out of skeptics,” Brink said. “It allowed us to say, ‘If you want to hit objects very quickly and from long distances, here’s an option.’ ”
At the time of the X-51’s first flight, the Pentagon’s intentions for it weren’t widely known. This month, a senior Air Force official revealed the aircraft’s objective.
“In fiscal year 2012, we will begin weaponizing the X-51 research vehicle,” Stephen Walker, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for science, told a congressional panel.
The idea is to quickly deliver a conventional warhead….
The X-51 is a forerunner to the military’s hopes for a “prompt global strike” system, which can hit anything on Earth in an hour or less, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a website for military policy research. “They are designed to go faster and farther than anything that’s out there. Technology like this avoids the possibility of getting into a fair fight” with an enemy.
Cruise missiles, such as the Tomahawks launched in Libya last weekend, travel around 550 mph.
….
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5. Arctic: U.S. Submarines, NATO Allies Prepare For Confrontation With Russia And China
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/24/us-arctic-submarines-idUSTRE72N7TS20110324
Reuters
March 24, 2011
U.S. submarines show force amid race for Arctic riches
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
-U.S. submarines are a powerful symbol of U.S. military power, and the training was meant to ensure that the United States maintained access to the Arctic, home to the world’s largest undiscovered oil and gas reserves.
-“It is a key potential transit line between the Atlantic and the Pacific. We want to be able to demonstrate that we have global reach. That we can operate in all oceans, and that we can operate proficiently in any environment.”
-Less ice means the 56-mile wide Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska could one day compete with the Persian Gulf and other shipping lanes because it is as much as 40 percent shorter than conventional routes.
-Jaehn is the officer in charge of the temporary ice camp, where more than two dozen Navy officials, researchers, engineers and scientists, and some military officials from Britain and Canada, are facilitating the biannual exercises.
-Navy officials are also using the opportunity to test new equipment on ships like the USS New Hampshire, the second of the new Virginia-class submarines to participate in the exercises, and how it performs in the Arctic’s icy waters.
-“Demonstrating U.S. use and presence is important,” Colvin said, noting that Russia was increasing its presence in the Arctic, and had plans for six to eight shipments of gas condensate along the northern route.
-Alaska Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, who also visited the camp, said he worried that the United States was not doing enough to prepare for coming challenges in the Arctic, underscoring Russian and Chinese interest in the region.
APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY ICE STATION, Arctic Ocean: The United States is staging high-profile submarine exercises in the Arctic Ocean this month as evidence mounts that global warming will lead to more mining, oil production, shipping and fishing in the world’s last frontier.
Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and a Who’s Who of other VIPs braved below-zero temperatures this month to visit a temporary camp on the ice about 150 miles north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, where two nuclear-powered U.S. submarines are conducting military training exercises.
“It is important for us to continue to train and operate in the Arctic,” said U.S. Navy Captain Rhett Jaehn, the No. 2 official overseeing U.S. submarine forces.
He said U.S. submarines are a powerful symbol of U.S. military power, and the training was meant to ensure that the United States maintained access to the Arctic, home to the world’s largest undiscovered oil and gas reserves.
“It is a key potential transit line between the Atlantic and the Pacific. We want to be able to demonstrate that we have global reach. That we can operate in all oceans, and that we can operate proficiently in any environment,” Jaehn said.
Russia, the United States, Denmark, Greenland, Canada and Norway, which border the Arctic, and China are already jockeying for position to benefit from new business opportunities there.
Navy scientists predict the Arctic will have one ice-free summer month in about the mid-2030s, and two to three ice-free months by around mid-century. Less ice means the 56-mile wide Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska could one day compete with the Persian Gulf and other shipping lanes because it is as much as 40 percent shorter than conventional routes.
….
Jaehn is the officer in charge of the temporary ice camp, where more than two dozen Navy officials, researchers, engineers and scientists, and some military officials from Britain and Canada, are facilitating the biannual exercises.
The exercises train U.S. submarine crews to deal with craggy ice keels that extend 20 to 50 feet into the water, and varying salinity levels that complicate communications and navigation under the ice cap. This year they are testing a new Raytheon Co messaging system.
Navy officials are also using the opportunity to test new equipment on ships like the USS New Hampshire, the second of the new Virginia-class submarines to participate in the exercises, and how it performs in the Arctic’s icy waters.
Hamilton Sundstrand, a unit of United Technologies Corp, is sending officials this week to repair the ship’s oxygen generator, which stopped working last week for unknown reasons. A backup system was being used. [nN21173014]
Submarine crews practice surfacing the 8,000-ton submarines, directly through thick ice or in nearby open waters, and learn to avoid hitting another ship.
Larry Estrada, director of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory which runs the camps with the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington, said this year’s ice exercise cost about $3.5 million and did not include torpedo tests, which are usually done at alternating camps.
….
The next ice camp will not take place until 2014, a concern for some who think the United States needs to expand its presence in the Arctic, not back off.
“I’d like to see more U.S. ice camps for longer periods of time in the U.S. Arctic,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Christopher Colvin, commander of the Alaska and Arctic district which is as large as the entire continental United States.
“Demonstrating U.S. use and presence is important,” Colvin said, noting that Russia was increasing its presence in the Arctic, and had plans for six to eight shipments of gas condensate along the northern route.
Mabus called the exercises and temporary ice camp “invaluable” and said he thought the Pentagon would be able to find the money to keep the camps on a two-year cycle.
Alaska Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, who also visited the camp, said he worried that the United States was not doing enough to prepare for coming challenges in the Arctic, underscoring Russian and Chinese interest in the region.
….
The Coast Guard, Navy and Alaska officials are also concerned about the United States’ failure to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“We don’t have a seat at the table right now,” Mabus said, noting that U.S. failure to ratify the treaty would prevent it from staking a claim to its continental shelf.
That would effectively open up oil production in that area to outside bidders, possibly even China, Treadwell said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa)
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6. Pakistani Opposition Party To Obstruct NATO Convoys Over Drone Killings
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=38120&Cat=5&dt=3/26/2011
News International
March 25, 2011
Imran to ‘obstruct’ Nato supplies if drone attacks not stopped
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has warned of ‘obstructing’ the NATO supplies if the federal government fails to stop drone strikes in the country.
“We will stage a sit-in in Peshawar for three days on the road, used by NATO tankers and leading to Afghanistan, if the government does not stop the drone attacks on our land” said the PTI chief while addressing a huge gathering near Qartaba Chowk, Mozong on Friday, after leading a PTI rally against desecration of Holy Quran by US priests, the release of Raymond Davis and killing of innocent Pakistanis through drone attacks.
Condemning Zardari-Nawaz for “match-fixing” over the issue of Raymond Davis, Imran said the nation wanted to know how many Raymonds were roaming around in Pakistan to kill the innocent population. As many as 32,000 Pakistanis had lost their lives in the so-called war on terror, he maintained.
He said the corrupt leaders of Punjab and the Centre had sold out the blood of Pakistanis for dollars and countrymen were being killed unabated. He added that PTI would continue fighting for justice for the Pakistanis like Ibad ur Rehman. It was high time for the nation to stand up for protecting its honour.
Urging the nation to reject the corrupt leaders, Imran said the politicians having their assets in foreign banks had no room in Pakistan unless they brought back their wealth.
He questioned the credibility of the Parliament which, he said, had come into being with fake votes. He said 45 per cent of the total votes had been declared fake and invalid and more that 30 million youth had been barred from casting their votes. He said a revolution was the need of the hour to bring about change in the country.
Condemning the ‘subjugated’ role of rulers, the PTI chief said they would have to stop the drone attacks as they could no more tolerate the killing of Pakistanis.
He congratulated the PTI Lahore leadership for holding such a successful gathering which was attended by party workers from all corners of Punjab.
The PTI leaders who spoke on the occasion included Ahsen Rasheed, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Talat Naqvi, Mian Mehmood ul Rasheed, Mehmood Gilani and Zaheer Abbas Khokher.
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New Jersey Base New Home Of NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan
http://www.mcguire.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123248474
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
March 25, 2011
NATO Training Mission: Afghanistan Comes to JB MDL
by Capt. Antonia Greene
174th Infantry Brigade Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – With the arrival of Class I of Task Force Scorpion Mar. 20 and more classes following soon, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is the new home of the NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan.
Task Force Scorpion is the first iteration of Reserve Component forces deploying in support of NTM-A. Until mid-February, TF Scorpion was slated to train at Fort Polk, La. but now the NTM-A is also the responsibility of First Army Division East. Both the 174th Infantry Brigade and its mission planning partner, the 72nd Field Artillery Brigade, are the U.S. Forces Command lead training support team.
Over the course of the next few months, the more than 200 Reserve Component Soldiers assigned to TF Scorpion will undergo extensive Soldier and leader training in order to meet mission requirements down range.
“The combat advisor skills and leader mentality must be honed here, enabling the Soldiers to provide the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police the essential tools to succeed,” explained Army Maj. Scott Page, 72d FA Bde Plans Officer.
….
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8. NATO Trains Kuwaiti Armed Forces
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTM3ODE1MTc4NA==
Kuwait News Agency
March 26, 2011
Kuwait keen to cooperate with NATO Defence College
KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Deputy Director of the National Security Bureau pledged the commitment of Kuwait yesterday in cooperating with the NATO Defence College (NDC), which he described as “a successful academic landmark.”
Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali Al-Sabah made the comment on the fringes of a dinner banquet held in the honor of the NDC Commandant Lieut. Gen. Wolf Dieter and trainees in the 118th NDC course – which includes 120 trainees from various parts of the world – visiting the country upon an official invitation from the National Security Bureau.
Kuwait seeks to increase its cooperation with the NDC, through courses for Kuwaiti soldiers and academics, he noted….
For his part, the NDC senior officer said that the Bureau has played an effective role in aiding the NDC and organizing field visits of its students to Kuwait. He also stressed the importance of Kuwait’s participation in the NDC’s upcoming six-month supreme chief’s course.
Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/3973/
Stop NATO
March 25, 2011
Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean
Rick Rozoff
A year after assuming the post of president of the French Republic in 2007, and while his nation held the rotating European Union presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy invited the heads of state of the EU’s 27 members and those of 17 non-EU Mediterranean countries to attend a conference in Paris to launch a Mediterranean Union.
In the words of Britain’s Daily Telegraph regarding the subsequent summit held for the purpose on July 13, 2008, “Sarkozy’s big idea is to use imperial Rome’s centre of the world as a unifying factor linking 44 countries that are home to 800 million people.”
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, however, announced that his nation would boycott the gathering, denouncing the initiative as one aimed at dividing both Africa and the Arab world, and stating:
“We shall have another Roman empire and imperialist design. There are imperialist maps and designs that we have already rolled up. We should not have them again.” [1]
The unprecedented summit was held with the intention of “shift[ing] Europe’s strategic focus towards the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans.” [2]
The Mediterranean Union was renamed the less controversial Union for the Mediterranean and its members include all 44 nations originally invited to join except for Libya.
Less than three years later Sarkozy’s Mirage and Rafale warplanes were bombing Libyan government targets, initiating an ongoing war being waged by France, the United States, Britain and what the world news media refer to as an international coalition – 12 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the emirate of Qatar – to overthrow the Gaddafi government and implant a more pliant replacement.
The Mediterranean Sea is the main battle front in the world currently, superseding the Afghanistan-Pakistan war theater, and the empire of the new third millennium – that of the U.S., the world’s sole military superpower in the words of President Barack Obama in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, and its NATO partners – is completing the transformation of the Mediterranean into its mare nostrum.
The attack on Libya followed by slightly more than three weeks a move in the parliament of the Eastern Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus to drag that state into NATO’s Partnership for Peace program [3], which if ultimately successful would leave only three of twenty nations (excluding microstate Monaco) on or in the Mediterranean Sea not full members of NATO or beholden to it through partnership entanglements, including those of the Mediterranean Dialogue (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia): Libya, Lebanon and Syria.
NATO membership and partnerships obligate the affected governments to open their countries to the U.S. military. For example, less than a year after becoming independent Montenegro had already joined the Partnership for Peace and was visited by then-commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe Admiral Harry Ulrich and the submarine tender Emory S. Land in an effort “to provide training and assistance for the Montenegrin Navy and to strengthen the relationship between the two navies.” [4]. The next month four NATO warships, including the USS Roosevelt guided missile destroyer, docked in Montenegro’s Tivat harbor.
If the current Libyan model is duplicated in Syria as increasingly seems to be the case, and with Lebanon already blockaded by warships from NATO nations since 2006 in what is the prototype for what NATO will soon replicate off the coast of Libya, the Mediterranean Sea will be entirely under the control of NATO and its leading member, the U.S.
Cyprus in the only European Union member and indeed the only European nation (except for microstates) that is – for the time being – not a NATO member or partner, and Libya is the only African nation bordering the Mediterranean not a member of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue partnership program.
Libya is also one of only five of Africa’s 54 countries that have not been integrated into, which is to say subordinated to, the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The others are:
Sudan, which is being balkanized as Libya may also soon be.
Ivory Coast, now embroiled in what is for all intents a civil war with the West backing the armed groups of Alassane Ouattara against standing president Laurent Gbagbo and under the threat of foreign military intervention, likely by the AFRICOM- and NATO-supported West African Standby Force and possibly with direct Western involvement. [5]
Eritrea, which borders Djibouti where some 5,000 U.S. and French troops are based and which was involved in an armed border conflict with its neighbor three years ago in which French military forces intervened on behalf of Djibouti.
Zimbabwe, which is among likely candidates for the next U.S.-NATO Operation Odyssey Dawn-type military intervention.
The Mediterranean has been history’s most strategically important sea and is the only one whose waves lap the shores of three continents.
Control of the sea has been fought over by the Persian, Alexandrian, Carthaginian, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Spanish, British and Napoleonic empires, in part or in whole, and by Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany.
Since the end of World War Two the major military power in the sea has been the U.S. In 1946 Washington established Naval Forces Mediterranean, which in 1950 became the U.S. Sixth Fleet and has its headquarters in the Mediterranean port city of Naples.
In fact the genesis of the U.S. Navy was the Naval Act of 1794, passed in response to the capture of American merchant vessels off the coast of North Africa. The Mediterranean Squadron (also Station) was created in reaction to the first Barbary War of 1801-1805, also known as the Tripolitan War after what is now northwestern Libya. The U.S. fought its first naval battle outside the Western Hemisphere against Tripolitania in 1801.
U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, also based in Naples, is assigned to the Sixth Fleet and provides forces for both U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command. Its commander is Admiral Samuel Locklear III, who is also commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
He has been coordinating U.S. and NATO air and missile strikes against Libya from USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, as commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, the U.S. Africa Command operation in charge of U.S. guided missile destroyers, submarines and stealth bombers conducting attacks inside Libya.
Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations (the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy), recently stated that the permanent U.S. military presence in the Mediterranean allowed the Pentagon, which “already was positioned for operations over Libya,” to launch Odyssey Dawn on March 19. “The need, for example in the opening rounds, for the Tomahawk strikes, the shooters were already in place. They were already loaded, and that went off as we expected it would.”
“That’s what you get when you have a global Navy that’s forward all the time….We’re there, and when the guns go off, we’re ready to conduct combat operations….” [6]
On March 22 General Carter Ham, the new chief of U.S. Africa Command, visited the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany and met with British, French and Italian air force leaders to evaluate the bombing campaign in Libya. He praised cooperation with NATO partners before the war began, stating, “You can’t bring 14 different nations together without ever having prepared for this before.” [7]
As the AFRICOM commander was in Germany, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in Egypt to meet with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, commander in chief of the Egyptian armed forces and chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, to coordinate the campaign against Libya.
The Pentagon’s website reported on March 23 that forces attached to AFRICOM’s Task Force Odyssey Dawn had flown 336 air sorties, 108 of them launching strikes and 212 conducted by the U.S. The operations included 162 Tomahawk cruise missile attacks.
Admiral Roughead stated that he envisioned “no problem in keeping operations going,” as the Tomahawks will be replaced from the existing inventory of 3,200. Enough to level Libya and still have plenty left over for the next war. [8]
The defeat and conquest, directly or by proxy, of Libya would secure a key outpost for the Pentagon and NATO on the Mediterranean Sea.
The consolidation of U.S. control over North Africa would have more than just regional repercussions, important as they are.
Shortly after the inauguration of U.S. Africa Command, Lin Zhiyuan, deputy director of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences, wrote the following:
“By building a dozen forward bases or establishments in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and other African nations, the U.S. will gradually establish a network of military bases to cover the entire continent and make essential preparations for docking an aircraft carrier fleet in the region.”
“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with the U.S. at the head had [in 2006] carried out a large-scale military exercise in Cape Verde, a western African island nation, with the sole purpose of controlling the sea and air corridors of crude oil extracting zones and monitoring how the situation is with oil pipelines operating there.”
“[A]frica Command represents a vital, crucial link for the US adjustment of its global military deployment. At present, it is moving the gravity of its forces in Europe eastward and opening new bases in Eastern Europe.”
“The present US global military redeployment centers mainly on an ‘arc of instability’ from the Caucasus, Central and Southern Asia down to the Korean Peninsula, and so the African continent is taken as a strong point to prop up the US global strategy.
“Therefore, AFRICOM facilitates the United States advancing on the African continent, taking control of the Eurasian continent and proceeding to take the helm of the entire globe.” [9]
Far more is at stake in the war with Libya than control of Africa’s largest proven oil reserves and subjugating the last North African nation not yet under the thumb of the U.S. and NATO. Even more than domination of the Mediterranean Sea region.
1) Daily Telegraph, July 10, 2008
2) Daily Telegraph, July 14, 2008
3) Cyprus: U.S. To Dominate All Europe, Mediterranean Through NATO
Stop NATO, March 3, 2011
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/cyprus-u-s-to-dominate-all-europe-mediterranean-through-nato
4) United States European Command, May 24, 2007
5) Ivory Coast: Testing Ground For U.S.-Backed African Standby Force
Stop NATO, January 23, 2011
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/ivory-coast-testing-ground-for-u-s-backed-african-standby-force
6) U.S. Department of Defense, March 23, 2011
7) U.S. Air Forces in Europe, March 23, 2011
8) U.S. Department of Defense, March 23, 2011
9) People’s Daily, February 26, 2007
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200702/26/eng20070226_352530.html
Stop NATO News March 24, 2011
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Updates on Libyan war: March 24
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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Serbia Marks Anniversary Of NATO’s Deadly Onslaught In 1999
Serbia: Anti-NATO Sentiment Strong On 12th Anniversary Of 78-Day War
Attack On Libya Evokes Serbs’ Bitter Memories Of NATO Onslaught
NATO Air Strike Kills Two Afghan Civilians
Two NATO Soldiers Killed In Southern Afghanistan
U.S. Ambassador: Troops For Foreign Wars Georgia’s Gateway To NATO Membership
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Serbia Marks Anniversary Of NATO’s Deadly Onslaught In 1999
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=24&nav_id=73402
Tanjug News Agency
March 24, 2011
Serbia marks anniversary of start of NATO bombing
BELGRADE: Serbia today marks the 12th anniversary since NATO launched its air campaign against targets in then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ).
The campaign, code-named Operation Allied Force, involved 19 NATO countries and began March 24, 1999.
It lasted 78 days, resulting in 2,500 civilian deaths, 89 of whom were children, and 1,031 dead soldiers and police officers, Tanjug reports.
Around 6,000 civilians were injured, of whom 2,700 were children. The military and police had 5,173 injured. NATO’s losses have never been made public.
More than half of the casualties from NATO attacks were among Kosovo Albanians, although the western officials had claimed the intervention was necessary to protect them and named it “Merciful Angel”.
The data on the material damage caused by NATO’s strikes differs.
Authorities in Belgrade at the time said it was close to USD 100bn….
A third of the country’s electric energy capacity was destroyed, while refineries in Pančevo and Novi Sad were also attacked.
The decision to go forward with the campaign was made without the consent of the UN Security Council, which was something that had never happened before. The NATO forces were commanded by now retired U.S. General Wesley Clark, who received the order to begin the campaign from Javier Solana, NATO’s secretary general at the time.
Yugoslavia was attacked after being blamed for the failure of the negotiations on Kosovo’s status, held in Rambouillet and Paris. The Serbian authorities, headed by Slobodan Milošević, refused to accept the military annex to the proposed agreement, which was interpreted as a permission to occupy the country.
The bombing destroyed whole residential blocks in a number of towns and cities, like Aleksinac, Kuršumlija, Ćuprija, Niš, Novi Sad, Murin, Valjevo and Surdulica, which resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties.
The campaign ended when the Yugoslav authorities signed the Military Technical Agreement in Kumanovo, Macedonia, June 9, 1999. Three days later, the Yugoslav forces began withdrawing from Kosovo.
Solana gave the official order to stop the bombing on June 10.
The same day, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1244, which confirmed Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo, while NATO established the Kosovo Force (KFOR) and sent 37,200 troops from 36 countries to the territory.
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Serbia: Anti-NATO Sentiment Strong On 12th Anniversary Of 78-Day War
ADN Kronos International
March 24, 2011
Serbia: Anti-Nato sentiment strong in 12th anniversary of 78-day war
-“If Serbia joins Nato, Nato will make all the decisions,” Putin was quoted as saying. “If Nato deploys its missile systems in Serbia, Russia will be forced to direct its nuclear potential towards Serbia,” Putin warned.
Nato launched a bombing campaign against rump Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to push Serbian forces out of the breakaway Kosovo province….
Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo in June 1999, paving the way for Kosovo independence declared in February 2008.
Twelve years later, animosities still run high against the western military alliance and the ruins of former military headquarters in the center of Belgrade is a ghostly reminder of what here is referred to as a “Nato aggression.”
The event is being commemorated throughout the country which, according to Serbian estimates, suffered material damage of one hundred billion dollars.
….
Recent surveys showed that only 15.1 per cent of Serbian citizens support the country’s joining the military alliance [NATO].
The anniversary is marked with round tables, commemorations and anti-Nato protests by some opposition groups. Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas laid wreaths at the memorial of 13 workers killed in the bombing of Belgrade’s television broadcasting building in the centre of the city.
Opposition Democratic Party of Serbia of former premier Vojislav Kostunica held a protest in the city’s main pedestrian area, distributing leaflets saying “Never to Nato”.
Visiting Russian prime minister Vldimir Putin told Serbian president Boris Tadic on Wednesday that Russia, Belgrade’s closest ally, had nothing against Serbia’s joining the EU. But he later told Serbian MPs the situation with Nato was different.
“If Serbia joins Nato, Nato will make all the decisions,” Putin was quoted as saying. “If Nato deploys its missile systems in Serbia, Russia will be forced to direct its nuclear potential towards Serbia,” Putin warned.
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Attack On Libya Evokes Serbs’ Bitter Memories Of NATO Onslaught
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_648702.html
Agence France-Presse
March 24, 2011
Libya airstrikes remind Serbians of Nato bombings
BELGRADE – The airstrikes on Libya brought back bitter memories for many Serbs on Thursday, 12 years after the start of a Nato bombing campaign aimed at ending a Serbian crackdown on Kosovo.
‘I am trying not to watch television reports from Libya because its a painful reminder’ of a spring spent hiding in shelters, software engineer Mr Petar Marjanovic said.
‘Even if I try to rationalise the bombing to convince myself that they were not aimed at us civilians but the military, I will never forget these days of fear and anxiety,’ Marjanovic said.
Nato launched the strikes – without UN Security Council backing unlike the intervention in Libya….
In one of the bloodiest incidents, more than a dozen people were killed on May 7, 1999, when Nato planes dropped cluster bombs on a crowded outdoor market in the southern town of Nis. It was later described as a ‘blunder’.
The bombing campaign against Serbia lasted 78 days and remains etched in public memory.
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NATO Air Strike Kills Two Afghan Civilians
Associated Press
March 24, 2011
NATO airstrike accidently kills 2 civilians
KABUL, Afghanistan: A NATO helicopter gunship…killed two civilians…in the northern province of Khost, NATO announced Thursday.
….
Afghan forces determined that the occupants of the [targeted] vehicle were unharmed, NATO said.
….
At least 2,777 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2010, a 15 percent increase over the prior year, according to a recent United Nations report.
….
NATO also said two of its troops were killed by an improvised bomb in southern Afghanistan. NATO provided no additional details about the attack.
….
The latest deaths bring to 23 the number of coalition service members who have died in Afghanistan so far this month.
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Two NATO Soldiers Killed In Southern Afghanistan
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 24, 2011
Two NATO soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan
Kabul: Two soldiers with NATO-led forces were killed in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance said on Thursday.
The International Security Assistance Force service members died following the attack on Wednesday, NATO said in a statement without giving further details.
NATO did not say where exactly the incident took place or the nationalities of the deceased.
More than 140,000 foreign soldiers are fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
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U.S. Ambassador: Troops For Foreign Wars Georgia’s Gateway To NATO Membership
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23275
Civil Georgia
March 24, 2011
U.S. Ambassador on Georgia’s NATO Path
Tbilisi: Georgia will become a NATO member by convincing Allies that it is a significant “net contributor” to the common security in the North-Atlantic region, John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Georgia, said on March 24.
Speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth Seminar in Tbilisi, the U.S. diplomat said that since the 2008 NATO Bucharest summit there was no longer a question if Georgia would become a member of the Alliance or not; he said it’s a question of “when” and most importantly “how”.
He said these two questions of ‘when’ and ‘how’ were closely connected and the latter one was not about the technical process – whether Georgia would join NATO through a Membership Action Plan or through some other technical mechanisms.
“How Georgia will become a NATO member? Well, it will become a member by convincing all of our respective governments [of NATO member states], that it is a net contributor to our respective national interests and our security in the Euro-Atlantic region,” he said.
He said that Georgia’s net contribution should be fairly substantial over liabilities the Allies would be taking when they decide to accept Georgia.
‘Fairly High Bar’
He said two aspects were important while evaluating Georgia’s net contribution to the North Atlantic security; the one was Georgia’s contribution to NATO missions and operations and another one – how Georgia would be contributing to the security within the NATO’s boundaries.
“On the first of these [aspects], there is no question Georgia is making outstanding contributions” in Afghanistan, Bass said. “I think that for the country of this size that’s a pretty remarkable contribution,” Bass said.
On the second aspect, the U.S. ambassador continued, “we’ve seen quite a good progress” with Georgia coming up with “aggressive, comprehensive set of reform proposal under Georgia’s Annual National Program.”
The Annual National Programme, introduced in December 2008, is a set of reform targets, which is drawn up by the Georgian government and reviewed annually by NATO. The recent plan, which is a classified document, was approved by the Georgian government and presented to the Alliance in February.
The U.S. ambassador said that setting ambitious reform goals was “good”, because “Georgia has to meet a fairly high bar in this regard” to convince the Allies that it’s a good candidate for the membership.
“Both because of history and geography there are questions in the minds of some of the governments [of NATO member states] about what set of liabilities the allies would be taking on in accepting Georgia’s membership,” he said.
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Public Scrutiny of ‘How and When to Use Force’
He said there were several important aspects within this broad set of reforms on which the U.S. and many other Allies would be focusing while evaluating Georgia’s readiness to join NATO; the process of how decisions are made on potential use of force would be one of the key issues in this regard, the U.S. diplomat said.
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He also said that the U.S. assistance in form of democracy and governance programs to Georgia were designed to complement Georgia’s commitments under its Annual National Programme with NATO….
“Even as we expect quite a bit from Georgia, Georgia has reason to expect a bit from us in return,” Bass said. “We have the obligation to support the people of this country and this government as they undertake a challenging set of reforms in what remains a very tough neighborhood.”
Such a support, he said, would give “political space” to the government, opposition and the society “to move forward with confidence.”
Updates on Libyan war: March 24
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Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya: Rise Of Global NATO, End Of Post-
World War Two System Of International Law
Libyan War Precursor To New U.S.-NATO Order In Mediterranean
Report: U.S. Deploys Over 4,000 Marines To Mediterranean
UN’s Ban: NATO To Enforce Blockade Against Libya
NATO To Take Over No-Fly Zone In Libya
Qatari Warplanes: First Persian Gulf State To Join NATO Combat Mission
British Foreign Secretary: Turn Libyan War Control Over To NATO
British Submarine Launches More Missile Strikes Against Libya
Turkey Provides NATO Four Warships, Submarine For Libya Blockade
Netherlands Deploys Warplanes For Operations Against Libya
French Warplanes Strike Deep Inside Libya
Powerful Explosions Heard In Libyan Capital
Attack On Libya Evokes Serbs’ Bitter Memories Of NATO Onslaught
New U.S.-NATO Strikes Kill Libyan Civilians, Including Rescue Workers
Libyan Quagmire Could Drag More U.S. Forces In
White House Hands Libyan War Command And Control To NATO
How “Humanitarian” Is Western Intervention In Libya?
AFRICOM Chief Visits 14-Nation Libyan War Air Operations Center In Germany
Egypt: Pentagon Chief Gates Meets With Military Commander-In-Chief/Supreme Military Council Head
Global Navy Positioned U.S. For Libyan Strikes: Admiral
336 U.S., NATO Air Sorties, Missile Strikes In Libyan “Battle Space”
NATO Partners To Play Larger Role In Multiphased Libyan Attacks
Libyan War: China Must Rally World’s Anti-Intervention Voices
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Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya: Rise Of Global NATO, End Of Post-
World War Two System Of International Law
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/24/47917703.html
Voice of Russia
March 24, 2011
Humanism laced with geopolitics
-Behind the pseudo-humanitarian summersault lies a hidden agenda of Western countries’ geopolitical and economic interests in oil-rich regions of the world.
Besides, by supporting fifth columns in such regions, the U.S and its Western allies desire to create the basis for a long term military presence, a plan that is presently being tried out in Libya.
-“The most serious of the dangers is the confirmation of the new role of NATO in international relations, the crushing of international law and its Yalta-Potsdam post-war system. Unfortunately, the world is entering a new stage of development characterized by the formation of servile protectorates.”
-As the events in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans have shown, what the world is witnessing in Libya is not the triumph of humanism and democracy, but the unleashing of anarchy and the carving up of an independent nation.
The Director General of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center Claude Moniquet says that political and oil interests are behind the jostling by France and Britain to spearhead the military campaign against Libya, saying that both countries are scheming to play the leading political role in the Arab world. “Besides, the action of Paris and London in that region are traditionally dictated by oil interests”, Moniquet said.
Western countries’ main aims in the troubled region are not so much the protection of civilians as the pursuit of economic and geopolitical interests, as evidenced by similar military operations in the past 20 years.
The bombing of the Bosnian Serb Republic in 1994-1995 and Yugoslavia in 1999 by NATO, and the American-led Western incursion into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 and now in Libya were undertaken under the pretext of the noble act of protecting the lives of civilians.
The putative fight against Al-Qaeda’s brand of terrorism in both Afghanistan and Iraq was thrown into the mix of preventing humanitarian catastrophe and ethnic cleansing. Significantly, none of these tasks was fulfilled and some of the mentioned evils didn’t even exist. Suffice to recall that no smoking gun was found in Iraq after a lengthy and costly search, but the day-and-night bombing of Yugoslavia led to an untold humanitarian catastrophe, including the mass exodus of Yugoslavians to neighbouring states. The country’s infrastructure was reduced to rubble.
New-fangled ideas, including the introduction of western-style democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq and in Albanian-controlled Kosovo were used to justify the wanton destruction of sovereign and independent countries.
A similar spurious excuse is used to justify the intervention in Libya, and Britain, France and the U.S remain defiant about their right to solve Libyan internal political wrangling by military force. The only question still being debated is whether it is worth it to sacrifice the Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi on the altar of democracy a la the Western model.
Behind the pseudo-humanitarian summersault lies a hidden agenda of Western countries’ geopolitical and economic interests in oil-rich regions of the world.
Besides, by supporting fifth columns in such regions, the U.S and its Western allies desire to create the basis for a long term military presence, a plan that is presently being tried out in Libya. The experiment is fraught with extreme dangers, says Anna Filimonova of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for the Study of Modern-Day Balkan Crises.
“The most serious of the dangers is the confirmation of the new role of NATO in international relations, the crushing of international law and its Yalta-Potsdam post-war system. Unfortunately, the world is entering a new stage of development characterized by the formation of servile protectorates,” Filimonova said. “Under the new dispensation NATO would be calling the shots,” predicts Filimonova.
The Western military operation in Libya is supposedly guided by parts of the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and UN agreements, but the campaign has exceeded the UN mandate and is taking on the features of a full-scale war against a sovereign state.
As the events in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans have shown, what the world is witnessing in Libya is not the triumph of humanism and democracy, but the unleashing of anarchy and the carving up of an independent nation.
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Libyan War Precursor To New U.S.-NATO Order In Mediterranean
http://rt.com/news/libya-gaddafi-nato-coalition-operartion/
RT
March 24, 2011
Rick Rozoff, a Chicago-based anti-war activist who heads “Stop NATO,” says the actions of the US and its allies in Libya are just the precursor to a new political order in the Mediterranean region, where greater NATO presence will mean increased American control.
Rozoff told RT that the next phase of the US-led operation in Libya will probably be ground support of rebel forces there.
“In the 1990s as a part of what would become the global expansion of NATO, several partnership programs, as they called them, were set up – one of which is called the Mediterranean Dialogue. It includes seven nations in the Middle East and North Africa. Two of them do not border the Mediterranean (Jordan and Mauritania), but the other five do,” he said.
“Libya is the only North African country bordering the Mediterranean that is not a member of this NATO partnership program. I am convinced that in both Washington and Brussels, whatever regime they want to enforce to replace Muammar Gaddafi, [it] would in fact join that program and would solidify NATO and US control of the entire Mediterranean Basin.”
“Whoever the armed insurgents are – and I don’t think anyone truly knows the complete nature of the insurgents – they are not able to fight, clearly. This is why there is bombing not only of airfields and radar facilities and so forth in Libya, but also bombing of troop and armored convoys. So, the West has already intervened on behalf of an armed insurgent group, and the next step of course is to become more involved in the ground campaign,” Rozoff concluded.
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Report: U.S. Deploys Over 4,000 Marines To Mediterranean
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/24/47940544.html
Voice of Russia
March 24, 2011
Operation Odyssey Dawn under way
The United States has started the deployment of more than 4,000 marines and sailors to the Mediterranean Sea to support Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, the US Navy press service reported on Thursday. Thus far, coalition forces [conducted] air strikes, something that analysts say may well be followed by a ground military operation, which they warn is fraught with dire consequences.
The situation in Libya will be high on the agenda of a UN Security Council session, which opens in New York later on Thursday. Among other things, diplomats will discuss Russia’s ceasefire-leaning approach to the topic, which was specifically touted by President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week, when he signaled his country’s readiness to act as a mediator in the Libyan conflict.
The subject will also be on the table of an EU summit that kicks off in Brussels on Thursday in an event that will specifically focus on who will be at the helm of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
The operation kicked off late last week and aims to enforce the UN Security Council no-fly-zone-over-Libya resolution. Analysts say that the beginning of the ground operation is just a matter of time, quoting Western leaders as saying that the operation’s real goal is the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi whose persistent push for victory, pundits say, is unlikely to be pacified by air strikes alone.
….
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http://www.wcti12.com/news/27257042/detail.html#
WCTI Channel 12 News
March 24, 2011
Camp Lejeune Marines To Libya To Strike At Qadhafi Forces
ONSLOW COUNTY: We’ve seen Camp Lejuene Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan and now they are joining the fight against Libya.
About 2,200 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit will take part in support operations based aboard USS Kearsarge at sea. Those support operations have thus far included air strikes and one rescue operation….
To date, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit has conducted numerous successful airstrikes against Muammar al-Qadhafi regime forces as part of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn….The 26th MEU has also conducted a successful Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel mission in support of two U.S. Air Force F-15 pilots after their airplane crashed east of Benghazi, Libya, Mar. 21.
All of these missions were launched from the USS Kearsarge more than 100 nautical miles from the coast. Other than the small TRAP force sent to locate the Air Force pilots, no U.S. Marines from the 26th MEU have landed ashore.
“The ability to launch these and other missions directly from naval vessels illustrates the unique and valuable capacity of the Navy/Marine Corps team called ‘sea-basing'”, said Captain Timothy Patrick, spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force. “Having these forces embarked aboard amphibious ships means that at any time we can execute a variety of tactical missions with little or no footprint on foreign territory.”
A Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s AV-8B Harrier jump jet returns to USS Kearsarge for fuel and ammunition resupply while conducting air strikes in support of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, March 20, 2011. Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces….JTF Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, III.
Patrick said that Marines from the 26th MEU are coming on the end of their deployment. They will be replaced with Marines from the 22nd MEU.
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UN’s Ban: NATO To Enforce Blockade Against Libya
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 24, 2011
NATO to enforce arms embargo on Libya
By JT Nguyen
New York: NATO is to begin military enforcement of the UN Security Council’s arms embargo on Libya, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.
Ban told the 15-country Security Council in New York in making his first mandated report on the situation in Libya that coalition partners are enforcing the week-old no-fly zone…..
Britain, France, the United States, Denmark, Canada, Italy, Qatar, Belgium, Norway, Spain and United Arab Emirates have notified the UN of their participation in enforcing the no-fly zone.
‘We have also received notification from NATO of its decision to commence an alliance operation in support of an arms embargo against Libya,’ Ban said.
In Ankara, the Turkish government finally gave the go-ahead for NATO to take over policing the operation to enforce the no-fly zone.
Turkey, the alliance’s only predominantly Muslim member country, had previously expressed strong opposition to the prospect of NATO taking charge of the UN-mandated mission.
The council heard Ban’s report and decided to hold closed-door discussions on the situation in Libya, at which Ban was to report on his visits to Cairo and Tunis, where he gained first-hand information about the formation of governments following recent popular uprisings.
….
Ban said the US and European forces initiated airstrikes on Saturday ‘with the objective of effectively establishing a no-fly zone over the country.’
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Ban returned Wednesday to New York from visits in Egypt and Tunisia. He attended a meeting Sunday in Paris, called by the French government to devise the coalition’s plan to enforce the no-fly zone.
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NATO To Take Over No-Fly Zone In Libya
http://abcnews.go.com/International/nato-charge-libya-fly-zone-united-states/story?id=13210685
ABC News
March 24, 2011
NATO To Take Over No-Fly Zone in Libya
By MARTHA RADDATZ, ALEXANDER MARQUARDT and LUIS MARTINEZ
ABOARD THE USS KEARSARGE
NATO has agreed to relieve the United States of responsibility for enforcing the no-fly zone in Libya, a NATO official said today.
….
The official said that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will shortly go into a meeting of the North Atlantic Council where a formal consensus will be reached for NATO to assume the no-fly zone responsibilities for Libya. After what is expected to be a brief meeting, Rasmussen will announce the arrangement.
They won’t say it’s a deal until every one of the 28 NATO members in the room agrees with NATO taking over the no-fly zone.
“We are very close,” the NATO official said.
The no-fly zone order will go from the NATO Council to Adm. James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander on down the chain to the component commanders. On Wednesday, NATO announced it was taking responsibility for enforcing the naval arms embargo for Libya.
The United States will remain part of the Operation Dawn, but it we will have limited participation going forward, which would include contributing tankers and a personnel recovery teams, but not an Airborne Warning and Control System, Africa Command’s Gen. Carter F. Ham told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
….
Earlier today the foreign minister of Turkey, a NATO member that had expressed strong concerns about the Libya intervention, said Turkey’s demands had been met and that the operation will be handed over to NATO, according to wire reports.
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Qatari Warplanes: First Persian Gulf State To Join NATO Combat Mission
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/me_gulf0334_03_24.asp
World Tribune
March 24, 2011
Qatar sends jets to Libya as first Gulf state to join NATO combat mission
ABU DHABI: Qatar has begun flying combat missions around Libya.
Qatar’s Emir Air Force has contributed four aircraft to the NATO mission to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. The Gulf Cooperation Council emirate began flying combat and other missions around Libya on March 22 in cooperation with France.
“The Qatari contribution has been huge for a country of its size,” an official said.
Officials said Qatar has deployed two French-origin Mirage 2000-5 fighters and two U.S.-origin C-17 Globemasters for the NATO mission. They said the C-17s, based out of the Greek island of Crete, were being used for air refueling by U.S. and other NATO fighter-jets.
This marked the first time a Gulf Cooperation Council state has joined a NATO combat mission. Qatar, based on French equipment, has one of the smallest militaries in the GCC.
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates had been expected to join the NATO mission. But officials said the UAE, with plans to deploy up to 24 Mirage and F-16 fighters, suspended participation in the operation.
….
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Jordan and Kuwait would join the NATO mission. Cameron said the two Arab League states, however, would not participate in combat operations against Libya.
“We will be getting logistic contributions from countries like Kuwait and also Jordan,” Cameron told the British parliament on March 23. “I hope further support will be forthcoming.”
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British Foreign Secretary: Turn Libyan War Control Over To NATO
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/24/c_13796727.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 24, 2011
British foreign secretary urges NATO to lead Libya action
LONDON: British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday NATO should take control of the multinational operation in Libya quickly.
Hague told parliamentary members the operations were currently under U.S. command. “But we want them to transition to NATO command and control as quickly as possible.”
NATO had already launched its operation to enforce the arms embargo. Its planning was complete for the no-fly zone….
[Hague] said British forces had undertaken a total of 59 aerial missions over Libya in addition to air and missile strikes. “Last night, our forces again participated in a coordinated strike against Libyan air defense systems. A no-fly zone has now been established and the regime’s integrated air defense system has been comprehensively degraded. There are no Libyan military aircraft flying,” he said.
More than 150 coalition planes have been involved in military operations, including Typhoon and Tornado aircraft from the Royal Air Force. Thirteen nations have currently deployed aircraft to the region. A number of additional nations have made offers of aircraft and other military support and are in the process of being agreed. Royal Navy vessels are in the region supporting the arms embargo.
….
The foreign secretary said Britain would continue to deepen its contacts with the Libyan opposition, including the Interim National Council based in Benghazi.
“I spoke to Mahmoud Jabril, Special Envoy of Council, on Tuesday to discuss the situation on the ground and to invite him to visit London,” Hague said.
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British Submarine Launches More Missile Strikes Against Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/24/c_13796506.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 24, 2011
British submarine launches further strikes on Libyan air defense systems
LONDON: A Royal Navy submarine has launched further missile strikes against Libyan air defense targets…said a statement released by British Defense Ministry on Thursday.
In the statement, the Chief of Defense Staff’s Strategic Communication Officer Major General John Lorimer said that British Armed Forces have again participated in a coordinated strike against Libyan air defense systems in support of resolution 1973.
Britain launched guided Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) from a Trafalgar Class submarine at Air Defense targets….
“Britain and her International partners remain engaged in operations to support United Nations Security Resolution 1973, to enforce the established No-Fly Zone and to ready the UK’s contribution to the NATO arms embargo of Libya,” Lorimer said.
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Turkey Provides NATO Four Warships, Submarine For Libya Blockade
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/turkey/1850232.html
Trend News Agency
March 24, 2011
Turkish armed forces to serve on NATO embargo
Turkish lawmakers on Thursday approved a motion that will allow the Turkish armed forces to serve on the NATO arms embargo in violence-scarred Libya, Xinhua reported.
The government requested the parliament to allow it and the military to send troops to foreign countries in the motion….
Turkey will send four frigates, a submarine and an auxiliary warship to a NATO mission that will enforce arms embargo off Libya, which will be joined by other countries like Italy, Canada, Spain and the United States, NATO officials said Wednesday.
Commander of Turkey’s Naval Forces Admiral Ugur Yigit said Wednesday there had already been two Turkish ships in Libya, adding that two other ships and a submarine have set off for Libya, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
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http://en.trend.az/regions/met/turkey/1849916.html
Trend News Agency
March 24, 2011
Two Turkish Navy ships off Libyan coast; two more, submarine to join
Two ships of the Turkish Navy are already off the Libyan coast while another two and a submarine has completed preparations and departed for North African country, CNN Turk quoted the Navy’s commander-in-chief Ugur Yigit as saying.
Turkey has offered to contribute five warships and a submarine to international operations in Libya…NATO officials said Wednesday.
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Netherlands Deploys Warplanes For Operations Against Libya
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-f-16s-leave-libya-embargo-mission
Radio Netherlands
March 24, 2011
Dutch F-16s leave for Libya embargo mission
Six Dutch F-16s are leaving Leeuwarden air force base on Thursday afternoon and flying to Decimomanu in Sardinia to monitor the arms embargo against Libya.
…
A refuelling plane will assist the F-16s and the minesweeper HNLMS Haarlem will also be deployed to monitor the embargo.
The F-16s and the minesweeper are being deployed for three months. The refuelling plane is only available until 4 April.
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French Warplanes Strike Deep Inside Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/24/c_13796588.htm
Xinhua News Aguency
March 24, 2011
French fighter jets attack Libyan air base
PARIS: The French airforce struck a Libyan air base before sunrise Thursday, a military spokesman told a media conference.
The overnight strikes targeted a base about 250 kilometers south of the Libyan coastline, French general staff spokesman Thierry Burkhard said.
The air raids were conducted by Rafale and Mirage 2000-D fighter jets, he said, but didn’t give a specific location of the air base.
He also refused to disclose the damage inflicted on the air base, saying it was confidential.
France was the initiator of the international military intervention in Libya and claims to have destroyed more than 10 armoured vehicles belonging to Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
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Powerful Explosions Heard In Libyan Capital
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16082742&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 24, 2011
Sound of shelling heard in Libyan capital
RABAT: Artillery cannonade has been heard in the Libyan capital since early morning. Air defence troops opened intensive defensive fire. The sound of powerful explosions is heard in some districts.
Last night Western coalition forces launched air strikes at a number of military facilities in Libya. According to witnesses, a military base east of Tripoli was bombed. Civilian and military targets in the city of Jafar, to the south-west of the capital, were also brought under fire.
The JANA News Agency of Libya reported that Western coalition planes raided Tripoli’s outskirts. According to JANA, the air strikes were dealt at residential areas. “There are numerous casualties among the population,” the report said.
Witnesses reported that a powerful explosion took place at a military base of the Libyan army in the area of Tajura, 32 kilometres east of the capital. Clouds of black smoke rose over the military base.
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Attack On Libya Evokes Serbs’ Bitter Memories Of NATO Onslaught
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_648702.html
Agence France-Presse
March 24, 2011
Libya airstrikes remind Serbians of Nato bombings
BELGRADE: The airstrikes on Libya brought back bitter memories for many Serbs on Thursday, 12 years after the start of a Nato bombing campaign aimed at ending a Serbian crackdown on Kosovo.
‘I am trying not to watch television reports from Libya because its a painful reminder’ of a spring spent hiding in shelters, software engineer Mr Petar Marjanovic said.
‘Even if I try to rationalise the bombing to convince myself that they were not aimed at us civilians but the military, I will never forget these days of fear and anxiety,’ Marjanovic said.
Nato launched the strikes – without UN Security Council backing unlike the intervention in Libya….
In one of the bloodiest incidents, more than a dozen people were killed on May 7, 1999, when Nato planes dropped cluster bombs on a crowded outdoor market in the southern town of Nis. It was later described as a ‘blunder’.
The bombing campaign against Serbia lasted 78 days and remains etched in public memory.
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New U.S.-NATO Strikes Kill Libyan Civilians, Including Rescue Workers
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/24/47889286.html
Voice of Russia
March 24, 2011
Coalition strikes again
The international coalition forces delivered more strikes on civilian and military targets in Libya on Wednesday with many civilians reportedly killed and wounded in the Tadjura residential area east of the capital Tripoli.
The list of those injured also includes several rescue workers who were looking for survivors in previous such strikes.
A residence of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Adjdabiya was also damaged.
Meanwhile, the NATO Council remains divided on the scope of the ongoing military operation.
On Tuesday it agreed to impose a sea blockade on Libya….
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Libyan Quagmire Could Drag More U.S. Forces In
http://en.huanqiu.com/opinion/commentary/2011-03/637383.html
Global Times
March 24, 2011
Libyan quagmire could drag more US forces in
Shi Yinhong
Professor of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China
Recently some scholars are talking about a coalition split over Libya operations, saying that the US and the UK are not pleased with France’s attempts to sidestep NATO at the beginning of the military operations against Libya. Some believe that France has hijacked Western operations against Libya. I strongly disagree.
The US has taken the lead in the Libya action, and it conducts most of the air strikes. It is too early to talk about split among the US, the UK and France at the moment. Gaddafi’s strength humiliated these Western powers. The coalition has to lend a hand to the Libyan rebels, so that they can continue to fight against Gaddafi.
In the future, divergence may emerge within the coalition. If Gaddafi overwhelms the rebels again, and the West has to send ground forces, they may quarrel among themselves, because every nation involved is reluctant to do this. So far the three powers largely share a consensus and operate in accordance with each other.
I don’t think the US will withdraw from the operations, either. It has sent aircraft carriers and war planes, and will continue the air-sea assault to prevent Gaddafi’s operations.
Gaddafi has called for a cease-fire again, but has been refused by the US. The no-fly zone is a strategic measure with a very clear objective – the coalition can use the zone to prevent Gaddafi from choking rebel forces.
Every war causes political controversy. You shouldn not listen to what Westerners say – you only need to watch what they do. Even if Gaddafi continues to last, he can only control part of Libya. The West won’t allow him to occupy the entire nation.
However, if the West continues to conduct the military intervention, some Arab countries that support the intervention may change their attitudes later.
The military intervention into Libya will become a risky precedent, and it may be abused by the West to interfere with internal affairs in other developing countries. But in the meantime, this is also a special case, due to Libya’s geological position.
If it were a country near Russia or China, and had closer relations with the two powers, they would probably have vetoed the no-fly zone resolution.
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White House Hands Libyan War Command And Control To NATO
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1567183.ece
Press Trust of India
March 24, 2011
‘NATO’s role very important in command and control of Libya’
As U.S. prepares to hand over the command and control of the military operation in Libya in the next few days, the Obama Administration has said that NATO would have a very important role to play in this regard.
“There is an agreement that NATO is going to play a very important role in the command and control,” said Ben Rhodes Deputy National Security Advisor, adding that the terms and timeline of the transition is still being discussed at NATO.
“The exact structure and relative participation of different countries is what they’re continuing to discuss, and they will do so, again, tomorrow. But again, I think this is going to be a matter of days in which you see a movement towards a transition with regard to command and control,” he told White House correspondents travelling with the U.S. President on their way back from Latin American to the U.S.
“You already see an increase in the extent to which the no-fly zone, the enforcement of the no-fly zone piece of the effort in Libya right now is being undertaken by allies and partners. You see, again, a number of allies stepping up with different contributions as well,” he said, adding that the U.S. and its international partners are working through the command and control issue.
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How “Humanitarian” Is Western Intervention In Libya?
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/98670/102055/7327885.html
People’s Daily
March 22, 2011
How humanitarian is Western intervention in Libya?
Tang Zhichao
-Poor Libya is not the first “trial target” that the Western has attacked in the name of “humanitarianism.” Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and so on are all the former “targets.” Sadly, the “experiment” never really succeeded. As seen from the other two countries, this so-called “humanitarianism” is actually just the first step toward overthrowing of another country’s political power.
For days, British, French and U.S. forces have been conducting air strikes in Libya. Despite coalition claims that their actions have made steady progress, voices of dissatisfaction and opposition are increasingly louder due to casualties caused by a strike ostensibly carried out in the name of humanitarianism.
According to the U.S. Army, the operation “Odyssey Dawn,” which started on the afternoon of March 19, has largely weakened the capability of Libyan air defense. The first phase of the coalition’s mission to control Libyan air territory has achieved success, said Michael Glenn Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, on March 20.
The Western coalition emphasized that the first wave of the strike is “limited in scope,” but in fact it turned out otherwise, triggering great questions and doubts. Libya’s state-run TV station reported that 64 people died and 150 people were injured in the first day of the air strike. Such numbers are definitely going to increase with the ongoing strike.
The two main purposes of the current air strike are to destroy Libyan air defense facilities and lay the groundwork for setting up a no-fly zone, which will allow Western fighters to cruise on one hand. On the other hand, it aims to stop Gaddafi’s eastern aggression and force military troops loyal to Gaddafi to evacuate from Benghazi and other places occupied by Libyan rebels. However, neither of the purposes has been achieved as of now, and Gaddafi is not compromising, either.
The action implemented by the coalition was authorized by the U.N. Security Council in the name of “humanitarianism” to stop the killing of civilians by Gaddafi. However, the real situation is that casualties might be much higher than before Western interference. Aside from the deaths and injuries caused by the air strike, it will eventually turn into a humanitarian disaster because the interference might turn the civil conflict into a severe protracted civil war.
Poor Libya is not the first “trial target” that the Western has attacked in the name of “humanitarianism.” Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and so on are all the former “targets.” Sadly, the “experiment” never really succeeded. As seen from the other two countries, this so-called “humanitarianism” is actually just the first step toward overthrowing of another country’s political power.
The historical experience also tells us that such military interference is only for self-serving political and economic interests or even just out of dislike for some leaders, such as Saddam and Gaddafi, though it is veiled by a humanitarian guise.
However, it is definitely not under the pure name of “humanitarianism.” Then, who is going to clear the name of this cause?
Therefore, we could see the turning of Arab League’s sides from supporting to wavering and “regretting” within just a few days. In order to stop the bombing of civilians by Gaddafi, the Arab League appealed to the U.N. Security Council to set up a no-fly zone over Libya and provided a “legal” excuse for France and Britain to advance the 1973 no-fly ban.
But, the Arab League never expected that the air strike on Libya could cause such a big disaster, and they may have to share the burden of deaths first. So, the Arab League started to condemn the military attacks on Libya on March 20.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said what is currently happening in Libya has strayed away from the purpose of setting up no-fly zone approved by the U.N. Security Council. The council’s decision was done in order to protect civilians but not at the expense of sacrificing more civilians. The no-fly zone is expected but not bombs.
Apart from the Arab League, Russia strongly appealed all sides to cease fire to avoid hurting more civilians and opposes to use of military forces indiscriminately. Iran condemns the air strike on Libya and questions Western countries’ improper purposes. Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, said the air strike could only cause more bleeding. Also, Turkey, as one member of NATO, opposes the behavior of its “partners” and warns NATO that the military interference would result in very dangerous consequences.
Translated by Wang Hanlu
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AFRICOM Chief Visits 14-Nation Libyan War Air Operations Center In Germany
http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123248095
U.S. Air Forces in Europe
March 23, 2011
General Ham visits air operations center responsible for Operation Odyssey Dawn air campaign
by Staff Sgt. Stefanie Torres
17th Air Force Public Affairs
-“You can’t bring 14 different nations together without ever having prepared for this before.”
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: U.S. Africa Command Commander Army Gen. Carter Ham and his top enlisted advisor, Command Chief Master Sgt. Jack Johnson Jr., paid a visit to their air component here March 22.
Air Forces Africa (17th Air Force) Commander Air Force Maj. Gen. Margaret Woodward greeted General Ham at the 603rd Air Operations Center, where flying operations in Libya were on display, and work with coalition partners was taking place. Participants from coalition countries to include France, Great Britain, and Italy were present to greet the general as he saw firsthand how the air components all were working together in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
The 603rd, normally the AOC for 3rd Air Force and U.S. European Command, is hosting AFRICOM’s (and 17th Air Force’s) 617th Air Opertions Center. The two commands are working together on ODD….Together they form the air component of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn.
AFRICOM established the JTF to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. forces supporting the international response to the unrest in Libya and enforcement of security council resolution. UNSCR 1973 authorizes all necessary measures to protect civilians in Libya under threat of attack by Qadhafi regime forces.
Although working with different countries in similar activities could warrant a difficult learning curve, General Ham said it was clear that this was not the case, and having preparation beforehand may have helped in this situation.
“You can’t bring 14 different nations together without ever having prepared for this before,” he said. “It’s amazing to see that even with such short notice what we have been able to come together and accomplish this task. There is no force anywhere on the planet that could pull this off.”
….
The 603rd AOC is playing host to not only the 617th AOC, but coalition partners as well….
“It’s amazing to see the many nations working together with extraordinary cooperation and dedication. But the work isn’t done yet….”
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Egypt: Pentagon Chief Gates Meets With Military Commander-In-Chief/Supreme Military Council Head
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63280
U.S. Department of Defense
March 23, 2011
Gates Reaffirms U.S. Support of Egypt
By Cheryl Pellerin
-Rapid change in the region holds potential new opportunities for the United States, Gates said.
-Gates will meet tomorrow with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the nation’s commander in chief and chairman of the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
CAIRO: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met with Egyptian leaders here today as part of a visit officials said is designed to reaffirm U.S. support and advance the nations’ defense partnership.
“It’s always a pleasure to be back in this vibrant and historic city,” Gates said, “especially during a time of monumental promise and change both in Egypt and elsewhere in the region.”
America’s historic relationship with Egypt is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa, Gates said. The U.S.-Egyptian military partnership has grown over 30 years, he added, “and it is an integral part of the way our two countries pursue our common interests and advance stability in an often tumultuous region.”
Rapid change in the region holds potential new opportunities for the United States, Gates said.
“I would point to the longstanding relationship between the United States military and the Egyptian military and the constructive role the Egyptian military has played in the events of the past couple of months,” he said.
“For existing governments that undertake a process of reform and that we work with today, those relationships will continue,” Gates added. “And I think where change is underway we may have even greater opportunities.”
After his meeting today with Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and other Egyptian officials, Gates said the leaders “do see a need for economic assistance, not just from us, but from all their friends.” The Egyptian leaders see the connection between political progress and people seeing concrete improvements in the quality of their lives, which means a growing economy, the secretary added.
“The key here is the stability that the Supreme Council has brought and the naming of the interim government that we hope in the short term will allow for a return of the tourist trade, which is an important source of income,” Gates said.
As private industry observers see a process of democratization going forward, he added, they will see opportunities for investment in Egypt, “which is at the end of the day, both inside Egypt and from external investment, the long-term solution to their economic problems.”
Gates will meet tomorrow with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the nation’s commander in chief and chairman of the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
====
Global Navy Positioned U.S. For Libyan Strikes: Admiral
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63272
U.S. Department of Defense
March 23, 2011
Roughead: Ships Were Ready for Odyssey Dawn
By Jim Garamone
-The actions against Libya marked the first time the converted ballistic missile submarine USS Florida was used in combat, and basing the coalition’s joint task force aboard the USS Mount Whitney has provided flexibility….
-Roughead said he also is pleased with the performance of the EA-18G Growler, the Navy’s newest electronic warfare aircraft. The five-jet squadron had been flying missions over Iraq, but was quickly moved and began flying missions in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn….
-“That’s what you get when you have a global Navy that’s forward all the time. We don’t surge, and we don’t ride to the sound of the guns. We’re there, and when the guns go off, we’re ready to conduct combat operations….”
-The global supply chain has worked well, [Navy Admiral Gary Roughead] said, adding that he anticipates no problem in keeping operations going.
-Tomahawks will be replaced from the existing inventory, Roughead said. More than 3,200 Tomahawks are in the inventory….
WASHINGTON: While Operation Odyssey Dawn brewed up quickly, the U.S. Navy already was positioned for operations over Libya, the chief of naval operations said here today.
Navy Adm. Gary Roughead told the Defense Writers Group that having Navy ships and submarines in the Mediterranean Sea enabled a quick response to the order that began Operation Odyssey Dawn.
“The need, for example in the opening rounds, for the Tomahawk strikes, the shooters were already in place,” Roughead said. “They were already loaded, and that went off as we expected it would.”
The Navy’s top officer said he is pleased overall with the operation so far. The actions against Libya marked the first time the converted ballistic missile submarine USS Florida was used in combat, and basing the coalition’s joint task force aboard the USS Mount Whitney has provided flexibility, he added.
Roughead said he also is pleased with the performance of the EA-18G Growler, the Navy’s newest electronic warfare aircraft. The five-jet squadron had been flying missions over Iraq, but was quickly moved and began flying missions in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn just 47 hours after recovering from operations over Iraq, he said.
The admiral also praised the tactical recovery of two F-15E Strike Eagle airmen who ejected over Libya when their jet had mechanical problems. The USS Kearsarge launched a V-22 Osprey that got in quickly and made the recovery, he said.
“The way it came together, the synchronicity of operations, the involvement and coordination among the different participants [went] quite well,” he added.
Roughead said the Navy can continue supporting operations as long as it takes.
“That’s what you get when you have a global Navy that’s forward all the time,” he said. “We don’t surge, and we don’t ride to the sound of the guns. We’re there, and when the guns go off, we’re ready to conduct combat operations….”
In the run-up to the operations, the admiral told the group, the Joint Chiefs of Staff deliberated on the military actions that would be required. Roughead said he was particularly concerned about Moammar Gadhafi’s integrated air and missile defense system….
Logistics was another concern, Roughead said, but the Navy’s robust presence in the Mediterranean comes with re-supply ships afloat and depots ashore. The global supply chain has worked well, he said, adding that he anticipates no problem in keeping operations going.
From a funding standpoint, Roughead told the defense writers, the operations are not especially costly.
…Tomahawks will be replaced from the existing inventory, Roughead said. More than 3,200 Tomahawks are in the inventory, and the missiles used in the operation represent “relatively minor increases in cost,” he added.
====
336 U.S., NATO Air Sorties, Missile Strikes In Libyan “Battle Space”
http://www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=63269
U.S. Department of Defense
March 23, 2011
Pentagon Tallies Coalition Actions in Libya
By Karen Parrish
WASHINGTON: By the fifth day of coalition task force operations…the 13-nation alliance had flown more than 300 sorties in the North African country, Pentagon officials said yesterday.
By 3 p.m. EDT yesterday, the United States had flown 212 sorties, other coalition sorties totaled 124, and Tomahawk missile launches numbered 162, officials said.
Officials said the 336 sorties included 108 strike sorties, meaning they encountered opposition from Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.
….
Task Force Odyssey Dawn, including forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and Arab states, immediately shifted from humanitarian and refugee evacuation missions under way since March 4 to military air operations enforcing the resolution.
….
With the no-fly zone established and “robust,” the admiral said, “we are looking at the battle space as it changes, looking at the disposition of … Gadhafi’s forces that are not complying with the U.N. Security Council resolution, and we are able to produce more of an effect.”
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NATO Partners To Play Larger Role In Multiphased Libyan Attacks
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63279
U.S. Department of Defense
March 23, 2011
Coalition Partners Assume More Responsibility in Libya
By Lisa Daniel
-The coalition started out small, but quickly established the no-fly zone, obtained maritime superiority, put the embargo in place, interdicted ground forces, suppressed enemy air defenses….
WASHINGTON: Coalition task force operations in Libya continue to go well, and partner nations are picking up more of the workload, the chief of staff of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn told reporters today.
“Our efforts have been going well,” Navy Rear Adm. Gerard P. Hueber told Pentagon reporters by telephone from the USS Whitney in the Mediterranean Sea on the sixth day of operations. “This is a multiphased operation. Our coalition partners are assuming more and more responsibility.”
The 13-member coalition has achieved its objective to set up a no-fly zone over Libya….
Sortie airstrikes have rendered Libya’s air defense “severely degraded or destroyed,” the admiral said.
….
The coalition started out small, but quickly established the no-fly zone, obtained maritime superiority, put the embargo in place, interdicted ground forces, suppressed enemy air defenses…, Hueber said.
“This is a fully integrated coalition operation,” he said. “Coalition ships, aircraft and staff are focused on the single mission of enforcing [Resolution] 1973.”
The coalition has “accomplished quite a lot together,” the admiral said, “and will continue to work together” until the resolution’s objectives are met.
====
Libyan War: China Must Rally World’s Anti-Intervention Voices
http://en.huanqiu.com/opinion/editorial/2011-03/636415.html
Global Times
March 22, 2011
Anti-intervention voices must be heard
-The Iraq invasion in 2003 went smoothly at first, but several thousand Americans died after the eradication of the Saddam regime. The war in Afghanistan has now lasted more than twice as long as World War I.
-Western supremacist interest has become more prevalent these years. In the current Middle East revolutions, Western governments rashly interacted with public opinion and hastily concluded Gaddafi would step down quickly. Now in order to maintain the authority of the West, they have to take the risk of military intervention.
China and Russia do not need to help the West find a way out in Libya.
-China should unite dissenting countries in uniting reactions against the air strikes. China should dare to do so, because the US, Britain and France first violated the no-fly zone resolution and the anti-military intervention camp can now occupy the moral high ground.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa criticized the US, Britain and France for their air raids in Libya on March 20. The coalition operations are facing increasing opposition from global public opinion. The veil of this military intervention under the banner of humanitarianism is rapidly being stripped away.
In this complex world, the situations in this region are much more complex than the description given by Western media. The US, Britain and France attempted to create a simple end in Libya that was beneficial to Western values, which, however, is contrary to reality. It means this military action cannot be as accurate and clear as a Tomahawk missile’s trajectory.
Within 24 hours of air strikes, the African Union, China, Russia, India and many other emerging countries stood out to oppose them. German displeasure has also been made clear. Moussa’s criticism indicates the dissatisfaction in the Arab world.
It is easy for the US, Britain and France to defeat the military power of Gaddafi, but the final outcome of military action in the Islamic world does not depend on the success or failure of military action alone. The Iraq invasion in 2003 went smoothly at first, but several thousand Americans died after the eradication of the Saddam regime. The war in Afghanistan has now lasted more than twice as long as World War I.
During the Iraq war, anti-American sentiment in the Arab world was severe, but the regulatory constraints in Arab countries limited the release of the discontent. But now with open public opinion, the people in Arab countries will soon understand that the real purpose of the Western air raids in Libya is not as pure as claimed.
Western supremacist interest has become more prevalent these years. In the current Middle East revolutions, Western governments rashly interacted with public opinion and hastily concluded Gaddafi would step down quickly. Now in order to maintain the authority of the West, they have to take the risk of military intervention.
China and Russia do not need to help the West find a way out in Libya.
With anti-American sentiment in the Arab world, the West cannot launch a ground war like in Iraq. The Arab world’s dislike of Gaddafi and aversion to the Western powers would balance each other out. Regardless of the fate of Gaddafi, a chaotic Libya will become an irremovable burden of the West.
China should unite dissenting countries in uniting reactions against the air strikes. China should dare to do so, because the US, Britain and France first violated the no-fly zone resolution and the anti-military intervention camp can now occupy the moral high ground.
Making full use of it, the West will give more respect to China’s opinion.
Stop NATO News March 23, 2011
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Updates on Libyan war: March 23
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. Tbilisi: NATO Conference Discusses Georgia’s “Euro-Atlantic” Integration
2. Saakashvili: Full NATO Membership Georgia’s Main Political Goal
3. NATO Air Strike Kills Afghan Child And “Militants” On Motorcycle, Wounds Civilians
4. Belarus: NATO Courts Europe’s Last Holdout
5. Twelve Years Later: 20 Million Square Meters Of Serbia Contaminated With NATO Cluster Bombs
6. U.S. Achieves “Holy Grail” Of Star Wars Missile Interception
7. Romania: U.S. Strengthens Bilateral Air Force Relations
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1. Tbilisi: NATO Conference Discusses Georgia’s “Euro-Atlantic” Integration
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1849620.html
Trend News Agency
March 23, 2011
76th Rose-Roth seminar of NATO PA starts in Tbilisi
N. Kirtskhalia
Washington To Rearm Georgia For New Conflicts
Tbilisi: The 76th Rose-Roth seminar of NATO PA will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on March 23-25.
The three-day seminar will be attended by representatives of the Georgian leadership, a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, head of the EU observer mission in Georgia Hans Joerg Haber, heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Georgia, as well as experts.
The seminar will focus on global issues and the situation in the region, the Georgian-Russian conflict, Georgia’s integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, development of democracy in Georgia, role of media and civil society, combating corruption, and many other issues.
Seminar participants also plan to get acquainted with the situation at the administrative border with the Tskhinvali [South Ossetia] region.
————————————-
http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=40812&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=
Rustavi 2
March 23, 2011
Tbilisi hosts 76th Rose-Roth seminar of NATO PA
Tbilisi is hosting the 76th Rose-Roth seminar of the NATO Parliamentary assembly. The seminar focuses on global issues and the situation in the region, the Georgian-Russian conflict, Georgia`s integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, development of democracy in Georgia, the role of media and civil society, combating corruption, and many other issues.
The president of the NATO PA Karl Lamers arrived in Georgia to participate in the international event, which is attended by the diplomatic corps and Georgian and Polish lawmakers.
The participants of the seminar are discussing all those issues which are topical for Georgia today in the process of its integration into NATO.
….
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2. Saakashvili: Full NATO Membership Georgia’s Main Political Goal
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1849551.html
Trend News Agency
March 23, 2011
President of Georgia and President of NATO PA discuss prospects for Georgia’s accession to NATO
N. Kirtskhalia
Tbilisi: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Karl Lamers on Tuesday discussed the prospects of Georgia’s accession to NATO.
The meeting was held behind closed doors, a source at the presidential administration told Trend.
“Lamers reiterated support for Georgia’s aspirations to [join] the alliance and expressed his respect for Georgia’s efforts in this regard,” said the Administration.
In turn, the President of Georgia said that accession to NATO is the main direction of Georgia’s politics.
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3. NATO Air Strike Kills Afghan Child And “Militants” On Motorcycle, Wounds Civilians
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1849799.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 23, 2011
Local official: NATO airstrike kills two militants, Afghan child
U.S. Employs Afghan War To Build Global NATO
NATO: Afghan War Model For Future 21st Century Operations
A NATO airstrike killed two suspected militants and a child Wednesday in the south-eastern Afghan province of Khost, a local official said, dpa reported.
The adults were killed when a NATO aircraft hit their motorbike on a road in the Sabari district, said Mubarez Mohammad Zadran, spokesman for the provincial governor.
A civilian vehicle driving behind the motorbike was also caught in the
explosion, he said, adding “One child inside the car was killed, and two
civilian men and one woman were injured.”
NATO was not immediately available for comment.
Civilian casualties at the hand of international troops have been a sensitive issue in Afghanistan. Such deaths have caused friction between the Afghan government and its Western military allies.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in US-led operations in recent months, according to Afghan officials. The deaths included nine children in the south-eastern province of Kunar and President Hamid Karzai’s cousin in his hometown of Kandahar.
The recent killings of children prompted Karzai to lash out at the foreign
troops and demand a halt to the operations that carry the risk of hurting civilians. US official, including President Barack Obama, offered apologies after that incident.
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Belarus: NATO Courts Europe’s Last Holdout
http://news.belta.by/en/news/politics?id=619624
Belarusian Telegraph Agency
March 23, 2011
Belarus-NATO cooperation may continue on mutual interests
MINSK: France believes that it is possible for Belarus-NATO cooperation to continue on the basis of mutual interests, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Belarus Michel Raineri told media on 23 March.
The Embassy of France has been acting as NATO’s representative office in Belarus since 1 January 2011.
The diplomat said that various NATO delegations visit Belarus and the Embassy of France assists with arranging such visits and meetings. In his words, a NATO delegation visited Belarus in January. NATO officials are expected to visit Belarus in May to discuss future Belarus-NATO cooperation.
Michel Raineri underlined that general matters of future development of Belarus-NATO cooperation would be discussed in Brussels.
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5. Twelve Years Later: 20 Million Square Meters Of Serbia Contaminated With NATO Cluster Bombs
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=23&nav_id=73394
Tanjug News Agency
March 23, 2011
NATO cluster bombs to be cleared
It has…been determined that 290 sites, located in 16 Serbian municipalities and covering a total of 14,920,000 square meters, are contaminated with cluster bombs from the NATO bombing.
110 more locations, 6,151,000 square meters in total, are suspected of containing cluster bombs….
BELGRADE: Clearing the ground in Bujanovac, Preševo and Kuršumlija in southern Serbia of cluster bombs left by the 1999 NATO bombing should start in April.
The project will be financed by a Norwegian donation worth EUR 3.4mn.
A memorandum of understanding between the Serbian government center for mine clearance and the Norwegian organization People’s Aid is being prepared, reads a release from the demining center made available to reporters on Wednesday at the Serbian Interior Ministry.
The humanitarian demining project in these municipalities will last three years.
According to the data of the center, Bujanovac and Preševo have 1,389,900 square meters contaminated with different types of mines, and the area will be investigated further to determine precise information.
It has also been determined that 290 sites, located in 16 Serbian municipalities and covering a total of 14,920,000 square meters, are contaminated with cluster bombs from the NATO bombing.
110 more locations, 6,151,000 square meters in total, are suspected of containing cluster bombs, but the areas need to be investigated more thoroughly.
The 1999 attacks of the western military alliance left Serbia with 64 aerial bombs and rockets at 44 locations, some buried as deep as 20 meters in the ground and some lying in the Sava and Danube riverbeds.
Based on information received from citizens, the Interior Ministry’s Emergency Situations Sector suspects that another 50 bombs and rockets are hidden at several dozen locations which are yet to be fully searched.
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6. U.S. Achieves “Holy Grail” Of Star Wars Missile Interception
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42238237/ns/technology_and_science-space/
http://www.spacenews.com/military/110323-stss-demo-birth-death-missile-tracking.html
MSNBC/Space News
March 3, 2011
U.S. achieves the ‘Holy Grail’ of missile defense
2 Northrop Grumman satellites track ‘birth to death’ ballistic missile launch
by Turner Brinton
NATO Provides Pentagon Nuclear, Missile And Cyber Shields Over Europe
Europe And Beyond: U.S. Consolidates Global Missile Shield
WASHINGTON: A pair of low Earth-orbiting demonstration satellites built by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems for the first time on March 16 detected and tracked a ballistic missile launch through all phases of flight, a Northrop Grumman official said March 22.
So-called birth-to-death tracking of a ballistic missile launch had never been done before from space and is the most significant achievement to date for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) spacecraft, said Doug Young, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of missile defense and warning programs.
“It’s the Holy Grail for missile defense,” Young said during a media briefing here.
Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman built three STSS demonstration satellites for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The first satellite, which had a classified mission, was launched in May 2009. After completing its test program, it was transferred Jan. 31 to the control of Air Force Space Command to continue supporting the service’s space situational awareness mission.
The two unclassified STSS satellites were launched in September 2009 on a single United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket. During an extended on-orbit check-out and calibration phase that concluded in November, the satellites tracked multiple missile launches in the early boost and post-boost phases and demonstrated the ability to relay data from one satellite to the other.
On March 16, an ARAV-B short-range target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. An STSS satellite detected the heat signature of the launch with its acquisition sensor, and then its gimbaled tracking sensor locked on to the boosting missile, Young said.
The tracking data was successfully relayed to the other satellite, which continued to observe the target as it coasted through space, re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down in the ocean, he said.
Future STSS tests this year will be more sophisticated, Young said. In the coming months, the MDA will attempt to cue the STSS satellites to a missile launch using data from the operational Defense Support Program missile warning satellites, rather than the acquisition sensors on board STSS, he said.
Another test this year will seek to determine if the STSS satellites can produce missile tracking data good enough to cue the launch of ship-based interceptors, a concept known as launch on remote.
Today, Navy Aegis ships are only able to launch interceptors to defeat ballistic missiles after they are detected by the ship’s own radar. If the interceptors can be fired based on cuing from forward-based sensors, the area that each ship can defend from missiles is greatly increased.
The Navy and MDA plan to conduct the first Aegis launch-on-remote intercept test next month, for which a forward-based AN/TPY-2 X-band radar will cue the launch of a Standard Missile (SM)-3 interceptor before the target missile is detected by the ship’s radar, MDA budget documents show.
Similarly, the STSS demonstration satellites later this year will attempt to track a target missile and feed data to the Aegis system to generate a “fire control solution” for an early interceptor launch, Young said. However, an interceptor will not actually be launched in that test, he noted.
Meanwhile, the MDA is pursuing an operational constellation of geosynchronous missile tracking satellites dubbed the Precision Tracking Space System. The agency will rely on the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., to develop a prototype system to be launched in 2015. An industry team is expected to be chosen in 2014 to build between nine and 12 operational spacecraft planned to begin launching in 2018.
The MDA aims to spend $1.34 billion on the Precision Tracking Space System between 2012 and 2016, budget documents show.
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7. Romania: U.S. Strengthens Bilateral Air Force Relations
http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123247976
U.S. Air Forces in Europe
March 23, 2011
Mission Complete: Carpathian Spring 2011 comes to a close
by Tech Sgt. Jocelyn L. Rich
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
U.S. And NATO Accelerate Military Build-Up In Black Sea Region
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: After a week of training between more than 70 U.S. Airmen and Soldiers and their Romanian counterparts, Carpathian Spring officially came to a close March 18.
Members of the 37th Airlift Squadron, 435th Contingency Response Group, 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and 5th Quarter Masters Battalion were among the members involved in this year’s event held at Airlift Base Otopeni and Campia Turzii.
The weeklong annual exercise was designed to strengthen the partnership between the U.S. and Romanian air forces, while also enhancing their individual capabilities through training scenarios that are difficult to achieve at home station.
….
Airmen have also been working with the Romanian’s in the air traffic control tower to ensure the two nations are learning to work together more cohesively.
….
Updates on Libyan war: March 23
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Iraq Repeat: Bulgarian Warship To Join NATO Libya Blockade
Commentary: U.S. And NATO Lust For Libya’s Conquest
U.S. Shifts Libyan War To NATO Command To Maintain Control
Libya: Russian Duma Calls For Immediate Halt To Western Military Actions
U.S. Deploying Three New Warships, Marines To Libyan Coast
NATO Deploys Armada Of Warships, Submarines For Libya Blockade
Danish F-16s In First Libyan Bombings, Air Combat
Assault On Libya: 160 Cruise Missiles, Four Days Of Bombing
150 Warplanes From 11 Nations And British Prime Minister Says Libyan Conflict Still In “Early Stages” And “A Lot More Needs To Be Done”
Report: Turkey To Deploy Five Warships And Submarine For NATO’s Libyan Blockade
Norway Assigns Six F-16s To U.S. AFRICOM For Libya Strikes
United Nations Security Council: West Refuses Russia Answers Over Resolution 1973 Questions
NATO Ships Begin Blockade Of Libya
U.S., France Agree On NATO Command For Libyan War
U.S. Analyst: Real Intent Behind Military Actions Against Libya
Russia Continues To Oppose Military Intervention In Libya
Russians Protest Libyan War Outside NATO Nations’ Embassies
EU’s Top Diplomat: NATO Should Take Control Of Libya Operation
Bolivian President Demands Obama Be Stripped Of Nobel Peace Prize Over Libyan War
Fires, Deaths: NATO Attacks Hit Tripoli Harbor, Airport
“Regime Change” In Libya To Require Involvement In Ground War
U.S. Marines Shoot Six Libyan Civilians To Rescue Downed Pilots
Libya Burns, But Bahrain Can Shake The World
Pentagon Using New Generation Tomahawk Missiles In Libya
“There Is Hope In Benghazi, The French Flag Is Being Waved There”
Romania Joins NATO Naval Blockade Of Libya
Netherlands Joins NATO’s Onslaught Against Libya
Military Occupation And Regional Reconfiguration: South African Trade Union Confederation Condemns West Over Libyan Attack
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Iraq Repeat: Bulgarian Warship To Join NATO Libya Blockade
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=126559
Sofia News Agency
March 23, 2011
Bulgarian Navy Prepares Frigate for NATO Mission Off Libya’s Coast
-Gordi, under the name F910 Weilingen as part of the Belgian Navy, took part in the UN maritime embargo against Iraq – Operation Southern Breeze during the First Gulf War in 1990-1991 – a naval operation similar to the one in Libya.
Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Anyu Angelov has issued orders to prepare the “Drazki” (“Daring”) frigate of the Bulgarian Navy for participation in the NATO naval operation off Libya’s coast.
The move is in accordance with NATO’s Tuesday’s decision to launch a naval mission in the Mediterranean….
The NATO naval operation will be separate from Operation Odyssey Dawn, which has been going on since Saturday, in which forces of leading Western powers and some Arab states have been carrying out air and missile strikes….
While Bulgaria’s government made it clear it did not have the military capabilities – i.e. the necessary fighter jets – to take part in Operation Odyssey Dawn under the leadership of the USA, UK, and France, it did say that it can send one frigate to help enforce the arms embargo against Libya.
Defense Minister Anyu Angelov himself has confirmed the orders that he had given to the Bulgarian Navy for participation in the naval NATO mission.
….
In 2009, Bulgaria purchased three second-hand frigates from Belgium – Drazki, Gordi (“Proud”), and “Verni” (“Faithful”) – and the Tsibar minesweeper. Interestingly, one of the frigates, Gordi, under the name F910 Weilingen as part of the Belgian Navy, took part in the UN maritime embargo against Iraq – Operation Southern Breeze during the First Gulf War in 1990-1991 – a naval operation similar to the one in Libya.
….
If it sends in its frigate, Bulgaria will be following Romania, whose President Traian Basescu announced on Tuesday that his country will participate in the NATO naval operation off Libya’s coast with the King Ferdinand frigate. The Romanian frigate will be manned by a 205-member crew.
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Commentary: U.S. And NATO Lust For Libya’s Conquest
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=82418
Pakistan Observer
March 23, 2011
US, NATO lust for Libya’s conquest
Dr Samiullah Koreshi
[Edited]
-[T]he US plus the white West…started a naked aggression on Saturday 19th March with France firing on military vehicles and the US launching missile attacks on, first, Ghaddafi’s air defenses, with the neo-crusaders’ running mate, the UN and the ever-obliging Ban Ki-moon, who has turned the UN into a subsidiary of the neo-colonialist powers.
-As is their well-established practice, the [West] met under some label of a coalition with the Old Crusaders under the new label of NATO, with Ban Ki-moon the ever-obliging errand boy making all the noises which are music to their ears, the dividing line between the so-called United Nations organization and the Western foreign offices having disappeared.
-The painful developments of this neo-oil colonialist aggression will unfold in all its gory scenes. Today Libya and Ghadhafi, tomorrow who knows?
Only a few days ago turmoil started in Libya with a rebellion of a medley of locals. It was claimed that this was a manifestation of the so-called democracy wave sweeping the Arab world, but there was one difference – this turmoil was an armed rebellion.
Ghadhafi claimed that the rebels included Chadian and Nigerian [from Niger] mercenaries (not to be confused with Nigerian).
He claimed that al-Quaida was involved in it – maybe thereby hoping to keep his mortal enemy the West not to support the rebellion.
Obviously his hopes were wrong. It is more than possible that in accordance with the Western well-established practice, the anti-Ghaddafi armed rebellion was engineered by the West itself, which is indicated by two things, first the armed rebellion was aided by two Francophone countries, poorest of the poor in the world, and the speed with which all the brutal plans for Ghadhafi’s killing went into action. Ghadhafi’s mortal enemies are oil-hungry America and the West, the same who went for killing of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. These killer countries have a list of those in power whom they must kill. Where there is oil, there is an American-Western plan to eliminate the persona non grata rulers and occupy oil land directly or through proxy.
In the manner of new gunboat diplomacy, the US plus the white West with some camp follower Arab “rulers” – openly one, secretly quite a few camp followers – supporting it, and the neo-crusader NATO their knife, started a naked aggression on Saturday 19th March with France firing on military vehicles and the US launching missile attacks on, first, Ghaddafi’s air defenses, with the neo-crusaders’ running mate, the UN and the ever-obliging Ban Ki-moon who has turned the UN into a subsidiary of the neo-colonialist powers.
Damn be the so-called UN Charter. After all he who pays the piper calls the tune. The US and the white West pay the piper. Ban Ki-moon knows the right voice that pleases his paymasters.
All white Christian rulers, with one Arab camp follower, are spilling Libyan blood under the garb of removing Ghadhafi’s “brutal” rule over Libya. As is their well-established practice, the whites met under some label of a coalition with the Old Crusaders under the new label of NATO, with Ban Ki-moon the ever-obliging errand boy making all the noises which are music to their ears, the dividing line between the so-called United Nations organization and the Western foreign offices having disappeared.
All the UN motions and resolutions are shams and steps to create papers and alibis for implementing the plans to kill Ghaddafi the old enemy, bifurcate Libya and occupy its oil fields.
Does this kill Ghadhafi operation not have tacit Arab support? Has Amr Musa not given his approval to it?
The Arab states should know that individually they are very weak. If their collective will ceases to exist no one can ensure their sovereignty and one by one they would face a dark future.
The neo-oil imperialism designs of US-France-NATO are not difficult to read. Even an ordinary diplomat can read them. It does not require an expert of great wisdom.
The painful developments of this neo-oil colonialist aggression will unfold in all its gory scenes. Today Libya and Ghadhafi, tomorrow who knows?
The Western-US invasion of Libya has lifted the veil from the fact that these Crusader countries continue to retain their imperialist plans for Africa, the Arab World and Muslim countries.
This is the playground of their military conquests as it was once upon a time. Let no Muslim country remain in any doubt about the real intentions of Western neo-imperialism . The US has said that it has gone to Libya to save its people. This reminds of an Urdu proverb, “The woman who claims to love the child more than the mother is a child-eating witch“: Bhaba kutni.
The shark has opened its mouth to devour Libya and divide its oil belt from the rest of Libya. It should be remembered that in the UN in the 1960s Pakistan carried the struggle to join all its part to make a unified country of Libya.
Now the wolf is again on the prowl for a vivisection under all kinds of false slogans” Their love for Libya is the love of Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf masquerading as the grandmother….
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U.S. Shifts Libyan War To NATO Command To Maintain Control
http://rt.com/news/operation-libya-us-nato/
RT
March 23, 2011
Allies start shifting operation leadership in Libya
-“The US won’t allow any other country and especially France to take the lead. The US would prefer NATO to take the lead of this operation – because by connecting NATO to Libya they will be the first ones to tell NATO how to do things and how to work on the ground.”
-“With Colonel Gaddafi being a historical enemy of the west for many, many decades, suddenly he has been brought back into the international fold. There were lots of oil contracts and business contracts flowing out of Libya towards places like the US, the UK and France and Italy.”
“So, I think, they [the west] were torn for a long time and it is only really over the last weekend that they did a bit of a rush job to take the violence to the next stage and protect the rebels that they have been backing secretly for a couple of decades in the east of Libya.”
US President Barack Obama agreed with British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy that NATO would play a key role in further enforcement of the no-fly zone in Libya.
NATO has so far been viewed as a military commander-in-chief only, as several alliance members like Turkey or the Arab League will scarcely acknowledge the organization as a political leader in Libya’s operation, France pointed out.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the foreign ministers of all the countries taking part in military action in Libya will hold a meeting in next few days to create an effective political structure for operations.
“Once we have this political structure… we will naturally use the planning and intervention capacities of NATO,” he said as cited by Reuters.
The UK is volunteering to take the interim role of political leader to steer the coalition’s steps in Libya before the designated structure comes into being.
NATO conceded its session on Tuesday to enforce an arms embargo on Libya. NATO warships will start patrolling the Libyan coast on Wednesday with this mission.
The organization has also finalized plans to enforce UN-sanctioned no-fly zone, if required. However, the plan did not “take into account the political reality of having to reach agreement on whether to execute it,” said a NATO official.
The UN Security Council will discuss the latest developments in Libya in its Thursday session.
There can be no talk about any humanitarian mission in Libya, says Barah Mikail, an expert on Middle East, the coalition just uses it as a pretext to interfere in the Libyan crisis. But the confusion inside the coalition itself is so great that it is yet too early to estimate the operation as successful. Much depends on who will gain control over the events.
“Even though we talk more and more about NATO, we should not forget that the essential struggle from the diplomatic and military point of view is whether the United States or France will be able to take the lead. The essential point of what is going on is the struggle between the US on the one hand and Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy much specifically, on the other”, says Mikail.
Despite Washington’s rhetoric of reducing the US presence in the Middle East country, Mikail does not believe that the US’s role in the operation will diminish.
“The US won’t allow any other country and especially France to take the lead”, says Mikail. “The US would prefer NATO to take the lead of this operation – because by connecting NATO to Libya they will be the first ones to tell NATO how to do things and how to work on the ground.”
NATO has found itself in a tight place over the Libyan crisis, says Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, as nobody wished to accept the responsibility of continuing the military operation in the Middle East country. “Everyone realizes that it will be quite impossible to bring Gaddafi down without a mission on the ground,” Rogozin was cited as saying by RIA Novosti news agency. Attacking Gaddafi’s forces with air-strikes “will not help to achieve the goal, as all these forces have long ago relocated to towns and cities, so civilian casualties will be inevitable.”
“This is a stalemate situation, from NATO’s point of view” Rogozin says. “Yesterday a decision was taken for the bloc to enforce at least one point of the UN Security Council’s resolution – imposing arm supplies embargo on Libya, which rather resembles a naval blockade.”
Coalition under fire for civilian deaths
The international community is quickly growing diverse in the estimates of the “Odyssey Dawn” operation results. In contrast to US and France’s positive comments, Turkey has said the air strikes in Libya have already gone beyond what had been sanctioned by the UN Security Council. Russia and China are calling for an immediate ceasefire in the country by all the forces involved into the conflict.
“We are against excessive use of military force, and we are against the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis, and we are against even greater casualties among civilians,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman was cited as saying by the Associated Press.
Washington sought to untangle itself from the Libyan crisis cobweb, with President Barack Obama announcing on Tuesday that the US has significantly reduced the number of military flights over Libya. He also added that the control of all the military operations in Libya will be transferred to the international coalition within a few days.
US intentions were confirmed by the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates during his visit to Moscow. Gates had to back up Washington’s continuous assaults on Libya, which resulted in civilian casualties, in response to sharp criticism from his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov. Serdyukov called for an immediate cease-fire by both Libya and coalition forces in order to prevent any further civilian deaths.
“We urge all belligerent parties to do their best to stop the violence,” Serdyukov said. “We believe that only a ceasefire and a dialogue between the belligerent parties would be the surest way to” ensure the security of civilians.
The Libyan crisis will also be included on the agenda of the Russia-NATO session in late March, where it will be discussed at the ambassador level.
Former British intelligence officer Annie Machon believes that the roots of the differences within the coalition lie in the long-standing inconsistency of Western policy towards Libya.
“With Colonel Gaddafi being a historical enemy of the west for many, many decades, suddenly he has been brought back into the international fold. There were lots of oil contracts and business contracts flowing out of Libya towards places like the US, the UK and France and Italy,” she said.
“So, I think, they [the west] were torn for a long time and it is only really over the last weekend that they did a bit of a rush job to take the violence to the next stage and protect the rebels that they have been backing secretly for a couple of decades in the east of Libya,” she added. “Different aims from different countries; different vested interests within Libya of the different countries, and also different histories are all playing a part in this model.”
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Libya: Russian Duma Calls For Immediate Halt To Western Military Actions
http://rt.com/politics/state-duma-resolution-libya/
RT
March 23, 2011
Russian Duma calls for immediate halt to violence in Libya
-Russian parliamentarians stressed that the realization of the UN resolution allowed certain countries to pursue different goals when delivering missile and bomb strikes on Libyan territory, targeting sites that had no immediate relation to enforcing the no-flight zone.
Given such “indiscriminate use of military force,” the lawmakers said, the prospects for the normalization of affairs in Libya may take much longer than necessary, while also prompting other states to develop their own weapons of mass destruction.
The lower house of the State Duma will call upon the Western states to immediately halt their military actions against the Gaddafi regime in order to avoid civilian casualties.
“The State Duma expresses concern over the scale and form in which the military force is used against Libya and calls for parliaments of France, Great Britain, United States, Italy, Canada and other states that are conducting the military operation to assist the immediate end of combat that damages the peaceful Libyan infrastructure and most importantly causes new casualties among the civilian population,” reads a State Duma draft statement the international affairs committee has recommended adopting on Wednesday.
The Duma “joins the UN Security Council demands on immediately working out a ceasefire and absolutely stopping violence and all attacks on civilians and their cruel treatment and is calling on the leaders of Libya and the coalition member-states to strictly follow the spirit and the letter of relevant resolutions in their practical actions,” the statement continues.
Of the 450 deputies of the State Duma, 341 voted in favor of the resolution.
The lower house will hold a final vote on the document on Wednesday evening after discussing the amendments to it.
The resolution stresses that Russia joins the demands of the UN Security Council to immediately stop all violence against civilians, and that Russia calls for both the Libyan authorities and the coalition countries to base their actions on the corresponding resolutions.
Meanwhile, the Russian parliamentarians approved of their country’s decision to abstain from voting on the UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which provided the coalition forces to employ “all necessary means” for protecting Libyan civilians from the violence that has shaken their country since anti-government protesters took to the streets against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has been in power since 1969.
“The decision was a choice adequate to the situation,” the Duma statement reads.
The parliamentarians said they regretted that a draft UN Security Council resolution proposed by Russia, which was aimed at peacefully settling the crisis in Libya through the involvement of a special representative of the UN secretary-general, and other international organizations, failed to win significant support.
The Russian lawmakers stressed that one of the major flaws of Resolution 1973 is that is failed to restrain the use of excessive military force.
Resolution 1973 “declared primarily the need to protect Libya’s civilian population, including through the imposition of a no-fly zone, but this resolution failed to set clear limits on the use of military force,” the Russian lawmakers said.
Russian parliamentarians stressed that the realization of the UN resolution allowed certain countries to pursue different goals when delivering missile and bomb strikes on Libyan territory, targeting sites that had no immediate relation to enforcing the no-flight zone.
Given such “indiscriminate use of military force,” the lawmakers said, the prospects for the normalization of affairs in Libya may take much longer than necessary, while also prompting other states to develop their own weapons of mass destruction.
Russia has abstained in the UN Security Council vote on the resolution authorizing the use of force in Libya, but President Dmitry Medvedev amended the Russian legislation in accordance with the resolution, banning the sales of arms to Libya and also refusing Gaddafi and his close circle the right to enter the Russian Federation. At the same time, Russian officials have repeatedly criticized the resolution and warned that it could lead to a lengthy war with numerous casualties.
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U.S. Deploying Three New Warships, Marines To Libyan Coast
http://www.wtkr.com/news/sns-ap-va–shipdeployments,0,968322.story
Associated Press
March 23, 2011
USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group deploying to Mediterranean
NORFOLK, Va. – The USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group is deploying to the Mediterranean Sea to aid international efforts in Libya.
….
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group is made up of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde and the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island.
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http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/03/23/2681s628199.htm
Xinhua News Agency
Match 23, 2011
U.S. Sends Warships to Join Libya Mission
The U.S. Navy on Wednesday dispatched three warships to the Mediterranean to join the military mission in Libya.
Two ships of the group left the military port of Norfolk, VA. Wednesday. They include helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship USS Bataan and the amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde. They will be joined by dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek – Fort Story, Va.
Together the three ships made up the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. They are deploying as part of U.S. maritime forces supporting U.S. and international contingency planning associated with the crisis in Libya.
The groups will relieve units from the USS Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group currently positioned in the Mediterranean Sea. The Amphibious Ready Group include amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and amphibious transport dock ship USS Ponce.
The group and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit onboard are prepared to conduct a variety of missions, according to the U.S. Navy. The missions include forward naval presence, maritime security operations, theater security cooperation…as directed by Fleet and Joint Task Force commanders.
The ships carry hundreds of Marines, a team of surgeons and a helicopter sea combat squadron, according to the Navy.
The U.S. Navy has five combat ships in the Mediterranean, including two guided-missile destroyers, but there are no U.S. aircraft carriers close to Libya. The Navy also has three submarines outfitted with Tomahawk missiles in the Mediterranean.
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NATO Deploys Armada Of Warships, Submarines For Libya Blockade
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-D3C6A22D-85CDFAF7/natolive/news_71726.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 23, 2011
NATO ships move to enforce UN arms embargo
NATO warships and aircraft have started patrolling the approaches to Libya’s coast as part of Operation Unified Protector. Their mission is to enforce the arms embargo called for in UN Security Council Resolution 1973.
….
Six NATO ships are already in international waters off Libya’s coast….A chief planner of the mission at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) Brigadier General Pierre St Amand said at a press conference in Brussels that Allies have already pledged a further 16 ships to the mission.
The operation is being commanded by Vice Admiral Rinaldo Veri from NATO Maritime Command Naples.
Patrol aircraft and fighter jets are also heading towards the area of operations to provide long-range surveillance and intercept any suspected flights carrying weapons into Libya.
….
Their main task will be to monitor ships and aircraft heading towards Libyan territory. They have the right to stop and search any vessel they suspect of carrying prohibited cargo.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/24/3172074.htm?section=justin
Agence France-Presse
March 23, 2011
NATO offers armada to enforce Libya arms embargo
NATO nations have offered up an armada of ships and submarines to enforce an arms embargo against Moamar Gaddafi, as the West moved to settle a row over who should run the entire Libya campaign.
Six nations agreed to contribute up to 16 vessels…with Turkey offering five warships and a submarine despite its reservations about the military action.
The NATO mission will have the means to intercept and board…ships, and the authority to fire a warning shot across the bow of vessels trying to slip away, a NATO official said.
In the meantime, the 28-nation alliance appeared to move closer to deciding NATO’s place in a no-fly zone that has been enforced by an international coalition led by the United States, France and Britain.
France wants political authority to rest in the hands of a committee made up of countries taking part in the international campaign, including Arab states, while leaving planning and operational military duties to NATO.
….
Kuwait and Jordan have agreed to provide a logistical contribution to the international coalition, British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Qatar has deployed Mirage fighter jets, the only Arab state so far to commit military assets to the coalition.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110323/local/nato-ships-begin-patrols-off-libya
Agence France-Presse
March 23, 2011
Nato ships begin patrols off Libya
Six NATO warships backed up by aircraft began to patrol international waters off Libya’s coast today to enforce a UN arms embargo against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, the alliance said.
“NATO warships and aircraft have started patrolling the approaches to Libya’s coast as part of Operation Unified Protector,” NATO said on its website.
The ships were already in international waters off Libya’s coast while patrol aircraft and fighter jets were heading to the area “to provide long-range surveillance and intercept any suspected flights carrying weapons into Libya,” it said.
….
Alliance General Pierre St-Amand of Canada said earlier that six NATO nations have pledged 16 vessels for the operation, including three submarines.
NATO allies agreed to launch the operation late yesterday.
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Danish F-16s In First Libyan Bombings, Air Combat
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/24/c_13794825.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 23, 2011
Danish F-16 fighters drop bombs on Libya for first time, says Air Force
COPENHAGEN: Danish F-16 fighter jets have, for the first time, dropped precision-guided bombs on targets in Libya, the Danish Air Force’s Tactical Air Command said on Wednesday.
“In the course of the last 24 hours, the Danish F-16 planes launched precision bombs on targets in Libya for the first time,” Tactical Air Command said in a press statement released Wednesday afternoon. It did not provide further details of the strikes or the targets, citing security concerns for Danish forces and mission coalition partners.
Denmark has deployed six F-16 fighter jets, as well as 132 support personnel as part of a UN-mandated coalition force to establish a no-fly zone over Libya.
The Danish forces are operating out of Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Italy. The statement said the six F-16s have carried out a total of 12 missions since commencing operations on Sunday, including 11 air-to-ground and one air-to-air mission, and added that “the mission is progressing as planned.”
Mission coalition partners France, Britain, and the U.S. have also launched strikes from air and sea against Libyan military targets since Saturday….
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Assault On Libya: 160 Cruise Missiles, Four Days Of Bombing
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/23/47836210.html
Voice of Russia
March 23, 2011
International coalition continues bombing Libya
The international coalition is continuing to bomb Libya.
Missiles and artillery shells exploded in Tripoli for the fourth consecutive night last night. According to the allied command, more than 160 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired on Gaddafi military installations since the start of the operation.
The Libyan leader appeared in public briefly last night to urge his supporter to fight to the last ditch.
Meanwhile the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has said that the United States will hand over the Libya operation command to the allies within the next few days, with NATO to play a key role in handling the situation in the North African country.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13794652.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 23, 2011
Western aircraft launch strikes on Gaddafi’s forces in Misrata
TRIPOLI: Western coalition aircraft have launched two strikes on the rebel-held city of Misrata which forces loyal to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are trying to retake, Al-Arabiya reported, citing an eyewitness.
Pro-Gaddafi forces have not fired a single artillery since the air strike began.
….
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150 Warplanes From 11 Nations And British Prime Minister Says Libyan Conflict Still In “Early Stages” And “A Lot More Needs To Be Done”
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/europe/1849825.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 23, 2011
Cameron: Lot more still needs to be done in Libya
The conflict in Libya is in its “early stages” and “a lot more needs to be done”…, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday, dpa reported.
Cameron told parliament in London that 11 nations belonging to the international coalition took part in the latest military action over Libya, contributing 150 aircraft.
“I think we have made good progress in the no-fly zone, good progress in terms of turning some of those forces back and protecting civilians, but clearly this is early stages and a lot more remains to be done.”
There had been an “early and good progress” effect in terms of regime forces having to retreat from Benghazi but “great concern” remained over what was happening in the town of Misurata.
….
He confirmed that the Gulf state of Qatar had supplied a Mirage fighter jet and support aircraft for the military operation, and that the coalition was expecting “logistical contributions” from Jordan and Kuwait.
He had also discussed the matter with the Saudi foreign minister, Cameron revealed.
….
“We hope more support will be forthcoming,” said Cameron.
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Report: Turkey To Deploy Five Warships And Submarine For NATO’s Libyan Blockade
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/turkey/1849865.html
Trend News Agency
March 23, 2011
Turkey to provide Navy ships for operations to enforce embargo on arms supplies to Libya
As part of the NATO operations to enforce the embargo on arms supplies to Libya, Turkey will provide five Navy ships and one submarine boat, local media reported on Wednesday, citing sources at the headquarters of NATO, RIA Novosti reported.
Official confirmation of this information has not yet been made by the Turkish authorities.
Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would not send weapons against Libya. “I emphasize that Turkey will not be the party that will direct arms against the people of Libya,” said the Prime Minister, speaking in Parliament Tuesday.
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20110323/163165260.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 23, 2011
Turkey offers warships to help implement UN arms embargo against Libya – media
Ankara: Turkey has offered its warships to help implement a UN arms embargo against Libya, world media said Wednesday citing a NATO source.
The UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya last Friday, allowing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.
According to media, Turkey offered five warships including four frigates and one support vessel, as well as a submarine to help enforce the embargo.
….
There has yet been no official confirmation from Turkish officials of the offer.
Leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom and France agreed in a phone conversation that NATO should take the key role in the military operation in Libya.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton confirmed on Tuesday that such discussions are ongoing.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that NATO finished its planning on the no-fly zone and arms embargo enforcement in Libya and all members of the alliance were “committed to meet their responsibilities under the United Nations resolution to stop the intolerable violence against Libyan civilians.”
The U.S. imposed unilateral sanctions on 14 Libyan companies owned by Libya’s National Oil Corporation, which it sees as “the centerpiece of Libya’s state-owned oil apparatus” and “a primary funding source for the Gaddafi regime.”
Libyan state television has reported that at least 60 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in continuing allied airstrikes.
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Norway Assigns Six F-16s To U.S. AFRICOM For Libya Strikes
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/europe/1849735.html
Deutsche Pressse-Agentur
March 23, 2011
Norwegian cabinet approves joining no-fly zone operation
-“We want a broad coalition of countries, that is broader than NATO but that can utilise NATO resources,” Stoltenberg said.
Norway has given approval for its six F-16 fighter jets to take part in the no-fly zone operation over Libya, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told parliament Wednesday.
The fighter jets were for the time being “to be under the US Africa Command,” Stoltenberg specified, as fresh reports suggested that the military alliance NATO was soon to take charge of the overall command, dpa reported.
Stoltenberg said the cabinet decision had the full backing of his three-party coalition, rejecting suggestions that the Socialist Left Party opposed placing the jets under US command.
The six fighter jets arrived late Monday at a base on the southern Greek island of Crete.
“We want a broad coalition of countries, that is broader than NATO but that can utilise NATO resources,” Stoltenberg said.
The premier also noted that there was strong support in parliament for Norway to take part in the operation.
Defence Minister Grete Faremo has notified the head of defence to transfer command of the jets. On Monday, Faremo said clear rules of engagement were needed before the Norwegian fighter jets could be deployed.
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United Nations Security Council: West Refuses Russia Answers Over Resolution 1973 Questions
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16079540&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 23, 2011
Russia has no answers from UN SC to its questions over Libya resolution
MOSCOW: Russia has not received any responses from the UN Security Council yet to its questions about how the Security Council resolution on Libya will be implemented, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the State Duma on Wednesday.
“In its contacts in the UN Security Council with its partners, especially those who have proposed the draft resolution imposing a no-fly zone over the territory of Libya, we have raised absolutely legitimate and logical questions as to how this regime will be ensured, by what means, what forces will be involved, the time frame for this operation and so on,” said the deputy head of the diplomatic agency, responding to questions from representatives of the Communist Party faction on the position of the Russian Federation in the UN Security Council’ vote on the document.
“Unfortunately, we could not get answers to this question from the authors,” he said. “We urged them not to hurry with the adoption of the resolution and to let the already established political arrangements work. There was the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General to Libya, a high-level committee of the African Union was formed, and there were many other things,” said Gatilov. “We also suggested hearing the representatives from the League of Arab States in the Security Council, but the situation followed the forced scenario, and the co-authors insisted on voting.”
“Based on our principled position in favor of the unconditional protection of civilians and the cessation of violence, Russia abstained,” he recalled.
“Thus, we have distanced themselves from support for the military intervention with unpredictable consequences, and the decision was made carefully and with full responsibility,” the diplomat concluded.
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NATO Ships Begin Blockade Of Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/23/47854511.html
Voice of Russia
March 23, 2011
NATO starts patrolling Libyan waters
NATO naval ships are starting to patrol Libya’s territorial waters, says the BBC in a report with reference to a spokesman for the Alliance.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday that a decision had been made to impose an embargo on arms supplies to Libya.
The embargo is due to be enforced in close cooperation with commercial vessels and regional organizations.
Last night the Western coalition continued pounding on the Muammar Gaddafi regime’s installations.
According to other reports, the United States is due to hand over the Libya operation command to its allies, with NATO due to play the key role in further fighting.
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U.S., France Agree On NATO Command For Libyan War
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16077440&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 23, 2011
France, US agree on NATO Command role in Libya op’s
PARIS: France and the United States have agreed on how NATO command structure will be used by the coalition during its operations in Libya, the Elysee Palace announced on Tuesday.
The accord was reached earlier in the day during a telephone conversation between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama.
The Elysee Palace did not give any specifying data on the understanding
reached.
—————————————————————————
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13794054.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 23, 2011
Loud explosions in Tripoli as France, U.S. agree on NATO role
TRIPOLI/PARIS: Loud explosions and intensive anti-aircraft fire were heard in Tripoli Tuesday, as the United States and France agreed on the role of NATO in the Western-led coalition’s military actions in the North African country.
On Tuesday, French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle reportedly set a reconnaissance operation in motion in Libya earlier in the day, and two Rafale jets conducted the mission with one sending back visual information of Libya and the other escorting the former’s flight.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Africa Command, based in Germany, confirmed that a U.S. F-15E fighter jet crashed Monday afternoon (local time) some 40 km southwest of Benghazi in east Libya due to a malfunction.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed Tuesday on how to use NATO’s command structure to support the military operation in Libya. The two leaders exchanged ideas over the situation in Libya in a telephone call from Obama, and agreed “on the need to continue efforts to ensure the full implementation of (UN) resolutions 1970 and 1973.”
French leaders said that although NATO support was necessary in the Western-led military action against Libya, its role should be limited as the intervention was a European-centric operation.
“For us, this operation … is conducted by a coalition of states, not all of which are members of the Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said earlier, adding “it’s not an operation of NATO, even though it must be supported by means of military planning and intervention of the (NATO) Alliance.”
While the West was busy creating a new body to take over the lead in its current intervention in Libya, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi made his first public appearance in a week near Tripoli late Tuesday, vowing to fight on. “Be it long or short, we’re ready for battle,” he said in a short live address to his supporters.
Meanwhile, there were also countries and international organizations blasting the ongoing Western-led strike against Libyan government forces, saying the air raids went beyond the UN resolution and must be scrapped immediately.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin severely criticized the U.S. role in the “Odyssey Dawn” operation against Libya. “The use of force against other countries became a steady trend in U.S. policy,” Putin noted, adding this trend was “disturbing.”
He also said the UN resolution “is, surely, flawed and lame … as it allows intervention in a sovereign country.”
“The UN resolution on a no-fly zone over Libya aims to protect civilians. We oppose abuse of force causing more civilian casualties and more serious humanitarian disasters,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday, adding that China believes the current crisis can be resolved through dialogue and other peaceful means.
“The future of Libya should be decided by the Libyan people themselves,” she said.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe reprimanded the West for bombing Libya, saying some countries manipulated the UN resolution to bomb Libya. “The West is bombarding Libya, and they are doing it in a callous way. They don’t care who dies, and actually they want Gaddafi to die,” he said, adding the African Union and the Arab League had been cheated by the West.
Bolivian President Evo Morales told a press conference it was unacceptable that the Western-led coalition, under the pretext of protecting Libyan civilians, was bombing and destroying the country. He described the intervention as “a crime, an assault and an aggression,” and urged the United Nations to order an immediate end to the military operation.
“We will apply the United Nations Security Council resolution, but according to our understanding to what is going on in the region,” Ahmed Ben Helli, deputy secretary-general of the Arab League (AL), said Tuesday.
He added that the AL’s call for a no-fly zone over Libya was based upon some conditions, including the rescue of civilians and the protection of Libyan facilities, regarding it as a temporary decision to give Libyan officials a chance to respond to people’s demands.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet to discuss the situation in Libya Thursday at the request of the Libyan government.
France, U.S. agree on NATO role in military operation in Libya: Elysee Palace
PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama have agreed on how to use the command structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO) to support the military operation in Libya, the Elysee Palace said on Tuesday.
The two leaders exchanged ideas over the Libya situation in a telephone call from President Obama, Sarkozy’s office said in a brief statement.
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U.S. Analyst: Real Intent Behind Military Actions Against Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/23/c_13794055.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 23, 2011
U.S. expert questions real intent of military actions against Libya
by Ran Wei
-No matter whether Gaddafi is toppled or Libya is split into two countries, there is a “real possibility” that the U.S. can get involved in a “prolonged civil war, as well as a murky national building mission.”
WASHINGTON: Despite U.S. insistence that military actions against Libya will stick to protecting civilians as mandated by the United Nations, a U.S. expert questioned the real intent behind the intense air strikes on the North African country.
“The reality is that the protection of civilians may be a secondary goal of the intervention, but the real goal is to unseat Muammar Gaddafi,” Ted Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy at the Washington-based Cato Institute, told Xinhua in an interview on Monday.
After the UN Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday that authorized a no-fly zone over Libya, the United States, France, Britain launched air strikes on targets in Libya starting on Saturday, firing hundreds of cruise missiles. At least 64 people have been killed so far in the air strikes, with more than 150 injured.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday from Chile that it is U.S. policy that Gaddafi needs to go, but he stressed that the United States would stick to the mandate of civilian protection.
Carpenter said President Obama continued to send mixed messages about the nature of the U.S. and the coalition’s goals in Libya.
“For a variety of reasons,” Obama felt that he cannot openly admit that toppling Gaddafi is the “primary objective,” he said.
Carpenter said he believed that the current military actions by the United States and its NATO allies have already gone beyond the UN resolution and what the Arab League had approved.
“If the coalition comes out openly about overthrowing Gaddafi, then the coalition is well-beyond these mandates,” he said.
As military operations continue, the NATO members are also having trouble reaching consensus on who would take a lead on the no-fly zone.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday that a new political body, not NATO, will take over the responsibility of enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
The new body, to be set up as proposed by France, will consist of foreign ministers from countries that are currently participating in the military intervention in Libya, and some Arab states, he said, adding that it could meet soon in London or paris.
He said the military action will stop only as “the Tripoli regime acts with accurate and complete compliance with resolutions of the UN Security Council, as it accepts an authentic cease-fire, and withdraws its troops from where they entered.”
But Carpenter believed that the ultimate objective is to get rid of the Gaddafi government.
“Whether that is Washington’s intent at the moment or not, the very dynamics of warfare will drive the mission in that direction,” he said.
He said that the coalition is hoping Libya’s rebel forces, with the assistance provided by the air strikes and missile strikes, will be able to “go back to the offensive, eventually move to Tripoli, and overthrow Gaddafi.”
But he believed it is a “very optimistic” scenario, questioning the rebels’ ability to defeat Gaddafi.
With scars and pains caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan being still fresh, Carpenter, along with many other U.S. experts and media commentators, expressed deep concerns that U.S. might get entangled in yet another mire of war.
No matter whether Gaddafi is toppled or Libya is split into two countries, there is a “real possibility” that the U.S. can get involved in a “prolonged civil war, as well as a murky national building mission,” he said.
“I really believe that U.S. leaders have not thought this intervention through well at all,” he added.
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Russia Continues To Oppose Military Intervention In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13794609.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 23, 2011
Russia opposes military intervention in Libya: minister
MOSCOW: Russia has opposed the Western-led military action against Libya since it started, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Wednesday as lawmakers prepared to call for an end to the operation.
In a meeting in the State Duma, or lower house of the Russian parliament, Gatilov said “we distanced ourselves from a military intervention with unpredictable consequences.”
He also said there was currently no information about a possible ground operation led by foreign countries in Libya.
The State Duma is expected to adopt a statement calling on Western countries to stop military operations in Libya to avoid possible deaths among civilians.
Russia had urged the UN Security Council not to pass the resolution sanctioning international intervention “in haste,” in order to allow relevant parties “to resolve the problem within political mechanisms,” Gatilov said.
“But a force-using scenario unfortunately prevailed,” he said, referring to UN Resolution 1973, which was passed by the Security Council 10-0 last Thursday, with Russia and four other countries abstaining.
The minister said Russia abstained on the grounds that civilians must be definitely protected and violence must be stopped in Libya.
Russia’s decision not to use the right of veto was carefully weighed and made knowingly, Gatilov said.
Resolution 1973 authorizes the use of force and the creation of a no-fly zone in Libya, where protestors and the government have clashed for several weeks.
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Russians Protest Libyan War Outside NATO Nations’ Embassies
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=3&id=230861
Interfax
March 23, 2011
Pro-Kremlin youth activists to protest NATO airstrikes on Libya
Moscow: Young Guard of United Russia, a pro-Kremlin youth group, will picket a number of embassies of NATO countries involved in the military operation in Libya in Moscow on Wednesday.
“Young Guard activists intend to demand that the countries taking part in the military intervention immediately stop combat actions in relation to Libya, from which civilians are dying, and switch to solving disagreements through peaceful dialogue,” Young Guard told Interfax.
The pickets will be placed near the embassies of the U.S., Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France, it said.
Young Guard activists will also lay flowers and wreaths in commemoration of Libyan citizens “who have fallen victims of the NATO airstrikes,” it said.
Meanwhile, the French Foreign Ministry said the UN Security Council might discuss Russia’s proposals on working out a ceasefire in Libya on Thursday.
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EU’s Top Diplomat: NATO Should Take Control Of Libya Operation
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110323/163153435.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 23, 2011
NATO to take overall control of Libyan mission – top EU diplomat
Brussels: NATO should assume overall command of the international operation in Libya, the EU top diplomat said.
“The discussions we’ve been having with NATO indicate that will be the way forward,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said on Tuesday.
She told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee that the alliance “is doing its planning now.”
Later in the day, in an interview with Euronews, she also said that the European Union was not divided on the Libyan issue.
“I don’t recognize the word ‘divided,'” she said. “There are different approaches from different member states to the military issues, but a real strength of view on coming together on the other issues.”
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday that NATO finished its planning on the no-fly zone and arms embargo enforcement in Libya and all members of the alliance were “committed to meet their responsibilities under the United Nations resolution to stop the intolerable violence against Libyan civilians.”
….
Operation Odyssey Dawn entered its third night of airstrikes on Libyan air defenses on Monday. Libyan state television has reported that at least 60 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded.
In a brief speech on the national TV on Wednesday, Gaddafi pledged to continue fighting opposition and international coalition.
“In the end, we will win,” he added.
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Bolivian President Demands Obama Be Stripped Of Nobel Peace Prize Over Libyan War
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/ocountries/1849361.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Bolivia’s Evo Morales asks that Obama be deprived of Nobel Prize
Bolivian President Evo Morales demanded Monday that the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament deprive US President Barack Obama of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize after he ordered airstrikes on Libya, dpa reported.
“How can it be that a Nobel Peace Prize laureate leads a group of gangs to attack and invade? That is not part of a defence of human rights or (respect) for the self-determination of peoples,” Morales told a press conference.
The Nobel committee surprised the world by giving the 2009 prize to Obama, only a few months after his inauguration. The committee rewarded “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Morales – the first president of indigenous descent in Bolivia’s history – was himself a candidate for the prize that year, for his work in favour of social justice and inclusion in Bolivia.
….
Morales slammed the UN Security Council for authorizing a military intervention in Libya. He asked that airstrikes on Libya end, and proposed a group of United Nations, Arab League and African Union officials to mediate a peaceful way out of the crisis in the North African country.
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Fires, Deaths: NATO Attacks Hit Tripoli Harbor, Airport
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1849348.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Libyan radar sites, navy bases hit in airstrikes
Coalition airstrikes took out radar sites near Benghazi and hit two navy bases near the capital Tripoli, al Jazeera reported early Tuesday as the international attacks against Moamer Gaddafi’s forces continued for a third night, dpa reported.
Loud anti-aircraft gunfire could be heard in Tripoli and broadcast images showed tracer fire over the city.
An al Jazeera correspondent reported two loud explosions and said two large fires appeared to have broken out in the city’s harbour.
“We could see an area of the port on fire, substantially on fire, two big blazes. We saw fire engines racing along the coastal road,” reporter Anita McNaught said.
“This evening seems to have been about targeting seaborne military assets of Gaddafi’s army, but also we are given to understand (there was) an attack on the airport at Sirte.”
The airport in Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte and in the city of Sebha had also been attacked, Libyan officials told the broadcaster, saying that civilians had been killed.
The airstrikes to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya began Saturday.
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“Regime Change” In Libya To Require Involvement In Ground War
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14926490,00.html
Deutsche Welle
March 22, 2011
Regime change in Libya may require involvement in ground war
Coalition airstrikes against Gadhafi’s forces have stopped his advance toward the opposition stronghold of Benghazi. However, ousting Gadhafi from power may require directly supporting the opposition in a ground war.
After weeks of deliberation, the international community has intervened militarily in Libya. France, Britain and the US launched airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime over the weekend….
Although Admiral Mike Mullen – head of the US Joint Chiefs – said the initial strikes halted Gadhafi’s advance toward the opposition stronghold Benghazi, the strategic endgame remains unclear. [I]f the international coalition wants regime change in Libya, then active participation in the ground war may become unavoidable.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and members of the US Congress have already discussed sending weapons to the opposition Transitional National Council. However, an arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council against Libya complicates the prospect of shipping military hardware to the country. And the White House, unsure of the Libyan opposition’s goals, remains reluctant to get pulled into what could be a protracted ground campaign.
….
Tripoli native Noman Benotman says that the Libyan opposition has clearly articulated a single goal since the uprising began last February.
Once a key figure in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Benotman….
According to Benotman, engagement should include arming the opposition against Gadhafi as well as sending advisors to train them to use the weapons….
The arms embargo may have already become null and void. According to [Mansour] El-Kikhia, the West has begun to quietly funnel weapons to the Libyan opposition through Egypt, whose military uses similar Russian-model arms.
….
Author: Spencer Kimball
Editor: Rob Mudge
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U.S. Marines Shoot Six Libyan Civilians To Rescue Downed Pilots
Sydney Morning Herald
March 23, 2011
Marines ‘opened fire on villagers’ in mission to rescue crash crew Staff reporter
US troops opened fire on Libyan villagers in an operation to rescue two jet fighter crew after their warplane crashed in the east of the country, according to a British report.
Channel 4 News is reporting at least six villagers were injured when US Marines came in with “all guns blazing” to extract the pilots. The Telegraph website is also reporting six locals “were believed to have been shot by a US helicopter during his rescue”.
The Telegraph also says one of the downed crew was recued by troops on an Osprey “transformer” aircraft, which can turn from a plane into a helicopter.
The Osprey, The Telegraph says, is one of the American air force’s newest acquisitions and has rotor blades that can swivel to allow it to fly like a helicopter or a conventional fixed-wing aircraft.
United States Africa Command has confirmed a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed in Libya and the two crew members were rescued.
….
Reporter Lindsey Hilsum, at the scene of the crash, said the US helicopter came in and opened fire on Monday night, local time, as villagers were handing over one of the downed pilots to local rebel forces.
A man described as a military policeman, Omar Sayd, told the reporter: “We are disturbed about the shooting because if they had given us a chance we would have handed over both pilots.”
In Benghazi, Hilsum interviewed one of the injured villagers, who was in a hospital bed. Local people had been giving a “party” for the crew when they were fired on.
Their F-15E Strike Eagle jet was on a mission on Monday night when it crashed outside Benghazi….
Details of the incident remained sketchy. The crash was the first known setback for the international coalition during three days of strikes authorised by the United Nations Security Council.
….
NATO ‘should play key role’
US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that NATO should play a key role in the command structure of the Libya mission, the White House said.
….
NATO ambassadors resumed talks on Tuesday after “very difficult” discussions on Monday which failed to overcome their divisions.
But a diplomat said they had agreed to use the organisation’s naval power to enforce an arms embargo on Libya ordered under UN Resolution 1973.
….
Belgian and Spanish warplanes began patrolling Libyan skies on Monday, British Typhoon fighters and Canadian jets launched their first missions from Italian bases, and a Greek source said France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle should join in from waters off Crete, probably by Wednesday.
Italian pilots said they had helped suppress air defences, despite Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country has close ties with former colony Libya, saying Italian planes “are not firing and will not fire”.
Russia and the United States clashed over Western bombing raids, with the US defence chief saying Moscow had accepted Muammar Gaddafi’s “lies” about civilian casualties.
In talks with Gates, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev voiced dismay over what he called the “indiscriminate use of force”.
….
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said the Western-led air strikes were disproportionate, amid US and British efforts to bring more Arab states on board.
….
– with AFP and Bloomberg
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Libya Burns, But Bahrain Can Shake The World
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=37694&Cat=6&dt=3/23/2011
News International
March 23, 2011
Libya burns but Bahrain can shake the world
Farrukh Saleem
Islamabad: USS Barry, a guided missile destroyer, is raining down Tomahawk cruise missiles on forces still loyal to the leader and guide of the Revolution, Moammer Qaddafi. The US Navy has deployed USS Mount Whitney, the command of the Sixth Fleet, an amphibious assault ship, two nuclear attack submarines and a cruise missile submarine. The US Air Force has deployed at least three B-2 stealth bombers, ten F-15E strike fighters and eight F-16C multi-role fighters.
On the very first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn, 114 Tomahawks landed and destroyed Qaddafi’s air defences. On the second day, US Navy jammed Libyan radars while B-2 bombers dropped at least three dozen bombs on Libyan airfields.
The Italian Navy has deployed Portaerei Cavour, its aircraft carrier with eight Boeing AV-8B Harrier II vertical take off, ground attack aircraft. The French Navy has ordered Charles de Gaulle, its only serving nuclear-powered, aircraft carrier with surface to air missiles and E-2 Hawkeye, the all-weather, twin-turboprop airborne early warning aircraft.
Cruise missiles have already put Sirte, Misurata, Zawiya, Saha and parts of Tripoli on fire. While the world attention remains glued to the fires in Libya potential stakes in Bahrain are actually a hundred times higher. Safaniya Oil Field, the largest oil field in the world, is less than 200 miles from Manama. The Strait of Hormuz, through which passes 20 percent of world oil shipments and 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil shipments, is within a 400-mile radius.
More importantly, United States Fifth Fleet, with a forward deployed Carrier Strike Group, Combat Command force, Anti-Terrorism force, Sea Stallion helicopters, Amphibious Force and Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Bahrain (or NSA Bahrain). In essence, Bahrain is home to America’s military might that reigns over the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the Arabian Sea-all put together.
On March 14, around 2,000 soldiers of the Saudi-led, US-backed Peninsula Shield Force, in their armored carriers and tanks, invaded Bahrain. The stated purpose of the invasion is: to crush an unarmed civilian uprising.
On March 15, King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa of Mamlakat al Bahrayn declared martial law under which the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF), numbering around 10,000 personnel, was “empowered to take whatever actions it deems appropriate in dealing with the predominately Shiite-driven unrest.”
On March 16, Press TV, Iran’s government-owned, 24-hour English language global news network, claimed that at least “five top Bahraini Shiite clerics including Sheikh Issa Qassem, Seyyed Abdullah al-Ghoraifi, Sheikh Abdul Hussain al-Setri and Sheikh Mohammad Saleh al-Rabiei have warned that a horrible massacre is expected at Manama’s Pearl Square,” urging the international community to intervene. According to Press TV, “Saudi troops opened fire on weaponless Bahraini demonstrators in Manama’s Pearl Square” and that, “Saudi troops forced their way into Salmaniya hospital in Manama and did not allow doctors, nurses and relatives of the victims either to leave or to enter the building.”
Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and Iraq, all US forces “will be completely out of Iraq by 31 December 2011.” That would leave the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the single-largest, indigenous conventional military force in the region. Iran sees this as a historic opportunity to tilt the regional balance of power in its favor and the Iranian media may indeed be in the process of manufacturing a justification to direct Iranian intervention in Bahrain.
Saudis, backed by the US, are in Bahrain to suppress the Bahraini, predominantly Shiite civilian uprising through the force of arms. It is in Iran’s interest that the Bahraini uprising intensifies. If the Saudis, backed by the US, are successful in suppressing Bahraini pro-democracy demonstrators through tank-based repression then Iran loses this historic opportunity of re-configuring the balance of power in the Persian Gulf. If Bahraini protestors, aided by the Iranians, successfully resist Saudi threats of violent repression then Saudi Arabia and all US forces in the Persian Gulf will end up in the soup.
It will be extremely difficult for Iran to let this extraordinary opportunity to re-configure the balance of power in the all-important Strait of Hormuz slip through. At the same time, the stakes for the House of Saud have never been as high as they are right now in Bahrain. Mamlakat al Bahrayn is fast turning into the new Shiite-Sunni proxy battleground – and a huge fire in Bahrain will shake the balance of power across the globe.
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Pentagon Using New Generation Tomahawk Missiles In Libya
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/drones-suicidal-cousins/
Wired News
March 21, 2011
Next post Drones’ Suicidal Cousins Lead Libya Attack
By Noah Shachtman
When the U.S. military wanted to take out Moammar Gadhafi’s air defense systems, it unleashed a barrage of 122 Tomahawk cruise missiles. But these munitions aren’t like most others in the American arsenal.
Smart, maneuverable, able to see its surroundings and shift to new targets in mid-flight, the newest Tomahawks are closer to the unmanned planes flying over Afghanistan than to the weapons they fire. In some ways, the Tomahawk is the drone’s suicidal cousin: a robotic aircraft, packed with explosives, that has no intention of ever coming home.
When officers get ready to shoot off a Tomahawk, “they are basically planning a flight for a little airplane,” one Navy official tells Danger Room. “It’s got stubby little wings — but is is an unmanned aerial vehicle.”
The next-gen Tomahawks — known as “Block IVs” — start their flights out just like other missiles, launched from ships or subs. But after 12 seconds of flight, things change. The Tomahawk starts to fly horizontally, skimming above the ocean at a height of less than 50 feet to avoid enemy radar.
GPS waypoints keep the missile on track, until it makes landfall. Then, a Tercom (Terrain Contour Matching) system kicks in. too. Using a radar altimeter, the Tomahawk Tercom checks its height. Then it matches that altitude against a database of satellite and overhead imagery, to make sure the missile is headed in the right direction and at the right height.
Once the Tomahawk’s target is in sight, the missile can dart in for the attack. A Digital Scene-Mapping Area Correlator (“dee-smack” in military jargon) matches a stored picture of the target to the missile’s last sight, to make sure the two match.
Or, the missile can wait a while. The Tomahawk’s controller can give it a new route, telling the Tomahawk to circle around in the air, lingering until an enemy pops up its head. Then comes the strike.
Last May, the Tomahawk demonstrated a new move, as Sam LaGrone from Jane’s Defence Weekly reported at the time. The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Cheyenne fired off a Block IV at a target in the Mojave Desert.
Meanwhile, a team from Naval Special Warfare Group 3 shot a second set of co-ordinates to the Tomahawk’s controllers in Japan, nearly 5,000 miles away. They reprogrammed the missile via satellite, and sent the Tomahawk crashing into a new target. (In an earlier test (.pdf), special operations forces were able to use the pictures taken from a handheld Raven drone to direct its bigger, more destructive relative to its end.)
….
From the outside, the Block IVs look much like their predecessors: a little over 20 feet long, and about 3,300 pounds. Like the older models, they’re still expensive, too — at about $1.1 million a pop, the initial assault on Libya chewed through $134 million in missile costs alone. They can fly for about two hours or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first.
But that could radically change, if an experimental Air Force program pans out. The X-51a aircraft is designed to test technologies for a next-gen cruise missile — one that would fly at six times the speed of sound.
Which means tomorrow’s cruise missiles could be like suicidal, smart, and more than eight times faster than today’s Tomahawks.
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“There Is Hope In Benghazi, The French Flag Is Being Waved There”
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110322/163148341.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 22, 2011
Fillon says French flag raised over rebel-held Benghazi
France says it feels a sense of responsibility for Libyan rebels after its flag was raised over the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, France’s prime minister said on Tuesday.
“There is hope in Benghazi now, the French flag is being waved there, and also the flag of a different Libya which dreams of democracy and modernization,” Francois Fillon told the French parliament.
The comments come as NATO member states including the United States, Britain and France are continuing air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces under a UN mandate to impose a no-fly zone.
Russia opposed Western military intervention but did not use its power to veto the UN resolution authorizing military action to protect Libyan civilians.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin likened the operation to “medieval calls for crusades,” a description dismissed by President Dmitry Medvedev, who said the comments were “unacceptable.”
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Romania Joins NATO Naval Blockade Of Libya
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Romania joins NATO naval blockade of Libya
Bucharest: Romania will send a frigate and two naval officers to help NATO enforce the weapons embargo against Libya, President Traian Basescu said Tuesday.
The frigate with 205 sailors will be ready for deployment in 30 days, Basescu said after the meeting of the Romanian Supreme Defence Council.
NATO decided to enforce the embargo earlier Tuesday. The Romanian frigate will have the task of intercepting ships suspected of transporting weapons to Muamer Gaddafi’s regime.
Basescu said that Romania will pay for the three-month operation, expected to cost 4.5 million euros (6.3 million dollars).
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Netherlands Joins NATO’s Onslaught Against Libya
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/netherlands-join-nato-operation-against-libya
Radio Netherlands
March 22, 2011
Netherlands to join NATO operation against Libya
The Netherlands is sending F-16 fighter planes, a minesweeper HNLMS Haarlem and a refuelling plane to help the international military operation in Libya according to sources. The Dutch government met on Tuesday evening to take decisions over Dutch participation in a NATO mission in Libya.
The Dutch operation will last three months and will cost 20 million euros. Six F-16s will be involved – two of them as reserve planes. Two hundred Dutch troops will be deployed. The HNLMS Haarlem is already in the Mediterranean for a NATO exercise.
Earlier today, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that NATO would enforce the weapon embargo against Libya. It is the first time all 28 NATO countries have reached agreement over the crisis in Libya. A unanimous decision is needed for NATO to take action.
NATO also has plans for monitoring the no-fly zone above Libya. At the moment a coalition of international forces is enforcing the no-fly zone.
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Military Occupation And Regional Reconfiguration: South African Trade Union Confederation Condemns West Over Libyan Attack
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13792930.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
South African alliance partner condemns West over Libya
-The COSATU official said the March 18 UN Security Council resolution 1973 fitted into a well-designed scheme by the big powers that was deliberately set to ensure military occupation and regional reconfiguration of the area.
This was aimed at further asserting “imperialist domination and neo-liberal economic orthodoxy in the interest of profiteering at all costs for their giant oil companies.”
JOHANNESBURG: The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on Tuesday accused the West of abusing the United Nations (UN) resolution to gain access to Libya’s oil resources.
In a statement carried by the South African Press Association (SAPA), COSATU Secretary Bongani Masuku said the union federation opposed the involvement of Western powers’ military action.
He also said COSATU supported the struggle for democracy in Libya.
The COSATU official said the March 18 UN Security Council resolution 1973 fitted into a well-designed scheme by the big powers that was deliberately set to ensure military occupation and regional reconfiguration of the area.
This was aimed at further asserting “imperialist domination and neo-liberal economic orthodoxy in the interest of profiteering at all costs for their giant oil companies.”
COSATU described this as helicopter democracy, which disempowers the masses in whose name the struggle for democracy is waged and renders them spectators as foreign powers arrogate themselves the role of liberators.
Masuku cited Iraq and Afghanistan as examples of the “helicopter democracy.”
COSATU said the UN’s honesty in dealing with conflict situations was in doubt, especially as it had failed to pass similar resolutions in relation to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain.
On March 21 South African President Jacob Zuma warned the West against abusing the UN resolution on Libya.
Stop NATO News March 22
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. NATO Welcomes Georgia’s Accelerated Integration Into Military Bloc
2. Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Warship In Mauritius
3. Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Warship In Gulf Of Guinea
4. Over 14,000 Graduates: NATO Medal Parade In Iraq
5. Two NATO Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan
6. Obama Unapologetic Over U.S. Backing Of Chilean Coup, Pinochet
7. NATO Consolidates Afghan War Network Through Central Asia
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1. NATO Welcomes Georgia’s Accelerated Integration Into Military Bloc
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=230689
Interfax
March 22, 2011
Tbilisi seeks integration with Euro-Atlantic space – Georgian official
Washington To Rearm Georgia For New Conflicts
-Lamers arrived in Tbilisi on Monday, accompanied by about 40 members of NATO countries’ parliaments, who will attend a seminar on a host of issues, including Georgia’s relations with Russia and the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
TBILISI: NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Karl Lamers discussed cooperation with Georgia with Georgian Security Council Secretary Giorgy Bokeria in Tbilisi on Tuesday.
“Cooperation with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is part of the course the Georgian leadership and people have opted for,” Bokeria told the press after the talks.
“It is a course aimed at integration with the Euro-Atlantic space,” he said.
Lamers in turn told journalists that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly supports democratic processes in Georgia.
NATO deems important Georgia’s role in the peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan, he said.
The Alliance’s Parliamentary Assembly welcomes Georgia’s efforts to accelerate its integration with NATO, he also said.
Lamers arrived in Tbilisi on Monday, accompanied by about 40 members of NATO countries’ parliaments, who will attend a seminar on a host of issues, including Georgia’s relations with Russia and the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
NATO special envoy for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai has arrived in Tbilisi with Lamers.
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Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Warship In Mauritius
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=59232
Navy NewsStand
March 22, 2011
Stephen W Groves Begins Second “Hub” in Africa Partnership Station
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stephen Oleksiak, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius: USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG 29) arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius, to begin the second training “Hub” as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS) East, March 21.
Sailors and embarked international staff will hold various professional training sessions during their visit, including non-commissioned officer leadership training; combat life saving techniques; basic damage control; physical security; and visit, board, search and seizure tactics.
“Africa Partnership Station is a program that delivers focused training, builds partnerships and promotes the security of the seas,” said Capt. James Tranoris, APS East commander….
The ‘Hub’ is being hosted by the Mauritius Coast Guard and will bring together nearly 100 maritime professionals from Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles and Mauritius with the goal of improving maritime safety and security in Africa.
….
APS is an international security cooperation initiative, facilitated by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, aimed at strengthening global maritime partnerships through training and collaborative activities in order to improve maritime safety and security in Africa.
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3. Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Warship In Gulf Of Guinea
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=59233
Navy NewsStand
March 21, 2011
Robert G. Bradley Begins Exercise Obangame Express
By Ensign Sean McMahon, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
Militarization Of Energy Policy: U.S. Africa Command And Gulf Of Guinea
LIMBE, Cameroon: USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49) pulled into Limbe, Cameroon, to participate in exercise Obangame Express, March 21.
Obangame Express is a maritime exercise that focuses on the Gulf of Guinea region with representatives from Central Africa, Europe and the United States. The exercise focuses on improving maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea through regional cooperation and communication.
The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) will control the exercise from the Cameroon navy command center in Douala, Cameroon, effectively giving command and control to African maritime professionals.
Obangame Express is part of Africa Partnership Station (APS) West initiative. APS is an international security cooperation initiative, facilitated by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, aimed at strengthening global maritime partnerships through training and collaborative activities in order to improve maritime safety and security in Africa.
Robert G. Bradley, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is homeported out of Mayport, Fla., and is on a scheduled APS deployment to the west coast of Africa area of responsibility.
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4. Over 14,000 Graduates: NATO Medal Parade In Iraq
http://www.aco.nato.int/page42420329.aspx
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
March 22, 2011
NATO Medal Parade in Iraq
Iraq: NATO Assists In Building New Middle East Proxy Army
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, commander NATO Training Mission-Iraq,
addresses NTM-I personnel during a NATO medal parade.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, NATO Training Mission-Iraq commander,
conducted a NATO Medal Parade Ceremony at Forward Operating Base Union III on March 16 for NTM-I advisors and staff who have finished their tour and are departing the mission.
In speaking to his personnel, Lt. Gen. Ferriter highlighted NTM-I’s
accomplishments and the progress that it has made here: the graduation of nearly 10,000 Iraqi Federal Police; the graduation of more than 2,000 cadets at the Iraqi Military Academy Ar Rustamiyah; the introduction of new Oil Police courses and the continuation of others courses in Iraq supported by NATO; the success
achieved by several out-of-country training courses; and more than 2,000 Iraqi officers and noncommissioned officers have participated in the NATO Centers of Excellence for specialized training.
Lt. Gen. Ferriter presented the NATO medal to NTM-I personnel leaving the
mission, and thanked them for their dedicated service to the NATO in Iraq.
He also welcomed new personnel to the NTM-I team saying he is confident that they will maintain the same high level of professional standards as their
predecessors
The NATO Training Mission in Iraq(NTM-I) was established in 2004 at the request of the Iraqi Interim Government under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1546. The aim of NTM-I is to assist in the development of Iraqi security forces training structures and institutions so that Iraq can build an effective and sustainable capability that address the needs of the nation.
NTM-I is…a distinct mission, under the political control of NATO’s North
Atlantic Council. Its operational emphasis is on training and mentoring.
The activities of the mission are coordinated with Iraqi authorities and the US-led Deputy Commanding General Advising and Training (DCG (A&T)) who is also dual-hatted as the Commander of NTM-I. NATO has an enduring commitment to Iraq
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5. Two NATO Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1849524.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Two foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Two foreign soldiers were killed Tuesday in a militant attack in eastern
Afghanistan, dpa reported according to NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF).
The ISAF does not provide the nationalities of its casualties or the exact locations of attacks, but troops serving in eastern Afghanistan are primarily from the United States.
A total of 96 foreign soldiers, including 63 US troops, have been killed so far
this year in Afghanistan, according to iCasualties.org, an independent website
that tracks military fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Obama Unapologetic Over U.S. Backing Of Chilean Coup, Pinochet
http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-unapologetic-usa-chile-pinochet/
RT
March 22, 2011
Obama unapologetic over US support of Pinochet
While in Chile US President Barack Obama ran from a comment calling for a US apology over its support of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, saying he would be willing to share US records about the American role in the 1973 coup.
Obama backstepped from a question by a Chilean radio reporter that asked if he would be willing to apologize for US involvement and support of Pinochet. The US President merely indicated the actions during the 1970’s may have been unwise, but said little beyond that.
“I think it’s very important for all of us to know our history,” he said. “And obviously the history of relations between the United States and Latin America have at times been extremely rocky and have at times been difficult. I think it’s important, though, for us, even as we understand our history and gain clarity about our history, that we’re not trapped by our history.”
Obama then noted the United States has actively supported more recent democratic reforms in Chile.
“I can’t speak to all of the policies of the past. I can speak certainly to the policies of the present and the future,” he added. “I think that what is important is looking at what our policies are today, and what my administration intends to do in cooperating with the region.”
“I think that the United States has been an enormous force for good in the world,” Obama commented.
Praising the Latin American regions Obama noted, “Latin America is at peace. Civil wars have ended. Insurgencies have been pushed back. Old border disputes have been resolved.”
This is not the first time the US President has opted not to apologize on behalf of the US over past support for Pinochet.
In 2009 he passed on a request by then Chilean President Michelle Bachelet that he issue an apology both for US backing of Pinochet and American involvement in the 1973 coup.
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NATO Consolidates Afghan War Network Through Central Asia
Central Asia Newswire
March 22, 2011
NATO increases Afghan cargo transfers through Central Asia
NATO now ships half its supplies through the Central Asian Northern Distribution Network
Washington Intensifies Push Into Central Asia
NATO forces are increasing the amount of cargo they transport through Central Asia as they decrease their reliance on Pakistani ports.
The Northern Distribution Network (NDN) transports cargo from the Baltic states through Russia and Kazakhstan, before hitting southern Uzbekistan which connects to Afghanistan at the border town of Termez.
A Pentagon source told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Tuesday that 50 percent of NATO supplies are now delivered through the NDN, as opposed to the previous level of 30 percent.
“(Around) 60 percent of all of the fuel that goes to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan now comes down through the Northern Distribution Network,” RFE/RL reported Bishkek-based journalist Deirdre Tynan as saying.
“If you were to consider that if, for some reason, the Northern Distribution Network stopped working, if they couldn’t get 60 percent of their fuel, that highlights how important it is.”
Uzbekistan’s newly commissioned airport in Navoi is also being used extensively by the U.S. Defense Department to transport goods, the news agency reports.
“Even though the U.S. military does not like to discuss the various points of origin and entry and so forth, we have a pretty good idea that a lot of equipment is also being transported through this particular Uzbek hub,” RFE/RL quoted Dr. Alexander Cooley, a Central Asian expert at Barnard College, as saying.
The increased use of the airport by the U.S. military is likely to continue for some time, Cooley said.
….
Updates on Libyan war
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NATO To Intervene In Libyan Conflict, Enforce Blockade
Video And Text: America’s Presidents Quick To Go To War
Civilians Main Victims Of Military Intervention Against Sovereign States
Libyans Are Expendable On Oil-Rich Battlefield
Ambassador: One Million Libyans To Resist Western Ground Invasion
Warplanes Leave French Aircraft Carrier For Strikes Against Libya
Spanish Warplanes In First Operation For War To “Last Several Weeks”
Germany To Deploy 300 Airman To Afghanistan To Free Up NATO Allies For Libyan War
Qatari Jets Leave Cyprus For Operations Against Cyprus
Russian Foreign Minister: Western Intervention In Libya Can Increase International Terrorism
Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya: Who Is Next?
Libya: British Commandos In Place For Ground Operations
World Steps Up Criticism Of Western Attacks On Libya
China Calls For Immediate End To Western Attacks On Libya
U.S. Warplane Crashes In Libya
Eight Warplanes: Sweden Follows NATO Into Another War
First Combat Mission For Eurofighter: British MPs Back War
Duty To NATO: Canadian MPs Unanimously Back Libyan War
Greece: Air And Naval Bases, Warship, AWACS “At NATO’s Disposal”
UN Security Council To Reconvene On Libya
“No-Fly Zone”: Video Of NATO’s Highway Of Death
Libya: Yet Another Imperialist Military Intervention
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NATO To Intervene In Libyan Conflict, Enforce Blockade
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-F8C05F8B-78DF8BA8/natolive/news_71689.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 22, 2011
Statement by the NATO Secretary General on Libya arms embargo
NATO has now decided to launch an operation to enforce the arms embargo against Libya. All Allies are committed to meet their responsibilities under the United Nations resolution to stop the intolerable violence against Libyan civilians.
Our top operational commander, Admiral Stavridis, is activating NATO ships and aircraft in the Central Mediterranean. They will conduct operations to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries. This will be done in close coordination with commercial shipping and regional organisations. And we will welcome contributions from NATO partners to our common endeavour.
At the same time, NATO has completed plans to help enforce the no-fly zone – to bring our contribution, if needed, in a clearly defined manner, to the broad international effort to protect the people of Libya from the violence of the Gaddafi regime.
————————————-
Bloomberg News
March 22, 2011
NATO to Intervene in Libyan Conflict, Enforce Arms Embargo
By James G. Neuger
NATO broke a week-long deadlock over whether to intervene in the Libyan conflict, agreeing to use planes and ships to enforce the United Nations arms embargo against Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.
The trans-Atlantic alliance also said today that it has put military assets on standby to police the no-fly zone and will go into action in the skies over Libya “if needed.”
Allied warplanes and ships “will conduct operations to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement in Brussels.
….
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Video And Text: America’s Presidents Quick To Go To War
http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-presidents-war/
RT
March 22, 2011
America’s presidents quick to go to war
-There are at least two glaring similarities to point out when it comes to the use of force by US presidents: none were in response to a military attack, or even threat of an attack on US soil and none have been formally declared wars.
It’s become an unspoken addendum to the job description: become President of the United States. Declare war – somewhere, somehow.
For President Ronald Reagan in 1986, it was a familiar attack on a familiar enemy – Moammar Ghadafi.He announced that the US would take action on April 14, 1986.
“Despite our repeated warnings, Ghadafi continued his reckless policy of intimidation, his relentless pursuit of terror,” said President Reagan in his address to the nation. “He counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong.”
Apparently, so did Saddam Hussein, according to President George H.W. Bush in his televised announcement on January 16, 1991, it was in response to a conflict that had started in August, when “the dictator of Iraq invaded it’s small and helpless neighbor.”
“Just two hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets Iraq and Kuwait,” Bush, Sr. said in his address.
For his successor, President Bill Clinton – the target was Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia and Yugoslavia.
“My fellow Americans, today our armed forms joined our NATO allies in airstrikes against Serbian forces responsible for the brutality in Kosovo,” Clinton said on March 24, 1999.
President George W. Bush said in March 2003 it was weapons of mass destruction that threatened the world, and invaded Iraq in what was supposed to be a quick and limited campaign.
“On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war,” Bush said.
Many American’s thought it would end there, especially after US President Barack Obama’s clear anti-war stance in his campaign. He has spent most of his presidency trying to end the wars started by his predecessor.
Until now.
Obama spoke out a day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. He said it was a call end to the violence in Libya.
The resolution, he said “authorizes the use of force with an explicit commitment to pursue all necessary measures to stop the killing, to include the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya. “
There are at least two glaring similarities to point out when it comes to the use of force by US presidents: none were in response to a military attack, or even threat of an attack on US soil and none have been formally declared wars.
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Civilians Main Victims Of Military Intervention Against Sovereign States
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/22/c_13791740.htm
China Daily
March 22, 2011
Concerns over air strikes
-Stability will not return to a country that falls victim to military intervention any time soon. Instead, the entire region will very likely plunge deeper into a new round of turbulence.
The West-led military strikes against Libya constitute the third military action by outside countries against a sovereign state in the first years of this century. The bombing coincides with the eighth anniversary of the Iraq war, which caused untold suffering and despair to tens of millions of Iraqis.
BEIJING: The West-led air strikes against Libya, which started on Saturday, may trigger further escalation of the armed conflict and humanitarian disasters. Stabilizing the situation is now a test of the international community’s crisis management capability and wisdom.
Despite the precision of their weapons, the coalition, led by the United States, France and Britain, can never guarantee that their bombs and missiles will not kill civilians.
Past experience shows that civilians are always the main victims in any foreign military intervention against a sovereign state.
The United Nation’s Security Council did mandate member states to implement a no-fly zone in Libya under its resolution 1973, which was passed on March 17. However, it also stressed the need to protect civilian lives.
The coalition should continually bear this in mind and carry out the spirit of the UN mandate in full. They should not act in disregard of human life.
The military action against Libya has drawn growing concern from the international community. On Sunday, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa criticized the multinational bombardment of Libya, saying it differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone.
History proves that resorting to force is not necessarily an effective way to solve a crisis. While military intervention may cause regime change in a country, it often opens the door to ensuing confrontations and new conflicts.
Stability will not return to a country that falls victim to military intervention any time soon. Instead, the entire region will very likely plunge deeper into a new round of turbulence.
The West-led military strikes against Libya constitute the third military action by outside countries against a sovereign state in the first years of this century. The bombing coincides with the eighth anniversary of the Iraq war, which caused untold suffering and despair to tens of millions of Iraqis.
Every time countries wield force to solve a crisis it constitutes an infringement of the United Nations Charter and the norms guarding international relations. It is also a deviation from the trend of our times, which increasingly opts for peace and development rather than conflict and confrontation.
At a time when some in the international community have yet to shake themselves free of the shackles of Cold War thinking, the world is justified in being gravely concerned about the impact of the ongoing military action in Libya.
It will take swift, effective action, as well as devotion and strong political will, to solve the crisis in Libya through peaceful means. It is good to see international meditation on the issue of Libya continues. Peaceful means should never be ignored in any circumstances.
This is the responsible approach to the Libyan people and the world at large.
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Libyans Are Expendable On Oil-Rich Battlefield
http://rt.com/news/expendables-oil-libya-civil-war/
RT
March 22, 2011
Libyans are expendables on oil-rich battlefield
Political analysts say that protecting civilians in Libya is actually the allied coalition’s secondary priority. The primary one is eliminating the country’s defenses and gaining control over Libya’s oil-rich regions through civil war between tribes.
The death toll is said to have reached 67, according to Libyan health officials.
‘Civilian deaths are inevitable’ – ex-ambassador
It was obvious from the moment US Defense Secretary Robert Gates started talking about a no-flight zone over Libya some weeks ago that it would involve eliminating all anti-aircraft defenses threatening patrolling fighter jets, argues former British ambassador to Libya Oliver Miles.
And that, Miles continued, “is going to involve a lot of intrusive military activity and inevitably civilian casualties.”
Killing civilians goes against the mandate of United Nations Security Council resolution 1973 – to protect civilians – he added. And while there is no doubt the allied forces will be successful in establishing a no-flight zone, Miles concluded, the question is how they will use their supremacy.
Downfall of Gaddafi could lead to civil war
The Arab League is a “collection of dictators, kings and presidents, all of them puppets of the US, but they are backing down because of the unbelievable hatred and outrage on the part of their own people for the fact that they went along with aggression against yet another Muslim Arab country,” argued Lew Rockwell, chairman of the Research and Educational Center at the US-based Ludwig von Mises Institute.
If the coalition succeeds in killing Muammar Gaddafi, it will inevitably mean more ethnic and tribal conflict, which could lead to civil war, Rockwell said – which is exactly what the US needs to control the oil-rich parts of Libya.
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Ambassador: One Million Libyans To Resist Western Ground Invasion
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110322/163146242.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 22, 2011
At least 1 million to stand against international intervention – Libyan ambassador to Russia
At least one million people are ready to defend Libya if an international ground military campaign begins, Libyan Ambassador to Russia Amir al-Arabi said on Tuesday.
“One million people willing to defend Libya will stand in the crosshairs,” al-Arabi said, adding that the Northern African state had several Soviet-made S-200 air-defense systems.
Speaking at the meeting with the colorful and flamboyant leader of Russia’s LDPR party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, al-Arabi said that mass disturbances that sparked on February 15 were “a scenario from outside.”
“Protesters’ demands are not social, it is some kind of a program….We were living peacefully, without any rows,” al-Arabi said.
Zhirinovsky, who has recently urged the Muslim world to support Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, said that his party was strongly against UN resolutions on Libya.
Russia was one of five countries, including China, that abstained from a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Thursday. The resolution imposes a no-fly zone over Libya and allows “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday likened the UN resolution to a “call for a crusade.” The comments were swiftly rebuked by President Dmitry Medvedev, who described Putin’s remarks as “unacceptable.”
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Warplanes Leave French Aircraft Carrier For Strikes Against Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13792891.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
Fighter jets from French aircraft carrier launch operation over Libya
PARIS: France’s Tornado fighter jets taking off from aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle launched a reconnaissance operation over Libya for the first time on Tuesday, the French military said.
——————————————————————–
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/22/c_13790983.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
French warplanes fly around 400 hours over Libya
PARIS: French warplanes have flown around 400 hours in total in Libyan airspace, amounting to 55 sorties in three days, a military spokesman said Monday.
By nightfall on Monday, France had continued to send warplanes over Libya in the past three days, with 55 sorties accumulating some 400 flight hours, Thierry Burkhard said at a press conference in the French Defense Ministry.
French warplanes conducted air-strikes only on Saturday, destroying four armored vehicles belonging to the Libyan forces, he added.
….
Libya’s official TV station reported on Sunday that at least 64 people had been killed and 150 others wounded in the joint operation.
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Spanish Warplanes In First Operation For War To “Last Several Weeks”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/22/c_13790986.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
Spanish jet fighters return from first operation over Libya
-The secretary of the Organization of Zapatero’s Socialist (PSOE) party, Marcelino Iglesias, said Monday that Zapatero would ask Congress for permission for a military operation that would, “last for several weeks.”
MADRID: Spanish Defense Minister Carne Chacon confirmed Monday that two Spanish F-18 jet fighters have returned from their first mission in support of the recent UN resolution on Libya.
The two fighters, out of four that Spain has contributed to the NATO operation to enforce the no-fly zone…took off and returned from the Island of Sardinia.
They took off around midday local time armed with air-to-air missiles to patrol Libyan airspace and with the authorization to use their weapons if they met with any hostile aircraft….
A Spanish Boeing refueling aircraft also took to the skies Monday and returned to the Sardinian base.
Chacon added that submarine Tramontana and frigate Mendez Nunez have also set sail en-route to the operation zone.
The Mendez Munez sailed from the port of Ferrol and will arrive at the base of Rota in the south of Spain on Tuesday in order to be prepared to join any embargo operation. Meanwhile, the submarine sailed from Murcia in the south east of Spain and will take up a position off the coast of Libya.
On Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero will explain the operations to the Spanish Congress. The Congress will then hold a vote on Spain’s participation in the allied military operation.
The secretary of the Organization of Zapatero’s Socialist (PSOE) party, Marcelino Iglesias, said Monday that Zapatero would ask Congress for permission for a military operation that would, “last for several weeks.”
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Germany To Deploy 300 Airman To Afghanistan To Free Up NATO Allies For Libyan War
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13792881.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
Germany to send 300 airmen to Afghanistan
BERLIN: Germany will send 300 air force personnel to Afghanistan as relief for its NATO allies involved in Libya, according to local news agency DPA Tuesday.
The 300 airmen will serve on NATO’s early warning aircraft guarding Afghanistan’s airspace, DPA reported, a day before the German cabinet was due to pass the bill authorizing the deployment.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters here on Friday that Germany, which abstained from the U.N. Security Council vote on imposing a no-fly zone in Libya, would discuss with its NATO allies whether it could assume other duties like extra airspace monitor missions in Afghanistan, to free up NATO troops and planes for Libya.
The German parliament is expected to approve the proposal on Friday.
Germany has some 5,000 troops in Afghanistan with the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, the third largest foreign force stationed there.
====
Qatari Jets Leave Cyprus For Operations Against Cyprus
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/22/c_13792876.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
Libya-bound Qatari jets leave Cyprus after unscheduled refueling
NICOSIA: Three Qatari military planes took off from Cyprus’ Larnaca Airport to take part in operations against Libya on Tuesday, after an unscheduled stop-over for refueling.
Two Mirage 2000-5 jet fighters and a C-17 transport plane landed at the airport on the Mediterranean island’s southeastern coast in the morning after their pilots requested permission to make an emergency landing due to fuel shortage.
A Cypriot government spokesman said in a written statement the Cyprus government had originally turned down the request to land because it did not want to get involved in any way in the Libyan operation.
Cyprus authorities had not been informed beforehand by Qatar about plans for the planes to be refueled at Larnaca, according to the spokesman.
“They then asked permission for a forced landing because of a fuel shortage,” the statement said, “Civil Aviation, acting in accordance with international rules, was forced to grant permission for landing and refueling.”
Cyprus has sought to stay out of the conflict and President Demetris Christofias said Sunday the government had conveyed to Britain its objection to the use of British military bases on Cyprus for operations in Libya.
Britain’s Defence Ministry has said an air base on the south coast of Cyprus is used only by reconnaissance and air-refueling planes in support of the operation.
Qatar is the only Arab country which has agreed to take part in air operations against the forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Cyprus, eager to attract more investment from wealthy Gulf states, is currently negotiating with Qatar for a huge joint land development project in the capital, Nicosia, worth hundreds of millions of euros.
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Russian Foreign Minister: Western Intervention In Libya Can Increase International Terrorism
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110322/163147238.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 22, 2011
Western intervention in Libya could boost terrorism – Lavrov
Mowcow: The Western-led military intervention in Libya may lead to escalation of international terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
The comment follows an apparent spat between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev over the Kremlin’s stance on the airstrikes.
“If the situation gets out of hand, then we will have to deal with new manifestations of international terrorism, and many other developments, which we would like to avoid,” Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Algerian counterpart Mourad Medelci.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Thursday imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and allowing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns. Russia was one of five countries that abstained from the resolution.
Medvedev said on Monday he did not consider the resolution wrong, just hours after Putin likened it to both the U.S. invasion of Iraq and a “Medieval call for a crusade.”
….
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Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya: Who Is Next?
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/22/47796980.html
Voice of Russia
March 22, 2011
Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya: who’s next?
Andrei Ptashnikov
-In the course of his current visit to Brazil, US President Barack Obama detailed the reasons behind the crisis in Libya. This seems quite logical, given that this is the most important global event at the moment, along with the earthquake in Japan. But interestingly, when speaking about Libya, the head of the White House suddenly turned his attention to Iran, saying that the Iranian government was pursuing a policy of frightening its people into submission, something that he said was of great concern to the US.
The current bombings in Libya are definitely not the first of their kind in recent years and it hardly looks like they will be the last.
Whether by coincidence or not, global political tensions seem to heighten at the end of March – just see for yourself. March 19 was the start of the air raids on Libya for the ostensible purpose of protecting the Libyan people from tyrant Gaddafi.
On the 20th of March 8 years ago, US and NATO troops invaded Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein, whom they not only accused of killing his people, but also pinned him with the production of weapons of mass destruction, that allegedly posed a threat to the entire world.
Recall that Hussein was eventually executed and no nuclear arms were ever unearthed, however the war in Iraq claimed thousands of civilian lives and went on for many years.
Let’s continue. On March 24, 1999, NATO started a several-month-long bombing of Yugoslavia. These attacks only inflamed the civil war in the country and eventually led to its dissolution. Civilian deaths ran into the thousands here too.
The current events in Libya are unfolding along very similar lines. There is no telling how long the bombings will continue and how long Gaddafi will hang on to power. So far, the colonel has no plans to step down and promises revenge for all who threaten his rule. This means that the armed resistance between the government and the opposition, clearly exacerbated by the foreign intervention, will surely lead to even greater victims among common Libyans. Certainly, it is a tall order to believe that the airborne bombs and missiles are only directed at military targets.
This is what Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had to say on Russia’s position, in view of the fact that this country is not and will not participate in the military operation against Libya:
“Russia wanted a peaceful settlement of Libya’s domestic problems from the outset. Nevertheless, we unconditionally condemned the actions of the Libyan leaders against their people. Sadly, real military action has broken out in Libya now and this cannot be allowed. I hope that the countries involved in the blockade of Libyan airspace are guided by an understanding that all of this is being done for the benefit of the Libyan people.”
And here’s another thing. In the course of his current visit to Brazil, US President Barack Obama detailed the reasons behind the crisis in Libya. This seems quite logical, given that this is the most important global event at the moment, along with the earthquake in Japan. But interestingly, when speaking about Libya, the head of the White House suddenly turned his attention to Iran, saying that the Iranian government was pursuing a policy of frightening its people into submission, something that he said was of great concern to the US.
Later, Barack Obama addressed the youth of Iran, suggesting that the decisions they are making will determine their country’s future and said that he was with them in these tough times. It remains to be seen whether young Iranians will be any better off for this support.
What is quite clear, though, is that the US president all but encouraged them to fight the country’s existing government. It’s no secret that the current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is as irritating to Washington as Gaddafi is today and as Hussein and Yugoslavia’s Milosevic once were. So perhaps one should take Barack Obama’s promises as a warning that Iran is next in line?
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Libya: British Commandos In Place For Ground Operations
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/22/47806843.html
Voice of Russia
March 22, 2011
What are British commandos doing in Libya?
-The point is that a group of Western countries that launched massive air and missile strikes against Libya on Saturday seem to have no clear-cut strategy or action plan save for pouring tons of rockets on Libyan soil.
British special task units totaling several dozen servicemen are in Libya, providing military assistance to the rebels, the Daily Mail newspaper reports.
According to the official version, the British special task units are in Libya to help adjust air strikes on Libyan targets from the ground, carry out reconnaissance, locate Libyan arms depots and just be on standby to rescue pilots if a coalition plane is shot down over the territory controlled by supporters of Muammar Gaddafi.
British commandos have reportedly been in Libya for about three weeks now, covertly operating in Colonel Gaddafi’s rear. A senior British Defense Department official, who for some reason wished to remain anonymous, has argued that the British military presence on the Libyan soil, which many condemned as illegal, does not contradict UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya.
But considering that the resolution sanctions no military action beyond the no-fly zone, what are British commandos doing in Libya? Prime Minister David Cameron, explaining the aims of the anti-Libyan coalition in the House of Commons this week, made clear that a ground offensive in Libya was out the question.
“In line with UN resolution 1973, there were two aims to these strikes. The first was to suppress the Libyan air defences and make possible the safe enforcement of a no-fly zone. The second was to protect civilians from attack by the Gaddafi regime,” said David Cameron.
And yet, British commandos are already in Libya and they may be assigned new tasks on top of those already mentioned. For now, it looks like these new tasks have not been clearly determined. The point is that a group of Western countries that launched massive air and missile strikes against Libya on Saturday seem to have no clear-cut strategy or action plan save for pouring tons of rockets on Libyan soil. Quite evidently, if the Muammar Gaddafi regime holds out, which may well be the case, things may take a pretty awkward turn for the political and military leadership of the anti-Libyan coalition.
Some analysts assume that in the latter scenario, the coalition may push for a ground offensive as a last resort. And then, the British special task units in Libya will be extremely helpful. The ground offensive will require a new UN Security Council resolution. Meanwhile, chances that this third resolution on Libya will ever leave the walls of the UN headquarters in New York look pretty slim as more and more countries, including in the Arab world, are raising their voices against the foreign military intervention in Libya.
Inside the United States, criticism has been mounting from both Republican and Democrat politicians of President Barack Obama’s decision to take part in the operation against Libya without seeking Congress approval first.
But suppose he did, the prospect of getting the country involved in yet another war in an Islamic country, parallel to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will hardly make U.S. lawmakers happy.
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World Steps Up Criticism Of Western Attacks On Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/22/c_13791783.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
World steps up criticism of Western air strikes in Libya
By Han Lin, Liu Dan
-“Following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, a military strike against Libya is the third time in this century that a number of countries wielded force against a sovereign state.”
-Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba regarded the strikes as an “interference in internal affairs of Africa”, backing the 53-nation African Union stance against “any kind of foreign military intervention” in Libya.
BEIJING: The international community has stepped up its criticism and showed more worries about the Western-led air strikes against Libya following the forces launched operations to enforce a no-fly zone over the North African country.
China expressed its regret and opposed the use of force in international relations in a foreign ministry statement when commenting on the Libyan crisis and the Western-led air strikes.
“Following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, a military strike against Libya is the third time in this century that a number of countries wielded force against a sovereign state,” said a signed commentary in China’s main newspaper the People’s Daily.
“It should be noted that attempts to resolve the crisis using military means affects the U.N. Charter and the norms governing international relations,
“In today’s world where some people with the Cold War mentality are still keen on the use of force, people have reason to express concerns about the effects of the military action,” added the commentary entitled “Do not abandon hope for peaceful resolution to Libyan crisis.”
Russia called on Britain, France and the United States to stop air strikes against the non-military targets in Libya, saying the attacks had caused civilian casualties.
“The resolution (on non-fly zone) is defective and flawed,” said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, adding “It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades.”
“In that respect we call on countries involved to stop the non-selective use of force,” its foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich echoed.
India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said the strikes would lead to more harm to “innocent civilians, foreign nationals and diplomatic missions.”
“India calls upon all parties to abjure violence and the use of threat and force to resolve the differences. I think the need of the hour is cessation of armed conflict,” he told reporters.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa condemned the “bombardment of civilians” and called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss the Libyan issue.
He demanded of a report of the bombardment in which the Lybian armed forces command said 64 people, most civilians and children, were killed.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Arab League criticism of the air strikes showed that Germany had “good reasons” to fear for the military intervention.
Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was critical of the formation of the coalition leading the action and stressed the objective should be “not to launch a large-scale war” in Libya.
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei charged the Western intervention in Libya was aimed at “getting their hands on its oil”, as claimed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said the “adventure” was motivated by “petrol and who will exploit Libya’s oil fields”.
Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba regarded the strikes as an “interference in internal affairs of Africa”, backing the 53-nation African Union stance against “any kind of foreign military intervention” in Libya.
Loud explosions and heavy anti-aircraft gunfire were heard in the Libyan capital city of Tripoli at around 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Monday as the third round of Western-led air strikes started.
Many civilians were killed and wounded in this wave of attacks, according to local TV.
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the Western countries launched three consecutive days of air strikes after Libyan armed forces announced a comprehensive cease-fire and stopped all military actions. The majority of Libya’s civil airports and seaports were destroyed during the air strikes.
Obama defends U.S. military air raids in Libya
SANTIAGO, March 21: Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday defended the U.S. military actions against Libya, saying the U.S. military actions are in accordance with the UN resolution adopted to solve the Libya crisis. Full story
Russia’s Putin calls UN resolution on Libya “flawed”
MOSCOW, March 21: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday criticized West-led military actions against Libya was based on a “flawed” UN Security Council resolution, according to local reports. Full story
French warplanes fly around 400 hours over Libya
PARIS, March 21: French warplanes have flown around 400 hours in total in Libyan airspace, amounting to 55 sorties in three days, a military spokesman said Monday.
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China Calls For Immediate End To Western Attacks On Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110322/163143059.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 22, 2011
Beijing opposes use of force in Libya
China called on Tuesday for an immediate end to a Western-led military operation in Libya.
“Beijing opposes the use of military force and considers it necessary to respect Libya’s sovereignty, its unity and territorial integrity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said at a news conference in Beijing.
All parties must “immediately cease fire and resolve issues through peaceful means,” she added.
China was one of five countries, including Russia, that abstained from a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Thursday. The resolution imposes a no-fly zone over Libya and allows “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.
Operation Odyssey Dawn entered its third night of airstrikes on Libyan air defenses on Monday. Libyan state television has reported that at least 60 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded.
Beijing has been severely critical of the military intervention, with the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper on Monday comparing it to the U.S.-led invasions on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin voiced similar views on Monday, likening the UN resolution to a “call for a crusade.” The comments were swiftly rebuked by President Dmitry Medvedev, who described them as “unacceptable.”
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U.S. Warplane Crashes In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/22/c_13792564.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
U.S. warplane found crashed in Libya: report
LONDON: The U.S. military has confirmed that a U.S. fighter jet has crashed in Libya, British newspaper The Daily Telegrph reported Tuesday on its website.
The aircraft was an F-15E Eagle, the report said citing a correspondent currently based in Libya.
The two crew members were rescued by rebels after the jet forced down in a field near Benghazi due to “mechanical failure,” Britain’s Sky News also quoted U.S. officials as saying.
According to other media reports, the two crew members ejected after the equipment failure and are safe, although sustaining minor injuries.
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Eight Warplanes: Sweden Follows NATO Into Another War
http://www.thelocal.se/32718/20110321/
The Local
March 21, 2011
Swedish Gripen fighters on Libya standby
The Swedish military said Monday that they would be ready to deploy Jas Gripen fighter aircraft within ten days, should Sweden be asked to participate in the military action against Libya.
“The armed forces have informed the government that we are able to deploy six to eight aircraft. At the moment they are on a ten day standby, so it wouldn’t take longer than that,” Therese Fagerstedt of the Swedish Armed Forces information department told news agency TT.
Where the aircraft would be stationed and how much ground crew would be needed is yet to be determined.
How long it would actually take for the unit to be deployed depends on the political decision making process.
Sources with insight into NATO have revealed to the Swedish Dagens Nyheter daily that Sweden will be asked to lend their support by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.
The Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) and the Christian Democrats have criticised the stance of the foreign minister Carl Bildt and the government, who have opted to wait for the request rather than offer Swedish help.
Allan Widman of the Liberal Party would like the government to make available the ‘Expeditionary Air Wings’, an eight plane strong flying unit, which is part of the Nordic Battle Group.
“I think we need to send the message that we can and wish to participate,” he told DN.
The foreign minister Carl Bildt does not however share the view of his government coalition colleague.
In a radio interview on Sunday, Bildt said that Sweden should wait to offer military assistance until requested.
However, if NATO was to approach Sweden, Bildt did not rule out possible military participation.
“All alternatives are still on the table. In the case of a request we will look at all the different ways that Sweden can contribute,” he said.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Ring, an expert on military strategy from the Swedish National Defense College (Försvarshögskolan), there is a need of further air power in the Libya operations.
“France have deployed about a hundred planes, which may sound like a lot. But compared to the air attacks on Kosovo and Serbia there are very few aircraft in action. Back then there were 700-800 aircraft per day,” he told TT.
On Monday Carl Bildt heads to Brussels to meet with foreign ministers from other EU member states.
On his personal blog “Alla Dessa Dagar” (literally: All These Days) he wrote on Sunday that the situation in Libya is certain to be high on the agenda.
“Sweden will support the resolution in the way and with the resources that we are best suited to,“ Bildt wrote.
At the moment, he pointed out, the military action is the main focus, but there is more to the resolution than that and a role for Sweden in the operations is by no means certain.
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http://www.thelocal.se/32734/20110321/
The Local
March 21, 2011
Swedish house backs Libya involvement
-The last time Swedish fighter aircraft participated in battle was almost 50 years ago, when J 29 “Flying Barrel” planes fought in the Congo in the early 60’s.
The Swedish Armed Forces have informed the government that it can send up to eight Jas Gripen planes to Libya.
-The aircraft form part of the Nordic battle group, the most well-trained air force unit in Sweden, and fully compatible with NATO.
According to Anders Silwer at the armed forces the unit could be deployed to the combat zone – for example at air bases in Sicily and Crete – “days” after a political decision.
The Swedish government can count on the broad support in parliament to send Jas Gripen aircraft to assist the UN-backed Libyan operation, with only the Sweden Democrats expressing a dissenting opinion.
It is reported that NATO may soon approach Sweden with to participate in the international effort against the Libyan regime. The defence alliance however spent the day discussing which nation was best equipped to lead the operation.
“We must wait and see what NATO is up to. This is of significance,” foreign minister Carl Bildt said.
If NATO is unable to agree Bildt has not ruled out Sweden being able to take part in an operation led by a group of countries, including France, the United States and Britain, although Sweden would be in unfamiliar position.
….
For Sweden it would be easier to take part within a NATO-led effort, despite not being a formal member of the alliance as the military is familiar with procedures following previous cooperation. [Afghanistan]
Swedish participation would require a swift decision in parliament and according to a review of the positions of parliamentary parties, a government proposition would receive the broad support of the Riksdag.
The Social Democrats have expressed their firm support for a Swedish contribution to the operation.
“For me, it is irrelevant if the request comes from France, the United Nations or from NATO. The UN has called for the mission,” said the party’s foreign policy spokesperson Urban Ahlin.
Left Party leader Lars Ohly said that he was cautiously positive to sending the Jas Gripen fighter into combat.
The Sweden Democrats, who currently hold 19 votes in parliament, expressed their opposition to a Swedish contribution to the military effort preferring instead to spend the money on measures to address a feared refugee crisis.
The last time Swedish fighter aircraft participated in battle was almost 50 years ago, when J 29 “Flying Barrel” planes fought in the Congo in the early 60’s.
The Swedish Armed Forces have informed the government that it can send up to eight Jas Gripen planes to Libya.
The aircraft form part of the Nordic battle group, the most well-trained air force unit in Sweden, and fully compatible with NATO.
According to Anders Silwer at the armed forces the unit could be deployed to the combat zone – for example at air bases in Sicily and Crete – “days” after a political decision.
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First Combat Mission For Eurofighter: British MPs Back War
Agence France-Presse
March 21, 2011
Lawmakers approve Libya mission despite confusion
-Cameron earlier called for NATO to take command of operations in Libya, as NATO allies struggled Monday to overcome divisions about the organisation’s role in the strikes.
“Over time we want this to transition to a NATO command, a NATO command and control using NATO machinery, so all the partners in NATO and all those who want to contribute from outside can be properly coordinated,” he added.
LONDON: Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the country’s involvement in the military operation to enforce a UN sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya despite confusion over the mission’s scope.
Politicians on Monday voted 557 to 13 in favour of the action as British Typhoon fighter jets took part in their first ever combat mission, assisting coalition forces in patrolling the no-fly zone.
Prime Minister David Cameron had the support of his Conservative party and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners for military action, as well as the opposition Labour party.
But there have been conflicting statements about the aims of the air strikes from ministers and from the British military, amid fears that Britain could be drawn into a ground war similar to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Cameron Monday said there was no legal authority for enforcing regime change in the North African nation, contradicting earlier suggestions by ministers that air strikes could target leader Moamer Kadhafi.
After Kadhafi’s complex in Tripoli was hit overnight in raids by Western forces, Cameron said the UN Security Council resolution was limited to include the enforcement of a ceasefire and no-fly zones to protect civilians.
….
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Sunday that there was a “possibility” British forces could target Kadhafi. Foreign Secretary William Hague refused to rule it out Monday, saying “that depends on the circumstances at the time”.
….
Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier refused to comment on reports that it was a British missile which hit Kadhafi’s compound and that it aborted a further air attack after finding out foreign journalists were in the complex.
Acutely aware of the controversy over Britain’s six-year war in Iraq, Cameron repeated his argument that his first military action since taking office in May last year was “necessary, legal and right”.
….
During the House debate before Monday’s ballot, Hague fended off claims that the vote should have taken place before the operation started, saying if the UN resolution had been passed any later “it would have been too late”.
….
As the parliamentary debate took place, the MoD confirmed that it had sent more Tornado jets to the Gioia del Colle base in Italy and had deployed its Typhoon fighter jets for the first time.
“Today, Typhoons flew their first ever combat mission while patrolling the no-fly zone in support of UNSCR 1973,” Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff’s spokesman, Major General John Lorimer, said in a statement.
Cameron earlier called for NATO to take command of operations in Libya, as NATO allies struggled Monday to overcome divisions about the organisation’s role in the strikes.
“Over time we want this to transition to a NATO command, a NATO command and control using NATO machinery, so all the partners in NATO and all those who want to contribute from outside can be properly coordinated,” he added.
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Duty To NATO: Canadian MPs Unanimously Back Libyan War
Globe and Mail
March 21, 2011
Commons unanimously backs Canada’s deployment to Libya
John Ibbitson
OTTAWA: As Canadian fighter jets flew over hostile Libyan air space, all four political parties put aside pre-election posturing for a few hours Monday to support Canada’s role in the mission to contain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
“We are compelled to intervene, both [as] a moral duty and by duty [to] NATO and the United Nations,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the House of Commons Monday, opening debate on a motion supporting the deployment. The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois unanimously supported the Conservative motion.
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Greece: Air And Naval Bases, Warship, AWACS “At NATO’s Disposal”
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_21/03/2011_383746
Kathimerini
March 21, 2011
Greece only providing support for Libya operations
-“On a bilateral level, Greece is responding to requests from friends and allies for providing help of a supportive nature. Greece has informed NATO that it is putting at its disposal the base at Souda, the airports at Aktio and Andravida, the frigate that has been sailing in waters between Crete and Libya for the past few days and an AWACS flying radar.”
Greece has clarified that it is only providing a supporting role in the efforts of coalition forces to establish a no-fly zone over Libya and is not taking part in any military operations.
The Defense Ministry issued a statement to emphasize that Greece was not actively involved in any of the current operations after two nights of bombings in Libya but was offering the use of bases and airports.
“At the moment, Greece is not taking part in any military operations, which are not being carried out within the NATO framework,” said the ministry.
“On a bilateral level, Greece is responding to requests from friends and allies for providing help of a supportive nature. Greece has informed NATO that it is putting at its disposal the base at Souda, the airports at Aktio and Andravida, the frigate that has been sailing in waters between Crete and Libya for the past few days and an AWACS flying radar.”
Athens will also offer a helicopter for search and rescue operations, should it be needed, said the ministry.
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UN Security Council To Reconvene On Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/22/47770529.html
Voice of Russia
March 22, 2011
UN Security Council to reconvene on Libyan issue
The UN Security Council will discuss the situation in Libya next Thursday.
Consultations are being convened in connection with the doubts voiced by some Council members regarding the “legitimacy of what is taking place”.
The Council also intends to consider the letters by Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa. One of the missives was dispatched to the UN already after the start of the military operation.
The Libyan Foreign Ministry insists there is a “foreign conspiracy against the Jamahiriya”, and that the Security Council resolution “paved the way for military aggression.”
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“No-Fly Zone”: Video Of NATO’s Highway Of Death
RT
March 21, 2011
Video of Gaddafi tanks burnt, oil depot on fire after Libya military strike
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Libya: Yet Another Imperialist Military Intervention
http://www.hindustantimes.com/More-fuel-to-the-fire/H1-Article1-675983.aspx
Hindustan Times
March 21, 2011
More fuel to the fire
Sitaram Yechury
Yet another imperialist military intervention has begun with French air strikes on Libya. The US-sponsored North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) operation has been launched ostensibly to prevent Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from attacking its people.
This direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, the biggest intervention since the military occupation of Iraq, comes under the sanction of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
This overzealousness betrays imperialism’s eagerness to retain its hegemonic control over the oil-rich region and prevent any realignment of forces that could be detrimental to its interests. The region has proven, accumulative reserves of 103.2 billion tonnes of residual fuel oil in 2009, or 55.6% of the proven total global oil reserves.
Imperialism’s double standards become clear with the US-inspired Saudi Arabian military intervention in Bahrain to prop up the Khalifa, opposed by the people seeking better standards of livelihood, human rights and democracy.
In Libya, imperialism seeks a regime change while in Bahrain, it seeks to sustain the autocratic Khalifa family that has lorded it over the country since 1783. Both interventions are ironically in the name of protecting the people. The reason for such dichotomy is not far to seek. Bahrain is home to the US navy’s Fifth Fleet and has been a steadfast ally. Libya, on the other hand, is not such a firm ally. Further, Libyan oil reserves and the ocean of fossil water reserves on which its deserts lie today have the potential of more lucrative profits than oil. A regime change here could well be to imperialism’s advantage, while in Bahrain it is not.
Behind these military interventions lie the basic geo-political interests of imperialism in the region. Its post-World War I history is replete with occupations aimed at controlling its energy resources. Post World War II, in an effort to reverse the gains of de-colonisation, the US intervened to topple the democratically-elected regime in Iran and foist a pliant one.
On the one hand, its propping up of Israel, military aggressiveness against Arab countries, denying Palestinians their homeland and on the other, the propping up of client regimes through massive military and ‘aid’ programmes, ensured imperialism’s hegemonic control over the region.
The situation dramatically changed over the past few months when popular protests across the region led to the downfall of pro-US regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt was imperialism’s lynchpin in the region. With popular protests rising in other countries like Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, imperialist hegemony was threatened. It is important to remember that all these countries received massive US military assistance. In fact, the weapons being used by Gaddafi’s forces today were provided by the US and other Nato allies in the first place.
The recent popular upsurges have been triggered by the global economic crisis that has increased the burden on the people through massive lay-offs and price rise. Libya, interestingly, occupies the first place in the human development index for Africa and has the highest life expectancy in the continent. It provides food security, essential social services, education and health for its people as well as employment to people from neighbouring countries. However, the protesting youth are an unmistakable picture of indignation. The demands for a better life, a better political and social ordering and the ability or inability of the ruling dispensation to meet these aspirations are matters that have to be settled within sovereign boundaries of independent countries.
The military intervention in Bahrain a week earlier, however, has come under the terms of the Joint Peninsular Shield established in 1990 under the umbrella of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six-nation regional organisation, where any member state can seek military assistance from another in the face of an external threat. The threat that the ruling autocracy in Bahrain faces is entirely internal. The GCC is estimated to have $1.34 trillion of surplus assets accumulated in the last few years alone as oil revenues. The escalation of popular protests in Bahrain could well snowball into other GCC states, spiralling a political destabilisation that jeopardises such huge reserves. Already protest marches in four different locations in Saudi Arabia have been repressed.
These popular upsurges have also negated imperialism’s stereotypical projection of any uprising in an Islamic country as the rise of fundamentalism and therefore terrorism. The joint statement by Bahraini opposition groups have put it succinctly, saying “this tripartite coalition adopts the choice of bringing down the existing regime in Bahrain and the establishment of a democratic republican system”. The people in Islamic countries, like people anywhere else in the world, aspire for better living standards, human rights and liberty. This aspiration gets exponentially magnified in countries that have suffered for centuries under oppressive, autocratic rule backed by imperialism.
If people are sovereign, then they must be allowed to decide on their future in their sovereign country. Imperialism must be forced to roll back this military intervention. The countries that abstained in the UN Security Council, including India, must now assert themselves and stop yet another military aggression in Libya.
PS: Whither Obama’s promising rhetoric at the Al Azhar in Cairo soon after he assumed the US Presidency?
Sitaram Yechury is CPI(M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP
The views expressed by the author are personal.
Updates on Libyan war
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World Steps Up Criticism Of Western Attacks On Libya
China Calls For Immediate End To Western Attacks On Libya
U.S. Warplane Crashes In Libya
Eight Warplanes: Sweden Follows NATO Into Another War
First Combat Mission For Eurofighter: British MPs Back War
Duty To NATO: Canadian MPs Unanimously Back Libyan War
Greece: Air And Naval Bases, Warship, AWACS “At NATO’s Disposal”
UN Security Council To Reconvene On Libya
“No-Fly Zone”: Video Of NATO’s Highway Of Death
Libya: Yet Another Imperialist Military Intervention
Libya: West Wages War Rather Than Lose Global Dominance
Mediterranean: U.S. Warship Shifts From Missile Interception To Missile Strikes
Western Military Attack On Libya Worries The World
Opposition Party Calls On Serbian Government To Condemn Libya Bombing
Libyan Capital Subjected To New Round Of Air Attacks
Video/Text: Russia, China Call Closed-Door Security Council Talks On Libya
Russia, Arab League Warn Against Break-Up Of Libya, Other Arab States
Pentagon: 124 Missile Strikes Against Libya, Bombing Of Airfields
Repeat Of 1999: Canadian Warplanes Ready For Action Over Libya
French Foreign Minister: NATO To Enter Libyan Fray In “Few Days”
Italian Foreign Minister: NATO Must Take Over Libyan War Command
Greece: Thousands Protest Libyan War, Burn EU Flag
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World Steps Up Criticism Of Western Attacks On Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/22/c_13791783.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
World steps up criticism of Western air strikes in Libya
By Han Lin, Liu Dan
-“Following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, a military strike against Libya is the third time in this century that a number of countries wielded force against a sovereign state.”
-Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba regarded the strikes as an “interference in internal affairs of Africa”, backing the 53-nation African Union stance against “any kind of foreign military intervention” in Libya.
BEIJING: The international community has stepped up its criticism and showed more worries about the Western-led air strikes against Libya following the forces launched operations to enforce a no-fly zone over the North African country.
China expressed its regret and opposed the use of force in international relations in a foreign ministry statement when commenting on the Libyan crisis and the Western-led air strikes.
“Following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, a military strike against Libya is the third time in this century that a number of countries wielded force against a sovereign state,” said a signed commentary in China’s main newspaper the People’s Daily.
“It should be noted that attempts to resolve the crisis using military means affects the U.N. Charter and the norms governing international relations,
“In today’s world where some people with the Cold War mentality are still keen on the use of force, people have reason to express concerns about the effects of the military action,” added the commentary entitled “Do not abandon hope for peaceful resolution to Libyan crisis.”
Russia called on Britain, France and the United States to stop air strikes against the non-military targets in Libya, saying the attacks had caused civilian casualties.
“The resolution (on non-fly zone) is defective and flawed,” said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, adding “It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades.”
“In that respect we call on countries involved to stop the non-selective use of force,” its foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich echoed.
India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said the strikes would lead to more harm to “innocent civilians, foreign nationals and diplomatic missions.”
“India calls upon all parties to abjure violence and the use of threat and force to resolve the differences. I think the need of the hour is cessation of armed conflict,” he told reporters.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa condemned the “bombardment of civilians” and called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss the Libyan issue.
He demanded of a report of the bombardment in which the Lybian armed forces command said 64 people, most civilians and children, were killed.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Arab League criticism of the air strikes showed that Germany had “good reasons” to fear for the military intervention.
Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was critical of the formation of the coalition leading the action and stressed the objective should be “not to launch a large-scale war” in Libya.
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei charged the Western intervention in Libya was aimed at “getting their hands on its oil”, as claimed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said the “adventure” was motivated by “petrol and who will exploit Libya’s oil fields”.
Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba regarded the strikes as an “interference in internal affairs of Africa”, backing the 53-nation African Union stance against “any kind of foreign military intervention” in Libya.
Loud explosions and heavy anti-aircraft gunfire were heard in the Libyan capital city of Tripoli at around 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Monday as the third round of Western-led air strikes started.
Many civilians were killed and wounded in this wave of attacks, according to local TV.
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the Western countries launched three consecutive days of air strikes after Libyan armed forces announced a comprehensive cease-fire and stopped all military actions. The majority of Libya’s civil airports and seaports were destroyed during the air strikes.
Obama defends U.S. military air raids in Libya
SANTIAGO, March 21: Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday defended the U.S. military actions against Libya, saying the U.S. military actions are in accordance with the UN resolution adopted to solve the Libya crisis. Full story
Russia’s Putin calls UN resolution on Libya “flawed”
MOSCOW, March 21: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday criticized West-led military actions against Libya was based on a “flawed” UN Security Council resolution, according to local reports. Full story
French warplanes fly around 400 hours over Libya
PARIS, March 21: French warplanes have flown around 400 hours in total in Libyan airspace, amounting to 55 sorties in three days, a military spokesman said Monday.
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China Calls For Immediate End To Western Attacks On Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110322/163143059.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 22, 2011
Beijing opposes use of force in Libya
China called on Tuesday for an immediate end to a Western-led military operation in Libya.
“Beijing opposes the use of military force and considers it necessary to respect Libya’s sovereignty, its unity and territorial integrity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said at a news conference in Beijing.
All parties must “immediately cease fire and resolve issues through peaceful means,” she added.
China was one of five countries, including Russia, that abstained from a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Thursday. The resolution imposes a no-fly zone over Libya and allows “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.
Operation Odyssey Dawn entered its third night of airstrikes on Libyan air defenses on Monday. Libyan state television has reported that at least 60 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded.
Beijing has been severely critical of the military intervention, with the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper on Monday comparing it to the U.S.-led invasions on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin voiced similar views on Monday, likening the UN resolution to a “call for a crusade.” The comments were swiftly rebuked by President Dmitry Medvedev, who described them as “unacceptable.”
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U.S. Warplane Crashes In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/22/c_13792564.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
U.S. warplane found crashed in Libya: report
LONDON: The U.S. military has confirmed that a U.S. fighter jet has crashed in Libya, British newspaper The Daily Telegrph reported Tuesday on its website.
The aircraft was an F-15E Eagle, the report said citing a correspondent currently based in Libya.
The two crew members were rescued by rebels after the jet forced down in a field near Benghazi due to “mechanical failure,” Britain’s Sky News also quoted U.S. officials as saying.
According to other media reports, the two crew members ejected after the equipment failure and are safe, although sustaining minor injuries.
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Eight Warplanes: Sweden Follows NATO Into Another War
http://www.thelocal.se/32718/20110321/
The Local
March 21, 2011
Swedish Gripen fighters on Libya standby
The Swedish military said Monday that they would be ready to deploy Jas Gripen fighter aircraft within ten days, should Sweden be asked to participate in the military action against Libya.
“The armed forces have informed the government that we are able to deploy six to eight aircraft. At the moment they are on a ten day standby, so it wouldn’t take longer than that,” Therese Fagerstedt of the Swedish Armed Forces information department told news agency TT.
Where the aircraft would be stationed and how much ground crew would be needed is yet to be determined.
How long it would actually take for the unit to be deployed depends on the political decision making process.
Sources with insight into NATO have revealed to the Swedish Dagens Nyheter daily that Sweden will be asked to lend their support by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.
The Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) and the Christian Democrats have criticised the stance of the foreign minister Carl Bildt and the government, who have opted to wait for the request rather than offer Swedish help.
Allan Widman of the Liberal Party would like the government to make available the ‘Expeditionary Air Wings’, an eight plane strong flying unit, which is part of the Nordic Battle Group.
“I think we need to send the message that we can and wish to participate,” he told DN.
The foreign minister Carl Bildt does not however share the view of his government coalition colleague.
In a radio interview on Sunday, Bildt said that Sweden should wait to offer military assistance until requested.
However, if NATO was to approach Sweden, Bildt did not rule out possible military participation.
“All alternatives are still on the table. In the case of a request we will look at all the different ways that Sweden can contribute,” he said.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Ring, an expert on military strategy from the Swedish National Defense College (Försvarshögskolan), there is a need of further air power in the Libya operations.
“France have deployed about a hundred planes, which may sound like a lot. But compared to the air attacks on Kosovo and Serbia there are very few aircraft in action. Back then there were 700-800 aircraft per day,” he told TT.
On Monday Carl Bildt heads to Brussels to meet with foreign ministers from other EU member states.
On his personal blog “Alla Dessa Dagar” (literally: All These Days) he wrote on Sunday that the situation in Libya is certain to be high on the agenda.
“Sweden will support the resolution in the way and with the resources that we are best suited to,“ Bildt wrote.
At the moment, he pointed out, the military action is the main focus, but there is more to the resolution than that and a role for Sweden in the operations is by no means certain.
————————————-
http://www.thelocal.se/32734/20110321/
The Local
March 21, 2011
Swedish house backs Libya involvement
-The last time Swedish fighter aircraft participated in battle was almost 50 years ago, when J 29 “Flying Barrel” planes fought in the Congo in the early 60’s.
The Swedish Armed Forces have informed the government that it can send up to eight Jas Gripen planes to Libya.
-The aircraft form part of the Nordic battle group, the most well-trained air force unit in Sweden, and fully compatible with NATO.
According to Anders Silwer at the armed forces the unit could be deployed to the combat zone – for example at air bases in Sicily and Crete – “days” after a political decision.
The Swedish government can count on the broad support in parliament to send Jas Gripen aircraft to assist the UN-backed Libyan operation, with only the Sweden Democrats expressing a dissenting opinion.
It is reported that NATO may soon approach Sweden with to participate in the international effort against the Libyan regime. The defence alliance however spent the day discussing which nation was best equipped to lead the operation.
“We must wait and see what NATO is up to. This is of significance,” foreign minister Carl Bildt said.
If NATO is unable to agree Bildt has not ruled out Sweden being able to take part in an operation led by a group of countries, including France, the United States and Britain, although Sweden would be in unfamiliar position.
….
For Sweden it would be easier to take part within a NATO-led effort, despite not being a formal member of the alliance as the military is familiar with procedures following previous cooperation. [Afghanistan]
Swedish participation would require a swift decision in parliament and according to a review of the positions of parliamentary parties, a government proposition would receive the broad support of the Riksdag.
The Social Democrats have expressed their firm support for a Swedish contribution to the operation.
“For me, it is irrelevant if the request comes from France, the United Nations or from NATO. The UN has called for the mission,” said the party’s foreign policy spokesperson Urban Ahlin.
Left Party leader Lars Ohly said that he was cautiously positive to sending the Jas Gripen fighter into combat.
The Sweden Democrats, who currently hold 19 votes in parliament, expressed their opposition to a Swedish contribution to the military effort preferring instead to spend the money on measures to address a feared refugee crisis.
The last time Swedish fighter aircraft participated in battle was almost 50 years ago, when J 29 “Flying Barrel” planes fought in the Congo in the early 60’s.
The Swedish Armed Forces have informed the government that it can send up to eight Jas Gripen planes to Libya.
The aircraft form part of the Nordic battle group, the most well-trained air force unit in Sweden, and fully compatible with NATO.
According to Anders Silwer at the armed forces the unit could be deployed to the combat zone – for example at air bases in Sicily and Crete – “days” after a political decision.
====
First Combat Mission For Eurofighter: British MPs Back War
Agence France-Presse
March 21, 2011
Lawmakers approve Libya mission despite confusion
-Cameron earlier called for NATO to take command of operations in Libya, as NATO allies struggled Monday to overcome divisions about the organisation’s role in the strikes.
“Over time we want this to transition to a NATO command, a NATO command and control using NATO machinery, so all the partners in NATO and all those who want to contribute from outside can be properly coordinated,” he added.
LONDON: Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the country’s involvement in the military operation to enforce a UN sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya despite confusion over the mission’s scope.
Politicians on Monday voted 557 to 13 in favour of the action as British Typhoon fighter jets took part in their first ever combat mission, assisting coalition forces in patrolling the no-fly zone.
Prime Minister David Cameron had the support of his Conservative party and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners for military action, as well as the opposition Labour party.
But there have been conflicting statements about the aims of the air strikes from ministers and from the British military, amid fears that Britain could be drawn into a ground war similar to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Cameron Monday said there was no legal authority for enforcing regime change in the North African nation, contradicting earlier suggestions by ministers that air strikes could target leader Moamer Kadhafi.
After Kadhafi’s complex in Tripoli was hit overnight in raids by Western forces, Cameron said the UN Security Council resolution was limited to include the enforcement of a ceasefire and no-fly zones to protect civilians.
….
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Sunday that there was a “possibility” British forces could target Kadhafi. Foreign Secretary William Hague refused to rule it out Monday, saying “that depends on the circumstances at the time”.
….
Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier refused to comment on reports that it was a British missile which hit Kadhafi’s compound and that it aborted a further air attack after finding out foreign journalists were in the complex.
Acutely aware of the controversy over Britain’s six-year war in Iraq, Cameron repeated his argument that his first military action since taking office in May last year was “necessary, legal and right”.
….
During the House debate before Monday’s ballot, Hague fended off claims that the vote should have taken place before the operation started, saying if the UN resolution had been passed any later “it would have been too late”.
….
As the parliamentary debate took place, the MoD confirmed that it had sent more Tornado jets to the Gioia del Colle base in Italy and had deployed its Typhoon fighter jets for the first time.
“Today, Typhoons flew their first ever combat mission while patrolling the no-fly zone in support of UNSCR 1973,” Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff’s spokesman, Major General John Lorimer, said in a statement.
Cameron earlier called for NATO to take command of operations in Libya, as NATO allies struggled Monday to overcome divisions about the organisation’s role in the strikes.
“Over time we want this to transition to a NATO command, a NATO command and control using NATO machinery, so all the partners in NATO and all those who want to contribute from outside can be properly coordinated,” he added.
====
Duty To NATO: Canadian MPs Unanimously Back Libyan War
Globe and Mail
March 21, 2011
Commons unanimously backs Canada’s deployment to Libya
John Ibbitson
OTTAWA: As Canadian fighter jets flew over hostile Libyan air space, all four political parties put aside pre-election posturing for a few hours Monday to support Canada’s role in the mission to contain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
“We are compelled to intervene, both [as] a moral duty and by duty [to] NATO and the United Nations,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the House of Commons Monday, opening debate on a motion supporting the deployment. The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois unanimously supported the Conservative motion.
====
Greece: Air And Naval Bases, Warship, AWACS “At NATO’s Disposal”
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_21/03/2011_383746
Kathimerini
March 21, 2011
Greece only providing support for Libya operations
-“On a bilateral level, Greece is responding to requests from friends and allies for providing help of a supportive nature. Greece has informed NATO that it is putting at its disposal the base at Souda, the airports at Aktio and Andravida, the frigate that has been sailing in waters between Crete and Libya for the past few days and an AWACS flying radar.”
Greece has clarified that it is only providing a supporting role in the efforts of coalition forces to establish a no-fly zone over Libya and is not taking part in any military operations.
The Defense Ministry issued a statement to emphasize that Greece was not actively involved in any of the current operations after two nights of bombings in Libya but was offering the use of bases and airports.
“At the moment, Greece is not taking part in any military operations, which are not being carried out within the NATO framework,” said the ministry.
“On a bilateral level, Greece is responding to requests from friends and allies for providing help of a supportive nature. Greece has informed NATO that it is putting at its disposal the base at Souda, the airports at Aktio and Andravida, the frigate that has been sailing in waters between Crete and Libya for the past few days and an AWACS flying radar.”
Athens will also offer a helicopter for search and rescue operations, should it be needed, said the ministry.
====
UN Security Council To Reconvene On Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/22/47770529.html
Voice of Russia
March 22, 2011
UN Security Council to reconvene on Libyan issue
The UN Security Council will discuss the situation in Libya next Thursday.
Consultations are being convened in connection with the doubts voiced by some Council members regarding the “legitimacy of what is taking place”.
The Council also intends to consider the letters by Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa. One of the missives was dispatched to the UN already after the start of the military operation.
The Libyan Foreign Ministry insists there is a “foreign conspiracy against the Jamahiriya”, and that the Security Council resolution “paved the way for military aggression.”
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“No-Fly Zone”: Video Of NATO’s Highway Of Death
RT
March 21, 2011
Video of Gaddafi tanks burnt, oil depot on fire after Libya military strike
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Libya: Yet Another Imperialist Military Intervention
http://www.hindustantimes.com/More-fuel-to-the-fire/H1-Article1-675983.aspx
Hindustan Times
March 21, 2011
More fuel to the fire
Sitaram Yechury
Yet another imperialist military intervention has begun with French air strikes on Libya. The US-sponsored North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) operation has been launched ostensibly to prevent Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from attacking its people.
This direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, the biggest intervention since the military occupation of Iraq, comes under the sanction of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
This overzealousness betrays imperialism’s eagerness to retain its hegemonic control over the oil-rich region and prevent any realignment of forces that could be detrimental to its interests. The region has proven, accumulative reserves of 103.2 billion tonnes of residual fuel oil in 2009, or 55.6% of the proven total global oil reserves.
Imperialism’s double standards become clear with the US-inspired Saudi Arabian military intervention in Bahrain to prop up the Khalifa, opposed by the people seeking better standards of livelihood, human rights and democracy.
In Libya, imperialism seeks a regime change while in Bahrain, it seeks to sustain the autocratic Khalifa family that has lorded it over the country since 1783. Both interventions are ironically in the name of protecting the people. The reason for such dichotomy is not far to seek. Bahrain is home to the US navy’s Fifth Fleet and has been a steadfast ally. Libya, on the other hand, is not such a firm ally. Further, Libyan oil reserves and the ocean of fossil water reserves on which its deserts lie today have the potential of more lucrative profits than oil. A regime change here could well be to imperialism’s advantage, while in Bahrain it is not.
Behind these military interventions lie the basic geo-political interests of imperialism in the region. Its post-World War I history is replete with occupations aimed at controlling its energy resources. Post World War II, in an effort to reverse the gains of de-colonisation, the US intervened to topple the democratically-elected regime in Iran and foist a pliant one.
On the one hand, its propping up of Israel, military aggressiveness against Arab countries, denying Palestinians their homeland and on the other, the propping up of client regimes through massive military and ‘aid’ programmes, ensured imperialism’s hegemonic control over the region.
The situation dramatically changed over the past few months when popular protests across the region led to the downfall of pro-US regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt was imperialism’s lynchpin in the region. With popular protests rising in other countries like Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, imperialist hegemony was threatened. It is important to remember that all these countries received massive US military assistance. In fact, the weapons being used by Gaddafi’s forces today were provided by the US and other Nato allies in the first place.
The recent popular upsurges have been triggered by the global economic crisis that has increased the burden on the people through massive lay-offs and price rise. Libya, interestingly, occupies the first place in the human development index for Africa and has the highest life expectancy in the continent. It provides food security, essential social services, education and health for its people as well as employment to people from neighbouring countries. However, the protesting youth are an unmistakable picture of indignation. The demands for a better life, a better political and social ordering and the ability or inability of the ruling dispensation to meet these aspirations are matters that have to be settled within sovereign boundaries of independent countries.
The military intervention in Bahrain a week earlier, however, has come under the terms of the Joint Peninsular Shield established in 1990 under the umbrella of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six-nation regional organisation, where any member state can seek military assistance from another in the face of an external threat. The threat that the ruling autocracy in Bahrain faces is entirely internal. The GCC is estimated to have $1.34 trillion of surplus assets accumulated in the last few years alone as oil revenues. The escalation of popular protests in Bahrain could well snowball into other GCC states, spiralling a political destabilisation that jeopardises such huge reserves. Already protest marches in four different locations in Saudi Arabia have been repressed.
These popular upsurges have also negated imperialism’s stereotypical projection of any uprising in an Islamic country as the rise of fundamentalism and therefore terrorism. The joint statement by Bahraini opposition groups have put it succinctly, saying “this tripartite coalition adopts the choice of bringing down the existing regime in Bahrain and the establishment of a democratic republican system”. The people in Islamic countries, like people anywhere else in the world, aspire for better living standards, human rights and liberty. This aspiration gets exponentially magnified in countries that have suffered for centuries under oppressive, autocratic rule backed by imperialism.
If people are sovereign, then they must be allowed to decide on their future in their sovereign country. Imperialism must be forced to roll back this military intervention. The countries that abstained in the UN Security Council, including India, must now assert themselves and stop yet another military aggression in Libya.
PS: Whither Obama’s promising rhetoric at the Al Azhar in Cairo soon after he assumed the US Presidency?
Sitaram Yechury is CPI(M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP
The views expressed by the author are personal.
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Libya: West Wages War Rather Than Lose Global Dominance
http://en.huanqiu.com/opinion/editorial/2011-03/635887.html
Global Times
March 21, 2011
Libya is a risky gambit for Allies
-The West will not give up their jurisdiction over justice and injustice.
They truly believe that they are the world’s custodian and the embodiment of justice. The Jasmine Revolution actually deepens their sense of purpose, and the West cannot bear the prospect that their will might be negated by Gaddafi. This is their bottom line.
Since the moment the Allies’ warplanes fired on Libya, the nature of the Middle Eastern unrest changed. This is not a revolution purely launched by local people anymore – it has been shaped by Western military intervention aimed at certain purposes.
The raids launched by the US, the UK and France may change the overpowering odds that Gaddafi would remain in power, and save the temporary Libyan authority in Benghazi. Libya will probably see a long internal war. When the endgame comes depends on a complicated contention among different forces in and out of Libya. The West is an important force among them, but not necessarily a decisive one.
A tendency is burgeoning: The Jasmine Revolution will be coercively ripened in the region. Until the air strikes on Libya took place, revolutionary forces largely grew independently, and Western guidance was not an overt act.
However, the Allies’ air strikes served as a turning point. The West clearly declared its intent to see its will imposed.
History has shown how a Third World country’s political movement being ended by major powers will end up: It will fall either into national division or into a persisting civil war. It seems that Libya will be forced to pick one out of these two alternatives.
The Western coalition has made it clear that they will not put boots on the ground in Libya. However, an intense air assault inevitably causes civilian deaths. In an Arab country where anti-US sentiment already exists, it is doubtful if the operation will be sustainable.
It is not difficult for the Western coalition to remove Gaddafi from power. However, the West has been hesitating: What to do after they work jointly to crush Libyan government forces? The West isn’t sure about the consequences of their military intervention, but they would rather take this risk, otherwise Gaddafi forces would squeeze rebel-held Benghazi.
The West is clearly learning the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, and cannot afford another war against an Islamic country. Nevertheless, it cannot tolerate that its encouragement of the Jasmine revolution may lose to Gaddafi’s resistance either. They would rather risk a war against Libya to protect their dominance in this region.
The West will not give up their jurisdiction over justice and injustice.
They truly believe that they are the world’s custodian and the embodiment of justice. The Jasmine Revolution actually deepens their sense of purpose, and the West cannot bear the prospect that their will might be negated by Gaddafi. This is their bottom line. No matter how hesitant they are, they must risk the raids, because otherwise they are not the world’s guiding force anymore.
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Mediterranean: U.S. Warship Shifts From Missile Interception To Missile Strikes
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=59197
Navy NewsStand
March 20, 2011
USS Stout Conducts Strike Operations in Support of Operation Odyssey Dawn
From Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn Public Affairs
USS STOUT, At Sea: USS Stout (DDG 55) supported Joint Task Force Operation Odyssey Dawn by launching missile strikes against Libya March 19….
Stout’s primary mission in the Mediterranean Sea is ballistic missile defense, but Stout’s crew was retasked to conduct the initial strikes of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
….
“We’re built to do multiple missions,” said Sonar Technician (Surface) 3rd Class Jeramy Spivey. “Rapidly shifting from ballistic missile defense to strike operations is proof that Stout is ready for anything.”
Spivey was operating a camera March 19 capturing the image of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) launching from the ship’s bow.
…,
Many Stout Sailors were able to witness the initial TLAM launches, especially the ship’s bridge watchstanders.
“We witnessed history in the making tonight. It is nice to know that we contributed to the world’s effort to protect innocent civilians in Libya,” said Seaman Nathan Wade, whose role as helmsman kept the ship on a proper course during the operation.
….
“Stout is energized like never before and we are ready for the next mission,” said Stout Command Master Chief Anthony Cole.
“Arleigh Burke once said, ‘This ship was built to fight. You’d better know how,'” said Cmdr. Sly Steele, Stout’s commanding officer. “That is a concept we take very seriously in Stout.”
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Western Military Attack On Libya Worries The World
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/22/c_13790894.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
Commentary: Military action against Libya worries world
BEIJING: France, Britain, the United States and some other countries abruptly initiated airstrikes on Libya’s government forces on Saturday, complicating the situation in the country and in the neighboring region. The purpose, means and possible consequences of the military action are worrying the international community.
The military assault was taken after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution last Thursday to enforce a no-fly zone on Libya and to take measures to protect civilians in Libya.
Yet, the military action is being doubted, although leaders of some Western countries, like British Prime Minister David Cameron, emphasized “the legitimacy, necessity and correctness” of the military action.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Sunday criticized Western countries, saying the military attacks went beyond “the aim to impose a no-fly zone” in Libya.
Moussa said he wanted the protection of civilians there, instead of the bombardment of more civilians.
Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of Russia’s State Duma International Affairs Committee, said the military action violated the spirit of the UN resolution.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Sunday wanted President Barack Obama to explain the mission of U.S. participation in the military action in Libya.
Turmoil in Libya, which occurred one month ago in the North African country, has been drawing the concern of the world, due to the special role of the oil-rich country in the region and international geopolitics. Various speculations are rising on the purposes of the military action by Western countries.
The New York Times said on its website Friday that Libya had around 46 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest in Africa, and its domestic situation was pegged with the oil interests of many countries.
Meanwhile, Libya’s importance in world geopolitics and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s long-time discords with Western countries also forced leaders of some countries to remove him by force in the current circumstances, it said.
External military intervention is complicating the situation in Libya. The international community is widely concerned about whether the strikes on Libya’s government forces could help the situation there return to normal soon, or could prevent any escalation of armed conflict or avoid any further humanitarian crisis there.
The international community is also mulling ways to deal with the impacts of Libya’s situation on West Asia and North Africa, while assessing its challenges to world political and economic stability.
Russia Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Sunday called on the related countries to halt “the indiscriminate use of force,” saying that the West’s airstrikes exceeded the mandate of the UN Security Council resolution.
The Indian Foreign Ministry also said that any measures taken should be ensured to mitigate and not exacerbate an already difficult situation for the people of Libya.
UN Security Council Resolution 1973 adopted last Thursday also strongly urged parties concerned to step up efforts to seek peaceful solutions in Libya.
The international community should take a fair and responsible approach to meet the current challenges properly and cautiously based on the principle of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of Libya.
Any unfair action could only bring about unexpected consequences.
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Opposition Party Calls On Serbian Government To Condemn Libya Bombing
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=21&nav_id=73352
Beta News Agency
March 21, 2011
Opposition party: Condemn Libya attacks
BELGRADE: The opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) has called on the authorities to condemn the international military intervention in Libya.
Serbia “knows best that bombardment cannot be a solution to any problems”, said the party, in reference to NATO’S attacks against the country launched in 1999.
“Serbia knows better than anyone that destruction and suffering do not bring peace and freedom, and for that reason it should condemn the bombing of Libya and strongly advocate solution of all problems through talks and in a peaceful manner,” party spokesman Petar Petković said.
Petković also noted that the western powers started bombing another country “almost on the anniversary ” of the start of their attacks against Serbia.
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Libyan Capital Subjected To New Round Of Air Attacks
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/22/c_13790960.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
Tripoli under new round of airstrikes
TRIPOLI: Loud explosions and heavy anti-aircraft gunfire were heard in the Libyan capital city of Tripoli at around 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Monday as a new round of Western-led airstrikes started, a Xinhua reporter said.
Anti-aircraft artilleries were shooting into the sky from the north and east parts of the city, while anti-aircraft fire was also heard in the south part of the city, lasting for about ten minutes.
One military barracks 30 km west to Tripoli was bombed, a local source told Xinhua reporters Monday.
Another military compound near the broadcasting and TV station in the capital was also targeted in the military strikes, but casualties were not clear.
Libyan State TV said the new strikes hit an oil pipeline in Shaab, a port city east of Tripoli.
Similar explosions rocked the capital on Sunday, with coalition officials on Monday saying an administrative building of the residential compound of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was destroyed by a missile.
Footage from the Libyan state TV showed that a building near the tent where Gaddafi usually receives guests was severely damaged.
“It was a barbaric bombing” and could have hit hundreds of civilians who gathered near the destroyed building in support of the Libyan leader,” said government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, who declined to say whether Gaddafi was still inside the compound.
Libyan authorities said that at least 64 Libyans had been killed and 150 others wounded by the missiles and bombs rained upon Libya over the weekend.
….
Dubbing the attacks “a crusader war” against the Libyan people, Gaddafi said Sunday that the airstrikes were “terrorist means” and he vowed a “long war.”
Echoing Gaddafi’s warning, a top French official said that the international military action against Libya is likely to last “a while.”
….
Libyan people’s patriotic sentiment has run high after Western countries launched the joint military action. Pro-Gaddafi rallies and protests against the military intervention in Libya were seen as many people and students would take to the streets after work or school.
A Xinhua correspondent said the government has already opened arms depots to the people to protect the country and any Libyan citizen who registers at the government department can get guns and bullets now.
….
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Video/Text: Russia, China Call Closed-Door Security Council Talks On Libya
http://rt.com/news/libya-conflict-reaction-russia/
RT
March 21, 2011
Calls grow for allies to stop air strikes on Libya
-[T]he UN Security Council is set to hold closed-door consultations on the situation in Libya later on Monday, diplomats said.
The discussion was called by China – this month’s council president – in response to a letter from Libya and a Russian request.
-“India views with grave concern the continuing violence, strife and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya. It regrets the air strikes that are taking place,” a ministry statement said.
Moscow condemns the international coalition air strikes in Libya, and so does the Arab League and the African Union. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in North Africa to discuss the ongoing conflict.
At least 60 people have already been killed as a result of the coalition air strikes, and as the strikes continue, that number is expected to rise.
Vladimir Putin insisted nobody has the right to intervene in political conflicts in sovereign countries, calling the Security Council resolution a flawed document.
“The UN security council resolution is undoubtedly incomplete and flawed. If you look at what it says, it becomes apparent that it allows everyone to undertake any actions against a sovereign state,” Putin said.
”We’re concerned at the ease with which decisions are being made over the use of force in international affairs today. In US policy it’s becoming a dangerous tendency. During Bill Clinton’s time they bombed Yugoslavia and Belgrade, Bush deployed troops in Afghanistan, then under false pretenses more forces were deployed in Iraq, destroying the entire government of Iraq. Now Libya is next – they say they’re protecting civilians. But it’s civilians who are dying when they bomb Libya. Where’s the logic and the conscience? There’s neither,” added the Russian prime minister during his visit to Central Russia.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is set to hold closed-door consultations on the situation in Libya later on Monday, diplomats said.
The discussion was called by China – this month’s council president – in response to a letter from Libya and a Russian request.
Russia and many of its allies around the world find it unacceptable, saying that the UN Resolution 1973 spoke only of establishing a no-fly zone that was supposed to guarantee civilian security.
“It is unacceptable to use the mandate subsequent upon UN Resolution 1973, the adoption of which was quite an ambiguous move, to achieve the goals which clearly are beyond its scope as the resolution stipulates only measures to protect civilian population,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Sergey Lavrov is planning to visit Algeria while in North Africa. He is currently in Egypt, where he is expected to meet a number of officials to discuss the situation in Libya.
He will also meet with the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa.
The Arab League initially supported the establishment of the no-fly zone over Libya but have since changed their position, seeing the number of civilian casualties.
“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians,” Moussa said.
Many believe that the current intervention will not only destabilize Libya and aggravate the conflict even further, but this destabilization may even spread to the entire North African region.
The African Union’s panel on Libya has called for an “immediate stop” to all attacks on Libya and said that “political reforms to eliminate the causes of the present crisis” must be carried out there.
The panel consists of leaders of South Africa, Uganda, Mauritania, Congo and Mali who are expected to travel to Libya shortly to help end the violence.
India has come out and said that it strongly disapproves of the air strikes in Libya. The minister of external affairs said that they are hoping for a peaceful settlement with the help of the United Nations and other regional organizations. He said that he believes that air strikes would be counterproductive and harm innocent civilians, foreigners and diplomats.
“India views with grave concern the continuing violence, strife and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya. It regrets the air strikes that are taking place,” a ministry statement said.
India said it will do whatever it can to strongly discourage violence in Libya while respecting the wishes of the Libyan people.
Turkey, a very important Arab ally within the European Union and NATO community, is also getting increasingly concerned about what is happening.
EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss the events in Libya. As for NATO, it is day three of the alliance’s “two-day” meeting and ambassadors have so far failed to agree on whether to get involved.
Meanwhile, British Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s comment that Muammar Gaddafi is “a legitimate target” received a mixed reaction.
Protests against the coalition air strikes in Libya took place in some US cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
An anti-war demonstration has also been held in Brussels and more are expected, including in London.
Meanwhile John Laughland from the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris says the coalition forces are greatly mistaken – this escapade will end in catastrophic failure and will inflame the situation even more than it is. It will last far longer than they gambled for, as it shows, the interventions never end “ These people – the British prime minister, the French president, the American administration are so happy to let bombs fly on countries almost at the drop of a hat – they are so determined to get the outcome they want – which is to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi – it will make the discord in voices that are already coming within the Western states and in the Arab league – this will make it very difficult to continue the war. But I’m afraid, they won’t let go now that they’ve started,“ says Laughland.
Anti-war and social justice activist Sara Flounders argues that this is a colonial war for Libya’s oil reserves, the biggest on the African continent. The goal, she says, is total control of Libya’s oil, and is not meant to help the Libyan people – on the contrary, it will be devastating for the people in Libya, who are paying a horrendous price.
“The US bombardment is meant to destroy any struggle throughout the Arab world, it’s meant to set it back,” Flounders declared. “This is not meant to help the people of Libya, it’s meant to… enforce an entire new colonial regime on the region… to demoralize the population… and to secure the oil and natural gas that Libya has in great supply.”
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Russia, Arab League Warn Against Break-Up Of Libya, Other Arab States
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/21/47745637.html
Voice of Russia
March 21, 2011
Air campaign cannot be allowed to split Libya – Lavrov
Russia hopes the Western-led war on Libya will stay confined to its stated goals and not compromise the territorial integrity of any country.
Foreign Minister Lavrov was speaking about this in Cairo Monday after discussing regional issues with head of the Arab League Amr Moussa.
He also said coalition air raids on Tripoli cannot be allowed to hamper the evacuation of Russian or other foreign nationals from the Libyan capital.
——————————————————————–
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/21/47767313.html
Voice of Russia
March 21, 2011
Russia and Arab League say “no” to use of force in Libya
On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Arab League’s Secretary General Amr Mussa met in Cairo and discussed the situation Libya. They have agreed that the situation there should be resolved only by peaceful means. In an interview with the “Voice of Russia” Lavrov said that the results of the international conflict in Libya may have unpredictable consequences for the whole region.
Moscow finds that NATO’s military actions against Gaddafi’s regime go beyond the UN Security Council’s mandate, which envisages such measures only for the protection of the civilian population, the Russian Foreign Minister said. The Libyan people have an exclusive right to define the future of their country, he added.
“We hope the consequences of the situation in Libya won’t seriously damage the situation in the region and won’t lead to the break-up of any states. We hope that the Arab League will help Libyans to carry out reforms with the minimum possible bloodshed.”
This idea was upheld by the Arab League’s Secretary General Amr Mussa. He said that the League had urged the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya in order to protect its peaceful population. Now the League hopes to settle conflicts in Yemen and Bahrain exclusively by holding a political dialogue.
While the diplomats were discussing the ways out of the international crisis there were protest demonstrations in front of the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo. The Egyptian people held anti-American slogans demanding to put an end to the external intervention in Libya.
The protesters even tried to attack the motorcade of the UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who had met Amr Mussa just before the Russian Foreign Minister. The protesters only cried out several slogans and after that the policemen pushed them back.
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Pentagon: 124 Missile Strikes Against Libya, Bombing Of Airfields
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63234
U.S. Department of Defense
March 20, 2011
Strikes Degrade Libya’s Defenses, But Threats Remain
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON: While the attacks on Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system have been successful, thousands of anti-aircraft artillery emplacements and portable missile launchers still pose threats to coalition air crews, the director of the Joint Staff said today.
On the second day of Operation Odyssey Dawn, Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney said the coalition cruise missile strikes against selected air defense systems and facilities were successful, and that coalition ships and submarines launched 124 Tomahawk missiles against these targets.
“We judge these strikes to have been very effective in degrading the regime’s air defense capability, to include their ability to launch many of their SA-5s – their long range missiles – their SA-3s and SA-2s,” Gortney said during a Pentagon news conference.
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Air Force B-2 bombers also attacked Libyan airfields, flattening the hardened shelters Libyan fighter-bombers use, Gortney said. Coalition tactical fighters also hit Gadhafi’s ground forces on the outskirts of Benghazi, where 15 U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, French and British aircraft participated in the action about 10 miles south of the opposition stronghold. “We judge these also to have been highly successful at halting the regime ground movement in this region,” Gortney said.
Libya’s fixed surface-to-air missile threat and early warning radars are gone. The threat that remains comes from mobile surface-to-air missiles — SA-6 and SA-8 systems – as well as thousands of shoulder-fired SA-7 missile launchers, the admiral told reporters.
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The coalition has grown and will continue to increase, Gortney said, noting that it includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Italy, Qatar, Belgium, Norway and Denmark. More nations will directly participate in the coalition, he said, and other nations will provide overflight rights, basing and logistics. Gortney said those nations will make their announcements at their own times.
The United States leads the coalition effort now, but that will change, the admiral said.
“Our intent is to be a part of the coalition throughout, and transfer the command to a coalition command,” he said. The United States would shift to more of a support function that would include aerial tankers; electronic warfare aircraft; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft; and logistics.
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Repeat Of 1999: Canadian Warplanes Ready For Action Over Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/21/c_13790552.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 21, 2011
Canada’s warplanes in Italy ready to enforce Libya no-fly zone
OTTAWA: Six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets, which left Canada on Friday, have been based in Italy and are ready to help enforce the UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya within two days, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said on Sunday.
The announcement came a day after the offensive began overnight Saturday with strikes on Libyan military targets by French warplanes and by missiles from the U.S. and British warships.
By Sunday, the coalition said the no-fly zone was in place.
Mackay said the jets will be taking part in sorties “within 48 hours” to join the United States, France and Britain in maintaining the no-fly zone.
….
“We want to disable their air force…,” he said.
U.S. officials said earlier that Spain, Belgium, Denmark and Qatar will also contribute to the military operation.
The CF-18s from base in Bagotville, Quebec, along with 150 personnel, arrived at a small airbase in Trapani, Sicily, around noon local time Saturday.
The military sources said the Canadian pilots will start flying missions once the military has approved systems for rules of engagement, command and control, as well as identifying friendly or hostile forces.
….
Canada’s fighter jets last took part in such a mission in 1999 when they joined the NATO bombardment of the former Yugoslavia….
Canada has so far deployed its frigate HMCS Charlottetown with 240 crew equipped with a Sea King helicopter, in the waters off Libya.
It also has one C-17 Globemaster strategic transportation aircraft and two C-130J Hercules tactical transportation aircraft as well as a military reconnaissance team of 13 soldiers in Malta.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday that Canada will send warplanes to help enforce the UN resolution authorizing a “no fly zone” over Libya, despite Tripoli’s ceasefire declaration.
….
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French Foreign Minister: NATO To Enter Libyan Fray In “Few Days”
http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/18009
Agence France-Presse
March 21, 2011
France says NATO is prepared to back up Libya action in a few days
BRUSSELS: NATO is ready to back up the international coalition intervening in Libya within “a few days,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Monday. ”The coordination of the intervention is being conducted by the United States in tight collaboration with France and Britain,” Juppe told reporters on the sidelines of an European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. While NATO allies debated at a separate meeting what role the alliance may take in the conflict, Juppe said “NATO is willing to come in support (of the operation) within a few days.”
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France, whose fighter jets launched the first salvos in the campaign against Kadhafi on Saturday, has resisted handing the baton to NATO, fearing a backlash from the Arab world if the alliance intervenes.
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Italian Foreign Minister: NATO Must Take Over Libyan War Command
ADN Kronos International
March 21, 2011
Libya: Italy says Nato should take over Odyssey Dawn
Italy is allowing seven of its military bases to be used for operations against Muammar Gaddafi. The burden of carrying out missions in Operation Odyssey Dawn has so far been shouldered by the US, the UK, Italy and France.
“We believe it’s time to move from a coalition of the willing towards a bit more coordinated approach under Nato, because Nato has the capacity, the experience to lead a well-coordinated action,” Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said in Brussels on Monday prior to talks with his European Union counterparts.
Frattini’s comments echo those of British Defence Minister Liam Fox who has called for Nato control of the operation.
Nato members Turkey and Germany oppose the alliance’s involvement in the operation.
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Greece: Thousands Protest Libyan War, Burn EU Flag
Associated Press
March 21, 2011
Greek Communists protest airstrikes against Libya, burn EU flag in Athens march
ATHENS, Greece: Several hundred students linked to the Communist party are rallying outside Greece’s parliament to protest government support for airstrikes against Libya by NATO allies.
Protesters burned a European Union flag before Monday’s peaceful march.
Greece…has sent a navy frigate to the region and has offered the use of its air bases to the countries involved. The United States has also used a navy base on the Greek island of Crete to build up Libya-bound forces.
Communist-backed groups have staged protests in Athens and Crete, include a rally Sunday by 5,000 demonstrators in the capital.
Stop NATO News March 21, 2011
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U.S. Special Forces Given Free Rein To Operate In Central Asia
Afghan War: Bulgarian Base Hit In Rocket Attack
As With Afghanistan: NATO Wants Finnish, Swedish Role In Libyan War
Baltic Sea: NATO Integrates Sweden Into Air Patrols
U.S. Integrates Lithuanian Air Force Personnel At German Base
Texas: Euro-NATO “Gold Standard” Jet Pilot Training
NATO Naval Group Leaves Bahrain, Drills With U.S., British Ships
Britain: Elite NATO Corps Gets New Commander
NATO Parliamentary Assembly Head Arrives In Georgia
Georgia’s NATO Membership On Agenda: Caucasus Representative
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U.S. Special Forces Given Free Rein To Operate In Central Asia
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/21/47731460.html
Voice of Russia
March 21, 2011
US presence permitted in Central Asia
Ilya Kharlamov
-The US military is currently developing a program to secretly manipulate social networks to enable the creation of hundreds of online personalities with the “right” opinions.
American Special Forces have been entitled to invade Central Asian countries in the course of counter-terrorist operations. Thus, they will be allowed to chase and eradicate terrorists in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A statement to that effect came from a US Central Command source. Russian experts believe that such operations should be carried out with utmost caution in order not to further aggravate the already unstable region.
The US Department of Defense noted that the country’s Special Forces regularly cross other countries’ borders in pursuit of armed groups attempting to hide there after fleeing Afghanistan.
From now on, such operations will be carried out jointly with national security, defense and law enforcement agencies of Central Asian countries and will be strictly individual.
At the same time, no provision has been made for the continuous presence of an American task force in those countries. As a perfect example of this measure’s effectiveness, the US authorities mention their assistance to Tajikistan in repelling an invasion attempt of Afghan Islamic militants in 2010. Similar operations are regularly held against extremists in Pakistan as well. It is nevertheless impossible to call these attacks absolutely untainted – military clashes kill many civilians, evoking understandable indignation among locals.
The possibility of using American Special Forces in post-Soviet space cannot but cause a lot of concern in Russia, director of the Center for Socio-Political Studies Vladimir Yevseyev said.
“The region is very unstable and the recent events in Kyrgyzstan showed that this country can split into several parts under certain conditions.
“An extremely complicated situation can also be observed in Tajikistan due to the influence of the Taliban and intra-Tajik opposition.
“In Uzbekistan, the situation is under the control of the Islam Karimov regime, but no one will be able to guarantee stability if he steps down.
“Another troublesome country of the region is Turkmenistan which shares a border with the unstable Afghanistan. Under the circumstances, using a US task force may trigger destabilization in this strategically important region…,” Vladimir Yevseyev emphasized.
Evidently, scope to carry out targeted operations predicated on the violation of sovereign borders should be considered in the context of America’s overall strategy for the Central Asian region.
The State Department recently stated that Central Asia remains a key region for achieving US goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan as the main NATO supply route.
However, even more frequently, Americans make evaluations of the domestic policy processes in Central Asian countries, attempting to exercise influence in the region both in real life and via the Internet.
For instance, they are displeased with the political situation and media restrictions in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The US military is currently developing a program to secretly manipulate social networks to enable the creation of hundreds of online personalities with the “right” opinions.
And, by the way, it is no secret that the Internet accelerated mass protests in the Middle East. The main thing is to stand by the truth, the United States claims, even though their take on it often sharply contrasts with the generally accepted norms, including those of international law.
And finally, authoritative American experts studying relations with Central Asia released a number of reports pointing to attempts to build a new strategy in the region. They particularly mention the need to maintain a presence there after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
Naturally, the key objectives of this are preserving the independence of Central Asian countries and developing democracy there under Washington’s unrelenting supervision.
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Afghan War: Bulgarian Base Hit In Rocket Attack
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/03/21/1062829_bulgarian-base-in-afghanistan-attacked-with-rockets
Sofia Echo
March 21, 2011
Bulgarian base in Afghanistan attacked with rockets
Bulgarian soldiers at the Isaf/Nato air base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, have been attacked with missiles, the Bulgarian Defence Ministry said on March 21 2011.
The airport is a frequent site of attacks by Taliban insurgents. The latest incident occurred over the weekend at 8.03pm Afghan time.
There are about 300 Bulgarian soldiers in the base, as well as troops from a number of other countries. According to the Defence Ministry, there were no casualties.
Last year, there were several missile attacks affecting Bulgarian troops.
Rockets fired by Taliban insurgents hit the Nato base near Kandahar on July 12 2010 at 10.26am Afghan time, without injuries.
A similar attack in January 2010 left four Bulgarian military personnel wounded. The incident happened just 300m from the accommodation of visiting Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolai Mladenov.
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As With Afghanistan: NATO Wants Finnish, Swedish Role In Libyan War
Helsingin Sanomat
March 21, 2011
NATO confirms interest in Finnish view on Libya operation
NATO has confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat that it is interested in the possibilities of Partnership for Peace countries like Finland to take part in the alliance’s actions in Libya in enforcing the arms export ban and the no-fly zone imposed on the country.
Earlier on Monday Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) said that Finland had not yet received any requests for such participation.
On Monday, Stubb is in Brussels, attending a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
Two Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, have said that as members of the Partnership for Peace programme, Sweden and Finland can expect NATO to make inquiries on their possible willingness to participate in action in Libya.
“I am not aware of individual phone calls, but it is normal at least to have a dialogue on the matter”, said a NATO representative who wanted to remain anonymous….
Both Finland and Sweden are part of the NATO-led Partnership for Peace programme, and are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EPAC).
The Nordic partners have well-developed air forces, the NATO representative pointed out. NATO’s Nordic Partnership for Peace partners are Finland and Sweden. The other Nordic countries are NATO members.
A decision on a NATO sea operation to monitor the arms export ban to Libya came about on Sunday evening, but one on the role in monitoring the no fly zone is expected on Monday at the earliest. Before that, requests for participation by partnership countries are not even possible, because NATO makes its decisions among its 28 members behind closed doors.
If such a decision emerges, NATO will take responsibility for the monitoring of the no-fly zone….There have…been efforts to keep the NATO profile low in the matter as a way of emphasising the broad-based character of the operation.
Several new countries are nevertheless joining efforts to monitor the no-fly zone and for the protection of Libyan civilians, as required by last week’s resolution. The expansion of the operation would make the implementation of the NATO command system a virtual necessity.
“Only we can deal with an air operation of 28 countries, for instance”, the NATO representative said, adding that the easiest way of implementing this would be to take air forces from partners that have taken part previously in exercises together with NATO. Both Finland and Sweden fit the bill in this respect.
Politicians in Sweden are considerably more interested in taking part in an air operation in Libya than those in Finland. Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden’s conservative Moderate Party has been more reticent, but both the smaller government parties, as well as the opposition Social Democrats and the Left Party have both called for action on the part of Sweden to support the UN’s Libya resolutions.
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Baltic Sea: NATO Integrates Sweden Into Air Patrols
http://www.airn.nato.int/press/2011/news0511.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Headquarters Allied Air Command Ramstein
march 14, 2011
NATO and Swedish jets cooperate to enhance safety above the Baltic Sea
Baltic Region Training Event VIII
-Sweden, as a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme, is participating in this routine NATO training event for the first time.
Ramstein: For the first time, Swedish JAS-39 Gripen fighters cooperate with NATO aircraft to enhance the safety of the airspace above the Baltic Sea.
NATO and Swedish control agencies establish procedures to assist unidentified and/or aircraft with communication problems. During the eighth Baltic Region Training Event (BRTE VIII) on 22 March 2011 German F-4F Phantom fighters practice hand-over procedures with their Swedish counterparts. The German fighters are currently stationed at Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania, ensuring NATO’s Air Policing Mission. The scenario involves a Lithuanian C-27 Spartan transport aircraft, which simulates a loss of communications (COMLOSS) above the Baltic Sea.
BRTE VIII, organized by Headquarters Allied Air Command Ramstein (HQ AC Ramstein), is aimed at exercising Air Policing skills and establishing cooperation and standardization. Sweden, as a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme, is participating in this routine NATO training event for the first time.
On the second day, German Phantoms intercept a Polish C-295 Casa transport aircraft. Additionally, some participating aircraft land at Tallinn International Airport, Estonia, to conduct aircraft servicing and refueling on the ground.
Scheduled since late in 2008, BRTEs provide Air Command and Control training for Alliance air assets and reaffirm NATO’s solidarity with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and have demonstrated how NATO ensures the security of Alliance airspace. This time the scope of the training event is to further enhance interoperability and strengthen cooperation with regional PfP members. BRTEs are conducted in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) Uedem, Germany, and the Baltic Combined Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) at Karmelava, Lithuania, handle the air control and reporting for the event. These centres establish contact and procedures with the Swedish Air Operations Centre (AOC) and CRCs. The scenario allows participants to train Air Policing procedures within the NATO Integrated Air Defence System (NATINADS). It also allows to further improve procedures with a key PfP member, Sweden.
“Although rather a routine event, this BRTE is the first time, NATO and PfP member Sweden establish contact procedures, practise hand-over arrangements with the aim to deepen regional cooperation,” says Colonel Blokdal-Pedersen, Royal Danish Air Force, who supervises the planning at HQ AC Ramstein, “BRTEs offer NATO a great opportunity to use regionally-based air assets for realistic training and to sharpen standardization procedures with Sweden. A COMLOSS situation can happen anytime and to handle that well enhances safety in the skies.”
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U.S. Integrates Lithuanian Air Force Personnel At German Base
http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123247723
U.S. Air Forces in Europe
March 21, 2011
Lithuanian Armed Forces members observe Ramstein Silver Flag course
by Tech. Sgt. Markus M. Maier
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: Eight members of the Lithuanian Armed Forces traveled to Ramstein to observe a silver flag training course here March 9-16.
Silver flag is a seven-day training exercise where Airmen practice their contingency skill sets; to include setting up and maintaining a bare base, conducting post attack repairs, and running deployed operations.
“For us this is important for future planning and to learn about special training we could maybe conduct in Lithuania or in a partnership with the U.S.,” said Lithuanian Maj. Andrius Jacina, Lithuanian Armed Forced Logistics Command training chief.
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The 132 Airmen from seven bases spent the first five days receiving specialized training and the last two in putting everything they learned to the test during a field exercise.
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Texas: Euro-NATO “Gold Standard” Jet Pilot Training
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2011/mar/21/jet-pilot-trainers-chart-course/
Times Record News
March 21, 2011
Jet pilot trainers chart course
Euro-NATO group gazes back, forward
By Stacy Johnson
-“(NATO countries) have worked to develop something called ‘rationalization, standardization and interoperability.’ All that means is that we ought to … do things the same ways … because potential wartime situations in Europe is such that air forces will interoperate.”
-“NATO is being asked to do more and more combat operations every day and we need to take advantage of every training opportunity that is out there.”
The Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program is celebrating 30 years of pilot training this year at Sheppard Air Force Base.
The 80th Flying Training Wing commander, Col. Kevin Schneider, said the program is the “gold standard” for multinational pilot training programs around the world.
Schneider said about 40 representatives from the 13 ENJJPT member nations will gather at Sheppard Air Force Base today through Friday to discuss the future of the program at the semiannual ENJJPT Steering Committee meeting.
According to Times Record News archives, the multinational program began Oct. 23, 1981. The first class of 31 pilots, including 13 Germans, 14 Americans and four Norwegians, graduated in October 1982.
At the time, Gen. Thomas M. Ryan Jr., commander of the Air Force’s Air Training Command, said the program promoted interoperability between the member nations.
“(NATO countries) have worked to develop something called ‘rationalization, standardization and interoperability.’ All that means is that we ought to … do things the same ways … because potential wartime situations in Europe is such that air forces will interoperate,” Ryan was quoted in an article published in the Wichita Falls Record News on Oct. 10, 1981.
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The ENJJPT program trains undergraduate pilots for 55 weeks. The pilots fly in the T-6 Texan II and the T-38C Talon and spend additional training time in state-of-the-art simulators for both.
As many as 250 pilots graduate from the program each year.
Pilots from other nations such as Germany and the Netherlands were training at Sheppard long before ENJJPT started in 1981, providing a blueprint for the ENJJPT program.
Schneider said that when the steering committee meets this week, members will discuss three options:
Extending the memo of understanding among the member nations beyond its scheduled end in 2016.
Opening the program to other nations; NATO has more than doubled since the original memo was signed in 1978.
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“I’m speaking as a man who does not have a vote (on the steering committee), just as the wing commander. Perhaps we as a program need to look to open the doors … NATO is being asked to do more and more combat operations every day and we need to take advantage of every training opportunity that is out there,” Schneider said.
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NATO Naval Group Leaves Bahrain, Drills With U.S., British Ships
NATO Maritime Command Naples
March 21, 2011
Deployed NATO Mine Counter-measures Group exercises with French, UK, US
David Taylor
NAPLES, Italy: The Standing NATO Maritime Mine Counter-measures Group 2 has left the Port of Manama, Bahrain and is currently exercising with the United Kingdom and United States ships of Combined Task Force 52 and French ships FS Croix du Sud and FS Var.
CTF 52 is a mine counter-measures force of the Coalition Forces Maritime Component Command overseen by the United States Navy 5th Fleet. It operates regularly to ensure free and unfettered use of the sea lanes in the central Persian Gulf, one of the world’s critical stretches of sea for international commerce.
“This is the start of what is going to be a very busy and very profitable exercise for my group. These are ships that operate in these waters on a regular basis and we have a lot to learn from them, “said Capt. Georgios Pelekanakis, commander of SNMCMG2. “But we will also demonstrate just what a great team I have in SNMCMG2”.
SNMCMG2 entered the Persian Gulf on March 7 to carry out a month long deployment in the area on Operation INAS BAHR (Friendly Seas). The deployment is aimed at promoting practical military cooperation with Istanbul Cooperation Initiative countries while fostering close links with regional navies and other maritime organizations….It also aims to promote opportunities to achieve interoperability through active participation in selected military exercises.
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SNMCMG2 currently comprises:
• HS Spetsai Frigate Greece (Flagship)
• FGS Herten Mine hunter Germany
• HS Kallisto Mine hunter Greece
• ITS Viareggio Mine hunter Italy
• ESPS Tajo Mine hunter Spain
For further information contact mcnaplespao@manp.nato.int
Information about the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative is available at web page http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_58787.htm
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_21017.htm
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Britain: Elite NATO Corps Gets New Commander
Thisisgloucestershire
March 20, 2011
New commander for Nato corps
Soldiers from an elite Nato corps that arrived in Gloucestershire last summer have a new commander.
Lieutenant General James Bucknall has taken command of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).
He replaces General Sir Richard Shirreff who has become Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
General Bucknall has been serving as the Deputy Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since September 2010 and could remain in this post until January 2012.
….
Lieutenant General James Bucknall, a dad-of-two, was born in 1958 and educated at Winchester.
He enlisted in the army in 1977 and was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1978. His early service was with the 2nd Battalion and included postings in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany and Cyprus.
After Staff College in 1990 and Company Command, he served on the operations staff in Headquarters Northern Ireland.
He commanded 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards in the armoured infantry role in Germany before being appointed Chief of Staff, 1st (UK) Armoured Division in 1998.
More recently, in 2004 he was appointed Director Counter-Terrorism and UK Operations in the Ministry of Defence before deploying in 2006 to Baghdad.
On completion, he was appointed Chief of Staff, Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. He served as Assistant Chief of the General Staff from 2009-2010.
====
NATO Parliamentary Assembly Head Arrives In Georgia
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1849106.html
Trend News Agency
March 21, 2011
NATO Parliamentary Assembly head visits Georgia
N. Kirtzkhalia
Tbilisi: NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Karl Lamers arrived today in Georgia on a two-day visit. At the airport, Lamers told journalists that this is not his first visit to Georgia.
“We arrived in the assessment mission and will familiarize ourselves with the situation in Georgia, both in the economic and political spheres,” he said. “I will meet with the president, prime minister and parliamentary speaker and discuss a wide range of the NATO-Georgia relations.”
Lamers stressed that a NATO delegation is ready to discuss “any matter” proposed by Georgia.
The NATO delegation will hold its first meeting with Security Council Secretary Georgi Bokeria.
The delegation will meet with Parliamentary Speaker David Bakradze, Prime Minister Nika Gilauri and State Minister for European Integration Giorgi Baramidze. The meeting also scheduled with President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The delegation will take part in the 76th Rose-Roth seminar.
====
Georgia’s NATO Membership On Agenda: Caucasus Representative
http://news.am/eng/news/51950.html
News.AM
March 19, 2011
Georgia’s membership to NATO on the agenda, Appathurai says
Next year is very important for Georgia in terms of European integration, NATO Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai stated.
According to him, the decision made at the NATO summit in 2008, according to which Georgia should join NATO, is on the agenda. “The democratic changes in Georgia towards the European integration should be underway. The processes in Georgia will be controlled by NATO member-states and the Alliance would help implement these changes within the framework of NATO-Georgia cooperation,” he said.
….
Updates on Libyan war
====
Six Danish Warplanes Take Off From Italian Base
NATO’s Libyan Attacks Beyond UN Resolution Mandate: Russia
As With Afghanistan: NATO Wants Finnish, Swedish Role In Libyan War
Russia’s Putin: Libya’s Turn For Western Medieval Crusade Offensive
Cuba: War On Libya Gross Violation Of International Law
International Law Forbids “Humanitarian Bombings”: Russian MP
German Foreign Minister Warns Of Protracted War In Libya
Canadian Warplanes, Warship To Join Libyan Battle In 48 Hours
Czech Foreign Minister Calls For NATO Takeover Of Libyan War
Pentagon Chief: Hand Over Libya Military Operation To NATO
Britain Wants To Shift Libyan Operation To NATO
U.S. Admiral/NATO Commander In Charge Of Libyan Operations
French Aircraft Carrier Headed Toward Libya
As With Yugoslavia, Real World Community Blasts Attack On Libya
Cruise Missile Hits Administrative Building With 300 People In It
War Clouds Hover Over Tripoli
Britain Deploys Warplanes To Italy, Surveillance Aircraft To Cyprus
Obama Tarnishes Nobel Peace Prize With Military Attacks On Libya
Libya: Largest Military Undertaking Since Invasion Of Iraq
Russia: Pro-Government Youth Groups Protest War Against Libya
====
Six Danish Warplanes Take Off From Italian Base
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/21/c_13789119.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 21, 2011
Six Danish F16 fighters took off from Italian base
ROME: Six Danish F16 fighters on Sunday took off from an air force base in Sigonella of Sicily, Italy, according to local news agency Ansa.
However, the report said that the destination of the F16 fighters, which arrived in Italy Saturday, was unknown.
On Friday, Italy decided to offer the use of seven military bases for the UN-led “no-fly zone” operation over Libya. The bases are primarily situated in Sicily.
====
NATO’s Libyan Attacks Beyond UN Resolution Mandate: Russia
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/21/47737999.html
Voice of Russia
March 21, 2011
NATO’s Libya action beyond UN resolution – Russia
Russia’s NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin considers the NATO operation against Muammar Gaddafi to have exceeded the boundaries of the UN Security Council resolution.
In an interview with the Interfax news agency, Rogozin said that air strikes on non-aviation-related targets, such as ABM systems and airfields, are beyond the scope of the adopted document.
….
——————————————————————–
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/21/47742638.html
Voice of Russia
March 21, 2011
Putin slams UN resolution on Libya
Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has harshly criticized the UN Security Council’s resolution against Libya.
Speaking at a meeting with the workers of a missile production plant in the town of Votkinsk, north-east of Moscow, Putin said that the document on Libya is “flawed” and “is reminiscent of call for Crusades”.
Putin admitted that the Libyan regime also fails to meet the criteria of democracy. “This country’s regime is quite complicated and it is based on relations between tribes. But this does not mean that anyone has the right to interfere in their domestic conflict, protecting one of the sides”, Putin said.
He added that the ease with which the US makes decisions on the use of force is becoming a steady trend. The intervention is being put forwards under the guise of protecting the civilian population but the bombardment of the country leads to the deaths of peaceful citizens, the Prime Minister stressed.
He stressed that Russia was among the countries that abstained from the vote on the resolution on Libya.
====
As With Afghanistan: NATO Wants Finnish, Swedish Role In Libyan War
Helsingin Sanomat
March 21, 2011
NATO confirms interest in Finnish view on Libya operation
NATO has confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat that it is interested in the possibilities of Partnership for Peace countries like Finland to take part in the alliance’s actions in Libya in enforcing the arms export ban and the no-fly zone imposed on the country.
Earlier on Monday Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) said that Finland had not yet received any requests for such participation.
On Monday, Stubb is in Brussels, attending a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
Two Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, have said that as members of the Partnership for Peace programme, Sweden and Finland can expect NATO to make inquiries on their possible willingness to participate in action in Libya.
“I am not aware of individual phone calls, but it is normal at least to have a dialogue on the matter”, said a NATO representative who wanted to remain anonymous….
Both Finland and Sweden are part of the NATO-led Partnership for Peace programme, and are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EPAC).
The Nordic partners have well-developed air forces, the NATO representative pointed out. NATO’s Nordic Partnership for Peace partners are Finland and Sweden. The other Nordic countries are NATO members.
A decision on a NATO sea operation to monitor the arms export ban to Libya came about on Sunday evening, but one on the role in monitoring the no fly zone is expected on Monday at the earliest. Before that, requests for participation by partnership countries are not even possible, because NATO makes its decisions among its 28 members behind closed doors.
If such a decision emerges, NATO will take responsibility for the monitoring of the no-fly zone….There have…been efforts to keep the NATO profile low in the matter as a way of emphasising the broad-based character of the operation.
Several new countries are nevertheless joining efforts to monitor the no-fly zone and for the protection of Libyan civilians, as required by last week’s resolution. The expansion of the operation would make the implementation of the NATO command system a virtual necessity.
“Only we can deal with an air operation of 28 countries, for instance”, the NATO representative said, adding that the easiest way of implementing this would be to take air forces from partners that have taken part previously in exercises together with NATO. Both Finland and Sweden fit the bill in this respect.
Politicians in Sweden are considerably more interested in taking part in an air operation in Libya than those in Finland. Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden’s conservative Moderate Party has been more reticent, but both the smaller government parties, as well as the opposition Social Democrats and the Left Party have both called for action on the part of Sweden to support the UN’s Libya resolutions.
====
Russia’s Putin: Libya’s Turn For Western Medieval Crusade Offensive
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16070397&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 21, 2011
Latest UN resolution on Libya looks like call for crusade – Putin
VOTKINSK: The latest UN Security Council’s resolution on Libya is reminiscent of medieval calls for crusades, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
“The UN Security Council resolution is certainly faulty and deficient,” he said. “It allows for an invasion of a sovereign country. It looks like a medieval call for a crusade.”
——————————————————————–
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110321/163126957.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 21, 2011
Putin likens UN Libya resolution to crusade call
-“This U.S. policy is becoming a stable trend,” Putin said, recalling the U.S. air strikes on Belgrade under Bill Clinton and Afghanistan and Iraq under the two Bush administrations.
“Now it’s Libya’s turn – under the pretext of protecting civilians. Where is the logic and conscience? There is neither.”
-“The ongoing events in Libya confirm that Russia is right to strengthen her defense capabilities.”
VOTKINSK (Udmurtia): Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday likened the UN Security Council resolution on Libya to a Medieval crusade call.
Russia abstained from a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Thursday imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and measures to protect civilians from leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
“The Security Council resolution is deficient and flawed; it allows everything and is reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade,” Putin told workers at a ballistic missile factory in the Urals region. “It effectively allows intervention in a sovereign state.”
Ten of the Security Council’s 15 members voted in favor of the resolution, with Russia, China, Germany, India and Brazil abstaining. The resolution was co-sponsored by France, Britain, Lebanon and the United States.
“This U.S. policy is becoming a stable trend,” Putin said, recalling the U.S. air strikes on Belgrade under Bill Clinton and Afghanistan and Iraq under the two Bush administrations.
“Now it’s Libya’s turn – under the pretext of protecting civilians,” the premier said. “Where is the logic and conscience? There is neither.”
“The ongoing events in Libya confirm that Russia is right to strengthen her defense capabilities,” he added.
Western-led military strikes against Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who has been ruthlessly fighting rebels in the North African country since mid-February, began on Saturday.
Libyan television has reported that at least 50 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in the strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed.
====
Cuba: War On Libya Gross Violation Of International Law
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/21/c_13790052.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 21, 2011
Cuba condemns foreign military intervention in Libya
-The official statement added that [Western] powers “are specifically responsible for the deaths of over a million civilians in Iraq and more than 70,000 in Afghanistan, which are called collateral damage.”
HAVANA: The Cuban government issued a statement here Sunday night expressing its “strong condemnation” of the foreign military intervention in Libya’s internal conflict.
The statement also pushed for dialogue and negotiation, and supported the “inalienable right of the Libyan people to exercise self-determination without external interference.”
The Cuban Foreign Ministry accused the Western powers of “creating the conditions conducive to this military aggression.”
The Cuban authorities said the intervention “constitutes a gross manipulation” of the United Nations (UN) Charter and of the authority of the UN Security Council, and shows the “double standards which characterize its behavior.”
“UN Resolution 1973 adopted last Thursday by the Security Council does not authorize in any way these attacks on Libyan territory, which constitutes a violation of the international law,” the statement said.
“Cuba supports the inalienable right of the Libyan people to exercise its self-determination without foreign interference, condemns the killing of civilians in Libya and in any other places, and supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty over the resources of this nation,” the statement said.
Moreover, the Cuban government said the Western powers carrying out the military attacks against Libyan territory “are causing death, injury and suffering to innocent civilians.”
The official statement added that those powers “are specifically responsible for the deaths of over a million civilians in Iraq and more than 70,000 in Afghanistan, which are called collateral damage.”
…
According to [Arab media] reports, coalition bombs and rockets destroyed roads, bridges and a heart clinic, leaving 65 civilians dead and over 150 injured.
====
International Law Forbids “Humanitarian Bombings”: Russian MP
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=3&id=230166
Interfax-Military
March 21, 2011
‘Humanitarian intervention’ in Libya exacerbates regional situation – Zavarzin
MOSCOW: The coalition military operation against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, which started on Saturday, resembles the NATO operation against the former Yugoslavia in 1999, and ‘the humanitarian intervention’ exacerbates the regional situation, Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Viktor Zavarzin told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
“NATO strategists are trying to resolve an extremely complicated military-political situation of the region at one stroke. This looks to me as the alliance’s operation against the former Yugoslavia in March 1999. The same as before, the coalition is trying to implement the ‘humanitarian intervention’ concept,” he said.
The coalition “forgets that international laws do not accept the so-called humanitarian bombings. We have seen that before. Vast economic damage was done to the country. The escalation of force exacerbates the regional situation,” he said.
“Political or military expediency must not prevail over international laws,” Zavarzin stressed.
“Russia opposes the military operation in Libya, because it directly harms the civilian population. Alas, the use of foreign military force kills civilians and affects civilian sites,” he said.
Gaddafi disagrees with international norms and must be opposed, but civilian casualties are impermissible, he said.
====
German Foreign Minister Warns Of Protracted War In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13789079.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Berlin warns of lengthy war in Libya
BERLIN: Germany on Sunday warned that the West may find itself dragged into a protracted warfare in Libya as the U.S., British and French forces launched military strikes on the country.
“We have to see the risk of a lengthy mission,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters. “We hope that our fears will not be borne out. We expressly hope that we won’t be right,” said the minister.
Westerwelle said one should be prepared for scenarios that are not so favorable.
Germany abstained in a UN Security Council vote on Thursday on setting up a no-fly zone in Libya. Permanent UNSC members Russia and China, as well as non-permanent ones Germany, India and Brazil abstained from the vote.
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Canadian Warplanes, Warship To Join Libyan Battle In 48 Hours
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110320/no-fly-zone-canada-jets-110320/
CTV News
March 20, 2011
Canadian pilots to enforce no-fly zone within days
Canadian fighter pilots will be engaged in the Libyan battle and enforcing a no-fly zone above the country “within 48 hours,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Sunday.
MacKay says six Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are currently stationed in Italy, the primary staging point for coalition forces participating in the offensive against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
….
“They will be taking part in sorties to ensure that there is restricted airspace over Libya,” MacKay told CTV’s Question Period.
….
Canada will join the United States, France and Britain in maintaining the no-fly zone….
The offensive began on Saturday with precision strikes by French fighter jets and attacks on military targets with missiles from U.S. and British war ships. By Sunday, the coalition had declared the no-fly zone in place.
When asked whether Canadian pilots could be ordered to attack ground troops that are preparing to attack civilians, MacKay said the UN’s resolution allows for “all measures necessary” to keep civilians safe.
….
MacKay and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have previously said that the air mission is not without dangers and there is no guarantee Canadian troops will escape unharmed.
There are currently 140 Canadian military personnel, including pilots and air crew, in the region. The HMCS Charlottetown, which left Halifax on March 2, is stationed in the Mediterranean Sea.
The defence minister said the ship “has the capability” of participating in a naval blockade, although no orders have yet been given.
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Czech Foreign Minister Calls For NATO Takeover Of Libyan War
Czech News Agency
March 20, 2011
Prague to back NATO´s joining military operation in Libya – ForMin
Prague: The Czech Republic will support NATO´s joining the military operation in Libya, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said on Czech Television today, adding that NATO should supervise the operation.
The Czech Republic will probably not join the operation for now, Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) said but he did not rule out possible deployment of a chemical warfare unit.
NATO countries´ ambassadors will discuss NATO´s participation in the Libyan operation today. According to preliminary information, NATO will probably join the operation.
“I´d like the operation to take place in the framework and also under supervision of NATO,” Schwarzenberg said.
He said “individual member countries, though big ones, should not act entirely independently from the allies.”
Schwarzenberg does not expect NATO to ask the Czech Republic to join the military operation in Libya. “We don´t have any naval force, and our aircraft are not made to take part in such operations,” Schwarzenberg said.
He admitted that Prague may provide a chemical warfare unit to NATO, if the allies asked for it….
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Pentagon Chief: Hand Over Libya Military Operation To NATO
Associated Press
March 20, 2011
Gates: US expects to hand off Libya lead in ‘days’
ON BOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that the U.S. expects to turn control of the Libya military mission over to a coalition – probably headed either by the French and British or by NATO – “in a matter of days.”
….
The two key possibilities, he said, are a combined British-French command or the use of a NATO command. He acknowledged there is “some sensitivity on the part of the Arab League to being seen to be operating under a NATO umbrella.”
….
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Britain Wants To Shift Libyan Operation To NATO
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 20, 2011
Britain hopes Libya operation command will shift to NATO
London: Britain’s defence minister said Sunday he hoped the command of the military operation in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone…would be taken over by NATO ‘within the next few days.’
NATO members were meeting in Brussels on Sunday to discuss whether the military alliance should take a formal role in the campaign and the logistics of the operation….
‘I hope that we will now fold into NATO command and control, but it’s not a NATO mission,’ Defence Minister Liam Fox told the BBC. ‘It is still a UN coalition of the willing nations…but we will co-ordinate it hopefully through the command and control structures that NATO already has.’
‘I hope it will happen in the next few days,’ he added. ‘It’s all dependent upon getting agreement from all the NATO nations.’
….
British Tornado jets bombed various targets within Libya in the first day of military action Saturday….
Fox did not rule out the possibility of allied forces treating Gaddafi himself as a legitimate target for air strikes….
….
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U.S. Admiral/NATO Commander In Charge Of Libyan Operations
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/20/libya-conflict-us-admiral-coalition-forces
The Guardian
March 20, 2011
Libya conflict: US admiral leading coalition forces
Nato commander Samuel Locklear co-ordinating air and naval strikes against Gaddafi regime
Nick Hopkins
-Locklear…has been in charge of missions to war zones such as Iraq and the Balkans.
The commander of the military effort to enforce the UN resolution against Muammar Gaddafi is a US admiral who is co-ordinating the air and naval strikes from the USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet.
Samuel Locklear III is also a Nato commander and may be chosen to continue in the post. That would give the operation a degree of continuity, though his experience is naval and a key part of the job will be to enforce the no-fly zone and co-ordinate which countries are flying what planes, where and when.
The command structure of the operation should eventually fall within Nato’s responsibility, but French, British and US forces could not wait for agreement on this, which is expected to come within 24 hours.
Until Nato takes over, the coalition has put together a “needs must” chain of command, so strikes against Gaddafi’s forces were able to start on Saturday afternoon.
British forces are being led by Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, who is based at the armed forces joint headquarters in Northwood, Middlesex.
He is working with Rear Admiral Ian Calder, also at Northwood, and Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell at the Ramstein airbase in Germany.
Military commanders say this is not as complex as it might appear – and that video conference calls make co-ordination possible.
However they admit they would prefer the umbrella command of Nato and the protection that comes from having the support of the group’s 28 member nations.
“The UN resolution was only passed on Thursday last week, so Nato is actually working quite quickly, considering the complexity of the situation,” said a spokesman.
Locklear was raised in Macon, Georgia, and joined the navy at 17. He is well liked within Nato and has been in charge of missions to war zones such as Iraq and the Balkans.
…
====
French Aircraft Carrier Headed Toward Libya
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1556694.ece
The Hindu
March 21, 2011
French aircraft carrier leaves for Mediterranean
Vaiju Naravane
The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle left its home port of Toulon in southern France for the Mediterranean as France claimed the coalition had successfully established a ‘no-fly zone’ over Libya.
France will continue to target Libya’s military installations and air defences, a French military spokesman said.
Within minutes of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech at the Paris summit on Saturday announcing the decision to cripple Colonel Qadhafi’s firepower, French Mirage and Rafale fighter planes hit tanks and armoured vehicles close to Benghazi commanded by forces loyal to the Libyan strongman.
Libya claimed that its anti-aircraft batteries had downed a French plane. But the claim was immediately denied by French authorities, who said all their fighter aircraft returned home safely. Libya also claimed dozens of civilians had been killed and injured by the air raids, and voices are already being raised against the predominantly Western military action. Russia called on Sunday for a halt to “non-selective” bombing of targets.
The Arab League, which appeared to fully support the operation on Saturday, called for a halt to the bombing raids on Sunday. “What is happening in Libya is different from the objective of imposing a no-fly zone. That is what we want, not the bombardment of the civilian population,” Arab League General Secretary Amre Mussa said.
However, French sources said that despite these reservations, countries such as the United Arab Emirates or Qatar would send planes for the raids.
The African Union too rejected “foreign military intervention” in Libya and called for an African solution to the conflict in that “brother country.”
However, five African Presidents meeting in Nouakchott, Mauritania, failed to come out with any solution, except to call yet another meeting for March 25. The Africans did not attend Saturday’s Paris summit that brought together 22 heads of state and government as well as representatives of international organisations, including the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League.
====
As With Yugoslavia, Real World Community Blasts Attack On Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47711252.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
Attack on Libya indiscriminate, disproportionate
Timur Blokhin
-“It must be stopped, and its masterminds brought to international justice. If this is not done, the entire Mediterranean may degenerate into unfettered violence. In 1999, the United States was after separating Kosovo. This time, it appears to be after splitting Libya. The pattern is the same, as is the puppet master behind the scenes.”
Russia, China and India have joined the African Union and the Arab League in denouncing the Western-led attack on Libya as disproportionate and indiscriminate. Indeed, reports speak about mounting civilian casualties in the offensive. At least 65 Libyan civilians are known dead and more than 150 wounded or injured.
One earlier victim of such attacks is Serbia, where NATO warplanes hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and a passenger train during the bombing campaign of 1999.
Dr George Vukadinovic is a political analyst in Belgrade:
“Similarly to the 1999 NATO campaign over Kosovo, the offensive in Libya is fraught with unpredictable political and economic consequences for Europe and the Mediterranean. I believe the European Union showed poor judgment in joining the Libya attack. The Libya resolution of the UN Security Council was the result of haste and unilateral pressure on the members. In the vote on the resolution, the much-hyped European unanimity on major issues showed cracks, with Germany abstaining.”
We have a similar opinion from another Serbian analyst, Dr Gostemir Popovic:
“The attack on Libya is a unilateral action led by the United States. Dubbing Gaddafi an aggressor is part of American efforts to justify this war. It has nothing to do with the truth, because it is the attacking force that is killing Libyan civilians and destroying their once prosperous country. This war blatantly flouts international agreements. It must be stopped, and its masterminds brought to international justice. If this is not done, the entire Mediterranean may degenerate into unfettered violence. In 1999, the United States was after separating Kosovo. This time, it appears to be after splitting Libya. The pattern is the same, as is the puppet master behind the scenes.”
The anti-Gaddafi coalition claims to have already knocked out 20 of Libya’s 22 air defence installations. It says this improves security for Libyan civilians and creates conditions for bringing aid to them.
Gaddafi, meantime, stays defiant and pledges everything in his power to defeat what he calls a Western aggression against his country. Civilian volunteers on the Gaddafi side are welcome to take up arms and join a popular militia. Gaddafi hopes this force can grow to at least one million within the coming days.
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Missile Hits Administrative Building With 300 People In It
Associated Press
March 20, 2011
Western forces launch cruise missile at Gadhafi residence
An administration building was knocked down; Gadhafi’s whereabouts at the time of the blast remain unknown; about 300 Gadhafi supporters were in the compound when the missile hit, injuries have yet to be reported.
….
In an attack that carried as much symbolism as military effect, a cruise missile blasted a building in Gadhafi’s residential compound in Tripoli late Sunday, near his iconic tent.
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War Clouds Hover Over Tripoli
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/21/c_13789102.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 21, 2011
War clouds hover over Tripoli
TRIPOLI: War clouds are gathering over here as Western forces have started launching air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces after a no-fly zone is imposed on Libya.
At around 02:30 a.m. local time (00:30 GMT) on Sunday, missiles whistling from the sea hit the Tajura area near Tripoli and ensuing huge explosions sounded over the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
Air-defense forces loyal to Gaddafi immediately fought back with anti-craft guns, misbelieving Western warplanes were coming to attack. The traces of anti-aircraft gun shots could been seen in the night sky over Tripoli.
Intensive anti-aircraft guns lasted about 10 minutes in the southern and southwestern part of the city.
Soon early Sunday morning, some angry local residents rushed to a hotel in Tripoli where foreign journalists stay to protest the air assaults carried out by the Western forces.
The world’s major powers, Britain, the United States and France, Saturday started to launch strikes from the air and sea against Gaddafi’s forces….
France carried out the initial four air strikes, while the U.S. military said 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from American and British ships and submarines at more than 20 Libyan coastal targets.
French warplanes Saturday night attacked an air defense site in Tajura, about 10 km east of Tripoli, and destroyed several armored vehicles of Libyan government troops near Benghazi, the last stronghold of Libyan rebels.
Libyan Parliament Speaker Mohammed Abul-Qassim al-Zwai told a press conference that foreign fighter jets hit Tripoli and Misurata, which caused many casualties.
Sixty-four people have been killed and 150 others wounded in the air strikes since Saturday, Libya’s health officials said on Sunday.
Western warplanes have bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing the casualties, and several fuel tanks were also hit, Libya’s state television reported.
In a brief audio message carried out by Libya’s state television hours after the air strike, Gaddafi called the Western attacks “a crusader war” against the Libyan people, saying that the air strikes were designed to “terrify the Libyan people” and were “terrorist means.”
Gaddafi vowed to snatch a victory over Western forces, saying the western forces would be defeated.
All the Libyan people were united and have been given weapons, “ready for a long war” in the country, he said.
….
On Saturday afternoon before Western forces started the air strikes, the Libyan government invited a group of foreign journalists to visit a camp in Tripoli where Gaddafi reportedly resides in. Thousands of people, including many women and children were gathering there to protest any air strikes by western countries.
On Sunday morning, more Libyans joined the protests in Tripoli against Western forces amid fresh waves of air assaults by Western warplanes.
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13. Britain Deploys Warplanes To Italy, Surveillance Aircraft To Cyprus
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/21/c_13789153.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 21, 2011
Britain deploys Tornado, Typhoon jets to Italian airbase
LONDON: The British Defense Ministry on Sunday confirmed that Britain had deployed Tornado and Typhoon to the Italian airbase of Gioia Dell Colle in the south of the country.
Major General John Lorimer, chief of the Defense Staff’s Strategic Communications Officer, said that a number of Typhoon aircraft have landed safely at the airbase in southern Italy where they are on standby for future tasking.
“It makes operational sense to be closer to the no-fly zone and our military assessment confirmed that this is the most suitable forward mounting base for these assets,” he said.
RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus continues to support the operation under UN Security Council Resolution 1973 with a number of assets, including E3D Sentry, VC-10 and Sentinel.
British military authorities are discussing with its allies the most effective way of putting the no-fly zone in place. It is likely that this will be part of a NATO-led operation.
“The no-fly zone is likely to be in place for however long we are tasked to do this. The UK’s stated aims are to support UNSCR 1973 and the Libyan people,” Lorimer said.
“Britain has a number of assets already in the region which have previously assisted in the evacuation of British Nationals from Libya and others which we are ready to support as required,” he said. “Currently within the region, we have E3-Ds which are keeping us abreast of events in the area, HMS Westminster is off the coast of Benghazi and HMS Cumberland is in the region should she be required.”
Deployed to Akrotiri, Cyprus, is a Joint Force Air Component HQ (JFACHQ) which coordinates movements of British air assets and controls the airspace in operational areas.
In addition, Lorimer said the British involvement with operations in Libya currently has no effect on operations in Afghanistan, and “we are keeping the situation under review.”
….
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Obama Tarnishes Nobel Peace Prize With Military Attacks On Libya
http://rt.com/politics/libya-russia-military-force/
RT
March 20, 2011
Obama tarnishes Nobel Peace Prize with “indiscriminate”military action in Libya
Robert Bridge
Moscow harshly condemns an international military operation against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, while Washington downplays its role in the hostilities.
It has taken US President Barack Obama just over one year – and less than that if we consider that he earlier agreed to keep open the Guantanamo Bay detention facility – to damage his Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in Oslo, Norway in October 2009.
On Saturday, US warships unleashed a massive sea-based missile salvo against targets inside of Libya, where Col. Muammar Gaddafi has been engaged in a desperate showdown against anti-government forces. The battle is largely centered on the city of Benghazi, where opposition forces have announced an “interim Libyan government.”
US warships and submarines fired more than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libyan territory to disable air-defense systems, allowing French and British fighter jets to more easily enforce a no-fly zone. The attack on Libya marks the third Muslim country that the United States is now engaged in military operations with.
So much for “sitting down and talking with enemies,” as Obama promised to do during his political campaign for the US presidency.
It should be no surprise that Washington is going out of its way to disassociate itself from the Libyan military campaign, or at least the leadership part of it.
“We did not lead this,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a gaggle of reporters in Paris over the weekend. “We did not engage in unilateral actions in any way, but we strongly support the international community taking action against governments and leaders who behave as Gaddafi is unfortunately doing.”
Observers say Washington’s reluctance to advertize its hefty contribution in the military operation suggests that the Obama administration, already under attack inside of its own party for “towing the Bush line,” is an attempt to deflect hostility from the Muslim world, not to mention Main Street, U.S.A., which certainly cannot afford to foot the bill for yet another overseas adventure.
“They [the Obama administration] really want this to be a short, jolly operation,” remarked a senior British defense analyst, who asked not to be identified due to his position. “But all the bets are off on this one. Nobody is quite sure what the allied forces will be able to accomplish [in Libya] over the long haul.”
Incidentally, Saturday’s attack also marked the eighth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, begun by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush.
Russian officials have slammed the US missile attack, while calling on the international coalition to stop the “indiscriminate use of force” it says has killed civilians.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the air strikes exceed the mandate of the UN Security Council resolution, which approved a no-fly zone and authorized all necessary measures to protect civilians.
“We are emphatically urging the coalition states to stop indiscriminate use of force,” Lukashevich told reporters, according to Interfax.
“We are firmly convinced that the mandate deriving from Resolution 1973 of the UN Security Council, which was adopted as a rather controversial step, cannot be used for attaining goals going clearly beyond its provisions, spelling out measures solely intended to protect civilians,” he said.
As “Operation Odyssey Dawn” kicked off on Saturday, missile strikes delivered on Libya also hit non-military facilities in the capital of Tripoli, as well as in Tarhuna, Maamur and Jmeil, Lukashevich said, before providing a grim picture of the attack’s collateral damage.
“As a result [of the missile strikes], 48 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded,” Lukashevich revealed. “A medical center has been partially destroyed and roads and bridges have been damaged.”
Russia announced Sunday that it was evacuating some of its diplomatic staff and other citizens from Tripoli.
Meanwhile, Liberal-Democratic Party leader and State Duma Vice Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has described the coalition forces’ military operation against the Gaddafi regime as pure “aggression,” while calling for a “new Nuremburg.
“Shame on NATO and all the murderers and barbarians, the Russian firebrand told media on Sunday. “All of these rogues will be brought to account one day. The aggressors will get their due for the numerous crimes committed at an independent international tribunal, in a new Nuremberg trial.”
The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to impose a no-fly zone against pro-Gaddafi forces, which has been accused itself of using inordinate force against anti-government forces.
Russia and four other council members – China, Germany, Brazil and India – abstained from the vote.
According to Gaddafi, Tripoli regards the West’s military operation against Libya “as an unlawful invasion of a sovereign state and sees it as nothing else but an act of terrorism.”
Speaking on Libyan television, Gaddafi said that the United States and Europe had “proven to the world that you are not civilized, that you are terrorists – animals attacking a safe nation that did nothing against you.”
Libya is ranked as one of the top-ten biggest oil producers in the world.
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Libya: Largest Military Undertaking Since Invasion Of Iraq
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23815
Global Research
March 20, 2011
Libya: Largest Military Undertaking since the Invasion of Iraq. Towards a Protracted Military Operation
by Michel Chossudovsky
Outright lies by the international media: Bombs and missiles are presented as an instrument of peace and democratization…
This is not a humanitarian operation. The war on Libya opens up a new regional war theater.
There are three distinct war theaters in the Middle East Central Asian region. Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.
What is unfolding is a fourth US-NATO War Theater in North Africa, with the risk of escalation.
These four war theaters are functionally related, they are part of an integrated US-NATO military agenda.
The bombing of Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for several years as confirmed by former NATO commander General Wesley Clark.
Operation Odyssey Dawn is acknowledged as the “biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq began exactly eight years ago.” (Russia: Stop ‘indiscriminate’ bombing of Libya – Taiwan News Online, March 19, 2011).
This war is part of the battle for oil. Libya is among the World’s largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US.
The underlying objective is to gain control over Libya’s oil and gas reserves under the disguise of a humanitarian intervention.
The geopolitical and economic implications of a US-NATO led military intervention directed against Libya are far-reaching.
“Operation Odyssey Dawn ” is part of a broader military agenda in the Middle East and Central Asia which consists in gaining control and corporate ownership over more than sixty percent of the world’s reserves of oil and natural gas, including oil and gas pipeline routes.
With 46.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, (10 times those of Egypt), Libya is the largest oil economy in the African continent followed by Nigeria and Algeria (Oil and Gas Journal). In contrast, US proven oil reserves are of the order of 20.6 billion barrels (December 2008) according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves).
Largest Military Undertaking since the Invasion of Iraq
A military operation of this size and magnitude, involving the active participation of several NATO member and partner countries is never improvised. Operation Odyssey Dawn was in the advanced stages of military planning prior to the protest movement in Egypt and Tunisia.
Public opinion was led to believe that the protest movement had spread spontaneously from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya.
The armed insurgency in Eastern Libya is directly supported by foreign powers. Rebel forces in Benghazi immediately hoisted the red, black and green banner with the crescent and star: the flag of the monarchy of King Idris, which symbolized the rule of the former colonial powers. (See Manlio Dinucci, Libya-When historical memory is erased, Global Research, February 28, 2011)
The insurrection was also planned and coordinated with the timing of the military operation. It had been carefully planned months ahead of the protest movement, as part of a covert operation.
US, British special forces were reported to be on the ground “helping the opposition” right from the outset.
What we are dealing with is a military roadmap, a timeline of carefully planned military and intelligence events.
United Nations Complicity
So far, the bombing campaign has resulted in countless civilian casualties, which are either categorized by the media as “collateral damage” or blamed on the Libyan armed forces.
In a bitter irony, the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 grants NATO a mandate “to protect civilians”
Protection of civilians
4. Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph which shall be immediately reported to the Security Council; (UN Security Council Resolution on Libya: No Fly Zone and Other Measures, March 18, 2011)
The UN resolution grants coalition forces carte blanche to engage in an all out war against a sovereign country in derogation of international law and in violation of the UN charter. It also serves dominant financial interests: it not only allows the military coalition to bomb a sovereign country, it also allows for the freezing of assets, thereby jeopardizing Libya’s financial system.
Asset freeze
19. Decides that the asset freeze imposed by paragraph 17, 19, 20 and 21 of resolution 1970 (2011) shall apply to all funds, other financial assets and economic resources which are on their territories, which are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Libyan authorities, ….
No where in the UNSC resolution is the issue of regime change mentioned. Yet it is understood that opposition forces will receive part of the money confiscated under Article 19 of resolution 1973. In fact discussions with opposition leaders to that effect have already taken place. Its called cooptation and financial fraud:
20. Affirms its determination to ensure that assets frozen pursuant to paragraph 17 of resolution 1970 (2011) shall, at a later stage, as soon as possible be made available to and for the benefit of the people of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya;
With regard to the “Enforcement of the arms embargo” under para. 13 of the resolution, coalition forces will commit themselves without exception to enforcing an arms embargo on Libya. Yet from outset they have violated Art. 13, by supplying weapons to opposition forces in Benghazi.
Protracted Military Operation?
Concepts are turned upside down. In an utterly twisted logic. peace, security and protection of the Libyan people, are to be achieved through missile attacks and aerial bombings.
The objective of the military operation is not the protection of civilians but regime change and the break up the country, as in Yugoslavia, namely the partition of Libya into separate countries. The formation of a separate State in the oil producing area of Eastern Libya has been contemplated by Washington for many years.
Barely a week before the onslaught of the bombings, the director of National intelligence James Clapper emphasized in a testimony to the US Senate Armed Services Committee that Libya has significant air defense capabilities and that a no fly zone approach could potentially result in a protracted military operation:
Obama’s policy is “aimed at the goal of having Gadhafi leave office,” the national security adviser reiterated.
But Clapper’s testimony underscored how difficult that could be.
He told the Senate committee that he thinks “Gadhafi is in this for the long haul” and that he doesn’t think Gadhafi “has any intention … of leaving.”
Later, enumerating his reasons for believing that Gadhafi would prevail, Clapper said that the regime has more military supplies and can count on the army’s best trained, “most robustly equipped” units, including the 32nd Brigade, which is commanded by Gadhafi’s son, Khamis, and the 9th Brigade.
The bulk of its hardware comprises Russian-made air defenses, artillery, tanks and other vehicles, “and they appear more disciplined about how they treat and repair that equipment,” Clapper continued.
Clapper disputed assertions that a no-fly zone could be quickly and easily imposed on Libya, saying Gadhafi commands the Middle East’s second largest air defense system after Egypt’s.
“They have a lot of Russian equipment, and there is a certain quality in numbers. Some of that equipment has fallen into the oppositionists’ hands,” he continued.
The system comprises about 31 surface-to-air missile sites and a radar complex that “is focused on protecting the (Mediterranean) coastline where are 80 or 85 percent of the population is,” Clapper said. Gadhafi’s forces also have “a large, large number” of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
Army Gen. Ronald Burgess, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, endorsed Clapper’s assessment, saying momentum was shifting to Gadhafi’s forces after initially being with the opposition.
“Whether or not it has fully shifted to Gadhafi’s side at this time in-country I think is not clear,” Burgess said. “But we have now reached a state of equilibrium where … the initiative, if you will, may be on the regime side.”
Hours after Clapper spoke, Thomas Donilon, Obama’s national security adviser, offered a different assessment, suggesting sharply diverging views between the White House and the U.S. intelligence community.
He said the intelligence chiefs’ analysis was “static” and “unidimensional,” based on the military balance of power, and failing to take into account both Gadhafi’s growing isolation and international actions to boost his opponents. (White House, intel chief split on Libya assessment | McClatchy, March 11, 2011)
The foregoing statement suggests that Operation Odyssey Dawn could lead to a protracted drawn out war resulting in significant NATO-US losses.
NATO military setbacks were reported by Libyan sources from the very outset of the air campaign.
Within hours of the commencement of the bombings, Libyan sources (yet to be confirmed) pointed to the shooting down of three French jets. (See Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Breaking News: Libyan Hospitals Attacked. Libyan Source: Three French Jets Downed, Global Research, March 19, 2011).
The Libyan national TV network announced that a French fighter plane had been shot down near Tripoli. The French Army denied these reports:
“We reject the information that a French fighter plane was shot down in Libya. All the planes we sent on missions today returned to base†said the spokesman of the French Army, colonel Thierry Burkhard, quoted by Le Figaro.” (Libya: A french fighter plane was shot down! The French Army denies this information, xiannet.net March 20, 2011)
Internal Libyan sources (to be confirmed) also reported on Sunday the downing of two Qatari military jets. According to Libyan reports, yet to be confirmed, a total of five French jets have been shot down. Three of these attacking French jets were, according to the reports, shot down in Tripoli. The other two French military jets were shot down while attacking Sirt (Surt/Sirte). (Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Libyan Sources Report Italian POWs Captured. Additional Coalition Jets Downed, Global Research, March 20, 2011)
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Russia: Pro-Government Youth Groups Protest War Against Libya
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110321/163123607.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 21, 2011
Russian youth groups protest military intervention in Libya
Activists from pro-Kremlin youth groups are protesting the Western-led military operation in Libya outside several Western embassies in Moscow.
A military operation against Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi…began on Saturday, involving the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and other countries.
Members of the Nashi and Stal (Steel) movements set up pickets in front of the British, French and U.S. embassies and the NATO mission in Moscow.
“Innocent people have already been killed in this massacre, and we demand that the West stop interfering in Libya’s sovereignty and cease attacks on its citizens,” Stal leader Oleg Sokolov told RIA Novosti.
“We are certainly not trying to support the Gaddafi regime, but it is clear that the West’s real intention is not to bring democracy to Libya,” Sokolov said.
Libyan television has reported that at least 50 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in the UN strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was attacked by protesters angry about the military intervention as he left a meeting of the Arab League in Cairo earlier on Monday.
Libya: Obama’s Latest, AFRICOM’s First, NATO’s African War
Stop NATO
March 20, 2011
Libya: Obama’s Latest, AFRICOM’s First, NATO’s African War
Rick Rozoff
Following similar developments in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, anti-government protests began in Libya on February 15. On March 19 the U.S., France and Britain delivered air and cruise missile attacks against targets in Libya: 112 Tomahawk missile strikes from U.S. and British submarines and warships in the Mediterranean Sea and attacks by French warplanes on what were identified as government military vehicles on the ground.
Twenty French Rafale and Mirage jet fighters took to the country’s skies and U.S. stealth bombers delivered 40 payloads to its main airfield.
A Russian parliamentarian pointed out that the attack on Libya represented the fourth country targeted for armed assault – the fourth war launched – by the U.S. and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 12 years: The current one, codenamed Operation Odyssey Dawn, and Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia in 1999, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq in 2003. The beginning of the war against Libya occurred on the eighth anniversary of the attack on Iraq and five days before the twelfth anniversary of that against Yugoslavia.
However, whereas it took several months for the U.S. and its NATO allies to selectively identify developments in Yugoslavia (Kosovo) and Iraq as crises requiring international attention before proclaiming them grounds for war, with Libya the process has been reduced to a month’s duration. The slaying of unarmed civilian protesters in Yemen and Bahrain has not evoked a comparable outcry and has not produced analogous military actions from Western military powers.
This time equipped with a United Nations Resolution, 1973, passed in the Security Council with the BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – and Germany abstaining, the U.S. and its NATO partners are prepared for an indefinite conflict more closely resembling that in Afghanistan, which will be ten years old in less than seven months, than the wars against Yugoslavia and Iraq.
Despite opposition to Western military operations voiced by the BRIC nations, since yesterday echoed by the 53-nation African Union, the 22-member Arab League and several Latin American nations like Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, Washington and its allies are portraying their attack against Libya as an international effort – because the West has recruited the kings of Morocco and Jordan and the emirs of Qatar and Abu Dhabi as allies in what is presented as a humanitarian campaign to bring democracy to an Arab nation.
In the current reincarnation of the “humanitarian war” model of the 1990s, an estimated 65 Libyan civilians were killed and 150 wounded on the first day of the bombing onslaught. Oil depots and a medical facility were among the targets of bombing and missile attacks.
President Barack Obama was in Brazil at the start of the attacks, and by rights should have been declared persona non grata and expelled for his role in ordering U.S. Tomahawk strikes and bombing runs.
If anyone had doubted that it was possible to out-Herod Herod in surpassing his predecessor George W. Bush’s record of waging military aggression internationally, that illusion should be finally laid to rest. The Obama administration has increased American troop strength in Afghanistan (which has become the longest war in U.S. history on Obama’s watch) to 100,000, with another 50,000 foreign forces serving under NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.
Approximately 50,000 combat-ready troops remain in Iraq and at least 500 U.S. troops are based in Mindanao in the Philippines where they are involved in counterinsurgency combat operations.
The White House and the Central Intelligence Agency have also massively escalated unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) strikes in Pakistan, killing nearly 2,000 people in the last 26 months, including over 80 civilians slain in 12 missile strikes – the deadliest on a tribal meeting – in North Waziristan only two days before the attack on Libya was launched. The U.S. is a far better candidate for an international no-fly zone than any other nation in the world.
The Obama government has launched cruise missile strikes and run special forces operations in Yemen and conducted a deadly helicopter raid in Somalia.
It has also acquired the use of seven military bases in Colombia to assist the decades-long counterinsurgency war in the country and to threaten neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador.
The rapidity with which the U.S. and its NATO cohorts built the case for the attack on Libya should be cause for serious concern to the last two South American nations, as it should for Bolivia, Nicaragua and Syria and for former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s “outposts of tyranny”: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe.
Last year NATO airlifted thousands of Ugandan troops to and from Somalia for the war in that country (its civilian counterpart, the European Union, is training Somali government troops in Uganda) and is currently conducting a naval operation off the Horn of Africa, Ocean Shield, but the ongoing attack on Libya is the Atlantic Alliance’s first direct war in Africa.
It is also the first war for the newest Pentagon overseas military command, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
AFRICOM spokesman Lieutenant Commander James Stockman boasted that American and British missiles hit at least 20 of 22 intended targets in Libya on March 19, and newly appointed AFRICOM chief General Carter Ham pledged to “degrade the Qadhafi regime’s capability” under his command’s Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn the same day.
Taking part in the attacks were the U.S. submarines USS Florida, USS Providence and USS Scranton, guided missile destroyers USS Barry and USS Stout, amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, amphibious transport dock USS Ponce, flagship of the Mediterranean-based Sixth Fleet USS Mount Whitney, B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, AV-8B Harrier II ground-attack aircraft and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare planes.
The USS Bataan helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship and USS Whidbey Island dock landing ship are on their way to the coast of Libya.
The U.S. maintains 42 F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters at the Aviano Air Base in Italy and has the use of two air bases in Bulgaria and one in Romania.
The USS Enterprise carrier strike group, with 80 planes, is in the Arabian Sea and can cross back through the Suez Canal for action against Libya.
The above is to be recalled as the White House continues to disavow a direct, much less a leading, role in the war.
Although to date not formally a NATO operation, the air and sea campaign against Libya began with the Alliance subjecting the targeted country to around-the-clock surveillance by Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft assigned to the nearly ten-year-old Operation Active Endeavor naval surveillance and interdiction mission. NATO’s E-3A AWACS planes fly at a height of 30,000 feet and cover a range of 120,000 square miles.
The military buildup in the Mediterranean Sea by other NATO nations matches that of the U.S.
In addition to 20 warplanes flying over Libya, on March 20 France deployed the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the only non-American nuclear-powered carrier, from its base in Toulon for air strikes against Libya.
Britain has warships and a submarine off the coast of Libya which participated in the first round of missile strikes. The BBC reported that London has also deployed Eurofighter Typhoon and Tornado warplanes and Nimrod surveillance aircraft to the region.
Canada, whose prime minister Stephen Harper has identified the attacks on Libya as “acts of war” while acknowledging that Libyan civilians will be killed by them, has sent the HMCS Charlottetown frigate to the area and has deployed six CF-18 Hornet multirole jet fighters to Italy for air patrols over Libya. Defence Minister Peter MacKay has stated that the Charlottetown is available to assist in enforcing a naval blockade of the North African country.
Norway has committed six F-16 jet fighters and Belgium eight F-16s, a frigate and 200 military personnel in an effort to, in the words of Defense Minister Pieter De Crem, “topple the Gaddafi regime.”
The Belgian F-16s are currently in Greece and the warship in the Mediterranean, with European Affairs Minister Olivier Chastel stating his government has decided to “tell NATO that we are available, offer what we have and wait for a common command.”
Spain has provided four F-18 jet fighters, a maritime surveillance plane, a submarine and a frigate in addition to turning over to NATO its military bases at Rota and Moron de la Frontera in the south of the country.
Italy has offered eight combat aircraft and the use of seven bases on its mainland and in Sardinia and Sicily for the war effort. It has also activated five ships, including the Andrea Doria destroyer, for action against Libya.
Denmark has six F-16s in Italy prepared for deployment to Libya.
According to the Sabah newspaper, Turkey will also supply F-16s for NATO’s Libyan campaign.
Greece has provided the U.S. and NATO the use of bases at Aktio and Souda Bay in Crete.
More military assets are being added by NATO nations almost hourly, which indicates that a no-fly zone is the least of Western plans for Libya and that the campaign is not expected to end in the foreseeable future.
Updates on Libyan war: March 20
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NATO, Arab Monarchy’s Warplanes Converge In Italy
Qatar To Provide Pentagon, NATO Four Warplanes For Libya Assault
Italy Provides Eight Warplanes, Seven Military Bases For Libyan War
Six Danish F-16s Leave Sicily For Libya
Spain Deploys Strike Fighters, Submarine, Warship For Libyan War
Canadian Warplanes, Warship To Join Libyan Battle In 48 Hours
Three U.S. Submarines Launched Cruise Missile Strikes Against Libya
Libya: NATO AWACS Part Of 10-Year Operation Active Endeavor
Fueled By Self-Interest, Western Attacks Worsen Libyan Turmoil
German Foreign Minister Warns Of Protracted War In Libya
U.S. AFRICOM Launches Its First War
Russia, Arab League, India Blast U.S.-NATO Indiscriminate Use Of Military Force In Libya
U.S. Africa Command: U.S. Missiles Hit 20 Of 22 Libyan Targets
Protests Outside U.S. And French Embassies In Moscow
Eight Belgian F-16s, Ship Ready For Libyan Combat Tomorrow
U.S., NATO Air Strikes Kill 64 Libyans: Health Official
Libyan War: Greater Middle East Project Prelude To WW III
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Fire, Explosions Heard In Libyan Capital
U.S. Stealth Bombers Drop 40 Bombs On Libyan Airfield
Norway Provides Six F-16s For Strikes Against Libya
Canadian Prime Minister: Strikes On Libya “Act Of War,” Expect Civilian Casualties
Russia: NATO Attacks Kill 48 Libyan Civilians, Wound Over 150
Chinese, Russian Foreign Ministries Call For End To Attacks On Libya
African Union Panel Rejects Foreign Military Intervention In Libya
U.S.-Led Attacks May Unify Libyans Against West: Expert
U.S., NATO Allies Turn North Africa Into War Zone
Libya Denounces West’s Colonialist Crusade
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NATO, Arab Monarchy’s Warplanes Converge In Italy
Agence France-Presse
March 20, 2011
Western, Arab warplanes converge for Libya mission
ROME: Western and Arab warplanes were converging on Italy’s air bases Sunday to join the international campaign to cripple the ability of Moamer Kadhafi’s forces….
France, which on Saturday spearheaded the UN-mandated Operation “Odyssey Dawn” with air strikes on Libya, on Sunday also sent its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to join the campaign.
The French Navy’s flagship set off from the southern French naval port of Toulon at about 1:10 pm (1210 GMT) and was expected to reach the Libyan coast within 48 hours.
Meanwhile aircraft from the United Arab Emirates were due to arrive on Sunday at the Decimomannu air force base on the Italian island of Sardinia, which is already hosting four Spanish F-18 fighter jets that arrived on Saturday.
The UAE, along with Jordan, Morocco and Qatar, was among Arab nations that took part in a summit in Paris on Saturday on the Libyan crisis.
The Italian air bases are a key staging point for strikes by Western-led coalition forces to destroy Libya’s air defences and impose a no-fly zone….
Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said Rome also assigned eight combat aircraft, including four Tornado jets, for the operation and they can be used “at any time”.
And British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Typhoon and Tornado jets would fly this weekend to the Gioia del Colle air base in southern Italy, where they will be ready to deploy as part of the mission dubbed “Operation Ellamy”.
Six Danish F-16 fighter were also ready to take off from Italy’s Sigonella air base Sunday to join Odyssey Dawn which saw US, British and French forces hammer Libyan forces from the air and sea.
In the West’s biggest intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, mounted exactly eight years earlier, US warships and a British submarine fired more than 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya on Saturday.
This prompted Kadhafi to warn on Sunday of a long war in the Mediterranean “battlefield” as Tripoli reported dozens of deaths.
Belgium said Sunday six of its F-16 fighter-bombers would be operational Monday for the Libya mission.
“We will be able to take part in operations under the command of the coalition from tomorrow,” said Defense Minister Pieter de Crem, who added that 250 people would be assigned to support the six aircraft and their pilots.
In addition to its four F-18 fighter jets, Spain sent a refueling aircraft to Italy and said it would also deploy an F-100 frigate, an S-74 submarine and a CN-235 maritime surveillance plane to help enforce an arms embargo on Libya, once parliamentary approval has been received.
Spain had already announced on Friday it would allow NATO to use two military bases, at Rota and at Moron de la Frontera in the south of the country, for the operation over Libya.
….
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Qatar To Provide Pentagon, NATO Four Warplanes For Libya Assault
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/21/c_13789109.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Qatar to join foreign intervention with four planes: French defense ministry
PARIS: Qatar has decided to participate in the military intervention against Libya by sending four planes, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said Sunday afternoon.
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http://bna.bh/portal/en/news/450319
Bahrain News Agency
March 20, 2011
Qatar to take part in military operation against Libya
Doha: Qatari Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani said Qatar would take part in the military operation being carried out against Libya.
….
“Qatar’s stance has been obvious from the start and is based on rejection of any harm to the Libyan people and stopping bloodbath in Libya,” he added.
The Qatari Prime Minister asserted that the Arab League had not demanded the West to intervene in Libya but demanded the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone to protect civilians.
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Italy Provides Eight Warplanes, Seven Military Bases For Libyan War
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
March 20, 2011
LIBYA: LA RUSSA SAYS ITALY HAS JOINED THE COALITION
Milan: La Russa announced Italy’s official membership of the coalition.
Speaking at the end of a visit to President Napolitano at Milan’s Palazzo Reale, the foreign minister explained: “I reported to President Napolitano that Italy has officially notified the secretary general and the Arab League of its membership of the coalition that intends to follow up UN Resolution 1973….”
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http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=213008
Reuters
March 20, 2011
Italy says ready to take part in Libya operations
ROME: Italian aircraft are ready to join operations against Libya from Sunday, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said.
Speaking on state broadcaster RAI, La Russa said eight Italian jets had been assigned to the coalition command and would be ready to take part in operations immediately.
“We want to participate as equals in the operation,” he said. He also said Italy was ready to take action over an Italian tugboat detained in Libya.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13789085.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Italy assigns eight warplanes for Libyan operation: minister
ROME: Italy has assigned eight combat aircraft to military missions against Libya, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said here on Sunday.
The aircraft, including four Tornado jets, can be put into use “at any time,” the minister said.
Italy had earlier offered the use of seven air and navy bases for the Libyan operation, dubbed “Odyssey Dawn.”
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/libya-italy-planes-idUSWEA958920110319
Reuters
March 19, 2011
Italian planes start mission over Libya – Al Arabiya
CAIRO: Al Arabiya television channel reported on Saturday that Italian planes had started a surveillance mission over Libya on Saturday, after French planes also began reconnaissance over the North African country.
The television channel cited its correspondent in a brief headline with news about the Italian planes, without giving further details.
(Writing by Edmund Blair)
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Six Danish F-16s Leave Sicily For Libya
Agence France-Presse
March 20, 2011
Six Danish F-16s set to take off from Sicily for Libya: ANSA
Six Danish F-16 fighter are ready to take off from Italy’s Sigonella air base to join the international air campaign against Muamer Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, ANSA quoted a senior Italian military official as saying Sunday.
Rocco Massimo Zafarana said the Danish aircraft arrived Saturday at the base in Sicily, which is being used to support Operation “Odyssey Dawn”….
“We do not know if other aircraft will arrive from other countries, but we are ready to welcome them and to provide them with all the necessary support,” Zafarana added.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told a crisis summit on Libya in Paris that his country was offering its military bases “for now” but did not rule out a bigger participation later.
====
Spain Deploys Strike Fighters, Submarine, Warship For Libyan War
Agence France-Presse
March 20, 2011
Spain sends four F-18s to Italy for Libya operation
-Spain had already announced on Friday it would allow NATO to use two military bases, at Rota and at Moron de la Frontera in the south of the country, for the operation over Libya.
MADRID: Spain has sent four F-18 fighter jets and a refueling aircraft to Italy to take part in the operation over Libya from Sunday, the defence ministry said.
An F-100 frigate, an S-74 submarine and a CN-235 maritime surveillance plane will also be deployed to help enforce an arms embargo on Libya, once parliamentary approval has been received, it said in a statement late Saturday.
Details of Spain’s involvement were announced at a news conference in Paris earlier Saturday by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero following the international summit on Libya that discussed the intervention.
The United States, Britain and France later pounded targets in Libya with air strikes and Tomahawk missiles at the start of the campaign to prevent Muammar Gaddafi from crushing a month-old uprising against his rule.
Spanish defence minister Carme Chacon chaired a meeting of senior military and defence chiefs in Madrid late on Saturday to coordinate the country’s participation in the operation, the ministry statement said.
It said the four Spanish F-18s and the Boeing refueling plane had arrived in the Italian base of Decimomannu on the island of Sardinia.
“These planes will carry out patrol missions and will be operational from Sunday,” it said.
It said around 500 Spanish troops would eventually be involved.
Spain had already announced on Friday it would allow NATO to use two military bases, at Rota and at Moron de la Frontera in the south of the country, for the operation over Libya.
….
====
Canadian Warplanes, Warship To Join Libyan Battle In 48 Hours
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110320/no-fly-zone-canada-jets-110320/
CTV News
March 20, 2011
Canadian pilots to enforce no-fly zone within days
Canadian fighter pilots will be engaged in the Libyan battle and enforcing a no-fly zone above the country “within 48 hours,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Sunday.
MacKay says six Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are currently stationed in Italy, the primary staging point for coalition forces participating in the offensive against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
….
“They will be taking part in sorties to ensure that there is restricted airspace over Libya,” MacKay told CTV’s Question Period.
….
Canada will join the United States, France and Britain in maintaining the no-fly zone….
The offensive began on Saturday with precision strikes by French fighter jets and attacks on military targets with missiles from U.S. and British war ships. By Sunday, the coalition had declared the no-fly zone in place.
When asked whether Canadian pilots could be ordered to attack ground troops that are preparing to attack civilians, MacKay said the UN’s resolution allows for “all measures necessary” to keep civilians safe.
….
MacKay and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have previously said that the air mission is not without dangers and there is no guarantee Canadian troops will escape unharmed.
There are currently 140 Canadian military personnel, including pilots and air crew, in the region. The HMCS Charlottetown, which left Halifax on March 2, is stationed in the Mediterranean Sea.
The defence minister said the ship “has the capability” of participating in a naval blockade, although no orders have yet been given.
====
Three U.S. Submarines Launched Cruise Missile Strikes Against Libya
http://www.theday.com/article/20110319/NWS09/110319623/1017
The Day
March 19, 2011
Groton-based USS Providence takes part in attack on Libya
By Jennifer McDermott
The United States and its allies launched an attack this afternoon on Libya’s air defenses. “Operation Odyssey Dawn” included attacks from as many as 25 U.S., Canadian, British and Italian vessels and at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from three Navy submarines, including the Groton-based USS Providence.
The missiles were aimed at more than 20 targets that U.S. military officials referred to as “critical nodes in the Libyan air defenses.” They landed near the capital city of Tripoli and Misrata.
Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, called the strikes “the first phase of a multiphase operation,” designed to take down the Libyan air defenses in order to enforce a no-fly zone over the north African nation….
In the televised address, Gortney declined to discuss the details of future potential operations. The first impact was at 3 p.m., he said, and 110 to 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched.
….
The Day reported Wednesday that the USS Providence crossed the Suez Canal last Saturday heading for the Mediterranean Sea….
The other subs involved in the military operation are the USS Florida, USS Scranton and a British submarine, according to the Navy. The Navy surface ships that participated are the USS Stout, USS Barry, USS Kearsarge, USS Mount Whitney and USS Ponce.
====
Libya: NATO AWACS Part Of 10-Year Operation Active Endeavor
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-C82C0FEB-2A03DBF3/natolive/news_71614.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 18, 2011
NATO’s airborne surveillance: Eyes in the sky
-NATO has been routinely operating AWACS aircraft in the region as part of its long-standing counter-terrorist Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) since 2007.
-Some 18 nations have pooled resources into the project: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
One E-3A aircraft flying at 30,000 ft (9,150 m) can provide surveillance coverage of approximately 120,463 square miles (312,000 square kilometres) and can stay in the air for 10 hours without refuelling.
-In October 2010 the last of nine AWACS modernization projects was completed which included improved communication and navigations systems.
Effective air defence is a NATO priority. The Alliance’s fleet of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aeroplanes, play a key role in air defence across the Euro-Atlantic region.
While the recent problems in Libya have increased the need for airborne surveillance over the Mediterranean ocean, NATO has been routinely operating AWACS aircraft in the region as part of its long-standing counter-terrorist Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) since 2007.
“We have extended surveillance in the Mediterranean,” says Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General on March 9. “Having our AWACS monitoring the situation [in Libya] 24/7, will provide us with a better picture of what is going on and of course this improved picture is a prerequisite for evaluating the situation accurately.”
The fleet of Boeing E-3A ‘Sentry’ AWACS aircraft is one of the few military assets owned by the Alliance itself. The planes, each the size of a commercial Boeing-707 with an added radar dome on top, began service in 1982 and are an essential component of the largest collaborative project ever undertaken by Allies.
Some 18 nations have pooled resources into the project: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
One E-3A aircraft flying at 30,000 ft (9,150 m) can provide surveillance coverage of approximately 120,463 square miles (312,000 square kilometres) and can stay in the air for 10 hours without refuelling. Three aircraft operating in overlapping, coordinated orbits can provide unbroken radar coverage of the whole of Central Europe.
The AWACS capability provides an enhanced maritime and air surveillance picture, says E-3A Component Commander Brigadier General Burkhard Pototsky. “This capability is decisive for achieving a permanent high level of situational awareness. For all decision makers in NATO it is essential to have a high level of situational awareness. With our E-3A capabilities we make a fundamental contribution to this,” he adds.
Despite an ever-changing security environment, the AWACS fleet remains relevant through modernisation programmes ensuring it is a powerful tool for air defence. In October 2010 the last of nine AWACS modernization projects was completed which included improved communication and navigations systems.
====
Fueled By Self-Interest, Western Attacks Worsen Libyan Turmoil
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/20/c_13789063.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Turmoil in Libya worsens as West launches attack
BEIJING: The joint forces of several Western nations Saturday launched an attack on Libya, a move that will complicate an already turbulent situation in the North African country.
French warplanes had been taking the lead in the airstrikes, which came after the UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya.
At least 64 people were killed and 150 others wounded following the military operation against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, launched by the coalition that included the United States, France, Britain, Canada and Italy.
The western coalition claimed they launched the assault for humanitarian interests. But many analysts and media believed they did it for the sake of their own goals and interests instead of the safety and welfare of the unarmed Libyan civilians as they have claimed.
AN INTERVENTION WITH DIFFERENT GOALS
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken a leading role in pushing for international intervention in Libya.
With a record-low popularity and facing a presidential election next year, Sarkozy was eager to take the reins in global crises and show voters that he can take the lead.
Gaddafi, then, offers Sarkozy an opportunity.
About a week ago, the French leader became the first world leader to recognize the Libyan rebel National Libyan Council as “legitimate representative” of Tripoli.
He also took the lead in plans to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya
At the Paris summit Saturday, Sarkozy announced that French planes were already in the air and ready to attack when other participants barely reached an agreement.
After the emergency summit, Sarkozy said France had already taken military actions against Libya.
“For the moment and already, our planes are over the city preventing air attacks,” he said at a press conference.
“Our determination is total,” the president declared after seeing off important decision-makers from some Arab countries and main Western powers to agree on a military action against Libya.
====
German Foreign Minister Warns Of Protracted War In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13789079.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Berlin warns of lengthy war in Libya
BERLIN: Germany on Sunday warned that the West may find itself dragged into a protracted warfare in Libya as the U.S., British and French forces launched military strikes on the country.
“We have to see the risk of a lengthy mission,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters. “We hope that our fears will not be borne out. We expressly hope that we won’t be right,” said the minister.
Westerwelle said one should be prepared for scenarios that are not so favorable.
Germany abstained in a UN Security Council vote on Thursday on setting up a no-fly zone in Libya. Permanent UNSC members Russia and China, as well as non-permanent ones Germany, India and Brazil abstained from the vote.
====
U.S. AFRICOM Launches Its First War
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=6222&lang=0
U.S. Africa Command
March 19, 2011
STATEMENT: AFRICOM
Commander on Commencement of Military Strikes in Libya
COMMENCEMENT OF U.S. MILITARY AIR STRIKES IN LIBYA AS PART OF INTERNATIONAL ENFORCEMENT OF UNSCR 1973
By General Carter Ham
Commander, U.S. Africa Command
STUTTGART, Germany: At the direction of President Obama and Secretary of Defense Gates, U.S. Africa Command is commanding U.S. military support for the international enforcement of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect the Libyan people.
Earlier today, coalition military aircraft began entering Libyan airspace to enforce UNSCR 1973. This evening, U.S. military forces under my command began conducting operations in support of this multi-national effort.
….
Our national civilian leaders and their international counterparts have defined clear objectives for our military actions: A cease-fire must be implemented and all attacks against civilians must stop. Troops must stop advancing against Benghazi and must be pulled back from Ajdabiya, Misrata, and Zawiya….
In support of the above objectives, our immediate military goals are to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens and opposition groups, especially in and around Benghazi, and to degrade the Qadhafi regime’s capability to resist an internationally patrolled no-fly zone.
….
General Carter Ham
Commander, United States Africa Command (AFRICOM)
————————————-
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=6237&lang=0
U.S. Africa Command
March 20, 2011
Overview of 1st Day of U.S. Operations to Enforce UN Resolution 1973 Over Libya
U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs
[Photo: MEDITERRANEAN SEA – Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) launches a Tomahawk missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn on March 19, 2011. This was one of approximately 110 cruise missiles fired from U.S. and British ships and submarines that targeted about 20 radar and anti-aircraft sites along Libya’s Mediterranean coast. Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces supporting the international response to the unrest in Libya….]
STUTTGART, Germany: U.S. military forces are conducting military operations in support of the multi-national effort to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973….
Beginning late on March 19, 2011, the U.S. military launched strikes against selected military targets in Libya, launching more than 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. ships and U.S. and British submarines.
U.S military assets that participated in the strikes include: two U.S. Navy ships and three submarines; 15 U.S. Air Force aircraft, including the B-2 Spirit Bomber and four U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers all of which launched strikes against targets in Libya. These targets include SA-5, 5A-3 and 5A-2 air defense systems around Libyan airfields and various munitions sites. U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers provided electronic warfare support.
In a Pentagon briefing March 19 announcing the beginning of U.S. military operations, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, said the Tomahawks “struck more than 20 integrated air defense systems and other air defense facilities ashore.”
“…we are creating the conditions to be able to set up the no-fly zone, and once we have established and confirmed that the conditions are right then we will move forward into the next – one of the next phases of the campaign,” Gortney said.
U.S. participation in the multinational coalition is being provided as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, which is the name for U.S. Africa Command’s military planning and operations related to the crisis in Libya….
As part of the international response to the current crisis in Libya, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates approved and ordered the use of U.S. military forces in graduated and sequenced strike operations against the government of Libya (GOL)….
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn
U.S. Africa Command Commander General Carter Ham is the theater commander of U.S. military forces.
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, commanded by Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, III, is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical control of the U.S. portion of enforcement of UNSCR 1973.
….
The Joint Task Force Commander is supported by:
Joint Force Maritime Component Commander, Vice Adm. Harry B. Harris who controls maritime assets, located aboard USS Mt. Whitney.
Joint Force Air Component Commander, Maj Gen Margaret Woodward, based in Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
————————————-
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=6227&lang=0
U.S. Africa Command
March 20, 2011
Navy and Marine Corps Aircraft Strike Libya
Joint Maritime Component Command Odyssey Dawn Public Affairs
Mediterranean Sea: U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers positioned in coalition military bases and U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers aboard the USS Kearsarge (LHD3) [were] launched….
U.S. Navy Growlers provided electronic warfare support over Libya while AV-8B Harriers from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted strikes against Qadhafi’s ground forces and air defenses….
….
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces supporting the international response to the unrest in Libya….JTF Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, III.
====
Russia, Arab League, India Blast U.S.-NATO Indiscriminate Use Of Military Force In Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47703318.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
Anti-Gaddafi coalition uses indiscriminate force – Russia
This country criticizes the anti-Gaddafi coalition for using indiscriminate force in its military assault on Libya.
Diplomatic spokesman Alexander Lukashevich was speaking about this in Moscow Sunday after reports emerged of damage to civilian installations in coalition air raids on several Libyan cities. Coalition bombs and rockets destroyed roads, bridges and a heart clinic, leaving 65 civilians dead and over 150 injured.
Mr Lukashevich called attention to the fact that the Libya resolution of the UN Security Council, although flawed, clearly demands that the coalition protect Libyan civilians, not kill them.
There have been similar pronouncements from the government of India and from the Arab League. Both spoke about a worsening plight of the Libyan people. Arab League head Amr Moussa also said the coalition’s assault has nothing to do with enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
————————————-
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47701771.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
Anti-Gaddafi coalition hits civilians – Russia
This country criticizes the anti-Gaddafi coalition for using indiscriminate force in its military assault on Libya.
Diplomatic spokesman Alexander Lukashevich was speaking about this in Moscow Sunday after reports emerged of damage to civilian installations in coalition air raids on several Libyan cities.
Coalition bombs and rockets destroyed roads, bridges and a heart clinic, leaving 65 civilians dead and over 150 injured.
Mr Lukashevich called attention to the fact that the Libya resolution of the UN Security Council, although dubious, clearly demands that the coalition protect Libyan civilians, not kill them.
====
U.S. Africa Command: U.S. Missiles Hit 20 Of 22 Libyan Targets
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110320/163109898.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 20, 2011
At least 20 of 22 Libyan targets hit by U.S. missiles – U.S. military
Washington: U.S. and British missiles hit at least 20 of Libyan 22 targets, the U.S. Africa Command said on Sanday.
“It looks like things have gone well as far as the strikes are concerned,” AFRICOM spokesman Lieutenant Commander James Stockman said. “We had 20 of 22 targets hit,” he continued. “The other two targets are still under assessment,” he added.
“We struck key integrated air defense and SAM [surface-to-air missile] sites near Tripoli, Misrata and Sirte,” Stockman said.
….
Libyan television reported citing military officials that at least 50 civilians were killed and over 150 wounded in military attacks of the coalition forces, adding that many health and education facilities were ruined.
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Protests Outside U.S. And French Embassies In Moscow
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=230041
Interfax
March 20, 2011
Pickets condemning hostilities in Libya held outside U.S., French embassies in Moscow
MOSCOW: Individual pickets in support of Libya are held outside of the U.S. and French embassies in Moscow, a source in law enforcement told Interfax on Sunday.
“There have been individual pickets outside of the diplomatic missions of the United States and France throughout Sunday with participants expressing support for Libya and demanding an end to hostilities by Western countries,” the source said.
He added that as the pickets are individual they don’t require any permits or authorization.
The situation outside of the embassies is calm.
At the city police headquarters Interfax was told that the situation is also calm outside of the Libyan embassy and that no incidents have been recorded. The embassy is guarded as usual by its own security and by police units specializing in guarding diplomatic missions.
====
Eight Belgian F-16s, Ship Ready For Libyan Combat Tomorrow
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13789060.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Belgium forces to ready for combat against Libya Monday
-Belgian Defense Minister Pieter De Crem told Belgian radio that “the ultimate goal is to topple the Gaddafi regime and establish a dignified society for the Libyan people.”
However, he warned that the military operation could take a long period of time and cause heavy casualties.
“We can’t exclude a large number of casualties in this operation….”
BRUSSELS: The Belgian fighter jets and a minesweeper will be ready for military actions against Libya on Monday, as Belgian defense chief warned Sunday that the international military operation could cause a large number of casualties.
Belgium has promised to contribute eight Belgian F-16 fighter-bombers and a minesweeper to the international military operation against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
A senior Belgian military official, quoted by the Belga news agency, announced Sunday that the jets, which have arrived at Araxos air base in Greece, would be ready for combat on Monday.
A total of 200 Belgian military staff will join the mission, the official said.
Meanwhile, Belgian Defense Minister Pieter De Crem told Belgian radio that “the ultimate goal is to topple the Gaddafi regime and establish a dignified society for the Libyan people.”
However, he warned that the military operation could take a long period of time and cause heavy casualties.
“We can’t exclude a large number of casualties in this operation….There are of course going to be risks associated with this mission,” he said.
====
U.S., NATO Air Strikes Kill 64 Libyans: Health Official
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13789016.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
Western air strikes kill 64 in Libya – health official
TRIPOLI: Sixty-four people have been killed and 150 others wounded in the air strikes launched by western forces since Saturday, Libya’s health officials said on Sunday.
Western warplanes have bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing the casualties, the state television reported.
Several fuel tanks were also hit, it said.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Sunday called the Western attacks “a crusader war” against the Libyan people, saying that the air strikes were designed to “terrify the Libyan people” and were “terrorist means.”
Gaddafi vowed to snatch a victory over Western forces, which began on Saturday to launch air strikes against his troops, saying the western forces would be defeated.
All the Libyan people were united and have been given weapons, “ready for a long war” in the country, he said in a brief audio message carried out by Libya’s state television.
The world’s major powers, Britain, the United States and France, Saturday started to launch strikes from the air and sea against Gaddafi’s forces after the UN Security Council had passed a resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and protect civilians in Libya.
France carried out initial four air strikes, while the U.S. military said 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from American and British ships and submarines at more than 20 Libyan coastal targets.
The western forces also reportedly launched fresh waves of air attacks on Sunday.
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Libyan War: Greater Middle East Project Prelude To WW III
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47697444.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
War fine pretext to change political atmosphere in Europe
Geidar Jemal, Chairman of the Islamic Council of Russia
-It is absolutely necessary to change the whole construction of the Greater Middle East before one can unleash destructive forces and begin the third world war. And the third world is the most immediate agenda of our times. The general civilizational, economic and political crisis (in the fundamental sense and not just some kind of recession), the crisis of humanity is one of the most important aspects, necessitates the drastic threshold, the drastic going over this threshold as it was at the beginning of the last century, in the First World War, after which the whole system of values – political, social and cultural – was changed.
-We are now undergoing a very hard and difficult process of shedding off the skin of that humanity, the humanity that appeared after 1945.
First, the socialist system was gone and now we are witnessing the collapse and departure of the whole electoral democracy that has been the facade of the western world for so many generations. We are witnessing a new political system looming behind the scenery – the political system which is more a return to the old conservative values, but at a new, more hard and inhuman level.
Well, in this situation we find a little bit more than meets the eye, something behind the scene. To begin with, there is a serious problem with the American economy in terms of the ongoing inflation process and the decreasing consumer trust.
In a few weeks, the commission of the Federal Reserve will have to discuss the situation, and there is no possibility to explain this situation to the people of the United States.
So, the war comes very handy to be the main ground for blocking it out. Also, the European economic situation is going to pieces. Yes, in one or two years probably, the living standards of Europeans will be probably down 60 percent, as some experts think now. And this is one side of the problem. Another side is the whole reconstruction of the political scenery inside the ‘Greater West’, because now we are witnessing the disintegration of electoral democracy. Some forces standing behind the process are very serious about arriving at their goals.
So, the war is a fine pretext to change the entire political atmosphere in Europe, concerning diasporas, concerning electoral matters and so on, just as it was with the Patriot Act after 9/11 in the United States, as you remember. So, the Libyan war provides a pretext for that too. You know, there are rumors about a whole series of terrorist acts in the world prepared by certain special services of the West, like the one in Mumbai for example, which was a fake terrorist act produced by the Indian special services supported by the CIA. Some rumors insist that now it is the turn for a nuclear power plant in France, and these rumours are dated several months from now.
So, I also see the war as a fine ground to stage this terrorist act and to motivate it by the necessary response of Colonel Gaddafi. So, his games with so-called al-Qaeda could be also explained by this machinery behind the scene.
His appeal to al-Qaeda terrorists for a joint response to western aggression and the rejection of this appeal by the leaders of al-Qaeda, at least as revealed by an Internet resources, are strange games that could be explained by preparation going on behind the scenes for something drastic, explaining political and social changes that will take place within the European Union during and after this war.
And we also should not forget the issue of migrants in the EU. Millions of Arabs and Turks who will probably become an economic burden following the disintegration of the economy and the decrease of living standards for ordinary Europeans. There will be a need to place them somewhere and the most drastic solutions to this problem will be absolutely greeted.
This is connected with the possible election, with coming to power, of Marine Le Pen who now enjoys the support of the majority of the French electoral masses, as well as with the discrediting of Mr. Sarkozy, whose transactions with Gaddafi’s family were revealed by the Colonel’s son, Saif al-Islam. So, probably the whole turmoil around Libya is be explained by the far-reaching plans for the remodeling of the political situation in the European Union and, speaking in broader terms, the remodeling of the ‘Greater West’.
How about Greater Middle East? Do you see the war in Libya also as their plan to re-model the Greater Middle East?
Well, I think the process will go on and the next country to change its political regime will be Saudi Arabia. And the way to change the regime in Saudi Arabia now goes through Bahrain and Yemen. Saudi Arabia will be followed by Morocco probably.
Mr. Jemal, my next question may sound naive, but I still want you to make things clear. What could be the ultimate goal for such remodeling of a Greater Middle East? If we look at those countries, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Morocco are all US allies, all loyal to the US and western civilization.
It is absolutely necessary to change the whole construction of the Greater Middle East before one can unleash destructive forces and begin the third world war. And the third world is the most immediate agenda of our times. The general civilizational, economic and political crisis (in the fundamental sense and not just some kind of recession), the crisis of humanity is one of the most important aspects, necessitates the drastic threshold, the drastic going over this threshold as it was at the beginning of the last century, in the First World War, after which the whole system of values – political, social and cultural – was changed.
The world before WWI in 1914 for instance and the world in between the wars – there were two different worlds, two different systems of values.
And now we are cutting a line after some period of living by the values of the Second World War established in 1945. We are now undergoing a very hard and difficult process of shedding off the skin of that humanity, the humanity that appeared after 1945.
First, the socialist system was gone and now we are witnessing the collapse and departure of the whole electoral democracy that has been the facade of the western world for so many generations. We are witnessing a new political system looming behind the scenery – the political system which is more a return to the old conservative values, but at a new, more hard and inhuman level.
====
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Fire, Explosions Heard In Libyan Capital
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1848935.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 20, 2011
Heavy anti-aircraft fire in Tripoli
Anti-aircraft fire was heard in Libya’s capital Tripoli early Sunday morning, hours after Western nations launched their first air strikes against Libyan defences and began enforcing a no-fly zone, dpa reported.
Explosions had also been heard in Tripoli, US broadcaster CNN reported, though it was not clear whether this was the result of any more missiles fired by Western fighter jets or ships.
The anti-aircraft fire lasted about 10 minutes, according to British broadcaster BBC.
….
The United States and British ships fired some 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at more than 20 Libyan air defences in Tripoli and Misrata, while French and British planes patrolled the skies over the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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U.S. Stealth Bombers Drop 40 Bombs On Libyan Airfield
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47686317.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
US drops 40 bombs on Libya
Three American B-2 stealth bombers have dropped 40 bombs on Libya’s major airfield, CBS News reported without mentioning any details.
On March 19th, French planes fired the first shots, destroying Gaddafi’s tanks and armored vehicles outside the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Later, U.S. and British warships and submarines launched at least 110 Tomahawk missiles against the Colonel’s air defenses.
The western coalition in Libya comprises the US, Great Britain, France, Norway, Spain and Denmark. Qatar has also expressed its intention to join in.
According to the Libyan television, missile attacks on that country killed 48 people and injured another 150.
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Norway Provides Six F-16s For Strikes Against Libya
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/europe/1848939.html
Trend News Agency
March 20, 2011
Norway to send 6 F16 jet fighters for operations against Libya
Six F-16 jet fighters from Norway will take part in the Western-led military operations against Libya after the Norwegian Air Force has been given the go-ahead, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported on Saturday.
The Norwegian Air Force was ordered on Saturday night to have six F16 jet fighters and over 100 pilots and other personnel ready for military operations in Libya, Xinhua quoted the report as saying.
The warplanes will take off right at the beginning of next week and will be based in Sicily, Italy.
Attending a summit in Paris on Saturday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said that Norway will participate in operations aimed at enforcing the UN-backed no-fly zone in Libya.
“Norwegian aircraft will be able to participate in all types of missions, both the enforcement of the no-fly zone and the bombing of military targets on the ground, ” Stoltenberg said.
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Canadian Prime Minister: Strikes On Libya “Act Of War,” Expect Civilian Casualties
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/strikes+Libya+Harper/4471863/story.html
Montreal Gazette
March 19, 2011
Air strikes on Libya an ‘act of war’: PM Harper
Canadian fighter jets could be ready to participate in 48 hours
By Mark Kennedy
PARIS: As the international community launched aerial military missions against Libya on Saturday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the action amounts to an “act of war” that is critical to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power….
Harper made the comments after an emergency summit of world leaders who had gathered to discuss how they will implement a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone to prevent Gadhafi’s suppression of civilians.
The coalition wasted no time, with French jets becoming the first, on Saturday, to begin enforcing the no-fly zone.
It was the first step in the largest international military exercise in the Arab world since the Iraq war.
….
The prime minister acknowledged that the military operation will be complex and could lead to casualties among the very civilians that nations are trying to protect, and perhaps among the military personnel being sent to Libya.
“We should not kid ourselves. Whenever you engage in military action – essentially acts of war – these are difficult situations,” Harper said.
“And we will have to monitor this very closely and be very careful what we do every step of the way.”
Canada has committed six CF-18 fighter jets and a contingent of 140 pilots and support personnel. They have arrived in the region and a government spokesman said they could be ready within two days to participate in the aerial missions.
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“These campaigns are complicated and one cannot promise perfection. One cannot promise there will not be casualties on our side, either. But obviously, all precautions will be taken to minimize our own casualties and minimize those of innocent civilians.”
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The summit Saturday was hastily organized by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Among those in attendance were British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the leaders of the Arab League and African Union.
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Nations, including Canada, announced Friday that they will contribute military assets – such as fighter jets – to enforce a no-fly zone over Libyan skies.
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A military jet – flown either by the regime’s air force or the rebels – was shot down in the city.
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Little is known about how the military operation will evolve, but it’s expected the first steps will include attacks on Libyan air defences. It’s possible U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea would knock out Gadhafi’s radar and surface-to-air missile sites along Libya’s coastline.
That would clear the way for military jets to move in to strike any Libyan jets that are in the air. Moreover, it appears the coalition has the clearance to strike any Libyan military ground forces that are threatening civilians, including the rebels who have been doing battle with government forces.
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Russia: NATO Attacks Kill 48 Libyan Civilians, Wound Over 150
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110320/163108359.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 20, 2011
Moscow urges western nations to stop indiscriminate use of force in Libya
Moscow: Russia urges western nations to stop the indiscriminate use of force in Libya, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
“The reports say that during air raids on Libya strikes were also delivered on non-military facilities….As a result, 48 civilians are reported dead and over 150 wounded,” the ministry said in a statement.
‘In this connection, we are calling on the respective states to halt the indiscriminate use of force,” the statement said.
The military operation against Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi who has ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 40 years began on Saturday, involving the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and other countries.
A new UN Security Council resolution on Libya adopted on Thursday encompasses a no-fly zone and “all necessary measures” against forces loyal to Gaddafi.
Libyan television reported citing military officials that at least 50 civilians were killed and over 150 wounded in military attacks of the coalition forces, adding that many health and education facilities were ruined.
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Chinese, Russian Foreign Ministries Call For End To Attacks On Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47684188.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
Russia, China warn not to use force against Libya
Russia and China have warned against the use of force in international affairs, expressing regret over the West coalition’s military action against Libya.
On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zyang Yui urged the UN Security Council to stick to the UN Charter and take steps in line with Libya’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He was echoed by Russian counterpart Alexander Lukashevich who called for an immediate halt of the bloodshed and the beginning of peace talks in Libya.
The two men also warned against escalating the Libyan conflict, which they said is fraught with further loss of human life in the political unrest-hit North African country.
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African Union Panel Rejects Foreign Military Intervention In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13788058.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 20, 2011
AU panel says opposed to foreign military intervention in Libya: media report
NOUAKCHOTT: The high-level African Union panel on the Libya crisis has said it opposes any foreign military intervention in Libya, a media report said on Saturday.
AFP quoted Mauritanian President Ould Abdel Aziz as saying that the panel rejects any kind of foreign military intervention in Libya.
The Mauritanian president said that the situation in the north African country demands urgent action so an African solution can be found to the very serious crisis.
Aziz also said the solution to the Libya crisis must take into account “Our desire that Libya’s unity and territorial integrity be respected as well as the rejection of any kind of foreign military intervention.”
The AU panel on the Libya crisis, which was formed a week ago, comprises Mauritanian President Ould Abdel Aziz, South African President Jacob Zuma, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso and Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure.
The AU said the ad hoc committee was set up to engage with all parties in Libya, facilitate an inclusive dialogue among them, and engage AU parties for the speedy resolution of the crisis in Libya.
The AU has rejected foreign military intervention in Libya.
France, the United States and Britain said on Saturday that they had conducted air strikes on Libyan targets.
….
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U.S.-Led Attacks May Unify Libyans Against West: Expert
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110320/163105798.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 20, 2011
U.S.-led attack on Libya may force rebels to join forces with Gaddafi – expert
-“The American and French military who have attacked Libyan sites are treading on a very dangerous line beyond which irreversible consequences may start and cause large-scale combat operations.”
Moscow: The military action launched by the United States and its allies against Libya may force rebels to join forces with Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi, a military diplomat in the region told RIA Novosti over the phone on Sunday.
The expert said that the air strikes launched by the U.S. and allied forces could also inflict casualties on the rebels.
“The situation in Libya is very complicated; the conflicting parties are at a short distance from each other and the missile attacks launched by the NATO countries the other day may trigger an opposite reaction, as a result of which the so-called opposition and rebels will join forces with Gaddafi,” the expert said.
The expert said that the air strikes were destroying civilian and economic facilities and the declared goals of creating a no-fly zone over Libya ran counter to the U.S.-led coalition’s real actions.
“The American and French military who have attacked Libyan sites are treading on a very dangerous line beyond which irreversible consequences may start and cause large-scale combat operations,” the expert said.
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The U.S. Pentagon reported that a U.S. warship fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Gaddafi’s air defense sites. The U.S. operation is named “Odyssey Dawn”.
Libyan television reported citing military officials that at least 50 civilians were killed and over 150 wounded in military attacks of the coalition forces, adding that many health and education facilities were ruined.
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U.S., NATO Allies Turn North Africa Into War Zone
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110320/163101148.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 20, 2011
Gaddafi says arms Libyan people to fight against ‘foreign aggression’
Cairo: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Sunday he started arming people in his country to fight against the ‘foreign aggression.’
“We are opening arms depots and giving people all kinds of weapons to defend the independence of Libya,” Gaddafi said on a national television.
The Libyan leader also said that interests of all countries involved in the attack on his country will be in danger in Libya and called their actions as the “aggression of crusaders and colonialists.”
“As a result of such open aggression and irresponsible behavior, the Mediterranean and North African territories turned into a war zone,” he said.
Unlike the previous times, Gaddafi’s address on the television on Sunday was not live and was broadcast in a form of an audio recording.
On Thursday the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Libya. Paris has taken the leading role in coordinating the world’s response to the tumult. U.S., British and French military have all launched strikes against Gaddafi.
Around 20 French Rafale and Mirage warplanes were sent to patrol the skies over the city of Benghazi. Since the beginning of the attack, the French aviation has destroyed four government tanks in the neighborhoods of the rebellious city.
British forces are in action in Libya, and its Navy submarine has fired Tomahawk cruise missiles on the Libyan air defense facilities.
U.S. Pentagon reported earlier that a U.S. warship fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Gaddafi’s air defense sites. The U.S. operation is named “Odyssey Dawn”.
Countries including Canada, Denmark, Spain and Norway have sent jets to Libya, while Italy said it would permit the use of airbases such as Sigonella in Sicily and Aviano in the north to launch strikes.
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Libya Denounces West’s Colonialist Crusade
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47678276.html
Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011
Gaddafi declares the Med “war zone”
Muammar Gaddafi has declared the Mediterranean a war zone and threatens to strike out at the region’s military and civilian installations. He also brands as a “colonial crusade” the ongoing western military operation against his regime.
In a phoned-in message aired by state television on Sunday Gaddafi called on the African, Arab and Latin American nations to support Libya in what he termed as a “struggle against a common enemy”, and said he was beginning to arm the population to fight off foreign aggression.
The UN-backed military operation, involving the US, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, was launched on Saturday. The coalition forces have already fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Libyan air defense installations and delivered numerous airstrikes on civilian sites in Tripoli and other big sites and on oil reservoirs in Misrata.
Stop NATO News March 20, 2011
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https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com
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Britain: Elite NATO Corps Gets New Commander
Guard Kills Two NATO Soldiers In Afghanistan
United Arab Emirate Troops Arrive In Bahrain
Pakistani Elders Vow Revenge For U.S. Drone Attack
Yemen: Tanks Deployed After Government Snipers Kill 51 Protesters
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Britain: Elite NATO Corps Gets New Commander
Thisisgloucestershire
March 20, 2011
New commander for Nato corps
Soldiers from an elite Nato corps that arrived in Gloucestershire last summer have a new commander.
Lieutenant General James Bucknall has taken command of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).
He replaces General Sir Richard Shirreff who has become Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
General Bucknall has been serving as the Deputy Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since September 2010 and could remain in this post until January 2012.
….
Lieutenant General James Bucknall, a dad-of-two, was born in 1958 and educated at Winchester.
He enlisted in the army in 1977 and was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1978. His early service was with the 2nd Battalion and included postings in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany and Cyprus.
After Staff College in 1990 and Company Command, he served on the operations staff in Headquarters Northern Ireland.
He commanded 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards in the armoured infantry role in Germany before being appointed Chief of Staff, 1st (UK) Armoured Division in 1998.
More recently, in 2004 he was appointed Director Counter-Terrorism and UK Operations in the Ministry of Defence before deploying in 2006 to Baghdad.
On completion, he was appointed Chief of Staff, Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. He served as Assistant Chief of the General Staff from 2009-2010.
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Guard Kills Two NATO Soldiers In Afghanistan
Guard Kills Two NATO Soldiers In Afghanistan
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 19, 2011
Guard kills two NATO soldiers in Afghanistan
Kabul: A security guard in Afghanistan killed two foreign soldiers working with NATO-led troops, the alliance military said Saturday.
‘Two international security assistance forces service members died in southern Afghanistan following a shooting incident with a security guard,’ the coalition forces said in a statement, without giving more details.
The statement did not state whether the security guard was an Afghan or foreign national, and if the incident took place on a NATO base.
NATO officials declined to comment, saying the alliance needs to inform the family members of the deceased before giving out details.
The incident is currently under investigations, the NATO official said.
Troops from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada are stationed in southern Afghanistan. More than 140,000 international troops are currently fighting Taliban insurgents who have been waging a bloody war since 2001.
Around 90 foreign soldiers have been killed so far this year, according to iCausalities, an independent website that tracks military fatalities in Afghanistan.
Separately, a NATO airstrike killed one and injured two others in the eastern province of Nangarhar, the provincial governor’s spokesman said.
The operation took place on Friday night in Khogyani, a district in Nangarhar.
‘We are investigating to identify if those killed and injured were civilians or insurgents,’ Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman said.
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United Arab Emirate Troops Arrive In Bahrain
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1848500.html
Trend News Agency
March 19, 2011
UAE troops arrive in Bahrain
Troops of the United Arab Emirates have arrived in Bahrain to join the Saudi Arabian troops which have been there since earlier this week, Press TV reported.
On Friday, Bahrain TV showed footage of a convoy of troops from the UAE arriving in the capital Manama.
Earlier, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa announced that three or four Persian Gulf countries would be sending troops to help quell the anti-government demonstrations that have rocked the country.
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Pakistani Elders Vow Revenge For U.S. Drone Attack
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/19/47658395.html
Voice of Russia
March 19, 2011
Pakistan elders vow revenge for US drone attack
Pakistan’s tribal clans of Pakistan’s North Waziristan province have vowed to avenge the death of dozens of tribesmen in a recent US drone attack by carrying out suicide attacks on Americans.
Over 40 people, a majority of them members of a jirga and personnel from a government militia force, mistaken for Taliban leaders, were killed in drone strikes in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan on Thursday.
Islamabad has lodged a strong protest with Washington demanding an end to such attacks.
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Yemen: Tanks Deployed After Government Snipers Kill 51 Protesters
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/19/c_13788007.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 19, 2011
Heavy troops deployed as death toll of protesters rises to 51 in Yemen
SANAA: Tanks and heavy security military forces flooded the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other major cities on Saturday, enforcing a state of emergency after Friday’s snipers killed 51 protesters.
An official of the Interior Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the forces have been deployed since Saturday dawn to enforce the 30-day state of emergency that was declared by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Ali al-Fakih, one of the organizers of Sanaa anti-government protests, told Xinhua that death toll from Friday’s snipers against the protesters rose to 51 till Saturday noon as other hundreds injured were still in critical conditions.
Al-Fakih also said that three more protesters were wounded by police gunshots in al-Moualla district in the souther port city of Aden.
Meanwhile, a republican decree was issued on Saturday to appoint Tariq Mohamed al-Shami as chairman of the state-run Saba news agency to replace Nasr Taha Mustafa, who declared his resignation in protests against what he described “Friday’s massacre against protesters in Sanaa.”
Tens of thousands of protesters reportedly took to the streets of the southern provinces of Ibb, Taiz, Aden, Hodayda and Hadramout on Saturday to condemn what they described “bloodbath by the security authorities against Sanaa’s peaceful protesters” and show support to the families of victims.
Randolph Bourne: The War and the Intellectuals
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
American writers on peace and against war
Randolph Bourne: Selections on war
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Randolph Bourne
The War and the Intellectuals (1917)
1886-1918
[Emphasis added]
To those of us who still retain an irreconcilable animus against war, it has been a bitter experience to see the unanimity with which the American intellectuals have thrown their support to the use of war-technique in the crisis in which America found herself. Socialists, college professors, publicists, new-republicans, practitioners of literature, have vied with each other in confirming with their intellectual faith the collapse of neutrality and the riveting of the war-mind on a hundred million more of the world’s people.
And the intellectuals are not content with confirming our belligerent gesture. They are now complacently asserting that it was they who effectively willed it, against the hesitation and dim perceptions of the American democratic masses. A war made deliberately by the intellectuals! A calm moral verdict, arrived at after a penetrating study of inexorable facts! Sluggish masses, too remote from the world-conflict to be stirred, too lacking in intellect to perceive their danger!
An alert intellectual class, saving the people in spite of themselves, biding their time with Fabian strategy until the nation could be moved into war without serious resistance! An intellectual class, gently guiding a nation through sheer force of ideas into what the other nations entered only through predatory craft or popular hysteria or militarist madness! A war free from any taint of self-seeking, a war that will secure the triumph of democracy and internationalize the world! This is the picture which the more self-conscious intellectuals have formed of themselves, and which they are slowly impressing upon a population which is being led no man knows whither by an indubitably intellectualized President. And they are right, in that the war certainly did not spring from hysteria, of the American people, however acquiescent the masses prove to be, and however clearly the intellectuals prove their putative intuition.
Those intellectuals who have felt themselves totally out of sympathy with this drag toward war will seek some explanation for this joyful leadership. They will want to understand this willingness of the American intellect to open the sluices and flood us with the sewage of the war spirit. We cannot forget the virtuous horror and stupefaction which filled our college professors when they read the famous manifesto the their ninety-three German colleagues in defense of their war. To the American academic mind of 1914 defense of war was inconceivable. From Bernhardi it recoiled as from blasphemy, little dreaming that two years later would find it creating its own cleanly reasons for imposing military service on the country and for talking of the rough rude currents of health and regeneration that war would send through the American body politic.
They would have thought anyone mad who talked of shipping American men by the hundreds of thousands – conscripts – to die on the fields of France. Such a spiritual change seems catastrophic when we shoot our minds back to those days when neutrality was a proud thing. But the intellectual progress has been so gradual that the country retains little sense of the irony. The war sentiment, begun so gradually but so perseveringly by the preparedness advocates who come from the ranks of big business, caught hold of one after another of the intellectual groups. With the aid of Roosevelt, the murmurs became a monotonous chant, and finally a chorus so mighty that to be out of it was at first to be disreputable and finally almost obscene. And slowly a strident rant was worked up against Germany which compared very creditably with the German fulminations against the greedy power of England. The nerve of the war-feeling centered, of course, in the richer and older classes of the Atlantic seaboard, and was keenest where there were French or English business and particularly social connections. The sentiment then spread over the country as a class-phenomenon, touching everywhere those upper-class elements in each section who identified themselves with this Eastern ruling group.
It must never be forgotten that in every community it was the least liberal and least democratic elements among whom the preparedness and later the war sentiment was found. The farmers were apathetic, the small business men and workingmen are still apathetic towards the war. The election was a vote of confidence of these latter classes in a President who would keep the faith of neutrality. The intellectuals, in other words, have identified themselves with the least democratic forces in American life.
They have assumed the leadership for war of those very classes whom the American democracy has been immemorially fighting. Only in a world where irony was dead could an intellectual class enter war at the head of such illiberal cohorts in the avowed cause of world-liberalism and world-democracy. No one is left to point out the undemocratic nature of this war-liberalism. In a time of faith, skepticism is the most intolerable of all insults.
Our intellectual class might have been occupied, during the last two years of war, in studying and clarifying the ideals and aspirations of the American democracy, in discovering a true Americanism which would not have been merely nebulous but might have federated the different ethnic groups and traditions. They might have spent the time in endeavoring to clear the public mind of the cant of war, to get rid of old mystical notions that clog our thinking. We might have used the time for a great wave of education, for setting our house in spiritual order. We could at least have set the problem before ourselves.
If our intellectuals were going to lead the administration, they might conceivably have tried to find some way of securing peace by making neutrality effective. They might have turned their intellectual energy not to the problem of jockeying the nation into war, but to the problem of using our vast neutral power to attain democratic ends for the rest of the world and ourselves without the use of the malevolent technique of war. They might have failed. The point is that they scarcely tried.
The time was spent not in clarification and education, but in mulling over nebulous ideals of democracy and liberalism and civilization which had never meant anything fruitful to those ruling classes who now so glibly used them, and in giving free rein to the elementary instinct of self-defense. The whole era has been spiritually wasted. The outstanding feature has been not its Americanism but its intense colonialism. The offence of our intellectuals was not so much that they were colonial – for what could we expect of a nation composed of so many national elements? – but that it was so one-sidedly and partisanly colonial. The official, reputable expression of the intellectual class has been that of the English colonial. Certain portions of it have been even more loyalist than the King, more British even than Australia. Other colonial attitudes have been vulgar.
The colonialism of the other American stocks was denied a hearing from the start. America might have been made a meeting-ground for the different national attitudes. An intellectual class, cultural colonists of the different European nations, might have threshed out the issues here as they could not be threshed out in Europe. Instead of this, the English colonials in university and press took command at the start, and we became an intellectual Hungary where thought was subject to an effective process of Magyarization. The reputable opinion of the American intellectuals became more and more either what could be read pleasantly in London, or what was written in an earnest effort to put Englishmen straight on their war-aims and war-technique. This Magyarization of thought produced as a counter-reaction a peculiarly offensive and inept German apologetic, and the two partisans divided the field between them. The great masses, the other ethnic groups, were inarticulate. American public opinion was almost as little prepared for war in 1917 as it was in 1914.
The sterile results of such an intellectual policy are inevitable. During the war the American intellectual class has produced almost nothing in the way of original and illuminating interpretation. Veblen’s “Imperial Germany;” Patten’s “Culture and War,” and addresses; Dewey’s “German Philosophy and Politics;” a chapter or two in Weyl’s “American Foreign Policies;” – is there much else of creative value in the intellectual repercussion of the war? It is true that the shock of war put the American intellectual to an unusual strain. He had to sit idle and think as spectator not as actor. There was no government to which he could docily and loyally tender his mind as did the Oxford professors to justify England in her own eyes. The American’s training was such as to make the fact of war almost incredible. Both in his reading of history and in his lack of economic perspective he was badly prepared for it. He had to explain to himself something which was too colossal for the modern mind, which outran any language or terms which we had to interpret it in. He had to explain his sympathies to the breaking-point, while pulling the past and present into some sort of interpretative order. The intellectuals in the fighting countries had only to rationalize and justify what their country was already doing. Their task was easy. A neutral, however, had really to search out the truth. Perhaps perspective was too much to ask of any mind. Certainly the older colonials among our college professors let their prejudices at once dictate their thought. They have been comfortable ever since. The war has taught them nothing and will teach them nothing. And they have had the satisfaction, under the rigor of events, of seeing prejudice submerge the intellects of their younger colleagues. And they have lived to see almost their entire class, pacifists and democrats too, join them as apologists for the “gigantic irrelevance” of war.
We had had to watch, therefore, in this country the same process which so shocked us abroad – the coalescence of the intellectual classes in support of the military programme. In this country, indeed, the socialist intellectuals did not even have the grace of their German brothers and wait for the declaration of war before they broke for cover. And when they declared for war they showed how thin was the intellectual veneer of their socialism. For they called us in terms that might have emanated from any bourgeois journal to defend democracy and civilization, just as if it was not exactly against those very bourgeois democracies and capitalist civilizations that socialists had been fighting for decades. But so subtle is the spiritual chemistry of the “inside” that all this intellectual cohesion – herd-instinct – which seemed abroad so hysterical and so servile, comes to us here in highly rational terms. We go to war to save the world from subjugation! But the German intellectuals went to war to save their culture from barbarization! And the French to save international honor! And Russia, most altruistic and self-sacrificing of all, to save a small State from destruction! Whence is our miraculous intuition of our moral spotlessness? Whence our confidence that history will not unravel huge economic and imperialist forces upon which our rationalizations float like bubbles? The Jew often marvels that his race alone should have been chosen as the true people of the cosmic God. Are not our intellectuals equally fatuous when they tell us that our war of all wars is stainless and thrillingly achieving for good?
An intellectual class that was wholly rational would have called insistently for peace and not for war. For months the crying need has been for a negotiated peace, in order to avoid the ruin of a deadlock. Would not the same amount of resolute statesmanship thrown into intervention have secured a peace that would have been a subjugation for neither side? Was the terrific bargaining power of a great neutral ever really used? Our war followed, as all wars follow, a monstrous failure of diplomacy. Shamefacedness should now be our intellectuals’ attitude, because the American play for peace was made so little more than a polite play. The intellectuals have still to explain why, willing as they now are to use force to continue the war to absolute exhaustion, they were not willing to use force to coerce the world to a speedy peace.
Their forward vision is no more convincing than their past rationality. We go to war now to internationalize the world! But surely their league to Enforce Peace is only a palpable apocalyptic myth, like the syndicalists’ myth of the “general strike.” It is not a rational programme so much as a glowing symbol for the purpose of focusing belief, of setting enthusiasm on fire for international order. As far as it does this it has pragmatic value, but as far as it provides a certain radiant mirage of idealism for this war and for a world-order founded on mutual fear, it is dangerous and obnoxious. Idealism should be kept for what is ideal. It is depressing to think that the prospect of a world so strong that none dare challenge it should be the immediate prospect of the American intellectual. If the League is only a makeshift, a coalition into which we enter to restore order, then it is only a description of an existing fact, and the idea should be treated as such. But if it is an actually prospective outcome of the settlement, the keystone of American policy, it is neither realizable nor desirable. For the programme of such a League contains no provision for dynamic national growth or for international economic justice. In a world which requires recognition of economic internationalism far more than of political internationalism, an idea is reactionary which proposes to petrify and federate the nations as political and economic units. Such a scheme for international order is a dubious justification for American policy. And if American policy had been sincere in its belief that our participation would achieve international beatitude, would we not have made our entrance into the war conditional upon a solemn general agreement to respect in the final settlement these principles of international order? Could we have afforded, if our war was to end war by the establishment of a league of honor, to risk the defeat of our vision and our betrayal in the settlement? Yet we are in the war, and no such solemn agreement was made, nor has it even been suggested.
The case of the intellectuals seems, therefore, only very speciously rational. They could have used their energy to force a just peace or at least to devise other means than war for carrying through American policy. They could have used their intellectual energy to ensure that our participation in the war meant the international order which they wish. Intellect was not so used. It was used to lead an apathetic nation into an irresponsible war, without guarantees from those belligerents whose cause we were saving. The American intellectual, therefore has been rational neither in his hindsight, nor his foresight. To explain him we must look beneath the intellectual reasons to the emotional disposition. It is not so much what they thought as how they felt that explains our intellectual class. Allowing for colonial sympathy, there was still the personal shock in a world-war which outraged all our preconceived notions of the way the world was tending. It reduced to rubbish most of the humanitarian internationalism and democratic nationalism which had been the emotional thread of our intellectuals’ life. We had suddenly to make a new orientation. There were mental conflicts. Our latent colonialism strove with our longing for American unity. Our desire for peace strove with our desire for national responsibility in the world. That first lofty and remote and not altogether unsound feeling of our spiritual isolation from the conflict could not last. There was the itch to be in the great experience which the rest of the world was having. Numbers of intelligent people who had never been stirred by the horrors of capitalistic peace at home were shaken out of their slumber by the horrors of war in Belgium. Never having felt responsibility for labor wars and oppressed masses and excluded races at home, they had a large fund of idle emotional capital to invest in the oppressed nationalities and ravaged villages of Europe. Hearts that had felt only the ugly contempt for democratic strivings at home beat in tune with the struggle for freedom abroad. All this was natural, but it tended to over-emphasize our responsibility. And it threw our thinking out of gear. The task of making our own country detailedly fit for peace was abandoned in favor of a feverish concern for the management of war, advice to the fighting governments on all matters, military, social and political, and a gradual working up of the conviction that we were ordained as a nation to lead all erring brothers towards the light of liberty and democracy. The failure of the American intellectual class to erect a creative attitude toward the war can be explained by these sterile mental conflicts which the shock to our ideals sent raging through us.
Mental conflicts end either in a new and higher synthesis or adjustment, or else in a reversion to more primitive ideas which have been outgrown but to which we drop when jolted out of our attained position. The war caused in America a recrudescence of nebulous ideals which a younger generation was fast outgrowing because it had passed the wistful stage and was discovering concrete ways of getting them incarnated in actual institutions. The shock of war threw us back from this pragmatic work into an emotional bath of these old ideals. there was even a somewhat rarefied revival of our primitive Yankee boastfulness, the reversion of senility to that republican childhood when we expected the whole world to copy our republican institutions. We amusingly ignored the fact that it was just that Imperial German regime, to whom we are to teach the art of self-government, which our own Federal structure, with its executive irresponsible in foreign policy and with its absence of parliamentary control, most resembles. And we are missing the exquisite irony of the unaffected homage paid by the American democratic intellectuals to the last and most detested of Britain’s tory premiers as the representative of a “liberal” ally, as well as the irony of the selection of the best hated of America’s bourbon “old guard” as the missionary of American democracy to Russia.
The intellectual state that could produce such things is one where reversion has taken place to more primitive ways of thinking. Simple syllogisms are substituted for analysis, things are known by their labels, our heart’s desire dictates what we shall see. The American intellectual class, having failed to make the higher synthesis, regresses to ideas that can issue in quick, simplified action. Thought becomes any easy rationalization of what is actually going on or what is to happen inevitably tomorrow. It is true that certain groups did rationalize their colonialism and attach the doctrine of the inevitability of British seapower to the doctrine of a League of Peace. But this agile resolution of the mental conflict did not become a higher synthesis, to be creatively developed. It gradually merged into a justification for our going to war. It petrified into a dogma to be propagated. Criticism flagged and emotional propaganda began. Most of the socialists, the college professors and the practitioners of literature, however, have not even reached this high-water mark of synthesis. Their mental conflicts have been resolved much more simply. War in the interests of democracy! This was almost the sum of their philosophy. The primitive idea to which they regressed became almost insensibly translated into a craving for action. War was seen as the crowning relief of their indecision. At last action, irresponsibility, the end of anxious and torturing attempts to reconcile peace-ideals with the drag of the world towards Hell. An end to the pain of trying to adjust the facts to what they ought to be! Let us consecrate the facts as ideal! Let us join the greased slide towards war! The momentum increased. Hesitations, ironies, consciences, considerations, – all were drowned in the elemental blare of doing something aggressive, colossal. The new-found Sabbath “peacefulness of being at war”! The thankfulness with which so many intellectuals lay down and floated with the current betrays the hesitation and suspense through which they had been. The American university is a brisk and happy place these days. Simple, unquestioning action has superseded the knots of thought. The thinker dances with reality.
With how many of the acceptors of war has it been mostly a dread of intellectual suspense? It is a mistake to suppose that intellectuality necessarily makes for suspended judgments. The intellect craves certitude. It takes effort to keep it supple and pliable. In a time of danger and disaster we jump desperately for some dogma to cling to. The time comes, if we try to hold out, when our nerves are sick with fatigue, and we seize in a great healing wave of release some doctrine that can immediately be translated into action. Neutrality meant suspense, and so it became the object of loathing to frayed nerves. The vital myth of the League of Peace provides a dogma to jump to. With war the world becomes motor again and speculation is brushed aside like cobwebs. The blessed emotion of self-defense intervenes too, which focused millions in Europe. A few keep up a critical pose after war is begun, but since they usually advise action which is in one-to-one correspondence with what the mass is already doing, their criticism is little more than a rationalization of the common emotional drive.
The results of war on the intellectual class are already apparent. Their thought becomes little more than a description and justification of what is going on. They turn upon any rash one who continues idly to speculate. Once the war is on, the conviction spreads that individual thought is helpless, that the only way one can count is as a cog in the great wheel. There is no good holding back. We are told to dry our unnoticed and ineffective tears and plunge into the great work. Not only is everyone forced into line, but the new certitude becomes idealized. It is a noble realism which opposes itself to futile obstruction and the cowardly refusal to face facts. This realistic boast is so loud and sonorous that one wonders whether realism is always a stern and intelligent grappling with realities. May it not be sometimes a mere surrender to the actual, an abdication of the ideal through a sheer fatigue from intellectual suspense? The pacifist is roundly scolded for refusing to face the facts, and for retiring into his own world of sentimental desire. But is the realist, who refuses to challenge or criticise facts, entitled to any more credit than that which comes from following the line of least resistance? The realist thinks he at least can control events by linking himself to the forces that are moving. Perhaps he can. But if it is a question of controlling war, it is difficult to see how the child on the back of a mad elephant is to be any more effective in stopping the beast than is the child who tries to stop him from the ground. The ex-humanitarian, turned realist, sneers at the snobbish neutrality, colossal conceit, crooked thinking, dazed sensibilities, of those who are still unable to find any balm of consolation for this war. We manufacture consolations here in America while there are probably not a dozen men fighting in Europe who did not long ago give up every reason for their being there except that nobody knew how to get them away.
But the intellectuals whom the crisis has crystalized into an acceptance of war have put themselves into a terrifying strategic position. It is only on the craft, in the stream, they say, that one has any chance of controlling the current forces for liberal purposes. If we obstruct, we surrender all power for influence. If we responsibly approve, we then retain our power for guiding. We will be listened to as responsible thinkers, while those who obstructed the coming of war have committed intellectual suicide and shall be cast into outer darkness. Criticism by the ruling powers will only be accepted from those intellectuals who are in sympathy with the general tendency of the war. Well, it is true that they may guide, but if their stream leads to disaster and the frustration of national life, is their guiding any more than a preference whether they shall go over the right-hand or the left-hand side of the precipice? Meanwhile, however, there is comfort on board. Be with us, they call, or be negligible, irrelevant. Dissenters are already excommunicated. Irreconcilable radicals, wringing their hands among the debris, become the most despicable and impotent of men. There seems no choice for the intellectual but to join the mass of acceptance. But again the terrible dilemma arises, – either support what is going on, in which case you count for nothing because you are swallowed in the mass and great incalculable forces bear you on; or remain aloof, passively resistant, in which case you count for nothing because you are outside the machinery of reality.
Is there no place left then, for the intellectual who cannot yet crystallize, who does not dread suspense, and is not yet drugged with fatigue? The American intellectuals, in their preoccupation with reality, seem to have forgotten that the real enemy is War rather than imperial Germany. There is work to be done to prevent this war of ours from passing into popular mythology as a holy crusade. What shall we do with leaders who tell us that we go to war in moral spotlessness, or who make “democracy” synonymous with a republican form of government? There is work to be done in still shouting that all the revolutionary by-products will not justify the war, or make war anything else than the most noxious complex of all the evils that afflict men. There must be some to find no consolation whatever, and some to sneer at those who buy the cheap emotion of sacrifice. There must be some irreconcilables left who will not even accept the war with walrus tears. There must be some to call unceasingly for peace, and some to insist that the terms of settlement shall be not only liberal but democratic. There must be some intellectuals who are not willing to use the old discredited counters again and to support a peace which would leave all the old inflammable materials of armament lying about the world. There must still be opposition to any contemplated “liberal” world-order founded on military coalitions. The “irreconcilable” need not be disloyal. He need not even be “impossibilist.” His apathy towards war should take the form of a heightened energy and enthusiasm for the education, the art, the interpretation that make for life in the midst of the world of death. The intellectual who retains his animus against war will push out more boldly than ever to make his case solid against it. The old ideals crumble; new ideals must be forged. His mind will continue to roam widely and ceaselessly. The thing he will fear most is premature crystallization. If the American intellectual class rivets itself to a “liberal” philosophy that perpetuates the old errors, there will then be need for “democrats” whose task will be to divide, confuse, disturb, keep the intellectual waters constantly in motion to prevent any such ice from ever forming.
Updates on Libyan war
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Operation Odyssey Dawn: U.S. Leads Onslaught Against Libya
Libya: French Warplane Downed, Civilians Killed
U.S. Fires Over 100 Cruise Missiles: West Bombs Civilian Targets, Oil Depots In Libya
Venezuela Calls For End To Western Attack On Libya
NATO’s First African War
French Warplanes Begin Libyan War, Aircraft Carrier On Way
U.S. Launches Cruise Missile Attacks Inside Libya
Russia Deplores Foreign Military Action In Libya
NATO Nations Begin War Against Libya
Sarkozy: French Warplanes To Intervene In Benghazi
Britain Moves Warplanes Into Libyan War Theater
U.S. To Launch Missile Attacks On Libya Today
Mediterranean Sea: Italy Positions At Least Five Warships For Libya Operations
NATO Completes Comprehensive Plan For War In Libya
Libya: Fourth Target Of Western Military Attacks In 12 Years
Moscow: Police Break Up Anti-War Demo Outside NATO Mission
Following Summit, Western Attack On Libya Can Begin In Days
Libya: NATO Seeks Multinational Camouflage, Mulls Ground Operations
Report: Turkish F-16s To Participate In NATO Assault On Libya
Spain Provides Air Bases, Submarine For NATO Attack On Libya
Video/Text: U.S. Duplicity On Libya Versus Bahrain, Yemen And Pakistan
Yemen: Tanks Deployed After Government Snipers Kill 51 Protesters
NATO Representative For South Caucasus And Central Asia Cancels Trip To Caucasus To Coordinate North Africa Operations
John Kerry: U.S., NATO Must Take “Robust Action” Against Libya
NATO Speeds Up Planning For Action Against Libya
“NATO Willing To Implement No Fly Zone” Over Libya
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Operation Odyssey Dawn: U.S. Leads Onslaught Against Libya
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63225
U.S. Department of Defense
March 19, 2011
Coalition Launches Operation Odyssey Dawn
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON: Coalition forces launched “Operation Odyssey Dawn” today to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973….
[O]fficials said…that the coalition…wants to degrade the ability of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime to resist a no-fly zone being implemented.
U.S. military forces are on the leading edge of the coalition operation, taking out Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system, Defense Department officials said. The ordnance is aimed at radars and anti-aircraft sites around the capital of Tripoli and other facilities along the Mediterranean coast.
Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear aboard the command ship USS Mount Whitney. The Mount Whitney joins 24 other ships from Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom and France in launching the operation.
Cruise missiles from U.S. submarines and frigates began the attack on the anti-aircraft system. A senior defense official speaking on background said the attacks will “open up the environment so we could enforce the no-fly zone from east to west throughout Libya.”
In addition to the cruise missiles, the United States will provide command and control and logistics. American airmen and sailors also will launch electronic attacks against the systems.
The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada already have announced that they are part of the coalition. Officials expect Arab countries will publicly announce their participation soon.
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Libya: French Warplane Downed, Civilians Killed
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47676819.html
Voice of Russia
March 19, 2011
French warplane shot down in Libya
Libyan air defenders have shot down a French warplane outside the nation’s capital Tripoli. The US, Britain, France, Italy and Canada are taking part in the ongoing military operation and Spain is to join in shortly.
Coalition forces have already fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Libyan air defense installations and delivered numerous airstrikes on civilian sites in Tripoli and other big sites and oil reservoirs in Misrata.
There’ve been reports of many civilians already killed and injured.
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Venezuela Calls For End To Western Attack On Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/20/47676469.html
Voice of Russia
March 19, 2011
Venezuela’s Chavez condemns Libya airstrikes
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez demands an end to the international military operation in Libya where he says the US and its European partners are pursuing their own goals.
The military intervention in Libya came on Saturday following an emergency summit in Paris called by President Nicolas Sarkozy. The western warplanes and missiles are targeting Col. Gaddafi’s forces outside the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi.
Meanwhile, Libyan state television reports massive airstrikes on civilian installations in Tripoli, Misrata, Benghazi and Zawiya.
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U.S. Fires Over 100 Cruise Missiles: West Bombs Civilian Targets, Oil Depots In Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110319/163099898.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 19, 2011
Western aviation pounds civilian targets, oil depots in Libya – media
Cairo: Western aircraft are bombarding civilian objects in the Libyan city of Tripoli, the Libyan Al Jamahiriya satellite TV channel said on Saturday.
Other Libyan media reported that oil depots near the city of Misrat were pounded. “The whole region is in jeopardy of fires,” the Libyan news agency Jana said.
On Thursday the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Libya. Paris has taken the leading role in coordinating the world’s response to the tumult. U.S., British and French military have all launched strikes….
Around 20 French Rafale and Mirage warplanes were sent to patrol the skies over the city of Benghazi. Since the beginning of the push, the French aviation has destroyed four government tanks in the neighborhoods of the rebellious city.
British forces are in action over Libya, Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed….
A U.S. warship has fired over 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Gaddafi’s air defense sites, U.S. Admiral William Gortney said. The U.S. operation is named “Odyssey Dawn”.
Countries including Canada, Denmark, Spain and Norway have sent jets to Libya, while Italy said it would permit the use of airbases such as Sigonella in Sicily and Aviano in the north to launch sorties.
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NATO’s First African War
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/uk-libya-paris-berlusconi-idUKTRE72I3BX20110319
Reuters
March 19, 2011
Berlusconi says offered NATO base for Libya operation
PARIS: Italy has proposed using a NATO base at the southern city of Naples as the command centre for a coordinated military intervention by allied powers in Libya, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday.
“I have proposed that the military coordination of the operation be in the NATO base at Naples,” Berlusconi told reporters after a meeting of world powers in Paris to plan a U.N.-mandated operation against Muammar Gaddafi’s troops. He said Italy’s military could also participate at a later stage.
“For the time being we are making the bases available, but if they request it, even military intervention (is possible),” he said.
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Writing Catherine Bremer; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/19/47675494.html
Voice of Russia
March 19, 2011
US missiles hit targets in Libya
US military officials have confirmed the first American Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired at targets inside Libya from ships in the Mediterranean Sea.
The move is the first direct U.S. involvement in the international operation, meant to end attacks by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on opposition strongholds and enforce a U.N.-backed no-fly zone.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/19/47675313.html
Voice of Russia
March 19, 2011
French jets knock out 4 Gaddafi tanks
French warplanes destroyed four Libyan tanks in the eastern city of Benghazi, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday evening.
The attack came shortly after a first strike on Libyan territory by France….
The decision to intervene militarily in the Libyan conflict was made by representatives of the EU, the Arab League, the US, Canada and other countries who were meeting in Paris on Saturday.
….
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French Warplanes Begin Libyan War, Aircraft Carrier On Way
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16065661&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 19, 2011
French Air Force destroys first target in Libya
PARIS: The French Air Force has destroyed the first target in Libya, the French Defence Ministry said on Saturday, March 19.
“A first target was engaged and destroyed,” ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire said.
French Air Force planes started delivering air strikes in Libya at 1645 GMT.
About 20 French planes are involved in the coalition operation in an area of 100 to 150 kilometres around Benghazi.
The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will head from its base in Toulon to Libya on Sunday, March 20.
British military planes will keep patrolling the sky over Libya in the next several hours, the BBS reported.
And the United States will provide unique military possibilities for the coalition forces in Libya, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
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U.S. Launches Cruise Missile Attacks Inside Libya
Fox News
March 19, 2011
U.S. Launches Cruise Missiles Against Qaddafi’s Air Defenses
-Warplanes from the United States, Canada, Denmark arrived at Italian air bases Saturday as part of an international military buildup. Germany backed the operation but isn’t offering its own forces.
The U.S. Navy fires the first U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles against Libyan leader’s Muammar al-Qaddafi’s air defenses Saturday, a military source tells Fox News.
The U.S. military strikes clear the way for European and other planes to enforce a no-fly zone designed to ground Qaddafi’s air force…U.S. officials said.
Hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attended an international conference in Paris that endorsed military action against Qaddafi, the U.S. was poised to kick off its attacks on Libyan air defense missile and radar sites along the Mediterranean coast….
French fighter jets fired the first shots at Qaddafi’s troops on Saturday, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat. The French military says warplanes have carried out four air strikes, destroying several armored vehicles of pro-Qaddafi forces, according to AFP.
….
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after an emergency summit in Paris that French jets were already targeting Qaddafi’s forces….
Saturday’s emergency meeting involved 22 leaders and top officials, including Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. It was the largest international military action since the beginning of the Iraq war, launched almost exactly eight years ago.
Earlier Saturday, a plane was shot down over the outskirts of Benghazi, sending up a massive black cloud of smoke. An Associated Press reporter saw the plane go down in flames and heard the sound of artillery and crackling gunfire.
Before the plane went down, journalists heard what appeared to be airstrikes from it. Rebels cheered and celebrated at the crash, though the government denied a plane had gone down — or that any towns were shelled on Saturday.
….
At a news conference in the capital, Tripoli, the government spokesman read letters from Qaddafi to Obama and others involved in the international effort.
“Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans. The Security Council resolution is invalid,” he said in the letter to Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
To Obama, the Libyan leader was slightly more conciliatory: “If you had found them taking over American cities with armed force, tell me what you would do.”
….
Italy, which had been the main buyer for Libyan oil, offered the use of seven air and navy bases already housing U.S., NATO and Italian forces to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya.
Italy’s defense minister, Ignazio La Russa, said Saturday that Italy wasn’t just “renting out” its bases for others to use but was prepared to offer “moderate but determined” military support.
A French fighter jet fired Saturday on a Libyan military vehicle, the first reported offensive action in the international military operation against Qaddafi’s forces, French Defense Ministry spokesman Thierry Burkhard said.
Warplanes from the United States, Canada, Denmark arrived at Italian air bases Saturday as part of an international military buildup. Germany backed the operation but isn’t offering its own forces.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the summit: “The time for action has come, it needs to be urgent.”
====
Russia Deplores Foreign Military Action In Libya
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=230018
Interfax
March 19, 2011
Russia deplores intl military action in Libya
MOSCOW: Russia deplored international military action against Libya’s regime of Muammar Gaddafi that was launched on Saturday and is based on “the hastily passed Resolution 1973 of the UN Security Council.”
“This armed action with reference to the hastily passed Resolution 1973 of the UN Security Council is deplored in Moscow,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
“We again urge all the parties in Libya and the military operation participants to do everything possible to avoid sufferings among civilians, achieve a ceasefire and put an end to violence as soon as possible,” he said.
“We demand exhaustive measures to ensure the security of foreign diplomatic missions and their personnel. We specially insist on the immunity of the Russian Embassy in Tripoli and Russian nationals in Libya, something that has already been the subject of representations by Russia,” Lukashevich said.
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NATO Nations Begin War Against Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/19/c_13788023.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 19, 2011
Military action to be launched against Libya
PARIS: Top leaders from the United States, Europe and the Arab world on Saturday announced the start of military action against Libyan government forces.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after an emergency summit in Paris that France has already taken military action against Libya.
Sarkozy said “our determination is total.”
The leaders decided to carry out “all necessary measures, including military” to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution that imposed a no-fly zone over Libya and authorized all necessary measures to protect Libyan civilians.
“We are determinded to take all necessary action, including military, consistent with UNSCR 1973, to ensure compliance with all its requirements,” according to a statement issued after the summit.
….
A French official said Mirage and Rafale fighters were flying over the eastern city of Benghazi and could strike tanks of the Libyan military.
The Paris summit was attended by Sarkozy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and some other world leaders.
Earlier, several French reconnaissance planes were flying over Libya, a French military source said.
The warplanes took off in the afternoon from their base in eastern France. The reconnaissance mission will last all Saturday afternoon and the planes encountered no problems after overflying Libyan territory several hours.
Earlier Saturday, Libyan government forces stormed into the rebel capital of Benghazi, apparently ignoring a proclaimed cease-fire and potentially complicating any allied military action.
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Sarkozy: French Warplanes To Intervene In Benghazi
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110319/163096839.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 19, 2011
Sarkozy: French air forces thwart Gaddafi’s attacks on Benghazi
Paris: French air forces are defending the rebellious Libyan city of Benghazi from the troops loyal to strongman Muammar Gaddafi, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday.
Paris has taken the leading role in coordinating the world’s response to the tumult in Libya and takes efforts to halt Gaddafi’s attacks on the poorly armed rebel forces.
“At unity with our partners our air forces will counteract any attacks from Col. Gaddafi planes on…Benghazi. Other French aircraft are ready to countervail against armored vehicles which may threaten civilians,” Sarkozy said after the completion of international meeting dedicated to the situation in Libya which was held in Elysee Palace.
….
NATO members Britain, Denmark, Spain and Canada, along with the United States, have also pledged planes to a mission over Libya, while Qatar said it would participate in the plan. The allies have already geared up for Libya push.
….
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Britain Moves Warplanes Into Libyan War Theater
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 19, 2011
Britain redeploys aircraft to Mediterranean ahead of Libya mission
London: Britain on Saturday began to redeploy military aircraft to the Mediterranean in anticipation of a military campaign over Libya, the BBC reported.
The campaign would include Tornado bombers and Eurofighter jets, as well as Nimrod surveillance aeroplanes and VC tankers, reported the broadcaster.
Military experts assume that the Tornado bombers will be called into service in case of a conflict over Libya. The bomber’s precision weapons could be used to weaken ground-based targets such as anti-aircraft systems or to block Libyan troops from attacking rebel forces.
Eurofighter jets would probably prove superior over Libyan jets if it came to a fight over Libyan airspace. However, it remained unclear how many aircraft Britain would be able to send into any potential fray.
Possible bases for any Libyan action include southern France, southern Italy, Cyprus and Malta.
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U.S. To Launch Missile Attacks On Libya Today
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7480614.html
Associated Press
March 19, 2011
Officials: US missile attack on Libya prepared
By Robert Burns
WASHINGTON: The U.S. prepared to a launch a missile attack on Libyan air defenses…according to two U.S. officials familiar with the unfolding intervention.
….
An attack against those defenses with Navy sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles was planned for later Saturday, one official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military operations.
The official said that depending on how Libyan forces responded to initial intervention by the French and others, the U.S. could launch additional attacks in support of allied forces. The intention was to leave it to other nations to patrol a no-fly zone over Libya once air defenses are silenced, the official said.
….
Clinton said “unique” American military capabilities will be brought to bear in support of the coalition, and she reiterated Obama’s pledge on Friday that no U.S. ground forces would get involved. She was not more specific about U.S. involvement.
….
Among the U.S. Navy ships in the Mediterranean were two guided-missile destroyers, the USS Barry and USS Stout, as well as two amphibious warships, the USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce, and a command-and-control ship, the USS Mount Whitney. The submarine USS Providence was also in the Mediterranean.
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Mediterranean Sea: Italy Positions At Least Five Warships For Libya Operations
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
March 19, 2011
LIBYA: 5 ITALIAN NAVY SHIPS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
Rome: At least 5 Italian Navy ships are preparing for a possible military intervention in the Mediterranean.
The destroyer Andrea Doria, which specialises in anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence, is currently in the Strait of Sicily alongside the naval replenishment and logistic support ship Etna which leads the NATO Standing Maritime Group.
The patrol ship Libra is sailing towards the Libyan coasts, while the frigate Euro is acting as a support unit.
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NATO Completes Comprehensive Plan For War In Libya
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 19, 2011
NATO preparing military action plan against Gaddafi
-According to diplomats, NATO would first attempt to destroy Gaddafi’s radar and air defences.
A second goal may be to stop from the air the advance eastwards of Gaddafi’s ground forces.
Brussels: NATO was Saturday putting together a comprehensive plan of military action against the regime of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi at a meeting in Brussels – even though its mandate does not yet got that far, according to a NATO diplomat.
Ambassadors of the 28 member nations of the alliance were mulling the details of a military mission to curb the Gaddafi regime.
‘This is a huge operation, which must be minutely planned. We want to be ready to go when necessary,’ said one diplomat.
The NATO talks are expected to go on all weekend, and focus on the no-fly zone and the arms embargo.
There is no authorization as yet for air strikes against Gaddafi’s ground forces.
It is unclear which countries will participate in the no-fly zone. French planes have already begun missions, with Britain likely to join them. Italy has said it will provide military airports.
The discussions are focussing on the logistics of the military means – aircraft and weaponry – and the exact goals of the mission.
According to diplomats, NATO would first attempt to destroy Gaddafi’s radar and air defences.
A second goal may be to stop from the air the advance eastwards of Gaddafi’s ground forces.
Air cover would need to be provided out of Cyprus, Sicily and possibly some aircraft carriers, such as the French ‘Charles de Gaulle.’
Belgium has already pledged the use of six F16 fighter-bombers. ‘The end of the Gaddafi regime is the absolute priority – a regime that is killing its own citizens,’ Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme told Belgian radio RTBF on Saturday.
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Libya: Fourth Target Of Western Military Attacks In 12 Years
http://rt.com/politics/libya-russia-security-council-un/
RT
March 18, 2011
Russia warns of “full-scale military action” following Security Council vote on Libya
Robert Bridge
-“We must not forget how NATO and US aircraft bombed Yugoslavia, and that is not the only precedent. Libya may become the fourth country in 12 years to be threatened with direct military foreign interference after Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.”
-“Responsibility for inevitable humanitarian consequences caused by excessive use of outside force in the Libyan situation would be fully born by those who resorted to such actions….They potentially open the door for a large-scale military intervention.”
-“The imposition of a no-fly zone is a military operation. It envisions attacks on aerodromes and air defense systems, not just a ban of flying.”
Following a decision by the UN Security Council to take “all necessary measures” against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Russian politicians and experts are warning of further destabilization in the region.
The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to impose a no-fly zone, which includes the possible use of military force, against pro-Gaddafi forces.
Presently, the Libyan strongman’s military is successfully beating back a large anti-government uprising, and is in the process of consolidating his forces around Benghazi, a city to the north where the “interim Libyan government” is penned in.
Diplomats said the resolution, which was written in the eleventh hour of the Libyan conflict, allows for a wide range of actions, including strikes on air-defense systems and missile attacks from ships.
Indeed, full-blown military activity could commence “within hours,” they said.
Russia and four other council members – China, Germany, Brazil and India – abstained from the vote.
Will outside interference aggravate situation?
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian Liberal Democratic Party leader and State Duma vice speaker says the Security Council resolution does not bode well for the prospects of peace in the region.
“The consequences will be extremely negative,” the LDPR leader said at a press conference at Interfax on Friday, adding that the resolution is “a symptom of preparations for a full-scale military operation.”
The outspoken Russian politician, who is known for his loaded language, drew parallels between yesterday’s Security Council vote and past military actions undertaken on the part of NATO and the United States military.
“We must not forget how NATO and US aircraft bombed Yugoslavia, and that is not the only precedent,” Zhirinovsky warned. “Libya may become the fourth country in 12 years to be threatened with direct military foreign interference after Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.”
He said the international community should understand the danger of such interference “on the pretext of protecting peaceful Libyans.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said the blame for “humanitarian consequences” following any military action will be on the shoulders of those involved in such operations.
“Responsibility for inevitable humanitarian consequences caused by excessive use of outside force in the Libyan situation would be fully born by those who resorted to such actions,” Churkin told reporters following the Security Council vote.
The Russian ambassador warned that some provisions of the resolution may result in a large-scale use of force.
“They potentially open the door for a large-scale military intervention,” Churkin said. “During our discussion, assurances were voiced about the absence of such intentions. We take them into account.”
The ambassador added that no explanations were provided as to how the no-fly zone would be enforced and “what will be the rules and limits of the use of force.”
Asserting that Russia did not veto the resolution as it was “guided by the necessity to protect civilians and by general humanitarian values,” he remained convinced that “an immediate ceasefire is the shortest way to reliable security of the peaceful population and long-term stabilization in Libya.”
With no details as to how the Security Council will organize a military response against Gaddafi, military experts are waiting to hear from NATO, which is convening a meeting in Brussels on Friday to discuss the issue.
A diplomatic source in the Russian mission to NATO told Interfax that the meeting is the first such meeting since the adoption of the resolution and “it is better to refrain from making any predictions.”
Meanwhile, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolai Makarov has ruled out the possibility of Russia’s involvement in a military operation against Libya.
“No, that is out of the question,” he told Interfax on Friday.
A “lesson” for would-be proliferators of WMD?
Finally, military involvement on the part of international forces may play into the hands of violators of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction regime, Alexei Arbatov, the head of the International Security Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with Interfax.
“An attack against Libya would be a gift for all violators of the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Arbatov said. “If Libya becomes an object of a military operation, it will lead some countries to believe that no one would think of threatening Gaddhafi with a military operation now if he had not voluntarily given up his nuclear program several years ago.”
“The imposition of a no-fly zone is a military operation,” he said. “It envisions attacks on aerodromes and air defense systems, not just a ban of flying.”
Arbatov predicted that any military action taken against Libya will be watched carefully by certain states that are now borderline pariah states, at least as far as the United States, and some other governments, is concerned
“This will lead Iran, Syria, and some other countries violating the non-proliferation regime to make a new powerful step towards obtaining nuclear weapons,” the expert said.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi officially halted the development of weapons of mass destruction programs in December 2003, a move that temporarily restored his reputation in the eyes of the global community.
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Moscow: Police Break Up Anti-War Demo Outside NATO Mission
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=229997
Interfax
March 19, 2011
Police thwart Moscow demo against anti-Gaddafi strikes – activist
MOSCOW: Police on Saturday thwarted a demonstration by a Russian opposition party outside the NATO mission in Moscow against a planned international military action against the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the party’s coordinator said.
“A team from the Yakimanka [police department] have just arrived and asked me and Dmitry Talantov to come with them in order to check criminal records,’ as they put it,” Sergei Udaltsov, coordinator of the Left Front, told Interfax. This “in effect derailed” the demonstration, Udaltsov said.
The demonstration near the building on Mytnaya Street had brought together about 20 Left Front activists, who were holding banners reading “NATO, hands off Libya” and “No to aggression against Libya.”
Udaltsov told Interfax before being detained by police that the demonstration was a series of one-person pickets and that police were not trying to disrupt it and “have confined themselves to writing down the content of the banners and the passport details of some of the activists.”
“We believe that any military intervention on the part of other states on Libyan territory is unacceptable without an international military investigation into the political situation in that country,” Udaltsov said.
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Following Summit, Western Attack On Libya Can Begin In Days
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/19/47648454.html
Voice of Russia
March 19, 2011
Military operations may begin within days in Libya
Western countries could launch a military operation in Libya a few hours after an international meeting devoted to the Libyan crisis, which is due to be held today in Paris according to France’s UN representative Gerard Aro in an interview with the BBC.
“On Saturday we will hold a summit in Paris, bringing together all the major countries that will participate in operations and diplomatic efforts. I think it would be a good time to give a last warning” ITAR-TASS quotes him as saying.
The meeting will be attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, representatives of the European Union, Arab League and African Union.
The UN will be represented by its Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.
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Libya: NATO Seeks Multinational Camouflage, Mulls Ground Operations
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16064682&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 19, 2011
Air force operation in Libya prepared by individual countries
BRUSSELS: An international air force operation against Libya is being prepared by individual countries. NATO will only help them with military planning and will coordinate their actions, a high-ranking military expert in Brussels told Itar-Tass on Saturday.
“Most countries share the opinion of France that an armed intervention of NATO in the Arab world would be very much undesirable. An ability to take action, using the forces of the leading European countries and the United States, with the support of some Arab countries, is coming to the forefront today. This model will actively use NATO’s potential in military planning and the coordination of actions of participants in the coalition, but officially the operation will be conducted under the command of Paris or London, and not of Brussels (the NATO Headquarters or Mons [Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe – SHAPE]),” the source said.
At the same time, forecasting a possibility of “the ground component part” of the operation, if air strikes at Libya do not make Gaddafi resign, the source did not rule out a situation, in which NATO would have to take the operation under its control. He stressed that a possibility of a ground operation was being considered, but it is still regarded as highly undesirable for all the NATO countries.
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Report: Turkish F-16s To Participate In NATO Assault On Libya
PanArmenian.net
March 19, 2011
Turkey may participate in NATO’s military operations in Libya
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held negotiations with the representatives of the Libyan opposition in Ankara. Cessation of riots in Libya was on the negotiations agenda. Besides, Libyan rebels hope that Turkey will be able to persuade Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to stop military actions against the opposition, TRT reported.
Meanwhile, according to Sabah, Turkey has altered its position, agreeing to be involved in NATO operations in Libya.
In case of Gaddafi’s continued hostilities against the rebels, F-16 Turkish jets will probably participate in military operations.
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Spain Provides Air Bases, Submarine For NATO Attack On Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/19/c_13787965.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 19, 2011
Spain expected to join NATO no-fly zone enforcement over Libya
MADRID: Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is expected to confirm Spain’s contribution of two air force bases at a summit in Paris to discuss the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya Saturday.
The no-fly zone resolution was passed early Friday at the U.N. Security Council.
Spain, which already has a patrol boat and a submarine stationed off the coast of Libya, offered NATO two air-force bases on Friday in the south of the country for any military operation against the north African country.
This Saturday’s meeting in Paris is hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and will be attended by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, representatives of the Arab League and the African Union as well as the leaders of UAE and Qatar.
The Spanish leader also met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday at his official residence in the Palacio de Moncloa.
In their joint press conference afterwards Zapatero took a tough line against Gadaffi, saying “the international community is not going to allow itself to be deceived by the Libyan regime and is going to verify the (U.N.) resolution with all means in its power.”
Both Zapatero and Ban Ki-moon described the U.N. Security Council resolution as “historic,” while Ban added he was grateful for Spain’s efforts in ending the crisis in Libya.
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Video/Text: U.S. Duplicity On Libya Versus Bahrain, Yemen And Pakistan
http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-libya-neglects-bahrain-yemen/
RT
March 18, 2011
US focuses on Libya, neglects abuses elsewhere
Libya declared a cease-fire following a UN vote which authorized a no-fly zone and “all necessary measures” to prevent the government from attacking its people. However, the measure does nothing to address violence in Bahrain, Yemen or elsewhere.
While the next few moves appear uncertain in Libya, recent US drone air strikes in Pakistan killed 40 civilians and at least 50 people were killed when Yemeni security forces opened fire on an anti-government protest following Muslim prayers.
….
The United Nations called the abuses in Bahrain “shocking and illegal” but the US-backed regime continued to wage a violent crackdown against anti-government protesters unrestrained by foreign governments.
Why has all the focus been on Libya when atrocities, some argued to be worse, have taken place elsewhere in the region.
Michel Chossudovsky, the director of the Center for Research on Globalization in Montréal, Canada said the system is full of double standards.
“They’ve killed more than a million people in Iraq, they can’t tell us they’re coming to the rescue of civilians. It’s absolute nonsense,” he said.
“The situation in Bahrain is very very serious,” Chossudovsky added. “There you have the [US Navy] Fifth Fleet and they didn’t intervene, they just let it happen.”
He explained that Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, are a part of the general coalition that works with the west and is actively supported by the US. There is a rise in factions and the west uses these states as part of their coalition to handle the “dirty work” in the region.
“What world public opinion must understand is we are on verge of a fourth war theater in North Africa,” Chossudovsky argued. “That means military intervention, and that means war and that means civilian casualties.”
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Yemen: Tanks Deployed After Government Snipers Kill 51 Protesters
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/19/c_13788007.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 19, 2011
Heavy troops deployed as death toll of protesters rises to 51 in Yemen
SANAA: Tanks and heavy security military forces flooded the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other major cities on Saturday, enforcing a state of emergency after Friday’s snipers killed 51 protesters.
An official of the Interior Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the forces have been deployed since Saturday dawn to enforce the 30-day state of emergency that was declared by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Ali al-Fakih, one of the organizers of Sanaa anti-government protests, told Xinhua that death toll from Friday’s snipers against the protesters rose to 51 till Saturday noon as other hundreds injured were still in critical conditions.
Al-Fakih also said that three more protesters were wounded by police gunshots in al-Moualla district in the souther port city of Aden.
Meanwhile, a republican decree was issued on Saturday to appoint Tariq Mohamed al-Shami as chairman of the state-run Saba news agency to replace Nasr Taha Mustafa, who declared his resignation in protests against what he described “Friday’s massacre against protesters in Sanaa.”
Tens of thousands of protesters reportedly took to the streets of the southern provinces of Ibb, Taiz, Aden, Hodayda and Hadramout on Saturday to condemn what they described “bloodbath by the security authorities against Sanaa’s peaceful protesters” and show support to the families of victims.
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NATO Representative For South Caucasus And Central Asia Cancels Trip To Caucasus To Coordinate North Africa Operations
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1848699.html
Trend News Agency
March 19, 2011
NATO Special Representative’s visits to Georgia and Armenia postponed
E. Ostapenko
Baku: NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai’s first visits to Tbilisi and Yerevan that were scheduled for next week were postponed due to developments in the North Africa.
“Unfortunately, Appathurai was forced to postpone his visit to Georgia and Armenia. The NATO Secretary General asked him to stay in Brussels to coordinate political operations to stabilize the situation in North Africa,” the NATO press service told Trend.
….
Following the adoption of UN Security Council resolution calling for the closure of airspace over Libya, the officials announced on Friday the cessation of all hostilities against the rebels.
The resolution imposes a ban on Libyan aircraft flights, and also provides for possible military action except the use of ground forces.
Appathurai will visit the South Caucasus at the first opportunity, since NATO attaches great importance to relations with the countries of the region.
Originally scheduled for March the visit was delayed due to certain technical grounds, NATO stressed.
Appathurai took the office in November 2010. He replaced Robert Simmons, who worked 7 years in this position.
The Special Representative is intended to support working contacts with regional leaders to develop the objectives of NATO in the region by contributing to regional security and further promoting cooperative programs of NATO.
NATO cooperates with the South Caucasus states – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia – in accordance with programs of the Partnership for Peace and Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), as well as Planning and Analysis Process. Those documents define the goals and intentions of NATO’s talks with the partner countries on reforms in the defense, security and military policy.
The cooperation of the South Caucasus with NATO is regarded as a step towards European integration and security and stability in the region.
====
John Kerry: U.S., NATO Must Take “Robust Action” Against Libya
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110318-711032.html
Wall Street Journal
March 18, 2011
US Must Be Prepared to Take Robust Action in Libya – Sen. Kerry
WASHINGTON: U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D, Mass.) on Friday added his voice to the chorus from U.S. officials that Col. Moammar Gadhafi must immediately implement a ceasefire or an international coalition will follow through with threats of military intervention.
Libya’s foreign minister Friday promised a ceasefire and said the country would abide by a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for military action against rebel-held towns suggest the fighting continues.
“If Qaddafi does not comply with the requirements of the U.N. resolution, we must be prepared to take robust action with our NATO partners and the Arab League to enforce it,” Kerry said in a statement.
His comments came shortly after he and other U.S. lawmakers met with President Barack Obama to discuss the situation in Libya….
–Sam Dagher contributed to this article.
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NATO Speeds Up Planning For Action Against Libya
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
March 18, 2011
LIBYA: NATO TO SPEED UP MILITARY ACTION PLANNING
Brussels: NATO member states have agreed to speed up planning for possible military action in Libya.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the ambassadors agreed to accelerate the military planning and to try to complete the process as soon as possible.
The decision to speed up the process seems to have been backed also by those nations that are less favourable to military action, such as Germany and Turkey. Rasmussen, however, pointed out that a final decision as to whether or not take military action has not yet been made.
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“NATO Willing To Implement No Fly Zone” Over Libya
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2011
NATO “consensus” on Libya no-fly zone
Brussels: NATO nations are ready to police a no-fly zone over Libya, but the details of how that military action will be implemented still need to be decided, a diplomat said after a key meeting of the military alliance.
NATO ambassadors held talks in Brussels in the wake of the United Nations Security Council approving late Thursday a resolution authorising the no-fly zone and the use of military force to enforce it.
‘We see a consensus that NATO will be willing to implement the no-fly zone but it is still unclear how partners will participate in it,’ the diplomat told the German Press Agency dpa.
The source indicated that NATO ambassadors were expected to hold further discussions over the weekend.
Earlier, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Friday’s talks had been convened ‘to discuss the implications of the resolution and advance planning for all eventualities.’
….
On Friday, Belgium said it was ready to contribute to a NATO military operation with six F16 fighter jets and a mine-sweeping vessel, while Spain announced it would allow the use the Rota and Moron military bases in the south of the country.
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Stop NATO News March 19, 2011
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1. U.S. Congress Backs Obama’s Long-Term Afghan War Strategy
2. NATO Says It Backs Action Against Libya
3. Azerbaijan: NATO Expands Influence In South Caucasus
4. Russia Warns Against Military Intervention In Libya
5. NATO Could Strike Libyan Military In Hours: Spokesman
6. Denmark, Norway To Supply NATO Warplanes For Libya Operation
7. NATO Says Conditions Met For Military Action
8. Pakistan Summons U.S. Ambassador Over Deadly Missile Strike
9. Russia To Protect Diplomats In Libya In Face Of NATO Intervention
10. NATO Intervention In Libya Could Trigger Major Conflict Between West And Arab World: Russian Parliamentarian
11. Italy Closes Embassy In Libya, Offers Seven Bases For NATO Attacks
12. Germany To Assume Other Tasks, Freeing Up NATO For Libya Intervention
13. Belgium Offers NATO Six F-16s, Warship For Libya Operation
14. Armenian Government To Preempt “Daffodil Revolution” Reprise
15. French Official: Military Strikes Against Libya In Hours
16. NATO Campaign Against Libya A Dangerous Precedent
17. Foreign Minister Bildt: Sweden Ready To Assist NATO In Libya
18. Greece To Allow Bases To Be Used For NATO Operations In Libya
19. NATO Command To Strengthen Integration With U.S. Joint Command
20. Video/Text: Bahrain Bleeds From American Bullets
21. Pakistan Boycotts U.S.-Afghan Talks Over Missile Deaths
22. U.S. Deploying More Warships To Mediterranean
23. Operation Ellamy: Britain Amasses Naval, Air Power For Libya Strikes
24. U.S. Submarine Crosses Suez, Joins Armada Off Libya
25. No-Fly Zone Paves Way For Cruise Missile, Drone Attacks
26. Italy: NATO Bases To Be Used For Attack On Libya
27. Canada To Deploy Six Warplanes For Action Against Libya
28. Qatar, United Arab Emirates To Join Air Strikes Against Libya
29. Egyptian Military Council Arms Libyan Insurgents
30. Russia: Libya No-Fly Zone Could Lead To Military Intervention
31. Senator Lieberman Congratulates Obama On Libya
32. Libya: British Warplanes To Fly From France, Cyprus And Possibly Egypt
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1. U.S. Congress Backs Obama’s Long-Term Afghan War Strategy
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/03/18/us-house-rejects-call-pull-out-afghanistan
Pajhwok Afghan News
March 18, 2011
US House rejects call to pull out of Afghanistan
by Lalit K Jha
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected a resolution calling for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan by year’s end, favouring President Barack Obama’s long-term war strategy.
Republicans and Democrats joining together favored Obama’s Afghan policy of drawdown beginning July 2011 and completing the transition by 2014.
“President Obama has announced his intention for a drawdown of our troops in Afghanistan beginning July of this year. I look forward to reviewing this course of action and will work with the President in Congress to ensure that all US troops are brought home safely and expeditiously,” Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, said after the resolution sponsored by Congressman Dennis Kucinich was defeated by the House.
As many as 321 Congressmen voted against the Kucinich resolution, which received support from just 93 lawmakers.
….
“To quit the area before we’ve rooted out the terrorists would not only hand al-Qaeda a propaganda victory of immeasurable value, but it would cede them a sanctuary from which they could mount fresh strikes at the West with virtual immunity. To withdraw from Afghanistan at this point, before we’ve finished the job, is to pave the way for the next 9/11,” said Congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in her speech on the floor of the House.
The defeat of such a resolution came a day after General David Petraeus, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told the House Armed Services Committee that the passage of a resolution mandating the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would be viewed as a “victory” by al-Qaeda and the terrorist organization’s patron, the Taliban.
General Petraeus, the commander of U.S. Forces—Afghanistan and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), also said passage of any such resolution would also “undermine” the efforts of US troops serving in Afghanistan.
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2. NATO Says It Backs Action Against Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110318/163074289.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 18, 2011
NATO says backs action against Gaddafi
Brussels: NATO backs a UN resolution authorizing military action against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, an alliance spokesperson said on Friday.
“The NATO Secretary General welcomes United Nations Security Council resolution 1973, which authorises all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian areas against ongoing violence by the Gaddafi regime,” spokesperson Oana Lungescu told reporters in Brussels.
She said NATO “stands ready to act as part of the broad international effort”….
The UN Security Council on Thursday voted in favor of a no-fly zone and air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, with five abstaining, including China, Russia and Germany.
Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, said Libya was “not afraid”, in comments carried by the ABC news channel. Gaddafi’s troops are reported to be closing in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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3. Azerbaijan: NATO Expands Influence In South Caucasus
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1848143.html
Trend News Agency
March 18, 2011
Special Representative: NATO believes in vivid dialogue with Azerbaijan on security issues
E. Ostapenko
Baku: NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai believes in a vivid dialogue with Azerbaijan on security issues and plans to discuss topics of common interest in Baku.
“NATO and Azerbaijan have a broad range of common interests,” Appathurai said in an interview with Trend. “I believe NATO and Azerbaijan should have a vibrant dialogue on security issues, as political developments are taking place at a quick pace these days.”
He said the sides should use this dialogue also to identify areas where NATO and Azerbaijan can develop further mutual cooperation.
Appathurai is expected to pay his first visit to Azerbaijan as the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus in June. Originally scheduled for March, the visit was delayed due on certain technical grounds, NATO stressed.
Appathurai took the office in November 2010. He replaced Robert Simmons, who worked for seven years in the position. The Special Representative is intended to support working contacts with regional leaders to develop the objectives of NATO in the region by contributing to regional security and further promoting cooperative programs of NATO.
….
Appathurai also hopes to attend a closing ceremony of the NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund project, implemented with the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Actions (ANAMA) over the past 5 years.
….
NATO cooperates with the South Caucasus states – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia – in accordance with programs of the “Partnership for Peace” and “Individual Partnership Action Plan” (IPAP), as well as the “Planning and Analysis Process.” Those documents define the goals and intentions of NATO’s talks with partner countries on reforms in the defense, security and military policy.
The cooperation of the South Caucasus with NATO is regarded as a step towards European integration and security and stability in the region.
Azerbaijan has been cooperating with NATO within the IPAP since 2005. The program was originally designed to last two years. Today, cooperation is held within the second phase of the Individual Partnership Action Plan between Azerbaijan and NATO, which covers 2008-2010.
Appathurai said the framework of NATO’s Individual Partnership Action Plan with Azerbaijan offers ample scope to do so, as it allows the two sides to set new concrete objectives every two years.
….
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4. Russia Warns Against Military Intervention In Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47609214.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
Russia warns against military intervention in Libya
Vladimir Fedoruk
The UN Security Council has authorized a no-fly zone over Libya to finally ground Muammar Gaddafi’s air force. Five of the 15 members, including Russia, abstained during the vote on a draft resolution. The approved document permits air strikes on ground targets, such as Libyan tanks, heavy artillery and infantry troops. Initial air raids on their positions may be carried out as early as Friday, March 18th. Moscow fears that this will prompt a large-scale military intervention.
The new resolution closes Libya’s air space to its own military aircraft to protect opposition-controlled areas from bombings by government forces. To this end, the UN has provided for the possibility of offensives by the international community, nevertheless precluding land operations. There was no real expectation about the vote’s being unanimous. China, Germany, India and Brazil abstained along with Russia. Our country’s envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin thus explained the decision:
“Unfortunately, work on this document was not in line with existing Security Council practices. In essence, a whole range of specific and absolutely logical questions concerning the maintenance of the no-fly zone regime and rules for the use of force raised by the Russian Federation and other Security Council members remained unanswered. The text included clauses paving the way for a large-scale military intervention,” Vitaly Churkin said.
In the course of debates on the draft resolution, a number of UN Security Council members assured those present of their not having such intentions. Having taken this into account, Vitaly Churkin, however, thought fit to give a warning to all those taken by the idea of using force to resolve the Libyan issues.
“The responsibility for the inevitable humanitarian consequences of the excessive use of outside force in Libya will fall fair and square on the shoulders of those who might undertake such action. If this comes to pass, then not only the civilian population of Libya but also the cause of upholding peace and security throughout the whole region of North Africa and the Middle East will suffer. It is necessary to avoid such destabilizing developments,” the Russian envoy to the UN warned.
Moscow has at the same time praised the resolution’s demands for an immediate ceasefire and the non-use of violence towards the civilian population in Libya.
“We consistently and firmly support the unconditional protection of civilians. In accordance with this essential principle and the humanitarian values it shares with the co-authors of the project and other Security Council members, Russia did not hamper the adoption. An immediate ceasefire is the shortest way to reliable security of the peaceful population and long-term stabilization in Libya,” the diplomat said.
Along with the earlier approved sanctions, the UN also ruled to freeze the assets of the North African country’s Central Bank and National Oil Company in western banks.
Actions to bar the Colonel’s air force from thee sky, which may start within the next few hours, will most likely involve France, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Canada and Norway are also ready to join in, whereas Italy voiced its readiness to make its military bases available to enforce the resolution. In the meantime, the Libyan military continues to deliver air strikes against the opposition. Three powerful explosions occurred in Benghazi while the draft resolution was being discussed in New York. Earlier, the government air force launched a missile attack on an airport 10 kilometers away from Benghazi.
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5. NATO Could Strike Libyan Military In Hours: Spokesman
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47608283.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
NATO poised for Libya airstrikes
NATO is prepared to launch an international aerial operation against Libya, says official spokesperson for the alliance Oana Lungescu.
According to her, there is an obvious need for such an operation, as well as firm regional support and legislative framework. Given these three conditions, NATO is prepared to strike, Lungescu said in a statement.
According to earlier reports, NATO may deliver airstrikes at Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s troops in the next few hours.
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6. Denmark, Norway To Supply NATO Warplanes For Libya Operation
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1848166.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2011
Norway, Denmark prepared to contribute to Libya operation
Norway and Denmark said Friday they were prepared to contribute to the no-fly zone operation approved by the UN Security Council, dpa reported.
Norwegian Defence Minister Grete Faremo and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Oslo was analyzing its contribution with other NATO allies.
At a joint news conference the two ministers said the Norwegian contribution could comprise F-16 fighter jets or transport planes as part of a humanitarian operation.
….
In Copenhagen, the ministers of defence and foreign affairs were to brief the Foreign Affairs Committee and seek approval for a Danish military contribution.
Defence Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech said Denmark aimed to contribute six F-16 jet fighters, of which four would take part in the operation and two serve as backup planes, and a transport plane.
Denmark was investigating where the planes would be based. Parliamentary approval was needed before they were actually deployed in upholding the no-fly zone, Bech said.
Both Scandinavian countries are members of NATO.
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7. NATO Says Conditions Met For Military Action
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703512404576208462846383944.html
Wall Street Journal
March 18, 2011
NATO Says Conditions Met for Military Action
By Stephen Fidler
BRUSSELS: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization decided Friday that conditions had been met for its involvement in military action against Libya, and said it would continue planning to this end.
The decision follows a United Nations Security Council resolution Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan citizens.
However, diplomats said the alliance had taken no formal decision to get involved, though a number of NATO countries, including France, Spain and Britain, have said they would. Meetings by the alliance’s decision making body — the North Atlantic Council, which comprises ambassadors to NATO from the alliance’s 28 member governments — would likely continue into the weekend.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO “is now completing planning in order to be ready to take appropriate action.”
Alliance defense ministers meeting last week set three conditions for NATO’s involvement in military action: a demonstrable need, a clear legal basis and support from the region. Planning continues on ways to provide humanitarian assistance, enforce an arms embargo and impose a no-fly zone, the diplomats said. Planning wasn’t complete on how to manage the no-fly zone, one diplomat said.
….
Military action could go ahead without a NATO agreement, but the organization has joint command and control and surveillance assets in the region that may allow the operation to be mounted more quickly.
====
8. Pakistan Summons U.S. Ambassador Over Deadly Missile Strike
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/18/c_13786692.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 18, 2011
Pakistan summons U.S. ambassador over civilian deaths
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday summoned the U.S. ambassador and lodged a protest over a drone strike which killed about 44 in the North Waziristan tribal region.
Two U.S. drone aircraft Thursday fired four missiles into North Waziristan at the participants of a jirga or tribal council, who had gathered to resolve a dispute over the sale of mines in the area.
“The U.S. ambassador, Cameron Munter, was summoned to the Foreign Office by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir in pursuance of the directives of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani,” the foreign ministry statement said.
“Ambassador Munter was categorically conveyed that such strikes were not only unacceptable but also constituted a flagrant violation of humanitarian norms and law,” it said.
“It was evident that the fundamentals of our relations need to be revisited. Pakistan should not be taken for granted nor treated as a client state. It was for the White House and the State Department to hold back those who have been trying to veer Pakistan-U.S. relationship away from the track,” the statement said.
Ambassador Munter was also conveyed that under the current circumstances, Pakistan would not be able to participate in the Trilateral meeting between Afghanistan-Pakistan-U.S., proposed by the U.S. in Brussels on March 26, 2011.
Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, was initially expected to participate in the Trilateral meeting.
“Ambassador Munter said that he understood clearly that this was not a pro forma demarche. He will rush to Washington to convey Pakistan’s message to the U.S. administration at the highest levels,” said the statement.
Thousands of people rallied on Friday in Miram Shah, the main city of North Waziristan, to condemn the drone attack and the speakers said that they would take revenge of the blood of innocent people.
Earlier, in a rare condemnation, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief General, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, condemned the U.S. drone aircraft strike in North Waziristan tribal agency resulting into loss of innocent lives.
====
9. Russia To Protect Diplomats In Libya In Face Of NATO Intervention
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110318/163081013.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 18, 2011
Medvedev urges security for Russian diplomats in Libya
Gorky: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told ministers on Friday that the government had to ensure the safety of Russian diplomats in Libya in the face of possible NATO intervention.
The UN Security Council has declared Libya a no-fly zone and supported “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in the country. On Friday morning, NATO said the alliance was ready for aerial strikes against Libya.
“We need to discuss this issue immediately and think about the security of our diplomats remaining in Libya,” Medvedev said.
Russia, a permanent, veto-wielding UN Security Council member, abstained from the vote.
Gaddafi initially reacted with fury to the UN resolution, but the Libyan authorities have since declared a ceasefire after several days of aerial bombing campaigns against rebellious eastern territories.
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10. NATO Intervention In Libya Could Trigger Major Conflict Between West And Arab World: Russian Parliamentarian
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16062041&PageNum=1
Itar-Tass
March 18, 2011
Intervention in Libya may trigger major West-Arab conflict
MOSCOW: External military intervention in Libya could provoke a major conflict between the West and the Arab world, the chairman of the Duma committee on international affairs Konstantin Kosachyov, said on Friday.
From now on the situation will largely depend on how Libya’s neighbors will behave. Kosachyov recalled that the UN Security Council resolution to close the airspace over Libya had been adopted at the request of the League of Arab States.
“But the question of military intervention was not raised in that appeal,” he stressed.
Therefore, the legislator did not rule out that air strikes on Libya, the necessity of which was mentioned by the leaders of France and Britain, might “spark a huge conflict between the so-called West and the so-called Arab world.”
On Thursday the UN Security Council by a majority vote adopted resolution 1973 on Libya, which approves the introduction of no-fly zones over the country and “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, which, in particular, provides for a complete ban on the movement of the Libyan military aircraft in the skies over the country under the threat of the use of force by the international community.
This means patrolling of Libya’s airspace by international forces and the possibility of precision strikes on air defenses and troops loyal to Gaddafi. British Prime Minister David Cameron has already said that Paris on Saturday will host an international meeting, which will aim to create a coalition of Western countries and the Arab world for carrying out a military operation in Libya in accordance with UN Security Council resolution.
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11. Italy Closes Embassy In Libya, Offers Seven Bases For NATO Attacks
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2011
Italy to close Tripoli embassy, support imposition of no-fly zone
Rome: Italy is to close its embassy in Tripoli and intends to support eventual UN and NATO efforts to impose a no-fly zone over Libya by offering the use of military bases on its territory, officials said Friday.
The announcement was made following an emergency cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss the adoption on Thursday by the UN Security Council of Resolution 1973, imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.
‘The first consequence for Italy of the UN Resolution on Libya is the closure of the Italian Embassy in Tripoli,’ Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said. He was addressing a parliamentary commission in Rome together with Defence Minster Ignazio La Russa.
Turkey has agreed to ‘look after Italian interests,’ in the North African nation, Frattini said. La Russa said that a plane carrying Italian embassy staff had already left Libya.
In recent weeks, Frattini ruled out any deployment of Italian troops in Libya due to Italy’s past as the country’s colonial master.
On Friday, La Russa said that the Italian government would ask parliament to authorize the country’s ‘adherence’ to any military coalition formed to enforce the UN no-fly zone.
He said the Italian government had already offered the use of seven air and naval bases, including a US air force facility in Aviano in north-eastern Italy.
He did not elaborate on what direct military role, if any, Italian forces would play, but said Italy ‘has a strong capacity to neutralize the radar systems of any hypothetical enemy.’
Meanwhile, Frattini said a second Italian military ship – the first one was deployed last week – would be sent with ‘aid but not arms,’ to the Libyan port of Benghazi, where forces opposing Moamer Gaddafi are still holding out.
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12. Germany To Assume Other Tasks, Freeing Up NATO For Libya Intervention
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608504576208523393738818.html
Wall Street Journal
March 18, 2011
Merkel Says Germany May Assume Other NATO Tasks
By BERND RADOWITZ
BERLIN: Germany abstained from the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for military action against Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime as it doesn’t want to take part in any military action, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday.
But the country may compensate for that by assuming other North Atlantic Treaty Organization to free up its resources for the Libya mission, Mrs. Merkel said in a briefing on Libya.
“We fully endorse the aims of the resolution. Our attitude can’t be mixed up with neutrality,” she said.
Germany’s foreign and defense ministers are in talks with NATO to see whether it could take over other tasks , Mrs. Merkel said.
She said one possibility would be that Germany helps with radar flights over Afghanistan by Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle earlier Friday had tried hard to avoid the impression that Germany is isolated among its Western allies. France, the U.S. and the U.K. had all voted in favor of the resolution. On Friday, Libya declared an immediate cease-fire in a response to the vote.
Mr. Westerwelle also said that Germany’s position was in line with that of other major countries, Brazil, India, Russia and China.
“I can assure you that we get respect for our position, also among our European partners, and that was expressed in talks yesterday,” he said at a briefing Friday morning.
Late Thursday, Mr. Westerwelle said that Germany supported U.N. measures for stricter sanctions against the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but was skeptical about military intervention.
“Here we see significant danger and risk. This is why we couldn’t vote in favor of this part of the resolution,” he said, adding that German soldiers won’t participate in any military deployment.
Mr. Westerwelle added Friday that Germany understands the “honorable motives” of those who opted for a military intervention, and that pressure on Col. Gadhafi needed to be stepped up considerably.
“This dictator must end his civil war, his war against his own people,” he said.
— Emese Bartha contributed to this article.
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13. Belgium Offers NATO Six F-16s, Warship For Libya Operation
Agence France-Presse
March 18, 2011
Belgium ready to intervene in Libya under NATO umbrella
Belgium is ready to take part in military action in Libya under a NATO umbrella with six F-16 fighter planes and a frigate, European Affairs Minister Olivier Chastel said Friday.
The government decided to “tell NATO that we are available, offer what we have and wait for a common command,” Chastel told reporters after a government meeting.
“Belgium has six F-16 jets currently stationed in Greece and a frigate in the Mediterranean” that could be used in a NATO mission, he said.
NATO ambassadors were meeting Friday to decide what role the 28-nation alliance may take after the UN Security Council approved military action to stop Moamer Kadhafi from wiping out rebels.
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14. Armenian Government To Preempt “Daffodil Revolution” Reprise
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/19/c_13786728.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 18, 2011
Armenia shuts down Liberty Square to avoid bloodshed
TBILISI: Armenian authorities on Friday shut down the Liberty Square in central Yerevan to avoid a possible duplication of the March 2008 bloodshed which occurred as a result of the clash between opposition demonstrators and law enforcement agents.
Sooner or later Liberty Square will be opened for rallies, a ruling party member of parliament told a press conference on Friday.
“The opening of the square is only a matter of time. As regards rallies in this territory, over the past three years they were banned to avoid the March 2008 scenario,” said Artak Davtyan, MP from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.
The MP also said that one should not be surprised at the fact that on March 17 the supporters of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) had been allowed to hold their rally on the square.
Former Armenian foreign minister Alexander Arzumanyan, now an ANC member, said on Friday that he was surprised by the comparatively soft behavior of the police toward the demonstrators on Thursday.
Hundreds of anti-riot police withdrew from the square to give way to demonstrators of the opposition party which held its rally on the square in downtown Yerevan.
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15. French Official: Military Strikes Against Libya In Hours
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/18/c_13786112.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 18, 2011
France says military action against Libya “within hours”
PARIS: Military action against Libya will come “within hours” and France will participate in the move, French government spokesman Francois Baroin told local media Friday morning.
The statement came only hours after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to authorize intervention, including a no-fly zone over the country.
“The military strikes against (Moammar) Gaddafi will take place quickly,” Baroin, who is also the budget minister, told RTL radio.
He said France, who led the calls for action, would “of course” be involved in the military operation.
….
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16. NATO Campaign Against Libya A Dangerous Precedent
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47629519.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
No-fly zone over Libya sets a dangerous precedent
Vladimir Fedoruk
NATO may launch an operation to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya already by Friday. The UN resolution adopted on the eve allows launching attacks on ground-based targets, including air defence systems, airports, tanks and land forces.
Reports say that the air forces of France, Britain, the U.S., Canada and other countries will take part in the operation. Italy said it would allow use of its military bases by its NATO partners.
Russia together with China, India, Brazil and Germany abstained from voting on the draft resolution. Experts express fear that an operation aimed at the capabilities of the Libyan air force loyal to Muammar Gaddafi could turn into a large-scale intervention. This will heighten tension in the region, says the head of the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Alexander Filonik.
“This will be a complicated operation that should neutralize the Libyan air defence systems and the air force, carry out bombardments on runways and destroy aircraft and helicopters,” says Alexander Filonik.
“NATO may restrict itself in principle to air and missile attacks on targets that are marked on their maps. However, Libya and its leader Muammar Gaddafi are unpredictable. Most likely, this will be a major military operation that will spread out to sea. Moreover, Gaddafi has threatened to launch attacks also on passenger planes and ships. However, I do not think that further worsening of the situation is in the interest of the Libyan leader. On the other hand, the capabilities of the Libyan army cannot compare to those of NATO,” Alexander Filonik said.
Despite the fact that there is the danger that the situation may develop according to a worst case scenario, the end justifies the means principle may come into play. The reason is that, the West has set the task of putting Libyan oil under its control, says an expert in Oriental studies at the Institute of Strategic Assessments and Analysis, Sergei Demidenko.
“Libya is a sweet piece of the pie for the international community and transnational corporations,” says Sergei Demidenko. “It’s seemed to be quite tempting to change the political regime in Libya and appoint a more obedient ruler to lead the country. This was not achieved swiftly, and more pressure will be exerted on the regime.
“It’s almost impossible to predict how Gaddafi will behave. At the same time, he is a talented politician in achieving compromises. I believe that he will try to resolve the situation diplomatically. Concerning NATO, it will hardly repeat its action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaddafi will be pressured by sanctions, an international embargo and political isolation. At the same time, the internal conflict will die down. In any case, any external interference will destabilize the situation in the entire region,” Sergei Demidenko said.
Experts do not exclude the possibility that continuing unrest in several countries in the Middle East may grow into protests against the attempts by the West to impose its values on the Arab world.
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17. Foreign Minister Bildt: Sweden Ready To Assist NATO In Libya
http://www.thelocal.se/32680/20110318/
The Local
March 18, 2011
Sweden open for NATO request on Libya: Bildt
Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt has welcomed the UN Security Council decision to authorise a no-fly zone and air attacks on civil war-torn Libya.
Bildt underlined that while Sweden has no current plans to assist in the operation, any NATO request would be considered.
“NATO must first take a decision and decide on its military contribution. We will then see if they (NATO) need to solicit other countries,” he explained.
While Bildt ruled out sending Swedish troops and participation in the military operation, he did not rule out some participation for Sweden in the longer term.
On his personal blog, Bildt expressed satisfaction that the council’s resolution had provided for more than just a no-fly zone….
UN Security Council Resolution 1973 cleared the way for military action against all threats to civilians, stopping short of a ground invasion but including aerial bombardment of Qaddafi’s forces on the ground if necessary.
Bildt expressed a hope for “rapid and robust measures” which would enable the establishment of the political phase of the raging Libya conflict.
“I hope that the measures which the Security Council resolution allows can lead to a political process which means a new Libya without Qaddafi,” he said.
….
While Sweden is not a NATO member, it has been a member of the NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and participates in the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan.
————————————-
http://www.swedishwire.com/politics/9022-sweden-backs-up-nato-request-on-libya
Swedish Wire
March 18, 2011
Sweden backs up NATO request on Libya
Sweden said Friday it supported the United Nations resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya but would only consider military action against the country in the event of a NATO request.
“Sweden takes decisions on committing its military troops independently. If we are asked, we will take a position,” Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told reporters.
“But NATO must first take a decision and decide on its military contribution. We will then see if they (NATO) need to solicit other countries,” he explained.
Bildt said Sweden – which is not a NATO member – welcomed the UN security council’s decision, taken late Thursday, to establish a no-fly zone over Libya.
The decision open cleared the way for air strikes that France said could come within hours.
Sweden has a long tradition of military non-alignment.
It has been a member of the NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and participates in the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan.
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18. Greece To Allow Bases To Be Used For NATO Operations In Libya
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_18/03/2011_383560
Kathimerini
March 18, 2011
Greece to let bases be used for NATO operations in Libya
-Two US KC-135 planes, known as Stratotankers, which are used for midair refueling, are already at Souda, as is an American C-130 plane and a French C-160 cargo plane.
Athens will let NATO forces use military bases in Greece for operations in Libya after the United Nations approved the imposition of a no-fly zone over the North African country, the government appeared to decide on Friday.
Sources said that following a meeting between Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos and consultation with Prime Minister George Papandreou, it was decided that Greece would not take part in any military operations but would be willing to provide support for humanitarian needs or to help patrol the Mediterranean to ensure arms are not smuggled into Libya.
….
The two options for NATO if it wishes to use bases in Greece are at Aktio in the west of the country, where AWACS aircraft that carry long-range radars can take off from, or at Souda in Crete. Two US KC-135 planes, known as Stratotankers, which are used for midair refueling, are already at Souda, as is an American C-130 plane and a French C-160 cargo plane.
The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge docked at the naval base in northwestern Crete on March 18. Some 400 US Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina arrived a few days earlier. There are also two US tankers and a French minesweeper in Souda.
“We are ready to contribute, in cooperation with our partners and allies, to the effort of ensuring that international law is respected,” said Droutsas, who added that the international community was correct to allow the use of “any means necessary” to protect civilians.
The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Communist Party expressed concern about Greek forces being involved in any military operations or forces in Greece being used.
….
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19. NATO Command To Strengthen Integration With U.S. Joint Command
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63220
U.S. Department of Defense
March 18, 2011
NATO Command Looks to Expand Partnerships
By Donna Miles
-[French Air Force Gen. Stephane Abrial] emphasized…that “working in a distributed environment won’t be totally new” for ACT. It already has close working relationships with a variety of defense entities, he said, including U.S. Cyber Command….
WASHINGTON: As U.S. Joint Forces Command prepares to disband within the next few months, the commander of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation – historically one of Joint Forces Command’s closest partners – is preparing to expand his collaboration to a broader range of U.S. military organizations.
“My impression is that with the disestablishment of JFCOM, the work between the U.S. defense institution and ACT will increase, as opposed to the past,” French Air Force Gen. Stephane Abrial, supreme allied commander for transformation, told reporters this week.
NATO established Allied Command Transformation in June 2003 to provide the conceptual framework for combined joint operations, and stood it up in Norfolk, Va., where it collocated with Joint Forces Command. Until 2009, the commander of Joint Forces Command also was the ACT commander.
That changed when Abrial succeeded Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis as NATO supreme allied commander transformation in June 2009. Abrial, former French Air Force chief of staff, became the first non-U.S. officer permanently assigned as one of NATO’s two supreme allied commanders.
The separation actually strengthened the two commands’ relationship, Abrial said, with both working to institutionalize it at all levels.
“The result, one year later, was the two commands had never worked that closely together,” he said.
Abrial said he expects to continue that level of collaboration with the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, which is expected to absorb the bulk of Joint Forces Command’s functions, and related DOD entities.
A “good portion” of Joint Forces Command activities, particularly those dealing with modeling and simulation, will remain in place in Norfolk and Suffolk, Va., Abrial said. The French general said he expects those involved with those activities would “continue working closely on a day-to-day basis with my capabilities development division.”
Meanwhile, with other Joint Forces Command functions to be distributed across the Defense Department, Abrial said ACT has started looking at “how we will re-plug into this much more distributed system.”
He emphasized, however, that “working in a distributed environment won’t be totally new” for ACT. It already has close working relationships with a variety of defense entities, he said, including U.S. Cyber Command and the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, known as JIEDDO.
“We have many [such relationships],” Abrial said. “We will have more. It could be complicated, but not a difficulty.”
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced in August his recommendation to eliminate Joint Forces Command and transfer its essential functions to other organizations. President Barack Obama approved the recommendation in January, and Gates signed a memorandum Feb. 9 providing guidance and direction to execute the disestablishment.
Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Joint Forces Command, offered assurance that day that the disestablishment plan would preserve gains made by his organization and its relationship with ATC.
“We’ll ensure that we sustain the momentum and gains in jointness, while maintaining interaction with NATO, specifically Allied Command Transformation, and other multinational partners,” Odierno said.
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20. Video/Text: Bahrain Bleeds From American Bullets
http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-double-standard-libya-bahrain/
RT
March 18, 2011
Bahrain bleeds from American bullets
In Bahrain the monarchy, now with the help of its neighbors in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, continues to violently crackdown on anti-government protesters. Meanwhile, the US remains focused on Libya, overlooking violence at the hands of its ally.
The Bahraini government has arrested top political opposition figures and yet the US imposed economic sanctions against Libya and pushed for military options in response to reported violence at the hand of the government against the opposition there.
Why do we hear so little from US President Barack Obama in res
ponse to the unrest in Bahrain?
“God is great,” is the Arabic translation of the final words of a purported peaceful protester in Bahrain, captured on video. That was before he appears to be shot, allegedly by Bahraini security forces.
Since martial law was declared this week the Bahraini government has cracked down on pro-democracy protesters clearing them out of Pearl Square where they have been demonstrating.
And viral videos, though the details of them cannot be confirmed, have been surfacing on the Internet appearing to show police shooting protesters, in some cases point blank. It is reminiscent of another uprising against an autocrat… in Libya.
When images and reports of violence against protesters at Gadhafi’s hand in Libya reached the US we saw the president take a stand.
“The violence must stop,” Obama said publicly. Moammar Gadhafi must “step down from power and leave.”
Obama sent humanitarian aid and warships in that direction, and early on he demanded a plan for a No-Fly Zone. The UN Security Council has since taken the lead.
Meanwhile, the US imposed tough economic sanctions freezing Libya out of the US banking system and there are reports the US has played a more covert role underway in the North African conflict.
“An opposition that the CIA has funded for 30 years is now holding the city of Benghazi,” said Sara Flounders, co-founder of the International Action Center in New York.
According to people in direct contact with activists on the ground in Bahrain, the Bahraini people are begging for help from the US, too.
“They use the language of being rescued from their own government,” said Toby C. Jones, author and history professor at Rutgers University who lived and worked in Bahrain and is in touch with many activists still in the country. “The people on the ground understand the only country that has leverage is the United States.”
The US has a military base in the island nation, the navy’s powerful fifth fleet and six thousand troops are stationed there. In response to the brutal crackdown, the US president has wielded his authority, to pick up the phone and call to the king of Bahrain.
“The President expressed his deep concern over the violence in Bahrain and stressed the need for maximum restraint,” recounted Jay Carney, White House press secretary of the call.
Words the forces on the ground, now backed by 1000 Saudi Arabian troops, don’t appear to be listening to.
Critics said the talk doesn’t amount to any help for the people it amounts to a “double standard,” according to journalist Wayne Madsen and several others interviewed for the story.
A double standard in the way the US deals with friend versus foe. Unlike Libya, Bahrain is a strong US ally in the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
“It’s all about oil and all about geo political military strategy,” said Madsen. “The US has a lot of military assets in the Persian Gulf right now and they want to make sure they stay there.”
US interests coming at the cost of people’s lives and at the cost of the values of human rights and democracy the US claims to care so much about.
“Bahraini blood is somehow worthless and Libyan blood is more important,” said Husain Abdulla, director of the Americans for democracy and human rights in Bahrain, comparing the US reaction Libya versus Bahrain. “It’s just a hypocritical stand that goes against everything we believe-in in this country.”
“You’re looking at American military Apache helicopters attacking people in the capital of Bahrain: that’s where the US stands on the issue,” believes Rick Rozoff, blogger and manager of Stop NATO.
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21. Pakistan Boycotts U.S.-Afghan Talks Over Missile Deaths
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C03%5C19%5Cstory_19-3-2011_pg1_4
Daily Times
March 19, 2011
Pakistan to boycott US-Afghan talks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan told the United States on Friday it would not attend a meeting on Afghanistan later this month, angered by a US missile strike.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir conveyed to US Ambassador Cameron Munter that under the current circumstances, Pakistan would not be able to participate in the trilateral meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US, said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said that Pakistan would now not attend a meeting in Brussels with officials from the Washington and Kabul on security in Afghanistan, scheduled for March 26. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, was initially expected to participate in the meeting.
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22. U.S. Deploying More Warships To Mediterranean
Agence France-Presse
March 18, 2011
US sending more warships to Mediterranean
WASHINGTON: The United States is deploying additional warships to the Mediterranean to support possible…military action in Libya, the US Navy said Friday.
The USS Bataan, a helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship, and two other vessels were deployed ahead of schedule, the navy said….
The Bataan will relieve the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and the transport docking ship USS Ponce, which have been in the Mediterranean for several weeks.
The Bataan has a fleet of helicopters and medical facilities that can be used to treat injured military forces or for humanitarian missions. The ship has six operating rooms and hospital facilities for up to 600 patients.
It is scheduled to depart from the state of Virginia on Wednesday along with the Mesa Verde, a transport dock ship, and the USS Whidbey Island, a dock landing ship.
The ships will carry hundreds of US Marines, a team of surgeons and a helicopter sea combat squadron, the Navy said.
….
The US also has the USS Barry and the USS Stout, both destroyers with missile-launching capabilities, in the Mediterranean.
The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, with its 80 jets and helicopters, had been in the Red Sea with its escort ships in recent days, but is now in the Arabian Sea, a US defense official told AFP.
On Friday, US President Barack Obama warned of military action if Kadhafi refused to honor the UN resolution….
Obama said he would deploy US forces to support a no-fly zone against Libya, but left uncertain the full scope of American military involvement in any action.
….
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23. Operation Ellamy: Britain Amasses Naval, Air Power For Libya Strikes
The Independent
March 19, 2011
Operation Ellamy: Designed to strike from air and sea
By Terri Judd
The extent to which Britain’s military is to be drawn into another conflict was a matter of heated debate last night as jets were being deployed to the Mediterranean in preparation for possible air strikes against the Libyan regime.
With Colonel Muammar Gaddafi declaring a ceasefire, it remained unclear how the British, French, Arab and US coalition would adopt its wide remit to use “all necessary measures” to protect civilians “under threat”.
Experts estimated that eight to 12 Typhoon (Eurofighter) and six to 12 Tornado GR4 jets would be deployed to a base in Italy or Cyprus along with air-to-air refuelling capacity. A Joint Force Air Component headquarters has already been set up at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
Nimrod surveillance aircraft – along with US air force Awacs (airborne warning and control system) – as well as the frigates HMS Cumberland and HMS Westminster are in the area while naval destroyers could also be deployed. Other options include deploying a hunter-killer submarine with Tomahawk cruise missiles or an Invincible-class helicopter carrier to insert or extract any special forces’ missions….
Resolution 1973 provides the broadest powers for interventions since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and legal experts said the exclusion of “a foreign occupation force of any form” would not necessarily preclude a ground presence that did not intend to remain.
….
Former senior officers said it was too early to judge the extent and breadth of Operation Ellamy, the Ministry of Defence code name for the mission….
Professor Anthony Glees, director of security and intelligence studies at the University of Buckingham, added: “My understanding is that at least one US aircraft carrier will be involved. What people are saying is that when this actually happens, it will be the US who shoulders most of the burden. The British contribution can only be limited on a military level.”
….
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24. U.S. Submarine Crosses Suez, Joins Armada Off Libya
http://www.theday.com/article/20110316/NWS09/303169916/1018
The Day
March 16, 2011
USS Providence among U.S. naval forces off Libya
By Jennifer McDermott
-In 2003, the Providence fired missiles into Iraq from the Red Sea. Eighteen months earlier, the sub had fired some of the opening shots against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The Groton-based USS Providence crossed the Suez Canal Saturday and headed for the Mediterranean Sea, where other Navy ships are waiting to respond to the violence in Libya if needed.
Submarines are uniquely suited for gathering intelligence on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s attacks on the opposition, according to Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer at the nonprofit think tank, Lexington Institute.
“Submarines are so stealthy, they can collect intelligence that other means cannot,” Thompson said Tuesday. “And having a ship like the Providence nearby makes a big difference in terms of understanding what’s actually happening in the area.”
A Navy spokesman confirmed Tuesday the route of the Providence (SSN 719) into the Mediterranean Sea, but said he could not discuss the details or assets being directed toward Libya, particularly submarines.
The USS Kearsarge, the USS Ponce and the USS Barry are in the Mediterranean. A destroyer, the USS Mason, also crossed the canal with the Providence, the spokesman said. The Los Angeles-class submarine traveled with the USS Enterprise carrier strike group.
….
In 2003, the Providence fired missiles into Iraq from the Red Sea. Eighteen months earlier, the sub had fired some of the opening shots against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
….
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25. No-Fly Zone Paves Way For Cruise Missile, Drone Attacks
The Times
March 18, 2011
No-fly zone paves way for drone attack
Michael Evans and Tom Coghlan
-The Tomahawk option has already been accounted for with the decision to redeploy the nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class submarine USS Providence from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The submarine, armed with Tomahawks, went through the Suez Canal a few days ago, sources said. USS Providence was part of the strike force assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
-The US navy now has a growing fleet in the Mediterranean, ready if action in Libya is ordered. They are the USS Kearsarge, an assault ship with 400 Marines, USS Ponce, another assault ship, three destroyers, USS Barry, USS Stout and USS Mason, and USS Providence.
-Britain has two frigates, HMS Westminster and HMS Cumberland, already in the Mediterranean with French and Italian ships making a combined international force of about a dozen vessels.
-France’s solitary aircraft carrier, Charles De Gaulle, is in the Mediterranean and would typically be defended by frigates, destroyers and submarines. It has a highly effective force of up to 35 Rafale and Super-Etendard fighter-bombers as well as E2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
The Pentagon’s plans for military action in Libya include the imposition of a no-fly zone and strikes with Tomahawk cruise missiles, drones and ground-attack aircraft.
A former senior Pentagon official warned that if the US decided to hit certain targets with Predator drones, it would have to be part of “a much broader context”.
He said Libya did not have many tanks, but destroying a few with the Predator’s Hellfire missiles would not end the violence. Most of the US air force’s Predators and the longer-range Reaper drones are assigned to Afghanistan. But some could be redeployed for use in Libya.
“The best thing about using Predators is that they have a lot of loiter time and there is no air crew to be put at risk,” the former Pentagon official said.
The Predator, armed with two Hellfires, has a range of 3200km and can stay in the air for 24 hours. The Reaper, with 14 Hellfires or a combination of weapons including two 226kg Paveway II laser-guided bombs, has a range of 5150km and can remain airborne for up to 28 hours. Italy has six of its own Predators, based at Pisa.
Experts in the use of unmanned aircraft said the new generation of armed drones could provide a more politically acceptable and highly effective weapon against the tanks and artillery that had been Muammar Gaddafi’s most effective tool against the rebels.
….
The Tomahawk option has already been accounted for with the decision to redeploy the nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class submarine USS Providence from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The submarine, armed with Tomahawks, went through the Suez Canal a few days ago, sources said. USS Providence was part of the strike force assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
The carrier itself, however, is now heading for the Gulf of Aden, although a Pentagon official said it could be turned around if required or could be ordered to take part in operations from its present location. The US navy now has a growing fleet in the Mediterranean, ready if action in Libya is ordered. They are the USS Kearsarge, an assault ship with 400 Marines, USS Ponce, another assault ship, three destroyers, USS Barry, USS Stout and USS Mason, and USS Providence.
Asked why the only aircraft carrier in the region was heading away from Libya, Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan said sufficient land-based aircraft were available. There are two squadrons of F16s – about 40 aircraft – at Aviano in Italy. General Norton Schwartz, the US air force chief, said he expected that F22 Raptor stealth fighters would be used in a no-fly zone operation. They would be used with other fighters (F16s), refuelling tankers and surveillance and electronic jamming aircraft.
P3 Orion surveillance aircraft are already monitoring the Libyan airspace, along with NATO AWACS planes. The US’s specialist jamming aircraft would be used to block communications between Gaddafi’s regime and his army commanders.
If the F22s are used to attack Libyan fighters, it will be the first time that the US’s most advanced fighter jets have been used in anger. They are normally based at Langley in Virginia but would probably be redeployed to Aviano for operations over Libya.
NATO has been planning for a no-fly zone for weeks but until the UN Security Council resolution was tabled yesterday by the US, Britain and France, there had been low expectations of any authorisation for military action.
Britain has two frigates, HMS Westminster and HMS Cumberland, already in the Mediterranean with French and Italian ships making a combined international force of about a dozen vessels.
Britain has a sovereign airbase in Cyprus but does not routinely keep jets there. Sources said the Cypriot government would have to grant permission for British aircraft to participate in a no-fly zone from Cyprus. A similar situation exists for bases in Malta.
Britain can offer a number of “force multipliers”. The RAF has a squadron of E3D Sentry AWACS aircraft, which carry out surveillance from high altitudes and operate command-and-control – a prized intelligence asset. A squadron of Sentinel R1 aircraft, which are able to track vehicles and individuals on land, is also available.
A number of Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft, which, like HMS Cumberland, are due to be scrapped in the coming months, could also be deployed.
France’s solitary aircraft carrier, Charles De Gaulle, is in the Mediterranean and would typically be defended by frigates, destroyers and submarines. It has a highly effective force of up to 35 Rafale and Super-Etendard fighter-bombers as well as E2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
Analysts suggest a coalition of Western and Arab forces would have three options for enforcing a no-fly zone. Imposing a full no-fly zone would involve patrolling more than 1.7 million square kilometres, more than five times the territory covered by the Iraq no-fly zone during the 1990s. Establishing the zone would involve strikes to degrade Libya’s air defences, using hundreds of aircraft.
The US Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments costed an initial disabling of Libyan air defences last week at between $US500 million and $US1 billion. A more limited zone would cover the north of the country, north of the 29th parallel, where most of the population is.
Or it could be restricted to aircraft and ships off the Libyan coast.
====
26. Italy: NATO Bases To Be Used For Attack On Libya
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE72G2HE20110317
Reuters
March 17, 2011
Italy to make bases available for Libya no-fly zone-source
TUNIS: Italy is ready to make its military bases available to enforce a U.N. Security Counci resolution imposing a no-fly zone on Libya, an Italian government source told Reuters on Thursday.
The airbase at Sigonella in Sicily, which provides logistical support for the United States Sixth Fleet, is one of the closest NATO bases to Libya and could be used in any military operation.
“It’s a positive development,” an Italian goverrnment source told Reuters minutes after the U.N. Security Council voted in favour of the no-fly zone.
Asked whether Italy would offer its bases for the enforcement of the U.N. resolution, the source said: “Yes, we’ve said we are ready to do that.”
(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
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27. Canada To Deploy Six Warplanes For Action Against Libya
http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110317/cf-libya-canada/20110317/?hub=WinnipegHome
CTV
March 17, 2011
Canada to send six CF-18s for Libya ‘no-fly’ mission
Canada will contribute six CF-18 fighter jets to help enforce a no-fly zone in Libya, sources have told CTV News.
“The Canadian government has made the decision late today that Canada will send six CF-18 fighter jets to join the Americans, the British and the French and other countries that will participate in imposing a no-fly zone,” CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Thursday.
The jets will be based out of Italy and could be there as soon as Friday.
After weeks of speculation the UN Security Council has moved to “establish a ban on all flights in the airspace” in the North African country and authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, according to the draft version of a resolution.
The resolution also demanded an immediate ceasefire and called on Gadhafi to “take all measures to protect civilians and meet their basic needs.”
Word of the resolution was greeted by celebrations in the rebel-held town of Benghazi.
The UN vote came shortly after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi warned of a massive military offensive on the town.
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28. Qatar, United Arab Emirates To Join Air Strikes Against Libya
Agence France-Presse
March 17, 2011
Qatar, Emirates to join Libya air strikes: diplomat
NEW YORK: Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join international forces set to bomb Moamer Khadhafi’s forces in Libya after the UN votes to authorize air strikes, a UN diplomat said Thursday.
“There will be participation by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. That has been confirmed at the Security Council,” the diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said just ahead of the council’s vote on authorizing force.
Thursday, the head of the Arab League delegation to the UN, Yahya Mahmassani, said the two countries might take part in raids, but that he could not confirm this.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said “there are excellent reasons to think that there will be participation by Arab countries.”
The UN Security Council appeared set to authorize aerial bombardments of Khadhafi’s forces to stop their push on embattled rebel units.
The resolution, drawn up by Britain, France and Lebanon and strong US input, specifically excludes “an occupation force” in Libya.
And it calls on Arab nations to “cooperate” in the action.
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29. Egyptian Military Council Arms Libyan Insurgents
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704360404576206992835270906.html
Wall Street Journal
March 17, 2011
Egypt Said to Arm Libya Rebels
By CHARLES LEVINSON And MATTHEW ROSENBERG
-”We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can’t be so visible,” said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began.
“Weapons are getting through,” said Mr. Souflakis, who says he has regular contacts with Egyptian officials in Cairo and the rebel leadership in Libya.
“Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don’t want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn’t do it if they didn’t get the green light.”
-Rebel forces in the past 24 hours appeared to make some progress fending off pro-Gadhafi forces’ assaults and have rolled out new weapons for the first time since the uprising began last month. Among them are rebel tanks that have taken up positions on the front lines in recent days. Rebels also launched fighter-jet attacks on government positions on Wednesday for the first time so far.
CAIRO: Egypt’s military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington’s knowledge, U.S. and Libyan rebel officials said.
The shipments — mostly small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition — appear to be the first confirmed case of an outside government arming the rebel fighters.
Those fighters have been losing ground for days in the face of a steady westward advance by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The Egyptian shipments are the strongest indication to date that some Arab countries are heeding Western calls to take a lead in efforts to intervene…in Libya.
….
The shipments also follow an unusually robust diplomatic response from Arab states. There have been rare public calls for foreign military intervention in an Arab country, including a vote by the 23-member Arab League last week urging the U.N. to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
The vote provided critical political cover to Western powers wary of intervening militarily without a broad regional and international mandate.
On Thursday evening, the U.N. Security Council voted on a resolution endorsing a no-fly zone in Libya and authorizing military action in support of the rebels.
Within the council, Lebanon took a lead role drafting and circulating the draft of the resolution, which calls for “all necessary measures” to enforce a ban on flights over Libya.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have taken the lead in offering to participate in enforcing a no-fly zone, according to U.N. diplomats.
Libyan rebel officials in Benghazi, meanwhile, have praised Qatar from the first days of the uprising, calling the small Gulf state their staunchest ally.
Qatar has consistently pressed behind the scenes for tough and urgent international action behind the scenes, these officials said.
Qatari flags fly prominently in rebel-held Benghazi. After pro-Gadhafi forces retook the town of Ras Lanuf last week, Libyan state TV broadcast images of food-aid packages bearing the Qatari flag.
….
The Egyptian weapons transfers began “a few days ago” and are ongoing, according to a senior U.S. official. “There’s no formal U.S. policy or acknowledgement that this is going on,” said the senior official. But “this is something we have knowledge of.”
….
“We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can’t be so visible,” said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began.
“Weapons are getting through,” said Mr. Souflakis, who says he has regular contacts with Egyptian officials in Cairo and the rebel leadership in Libya. “Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don’t want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn’t do it if they didn’t get the green light.”
Western officials and rebel leaders in Libya said the U.S. has wanted to avoid being seen as taking a leadership role in any military action against Mr. Gadhafi after its invasions of Iraq and Afganistan fueled anger and mistrust with Washington throughout the region.
But the U.S. stated clearly it wants Mr. Gadhafi out of power and has signaled it would support those offering help to the rebels militarily or otherwise.
A spokesman for the rebel government in Benghazi said arms shipments have begun arriving to the rebels but declined to specify where they came from. “Our military committee is purchasing arms and arming our people. The weapons are coming, but the nature of the weapons, the amount, where it’s coming from, that has been classified,” said the spokesman, Mustafa al-Gherryani.
The U.S. official said Egypt wanted to keep the shipments covert.
In public, Egypt has sought to maintain a neutral stance toward the rebel uprising in Libya. Egypt abstained during the Arab League’s vote calling for the U.N. to impose a no-fly zone on Mr. Gadhafi, according to people familiar with the internal Arab League deliberations.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian laborers are believed to still be in Libya.
….
Rebel forces in the past 24 hours appeared to make some progress fending off pro-Gadhafi forces’ assaults and have rolled out new weapons for the first time since the uprising began last month.
Among them are rebel tanks that have taken up positions on the front lines in recent days. Rebels also launched fighter-jet attacks on government positions on Wednesday for the first time so far. The tanks and fighter jets are believed to have been among the weapons seized by rebels from defected units of the Libyan army in the eastern half of the country, but they have received spare parts or trained mechanics from outside the country to help them deploy them, some rebel officials have speculated.
—Sam Dagher and Adam Entous contributed to this article.
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30. Russia: Libya No-Fly Zone Could Lead To Military Intervention
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47587026.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
Russia fears no-fly zones over Libya lead to military intervention
Russia fears that the introduction of no-fly zones over Libya may lead to large-scale military intervention, which cannot fail to impact the civilian population.
This was stated by Russian envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin.
According to him, the Security Council, in essence, left unanswered “specific and legitimate questions from Russia and other countries regarding how the no-fly zone regime would be ensured, and what are the rules and limits pertaining to use of force.”
Moscow is convinced that the shortest path to security in Libya is through a cease-fire, not military invasion, said Churkin.
This stance was contained in a draft resolution tabled by Russia on March 16th.
However, some Council member-states are too enthralled by “forceful means” of resolving the situation, explained the diplomat.
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31. Senator Lieberman Congratulates Obama On Libya
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/17/sen-lieberman-optimistic-about-u-n-action/
CNN
March 17, 2011
Sen. Lieberman congratulates Obama on Libya
Gloria Borger
Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who has been a critic of the administration’s handling of the situation in Libya, told me tonight that he’s guardedly optimistic about a UN Security council resolution on Libya.
He congratulated the President Obama on taking a leadership role in the endeavor, which he told us could include not only a no-fly zone, but also “safe zones” presumably in which Gadhafi could not attack his own people.
Assistance could also include some way to arm the rebels, whether it directly or through funding.
Lieberman, who has consistently called for a no-fly zone, said it is not too late to begin one now – and that “safe zones” could be initiated within a matter of days.
….
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32. Libya: British Warplanes To Fly From France, Cyprus And Possibly Egypt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/17/raf-no-fly-zone-libya
The Guardian
March 17, 2011
RAF prepares to help impose no-fly zone over Libya Ministers order defence chiefs to finalise plans enabling Britain to take part in military action against forces loyal to Gaddafi Richard Norton-Taylor
-”As in Afghanistan, its effects would be much improved by the presence of special forces on the ground. They might also be able to undertake ground raids on particularly important government targets, albeit with increased risk.”
RAF ground attack aircraft are ready to help impose a no-fly zone over Libya as ministers ordered defence chiefs to finalise plans enabling Britain to take part immediately in military action against forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.
Tornado all-weather attack aircraft, equipped with precision weapons, were almost certain to be the first British assets used in any military operation, officials said. They are based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Though due to phased out under the government’s defence their performance has been tested in operations over decades.
It was not immediately clear whether they would fly from a military base in southern France or from RAF Akrotiri, in one of Britain’s sovereign base areas in Cyprus.
It was also unclear whether Eurofighter Typhoons would take part in an operation.
Britain has two ships off the Libyan coast, and Chinook helicopters and early-warning aircraft equipped with long-range radar based in Malta, but would need permission from the Maltese government to use them in action over Libya.
For this reason, it would be easier for British aircraft to be based in Cyprus or France, which also strongly supports a no-fly zone.
British forces could also use bases in Egypt if the new government there agreed.
Britain and France could begin operating a limited no-fly zone over the rebel stronghold of Benghazi with little or no US support, according to analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
….
IISS fellow Douglas Barrie said Tornado GR4 ground attack or submarine-launched cruise missiles could be used to take out the Libyan air defences, including a long-range surface-to-air missile system thought to be based within 30 to 40 miles of Benghazi.
A force of six to eight Typhoon fighters could be deployed to patrol over Benghazi, supported by two or three tankers for air-to-air refuelling and Nimrod R1 reconnaissance aircraft, temporarily reprieved by the Ministry of Defence, he said.
….
Another IISS fellow, Brigadier Ben Barry, said a no-fly zone would have little effect on the regime’s ground forces. “A no-fly zone can have military effect … But it can have relatively little effect if what the actors want to do is entirely on the ground,” he said.
“This could relatively quickly take the military pressure off the rebels and, if integrated into any rebel counter-offensive, it could be as decisive as coalition airpower was in supporting the anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan in 2001,” he said. “As in Afghanistan, its effects would be much improved by the presence of special forces on the ground. They might also be able to undertake ground raids on particularly important government targets, albeit with increased risk.”
Despite the fiasco of the aborted covert SAS-MI6 operation in eastern Libya earlier this month, special forces could still play a role in the Libyan conflict, analysts suggested.
Updates on Libyan war threat
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U.S. Submarine Crosses Suez, Joins Armada Off Libya
Operation Ellamy: Britain Amasses Naval, Air Power For Libya Strike
No-Fly Zone Paves Way For Cruise Missile, Drone Attacks
U.S. Deploying More Warships To Mediterranean
Foreign Minister Bildt: Sweden Ready To Assist NATO In Libya
Greece To Allow Military Bases To Be Used For NATO Operations In Libya
NATO Campaign Against Libya A Dangerous Precedent
French Official: Military Strikes Against Libya In Hours
Military Intervention In Libya Can Trigger Major Conflict Between West And Arab World: Russian Parliamentarian
Belgium Offers NATO Six F-16s, Warship For Libya Operation
Italy Closes Embassy In Libya, Offers Seven Bases For NATO Attacks
Germany To Assume Other Tasks To Free Up NATO For Libya Intervention
Russia To Protect Diplomats In Libya In Face Of NATO Intervention
NATO Says Conditions Met For Military Action
Denmark, Norway To Supply NATO Warplanes For Libya Operation
NATO Could Strike Libyan Military In Hours: Spokesman
Russia Warns Against Military Intervention In Libya
NATO Says It Backs Action Against Libya
Britain, France Ready To Bomb Libya
Italy: NATO Bases To Be Used For Attack On Libya
Canada To Deploy Six Warplanes For Action Against Libya
Qatar, United Arab Emirates To Join Air Strikes Against Libya
Egyptian Military Council Arms Libyan Insurgents
Russia: Libya No-Fly Zone Could Lead To Military Intervention
Senator Lieberman Congratulates Obama On Libya
Libya: British Warplanes To Fly From France, Cyprus And Possibly Egypt
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U.S. Submarine Crosses Suez, Joins U.S. Armada Off Libya
http://www.theday.com/article/20110316/NWS09/303169916/1018
The Day
March 16, 2011
USS Providence among U.S. naval forces off Libya
By Jennifer McDermott
-In 2003, the Providence fired missiles into Iraq from the Red Sea. Eighteen months earlier, the sub had fired some of the opening shots against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The Groton-based USS Providence crossed the Suez Canal Saturday and headed for the Mediterranean Sea, where other Navy ships are waiting to respond to the violence in Libya if needed.
Submarines are uniquely suited for gathering intelligence on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s attacks on the opposition, according to Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer at the nonprofit think tank, Lexington Institute.
“Submarines are so stealthy, they can collect intelligence that other means cannot,” Thompson said Tuesday. “And having a ship like the Providence nearby makes a big difference in terms of understanding what’s actually happening in the area.”
A Navy spokesman confirmed Tuesday the route of the Providence (SSN 719) into the Mediterranean Sea, but said he could not discuss the details or assets being directed toward Libya, particularly submarines.
The USS Kearsarge, the USS Ponce and the USS Barry are in the Mediterranean. A destroyer, the USS Mason, also crossed the canal with the Providence, the spokesman said. The Los Angeles-class submarine traveled with the USS Enterprise carrier strike group.
….
In 2003, the Providence fired missiles into Iraq from the Red Sea. Eighteen months earlier, the sub had fired some of the opening shots against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
….
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Operation Ellamy: Britain Amasses Naval, Air Power For Libya Strike
The Independent
March 19, 2011
Operation Ellamy: Designed to strike from air and sea
By Terri Judd
The extent to which Britain’s military is to be drawn into another conflict was a matter of heated debate last night as jets were being deployed to the Mediterranean in preparation for possible air strikes against the Libyan regime.
With Colonel Muammar Gaddafi declaring a ceasefire, it remained unclear how the British, French, Arab and US coalition would adopt its wide remit to use “all necessary measures” to protect civilians “under threat”.
Experts estimated that eight to 12 Typhoon (Eurofighter) and six to 12 Tornado GR4 jets would be deployed to a base in Italy or Cyprus along with air-to-air refuelling capacity. A Joint Force Air Component headquarters has already been set up at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
Nimrod surveillance aircraft – along with US air force Awacs (airborne warning and control system) – as well as the frigates HMS Cumberland and HMS Westminster are in the area while naval destroyers could also be deployed. Other options include deploying a hunter-killer submarine with Tomahawk cruise missiles or an Invincible-class helicopter carrier to insert or extract any special forces’ missions….
Resolution 1973 provides the broadest powers for interventions since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and legal experts said the exclusion of “a foreign occupation force of any form” would not necessarily preclude a ground presence that did not intend to remain.
….
Former senior officers said it was too early to judge the extent and breadth of Operation Ellamy, the Ministry of Defence code name for the mission….
Professor Anthony Glees, director of security and intelligence studies at the University of Buckingham, added: “My understanding is that at least one US aircraft carrier will be involved. What people are saying is that when this actually happens, it will be the US who shoulders most of the burden. The British contribution can only be limited on a military level.”
….
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No-Fly Zone Paves Way For Cruise Missile, Drone Attacks
The Times
March 18, 2011
No-fly zone paves way for drone attack
Michael Evans and Tom Coghlan
-The Tomahawk option has already been accounted for with the decision to redeploy the nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class submarine USS Providence from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The submarine, armed with Tomahawks, went through the Suez Canal a few days ago, sources said. USS Providence was part of the strike force assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
-The US navy now has a growing fleet in the Mediterranean, ready if action in Libya is ordered. They are the USS Kearsarge, an assault ship with 400 Marines, USS Ponce, another assault ship, three destroyers, USS Barry, USS Stout and USS Mason, and USS Providence.
-Britain has two frigates, HMS Westminster and HMS Cumberland, already in the Mediterranean with French and Italian ships making a combined international force of about a dozen vessels.
-France’s solitary aircraft carrier, Charles De Gaulle, is in the Mediterranean and would typically be defended by frigates, destroyers and submarines. It has a highly effective force of up to 35 Rafale and Super-Etendard fighter-bombers as well as E2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
The Pentagon’s plans for military action in Libya include the imposition of a no-fly zone and strikes with Tomahawk cruise missiles, drones and ground-attack aircraft.
A former senior Pentagon official warned that if the US decided to hit certain targets with Predator drones, it would have to be part of “a much broader context”.
He said Libya did not have many tanks, but destroying a few with the Predator’s Hellfire missiles would not end the violence. Most of the US air force’s Predators and the longer-range Reaper drones are assigned to Afghanistan. But some could be redeployed for use in Libya.
“The best thing about using Predators is that they have a lot of loiter time and there is no air crew to be put at risk,” the former Pentagon official said.
The Predator, armed with two Hellfires, has a range of 3200km and can stay in the air for 24 hours. The Reaper, with 14 Hellfires or a combination of weapons including two 226kg Paveway II laser-guided bombs, has a range of 5150km and can remain airborne for up to 28 hours. Italy has six of its own Predators, based at Pisa.
Experts in the use of unmanned aircraft said the new generation of armed drones could provide a more politically acceptable and highly effective weapon against the tanks and artillery that had been Muammar Gaddafi’s most effective tool against the rebels.
….
The Tomahawk option has already been accounted for with the decision to redeploy the nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class submarine USS Providence from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The submarine, armed with Tomahawks, went through the Suez Canal a few days ago, sources said. USS Providence was part of the strike force assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
The carrier itself, however, is now heading for the Gulf of Aden, although a Pentagon official said it could be turned around if required or could be ordered to take part in operations from its present location. The US navy now has a growing fleet in the Mediterranean, ready if action in Libya is ordered. They are the USS Kearsarge, an assault ship with 400 Marines, USS Ponce, another assault ship, three destroyers, USS Barry, USS Stout and USS Mason, and USS Providence.
Asked why the only aircraft carrier in the region was heading away from Libya, Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan said sufficient land-based aircraft were available. There are two squadrons of F16s – about 40 aircraft – at Aviano in Italy. General Norton Schwartz, the US air force chief, said he expected that F22 Raptor stealth fighters would be used in a no-fly zone operation. They would be used with other fighters (F16s), refuelling tankers and surveillance and electronic jamming aircraft.
P3 Orion surveillance aircraft are already monitoring the Libyan airspace, along with NATO AWACS planes. The US’s specialist jamming aircraft would be used to block communications between Gaddafi’s regime and his army commanders.
If the F22s are used to attack Libyan fighters, it will be the first time that the US’s most advanced fighter jets have been used in anger. They are normally based at Langley in Virginia but would probably be redeployed to Aviano for operations over Libya.
NATO has been planning for a no-fly zone for weeks but until the UN Security Council resolution was tabled yesterday by the US, Britain and France, there had been low expectations of any authorisation for military action.
Britain has two frigates, HMS Westminster and HMS Cumberland, already in the Mediterranean with French and Italian ships making a combined international force of about a dozen vessels.
Britain has a sovereign airbase in Cyprus but does not routinely keep jets there. Sources said the Cypriot government would have to grant permission for British aircraft to participate in a no-fly zone from Cyprus. A similar situation exists for bases in Malta.
Britain can offer a number of “force multipliers”. The RAF has a squadron of E3D Sentry AWACS aircraft, which carry out surveillance from high altitudes and operate command-and-control – a prized intelligence asset. A squadron of Sentinel R1 aircraft, which are able to track vehicles and individuals on land, is also available.
A number of Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft, which, like HMS Cumberland, are due to be scrapped in the coming months, could also be deployed.
France’s solitary aircraft carrier, Charles De Gaulle, is in the Mediterranean and would typically be defended by frigates, destroyers and submarines. It has a highly effective force of up to 35 Rafale and Super-Etendard fighter-bombers as well as E2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
Analysts suggest a coalition of Western and Arab forces would have three options for enforcing a no-fly zone. Imposing a full no-fly zone would involve patrolling more than 1.7 million square kilometres, more than five times the territory covered by the Iraq no-fly zone during the 1990s. Establishing the zone would involve strikes to degrade Libya’s air defences, using hundreds of aircraft.
The US Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments costed an initial disabling of Libyan air defences last week at between $US500 million and $US1 billion. A more limited zone would cover the north of the country, north of the 29th parallel, where most of the population is.
Or it could be restricted to aircraft and ships off the Libyan coast.
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U.S. Deploying More Warships To Mediterranean
Agence France-Presse
March 18, 2011
US sending more warships to Mediterranean
WASHINGTON: The United States is deploying additional warships to the Mediterranean to support possible…military action in Libya, the US Navy said Friday.
The USS Bataan, a helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship, and two other vessels were deployed ahead of schedule, the navy said….
The Bataan will relieve the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and the transport docking ship USS Ponce, which have been in the Mediterranean for several weeks.
The Bataan has a fleet of helicopters and medical facilities that can be used to treat injured military forces or for humanitarian missions. The ship has six operating rooms and hospital facilities for up to 600 patients.
It is scheduled to depart from the state of Virginia on Wednesday along with the Mesa Verde, a transport dock ship, and the USS Whidbey Island, a dock landing ship.
The ships will carry hundreds of US Marines, a team of surgeons and a helicopter sea combat squadron, the Navy said.
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The US also has the USS Barry and the USS Stout, both destroyers with missile-launching capabilities, in the Mediterranean.
The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, with its 80 jets and helicopters, had been in the Red Sea with its escort ships in recent days, but is now in the Arabian Sea, a US defense official told AFP.
On Friday, US President Barack Obama warned of military action if Kadhafi refused to honor the UN resolution….
Obama said he would deploy US forces to support a no-fly zone against Libya, but left uncertain the full scope of American military involvement in any action.
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Foreign Minister Bildt: Sweden Ready To Assist NATO In Libya
http://www.thelocal.se/32680/20110318/
The Local
March 18, 2011
Sweden open for NATO request on Libya: Bildt
Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt has welcomed the UN Security Council decision to authorise a no-fly zone and air attacks on civil war-torn Libya.
Bildt underlined that while Sweden has no current plans to assist in the operation, any NATO request would be considered.
“NATO must first take a decision and decide on its military contribution. We will then see if they (NATO) need to solicit other countries,” he explained.
While Bildt ruled out sending Swedish troops and participation in the military operation, he did not rule out some participation for Sweden in the longer term.
On his personal blog, Bildt expressed satisfaction that the council’s resolution had provided for more than just a no-fly zone….
UN Security Council Resolution 1973 cleared the way for military action against all threats to civilians, stopping short of a ground invasion but including aerial bombardment of Qaddafi’s forces on the ground if necessary.
Bildt expressed a hope for “rapid and robust measures” which would enable the establishment of the political phase of the raging Libya conflict.
“I hope that the measures which the Security Council resolution allows can lead to a political process which means a new Libya without Qaddafi,” he said.
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While Sweden is not a NATO member, it has been a member of the NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and participates in the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan.
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http://www.swedishwire.com/politics/9022-sweden-backs-up-nato-request-on-libya
Swedish Wire
March 18, 2011
Sweden backs up NATO request on Libya
Sweden said Friday it supported the United Nations resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya but would only consider military action against the country in the event of a NATO request.
“Sweden takes decisions on committing its military troops independently. If we are asked, we will take a position,” Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told reporters.
“But NATO must first take a decision and decide on its military contribution. We will then see if they (NATO) need to solicit other countries,” he explained.
Bildt said Sweden – which is not a NATO member – welcomed the UN security council’s decision, taken late Thursday, to establish a no-fly zone over Libya.
The decision open cleared the way for air strikes that France said could come within hours.
Sweden has a long tradition of military non-alignment.
It has been a member of the NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and participates in the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan.
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Greece To Allow Military Bases To Be Used For NATO Operations In Libya
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_18/03/2011_383560
Kathimerini
March 18, 2011
Greece to let bases be used for NATO operations in Libya
-Two US KC-135 planes, known as Stratotankers, which are used for midair refueling, are already at Souda, as is an American C-130 plane and a French C-160 cargo plane.
Athens will let NATO forces use military bases in Greece for operations in Libya after the United Nations approved the imposition of a no-fly zone over the North African country, the government appeared to decide on Friday.
Sources said that following a meeting between Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos and consultation with Prime Minister George Papandreou, it was decided that Greece would not take part in any military operations but would be willing to provide support for humanitarian needs or to help patrol the Mediterranean to ensure arms are not smuggled into Libya.
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The two options for NATO if it wishes to use bases in Greece are at Aktio in the west of the country, where AWACS aircraft that carry long-range radars can take off from, or at Souda in Crete. Two US KC-135 planes, known as Stratotankers, which are used for midair refueling, are already at Souda, as is an American C-130 plane and a French C-160 cargo plane.
The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge docked at the naval base in northwestern Crete on March 18. Some 400 US Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina arrived a few days earlier. There are also two US tankers and a French minesweeper in Souda.
“We are ready to contribute, in cooperation with our partners and allies, to the effort of ensuring that international law is respected,” said Droutsas, who added that the international community was correct to allow the use of “any means necessary” to protect civilians.
The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Communist Party expressed concern about Greek forces being involved in any military operations or forces in Greece being used.
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NATO Campaign Against Libya A Dangerous Precedent
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47629519.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
No-fly zone over Libya sets a dangerous precedent
Vladimir Fedoruk
NATO may launch an operation to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya already by Friday. The UN resolution adopted on the eve allows launching attacks on ground-based targets, including air defence systems, airports, tanks and land forces.
Reports say that the air forces of France, Britain, the U.S., Canada and other countries will take part in the operation. Italy said it would allow use of its military bases by its NATO partners.
Russia together with China, India, Brazil and Germany abstained from voting on the draft resolution. Experts express fear that an operation aimed at the capabilities of the Libyan air force loyal to Muammar Gaddafi could turn into a large-scale intervention. This will heighten tension in the region, says the head of the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Alexander Filonik.
“This will be a complicated operation that should neutralize the Libyan air defence systems and the air force, carry out bombardments on runways and destroy aircraft and helicopters,” says Alexander Filonik.
“NATO may restrict itself in principle to air and missile attacks on targets that are marked on their maps. However, Libya and its leader Muammar Gaddafi are unpredictable. Most likely, this will be a major military operation that will spread out to sea. Moreover, Gaddafi has threatened to launch attacks also on passenger planes and ships. However, I do not think that further worsening of the situation is in the interest of the Libyan leader. On the other hand, the capabilities of the Libyan army cannot compare to those of NATO,” Alexander Filonik said.
Despite the fact that there is the danger that the situation may develop according to a worst case scenario, the end justifies the means principle may come into play. The reason is that, the West has set the task of putting Libyan oil under its control, says an expert in Oriental studies at the Institute of Strategic Assessments and Analysis, Sergei Demidenko.
“Libya is a sweet piece of the pie for the international community and transnational corporations,” says Sergei Demidenko. “It’s seemed to be quite tempting to change the political regime in Libya and appoint a more obedient ruler to lead the country. This was not achieved swiftly, and more pressure will be exerted on the regime.
“It’s almost impossible to predict how Gaddafi will behave. At the same time, he is a talented politician in achieving compromises. I believe that he will try to resolve the situation diplomatically. Concerning NATO, it will hardly repeat its action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaddafi will be pressured by sanctions, an international embargo and political isolation. At the same time, the internal conflict will die down. In any case, any external interference will destabilize the situation in the entire region,” Sergei Demidenko said.
Experts do not exclude the possibility that continuing unrest in several countries in the Middle East may grow into protests against the attempts by the West to impose its values on the Arab world.
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French Official: Military Strikes Against Libya In Hours
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/18/c_13786112.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 18, 2011
France says military action against Libya “within hours”
PARIS: Military action against Libya will come “within hours” and France will participate in the move, French government spokesman Francois Baroin told local media Friday morning.
The statement came only hours after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to authorize intervention, including a no-fly zone over the country.
“The military strikes against (Moammar) Gaddafi will take place quickly,” Baroin, who is also the budget minister, told RTL radio.
He said France, who led the calls for action, would “of course” be involved in the military operation.
….
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Military Intervention In Libya Can Trigger Major Conflict Between West And Arab World: Russian Parliamentarian
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16062041&PageNum=1
Itar-Tass
March 18, 2011
Intervention in Libya may trigger major West-Arab conflict
MOSCOW: External military intervention in Libya could provoke a major conflict between the West and the Arab world, the chairman of the Duma committee on international affairs Konstantin Kosachyov, said on Friday.
From now on the situation will largely depend on how Libya’s neighbors will behave.
Kosachyov recalled that the UN Security Council resolution to close the airspace over Libya had been adopted at the request of the League of Arab States. “But the question of military intervention was not raised in that appeal,” he stressed.
Therefore, the legislator did not rule out that air strikes on Libya, the necessity of which was mentioned by the leaders of France and Britain, might “spark a huge conflict between the so-called West and the so-called Arab world.”
On Thursday the UN Security Council by a majority vote adopted resolution 1973 on Libya, which approves the introduction of no-fly zones over the country and “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, which, in particular, provides for a complete ban on the movement of the Libyan military aircraft in the skies over the country under the threat of the use of force by the international community.
This means patrolling of Libya’s airspace by international forces and the possibility of precision strikes on air defenses and troops loyal to Gaddafi.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has already said that Paris on Saturday will host an international meeting, which will aim to create a coalition of Western countries and the Arab world for carrying out a military operation in Libya in accordance with UN Security Council resolution.
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Belgium Offers NATO Six F-16s, Warship For Libya Operation
Agence France-Presse
March 18, 2011
Belgium ready to intervene in Libya under NATO umbrella Belgium is ready to take part in military action in Libya under a NATO umbrella with six F-16 fighter planes and a frigate, European Affairs Minister Olivier Chastel said Friday.
The government decided to “tell NATO that we are available, offer what we have and wait for a common command,” Chastel told reporters after a government meeting.
“Belgium has six F-16 jets currently stationed in Greece and a frigate in the Mediterranean” that could be used in a NATO mission, he said.
NATO ambassadors were meeting Friday to decide what role the 28-nation alliance may take after the UN Security Council approved military action to stop Moamer Kadhafi from wiping out rebels.
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Italy Closes Embassy In Libya, Offers Seven Bases For NATO Attacks
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2011
Italy to close Tripoli embassy, support imposition of no-fly zone
Rome: Italy is to close its embassy in Tripoli and intends to support eventual UN and NATO efforts to impose a no-fly zone over Libya by offering the use of military bases on its territory, officials said Friday.
The announcement was made following an emergency cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss the adoption on Thursday by the UN Security Council of Resolution 1973, imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.
‘The first consequence for Italy of the UN Resolution on Libya is the closure of the Italian Embassy in Tripoli,’ Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.
He was addressing a parliamentary commission in Rome together with Defence Minster Ignazio La Russa. Turkey has agreed to ‘look after Italian interests,’ in the North African nation, Frattini said.
La Russa said that a plane carrying Italian embassy staff had already left Libya. In recent weeks, Frattini ruled out any deployment of Italian troops in Libya due to Italy’s past as the country’s colonial master.
On Friday, La Russa said that the Italian government would ask parliament to authorize the country’s ‘adherence’ to any military coalition formed to enforce the UN no-fly zone. He said the Italian government had already offered the use of seven air and naval bases, including a US air force facility in Aviano in north-eastern Italy.
He did not elaborate on what direct military role, if any, Italian forces would play, but said Italy ‘has a strong capacity to neutralize the radar systems of any hypothetical enemy.’
Meanwhile, Frattini said a second Italian military ship – the first one was deployed last week – would be sent with ‘aid but not arms,’ to the Libyan port of Benghazi, where forces opposing Moamer Gaddafi are still holding out.
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Germany To Assume Other Tasks To Free Up NATO For Libya Intervention
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608504576208523393738818.html
Wall Street Journal
March 18, 2011
Merkel Says Germany May Assume Other NATO Tasks
By BERND RADOWITZ
BERLIN: Germany abstained from the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for military action against Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime as it doesn’t want to take part in any military action, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday.
But the country may compensate for that by assuming other North Atlantic Treaty Organization to free up its resources for the Libya mission, Mrs. Merkel said in a briefing on Libya. “We fully endorse the aims of the resolution. Our attitude can’t be mixed up with neutrality,” she said.
Germany’s foreign and defense ministers are in talks with NATO to see whether it could take over other tasks , Mrs. Merkel said. She said one possibility would be that Germany helps with radar flights over Afghanistan by Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle earlier Friday had tried hard to avoid the impression that Germany is isolated among its Western allies. France, the U.S. and the U.K. had all voted in favor of the resolution.
On Friday, Libya declared an immediate cease-fire in a response to the vote. Mr. Westerwelle also said that Germany’s position was in line with that of other major countries, Brazil, India, Russia and China. “I can assure you that we get respect for our position, also among our European partners, and that was expressed in talks yesterday,” he said at a briefing Friday morning.
Late Thursday, Mr. Westerwelle said that Germany supported U.N. measures for stricter sanctions against the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but was skeptical about military intervention. “Here we see significant danger and risk. This is why we couldn’t vote in favor of this part of the resolution,” he said, adding that German soldiers won’t participate in any military deployment.
Mr. Westerwelle added Friday that Germany understands the “honorable motives” of those who opted for a military intervention, and that pressure on Col. Gadhafi needed to be stepped up considerably.
“This dictator must end his civil war, his war against his own people,” he said.
— Emese Bartha contributed to this article.
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Russia To Protect Diplomats In Libya In Face Of NATO Intervention
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110318/163081013.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 18, 2011
Medvedev urges security for Russian diplomats in Libya
Gorky: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told ministers on Friday that the government had to ensure the safety of Russian diplomats in Libya in the face of possible NATO intervention.
The UN Security Council has declared Libya a no-fly zone and supported “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in the country.
On Friday morning, NATO said the alliance was ready for aerial strikes against Libya. “We need to discuss this issue immediately and think about the security of our diplomats remaining in Libya,” Medvedev said.
Russia, a permanent, veto-wielding UN Security Council member, abstained from the vote.
Gaddafi initially reacted with fury to the UN resolution, but the Libyan authorities have since declared a ceasefire after several days of aerial bombing campaigns against rebellious eastern territories.
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NATO Says Conditions Met For Military Action
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703512404576208462846383944.html
Wall Street Journal
March 18, 2011
NATO Says Conditions Met for Military Action
By Stephen Fidler
BRUSSELS: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization decided Friday that conditions had been met for its involvement in military action against Libya, and said it would continue planning to this end.
The decision follows a United Nations Security Council resolution Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan citizens. However, diplomats said the alliance had taken no formal decision to get involved, though a number of NATO countries, including France, Spain and Britain, have said they would.
Meetings by the alliance’s decision making body — the North Atlantic Council, which comprises ambassadors to NATO from the alliance’s 28 member governments — would likely continue into the weekend.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO “is now completing planning in order to be ready to take appropriate action.”
Alliance defense ministers meeting last week set three conditions for NATO’s involvement in military action: a demonstrable need, a clear legal basis and support from the region. Planning continues on ways to provide humanitarian assistance, enforce an arms embargo and impose a no-fly zone, the diplomats said. Planning wasn’t complete on how to manage the no-fly zone, one diplomat said.
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Military action could go ahead without a NATO agreement, but the organization has joint command and control and surveillance assets in the region that may allow the operation to be mounted more quickly.
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Denmark, Norway To Supply NATO Warplanes For Libya Operation
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1848166.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2011
Norway, Denmark prepared to contribute to Libya operation
Norway and Denmark said Friday they were prepared to contribute to the no-fly zone operation approved by the UN Security Council, dpa reported.
Norwegian Defence Minister Grete Faremo and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Oslo was analyzing its contribution with other NATO allies.
At a joint news conference the two ministers said the Norwegian contribution could comprise F-16 fighter jets or transport planes as part of a humanitarian operation.
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In Copenhagen, the ministers of defence and foreign affairs were to brief the Foreign Affairs Committee and seek approval for a Danish military contribution.
Defence Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech said Denmark aimed to contribute six F-16 jet fighters, of which four would take part in the operation and two serve as backup planes, and a transport plane.
Denmark was investigating where the planes would be based. Parliamentary approval was needed before they were actually deployed in upholding the no-fly zone, Bech said.
Both Scandinavian countries are members of NATO.
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NATO Could Strike Libyan Military In Hours: Spokesman
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47608283.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
NATO poised for Libya airstrikes NATO is prepared to launch an international aerial operation against Libya, says official spokesperson for the alliance Oana Lungescu.
According to her, there is an obvious need for such an operation, as well as firm regional support and legislative framework.
Given these three conditions, NATO is prepared to strike, Lungescu said in a statement.
According to earlier reports, NATO may deliver airstrikes at Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s troops in the next few hours.
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Russia Warns Against Military Intervention In Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47609214.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
Russia warns against military intervention in Libya
Vladimir Fedoruk
The UN Security Council has authorized a no-fly zone over Libya to finally ground Muammar Gaddafi’s air force. Five of the 15 members, including Russia, abstained during the vote on a draft resolution.
The approved document permits air strikes on ground targets, such as Libyan tanks, heavy artillery and infantry troops.
Initial air raids on their positions may be carried out as early as Friday, March 18th.
Moscow fears that this will prompt a large-scale military intervention.
The new resolution closes Libya’s air space to its own military aircraft to protect opposition-controlled areas from bombings by government forces.
To this end, the UN has provided for the possibility of offensives by the international community, nevertheless precluding land operations.
There was no real expectation about the vote’s being unanimous.
China, Germany, India and Brazil abstained along with Russia.
Our country’s envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin thus explained the decision: “Unfortunately, work on this document was not in line with existing Security Council practices. In essence, a whole range of specific and absolutely logical questions concerning the maintenance of the no-fly zone regime and rules for the use of force raised by the Russian Federation and other Security Council members remained unanswered. The text included clauses paving the way for a large-scale military intervention,” Vitaly Churkin said.
In the course of debates on the draft resolution, a number of UN Security Council members assured those present of their not having such intentions.
Having taken this into account, Vitaly Churkin, however, thought fit to give a warning to all those taken by the idea of using force to resolve the Libyan issues. “The responsibility for the inevitable humanitarian consequences of the excessive use of outside force in Libya will fall fair and square on the shoulders of those who might undertake such action. If this comes to pass, then not only the civilian population of Libya but also the cause of upholding peace and security throughout the whole region of North Africa and the Middle East will suffer. It is necessary to avoid such destabilizing developments,” the Russian envoy to the UN warned.
Moscow has at the same time praised the resolution’s demands for an immediate ceasefire and the non-use of violence towards the civilian population in Libya. “We consistently and firmly support the unconditional protection of civilians. In accordance with this essential principle and the humanitarian values it shares with the co-authors of the project and other Security Council members, Russia did not hamper the adoption. An immediate ceasefire is the shortest way to reliable security of the peaceful population and long-term stabilization in Libya,” the diplomat said.
Along with the earlier approved sanctions, the UN also ruled to freeze the assets of the North African country’s Central Bank and National Oil Company in western banks.
Actions to bar the Colonel’s air force from thee sky, which may start within the next few hours, will most likely involve France, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Canada and Norway are also ready to join in, whereas Italy voiced its readiness to make its military bases available to enforce the resolution.
In the meantime, the Libyan military continues to deliver air strikes against the opposition. Three powerful explosions occurred in Benghazi while the draft resolution was being discussed in New York. Earlier, the government air force launched a missile attack on an airport 10 kilometers away from Benghazi.
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NATO Says It Backs Action Against Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110318/163074289.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 18, 2011
NATO says backs action against Gaddafi
Brussels: NATO backs a UN resolution authorizing military action against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, an alliance spokesperson said on Friday.
“The NATO Secretary General welcomes United Nations Security Council resolution 1973, which authorises all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian areas against ongoing violence by the Gaddafi regime,” spokesperson Oana Lungescu told reporters in Brussels.
She said NATO “stands ready to act as part of the broad international effort”
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The UN Security Council on Thursday voted in favor of a no-fly zone and air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, with five abstaining, including China, Russia and Germany.
Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, said Libya was “not afraid”, in comments carried by the ABC news channel. Gaddafi’s troops are reported to be closing in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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Britain, France Ready To Bomb Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110318/163065509.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 18, 2011
U.K., France may strike Libya early on Friday
France, the United Kingdom, Qatar and the U.A.E. may carry out airstrikes on forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi early on Friday, shortly after the Security Council vote, Western media said.
The reports came as the UN Security Council gathers for a vote on a draft resolution, imposing a no-fly zone over the African state and authorizing all “necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians.
The vote is expected at 22:00 GMT (1:00 Moscow time).
A senior government source told BBC that “British forces could be in action over Libya as early as Friday, if a UN resolution is agreed.”
France’s foreign minister headed Thursday to New York to press for action against Gaddafi.
Meanwhile, the Libyan leader said his forces would assault the opposition stronghold of Benghazi early on Friday. “No more fear, no more hesitation, the moment of truth has come,” Guardian quoted Gaddafi as saying. “There will be no mercy. Our troops will be coming to Benghazi tonight.”
He also warned that any foreign military intervention in would put air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean area under threat.
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Italy: NATO Bases To Be Used For Attack On Libya
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE72G2HE20110317
Reuters
March 17, 2011
Italy to make bases available for Libya no-fly zone-source
TUNIS: Italy is ready to make its military bases available to enforce a U.N. Security Counci resolution imposing a no-fly zone on Libya, an Italian government source told Reuters on Thursday.
The airbase at Sigonella in Sicily, which provides logistical support for the United States Sixth Fleet, is one of the closest NATO bases to Libya and could be used in any military operation.
“It’s a positive development,” an Italian goverrnment source told Reuters minutes after the U.N. Security Council voted in favour of the no-fly zone.
Asked whether Italy would offer its bases for the enforcement of the U.N. resolution, the source said: “Yes, we’ve said we are ready to do that.”
(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
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Canada To Deploy Six Warplanes For Action Against Libya
http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110317/cf-libya-canada/20110317/?hub=WinnipegHome
CTV
March 17, 2011
Canada to send six CF-18s for Libya ‘no-fly’ mission
Canada will contribute six CF-18 fighter jets to help enforce a no-fly zone in Libya, sources have told CTV News.
“The Canadian government has made the decision late today that Canada will send six CF-18 fighter jets to join the Americans, the British and the French and other countries that will participate in imposing a no-fly zone,” CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Thursday.
The jets will be based out of Italy and could be there as soon as Friday.
After weeks of speculation the UN Security Council has moved to “establish a ban on all flights in the airspace” in the North African country and authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, according to the draft version of a resolution.
The resolution also demanded an immediate ceasefire and called on Gadhafi to “take all measures to protect civilians and meet their basic needs.”
Word of the resolution was greeted by celebrations in the rebel-held town of Benghazi.
The UN vote came shortly after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi warned of a massive military offensive on the town.
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Qatar, United Arab Emirates To Join Air Strikes Against Libya
Agence France-Presse
March 17, 2011
Qatar, Emirates to join Libya air strikes: diplomat
NEW YORK: Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join international forces set to bomb Moamer Khadhafi’s forces in Libya after the UN votes to authorize air strikes, a UN diplomat said Thursday.
“There will be participation by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. That has been confirmed at the Security Council,” the diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said just ahead of the council’s vote on authorizing force.
Thursday, the head of the Arab League delegation to the UN, Yahya Mahmassani, said the two countries might take part in raids, but that he could not confirm this.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said “there are excellent reasons to think that there will be participation by Arab countries.”
The UN Security Council appeared set to authorize aerial bombardments of Khadhafi’s forces to stop their push on embattled rebel units.
The resolution, drawn up by Britain, France and Lebanon and strong US input, specifically excludes “an occupation force” in Libya.
And it calls on Arab nations to “cooperate” in the action.
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Egyptian Military Council Arms Libyan Insurgents
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704360404576206992835270906.html
Wall Street Journal
March 17, 2011
Egypt Said to Arm Libya Rebels
By CHARLES LEVINSON And MATTHEW ROSENBERG
-”We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can’t be so visible,” said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began.
“Weapons are getting through,” said Mr. Souflakis, who says he has regular contacts with Egyptian officials in Cairo and the rebel leadership in Libya.
“Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don’t want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn’t do it if they didn’t get the green light.”
-Rebel forces in the past 24 hours appeared to make some progress fending off pro-Gadhafi forces’ assaults and have rolled out new weapons for the first time since the uprising began last month. Among them are rebel tanks that have taken up positions on the front lines in recent days. Rebels also launched fighter-jet attacks on government positions on Wednesday for the first time so far.
CAIRO: Egypt’s military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington’s knowledge, U.S. and Libyan rebel officials said.
The shipments — mostly small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition — appear to be the first confirmed case of an outside government arming the rebel fighters.
Those fighters have been losing ground for days in the face of a steady westward advance by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The Egyptian shipments are the strongest indication to date that some Arab countries are heeding Western calls to take a lead in efforts to intervene…in Libya.
….
The shipments also follow an unusually robust diplomatic response from Arab states. There have been rare public calls for foreign military intervention in an Arab country, including a vote by the 23-member Arab League last week urging the U.N. to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
The vote provided critical political cover to Western powers wary of intervening militarily without a broad regional and international mandate.
On Thursday evening, the U.N. Security Council voted on a resolution endorsing a no-fly zone in Libya and authorizing military action in support of the rebels.
Within the council, Lebanon took a lead role drafting and circulating the draft of the resolution, which calls for “all necessary measures” to enforce a ban on flights over Libya.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have taken the lead in offering to participate in enforcing a no-fly zone, according to U.N. diplomats.
Libyan rebel officials in Benghazi, meanwhile, have praised Qatar from the first days of the uprising, calling the small Gulf state their staunchest ally.
Qatar has consistently pressed behind the scenes for tough and urgent international action behind the scenes, these officials said.
Qatari flags fly prominently in rebel-held Benghazi. After pro-Gadhafi forces retook the town of Ras Lanuf last week, Libyan state TV broadcast images of food-aid packages bearing the Qatari flag.
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The Egyptian weapons transfers began “a few days ago” and are ongoing, according to a senior U.S. official. “There’s no formal U.S. policy or acknowledgement that this is going on,” said the senior official. But “this is something we have knowledge of.”
….
“We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can’t be so visible,” said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began.
“Weapons are getting through,” said Mr. Souflakis, who says he has regular contacts with Egyptian officials in Cairo and the rebel leadership in Libya. “Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don’t want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn’t do it if they didn’t get the green light.”
Western officials and rebel leaders in Libya said the U.S. has wanted to avoid being seen as taking a leadership role in any military action against Mr. Gadhafi after its invasions of Iraq and Afganistan fueled anger and mistrust with Washington throughout the region.
But the U.S. stated clearly it wants Mr. Gadhafi out of power and has signaled it would support those offering help to the rebels militarily or otherwise.
A spokesman for the rebel government in Benghazi said arms shipments have begun arriving to the rebels but declined to specify where they came from. “Our military committee is purchasing arms and arming our people. The weapons are coming, but the nature of the weapons, the amount, where it’s coming from, that has been classified,” said the spokesman, Mustafa al-Gherryani.
The U.S. official said Egypt wanted to keep the shipments covert.
In public, Egypt has sought to maintain a neutral stance toward the rebel uprising in Libya. Egypt abstained during the Arab League’s vote calling for the U.N. to impose a no-fly zone on Mr. Gadhafi, according to people familiar with the internal Arab League deliberations.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian laborers are believed to still be in Libya.
….
Rebel forces in the past 24 hours appeared to make some progress fending off pro-Gadhafi forces’ assaults and have rolled out new weapons for the first time since the uprising began last month.
Among them are rebel tanks that have taken up positions on the front lines in recent days. Rebels also launched fighter-jet attacks on government positions on Wednesday for the first time so far. The tanks and fighter jets are believed to have been among the weapons seized by rebels from defected units of the Libyan army in the eastern half of the country, but they have received spare parts or trained mechanics from outside the country to help them deploy them, some rebel officials have speculated.
—Sam Dagher and Adam Entous contributed to this article.
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Russia: Libya No-Fly Zone Could Lead To Military Intervention
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/18/47587026.html
Voice of Russia
March 18, 2011
Russia fears no-fly zones over Libya lead to military intervention
Russia fears that the introduction of no-fly zones over Libya may lead to large-scale military intervention, which cannot fail to impact the civilian population.
This was stated by Russian envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin.
According to him, the Security Council, in essence, left unanswered “specific and legitimate questions from Russia and other countries regarding how the no-fly zone regime would be ensured, and what are the rules and limits pertaining to use of force.”
Moscow is convinced that the shortest path to security in Libya is through a cease-fire, not military invasion, said Churkin.
This stance was contained in a draft resolution tabled by Russia on March 16th.
However, some Council member-states are too enthralled by “forceful means” of resolving the situation, explained the diplomat.
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Senator Lieberman Congratulates Obama On Libya
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/17/sen-lieberman-optimistic-about-u-n-action/
CNN
March 17, 2011
Sen. Lieberman congratulates Obama on Libya
Gloria Borger
Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who has been a critic of the administration’s handling of the situation in Libya, told me tonight that he’s guardedly optimistic about a UN Security council resolution on Libya.
He congratulated the President Obama on taking a leadership role in the endeavor, which he told us could include not only a no-fly zone, but also “safe zones” presumably in which Gadhafi could not attack his own people.
Assistance could also include some way to arm the rebels, whether it directly or through funding.
Lieberman, who has consistently called for a no-fly zone, said it is not too late to begin one now – and that “safe zones” could be initiated within a matter of days.
….
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Libya: British Warplanes To Fly From France, Cyprus And Possibly Egypt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/17/raf-no-fly-zone-libya
The Guardian
March 17, 2011
RAF prepares to help impose no-fly zone over Libya Ministers order defence chiefs to finalise plans enabling Britain to take part in military action against forces loyal to Gaddafi Richard Norton-Taylor
-”As in Afghanistan, its effects would be much improved by the presence of special forces on the ground. They might also be able to undertake ground raids on particularly important government targets, albeit with increased risk.”
RAF ground attack aircraft are ready to help impose a no-fly zone over Libya as ministers ordered defence chiefs to finalise plans enabling Britain to take part immediately in military action against forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.
Tornado all-weather attack aircraft, equipped with precision weapons, were almost certain to be the first British assets used in any military operation, officials said. They are based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Though due to phased out under the government’s defence their performance has been tested in operations over decades.
It was not immediately clear whether they would fly from a military base in southern France or from RAF Akrotiri, in one of Britain’s sovereign base areas in Cyprus.
It was also unclear whether Eurofighter Typhoons would take part in an operation.
Britain has two ships off the Libyan coast, and Chinook helicopters and early-warning aircraft equipped with long-range radar based in Malta, but would need permission from the Maltese government to use them in action over Libya.
For this reason, it would be easier for British aircraft to be based in Cyprus or France, which also strongly supports a no-fly zone.
British forces could also use bases in Egypt if the new government there agreed.
Britain and France could begin operating a limited no-fly zone over the rebel stronghold of Benghazi with little or no US support, according to analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
….
IISS fellow Douglas Barrie said Tornado GR4 ground attack or submarine-launched cruise missiles could be used to take out the Libyan air defences, including a long-range surface-to-air missile system thought to be based within 30 to 40 miles of Benghazi.
A force of six to eight Typhoon fighters could be deployed to patrol over Benghazi, supported by two or three tankers for air-to-air refuelling and Nimrod R1 reconnaissance aircraft, temporarily reprieved by the Ministry of Defence, he said.
….
Another IISS fellow, Brigadier Ben Barry, said a no-fly zone would have little effect on the regime’s ground forces. “A no-fly zone can have military effect … But it can have relatively little effect if what the actors want to do is entirely on the ground,” he said.
“This could relatively quickly take the military pressure off the rebels and, if integrated into any rebel counter-offensive, it could be as decisive as coalition airpower was in supporting the anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan in 2001,” he said. “As in Afghanistan, its effects would be much improved by the presence of special forces on the ground. They might also be able to undertake ground raids on particularly important government targets, albeit with increased risk.”
Despite the fiasco of the aborted covert SAS-MI6 operation in eastern Libya earlier this month, special forces could still play a role in the Libyan conflict, analysts suggested.
Stop NATO News March 18, 2011
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. Britain, France Ready To Bomb Libya
2. NATO: Eastern Europe Model For North Africa And Libya Military Intervention
3. Church Groups Urge NATO To Remove Nuclear Weapons From Europe
4. NATO Chief: Not Too Late For Military Intervention In Libya
5. Report: Danish F-16s Ready For Libyan Intervention
6. U.S.’s McCain: Arm Georgia Against “Possible Attack By Russia”
7. Georgia Establishes “NATO Zone” On Border With South Ossetia
8. Russia Acknowledges Mediterranean As NATO’s Mare Nostrum
9. Georgia’s Saakashvili Holds Court With U.S.’s Top Senators
10. Bahrain: Pentagon Approves Departure Of Military Family Members
11. U.S. Drone Attack Targets Pakistani Council Meeting, Kills Over 40
12. Pakistan’s Army Chief Condemns U.S. Drone Slaughter
13. New Militarism: Three-Quarters Of Americans Back Women In Combat
14. Report: U.S. Missile Strikes Kill At Least 80 In Pakistan
15. Three U.S. Warships Off Libyan Coast, NATO Ships In Mediterranean
16. Pakistan: CIA Agent’s Release Sparks Outrage, Protests
17. Washington: Saakashvili Lobbies For More Arms
18. U.S. Vision Of Heroes Versus Villains Not Just On Screen
19. Seventh Anniversary Of Kosovo Pogrom
20. Military Attack On Libya May Occur “Within Hours” Of UN Vote
21. West Releases Another KLA War Crimes Suspect
22. Australia Further Boosts Largest Post-WW II Military Buildup
23. Clinton Rallies Arab Nations For Libya Intervention
24. Security Council: Countdown To War Against Libya
25. Georgia Wants NATO To “Resolve” South Caucasus Conflicts
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1. Britain, France Ready To Bomb Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110318/163065509.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 18, 2011
U.K., France may strike Libya early on Friday
France, the United Kingdom, Qatar and the U.A.E. may carry out airstrikes on forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi early on Friday, shortly after the Security Council vote, Western media said.
The reports came as the UN Security Council gathers for a vote on a draft resolution, imposing a no-fly zone over the African state and authorizing all “necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians. The vote is expected at 22:00 GMT (1:00 Moscow time).
A senior government source told BBC that “British forces could be in action over Libya as early as Friday, if a UN resolution is agreed.”
France’s foreign minister headed Thursday to New York to press for action against Gaddafi.
Meanwhile, the Libyan leader said his forces would assault the opposition stronghold of Benghazi early on Friday.
“No more fear, no more hesitation, the moment of truth has come,” Guardian quoted Gaddafi as saying. “There will be no mercy. Our troops will be coming to Benghazi tonight.”
He also warned that any foreign military intervention in would put air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean area under threat.
….
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2. NATO: Eastern Europe Model For North Africa, Libya Military Intervention
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE72G0VM20110317
Reuters
March 17, 2011
NATO head views eastern Europe as model for N.Africa
by Gabriela Baczynska
-On developments in Libya, Rasmussen said: “We stand ready to assist if there is a need and a legal perspective. In the longer term, we also must think of how NATO can assist North African countries in their transition to democracy.”
WARSAW: The ex-communist states of central Europe can be a role model for nations in North Africa and the Middle East in their fight for democracy and freedom of expression, NATO’s secretary-general said on Thursday.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen also repeated that NATO would intervene militarily in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi’s forces are fast advancing against rebels, only on the basis of a U.N. mandate and strong local support for Western involvement.
“When I look at central and eastern Europe I’m extremely optimistic about the future we can achieve in North Africa,” Rasmussen told a seminar in the Polish capital Warsaw also attended by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and defence ministers from many of NATO’s ex-communist member states.
“Some 20 years ago you managed to change the regime, change borders, move to democracy,” he said, referring to the demise of the region’s Soviet-backed communist regimes in 1989. Poland and other ex-communist states joined NATO in 1999.
On developments in Libya, Rasmussen said: “We stand ready to assist if there is a need and a legal perspective. In the longer term, we also must think of how NATO can assist North African countries in their transition to democracy.”
Divisions in the U.N. Security Council have slowed the international community’s response to the fighting in Libya, though the United States, initially cool on the idea of foreign military intervention, has now raised the possibility of air strikes to halt Gaddafi’s forces.
Poland’s Komorowski drew parallels between the current international uncertainty over how to respond to events in North Africa with the West’s reaction to the 1989 protests.
“At the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, when Poland and other countries won their freedom, there was a surprise, sometimes a difficult surprise for many who did not know how to react,” he said.
Some Western leaders at the time were cool about the prospect of German reunification and also worried about the destabilising impact of the changes sweeping eastern Europe on reformist Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
“Today we have to think of that first period of transformation we had and to see what could be helpful in solving the situation in North Africa with full respect to all the differences,” Komorowski said.
(Writing by Gareth Jones, editing by Robert Woodward)
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3. Church Groups Urge NATO To Remove Nuclear Weapons From Europe
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/14347
Ekklesia
March 17, 2011
Churches urge NATO to remove all nuclear weapons from Europe
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and church organizations on both sides of the Atlantic are urging NATO to remove all United States nuclear weapons still based in Europe and end their role in the alliance’s policy.
The 200 or so nuclear weapons involved are “remnants of Cold War strategies” the ecumenical organizations say in joint letters. “NATO should rethink deterrence and security cooperation in Europe”, they say, and make good on NATO’s new commitment last year to “creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons”.
The letters were sent to the leaders of NATO, the United States and Russia in mid-March by the heads of the WCC, the Conference of European Churches, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and the Canadian Council of Churches. Removal of the US weapons still stationed in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Turkey, the churches note, would reduce by one-third the number of countries that have nuclear weapons on their soil, to 9 from 14.
The four organizations acted now in anticipation of an important NATO nuclear policy review this year. That review and a NATO summit in 2012 present an “opportunity for change that is long overdue and widely anticipated,” their letters say.
Some NATO countries, led by Germany, maintain that the weapons in question have no role today. Others insist that they be kept for political reasons even though their military utility is widely questioned. These countries include France, which also has its own nuclear arsenal, and some of the new members of NATO in Eastern Europe.
The ecumenical organizations had addressed NATO together on this issue twice during NATO’s 60th anniversary in 2009, followed by a series of church, government and NATO meetings.
At the Lisbon summit late last year, however, NATO members did not make major changes in nuclear policy. The issue of the US tactical nuclear weapons still based in the five non-nuclear European member states is especially divisive.
The church organizations also express concern about Russia’s large arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons and stress the urgent need for transparency, relocation and reductions there as well.
However, the organizations urge NATO to exercise its own nuclear arms control responsibilities and not link the decision with potentially lengthy negotiations between the US and Russia that would involve other arms control issues.
The policies of all four ecumenical organizations call for complete nuclear disarmament. A WCC delegation visited key capitals in Europe in 2004 to advocate that NATO remove the US tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons still in question now.
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4. NATO Chief: Not Too Late For Military Intervention In Libya
http://www.rferl.org/content/nato_not_too_late_for_libya_intervention/2341521.html
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 15, 2011
NATO Says Not To Late For Libya Intervention
The head of NATO says he does not think it’s too late to intervene in Libya, but much depends on the United Nations.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Warsaw, referring to current deliberations at the UN Security Council, that “time is rapidly running out, but I don’t think it’s too late.”
Rasmussen said that “very much will depend” on the council’s decision on whether to impose a no-fly zone in Libya to protect civilians as forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi close in on Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city and the rebels’ main stronghold.
Supporters of a no-fly zone over Libya are pushing for a vote on the issue later today at the UN.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on March 16 that action to protect civilians might have to “go beyond a no-fly zone.” The United States had previously been cool to the proposal.
Russia and China, both veto-holding council members, have voiced reservations about any military intervention.
Libyan state television, meanwhile, said forces loyal to Qaddafi are on the outskirts of Benghazi in the east of the country.
There is no independent confirmation of the report.
compiled from agency reports
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5. Report: Danish F-16s Ready For Libyan Intervention
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-15283.html
F-16.net
March 17, 2011
RDAF F-16s prepared for No Fly Zone
As reported by Lieven Dewitte, 4 RDAF [Royal Danish Air Force] F-16s are preparing for any partial no-fly zone enforcement mission which could be ordered by NATO, or possibly decided by a coalition of a willing Euro-US action.
These would likely be aircraft upgraded with very modern capabilities, some of which USAF do not even employ or fund.
I hope a no-fly zone is not necessary, but if it is put into service one has to respect RDAF crew involved.
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6. U.S.’s McCain: Arm Georgia Against “Possible Attack By Russia”
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=9&id=229334
Interfax
March 17, 2011
Georgia should have defensive weapons – U.S. senator
TBILISI: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has met with U.S. congressmen behind closed doors to discuss issues surrounding arms exports to his country, Georgian television stations reported on Thursday.
U.S. Republican Senator John McCain told journalists after the meeting that it was necessary to sort out the issue of providing Georgia with defensive weapons in order to enable the country to protect itself from a possible attack on the part of Russia in the future.
The Georgian people should be able to protect themselves from any aggression, McCain said, adding that resolving the issue of defensive arms supplies to Georgia was both his priority, as well as a priority of several other congressmen.
The U.S. senator also applauded the progress made by the Georgian economy.
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7. Georgia Establishes “NATO Zone” On Border With South Ossetia
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23253
Civil Georgia
March 17, 2011
‘NATO Corner’ in School in Ergneti Angers Moscow
-“Taking into consideration the presence of the Lithuanian Ambassador to Georgia [at the event in Ergneti], who is head of the NATO Contact Point Embassy in Tbilisi, we want to ask the leadership of this organization [NATO] in Brussels – what is exactly meant by a ‘zone of NATO in Georgia’?”
Tbilisi: The opening of a NATO ‘information corner’ at Georgian public schools in the village of Ergneti on the breakaway South Ossetia’s administrative border, prompted Russian Foreign Ministry to release a statement saying that the move is part of Tbilisi’s attempts to involve the Alliance into conflict resolution.
On March 7 public schools in Ergneti hosted an event dedicated to the opening of a so-called “NATO corner” in the school. The event was part of a campaign by the Information Center on NATO – an organization established by the Georgian government as part of its Individual Partnership Action Plan with the Alliance in 2005 to increase public awareness about NATO.
The opening of the NATO corner in the Ergneti school was attended by Giorgi Baramidze, the Georgian Deputy PM and State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Lithuanian Ambassador to Georgia Jonas Paslauskas.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement that selecting Ergneti “for the holding of a propagandistic event was not an accident” as it represents a venue for holding regular meetings between the sides in framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism.
“The Georgian side’s intention is clear – to try involve the North Atlantic Alliance one way or the other in the resolution of the notorious ‘problem of the territorial integrity of Georgia’. But at the same time, for some reasons, [Georgia] forgets to become interested in the opinion of neighboring states – the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The statement also mentions remarks by the head of the NATO Information Center, Tengiz Gogotishvili, made at the opening ceremony in Ergneti, who reportedly said that “Ergneti, like any other village in Georgia is a zone of NATO.”
“Taking into consideration the presence of the Lithuanian Ambassador to Georgia [at the event in Ergneti], who is head of the NATO Contact Point Embassy in Tbilisi, we want to ask the leadership of this organization [NATO] in Brussels – what is exactly meant by a ‘zone of NATO in Georgia’?”
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8. Russia Acknowledges Mediterranean As NATO’s Mare Nostrum
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=7&id=229377
Interfax-Military
March 17, 2011
Russian Black Sea Fleet sub to take part in NATO exercises for first time
ever
MOSCOW: The Alrosa diesel-and-electric-powered submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet will take part in NATO naval exercises Bold Monarch 2011 in the Mediterranean Sea this summer, a representative of the Russian Navy Staff told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
“The navy command has decided to send the Alrosa on a Mediterranean voyage in early May. It will pass through Black Sea straits on the surface together with the Epron rescue vessel, which will also take part in the exercises,” he said.
It is the only submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet that has never left the Black Sea before, he added.
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9. Georgia’s Saakashvili Holds Court With U.S.’s Top Senators
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23250
Civil Georgia
March 17, 2011
Saakashvili Meets U.S. Senators
Tbilisi: President Saakashvili, who is visiting the United States, held a series of meetings with U.S. Senators in Washington, Georgian President’s administration said on March 17.
He met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, as well as Republican Senators John McCain and Saxby Chambliss and Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin.
Saakashvili also held meeting with Senator Joe Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen, the chairperson of the Subcommittee on European Affairs of U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen sponsored in December a draft resolution supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as regions “occupied by the Russian Federation”.
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10. Bahrain: Pentagon Approves Departure Of Military Family Members
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/17/c_13784086.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 17, 2011
U.S. authorizes departure of military family members from Bahrain
MANAMA: The U.S. Department of Defense authorized the departure for its non-essential civilian personnel and eligible family members from Bahrain, said an official statement issued late Wednesday.
The announcement was made amid ongoing demonstrations and continued unrest the kingdom.
According to the statement, the United States is not evacuating the military family members but authorizing voluntary departure.
“U.S. service members and family members are not being evacuated. The demonstrations have not been directed at the U.S. Navy or U.S. personnel, and there have been no reports of injuries to U.S. citizens,” it said, noting “the authorized departure is designed to facilitate the departure of those families who choose to depart Bahrain.”
The operations of U.S. Navy Fifth fleet stationed in Juffair and the Naval Support Activity Bahrain base will remain normal, said the statement.
The U.S. Naval base in Juffair, a recently developed district in the capital, is home to over 3,000 naval and civilian personnel.
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11. U.S. Drone Attack Targets Pakistani Council Meeting, Kills Over 40
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/41-killed-in-us-drone-attacks-in-paks-restive-northwest/763859/
Indian Express/Agencies
March 17, 2011
41 killed in US drone attacks in Pak’s restive northwest
-A tribal elder said six elders and some children were among the dead. Local residents said the drones continued hovering over the area after the attack.
-“The US drones targeted a tribal council and killed tribesmen and members of the local government militia force.”
Peshawar: At least 41 people were killed when US drones targeted a compound in the restive North Waziristan tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Thursday, though there were conflicting accounts about the identity of those who died.
Security officials said those killed in the attack at Datta Khel – located 25 km west of Miranshah, one of the main towns in North Waziristan Agency – were suspected militants linked to the network of Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
Local residents said the CIA-operated spy planes four to six missiles at a gathering of members of the Madda Khel tribe.
The tribesmen were participating in a jirga or council to resolve a dispute over the ownership of minerals in the mountains of North Waziristan, the residents told journalists.
At least 15 others were injured in the attack, one of the deadliest carried out by US drones in Pakistan’s tribal belt. A tribal elder said six elders and some children were among the dead. Local residents said the drones continued hovering over the area after the attack.
Tribesmen said the jirga had been organised to resolve differences over the payment made by a man for the sale of chromite mine by the Madda Khel tribe.
Kamran Khan, who represents the region in parliament, condemned the drone strike and said that most of the dead were innocent people.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar, who is responsible for the administration of the tribal areas, too strongly condemned the US drone strike.
“The US drones targeted a tribal council and killed tribesmen and members of the local government militia force,” Kausar said in a statement.
“The government and the people will not tolerate such attacks in future,” Kausar said.
The US drone strikes violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity and government policy, he added.
Kausar called for compensation to be paid to the families of victims.
This was the third attack in North Waziristan Agency in four days and the 23rd missile strike this year.
The Datta Khel region has frequently been targeted by spy planes over the past two years.
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12. Pakistan’s Army Chief Condemns U.S. Drone Slaughter
Associated Press
March 17, 2011
Pakistan army chief condemns US drone attack
MIR ALI, Pakistan: Pakistan’s army chief has condemned a U.S. drone attack that killed more than three dozen people, saying the missiles struck a peaceful meeting of tribal elders.
Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called Thursday’s strike “unjustified and intolerable” and said it was a violation of human rights.
Pakistani intelligence officials initially said the 38 people killed in a compound in the North Waziristan tribal area were militants meeting to discuss the war in Afghanistan.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Civilian casualties from drone strikes are a main source of friction between the Pakistani and U.S. governments.
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13. New Militarism: Three-Quarters Of Americans Back Women In Combat
Washington Post
March 16, 2011
Most Americans back women in combat roles, poll says
By Ed O’Keefe and and Jon Cohen
Seven in 10 Americans support permitting women in the military to serve in ground units that engage in close combat, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll
The findings come as the Pentagon prepares to review whether women should continue to be barred from combat units even though many of them often engage opposing forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Overall, 73 percent of respondents support giving women direct combat roles, and 25 percent oppose the move. Seventy-three percent of women and 72 percent of men favor extending formal combat roles to women, as do 80 percent of self-described Democrats, 62 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of independents.
Women account for 14.5 percent of active-duty service members (203,000 of about 1.4 million) and 18 percent of National Guard and reserve forces, according to the Pentagon. About 25,000 women are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, accounting for about 10 percent of U.S. forces there.
Since 1994, the Pentagon has barred women from serving in any unit below the brigade level (about 4,000 troops on average) whose primary mission is direct ground combat. But it allows women to serve in units that might engage in combat-related action.
“The nature of today’s conflicts is evolving; there are no front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said in an e-mail. “While women are not assigned to units below brigade level whose primary mission is direct combat on the ground, this doesn’t mean they are not assigned to positions in combat zones that could place them in danger.”
Last week, a congressionally mandated commission recommended that the Pentagon end the ban in order “to create a level playing field for all qualified service members.”
The Military Leadership Diversity Commission, chartered by Congress as part of the annual defense authorization bill in 2009, issued 20 recommendations designed to prepare a higher percentage of women and minorities to serve in top military leadership positions.
Verna Jones, director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation issues for the American Legion, said a change in policy would help female veterans gain quicker access to medical and mental-health benefits related to combat experiences. Women often have difficulty proving combat experience because they lack formal combat assignments, she said.
Any change “would definitely help women who suffer these types of injuries and better help them gather data on the injuries so they can get the benefits they deserve,” Jones said.
Ryan Gallucci, a spokesman for AMVETS, said his group supports the Pentagon review. “Women fly helicopters on combat sorties, women man turret guns on tactical patrols, and we see female engagement teams attached to line units for kinetic operations,” he said.
On the other hand, Elaine Donnelly, founder and executive director of the Center for Military Readiness, said that assigning women to combat units could put them at unnecessary risk and shouldn’t be done to achieve diversity goals. Donnelly maintains that women generally are unsuited to combat. “Women do not have an equal opportunity to survive, or to help fellow soldiers survive,” if they are assigned to infantry battalions, she said in an e-mail Wednesday.
“There is no ‘discrimination’ problem that requires extreme measures—such as forcing enlisted women into [direct ground combat] units — just to advance the career prospects of a future female officer who wants to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” she said.
Donnelly has studied military personnel issues since the 1980s and most recently led an unsuccessful campaign to prevent the government from ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
The Post-ABC telephone poll was conducted March 10 to 13 among a random national sample of 1,005 adults. Results from the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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14. Report: U.S. Missile Strikes Kill At Least 80 In Pakistan
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/ocountries/1847517.html
Trend News Agency
March 17, 2011
80 people reportedly killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan
At least 80 people were killed in U.S. drone strikes launched Thursday morning in different parts of Pakistan’s northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, reported local state-run Urdu TV channel PTV, but the report failed to give details other than saying 12 missiles were fired at different targets in the aforesaid area, Xinhua reported.
————————————-
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/17/c_13784458.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 17, 2011
80 people reportedly killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: At least 80 people were killed in U.S. drone strikes launched Thursday morning in different parts of Pakistan’s northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, reported local state-run Urdu TV channel PTV, but the report failed to give details other than saying 12 missiles were fired at different targets in the afore-said area.
Late Thursday morning, there came in the news that U.S. drones launched a strike in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. Initial reports by most of the local media said that two missiles were fired at a house in which militants were said to be holding a meeting inside, killing 4 people and injuring several others.
But the death toll has kept rising as more information came in from the remote area with inadequate communication facilities. Some local media reports said the target of the U.S. drones was a house in a village in the Datta Khel area in which a meeting was being held by local Taliban militants while others reported that the target was actually a tribal “jirga” or council of elders to resolve dispute over the ownership of minerals in the mountains in North Waziristan tribal region.
According to a tribal elder who asked to remain anonymous in a telephone interview from Miranshah, center of North Waziristan, the tribesmen from Madda Khel tribe were holding a meeting at Nawai Adda area, some 25 kilometers from Miranshah, when two U.S. drones fired four missiles at the participants of the tribal council at 11:30 am (local time)
The elder said that the strike killed 41 people including six tribal elders and some children.
The injured were later transferred to the hospital in Miranshah and some of them were in critical condition, said hospital sources.
The tribal elder rejected the reports that the target was a meeting held by militants. He said that all were local tribesmen. He said that the Madda Khel tribe had sold a chromite mine on 8.8 million rupees (slightly over 100,000 US dollars) to a man and both parties later disagreed over the payment method and the jirga was called to settle the dispute.
Member of National Assembly from the region, Kamran Khan, condemned the drone strike and said that mostly innocent people were killed and injured in the Thursday’s strike.
Residents said that they had seen four drones hovering over the area before and after the attack. They said two aircraft fired missiles.
Thursday’s strike is the 23rd of its kind in Pakistan since 2011 and also one of the most deadly strikes in the country over the last few years. To date, at least 187 people have reportedly been killed in such strikes since this year.
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15. Three U.S. Warships Off Libyan Coast, NATO Ships In Mediterranean
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=6200&lang=0
U.S. Department of Defense
March 15, 2011
Pentagon Official Discusses Libya No-Fly Zone
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid reports from Libya that indicate Moammar Gadhafi’s troops are gaining the upper hand over the opposition, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell spoke during an MSNBC interview today about the situation in Libya and possible responses.
Morrell, who has just returned from accompanying Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to NATO for discussions on the situation in North Africa, said NATO defense ministers agreed “to continue planning for any and all military options, including a no-fly zone.”
….
Three American ships remain off the Libyan coast: the USS Kearsarge, the USS Ponce and the USS Barry. Other NATO nations also have positioned ships in the Mediterranean.
“But remember,” Morrell said, “this is to monitor the arms embargo that the U.N. put in place, as well as to provide humanitarian assistance if needed.”
If the decision is made to establish a no-fly zone, the U.S. military can make it work, Morrell said.
“I don’t think this has ever been a question of can we do this,” he said. “I mean, this is the United States military. Even though we have significant commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world, Secretary Gates has made it abundantly clear we can do this.”
NATO allies would help, Morrell noted. “It’s important that we not do it alone,” he said….
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16. Pakistan: CIA Agent’s Release Sparks Outrage, Protests
ADN Kronos International
March 17, 2011
Pakistan: CIA contractor’s release sparks violent protests
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Lahore: The release of an American CIA contractor charged with two murders from a Pakistani prison on Wednesday sparked an angry reaction prompting people to take to the streets in protest, resulting in a clash with police in the city of Lahore.
Police fired tear gas at demonstrators who were burning tyres outside the US consulate in Lahore. According to a Punjab police spokesperson, a number policemen were injured by the mob attacks.
American Raymond Davis was acquitted earlier the day after $2.34 million in “blood money” was paid to the families of the 27 January shooting to secure the man’s release, according to news reports, citing a lawyer representing families.
Raymond Davis, 36, shot dead two men in the eastern city of Lahore on 27 January. He said he defended himself during an armed robbery.
Lawyer Raja Irshad said 19 relatives appeared in court Wednesday to accept the money, the report said.
Pakistani English-language newspaper Dawn said Davis was flown out of the country following his acquittal.
In the cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, hundreds of angry youths blocked the traffic by bonfires on the roads.
Jamaat-e-Islami and the other religious parties have called a countrywide strikes for Thursday and Friday to protest Davis’ release.
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17. Washington: Saakashvili Lobbies For More Arms
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/17/47583956.html
Voice of Russia
March 17, 2011
Saakashvili wants more arms
The meeting of Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili with a group of American senators produced a surprise.
Mr. Saakashvili has been in America since March 10 – but, until now, his visit was of a peaceful character. The Georgian president was looking for investors for his plans of building dwelling houses and a hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. Suddenly, he said that Georgia needs weapons to defend itself from Russia’s possible aggression.
Strange as it may seem, Mr. Saakashvili’s request was supported by Senator John McCain, who is known for his dislike for Russia.
“It’s my priority and the priority of some other people that Georgia must have defensive weapons,” the senator said.
“It is no use to search for logic in Mr. McCain’s words,” Deputy Director of the Moscow Institute for US and Canada Studies Pavel Zolotaryov believes. “However, this statement is quite typical of Senator McCain, an old war hawk. Still, it may be reminded to him that the US and other Western nations once used to help Saakashvili to reform and re-equip the Georgian army – but now it is well known what has resulted from this. Now, only short-sighted politicians can have moods similar to those of Mr. McCain. Fortunately, such moods do not dominate in President Obama’s administration. Let’s hope that America’s next president, whoever he or she might be, will be wise enough not to have such moods.”
Mikhail Saakashvili became Georgia’s president seven years ago, as a result of the so-called “revolution of roses”. At that time he seemed to be a model democrat. Young, energetic and eloquent, at first, he was gladly accepted by high-ranking politicians both in the US and Europe, who generously offered him all kinds of help. However, very soon, Mr. Saakashvili has shown his true colors. In August 2008, Georgia started a war in South Ossetia, which at that time was a part of Georgia.
Russia sent its forces to South Ossetia, and, with the help of Russians, Ossetians managed to stop the aggression. However, Saakashvili depicted that as Russia’s aggression against “peace-loving” Georgia. At first, some people in the West believed him – but today, it is already no secret to anybody that it was Georgia who started this war. Now, even those who used to be Sakashvili’s most fervent supporters are asking whether their former idol is fit for his job.
Now, what “defensive weapons” Mr. Saakashvili and Mr. McCain were talking about? Expert on the USA and Canada Pavel Zolotaryov says:
“In fact, there is no clearly-cut demarcation line between defensive and offensive kinds of weapons. It is evident to anyone that even when an army is attacking someone, it also has to defend itself.”
Bearing in mind the Georgian autocrat’s former deeds, it is hard to imagine that once he has weapons, he would keep them only to defend his country if necessary. Let’s hope that the West already realizes that and that besides the old war hawk John McCain, very few people will support Saakashvili’s bellicose plans.
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18. U.S. Vision Of Heroes Versus Villains Not Just On Screen
http://en.huanqiu.com/opinion/observer/2011-03/634541.html
Global Times
March 17, 2011
US vision of villains vs. heroes not just on screen
Depicting Soviets or Russians as scary invaders or thieves is not rare in Hollywood films, as in the 1984 film “Red Dawn” or in Indiana Jones’ latest romp.
US filmmakers continued with this Cold War cliché when they remade “Red Dawn,” but changed the villains to Chinese soldiers.
Before its official release this year, the film underwent a dramatic twist in the nationality of the characters – signs and symbols referring to China were digitally erased, with North Korean baddies being substituted in.
The logic behind the move is simple. The Chinese film market, which was worth $1.5 billion and ranked the fifth highest of America’s overseas markets last year, is too lucrative to lose, the Los Angeles Times quoted the US producer as saying. However, US filmmakers have nothing to lose in North Korea.
Without a single word from Chinese authorities, the US studio spent another $1 million to re-edit its film. One cannot help but marvel about the rising power of China, even though it is sheer market power this time.
But no matter what villains the US film producers choose, “Red Dawn” and many more films, involving conflicts with foreign countries, often reflect Americans’ stubborn Cold War mindset.
In their imagination, there is always an aggressive and ideologically different state that is trying to spy on or wage war with the US. The heroic American people always fight back and wipe out the villains.
They do not really care about which country the “villains” are from. The existence of these villains is simply there to counterpoint the mighty Americans and their fight to protect their values and serve the justice.
This mindset of heroes vs. villains is not limited to the entertainment world. The creation of the “axis of evil” by former US president George W. Bush was not for fun.
A significant number of politicians still believe Iran, North Korea and a couple of [other] defiant countries are villains to be overcome, and people are expecting the US heroes to save the world.
The sad fact is that US politicians do not always hold up to their ideology. As in the entertainment world, the villains are interchangeable, and their holy values can be compromised, as long as the new move meets their interests.
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19. Seventh Anniversary Of Kosovo Pogrom
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=17&nav_id=73277
B92/Tanjug News Agency
March 17, 2011
Anniversary of anti-Serb violence in Kosovo
-EULEX spokeswoman Irina Gudeljevic told Tanjug, on the seventh anniversary of the March 17, 2004 violence that the the EU mission prosecutor in Priština has dropped six out of the seven cases related to the events….
BELGRADE: Today marks seven years since the pogrom of Serbs in Kosovo, who were subjected to attacks by ethnic Albanians.
It was the worst outbreak of violence since the 1999 war and the arrival of international forces.
19 people died, while several thousand Serbs were forced out of their homes. At the same time, 800 houses and 35 Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries were either destroyed or damaged.
The violence broke out in southern part of the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica and soon spread across the province, when bodies of two ethnic Albanian boys who drowned in the Ibar river were discovered. Albanians blamed Serbs for their deaths.
Some 250 persons were held in detention accused of taking part in anti-Serb violence, with six ethnic Albanians from Gnjilane charged in September 2004, and sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison the next year.
As Albanians rioted against Serbs in Kosovo, protests took place in several central Serbian towns, when mosques were set on fire in Niš and Belgrade.
Serbs in Kosovo intend to mark the 7th anniversary of the pogrom “modestly”, according to announcements, with a service in St. Nicholas’ Church in Priština, which was among the destroyed holy places.
EULEX dropped most indictments
EULEX spokeswoman Irina Gudeljevic told Tanjug, on the seventh anniversary of the March 17, 2004 violence that the the EU mission prosecutor in Priština has dropped six out of the seven cases related to the events, while the indictment was confirmed in only one case.
“The main trial has started in the case in which the indictment was confirmed. One trial was completed before the Prizren District Court, and the accused was found guilty,” Gudeljevic said without revealing more details.
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20. Military Attack On Libya May Occur “Within Hours” Of UN Vote
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/17/47584747.html
Voice of Russia
March 17, 2011
Military action against Gaddafi possible “within hours” after UN vote
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed by telephone the situation in Libya.
Particular attention was paid to the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution on Libya. If adopted, one can expect foreign military strikes on that country’s territory as early as this night. This was reported by French diplomatic sources. They specified that the attacks will target Libyan military positions.
The draft resolution is tabled by France and Britain. The U.S. has expressed support for the document.
Germany, however, refuses to participate in a military attack on Libya. According to the Russian side, the draft needs clarification, since many issues are not resolved, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
Moscow believes that use of force to resolve the Libyan issue is unlikely to result in a positive outcome.
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21. West Releases Another KLA War Crimes Suspect
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=17&nav_id=73283
B92/Tanjug News Agency
March 17, 2011
Ex-KLA questioned, released
PRIŠTINA: EULEX has released former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander Fatmir Limaj who was arrested last night for war crimes committed in the village of Klečka.
EULEX should make an announcement regarding Limaj later today.
Limaj, former Kosovo transport minister and current deputy leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) turned himself in to the EULEX police last night at his home in Čaglavica near Priština.
He told reporters as he was leaving the house that he was “proud he took part in the war and in building Kosovo after the war.”
….
His arrest followed after yesterday’s arrest of former KLA members in Prizren and other towns in Kosovo.
After two-hour questioning the former KLA commander was released. According to the media, the judicial proceeding will continue in the next several days.
….
The former KLA commander had already been put on trial in the Hague Tribunal but he was acquitted. B92 has learned that even though Limaj had been acquitted by the Hague Tribunal, the domestic prosecution has a court permission to conduct an investigation into the Klečka camp and one more locality.
….
Their latest operation is a result of…cooperation between EULEX and Belgrade prosecutors who have been conducting the investigation into the events in the two KLA camps which were commanded by Limaj for three years now.
More arrests in Kosovo
….
Among those arrested is Prizren regional police Commander Nexhmi Krasniqi, who has been remanded in one month in custody.
Daily Blic writes, quoting unofficial information, that several arrested men are linked to investigations into anti-Serb violence that took place in March 2004.
According to the daily, the persons suspected of burning down the Bogorodica Ljeviška Church in Prizren were also suspected of crimes against Serbs in 1999.
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22. Australia Further Boosts Largest Post-WW II Military Buildup
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/australia-defence-idUSL3E7EH06L20110317
Reuters
March 17, 2011
Australia to buy amphibious military transport ship, aircraft
CANBERRA: Australia will buy a large amphibious warship from Britain and a C-17 wide-body military transport plane from Boeing to expand its fleet…the defence minister said on Thursday.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the navy would buy a surplus Royal Navy Bay Class heavy amphibious lift vessel, to complement two 27,000-tonne helicopter assault carriers on order from Spain and entering service in 2015.
Australia’s air force would also buy an extra Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport…Smith said.
The 16,000-tonne Bay Class landing ships are capable of carrying 350 troops and large military helicopters. Britain recently noncommissioned one vessel in its fleet under the government’s 2010 Strategic and Defence Review.
Two carriers already under construction by Spanish shipbuilder Navantia for Australia’s navy will each be capable of carrying 1,000 troops and up to 24 helicopters, as well as armoured vehicles and tanks.
They are part of a multi-billion-dollar upgrade of Australia’s military that includes new air defence destroyers, up to 100 stealth fighter aircraft, helicopters, tanks, long-range cruise missiles and 12 new submarines costing $25 billion.
(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Ed Davies)
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23. Clinton Rallies Arab Nations For Libya Intervention
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=143142
Azeri Press Agency
March 17, 2011
Arab role in Libya intervention discussed: Clinton
Baku: Discussions are under way on the possible direct involvement of Arab nations in any international military action against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Tunisia, Clinton also said the international community was debating how best to stop Gaddafi from overrunning rebels fighting to end his four-decade long rule.
Asked if Arab nations would have to take part by providing pilots or by bombing or otherwise being directly involved in carrying out any eventual military operation against Gaddafi, Clinton replied: “That is also being discussed.”
U.S. officials said on Thursday that Washington, in a sharp shift in tone, wanted the United Nations to authorize not just a no-fly zone to aid Libyan rebels but also air strikes against Libyan tanks and heavy artillery.
Referring to a U.N. resolution on Libya that Washington hopes will be passed later on Thursday, Clinton said:
“It is important to recognize that military experts across the world know that a no-fly zone requires certain actions taken to protect the planes and the pilots, including bombing targets like the Libyan defense system.
“There are many ways to write a resolution. Some would be a more general authorization with certain goals laid out. Some would be more specific listing of what was or wasn’t authorized,” she added.
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24. Security Council: Countdown To War Against Libya
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/africa/18nations.html
New York Times
March 17, 2011
U.N. Approves Airstrikes to Halt Attacks by Qaddafi Forces
By DAN BILEFSKY and KAREEM FAHIM
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council approved a measure on Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from harm at the hands of forces loyal to Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi.
The measure allows not only a no-fly zone but effectively any measures short of a ground invasion to halt attacks that might result in civilian fatalities. It comes as Colonel Qaddafi warned residents of Benghazi, Libya, the rebel capital, that an attack was imminent and promised lenient treatment for those who offered no resistance.
“We are coming tonight,” Colonel Qaddafi said. “You will come out from inside. Prepare yourselves from tonight. We will find you in your closets.”
….
The United States, originally leery of any military involvement in Libya, became a strong proponent of the resolution, particularly after the Arab League approved a no-fly zone, something that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called a “game changer”
With the recent advances made by pro-Qaddafi forces in the east, there was a growing consensus in the Obama administration that imposing a no-fly zone by itself would no longer make much of a difference and that there was a need for more aggressive airstrikes that would make targets of Colonel Qaddafi’s tanks and heavy artillery — an option sometimes referred to as a no-drive zone. The United States or its allies might also send military personnel to advise and train the rebels, an official said.
In the most strident verbal attack on Colonel Qaddafi to date by an American official, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the Western powers had little choice but to provide critical military backing for the rebels. “We want to support the opposition who are standing against the dictator,” she told an applauding audience in Tunisia on Thursday. “This is a man who has no conscience and will threaten anyone in his way.”
She added that Colonel Qaddafi would do “terrible things” to Libya and its neighbors. “It’s just in his nature. There are some creatures that are like that.”
The Qaddafi government responded to the potential United Nations action with threats.
“Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military facilities will become targets of Libya’s counter-attack,” it said in a statement carried on Libyan television and the official news agency, JANA, Reuters reported. “The Mediterranean basin will face danger not just in the short-term, but also in the long-term.”
….
Dan Bilefsky reported from the United Nations and Kareem Fahim from Tobruk, Libya. David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from Tripoli, Libya, and Steven Lee Myers from Tunis, Tunisia.
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25. Georgia Wants NATO To “Resolve” South Caucasus Conflicts
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110317171418.shtml
RosBusiness Consulting
March 17, 2011
Russia surprised by NATO’s Georgia pronouncement
Moscow: Russia’s Foreign Ministry has expressed perplexity over a recent statement by the head of NATO’s information center in Georgia Tengiz Gogotishvili, claiming that the Georgian village of Ergneti “just like any other village in Georgia, is a NATO zone,” the ministry’s press department announced today.
“We would really like to ask the alliance’s executives in Brussels what kind of NATO zones in Georgia they are talking about.”
Ergneti has been a popular place for holding meetings attended by Russian border officials and representatives of the EU as part of the mechanism to resolve cross-border incidents between Georgia and South Ossetia.
Tbilisi’s intentions are crystal clear: it is an attempt to solicit NATO’s help in settling “Georgia’s territorial integrity” problem. According to the Russian ministry’s statement, however, Georgia “conveniently forgot” to ask for the opinion of neighboring states – Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Leonid Andreyev: The Red Laugh
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
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Leonid Andreyev
The Red Laugh (1904)
Translator not identified
*****
I recognized it — that red laugh. I had been searching for it, and I had found it — that red laugh. Now I understood what there was in all those mutilated, torn, strange bodies. It was a red laugh. It was in the sky, it was in the sun, and soon it was going to overspread the entire earth — that red laugh!
*****
FRAGMENT I
….Horror and madness.
I felt it for the first time as we were marching along the road – marching incessantly for ten hours without stopping, never diminishing our step, never waiting to pick up those that had fallen, but leaving them to the enemy, that was moving behind us in a compact mass only three or four hours later effacing the marks of our feet by their own.
It was very sultry. I do not know how many degrees there were – 120°, 140°, or more – I only know that the heat was incessant, hopelessly even and profound. The sun was so enormous, so fiery and terrible, that it seemed as if the earth had drawn nearer to it and would soon be burnt up altogether in its merciless rays. Our eyes had ceased to look. The small shrunk pupil, as small as a poppy-seed, sought in vain for darkness under the closed eyelid; the sun pierced the thin covering and penetrated into the tortured brain in a blood-red glow. But, nevertheless, it was better so: with closed eyelids, and for a long time, perhaps for several hours, I walked along with my eyes shut, hearing the multitude moving around me: the heavy, uneven tread of many feet, men’s and horses, the grinding of iron wheels, crushing the small stones, somebody’s deep strained breathing and the dry smacking of parched lips. But I heard no word. All were silent, as if an army of dumb people were moving, and when anyone fell down, he fell in silence; others stumbled against his body, fell down and rose mutely, and, without turning their heads, marched on, as though these dumb men were also blind and deaf. I stumbled and fell several times and then involuntarily opened my eyes, and all that I saw seemed a wild fiction, the terrible raving of a mad world. The air vibrated at a white-hot temperature, the stones seemed to be trembling silently, ready to flow, and in the distance, at a curve of the road, the files of men, guns and horses seemed detached from the earth, and trembled like a mass of jelly in their onward progress, and it seemed to me that they were not living people that I saw before me, but an army of incorporate shadows.
The enormous, near, terrible sun lit up thousands of tiny blinding suns on every gun-barrel and metal plate, and these suns, as fiery-white and sharp as the white-hot points of the bayonets, crept into your eyes from every side. And the consuming, burning heat penetrated into your body – into your very bones and brain – and at times it seemed to me that it was not a head that swayed upon my shoulders, but a strange and extraordinary globe, heavy and light, belonging to somebody else, and horrible.
And then – then I suddenly remembered my home: a comer of my room, a scrap of light-blue wall-paper, and a dusty untouched water-bottle on my table – on my table, which has one leg shorter than the others, and had a small piece of paper folded under it. While in the next room – and I cannot see them – are my wife and little son. If I had had the power to cry out, I would have done so – so wonderful was this simple and peaceful picture – the scrap of light-blue wall-paper and dusty untouched water-bottle. I know that I stood still and lifted up my arms, but somebody gave me a push from behind, and I quickly moved on, thrusting the crowd aside, and hastening whither I knew not, but feeling now neither heat nor fatigue. And I marched on thus for a long time through the endless mute files, past red sunburnt necks, almost touching the helplessly lowered hot bayonets, when suddenly the thought of what I was doing, whither I was hastening, stopped me. I turned aside in the same hasty way, forced my way to the open, clambered across a gulley and sat down on a stone in a preoccupied manner, as if that rough hot stone was the aim of all my strivings.
And then I felt it for the first time. I clearly perceived that all these people, marching silently on in the glaring sun, torpid from fatigue and heat, swaying and falling – that they were all mad. They did not know whither they were going, they did not know what that sun was for, they did not know anything. It was not heads that they had on their shoulders, but strange and terrible globes. There - I saw a man in the same plight as I, pushing his way hurriedly through the rows and falling down; there – another, and a third. Suddenly a horse’s head appeared above the throng with bloodshot and senseless eyes and a wide-open grinning mouth, that only hinted at a terrible unearthly cry; this head appeared, fell down, and for an instant the crowd stopped, growing denser in that spot; I could hear hoarse, hollow voices, then a shot, and again the silent endless march continued.
An hour passed as I sat on that stone, but the multitude still moved on past me, and the air and earth and the distant phantom-like ranks trembled as before. And again the burning heat pierced my body and I forgot what for an instant I had pictured to myself; and the multitudes moved on past me, but I did not know who they were. An hour ago I was alone on the stone, but now I was surrounded by a group of grey people; some lying motionless, perhaps dead; others were sitting up and staring vacantly at those passing by. Some had guns and resembled soldiers; others were stripped almost naked, and the skin on their bodies was so livid, that one did not care to look at it. Not far from me someone was lying with his bared back upturned.
One could see by the unconcerned manner in which he had buried his face in the sharp burning sand, by the whiteness of the palm of his upturned hand, that he was dead, but his back was as red as if he were alive, and only a slight yellowish tinge, such as one sees on smoked meat, spoke of death. I wanted to move away from him, but I had not the strength, and, tottering from weakness, I continued looking at the endless phantom-like swaying files of men. By the condition of my head I knew that I should soon have a sunstroke too, but I awaited it calmly, as in a dream, where death seems only a stage on the path of wonderful and confused visions.
And I saw a soldier part from the crowd and direct his steps in a decided manner towards us. For an instant I lost sight of him in a ditch, but when he reappeared and moved on towards us, his gait was unsteady, and in his endeavors to control his restlessly tossing body, one felt he was using his last strength. He was coming so straight upon me that I grew frightened and, breaking through the heavy torpor that enveloped my brain, I asked: “What do you want?”
He stopped short, as if it was only a word that he was waiting for, and stood before me, enormous, bearded, in a torn shirt. He had no gun, his trousers hung only by one button, and through a slit in them one could see his white body. He flung his arms and legs about and he was visibly trying to control them, but could not; the instant he brought his arms together, they fell apart again.
“What is the matter? You had better sit down,” I said.
But he continued standing, vainly trying to gather himself together, and stared at me in silence. Involuntarily I got up from the stone and, tottering, looked into his eyes – and saw an abyss of horror and insanity in them. Everybody’s pupils were shrunk – but his had dilated and covered his whole eye: what a sea of fire he must have seen through those enormous black windows! Maybe I had only imagined it, maybe in his look there was only death – but, no, I was not mistaken – in those black, bottomless pupils, surrounded by a narrow orange-colored rim, like a bird’s eye, there was more than death, more than the horror of death. “Go away!” I cried falling back. “Go away!” And as if he was only waiting for a word, enormous, disorderly and mute as before, he suddenly fell down upon me, knocking me over. With a shudder I freed my legs from under him, jumped up and longed to run – somewhere away from men into the sunlit, unpeopled and quivering distance, when suddenly, on the left-hand side, a cannon boomed forth from a hilltop, and directly after it two others, like an echo. And somewhere above our heads a shell flew past with a gladsome, many-voiced scr-e-e-ch and howl.
We were outflanked.
The murderous heat, fear and fatigue disappeared instantly. My thoughts cleared, my mind grew clear and sharp, and when I ran up, out of breath, to the files of men drawing up, I saw serene, almost joyous faces, heard hoarse, but loud voices, orders, jokes. The sun seemed to have drawn itself up higher so as not to be in the way, and had grown dim and still – and again a shell, like a witch, cut the air with a gladsome scr-e-e-ch.
I came up.
FRAGMENT II
Nearly all the horses and men. The same in the eighth battery. In our twelfth battery, towards the end of the third day, there remained only three guns – all the others being disabled – six men and one officer, myself. We had neither slept nor eaten for twenty hours; for three days and nights a Satanic roar and howl enveloped us in a cloud of insanity, isolated us from the earth, the sky and ourselves – and we, the living, wandered about like lunatics. The dead – they lay still, while we moved about doing our duty, talking and laughing, and we were – like lunatics. All our movements were quick and certain, our orders clear, the execution of them precise, but if you had suddenly asked one of us who we were, undoubtedly we should not have been able to find an answer in our troubled brain. As in a dream all faces seemed familiar, and all that was going on seemed quite familiar and natural–as if it had happen before; but when I looked closely at any face or gun, or began listening to the din, I was struck by the novelty and endless mystery of everything. Night approached imperceptibly, and before we had time to notice it and wonder where it had come from, the sun was again burning our heads. And only from those who came to our battery we learnt that it was the third day of the battle that was dawning, and instantly forgot it again: to us it appeared as one endless day without any beginning, sometimes dark, sometimes bright, but always incomprehensible, and blind. And nobody was afraid of death, for nobody understood what death was.
On the third or fourth night – I do not remember which – I lay down for a minute behind the breastwork, and, as soon as I shut my eyes, the same familiar and extraordinary picture stood before them: the scrap of light-blue wall-paper and the dusty untouched water-bottle on my table. While in the next room – and I could not see them – were my wife and little son. But this time a lamp with a green shade was burning on the table, so it must have been evening or night. The picture stood motionless, and I contemplated it very calmly and attentively for a long time, letting my eyes rest on the light reflected in the crystal of the water-bottle, and on the wall-paper, and wondered why my son was not asleep: for it was night and time for him to go to bed. Then I again began examining the wall-paper: every spiral, silvery flower, square and line – and never imagined that I knew my room so well. Now and then I opened my eyes and saw the black sky with beautiful fiery stripes upon it, then shut them again and saw once more the wall-paper, the bright water-bottle, and wondered why my son was not asleep, for it was night and time for him to go to bed. Once a shell burst not far from me, making my legs give a jerk, and somebody cried out loudly, louder than the bursting of the shell, and I said to myself: “Somebody is killed,” but I did not get up and did not tear my eyes away from the light-blue wall-paper and the water-bottle.
Afterwards I got up, moved about, gave orders, looked at the men’s faces, trained the guns, and kept on wondering why my son was not asleep. Once I asked the sergeant, and he explained it to me at length with great detail, and we kept nodding our heads. And he laughed, and his left eyebrow kept twitching, while his eye winked cunningly at somebody behind us. Behind us were somebody’s feet – and nothing more.
By this time it was quite light, when suddenly there fell a drop of rain. Rain–just the same as at home, the most ordinary little drops of rain. But it was so sudden and out of place, and we were so afraid of getting wet, that we left our guns, stopped firing, and tried to find shelter anywhere we could.
The sergeant with whom I had only just been speaking got under the gun-carriage and dozed off, although he might have been crushed any minute; the stout artilleryman, for some reason or other, began undressing a corpse, while I began running about the battery in search of something-a cloak or an umbrella. And the same instant over the whole enormous area, where the rain-cloud had burst, a wonderful stillness fell. A belated shrapnel shot shrieked and burst, and everything grew still – so still that one could hear the stout artilleryman panting, and the drops of rain splashing upon the stones and guns. And this soft and continuous sound, that reminded one of autumn – the smell of the moist earth and the stillness – seemed to tear the bloody, savage nightmare asunder for an instant; and when I glanced at the wet, glistening gun it unexpectedly reminded me of something dear and peaceful – my childhood, or perhaps my first love. But in the distance a gun boomed forth particularly loud, and the spell of the momentary lull disappeared; the men began coming out of their hiding places as suddenly as they had hid themselves; a gun roared, then another, and once again the weary brain was enveloped by bloody, indissoluble gloom. And nobody noticed when the rain stopped. I only remember seeing the water rolling off the fat, sunken yellow face of the killed artilleryman; so I supposed it rained for rather a long time….
…Before me stood a young volunteer holding his hand to his cap and reporting to me that the general wanted us to retain our position for only two hours more, when we should be relieved. I was wondering why my son was not in bed, and answered that I could hold on as much as he wished. But suddenly I became interested in the young man’s face, probably because of its unusual and striking pallor. I never saw anything whiter than that face: even the dead have more colour than that young, beardless face had. I suppose he became terrified on his way to us, and could not recover himself; and in holding his hands to his cap he was only making an effort to drive away his mad fear by a simple and habitual gesture.
“Are you afraid?” I asked, touching his elbow. But his elbow seemed as if made of wood, and he only smiled and remained silent. Better to say, his lips alone were twitching into a smile, while his eyes were full of youth and terror only – nothing more.
“Are you afraid!” I repeated kindly. His lips twitched, trying to frame a word, and the same instant there happened something incomprehensible, monstrous and supernatural. I felt a draught of warm air upon my right cheek that made me sway — that is all — while before my eyes, in place of the white face, there was something short, blunt, and red, and out of it the blood was gushing as out of an uncorked bottle, such as is drawn on badly executed signboards. And that red and flowing “something” still seemed to be smiling a sort of smile, a toothless laugh — a red laugh.
I recognized it — that red laugh. I had been searching for it, and I had found it — that red laugh. Now I understood what there was in all those mutilated, torn, strange bodies. It was a red laugh. It was in the sky, it was in the sun, and soon it was going to overspread the entire earth — that red laugh!
While they, with precision and calmness, like lunatics….
FRAGMENT III
They say there are a great number of madmen in our army as well as in the enemy’s. Four lunatic wards have been opened. When I was on the staff our adjutant showed me….
FRAGMENT IV
. . . Coiled round like snakes. He saw the wire, chopped through at one end, cut the air and coil itself round three soldiers. The barbs tore their uniforms and stuck into their bodies, and, shrieking, the soldiers spun round in frenzy, two of them dragging the third, who was already dead, after them. Then only one remained alive, and he tried to push the two that were dead away from him; but they trailed after him, whirling and rolling over each other and over him; and suddenly all three became motionless.
He told me that no less than two thousand men were lost at that one wire entanglement. While they were hacking at the wire and getting entangled in its serpentine coils, they were pelted by an incessant rain of balls and grapeshot. He assured me it was very terrifying, and if only they had known in which direction to run, that attack would have ended in a panic flight. But ten or twelve continuous lines of wire and the struggle with it, a whole labyrinth of pitfalls with stakes driven in at the bottom, had muddled them so, that they were quite incapable of defining the direction of escape.
Some, like men blind, fell into the funnel-shaped pits, and hung upon the sharp stakes, pierced through the stomach, twitching convulsively and dancing like toy clowns; they were crushed down by fresh bodies, and soon the whole pit filled to the edges, and presented a writhing mass of bleeding bodies, dead and living. Hands thrust themselves out of it in all directions, the fingers working convulsively, catching at everything; and those who once got caught in that trap could not get back again: hundreds of fingers, strong and blind, like the claws of a lobster, gripped them firmly by the legs, caught at their clothes, threw them down upon themselves, gouged out their eyes and throttled them. Many seemed as if they were intoxicated, and ran straight at the wire, got caught in it, and remained shrieking, until a bullet finished them.
Generally speaking, they all seemed like people intoxicated: some swore dreadfully, others laughed when the wire caught them by the arm or leg and died there and then. He himself, although he had had nothing to eat or drink since the morning, felt very queer. His head swam, and there were moments when the feeling of terror in him changed to wild rapture, and from rapture again to terror. When somebody struck up a song at his side, he caught up the tune, and soon a whole unanimous chorus broke forth. He did not remember what they sang, only that it was lively in a dancing strain. Yes, they sang, while all around them was red with blood. The very sky seemed to be red, and one could have thought that a catastrophe had overwhelmed the universe- a strange disappearance of colors: the light-blue and green and other habitual peaceful colors had disappeared, while the sun blazed forth in a red flare-light.
“The red laugh,” said I.
But he did not understand.
“Yes, and they laughed, as I told you before, like people intoxicated. Perhaps they even danced. There was something of the sort. At least the movements of those three resembled dancing.”
He remembers distinctly, when he was shot through the chest and fell, his legs twitched for some time until he lost consciousness, as if he were dancing to music. And at the present moment, when he thinks of that attack, a strange feeling comes over him: partly fear and partly the desire to experience it all over again.
“And get another ball in your chest?” asked I. “There now, why should I get a ball each time? But it would not be half so bad, old boy, to get a medal for bravery.”
He was lying on his back with a waxen face, sharp nose, prominent cheek-bones and sunken eyes. He was lying looking like a corpse and dreaming of a medal! Mortification had already set in; he had a high temperature, and in three days’ time he was to be thrown into the grave to join the dead; nevertheless he lay smiling dreamingly and talking about a medal.
“Have you telegraphed to your mother?” I asked.
He glanced at me with terror, animosity and anger, and did not answer. I was silent, and then the groans and ravings of the wounded became audible. But when I rose to go, he caught my hand in his hot, but still strong one, and fixed his sunken burning eyes upon me in a lost and distressed way.
“What does it all mean, ay? What does it all mean?” asked he in a frightened and persistent manner, pulling at my hand.
“What?”
“Everything. . .in general. Now, she is waiting for me. But I cannot. My country – is it possible to make her understand, what my country means?”
“The red laugh,” answered I. “Ah! you are always joking, but I am serious. It is indispensable to explain it; but is it possible to make her understand? If you only knew what she says in her letters! – what she writes. And you know her words – are grey-haired. And you – “he looked curiously at my head, pointed his finger and suddenly breaking into a laugh said: “Why, you have grown bald. Have you noticed it?”
“There are no looking-glasses here.”
“Many have grown bald and grey. Look here, give me a looking-glass. Give me one! I feel white hair growing out of my head. Give me a looking-glass!” He became delirious, crying and shouting out, and I left the hospital.
That same evening we got up an entertainment – a sad and strange entertainment, at which, amongst the guests, the shadows of the dead assisted. We decided to gather in the evening and have tea, as if we were at home, at a picnic. We got a samovar, we even got a lemon and glasses, and established ourselves under a tree, as if we were at home, at a picnic. Our companions arrived noisily in twos and threes, talking, joking and full of gleeful expectation -but soon grew silent, and avoided looking at each other, for there was something fearful in this meeting of spared men. In tatters, dirty, itching, as if we were covered by a dreadful ringworm, with hair neglected, thin and worn, having lost all familiar and habitual aspect, we seemed to see each other for the first time as we gathered round the samovar, and seeing each other, we grew terrified. In vain I looked for a familiar face in this group of disconcerted men – I could not find one. These men, restless, hasty and jerky in their movements, starting at every sound, constantly looking for something behind their backs, trying to fill up that mysterious void into which they were too terrified to look, by superfluous gesticulations – were new, strange men, whom I did not know. And their voices sounded different, articulating the words with difficulty in jerks, easily passing into angry shouts or senseless irrepressible laughter at the slightest provocation. And everything around us was strange to us. The tree was strange, and the sunset strange, and the water strange, with a peculiar taste and smell, as if we had left the earth and entered into a new world together with the dead – a world of mysterious phenomena and ominous sombre shadows. The sunset was yellow and cold; black, unillumined, motionless clouds hung heavily over it, while the earth under it was black, and our faces in that ill-omened light seemed yellow, like the faces of the dead. We all sat watching the samovar, but it went out, its sides reflecting the yellowishness and menace of the sun set, and it seemed also an unfamiliar, dead and incomprehensible object.
“Where are we?” asked somebody, and uneasiness and fear sounded in his voice. Somebody sighed; somebody convulsively cracked his fingers; somebody laughed; somebody jumped up and began walking quickly round the table. These last days one could often meet with such men, who were always walking hastily, almost running, at times strangely silent, at times mumbling something in an uncanny way.
“At the war,” answered he who had laughed, and again burst into a hollow, lingering laugh, as if something was choking him.
“What is he laughing at?” asked somebody indignantly. “Look here, stop it!”
The other choked once more, gave a titter and stopped indignantly.
It was growing dark, the cloud seemed to be settling down on the earth, and we could with difficulty distinguish each other’s yellow phantom-like faces. Somebody asked, –
“And where is Fatty-legs?”
“Fatty legs” we called a fellow-officer, who, being short, wore enormous water-tight boots.
“He was here just now. Fatty-legs, where are you?”
“Fatty-legs, don’t hide. We can smell your boots.”
Everybody laughed, but their laugh was interrupted by an indignant voice that sounded out of the darkness:
“Stop that! Are you not ashamed? Fatty-legs was killed in morning reconnoitring.”
“He was here just now. It must be a mistake.”
“You imagined it. Heigh-ho! you there, behind the samovar, cut me a slice of lemon.”
“And me!”
“And me!”
“The lemon is finished.”
“How is that, boys?” sounded a gentle, hurt voice, full of distress and almost crying; “why, I only came for the sake of the lemon.”
The other again burst into a hollow and lingering laugh, and nobody checked him. But he soon stopped. He gave a snigger, and was silent. Somebody said:
“To-morrow we begin the advance on the enemy.”
But several voices cried out angrily:
“Nonsense, advance on the enemy, indeed!”
“But you know yourself – ”
“Shut up. As if we cannot talk of something else.”
The sunset faded. The cloud lifted, and it seemed to grow lighter; the faces became more familiar, and he, who kept circling round us, grew calmer and sat down.
“I wonder what it’s like at home now?” asked he vaguely, and in his voice there sounded a guilty smile.
And once again all became terrible, incomprehensible and strange – so intensely so that we were filled with horror, almost to the verge of losing consciousness. And we all began talking and shouting at the same time, bustling about, moving our glasses, touching each other’s shoulders, hands, knees – and all at once became silent, giving way before the incomprehensible.
“At home?” cried somebody out of the darkness. His voice was hoarse and quivering with emotion, fear and hatred. And some of the words would not come out, as if he had forgotten how to say them.
“At home? What home? Why, is there home anywhere! Don’t interrupt me or else I shall fire. At home I used to take a bath every day – can you understand? – a bath with water – water up to the very edges. While now – I do not even wash my face every day. My head is covered with scurf, and my whole body itches and over it crawl, crawl. . . I am going mad from dirt, while you talk of – home! I am like an animal, I despise myself, I cannot recognise myself and death is not at all terrifying. You tear my brain with your shrapnel-shots. Aim at what you will, all hit my brain- and you can speak of – home. What home? Streets, windows, people, but I would not go into the street now for anything. I should be ashamed to. You brought a samovar here, but I was ashamed to look at it.”
The other laughed again. Somebody called out: “D–n it all! I shall go home.”
“Home?”
“You don’t understand what duty is!”
“Home? Listen! he wants to go home!”
There was a burst of laughter and of painful shouts – and again all became silent – giving way before the incomprehensible. And then not only I, but every one of us felt that. It was coming towards us out of those dark, mysterious and strange fields; it was rising from out of those obscure dark ravines, where, maybe, the forgotten and lost among the stones were still dying; it was flowing from the strange, unfamiliar sky. We stood around the dying-out samovar in silence, losing consciousness from horror, while an enormous, shapeless shadow that had risen above the world, looked down upon us from the sky with a steady and silent gaze. Suddenly, quite close to us, probably at the Commanders’ house, music burst forth, and the frenzied, joyous, loud sounds seemed to flash out into the night and stillness. The band played with frenzied mirth and defiance, hurriedly, discordantly, too loudly, and too joyously, and one could feel that those who were playing, and those who were listening, saw as we did, that same enormous, shapeless shadow, risen above the world. And it was clear the player on the trumpet carried in himself, in his very brain and ears, that same enormous dumb shadow. The abrupt and broken sound tossed about, jumping and running away from the others, quivering with horror and insanity in its lonesomeness. And the other sounds seemed to be looking round at it, so clumsily they ran, stumbling, falling, and again rising in a disorderly crowd – too loud, too joyous, too close to the black ravines, where most probably the forgotten and lost among the boulders were still dying.
And we stood for a long time around the cold samovar and were silent.
FRAGMENT V
.. . I was already asleep when the doctor roused me by pushing me cautiously. I woke, and jumping up, cried out, as we all did when anybody wakened us, and rushed to the entrance of our tent. But the doctor held me firmly by the arm, excusing himself:
“I frightened you, forgive me. I know you want to sleep…”
“Five days and nights…” I muttered, dozing off. I fell asleep and slept, as it seemed to me for a long time, when the doctor again began speaking, poking me cautiously in the ribs and legs.
“But it is very urgent. Dear fellow, please – it is so pressing. I keep thinking…I cannot…I keep thinking, that some of the wounded were left…”
“What wounded? Why, you were bringing them in the whole day long. Leave me in peace. It is not fair – I have not slept for five days!”
“Dear boy, don’t be angry,” muttered the doctor, awkwardly putting my cap on my head; “everybody is asleep, it’s impossible to rouse anybody. I’ve got hold of an engine and seven carriages, but we’re in want of men. I understand….Dear fellow, I implore you. Everybody is asleep and everybody refuses. I’m afraid of falling asleep myself. I don’t remember when I slept last. I believe I’m beginning to have hallucinations. There’s a dear fellow, put down your feet, just one–there – there….”
The doctor was pale and tottering, and one could see that if he were only to lie down for an instant he would fall asleep and remain so without waking for several days running. My legs sank under me, and I am certain I fell asleep as I walked – so suddenly and unexpectedly appeared before us a row of black outlines – the engine and carriages. Near them, scarcely distinguishable in the darkness, some men were wandering about slowly and silently.
There was not a single light either on the engine or carriages, and only the shut ash-box threw a dim reddish light on to the rails.
“What is this?” asked I, stepping back.
“Why, we are going in the train. Have you forgotten? We are going in the train,” muttered the doctor.
The night was chilly and he was trembling from cold, and as I looked at him I felt the same rapid tickling shiver all over my body.
“D–n you!” I cried loudly. “Just as if you couldn’t have taken somebody else.”
“Hush! please, hush!” and the doctor caught me by the arm.
Somebody out of the darkness said:
“If you were to fire a volley from all the guns, nobody would stir. They are all asleep. One could go up and bind them all. Just now I passed quite close to the sentry. He looked at me and did not say a word, never stirred. I suppose he was asleep too. It’s a wonder he does not fall down.”
He who spoke yawned and his clothes rustled, evidently he was stretching himself. I leaned against the side of the carriage, intending to climb up–and was instantly overcome by sleep. Somebody lifted me up from behind and laid me down, while I began pushing him away with my feet, without knowing why, and again I fell asleep, hearing as in a dream fragments of a conversation:
“At the seventh verst.”
“Have you forgotten the lanterns?”
“No, he won’t go.”
“Give them here. Back a little. That’s it.”
The carriages were jerking backwards and forwards, something was rattling. And gradually, because of all these sounds and because I was lying comfortably and quietly, sleep deserted me. But the doctor was sound asleep, and when I took him by the hand it was like the hand of a corpse, heavy and limp. The train was now moving slowly and cautiously, shaking slightly, as if groping its way. The student acting as hospital orderly lighted the candle in the lantern, lighting up the walls and the black aperture of the entrance, and said angrily:
“D–n it! Much they need us by this time. But you had better wake him, before he falls into a sound sleep, for then you won’t be able to do anything with him. I know by myself.”
We roused the doctor and he sat up, rolling his eyes vacantly. He tried to lie down again, but we did not let him. “It would be good to have a drop of vodka now,” said the student.
We drank a mouthful of brandy, and all sleepiness disappeared entirely. The big black square of the door began to grow pink, then red – somewhere from behind the hills appeared an enormous mute flare of a conflagration as if the sun was rising in the middle of the night.
“It’s far away. About twenty versts.”
“I feel cold,” said the doctor, snapping his teeth.
The student looked out of the door and beckoned me to come up to him. I looked out: at different points of the horizon motionless flares of similar conflagration stood out in a mute row: as if dozens of suns were rising simultaneously. And now the darkness was not so great. The distant hills were growing more densely black, sharply outlined against the sky in a broken and wavy contour, while in the foreground all was flooded with a red soft glow, silent and motionless. I glanced at the student; his face was tinged by the same red fantastic color of blood, that had changed itself into air and light.
“Are there many wounded?” asked I.
He waved his hand.
“A great many madmen. More so than wounded.”
“Real madmen?”
“What others can there be?”
He was looking at me, and his eyes wore the same fixed, wild expression, full of cold horror, that the soldier’s had, who died of sunstroke.
“Stop that,” said I, turning away.
“The doctor is mad also. Just look at him.”
The doctor had not heard. He was sitting cross-legged, like a Turk, swaying to and fro, soundlessly moving his lips and finger-tips. And in his gaze there was the same fixed, stupefied, blunt, stricken expression.
“I feel cold,” said he, and smiled.
“Hang you all!” cried I, moving away into a corner of the carriage. “What did you call me up for?”
Nobody answered. The student stood gazing out at the mute spreading glow, and the back of his head with its curly hair was youthful; and when I looked at him, I do not know why, but I kept picturing to myself a delicate woman’s hand passing through that hair. And this image was so unpleasant, that a feeling of hatred sprang up in my breast, and I could not not look at him without a feeling of loathing.
“How old are you?” I asked, but he did not turn his head and did not answer.
The doctor kept on rocking himself.
“I feel cold.”
‘When I think,” said the student, without turning round, “when I think that there are streets, houses, a University…”
He broke off, as if he had said all and was silent. Suddenly the train stopped almost instantaneously, making me knock myself against the wall, and voices were to be heard, We jumped out. In front of the very engine upon the rails lay something, a not very large lump, out of which a leg was projecting.
“Wounded ?”
“No, dead. The head is torn off. Say what you will, but I will light the head-light. Otherwise we shall be crushing somebody.”
The lump with the protruding leg was thrown aside; for an instant the leg lifted itself up, as if it wanted to run through the air, and all disappeared in a black ditch. The head-light was lit and the engine instantly grew black.
“Listen!” whispered somebody, full of silent terror. How was it that we had not heard it before? From everywhere – the exact place could not be defined – a groan, unbroken and scraping, wonderfully calm in its breadth, and even indifferent, as it seemed, was borne upon us. We had heard many cries and groans, but this resembled none of those heard before. On the dim reddish surface our eyes could perceive nothing, and therefore the very earth and sky, lit up by a never-rising sun, seemed to be groaning.
“The fifth verst,” said the engine-driver.
“That is where it comes from,” and the doctor pointed forwards. The student shuddered, and slowly turned towards us.
“What is it? It’s terrible to listen to!”
“Let’s move on.”
We walked along in front of the engine, throwing a dense shadow upon the rails, but it was not black but of a dim red color, lit up by the soft motionless flares, that stood out mutely at the different points of the black sky. And with each step we made, that wild unearthly groan, that had no visible source, grew ominously, as if it was the red air, the very earth and sky, that were groaning. In its ceaselessness and strange indifference it recalled at times the noise of grasshoppers in a meadow – the ceaseless noise of grasshoppers in a meadow on a warm summer day. And we came upon dead bodies oftener and oftener. We examined them rapidly, and threw them off the rails – those indifferent, calm, limp bodies, that left dark oily stains where the blood had soaked into the earth where they had lain. At first we counted them, but soon got muddled, and ceased. They were many – too many for that ominous night, that breathed cold and groans from each fibre of its being.
“What does it mean?” cried the doctor, and threatened somebody with his fist. “Just listen…”
We were nearing the sixth verst, and the groans were growing distinct and sharp, and we could almost feel the distorted mouths, from which those terrible sounds were issuing.
We looked anxiously into the rosy gloom, so deceitful in is fantastic light, when suddenly, almost at our feet, beside the rails, somebody gave a loud, calling, crying groan. We found him instantly, that wounded man, whose face seemed to consist only of two eyes, so big they appeared, when the light of the lantern fell on his face. He stopped moaning, and rested his eyes on each of us and our lanterns in turn, and in his glance there was a mad joy at seeing men and lights – and a mad fear that all would disappear like a vision. Perhaps he had seen men with lanterns bending over him many times, but they had always disappeared in a bloody confused nightmare.
We moved on, and almost instantly stumbled against two more wounded, one lying on the rails, the other groaning in a ditch. As we were picking them up, the doctor, trembling with anger, said to me: “Well?” and turned away. Several steps farther on we met a man wounded slightly, who was walking alone, supporting one arm with the other. He was walking with his head thrown back, straight towards us, but seemed not to notice us, when we drew aside to it him pass. I believe he did not see us. He stopped for an instant near the engine, turned aside, and went past the train.
“You had better get in!” cried the doctor, but he did not answer.
These were the first that we found, and they horrified us. But later on we came upon them oftener and oftener along the rails or near them, and the whole field, lit up by the motionless red flare of the conflagrations, began stirring as if it were alive, breaking out into loud cries, wails, curses and groans. All those dark mounds stirred and crawled about like half-dead lobsters let out of a basket, with outspread legs, scarcely resembling men in their broken, unconscious movements and ponderous immobility. Some were mute and obedient, others groaned, wailed, swore and showed such a passionate hate towards us who were saving them, as if we had brought about that bloody, indifferent night, and been the cause of all those terrible wounds and their loneliness amidst the night and dead bodies.
The train was full, and our clothes were saturated with blood, as if we had stood for a long time under a rain of blood, while the wounded were still being brought in, and the field, come to life, was stirring wildly as before.
Some of the wounded crawled up themselves, some walked up tottering and falling. One soldier almost ran up to us. His face was smashed, and only one eye remained, burning wildly and terribly, and he was almost naked, as if he had come from the bath-room. Pushing me aside, he caught sight of the ddctor, and rapidly seized him by the chest with his left hand.
“I’ll smash your snout!” he cried, shaking the doctor, and added slowly and mordantly a coarse oath. “I’ll smash your snouts, you rabble!”
The doctor broke away from the soldier, and advancing towards him, cried chokingly:
“I will have you court-martialled, you scoundrel! To prison with you! You’re hindering my work! Scoundrel! Brute!”
We pulled them apart, but the soldier kept on crying out for a long time: “Rabble! I’ll smash your snout!”
I was beginning to get exhausted, and went a little way off to have a smoke and rest a bit. The blood, dried to my hands, covered them like a pair of black gloves, making it difficult for me to bend my fingers, so that I kept dropping my cigarettes and matches. And when I succeeded in lighting my cigarette, the tobacco smoke struck me as novel and strange, with quite a peculiar taste, the like of which I never experienced before or after. Just then the ambulance student with whom I had travelled came up to me, and it seemed to me as if I had met with him several years back, but where I could not remember. His tread was firm as if he were marching, and he was staring through me at something farther on and higher up.
“And they are sleeping,” said he, as it seemed, quite calmly.
I flew in a rage, as if the reproach was addressed to me.
“You forget, that they fought like lions for ten days.”
“And they are sleeping,” he repeated, looking through me and higher up. Then he stooped down to me and shaking his finger, continued in the same dry and calm way: “I will tell you – I will tell you…”
“What?”
He stooped still lower towards me, shaking his finger meaningly, and kept repeating the words as if they expressed a completed idea:
“I will tell you – I will tell you. Tell them…” And still looking at me in the same severe way, he shook his finger once more, then took out his revolver and shot himself in the temple. And this did not surprise or terrify me in the least. Putting my cigarette in the left hand, I felt his wound with my fingers, and went back to the train.
“The student has shot himself. I believe he is still alive,” said I to the doctor. The latter caught hold of his head and groaned.
“D–n him! …There is no room. There, that one will go and shoot himself, too, soon. And I give you my word of honor,” cried he, angrily and menacingly, “I will do the same! Yes! And let me beg you – just walk back. There is no room. You can lodge a complaint against me if you like.”
And he turned away, still shouting, while I went up to the other who was about to commit suicide. He was an ambulance man, and also, I believe, a student. He stood, pressing his forehead against the wall of the carriage, and his shoulders shook with sobs.
“Stop!” said I, touching his quivering shoulder. But be did not turn round or answer, and continued crying. And the back of his head was youthful, like the other student’s, and as terrifying, and he stood in an absurd manner with his legs spread out like a person drunk, who is sick; and his neck was covered with blood; probably he had clutched it with his own hands.
“Well?” said I, impatiently.
He pushed himself away from the carriage and, stooping like an old man, with his head bent down, he went away into the darkness away from all of us. I do not know why, but I followed him, and we walked along for a long time away from the carriages. I believe he was crying, and a feeling of distress stole over me, and I wanted to cry too.
“Stop!” I cried, standing still.
But he walked on, moving his feet ponderously, bent down, looking like an old man with his narrow shoulders and shuffling gait. And soon he disappeared in the reddish haze, that resembled light and yet lit nothing. And I remained alone. To the left of me a row of dim lights bled past – it was the train. I was alone – amidst the dead and dying. How many more remained? Near me all was still and dead, but farther on the field was stirring, as if it were alive – or so it seemed to me in my loneliness. But the moan did not grow less. It spread along the earth – high-pitched, hopeless, like the cry of a child or the yelping of thousands of cast-away puppies, starving and cold. Like a sharp, endless, icy needle it pierced your brain and slowly moved backwards and forwards – backwards and forwards….
FRAGMENT VI
…They were our own men. During the strange confusion of all movements that reigned in both armies, our own and the enemy’s, during the last month, frustrating all orders and plans, we were sure it was the enemy that was approaching us, namely, the 4th corps. And everything was ready for an attack, when somebody clearly discerned our uniforms, and ten minutes later our guess had become a calm and happy certainty: they were our own men. They apparently had recognized us too: they advanced quite calmly, and that calm motion seemed to express the same happy smile of an unexpected meeting.
And when they began firing, we did not understand for some time what it meant, and still continued smiling – nder a hail of shrapnel and bullets, that poured down upon us, snatching away at one stroke hundreds of men. Somebody cried out by mistake and – I clearly remember – we all saw that it was the enemy, that it was his uniform and not ours, and instantly answered the fire. About fifteen minutes after the beginning of that strange engagement both my legs were torn off, and I recovered consciousness in the hospital after the amputation.
I asked how the battle had ended, and received an evasive, reassuring answer, by which I could understand that we had been beaten; and afterwards, legless as I was, I was overcome by joy at the thought that now I would be sent home, that I was alive – alive for a long time to come, alive for ever. And only a week later I learnt some particulars, that once more filled me with doubts and a new, unexperienced feeling of terror. Yes, I believe they were our own men after all – and it was with one of our shells, fired out of one of our guns by one of our men, that my legs had been torn off. And nobody could explain how it had happened. Something occurred, something darkened our vision, and two regiments, belonging to the same army, facing each other at a distance of one verst, had been destroying each other for a whole hour in the full conviction that it was the enemy they had before them. Later on the incident was remembered and spoken of reluctantly in half-words and – what is most surprising of all – one could feel that many of the speakers did not admit the mistake even then. That is to say, they admitted it, but thought that it had occurred later on, that in the beginning they really had the enemy before them, but that he disappeared somewhere during the general fray, leaving us in the range of our own shells. Some spoke of it openly, giving precise explanations, which seemed to them plausible and clear. Up to this very minute I cannot say for certain how the strange blunder began, as I saw with equal clearness first our red uniforms and then their orange-colored ones. And somehow very soon everybody forgot about the incident, forgot about it to such an extent that it was spoken of as a real battle and in that sense many accounts were written and sent to the papers in all good faith; I read them when I was back home. At first the public’s attitude towards us, the wounded in that engagement, was rather strange – we seemed to be less pitied than those wounded in other battles, but soon even that disappeared too. And only new facts, similar to the one just described, and a case in the enemy’s army, when two detachments actually destroyed each other almost entirely, having come to a hand-to-hand fight during the night – gives me the right to think that a mistake did occur.
Our doctor, the one that did the amputation, a lean, bony old man, tainted with tobacco smoke and carbolic acid, everlastingly smiling at something through his yellowish-grey thin mustache, said to me, winking his eye:
“You’re in luck to be going home. There’s something wrong here.”
“What is it?”
“Something’s going wrong. In our time it was simpler.”
He had taken part in the last European war almost a quarter of a century back and often referred to it with pleasure. But this war he did not understand, and, as I noticed, feared it.
“Yes, there’s something wrong,” sighed he, and frowned, disappearing in a cloud of tobacco smoke. “I would leave too, if I could.”
And bending over me he whispered through his yellow smoked mustache:
“A time will come when nobody will be able to go away from here. Yes, neither I nor anybody,” and in his old eyes, so close to me, I saw the same fixed, dull, stricken expression. And something terrible, unbearable, resembling the fall of thousands of buildings, darted through my head, and growing cold from terror, I whispered:
“The red laugh.”
And he was the first to understand me. He hastily nodded his head and repeated:
“Yes. The red laugh.”
He sat down quite close to me and looking round began whispering rapidly, in a senile way, wagging his sharp, grey little beard.
“You are leaving soon, and I will tell you. Did you ever see a fight in an asylum? No? Well, I saw one. And they fought like sane people. You understand – like sane people.” He significantly repeated the last phrase several times.
“Well, and what of that?” asked I, also in a whisper, full of terror.
“Nothing. Like sane people.”
“The red laugh,” said I.
“They were separated by water being poured over them.”
I remembered the rain that had frightened us so, and got angry.
“You are mad, doctor!”
“Not more than you. Not more than you in any case.” He hugged his sharp old knees and chuckled; and, looking at me over his shoulder and still with the echo of that unexpected painful laugh on his parched lips, he winked at me slyly several times, as if we two knew something very funny, that nobody else knew. Then with the solemnity of a professor of black magic giving a conjuring performance, he lifted his arm and, lowering it slowly, carefully touched with two fingers that part of the blanket under which my legs would have been, if they had not been cut off.
“And do you understand this?” he asked mysteriously.
Then, in the same solemn and significant manner, he waved his hand towards the row of beds on which the wounded were lying, and repeated:
“And can you explain this?”
“The wounded?” said I. “The wounded?”
“The wounded,” repeated he, like an echo. “The wounded. Legless and armless, with pierced sides, smashed-in chests and torn-out eyes. You understand it? I am very glad. So I suppose you will understand this also?”
With an agility, quite unexpected for his age, he flung himself down and stood on his hands, balancing his legs in the air. His white working clothes turned down, his face grew purple and, looking at me fixedly with a strange upturned gaze, he threw at me with difficulty a few broken words:
“And this…do you…also…understand?”
“Stop!” whispered I in terror, “or else I will cry out.”
He turned over into a natural position, sat down again near my bed, and, taking breath, remarked instinctively:
“And nobody can understand it.”
“Yesterday they were firing again.”
“Yes, they were firing yesterday and the day before,” said he, nodding his head affirmatively.
“I want to go home!” said I in distress. “Doctor, dear fellow, I want to go home. I cannot remain here any longer. At times I cannot bring myself to believe that I have a home, where it is so good.”
He was thinking of something and did not answer, and I began to cry.
“My God, I have no legs. I used to love my bicycle so, to walk and run, and now I have no legs. I used to dance my boy on the right foot and he laughed, and now…Curse you all! What shall I go home for? I am only thirty….Curse you all!”
And I sobbed and sobbed, as I thought of my dear legs, my fleet, strong legs. Who took them away from me, who dared to take them away!
“Listen,” said the doctor, looking aside. “Yesterday I saw a mad soldier that came to us. An enemy’s soldier. He was stripped almost naked, beaten and scratched and hungry as an animal, his hair was unkempt, as ours is, and he resembled a savage, primitive man or monkey. He waved his arms about, made grimaces, sang and shouted and wanted to fight. He was fed and driven out again into the open country. Where could we have kept him? Days and nights they wander about the hills, backwards and forwards in all directions, keeping to no path, having no aim or resting-place, all in tatters like ominous phantoms. They wave their arms, laugh, shout and sing, and when they come across anybody they begin to fight, or maybe, without noticing each other, pass by. What do they eat? Probably nothing, or, maybe, they feed on the dead bodies together with the beasts, together with those fat wild dogs, that fight in the hills and yelp the whole night long. At night they gather about the fires like monstrous moths or birds awakened by a storm, and you need only light a fire to have in less than half-an-hour a dozen noisy, tattered wild shapes, resembling chilled monkeys, gathering around it. Sometimes they are fired at by mistake, sometimes on purpose, for they make you lose all patience with their unintelligible, terrifying cries.…”
“I want to go home!” cried I, shutting my ears.
But new terrible words, sounding hollow and phantom-like, as if they were passing through a layer of wadding, kept hammering at my brain.
“They are many. They die by hundreds in the precipices and pitfalls, that are made for sound and clever men, in the remnants of the barbed wire and on the stakes they take part in the regular battles and fight like heroes – always in the foremost ranks, always undaunted, but often turn against their own men. I like them. At present I am only beginning to go mad, and that is why I am sitting and talking to you, but when my senses leave me entirely, I will go out into the open country – I will go out into the open country, and I will give a call – I will give a call, I will gather those brave ones, those knights-errant, around me, and declare war to the whole world. We will enter the towns and villages in a joyous crowd, with music and songs, leaving in our wake a trail of red, in which everything will whirl and dance like fire. Those that remain alive will join us, and our brave army will grow like an avalanche, and will cleanse the whole world. Who said that one must not kill, burn or rob?…”
He was shouting now, that mad doctor, and seemed to have awakened by his cries the slumbering pain of all those around him with their ripped-open chests and sides, tornout eyes and cut-off legs. The ward filled with a broad, rasping, crying groan, and from all sides pale, yellow, exhausted faces, some eyeless, some so monstrously mutilated that it seemed as if they had returned from hell turned toward us. And they groaned and listened, and a black shapeless shadow, risen up from the earth, peeped in cautiously through the open door, while the mad doctor went on shouting, stretching out his arms.
“Who said one must not kill, burn, or rob? We will kill and burn and rob. We, a joyous careless band of braves, we will destroy all; their buildings, universities and museums, and merry as children, full of fiery laughter, we will dance on the ruins. I will proclaim the madhouse our fatherland; all those that have not gone mad – our enemies and madmen; and when I, great, unconquerable and joyous, will begin to reign over the whole world, its sole lord and master, what a glad laugh will ring over the whole universe.”
“The red laugh!” cried I, interrupting him. “Help! Again I hear the red laugh!”
“Friends!” continued the doctor, addressing himself to the groaning, mutilated shadows. “Friends! we shall have a red moon and a red sun, and the animals will have a merry red coat, and we will skin all those that are too white – that are too white….You have not tasted blood? It is slightly sticky and slightly warm, but it is red, and has such a merry red laugh!…”
FRAGMENT VII
…It was godless and unlawful. The Red Cross is respected by the whole world, as a thing sacred, and they saw that it was a train full of harmless wounded and not soldiers, and they ought to have warned us of the mine. The poor fellows, they were dreaming of home. …
FRAGMENT VIII
…Around a samovar, around a real samovar, out of which the steam was rising as out of an engine – the glass on the lamp had even grown dim, there was so much steam. And the cups were the same, blue outside and white inside, very pretty little cups, a wedding present. My wife’s sister gave them – she is a very kind and good woman.
“Is it possible they are all whole?” asked I, incredulously, mixing the sugar in my glass with a clean silver spoon.
“One was broken,” said my wife, absently; she was holding the tap open just then and the water was running out easily and prettily.
I laughed.
“What’s it about?” asked my brother.
“Oh, nothing. Wheel me into the study just once more. You may as well trouble yourself for the sake of a hero. You idled away your time while I was away, but now that is over, I’ll bring you to order,” and I began singing, as a joke of course – “My friends, we’re bravely hurrying towards the foe…”
They understood the joke and smiled, only my wife did not lift up her face, she was wiping the cups with a clean embroidered cloth. And in the study I saw once again the light-blue wall-paper, a lamp with a green shade and a table with a water-bottle upon it. And it was a little dusty.
“Pour me some water out of this,” ordered I, merrily.
“But you’ve just had tea.”
“That doesn’t matter, pour me out some. And you,” said I to my wife, “take our son, and go into the next room for a minute. Please.”
And I drank the water with delight in small sips, while my wife and son were in the next room, and I could not see them.
“That’s all right. Now come here. But why is he not in bed by this time?”
“He is so glad you have come home. Darling, go to your father.”
But the child began to cry and hid himself at his mother’s feet.
“Why is he crying?” asked I, in perplexity, and looked around, “why are you all so pale and silent, following me like shadows?”
My brother burst into a loud laugh and said, “We are not silent.”
And my sister said, “We are talking the whole time.”
“I will go and see about the supper,” said my mother, and hurriedly left the room.
“Yes, you are silent,” I repeated, with sudden conviction. “Since morning I have not heard a word from you; I am the only one who chats, laughs, and makes merry. Are you not glad to see me then? And why do you all avoid looking at me? Have I changed so? Yes, I am changed. But I do not see any looking-glasses about. Have you put them all away? Give me a looking-glass.”
“I will bring you one directly,” answered my wife, and did not come back for a long time, and the looking-glass was brought by the maid. I looked into it, and – I had seen myself before in the train, at the station – it was the same face, grown older a little, but the most ordinary face. While they, I believe, expected me to cry out and faint – so glad were they when I asked calmly –
“What is there so unusual in me?”
Laughing louder and louder, my sister left the room hurriedly, and my brother said with calm assurance: “Yes, you have not changed much, only grown slightly bald.”
“You can be thankful that my head is not broken,” answered I, unconcernedly. “But where do they all disappear? – first one, then another. Wheel me about the rooms, please. What a comfortable armchair, it does not make the slightest sound. How much did it cost? You bet I won’t spare the money; I will buy myself such a pair of legs, better… My bicycle!”
It was hanging on the wall, quite new, only the tires were limp for want of pumping. A tiny bit of mud had dried to the tire of the back wheel – the last time I had ridden it. My brother was silent and did not move my chair, and I understood his silence and irresoluteness.
“Only four officers remained alive in our regiment,” said I, surlily. “I am very lucky….You can take it for yourself – take it away tomorrow.”
“All right, I will take it,” agreed my brother submissively.
“Yes, you are lucky. Half of the town is in mourning. While legs – that is really…”
“Of course I am not a postman.”
My brother stopped suddenly and asked – “But why does your head shake?”
“That’s nothing. The doctor said it will pass.”
“And your hands too?”
“Yes, yes. And my hands too. It will all pass. Wheel me on, please. I am tired of remaining still.”
They upset me, those discontented people, but my gladness returned to me when they began making my bed; a real bed, a handsome bed, that I had bought just before our wedding four years ago. They spread a clean sheet, then they shook the pillows and turned down the blanket; while I watched the solemn proceedings, my eyes were fun of tears with laughing.
“And now undress me and put me to bed,” said I to my wife. “How good it is!”
“This minute, dear.”
“Quicker!”
“This minute, dear.”
“Why; what are you doing?”
“This minute, dear.”
She was standing behind my back, near the toilet table, and I vainly tried to turn my head so as to see her. And suddenly she gave a cry, such a cry as one hears only at the war –
“What does it all mean?”
She rushed towards me, put her arms round me, and fell down, hiding her head near the stumps of my cut-off legs, from which she turned away with horror, and again pressed herself against them, kissing them, and crying-
“What have you become? Why, you are only thirty years old. You were young and handsome. What does it all mean? How cruel men are. What is it for? For whom is it necessary? You, my gentle, poor darling, darling….”
At her cry they all ran up – my mother, sister, nurse – and they all began crying and saying something or other, and fell at my feet wailing. While on the threshold stood my brother, pale, terribly pale, with a trembling jaw, and cried out in a high-pitched voice-
“I shall go mad with you all. I shall go mad!”
While my mother grovelled at my chair and had not the strength to cry, but only gasped, beating her head against the wheels. And there stood the clean bed with the well-shaken pillows and turned-down blanket, the same bed that I bought just before our wedding four years ago….
FRAGMENT IX
…I was sitting in a warm bath, while my brother was pacing up and down the small room in a troubled manner, sitting down, getting up again, catching hold of the soap and the towel, bringing them close up to his short-sighted eyes and again putting them back in their places. At last he stood up with his face to the wall and picking at the plaster with his finger, continued hotly:
“Judge for yourself: one cannot teach people mercy, sense, logic – teach them to act consciously for tens and hundreds of years running with impunity. And, in particular, to act consciously. One can become merciless, lose all sensitiveness, get accustomed to blood and tears and pain – for instance butchers, and some doctors and officers do, but how can one renounce truth, after one has learnt to know it? In my opinion it is impossible. I was taught from infancy not to torture animals and be compassionate; all the books that I have read told me the same, and I am painfully sorry for all those that suffer at your cursed war. But time passes, and I am beginning to get accustomed to all those deaths, sufferings and all this blood; I feel that I am getting less sensitive, less responsive in my everyday life and respond only to great stimulants, but I cannot get accustomed to war; my brain refuses to understand and explain a thing that is senseless in its basis. Millions of people gather at one place and, giving their actions order and regularity, kill each other, and it hurts everybody equally, and all are unhappy – what is it if not madness?” My brother turned round and looked at me inquiringly with his shortsighted, artless eyes.
“The red laugh,” said I merrily, splashing about.
“I will tell you the truth,” and my brother put his cold hand trustingly on my shoulder, but quickly pulled it back, as if he was frightened at its being naked and wet. “I will tell you the truth; I am very much afraid of going mad. I cannot understand what is happening. I cannot understand it, and it is dreadful. If only anybody could explain it to me, but nobody can. You were at the front, you saw it all – explain it to me.”
“Deuce take you,” answered I jokingly, splashing about.
“There, and you too,” said my brother sadly. “Nobody is capable of helping me. It’s dreadful. And I am beginning to lose all understanding of what is permissible and what is not, what has sense and what is senseless. If I were to seize you suddenly by the throat, at first gently, as if caressing you, and then firmly, and strangle you, what would that be?”
“You are talking nonsense. Nobody does such things.”
My brother rubbed his cold hands, smiled softly, and continued:
“When you were away there were nights when I did not sleep, could not sleep, and strange ideas entered my head – to take a hatchet, for instance, and go and kill everybody – mother, sister, the servants, our dog. Of course they were only fancies, and I would never do so.”
“I should hope not,” smiled I, splashing about.
“Then again, I am afraid of knives, of all that is sharp and shining; it seems to me that if I were to take up a knife I should certainly kill somebody with it. Now, is it not true – why should I not plunge it into somebody; if it were sharp enough?”
“The argument is sufficient. What a queer fellow you are, brother! Just open the hot-water tap.”
My brother opened the tap, let in some hot water, and continued:
“Then, again, I am afraid of crowds – of men, when many of them gather together. When of an evening I hear a noise in the street – a loud shout, for instance – I start and believe that…a massacre has begun. When several men stand together, and I cannot hear what they are talking about, it seems to me that they will suddenly cry out, fall upon each other, and blood will flow. And you know” – he bent mysteriously towards my ear – “the papers are full of murders – strange murders. It is all nonsense that there are as many brains as there are men; mankind has only one intellect, and it is beginning to get muddled. Just feel my head, how hot it is. It is on fire. And sometimes it gets cold, and everything freezes in it, grows benumbed, and changes into a terrible deadlike piece of ice. I must go mad; don’t laugh, brother, I must go mad. A quarter of an hour has passed, it’s time for you to get out of your bath.”
“A little bit more. Just a minute.”
It was so good to be sitting again in that bath and listening to the well-known voice, without reflecting upon the words, and to see all the familiar, simple and ordinary things around me: the brass, slightly-green tap, the walls, with the familiar pattern, and all the photographic outfit laid out in order upon the shelves. I would take up photography again, take simple, peaceful landscapes and portraits of my son walking, laughing and playing. One could do that without legs. And I would take up my writing again – about clever books, the progress of human thought, beauty, and peace.
“Ho, ho, ho!” roared I, splashing about.
“What is the matter with you?” asked my brother, growing pale and full of fear.
“Nothing. I am glad to be home.”
He smiled at me as one smiles at a child or on one younger than oneself, although I was three years older than he, and grew thoughtful, like a grown-up person or an old man who has great, burdensome old thoughts.
“Where can one fly to?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. “Every day, at about the same hour, the papers close the circuit, and all mankind gets a shock. This simultaneousness of feelings, tears, thoughts, sufferings and horror deprives me of all stay, and I am like a chip of wood tossing about on the waves, or a bit of dust in a whirlwind. I am forcibly torn away from all that is habitual, and there is one terrible moment every morning, when I seem to hang in the air over the black abyss of insanity: And I shall fall into it, I must fall into it. You don’t know all, brother. You don’t read the papers, and much is held back from you – you don’t know all, brother.”
I took all his words for rather a gloomy joke – the usual attitude towards all those who, being touched by insanity, have an inkling of the insanity of war, and gave us a warning. I considered it as a joke, as if I had forgotten for the moment, while I was splashing about in the hot water, all that I had seen over there. “Well, let them hold things back from me, but I must get out of the bath, anyway,” said I lightly, and my brother smiled and called my man, and together they lifted me out of my bath and dressed me. Afterwards I had some fragrant tea, which I drank out of my cut-glass tumbler, and said to myself that life was worth living even without a pair of legs; and then they wheeled me into the study up to my table and I prepared for work.
Before the war I was on the staff of a journal reviewing foreign literature, and now, disposed within my reach, lay a heap of those dear, sweet books in yellow, blue and brown covers. My joy was so great, my delight so profound, that I could not make up my mind to begin reading them, and I merely fingered the books, passing my hand caressingly over them. I felt a smile spread over my face, most probably a very silly smile, but I could not keep it back, as I contemplated admiringly the type, the vignettes, the severe beautiful simplicity of the drawings. How much thought and sense of beauty there was in them all! How many people had to work and search, how much talent and taste were needed to bring forth that letter, for instance, so simple and elegant, so clever, harmonious and eloquent in its interlaced lines.
“And now I must set to work,” said I, seriously, full of respect for work.
And I took up my pen to write the heading and, like a frog tied to a string, my hand began plunging about the paper. The pen stuck into the paper, scratched it, jerked about, slipped irresistibly aside, and brought forth hideous lines, broken, crooked, devoid of all sense. And I did not cry out or move, I grew cold and still as the approaching terrible truth dawned upon me; while my hand danced over the brightly illuminated paper, and each finger shook in such hopeless, living, insane horror, as if they, those fingers, were still at the front and saw the conflagrations and blood, and heard the groans and cries of undescribable pain. They had detached themselves from me, those madly quivering fingers, they were alive, they had become ears and eyes; and, growing cold from horror, without the strength to move or cry out, I watched their wild dance over the clean, bright white page.
And all was quiet. They thought I was working, and had shut all the doors, so as not to interrupt me by any sound – and I was alone in the room, deprived of the power of moving, obediently watching my shaking hands.
“It’s nothing,” said I aloud, and in the stillness and loneliness of the study my voice sounded hollow and nasty like the voice of a madman. “It is nothing. I will dictate. Why, Milton was blind when he wrote his Paradise Regained. I can think, and that is the chief thing, in fact it is all.”
And I began inventing a long clever phrase about the blind Milton, but the words got confused, fell away as out of a rotten printing frame, and when I came to the end of the phrase I had forgotten the beginning. Then I tried to remember what made me begin, and why I was inventing that strange senseless phrase about Milton, and could not.
“Paradise Regained, Paradise Regained,” I repeated, and could not understand what it meant.
And then I saw that I often forgot very many things, that I had become strangely absent-minded, and confused familiar faces; that I forgot words even in a simple conversation, and sometimes, remembering a word, I could not understand its meaning. And I clearly pictured to myself my daily existence. A strange short day, cut off like my legs, with empty mysterious spaces, long hours of unconsciousness or apathy, about which I could remember nothing.
I wanted to call my wife, but could not remember her name – and this did not surprise or frighten me. Softly I whispered:
“Wife!”
The incoherent, unusual word sounded softly and died away without bringing any response. And all was quiet. They were afraid of disturbing me at my work by any careless sound, and all was quiet – a perfect study for a savant – cosy, quiet, disposing one to meditation and creative energy. “Dear ones, how solicitous they are of me!” I thought tenderly.
…And inspiration, sacred inspiration, came to me. The sun burst forth in my head, and its burning creative rays darted over the whole world, dropping flowers and songs – -flowers and songs. And I wrote on through the whole night, feeling no exhaustion, but soaring freely on the wings of mighty, sacred inspiration. I was writing something great – something immortal – flowers and songs – lowers and songs….
Happily he died last week on Friday. I say “happily,” and repeat that my brother’s death was a great blessing to him. A cripple with no legs, palsied, with a smitten soul, he was terrible and piteous in his senseless creative ecstasy. Ever since that night he wrote for two months, without leaving his chair, refusing all food, weeping and scolding whenever we wheeled him away from his table even for a short time. He moved his dry pen over the paper with wonderful rapidity, throwing aside page after page, and kept on writing and writing. Sleep deserted him, and only twice did we succeed in putting him to bed for a few hours, thanks to a strong narcotic; but, later, even a narcotic was powerless to conquer his senseless creative ecstasy. At his order the curtains were kept drawn over all the windows the whole day long and the lamp was allowed to burn, giving the illusion of night, while he wrote on, smoking one cigarette after another. Apparently he was happy, and I never happened to meet any healthy person with such an inspired face – the face of a prophet or of a great poet. He became extremely emaciated, with the waxen transparency of a corpse or of an ascetic, and his hair grew quite grey; he began his senseless work a comparatively young man, but finished it an old one. Sometimes he hurried on his work, writing more than usual, and his pen would stick into the pages and break, but he never noticed it; at such times one durst not touch him, for at the slightest contact he was overtaken by fits of tears and laughter; but sometimes, very rarely, he rested blissfully from his work and talked to me affably, each time asking the same questions: Who was I, what was my name, and since when had I taken up literature.
And then he would condescendingly tell, always using the same words, what an absurd fright he had had at the thought that he had lost his memory and was incapable of work, and how splendidly he had refuted the insane supposition there and then by beginning his great immortal work about the flowers and songs.
“Of course I do not count upon being recognized by my contemporaries,” he would say proudly and unassumingly at the same time, putting his trembling hand on the heap of empty sheets, “but the future – the future – will understand my idea.”
He never once remembered the war or his wife and son; the mirage of his endless work engrossed his attention so undividedly that it is doubtful whether he was conscious of anything else. One could walk and talk in his presence – he noticed nothing, and not for an instant did his face lose its expression of terrible tension and inspiration. In the stillness of the night, when everybody was asleep and he alone wove untiringly the endless thread of insanity, he seemed terrible, and only his mother and I ventured to approach him. Once I tried to give him a pencil instead of his dry pen, thinking that perhaps he really wrote something, but on the paper there remained only hideous lines, broken, crooked, devoid of any sense. And he died in the night at his work. I knew my brother well, and his insanity did not come as a surprise to me; the passionate dream of work that filled all his letters from the war and was the stay of his life after his return, had to come into inevitable collision with the impotence of his exhausted, tortured brain, and bring about the catastrophe. And I believe that I have succeeded in reconstructing with sufficient accuracy the successive feelings that brought him to the end during that fatal night. Generally speaking, all that I have written down concerning the war is founded upon the words of my dead brother, often so confused and incoherent; only a few separate episodes were burnt into his brain so deeply and indelibly that I could cite the very words that he used in telling me them. I loved him, and his death weighs upon me like a stone, oppressing my brain by its senselessness. It has added one more loop to the incomprehensible that envelops my head like a web, and has drawn it tight. The whole family has left for the country on a visit to some relatives, and I am alone in the house – the house that my brother loved so. The servants have been paid off, and only the porter from the next door comes every morning to light the fires, while the rest of the time I am alone, and resemble a fly caught between two windowframes, plunging about and knocking myself against a transparent but insurmountable obstacle. And I feel, I know, that I shall never leave the house. Now, when I am alone, the war possesses me wholly and stands before me like an inscrutable mystery, like a terrible spirit, to which I can give no form. I give it all sorts of shapes: of a headless skeleton on horseback, of a shapeless shadow, born in a black thundercloud mutely enveloping the earth, but not one of them can give me an answer and extinguish the cold, constant, blunt horror that possesses me.
I do not understand war, and I must go mad, like my brother, like the hundreds of men that are sent back from there. And this does not terrify me. The loss of reason seems to me honorable, like the death of a sentry at his post. But the expectancy, the slow and infallible approach of madness, the instantaneous feeling of something enormous falling into an abyss, the unbearable pain of tortured thought….My heart has grown benumbed, it is dead, and there is no new life for it, but thought is still alive, still struggling, once mighty as Samson, but now helpless and weak as a child – and, I am sorry for my poor thought. There are moments when I cannot endure the torture of those iron clasps that are compressing my brain; I feel an irrepressible longing to run out into the street, into the market-place, where there are people and cry out:
“Stop the war this instant – or else…”
But what “else” is there? Are there any words that can make them come to their senses? Words, in answer to which one cannot find just such other loud and lying words? Or must I fall upon my knees before them and burst into tears? But then, hundreds of thousands are making the earth resound with their weeping, but does that change anything? Or, perhaps, kill myself before them all? Kill myself! Thousands are dying every day, but does that change anything?
And when I feel my impotence, I am seized with rage – the rage of war, which I hate. Like the doctor, I long to burn down their houses with all their treasures, their wives and children; to poison the water which they drink; to raise all the killed from their graves and throw the corpses into their unclean houses on to their beds. Let them sleep with them as with their wives or mistresses!
Oh, if only I were the Devil! I would transplant all the horrors that hell exhales on to their earth. I would become the lord of all their dreams, and, when they cross their children with a smile before falling asleep, I would rise up before them a black vision….Yes, I must go mad – only let it come quicker – let it come quicker….
FRAGMENT XI
…Prisoners, a group of trembling, terrified men. When they were led out of the train the crowd gave a roar - the roar of an enormous savage dog, whose chain is too short and not strong enough. The crowd gave a roar and was silent, breathing deeply, while they advanced in a compact group with their hands in their pockets, smiling with their white lips as if currying favour, and stepping out in such a manner as if somebody was just going to strike them with a long stick under their knees from behind. But one of them walked at a short distance from the others, calm, serious, without a smile, and when my eyes met his black ones I saw bare open hatred in them. I saw clearly that he despised me and thought me capable of anything; if I were to begin killing him, unarmed as he was, he would not have cried out or tried to defend or right himself – he considered me capable of anything.
I ran along together with the crowd, to meet his gaze once more, and only succeeded as they were entering a house. He went in the last, letting his companions pass before him, and glanced at me once more. And then I saw such pain, such an abyss of horror and insanity in his big black eyes, as if I had looked into the most wretched soul on earth.
“Who is that with the eyes?” I asked of a soldier of the escort.
“An officer – a madman. There are many such.”
“What is his name?”
“He does not say. And his countrymen don’t know him. A stranger they picked up. He has been saved from hanging himself once already, but what is there to be done!”…and the soldier made a vague gesture and disappeared in the door.
And now, this evening I am thinking of him. He alone amidst the enemy, who, in his opinion, are capable of doing anything with him, and his own people do not know him. He keeps silence and waits patiently for the moment when he will be able to go out of this world altogether. I do not believe that he is mad, and he is no coward; he was the only one who held himself with dignity in that group of trembling, terrified men, whom apparently he does not regard as his own people. What is he thinking about? What a depth of despair must be in the soul of that man, who, dying, does not wish to name himself. Why give his name? He has done with life and men, he has grasped their real value and notices none around him, either his own people or strangers, shout, rage and threaten as they will. I made inquiries about him. He was taken in the last terrible battle during which several tens of thousands of men lost their lives and he showed no resistance when he was being taken prisoner: he was unarmed for some reason or other, and, when the soldier, not having noticed it, struck him with his sword he did not get up or try to act in self-defence. But the wound, unhappily for him, was a slight one.
But, maybe, he is really mad? The soldier said there were many such….
FRAGMENT XII
…It is beginning. When I entered my brother’s study yesterday evening he was sitting in his armchair at his table heaped with books. The hallucination disappeared the moment I lighted a candle, but for a long time I could not bring myself to sit down in the armchair that he had occupied. At first it was terrifying – the empty rooms in which one was constantly hearing rustlings and crackings were the cause of this dread, but afterwards I even liked it – better he than somebody else. Nevertheless, I did not leave the armchair the whole evening; it seemed to me that if I were to get up he would instantly sit down in my place. And I left the room very quickly without looking round. The lamps ought to have been lit in all the rooms, but was it worth while? It would have been perhaps worse if I had seen anything by lamp-light – as it was, there was still room for doubt.
Today I entered with a candle and there was nobody in the armchair. Evidently it must have been only a shadow. Again I went to the station – I go there every morning now – and saw a whole carriage full of our mad soldiers. It was not opened, but shunted on to another line, and I had time to see several faces through the windows. They were terrible, especially one. Fearfully drawn, the colour of a lemon, with an open black mouth and fixed eyes, it was so like a mask of horror that I could not tear my eyes away from it. And it stared at me, the whole of it, and was motionless, and glided past together with the moving carriage, just as motionless, without the slightest change, never transferring its gaze for an instant. If it were to appear before me this minute in that dark door, I do not believe I should be able to hold out. I made inquiries: there were twenty-two men. The infection is spreading. The papers are hushing up something and, I believe, there is something wrong in our town too. Black, closely-shut carriages have made their appearance – I counted six during one day in different parts of the town. I suppose I shall also go off in one of them one of these days.
And the papers clamour for fresh troops and more blood every day, and I am beginning to understand less and less what it all means. Yesterday I read an article full of suspicion, stating that there were many spies and traitors amongst the people, warning us to be cautious and mindful, and that the wrath of the people would not fail to find out the guilty. What guilty, and guilty of what? As I was returning from the station in the tram, I heard a strange conversation, I suppose in reference to the same article.
“They ought to be all hung without any trial,” said one, looking scrutinisingly at me and all the passengers. “Traitors ought to be hung, yes.”
“Without any mercy,” confirmed the other. “They’ve been shown mercy enough!”
I jumped out of the tram. The war was making everybody shed tears, and they were crying too – why, what did it mean? A bloody mist seemed to have enveloped the earth, hiding it from our gaze, and I was beginning to think that the moment of the universal catastrophe was approaching. The red laugh that my brother saw. The madness was coming from over there, from those bloody burnt-out fields, and I felt its cold breath in the air. I am a strong man and have none of those illnesses that corrupt the body, bringing in their train the corruption of the brain also, but I see the infection catching me, and half of my thoughts belong to me no longer. It is worse than the plague and its horrors. One can hide from the plague, take measures, but how can one hide from all-penetrating thought, that knows neither distances nor obstacles?
In the daytime I can still fight against it, but during the night I become, as everybody else does, the slave of my dreams – and my dreams are terrible and full of madness….
FRAGMENT XIII
…Universal mob-fights, senseless and sanguinary. The slightest provocation gives rise to the most savage clublaw, knives, stones, logs of wood coming into action, and it is all the same who is being killed – red blood asks to be let loose, and flows willingly and plentifully.
There were six of them, all peasants, and they were being led by three soldiers with loaded guns. In their quaint peasant’s dress, simple and primitive like a savage’s, with their quaint countenances, that seemed as if made of clay and adorned with felted wool instead of hair, in the streets of a rich town, under the escort of disciplined soldiers – they resembled slaves of the antique world. They were being led off to the war, and they moved along in obedience to the bayonets as innocent and dull as cattle led to the slaughter-house. In front walked a youth, tall, beardless, with a long goose neck, at the end of which was a motionless little head. His whole body was bent forward like a switch, and he stared at the ground under his feet as fixedly as if his gaze penetrated into the very depths of the earth. The last in the group was a man of small stature, bearded and middle-aged; he had no desire of resistance, and there was no thought in his eyes, but the earth attracted his feet, gripped them tightly, not letting them loose, and he advanced with his body thrown back, as if struggling against a strong wind. And at each step the soldier gave him a push with the butt-end of his rifle, and one leg, tearing itself from the earth, convulsively thrust itself forward, while the other still stuck tightly. The faces of the soldiers were weary and angry, and evidently they had been marching so for a long time; one felt they were tired and indifferent as to how they carried their guns and how they marched, keeping no step, with their feet turned in like countrymen. The senseless, lingering and silent resistance – of the peasants, seemed to have dimmed their disciplined brains,and they had ceased to understand where they were going and what their goal was.
“Where are you leading them to?” I asked of one of the soldiers. He started, glanced at me, and in the keen flash of his eyes I felt the bayonet as distinctly as if it were already at my breast.
“Go away!” said the soldier; “go away, or else…”
The middle-aged man took advantage of the moment and ran away; he ran with a light trot up to the iron railings of the boulevard and sat down on his heels, as if he were hiding. No animal would have acted so stupidly, so senselessly. But the soldier became savage. I saw him go close up to him, stoop down and, thrusting his gun into the left hand, strike something soft and flat with the right one. And then again. A crowd was gathering. Laughter and shouts were heard….
FRAGMENT XIV
…In the eleventh row of stalls. Somebody’s arms were pressing closely against me on my right- and left-hand side, while far around me in the semi-darkness stuck out motionless heads, tinged with red from the lights upon the stage. And gradually the mass of people, confined in that narrow space, filled me with horror. Everybody was silent, listening to what was being said on the stage or, perhaps, thinking out his own thoughts, but as they were many they were more audible, for all their silence, than the loud voices of the actors. They were coughing, blowing their noses, making a noise with their feet and clothes, and I could distinctly hear their deep, uneven breathing, that was heating the air. They were terrible, for each of them could become a corpse, and they all had senseless brains. In the calmness of those well-brushed heads, resting upon white, stiff collars, I felt a hurricane of madness ready to burst every second.
My hands grew cold as I thought how many and how terrible they were, and how far away I was from the entrance. They were calm, but what if I were to cry out “Fire!”…And full of terror, I experienced a painfully passionate desire, of which I cannot think without my hands growing cold and moist. Who could hinder me from crying out – yes, standing up, turning round and crying out: “Fire! Save yourselves – fire!”
A convulsive wave of madness would overwhelm their still limbs. They would jump up, yelling and howling like animals; they would forget that they had wives, sisters, mothers, and would begin casting themselves about like men stricken with sudden blindness, in their madness throttling each other with their white fingers fragrant with scent. The light would be turned on, and somebody with an ashen face would appear upon the stage, shouting that all was in order and that there was no fire, and the music, trembling and halting, would begin playing something wildly merry – but they would be deaf to everything – they would be throttling, trampling, and beating the heads of the women, demolishing their ingenious, cunning headdresses. They would tear at each other’s ears, bite off each other’s noses, and tear the very clothes off each other’s bodies, feeling no shame, for they would be mad. Their sensitive, delicate, beautiful, adorable women would scream and writhe helplessly at their feet, clasping their knees, still believing in their generosity – while they would beat them viciously upon their beautiful upturned faces, trying to force their way towards the entrance. For men are always murderers, and their calmness and generosity is the calmness of a well-fed animal, that knows itself out of danger.
And when, having made corpses of half their number, they would gather at the entrance in a trembling, tattered group of shamefaced animals, with a false smile upon their lips, I would go on the stage and say with a laugh:
“It has all happened because you killed my brother.” Yes, I would say with a laugh: “It has all happened because you killed my brother.”
I must have whispered something aloud, for my neighbor on the right-hand side moved angrily in his chair and said:
“Hush! You are interrupting.”
I felt merry and wanted to play a joke. Assuming a warning severe expression, I stooped towards him.
“What is it?” he asked suspiciously. “Why do you look at me so?”
“Hush, I implore you,” whispered I with my lips. “Do you not perceive a smell of burning? There is a fire in the theatre.”
He had enough power of will and good sense not to cry out. His face grew pale, his eyes starting out of their sockets and almost protruding over his cheeks, enormous as bladders, but he did not cry out. He rose quietly and, without even thanking me, walked totteringly towards the entrance, convulsively keeping back his steps. He was afraid of the others guessing about the fire and preventing him getting away – him, the only one worthy of being saved.
I felt disgusted and left the theatre also; besides I did not want to make known my incognito too soon. In the street I looked towards that part of the sky where the war was raging; everything was calm, and the night clouds, yellow from the lights of the town, were slowly and calmly drifting past.
“Perhaps it is only a dream, and there is no war?” thought I, deceived by the stillness of the sky and town.
But a boy sprang out from behind a corner, crying joyously:
“A terrible battle. Enormous losses. Buy a list of telegrams – night telegrams!”
I read it by the light of the street lamp. Four thousand dead. In the theatre, I should say, there were not more than one thousand. And the whole way home I kept repeating -“Four thousand dead.”
Now I am afraid of returning to my empty house. When I put my key into the lock and look at the dumb, flat door, I can feel all its dark empty rooms behind it, which, however, the next minute, a man in a hat would pass through, looking furtively, around him. I know the way well, but on the stairs I begin lighting match after match, until I find a candle. I never enter my brother’s study, and it is locked with all that it contains. And I sleep in the dining-room, whither I have shifted altogether; there I feel calmer, for the air seems to have still retained the traces of talking and laughing, and the merry clang of dishes. Sometimes I distinctly hear the scraping of a dry pen – and when I lie down on my bed…
FRAGMENT XV
…That absurd and terrible dream. It seemed as if the skull had been taken off my brain and, bared and unprotected, it submissively and greedily imbibed all the horrors of those bloody and senseless days. I was lying curled up, occupying only five feet of space, while my thought embraced the whole world. I saw with the eyes of all mankind, and listened with its ears; I died with the killed, sorrowed and wept with all that were wounded and left behind, and, when blood flowed out of anybody’s body, I felt the pain of the wound and suffered. Even all that had not happened and was far away, I saw as clearly as if it had happened and was close by, and there was no end to the sufferings of my bared brain.
Those children, those innocent little children. I saw them in the street playing at war and chasing each other, and one of them was already crying in a high-pitched, childish voice – and something shrank within me from horror and disgust. And I went home; night came on – and in fiery dreams, resembling midnight conflagrations, those innocent little children changed into a band of child-murderers.
Something was ominously burning in a broad red glare, and in the smoke there swarmed monstrous, misshapen children, with heads of grown-up murderers. They were jumping lightly and nimbly, like young goats at play, and were breathing with difficulty, like sick people. Their mouths, resembling the jaws of toads or frogs, opened widely and convulsively; behind the transparent skin of their naked bodies the red blood was coursing angrily – and they were killing each other at play. They were the most terrible of all that I had seen, for they were little and could penetrate everywhere.
I was looking out of the window and one of the little ones noticed me, smiled, and with his eyes asked me to let him in.
“I want to go to you,” he said.
“You will kill me.”
“I want to go to you,” he said, growing suddenly pale, and began scrambling up the white wall like a rat – ust like a hungry rat. He kept losing his footing, and squealed and darted about the wall with such rapidity that I could not follow his impetuous, sudden movements.
“He can crawl in under the door,” said I to myself with horror, and as if he had guessed my thoughts, he grew thin and long and, waving the end of his tail rapidly, he crawled into the dark crack under the front door. But I had time to hide myself under the blanket, and heard him searching for me in the dark rooms, cautiously stepping along with his tiny bare foot. He approached my room very slowly, stopping now and then, and at last entered it; but I did not hear any sound, either rustle or movement, for a long time, as if there was nobody near my bed. And then somebody’s little hand began lifting up the edge of the coverlet, and I could feel the cold air of the room upon my face and chest. I held the blanket tightly, but it persisted in lifting itself up on all sides; and all of a sudden my feet became so cold, as if I had dipped them into water. Now they are lying unprotected in the chill darkness of the room, and he was looking at them.
In the yard, behind the house, a dog barked and was silent, and I heard the trail of the chain as it went into its kennel. But he still watched my naked feet and kept silence; I knew he was there by the unendurable horror that was binding me like death with a stony, sepulchral immobility. If I could have cried out, I would have awakened the whole town, the whole world, but my voice was dead within me, and I lay submissive and motionless, feeling the little cold hands moving over my body and nearing my throat.
“I cannot!” I groaned, gasping and waking up for an instant, I saw the vigilant darkness of the night, mysterious and living, and again I believe I fell asleep….
“Don’t fear,” said my brother, sitting down upon my bed, and the bed creaked, so heavy was he – dead. “Never fear, you see it is a dream. You only imagine that you were being strangled, while in reality you are asleep in the dark rooms, where there is not a soul, and I am in my study writing. Nobody understood what I wrote about, and you derided me as one insane, but now I will tell you the truth. I am writing about the red laugh. Do you see it?”
Something enormous, red and bloody, was standing before me, laughing a toothless laugh.
“That is the red laugh. When the earth goes mad, it begins to laugh like that. You know, the earth has gone mad. There are no more flowers or songs on it; it has become round, smooth and red like a scalped head. Do you see it?”
“Yes, I see it. It is laughing.”
“Look what its brain is like. It is red, like bloody porridge, and is muddled.”
“It is crying out.”
“It is in pain. It has no flowers or songs. And now – let me lie down upon you.”
“You are heavy and I am afraid.”
“We, the dead, lie down on the living. Do you feel warm?”
“Yes.”
“Are you comfortable?”
“I am dying.”
“Awake and cry out. Awake and cry out. I am going away.…”
FRAGMENT XVI
…Today is the eighth day of the battle. It began last Friday, and Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday have passed – and Friday has come again and is gone – and it is still going on. Both armies, hundreds of thousands of men, are standing in front of each other, never flinching, sending explosive, crashing projectiles without stopping, and every instant living men are turned into corpses. The roar and incessant vibration of the air has made the very sky shudder and gather black thunderclouds above their heads – while they continue to stand in front of each other, never flinching and still killing each other. If a man does not sleep for three nights, he becomes ill and loses his memory, but they have not slept for a whole week, and are all mad. That is why they feel no pain, do not retreat, and go on fighting until they have killed all to the last man. They say that some of the detachments came to the end of their ammunition, but still they fought on, using their fists and stones, and biting each other like dogs. If the remnants of those regiments return home, they will have canine teeth like wolves – but they will not return, they have gone mad and die, every man of them. They have gone mad. Everything is muddled in their heads, and they cease to understand anything! If they were to be turned round suddenly and sharply, they would begin firing at their own men, thinking that they were firing at the enemy.
Strange rumours – strange rumours that are told in a whisper, those repeating them turning white from horror and dreadful forebodings. Brother, brother, listen what is being told of the red laugh! They say phantom regiments have appeared, large bands of shadows, the exact copy of living men. At night, when the men forget themselves for an instant in sleep, or in the thick of the day’s fight, when the bright day itself seems a phantom, they suddenly appear, firing out of phantom guns, filling the air with phantom noises; and men, living but insane men, astounded by the suddenness of the attack, fight to the death against the phantom enemy, go mad from horror, become grey in an instant and die. The phantoms disappear as suddenly as they appear, and all becomes still, while the earth is strewn with fresh mutilated bodies. Who killed them? You know, brother, who killed them. When there is a lull between two battles and the enemy is far off, suddenly in the darkness of the night there resounds a solitary, frightened shot. And all jump up and begin firing into the darkness, into the silent dumb darkness, for a long time, for whole hours. Whom do they see there? Whose terrible, silent shape, full of horror and madness appears before them? You know, brother, and I know, but men do not know yet, but they have a foreboding, and ask, turning pale:
“Why are there so many madmen? Before there never used to be so many.”
“Before there never used to be so many madmen,” they say, turning pale, trying to believe that now it is as before, and that the universal violence done to the brains of humanity would have no effect upon their weak little intellects.
“Why, men fought before and always have fought, and nothing of the sort happened. Strife is a law of nature,” they say with conviction and calmness, growing pale, nevertheless, seeking for the doctor with their eyes, and calling out hurriedly: “Water, quick, a glass of water!”
They would willingly become idiots, those people, only not to feel their intellect reeling and their reason succumbing in the hopeless combat with insanity.
In those days, when men over there were constantly being turned into corpses, I could find no peace, and sought the society of my fellow men; and I heard many conversations and saw many false smiling faces, that asserted that the war was far off and in no way concerned them. But much oftener I met naked, frank horror, hopeless, bitter tears and frenzied cries of despair, when the great Mind itself cried out of man its last prayer, its last curse, with all the intensity of its power:
“Whenever will the senseless carnage end?”
At the home of some friends, whom I had not seen for a long time, perhaps several years, I unexpectedly met a mad officer, invalided from the war. He was a school fellow of mine, but I did not recognise him: if he had lain for a year in his grave, he would have returned more like himself than he was then. His hair was grey and his face quite white, his features were but little changed – but he was always silent, and seemed to be listening to something, and this stamped upon his face a look of such formidable remoteness, such indifference to all around him, that it was fearful to talk to him. His relatives were told he went mad in the following circumstances: they were in the reserve, while the neighboring regiment was ordered to make a bayonet charge. The men rushed shouting “Hurrah” so loudly as almost to drown the noise of the cannon – and suddenly the guns ceased firing, the “Hurrah” ceased also, and a sepulchral stillness ensued: they had run up to the enemy and were charging him with their bayonets. And his reason succumbed to that stillness.
Now he is calm when people make a noise around him, talk and shout, he listens and waits; but if only there is a moment’s silence, he catches hold of his head, rushes up to the wall or against the furniture, and falls down in a fit resembling epilepsy. He has many relations, and they take turns and surround him with sound, but there remain the nights, long solitary nights – but here his father, a grey-haired old man, slightly wandering in his mind too, helped. He hung the walls of his son’s room with loudly ticking clocks, that constantly struck the hour at different times, and at present he is arranging a wheel, resembling an incessantly going rattle. None of them lose hope that he will recover, as he is only twenty-seven, and their house is even gay. He is dressed very cleanly – not in his uniform – great care is taken of his appearance, and he is even handsome with his white hair, young, thoughtful face and well-bred, slow, tired movements.
When I was told all, I went up and kissed his hand, his white, languid hand, which will never more be lifted for a blow – and this did not seem to surprise anybody very much. Only his young sister smiled at me with her eyes, and afterwards showed me such attention that it seemed as if I were her betrothed and she loved me more than anybody in the world. She showed me such attention that I very nearly told her about my dark empty rooms, in which I am worse than alone – miserable heart, that never loses hope….And she managed it so that we remained alone.
“How pale you are and what dark rings you have under your eyes,” she said kindly. “Are you ill? Are you grieving for your brother?”
“I am grieving for everybody. And I do not feel well.”
“I know why you kissed my brother’s hand. They did not understand. Because he is mad, yes?”
“Yes, because he is mad.”
She grew thoughtful and looked very much like her brother, only younger.
“And will you,” she stopped and blushed, but did not lower her eyes, “will you let me kiss your hand?”
I kneeled before her and said: “Bless me.”
She paled slightly, drew back and whispered with her lips:
“I do not believe.”
“And I also.”
For an instant her hand touched my head, and the instant was gone.
“Do you know,” she said, “I am leaving for the war?”
“Go! But you will not be able to bear it.”
“I do not know. But they need help, the same as you or my brother. It is not their fault. Will you remember me?”
“Yes. And you?”
“And I will remember you too. Good-bye!”
“Good-bye for ever!”
And I grew calm and felt happier, as if I had passed through the most terrible that there is in death and madness. And yesterday, for the first time, I entered my house calmly without any fear, and opened my brother’s study and sat for a long time at his table. And when in the night I suddenly awoke as if from a push, and heard the scraping of the dry pen upon the paper, I was not frightened, but thought to myself, almost with a smile:
“Work on, brother, work on! Your pen is not dry, it is steeped in living human blood. Let your paper seem empty – in its ominous emptiness it is more eloquent of war and reason than all that is written by the most clever men. Work on, brother, work on!”
…And this morning I read that the battle is still raging, and again I was possessed with a dread fear and a feeling of something falling upon my brain. It is coming, it is here; it is already standing upon the threshold of these empty, light rooms. Remember, remember me, dear girl; I am going mad. Thirty thousand dead, thirty thousand dead!…
FRAGMENT XVII
…A fight is going on in the town. There are dark and dreadful rumours….
FRAGMENT XVIII
This morning, looking through the endless list of killed in the newspaper, I saw a familiar name; my sister’s affianced husband, an officer called for military service at the same time as my dead brother, was killed. And, an hour later, the postman handed me a letter addressed to my brother, and I recognized the handwriting of the deceased on the envelope: the dead was writing to the dead. But still it was better so than the dead writing to the living. A mother was pointed out to me who kept receiving letters from her son for a whole month after she had read of his terrible death in the papers: he had been torn to pieces by a shell. He was a fond son, and each letter was full of endearing and encouraging words and youthful, naive hopes of happiness. He was dead, but wrote of life with a fearful accuracy every day, and the mother ceased to believe in his death; and when a day passed without any letter, then a second and a third, and the endless silence of death ensued, she took a large old-fashioned revolver belonging to her son in both hands, and shot herself in the breast. I believe she survived, but I am not sure; I never heard.
I looked at the envelope for a long time, and thought: He held it in his hands, he bought it somewhere, he gave the money to pay for it, and his servant went to fetch it from some shop; he sealed and perhaps posted it himself. Then the wheel of the complex machine called “post” came into action, and the letter glided past forest, fields and towns, passing from hand to hand, but rushing infallibly towards its destination. He put on his boots that last morning, while it went gliding on; he was killed, but it glided on; he was thrown into a pit and covered up with dead bodies and earth, while it still glided on past forests, fields and towns, a living phantom in a grey stamped envelope. And now I was holding it in my hands.
Here are the contents of the letter. It was written with a pencil on scraps of paper, and was not finished: something interfered.
“…Only now do I understand the great joy of war, the ancient, primitive delight of killing man – clever, scheming, artful man, immeasurably more interesting than the most ravenous animal. To be ever taking life is as good as playing at lawn-tennis with planets and stars. Poor friend, what a pity you are not with us, but are constrained to weary away your time amidst an unleavened daily existence! In the atmosphere of death you would have found all that your restless, noble heart yearned for. A bloody feast – what truth there is in this somewhat hackneyed comparison! We go about up to our knees in blood, and this red wine, as my jolly men call it in jest, makes our heads swim. To drink the blood of one’s enemy is not at all such a stupid custom as we think: they knew what they were doing….
“…The crows are cawing. Do you hear, the crows are cawing. From whence have they all gathered? The sky is black with them; they settle down beside us, having lost all fear, and follow us everywhere; and we are always underneath them, like under a black lace sunshade or a moving tree with black leaves. One of them approached quite close to my face and wanted to peck at it: he thought, most probably, that I was dead. The crows are cawing, and this troubles me a little. From whence have they all gathered?…
“…Yesterday we stabbed them all sleeping. We approached stealthily, scarcely touching the ground with our feet, as if we were stalking wild ducks. We stole up to them so skillfully and cautiously that we did not touch a corpse and did not scare one single crow. We stole up like shadows, and the night hid us. I killed the sentry myself – knocked him down and strangled him with my hands, so as not to let him cry out. You understand: the slightest sound, and all would have been lost. But he did not cry out; he had no time, I believe, even to guess that he was being killed.
“They were all sleeping around the smouldering fires – sleeping peacefully, as if they were at home in their beds. We hacked about us for more than an hour, and only a few had time to awake before they received their deathblow. They howled, and of course begged for mercy. They used their teeth. One bit off a finger on my left hand, with which I was incautiously holding his head. He bit off my finger, but I twisted his head clean off: how do you think – are we quits? How they did not all wake up I cannot imagine. One could hear their bones crackling and their bodies being hacked. Afterwards we stripped all naked and divided their clothes amongst ourselves. My friend, don’t get angry over a joke. With your susceptibility you will say this savours of marauding, but then we are almost naked ourselves; our clothes are quite worn-out. I have been wearing a woman’s jacket for a long time, and resemble more a….than an officer of a victorious army. By the bye, you are, I believe, married, and it is not quite right for you to read such things. But…you understand? Women. D–n it, I am young, and thirst for love! Stop a minute: I believe it was you who was engaged to be married? It was you, was it not, who showed me the portrait of a young girl and told me she was your promised bride? – and there was something sad, something very sad and mournful underneath it. And you cried. That was a long time ago, and I remember it but confusedly; there is no time for softness at war. And you cried. What did you cry about? What was there written that was as sad and mournful as a drooping flower? And you kept crying and crying….Were you not ashamed, an officer, to cry?
“…The crows are cawing. Do you hear, friend, the crows are cawing. What do they want?”
Further on the pencil-written lines were effaced and it was impossible to decipher the signature. And strange to say the dead man called forth no compassion in me. I distinctly pictured to myself his face, in which all was soft and delicate as a woman’s: the color of his cheeks, the clearness and morning freshness of the eyes, the beard so bushy and soft, that a woman could almost have adorned herself with it. He liked books, flowers and music, feared all that was coarse, and wrote poetry – my brother, as a critic, declared that he wrote very good poetry. And I could not connect all that I knew and remembered of him with the cawing crows, bloody carnage and death.
…The crows are cawing. …
And suddenly for one mad, unutterably happy instant, I clearly saw that all was a lie and that there was no war. There were no killed, no corpses, there was no anguish of reeling, helpless thought. I was sleeping on my back and seeing a dream, as I used to in my childhood: the silent dread rooms, devastated by death and terror, and myself with a wild letter in my hand. My brother was living, and they were all sitting at the tea-table, and I could hear the noise of the crockery.
…The crows are cawing. …
No, it is but true. Unhappy earth, it is true. The crows are cawing. It is not the invention of an idle scribbler, aiming at cheap effects, or of a madman, who has lost his senses. The crows are cawing. Where is my brother? He was noble-hearted and gentle and wished no one evil. Where is he? I am asking you, you cursed murderers. I am asking you, you cursed murderers, crows sitting on carrion, wretched, imbecile animals, before the whole world. For you are animals. What did you kill my brother for? If you had a face, I would give you a blow upon it, but you have no face, you have only the snout of a wild beast. You pretend that you are men, but I see claws under your gloves and the flat skull of an animal under your hat; hidden beneath your clever conversation I hear insanity rattling its rusty chains. And with all the power of my grief, my anguish and dishonored thought – I curse you, you wretched, imbecile animals!
FRAGMENT THE LAST
“…We look to you for the regeneration of human life!”
So shouted a speaker, holding on with difficulty to a small pillar, balancing himself with his arms, and waving a flag with a large inscription half-hidden in its folds: “Down with the war!”
“You, who are young, you, whose lives are only just beginning, save yourselves and the future generations from this horror, from this madness. It is unbearable, our eyes are drowned with blood. The sky is falling upon us, the earth is giving way under our feet. Kind people…”
The crowd was buzzing enigmatically and the voice of the speaker was drowned at times in the living threatening noise.
“…Suppose I am mad, but I am speaking the truth. My father and brother are rotting over there like carrion. Make bonfires, dig pits and destroy, bury all your arms. Demolish all the barracks, and strip all the men of their bright clothes of madness, tear them off. One cannot bear it….Men are dying…”
Somebody very tall gave him a blow and knocked him off the pillar; the flag rose once again and fell. I had no time to see the face of the man who struck him, as instantly everything turned into a nightmare. Everything became commotion, became agitated and howled; stones and logs of wood went flying through the air, fists, which were beating somebody, appeared above the heads. The crowd, like a living, roaring wave, lifted me up, carried me along several steps and threw me violently against a fence, then carried me back and away somewhere, and at last pressed me against a high pile of wood, that inclined forwards, threatening to fall down upon somebody’s head. Something crackled and rattled against the beams in rapid dry succession; an instant’s stillness–and again a roar burst forth, enormous, open-mouthed, terrible in its overwhelming power. And then the dry rapid crackling was heard again and somebody fell down near me with the blood flowing out of a red hole where his eye had been. And a heavy log of wood came whirling through the air and struck me in the face, and I fell down and began crawling, whither I knew not, amidst the trampling feet, and came to an open space. Then I climbed over some fences, breaking all my nails, clambered up piles of wood; one pile fell to pieces under me and I fell amidst a cataract of thumping logs; at last I succeeded with difficulty in getting out of a closed-in space–while behind me all crashed, roared, howled and crackled, trying to overtake me. A bell was ringing somewhere; something fell with a thundering crash, as if it were a five-story house. The twilight seemed to have stopped still, keeping back the night, and the roar of shots, as if steeped in red, had driven away the darkness. Jumping over the last fence I found myself in a narrow, crooked lane resembling a corridor, between two obscure walls, and began running. I ran for a long time, but the lane seemed to have no outlet; it was terminated by a wall, behind which piles of wood and scaffolding rose up black against the sky. And again I climbed over the mobile, shifting piles, falling into pits; where all was still and smelt of damp wood, getting out of them again into the open, not daring to look back, for I knew quite well what was happening by the dull reddish color that tinged the black beams and made them look like murdered giants. My smashed face had stopped bleeding and felt numbed and strange, like a mask of plaster; and the pain had almost quite disappeared. I believe I fainted and lost consciousness in one of the black holes into which I had fallen, but I am not certain whether I only imagined it or was it really so, as I can remember myself only running.
I rushed about the unfamiliar streets, which had no lamps, past the black death-like houses for a long time, unable to find my way out of the dumb labyrinth. I ought to have stopped and looked around me to define the necessary direction, but it was impossible to do so: the still distant din and howl was following at my heels and gradually overtaking me; sometimes, at a sudden turning, it struck me in the face, red and enveloped in clouds of livid, curling smoke, and then I turned back and rushed on until it was at my back once more. At one corner I saw a strip of light, that disappeared at my approach: it was a shop that was being hastily closed. I caught a glimpse of the counter and a barrel through a wide chink, but suddenly all became enveloped in a silent, crouching gloom. Not far from the shop I met a man, who was running towards me, and we almost collided in the darkness, stopping short at the distance of two steps from each other. I do not know who he was: I only saw the dark alert outline.
“Are you coming from over there?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“And where are you running to?”
“Home.”
“Ah! Home?”
He was silent for an instant and suddenly flung himself upon me, trying to bring me to the ground, and his cold fingers searched hungrily for my throat, but got entangled in my clothes. I bit his hand, loosened myself from his grip and set off running through the deserted streets with him after me, stamping loudly with his boots, for a long time. Then he stopped – I suppose the bite hurt him.
I do not know how I hit upon my street. It had no lamps either, and the houses had not a single light, as if they were dead, and I would have run past without recognising it, if I had not by chance lifted my eyes and seen my house. But I hesitated for some time: the house in which I had lived for so many years seemed to me unfamiliar in that strange dead street, in which my loud breathing awakened an extraordinary and mournful echo. Then I was seized with a sudden wild terror at the thought that I had lost my key when I fell, and I found it with difficulty, although it was there all the time in the pocket of my coat. And when I turned the lock the echo repeated the sound so loudly and extraordinarily, as if all the doors of those dead houses in the whole street had opened simultaneously.
…At first I hid myself in the cellar, but it was terrible and dull down there, and something began darting before my eyes, so I quietly stole into the rooms. Groping my way in the dark, I locked all the doors and after a short meditation decided to barricade them with the furniture, but the sound of the furniture being moved was terribly loud in the empty rooms and terrified me. “I shall await death thus. It’s all the same,” I decided. There was some water, very warm water in the water-jug, and I washed my face in the dark and wiped it with a sheet. The parts that were smashed galled and smarted much, and I felt a desire to look at myself in the looking-glass. I lit a match–and in its uneven, faint light there glanced at me from out of the darkness something so hideous and terrible that I hastily threw the match upon the floor. I believe my nose was broken. “It makes no difference now,” said I to myself. “Nobody will mind.”
And I felt gay. With strange grimaces and contortions of the body, as if I were personating a thief on the stage, I went into the larder and began searching for food. I clearly saw the unsuitableness of all my grimaces, but it pleased me so. And I ate with the same contortions, pretending that I was very hungry.
But the darkness and quiet frightened me. I opened the window into the yard and began listening. At first, probably as the traffic had ceased, all seemed to me to be quite still. And I heard no shots. But soon I clearly distinguished a distant din of voices: shouts, the crash of something falling, a laugh. The sounds grew louder perceptibly. I looked at the sky; it was livid and sweeping past rapidly. And the coach-house opposite me, and the paving of the streets, and the dog’s kennel, all were tinged with the same reddish glare. I called the dog softly –
“Neptune!”
But nothing stirred in the kennel, and near it I distinguished in the livid light a shining piece of broken chain. The distant cries and noise of something falling kept on growing, and I shut the window.
“They are coming here!” I said to myself, and began looking for some place to hide myself. I opened the stoves, fumbled at the grate, opened the cupboards, but they would not do. I made the round of all the rooms, excepting the study, into which I did not want to look. I knew he was sitting in his armchair at his table, heaped with books, and this was unpleasant to me at that moment.
Gradually it began to appear that I was not alone: around me people were silently moving about in the darkness. They almost touched me, and once somebody’s breath sent a cold thrill through the back of my head.
“Who is there?” I asked in a whisper, but nobody answered.
And when I moved on they followed me, silent and terrible. I knew that it was only a hallucination because I was ill and apparently feverish, but I could not conquer my fear, from which I was trembling all over as if I had the ague. I felt my head: it was hot as if on fire.
“I had better go there,” said I to myself. “He is one of my own people after all.”
He was sitting in his armchair at the table, heaped with books, and did not disappear as he did the last time, but remained seated. The reddish light was making its way through the red drawn curtains into the room, but did not light up anything, and he was scarcely visible. I sat down at a distance from him on the couch and waited. All was still in the room, while from outside the even buzzing noise, the crash of something falling and disjointed cries were borne in upon us. And they were nearing us. The livid light became brighter and brighter, and I could distinguish him in his armchair – his black, iron-like profile, outlined by a narrow stripe of red.
“Brother!” I said.
But he kept silence, immobile and black, like a monument. A board cracked in the next room and suddenly all became so extraordinarily still, as it is where there are many dead. All the sounds died away and the livid light itself assumed a scarcely perceptible shade of deathliness and stillness and became motionless and a little dim. I thought the stillness was coming from my brother and told him so.
“No, it is not from me,” he answered. “Look out of the window.”
I pulled the curtains aside and staggered back.
“So that’s what it is!” said I.
“Call my wife; she has not seen that yet,” ordered my brother.
She was sitting in the dining-room sewing something and, seeing my face, rose obediently, stuck her needle into her work and followed me. I pulled back the curtains from all the windows and the livid light flowed in through the broad openings unhindered, but somehow did not make the room any lighter: it was just as dark and only the big red squares of the windows burned brightly.
We went up to the window. Before the house there stretched an even, fiery red sky, without a single cloud, star or sun, and ended at the horizon, while below it lay just such an even dark red field, and it was covered with dead bodies. All the corpses were naked and lay with their legs towards us, so that we could only see their feet and triangular heads. And all was still; apparently they were all dead, and there were no wounded left behind in that endless field.
“Their number is growing,” said my brother.
He was standing at the window also, and all were there: my mother, sister and everybody that lived in the house. I could not distinguish their faces, and could recognise them only by their voices.
“It only seems so,” said my sister.
“No, it’s true. Just look.”
And, truly, there seemed to be more bodies. We looked attentively for the reason and found it: at the side of a corpse, where there was a free space, a fresh corpse suddenly appeared; apparently the earth was throwing them up. And all the unoccupied spaces filled rapidly, and the earth grew lighter from the light pink bodies, that were lying side by side with their feet towards us. And the room grew lighter, filled with a light pink dead light.
“Look, there is not enough room for them,” said my brother.
And my mother answered:
“There is one here already.”
We looked round: behind us on the floor lay a naked, light pink body with its head thrown back. And instantly at its side there appeared a second, and a third. And the earth threw them up one after the other, and soon the orderly rows of light pink dead bodies filled all the rooms.
“They are in the nursery too,” said the nurse. “I saw them.”
“We must go away,” said my sister.
“But we cannot pass,” said my brother.
“Look!”
And sure enough, they were lying close together, arm to arm, and their naked feet were touching us. And suddenly they stirred and swayed and rose up in the same orderly rows: the earth was throwing up new bodies, and they were lifting the first ones upwards.
“They will smother us!” said I. “Let us save ourselves through the window.”
“We cannot!” cried my brother. “We cannot! Look what is there!”
…Behind the window, in a livid, motionless light stood the Red Laugh.
Stop NATO News March 17, 2011
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1. U.S. Wants UN To Authorize Libya Air Strikes
2. Scottish Air Base To Host NATO’s Largest Military Exercise
3. Georgia’s Saakashvili Meets With General Petraeus
4. Ground Military Intervention In Libya Could Trigger War: Russian President Medvedev
5. Balochistan: Four NATO Oil Tankers Torched
6. Deadly Attack On NATO Base In Southern Afghanistan
7. French Foreign Minister Calls For Military Intervention In Libya
8. Pentagon Prepares For Nuclear Worst-Case Scenario At Fukushima
9. Petraeus: Under 100 Al-Qaeda In Afghanistan, But Bases Beyond 2014
10. Editorial: Foreign Interventions In Bahrain And Libya
11. Ivory Coast: French FM Says Sanctions Will “Strangle” Gbagbo
12. SIPRI: Dutch Arms Exports World’s Third Largest Per Capita
13. “Capabilities-Boosting Initiatives”: NATO Pushes Supra-National Integration
14. Billionaire “President” Calls On NATO To Train Kosovo Army
15. U.S. Seventh Fleet Repositions Ships After Contamination Detected
16. NATO Shifts Bombing Exercise From Canada To U.S.
17. Pakistan: NATO Oil Tankers Banned In Peshawar
18. Estonia: NATO Firms Up Outpost On Baltic Sea
19. Tunisians Protest Clinton’s Visit
20. Defense Minister: Azerbaijan Ready To “Liberate Occupied Territories”
21. Latest U.S. Drone Strike Kills At Least Five In Pakistan
22. NATO Delegation To Visit Georgia To Meet With Leaders
23. Washington Consolidates U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership
24. Raytheon Completes Missile Shield Radar System In Greenland
25. Somalia: AMISOM Troop Surge
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U.S. Wants UN To Authorize Libya Air Strikes
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110317/163054291.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 17, 2011
U.S. calls on UN to authorize Libya air strikes
Moscow: Washington’s ambassador to the UN has said the UN Security Council should consider not just a no-fly zone over Libya but also the aerial bombing of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are advancing on rebel-held territories in the east of the war-ravaged country. The rebels say they fear genocide without swift UN action.
“The U.S. view is that we need to be prepared to contemplate steps that include but perhaps go beyond a no-fly zone, at this point, as the situation on the ground has evolved and as a no-fly zone has inherent limitations in terms of protection of civilians at immediate risk,” Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters in New York.
She said the United States would be pushing for an early vote on a draft resolution, backed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
But diplomats say its controversial wording authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians – which some interpret as code for military action including air strikes – means it is unclear if it could be put to a vote on Thursday.
Russia is against all military intervention in Libya. Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin put forward a counter-resolution calling for a cease-fire but it fell though.
Gaddafi’s forces say they gained control of the strategic town of Ajdabiya on Tuesday, the last town before the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, but the rebels are denying this.
One of Gaddafi’s sons, Saif al-Islam, said on Wednesday the army would capture Benghazi in 48 hours.
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2. Scottish Air Base To Host NATO’s Largest Military Exercise
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2181086?UserKey=
Aberdeen Press and Journal
March 16, 2011
Kinloss to host major Nato exercise
Allied forces will take part in Joint Warrior training at Moray Airfield for the last time
By Kaye Nicolson
RAF Kinloss is preparing to host Europe’s largest Nato training exercise for the last time before the airfield closes in August.
Personnel from allied Nato countries will travel to Moray for this year’s first Joint Warrior exercise, which was also held at the Moray base in October.
The American P3, French Atlantique and Canadian Aurora maritime patrol aircraft will be based at RAF Kinloss for the two-week training programme, which begins on April 4.
The fleet of Nimrod MR2 aircraft based at Kinloss was withdrawn in March last year, so Falcon and Hawk aircraft from other UK bases have been drafted in for the exercise.
Six F15 aircraft from RAF Lakenheath will also be flying out of RAF Kinloss, with three Blackhawk helicopters.
Joint Warrior is the largest Nato maritime, air and ground training exercise in Europe.
It is conducted in the spring and autumn of each year and provides training for all three UK armed services and forces from allied nations.
Joint Warrior is held in the UK because of its complex geography and oceanography. Crews will be put to the test in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. They will be given intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions against Royal Navy and other Nato ships which are operating in the seas off the Hebrides and Minch.
The maritime aircraft will fly throughout the day, and at night on a limited basis, to assist in finding submarines. Some flights may take place during the weekend.
The exercise has been organised by the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS), based at Northwood HQ in London.
During the exercise itself, the JTEPS staff will deploy to a joint warfare operations centre at Faslane.
Station Commander at RAF Kinloss, Group Captain JJ Johnston, said: “I am delighted to once again welcome our overseas visitors back to RAF Kinloss. This exercise gives all participants the opportunity to further develop their interoperability, knowledge and understanding of their Nato and European colleagues – skills which remain the bedrock of any allied military involvement. We have excellent relationships with our fellow maritime patrol squadrons.”
The UK government announced in October that it was closing RAF Kinloss. The airfield will close on July 31 and the base is expected to be handed back to Defence Estates by April 1, 2014.
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3. Georgia’s Saakashvili Meets With General Petraeus
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23246
Civil Georgia
March 16, 2011
Saakashvili Meets Gen. Petraeus
U.S. Marines In The Caucasus As West Widens Afghan War
Tbilisi: President Saakashvili met with General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in Washington on March 15.
In remarks after the meeting Gen. Petraeus praised Georgia and its soldiers for the contribution to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.
Georgian ambassador to the U.S. Temur Yakobashvili, who also attended the meeting, said that the Georgian President and the U.S. General discussed not only Georgia’s contribution to the Afghan mission, but also “developments in the Middle East and global issues which affect both the countries.”
With the latest death reported on March 14, the total number of Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since joining the NATO-led operation in November, 2009 increased to seven.
“Each such loss is my personal tragedy,” President Saakashvili said in remarks after meeting with Gen. Petraeus. “But we should understand that our professional soldiers are on a very, very important mission; it’s a matter of Georgia’s dignity, prestige and of future as well.”
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4. Ground Military Intervention In Libya Could Trigger War: Russian President Medvedev
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110316/163041280.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 16, 2011
Ground military intervention in Libya may trigger war – Medvedev
Any military intervention in Libya may trigger a war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.
His statement came after the G8 agreed to implement further measures against the Libyan leadership, including possible military actions.
Fierce clashes between Libyan rebels and Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s supporters have been raging in the country since mid-February, claiming thousands of lives.
“We realize what a ground military operation is. Ground intervention is likely to mark the start of war. Not a civil war, but a war with international troops,” Medvedev said, adding that such a serious issue should be thoroughly considered by the UN Security Council.
The president reiterated Russia’s stance against any escalation in the violence.
The Arab League voted on Saturday to ask the UN Security Council to implement a no-fly zone over Libya. Libyan rebels themselves have also called for a no-fly zone. They have also urged Western countries to carry out military strikes against pro-Gaddafi forces.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has repeatedly said that the alliance was considering various options against Libya, including possible military action, but said any intervention in Libya would be strictly in line with UN Security Council decisions.
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5. Balochistan: Four NATO Oil Tankers Torched
http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=12718
The News International
March 16, 2011
4 Nato oil tankers torched, driver killed
MASTUNG: A driver was killed and 4 oil tankers carrying fuel for Nato forces were burnt on Wednesday when unidentified armed men opened indiscriminate fire at them here at Ghanja Dori area of Mastung district, police said.
According to the police, unidentified gun men intercepted four Kandahar-bound oil tankers carrying fuel for ISAF forces stationed in Afghanistan and opened indiscriminate fire.
Resultantly, the driver of an oil tanker identified as Zakir Mehmood Afridi and cleaner Baz Mohammad Afridi suffered bullet wounds.The former died on way to Quetta while they were being shifted to civil hospital in the provincial capital.
Later, the armed assailants set tankers on fire and fled.
Police, soon after the incident reached the site and threw cordoned around the crime scene.Police have registered a case and started search for the culprits.
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6. Deadly Attack On NATO Base In Southern Afghanistan
Agence France-Presse
March 16, 2011
Two killed by bomb at NATO base in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Two people were killed on Wednesday when a bomb exploded outside a NATO base in southern Afghanistan, setting fire to more than a dozen fuel trucks, police and officials said.
Another six people were injured in the blast and a huge blaze is still burning outside the base, a spokesman for the governor of the southern province of Uruzgan said, adding that all the victims were Afghan civilians.
“Two people were killed and six wounded,” said the spokesman, Melad Mudesar. “Twelve trucks are completely burned, and the fire is still going.”
Mudesar said the explosives were concealed on a motorbike parked near the base, although other sources indicated they were hidden in one of the fuel trucks.
….
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7. French Foreign Minister Calls For Military Intervention In Libya
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/16/c_13782382.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 16, 2011
French FM Juppe calls for military intervention in Libya
PARIS: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on Wednesday for the use of military options to help Libyan rebels end the 42-year rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
France’s top diplomat stressed in a note posted on his blog (www.al1jup.com) the need for concrete moves to stop the advance of troops loyal to Gaddafi.
“It is not enough to proclaim as almost all the major democracies did that ‘Gaddafi must go.’ We must give ourselves the means to effectively help those who took up arms against his dictatorship,” Juppe said.
“Judicial and financial sanctions agreed by the United Nations and the European Union are useful. But we know they only give results after several months. Now there is urgency,” he added.
The meeting of G-8 foreign ministers in Paris on Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, which viewed by France and Britain an effective way to end Gaddafi’s bombardment of the rebels’ limited bases.
Germany, the eurozone’s leading power, disagreed on specific military intervention in Libya while France and Britain are pushing for a UN resolution allowing the use of military force to support the rebels in their fight against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
“We can neutralize his (Gaddafi) air assets by targeted strikes. This is what France and Great Britain has been offering for two weeks,” the minister said.
….
Media reports on Wednesday said Gaddafi’s forces have launched a major attack on the rebel-held city of Misurata, east of the capital Tripoli, killing at least five people. The troops eye to retake the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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8. Pentagon Prepares For Nuclear Worst-Case Scenario At Fukushima
Stars and Stripes
March 16, 2011
Pentagon preparing for a nuclear worst-case scenario at Fukushima
By Chris Carroll
WASHINGTON: If the deteriorating situation at a Japanese nuclear plant veers toward a worst-case meltdown scenario, people across the country — including 86,000 American servicemembers, civilian employees and their dependents — could face an unprecedented atomic disaster.
The Pentagon on Wednesday began laying out precautions to keep troops safe, announcing a 50-mile no-go zone around the unstable Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex that is wider than the official Japanese evacuation zone. The U.S. Embassy in Japan meanwhile told American citizens within 50 miles of the plant to evacuate if possible or stay indoors.
Meanwhile, military doctors began advising U.S. air crews flying rescue missions within 80 miles of the stricken complex to take potassium iodide tablets to combat harmful radiation effects. Already, troops on some bases in Japan and aboard ships offshore — including two air crew members on the USS Ronald Reagan who had to take iodide tablets Tuesday — have been exposed to radiation from the nuclear plants, although at levels not believed high enough to pose a serious risk.
Despite the precautions, there is no single Pentagon policy that determines how much radiation troops should be allowed to endure before they must be evacuated. Instead, the judgment is left to individual commanders. Several Pacific commanders contacted by Stars and Stripes for clarification referred questions back to the Pentagon.
In Washington, a spokesman for the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs referred questions about permissible radiation exposure levels to Pentagon media staff.
“We train and equip all of our people to operate in all kinds of environments,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said. “We know how to measure, we know how to test, we know how to take precautions.”
Dr. Fred Mettler, a leading expert on the effects of radiation and a radiologist at the New Mexico Veterans Health System, oversaw a 1999 Institute of Medicine study that led to the recommendation against a single stringent Pentagon policy governing battlefield radiation exposure.
“Commanders should always seek to minimize the dose in the context of the requirements of the mission,” Mettler said in an interview. “Think of it like getting shot. Do you have a guide to how many bullets a soldier should be allowed to take?”
AdvertisementThe 1999 report, however, doesn’t address the question of what the military should do when entire bases are downwind from an unstable reactor, as is the case in Japan.
Some nuclear experts are now saying the Fukushima crisis could rival the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union.
Nuclear scientists use the term “core-on-the-floor” to describe radioactive fuel burning through protective containment layers, hitting groundwater and bursting into the atmosphere in a huge steam explosion, spreading clouds of radioactive gas and dust.
It’s never happened before, but experts fear it may soon become reality in one or more reactors at the Fukushima nuclear complex, which was gravely damaged in last Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
“We are right now closer to core-on-the-floor than at any time in the history of nuclear reactors,” said Kenneth Bergeron, a former Sandia National Laboratory researcher who spent his career simulating such meltdowns, including in reactors of the type at the Fukushima plant.
Even in such a scenario, only people very near the plant — and well inside the 12-mile exclusion zone the Japanese government has set up — would be in danger of burns and other acute radiation effects, experts say.
But on U.S. bases hundreds of miles away, people still would need to take quick steps to limit exposure or else risk long-term cancer effects.
In the most devastating nuclear accident to date, at Chernobyl, there was no meltdown. Instead, the reactor exploded and burned for days, hurling radioactive dust laced with cesium, strontium, and radioactive iodine high into the air, which later menaced broad swaths of Europe as the materials fell back to Earth.
If one or more of the Fukushima reactor cores melt out of their containment vessels, the release could be smaller and less violent. But whether the effects would be less risky than Chernobyl, which officials estimate killed 50 people initially and will eventually lead to the cancer deaths of thousands, is an open question.
Fukushima “could even be more dangerous, depending on wind and weather,” said Bergeron, who is now a nuclear safety consultant and writer.
Large concentrations of radioactive material were found hundreds of miles away from Chernobyl’s ground zero, said Mettler, who, as the U.S. representative on radiation danger to the United Nations, was deeply involved with Chernobyl.
“What tends to go out are the things that are volatile, or gases,” he said. “Cesium 137 can easily go hundreds of miles.”
That means they could hit U.S. bases after a meltdown. Defense Department policies require commanders to have emergency procedures for distributing potassium iodide and Prussian blue, medications that block the uptake of radioactive iodine and cesium, respectively.
Prussian blue is stocked regionally at Trippler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. The Pentagon said Wednesday it has enough iodide on hand in Japan.
Even in its current state, Fukushima has released radiation measurable on U.S. bases. The Pentagon announced Tuesday that 20 millirems of radiation had been measured over the preceding 12 hours at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.
Though health officials agree that’s not a harmful level in itself, it could become serious if it becomes a pattern. A 1998 U.S. Army guideline on low-level radiation set 50 cumulative millirems as a threshold at which exposed individuals should begin being monitored for harm.
From 50 to 500 millirems, one extra cancer death will occur in a population of 4,000 people, according to the Army’s data. The next threshold is 500 millirems, at which an extra cancer death will in a group of 400 people.
Though they won’t talk about specific disaster plans, base officials in Japan are trying to ease concerns among their military communities.
In Misawa, Air Force officials have repeatedly told residents they are in no danger of radiation from the failing nuclear reactors in Fukushima, which is about 240 miles south of the base.
“I am not moving my family out or secretly taking iodine pills,” Col. Michael Rothstein, the base commander, told Stars and Stripes Wednesday. “There is no threat here.”
Rothstein took that message on the radio with a live address Tuesday night as radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant spread to U.S. military bases in central Japan.
“My sense is there is a challenge reaching everybody with the message,” but residents are trusting reassurances from the base command, Rothstein said. Col. Guillermo Tellez, commander of the 35th Medical Group at Misawa, emphasized that there is no threat of radiation exposure and the base has gotten no direction from the Air Force to distribute potassium iodide.
Though it may strike some as glossing over a bad situation, many experts believe that the fear of being exposed to radiation can be more damaging than the radiation itself, leading to depression, substance abuse and other ills.
After Chernobyl, for instance, a multiparty study group including U.N. agencies and national governments concluded in 2005 that many thousands of people had been scarred psychologically by the event.
Mettler, the Chernobyl expert, offered some cold comfort to residents of the potential fallout zones.
“Japan just lost 10,000 or 20,000 people in the tsunami and earthquake,” he said. “The worst this [nuclear] situation can possibly get — in short-term and long-term effects — still can’t come anywhere close to that.”
Stars and Stripes reporters Kevin Baron, Travis Tritten, Ashley Rowland and Erik Slavin contributed to this report.
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9. Petraeus: Under 100 Al-Qaeda In Afghanistan, But Bases Beyond 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/asia/16petraeus.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Thom%20Shanker&st=cse
New York Times
March 15, 2011
General Sees Joint Bases for Afghans After 2014
Thom Shanker
Afghanistan: North Atlantic Military Bloc’s Ten-Year War In South Asia
Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of American and coalition forces, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that “it’s very important to stay engaged in a region in which we have such vital interests.”
He cited his tenure as the senior commander in Iraq as an example of the benefits of the American military “providing enablers” — troops that train, advise and support local forces — in countries where the United States has important national security interests.
“I think the concept of joint basing, the concept of providing enablers for Afghan operations and so forth — frankly, similar to what we have done in Iraq since the mission changed there — would also be appropriate in Afghanistan,” General Petraeus said.
….
While the focus of the hearing was the war in Afghanistan, a central theme was the threat of ungoverned areas of Pakistan….Senators from both parties pressed to find out what could be done to assist — and even compel — Pakistan to do more to rout insurgents from those areas.
General Petraeus…said Al Qaeda has under 100 operatives or fighters inside Afghanistan today….
General Petraeus said that while Afghan and coalition forces had turned back the Taliban’s initiative on the battlefield, he warned that progress remained “fragile and reversible.”
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for adding up to 70,000 Afghan troops and police, and he said the United States and its allies should press Afghan leaders to improve governance and public services, and fight corruption.
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10. Editorial: Foreign Interventions In Bahrain And Libya
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011316story_16-3-2011_pg3_1
Daily Times
March 16, 2011
EDITORIAL:
Foreign interventions in Bahrain and Libya
Bahrain: U.S. Backs Saudi Military Intervention, Conflict With Iran
Point Of No Return: U.S. And NATO Prepare For War With Libya
Although Bahrain’s monarch had requested the Gulf Cooperation Council, comprising six Gulf countries, to send their forces to contain the protests in Bahrain, it is nonetheless a foreign intervention.
The 1000-strong contingent sent by five neighbouring countries of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, will be used to suppress Shia protesters, who are demanding political and economic rights in a country ruled by a minority Sunni elite.
Arguably, Saudi Arabia was more worried than the rest of the Gulf countries because its oil-rich, Shia-dominated eastern area borders Bahrain and if the Bahraini Shias manage to gain the upper hand, it might spell disaster for the Saudi monarchy’s own existence, which has kept its Shia population backward and deprived for decades.
It is in the interest of all reactionary monarchs of the Gulf to not let things get out of hand, hence this collaboration. There is no reason to open fire on unarmed protesters, but when an insecure minority is ruling over a restless majority as in Bahrain, perhaps this is inevitable. It would be pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s retired military officers and civilians are being rapidly hired by Bahrain because they are reputed to be most aggressive. It is not certain if the Bahrainis, who have been out on the streets for a month, would be able to sustain their struggle in the face of a brutal crackdown that now seems on the cards.
When the wave of insurgency started from Tunisia and spread to Egypt, in both cases yielding results quickly and relatively peacefully, an optimistic illusion was created that this would be replicated in all Arab countries where the public had risen.
It has turned out that all Gulf countries are not at the same juncture of history where their regimes had been hollowed out from within and needed just the kind of push that the people in Egypt and Tunisia provided.
Yemen’s long-serving dictator is not yielding to the protesters’ demands to relinquish the office of president, which he has been holding for the last 32 years.
There have been protests in Oman as well without much hope for success.
In Libya, there are reports that the tables have been turned by Gaddafi’s use of military force and a vow to fight till the last drop of blood. The rebel forces in Libya that had taken over eastern towns are now being pushed back through the use of navy, air force and artillery bombardments.
The imbalance of power between the two sides is so great that an untrained, lightly armed, scattered guerrilla force cannot win over a conventional military force in set-piece battles. Being largely a desert excepting the northern periphery, it will not be easy for the rebels to sustain guerrilla warfare against Gaddafi’s air power. It seems that Gaddafi still has the backing of his military and certain tribes who are aiding him.
In this scenario, saner heads in the West are advising the hawks led by France against military intervention in the name of ‘humanitarian’ action.
It has been proved in recent years that such intrusions are, after all, not entirely altruistic and are driven by vested interests.
The UN Security Council is unlikely to yield to the proposal of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. It is dangerous thinking, this talk of military intervention and will lead to the expansion of war in Libya and the region.
A fig leaf has been created in the shape of the Arab League’s endorsement of a no-fly zone, but this is unlikely to impress anyone. The Arab League has lost credibility over the years and cannot necessarily be taken as representing the interests of the Arab people. Gaddafi may have resiled from anti-imperialist Arab nationalism and may be cracking down on his people, but this should not be used an excuse to call for a foreign intervention. The Arab people must be given the opportunity to settle their affairs themselves.
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11. Ivory Coast: French FM Says Sanctions Will “Strangle” Gbagbo
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011316story_16-3-2011_pg4_6
Reuters
March 16, 2011
France says Ivory Coast sanctions will strangle Gbagbo
Militarization Of Energy Policy: U.S. Africa Command And Gulf Of Guinea
PARIS: Sanctions will slowly but surely break Laurent Gbagbo’s grip on Ivory Coast and France will do what it can to ensure Alassane Ouattara takes his rightful place as president, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday.
“Financial sanctions don’t work in 15 days. They work over months,” Juppe told France’s Europe 1 radio. “It’s clear today that Gbagbo is gradually being strangled.” “We haven’t abandoned him (Ouattara),” Juppe said as he prepared to host a second day of talks between Group of Eight foreign ministers that mainly focused on Libya. “We’ve never stopped saying that we don’t want Gbagbo, that he is not legitimate and that Ouattara is the only legal and legitimate president,” Juppe said.
….
The standoff in the former French colony has taken a backseat in recent weeks to political turmoil spreading across north Africa and in particular the crisis in Libya.
The showdown between Gbagbo and Ouattara and weeks of fighting risk tipping the world’s biggest cocoa-producing country into civil war, reigniting a 2002-03 conflict the contested election was supposed to resolve. Juppe said sanctions would gradually have their desired impact….“I think we’ll get there,” he said. “We will do everything it takes to ensure that the legal outcome prevails and that Ouattara, the legally elected president, truly exercises power.”
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12. SIPRI: Dutch Arms Exports World’s Third Largest Per Capita
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/explosive-increase-dutch-arms-exports
Radio Netherlands
March 16, 2011
Explosive increase in Dutch arms exports
-Over the last two decades, the Netherlands has sold 730 million euros worth of surplus arms and material to the Arab world. In addition to Egypt and Bahrain, customers have included Morocco, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
The merchandise has consisted of armoured personnel carriers (APCs), navy frigates, F-16 fighter jets, anti-tank missiles, radar systems and self-propelled howitzers.
Dutch arms exports have sky-rocketed over the past few years. Per head of the population, the Netherlands is now in the top three of weapon exporting countries.
These conclusions can be drawn from new figures published by the Swedish institute SIPRI, which has been monitoring the international arms trade since 1966. The world’s main arms exporting countries are the United States, Russia, and China, with the Netherlands in sixth place.
Per head of the population, the Netherlands is even in third place, with Israel and Sweden in first and second place. The Netherlands produces and exports a variety of weaponry including naval vessels and advanced military electronics.
Over the last two decades, the Netherlands has sold 730 million euros worth of surplus arms and material to the Arab world. In addition to Egypt and Bahrain, customers have included Morocco, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
The merchandise has consisted of armoured personnel carriers (APCs), navy frigates, F-16 fighter jets, anti-tank missiles, radar systems and self-propelled howitzers.
Between 2001 and 2005, Dutch arms exports amounted to about 1.1 billion euros compared to 2.9 billion in the second half of the decade, an increase of 160 percent.
A controversial visit by Queen Beatrix to Oman last Tuesday was reportedly intended to safeguard a major defence contract. At stake was an order worth hundreds of millions of euros for four naval vessels to be built by Dutch shipyard Damen Schelde. It is not known if the contract has since been signed.
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13. “Capabilities-Boosting Initiatives”: NATO Pushes Supra-National Integration
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63187
U.S. Department of Defense
March 16, 2011
NATO Task Force to Seek Innovative Efficiencies
By Donna Miles
WASHINGTON: A new task force NATO’s defense ministers agreed to form will explore “out of the box” concepts for improving efficiency while striving to build capabilities in the face of shrinking defense budgets, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for transformation said today.
In a meeting last week in Brussels, Belgium, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his NATO counterparts endorsed the new task force to take a fresh look at the alliance’s capabilities-boosting initiatives, Gen. Stephane Abrial of the French air force told reporters.
“The objective is to first identify what is existing as far as multinational cooperation is concerned, identify what could be possible, and think new ideas [and] innovative ways for capability development,” he said.
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Carol M. Pottenger, Allied Transformation Command’s deputy chief of staff for capability development, will lead the review, to be conducted by a mix of military and civilian representatives from across NATO.
Abrial said he expects the review will examine NATO doctrine, organizations, procurement, training, operations and maintenance, logistics, and battlefield medicine.
The task force members will have six months to formulate their ideas.
“The objective is a report in September for the [defense] ministers to consider in October, and then make decisions, either NATO as a whole or groups of nations inside NATO,” Abrial explained.
Though the global economic crisis has affected alliance nations’ defense budgets, Abrial said, every NATO nation has made clear it doesn’t want to “let the financial crisis turn into a security crisis.” That requires redoubling efforts to become more effective and more efficient, he added.
….
Abrial cited innovative defense solutions already at work within NATO, the European Union or the European Defense Agency that the task force is likely to consider. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have a successful defense cooperation arrangement under the auspices of the Nordic Council. The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Denmark share part of the acquisition costs as well as operation and maintenance of their F-16 fighter jet fleets. Luxembourg has developed a maritime patrol capability to support NATO missions by leasing sensor-equipped civilian propeller aircraft.
….
Abrial acknowledged that some nations may be highly averse to giving up their own defense capabilities and relying on another nation to provide it. Such collaboration would require clear understanding and communication to work, he said.
….
“We are making sure [the] forces of NATO nations are ready to face any kind of situation today, tomorrow and the day after,” Abrial said. “What we see around us today shows the absolute necessity to be ready for everything.”
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14. Billionaire “President” Calls On NATO To Train Kosovo Army
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2011/03/16/nb-12
Southeast European Times
March 16, 2011
Pacolli asks NATO countries to train Kosovo security forces
Kosovo: Marking Ten Years Of Worldwide Wars
PRISTINA, Kosovo: President Behgjet Pacolli is asking NATO countries to train the highest ranking Kosovo Security Force (KSF) officials in their academies.
Pacolli thanked NATO for its contribution in Kosovo and its role in establishing and training the KSF during a meeting Tuesday (March 15th) with Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, NATO’s Commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples and KFOR Commander Erhard Buehler.
Locklear said that he has noticed positive changes during his visits to Kosovo over the last six months. KFOR downsizing, he added “does not reduce KFOR’s role in Kosovo”. (Kohavision, RTK, TV 21, Klan Kosova – 15/03/11)
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15. U.S. Seventh Fleet Repositions Ships After Contamination Detected
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=59065
Navy NewsStand
March 16, 2011
Seventh Fleet Repositions Ships after Contamination Detected
By U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affiars
USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC 19) – At Sea: The U.S. 7th Fleet has temporarily repositioned its ships and aircraft away from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant after detecting low level contamination in the air and on its aircraft operating in the area. The source of this airborne radioactivity is a radioactive plume released from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant.
….
The ship was operating at sea about 100 miles northeast of the power plant at the time.
Using sensitive instruments, precautionary measurements of three helicopter aircrews returning to USS Ronald Reagan after conducting disaster relief missions near Sendai identified low levels of radioactivity on 17 air crew members….
As a precautionary measure, USS Ronald Reagan and other U.S. 7th Fleet ships conducting disaster response operations in the area have moved out of the downwind direction from the site to assess the situation and determine what appropriate mitigating actions are necessary.
….
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16. NATO Shifts Bombing Exercise From Canada To U.S.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/03/16/nl-goose-exercise-316.html
CBC News
March 16, 2011
NATO cancels Labrador exercise again
The Goose Bay air base in central Labrador has spent millions of dollars to prepare for a military exercise that has now been cancelled for the second time in as many years.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise was scheduled to train forward air controllers – people on the ground who help guide planes to bomb targets.
The Canadian military has spent millions upgrading the practice target area for the exercise, which would have brought hundreds of people to Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay for part of the summer.
The exercise was originally scheduled for last summer, but was held in the U.S. instead.
Now NATO has backed out of plans to hold the exercise at CFB Goose Bay again.
A military spokesperson said NATO will still hold the exercise, but it will be held in the U.S. where it is expected to cost less.
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17. Pakistan: NATO Oil Tankers Banned In Peshawar
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C03%5C17%5Cstory_17-3-2011_pg7_5
Daily Times
March 17, 2011
NATO Oil tankers’ entry in Peshawar banned
By Fawad Ali Shah
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday banned the entry of Afghanistan-bound oil tankers carrying oil for the NATO troops.
Official sources said that the terminals of these tankers have also been shifted to Nowshera.
“These oil tankers are no more allowed to enter Peshawar or even stay in the suburbs due to security reasons,” a senior official of the provincial Home Department said.
The government has also decided not to allow parking to these oil tankers anywhere near the roads or at petrol pumps.
The decision has been taken in the wake of increasing attacks on the Afghanistan-bound vehicles, especially tankers carrying oil for the international forces in the war-torn country.
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18. Estonia: NATO Firms Up Outpost On Baltic Sea
http://news.err.ee/politics/50f6e091-d2a8-4140-adc7-c20f8da1e5de
Estonian Public Broadcasting
March 16, 2011
NATO Revamps Defense Plan, Commander Pays Visit
NATO Develops Plans For Military Confrontation With Russia In Baltic
Baltic States: Pentagon’s Training Grounds For Afghan and Future Wars
-Langheld visited NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, established in Estonia in 2008.
NATO’s JFC in Brunssum, Netherlands, serves as the higher headquarters for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, as well as for NATO Article 5 operational contingency planning and Baltic air policing.
In his first official visit to Estonia, Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Brunssum, Gen. Wolf Langheld, met with top defense officials on March 16, and gathered firsthand information for actualizing the northernmost Baltic nation’s defense planning.
“We have drafted, developed and adapted action plans for this region, and we now need […] a better understanding of how to proceed with those plans and to develop them further,” said Langheld.
The commander visited the Defense Forces headquarters, where he met with Commander-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ants Laaneots, and was given an overview of the country’s long-term defense. Langheld also met with Minister of Defense Jaak Aaviksoo to discuss NATO’s new strategic conception.
Later in the day, Langheld visited NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, established in Estonia in 2008.
NATO’s JFC in Brunssum, Netherlands, serves as the higher headquarters for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, as well as for NATO Article 5 operational contingency planning and Baltic air policing.
In February, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves awarded Gen. Egon Ramms, retired, former Commander of JFC Brunssum with the the Order of the Eagle’s Cross for strengthening NATO-Estonian cooperation and for his success in the Polish-Baltic defense plans.
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19. Tunisians Protest Clinton’s Visit
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1847008.html
Trend News Agency
March 17, 2011
Tunisians protest Clinton’s visit
Hundreds of Tunisians have taken to the streets in the capital, Tunis, to protest a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to their country, Press TV reported.
On Wednesday, protesters gathered in Avenue Bourguiba, an epicenter of the Tunisian revolution in mid-January, and chanted anti-American slogans amid tight security presence, Reuters reported.
“No to US meddling in Tunisia’s affairs,” the demonstrators chanted. “Tunisia free, US out.”
“We are against the visit of Hillary Clinton or of any US representative. We have never forgotten US crimes in Iraq,” a protester said.
It was the second demonstration in two days against an imminent visit by Clinton, who was scheduled to arrive in Tunisia later Wednesday, after a visit to Egypt.
Clinton is the first US official to visit the North African country after the overthrow of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali by a popular revolution whose domino effect has shaken the Arab world.
Clinton wrapped up a two-day visit to Egypt on Wednesday.
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20. Defense Minister: Azerbaijan Ready To “Liberate Occupied Territories”
http://en.trend.az/news/karabakh/1846900.html
Trend News Agency
March 16, 2011
Defence minister: Azerbaijan expands its activities to liberate occupied territories
K. Zarbaliyeva
Baku: Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Safar Abiyev met with the Minister Defence of Ukraine Mikhail Ejel, who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan, the Defense Ministry’s press service told Trend.
….
During the enlarged meeting, Abiyev welcomed the delegation headed by Ejel, and said that the two countries have strategic relations at all levels.
Abiyev said one of the main goals is to further develop this partnership. During the meeting both ministers touched upon the questions of military-technical cooperation. Attention was also paid to the military-political situation in the region.
Abiyev said as a result of Armenian aggression, 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory was occupied, one million Azerbaijanis lost their homes. He said the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the conflict do not give concrete results. The resolutions of authoritative international organizations regarding Armenia’s termination of its occupation policy still remain unimplemented. The Minister said in such a situation, Azerbaijan has no choice other than taking serious and necessary measures to liberate the occupied territories.
“We are expanding our activities in this regard,” said Abiyev.
During the meeting, the ministers exchanged views on other issues.
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21. Latest U.S. Drone Strike Kills At Least Five In Pakistan
http://www.sify.com/news/us-drone-attack-kills-five-in-pakistan-news-international-ldqm4ehchab.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 16, 2011
US drone attack kills five in Pakistan
Islamabad: At least five people were killed Wednesday when a suspected US unmanned aircraft fired three missiles into a car in Pakistan’s tribal region along the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.
The missile strike took place in the Digan Sha area of Datta Khel, the main town in the militancy-plagued North Waziristan district.
An intelligence official who asked not to be named said that they were trying to determine the identities of those killed through local informers.
The US Central Intelligence Agency routinely fires missiles into Pakistan’s tribal region….
Most of the attacks have taken place in North Waziristan district, where the US wants Pakistan to conduct operations against Taliban groups, including the Haqqani network.
Pakistan says its forces are overstretched due to security operations in other tribal districts and areas of the adjoining province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
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22. NATO Delegation To Visit Georgia To Meet With Leaders
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1846758.html
Trend News Agency
March 16, 2011
NATO Parliamentary Assembly head to visit Georgia
N. Kirtzkhalia
Tbilisi: NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Karl Lamers wil pay a two-day visit to Georgia.
A NATO delegation will arrive in the country on March 21 and hold its first meeting with Security Council Secretary Georgi Bokeria, parliament told Trend.
The delegation will meet with Parliamentary Speaker David Bakradze, Prime Minister Nika Gilauri and State Minister for European Integration Giorgi Baramidze. The last meeting is scheduled with President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The delegation will take part in the 76th Rose-Roth seminar.
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23. Washington Consolidates U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1846450.html
Trend News Agency
March 16, 2011
Washington discusses Georgia-U.S. strategic partnership
N. Kirtskhalia
Washington To Rearm Georgia For New Conflicts
Tbilisi: A meeting of the Georgian-U.S. working group was held in Washington within the Charter on Strategic Partnership.
….
U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Bass discussed the next stage of work under the charter.
He added that the charter is a very important document that determines future cooperation for both countries and future partnership plans.
The diplomat said the document will raise bilateral relations to a higher level.
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24. Raytheon Completes Missile Shield Radar System In Greenland
Raytheon Company
March 16, 2011
Raytheon Completes Work on Upgraded Early Warning Radar in Greenland
NATO Surrenders Europe To U.S. Global Missile Shield Project
TEWKSBURY, Mass. – Raytheon Company has completed all system requirements and testing of the Upgraded Early Warning Radar at Thule Air Base, Greenland. With this upgrade, the UEWR at Thule is ready to conduct the missile defense mission as a critical component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.
….
The UEWRs add missile defense capabilities to the Raytheon-developed PAVE PAWS and Ballistic Missile Early Warning Systems radars. Thule Air Base is the third site Raytheon has upgraded to the new UEWR configuration. Additional UEWR locations are Beale Air Force Base, Calif., and Royal Air Force Fylingdales, United Kingdom.
The UEWR provides early detection and precise tracking of incoming ballistic missiles, as well as quick, accurate determination of threat versus non-threat objects. It supports the intercept of threatening ballistic missiles above the atmosphere, while concurrently performing early warning and space surveillance missions.
….
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25. Somalia: AMISOM Troop Surge Begins
Daily Nation/Agence France-Presse
March 16, 2011
Burundi sends more troops to Mogadishu
•The target set is for 12,000 and latest move raises numbers by just an extra 1,000
Uganda: U.S., NATO Allies Prepare New Invasion Of Somalia
AFRICOM’s First War: U.S. Directs Large-Scale Offensive In Somalia
BUJUMBURA: Burundi has deployed an additional 1,000 soldiers for the African Union force protecting the Somali government, the military chief said Monday.
General Godefroid Niyombare told AFP the soldiers were sent a week ago to join the 8,000 Burundian and Ugandan troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
“Burundi and Uganda… agreed to each send 1,000 troops as part of the additional 4,000 soldiers required. Burundi has fulfilled its promise,” Gen Niyombare said.
The AU last year requested the force be boosted to 12,000 from its authorised strength of 8,000.
….
The United Nations nor the African Union have yet given a final toll for AMISOM, which is propping up the transitional government.
Ambrose Bierce: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
American writers on peace and against war
Ambrose Bierce: Selections on war
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Ambrose Bierce
Member of the Anti-Imperialist League
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners – two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff. At a short remove upon the same temporary platform was an officer in the uniform of his rank, armed. He was a captain. A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as “support,” that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest – a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body. It did not appear to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at the center of the bridge; they merely blockaded the two ends of the foot planking that traversed it.
Beyond one of the sentinels nobody was in sight; the railroad ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards, then, curving, was lost to view. Doubtless there was an outpost farther along. The other bank of the stream was open ground – a gentle acclivity topped with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon commanding the bridge. Midway of the slope between the bridge and fort were the spectators – a single company of infantry in line, at “parade rest,” the butts of the rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock. A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved. The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless. The sentinels, facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge. The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign. Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.
The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good–a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp. Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.
The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth. This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties. The arrangement commended itself to his judgment as simple and effective. His face had not been covered nor his eyes bandaged. He looked a moment at his “unsteadfast footing,” then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move, What a sluggish stream!
He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift – all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith’s hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by – it seemed both. Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell. He awaited each stroke with impatience and – he knew not why- apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.
He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. “If I could free my hands,” he thought, “I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader’s farthest advance.”
As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.
II
Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army that had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. That opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in war time. Meanwhile he did what he could. No service was too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war.
One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only toe, happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front.
“The Yanks are repairing the railroads,” said the man, “and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order.”
“How far is it to the Owl Creek bridge?” Farquhar asked.
“About thirty miles.”
“Is there no force on this side the creek?”
“Only a picket post half a mile out, on the railroad, and a single sentinel at this end of the bridge.”
“Suppose a man – a civilian and student of hanging – should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel,” said Farquhar, smiling, “what could he accomplish?”
The soldier reflected. “I was there a month ago,” he replied. “I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow.”
The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout.
III
As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. From this state he was awakened–ages later, it seemed to him – by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of his body and limbs. These pains appeared to flash along well-defined lines of ramification and to beat with an inconceivably rapid periodicity. They seemed like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature. As to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of fulness – of congestion. These sensations were unaccompanied by thought. The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment. He was conscious of motion. Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck was already suffocating him and kept the water from his lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river!–the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface – knew it with reluctance, for he was now very comfortable. “To be hanged and drowned,” he thought? “that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair.”
He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He gave the struggle his attention, as an idler might observe the feat of a juggler, without interest in the outcome. What splendid effort! – what magnificent, what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched them with a new interest as first one and then the other pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of a water snake. “Put it back, put it back!” He thought he shouted these words to his hands, for the undoing of the noose had been succeeded by the direst pang that he had yet experienced. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire; his heart, which had been fluttering faintly, gave a great leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body was racked and wrenched with an insupportable anguish! But his disobedient hands gave no heed to the command. They beat the water vigorously with quick, downward strokes, forcing him to the surface. He felt his head emerge; his eyes were blinded by the sunlight; his chest expanded convulsively, and with a supreme and crowning agony his lungs engulfed a great draught of air, which instantly he expelled in a shriek!
He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf – saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies, the grey spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies’ wings, the strokes of the water-spiders’ legs, like oars which had lifted their boat – all these made audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water.
He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round, himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort, the soldiers upon the bridge, the captain, the sergeant, the two privates, his executioners. They were in silhouette against the blue sky. They shouted and gesticulated, pointing at him. The captain had drawn his pistol, but did not fire; the others were unarmed. Their movements were grotesque and horrible, their forms gigantic.
Suddenly he heard a sharp report and something struck the water smartly within a few inches of his head, spattering his face with spray. He heard a second report, and saw one of the sentinels with his rifle at his shoulder, a light cloud of blue smoke rising from the muzzle. The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.
A counter-swirl had caught Farquhar and turned him half round; he was again looking into the forest on the bank opposite the fort. The sound of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears. Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the lieu. tenant on shore was taking a part in the morning’s work. How coldly and pitilessly – with what an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing tranquillity in the men – with what accurately measured inter vals fell those cruel words:
“Attention, company! . . Shoulder arms! . . . Ready! . . . Aim! . . . Fire!”
Farquhar dived – dived as deeply as he could. The water roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dulled thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent. One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably warm and he snatched it out.
As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther down stream nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. The two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.
The hunted man saw all this over his shoulder; he was now swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as energetic as his arms and legs; he thought with the rapidity of lightning.
The officer,” he reasoned, “will not make that martinet’s error a second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a single shot. He has probably already given the command to fire at will. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!”
An appalling plash within two yards of him was followed by a loud, rushing sound, diminuendo, which seemed to travel back through the air to the fort and died in an explosion which stirred the very river to its deeps!
A rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! The cannon had taken a hand in the game. As he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond.
“They will not do that again,” he thought; “the next time they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me – the report arrives too late; it lags behind the missile. That is a good gun.”
Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round – spinning like a top. The water, the banks, the forests, the now distant bridge, fort and men – all were commingled and blurred. Objects were represented by their colors only; circular horizontal streaks of color – that was all he saw. He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and sick. In a few moments he was flung upon the gravel at the foot of the left bank of the stream – the southern bank – and behind a projecting point which concealed him from his enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel, restored him, and he wept with delight. He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of Æolian harps. He had no wish to perfect his escape – was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.
A whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. He sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest.
All that day he traveled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman’s road. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was something uncanny in the revelation.
By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great garden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which – once, twice, and again – he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.
His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from between his teeth into the cold air. How softly the turf had carpeted the untraveled avenue – he could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet!
Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene – perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon – then all is darkness and silence!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.
Bahrain: U.S. Backs Saudi Military Intervention, Conflict With Iran
Stop NATO
March 16, 2011
Bahrain: U.S. Backs Saudi Military Intervention, Conflict With Iran
Rick Rozoff
On March 14 Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council partner the United Arab Emirates deployed 1,000 troops, 500 security personnel and armored troop carriers across the 25-mile King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain to shore up their fellow monarchy after a month of protests against the Al Khalifa dynasty. The following day the Bahraini government declared a three-month state of emergency and authorized the military “to take necessary steps to restore national security.” On March 16 government security forces staged a violent crackdown against protesters in the nation’s capital with tanks, armored personnel carriers and helicopters, killing at least two people and injuring hundreds.
Two weeks earlier Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported that the Saudi government had sent an estimated thirty tanks to Bahrain.
In the interim U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited Bahrain on March 11 and 12 and met with King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. The first is Commander-in-Chief and the second Deputy Supreme Commander of the Bahrain Defence Force. The Bahraini monarch underwent military training with the British Army at the now-defunct Mons Officer Cadet School and later attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, graduating in 1973.
The Pentagon chief and former Central Intelligence Agency director was in the company of men who spoke his language.
Gates commented approvingly of his hosts:
“I am convinced they both are serious about real reform. I think that the concern now is that it’s important that they have somebody to talk to, and that the opposition be willing to sit down with the government and carry this process forward.” [1]
He praised the king’s and prince’s “willingness to engage with the opposition,” lauding their efforts as “a model for the entire region” – the Middle East and North Africa. Bahrain lies directly across the Persian Gulf from Iran.
The Defense Secretary confirmed that there had been “much talk of Iran” between him and his royal interlocutors and added: “One of the issues under discussion with respect to Libya, obviously, is a no-fly zone….If we are directed to impose a no-fly zone, we have the resources to do it.” [2]
On March 7 the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – called for imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan emoting: “We appeal to the international community, especially the Security Council, to meet its historical responsibility to protect this dear people.” A week after the above display of unconvincing solicitude, leading members of the organization sent troops to Bahrain to suppress protests against the hereditary autocracy.
Last September the Financial Times reported that the U.S. had struck deals to provide four members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman – with $123 billion worth of arms in a dramatic move to confront Iran in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia accounts for over half the total, $67 billion for 84 F-15 jets, 70 Apache gunships, 72 Black Hawk helicopters, 36 light helicopters and thousands of laser-guided smart bombs, the largest weapons deal in U.S. history. Even before those transactions are finalized, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute documented last December that Washington accounted for 54 percent of arms sales to Persian Gulf states between 2005 and 2009 and France 21 percent.
Gates flew home to Washington on March 12 from the Bahraini capital of Manama, ending a trip that started in Afghanistan five days before, after which he went to U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany where he officiated over the transfer of command from General William Ward to General Carter Ham, and to NATO Headquarters in Brussels where he engaged in two days of meetings with his 27 fellow Alliance defense chiefs and those of another 20 nations providing troops for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell stated of U.S. relations with allies in the Middle East region: “All of the…deep strategic interests we have with them remain the same as they were six months ago.” [3]
That Saudi military forces entered Bahrain two days after Secretary Gates left would lead any sensible person to draw the conclusion that the Pentagon chief had discussed more than Iran and Libya with the kingdom’s top two government and defense officials. Though discussions on Iran would not have been unrelated to those concerning a U.S.-backed deployment of Saudi and other Gulf Cooperation Council forces to Bahrain, as some 70-75 percent of Bahrain’s population is Shi’a Muslim by way of confessional background although the ruling family is Sunni.
A Bahraini protester quoted by Reuters on March 15 commented on the Saudi-led military incursion this way: “It’s part of a regional plan and they’re fighting on our (land). If the Americans were men they would go and fight Iran directly but not in our country.”
The U.S. Fifth Fleet, one of six used by Washington to patrol the world’s seas and oceans, is headquartered near Manama, where between 4,000-6,000 American military personnel are stationed. Unlike Tunisia and Egypt, U.S. military partners but not hosts of American bases, Bahrain is vital to U.S. international military and energy strategy, and allowing a doctrinal affinity to in any manner augment Iran’s influence in its Persian Gulf neighbor is anathema to the White House, State Department and Pentagon.
The Fifth Fleet’s area of responsibility encompasses 2.5 million square miles of water, including the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea and the western Indian Ocean as far south as Kenya. [4] Aircraft carriers, destroyers and other warships are assigned to it on a rotational basis and the fleet is the naval component of U.S. Central Command, sharing a commander and headquarters in Bahrain with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. Central Command’s purview stretches from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan, bordering Russia and China, in the east. CENTCOM is in charge of American military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as in Pakistan and Yemen.
The Fifth Fleet has approximately 30,000 personnel stationed across the region.
The geopolitical importance of Bahrain was demonstrated when the U.S.’s top military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, visited several nations in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa last month: Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Djibouti and Kuwait, with a last-minute stop in Bahrain not listed on his itinerary.
Mullen inspected the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, the first major American military base on the African continent, now assigned to U.S. Africa Command.
While in Saudi Arabia, he characterized Iran as “a country that continues to foment instability in the region and take advantage of every opportunity.”
“There are always concerns in this region with Iran. Certainly the United States has them, as well as all the regional players. Certainly that was part of the discussion today [February 21] with the Saudis.” [5] A discussion that was held with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Deputy Interior Minister; Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, commander of the National Guard; Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, Assistant Minister for Defense and Aviation; and Lieutenant General Husein Abdullah al-Qubail, Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
Mullen was cited as saying the talks “focused largely on the tumult in Bahrain,” with him stating:
“Obviously the Saudis, in particular – but everybody in the region – is watching what’s happening in Bahrain very closely.” [6]
In Bahrain on February 25 he “reaffirmed our strong commitment to our military relationship with the Bahraini defense forces,” according to his spokesman. He also commended the Bahraini royal family “for the very measured way they have been handling the popular crisis here,” although several hundred protesters have now been killed and wounded, and praised the government for the “giant leaps” it has taken in recent years. [7]
Mullen visited the Marine Corps Forces Central Command (MARFORCENT) Forward element at the Naval Support Activity Bahrain base, home to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The new Marine headquarters “stood up in November to bring Marine Corps Forces Central Command what its other sister services already have: a forward element within the 20-nation Centcom area of operations.”
“Exactly how many Marines ultimately will join the element is classified, but…developments underway” are seen “as a sign of MARFORCENT’s long-term commitment to strengthening partnerships and protecting U.S. interests in the region.” [8]
Ten days earlier North Atlantic Treaty Organization Deputy Secretary General Claudio Bisogniero addressed a conference in Qatar (immediately southeast of Bahrain), the fourth Ambassadorial Conference of NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, also attended by Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Concerns expressed in Bisogniero’s keynote address were capsulized by a local newspaper as follows:
“Gulf nations are crucial to world energy supplies and their security supplies are also important….Since 50 percent of world energy supplies transit through the Gulf region, it is Nato’s main concern to ensure these supplies.” [9]
The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative was created at the NATO summit in Turkey in 2004 to complement the upgrading of the Mediterranean Dialogue partnership with Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Mauritania and Morocco to the level of the Partnership for Peace program that graduated twelve Eastern European candidates to full NATO membership from 1999-2009, an unprecedented seven at the Istanbul summit seven years ago, with new bilateral partnerships with Gulf Cooperation Council members Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In NATO’s words at the time: “NATO leaders decided to elevate the Alliance’s Mediterranean Dialogue to a genuine partnership and to launch the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative with selected countries in the broader region of the Middle East.” [10]
Last month NATO’s second top civilian leader “welcomed Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) partners Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, showing his interest in deepening energy security and cooperation in the Gulf region also with Oman and Saudi Arabia.” [11]
In 2008 a NATO-Bahrain Public Diplomacy Conference was held in Manama. “The Conference brought together the Secretary General of NATO, the North Atlantic Council, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and NATO officials, with government representatives, academics and senior scholars from countries in the Gulf region invited in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.” [12]
The groundwork has been laid for U.S. and allied military intervention in the Persian Gulf. [13]
The day after Saudi and Emirati military forces arrived in Bahrain, several thousand protesters descended on the Saudi embassy to demonstrate their opposition to the intervention. As the Reuters news agency reported, “Bahrainis are concerned that their tiny island could become a proxy battleground for a wider stand-off between the Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab countries, all U.S. allies, and Shi’ite-ruled Iran, a U.S. foe.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry referred to the foreign military deployment in Bahrain as “unacceptable” and the Bahraini king recalled his ambassador from Tehran in response.
Two years ago Saudi Arabia engaged in its true first war, that against Houthi militias in northern Yemen. On December 14 of 2009 BBC News reported that 70 Yemeni civilians had been killed in a Saudi bombing raid on the village of Bani Maan. Houthi sources on the same day claimed that “US fighter jets have attacked Yemen’s Sa’ada Province” and “US fighter jets have launched 28 attacks on the northwestern province of Sa’ada.” [14]
The U.S. is no less complicit in the Saudi military intervention currently underway in Bahrain. Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan stated the U.S. had been “informed” of but not “consulted” on the Saudi deployment, but his verbal sleight of hand was solely intended to cozen the uninformed and unwary given the recent visits to Bahrain by the head of the Pentagon and America’s top military commander, who decidedly were not there to discuss the weather.
1) U.S. Department of Defense, March 12, 2011
2) Ibid
3) Ibid
4) Arabian Sea: Center Of West’s 21st Century War
Stop NATO, October 25, 2010
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/arabian-sea-center-of-wests-21st-century-war
5) U.S. Department of Defense, February 21, 2011
6) Ibid
7) Joint Chiefs of Staff, February 25, 2011
8) Marine Forward Element Set Up to Help in Middle East
U.S. Department of Defense, February 25, 2011
9) The Peninsula, February 16, 2011
10) North Atlantic Treaty Organization, June 29, 2004
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-DA0A4642-13E9063A/natolive/news_20811.htm?
11) Ibid
12) North Atlantic Treaty Organization, April 28, 2008
http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2008/04-april/e0424a.html
14) NATO’s Role In The Military Encirclement Of Iran
Stop NATO, February 10, 2010
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/natos-role-in-the-military-encirclement-of-iran
14) Yemen: Pentagon’s War On The Arabian Peninsula
Stop NATO, December 15, 2009
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/yemen-pentagons-war-on-the-arabian-peninsula
Stop NATO News March 16, 2011
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1. NATO Air Strike Kills Two Afghan Boys In East Of Country
2. Central Asia: NATO Increases Ties With Kyrgyzstan
3. Future Western Diplomats, Academics Receive NATO Indoctrination
4. Next Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, Gaza: Syria Opposes Libyan Intervention
5. Joint Warrior: NATO War Games In, Off Coast Of Scotland
6. ICRC: Security Deteriorating In Afghanistan, Life Untenable
7. Romania: U.S. Conducts Week-Long Air Force Exercise
8. New Azerbaijani Head Of NATO Mission Appointed
9. Azores: U.S.’s Global Military Aircraft Support Base
10. EU To Balance Domination Of Ex-USSR, Mediterranean
11. U.S. Air Force Gears Up For Hypersonic Missile Test
12. Ivory Coast: Western-Backed Forces Attack Gbagbo Stronghold
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1. NATO Air Strike Kills Two Afghan Boys In East Of Country
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-afghanistan-civilians-nato-idUSTRE72E2UW20110315
Reuters
March 15, 2011
NATO air strike killed two Afghan children in east: officials
KABUL: An air strike by NATO-led forces killed two children as they were watering fields in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province late on Monday, an Afghan official and lawmaker said.
The deaths occurred weeks after tensions between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers were inflamed by the killing of nine children who were collecting firewood in the same province.
Last year was the most lethal for non-combatants since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, with a 15 percent rise in civilian casualties to 2,777 according to a report by the United Nations last week….
Abdul Marjan, district chief of Chawki in Kunar where the two brothers, aged 10 and 15, where killed on Monday, said the boys had been working on irrigation channels before they were hit.
“They might have been mistaken for insurgents as they were carrying spades on their shoulders,” Marjan told Reuters.
Shahzada Shahid, a lawmaker from Kunar, said the pair were students who had gone out to help work their father’s fields.
Irrigation agreements between villagers in the area mean the family’s land gets access to river water only in the evening.
….
Karzai this month told General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, that his apology for the strike that killed nine children was “not enough,” and civilian casualties by foreign troops were “no longer acceptable” to the Afghan government or people.
(Reporting by Rohullah Anwari, writing by Hamid Shalizi, editing by Emma Graham-Harrison)
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2. Central Asia: NATO Increases Ties With Kyrgyzstan
http://en.trend.az/regions/casia/kyrgyzstan/1845878.html
Trend News Agency
March 15, 2011
Kyrgyzstan to strengthen cooperation with NATO
Kyrgyzstan And The Battle For Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan will strengthen its cooperation with NATO, transitional president Roza Otunbayeva said on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
“As far as cooperation with NATO is concerned, we seriously lag behind other CIS countries. We need to move faster,” Otunbayeva said at a press conference.
Otunbayeva said there is a need to increase the potential of the republic and “we will continue to do it, using all possible ways.”
She said, meanwhile, that she had brought up the issue of security and border reinforcement at all of the meetings during her recent visits to Europe and the United States.
“Both the American side and the European side promised to help us enhance security at the border,” she said, adding that some new training programs for army officers are being developed as part of cooperation with NATO.
Kyrgyzstan is expected to host a session of border guard commanders from Central Asian states on March 18, she said.
————————————-
http://eng.24.kg/community/2011/03/15/16851.html
24.kg
March 15, 2011
Roza Otunbayeva: Kyrgyzstan will continue cooperation with NATO
Daniyar Karimov
Bishkek: Kyrgyzstan will continue cooperation with NATO not to fall behind Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and other post-Soviet countries, president for the transitional period Roza Otunbayeva said today at press-conference.
“I met with the NATO Secretary-General during my foreign trip,” she said. “But you shall not exaggerate. We have partnership program with NATO, analysis program. We shall strengthen the army. You just look how Russia, Ukraine, Armenia actively work with NATO. We are dragging behind them.”
Roza Otunbayeva complained that “any movement is considered as Kyrgyzstan is getting into something.” “But we have right to act to increase the potential of the republic,” she stressed. “And we will continue to do it, using all possible ways.”
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3. Future Western Diplomats, Academics Receive NATO Indoctrination
http://www.northeastern.edu/news/stories/2011/03/nato.html
Northeastern University
March 15, 2011
Triumph of diplomacy
-Students from 22 universities from throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Italy comprised the 28 teams.
It didn’t take long for a team of 19 Northeastern social sciences students to get into character for the Model NATO Conference last month in Washington, D.C.
After dividing into two teams of delegates representing Belgium or Hungary, the student-diplomats made a strong showing at the mock North Atlantic Treaty Organization proceeding.
In its premiere showing at the event, the Northeastern team representing Belgium nabbed second place overall and the team representing Hungary came in fifth. Students from 22 universities from throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Italy comprised the 28 teams.
Nine Northeastern students received outstanding delegate awards and two of the delegates earned committee leadership awards.
“We have very high standards for ourselves,” said Noreen Leahy, a third year environmental studies major who was the head delegate for Hungary at the conference. “We’ll use the knowledge we gained there as a learning experience and will perform even better next year.”
The four-day simulation of the NATO alliance proceeding was augmented by pre-conference study and briefings at embassies of NATO member states in Washington, D.C. The competition provides an opportunity for university and college students to study the role, structure and activities of NATO, as well as the military, political-security, economic and social issues facing the organization.
Model NATO is one of three United Nations Association’s leagues. Northeastern students also participate in the Model UN and Model Arab League, explained Philip D’Agati, a lecturer in the department of political science and advisor to all three UNA leagues.
But the students said that Model NATO was different. “It required us to use different strategic concepts than the other models,” said Catia Sharp, a third-year international affairs and environmental studies combined major, who was the head delegate for Belgium and is also president of Northeastern’s UNA chapter. “It was wonderful to see the group translate their knowledge from Arab League and Model UN and apply it in innovative ways to our participation at the Model NATO conference.”
Northeastern’s model leagues meet weekly and are complemented by Model UN, Model NATO and Model Arab League courses offered by the political science department….
For example, last fall, students decided to continue their Model NATO class during finals week, after the semester had officially ended. “Each class ends only after a vote to suspend or adjourn and that day, and the motion failed,” said D’Agati. “Twenty-six students voted to have another week of class so we could continue our conversation.”
“In a global arena, the United Nations Association at Northeastern is one of the most competitive,” said Georges Van Den Abbeele, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. “These programs are paramount to the university’s commitment to experiential and international education. We are very proud of our students’ continued successes.”
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4. Next Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, Gaza: Syria Opposes Libyan Intervention
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/15/c_13780377.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 15, 2011
Syria against foreign interference in Libya: FM
DAMASCUS: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said here Tuesday that his country is against foreign intervention in Libya, denying allegations about Syria sending reinforcements to the Libyan army.
“Syria is against any foreign intervention in the region’s affairs. Our experiences with such interventions were gruesome; in Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon and Gaza,” said al-Moallem.
His remarks came during a press conference held with his Spanish counterpart Trinidad Jimenez in the Syrian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Damascus. “We are quite concerned over the situation in Libya as we want the wisdom to prevail and the violence to be over,” he added.
Media reports recently alleged that Syria sent a ship loaded with cars and weapons along with an armed battalion to fight on the Libyan Leader Moammar Gaddafi’s side against the armed rebels.
The meeting of G8 foreign ministers held in Paris Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.
The visiting Spanish foreign minister said there is no unified stance within the European Union towards Libya. “There is no agreement among EU states to impose no-fly zone over Libya deeming the concerns on the future results of such step,” she said.
Jimenez is in a five-day official tour to the region including Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, during which she will hold talks with key leaders and officials in the region over the recent developments and the stalled Middle East peace process.
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5. Joint Warrior: NATO War Games In, Off Coast Of Scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-12737194
BBC News
March 15, 2011
Axed RAF Kinloss to host Joint Warrior air crews
By Steven McKenzie
US, Canadian and French maritime patrol aircraft are to fly from a Moray RAF station before it shuts as part of defence cuts.
RAF Kinloss served as a base for Nimrod reconnaissance jets before its fleet was retired and the aircraft due to replace them were scrapped.
The RAF have confirmed the station’s key role in hosting UK and Nato air crews during Joint Warrior in April.
P3, Atlantique and Aurora patrol aircraft will fly out of Kinloss.
The planes serve a similar role to that of the Nimrods which flew from the Moray station.
Six US F15 jets from RAF Lakenheath, three Blackhawk helicopters along with Falcon and Hawk jets will also operate from Kinloss.
….
The runway at Kinloss is to close to regular flying in July and the planned closure of the whole site as an air station is expected to be completed by 2014.
Fishing boat skippers and crews are being advised of live firing and warship activity ahead of Joint Warrior, which will run from 4-15 April.
….
Submarines, warships and aircraft are expected to hold live firing exercises off Cape Wrath in the Highlands.
Warships and submarines may also be operating in the Clyde, the Sea of Hebrides, the Little Minch, Loch Eribol and around the Western Isles, the Royal Navy has said in advice to fishing boat crews.
Royal Navy minesweepers HMS Bangor, HMS Ramsey, HMS Atherstone and HMS Quorn will be involved.
….
Dutch minesweepers HNLMS Hellevoetsluis, HNLMS Vlaardingen and HNLMS Willemstad along with Norwegian vessels HNoMS Maaloey and HNoMS Otra are also expected to take part in the exercise.
The National Air Traffic Service (Nats) has also sent out an advisory warning that for set periods of time radio and GPS signals will be jammed in some areas where the exercise will be taking place.
Joint Warrior is held twice a year, with the second one running from 26 September to 21 October.
Forty aircraft and 39 naval units will be involved, along with troops from the Household Calvary Regiment and US Marine Corps.
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6. ICRC: Security Deteriorating In Afghanistan, Life Untenable
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE72E55520110315
Reuters
March 15, 2011
Security deteriorating in Afghanistan, life “untenable” – ICRC
By Jonathon Burch and Hamid Shalizi
KABUL: Life for ordinary Afghans has become untenable, the Red Cross said on Tuesday, with security seriously deteriorating in the first two months of the year due to a surge in Taliban attacks and accidental NATO strikes on civilians.
Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were overthrown nearly a decade ago, despite the presence of around 150,000 foreign troops, and with Afghan forces to start taking over securing parts of the country in a few months.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said January and February were particularly bad for Afghans, with more suicide bombings in public places, more roads strewn with bombs and more international military operations gone wrong.
On Tuesday, Afghan officials said two children were killed in an air strike by NATO-led forces as they were watering fields in eastern Kunar province late on Monday.
“The first two months of 2011 have seen a dramatic deterioration in the security situation for ordinary Afghans,” Reto Stocker, the head of the ICRC in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
“It is an untenable situation. Civilians must be protected from harm as much as possible, not become victims of the fighting.”
Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces are a major source of tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies. They also anger Afghans, complicating efforts to win their support for a war that, for most people, has brought only misery.
Abdul Marjan, district chief of Chawki in Kunar where the two brothers, aged 10 and 15, where killed, said the boys had been working on irrigation channels before they were hit.
“They might have been mistaken for insurgents as they were carrying spades on their shoulders,” Marjan told Reuters.
Shahzada Shahid, a lawmaker from Kunar, said the pair were students who had gone out to help work their father’s fields.
Irrigation agreements between villagers in the area mean the family’s land gets access to river water only in the evening.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force,(ISAF) said an air strike in Chawki on Monday evening had targeted two suspected insurgents, killing one and wounding another after they were seen planting a roadside bomb.
He added ISAF was looking into media reports of civilian casualties.
The children’s deaths come less than three weeks after two foreign helicopters gunned down nine boys as they collected firewood in the same province, a volatile area bordering Pakistan where international forces have stepped up operations in recent weeks.
The incident followed a spate of reported civilian deaths by foreign troops, mainly in the east, and prompted a sharp rebuke Karzai and a rare and candid apology for the killings by U.S. General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
U.S. President Barack Obama also expressed his “deep regret” over the killings and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Afghanistan last week, said the killings were a “setback” to bilateral relations.
Last year was the most lethal for civilians since the war started, with a 15 percent rise in civilian deaths to 2,777, according to a U.N. report last week. The report said insurgents were responsible for three-quarters of the deaths.
NATO-led forces have significantly tightened rules governing air strikes and night raids in the past two years, leading to a drop in civilian casualties, but deaths are still relatively frequent and highly sensitive.
The U.N. report found that, while there was a 52 percent decline in civilian deaths from air strikes in 2010 compared to 2009, there was a 48 percent rise in deaths in the second half of last year compared to the first half.
This was due to “significant increases” in the use of air power during the second half of 2010.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
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7. Romania: U.S. Conducts Week-Long Air Force Exercise
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123246842
American Forces Press Service
March 15, 2011
Carpathian Spring kicks off in Romania
by Tech. Sgt. Jocelyn L. Rich
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Bulgaria, Romania: U.S., NATO Bases For War In The East
OTOPENI, Romania: More than 70 Airmen and Soldiers headed to Romania March 14, officially marking the kickoff of Carpathian Spring 2011.
The weeklong annual exercise was designed to strengthen the partnership between the U.S. and Romanian air forces, while also enhancing their individual capabilities through training scenarios that participants said are difficult to achieve at home station.
Members of the 37th Airlift Squadron, the 435th Contingency Response Group, the 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and the 5th Quarter Masters Battalion are among the key members involved in this year’s event held at Airlift Base Otopeni and Campia Turzii, Romania.
….
Lieutenant Motoroui is a MiG 21 pilot who recently changed airframe specialties to the C-130.
….
Lieutenant Motoroui joined 37th AS members Capt. Justin Gripp and 1st Lt. Cory Killian on their mission from Airlift Base Otopeni to accomplish low-level flying through the Carpathian Mountains to Campia Turzii.
Once there, they picked up Romanian paratroopers and U.S. jumpmasters to perform a personnel drop over a landing zone nearby.
….
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8. New Azerbaijani Head Of NATO Mission Appointed
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1846108.html
Trend News Agency
March 15, 2011
Azerbaijani President appoints new head to country’s mission at NATO
Pentagon Chief In Azerbaijan: Afghan War Arc Stretches To Caspian And Caucasus
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order appointing Khazar Ibrahim the head of Azerbaijan’s mission to NATO, the official website of the Azerbaijani President reported.
Upon another Presidential order, Ibrahim was conferred a diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.
Khazar Ibrahim headed the press service of the Foreign Ministry for about two years, after which he was appointed the adviser to the Azerbaijani ambassador to the United States.
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9. Azores: U.S.’s Global Military Aircraft Support Base
http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123246261
U.S. Air Forces in Europe
March 11, 2011
Air Force C-12 transits Lajes
by Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores: A U.S. Air Force C-12 Huron from Islamabad, Pakistan, visited Lajes Field to refuel during a mission to Canada.
….
Part of the services provided to the C-12, which is a military version of an executive passenger and transport aircraft, was marshalling and parking on the Lajes ramp, carried out by Airmen of the 65th Operations Support Squadron’s transient alert.
….
Delivery of the C-12J fleet in the Air Force began in 1992. The U.S. Air Force operated four C-12J aircraft in 2010; three of these aircraft are operated by the 459th Airlift Squadron at Yokota Air Base, Japan, and one is operated by Air Force Material Command from Holloman AFB, N.M.
In addition to providing cargo and passenger airlift, the aircraft is capable of transporting ten ambulatory patients during aero-medical evacuation missions.
While at Lajes, Airmen of the 65th Logistics Readiness Squadron issued about 400 gallons of JP-8 fuel before the Huron continued its mission to St. John’s, the 20th largest metropolitan area in Canada.
….
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10. EU To Balance Domination Of Ex-USSR, Mediterranean
http://www.thenews.pl/international/?id=151300
Polish Radio
March 15, 2011
A dark future for the Eastern Partnership?
Eastern Partnership: The West’s Final Assault On the Former Soviet Union
Civil unrest in northern Africa has prompted analysts to ask the question whether Poland’s priorities in its upcoming EU presidency will mean Warsaw will put aside its promotion of the Eastern Partnership in order to make way for a policy rethink towards the Bloc’s southern neighbourhood.
Poland is a major backer of the Eastern Partnership, which aims to bring countries formerly part of the USSR closer to European structures.
Andrzej Cieszkowski, the Polish Foreign Minister’s Plenipotentiary for the Eastern Partnership does not believe that there will be any “competition” between the Eastern Partnership and the EU’s Union for the Mediterranean.
“The southern dimension is not a threat to Poland’s intentions in eastern Europe,” Cieszkowski told Polish Radio reporter John Beauchamp.
Meanwhile, political scientist and current MEP for Hungary, George Schoepflin explains that any matter concerning the EU’s foreign policy does not lie within the competences of the countries which hold the rotating presidency of the EU, adding that the Eastern Partnership “is not going to go away.”
Peter Doran from the Centre for European Policy Analysis in Washington, DC, adds that the “[unrest] has helped to refocus the policy discussion,” stating that EU should be aware of its entire neighbourhood, and not just concentrate on one region.
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11. U.S. Air Force Gears Up For Hypersonic Missile Test
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/15/x-51-waverider-air-force-gears-up-for-hypersonic-missile-test/
AOL News
March 15, 2011
Air Force Gears Up for Hypersonic Missile Test
Sharon Weinberger
Prompt Global Strike: World Military Superiority Without Nuclear Weapons
-Although the Air Force has long said that the X-51 could eventually be used for a number of purposes, a senior Air Force official recently confirmed that it is moving forward with plans to turn it into a weapon.
The Air Force later this month is set to test what could be a ground-breaking flight of a hypersonic missile.
The X-51 WaveRider took its maiden flight last year, demonstrating the longest-ever flight of a supersonic combustion ramjet engine, also known as a scramjet. But the next test flight is expected to fly faster and farther: at speeds of up to Mach 6 and lasting four minutes.
“Our next flight is scheduled for March 22,” Charlie Brink, Air Force Research Laboratory’s X-51A program manager, told AOL News today.
The X-51 will be launched from a B-52 bomber flying over the Pacific Ocean Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, and then will be rocket-boosted to speeds up to several times the speed of sound before transitioning to scramjet power. The last test flight, though successful in some respects, was cut short due to a faulty seal that allowed hot gases to build up inside of the vehicle, rather than going out of the back nozzle as designed.
Although the Air Force has long said that the X-51 could eventually be used for a number of purposes, a senior Air Force official recently confirmed that it is moving forward with plans to turn it into a weapon.
“In Fiscal Year 2012, we will begin weaponizing the X-51 research vehicle,” Stephen Walker, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for science, told a congressional panel earlier this month. “Development activities will focus on miniaturization of subsystems to allow for a payload and the ability to cold-start the weapon after release from an aircraft.”
Pentagon officials have talked about using hypersonic weapons as part of the military’s plans to develop a Prompt Global Strike weapon, which could hit anywhere in the world within two hours. Such a missile could be used to hit a fleeing terrorist, or a suspected nuclear site.
Brink declined to go into details on plans to weaponize the X-51, saying the current vehicle is merely for testing. “The X-51 is not a weapon,” Brink said.
However, Brink said there are plans to work on technologies that would allow the service to transition the X-51 “to a more weapons-friendly design.”
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12. Ivory Coast: Western-Backed Forces Attack Gbagbo Stronghold
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12743464
BBC News
March 15, 2011
Ivory Coast crisis: Gbagbo forces attacked in Abidjan
Forces backing Alassane Ouattara have attacked those loyal to disputed President Laurent Gbagbo in Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan.
Heavy gunfire was heard in two districts close to military bases late on Monday.
The BBC’s John James says it extends the conflict without reaching the all-out civil war feared by many.
….
This is the first time there has been fighting in the pro-Gbagbo suburb of Yopougon and the pro-Ouattara area of Adjame since the stand-off began last December.
Our reporter says it remains unclear whether the pro-Ouattara forces gained any ground or just launched attacks from their strongholds in the northern suburb of Abobo.
The areas are said to be quiet on Tuesday.
A police source says pro-Gbagbo forces remain in control of the CRS military barracks in Adjame, reports the AFP news agency.
“We are busy carrying out a sweep of the area, but the fighting was very, very hard,” the source said.
….
William James: The Moral Equivalent Of War
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
American writers on peace and against war
William James: The Philippine Tangle
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And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
William Blake
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William James, member of the Anti-Imperialist League
The Moral Equivalent of War (1906)
[Emphasis added]
The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party. The military feelings are too deeply grounded to abdicate their place among our ideals until better substitutes are offered than the glory and shame that come to nations as well as to individuals from the ups and downs of politics and the vicissitudes of trade. There is something highly paradoxical in the modern man’s relation to war. Ask all our millions, north and south, whether they would vote now (were such a thing possible) to have our war for the Union expunged from history, and the record of a peaceful transition to the present time substituted for that of its marches and battles, and probably hardly a handful of eccentrics would say yes. Those ancestors, those efforts, those memories and legends, are the most ideal part of what we now own together, a sacred spiritual possession worth more than all the blood poured out. Yet ask those same people whether they would be willing, in cold blood, to start another civil war now to gain another similar possession, and not one man or woman would vote for the proposition. In modern eyes, precious though wars may be they must not be waged solely for the sake of the ideal harvest. Only when forced upon one, is a war now thought permissible.
It was not thus in ancient times. The earlier men were hunting men, and to hunt a neighboring tribe, kill the males, loot the village and possess the females, was the most profitable, as well as the most exciting, way of living. Thus were the more martial tribes selected, and in chiefs and peoples a pure pugnacity and love of glory came to mingle with the more fundamental appetite for plunder.
Modern war is so expensive that we feel trade to be a better avenue to plunder; but modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us.
History is a bath of blood. The Illiad is one long recital of how Diomedes and Ajax, Sarpedon and Hector killed. No detail of the wounds they made is spared us, and the Greek mind fed upon the story. Greek history is a panorama of jingoism and imperialism – war for war’s sake, all the citizen’s being warriors. It is horrible reading – because of the irrationality of it all – save for the purpose of making “history” – and the history is that of the utter ruin of a civilization in intellectual respects perhaps the highest the earth has ever seen.
Those wars were purely piratical. Pride, gold, women, slaves excitement were their only motives. In the Peloponesian war, for example, the Athenians ask the inhabitants of Melos (the island where the “Venus de Milo” was found), hitherto neutral, to own their lordship. The envoys meet, and hold a debate which Thucydides gives in full, and which, for sweet reasonableness of form, would have satisfied Matthew Arnold. “The powerful exact what they can,” said the Athenians, “and the weak grant what they must.” When the Meleans say that sooner than be slaves they will appeal to the gods, the Athenians reply, “Of the gods we believe and of men we know that, by a law of their nature, wherever they can rule they will. This law was not made by us, and we are not the first to have acted upon it; we did but inherit it, and we know that you and all mankind, if you were as strong as we are, would do as we do. So much for the gods; we have told you why we expect to stand as high in their good opinion as you.” Well, the Meleans still refused, and their town was taken. “The Athenians,” Thucydides quietly says, “thereupon put to death all who were of military age and made slaves of the women and children. They then colonized the island, sending thither five hundred settlers of their own.
Alexander’s career was piracy pure and simple, nothing but an orgy of power and plunder, made romantic by the character of the hero. There was no rational purpose in it, and the moment he died his generals and governors attacked one another. The cruelty of those times is incredible. When Rome finally conquered Greece, Paulus Aemilius, was told by the Roman Senate, to reward his soldiers for their toil by “giving” them the old kingdom of Epirus. They sacked seventy cities and carried off one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants as slaves. How many they killed I know not; but in Etolia they killed all the senators, five hundred and fifty in number. Brutus was “the noblest Roman of them all,” but to reanimate his soldiers on the eve of Philippi he similarly promises to give them the cities of Sparta and Thessalonica to ravage, if they win the fight.
Such was the gory nurse that trained soldiers to cohesiveness. We inherit the warlike type; and for most of the capacities of heroism that the human race is full of we have to thank this cruel history. Dead men tell no tales, and if there were any tribes of other type than this they have left no survivors. Our ancestors have bred pugnacity into our bone and marrow, and thousands of years of peace won’t breed it out of us. The popular imagination fairly fattens on the thought of wars. Let public opinion once reach a certain fighting pitch, and no ruler can withstand it. In the Boer war both governments began with bluff, but they couldn’t stay there; the military tension was too much for them. In 1898 our people had read the word “war” in letters three inches high for three months in every newspaper. The pliant politician, McKinley, was swept away by their eagerness, and our squalid war with Spain became a reality.
At the present day, civilized opinion is a curious mental mixture. The military instincts and ideals are as strong as ever, but they are confronted by reflective criticisms which sorely curb their ancient freedom. Innumerable writers are showing up the bestial side of military service. Pure loot and mastery seem no longer morally allowable motives, and pretexts must be found for attributing them solely to the enemy. England and we, our army and navy authorities repeat without ceasing, are solely for “peace.” Germany and Japan it is who are bent on loot and glory. “Peace” in military mouths today is a synonym for “war expected.” The word has become a pure provocative, and no government wishing peace sincerely should allow it ever to be printed in a newspaper. Every up-to-date dictionary should say that “peace” and “war” mean the same thing, now in posse, now in actu. It may even reasonably be said that the intensely sharp preparation for war by the nations is the real war, permanent, unceasing; and that the battles are only a sort of public verification of the mastery gained during the “peace”-interval.
It is plain that on this subject civilized man has developed a sort of double personality. If we take European nations, no legitimate interest of any one of them would seem to justify the tremendous destructions which a war to compass it would necessarily entail. It would seem that common sense and reason ought to find a way to reach agreement in every conflict of honest interests. I myself think it our bounden duty to believe in such international rationality as possible. But, as things stand, I see how desperately hard it is to bring the peace-party and the war-party together, and I believe that the difficulty is due to certain deficiencies in the program of pacifism which set the military imagination strongly, and to a certain extent justifiably, against it. In the whole discussion both sides are on imaginative and sentimental ground. It is but one utopia against another, and everything one says must be abstract and hypothetical. Subject to this criticism and caution, I will try to characterize in abstract strokes the opposite imaginative forces, and point out what to my own very fallible mind seems the best utopian hypothesis, the most promising line of conciliation.
In my remarks, pacifist though I am, I will refuse to speak of the bestial side of the war-regime (already done justice to by many writers) and consider only the higher aspects of militaristic sentiment. Patriotism no one thinks discreditable; nor does any one deny that war is the romance of history. But inordinate ambitions are the soul of any patriotism, and the possibility of violent death the soul of all romance. The militarily-patriotic and the romantic-minded everywhere, and especially the professional military class, refuse to admit for a moment that war may be a transitory phenomenon in social evolution. The notion of a sheep’s paradise like that revolts, they say, our higher imagination. Where then would be the steeps of life? If war had ever stopped, we should have to re-invent it, on this view, to redeem life from flat degeneration.
Reflective apologists for war at the present day all take it religiously. It is a sort of sacrament. It’s profits are to the vanquished as well as to the victor; and quite apart from any question of profit, it is an absolute good, we are told, for it is human nature at its highest dynamic. Its “horrors” are a cheap price to pay for rescue from the only alternative supposed, of a world of clerks and teachers, of co-education and zoophily, of “consumer’s leagues” and “associated charities,” of industrialism unlimited, and feminism unabashed. No scorn, no hardness, no valor any more! Fie upon such a cattleyard of a planet!
So far as the central essence of this feeling goes, no healthy minded person, it seems to me, can help to some degree parting of it. Militarism is the great preserver of our ideals of hardihood, and human life with no use for hardihood would be contemptible. Without risks or prizes for the darer, history would be insipid indeed; and there is a type of military character which every one feels that the race should never cease to breed, for everyone is sensitive to its superiority. The duty is incumbent on mankind, of keeping military character in stock – if keeping them, if not for use, then as ends in themselves and as pure pieces of perfection, – so that Roosevelt’s weaklings and mollycoddles may not end by making everything else disappear from the face of nature.
This natural sort of feeling forms, I think, the innermost soul of army writings. Without any exception known to me, militarist authors take a highly mystical view of their subject, and regard war as a biological or sociological necessity, uncontrolled by ordinary psychological checks or motives. When the time of development is ripe the war must come, reason or no reason, for the justifications pleaded are invariably fictions. War is, in short, a permanent human obligation. General Homer Lea, in his recent book The Valor of Ignorance, plants himself squarely on this ground. Readiness for war is for him the essence of nationality, and ability in it the supreme measure of the health of nations.
Nations, General Lea says, are never stationary – they must necessarily expand or shrink, according to their vitality or decrepitude. Japan now is culminating; and by the fatal law in question it is impossible that her statesmen should not long since have entered, with extraordinary foresight, upon a vast policy of conquest – the game in which the first moves were her wars with China and Russia and her treaty with England, and of which the final objective is the capture of the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, and whole of our Coast west of the Sierra passes. This will give Japan what her ineluctable vocation as a state absolutely forces her to claim, the possession of the entire Pacific Ocean; and to oppose these deep designs we Americans have, according to our author, nothing but our conceit, our ignorance, our commercialism, our corruption, and our feminism. General Lea makes a minute technical comparison of the military strength which we at present could oppose to the strength of Japan, and concludes that the Islands, Alaska, Oregon and Southern California, would fall almost without resistance, that San Francisco must surrender in a fortnight to a Japanese investment, that in three or four months the war would be over and our republic, unable to regain what it had heedlessly neglected to protect sufficiently, would then “disintegrate,” until perhaps some Ceasar should arise to weld us again into a nation.
A dismal forecast indeed! Yet not unplausible, if the mentality of Japan’s statesmen be of the Ceasarian type of which history shows us so many examples, and which is all that General Lea seems able to imagine. But there is no reason to think that women can no longer be the mother of Napoleonic or Alexandrian characters; and if these come in Japan and find their opportunity, just such surprises as The Valor of Ignorance paints may lurk in ambush for us. Ignorant as we still are of the innermost recesses of Japanese mentality, we may be foolhardy to disregard such possibilities.
Other militarists are more complex and more moral in their considerations. The Philosophie des Krieges, by S. R. Steinmetz is a good example. War, according to this author, is an ordeal instituted by God, who weighs the nations in its balance. It is the essential form of the State, and the only function in which peoples can employ all their powers at once and convergently. No victory is possible save as the resultant of a totality of virtues, no defeat for which some vice or weakness is not responsible. Fidelity, cohesiveness, tenacity, heroism, conscience, education, inventiveness, economy, wealth, physical health and vigor – there isn’t a moral or intellectual point of superiority that doesn’t tell, when God holds his assizes and hurls the peoples upon one another. Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht; and Dr. Steinmetz does not believe that in the long run chance and luck play any part in apportioning the issues.
The virtues that prevail, it must be noted, are virtues anyhow, superiorities that count in peaceful as well as in military competition; but the strain is on them, being infinitely intenser in the latter case, makes war infinitely more searching as a trial. No ordeal is comparable to its winnowings. Its dread hammer is the welder of men into cohesive states, and nowhere but in such states can human nature adequately develop its capacity. The only alternative is “degeneration.”
Dr. Steinmetz is a conscientious thinker, and his book, short as it is, takes much into account. Its upshot can, it seems to me, be summed up in Simon Patten’s words, that mankind was nursed in pain and fear, and that the transition to a “pleasure economy” may be fatal to a being wielding no powers of defence against its degenerative influences. If we speak of the fear of emancipation from the fear-regime, we put the whole situation into a single phrase; fear regarding ourselves now taking the place of the ancient fear of the enemy.
Turn the fear over as I will in my mind, it all seems to lead back to two unwillingnesses of the imagination, one aesthetic, and the other moral; unwillingness, first, to envisage a future in which army-life, with its many elements of charm, shall be forever impossible, and in which the destinies of peoples shall nevermore be decided quickly, thrillingly, and tragically by force, but only gradually and insipidly by “evolution,” and, secondly, unwillingness to see the supreme theatre of human strenuousness closed, and the splendid military aptitudes of men doomed to keep always in a state of latency and never show themselves in action. These insistent unwillingnesses, no less than other aesthetic and ethical insistencies, have, it seems to me, to be listened to and respected. One cannot meet them effectively by mere counter-insistency on war’s expensiveness and horror. The horror makes the thrill; and when the question is of getting the extremest and supremest out of human nature, talk of expense sounds ignominious. The weakness of so much merely negative criticism is evident – pacifism makes no converts from the military party. The military party denies neither the bestiality nor the horror, nor the expense; it only says that these things tell but half the story. It only says that war is worth them; that, taking human nature as a whole, its wars are its best protection against its weaker and more cowardly self, and that mankind cannot afford to adopt a peace economy.
Pacifists ought to enter more deeply into the aesthetical and ethical point of view of their opponents. Do that first in any controversy, says J. J. Chapman, then move the point, and your opponent will follow. So long as antimilitarists propose no substitute for war’s disciplinary function, no moral equivalent of war, analogous, as one might say, to the mechanical equivalent of heat, so long they fail to realize the full inwardness of the situation. And as a rule they do fail. The duties, penalties, and sanctions pictured in the utopias they paint are all too weak and tame to touch the military-minded. Tolstoi’s pacifism is the only exception to this rule, for it is profoundly pessimistic as regards all this world’s values, and makes the fear of the Lord furnish the moral spur provided elsewhere by the fear of the enemy. But our socialistic peace-advocates all believe absolutely in this world’s values; and instead of the fear of the Lord and the fear of the enemy, the only fear they reckon with is the fear of poverty if one be lazy. This weakness pervades all the socialistic literature with which I am acquainted. Even in Lowes Dickinson’s exquisite dialogue, high wages and short hours are the only forces invoked for overcoming man’s distaste for repulsive kinds of labor. Meanwhile men at large still live as they always have lived, under a pain-and-fear economy – for those of us who live in an ease-economy are but an island in the stormy ocean – and the whole atmosphere of present-day utopian literature tastes mawkish and dishwatery to people who still keep a sense for life’s more bitter flavors. It suggests, in truth, ubiquitous inferiority.
Inferiority is always with us, and merciless scorn of it is the keynote of the military temper. “Dogs, would you live forever?” shouted Frederick the Great. “Yes,” say our utopians, “let us live forever, and raise our level gradually.” The best thing about our “inferiors” today is that they are as tough as nails, and physically and morally almost as insensitive. Utopians would see them soft and squeamish, while militarism would keep their callousness, but transfigure it into a meritorious characteristic, needed by “the service,” and redeemed by that from the suspicion of inferiority. All the qualities of a man acquire dignity when he knows that the service of the collectivity that owns him needs him. If proud of the collectivity, his own pride rises in proportion. No collectivity is like an army for nourishing such pride; but it has to be confessed that the only sentiment which the image of pacific cosmopolitan industrialism is capable of arousing in countless worthy breasts is shame at the idea of belonging to such a collectivity. It is obvious that the United States of America as they exist today impress a mind like General Lea’s as so much human blubber. Where is the sharpness and precipitousness, the contempt for life, whether one’s own or another’s? Where is the savage “yes” and “no,” the unconditional duty? Where is the conscription? Where is the blood-tax? Where is anything that one feels honored by belonging to?
Having said thus much in preparation, I will now confess my own utopia. I devoutly believe in the reign of peace and in the gradual advent of some sort of socialistic equilibrium. The fatalistic view of the war function is to me nonsense, for I know that war-making is due to definite motives and subject to prudential checks and reasonable criticisms, just like any other form of enterprise. And when whole nations are the armies, and the science of destruction vies in intellectual refinement with the science of production, I see that war becomes absurd and impossible from its own monstrosity. Extravagant ambitions will have to be replaced by reasonable claims, and nations must make common cause against them. I see no reason why all this should not apply to yellow as well as to white countries, and I look forward to a future when acts of war shall be formally outlawed as between civilized peoples.
All these beliefs of mine put me firmly into the anti-military party. But I do not believe that peace either ought to be or will be permanent on this globe, unless the states, pacifically organized, preserve some of the old elements of army-discipline. A permanently successful peace-economy cannot be a simple pleasure-economy. In the more or less socialistic future toward which mankind seems drifting we must still subject ourselves collectively to those severities which answer to our real position upon this only partly hospitable globe. We must make new energies and hardihoods continue the manliness to which the military mind so faithfully clings. Martial virtues must be the enduring cement; intrepidity, contempt of softness, surrender of private interest, obedience to command, must still remain the rock upon which states are built – unless, indeed, we which for dangerous reactions against commonwealths, fit only for contempt, and liable to invite attack whenever a centre of crystallization for military-minded enterprise gets formed anywhere in their neighborhood.
The war-party is assuredly right in affirming and reaffirming that the martial virtues, although originally gain by the race through war, are absolute and permanent human goods. Patriotic pride and ambition in their military form are, after all, only specifications of a more general competitive passion. They are its first form, but that is no reason for supposing them to be its last form. Men are now proud of belonging to a conquering nation, and without a murmur they lay down their persons and their wealth, if by so doing they may fend off subjection. But who can be sure that other aspects of one’s country may not, with time and education and suggestion enough, come to be regarded with similarly effective feelings of pride and shame? Why should men not some day feel that is it worth a blood-tax to belong to a collectivity superior in any respect? Why should they not blush with indignant shame if the community that owns them is vile in any way whatsoever? Individuals, daily more numerous, now feel this civic passion. It is only a question of blowing on the spark until the whole population gets incandescent, and on the ruins of the old morals of military honor, a stable system of morals of civic honor builds itself up. What the whole community comes to believe in grasps the individual as in a vise. The war-function has grasped us so far; but the constructive interests may some day seem no less imperative, and impose on the individual a hardly lighter burden.
Let me illustrate my idea more concretely. There is nothing to make one indignant in the mere fact that life is hard, that men should toil and suffer pain. The planetary conditions once for all are such, and we can stand it. But that so many men, by mere accidents of birth and opportunity, should have a life of nothing else but toil and pain and hardness and inferiority imposed upon them, should have no vacation, while others natively no more deserving never get any taste of this campaigning life at all, – this is capable of arousing indignation in reflective minds. It may end by seeming shameful to all of us that some of us have nothing but campaigning, and others nothing but unmanly ease. If now – and this is my idea – there were, instead of military conscription, a conscription of the whole youthful population to form for a certain number of years a part of the army enlisted against Nature, the injustice would tend to be evened out, and numerous other goods to the commonwealth would remain blind as the luxurious classes now are blind, to man’s relations to the globe he lives on, and to the permanently sour and hard foundations of his higher life. To coal and iron mines, to freight trains, to fishing fleets in December, to dishwashing, clotheswashing, and windowwashing, to road-building and tunnel-making, to foundries and stoke-holes, and to the frames of skyscrapers, would our gilded youths be drafted off, according to their choice, to get the childishness knocked out of them, and to come back into society with healthier sympathies and soberer ideas. They would have paid their blood-tax, done their own part in the immemorial human warfare against nature; they would tread the earth more proudly, the women would value them more highly, they would be better fathers and teachers of the following generation.
Such a conscription, with the state of public opinion that would have required it, and the many moral fruits it would bear, would preserve in the midst of a pacific civilization the manly virtues which the military party is so afraid of seeing disappear in peace. We should get toughness without callousness, authority with as little criminal cruelty as possible, and painful work done cheerily because the duty is temporary, and threatens not, as now, to degrade the whole remainder of one’s life. I spoke of the “moral equivalent” of war. So far, war has been the only force that can discipline a whole community, and until and equivalent discipline is organized, I believe that war must have its way. But I have no serious doubt that the ordinary prides and shames of social man, once developed to a certain intensity, are capable of organizing such a moral equivalent as I have sketched, or some other just as effective for preserving manliness of type. It is but a question of time, of skilful propogandism, and of opinion-making men seizing historic opportunities.
The martial type of character can be bred without war. Strenuous honor and disinterestedness abound everywhere. Priests and medical men are in a fashion educated to it, and we should all feel some degree if its imperative if we were conscious of our work as an obligatory service to the state. We should be owned, as soldiers are by the army, and our pride would rise accordingly. We could be poor, then, without humiliation, as army officers now are. The only thing needed henceforward is to inflame the civic temper as part history has inflamed the military temper. H. G. Wells, as usual, sees the centre of the situation. “In many ways,” he says, “military organization is the most peaceful of activities. When the contemporary man steps from the street, of clamorous insincere advertisement, push, adulteration, underselling and intermittent employment into the barrack-yard, he steps on to a higher social plane, into an atmosphere of service and cooperation and of infinitely more honorable emulations. Here at least men are not flung out of employment to degenerate because there is no immediate work for them to do. They are fed a drilled and training for better services. Here at least a man is supposed to win promotion by self-forgetfulness and not by self-seeking. And beside the feeble and irregular endowment of research by commercialism, its little shortsighted snatches at profit by innovation and scientific economy, see how remarkable is the steady and rapid development of method and appliances in naval and military affairs! Nothing is more striking than to compare the progress of civil conveniences which has been left almost entirely to the trader, to the progress in military apparatus during the last few decades. The house-appliances of today, for example, are little better than they were fifty years ago. A house of today is still almost as ill-ventilated, badly heated by wasteful fires, clumsily arranged and furnished as the house of 1858. Houses a couple of hundred years old are still satisfactory places of residence, so little have our standards risen. But the rifle or battleship of fifty years ago was beyond all comparison inferior to those we now possess; in power, in speed, in convenience alike. No one has a use now for such superannuated things.”
Wells adds that he thinks that the conceptions of order and discipline, the tradition of service and devotion, of physical fitness, unstinted exertion, and universal responsibility, which universal military duty is now teaching European nations, will remain a permanent acquisition when the last ammunition has been used in the fireworks that celebrate the final peace. I believe as he does. It would be simply preposterous if the only force that could work ideals of honor and standards of efficiency into English or American natures should be the fear of being killed by the Germans or the Japanese. Great indeed is Fear; but it is not, as our military enthusiasts believe and try to make us believe, the only stimulus known for awakening the higher ranges of men’s spiritual energy. The amount of alteration in public opinion which my utopia postulates is vastly less than the difference between the mentality of those black warriors who pursued Stanley’s party on the Congo with their cannibal war-cry of “Meat! Meat!” and that of the “general-staff” of any civilized nation. History has seen the latter interval bridged over; the former one can be bridged over much more easily.
Stop NATO News March 15, 2011
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1. Africans See Through NATO Intervention Plans In Libya
2. NATO Vehicle Kills Five-Year-Old Child In Southern Afghanistan
3. Lebanon Poised For New Stage Of Pro-Western “Cedar Revolution”
4. Report: Gulf Cooperation Council Troops To Be Deployed To Bahrain
5. NATO To Hold Emergency Meeting On Libya
6. Swedish Warplanes Integrated Into NATO’s Air Patrols
7. Libya: No-Fly Zone: Destroying 500 Targets At $1-2 Million Each
8. The Empire At A Crossroads
9. Obama Lauds Denmark For Afghan War Contribution
10. Georgia’s Afghan War Death Toll Rises To Seven
11. Video/Text: Saudi Protests Highlight U.S. Hypocrisy
12. Washington Hosts Latest U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Meeting
13. U.S. Military Funding, Training In South Caucasus, Caspian Sea
14. Pentagon Continues Integration Of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces
15. Immigration: Italy Pushes Joint EU-NATO Blockade Of Libya
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1. Africans See Through NATO Intervention Plans In Libya
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MC15Ak02.html
Asia Times
Match 14, 2011
African dissent on no-fly zone counts
By M K Bhadrakumar
-The plain truth is that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) commanded AL [the Arab League] to speak since they need a fig leaf to approach the United Nations Security Council.
The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, was in Cairo on Saturday by Moussa’s side to ensure America’s “Plan B” delivered. And he did. Promptly, the US, Britain, France and Canada “welcomed” the AL statement. NATO will meet on Tuesday to tone up its stance on Libya.
-The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regimes are tottering on the abyss and themselves hoping NATO will salvage them. Their rulers keep their personal wealth of tens or hundreds of billions of dollars hoarded in Western banks and the umbilical cord cannot easily be broken.
-Africans know NATO will eventually slither its way into the heart of their resource-rich continent from the North African beachhead. So, the AU faces an existential problem – unlike the GGC client states or Jordan, which have no conception of national liberation. The only “Arab revolt” Abdullah or Abdullah II ever knew is what British intelligence and Lawrence of Arabia financed in the debris of the Ottoman Empire a hundred years ago.
“Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For, from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”
– “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech by Martin Luther King Jr, April 4, 1967, New York
At the height of the Egyptian uprising, well-known American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said in an interview with al-Jazeera that the United States had a “Plan B” in the event of Hosni Mubarak stepping down. According to Hersh, it was none other than Amr Moussa – “whether he knows or not”. There is nothing so far to show Moussa doesn’t know.
He’s far too well connected not to know – career diplomat and foreign minister for over 45 years and secretary general of Arab League (AL) since 2001. He hopes to succeed Mubarak as Egypt’s next president.
Moussa delivers …
Moussa’s bid got great fillip by the AL decision Saturday to recommend imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya. His star has risen far above Mohammed ElBaradei’s. Two major Arab countries opposed the AL statement – Syria and Algeria – but Moussa rammed it through, thanks to the AL heavyweights clamoring for democracy to succeed and autocracy to end – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan.
What bizarre drama! The plain truth is that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) commanded AL to speak since they need a fig leaf to approach the United Nations Security Council.
The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, was in Cairo on Saturday by Moussa’s side to ensure America’s “Plan B” delivered. And he did. Promptly, the US, Britain, France and Canada “welcomed” the AL statement. NATO will meet on Tuesday to tone up its stance on Libya.
Britain and France, who spearhead the breathtaking campaign to mobilize Arab “support” for NATO intervention in Libya, have had a dream run. British Prime Minister David Cameron and newly-appointed French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe visited Cairo to explore how far the military junta could take charge of the oil-rich eastern Libyan province of Cyrenica.
… but Africa dissents
The Western powers had earlier mentioned the AL and African Union (AU) in the same breath as representing “regional opinion”. Now it seems the AU isn’t so important – it has become an embarrassment. African leaders are proving to be tough nuts to crack compared to Arab playboy-rulers.
Unsurprisingly, there is a virtual media blackout on the AU’s activities on Libya. It is, therefore, useful to recapitulate. “The [AU] council reaffirms its firm commitment to the respect of the unity and territorial integrity of Libya, as well as its rejection of any form of foreign intervention in Libya,” Ramtane Lamamra, AU commissioner for peace and security stated in Addis Abbaba. The AU’s 15-member peace and security council decided to “put in lace a high-level ad-hoc committee” to monitor the Libyan crisis.
The leaders of South Africa, Uganda, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mali would form the ad-hoc committee. “The ad hoc committee was set up … to engage with all parties in Libya, facilitate an inclusive dialogue among them, and engage the African Union partners … for the speedy resolution of the crisis in Libya,” the bloc said. Lamamra said events in Libya needed “urgent African action” to bring about an end to the hostilities.
Most important, the AU “took note of the readiness of the government of Libya to engage in the path of political reforms. The council expressed the solidarity of the AU with Libya, and stressed the legitimacy of the aspirations of the Libyan peoples for democracy, political reforms, justice, peace and security as well as economic and social development”.
Specter of disintegration
The paradox is, if you accept the principle of ascertaining the “regional opinion”, then the AU’s opinion becomes, arguably, more important to know than the AL’s. Libya is as much an African country as an Arab country – if not more. The narrative of Libyan developments as a template of “Arab awakening” overlooks that reverberations and after-shocks of what happens are going to be felt deep inside Africa. As prominent Russian scholar on the region Yevgeny Satanovsky recently said:
“It [unrest] won’t be limited to the Middle East and North Africa … The region will go through what Europe experienced in 1914-18. These processes always take a long time … In Europe, the shooting started in 1914 and didn’t stop until 1945 … We have not seen what would happen to the other Gulf monarchies. We have not yet seen the end of the unrest that has gripped North Africa and the Middle East.
“Algeria could still follow Libya’s suit and Morocco might do the same. In January we saw Sudan split peacefully, but separatist elements have not been extinguished there. Former colonies tied together in unnatural conglomerates in the past by the English or the French never became integrated states. If this is so, we may still see disintegration of Nigeria, Kenya and other African countries.”
Therefore, the British Foreign Office is opportunistic when it says the AL statement “is very significant and provides important regional support” for the idea of a no-fly zone. Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, Qaboos Bin Al Said of Oman, Abdullah II of Jordan – these autocrats cannot be hailed as stakeholders in Libya’s march to democracy.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regimes are tottering on the abyss and themselves hoping NATO will salvage them. Their rulers keep their personal wealth of tens or hundreds of billions of dollars hoarded in Western banks and the umbilical cord cannot easily be broken.
Scarred memories
But, how is it that African states are different? First, when they hear Cameron or French President Nikolas Sarkozy or NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen speak of military intervention in North Africa, it rings a bell in their collective consciousness – of scarred memories of imperial domination, the horrendous crimes that the British, French or Dutch perpetrated on African people. They know how difficult it will be to get a NATO army to vacate its occupation of Africa. (Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday: “I would like to ask NATO and the US with honor and humbleness and not with arrogance to stop their operations in our land. We are a very tolerant people but now our tolerance has run out.”)
Africans know NATO will eventually slither its way into the heart of their resource-rich continent from the North African beachhead. So, the AU faces an existential problem – unlike the GGC client states or Jordan, which have no conception of national liberation. The only “Arab revolt” Abdullah or Abdullah II ever knew is what British intelligence and Lawrence of Arabia financed in the debris of the Ottoman Empire a hundred years ago.
Besides, what dreads the AU countries is that Libya has a history of disunity. It was only in 1951 that King Idris unified the three autonomous provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenica. In the wake of the current strife, centrifugal tendencies have quickly resurfaced. Libya has dozens of tribes and Muammar Gaddafi knit together a tenuous alliance of some tribes but tribal feuds are common. The African countries share similar experience.
To be sure, Western intervention in Libya will necessitate at some stage involvement in “nation-building’ – interference in the domestic affairs in the post-Gaddafi period. The native peoples will resent this involvement. And in the fullness of time, only the Islamist forces stand to gain. The stunning political reality of Libya is that Islam is the only unifying factor for the tribes and provinces of that fragile nation.
African leaders are genuinely nervous that the US is being myopic about the complexities involved. President Barack Obama should get to know them better, call them up from the Oval Office, reach out to them and consult them and ascertain whether they will accept NATO intervention in Libya. They are the real “stakeholders” – not the playboy kings, sheikhs or sultans from the bleached Arabian deserts. King would be pleased.
Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar was a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. His assignments included the Soviet Union, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Turkey.
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2. NATO Vehicle Kills Five-Year-Old Child In Southern Afghanistan
http://channel6newsonline.com/2011/03/isaf-vehicle-kills-5-year-old-boy-in-southern-afghanistan/
BNO News
March 14, 20111
ISAF vehicle kills 5-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan
KABUL: A young boy was killed on Saturday morning when he was struck by a coalition vehicle in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Sunday.
The accident happened at around 11 a.m. local time on Saturday in the Chawni area of Kandahar City, the capital of the country’s Kandahar Province. The victim’s uncle told the Pajhwok Afghan News agency that the child, Abu Bakar, was five years old.
An ISAF spokesman confirmed that one of their vehicles struck a child, but provided few details about the circumstances….
The spokesman said that a crowd of locals quickly gathered at the scene and became hostile. “In order to defuse the situation, ISAF personnel returned to their vehicles and left the scene. Our reporting indicates local nationals removed the child from the street,” he added.
According to the victim’s uncle, ISAF soldiers fired into the air before leaving the scene….
ISAF is under increasing pressure over civilian casualties as a result of its operations in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, ISAF troops ‘accidentally’ killed a cousin of Afghan President Hamid Karzai when troops mistook him for an armed insurgent.
Before that, earlier this month, ISAF forces accidentally killed nine children in the Darah-Ye Pech district of Kunar Province when they carried out an airstrike, causing nationwide outrage from civilians and Afghan officials.
On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he wants an end to U.S. and ISAF operations in Afghanistan. “Afghan suffered a lot in the nearly decade-long war. No other nation in the world has suffered as much as Afghans. The war has been imposed on us and we want an end to this. There should be no bombings and no unnecessary arrests,” the president said.
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3. Lebanon Poised For New Stage Of Pro-Western “Cedar Revolution”
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/14/47382322.html
Voice of Russia
March 14, 2011
Lebanon – new stage of Cedar revolution
Lebanon has become one more country on the list of North African and Middle Eastern states, gripped by mass protests and unrest. On Sunday, the local opposition intensified their protest campaigns declaring the new stage of the cedar revolution.
Thousands of people attended the meeting in the center of Beirut organized by the Sunnite movement Al Mustaqbal and pro-Western factions from the March 14 Coalition. Speaking at the meeting the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed that six years ago Lebanon had got rid of the Syrian military presence and now the new stage of the Cedar revolution begins – the fight for freedom and justice against the military dictatorship and oppression.
On Sunday, in Bahrain the police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters who gathered in the center of the capital of Manama demanding the overthrow of monarchy and the establishment of the republic.
Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia amid the protests of the Shiite minority the governmental forces toughed control over the oil producing facilities.
In Yemen in the cities of Sanaa and Aden police opened fire at the opponents of the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh. The supporters of the president are also trying to provoke protesters to switch to violent acts to get an excuse for tougher repressions.
After a short break serious clashes between the police and protesters have resumed in Tunisia. The phosphate producing regions of the country with high rate of unemployment and high prices on necessities are regularly shaken by social unrest.
In Morocco people are also demanding political reforms. On Sunday there were clashes between the police and protesters in Casablanca, the economic center of the country. There are wounded and detained.
In Libya the combats between the troops of Muammar Gaddafi and the forces of the opposition continue. The opposition had to admit that there is no uprising anymore. The protesters are losing control over the captured cities in the east of the country including the centers of oil production and oil export. In this situation the West has almost enforced a “psychological war” on Libya, Adzhar Kurtov, an expert with the Institute of Strategic Studies, said in the interview with the “Voice of Russia”.
The Western mass media mainly distort the situation in Libya. The report about hundreds and thousands of dead without showing them.They interview only the members of the opposition to ground the need to create a no-fly zone over Libya in order to speed up the overthrow of Gaddafi’s regime. This can be regarded as an interference into the internal affairs of the country.
Gaddafi shows that he has quite many supporters. He has economic and military resources to withstand the rebels. I think if there is no foreign intervention Gaddafi has good chances to hold power.
On Monday the situation in Libya is the main subject on the agenda of the meeting of G8 Foreign Ministers in Paris. On the eve of this meeting Russia’s Foreign Ministry stressed that it finds interference into the events in Libya unacceptable. Moscow has urged the dialogue between the conflicting parties and observing the rights and freedoms of the population to avoid internal conflict and further bloodshed.
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4. Report: Gulf Cooperation Council Troops To Be Deployed To Bahrain
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/14/47369163.html
Voice of Russia
March 14, 2011
Gulf forces to be deployed in Bahrain
NATO In Persian Gulf: From Third World War To Istanbul
Gulf Cooperation Council forces will be deployed in Bahrain to help maintain order and security there, media reports said on Monday.
Hundreds of people were injured in clashes with police in the capital, Manama on Saturday after law enforcers cracked down on protesters who were trying to shut down Manama’s financial center.
The Gulf Cooperation Council groups Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
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5. NATO To Hold Emergency Meeting On Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110314/163001774.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 14, 2011
NATO ‘to hold emergency meeting on Libya’
Topic: Protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya
Brussels: The NATO Council will hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Libya, a diplomatic source close to the military alliance said.
The meeting, proposed by the U.S., may take place in Brussels on Tuesday, the source said.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has repeatedly said that the alliance was considering various options against Libya, including possible military action, but said any intervention in Libya would be strictly in line with the UN Security Council decisions.
Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already warned against NATO military intervention in Libya. Turkey is one of NATO’s oldest members and has the second largest army in the alliance after the United States. France and Britain have expressed their readiness to carry out military strikes against Libya if Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s warplanes bomb civilians.
The Arab League decided on Saturday to ask the UN Security Council to implement a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent airstrikes against rebels by forces loyal to Gaddafi.
….
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6. Swedish Warplanes Integrated Into NATO’s Air Patrols
http://www.dvidshub.net/news/67038/nato-and-swedish-jets-cooperate-enhance-safety-above-baltic-sea
Headquarters Allied Air Command Ramstein Public Affairs
March 14, 2011
NATO and Swedish jets cooperate to enhance safety above the Baltic Sea
Pentagon’s New Global Military Partner: Sweden
RAMSTEIN, Germany: For the first time, Swedish JAS-39 Gripen fighters cooperate with NATO aircraft to enhance the safety of the airspace above the Baltic Sea. NATO and Swedish control agencies establish procedures to assist unidentified and/or aircraft with communication problems. During the eighth Baltic Region Training Event, March 22, German F-4F Phantom fighters will practice hand-over procedures with their Swedish counterparts. The German fighters are currently stationed at Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania, ensuring NATO’s Air Policing Mission. The scenario involves a Lithuanian C-27 Spartan transport aircraft, which simulates a loss of communications above the Baltic Sea.
BRTE VIII, organized by Headquarters Allied Air Command Ramstein, is aimed at exercising Air Policing skills and establishing cooperation and standardization. Sweden, as a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme, is participating in this routine NATO training event for the first time. On the second day, German Phantoms intercept a Polish C-295 Casa transport aircraft. Additionally, some participating aircraft land at Tallinn International Airport, Estonia, to conduct aircraft servicing and refueling on the ground.
Scheduled since late in 2008, BRTEs provide Air Command and Control training for Alliance air assets and reaffirm NATO’s solidarity with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and have demonstrated how NATO ensures the security of Alliance airspace. This time the scope of the training event is to further enhance interoperability and strengthen cooperation with regional PfP members. BRTEs are conducted in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards.
Combined Air Operations Centre Uedem, Germany, and the Baltic Combined Control and Reporting Centre at Karmelava, Lithuania, handle the air control and reporting for the event. These centres establish contact and procedures with the Swedish Air Operations Centre and CRCs. The scenario allows participants to train Air Policing procedures within the NATO Integrated Air Defence System. It also allows to further improve procedures with a key PfP member, Sweden.
“Although rather a routine event, this BRTE is the first time NATO and PfP member Sweden establish contact procedures, practise hand-over arrangements with the aim to deepen regional cooperation,” says Colonel Blokdal-Pedersen, Royal Danish Air Force, who supervises the planning at HQ AC Ramstein, “BRTEs offer NATO a great opportunity to use regionally-based air assets for realistic training and to sharpen standardization procedures with Sweden. A COMLOSS situation can happen anytime and to handle that well enhances safety in the skies.”
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7. Libya: No-Fly Zone: Destroying 500 Targets At $1-2 Million Each
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/ss_military0273_03_14.asp
World Tribune
March 14, 2011
Report: No-fly zone would mean destroying
500 targets at $1-2 million each
Point Of No Return: U.S. And NATO Prepare For War With Libya
WASHINGTON — NATO would require up to $1 billion to launch a no-fly zone over Libya, a report said.
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments asserted that NATO members would be spending up to $300 million per week to prepare a no-fly zone over Libya. The center, regarded as a leading independent budget think tank, said a one-time strike operation to destroy Libyan air defense batteries could cost between $500 million and $1 billion. A six-month no-fly campaign could end up costing $8.8 billion.
“Because U.S. and allied aircraft would be flying directly over hostile territory and would be within range of Libyan surface-to-air missiles, establishing this no-fly zone could require a series of coordinated strikes to degrade Libyan air defense systems,” the report, titled “Selected Options and Costs for a No-Fly Zone over Libya,” said.
Authored by analysts Todd Harrison and Zack Cooper, the report was based on the assessment that NATO would designate up to 500 targets in Libya, the size of which is 680,000 square miles. The report said the average cost per target could be $2 million “since many targets would require multiple cruise missiles or bombs to destroy.”
The report stressed that the establishment of a no-fly zone would be more costly and difficult than in Iraq during the 1990s. The no-fly zones maintained in northern and southern Iraq contained only 104,600 square miles.
A more limited option was the establishment of a no-fly zone that covered major cities as well as areas of Libyan Air Force operations, estimated at including up to 400 targets. The center said this would cover 230,000 square miles and cost between $30 million and $100 million per week.
“But as in the case of the full no-fly zone option, establishing this type of no-fly zone over hostile territory would require an upfront campaign to degrade Libyan air defenses,” the report, dated March 10, said. “Since Libyan air defenses are concentrated along the coastal areas, an area that would be covered by a limited no-fly zone, the number of targets would only be slightly less than in the case of the full no-fly zone and might cost between $400 million and $800 million.”
A third option was identified as a partial no-fly zone that would employ standoff systems to cover the coastal assets of Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The center said NATO could deploy three U.S. Navy Aegis-class cruisers, AIM-120 air-to-air missiles and airborne early-warning and control systems.
“Given the operating cost of these systems and related munitions, this approach could cost in the range of $15 million to $25 million per week,” the report said. “Importantly, since the aircraft involved would remain off the coast of Libya and U.S. forces would use standoff missiles to intercept aircraft violating the no-fly zone, strikes on Libyan air defenses may not be necessary.”
The center said NATO and the United States must first determine whether a no-fly zone would serve Western interests and help oust Gadhafi. The report said the Western alliance must decide which country would lead the campaign, rules of engagement as well as direct aid to the Libyan rebels.
“Although the cost of each option is only one of many factors that should influence the decision on going forward with a no-fly zone, in the current fiscal environment considerations of cost are likely to play a significant role in determining whether and how a no-fly zone is established,” the report said.
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8. The Empire At A Crossroads
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/14/47387991.html
Voice of Russia
March 14, 2011
The empire at the crossroads
Boris Volkhonsky
-The policy of playing the “bad guy and good guy” policy in the eyes of the outer world has been the favorite trick of any US administration for decades. Usually, the State Department tended to act as a “good guy”, while the military and the Pentagon willingly accepted the role of the “bad guy”.
“State Department spokesman Philip Crowley has resigned.”
This piece of news could either hit the headlines (be there no earthquake in Japan or revolutions in the Middle East) or pass unnoticed as a routine reshuffling within the US Administration.
It had all chances to go unnoticed. In fact, the news from Japan or Libya tends to overwhelm the media space and leave little place for anything else to attract the public’s attention.
As for the news from Japan, however sad it may be (for me personally there is an additional strain because my daughter is presently in Tokyo), this is a situation which is most likely going to subside almost as quickly as it arose. As for Libya, we will come to the topic a little bit later.
So, why did the spokesman for the State Department resign? The direct and immediate cause for it was, as officially announced, the fact that he had called the treatment of the man accused of leaking secret cables to Wikileaks “stupid”.
As everybody knows, the name of the man is Private Bradley Manning who is currently being held in solitary confinement at a maximum security US military jail.
The man faces 34 charges in connection with the WikiLeaks publications.
I am not in a position to comment on the case itself. But what makes all the charges ridiculous is one simple question: could a person ranked as private in the US Army be responsible for leaking topmost secrets access to which could be granted to officers of a much higher rank?
The real problem lies in a little bit different sphere. The problem is that the resignation of Philip Crowley once more signals that there is a never-ending confrontation in the two most important decision-making agencies within the administration – the State Department and the Pentagon.
The policy of playing the “bad guy and good guy” policy in the eyes of the outer world has been the favorite trick of any US administration for decades. Usually, the State Department tended to act as a “good guy”, while the military and the Pentagon willingly accepted the role of the “bad guy”.
But, in most cases this double-faced policy seldom resulted in an open conflict between the two agencies.
This time, Philip Crowley has trodden on the most vulnerable corns of the US military. He was probably one of the first top-ranking US officials to openly recognize the fact that the US military used torture in their treatment of detainees.
Such revelations could not be tolerated by the hawks in the administration (even if the administration is trying hard to adopt a “dovey” image…. Philip Crowley was “advised” to step down. The “regret” expressed by his direct and immediate boss Hillary Clinton was no more that trying to put a brave face on a lost game.
There could be a full stop. In fact, the apparent differences and controversies between the State Department is an old story, and the Manning–Crowley case does not add much to this dubious approach of the US administration to sensitive matters.
But almost simultaneously a blow to the West’s image of an advocate of the most humane principles in world politics came from a most unexpected source. Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf de facto accused Britons of tacitly approving the policy of torturing suspects in the cases of terrorism.
Mr. Musharraf said he was never told that the policy of Great Britain opposed torturing British subjects and this may have been “tacit approval of whatever we were doing”.
Well, President Musharraf was an important, but still minor ally in the West’s fight against what it called the “international terrorism”. As we see now, the tactics adopted in treating the terrorist suspects proved to be so efficient that the US military thought it only natural to adopt them in their treatment of suspects “guilty” only of observance of the First Amendment to the US Constitution granting freedom of expression.
It reminds of an old Russian fairy tale when a knight was confronted with a stone at the roadside the inscription on which said “You go left, and you lose your horse. You go right, and you lose your life. You go straight, and you lose both.” The correct option was always going straight. But a straight line is probably something that eludes the imagination of Washington policy makers.
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9. Obama Lauds Denmark For Afghan War Contribution
Associated Press
March 14, 2011
Obama thanks Danish PM for troops in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: North Atlantic Military Bloc’s Ten-Year War In South Asia
WASHINGTON: Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen assured President Barack Obama Monday that Denmark has an unwavering commitment to help the U.S. in Afghanistan.
“We are in this with the long-term perspective,” Loekke Rasmussen told Obama at the White House.
He said he visited Danish troops in Helmand province two weeks ago….
Denmark has more than 700 troops in Afghanistan as well as police and army training teams in Helmand province.
Obama commended Loekke Rasmussen for Denmark’s assistance in Afghanistan.
“Denmark is not a large country, but proportional to its population it has made as significant an effort and made as many sacrifices as anybody in helping stabilize Afghanistan,” Obama said.
“Denmark is a country that in American terms punches above its weight,” Obama said.
….
Both men also agreed that Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi must step down. Obama thanked the Danish prime minister for Denmark’s support of sanctions against the Gadhafi regime.
Loekke Rasmussen met with Obama to discuss Afghanistan, the Middle East and energy issues….
The United States is Denmark’s fifth largest export market and the biggest outside the European Union. More than 260 Danish companies have subsidiaries in the United States.
Obama praised Loekke Rasmussen for his energy policies, noting that the prime minister has set an “ambitious and impressive program” to rely completely on clean and alternative energy sources by 2050.
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10. Georgia’s Afghan War Death Toll Rises To Seven
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23238
Civil Georgia
March 14, 2011
Georgian Soldier Succumbs Afghan Injuries
Tbilisi: A Georgian soldier has died in hospital in Germany after being seriously injured in an explosion in Afghanistan’s Helmand province less than two weeks ago, the Georgian Ministry of Defense said on March 14.
Corporal Valeri Verskiani from the 32nd battalion of the 3rd infantry brigade was badly wounded in a mine explosion on March 5, according to the Georgian MoD. It also said that two other soldiers, who also sustained injuries, continue treatment in the same hospital in Germany with their condition being “satisfactory.”
The latest death brings to seven the total number of Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, since joining the NATO-led operation in November, 2009.
The March 5 incident became publicly known only on March 14 from the MoD’s press release in which it is reporting about the death of the wounded soldier.
MoD does not release information about the incidents in which Georgian soldiers sustain injuries and the precise number of Georgian servicemen injured in Afghanistan is not clear.
The Stars and Stripes, the newspaper for U.S. troops partly funded by the Pentagon, ran an article on March 7 about the Georgian troops, which are trained by the U.S. marines to prepare them for the Afghan deployment.
According to this article, which cites Lt. Col. Dan Thoele, executive officer of the U.S. Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group, charged with preparing Georgian servicemen for the Afghan mission, a total of 39 Georgian soldiers were injured since April 2010, when Georgia first deployed troops in the Helmand province.
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11. Video/Text: Saudi Protests Highlight U.S. Hypocrisy
RT
March 14, 2011
Saudi protests highlight US hypocrisy
As unrest in the Arab world continues the Obama administration finds itself in a bind when it comes to undemocratic nations it actively supports.
A planned Day of Rage in Saudi Arabia was nearly scrubbed as the laws prohibit demonstrations. However, many did come out and voice their opposition to the Saudi government.
The nation is actively supported and praised by the US and is highly undemocratic. It is a known abuser of human rights, including its well known apartheid like attitude towards women. The White House’s failure to address concerns over Saudi Arabia’s record reflects a 70-year-old policy of US administrations ignoring abuses against both the Saudi people ant American citizens.
Fear over losing a strong Arab ally and threatening the Middle East oil supply, past US presidents have been too afraid to confront the Saudis.
Michel Chossudovsky, the director of the Center for Research on Globalization in Montréal, Canada said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States are US protectorates, they are oil economies dependant on US protection and interests.
“There were protests in eastern Saudi Arabia,” he said, but argued it was more of a media show than anything else. “This Saudi event was a little bit exaggerated by the media.”
Many protesting or speaking out are not Saudis of citizens of the Gulf States, he said. They are migrant workers who are not calling for pro-democracy, but other demands. In addition, some protestors were seeking closer ties to Islam.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States have openly spoken against the governments in Libya and elsewhere experiencing protests. However, they have not addressed their own Chossudovsky, he said.
The US has no interest in unrest in the Gulf region, and neither does most of the west. The states in that area boast US supported autocratic regimes, similar to what Mubarak was in Egypt, he argued.
“There’s a lot of media distortion in what is happening in the Middle East,” said Chossudovsky. “We all lose from that. The people of the Middle East are not getting democratic governments.”
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12. Washington Hosts Latest U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Meeting
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1844938.html
Trend News Agency
March 14, 2011
Washington to host next Georgian-U.S. meeting
N. Kirtskhalia
Washington To Rearm Georgia For New Conflicts
Tbilisi: The next Georgian-U.S. working meeting will be held within the Charter on Strategic Partnership in Washington on March 15.
The Georgian delegation has already left for the United States, Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said at a briefing today.
She stressed that the meeting will be held at the deputy ministerial level. Educational, cultural and medical issues will be considered, as well as exchange programs in these areas.
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13. U.S. Military Funding, Training In South Caucasus, Caspian Sea
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=142836
Azeri Press Agency
March 14, 2011
Known for what purposes US military assistance to Azerbaijan and Armenia will be spent
Rashad Suleymanov
Eurasian Crossroads: The Caucasus In U.S.-NATO War Plans
Baku: The US plans to deliver 8,750 million in military and security assistance to Armenia, 5,248 to Azerbaijan in 2012, APA reports quoting what is said in the recent report issued by the US Department of State.
$4,450 million has been intended for Armenia under the Assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia (AEECA) program, $3 million under Foreign Military Financing (FMF), $450 000 under International Military Education & Training (IMET), $850 000 under Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR)….
The FMF will support the (re-)structuring of Armenian army. English-languages courses and technical trainings will be held for Armenian security forces within the framework of IMET.
$483,000 of the funds considered for Azerbaijan will be allocated within the framework of AEECA program….
The document notes that the US aid to Azerbaijan proposes to strengthen the realized reforms. US aid will increase Azerbaijani abilities in the struggle against terrorism and help the coordination of security structures with NATO standards.
The document specially notes that besides the enhancing of Azerbaijani opportunities in the Caspian Sea having rich resources, the programs will also help the protection of airspace and strengthen border security.
Trainings will be held for naval personnel in order to increase security in the Caspian Sea. America will render special aid to border and customs services for the purpose of supporting strategic trade….
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14. Pentagon Continues Integration Of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=142810
Azeri Press Agency
March 14, 2011
Baku to host conference on bilateral cooperation by participation of Azerbaijani and US servicemen
Rashad Suleymanov
Azerbaijan And The Caspian: NATO’s War For The World’s Heartland
A conference devoted to bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the US is planned to be held next month, military sources told APA.
Representatives and experts of different military bodies from Azerbaijan and the US will attend the conference to be devoted to discussion of the annual cooperation program. The US delegation will be represented especially by the officers of the European Command (EUCOM).
A Text of the Working Plan on military cooperation for the next year between Azerbaijan and EUCOM will be agreed at the conference.
At present, the date of the conference is (un)specified.
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15. Immigration: Italy Pushes Joint EU-NATO Blockade Of Libya
ADN Kronos International
March 10, 2011
Libya: Italy ‘proposes’ EU-Nato joint anti-smuggling patrols
Brussels: Italy proposed that the European Union and Nato together shoulder the responsibility of patrolling international waters off of the Libyan coast to prevent any arms smuggling and monitor the flow of illegal immigrants trying to reach European shores, the German news agency dpa reported on Thursday, citing an informal document.
Italy called for “a joint EU-Nato maritime surveillance operation off the Libyan coast to implement the arms embargo,” declared by the United Nations Security Council,” declared by the United Nations Security Council, dpa reported.
Nato officials were due to meet Thursday in Brussels where they were expected to discuss possible responses to the Libyan conflict, which the International Red Cross has descended into civil war. Imposing a no-fly zone to protect civilians from warplanes flown by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was expected to be at the top of the meeting’s agenda.
A anti-arms-smuggling mission would be effectively wed with “monitoring human beings across the Mediterranean Sea,” the document said.
About nine thousand mostly Tunisians have made the trip aboard boats to Italian shores since the January when their country’s government fell under the pressure of weeks of protests. Italy says the conflict in Libya can spark an even larger migration.
The dpa report said a Nato naval base in Naples would likely be used in any operation.
It was unclear how the operation could be launched, as formal EU-Nato cooperation is blocked due to a conflict between Nato-member Turkey and EU-member Cyprus, dpa said.
Mark Twain: The War Prayer
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
American writers on peace and against war
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Mark Twain
Vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1901-1910
The War Prayer
Opus posthumous
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams – visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:
God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest!
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!
Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory.
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, “Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
“I come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!” The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. “He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.
“God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
“You have heard your servant’s prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor – and also you in your hearts – fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!”
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
Stop NATO News March 14, 2011
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. Afghanistan: NATO Casualites Continue To Mount
2. U.S. Would Face New Vietnam If It Invaded: Venezuela
3. SIPRI: India World’s Largest Arms Importer, U.S. Largest Exporter
4. China Opposes Outside Interference In Middle Eastern Affairs
5. Civilian Deaths Compel Afghan Leader To Slam U.S., NATO Operations
6. Top U.S. Military Chief: “All Kinds Of Options” Regarding Libya
7. At Least Three NATO Soldiers Killed In Fighting Across Afghanistan
8. U.S. Drone Attack Kills At Least Six In Northwest Pakistan
9. Russian Envoy: NATO Invasion Of Libya Would Be War Crime
10. Gates: Pentagon Could Impose Libya No-Fly Zone If Obama Orders It
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1. Afghanistan: NATO Casualites Continue To Mount
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110313/162982889.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 13, 2011
Roadside bomb kills one, injures three NATO soldiers in Afghanistan
Topic: Situation in Afghanistan
Kabul: A roadside bomb killed one and wounded three NATO soldiers in the Daykundi province in central Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) reported on Sunday.
The nationality of the soldier killed in the bombing and the three other soldiers who were wounded, and also the exact area of the incident were not specified.
At the same time, the province’s governor, Qurban Ali Oruzgani, told the media that the blast occurred in the Kajran district when a military motorcycle hit a roadside bomb.
Since the beginning of this year, a total of 80 international forces have been killed in Afghanistan compared to 711 servicemen killed in the entire year 2010.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months, with the Taliban group, which was toppled in a 2001 U.S.-led campaign, staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside bombs to target Afghan, U.S. and NATO troops.
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2. U.S. Would Face New Vietnam If It Invades Libya: Venezuela
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110314/162989379.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 14, 2011
Chavez says United States to face new Vietnam if invades Libya
Point Of No Return: U.S. And NATO Prepare For War With Libya
Mexico City: Venezuela’s outspoken leader Hugo Chavez warned the United States not to interfere in Libya’s domestic affairs.
“If the Yankees… invade Libya, they will face a new Vietnam, and oil prices will soar to $200 per barrel,” Chavez said on national television on Sunday.
The United States lost about 60,000 soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Chavez said a civil war is underway in Libya and added that no one has the right to invade a sovereign state.
….
Chavez reiterated his February 28 call on the international community to establish a mission of intermediaries to settle the Libyan crisis.
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3. SIPRI: India World’s Largest Arms Importer, U.S. Largest Exporter
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011314story_14-3-2011_pg7_7
Associated Press
March 13, 2011
India becomes world’s largest arms importer
* Country spending billions of dollars on fighter jets, aircraft carriers
* 40pc increase in defence budget for upcoming year
India: U.S. Completes Global Military Structure
-During British Prime Minister David Cameron’s July visit, the two countries announced a nearly $1.1 billion deal for India to buy 57 Hawk advanced trainer jets. During President Barack Obama’s November visit, a $4.1 billion sale of 10 C-17 transport aircraft was announced. France and India moved closer to finalising a $2.1 billion Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft upgrade deal during President Nicolas Sarkozy’s December visit….
NEW DELHI: In its race to join the club of international powers, India has reached another milestone; it is now the world’s largest weapons importer.
A Swedish think tank that monitors global arms sales said Monday that India’s weapons imports had overtaken China’s, as the country pushes on with plans to modernise its military, counter Beijing’s influence and gain international clout. “India has ambitions to become first a continental and then a regional power,” said Rahul Bedi, a South Asian analyst with London-based Jane’s Defense Weekly.
According to the report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India accounted for nine percent of all international arms imports in the period from 2006 to 2010, and it is expected to keep the top spot for the foreseeable future.
Indian Defence Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar declined to comment on the report before he had a chance to read it.
China dropped to the second place, with six percent of global imports, as it continued to build up its domestic arms industry, something India has so far failed to do, Wezeman said. The US was the largest arms exporter, followed by Russia and Germany, according to the report. The institute measures arms transactions over a five-year period to take into account the long time lag between orders and delivery of arms.
India is spending billions of dollars on fighter jets and aircraft carriers to modernise its air force and navy.
With its booming economy and growing power, India has been pushing for a greater international role, including a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India’s defence budget for the coming year is Rs 1.5 trillion ($32.5 billion), a 40 percent increase from two years before. It imports more than 70 percent of its arms.
“The vast majority of those imports, 82 percent, come from Russia, which has long been India’s supplier of choice,” the report said. But other countries have been pushing for a chunk of the lucrative market, with world leaders streaming here in recent months, in part to push defence deals.
During British Prime Minister David Cameron’s July visit, the two countries announced a nearly $1.1 billion deal for India to buy 57 Hawk advanced trainer jets. During President Barack Obama’s November visit, a $4.1 billion sale of 10 C-17 transport aircraft was announced. France and India moved closer to finalising a $2.1 billion Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft upgrade deal during President Nicolas Sarkozy’s December visit, and a few weeks later India and Russia agreed to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft during President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit.
India is awaiting delivery of a $2.3 billion rebuilt aircraft carrier from Russia, as it builds another carrier itself, and has ordered six submarines worth $4.5 billion from France.
India is also in the market to buy 126 fighter jets, a deal worth $11 billion, and about 200 helicopters worth another $4 billion. It also has plans to buy large amphibious landing ships at $300 million to $500 million each and is discussing another $10 billion submarine order, Wezeman said.
“The kind of purchases that India is buying, no country in the world buys,” Bedi said, adding, “What is in the pipeline is huge”.
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4. China Opposes Outside Interference In Middle Eastern Affairs
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=142757
Azeri Press Agency
March 13, 2011
China says Middle East should solve problems itself
Baku: Middle East countries should be left to themselves to resolve the problems they currently face without outside interference, a Chinese vice foreign minister said during a visit to the region, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.
While China supported a United Nations resolution for an arms embargo and other sanctions targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle, it has so far been cool to the idea of a no-fly zone over that country.
Arab countries appealed to the United Nations on Saturday to impose a no-fly zone on Libya as government troops backed by warplanes fought to drive rebels from remaining strongholds in western Libya.
Beijing has called for the situation in Libya to be resolved peacefully through dialogue, and demanded Libya’s sovereignty and territorial integrity be respected, though added it would listen to the views of other Middle Eastern countries on the issue.
“The Middle East’s stability is beneficial to the world’s peace and development, and China respects the development path chosen by the Middle East’s people,” the Foreign Ministry cited Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun as saying during a visit to the region.
“Middle Eastern countries should handle their affairs themselves and should not be subject to outside interference,” Zhai was paraphrased as saying.
“China is willing to work with the international community to maintain the peace and development of the Middle East region and to continue playing a constructive role to this end,” he added.
Zhai visited Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia on his trip from March 6-12, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on its website (www.mfa.gov.cn) late on Saturday.
The four countries “approved of China’s position,” the statement said, without providing further details.
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5. Civilian Deaths Compel Afghan Leader To Slam U.S., NATO Operations
Stars and Stripes
March 12, 2011
Civilian deaths prompt Afghan leader to question U.S. military operations
U.S. And NATO Escalate World’s Deadliest War On Both Sides Of Afghan-Pakistani Border
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday appeared to call for NATO and the United States to cease military operations in Afghanistan, but then issued a clarification saying that he was referring only to specific operations that had caused civilian casualties, The New York Times reported late Saturday.
In a speech in eastern Kunar province, Karzai told relatives and neighbors of civilian victims that he sympathized with their plight. “With great honor and with great respect, and humbly rather than with arrogance, I request that NATO and America should stop these operations on our soil,” the Times reported Karzai as saying. “This war is not on our soil. If this war is against terror, then this war is not here, terror is not here.”
His remarks were made at a memorial service for the victims, in the presence of local officials as well as the second highest ranking American general in Afghanistan, Gen. David Rodriguez. “Our demand is that this war should be stopped,” Karzai is quoted as saying. “This is the voice of Afghanistan.”
Whether his remarks were premeditated, taken out of context or just emotion, his speech was perhaps another sign of a deteriorating relationship between the Afghan president and the United States military command the Times noted.
American officials were angered by Karzai’s remarks, one official told the Times on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the dispute with the Afghan president.
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6. Top U.S. Military Chief: “All Kinds Of Options” Regarding Libya
http://www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=63138
U.S. Department of Defense
March 11, 2011
Mullen Discusses Libya, Middle East, Pakistan
By Donna Miles
WASHINGTON: U.S. and international pressure has “raised the ante significantly” against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, but it’s yet to be seen if they’ll have an effect, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday in Phoenix.
Acknowledging that the situation in Libya “looks like it’s evolving into a very uneven civil war,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said President Barack Obama has made clear he’s looking at “all kinds of options.”
Fielding questions from students at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Mullen said national and international sanctions, including the freezing of Gadhafi’s assets in the United States, have sent a strong message. The chairman noted that the Gulf Cooperation Council has called for action, and the Arab League has a meeting scheduled this weekend to address the crisis.
“It is my view that [with] this international pressure -– all of us together –- we have continued to squeeze” Gadhafi, Mullen said, calling the Libyan leader “a very dangerous man.”
….
The chairman called the uprisings that have rippled across the Middle East in recent weeks a clear sign that people are no longer content to live under repressive dictatorships.
….
Mullen praised the Egyptian military for the professionalism it demonstrated during that country’s unrest last month that ultimately toppled Hosni Mubarak’s regime….The chairman credited, in part, the 30-year military-to-military relationship between the United States and Egypt.
“That relationship, unbroken, I believe was a critical part in the overall outcome so far in terms of what is happening in Egypt,” he said.
….
Calling the region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border “the epicenter of terrorism in the world,” Mullen credited the Pakistani leadership’s decision to move large numbers of troops there from the eastern part of the country.
….
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7. At Least Three NATO Soldiers Killed In Fighting Across Afghanistan
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1844601.html
Trend News Agency
March 14, 2011
Three US-led troops killed in Afghanistan
U.S. And NATO Prolong And Expand Greater Afghan War
Separate militant bomb attacks and explosions have killed at least three US-led foreign troops and wounded several others in Afghanistan, Press TV reported.
NATO says one soldier died in a bomb attack in the central province of Daykundi.
The provincial Governor Qurban Ali Oruzgani said that the blast occurred in the Kajran district.
Three other foreign soldiers and their translator were wounded.
Two NATO troops were killed separately in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The deaths push to 83 the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan so far in 2011.
NATO’s deaths in 2010 stood at 711, making the year the deadliest for foreign forces in Afghanistan since the start of the war.
The rising number of foreign casualties has stoked opposition to the Afghan war in the NATO member states as well as in other countries that have contributed troops to the mission.
NATO has admitted to the rising power of militants in Afghanistan despite the increasing presence of US-led forces in the country, which currently stands at 150,000.
The invasion of Afghanistan took place with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the country. Nine years on, however, Afghanistan remains unstable and civilians continue to pay the price.
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8. U.S. Drone Attack Kills At Least Six In Northwest Pakistan
Voice of America News
March 13, 2011
Suspected US Missile Strike Kills 6 in NW Pakistan
America’s Undeclared War: Deadly Drone Attacks In Pakistan Reach Record High
Pakistani officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed at least 6 people believed to be militants in the northwestern part of the country.
Officials said Sunday’s attack targeted a vehicle and compound in Spalgah village near Miranshah in the North Waziristan tribal region….
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9. Russian Envoy: NATO Invasion Of Libya Would Be War Crime
http://rt.com/news/intervention-libya-military-nato/
RT
March 13, 2011
Western countries advocating intervention as pretext for oil grab – Russian envoy
As the international community continues to debate the role it should take in the Libyan unrest, Russia’s Envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin expresses concern over NATO’s plans for military intervention in the country.
He tells RT that certain countries are pushing to get involved in Libya because they are reliant on its oil resources.
RT: Do you support NATO and EU backing for Libya’s rebels?
Dmitriy Rogozin: In principle, what usually happens is this: in order to start military operations, you have to ask someone to invite you. So, it’s not proper to come in uninvited. There should be a side doing the inviting. For this side to look presentable, it has to be legitimized.
What is now happening with the Libyan opposition is approximately the same thing. The problem lies elsewhere. No one knows who those people are. In reality we know just one person who formerly worked as part of Mr. Gaddafi’s entourage.
But all others are total strangers. More than that, there is no information regarding the degree of consolidation of the Libyan opposition. The case in point, quite likely, is different centers in different provinces of that country. This is why, in my view, the fact that separate European countries, like France, for example, or the UK did legitimize the opposition may lead to Europe or the West as a whole being involved, even against its own will, into someone else’s civil conflict.
It’s a big problem. It must be said, incidentally, that the latest events in Libya indicate that Mr. Gaddafi is not going to surrender quickly.
There are loyalty problems in his armed forces and the police force, but as long as the Libyan army retains its positions in Libya and wins victories over the Libyan opposition, it is a mistake to say that the collapse of the Gaddafi regime is just round the corner. This is why, to my mind, the West so far has been playing games for its own consumption. They hold meetings with all sorts of people, trying to invest in their powers, but that has nothing to do with the agenda of stabilizing the situation in that North African country.
I think no one knows today what scenario is the optimal one. The problem is, we don’t have the facts or enough information. The conflict inside Libya has become protracted.
Many Arab leaders say as much. Even though the attitude to Mr. Gaddafi in the Arab world has always been highly complex, and despite the pressure that France and the UK are bringing to bear on the Arab League, we cannot say that everyone would be wildly enthusiastic to see a Western invasion in Libya. There is yet another important aspect that Arab analysts are warning about. They say that Mr. Gaddafi, if faced with foreign intervention, will immediately become a martyr, a victim in the eyes of the whole Arab world and a very popular person. And no one in fact wants this to happen.
RT: Are you concerned by France’s call for aerial bombardment of the country?
DR: It’s a big problem how to do it. From the technical military point of view, NATO doesn’t have a clear idea about the level of training and quality of Libya’s air defenses. Let’s assume that a country which begins military intervention by launching an air attack will lose several combat aircraft. Libya possesses some sufficiently modern, including portable, anti-aircraft missile systems. Who will bear responsibility for the first air casualties? No one. This is why, I believe, two processes are currently in progress.
On the one hand, aggressive rhetoric is used and political consultations are held inside the Western states and in the UN Security Council. Work is under way to identify reputable opposition figures.
On the other, military planning is in progress that considers very different options.
AWACS planes are in the air; space reconnaissance systems and naval reconnaissance are fully operational as well, trying to reveal the real situation in Libya, the organization and strength of the Libyan armed forces, and the situation within the framework of regional, provincial conflicts. The info is fed to NATO’s relevant military structures but its readiness for action is equal to zero.
RT: Libya is rich in oil. Is that why the US is so interested in the country?
DR: Everyone says so. I think if Libya were just a banana-growing country, there wouldn’t be so much interest in its domestic situation, including in the humanitarian sphere.
Of course, Libya is a big enough energy supplier to Europe. Certain countries, like Italy, for example, are heavily dependent on Libyan deliveries. Others are not so much dependent, but either way, Libya’s share is considerable. We know that NATO, for example, puts energy security matters at the top of its main agenda.
For this reason I think that this factor has a most direct bearing on the speed of the West’s decision-making regarding Libya. No one wants to let this conflict become protracted. All of them want it to be over as quickly as possible so as to be reassured about guarantees of energy supplies to Europe. I think it’s a very important problem.
Aside from that, there is yet another factor. Some major Western oil companies with an axe to grind, where their concessions and oil development projects in Libya are concerned, are quite likely to be pushing certain Western countries towards hasty decisions with regard to an intervention in Libya.
They think they’ll be able to follow the military and thus get unique access to Libya’s oil riches. So this factor is also taken into account and discussed.
RT: Would unilateral invasion by NATO be a war crime?
DR: Of course. Any invasion would, be it an initiative of NATO as a whole, or of any NATO member state. If an action is not authorized by the UN, it is an illegal intervention.
What I am saying now is not a warning. It is just a statement of fact. As a matter of fact, many people inside NATO agree with Russia. Note the position of the US on the situation in Libya – Washington is being very restrained, if not passive, here. Some are laughing at the overly-zealous France and the UK, saying that those two are running ahead of Uncle Sam. Nobody knows why this is happening and whether there is some common scenario in place.
I think that the US administration would not like to take any hasty actions against Libya now. Most likely, they are monitoring the situation closely, and preparations to possible military engagement are perhaps in progress, but a new war is dangerous for the US now. Especially now, with presidential elections looming ahead.
RT: Are there any conditions under which you would support foreign military intervention in Libya?
DR: Facts, that’s all. Only facts on the table of the UN Security Council saying that weapons were used against peaceful civilians in Libya, or heavy military machinery was used against humanitarian targets, may force the Security Council to consider measures more substantial than political sanctions against the regime.
The thing is, we don’t have any facts. We only have reports from BBC, CNN, and other media, featuring some machine gunner firing his machine gun in the air. At the same time, we don’t see any aircraft attacking; instead, we see people applauding the gunner for looking so cool. If there were a real aircraft attack in progress, they wouldn’t be applauding there.
The footage we see on American and British channels looks fake. They create an illusion of military action. Where are the aircraft? Where are the bomb raids? Where are the destruction and casualties we hear so much about? If all that it true, evidence should be now on the table of the Security Council.
Doing that requires carrying out the decisions already passed by the Council, including the creation of special committees that should establish the facts. Unless the facts are established, the Council cannot take the responsibility of judging something that doesn’t exist.
RT: How are the rebels holding out against Gaddafi’s regular army? Are they already being aided by the West?
DR: We assume that something is being done by the rebels and by the opposition and that the Special Forces that were used to evacuate citizens of Western countries from Libya have most likely remained there. There have been instances of the rebels themselves detaining members of Special Forces combat groups from the West.
We are not naïve and are well aware that some parts of special operations have long been done in Libya, on the side of the opposition.
Otherwise, Gaddafi, to whom most of the army and police forces are loyal, could long have clamped down on the opposition. Since he has not done so as yet, it is a question of secret and illegal military backing by Special Forces. This is my personal opinion. I have no facts yet, but I have experience and I can analyze the situation.
I can’t confirm this, but I think it’s true.
RT: In an ideal world, how integrated would NATO’s missile defense be integrated with Russia’s.
DR: What is missile interception? It’s to see the attack on you, to track it and then to shoot. What stage does the co-operation occur at? At the stage of exchanging information on transforming the risks into threats; then at the stage of detecting by the tracking stations of started the attack started; thirdly, at the stage of identification of the target – this attack may be across Russia towards Europe, or US bases, or across Europe on Russia.
So, tracking the identification of the targeting is the third task.
And the fourth task is to destroy the target jointly.
Some NATO skeptics tell us that, or Russo-skeptics, rather, tell us that NATO can’t be involved in the outsourcing of security for Europe. Well, it’s stupid, because Russia also means Europe. Russia is Europe and not only up to the Urals. In a political sense, it’s as far as the Far East.
Therefore, I do believe it’s our common European cause, and we should think strategy-wise about the people’s, but not our own egoistic, interests. Not to dabble in politics, but be politicians. This kind of system should be created in such a way so it could equally guarantee security both to Russia, on the one hand, and to its partners on the European continent, on the other.
And we still have time for that, let me emphasize this.
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10. Gates: Pentagon Could Impose Libya No-Fly Zone If Obama Orders It
Washingtomn Post
March 13, 2011
Gates says U.S. military could enforce a no-fly zone in Libya if Obama ordered one
By Peter Finn and Scott Wilson
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Saturday that the U.S. military, already fighting two wars in Muslim nations, would have no trouble enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya if President Obama orders one.
The comments appeared designed to counter the criticism surrounding his earlier remarks on the issue and came as the Arab League endorsed a no-fly zone to protect Libya’s civilians from forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
Gates indicated earlier this month that the creation of a no-fly zone would be a “big operation.” NATO would need to deploy an array of air power to target not only defense systems and fighter jets, but also the low-flying attack helicopters….
The assessment drew criticism, in particular, from those who favor a more aggressive American response to the Libyan conflict, now tilting back in favor of Gaddafi’s better-armed forces. Some accused Gates of inflating the dangers and scope of a no-fly zone mission over a large desert country with a small population.
Speaking Saturday to reporters as he returned to Washington from Manama, Bahrain, where the Navy’s 5th Fleet is based, Gates said, “A little bit too much has been read into some of my remarks last week.”
“If we are directed to impose a no-fly zone, we have the resources to do it,” he said. “This is not a question of whether we or our allies can do this. We can do it. The question is whether it’s a wise thing to do. And that’s the discussion that’s going on at a political level. But I just want to make clear we have the capacity to do it.”
While enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya is easily within NATO’s military capability, there is concern that it would have little real effect on the current fighting. The United States and its allies would then be forced to consider further military action to support the rebels, according to some military and regional experts.
“Are you willing to escalate if it doesn’t work?” asked Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has studied Libya’s military capabilities. “Will they even bother” to challenge a no-fly zone?
….
Before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, when the United States enforced a no-fly zone over the Kurdish north and Shiite south, American war planes hit any air defense radar that “locked on” to the aircraft. But the campaign cost civilian lives, according to the assessment of a Washington Post reporter who traveled in Iraq in 2000.
France, which backs a no-fly zone over Libya, suspended its participation in the no-fly zone over Iraq because of civilian deaths.
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Stop NATO News March 13, 2011
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1. Venezuela Says U.S., NATO Preparing For War In Libya
2. NATO’s Threat
3. African Union Gives Rebuff To NATO Intervention Plans In Libya
4. Russia Opposes Foreign Military Intervention In Libya
5. Armenia: NATO’s Third Partner In The Caucasus
6. Afghanistan’s Karzai: U.S., NATO Should Halt Operations From:
7. New NATO Soldiers Killed In Southern Afghanistan From: Rick Rozoff
8. After Trump Meeting: Saakashvili Says Georgia Is Model For Former Soviet States, North Africa
9. Donald Trump: Saakashvili One Of The Great Leaders Of The World
10. Philippines: Farmers, Church Groups Oppose U.S. War Games From: Rick Rozoff
11. NATO Oil Tankers Torched In Pakistan
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1. Venezuela Says U.S., NATO Preparing For War In Libya
Canadian Press
March 11, 2011
Venezuela’s Chavez says US, NATO preparing for war in Libya, warns it would be madness
By Jorge Rueda
-“Today I saw Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, saying that he’s concerned about the price of oil,” Chavez said.
Chavez has accused the U.S. of manoeuvring to seize control of Libya’s oil. He said he believes events in Libya are being distorted to lay the groundwork for a conflict, and likened it to the situation in Venezuela in 2002 when he survived a failed coup.
CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned Friday that it would be madness for the United States and its NATO allies to go to war in Libya to try to topple Moammar Gadhafi.
Chavez…criticized President Barack Obama for expressing support for the Libyan opposition.
“Right now they are preparing a war, the Yankees and their NATO allies,” Chavez said in a televised speech.
He predicted a larger war in Libya could push world oil prices to $200 a barrel, and he echoed Gadhafi’s warnings that a foreign military intervention would unleash much more bloodshed.
“If the Yankees (attempt) the madness of invading Libya — Gadhafi already said it a few days ago — it would be a new Vietnam,” Chavez said.
The Venezuelan president has proposed forming a “humanitarian commission” to travel to Libya to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
His stance has been echoed by Latin American allies including Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia. But other countries have dismissed Chavez’s mediation idea, and rebels in Libya have not expressed willingness to negotiate as long as Gadhafi remains in power.
Obama said Friday in Washington that the U.S. and the world community are “slowly tightening the noose” on Gadhafi. It was not clear what next steps Obama might be willing to take, but he said he was considering all options, including military efforts with NATO partners.
“Today I saw Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, saying that he’s concerned about the price of oil,” Chavez said.
Chavez has accused the U.S. of manoeuvring to seize control of Libya’s oil. He said he believes events in Libya are being distorted to lay the groundwork for a conflict, and likened it to the situation in Venezuela in 2002 when he survived a failed coup.
“In its desperation, the Yankee empire is continuing and will continue to threaten nations that struggle for their dignity … conspiring against governments,” Chavez said.
He said his proposal for a peace effort would respect “the self-determination and freedom of Libya, which is a sister nation.”
As for the conflict raging in Libya, Chavez said: “That’s a matter the Libyans should resolve.”
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2. NATO’s Threat
The Nation
March 12, 2011
NATO’s threat
It is rather disturbing that NATO has brazenly warned that, if needed, it can respond at a very short notice in Libya, despite the fact that it has no mandate to fiddle with the issue. Granted, the unrest is on a large scale, but NATO has no business to poke its nose into Libya’s internal affairs. It is for the people of Libya themselves to decide what is best for them.
NATO’s warning only reeks of the arrogance and eagerness of the Western powers to resort to the use of force where the Muslim world is concerned.
Its sabre-rattling also strengthens the perception that in order to maintain their economic and military supremacy around the world they are allergic to seeing rivals, especially the Muslim world, achieve a measure of stability to grow and develop.
US military adventurism in Iraq, Afghanistan, its sanctions on Iran, and drone attacks in Pakistan are part and parcel of the ploy to keep the Muslim world from getting on the path to progress.
The West has at this point of time achieved unprecedented progress but it appears it does not want others to catch up with it. This policy of world domination is highly destructive and its fallout will only spell disaster for the West.
The US must understand that these days a revolutionary fervour has swept the Muslim countries, which are going through an evolutionary phase. In the circumstances of the sort, fishing in troubled waters will be highly counterproductive and create a new wave of anti-Americanism. French President Nicolas Sarkozy must have taken leave of his senses when he stated that France was ready to carry out targeted attacks on Libya. These hawkish designs make it pretty clear that the name of the game is to turn Libya into another Iraq.
NATO must first worry about the military defeat it is suffering at the hands of Taliban in Afghanistan before thinking of undertaking any other venture. The voice and passion of the Libyan people for change that is manifest in countrywide demonstrations must be respected.
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3. African Union Gives Rebuff To NATO Intervention Plans In Libya
EurActiv
March 11, 2011
African Union speaks up on Libya, but not message West expected
-Putting NATO’s role at the fore of discussions of a no-fly zone and other limited military confrontations with Libyan forces is a serious miscalculation. The EU summit must not endorse this misstep as it is likely to set back agreement on a united international approach, including with Russia, China and others. Unsurprisingly, the African Union itself has now declared strong opposition to any NATO-led action.
Western leaders must understand that regardless of recent demarches by Arab and African regional organisations, the African Union is the organisation more likely to speak with credible authority on the sort of international interventions in Libya that will be acceptable, writes Oladiran Bello, a researcher at Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE.
“Events in Libya continue to ebb and flow, defying any clear trend analysis as the EU and US scramble for a coordinated response. A number of swift retakes of formerly-rebel held cities by forces loyal to Muammar Gadaffi has upped the stakes, whilst the European Union summit seems set to take its cue from the increasingly hardline position taken by especially Britain and France.
Potentially tortuous UN Security Council debates have also convinced Western officials to offer NATO as one possible route for action. Putting NATO’s role at the fore of discussions of a no-fly zone and other limited military confrontations with Libyan forces is a serious miscalculation. The EU summit must not endorse this misstep as it is likely to set back agreement on a united international approach, including with Russia, China and others. Unsurprisingly, the African Union itself has now declared strong opposition to any NATO-led action.
First, eventual UN blessing of military action is extremely unlikely – if not inconceivable – without some sort of AU support. Most tellingly, never have Africans turned to NATO even in for the continent’s hour of serious need such as in Ituri, eastern Congo, where well-equipped international forces were required to prevent a massacre in 2003. And Washington should know better given the negative African reactions to the US’s own Africa Command (AFRICOM) initiative.
Second, the EU’s biggest member states with long experience in Africa – supposedly Brussels’ biggest assets in relations with the continent – are once again proving to be one of its big liabilities. Putting the cart before the horse – and in defiance of recent exhortations to a multilateralist approach – Paris, followed by London, have declared official recognition for rebel authorities in eastern Libya. It is one thing to invite fellow EU states to follow their lead post hoc but taking such unilateral measures without coordination with the AU completely contradicts even the EU’s rhetoric of the past few years about a new equal partnership with Africans and their pan-continental body.
Third, the imperative of standing up for the protection of civilian rights in Libya is all well, but using it as justifications for NATO actions that could provoke Africa’s non-interference reflexes will be less than smart. And who is to blame those who argue, including in the Arab street, that the rush to unilateral initiatives by outside powers conceals cynical designs around access to Libyan oil?
….
Fourth, EU political advisers at this week’s summit must also remind leaders of Libya’s very successful rebranding effort of the last decade, effectively presenting itself as a pivotal African power, rather playing a progressively less influential role within the Arab League. This rebranding has gone hand-in-hand with building networks for Muammar Gadaffi among many sub-Saharan African actors….
What are the clear imports for policy? Western leaders must understand that regardless of recent demarches by Arab and African regional organisations on potential joint actions regarding Libya, the AU is the organisation more likely to speak with credible authority on the sort of international actions or interventions in Libya that will be acceptable or otherwise.
The Arab League and collusive dynamics in Middle Eastern geopolitics may also lend Gulf Arab opinions to talks of NATO intervention in Libya, but the AU is a different animal altogether. AU opposition to intervention in Africa by a Western military alliance may well represent a reflexive knee-jerk reaction, but the depth of opposition and the potential price of failing to heed must not be under-estimated.
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4. Russia Opposes Foreign Military Intervention In Libya
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110312/162965407.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 12, 2011
Russia opposes foreign military intervention in Libya
Foreign military intervention in Libya is inadmissible in any form, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France and Britain are ready to launch “targeted air strikes” on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces if they use chemical weapons or warplanes against civilians.
“Foreign military intervention should be ruled out,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry’s statement welcomes the recent African Union resolution, which supports Libya’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemns any foreign military intervention.
The statement comes ahead of an emergency meeting by foreign ministers of Arab League member states, who will gather in Cairo to discuss whether to support introduction of a no-fly zone above Libya.
Calls for the zone closure have stepped up in recent days after Libyan armed forces launched further air strikes on the rebel frontline in the east of the country.
According to some media reports NATO’s military staff have started drawing up contingency plans for sending air and naval forces into combat if called upon.
….
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5. Armenia: NATO’s Third Partner In The Caucasus
http://times.am/2011/03/12/s-ohanyan-spoke-about-armenian-nato-relations/
Times.am
March 12, 2011
S. Ohanyan spoke about Armenian-NATO relations
On March 11 Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan met his counterparts from different countries and NATO military authorities in Brussels.
Especially, bilateral cooperation issues were discussed with Georgian and Polish counterparts. Armenian-NATO military cooperation was discussed with the NATO military authorities, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia reports.
The Armenian Defense Minister delivered a speech on NATO activities in Afghanistan and hoped the efforts would succeed.
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6. Afghanistan’s Karzai: U.S., NATO Should Halt Operations
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/12/47307301.html
Voice of Russia
March 12, 2011
Karzai fed up with NATO
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai on Saturday stated that NATO and US troops should “stop their operations in the country”, when meeting the families, whose relatives were mistakenly killed by the Coalition in the city of Asadabad, the center of Kunar province.
Witnesses say that the president cried as he held a girl who had her leg amputated following a US chopper attack.
Seventy four civilians, including 40 children, have been mistakenly killed in Kunar from February 15 to March 1 . Karzai himself lost his father’s cousin killed in the Kandahar province.
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7. New NATO Soldiers Killed In Southern Afghanistan
Associated Press
March 12, 2011
NATO says 2 service members killed in bombing in southern Afghanistan
KABUL: NATO says two of its service members have been killed in bombings in southern Afghanistan.
The coalition on Saturday did not provide the nationality or details of how the service members were killed. It said both died Friday. The deaths bring to nine the number of coalition troops who have died in combat so far this month.
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8. After Trump Meeting: Saakashvili Says Georgia Is Model For Former Soviet States, North Africa
http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=40658&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=
Ruatavi 2
March 12, 2011
Saakashvili gives interview to Fox News
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili gave an interview to the Your World talk show of Fox News after the meeting with Donald Trump during his visit to New York.
The host of the show asked Saakashvili about the latest developments in Georgia as well as the agreement signed with the Trump organization in New York.
President Saakashvili talked in his interview about Georgia`s capacities and reiterated that the country is ranked by the World Bank number one easiest place to do business.
Mikheil Saakashvili also stressed the significance of freedom and carrying out reforms in the country.
“Now, the other question is — and that is exactly what happened in Georgia, that we all know what people don`t want. They don`t want oppression. We all want — know that they want freedom.
“But how are they going to achieve it? Today, there — is there a clear program of reform? Is there a clear program of efficient government and institution-building up to now? We — by the way, we have lots of people right now all around our place. And in our region around us, there are countries in Central Asia, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine that are learning from our reforms.
“We also learn from other places that kind of had revolutions before us. Now we hear lots of Egyptians and the Tunisians want to come and learn. And that`s the main thing. It`s not about waving flags only or taking to the streets only. The — well, except when there`s violence, and, somehow, we escaped without violence in that one — but it`s still a fun part of it. The hard work part of it is much more reform.
….
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9. Donald Trump: Saakashvili One Of The Great Leaders Of The World
http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=40659&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=
Rustavi 2
March 12, 2011
Foreign media comment on Trump-Saakashvili meeting
-“I`m dealing with one of the great leaders of the world,” Trump said. “I understand how the world works. I deal with the world,” the story says.
Foreign media commented on the agreement signed between the Trump Organization and Georgia`s Silk Road Group in New York on Thursday.
“Trump praised Saakashvili for political and economic reform efforts in that country, suggesting the U.S. was lagging far behind.
“You see what`s happened with the Republic of Georgia and you see what`s happening to our country,” Trump said, pointing to high unemployment, spiking gas and food prices and the weak U.S. dollar. “You see what can be done with the proper leadership. We in this country, we don`t have that leadership. We`re being badly decimated in this country. We`re like a whipping post,” the Wall Street Journal writes.
The New York Times published a story titled “Trump`s foreign approach.”
“The real estate mogul — who says he`s flirting with running for president — appeared with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili after announcing that he`s building a new luxury hotel and resort tower in the former Soviet republic.
“In terms of foreign relations I think this is really a great start because this is a country [Georgia] with amazing leadership,” Trump said during a press conference yesterday at Trump Tower.
“I`m dealing with one of the great leaders of the world,” Trump said. “I understand how the world works. I deal with the world,” the story says.
“First made public last September, Trump’s decision to expand into Georgia – first, with a skyscraper complex in the Black Sea resort town of Batumi, followed by a second development in Tbilisi — is being touted by the government as a breakthrough in its longstanding efforts to attract foreign investment,” Eurasianet says.
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10. Philippines: Farmers, Church Groups Oppose U.S. War Games
Bulatlat
March 12, 2011
Balikatan in Nueva Ecija: Farmers Fear More Rights Abuses, Displacement
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Southeast Asia: West Completes Plans For Asian NATO
MANILA: Immediately in the wake of announcements that at least 6,000 American troops will be arriving in the Philippines to participate in the Balikatan joint military exercises, an alliance of peasant groups and their supporters from ecumenical formations declared their opposition. The farmers groups said that the presence of more military forces in the areas where the exercises will be held is certain to result in more human rights violations against civilians. They also said that farmers will be facing renewed threats of eviction.
The public affairs officer of the Balikatan exercises representing the Philippines, Maj. Enrico Gil Ileto, recently announced that the American troops will join 2,000 Filipino soldiers in a series of exercises beginning April 10. For the next 10 days, the combined forces will hold exercises at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western Command (WESCOM) in Puerto Princesa in Palawan.
Field training exercises will be held in various training sites, namely in the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation (FMMR), the headquarters of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and Special Operations Command in Nueva Ecija; Basa Air Base and Clark Air Base, both in Pampanga; Crow Valley Range in Tarlac; Naval Station L. Gantioqui in Zambales; Sangley Point in Cavite City; Marine Base Ternate in Cavite; and in Mactan Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City.
“Exercise Balikatan 2011 is a great opportunity to conduct training which is vital in maintaining the readiness and interoperability of the AFP and U.S. Armed Forces,” said Armed Forces chief of staff Eduardo Oban Jr., according to a report by the Philippine Information Agency. The report said “the conduct of Balikatan allows a long and lasting partnership….”
A local peasant group said that military exercises in the FMMR should be banned the same way that the whole Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that allows said exercises should be scrapped. The Alyansa ng Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa sa 3,100 Ektarya ng Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation (ALMANA 3,100) has been campaigning against military interference in the 3,100 hectare land, while the residents in the military reservation have been fighting for their right to own the land since the 1960s.
They are supported by the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Tanggol Magsasaka, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), and the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR).
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11. NATO Oil Tankers Torched In Pakistan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C03%5C13%5Cstory_13-3-2011_pg7_11
Daily Times
March 12, 2011
2 NATO tankers torched in Bolan
QUETTA: Two NATO oil tankers were torched by unidentified men on Saturday in the Karta area of Mach town in the Bolan district.
Official sources said that three oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan were on their way to Kandahar from Karachi when unidentified terrorists on motorbikes opened fire on them on the National Highway near Mach town.
As a result, two of the tankers caught fire and were completely gutted while the third oil tanker was partially damaged in the attack.
The driver of one of the oil tankers, identified as Ehsanullah Khan, a resident of Peshawar, sustained bullet injures and was taken to the Mach Civil Hospital by the locals.
The assailants managed to escape from the scene successfully. Levies personnel reached the site soon after the incident and cordoned off the area. Talking to Daily Times, a levies official confirmed that two NATO oil tankers were attacked and completely destroyed while another was partially damaged.
Stop NATO News March 12, 2011
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1. NATO To Hold Large-Scale Military Exercise Off Spain
2. Latin American Leaders Reject Libyan Intervention, Back Mediation
3. Second EU Crisis Session: Sarkozy To Demand Air Strikes On Libya
4. CFR’s Elliott Abrams On Military Intervention In Libya
5. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Oil Pipeline Deal Nears Completion
6. Trans Adriatic Pipeline: Albania Recruited For Three-Continent Energy War
7. U.S. Envoy Bryza Supports “Facebook Revolution” In Azerbaijan
8. Kazakhstan: U.S. Steps Up Anti-Russian Energy War
9. NATO Chief: Libya Risks Division, Becoming “Failed State”
10. Sarkozy: France, Britain Ready To Launch Air Strikes Against Libya
11. West Is Ready To Invade Libya
12. NATO Defense Chiefs Approve Cyber Defense Concept
13. Gates To NATO Meeting Of 48 Defense Chiefs: In And Out Of Afghan War Together
14. Heated Debate In European Parliament Over Kosovo Organ Trafficking
15. Russia Categorically Rejects French Threat To Bomb Libya
16. Videos/Text: U.S. War On Libya? Enough Is Enough!
17. U.S. Amphibious Assault Group, Marines Arrive In Malaysia
18. Supercarrier Visit In Japan: U.S.-Vietnam Military Alliance Against China
19. Mongolia: U.S. Expands Work On “Democracy Education, Mineral Sector”
20. U.S. Navy Prepares For Arctic Struggle As Climate Changes
21. Afghanistan: U.S. Air Base Comes Under Rocket Attack
22. U.S. Drone Strikes Kill Six In Pakistan
23. World Nations Reject Libya Intervention As NATO Positions Warships In Mediterranean
24. Australia: New U.S. Military Outpost Aimed Against Rise Of China And India
25. Canada: War-Making Unwelcome
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1. NATO To Hold Large-Scale Military Exercise Off Spain
EuroWeekly News
March 11, 2011
NATO ships come to rest in Malaga Port Costa del Sol
This weekend the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1, will remain in Malaga Port after several days of exercises in the Alboran Sea. The group is made up of five minesweepers, from Germany, England, Holland and Belgium, and a Polish auxiliary ship which is in command of the fleet.
The group usually operates exclusively between Norway, the Strait of Gibraltar, Ireland and the Baltic nations.
Up to 3,500 NATO personnel from 11 nations will participate in the Noble Mariner exercise, including 20 warships, the Spanish command ship SPS Castilla, frigates, tankers, four submarines and four aircraft.
The group will arrive in Malaga to rest on Thursday.
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2. Latin American Leaders Reject Libyan Intervention
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/11/c_13772586.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 11, 2011
Latin American leaders reject intervention in Libya, back mediation
by Maja Wallengren
Colombia: U.S. Escalates War Plans In Latin America
South Asia, Latin America: Pentagon’s 21st Century Counterinsurgency Wars
MEXICO CITY: Latin American leaders have voiced their objection to any military intervention in unrest-torn Libya amid increasing calls for military actions to stop the spreading violence in the North African country.
Most Latin American leaders agreed that military intervention would only prolong the conflict in Libya and peaceful mediation is the best way to deal with the situation.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has proposed to send a delegation to Tripoli to mediate between the forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the rebels. The initiative has been applauded by a number of countries in the region.
Chavez’s proposal came as NATO was discussing a military intervention in Libya to stop the country’s violence.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said “the self-determination of the people must be respected so that countries can choose for themselves what economic models and choice of government are the most convenient.”
“When threats of military interventions emerge, it is necessary for the whole nation to stand together in unity to defend their sovereignty,” Morales, who met with Gaddafi during the Libyan leader’s visit to Bolivia two years ago, told reporters in the capital La Paz.
“We are against the civil war in Libya, and in favor of an immediate peace and the full respect for the lives and rights of all citizens, without foreign intervention,” Fidel Castro, former Cuban leader, said in Havana.
Cuba “fully supports the courageous position of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez,” Castro added.
In Montevideo, Uruguayan President Jose Mujica welcomed the initiative, saying Uruguay firmly supports a mediation effort led by Latin America so as to avoid any further loss of life.
Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro said an intervention in Libya “could not be backed under any circumstances” and Uruguay “appeals to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to promote a constructive dialogue that allows for a peaceful solution to the crisis.”
Leaders of Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico have not expressed support for the Chavez initiative, but many regional leaders, including those of Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, consider themselves as friends of Gaddafi and have developed increasingly close economic and political cooperation with Libya in recent years.
“I have been speaking with Gaddafi, he is again fighting a great battle,” Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega told fellow lawmakers in Managua during a political meeting earlier this week.
Despite their opposition against military intervention, all leaders condemned the violence and the loss of human lives in the North African country in the last few weeks.
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3. Second EU Crisis Session: Sarkozy To Demand Air Strikes On Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110311/162947636.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 11, 2011
EU to hold another extraordinary session on Libyan developments
Brusels: Heads of the 27 member states of the European Union will gather on Friday for an extraordinary session to discuss possible actions in regard to the current situation in Libya.
The participants in the session are expected to issue a joint statement demanding the resignation of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled the country for 42 years.
Earlier reports said French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to propose heads of the EU member states to deliver air strikes at Gaddafi’s military facilities in Libya, including two airports.
In late February, the European Union imposed a travel ban on 26 Libyan officials, including Gaddafi, and his five family members, and froze their European assets over the use of violence against peaceful protesters in mid-February.
The unrest in Libya has already claimed the lives of several thousand people, with fierce clashes between insurgents and pro-Gaddafi forces continuing in the country’s east where many major cities and towns have been taken over by rebels.
The European Union and NATO are also discussing the possible introduction of a no-fly zone over Libya, which would prevent pro-Gaddafi troops from carrying out airstrikes against insurgents.
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4. CFR’s Elliott Abrams On Military Intervention In Libya
http://www.cfr.org/libya/us-military-intervention-libya/p24362
Council on Foreign Relations
March 11, 2011
U.S. Military Intervention for Libya?
Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies
With troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi pushing back rebel forces that had taken control of several cities, there’s increasing urgency to the question of whether the United States and its allies should intervene beyond sanctions on the Qaddafi regime. Specifically, the question of imposing a no-fly zone has sparked debate both in Washington and within the UN Security Council. In this exchange and for the next week, CFR fellows Elliott Abrams and Micah Zenko debate the question of whether or not the United States should intervene militarily in Libya.
Elliott Abrams:
The key question is what our goal is. Military intervention is a means, of course, and not an end.
I take it that our goal is the end of the Qaddafi regime, for that goal has been stated by the president and secretary of state. At this point, Qaddafi’s survival in power would weaken the United States and weaken the president, showing that defiance works and that our words have little meaning….
So how do we achieve that goal of getting Qaddafi out? We use a combination of means, which may include UN resolutions, Arab League and other Arab and Muslim actions, sanctions, freezes of his oil income, recognition of an alternative government, meetings with opposition leaders, broadcasting against the regime, and on to more forceful actions. These could include arming the opposition and/or preventing Qaddafi from using the military strength he retains to win this civil war. Preventing him from using air power is a possible part of the mix, and that might be achieved from NATO air bases in Italy or ships in the Mediterranean.
Such steps would constitute military intervention despite the fact that no American or NATO soldier would set foot in Libya. It is extremely difficult to believe, and I do not believe, that the air power and air defenses available to Qaddafi would present much of a problem for NATO military planners. What he owns is old and far inferior to the aircraft, missiles, and electronic warfare available to NATO and U.S. forces.
….
The conclusion, then, is that we have a national interest in his defeat and must act sensibly to ensure it. That will most likely include some military action of a limited kind, and we should not shrink from using the means to the reach the ends we have embraced.
….
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5. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Oil Pipeline Deal Nears Completion
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C03%5C10%5Cstory_10-3-2011_pg5_15
Daily Times
March 12, 2011
TAPI gas pipeline deal nears completion: ADB country director
By Sajid Chaudhry
NATO Trains Afghan Army To Guard Asian Pipeline
-CARAEC’s six multilateral partners are the ADB [Asian Development Bank], European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.
-Pakistan is a fresh entrant to the CAREC [Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation] programme and other members of the CAREC are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
-“The US is a major partner in the program and is involved through the IMF, IDB and WB.”
ADB officials said the CAREC program is improving six regional transport corridors that will link CAREC countries to each other and to other Eurasian sub-regions [including] the Europe-to-East Asia corridor that links Europe to the China and East Asia.
ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Country Director, Rune Stroem on Wednesday said that the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline deal is close to completion and a gas sale purchase price agreement is likely to be concluded in the near future.
Pakistan’s membership on the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) group could help import oil through the pipeline, gas and power from Central Asian Republics (CARs) as well as becoming a hub of regional trade by providing 11 member countries access to the Gwadar and Karachi ports.
He was talking to media along with a delegation of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program comprising Shigeko Hattori and Ronald Antonio Q Butiong, delegation that is currently visiting Pakistan.
ADB country director informed that TAPI negotiating parties have made satisfactory progress on the TAPI gas pipeline deal and the gas price issue is under negotiation and is at advanced stage,” he said, adding that all parties on TAPI gas pipeline deal had reached to a point of execution.
Pakistan is a fresh entrant to the CAREC programme and other members of the CAREC are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
“The CAREC secretariat is currently reviewing its development strategy to include Pakistan and Turkmenistan development projects in CAREC strategy until 2020,” he said, adding that Pakistan will also have access to seaports [and] the Pakistani Gwader Port and Karachi port will have enough trade activities.
“We seek huge potential on regional activities in oil, gas and electricity in the CAREC regional bloc,” he said, adding that the TAPI project is a commercial deal and tremendous progress has been made on this project.
Rune said that the CAREC Program was a partnership of 10 countries and that 6 multilateral institutions were facilitating regional cooperation in the priority areas of transport, trade facilitation, trade policy and energy.
The program is a proactive facilitator of practical, result-oriented regional projects and policy initiatives that are critical to trade expansion and sustainable development.
CARAEC’s six multilateral partners are the ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. Shigeko said that ADB is aware of the fact that CARAEC regional cooperation is not possible without peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan is major factor to peace in the region.
Stroem said, since 2011, the CAREC program had mobilised more than $15 billion worth of investments in the transport, trade, and energy sectors.
Responding to question of US interests in the region, Stroem said “The US is a major partner in the program and is involved through the IMF, IDB and WB.” He agreed to the concern that there were lots of disputes in the region among member countries but the donors were bringing all the parties on table to resolve issues.
He was of the view that they are promoting inter-regional (CAREC) trade activities that would be followed by intra-regional connectivity in the next few years. ADB officials said the CAREC program is improving six regional transport corridors that will link CAREC countries to each other and to other Eurasian sub-regions, creating opportunities for more efficient trade.
They mentioned Europe-to-East Asia corridor that links Europe to the China and East Asia. “Touching the Torkham border of Pakistan, the route traverses from the border with the Russian Federation to the China via Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic,” they added.
The ADB report named ‘Strategy for Regional Cooperation in the Energy Sector of CAREC Countries’ says that the domestic investment made in the CAREC countries will focus on energy efficiency and clean energy. Energy efficiency investments will encompass efficiency improvements in energy production, transportation, distribution and energy use and will cover the areas such as; loss reduction, rehabilitation of existing assets and least-cost system expansion and operation while the cross-border investment will focus on production of ecologically clean energy and energy trade and will be pursued with mutual agreement among all relevant parties in cross-border energy transmission, facilitation of access to third country energy markets and production for exports.
The report says that there may be investments, trade, security, and geo-political risks to Another ADB report ‘Trade Policy Strategic Action Plan’ says that the average tariffs in CAREC countries are generally below 10 percent, lower than the overall average of about 11 percent for developing countries in 2005.
The Central Asian countries have been bestowed with strong power transmission networks in the regions constituting about 1600 km of 500 KV and 1400 km of 220 KV lines.
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6. Trans Adriatic Pipeline: Albania Recruited For Three-Continent Energy War
http://www.today.az/news/business/82408.html
Trend News Agency
March 11, 2011
SOCAR studies prospects for TAP gas pipeline project
Azerbaijan And The Caspian: NATO’s War For The World’s Heartland
-TAP is part of the South Corridor project, and is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Europe. The pipeline will begin in Greece and pass through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy.
Albania is interested in cooperation with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Albanian Foreign Minister Edmond Hacinasto said at a meeting with the SOCAR leadership today, the company reported.
Hacinasto said there is great potential for Azerbaijan-Albania cooperation in the oil and gas sector.
Albania attaches great importance to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas pipeline project to transport gas from the Caspian basin to Europe, he said.
SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev recalled Azerbaijan’s support of the South Energy Corridor Project. He said SOCAR is also closely examining the TAPN project.
TAP is part of the South Corridor project, and is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Europe. The pipeline will begin in Greece and pass through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy. The length of the pipeline is 520 kilometers. The initial capacity of the pipeline is 10 billion cubic meters, with a maximum of 20 billion cubic meters per year.
The estimated cost of the project is 1.5 billion euro. The shareholders are Norwegian Statoil (42.5 percent), Swiss EGL (42.5 percent) and German E.ON Ruhrgas (15 percent).
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7. U.S. Envoy Bryza Supports “Facebook Revolution” In Azerbaijan
PanArmenian.net
March 11, 2011
Bryza stands up for potential revolutionists in Azerbaijan
Politicizing Ethnicity: U.S. Plan To Repeat Yugoslav Scenario In Caucasus Could Cause World War
The European Union expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s arrest of young democracy activists trying to organise a nationwide day of protest through the Facebook social network. The EU delegation in Baku said in a statement it was “concerned” over the “increasing number of reports of arrests of youth activists in the country.”
The “Great People’s Day in Azerbaijan,” called for March 11, is an attempt by activists in the tightly controlled Muslim-majority country to latch on to the mood of revolt sweeping through the Arab world. But the authorities have made clear they will not tolerate even small-scale unsanctioned protests and have arrested leading activists on what the opposition claims are spurious charges.
Five young activists have been arrested so far, prompting Amnesty International to urge Azerbaijan to “stop this crackdown immediately and allow activists to organize peaceful protests.”
The U.S. ambassador to the former Soviet republic, Matthew Bryza, said he would “continue to monitor closely” the cases.
The group’s page on Facebook, the online social networking site used extensively in the revolt that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, says “we are on the road of democracy and intend to follow this road till the end.” “By clicking ‘I am attending’ you are simply showing your support for the Azerbaijani cause online.” Some 4,135 people had confirmed their attendance by March 11 morning, EUbusiness reported.
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8. Kazakhstan: U.S. Steps Up Anti-Russian Energy War
http://en.trend.az/capital/energy/1843802.html
Trend News Agency
March 11, 2011
US organizes Oil and Gas Trade Mission to Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan: U.S., NATO Seek Military Outpost Between Russia And China
-The two countries will play a strategic role in reducing Europe’s traditional dependence on Russian oil and gas. Turkey, at the crossroads of Europe, and Kazakhstan, the key oil and gas player in Central Asia, are both strategically located in their respective regions and key U.S. allies.
The U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce is organizing Oil and Gas Trade Mission to Turkey and Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Today reports.
The U.S. Commercial Service is encouraging U.S. companies to apply for participation in a Eurasian Oil and Gas Suppliers Trade Mission from June 20-24, 2011. The trade mission will travel to Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey and Almaty, Kazakhstan. This 2011 Executive led Oil and Gas Trade Mission offers U.S. suppliers of oil and gas equipment and services the chance to find partners and make sales to these two major energy markets, heraldonline.com reported.
The two countries will play a strategic role in reducing Europe’s traditional dependence on Russian oil and gas. Turkey, at the crossroads of Europe, and Kazakhstan, the key oil and gas player in Central Asia, are both strategically located in their respective regions and key U.S. allies.
The U.S. Embassy’s Commercial section in both Kazakhstan and Turkey will arrange one-on-one appointments based on participant needs and interests in each of three cities.
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9. NATO Chief: Libya Risks Division, Becoming “Failed State”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/10/libya-nato-risk-idUSWEA790520110310
Reuters
March 10, 2011
Libya risks division, becoming failed state – NATO
BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday there was a risk that Libya could be come a divided, failed state that could be a haven for terrorists
“There is… the risk of division within the country and the risk of seeing a failed state in the future that could be breeding ground of extremism and terrorism, so obviously this is a matter of concern,” Rasmussen said after a meeting of NATO defence ministers.
“We strongly urge the government of Libya to stop violence and allow a peaceful transition to democracy.”
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Missy Ryan)
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10. Sarkozy: France, Britain Ready To Launch Air Strikes Against Libya
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110311/162956089.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 11, 2001
Sarkozy says France, U.K. ready to hit Libya
Moscow: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France and Britain are ready to launch “targeted air strikes” on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces if they use chemical weapons or warplanes against civilians.
Sarkozy said he would urge European leaders to follow France’s lead in recognizing the Libyan rebel leadership, the National Libyan Council, as he arrived for an emergency EU summit on Libya on Friday.
He urged defensive limited strikes on Gaddafi’s key military command positions as pro-Gaddafi forces were reported to be retaking control of the cities of Zawiya and Ras Lanuf, previously held by the rebels.
Sarkozy and British Prime Minister are in Brussels to win EU backing for a UN resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
Russia joined UN arms embargo on Libya on Thursday, but says it is opposed to Western military intervention.
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11. West Is Ready To Invade Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/11/47248618.html
Voice of Russia
March 11, 2011
The West is ready to invade Libya
Britain may lead a military operation against Col. Muammar Gaddafi. Prime Minister David Cameron is demonstrating a profound insight into the situation in the Middle East and a zealous support for austerity sanctions or even a military invasion of Libya.
David Cameron has been dubbed “Blair’s heir” for the tough foreign policy he borrowed from Tony Blair, who without blinking an eye backed the US military campaign against Iraq. Now, Mr. Cameron is ready to lead a campaign against Libya.
Top British strategists are concerned over Cameron’s transformation into a belligerent leader after his crucial role in slashing defense spending and setting the deadline for troops withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now, he is in daily contact with the US president to secure the resignation of Muammar Gaddafi. And encouraged by David Cameron, the EU’s Foreign Minister Baroness Ashton is meeting with NATO officials to discuss a no-fly zone over Libya.
[T]he British prime minister has got several reliable allies in Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, the latter having assumed the “war hawk” principles too, following a surprise move on Thursday when he recognized the legitimacy of the opposition government in Libya and expressed readiness to carry out pinpoint strikes at Gaddafi’s troops.
EU leaders have dismissed Sarkozy’s moves as a “sovereign position” which has nothing to do with that of the EU. But military analysts across the globe say that an international military campaign in Libya is imminent. In the opinion of Vice-President of the Institute of Geopolitical Problems Leonid Ivashov, preparations for an air blockade of Tripoli are nearly over.
The Enterprise aircraft carrier is on its way to the region, and so are ships and air defense platforms. These are enough to paralyze Gaddafi’s radar fields, airfields and flight control systems.
Former Bundeswehr Lieutenant Colonel Jurgen Rose thinks along the same lines.
Similar operations have been held before, in so-called no-fly zones in Northern and Southern Iraq. Gaddafi’s fighter planes can be shot down without fearing a response from air defenses and his airfields, and aircraft and runways can be easily destroyed too. Libya’s hopelessly outdated aircraft have no chance.
Many experts agree that while Libya’s air space is easy to seal off, the political aspect of the crisis remains outstanding and both NATO and the EU are aware of that. NATO leaders have made it clear that there will be no more military interventions without a UN mandate. NATO’s reputation in the Islamic world is bad enough. But a carte blanche from the UN Security Council is unlikely as a number of countries, including permanent members, are opposed to such a move.
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12. NATO Defense Chiefs Approve Cyber Defense Concept
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/11/47243913.html
Voice of Russia
March 11, 2011
NATO posts Cyber Defense Concept
Defense ministers from 28 NATO countries, gathered for a two-day meeting in Brussels, have approved a new Cyber Defense Concept.
The new Concept stipulates measures to safeguard computer networks against cyber threats and underscores the importance of cooperation with other countries.
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13. Gates To NATO Meeting Of 48 Defense Chiefs: In And Out Of Afghan War Together
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63116
U.S. Department of Defense
March 11, 2011
Afghan Mission “At Critical Juncture,” Gates Tells NATO
By Karen Parrish
BRUSSELS, Belgium: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates challenged a gathering of 48 NATO defense ministers here today to commit money and people, at what he called “a critical juncture for our mission in Afghanistan.”
“There will be harder and heavier fighting to come in the months ahead, and many of the gains we have seen could be reversed if we do not remain fully committed to this effort,” the secretary said.
NATO defense ministers and those from other countries that contribute troops to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, along with Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, met to discuss the Joint Afghan-NATO Transition Board’s recommendations for the first areas where responsibility for security will transfer to Afghan forces.
….
Since the 30,000-troop surge President Barack Obama announced in December 2009, additional forces have “allowed us to significantly expand, and move closer to linking, zones of security in the crucial south and east,” Gates said.
….
That advantage will be threatened, the secretary cautioned, if ISAF nations don’t “maintain the unity and commitment we expressed at Lisbon.”
“There is too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job done right,” he said.
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Like many ISAF nations, the United States suffered more casualties last year than in any other year of the war, Gates said.
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Enduring success can only come through building Afghan security forces, Gates said, challenging ISAF nations to provide $1 billion annually to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund.
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Gates asked ministers to “abide by the principle of ‘in together, out together.'”
“Resist the urge to do what is politically expedient, and have the courage of patience,” he concluded.
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14. Heated Debate In European Parliament Over Kosovo Organ Trafficking
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=11&nav_id=73171
Beta News Agency
March 11, 2011
“Heated debate behind closed doors”
Kosovo: Marking Ten Years Of Worldwide Wars
STRASBOURG: European Parliament (EP) members engaged in a “heated debate” over the Kosovo organ trafficking allegations, reports Beta.
According to the news agency’s sources, the debate in one of the parliament’s committee’s ended with the conclusion that the EP must stop its years-long silence and appoint a rapporteur on organized crime in Kosovo, whose main bosses are part of many key structures of the authorities and in leading positions.
Beta was told this by sources in the Committee for Foreign Policy of the EP where Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty reported, behind closed doors, about crimes and the trafficking in Serb organs in Kosovo and Albania.
Several members of the EP told the news agency that, despite great divisions among the European deputies and fierce attacks against Marty, but also with many stands in support of the Council of Europe’s rapporteur, the stand prevailed that it is impossible to “bury one’s head in the sand” any more.
At the meeting which was closed to the media, Marty once again sharply warned that the truth cannot be learned without a serious international investigation and, primarily, a reliable witness protection program, which is currently not possible to secure in Kosovo.
Marty’s report, incriminating the ethnic Albanian KLA for committing atrocities against Serb civilians, including trade in their organs, provided the basis for a Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) resolution adopted in January, which calls for launching a probe into the allegations.
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15. Russia Categorically Rejects French Threat To Bomb Libya
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16031903&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 11, 2011
Moscow against Sarkozy proposal on Libya bombing
MOSCOW: Moscow opposes the proposal of French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the pinpoint bombing of Libyan territory by French warplanes, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the State Duma on Friday, responding to questions from MPs.
“We are categorically against the unilateral use of force by anybody. A dialogue between the warring parties and national reconciliation are the only way for the settlement of the conflict in the region,” he stressed.
“This is mostly the purpose of Resolution No. 1970 of the U.N. Security Council, which was drafted and adopted with the active participation of Russia,” he added.
———————————————————-
http://rt.com/politics/lavrov-libya-foreign-interference/
RT
March 11, 2011
Russian FM says military interference in Libyan affairs unacceptable
African countries must define for themselves which direction of development to choose, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
Military interference in the internal affairs of African states is unacceptable, the minister told a news conference in Moscow. Each nation has the right to decide its future according to the UN Charter and other international agreements, he stressed. The main thing is that no force must be applied against civilians.
All external players should give African states “the assistance they need in restoring peace,” Lavrov noted. But all these states must define themselves “the vector of movement in each conflict and crisis.” Careless moves and recipes which are good in other parts of the world may cause serious problems for African countries.
Moscow had already denounced the use of force against civilians in Libya. As Lavrov put it, these actions could be qualified as a crime. As the Libyan regime is continuing to use force against its population, President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed a decree to join the UN sanctions against Tripoli.
However, the Russian leadership believes the further clashes in the African country could still be avoided. Lavrov urged the government forces and rebels in Libya “to sit and come to an agreement, because otherwise it’s civil war.”
One of the “external recipes” for settling the Libyan conflict is the idea of no-fly zone. If the current speculations about this issue turn into proposals Russia will study them. But Lavrov warned that the plan clearly demands extensive information and elaboration. So far the whole idea remains hypothetical. It is not clear what means and forces will be used to ensure control over no-fly zones.
What the world badly needs now is independent and objective assessment of the current developments in Libya, first of all from the UN special envoy for Libya, the minister stressed.
Earlier, Lavrov had said the violence against civilian population should be stopped first of all to make it possible to settle the conflict by political means.
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16. Videos/Text: U.S. War On Libya? Enough Is Enough!
http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-libya-nato-un-war/
RT
March 11, 2011
US-Libya war next? Enough is enough!
As Libya’s civil war peaks, the US is weighing the role it could play in the chaos. But, many Americans think another intervention would be the worst option for both the US and Libya.
Civil war blurs the outline of Libya’s future, while the US weighs its options on the role it should play in the chaos. Some war-loving politicians have been pushing for establishing “a no-fly zone.” This means bombing Libyan air defense systems, runways and shooting down Libyan aircraft – an aerial invasion – something most Americans don’t realize, and most Libyans don’t want.
“People in the entire region remember what happened with the no-fly zone in Iraq. Hundreds of civilians were killed by the enforcement of that no-fly zone. That hasn’t changed,” said Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New Internationalism Project at IPS in Washington, DC.
Some high-ranking officials have taken it so far as to joke about an attack on the African country. But is Libya any of America’s business? And why not let the Arab world fend for itself?
“There is absolutely no possible justification for the U.S. or even the EU to get involved in Libya. There is nothing in their charters, nothing that would justify. It’s a civil war, in a different country, in which the details are very murky,” said journalist and historian Nebojsa Malic.
But could America be a hop, skip and a jump away from another war? The White House is now saying it will wait for the UN to lead the way in dealing with Libya. But with a habit of getting knee-deep into other nations’ affairs, will America be able to resist the temptation?
“This could be a re-run of Iraq. This could be a re-run of humanitarian imperialism, and very, very dangerous. There is nothing for the West to do in Libya,” said Asia Times correspondent Pepe Escobar.
Despite warning signs flashing, some experts believe history is about to repeat itself. Iraq and Afghanistan, they warn, sucked the U.S. much further into war than first anticipated.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. In the case of the U.S. it would be doing the same thing dozens and dozens of times and trying to get different results. The U.S. has not won a war decisively since the end of World War II,” said editorial columnist Ted Rall.
Upholding human rights and establishing democracy have often been pretenses for America’s invasions.
Officially, these are also the main concerns for Libya, but the underlying reality is said to be very different.
“This is about oil. And if the U.S. could go in militarily, and claim to be going only for humanitarian purposes, the American people will buy it,” explained media critic Danny Schechter.
Some also see hypocrisy in the calls for humanitarian intervention.
“Nobody brought this up during Rwanda, but of course Rwanda didn’t have oil,” said Rall.
With two other American wars being fought in the Muslim world, death tolls continue to rise. Apart from the human cost, the U.S. is running up a huge warfare tab.
“Considering the fact that we have 54 percent of federal tax dollars going into defense and into the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan – you have to really wonder how crazy this country is,” said Rall.
Questions have also been raising regarding the lack of will from the American people to foot the bill.
“Both the Europeans and the Americans are facing huge budget deficits, military overstretch. It’s going to be very hard to explain to the people why they can’t have their pensions, and why they are losing their jobs, but there is enough money to throw away on a military intervention in a country that’s far away and is minding its own business,” said Malic.
For now the US seems to be taking a wait and see approach hoping the United Nations will lead the way. But with the US unsanctioned invasion of Iraq fresh in mind, many fear, if support within the international community is not found, the US would act regardless.
Former Reagan administration official Paul Craig Roberts said Libya is a test of the Egyptian revolution.
“One would think that if Egypt has really had a revolution they would come to the aid of their fellow revolutionaries,” he remarked.
In the past 24 hours, there has been a shift in Libya, with government forces strongly pushing back against protestors.
It is unlikely the US or others would enter unilaterally. However, with the permission or organization of the UN or NATO intervention by the US or European powers like France is possible.
In addition, Most Americans have no desire to get involved in further international conflicts and support decreasing US expenditures overseas in defense programs.
“I don’t think the Libyans want to be liberated by the Americans,” Roberts said.
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17. U.S. Amphibious Assault Group, Marines Arrive In Malaysia
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=59023
Navy NewsStand
March 11, 2011
USS Essex Arrives in Malaysia
By Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Eva-Marie Ramsaran
SEPENGGAR, Malaysia: USS Essex (LHD 2) arrived in Sepengar, Malaysia, for a port visit, March 11.
During the visit, Essex will host a reception on board for senior officials from the U.S. and Malaysia, including the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia; Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet and the Royal Malaysian Navy’s Commander, Navy Region Two.
Sailors and Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit will also join [events].
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After leaving Malaysia, the Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) will continue its patrol in the Western Pacific. Essex ARG reports to Commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet, Rear Adm. Richard Landolt, who is headquartered in Okinawa, Japan.
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18. Visit To Supercarrier In Japan: U.S.-Vietnam Military Alliance Against China
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=58986
Navy NewsStand
March 9, 2011
Vietnam Representatives Visit USS George Washington
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Juan Pinalez
YOKOSUKA, Japan: Representatives from the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to Japan, visited USS George Washington (CVN 73) in Yokosuka, Japan, March 8.
The representatives, including Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of Vietnam to Japan Tuan Ho Minh, toured the forward-deployed naval vessel to become more familiar with the role it plays in sea power projection and regional stability.
“In recent years, the relationship between Vietnam and the United States has developed very well, and this has led to our two military forces working together to keep peace and stability in the region,” Minh said.
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Upon arrival to the ship’s bridge, the group was introduced to the operational side of the carrier, including navigation and flight deck observation.
George Washington Sailors of Vietnamese descent were presented with a unique opportunity to accompany the guests throughout the tour.
….
This visit highlighted the partnership between Vietnam and the United States and provided the two countries another opportunity to strengthen the alliance.
GW is the Navy’s only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, ensuring security and stability across the western Pacific Ocean.
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19. Mongolia: U.S. Expands Work On “Democracy Education, Mineral Sector”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/11/c_13773842.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 11, 2011
U.S., Mongolia to expand cooperation: officials
Mongolia: Pentagon Trojan Horse Wedged Between China And Russia
ULAN BATOR: Mongolia and the United States will expand their cooperation in democracy education and the mineral sector, officials from both sides said Friday.
“The United States confirmed that it will continue cooperating with Mongolia within the framework of democratic development and international cooperation,” the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Earlier a consultation was held here between Damdin Tsogtbaatar, foreign policy advisor to the Mongolian president, and the visiting U.S. delegation headed by Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
In addition to cooperation in democracy education and some public sectors, the two sides also discussed Mongolia’s mineral sector in terms of a long-term trade growth, the environmental regulation and human development.
“The United States will continue supporting Mongolia’s development through currently undergoing projects of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Millennium Challenge Corporation,” U.S. representatives said.
USAID, Millennium Challenge Corporation and the U.S. government are currently implementing multi-million dollar development projects in Mongolia.
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20. U.S. Navy Prepares For Arctic Struggle As Climate Changes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/10/arctic-struggle-climate-change
The Guardian
March 11, 2011
Prepare for Arctic struggle as climate changes, US navy warned
Climate change could upset the delicate security balance in the Arctic, warns National Academy of Sciences report
Suzanne Goldenberg
-Competition for oil and gas in the region was bound to increase, the report said. Last year, Scottish oil producer Cairn Energy confirmed it had found oil off the coast of Greenland and one of Nato’s senior commanders warned the race for resources could lead to conflict.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/11/nato-conflict-arctic-resources
America urgently needs to build up its military readiness in the Arctic where melting summer sea ice is setting up a global struggle for resources, a study prepared for the US navy has warned.
The report by the National Academy of Sciences warned that climate change could upset the delicate security balance in the Arctic – even among close allies – and that America is unprepared for the challenges ahead.
“The US military as a whole has lost most of its competence in cold-weather operations for Arctic weather,” the report, National Security Implications of Climate Change for US Naval Forces, warned. “In the immediate term, the navy should begin Arctic training and the marine corps should also establish a cold weather training programme.”
The report warned that America was currently unprepared to defend its interests in the Arctic. Current submarine sytems would be challenged to operate in the Arctic, the report warned. In addition, the coastguard has just three ice breakers, and these are old and obsolete.
It went on to call on the navy to develop an Arctic observer and research service, with remote sensing equipment such as satellites and drones.
“Even the most moderate predicted trends in climate change will present new national security challenges for the US navy, marine corps, and coastguard,” said Frank Bowman, a retired US navy admiral and co-chair of the committee that produced the report.
“Naval forces need to monitor more closely and start preparing now for projected challenges climate change will present in the future,” Bowman said.
The report said that it expected large stretches of the Arctic to be ice-free in the summer by 2030, if current rates of ice loss continued.
Competition for oil and gas in the region was bound to increase, the report said. Last year, Scottish oil producer Cairn Energy confirmed it had found oil off the coast of Greenland and one of Nato’s senior commanders warned the race for resources could lead to conflict.
“The geopolitical situation in the Arctic region has become complex and nuanced, despite the area being essentially ignored since the end of the Cold War,” the report warns.
Between them, the countries sharing the Arctic, which include the US, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Iceland, Sweden and Finland, have a number of unresolved disputes over boundaries as well as resources, the report warned.
Although the report acknowledged the potential for conflict in the Arctic was low, it warned: “Co-operation in the Arctic should not be considered a given even among close allies.”
The report, four years in the making, reflects growing concern in US military and strategic circles about the security implications of climate change.
….
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21. Afghanistan: U.S. Air Base Comes Under Rocket Attack
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/03/11/bagram-airbase-comes-under-rocket-strike
Pajhwok Afghan News
March 11, 2011
Bagram airbase comes under rocket strike
Javed Hamim Kakar
KABUL: Rockets were fired into the Bagram airbase in central Parwan province, causing several casualties, Taliban fighters claimed on Friday.
Two rockets were fired from Baracoa area at the US biggest military base in Afghanistan at 10pm, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Pajhwok Afghan News.
The Bagram media office confirmed the overnight strike, but denied casualties. The rockets fell in barren fields around the sprawling base, causing no loss, itadded.
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22. U.S. Drone Strikes Kill Six In Pakistan
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/169378.html
Press TV
March 11, 2011
US drone strikes kill six in Pakistan
America’s Undeclared War: Deadly Drone Attacks In Pakistan Reach Record High
Two non-UN sanctioned US drone attacks have killed at least six people and wounded several others in the troubled northwestern Pakistan, officials say.
According to security officials, the deadly attacks took place on Friday afternoon in North Waziristan Province near the border with Afghanistan.
The US frequently carries out such attacks on Pakistan’s tribal areas. Attacks by unmanned American planes have left dozens of people dead in the volatile region over the past weeks.
Nearly 1,200 people were killed in 124 unauthorized US drone attacks in Pakistan in 2010.
The aerial attacks, initiated by former US president George W. Bush, have been escalated under President Barack Obama.
The United States claims the raids target Pakistani militants. But Pakistani officials say many civilians are also killed in the attacks.
Meanwhile, Pakistani sources say the US drone strikes kill 50 civilians for every one militant.
Islamabad has frequently slammed the US over the drone strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty.
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23. World Nations Reject Libya Intervention As NATO Positions Warships In Mediterranean
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/11/c_13772703.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 11, 2011
Countries reject intervention in Libya as NATO moves warships into Mediterranean
BEIJING: Many countries in the world on Thursday voiced their opposition to any military intervention in unrest-torn Libya amid increasing calls for enforcing a no-fly zone over the North African country.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus was against all forms of external intervention in Libya’s affairs, and stressed respect for its sovereignty, independence and unity.
“Syria calls for securing the lives of civilians, stopping violence against the Libyan people and resorting to wisdom and dialogue,” the official SANA news agency reported.
The African Union also rejected “any form of foreign military intervention” in Libya.
“The council reaffirms its firm commitment to the respect of the unity and territorial integrity of Libya,” said Ramtane Lamamra, commissioner of AU’s Peace and Security Council.
The announcements came after NATO ministers decided Thursday to move warships to the central Mediterranean, but failed to reach an agreement on the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya.
“These ships will improve NATO’s situational awareness, which is vital in the current circumstances, and they will contribute to our surveillance and monitoring capability,” NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.
The United States and its Western allies were debating on enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, along with a military action against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
However, most Latin American leaders favored a peaceful mediation initiative, saying any military intervention would only prolong the conflict in Libya.
“When threats of military interventions emerge, it is necessary for the whole nation to stand together in unity to defend their sovereignty,” Bolivian President Evo Morales told reporters in the capital La Paz.
Morales met with Gaddafi during a visit by the Libyan leader to Bolivia two years ago.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has proposed to send a delegation to Tripoli to mediate between Gaddafi’s loyalists and the rebels.
Welcoming Chavez’s initiative, Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said Uruguay firmly supported a Latin American-led mediation effort to prevent any further loss of life.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in Havana: “We are against the civil war in Libya, and in favor of an immediate peace and the full respect for the lives and rights of all citizens, without foreign intervention.”
Cuba “fully supports the courageous position of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez,” he said.
On Thursday, France became the first country to recognize the rebel Interim National Council of Transition (INCT) based in Libya’s second largest city of Benghazi.
But a Libyan Foreign Ministry official warned that Libya could suspend diplomatic relations with France after Paris’ recognition of INCT.
Troops loyal to Gaddafi and rebels seeking his downfall were battling each other Thursday in Zawiyah, a town 40 km west of Tripoli.
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24. Australia: New U.S. Military Outpost Aimed Against Rise Of China And India
The Australian
March 12, 2011
Defence ties with the US for upgrade
Matthew Franklin
U.S. Consolidates Military Network In Asia-Pacific Region
NATO Of The South: Chile, South Africa, Australia, Antarctica
-Ms Gillard was expected to tell Admiral Willard Australia was happy to increase co-operation with the US military, particularly with regard to accepting US warships in Australian ports.
Julia Gillard will today discuss the options for an escalation of military co-operation with the commander of the US’s Pacific military operations as Canberra and Washington attempt to counter the rising power of China and India.
The Prime Minister, en route to Australia from the US, will stop in Hawaii to consult US Pacific Commander Robert Willard about a possible dramatic reconfiguration of US military assets in the Asia-Pacific region. Sources said last night the talks would focus on the US’s ongoing defence posture review, examining the footprint of US assets in the light of changing political balances, including the rise of China and India.
Earlier this week, Ms Gillard told US President Barack Obama that Australia was ready to co-operate with any shift of US assets to the Asia-Pacific region.
Ms Gillard was expected to tell Admiral Willard Australia was happy to increase co-operation with the US military, particularly with regard to accepting US warships in Australian ports.
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25. Canada: War-Making Unwelcome
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/making+unwelcome/4421131/story.html
StarPhoenix
March 11, 2011
War-making unwelcome
Simon Enoch Director, Saskatchewan office Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Canada: In Service To The Pentagon And NATO At Home And Abroad
Re: Canada needs F-35 (SP, March 8). Your editorial makes a number of naïve and even dangerous assumptions about the future direction of Canadian foreign policy.
Let’s be clear. The F-35 is a first strike weapon, designed to use stealth technology to penetrate enemy air defences on the “first day” of a military operation. It is therefore primarily an offensive weapon, with little value in relation to other aircraft for territorial defence.
It is striking that The StarPhoenix editorial board seems to embrace a fundamentally aggressive posture for Canadian foreign policy without a hint of consideration of what such a posture will do to our standing in the world.
Leave aside the enormous price tag for these weapons. The fact is that Canada, which has operated historically within military coalitions, has never been called upon to provide first-strike capabilities that are largely the domain of the United States.
The decision to purchase the F-35 leads us further away from a foreign policy based on peacekeeping toward a dangerous policy of war-making.
Stop NATO News March 11, 2011
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. African Union Rejects Foreign Military Intervention In Libya
2. NATO’s Rosy Picture Belied By Growing Hostilty Of Afghans
3. Georgia Participates In NATO Defense Ministers Meeting
4. Estonian Leader, CYBERCOM Chief: U.S. Joins NATO Cyber Center
5. Canada: Unprecedented Military Buildup Against Russia In Arctic
6. NATO Defense Chiefs Discuss Libya, Afghan War, Missile Shield And Cyber Warfare
7. White Man’s Burden: NATO Defense, EU Foreign Ministers Deliberate On Libya
8. Expert: U.S. Troops May Stay In Afghanistan Far Beyond 2014
9. 2010: Deadliest Year In Afghan War
10. Poland: Russia Concerned About Permanent U.S. Warplane, Advanced Interceptor Deployments
11. NATO To Move Warships Off Libya, Plans “More Active Measures”
12. BRIC: New World Centers Of Political And Economic Influence
13. Libya: NATO Discusses “Array Of Military Options,” France Backs Air Strikes
14. Threat To Peace And Security: Afghanistan World’s Largest Producer Of Heroin And Hash
15. Libya’s Eastern And Western Neighbors: Clinton Heading To Egypt And Tunisia
16. Afghanistan Calls On UN To Pressure NATO Over Civilian Killings
17. North African Unrest Could Spread Deeper Into Africa: Analysis
18. Analysts: U.S. Exploits Arab Revolts To Subvert Russia, Destabilize Central Asia
19. Mediterranean: “NATO Is United, NATO Is Vigilant, NATO Is Ready To Act”
20. NATO Defense Ministers Complement U.S. CYBERCOM Warfare Role
21. Top U.S. Intelligence Official: Libyan Uprising To Fail Without Foreign Intervention
22. Franco-American Conspiracy: Ivory Coast Bans French, UN Overflights
23. Guam: Pentagon To Build Firing Ranges On Ancestral Land
24. Libya: Pentagon Could Try Out F-22 Raptor Stealth Jets For First Combat Role From Middle East Bases
25. Pentagon Chief: NATO’s Libya Plan Includes Military Options
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1. African Union Rejects Foreign Military Intervention In Libya
Agence France-Presse
March 10, 2011
AU rejects military intervention in Libya: official
Africa: Global NATO Seeks To Recruit 50 New Military Partners
ADDIS ABABA: The African Union on Friday rejected military intervention in Libya…an AU official told the press.
“The council reaffirms its firm commitment to the respect of the unity and territorial integrity of Libya, as well as its rejection of any form of foreign military intervention,” Ramtane Lamamra, the AU commissioner for peace and security, said.
The announcement came after NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday postponed any decision on a no-fly zone in Libya until it got a UN clearance.
The AU’s 15-member peace and security council decided “to put in place a high level AU ad hoc committee” to monitor the crisis in the north African country where Kadhafi faces an uprising against his 41 years in power.
The committee, whose members were to be announced in the near future, would also be tasked with working towards “the immediate cessation of all hostilities”, said Lamamra.
The council expressed its “deep concern” over the crisis in Libya which it said “poses a serious threat to the peace and security in the country and in the region as a whole”.
“The AU has strongly condemned the disproportionate use of force,” said Lamamara.
“The council took note of the readiness of the government of Libya to engage in the path of political reforms,” he added.
“The council expressed the solidarity of the AU with Libya, and stressed the legitimacy of the aspirations of the Libyan people for democracy, political reforms, justice, peace and security as well as economic and social development.”
Lamamra did not want to comment on France’s decision to recognise the Libyan envoys of the opposition national council who represent those fighting Kadhafi’s forces.
Libya is a member of the African Union’s peace and security council and was represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa.
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2. NATO’s Rosy Picture Belied By Growing Hostilty Of Afghans
The Nation
March 11, 2011
NATO’s rosy picture
General David H. Petraeus, the top commander of American forces in Afghanistan, in his interview with The New York Times has made an attempt to paint a very rosy picture of military progress while at the same time announcing a ‘defence and depth’ strategy along Pak-Afghan border.
No matter that tall claims are being made by the military leadership of NATO and ISAF, ground realities are different.
One can understand that since Gen Petraeus had to testify before the US Congress for the first time after he took over the command eight months back, he has to create an imaginative scenario.
The actual situation is that due to severe winter, Taliban has reduced their activities. The Taliban will soon re-launch their offensives across Afghanistan. But in the same breath, Gen Petraeus concedes saying that other aspects of the war remained difficult and progress is patchy and slow. Another important side of the interview is that the General has once again tried to fix the blame on Pakistan saying that many of the Taliban leaders had escaped to sanctuaries in Pakistan.
What is shocking is the fact that Gen Petraeus did not indicate NATO’s failing as well as its blunders costing the local population heavily.
The latest example is the March 1 episode killing nine innocent boys.
Earlier, on Feb 17 NATO bombing killed 65 civilians over which the Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his indignation and refused to accept Petraeus’ apology.
Later Defence Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama had to apologise.
These developments had created a big trust deficit between the Kabul Government and ISAF on the one hand and Afghan people and ISAF on the other.
Analysing these ground realities, one can draw only one conclusion, that the situation in Afghanistan is far from being satisfactory. Instead NATO and ISAF forces must realise that the Afghan people hate them more than ever before.
Now it will not be possible for the NATO commander to make Afghan people believe that they had come to restore peace and strengthen democracy.
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3. Georgia Participates In NATO Defense Ministers Meeting
http://www.mod.gov.ge/index.php?page=77&lang=1&type=1&Id=919
Georgia Ministry of Defence
March 10, 2011
NATO Defence Ministerial
The Defence Minister of Georgia Bacho Akhalaia will take part in the NATO Defence Ministerial Meeting.
The North Atlantic Council (NAC) meets at the level of Defence Ministers in Brussels, NATO HQ on March 10-11.
The Meetings of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Defence Ministers was opened by the NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
As the Secretary General declared at the press briefing, NATO defence ministers will discuss the situation in Libya and the longer term prospects in Middle East.
On the second day the North Atlantic Council will meet with non-NATO ISAF contributors at the level of Ministers of Defence.
…
The Minister of Defence of Georgia Bacho Akhalaia will also deliver a speech at the meeting. Mr. Akhalaia will brief the audience on the state of Georgia’s participation in the operation and future plans in this regard. At this stage Georgia continues to be fully committed to the ISAF mission by deploying 929 high professional soldiers on the ground.
In addition, considering the current need of the Alliance for progress in Afghanistan, Georgia decided to send artillery instructors to train Afghan National Forces. Already this spring Georgia will be deploying 11 instructors under French Command.
In the framework of the NATO Defence Ministerial the Georgian Defence Minister will hold bilateral meeting with his foreign counterparts.
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4. Estonian Leader, CYBERCOM Chief: U.S. Joins NATO Cyber Center
Republic of Estonia
Office of the President
March 10, 2011
President Ilves: NATO needs an extensive cyber shield to protect itself and its allies
Pentagon Partners With NATO To Create Global Cyber Warfare System
The President, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, met with the Cyber Force Commander of the United States of America, General Keith B. Alexander, who is also the Director of the US National Security Agency (NSA).
“Estonia would like to see NATO adopting a more ambitious role in organising cyber defence,” President Ilves assured.
According to the President, the protection of networks that are important for NATO and its allies and primary civilian information infrastructures is the most relevant.
“We have no other choice today – NATO must enhance the importance of cyber defence in joint activities, operative planning, the drafting of emergency plans and management level, including, for example, the organisation of cyber exercise,” said the Estonian Head of State.
President Ilves described NATO only focusing on defence systems of the alliance and its allies for the purposes of cyber defence as “short-sighted”.
“Let us not forget that cyber attacks may also serve a strategic purpose and an attack against a bank or civil infrastructure is also a part of a co-ordinated attack against a country,” said the Estonian Head of State. “Therefore, the members of NATO need a cyber shield for the alliance, which would reach beyond the issues linked to the defence sphere.”
President Ilves expressed his pleasure with the fact that Estonia is considerably improving its cyber space monitoring and analysing capacities, and he added that co-operation with the United States of America is highly important in this regard. The USA has joined the work done by the NATO Centre of Excellence for Co-operative Cyber Defence in Tallinn.
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5. Canada: Unprecedented Military Buildup Against Russia In Arctic
http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/airsea-03-09-2011
Embassy Magazine
March 9, 2011
MacKay says maritime threats are most serious vulnerability
By Carl Meyer
Encroachment From All Compass Points: Canada Leads NATO Confrontation With Russia In North
For more than 10 minutes, Defence Minister Peter MacKay did his level best to reiterate the importance of Canada buying F-35 stealth jets.
Some of the “most important and enduring missions” that Canada will face will need the state-of-the-art fighter jets to accomplish, the minister said. This will include “defending Canada’s sovereignty” and “contributing to international operations alongside our allies and partners.”
The sales pitch took up more than a quarter of Mr. MacKay’s keynote speech to defence experts and industry representatives on Feb. 25, and left no stone unturned.
But then, after Mr. MacKay had finished laying out what appeared to be the critical importance of cutting-edge air power in Canadian sovereignty, the minister said Canada was actually most vulnerable to maritime threats.
“Not to sound too foreboding, [but] at the risk of being too honest, I think our greatest vulnerability, in my estimation, is waterborne,” he said. With the longest coastline in the world, “beware the water.”
Mr. MacKay’s office says his comment about the overriding “vulnerability” of the maritime environment was a reference to the government’s plan to spend $35-billion — even more money than the projected costs of the F-35—on several new vessels for its navy.
….
Meanwhile, the country’s army and air force, particularly the former, have been showered with money and equipment over the last few years due to Canada’s needs in Afghanistan. The air force, for example, has received major projects like the CC-177 Globemaster, the CC-130J Hercules, and various helicopters.
George Macdonald, a former vice-chief of the defence staff, now a consultant at CFN, said that with this in mind, “the big challenge ahead will be navy.”
“There’s issues that need to be resolved with the joint support ship and so on and so forth,” said Mr. MacDonald, who witnessed Mr. MacKay’s speech.
“It’s a huge project to replace the frigates and the destroyers.”
….
Roland Paris, research chair in International security and governance at the University of Ottawa, said the bottom line is that it was up to the government to decide whether it wants to project its military beyond its borders, and primarily through sea or air.
That decision, he said, will lead to whether the money should be spent on military procurement and training of personnel in either branch, and in what kinds of contributions Canada makes to coalitions overseas.
In that sense, Mr. MacKay’s promises to both the navy and the air force might eventually have to confront political reality.
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6. NATO Defense Chiefs Discuss Libya, Afghan War, Missile Shield And Cyber Warfare
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_71325.htm?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 10, 2011
NATO Defence Ministers gather for two-day meeting in Brussels
Pentagon Partners With NATO To Create Global Cyber Warfare System
NATO Defence Ministers arrived in Brussels for a two-day meeting at which the evolving situation in Libya will be at the top of the agenda.
Ministers will consider how the Alliance can best prepare to add value to the efforts of the international community in dealing with the Libyan crisis in case there is a call for assistance.
Ministers will also review progress in implementing the decisions taken by NATO leaders at the Lisbon Summit in making the Alliance more effective and more efficient in dealing with emerging security challenges.
On Thursday, Ministers will approve a new Cyber Defence Concept. They will review work on the development of NATO’s missile defence capability and on the Command Structure, Headquarters and NATO Agencies reform. Defence Ministers will also provide political guidance for the military implementation of the Strategic Concept including for the further development of essential capabilities. At a working dinner, they will discuss how to make best use of shrinking defence budgets by cooperating more on multinational projects.
On Friday, NATO Ministers of Defence will be joined by the Ministers from ISAF troop contributing nations and by Defence Minister Wardak of Afghanistan for a discussion on the recommendations of the Joint Afghan-NATO Transition Board.
Defence Ministers will also discuss how to continue supporting Afghanistan as transition evolves through more training of Afghan security forces and through a long-term Partnership.
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7. White Man’s Burden: NATO, EU Ministers Deliberate On Libya
http://rt.com/news/nato-eu-libya-forces/
RT
March 10, 2011
NATO and EU to negotiate in Brussels over Libya
NATO defense officials and EU foreign ministers are to hold negotiations in Brussels on Thursday over possible measures which should be taken in Libya as violence continues in the country.
Pressure to take action has grown after the clashes between Libyan rebels and government forces in the oil town of Ras Lanuf on Wednesday evening.
Shelling and air strikes from Colonel Gaddafi’s supporters have pushed the opposition back.
Locals are still united in their determination to keep out foreign intervention.
NATO defense ministers meet to decide on any course of action be military humanitarian. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to brief officials and colleagues on which actions he believes should be taken. On Wednesday a top Pentagon official said that any action in Libya should be taken “under the umbrella of NATO.” Britain and France are attempting to establish a resolution, a common front, on imposing a no-fly zone across the Libyan airspace. That is on the promise of humanitarian support for the country.
However, the country’s leader Colonel Gaddafi warned the imposition of a no-fly zone in Libyan airspace would be met with armed resistance and considered proof that the West is trying to steal the country’s oil.
Gaddafi has come out very strongly saying that the Libyan people will oppose any military intervention and would rise up as one against foreign forces. He said himself that his forces would respond strongly to any such imposition of a no-fly zone, let alone any military measures. This came as he bombed oil tanks in the country. The current crisis in Libya has led to a sharp increase in oil prices, which has a damaging effect on the world economy.
Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said that any accumulation of weapons and military forces in a region could lead to war.
“Any accumulation of weapons and military forces in the region could lead to war. That’s why pumping up hysteria may reach the point of no return; when it becomes hard to explain why it was necessary to militarize citizens’ minds. There’s a real danger in using missiles against Libyan air bases to deprive Gaddafi his advantage as the legal head of state. Then there will be attempts to legitimatize the rebels, to make it seem to the outside that power has passed from Gaddafi to the rebels.”
There is no common front, not only between NATO and non-NATO countries, but even within the NATO alliance. In fact there are several disagreements. Last night Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague admitted that opposition is hardening to the intervention of foreign forces. He said that they still need international support for any move and that international support is not there at the moment. Italy, considered one of Libya’s closest allies, last night demanded “breathing space” for the regime from international intervention after the Libyan leader sent envoys in private jets to the EU and Cairo. Italy claims Libya needs to be given time and discussions and negotiations should be exhausted before any military actions takes place.
Meanwhile, France has become the first country to recognize rebel Libyan National Council as the “legitimate power” in the North African state.
The French presidential administration made a statement after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met officials from the Libyan National Council in Paris. Sarkozy has become the first head of state to meet with the Libyan opposition.
Both countries agreed to exchange ambassadors – France will send its diplomat to Benghazi and Libya’s envoy will come to France to represent there Libya officially. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe urged European partners to engage with the new Libyan leaders.
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8. Expert: U.S. Troops May Stay In Afghanistan Far Beyond 2014
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/10/47207876.html
Voice of Russia
March 10, 2011
US troops may stay in Afghanistan much longer than expected
U.S. And NATO Prolong And Expand Greater Afghan War
Expert on the Middle East and Central Asia Boris Volkhonsky:
The first thing is whether we can expect US troops to withdraw soon, because the deadline supposed to be followed is 2014. There are still more than three years ahead. So, we should first speak about these three years and how the American presence will affect the number of civilian casualties.
The second thing is whether the troops are going to withdraw at all. As for now, there is no reason to believe that the deadline won’t be followed. The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating despite all the brave statements by the American military commanders there. Most probably – this is my assessment and I am not sure whether this will come true or not – the US troops will stay in Afghanistan much longer than expected.
The example of Iraq shows that it was just renaming of combat troops into non-combat troops, with the military staying there. Something of this kind may happen in Afghanistan as well. The US command will just rename its military contingent in the country and stay there.
Another issue is whether this rise in casualties is connected with the American presence. Definitely it is, because even though most of the casualties were caused by the Taliban and other insurgent anti-government groups, this is a direct result of the foreign military presence in Afghanistan.
….
Just recently…there was an unprovoked killing of 9 teenagers by the US forces. A couple of days ago, another 5 civilians were killed by pro-government police forces in Kandahar. So, anger is growing both against the government and the foreign presence. But what will happen when the US withdraws its troops from Afghanistan, if at all?
….
The real problem is whether the Afghan people will manage to form a government capable of guaranteeing stability. Definitely, it is not the Karzai government.
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9. 2010: Deadliest Year In Afghan War
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/10/47198367.html
Voice of Russia
March 10, 2011
2010 – the deadliest year in the Afghan war
Boris Volkhonsky
NATO: Afghan War Model For Future 21st Century Operations
-While the American public is grow increasingly tired of the two wars led by the administration overseas, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the pullout of troops at this moment would be perceived in the US as a sign of weakness and an acknowledgement of defeat. With the number of casualties both among the military and among civilians expected to grow still higher in 2011, it is becoming less and less likely that the troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2014, as promised by the administration.
According to a UN report published on Wednesday, 2010 has become the deadliest year in the nine-year-old war the US and NATO have led in Afghanistan. The number of civilian casualties has grown by 15 percent as compared to 2009 and has almost doubled since 2007, reaching 2,777 deaths.
The biggest blame for the casualties lies with the Taliban, responsible for 75 percent of all deaths. NATO and Afghan pro-government forces are responsible for 16 percent, while 9 percent cannot be attributed to any paty of the conflict.
The Taliban has already called the report biased and one-sided, saying that the figures were unfounded.
….
Yes, it is the Taliban who are responsible for most of the civilian deaths and some representatives of the movement acknowledge the fact. But doesn’t the Taliban’s activity have a reactive nature? Would there be such sharp increase in the number of civilian casualties if there were NO foreign troops in the country? I am far from painting the Taliban in exclusively rosy hues, but whether we like it or not, the period of Taliban rule in Afghanistan in the second half of 1990s was probably one of the most stable in decades. How and through what means the Taliban succeeded in creating this relative stability, is another issue. This was, definitely, not a period of the most humane policies.
The second problem that arises with the very issue of violence against civilians is the way it is perceived by society. And here we see that public opinion in Afghanistan reacts to cases of atrocities committed by the occupation forces much more aggressively than those committed by local forces….[T]he local population will continue to look at the occupation forces as oppressors and the insurgents will use any opportunity to instill these feelings in the Afghans’ minds.
Worse still, NATO and the US provide such opportunities much too often. A recent case when nine boys were accidentally killed by US troops in Kunar Province on March 8, has not only given rise to wide-spread anger among the population, but also led to a further deterioration of relations between the US command and the government of Hamid Karzai. Despite official apologies from US top commander General David Petraeus, President Karzai said that this was too little, too late and demanded that such incidents be prevented in the future.
In a more recent case, on March 9, five civilians were killed by local pro-government police in Kandahar province, causing uproar among the locals. With all the publicity surrounding such cases, it is quite clear that despite bold statements by American officials that the situation in the country is improving, one fact becomes more and more obvious: while the outcome of the war as such is still unclear, the US and NATO are definitely losing the information war.
And all this makes the prospects for American troops’ withdrawal more and more uncertain. While the American public is grow increasingly tired of the two wars led by the administration overseas, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the pullout of troops at this moment would be perceived in the US as a sign of weakness and an acknowledgement of defeat. With the number of casualties both among the military and among civilians expected to grow still higher in 2011, it is becoming less and less likely that the troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2014, as promised by the administration.
Thus, the Americans seem to be caught in a trap similar to that of the 1980s that Soviets found themselves in. Continuation of the war would be disastrous, but a withdrawal would be catastrophic.
One need not resort to sophisticated arguments to show that Hamid Karzai’s government will not last long after the US troops’ withdrawal. The only force capable of replacing his government and stay for any considerable period of time is the Taliban. And this does not just mean that everything will become as it was. The ten years of war will not be easily forgotten by the Afghan people, and the new leadership is likely to be even more radical than the Taliban of late 1990s.
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10. Poland: Russia Concerned About Permanent U.S. Warplane, Advanced Interceptor Missile Deployments
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110310/162942175.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 10, 2011
Russia concerned over U.S. missile plans in Poland – Foreign Ministry
NATO Develops Plans For Military Confrontation With Russia In Baltic
Moscow: Russia is unhappy over U.S. plans to deploy permanent missile defenses and air force units in Poland, 100 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Moscow has long opposed the deployment of U.S. missile defenses near its borders, arguing they would be a security threat and could destroy the strategic balance of forces in Europe.
“Regarding the U.S. plans to deploy missile defenses elements and air force units in Poland, we are certainly concerned and agitated,” Alexander Lukashevich said.
On March 3, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed Washington’s military plans in Poland.
Wikileaks published U.S. cables in late 2010 showing that NATO was drawing up a plan on the protection of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland from external threats on a request from the United States and Germany.
Lukashevich also said the U.S. plans contradicted calls for cooperation at the Russia-NATO Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010.
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so called Euro missile defense system at the Lisbon summit. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system.
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11. NATO To Move Warships Off Libya, Plans “More Active Measures”
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 10, 2011
NATO to move warships off Libya, plan for more missions
-NATO has permanent defence contacts with the Gulf States in the so-called Istanbul [Cooperation] Initiative, and with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia in the Mediterranean Dialogue.
-Rasmussen refused to comment on reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy intends to call on a European Union summit, planned for Friday, to approve air strikes against Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi.
Brussels: NATO is to move warships to the central Mediterranean to monitor the situation in Libya and plan for possible missions there, but will not launch any attacks without clear United Nations backing, the alliance’s secretary general said Thursday.
NATO already has AWACS radar aircraft monitoring Libyan airspace, but defence ministers at a long-planned meeting Thursday agreed that the alliance needs to beef up its monitoring of the country’s coast.
‘It has been decided to increase the presence of NATO maritime assets in the central Mediterranean,’ Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists in Brussels.
The ships will ‘improve NATO’s situational awareness, which is vital in the current circumstances, and they will contribute to our surveillance and monitoring capability, including with regard to the (United Nations) arms embargo,’ he said.
At the same time, he said that defence ministers ordered the alliance’s military experts to draw up detailed plans for ‘more active measures to enforce the arms embargo’, but stressed that these would only lead to action if the UN Security Council permitted it.
On February 26, the Security Council voted unanimously to impose an arms embargo on the Libyan regime. However, it did not authorize states to use military force to impose it on the high seas.
‘Enforcement of the arms embargo from our side would require a new UN Security Council resolution,’ Rasmussen stressed.
NATO sources said that the ships involved would be a German frigate and Italian cruiser from a permanent patrol group in the western Mediterranean, together with a mine-sweeping force.
At a separate European Union meeting on Thursday, Italy called for a joint EU-NATO naval force. Rasmussen did not comment on the idea, but said that NATO wanted to cooperate with the EU.
Defence ministers also ordered their planners to draw up contingency options for ‘humanitarian assistance,’ Rasmussen said, without going into details. Ahead of the meeting, diplomats said such options could include air and sea transport for humanitarian goods.
And they agreed that ‘further planning would be required’ on how NATO could use its strike forces to ground the Libyan air force, creating a so-called ‘no-fly zone’, Rasmussen said.
….
Ahead of the meeting, diplomats said that ‘demonstrable need’ would imply major violations of human rights, such as gas attacks or bombardments of civilians, while a ‘clear legal base’ for military action would almost certainly mean UN backing.
….
NATO is in regular contact with international and regional groups, including the Arab League, Rasmussen said.
NATO has permanent defence contacts with the Gulf States in the so-called Istanbul [Cooperation] Initiative, and with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia in the Mediterranean Dialogue.
Rasmussen refused to comment on reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy intends to call on a European Union summit, planned for Friday, to approve air strikes against Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi.
There was no discussion ‘at all’ of such a concept during the meeting, he said.
But he acknowledged that a prolonged civil war in Libya could pose a serious security risk to NATO territory.
‘There is, of course, also the risk of division within the country and the risk of seeing a failed state in the future that could be the breeding ground for extremism and terrorism, so obviously this is cause for concern,’ he said.
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12. BRIC: New World Centers Of Political And Economic Influence
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/10/47194810.html
Voice of Russia
March 10, 2011
BRIC: locomotive for economic development
According to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the main contribution to the economic growth of undeveloped countries comes from Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC countries.
Experts state that in the coming years BRIC countries as well as South Africa, which has joined them recently, will strengthen their influence pushing back the traditional leaders the US and the EU.
The IMF’s report has only confirmed what economists have been talking about for a long time. Brazil, Russia, India and China are turning into new political and economic hubs. The statistics on South America were not taken into account because Brazil has been put on the list of rapidly developing countries only recently.
The IMF analysts have calculated that the BRIC states make a greater contribution into the development of poor economies than the US, Europe and other developed countries. Brasilia, Moscow, Delhi and Beijing are intensively building relations with the countries of Africa, Asia and South America. We hear from Andrei Suzdaltsev, a professor with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
Kenya, Tanzania and especially Sudan are the countries greatly influenced by Chinese capital. Many Chinese engineers and workers are now moving to these countries. Brazil’s influence is strong first of all in South America but its presence in Africa is also growing. These countries are good in picking up all the latest know-how and they make their own technologies too. India has great influence over South Asia and South Eastern Asia.
The countries of Central Asia fall into the area of Russia’s influence. The economic ties with these countries have been strong since the times of the USSR, especially with Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Russia also invests money into different projects in Vietnam and Mongolia.
Experts state that the world’s leading countries – the US, Japan, Australia, Canada and the EU countries are slowly but steadily losing their positions. There are several reasons for this but the main reason is that Brazil, Russia, India and China do not try to enforce their political values in underdeveloped countries and build relations on the basis of mutually advantageous partnership. This is how the new centers of influence are being formed, Suzdalstsev notes.
In terms of the development rate BRIC countries are the global leaders now. The Chinese economy is the second largest economy in the world. In late February Brazil’s economy became the 7th largest economy. They are quick in adapting new technologies, which are widespread in North America and Europe and the West fails to counter this.
History repeats itself, economists say. Brazil, Russia, India and China used to be taken as underdeveloped economies. The Western world came to help them with its technology and financial opportunities and now the BRIC countries have become the locomotives of the global GDP’s growth. These countries are becoming venues for new innovative centers such as the Skolkovo center in the Moscow region and form financial hubs. It is planned to create one such international financial hub in Moscow. As a result BRIC countries are turning into the new world centers of political and economic influence.
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13. Libya: NATO Discusses “Array Of Military Options,” France Backs Air Strikes
Agence France-Presse
March 10, 2011
NATO Discusses Libya; Sarkozy Backs Airstrikes
Dan De Luce
BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said March 10 that “time is of the essence” in the Libya crisis, as allied defense ministers weighed possible military action against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime – including a no-fly zone.
But Rasmussen, echoing U.S. and British officials, said any military intervention against Gadhafi would have to have a legal basis and support from the region.
Speaking to NATO defense ministers meeting on the conflict in Libya, Rasmussen said: “If there is a demonstrable need, if we have a clear mandate and strong regional support, we stand ready to help.
“Time is of the essence.”
….
At the March 10 meeting, the defense ministers are discussing an array of military options prepared by alliance officers.
The tentative options included using naval ships to back up humanitarian efforts; monitoring or enforcing an arms embargo with warships; or shutting down Gadhafi’s air force with a no-fly zone, according to a NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A draft European Union statement, obtained by AFP ahead of a March 11 summit, meanwhile expressed support for continued planning with NATO allies and other countries for “all possible contingencies as the situation evolves, including a no-fly zone.”
Many alliance ministers, including the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, remain wary of a no-fly zone or other military action, saying it poses a host of risks, including a possible anti-Western backlash in the Middle East.
Amid debate within the alliance, French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to propose air strikes on Gadhafi’s command headquarters to EU leaders, a source close to discussions told AFP.
….
Rasmussen said in a statement the alliance was ready to consider possible military “options” if necessary and had stepped up surveillance of Libya’s air space with radar-equipped aircraft.
….
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14. Threat To Peace And Security: Afghanistan World’s Largest Producer Of Heroin And Hash
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/10/47203260.html
Voice of Russia
March 10 2011
Afghanistan – world leader in heroin, hashish production
Afghanistan has become the world leader in the production of not only heroin but also hashish, the flow of which to Russia has increased sevenfold in the last 3-4 years. This was reported by Viktor Ivanov, the director of the Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics, after an agency board meeting.
He also pointed out that Afghanistan is storing about 15,000 tons of opium. “No wonder that the CSTO has appealed to the UN Security Council to give Afghan drug production the status of a threat to peace and security”, Ivanov stressed.
He believes that “mankind is still unaware of the danger of this frightful phenomenon”.
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15. Libya’s Eastern And Western Neighbors: Clinton Heading To Egypt And Tunisia
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/11/c_13771574.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 11, 2011
Hillary Clinton to visit France, Egypt and Tunisia
WASHINGTON: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to France, Egypt and Tunisia on March 14-17, the State Department said on Thursday.
In Paris on March 14-15, Clinton will participate in the G8 meetings and meet her foreign counterparts, department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
While in Egypt and Tunisia, where recent unrest has unseated the two countries’ long-term leaders, the top U.S. diplomat will consult with government officials and elements of civil society on recent events and the “full range of regional and bilateral issues, ” the statement said.
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16. Afghanistan Calls On UN To Pressure NATO Over Civilian Killings
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/03/10/force-isaf-spare-civilians-president-un
Pahjwok Afghan News
March 10, 2011
Force ISAF to spare civilians: President to UN
by Frozan Rahmani
Afghanistan: War Without End In A World Without Conscience
KABUL: President Hamid Karzai on Thursday called on the United Nations to put pressure on foreign troops to exercise greater care during operations against insurgents to spare civilians.
The president made the call at a meeting with Ivan Simonovic, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, at the Presidential Palace, a statement issued from Karzai’s office said.
On Wednesday, the world body said last year was the deadliest yet for civilians in the Afghan war, with a 15 percent jump in the death toll. The 2,777 civilian deaths underscore the level of violence in Afghanistan….
Air strikes by NATO-led forces killed 171 people, according to the report released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission.
“Civilian casualties, either at the hands of Taliban or foreign troops, are unacceptable and it is a matter of great concern for us. We have repeatedly asked for an end to it,” Karzai was quoted as saying.
“As president of Afghanistan, it is my responsibility to protect my people. A continuation of civilian deaths is no longer acceptable to the government and people of Afghanistan,” Karzai added.
Simonovic presented the president the UN report on casualties in the Afghan war. He said the UN was deeply concerned at the increasing number of civilian deaths in the ongoing war.
….
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17. North African Unrest Could Spread Deeper Into Africa: Analysis
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20110310/162945420.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 10, 2011
Revolution tide may go deeper into Africa
Topic: Unrest in Arab countries
Experts and analysts are not hesitating in calling the situation in Libya a civil war. How long will it last? What countries may suffer the same fate? Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the Middle East Institute, in an interview with RIA Novosti’s Samir Shakhbaz claims that revolutionary processes can take a long time and may affect not only the Persian Gulf monarchies but also countries throughout Africa.
Shakhbaz: Hello, Mr Satanovsky. How long do you believe the international community’s attention will be riveted on the Arab revolutions?
Satanovsky: Judging by the European experience: no longer than 70 or 75 years. In Europe, the shooting started in 1914 and didn’t stop until 1945. This suggests the most intensive phase takes about 30 years. I am not joking.
….
What I’m saying is that the succession of wars, revolutions, riots, upheavals and civil wars – and what is happening in Libya is certainly a civil war – will take a long time. The whole region is ablaze, from Morocco to Pakistan, from the borders of Turkey, which is likely to avoid becoming embroiled, to Africa. It won’t be limited to the Middle East and North Africa. The region will go through what Europe experienced in 1914-1918. These processes always take a long time.
Shakhbaz: Correct me if I’m wrong, but Libya is the only country that has descended into conflict now. Even Egypt emerged from its revolution almost unscathed.
Satanovsky: Egypt is heading for a collapse as soon as the Nile’s water supply dwindles. Although it was not widely publicized, the international water sharing agreement which entitled Egypt and Sudan to consume 90% of the Nile water supply was de facto terminated on March 1. Six upstream countries signed a new agreement instead to build hydraulic structures, which will dramatically cut the water flow to Sudan as well as Egypt. Humans can survive without oil, but not without water. When the worst comes to the worst, today’s worries will seem petty and insignificant.
Shakhbaz: What is happening in other Middle Eastern countries? There is the Day of Wrath in Iraq, and the growing tensions in Bahrain, although officials there claim they are still in control.
Satanovsky: The government is not fully in control in Bahrain. They simply thwarted the first wave of unrest thanks to the intervention of Saudi
Arabian and Kuwaiti forces. With support of Iran the Shiite population, which constitutes the majority in Bahrain, is trying to overthrow the Sunni dynasty which has ruled the country for 200 years, This makes the future of the U.S. Navy base in that country most uncertain, and the country will inevitably become increasingly unstable.
The instability may also spread to the neighboring eastern part of Saudi Arabia, where the Sunni Muslims heavily oppress the local Shiite population. Bahrain is a more or less liberal country. The local population does not know much about what is going on in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
But the Saudi Shiites are in for trouble because the situation in the country could explode any minute. Yemen is heating up as well, and is bound to split in two, and I don’t think Saudi Arabia will survive the collapse. A lot of blood was shed and lives lost in putting it together in the early 20th century, but now the only thing bonding its provinces together is violence. If this happens, even I cannot say what would happen to the other Gulf monarchies.
We have not yet seen the end of the unrest that has gripped North Africa and the Middle East. Algeria could still follow Libya’s suit and Morocco might do the same. In January we saw Sudan split peacefully, but separatist sentiments have not been extinguished there. Former colonies tied together in unnatural conglomerates in the past by the English or the French never became integrated states. If this is so, we may still see disintegration of Nigeria, Kenya and other African countries.
Shakhbaz: Mr Satanovsky, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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18. Analysts: U.S. Exploits Arab Revolts To Subvert Russia, Destabilize Central Asia
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/article1526408.ece?homepage=true
The Hindu
March 11, 2011
Russia warns the West against interference
Medvedev suggested that the revolts in the Arab world were instigated by outside forces that had also been scheming to subvert Russia
Washington Intensifies Push Into Central Asia
Moscow is concerned that the turmoil in the Arab world aggravated by western interference may destabilise Russia’s restive North Caucasus and former Soviet Central Asia
Vladimir Radyuhin
-Although Russian leaders have not named any country, experts and politicians have pointed a finger at the United States. “The Arab revolt may have begun as spontaneous protests, but the West has now moved to take the endgame under its control,” says Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma. Analysts say the U.S. is using the same techniques in the Arab East it earlier used in staging “coloured revolutions” in the former Soviet Union — in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. They noted the role of CIA-linked foundations such as the Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in supporting and training civil activists and Twitter and Facebook organisers of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia.
“The events [in the Arab world] bear all the traits of a total ‘network war’ (netwar) as formulated by John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt of the RAND Corporation back in 1996,” says Alexander Knyazev of the Moscow-based Institute of Oriental Studies.
-Some Russian analysts are convinced that the U.S. is attempting to exploit the wave of popular rebellions in the Arab east to recast the world order and achieve global domination.
-Russian experts have warned that the U.S. could now push ahead with its plan of creating a Greater Central Asia, which is part of the larger project, the Greater Middle East.
Russia believes that the ongoing revolt in West Asia and North Africa, while having internal roots, also betrays a foreign hand. Warnings against foreign interference have dominated Moscow’s reaction to the crisis since the first demonstrations in Egypt against Hosni Mubarak.
“We do not think that foisting any recipes or giving ultimatums will serve any useful purpose,” said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the first official comment in Moscow on the unfolding popular revolt in Egypt on February 2. The Foreign Ministry followed up this statement with repeated warnings against foreign meddling. In a phone call to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on February 23, Mr. Lavrov “rejected attempts to bring outside pressure on the events in the region.”
Russia has also opposed western military interference in the civil strife in Libya. “Attempts to undertake military-political intervention can only aggravate problems the Libyan people face,” the Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué on a meeting between Russian and Saudi diplomats in Moscow last week.
President Dmitry Medvedev suggested that the revolts in the Arab world were instigated by outside forces that had also been scheming to subvert Russia. “I won’t call any names but a whole range of countries, even those we have friendly relations with, have nevertheless been involved in terrorism in the [Russian] Caucasus,” he said at a recent meeting with Russia’s security chiefs. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also urged western nations to refrain from interfering in the rebellions in the Arab world. “People should have the chance to choose their own fates and their own futures without any kind of outside interference,” the Kremlin supremo said on a recent visit to Brussels.
Although Russian leaders have not named any country, experts and politicians have pointed a finger at the United States. “The Arab revolt may have begun as spontaneous protests, but the West has now moved to take the endgame under its control,” says Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma. Analysts say the U.S. is using the same techniques in the Arab East it earlier used in staging “coloured revolutions” in the former Soviet Union — in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. They noted the role of CIA-linked foundations such as the Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in supporting and training civil activists and Twitter and Facebook organisers of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia.
“The events [in the Arab world] bear all the traits of a total ‘network war’ (netwar) as formulated by John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt of the RAND Corporation back in 1996,” says Alexander Knyazev of the Moscow-based Institute of Oriental Studies.
At the height of the Arab crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared a netwar on all “repressive governments.” In a speech at George Washington University on February 15, she vowed to promote “internet freedom” around the world by matching “our diplomacy with technology, secure distribution networks for tools, and direct support for those on the front lines.”
Ms Clinton announced that in addition to launching Twitter feeds in Arabic and Farsi, the U.S. was planning to “start similar ones in Chinese, Russian, and Hindi.”
Some Russian analysts are convinced that the U.S. is attempting to exploit the wave of popular rebellions in the Arab east to recast the world order and achieve global domination. “We are witnessing attempts to reformat the Greater Middle East according to a plan devised by the U.S. neoconservatives who are now creeping back to power,” says the former diplomat and scholar Vyacheslav Matuzov, who heads the Russia-Arab friendship society.
Whatever its aims in the current crisis, Washington’s interventionism may have unintended results, as Mr. Putin reminded the West recently citing its previous attempts to “impose democracy” in Iran and Palestine.
Speaking in Brussels last month, he recalled that the Iranian revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had enjoyed the support of the West while living in France before he returned to the country in 1979 to lead the Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah. “And now the West is grappling with the Iranian nuclear programme,” Mr. Putin said.
“I remember our partners calling for fair democratic elections in the Palestinian territories,” he went on. “Excellent! Those elections were won by Hamas. They declared it a terrorist organisation and confronted it shortly thereafter.”
Moscow is concerned that the turmoil in the Arab world, aggravated by western interference, may destabilise Russia’s restive North Caucasus and former Soviet Central Asia.
Mr. Medvedev said the Arab rebellion would have a “direct impact” on Russia, which has fought two wars against Islamist separatists in Chechnya in the past 15 years and is still battling terrorism in the neighbouring territories. “They [extremists] prepared a similar scenario for us in the past, and will try and realise it again — now with renewed force,” the Russian leader said, adding: “Come what may, they won’t succeed.”
Islamist militants in the North Caucasus have indeed declared that their insurgency and the Arab revolt shared the same goal of spreading Islamic rule across the globe. “We pray that your struggle will help put the laws of Allah in place in the entire world,” Doku Umarov, self-proclaimed “Emir of Caucasian Mujahidin,” who claimed responsibility for the bloody suicide bombings on the Moscow metro in 2010 and the Domodedovo airport last month, said in a video address to Arab Muslims, posted on a militant website last week.
Russia is also bracing itself for a possible fallout of the Arab turmoil in Central Asia. “In the last 20 years, Moscow has had to deal with a bloody civil war in Tajikistan, two ‘tulip revolutions’ in Kyrgyzstan, and an abrupt change of a despot in Turkmenistan, but those were all local developments with limited implications for the wider region or for Russia.
What is looming on the horizon could be much bigger and more important,” writes political scientist Dmitry Trenin. He points out that the authoritarian leaders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Islam Karimov and Nursultan Nazarbayev, both in their 70s, have been in power for two decades but “are neither able nor willing to arrange an orderly transfer of power” and their departure could “open the floodgates for serious trouble.”
Russian experts have warned that the U.S. could now push ahead with its plan of creating a Greater Central Asia, which is part of the larger project, the Greater Middle East.
“The concept of Greater Central Asia calls for the dilution of borders between the five post-Soviet states [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan], and their merger with Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Dr. Knyazev explained in a recent interview. “Four years ago, I called the project ‘geopolitical marasmus’. However today it is shaping up as a hands-on plan for sowing chaos across entire Central Eurasia.”
Moscow has signalled its resolve to tighten its grip on Central Asia to forestall any possible spillover of instability from the Arab crisis. An unnamed official in the Russian “military-diplomatic quarters” told the government news agency Itar-Tass last week that the Moscow-led defence bloc of former Soviet states, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), was planning to hold consultations on the situation in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, considered the likely focal points of turmoil in Central Asia. The CSTO unites Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia.
“The CSTO is concerned about renewed attempts of extremist groups to set up bases for expanding their subversive activities in Central Asian states,” the Russian official said. He pointed to last summer’s ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan and more recent fighting between security forces and Islamists in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, as evidence of a “credible extremist threat” in the region.
Even before the unrest broke out in West Asia, Russia took steps to bolster security arrangements in Central Asia. A raft of documents signed in the framework of the CSTO security pact at the end of last year called for creating a concrete mechanism for deploying peacekeeping forces on a request from a member-state. Moscow cited the absence of such a mechanism for failing to send troops to Kyrgyzstan during last year’s violence in the Fergana Valley. Next time it will be different. On March 4, the CSTO announced plans to hold the first drills of its peacekeeping forces later this year.
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19. Mediterranean: “NATO Is United, NATO Is Vigilant, NATO Is Ready To Act”
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-5459E619-CAB7B889/natolive/news_71446.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 10, 2011
NATO ready to support international efforts on Libya
Cyprus: U.S. To Dominate All Europe, Mediterranean Through NATO
NATO Defence Ministers, meeting in Brussels today, agreed to increase the presence of NATO Maritime assets in the Central Mediterranean using ships from two of NATO’s Standing Maritime Groups.
“It has been decided to increase the presence of NATO maritime assets in the Central Mediterranean under the command of Supreme Allied Commander Admiral Stavridis, “said the Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in a news conference following the meeting. “These ships will improve NATO’s situational awareness which is vital in the current circumstances and they will contribute to our surveillance and monitoring capability, including with regard to the arms embargo established by the UN Security Council Resolution 1970”.
Admiral Stavridis will determine the number of ships required to provide this enhanced presence and it is expected that these ships, drawn from the Standing NATO Maritime Group and the Standing Mine Countermeasures Group, will begin moving to the region in the very near term.
Defence Ministers also agreed to have more detailed planning options for…support to the arms embargo.
….
“The topic of a possible No-Fly Zone over Libya was also discussed and it was agreed that further planning will be required in case NATO were to receive a clear UN Mandate.
….
“Our message today is; NATO is united, NATO is vigilant and NATO is ready to act”, Rasmussen concluded.
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20. NATO Defense Ministers Complement U.S. CYBERCOM Warfare Role
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_71432.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organziation
March 10, 2011
Defence Ministers approve Cyber Defence Concept and take next step in defence reform
U.S. Cyber Command: Waging War In World’s Fifth Battlespace
NATO Defence Ministers approved today in Brussels a new Cyber Defence Concept that will pave the way for the Alliance to step up its defences against growing cyber threats. The new Cyber Defence Concept defines the protection of NATO’s own networks as the Alliance’s fundamental cyber defence responsibility.
It also highlights the importance of cooperating with partners and other international organisations on cyber defenceand the necessity to integrate cyber threats into NATO’s defence planning. Ministers of Defence are expected to approve a renewed NATO Cyber Defence Policy and a Cyber Defence Action at their next meeting in June.
During the meeting, Defence Ministers discussed progress in a range of measures decided at the Summit in Lisbon to make the Alliance more effective and efficient in meeting new security threats. They agreed that work on the necessary consultation, command and control arrangements for a NATO-based missile defence system is well on track. They also provided political guidance for the military implementation of the Strategic Concept, including for the further development of essential capabilities. Finally, Ministers reviewed ongoing work on the military Command Structure, Headquarters and NATO Agencies reform.
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21. Top U.S. Intelligence Official: Libyan Uprising To Fail Without Foreign Intervention
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031002000.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post
March 10, 2011
Top intelligence official says Gaddafi likely to prevail; U.S., Europe weigh responses
By Craig Whitlock, Edward Cody and Liz Sly
-In an effort to bolster the rebels, France said Thursday that it now recognizes the opposition’s governing council in Benghazi as Libya’s legitimate representative, and it urged its European allies to do the same as a way to hasten Gaddafi’s downfall.
-The French government made the announcement in Paris as European Union foreign ministers and NATO defense ministers gathered in separate huddles in Brussels to weigh proposals for military, diplomatic and humanitarian steps to push the embattled 68-year-old Libyan leader out of power in Tripoli. The NATO defense ministers decided Thursday to reposition allied warships closer to Libya to strengthen surveillance of the fighting there and better monitor a U.N. arms embargo against Gaddafi’s forces.
-In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would travel to Egypt and Tunisia next week to promote democratic reforms and meet with Libyan opposition figures. She also announced that the United States is suspending relations with the Libyan Embassy in Washington.
-Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the committee chairman, asked Clapper and Burgess whether imposing a no-fly zone on Libya would constitute an act of war.
Clapper said he would have to consult with government lawyers before answering. Burgess replied that “my general understanding” is that enforcing a no-fly zone would be an act of war.
The top U.S. intelligence official said Thursday that Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is likely to “prevail” in his battle against rebels without foreign intervention or some other major change, as European governments and U.S. lawmakers sought ways to aid Gaddafi’s increasingly beleaguered opponents.
The prediction by James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, came as the Gaddafi government claimed it has regained control of Zawiyah, an oil-refining center 27 miles west of Tripoli, and has driven rebels from the key oil port of Ras Lanuf in the east.
Clapper told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Gaddafi has consolidated his position in recent days and that his forces are far better equipped than the rebels, giving him a clear advantage.
“With respect to the rebels in Libya and whether or not they will succeed . . . I think, frankly, they’re in for a tough row,” Clapper said. “I do believe that Gaddafi is in this for the long haul. I don’t think he has any intention . . . of leaving.”
In response to questions, he added that “from a standpoint of attrition” and given the government’s greater resources, “I think [over] the longer term that the regime will prevail.”
President Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, later told reporters that the United States would soon send civilian disaster relief teams to eastern Libya to provide humanitarian aid.
….
In Tripoli, Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, vowed to about 2,000 frenzied supporters that the Libyan army would press ahead with its offensive and march on Benghazi, the rebel capital 630 miles to the east.
“Hear it now, I have only two words for our brothers and sisters in the east: we’re coming,” he roared at the crowd, pumping his fist. “Tonight Ajdabiya, tomorrow Benghazi,” the crowd roared back. Ajdabiya is about 100 miles south of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold that is Libya’s second-largest city.
Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, told reporters that the Libyan military had managed to “clean” Ras Lanuf completely and had recaptured weapons seized by the rebels.
He also said that Libyan forces recaptured Zawiyah and were now “cleaning” the town in preparation for a visit by journalists to verify the claim.
In the Armed Services Committee hearing, Army Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess Jr., director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, agreed with Clapper that Gaddafi was not at immediate risk of being toppled. “Right now he seems to have staying power, unless some other dynamic changes at this time,” he said.
Burgess said momentum “has started to shift” from the rebels to Gaddafi’s forces. “Whether or not it has fully moved to Gaddafi’s side . . . is not clear at this time,” he said. “But we have now reached a state of equilibrium where the initiative . . . may actually be on the regime side.”
Clapper and Burgess testified after Libyan government forces drove hundreds of rebels from the key oil port of Ras Lanuf on Thursday, dealing a major setback to opposition hopes of advancing westward toward Tripoli….
In an effort to bolster the rebels, France said Thursday that it now recognizes the opposition’s governing council in Benghazi as Libya’s legitimate representative, and it urged its European allies to do the same as a way to hasten Gaddafi’s downfall.
Kaim, the Libyan deputy foreign minister, responded angrily to France’s decision, calling it “a clear violation of Libyan sovereignty and independence.”
Governments that talk about recognizing the rebel council are “leading the country to a civil war and to foreign intervention, and I’m sure no Libyan wants this,” he said at a news briefing in Tripoli.
The French government made the announcement in Paris as European Union foreign ministers and NATO defense ministers gathered in separate huddles in Brussels to weigh proposals for military, diplomatic and humanitarian steps to push the embattled 68-year-old Libyan leader out of power in Tripoli. The NATO defense ministers decided Thursday to reposition allied warships closer to Libya to strengthen surveillance of the fighting there and better monitor a U.N. arms embargo against Gaddafi’s forces.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would travel to Egypt and Tunisia next week to promote democratic reforms and meet with Libyan opposition figures. She also announced that the United States is suspending relations with the Libyan Embassy in Washington.
Libya’s ambassadors to the United States and the United Nations – who have both defected to the opposition – announced, meanwhile, that they would hold a joint news conference Friday to call on the Obama administration and Congress to recognize the rebels’ Transitional National Council as Libya’s sole legitimate government.
Some members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), have been pressing the Obama administration to intervene more aggressively in Libya, either by imposing a no-fly zone or giving direct aid to the rebels. They said Clapper’s assessment reinforces their fears that the United States is missing an opportunity to do more to drive Gaddafi from power.
“There’s a real probability that the regime will prevail,” Lieberman said. “And that’s a very bad outcome.”
McCain said the United States now faces the possibility that Gaddafi could recapture parts of Libya….
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the committee chairman, asked Clapper and Burgess whether imposing a no-fly zone on Libya would constitute an act of war.
Clapper said he would have to consult with government lawyers before answering. Burgess replied that “my general understanding” is that enforcing a no-fly zone would be an act of war.
Replying to other questions about a no-fly zone, Clapper said Libyan air defenses are “quite substantial,” ranking second to Egypt’s in the Arab world. He said Libya has at least 31 major surface-to-air missile sites, a radar complex and large numbers of shoulder-launched air-defense missiles.
The Libyan air force, Clapper said, has 75 to 80 operational aircraft – about a third of them transports, a third helicopters and the rest fighters….
By repositioning allied warships in the waters off Libya – a move announced in Brussels by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen – the U.S.-led alliance appeared to be trying to heighten international pressure on Gaddafi to yield power to the rebellion. Over the last three weeks, the uprising has gained a foothold in the eastern part of the country but faces repeated counterattacks against rebel-held western towns closer to the capital.
“Our message today is that NATO is united, NATO is vigilant, and NATO is ready,” Rasmussen said.
He declined to describe the ships involved or their number, calling them only “naval assets” that could be used for humanitarian relief deliveries or reconnaissance. A U.S. official said the ships, from several nations, were already in the Mediterranean on a NATO exercise but were ordered closer to Libya’s shores. A U.S. amphibious assault ship, the USS Kearsarge, and accompanying vessels have been in the area for several days.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates made it clear that the NATO ships would not be authorized to enforce the embargo – or take any other military action – without a new resolution from the U.N. Security Council. The limitations added to an impression that members of the U.S.-led alliance, at least for the moment, seek to threaten Gaddafi with gestures while holding back from concrete action without legal backing from the United Nations and endorsement from Middle Eastern governments in the Arab League.
NATO planners, Gates added, will continue to look into the possibility of what would be necessary to impose a no-fly zone on Gaddafi’s air force. But he indicated that no more specific preparations were underway.
“That’s the extent of it as far as a no-fly zone is concerned,” he told reporters.
In another gesture seeking to pressure Gaddafi, France recognized the main Libyan rebel group as the legitimate representative of the country Thursday and urged its European allies to do the same.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy met at the Elysee Palace with two representatives of the rebels’ Benghazi-based governing council, identified as Mahmoud Jibril and Ali Essawi. The meeting was depicted as a gesture of support for the rebellion. On Thursday, government forces appeared to tighten their siege of rebel-held Misurata, while skirmishes continued in the contested city of Zawiyah.
France will soon send an ambassador to Benghazi to establish regular contact with the rebel organization, officials said, and Essawi said the council planned to send a representative to Europe.
French officials told reporters, however, that the recognition did not signify diplomatic recognition of the council as a government. Rather, they explained, it was designed as an act of encouragement.
“We would like all the European Union to follow suit,” one official told Reuters. “But it’s not in the bag.”
Sarkozy’s government, which was slow off the mark in recognizing the scope of the recent revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, has been eager to get out front in supporting Libya’s rebellion. Its determination to act boldly comes despite past efforts to cultivate good relations with Gaddafi and an unsuccessful attempt to persuade him to use some of his oil billions to buy France’s Rafale multipurpose fighter.
The Obama administration has emphasized that, whatever action is contemplated, it must have a legal basis, probably a U.N. Security Council resolution; it must be approved by regional nations; and it must be seen to be a necessary response to the situation in Libya.
Obama’s advisers say the U.S. president is content to let other nations publicly lead the search for solutions to the conflict.
The 28 E.U. heads of state and government are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Friday to decide on a common course on Libya. Reports from Paris said some French officials are pushing for a no-fly zone or bombing raids on Gaddafi’s military installations, provided that such moves are authorized by the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League. But other European capitals have expressed caution, saying Libya’s rebel movement is little known and military strikes would be a serious step fraught with danger.
Jibril and Essawi had asked for E.U. recognition during conversations Thursday in Strasburg with members of the European Parliament. Parliament members endorsed the idea, but the E.U. foreign affairs head, Catherine Ashton, declined to take the step pending the summit meeting Friday.
A senior U.S. official said the NATO defense ministers were examining a wide range of options prepared by military planners. Although much discussion has centered on a no-fly zone, he said, the planning also includes smaller-scale responses, such as military protection for delivery of humanitarian relief and jamming of Libya’s military communications.
NATO-nation Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft have been flying intelligence-gathering patrols off Libya for a number of days, he said.
Consultations on a possible Security Council resolution have been underway for a week at U.N. headquarters in New York. But Russia and China – along with other nations – have made it clear they are not eager to support military action.
The Arab League is scheduled to meet in Cairo on Saturday. A senior Libyan official traveled to the Egyptian capital Wednesday on what appeared to be a mission to invoke pan-Arab solidarity to prevent the group from endorsing military action against Gaddafi.
….
Cody reported from Brussels. Sly reported from Tripoli. Staff writer William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.
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22. Franco-American Conspiracy: Ivory Coast Bans French, UN Overflights
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/ocountries/1842643.html
Trend News Agency
March 10, 2011
Ivory Coast bans UN, French flights
-Gbagbo has…rejected any negotiations on the outcome of his country’s disputed presidential election in November, condemning the current international pressure against him as a Franco-American conspiracy.
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that…said it was time for Gbagbo to quit power.
De facto Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has banned UN and French overflights and landings in the country, as the country’s political standoff remains unresolved, Press TV reported.
The decision comes just hours before Gbagbo electoral rival, President-elect Alassane Ouattara, attends an African Union meeting in Ethiopia.
The decision will prevent Ouattara’s participation in the AU panel of presidents, which includes Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, South African President Jacob Zuma, Chad’s Idriss Deby Itno, Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaore and Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete.
The African mediation group is tasked with finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ivory Coast and the violence that has so far left more than 375 people dead in the country.
Gbagbo has reportedly refused to attend the meeting. He earlier said he will send a representative instead.
Gbagbo has also rejected any negotiations on the outcome of his country’s disputed presidential election in November, condemning the current international pressure against him as a Franco-American conspiracy.
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he was shocked by the “indiscriminate killing” of civilians in Ivory Coast and said it was time for Gbagbo to quit power.
“Former President Gbagbo’s efforts to hold on to power at the expense of his own country are an assault on the universal rights of his people, and the democracy that the Cote d’Ivoire deserves,” Obama said.
The UN mission in Ivory Coast (UNOCI), which has about 9,000 troops in the African country, has been frequently slammed by Gbagbo for supporting Ouattara.
….
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23. Guam: Pentagon To Build Firing Ranges On Ancestral Land
Stars and Stripes
March 9, 2011
Guam, U.S. military agree on plan to build firing ranges on ancestral land
By Travis J. Tritten
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa: The government of Guam said Wednesday it will sign off on a controversial U.S. military plan to build Marine Corps training ranges on ancestral land.
The territorial government dropped opposition to machine gun and grenade ranges along the Pagat coastal forest after the Navy guaranteed unimpeded public access to several sites including a historic indigenous village, hiking trail and cave, according to a news release by Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo.
The training ranges are a key part of the planned transfer of 8,600 Marines from Okinawa to Guam by 2014, but have stirred widespread opposition on the island in recent months — including a lawsuit pending against the Department of Defense in Hawaii district court — because the land is considered sacred by many indigenous Chamorro residents.
The announcement Wednesday was a significant victory for the U.S. military, which had delayed the project since September so it could work out an agreement with Guam to protect Pagat and other historic sites.
John Jackson, executive director of the Joint Guam Program Office, said the decision by the government of Guam sends a message to Congress that progress is being made on the training ranges.
The Navy could now finalize site plans for the ranges within the next couple of months, Jackson said.
Opposition from the Guam State Historic Preservation Office had been the main hold-up of the project, he said. The agency had opposed Navy plans to put the ranges on Pagat since they were unveiled in September, saying it would not agree to any military construction on the approximately 1,000-acre coastal forest.
….
Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed by We Are Guahan — the Guam Preservation Trust and others claiming the DOD broke the law because it did not consider alternate sites for the ranges — is scheduled for a hearing in Hawaii district court in September. Leevin Camacho, an attorney and member of We Are Guahan, said the group still opposes the training ranges and any military construction in Pagat.
The government of Guam’s decision to support the project “doesn’t cure that,” Camacho said. “We got the feeling since the beginning that this would be settled in court.”
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24. Libya: Pentagon Could Try Out F-22 Raptor Stealth Jets For First Combat Role From Middle East Bases
Aviation Week
March 9, 2011
F-22s Could Be Assigned To Libyan Operation
By David A. Fulghum
-“The Air Force has significant excess capacity for the Libya mission,” the veteran fighter pilot says. “It is the perfect scenario for the F-22 and F-16CJ Wild Weasels that are currently not engaged in Afghanistan. The Air Force’s bread-and-butter mission is to take down sophisticated, integrated air defense systems, attack air bases to render them unusable, destroy any radars that emit, and clear the skies of any aircraft in flight. After an intense, 24-48-hr. campaign, enforcing the no-fly zone is a routine operation.”
-Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirms that discussions about the intricacies of setting up a no-fly zone were under way as part of the options and contingencies that the Pentagon is preparing for White House review.
Mullen has just returned from visiting seven countries in the region to gather the opinions of his peers.
Washington: The Pentagon is generating plans for a no-fly zone over Libya —
plans that could produce the first combat assignment for the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.
Whether the idea progresses beyond this stage is subject to United Nations and NATO support….Nonetheless, the idea does show how the U.S. Air Force confronts the task of taking down a large air defense system.
The Lockheed Martin F-22, F-16CJ Wild Weasels and some cyberoperations would be employed in shutting down Libya’s air defense system, which consists “almost exclusively” of Russian-built SA-6 surface-to-air missile (SAM)systems. The munitions are similar to those that opposed NATO forces involved in operations in Serbia and that shot down the single F-117 fighter lost in combat, says a former Air Force chief of staff.
….
U.S. aircraft carriers are moving to the western Mediterranean, but operations in Afghanistan may not permit them to maintain a long-term no-fly zone over Libya. That task would likely fall to the Air Force, says a senior USAF official.
“Creating and enforcing a leak-proof no-fly zone over Libya can be done without stretching U.S. forces,” the veteran fighter pilot says. “The Air Force has the capacity to do this without seriously affecting its missions in Afghanistan. There is no air superiority problem in Iraq or Afghanistan that requires more fighters and AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control Systems], than [those] already committed [to that mission].”
….
Basing could be an issue. “Obviously it would be desirable to operate from bases in Italy,” the former Air Force chief of staff says. “Italy would likely allow us to use its bases because of [its] vested commitment to [maintaining] access to Libyan oil and gas.”
A worst-case scenario, with NATO rejecting support of a no-fly zone, might have shorter-range U.S. fighters flying out of Egypt, using facilities like Cairo West where multi-national Bright Star exercises are conducted.
“I engaged my counterpart in Egypt a number of times,” Mullen says. “They want to sustain the relationship [with the U.S. military].”
Others with insight into the current administration in Egypt agree.
“We have a great relationship with the Egyptian air force and army and they are the ones in charge of the country,” the former Air Force chief of staff says. He notes that U.S. aircraft would not operate from bases in eastern Libya occupied by forces opposed to leader Moammar Gadhafi because of the danger of shoulder-fired missiles, anti-U.S. protests and sabotage.
“The Air Force has significant excess capacity for the Libya mission,” the veteran fighter pilot says. “It is the perfect scenario for the F-22 and F-16CJ Wild Weasels that are currently not engaged in Afghanistan. The Air Force’s bread-and-butter mission is to take down sophisticated, integrated air defense systems, attack air bases to render them unusable, destroy any radars that emit, and clear the skies of any aircraft in flight. After an intense, 24-48-hr. campaign, enforcing the no-fly zone is a routine operation.”
Larger aircraft, such as tankers, Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Stars and Boeing E-3 AWACS could conceivably operate from Oman, Tunisia or Qatar.
The establishment of a no-fly zone would require “a massive SAM rollback effort, like that imposed on Iraq [during the Northern and Southern Watch operations after the first Iraq conflict in 1991],” the USAF official says. “Every time the Iraqis turned on a radar, we hosed them.
“Any cyberoperations would be part of the SAM rollback radar and computer-jamming program, but it would be a small part,” he says. Other targets would be communications systems. The “heavy weight of effort required” to impose a round-the-clock flight ban could require the “first actual use of the F-22.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirms that discussions about the intricacies of setting up a no-fly zone were under way as part of the options and contingencies that the Pentagon is preparing for White House review.
Mullen has just returned from visiting seven countries in the region to gather the opinions of his peers.
….
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25. Pentagon Chief: NATO’s Libya Plan Includes Military Options
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63113
U.S. Department of Defense
March 10, 2011
Gates: NATO’s Libya Plans to Include Military Options
By Karen Parrish
BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO’s defense ministers share concern about Moammar Gadhafi’s escalating attacks on the Libyan people and have agreed to plan for all military options, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today.
Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers, Gates added that NATO will act only “if there is demonstrable need, a sound legal basis and strong regional support” for military action.
Gates said he welcomes the decision to reposition naval assets in the central Mediterranean Sea to enhance NATO’s ability to monitor the United Nations arms embargo and to provide support for humanitarian efforts by the U.N., European Union and others.
“This builds on the decision earlier this week to increase around-the-clock aerial surveillance of Libya,” the secretary said….
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance is prepared for whatever it may be required to do.
“NATO is united, NATO is vigilant, NATO is ready to act,” he said.
NATO defense ministers and those from other countries that contribute troops to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, along with Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, will meet tomorrow to discuss the Joint Afghan-NATO Transition Board’s recommendations for the first areas where responsibility for security will transfer to Afghan forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to make a formal announcement on the matter March 21.
Tomorrow’s session also will include discussion of ongoing support to Afghanistan through the end of the security transition process in 2014, such as training Afghan security forces and further developing a long-term partnership, NATO officials said.
Radio And Text: West Has Crossed The Rubicon On Libya
Voice of Russia
March 10, 2011
Interview with Rick Rozoff, a U.S. journalist covering NATO enlargement
Yekaterina Kudashkina
Rough transcription:
The question at this point is to what extent NATO is prepared to intervene in the Libyan crisis. You know, the true moment of truth will be when a two-day summit of defense ministers, defense chiefs, of the 28 members of NATO meet in Brussels that will of course include US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his 27 counterparts and the other NATO member states.
They are to meet on 10th and 11th March, Thursday and Friday, and there is no question about what will be at the top of the agenda: it is going to be the question of Libya.
And we know from US permanent representative, ambassador, to NATO Ivo Daalder as of yesterday that NATO has announced that it will enforce 24-hours, around-the-clock aerial and naval surveillance of Libya that’s up from 10 hours previous to that.
Just in the last hour I saw that the foreign minister of Italy, Franco Frattini, made an announcement at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Italian parliament stating this: “We need to take action in reference to Libya.”
And he stated that his country would propose to an extraordinary meeting of the European Council that the European Union and NATO coordinate forces to enforce a naval blockade of Libya. So we are talking about a flight ban or no-fly zone which is going to be brought up in the UN Security Council by France and Germany in the first instance along with the United States.
Germany is currently on the Security Council and the other three Western countries are of course permanent members. Those four countries are what is sometimes referred to as the NATO Quad, the big four NATO powers, Britain, France, United States and Germany.
It appears at this point they are united in wanting to enforce a flight ban over Libya to keep the nation’s air force and aircraft in general grounded.
The comment I just mentioned by the foreign minister of Italy Frattini demonstrates that a naval blockade would complement or accompany that. I mean, this is really putting the Libyan nation under siege and clearly if there were actions of that sort taken against France, Britain, Germany and the United States it would be construed as an acts of war, which is effectively what they are. So I would argue we’re days, perhaps hours, away from a U.S.-NATO military operation against Libya; whether it entails bombing and destroying on the ground the Libyan air force and air defense and surveillance facilities and so on we can only speculate, but I think at this point it’s pretty clear that the West has crossed the Rubicon.
But it is not the first time the international community introduces a no-fly zone?
There are precedents for this as we know. One was instituted against Iraq starting in 1991 after the end of Operation Desert Storm and continued until 2003.
From 1992 to 1995 there were actually two no-fly zone operations run by NATO in Bosnia, particularly against the Bosnian Serb Republic. It was a very partisan effort.
And at the beginning of the war against Yugoslavia in 1999, a 78-day bombing campaign, a no-flight zone was established over that country.
The actual mechanics of getting UN Security Council approval or sanctioning for a no-fly zone is for nine or more of the fifteen members of the Security Council to approve it, and then for no permanent member of the Security Council to veto that resolution.
There are five permanent members – the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia – and ten non-permanent members. And to be honest with you, I haven’t looked at the rest of the current membership and I don’t know how the other ten would be likely to vote.
But with the permanent members it’s going to break down predictably into Western NATO nations – the U.S., Britain and France – in favor of the flight ban and other military measures against Libya with China and Russia presumably voting against, and of course with the latter two countries in a position to veto the resolution if it’s passed by nine or more other countries.
Do I get it right that introducing a no-fly zone will not contribute much to containing violence on the ground?
The formal or diplomatic explanation for why a flight ban is effected against a country – this is an expression we hear more and more since Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, is once again obligingly accommodating the West (the U.S. and Western Europe), pushing the concept of what’s called the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P).
And this was used of course in Iraq in 1991. No-fly zones included that in the Northern Iraqi ethnic Kurdish areas of the country and so forth. The argument presented by the major Western powers, which are always those who introduce and lobby for no-fly zones, is that it protects civilians on the ground against – as we hear in the language from American, Western European, and NATO officials recently, employing the term – crimes against humanity. The other terms are of course genocide and war crimes – they are all borrowed from the Nuremberg Tribunal.
And we remember that these expressions were used in the Balkans in the 1990s inevitably to further, I would argue, NATO political and geopolitical ambitions in Southeast Europe.
In theory, again, no-fly zones protect civilians against military attacks by the government and in fact that’s what the Western parties are going to claim in Libya. They are going to claim that military forces loyal to Gaddafi are perpetrating massacres and even genocide against the Libyan people. And that’s the pretext, I believe it’s largely a pretext, but that will be the formal explanation for why they are enforcing a flight ban.
Stop NATO News March 10, 2011
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1. U.S. Official: NATO “Natural Choice For Military Action” Against Libya
2. NATO Troops Kill Afghan President’s Cousin
3. Police Slay Afghan Civilians, German Troops Kill Afghan Woman
4. Italian FM Calls For Joint EU-NATO Naval Blockade Of Libya
5. Military Interference In African States Unacceptable: Russian Foreign Minister
6. NATO Planes To Patrol Mediterranean
7. Brussels: Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Joins NATO’s War Council
8. NATO Commanders Have Drawn Up Plans For Libya Military Operations
9. NATO Rebuffs Libyan Envoys
10. Disputed Spratly Islands: 6,000 U.S. Troops In Philippines War Games
11. U.S. Threatens Syria With Isolation
12. NATO Expands Mediterranean Surveillance Under 10-Year-Old Operation Active Endeavor
13. Libya: NATO Moves Toward Military Action Without UN Resolution
14. Australian Prime Minister In Washington: U.S. Must Be At Center Of New World Order
15. Thank Tank: Japan Is Now Aircraft Carrier Power For First Time Since World War Two
16. Pentagon Chief, NATO War Council Meet On Afghanistan, Libya
17. NATO Officials Say Bloc Can Deploy 200-300 Jets To Libya
18. Obama Directly Targets Ivory Coast
19. As The U.S. Senate Goes After Belarus
20. NATO Defense Chiefs Discuss Missile Shield, Libyan Operations
21. Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency Awards $1.1 Billion Contract
22. Canadian Military Spending At Highest Point Since WW II: Study
23. Alaska: U.S. Special Forces Trained For Arctic Warfare
24. Canada Conducts Arctic Military Exercise
25. Russia Opposes Militarization Of The Arctic
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1. U.S. Official: NATO “Natural Choice For Military Action” Against Libya
Agence France-Presse
March 9, 2011
US says NATO ‘natural choice’ for Libya intervention
BRUSSELS: The United States would see it as preferable that any military intervention in Libya were conducted under a NATO banner, a senior US official said Wednesday.
“The US believes that NATO is the natural choice for any military action,” the official said on the eve of talks between defence ministers from the 28-state alliance in Brussels on Thursday.
In Paris, though, a French diplomatic source insisted that “alongside Britain, we are working on what could be done without NATO. The sight of the NATO flag (in Libya) would be provocative.”
The American official refused to discuss earlier comments by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe or NATO member Turkey that each cast doubt on the appropriateness of the military alliance acting as the vehicle for enforcing a no-fly zone.
He said planning had moved into an “advanced” stage including setting up a no-fly zone over parts or all of Libya, “finding out how complex, how large and how costly” that operation would be at a time of stretched resources in Afghanistan, and even tighter national budgets.
NATO has “unique capabilities,” he said, which would not be available to generals if an operation was mounted by a smaller coalition….
The official was speaking shortly before US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in the Belgian capital after a whistle-stop visit to Germany.
Quizzed as to the chances of the United States, Britain and France mounting operations themselves with support from Italy and Germany, the official kept up his mantra.
He said Washington wants “the planning… the decision, if necessary… and the action to take place within NATO,” stressing that allies would need to prove a “demonstrable need” to intervene militarily and ensure “regional support” from Arab and African neighbours.
….
The same three-step approach has also been cited by Britain, France and Germany.
When asked what would happen if regional support was not forthcoming, a British official said: “I didn’t say condition, I said guiding principle — it doesn’t mean necessarily that every single regional organisation in the Middle East would have to sign up to NATO action.”
As Libyan leader Colonel Moamer Kadhafi accused the West of plotting to steal his people’s oil, London and Paris have made the most vibrant calls among Western powers for a no-fly zone.
The British official said that “nobody is on the point of triggering a UN Security Council resolution for NATO action at the minute,” but underlined that the talk “is certainly not a bluff.”
According to the White House, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have agreed to press forward with planning a range of possible responses to the ongoing unrest.
These included surveillance, humanitarian assistance, enforcement of the arms embargo and a no-fly zone, said Washington.
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2. NATO Troops Kill Afghan President’s Cousin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/10/nato-troops-kill-afghan-presidents-cousin
The Guardian
March 10, 2011
Nato troops ‘kill Afghan president’s cousin’
Shooting in botched nighttime operation set to increase Hamid Karzai’s anger at killing of civilians by Nato-led forces
Jon Boone in Kabul
-“There were many tanks that came and surrounded the house, but they did not attack any other building,” said Haji Padshah. “The Americans then went in, brought out Haji Mohammad and shot him.”
A furious row between Nato-led forces and the Afghan president over the killing of civilians looks set to turn into a full-blown crisis after an elderly cousin of Hamid Karzai was killed during a botched Nato operation.
Officials in the southern province of Kandahar confirmed that Haji Yar Mohammad Karzai, a second cousin of the president, was accidentally shot during an overnight operation in the family village of Karz.
Senior tribal leaders, including Karzai’s powerful brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, had gathered for the funeral in keeping with the Islamic tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours.
Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omar, said the president had ordered an immediate investigation by Afghan security forces.
….
Details of what happened are still unclear, although one senior member of the Alokozai tribe, who attended the funeral, said the attack took place at some point after midnight and American soldiers were responsible.
“There were many tanks that came and surrounded the house, but they did not attack any other building,” said Haji Padshah. “The Americans then went in, brought out Haji Mohammad and shot him.”
Ahmadullah Nazak, district chief of the area, said two of his bodyguards and a neighbour were arrested.
“We don’t know why the operation was carried out in his village, whether he was aimed at or somebody else. He was an old man at the age of 60, he had no official job,” Nazak said.
Mahmoud Karzai, another of the president’s brothers, said the killing was a “shocking development” and he could not understand why Nato forces would be hunting for insurgents in Karz, which is in the relatively peaceful district of Dand, not far from Kandahar City.
“Karz is our stronghold, there are absolutely no Taliban there and there never will be,” Mahmoud Karzai told the Guardian.
….
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3. Police Slay Afghan Civilians, German Troops Kill Afghan Woman
Associated Press
March 10, 2011
Afghan villagers say police killed 5 civilians
KANDAHAR: A few dozen villagers shouted and protested in Afghanistan’s main southern city Thursday, accusing the police of killing five civilians in a raid overnight.
Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO officials said they were investigating whether German troops accidentally killed an Afghan civilian woman during a battle in the north of the country.
….
In the demonstration in the south, between 30 and 60 villagers protested outside the house of the provincial governor in Kandahar. The villagers had with them three bodies of men they said were slain by police in Pashmol village in nearby Zhari district late Wednesday. They said two women were also killed by the police.
….
A relative of two men who were detained in the incident overnight said that neither his relatives nor those who were killed were militants.
“They were not involved in any kind of bad things,” said Abdul Qadir. He said police barged into compounds and shouted for everyone to get on their knees. He said he was kneeling in his compound when he heard shots and then came outside to find the bodies.
Another villager, Ghafoor Naeemi, also said that no one who was killed or arrested was involved in the insurgency.
….
Meanwhile, NATO said Thursday one of its service members was killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan the day before.
The coalition did not provide the nationality or details of how the service member was killed. He died late Wednesday, NATO said. Another service member was also killed on Wednesday.
The two latest deaths bring to six the number of coalition troops who have died so far this month.
Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Heidi Vogt contributed to this report from Kabul, Afghanistan.
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4. Italian Foreign Minister Calls For Joint EU-NATO Naval Blockade Of Libya
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
March 9, 2011
ITALY WANTS NAVAL BLOCKADE OF GADDAFI’S LIBYA
Rome: Italy will propose to the next extraordinary European Council that the European Union and NATO coordinate naval forces to enforce a naval blockade of Libya.
The announcement was made by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini during a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs Commission in parliament. “We need to take action,” said Frattini, “to enforce respect for sanctions, but we must avoid, as is the case with piracy [i0n the Horn of Africa], two operations, one NATO and one EU.”
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5. Military Interference In African States Unacceptable: Russian Foreign Minister
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=6&id=227544
Interfax
March 10, 2011
Military interference in Libya affairs unacceptable – Lavrov
Moscow: Military interference in the internal affairs of African states, or countries of other continents, is unacceptable, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The UN Charter and other international agreements say in clear terms that each nation has the right to decide its future. Interference in internal affairs, especially military interference, is not allowed,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
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http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16026650&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 10, 2011
Unbiased information on Libya is crucial – Lavrov
MOSCOW: Moscow believes it is necessary to obtain verified information from independent and unbiased sources before making further moves against the regime of Libyan leader Muamar Caddafi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference here on Thursday.
“The main thing is to obtain an independent and objective evaluation of what is happening in Libya. The efforts by the special representative of the UN secretary general and his personnel will be playing a decisive role in it,” Lavrov stated.
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6. NATO Planes To Patrol Mediterranean
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/10/47182244.html
Voice of Russia
March 10, 2011
NATO planes to patrol Mediterranean
NATO is expanding its airborne and seaborne surveillance of the Mediterranean.
Addressing reporters in Brussels, the alliance’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said AWACS reconnaissance planes would be patrolling the region 24 hours a day.
NATO defense ministers will gather in Brussels on Thursday for two days of talks on Libya as protests continue in that North African Arab country against Colonel Gaddafi’s 40-year rule.
Meanwhile, Gaddafi says he will not step down.
Scores of people have reportedly been killed in protest violence in Libya over the past three weeks.
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7. Brussels: Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Joins NATO’s War Council
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1843176.html
Trend News Agency
March 10, 2011
Azerbaijani Defense Minister leaves for Brussels
K. Zarbaliyeva
Pentagon Chief In Azerbaijan: Afghan War Arc Stretches To Caspian And Caucasus
Baku: Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Safar Abiyev has left for Brussels today to attend a meeting of defense ministers of the countries that have contributed to the coalition of the North Atlantic Council. It is held at the invitation of NATO Secretary General, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.
The foundation for cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO was laid through the signing of a program-document within the framework of the Partnership for Peace on May 4, 1994. Azerbaijan was one of the 27 OSCE member countries to join the program.
In April 1996, an official document envisaging concrete directions in the cooperation was signed within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. Now, Azerbaijan is fulfilling about 50 tasks in conformity with the program.
On Aug. 3, 2005, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the “Approval of the Action Plan on Individual Partnership between the Azerbaijani Republic and NATO.”
Now cooperation is carried out within the second phase of the Individual Partnership Action Plan between Azerbaijan and NATO.
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8. NATO Commanders Have Drawn Up Plans For Libya Military Operations
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 9, 2011
NATO agrees on three principles for Libya action, diplomats say
Brussels: NATO nations have agreed on three principles which would have to be met for the alliance to consider any military action against Libya, diplomats in Brussels said Wednesday.
NATO has come under intense scrutiny since the outbreak of fighting in Libya, as opponents of Colonel Moamer Gaddafi have called for an international mission to ground Gaddafi’s air force.
NATO defence ministers are to debate their reaction to the situation on Thursday.
Ahead of that meeting, diplomats from several NATO countries said that the alliance had set three principles to govern its action: a ‘demonstrable need’ for NATO intervention, a ‘clear legal basis’ and ‘firm regional support.’
….
NATO has already ordered its military commanders to draw up plans for possible operations. Defence ministers on Thursday are expected to debate those plans and, if necessary, call for more detailed studies of some of the options.
The meeting is not expected to call for the imposition of a no-fly zone, since the UN has not yet demanded such a measure.
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9. NATO Rebuffs Libyan Envoys
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=227451
Interfax
March 9, 2011
NATO refuses to hold talks with Qaddafi’s envoys
BRUSSELS: NATO does not intend to receive representatives of the Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi heading for Brussels.
NATO is not planning such contacts, Interfax was told at the press service of the North Atlantic alliance in Brussels on Wednesday.
Earlier Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini announced that two Qaddafi’s planes were on their way to Brussels.
Military sources on Malta reported that the planes were carrying two Libyan officials who are heading for Brussels for conferences of NATO defense ministers and EU foreign ministers due on Thursday.
The envoys have a message from the Libyan leader to the EU and NATO.
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10. Disputed Spratly Islands: 6,000 U.S. Troops In Philippines War Games
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/214897/6000-us-troops-to-take-part-in-annual-balikatan#
GMA News
March 9, 2011
6,000 US troops to take part in annual Balikatan
U.S. Consolidates Military Network In Asia-Pacific Region
At least 6,000 American troops will be coming to the country to participate in the annual Balikatan joint military exercises, which include a planning exercise in a military zone that includes the disputed Spratly Islands.
Maj. Enrico Gil Ileto, public affairs officer of the Balikatan exercises for the Philippine side, said the US forces will be joining some 2,000 Filipino troops for the 10-day series of exercises scheduled to start on April 15.
The exercises include a “unilateral planning exercise” at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western Command (WESCOM) in Puerto Princesa, Palawan’s capital city.
….
The WESCOM is in charge of protecting the Philippines’ interest in the Spratly Islands, a group of islands believed to be rich in mineral and oil deposits, and which is being claimed as well by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
The Philippines recently filed a diplomatic protest against China after Chinese Navy patrol boats reportedly harassed a Philippine-sanctioned oil exploration vessel at the Reed Bank area to the west of Palawan. (See: PHL asks China to clarify ‘presence’ near Palawan)
So far, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has not announced any official response by China to the complaint.
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http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=664541&publicationSubCategoryId=200
Xinhua News Agency
March 9, 2011
Philippines, US to hold Balikatan exercises in April
MANILA, Philippines: Around 8,000 Filipino and American soldiers will participate in this year’s Balikatan exercises, an annual large-scale training activity aimed at improving the interoperability of the two militaries.
Maj. Enrico Gil Ileto, spokesman for the Philippine military, said today at least 6,000 troops from the United States will arrive in the Philippines for the 10-day exercise which will start from April 15.
Armed Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Oban said Balikatan 2011 is a product of the long partnership between the US and Philippine governments.
Balikatan exercises will be held in several training sites, including Fort Magsaysay, home of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and Special Operations Command in Nueva Ecija, Basa Air Base and Clark Air Base, Marine Base Ternate in Cavite and Mactan Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City.
Ileto said participants will employ air and naval assets for the exercise….
Philippine troops will participate in unilateral staff exercises at the headquarters of the military’s Western Command in Puerto Princesa City where they will plan for an imagined threat.
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11. U.S. Threatens Syria With Isolation
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/09/47139467.html
Voice of Russia
March 9, 2011
U.S. threatens Syria with isolation
The United States has threatened Syria with an international isolation similar to that of Iran and North Korea. Washington and the International nuclear watchdog IAEA have demanded that Damascus should allow IAEA inspectors visit sites which intelligence agencies suspect are being used for nuclear research.
….
In an interview for VOR, Vladimir Ahmedov of the Center for the study of the problems of the modern-day Orient, says that Syria cannot ignore the demand because of events in Egypt, Tunisia and lately Libya. Damascus cannot afford a quarrel with Western countries.
“Syria is calmly disposed to an inspection on its territory, and has already agreed to such an inspection within the existing international norms and the appropriate agreement” said Ahmedov adding: “I believe that Syria has nothing to hide and that nobody has the right to deny Damascus the right to build an atomic power station for peaceful aims”.
Experts believe that the attention to the Syrian nuclear programme by the western press has a purpose. America is desperately trying to prevent a collaboration between Syria and Iran, a country successfully developing its nuclear programme despite international sanctions.
The U.S. also does not like the link between Damascus and the radical Hamas and Hezbollah groups which are at war with Israel….
Many pundits had predicted that Syria will be the next to feel the wrath of the population after Tunisia and Egypt….
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12. NATO Expands Mediterranean Surveillance Under 10-Year-Old Operation Active Endeavor
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-34AA5B54-29F3F978/natolive/news_71316.htm
[A post-9/11/2001 Article 5 operation.]
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 9, 2011
NATO increases airborne surveillance in the Mediterranean
NATO has decided to enhance its surveillance operation in the Central Mediterranean by increasing the operating capability of NATO AWACS aircraft to 24 hours a day. This is part of our long-standing counter-terrorist Operation Active Endeavour.
This decision to increase the air surveillance in the Mediterranean has been taken this week by the 28 Permanent Representatives of the North Atlantic Council, who remain concerned over the situation in Libya.
NATO Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, or AWACS, routinely monitor the airspace in the Mediterranean, as part of Operation Active Endeavour, a long standing mission which has given the Alliance an enhanced awareness of activity across the Mediterranean since 2001.
“We have extended surveillance in the Mediterranean. Having our AWACs monitoring the situation 24/7, will provide us with a better picture of what is going on and of course this improved picture is a prerequisite for evaluating the situation accurately”, NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told a group of defence journalists in Brussels on March 9.
This enhanced mission is expected to achieve its 24/7 capability this week, as aircraft move to their forward operating base in Italy. The NATO AWACS aircraft will not be required to fly into Libyan airspace to monitor air activity given that the range of its radar is several hundred kilometres.
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13. Libya: NATO Moves Toward Military Action Without UN Resolution
Daily Telegraph
March 9, 2011
Libya: Nato considers no-fly zone without UN resolution
Nato will on Thursday discuss imposing a no-fly zone over Libya in the absence of a United Nations resolution as air strikes against rebels on Wednesday highlighted the need for urgent action
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels and James Kirkup
The Libyan leader on Wednesday night dispatched envoys in a last ditch attempt to head off military action against him…and rallying Arab support to frustrate a US and British move to sign Nato up to a “full spectrum” of action including a no-fly zone.
Col. Gaddafi warned that the imposition of a no-fly zone in Libyan airspace will be met with armed resistance and seen as proof that Western powers are trying to steal his country’s oil.
“They want to take your petrol,” he said on Wednesday. “The Libyan people will take up arms against them.”
A senior American official refused to rule out enforcing a Nato no-fly zone in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution ahead of a meeting of the Alliance’s defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
Pressure to take action grew on Wednesday after Libyan rebels, hit by repeated government shelling and air strikes, retreated back to the oil town of Ras Lanuf amid a series of explosions that struck pipeline facilities. Tanks of forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi also closed in on the rebel-held main square of Zawiyah on Wednesday….
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14. Australian Prime Minister In Washington: U.S. Must Be At Center Of New World Order
Sydney Morning Herald
March 10, 2011
US must be at centre of new world order: PM
Phillip Coorey
-In response to the emerging powers, Ms Gillard signalled as “anchors of stability” the US, with Australia in the south and South Korea and Japan to the north.
-An alliance forged in the Cold War “lives in a new world today”, she said.
-With the US in the midst of a “force posture review” which will recommend a repositioning of its forces in the Asia-Pacific, including an expanded presence in Australia, Senator McCain suggested Australian ports would become a springboard for the US Navy to contain China.
-In her speech, Ms Gillard was effusive about the alliance and referred to Mr Howard invoking the ANZUS treaty after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Just as he stood by the US 10 years ago, Australia stands by the US today and will see through the war in Afghanistan, she pledged.
Julia Gillard has stressed the importance of the United States remaining a military and economic power in the Asia-Pacific, saying just as it was indispensable during the Cold War, so, too, would it be indispensable in the new world.
In an historic address to the US Congress made early this morning to mark the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty, Ms Gillard said the rise of India and China would concentrate global strategic and economic weight in the region.
The shift would far outstrip the consequences of the current upheaval in the Middle East and would “define our times”.
It would also pose challenges in defence, intelligence, diplomacy and trade.
In response to the emerging powers, Ms Gillard signalled as “anchors of stability” the US, with Australia in the south and South Korea and Japan to the north.
She promised the US that it had no closer friend than Australia and that Australia would work with her to strengthen relationships to underpin stability and manage the frictions that will inevitably develop.
An alliance forged in the Cold War “lives in a new world today”, she said.
The address came a day after Ms Gillard met on Capitol Hill the US senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
With the US in the midst of a “force posture review” which will recommend a repositioning of its forces in the Asia-Pacific, including an expanded presence in Australia, Senator McCain suggested Australian ports would become a springboard for the US Navy to contain China.
Senator McCain, the ranking member on the US Senate’s armed services committee, said China was clearly a “rising military power” and “they have been acting very assertively in the region”.
“That doesn’t mean to me that there’s going to be a conflict … but it does mean to me that Australia and the United States must ensure that basics like freedom of the seas are observed by the Chinese.”
After the meeting, Ms Gillard was sympathetic to an expanded US presence in Australia.
“Australia and the US need to co-operate on strategic challenges and what is happening in our region is largely being defined by the rise of China,” she said.
“We currently have joint facilities, joint exercises. We welcome American ships to our ports and those things can be a very big part of our future.”
Ms Gillard’s address to the joint meeting of Congress made her the fourth Australian prime minister, following Sir Robert Menzies, Bob Hawke and John Howard, to be afforded the honour.
In her speech, Ms Gillard was effusive about the alliance and referred to Mr Howard invoking the ANZUS treaty after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Just as he stood by the US 10 years ago, Australia stands by the US today and will see through the war in Afghanistan, she pledged.
….
====
15. Thank Tank: Japan Now Aircraft Carrier Power For First Time Since WWII
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2011-03/09/content_22090606.htm
China Daily
March 9, 2001
Think Tank: Japan is an aircraft-carrier power
-“Once Japan acquires F-35s or another suitable short take-off aircraft for the Hyuga class, it will have a greatly increased expeditionary capability, and can operate in conjunction with the US more and more in regional security operations.”
Li said the JMSDF is “very powerful” in terms of capabilities. “Its assets are arguably the second best after the US. The ships are modern, powerful, and with a wide range of services. However they suffer from the same problems as the Chinese navy in that it lacks expeditionary capabilities and also the crew lack real battle experience.”
Japan has been formally classified for the first time since World War II as an aircraft-carrier power by a leading Western international affairs think tank.
Japan has one Hyuga-class aircraft carrier, according to Military Balance 2011, an annual report published on Tuesday by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) assessing the military capabilities and defense economics of 170 countries worldwide.
The annual report is an essential resource for those involved in security policymaking, analysis and research.
Classifying Japan as an aircraft carrier power means China now has four Asian neighbors with the giant vessel. Russia, India and Thailand are reported to have one aircraft carrier in service.
Former Japanese foreign minister Seiji Maehara, shortly before he resigned for accepting an illegal donation, expressed Japan’s “grave concern” over China’s military development and alleged plan to build an aircraft carrier.
Gary Li, an expert on Asia military affairs at the IISS and the chief researcher of the East Asia section of Military Balance 2011, said Japan currently had one Hyuga and another is under construction.
“The Hyuga is not yet as powerful as the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) would like it to be, mainly because there are no F-35s (fighter jets) as yet,” Li said.
“Once Japan acquires F-35s or another suitable short take-off aircraft for the Hyuga class, it will have a greatly increased expeditionary capability, and can operate in conjunction with the US more and more in regional security operations.”
Li said the JMSDF is “very powerful” in terms of capabilities. “Its assets are arguably the second best after the US. The ships are modern, powerful, and with a wide range of services. However they suffer from the same problems as the Chinese navy in that it lacks expeditionary capabilities and also the crew lack real battle experience.”
Despite Japan’s concern over China’s military development, Christian Le Miere, research fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security at the IISS, said Japanese naval power is superior to China’s.
He said Beijing’s “main strategy” is still to “deter or prevent US intervention into Taiwan contingency for as long as possible”.
In fact, long before the IISS classified only one Hyuga-class vessel as an aircraft carrier, earlier reports said Japan launched the second of the vessels, the Ise, as early as 2009.
The 197-meter long, 13,950-ton vessel can carry up to 11 helicopters.
The vessel is scheduled to be commissioned into the JMSDF this month, Xinhua News Agency reported in 2009.
====
16. Pentagon Chief, NATO War Council Meet On Afghanistan, Libya
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63085
U.S. Department of Defense
March 9, 2011
NATO Ministers to Discuss Afghanistan, Libya
By Karen Parrish
-“We have invited [Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak] and all ISAF partners….” [In all, 48 nations]
BRUSSELS, Belgium: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today to meet with his fellow NATO defense ministers about the security transition in Afghanistan and the situation in the Middle East.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a March 7 news conference that the situation in Libya will be at the top of the agenda for this week’s meetings.
“The whole world is watching events in Libya and the wider Middle East,” Rasmussen said. “This is a humanitarian crisis on our doorstep that concerns us all. The civilian population in Libya is the target of systematic attacks by the regime, so we must remain vigilant.”
NATO strongly condemns the use of force against the Libyan people, Rasmussen said, calling human rights violations under ruler Moammar Gadhafi “outrageous … crimes against humanity.”
Gates left Afghanistan this morning after a two-day visit, stopping en route in Stuttgart, Germany, for a ceremony transferring leadership of U.S. Africa Command from Army Gen. William E. “Kip” Ward to Army Gen. Carter F. Ham.
….
Rasmussen said Afghanistan will be a key focus when the alliance’s defense ministers meet here this week.
“We have invited [Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak] and all ISAF partners to discuss the recommendation of the Joint NATO Afghan Transition Board regarding the first tranche of provinces and districts to be transferred to Afghan security lead,” Rasmussen said. “President Karzai will make the announcement on March 21, marking Afghan New Year.”
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17. NATO Officials Say Bloc Can Deploy 200-300 Jets To Libya
Associated Press
March 9, 2011
NATO could easily impose no-fly zone in Libya
CAIRO: Western leaders know NATO jets could easily force Moammar Gadhafi’s few dozen Cold War-era warplanes from the skies….
Imposing a no-fly zone from a string of Mediterranean bases and aircraft carriers could become a complex, long-term commitment for the U.S. and its allies. It would require airstrikes on Gadhafi’s anti-aircraft weapons and risk drawing the West into another grueling military conflict in the Muslim world.
The Libyan rebels, who lack planes, have pleaded for such a zone — a plan endorsed by Britain, France and some key U.S. lawmakers…..
….
Although many nations want to tip the balance of military power away from Gadhafi, protecting civilians would be the key public rationale for any no-fly arrangement.
A senior U.S. official in Brussels said a no-fly zone would be “a difficult, costly and large operation,” and noted that there was no evidence of any large-scale bombardment of civilians. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates observed last week that attacking Libyan air defenses would be necessary before imposing a no-fly zone, and would be tantamount to war. Gadhafi has warned of retaliation against no-fly patrols.
….
The U.S., France and UK declared no-fly zones for fixed-wing aircraft after the 1991 Gulf War in order to protect Kurds in Iraq’s north and Shiites in the south from Saddam Hussein’s air force.
….
After ethnic fighting erupted in Bosnia, the U.N. Security Council ordered a no-fly zone in 1992 to protect areas under government control from strikes by rebel Serbian jets.
Allied interceptors shot down four Serbian attack jets, but the zone failed to stop fighting on the ground….
….
Gadhafi’s pilots would almost certainly be routed if they tried to flout a Western flight ban.
….
The government has only a handful of planes designed to intercept other aircraft, the Mig-21 and Mig-25…dating from the 1960s.
NATO officials say they could quickly deploy 200-300 jets to Libya from bases stretching from Gibraltar to Greece, and from U.S. carriers in the Mediterranean.
These would include top-of-the-line Eurofighter Typhoons used by the British, Italian and Spanish air forces. Also available are the formidable French Dassault Rafale fighter and the U.S. Boeing Co.’s F-18 Super Hornet, the backbone of U.S. Navy air power.
The alliance also would have a huge advantage in its AWACS planes — whose rotating radars can look 200 miles (320 kilometers) deep into enemy airspace, monitor all aerial movements over Libyan territory and direct planes to any violators of the no-fly zone.
They also are equipped with the latest air-to-air missiles, which are far more sophisticated than the Soviet-built models of the 1980s in the Libyan arsenal.
Rebecca Santana in Baghdad and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
====
18. Obama Directly Targets Ivory Coast
Agence France-Presse
March 9, 2011
Obama condemns ‘abhorrent’ violence in Ivory Coast
[Based on reports emanating from the standard Western disinformation mills, the United Nations recently accused Belarus of supplying the Gbagbo government with attack helicopters, then accused Zimbabwe of supplying it with light arms. Both accusations were lies, but left Belarus and Zimbabwe – two of Condoleezza Rice’s six “outposts of tyranny” – appearing to be guilty of violating an international arms embargo.
Former U.S. resident and IMF official Alassane Ouattara has been calling for foreign military intervention which, if the West can’t prevail upon ECOWAS and its West African Standby Force to provide, will be supplied by the U.S. and Europe.]
Ivory Coast: Testing Ground For U.S.-Backed African Standby Force
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Wednesday condemned “abhorrent” violence in the Ivory Coast, saying the United States was deeply concerned about escalating clashes that have left scores dead.
“I strongly condemn the abhorrent violence against unarmed civilians in Cote d’Ivoire,” Obama said in a written statement.
“I am particularly appalled by the indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians during peaceful rallies, many of them women, including those who were gunned down as they marched in support of the legitimately elected president Alassane Ouattara.
“Reports indicate that the women were shot to death by security forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo.”
….
“The United States remains deeply concerned about escalating violence, including the deepening humanitarian and economic crisis and its impact in Cote d’Ivoire and neighboring countries,” Obama said.
….
“The United States reiterates its commitment to work with the international community to ensure that perpetrators of such atrocities be identified and held individually accountable for their actions.”
….
“It is time for former President Gbagbo to heed the will of his people, and to complete a peaceful transition of power to President Ouattara,” Obama said.
….
Ouattara is holed up in Abidjan’s Golf Hotel under a blockade by forces loyal to Gbagbo.
He is protected by troops of a United Nations mission and the New Forces armed group, which controls the northern half of the country.
Fighting has intensified in recent days in Abidjan and the west of the country, where New Forces fighters allied with Ouattara wrested a town from Gbagbo’s control at the weekend.
====
19. As The U.S. Senate Goes After Belarus
Agence France-Presse
March 9, 2011
US senators condemn Belarus crackdown
-The measure drafted by Durbin and Lieberman urges President Barack Obama’s administration to resume direct support to the Belarus opposition and civil society, as well as independent media outlets, and expand the list of officials and entities targeted with sanctions.
Clinton Renews U.S. Claims On Former Soviet Space
WASHINGTON: US senators unveiled a symbolic resolution on Wednesday denouncing the re-election of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko as “fraudulent” and urging him to free imprisoned opponents.
Independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber’s number-two Democrat and a long-time Lukashenko critic, crafted the measure, which calls for tough new US and European sanctions on senior regime officials.
The non-binding resolution condemns Lukashenko’s December 19 re-election as “illegitimate, fraudulent and not representative of the will or the aspirations of the voters in Belarus,” and calls for a new vote that would be free and fair.
The measure “condemns the beating, arrest, fining and imprisonment of presidential candidates, opposition leaders and activists by Alexander Lukashenko’s KGB,” as well as his efforts to stifle freedom of expression.
It also presses Lukashenko “to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners in Belarus who were arrested in association with the December 19, 2010 election.”
In January, the European Union and United States slapped a new raft of sanctions — including a travel ban and asset freeze — on Lukashenko and 157 associates after his brutal December 19 crackdown.
The ballot result gave Lukashenko — dubbed Europe’s last dictator by Washington — a fourth term in office, extending his rule that stretches back to 1994.
The measure drafted by Durbin and Lieberman urges President Barack Obama’s administration to resume direct support to the Belarus opposition and civil society, as well as independent media outlets, and expand the list of officials and entities targeted with sanctions.
It also urges the European Union to do the same while severing business ties with a Belarus state-owned oil and petrochemical firm, along with its subsidiaries, and to shut regime officials from high-level diplomatic talks.
And it calls on Russia to take similar steps against Lukashenko.
The measure also urges the International Ice Hockey Federation to suspend plans to hold a championship in Minsk until all political prisoners are released.
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20. NATO Defense Chiefs Discuss Missile Shield, Libyan Operations
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110310/162932646.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 10, 2011
NATO ministers to discuss missile shield, Libya
on missile defense
NATO Provides Pentagon Nuclear, Missile And Cyber Shields Over Europe
Nuclear Weapons And Interceptor Missiles: Twin Pillars Of U.S.-NATO Military Strategy In Europe
Brussels: Defense ministers from 28 NATO member states will gather on March 10-11 in Brussels to discuss the “architecture” of the future missile defense network in Europe and the situation in Libya.
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so called European missile defense system at the Lisbon summit in November 2010. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system with full-scale interoperability.
The ministers will draw “a road map” of political, military, organizational and financial aspects of the European missile shield to prepare the basis for the discussions of the issue at the next ministerial meeting in June.
The agenda of the current meeting will also focus on the situation in Libya, where fierce fighting between forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and insurgents continues.
“NATO is not looking to intervene in Libya, but we have asked our military to conduct prudent planning for all eventualities,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.
“If requested and if needed we can respond at very short notice,” he said, reiterating that all possible alliance’s actions would be held in compliance with the UN Security Council’s resolutions.
Thousands of people have been killed since the first protesters began demanding the end of Gaddafi’s 41-year rule in mid-February.
The rebels are stepping up calls for the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace.
The United States said on Wednesday it was preparing a “full range” of military options for Libya, including a no-fly zone.
Russia has said it is against any military intervention.
====
21. Missile Defense Agency Awards $1.1 Billion Contract
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2011/03/09/orbital-wins-11b-missile-contract.html
Washington Business Journal
March 9, 2011
Orbital Sciences wins $1.1B missile contract
by Jeff Clabaugh
Dulles-based Orbital Sciences, recovering from its second failed NASA satellite launch in as many years, could earn as much as $1.1 billion over the next seven years under a missile target contract with the Department of Defense.
Orbital was awarded the contract for the Missile Defense Agency’s Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Target, and includes manufacturing target rockets, as well as logistics, maintenance and launch execution.
The contract has a base value of $217.1 million, but a total value, if all options are exercised through 2018, of $1.1 billion.
Honeywell and ATK Aerospace Systems Group are major subcontractors.
….
====
22. Canadian Military Spending At Highest Point Since WW II: Study
Canadian Press
March 9, 2011
Military spending at highest point since WWII: study
OTTAWA: A new study says Canada is spending more on its military than at any time since the end of the Second World War.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released the report today, which says defence spending is expected to hit at least $22.3 billion in the current budget year.
Researchers estimate that’s a 54 per cent increase over the last decade.
The study was produced for the centre by Bill Robinson, a senior adviser with the Rideau Institute.
The report notes that a significant part of the budget increase has gone toward fighting the war in Afghanistan, which Robinson argues has robbed Canada of the ability to carry out traditional peacekeeping missions.
Canada, which had been among the top contributors to United Nations peace-support missions, now ranks 60th on the list of 102 contributing countries.
Robinson says the billions of dollars earmarked for military spending in the next two decades would be better directed into international aid and fighting climate change.
“Canada could make a much greater contribution to global security and humanitarian action by shifting resources to non-military security efforts and to peacekeeping operations,” Robinson said in a release by the centre.
“Such a shift would make Canada truly a great power in the world of development assistance and humanitarian aid. This is an arena in which Canada could ‘punch above its weight’ on an issue crucial to human welfare and global security.”
====
23. Alaska: U.S. Special Forces Trained For Arctic Warfare
http://www.jber.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123245329
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
March 4, 2011
NCO teaches arctic warfare, mountain skills
by Sgt. Trish McMurphy
USARAK PAO
Loose Cannon And Nuclear Submarines: West Prepares For Arctic Warfare
December 1, 2009
Loose Cannon And Nuclear Submarines: West Prepares For Arctic Warfare
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska: Battling cold, climbing peaks at the Army’s Northern Warfare Training Center
Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and Special Forces are all considered elite troops in the U.S. military, and they are highly-trained in their fields and prepared for just about any worst-case scenario.
But what if a helicopter was redirected to a frozen mountain range in Afghanistan?
Would they know how to adapt and overcome the cold and rugged terrain?
If they trained at the Army’s Northern Warfare Training Center, the answer would be “yes.”
Who’s tough enough to train such an elite force?
Army Staff Sgt. Paul Willey, and instructors like him at the NWTC train hundreds of troops each year for arctic survival.
….
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24. Canada Conducts Arctic Military Exercise
http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/mar9_11hng.html
Northern News Services
March 9, 2011
Hanging with the military
Darrell Greer
Canada Opens Arctic To NATO, Plans Massive Weapons Buildup
ARVIAT: The Community of Arviat was alive with military activity this past month.
Hundreds of personnel from the 38 Canadian Brigade Group Arctic Response Company and the Canadian Rangers took part in Exercise Northern Bison ’11, focusing on Arctic response, adaptability and survival.
Units taking part included the 38 Canadian Brigade Group, Fort Garry Horse, 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Winnipeg Infantry Tactical Group, Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, Saskatchewan Infantry Tactical Group, Royal Regina Rifles, North Saskatchewan Regiment, Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, 38 Service Battalion, Arviat and Churchill Ranger patrols, 440 Vampire Transport Squadron and 1 Health Services Group.
It was the third year in a row the Canadian Forces conducted Arctic training.
….
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25. Russia Opposes Militarization Of The Arctic
Daily Nation/Agencies
March 2, 2011
Russia opposes militarisation of the Arctic
NATO’s, Pentagon’s New Strategic Battleground: The Arctic
MOSCOW: Russia’s Defence Minister Anatoly Serdiukov has said that Russia opposes the militarisation of the Arctic.
The statement by the government representative was made at a meeting with Minister of Defence of Denmark Gitte Lillelung Beck.
Russia, the USA, Canada, Denmark and Norway pretend to a right to consider the Arctic territory to be theirs.
According to scientists, more than 25 per cent of the Earth’s oil and gas resources are concentrated in the Arctic.
Several years ago, the dispute became aggravated after a Russian research expedition set off from Murmansk to the North Pole to study the Arctic Ocean shelf.
….
Stop NATO News March 9, 2011
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. Video/Text: U.S. Contractors Destabilize Foreign Governments
2. Third NATO 3D NATO Radar Site To Be Constructed In Hungary
3. Libya: NATO Defense Chiefs Mull Flight Ban, Naval Blockade
4. USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Joining South Korean War Games
5. Iran: U.S. Sanctions-For-Regime-Change Strategy Could Backfire
6. Libya And The Return Of Humanitarian Imperialism
7. Russia Lashes Out At U.S. Anti-Missile Plans For Poland
8. Insurrection And Military Intervention: The US-NATO Attempted Coup d’Etat In Libya
9. Africa Partnership Station: Seven U.S. Warships Visit West Africa
10. Libya: U.S. Military Planners Mull No-Fly Zone, Cruise Missile Strikes
11. “Euro-Atlantic Loyalty”: Italy Offers Bases For NATO Libya Air Patrols
12. NATO Defense Ministerial: Imposing No-Fly Operations, Backing Libyan Rebels
13. Japanese Official Calls For Development Of Nuclear Arms In One Year Against Enemies China, Russia
14. McCain: U.S., Australian Militaries Must “Deter Chinese Aggression”
15. U.S.-Japan-South Korea Axis: “Power Of Trilateralism”
16. German Military Could Join Libyan Flight Ban
17. Afghan Senators Differ Over Permanent U.S. Military Bases
18. Afghan Counterinsurgency: Team Petraeus Brings Body Counts Back
19. Spokesman: Consensus On Need For NATO To Intervene In Libya
20. U.S. And NATO: Four More Years Of Bloodshed In Afghanistan And Pakistan
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1. Video/Text: U.S. Contractors Destabilize Foreign Governments
http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-destabilize-foreign-governments
RT
March 9, 2011
US contractors destabilize foreign governments
The trial of a US government contractor detained for over a year and accused of working to undermine the Cuban government continues, as questions over US government contractor oversight continues to grow.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) receives more than $ 40M a year to expend on programs abroad, much of which is spent hiring contractors. One a contractor is hired oversight and government control on how or what that tax payer money is spending on fades away.
Often, these contractors even hire subcontractors that may be highly inexperienced. Which is what some allege may be the case with Alan Gross who is on trial in Cuba.
Gross, who was working for the contractor Development Alternatives Inc., is facing a possible 20-year prison sentence in Cuba for “acts against the integrity and independence” of Cuba.
He was apparently distributing satellite phones and other communications equipment which Cuba alleged was aimed at undermining the government. Gross contends he has done nothing wrong and his actions were humanitarian and he should be released on humanitarian grounds.
Luis Rumbaut, the director of communications for the Cuban American Alliance Education Fund said the government uses these contractors and subcontractors to provide a gap in responsibility. It allows the government to displace blame and contract out foreign policy.
“There are more hired contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than there are soldiers,” he said, explaining US government dependence on contract workers. “Even the work of intelligence is being privatized, and the work of operations, not just intelligence is being privatized.”
This policy allows the government to play ignorant when things go wrong, Rumbaut said.
The US State Department does have responsibility and oversight over its contractors, but often distances themselves and refers inquiries to the contracted organization. In addition, it is hard to track who is an as not a contractor and where the paper trail leads.
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2. Third NATO 3D NATO Radar Site To Be Constructed In Hungary
http://www.politics.hu/20110309/defense-ministry-proposes-new-site-in-s-hungary-for-nato-radar
Hungarian News Agency
March 9, 2011
Defense ministry proposes new site in S Hungary for NATO radar
Pentagon Forges NATO Proxy Armies In Eastern Europe
U.S. Consolidates New Military Outposts In Eastern Europe
Hungary’s Defence Ministry on Tuesday proposed a site in the south of Hungary to host the country’s third 3D NATO radar.
Defence Minister Csaba Hende told MTI that the site near the village of Medina is already a military facility, neither near a residential area nor a nature reserve.
Hungary already operates two radars monitoring its air space: similar 3D radars operate in Bankut in northern Hungary and in Bekescsaba in south-eastern Hungary.
Since 1999 it has planned to install a third, but attempts have been thwarted by environmental objections to two previous sites, the Tubes and Zengo peaks, both near Pecs in south-western Hungary.
….
——————————————————————–
http://bbjonline.hu/domestic/nato-locator-to-be-built-in-medina_56509
Budapest Business Journal
March 9, 2011
NATO locator to be built in Medina
Twelve years after the country has joined NATO, the Hungarian government has finally found a site for the 3D NATO locator in Medina, a town in the southern Hungarian Tolna County, online news portal Index reported.
There are two NATO locators already in operation in Bánkút and Békéscsaba but the location of the third one has been a subject of debates for years.
Originally, the Defense Ministry wanted to establish it at Zengő and then at Tubes but later had to drop both locations because of the strong opposition of locals and environmental activists.
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3. Libya: NATO Defense Chiefs Mull Flight Ban, Naval Blockade
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/09/47132560.html
Voice of Russia
March 9, 2011
NATO Defence Ministers to take up Libya
According to the Washington Post daily, the NATO Defence Ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Thursday to take up a plan of action to reach a settlement in Libya.
Some of the likely moves to be made are the patrolling of Libya’s Mediterranean coast by warships, setting up air and land corridors to deliver humanitarian aid, and imposing a no-fly zone.
====
4. USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Joining South Korean War Games
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/09/47125438.html
Voice of Russia
March 9, 2011
US carrier joining South Korea war games
U.S. Prepares For New Decade Of War In Asia
North Korea As Pretext: U.S. Builds Asian Military Alliance Against China And Russia
The American nuclear aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan will take part in large-scale naval exercises currently under way in South Korea, the US Navy reports.
Over 12,000 American and 200,000 South Korean servicemen are taking part in the war games.
Pyongyang has described the drill as preparations for a nuclear war against North Korea.
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5. Iran: U.S. Sanctions-For-Regime-Change Strategy Could Backfire
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/09/47139701.html
Voice of Russia
March 9, 2011
The USA continues to put pressure to Iran
U.S. And NATO Allies Escalate Military Buildup Against Iran
The USA has prolonged its unilateral sanctions against Iran for another year. President Barack Obama explained his decision by the fact that the crisis in relations between Washington and Tehran has not been overcome and the Iranian government’s policy threatens US interests in the region and US national security.
The USA has been applying sanctions against the Iranian regime since the Islamic revolution of 1979. The punitive measures roll over and the list of prohibitions grows from year to year. At present, American companies are banned from practically all financial and economic transactions with Tehran, including the development of oil and gas fields. The relaxation of restrictions, achieved through global public pressure in recent years, has resulted in the permission to sell food and medicines to Iran, and import pistachios and carpets from there.
US goals are obvious – trying to raise discontent inside Iran, says Lidia Kuleshova from the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“Sanctions certainly tell on the Iranian economy and domestic situation. Help to the needy has been reduced as a result of sanctions. Foundations that used to help the poor have to reduce this help almost by half.”
This is playing into the hands of the Iranian opposition but is hardly enough to get people rise against the regime. So the USA is trying a different approach: depriving Tehran of outside support and blocking all opportunities for the country’s modern development, Lidia Kuleshova continues.
“The USA uses all possible methods to isolate Iran from Europe and other countries in order to prevent Iran from receiving new technology or any other support from outside”.
All these actions force Iran to actively seek new allies, points out Lidia Kuleshova.
“Iran’s relations with Turkey, as well as South American and African countries have improved. In particular, Iran maintains very close relations with South Africa which is not opposed to the Iranian nuclear programme.”
The USA always reacts rather harshly to Iran’s contacts with third countries. Washington starts using threats immediately, without bothering about diplomatic explanations. It was like this with Zimbabwe which did not rule out providing Tehran access to its uranium deposits. Washington straight away warned Harare about “potential punitive measures” in case of building relations with Tehran.
However, soon Iran may benefit from a turn for the better. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after meeting with his British counterpart in February, openly declared that Moscow is not going to keep up sanctions against Iran. It is quite likely that China will follow suit because China was reluctant to join the policy from the very beginning. It will be difficult for the USA to pursue its course without everyone’s support, the more so, because many decades of anti-Iranian sanctions have not yielded any tangible results.
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6. Libya And The Return Of Humanitarian Imperialism
http://www.counterpunch.org/bricmont03082011.html
CounterPunch
March 8, 2011
Libya and the Return of Humanitarian Imperialism
By JEAN BRICMONT
The whole gang is back: The parties of the European Left (grouping the “moderate” European communist parties), the “Green” José Bové, now allied with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who has never seen a US-NATO war he didn’t like, various Trotkyist groups and of course Bernard-Henry Lévy and Bernard Kouchner, all calling for some sort of “humanitarian intervention” in Libya or accusing the Latin American left, whose positions are far more sensible, of acting as “useful idiots” for the “Libyan tyrant.”
Twelve years later, it is Kosovo all over again. Hundred of thousands of Iraqis dead, NATO stranded in an impossible position in Afghanistan, and they have learned nothing! The Kosovo war was made to stop a nonexistent genocide, the Afghan war to protect women (go and check their situation now), and the Iraq war to protect the Kurds. When will they understand that all wars claim to have humanitarian justifications? Even Hitler was “protecting minorities” in Czechoslovakia and Poland.
On the other hand, Robert Gates warns that any future secretary of state who advises a US president to send troops into Asia or Africa “must have his head examined”. Admiral Mullen similarly advises caution. The great paradox of our time is that the headquarters of the peace movement are to be found in the Pentagon and the State Department, while the pro-war party is a coalition of neo-conservatives and liberal interventionists of various stripes, including leftist humanitarian warriors, as well as some Greens, feminists or repentant communists.
So, now, everybody has to cut down his or her consumption because of global warming, but NATO wars are recyclable and imperialism has become part of sustainable development.
Of course the US will go or not go to war for reasons that are quite independent of the advice offered by the pro-war left. Oil is not likely to be a major factor in their decision, because any future Libyan government will have to sell oil and Libya is not big enough to significantly weigh on the price of oil. Of course, turmoil in Libya leads to speculation that itself affects prices, but that is a different matter. Zionists are probably of two minds about Libya: they hate Qaddafi, and would like to see him ousted, like Saddam, in the most humiliating manner, but they are not sure they will like his opposition (and, from the little we know about it, they won’t).
The main pro-war argument is that if things go quickly and easily, it will rehabilitate NATO and humanitarian intervention, whose image has been tarnished by Iraq and Afghanistan. A new Grenada or, at most, a new Kosovo, is exactly what is needed. Another motivation for intervention is to better control the rebels, by coming to “save” them on their march to victory. But that is unlikely to work: Karzai in Afghanistan, the Kosovar nationalists, the Shiites in Iraq and of course Israel, are perfectly happy to get American help, when needed, but after that, to pretty much pursue their own agenda. And a full-fledged military occupation of Libya after its “liberation” is unlikely to be sustainable, which of course makes intervention less attractive from a US point of view.
On the other hand, if things turn badly, it will probably be the beginning of the end of the American empire, hence the caution of people who are actually in charge of it and not merely writing articles in Le Monde or ranting against dictators in front of cameras.
It is difficult for ordinary citizens to know exactly what is going on in Libya, because Western media have thoroughly discredited themselves in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine, and alternative sources are not always reliable either. That of course does not prevent the pro-war left from being absolutely convinced of the truth of the worst reports about Qaddafi, just as they were twelve years ago about Milosevic.
The negative role of the International Criminal Court is again apparent, here, as was that of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in the case of Kosovo. One of the reasons why there was relatively little bloodshed in Tunisia and Egypt is that there was a possible exit for Ben Ali and Mubarak. But “international justice” wants to make sure that no such exit is possible for Qaddafi, and probably for people close to him, hence inciting them to fight to the bitter end.
If “another world is possible”, as the European Left keeps on saying, then another West should be possible and the European Left should start working on that. The recent meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance could serve as an example: the Latin American left wants peace and they want to avoid US intervention, because they know that they are in the sights of the US and that their process of social transformation requires above all peace and national sovereignty.
Hence, they suggest sending an international delegation, possibly led by Jimmy Carter (hardly a stooge of Qaddafi), in order to start a negotiation process between the government and the rebels. Spain has expressed interest in the idea, which is of course rejected by Sarkozy. This proposition may sound utopian, but it might not be so if it were supported by the full weight of the United Nations. That would be the way to fulfill its mission, but it is now made impossible by US and Western influence. However, it is not impossible that now, or in some future crisis, a non-interventionist coalition of nations, including Russia, China, Latin America and maybe others, may work together to build credible alternatives to Western interventionism.
Unlike the Latin American left, the pathetic European version has lost all sense of what it means to do politics. It does not try to propose concrete solutions to problems, and is only able to take moral stances, in particular denouncing dictators and human rights violations in grandiloquent tones. The social democratic left follows the right with at best a few years delay and has no ideas of its own. The “radical” left often manages both to denounce Western governments in every possible way and to demand that those same governments intervene militarily around the globe to defend democracy. Their lack of political reflection makes them highly vulnerable to disinformation campaigns and to becoming passive cheerleaders of US-NATO wars.
That left has no coherent program and would not know what to do even if a god put them into power. Instead of “supporting” Chavez and the Venezuelan Revolution, a meaningless claim some love to repeat, they should humbly learn from them and, first of all, relearn what it means to do politics.
Jean Bricmont teaches physics in Belgium and is a member of the Brussels Tribunal. His book, Humanitarian Imperialism, is published by Monthly Review Press. He can be reached at Jean.Bricmont@uclouvain.be.
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7. Russia Lashes Out At U.S. Anti-Missile Plans For Poland
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110308_3562.php
Global Security Newswire
March 8, 2011
Russia Lashes U.S. Antimissile Plans for Poland
Europe And Beyond: U.S. Consolidates Global Missile Shield
U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland could pose an additional obstacle to substantive international cooperation, Russia’s ambassador to NATO told Interfax on Friday (see GSN, March 4).
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently reaffirmed the Obama administration’s plan to field missile interceptors and station Air Force personnel in Poland.
“This statement will not be left without Russia’s most close attention,” Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin said.
“The Americans are persistently pushing their plans, even despite the fact that they contradict the obligations assumed by them earlier and (may complicate) any serious agreements in the future,” he said (Interfax I, March 4).
….
Meanwhile, the first U.S. warship departed for the Mediterranean Sea on Monday as part of President Obama’s “phased adaptive approach” for European missile defense, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 2; Brock Vergakis, Associated Press/Google News, March 7).
====
8. Insurrection And Military Intervention: The US-NATO Attempted Coup d’Etat In Libya
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23548
*Insurrection and Military Intervention:
The US-NATO Attempted Coup d’Etat
in Libya?*
Michel Chossudovsky
Part I of a Two Part Article.*
*Part II. “Operation Libya” and the Battle for Oil*
*The US and NATO* are supporting an armed insurrection in Eastern Libya, with a view to justifying a “humanitarian intervention”.
This is not a non-violent protest movement as in Egypt and Tunisia.
Conditions in Libya are fundamentally different. The armed insurgency in
Eastern Libya is directly supported by foreign powers. The insurrection in Benghazi immediately hoisted the red, black and green banner with the crescent and star: the flag of the monarchy of King Idris, which symbolized the rule of the former colonial powers. (See Manlio Dinucci, Libya-When historical memory is erased, Global Research, Febraury 28, 2011)
US and NATO military advisers and special forces are already on the ground.
The operation was planned to coincide with the protest movement in
neighbouring Arab countries. Public opinion was led to believe that the
protest movement had spread spontaneously from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya.
The Obama administration in consultation with its allies is assisting an
armed rebellion, namely an attempted coup d’Etat:
“The Obama administration stands ready to offer “any type of assistance” to Libyans seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [February 27] “we’ve been reaching out to many different Libyans who are attempting to organize in the east and as the revolution moves westward there as well,” Clinton said. “I think it’s way too soon to tell how this is going to play out, but we’re going to be ready and prepared to offer any kind of assistance that anyone wishes to have from the United States.”
Efforts are under way to form a provisional government in the eastern part of the country where the rebellion began at mid-month.
The U.S., Clinton said, is threatening more measures against Gadhafi’s
government, but did not say what they were or when they might be announced.
The U.S. should “recognize some provisional government that they are trying to set already up…” [McCain]
Lieberman spoke in similar terms, urging “tangible support, (a) no-fly zone, recognition of the revolutionary government, the citizens’ government and support for them with both humanitarian assistance and I would provide them with arms.”
(Clinton: US ready to aid to Libyan opposition – Associated, Press, February 27, 2011, emphasis added)
*The Planned Invasion*
A military intervention is now contemplated by US NATO forces under a
“humanitarian mandate”.
–“The United States is moving naval and air forces in the region” to
“prepare the full range of options” in the confrontation with Libya:
Pentagon spokesperson Col. Dave Lapan of the Marines made this announcement [March 1]. He then said that “It was President Obama who asked the military to prepare for these options,” because the situation in Libya is getting worse.” ( Manlio Dinucci, Preparing for “Operation Libya”: The Pentagon is “Repositioning” its Naval and Air Forces…, Global Research, March 3, 2011, emphasis added)
The real objective of “Operation Libya” is not to establish democracy but to take possession of Libya’s oil reserves, destabilize the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and eventually privatize the country’s oil industry, namely transfer the control and ownership of Libya’s oil wealth into foreign hands. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) is ranked 25 among the world’s Top 100 Oil Companies. (The Energy Intelligence ranks NOC 25 among the world’s Top 100 companies. – Libyaonline.com)
Libya is among the World’s largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US. (for further details see Part II of this article, “Operation Libya” and the Battle for Oil)
The planned invasion of Libya, which is already underway is part of the
broader “Battle for Oil”. Close to 80 percent of Libya’s oil reserves are
located in the Sirte Gulf basin of Eastern Libya. (See map below)
The strategic assumptions behind “Operation Libya” are reminiscent of
previous US-NATO military undertakings in Yugoslavia and Iraq.
In Yugoslavia, US-NATO forces triggered a civil war. The objective was to create political and ethnic divisions, which eventually led to the break up of an entire country. This objective was achieved through the covert funding and training of armed paramilitary armies, first in Bosnia (Bosnian Muslim Army, 1991-95) and subsequently in Kosovo (Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), 1998-1999). In both Kosovo and Bosnia, media disinformation (including outright lies and fabrications) were used to support US-EU claims that the Belgrade government had committed atrocities, thereby justifying a military intervention on humanitarian grounds.
Ironically, “Operation Yugoslavia” is now on the lips of US foreign policy
makers: Senator Lieberman has “likened the situation in Libya to the events in the Balkans in the 1990s when he said the U.S. “intervened to stop a genocide against Bosnians. And the first we did was to provide them the arms to defend themselves. That’s what I think we ought to do in Libya.”
(Clinton: US ready to aid to Libyan opposition – Associated, Press, February 27, 2011, emphasis added
The strategic scenario would be to push towards the formation and
recognition of an interim government of the secessionist province, with a view to eventually breaking up the country.
This option is already underway. The invasion of Libya has already
commenced.
“Hundreds of US, British and French military advisers have arrived in
Cyrenaica, Libya’s eastern breakaway province,… The advisers, including intelligence officers, were dropped from warships and missile boats at the coastal towns of Benghazi and Tobruk” (DEBKAfile, US military advisers in Cyrenaica, February 25, 2011)
US and allied special forces are on the ground in Eastern Libya, providing covert support to the rebels This was recognized when British SAS Special Forces commandos were arrested in the Benghazi region. They were acting as military advisers to opposition forces:
“Eight British special forces commandos, on a secret mission to put
British diplomats in touch with leading opponents of Col Muammar Gadaffi in Libya, ended in humiliation after they were held by rebel forces in eastern Libya, The Sunday Times reported today.
The men, armed but in plain clothes, claimed they were there to check the opposition’s needs and offer help.” (Top UK commandos captured by rebel forces in Libya: Report, Indian Express, March 6, 2011, emphasis added)
The SAS forces were arrested while escorting a British “diplomatic mission” which entered the country illegally (no doubt from a British warship) for discussions with leaders of the rebellion. The British foreign office has acknowledged that “a small British diplomatic team [had been] sent to eastern Libya to initiate contacts with the rebel-backed opposition”. U.K. diplomatic team leaves Libya – World – CBC News, March 6, 2011).
Ironically, the reports not only confirm Western military intervention
(including several hundred special forces), they also acknowledge that the rebellion was firmly opposed to the illegal presence of foreign troops on Libyan soil:
“The SAS’s intervention angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base. Gadaffi’s opponents fear he could use any evidence of western military interference to rally patriotic support for his regime.” (Reuters, March 6, 2011)
The captured British “diplomat” with seven special forces soldiers was a
member of British Intelligence, an MI6 agent on a “secret mission”. (The
Sun, March 7, 2011)
Confirmed by US NATO statements, weapons are being supplied to opposition forces. There are indications although no clear evidence so far that weapons were delivered to the insurgents prior to the onslaught of the rebellion. In all likelihood, US NATO military and intelligence advisers were also on the ground prior to the insurgency. This was the pattern applied in Kosovo: special forces supporting and training the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the months prior to the 1999 bombing campaign and invasion of Yugoslavia.
As events unfold, however, Libyan government forces have regained control over rebel positions:
“The big offensive pro-Qaddafi forces launched [March 4] to wrest from
rebel hands control of Libya’s most important towns and oil centers resulted [March 5] in the recapture of the key town of Zawiya and most of the oil towns around the Gulf of Sirte. In Washington and London, talk of military intervention on the side of the Libyan opposition was muted by the realization that field intelligence on both sides of the Libyan conflict was too sketchy to serve as a basis for decision-making.” (Debkafile, Qaddafi pushes rebels back. Obama names Libya intel panel, March 5, 2011, emphasis added)
The opposition movement is firmly divided regarding the issue of foreign
intervention.
The division is between the grassroots movement on the one hand and the US supported “leaders” of the armed insurrection who favor foreign military intervention on “humanitarian grounds”.
The majority of the Libyan population, both the supporters and opponents of the regime, are firmly opposed to any form of outside intervention.
*Media Disinformation*
The broad strategic objectives underlying the proposed invasion are not
mentioned by the media. Following a deceitful media campaign, where news was literally fabricated without reporting on what was actually happening on the ground, a large sector of international public opinion has granted its unbending support to foreign intervention, on humanitarian grounds.
The invasion is on the Pentagon’s drawing board. It is slated to be carried out irrespective of the demands of the people of Libya including the opponents of the regime, who have voiced their aversion to foreign military intervention in derogation of the nation’s sovereignty.
*Naval and Air Force Deployment*
Were this military intervention to be carried out it would result in an all
out war, a blitzkrieg, implying the bombing of military as well as civilian
targets.
In this regard, General James Mattis, Commander of U.S. Central Command, (USCENTCOM), has intimated that the establishment of a “no fly zone” would de facto involve an all out bombing campaign, targeting inter alia Libya’s air defense system:
‘It would be a military operation – it wouldn’t be just telling people not
to fly airplanes. ‘You would have to remove air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here.’ (U.S. general warns no-fly zone could lead to all-out war in Libya, Mail Online, March 5, 2011, emphasis added).
A massive US and allied naval power has been deployed along the Libyan coastline.
The Pentagon is moving its warships to the Mediterranean. Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had transited through the Suez Canal within a few days following the insurrection. ( http://www.enterprise.navy.mil )
U.S. amphibious warships, USS Ponce and USS Kearsarge, have also been deployed in the Mediterranean.
400 US Marines have been dispatched to the Greek Island of Crete “ahead of their deployment on warships off Libya” ( “Operation Libya”: US Marines on Crete for Libyan deployment, Times of Malta, March 3, 2011).
Meanwhile Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy are in the process of deploying war vessels along the Libyan coast.
Germany has deployed three war ships using the pretext of assisting in the evacuation of refugees on the Libya-Tunisia border. “France has decided to send the Mistral, its helicopter-carrier, which, according to the Defense Ministry will contribute to evacuation of thousands of Egyptians.” (Towards the Coasts of Libya: US, French and British Warships Enter the Mediterranean, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, March 3, 2011) Canada has dispatched (March 2) Navy Frigate HMCS Charlottetown.
Meanwhile, US 17th Air Force, named US Air Force Africa based at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany is assisting in evacuation of refugees. US-NATO air force facilities in Britain, Italy, France and the Middle East are on standby.
————-
Part II “Operation Libya” and the Battle for Oil
====
9. Africa Partnership Station: Seven U.S. Warships Visit West Africa
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=58969
Navy NewsStand
March 8, 2011
Robert G. Bradley, APS Visit Sierra Leone
By Lt. Cmdr. James Stockman, U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs
New Colonialism: Pentagon Carves Africa Into Military Zones
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone: USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49) arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS) West, March 7.
The ship will embark African partners in order to conduct professional exchanges….
“Training events will focus on a broad range of areas, including maritime domain awareness, leadership, search and rescue,” said Capt. Susan Dunlap, U.S. Naval Forces Africa director, Africa regional engagement group.
….
APS 2011 started Feb. 1, in Lome, Togo, and will consist of seven U.S. ships, will engage 22 African partners and involve more than 7,000 maritime professionals.
….
Robert G. Bradley, an Oliver Hazard Perry-Class frigate homeported out of Mayport, Fla., is on a scheduled APS deployment to the West Coast of Africa.
….
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10. Libya: U.S. Military Planners Mull No-Fly Zone, Cruise Missile Strikes
Voice of America News
March 8, 2011
US Military Planners Consider No-Fly Zone Over Libya
André de Nesnera
U.S. officials are looking at several responses to Libya’s conflict, including imposing a no-fly zone over the country.
During the past 20 years, international coalitions have imposed and enforced no-fly zones over Bosnia for two years in the mid-1990s, and over northern and southern Iraq, spanning the years 1991 to 2003. A no-fly zone is defined as airspace in which certain aircraft – especially military ones – are forbidden to fly.
Now there is talk of imposing another no-fly zone, this one over Libya. Many European countries, U.S. military planners and the Arab League are looking at the feasibility of such a move. But others, such as Russia and China, have expressed reservations.
Retired Navy Captain Tom Parker, who flew aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone over Bosnia, says before looking at a possible no-fly zone over Libya, certain key questions must be addressed.
“The first question that needs to be answered is what is the objective? Is the objective to protect the people – that’s one thing. Is the objective to overthrow Colonel Gadhafi – that’s another thing,” said Parker. “Is it to provide succor [provide assistance or relief] to the rebels, whoever they are, because that is really not known – then that’s another thing. Or maybe some combination of those. So the first question would be what’s the objective? What are we trying to achieve?
….
General Deptula says a no-fly zone is only one of several options being considered. Another one would be to locate the bases used by Libyan aircraft attacking rebel positions.
“So you find out where is that base the aircraft came from and that evening, half of that squadron of airplanes disappears under a cruise missile attack,” he said. “Do you think those pilots in that squadron will want to go out and fly the next day? Probably not. That’s the kind of options that need to be considered that may be effective without a default solution of putting up hundreds of airplanes over the country to establish a no-fly zone.”
….
Deptula says if the U.N. Security Council fails to back a no-fly zone resolution, then other groups can give such an endeavor legitimacy. He says NATO or the African Union could ask for a no-fly zone over Libya – and that will be enough to put it in place.
====
11. “Euro-Atlantic Loyalty”: Italy Offers Bases For NATO Libya Air Patrols
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/09/c_13767565.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 9, 2011
Italy to offer military bases for UN, NATO-led “no-fly zone” over Libya
Former Axis Nations Abandon Post-World War II Military Restrictions
-“A ‘no fly zone’ implies that there are airplanes flying over Libya hindering other planes from departing, and if these do take off it would imply some shooting.”
ROME: Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was ready to offer the use of its military bases and logistic support to a United Nations and NATO-sponsored “no fly zone”over Libya.
Despite ruling out the possibility that Italy might participate in the sky patrolling, Frattini, however, stressed the importance of “our Euro-Atlantic loyalty” that would make available to the international community several military bases for flight operations towards Libya.
The only condition to Italy’s role in offering logistic support, said Frattini, would be the “existence of international legitimacy to the ‘no fly zone’ enforcement through a UN Security Council resolution and support from the NATO.
“A ‘no fly zone’ implies that there are airplanes flying over Libya hindering other planes from departing, and if these do take off it would imply some shooting,” he stressed.
“We need to remain calm and consider the situation,”he added. “The Libyan civil war cannot be stopped tomorrow unless by means of war. And a war is not a video-game,”he said.
Therefore, the minister made it clear that the only way Italy could contribute to a possible “no fly zone” over Libya would be by offering to international-led operations its bases and logistics.
====
12. NATO Defense Ministerial: Imposing No-Fly Operation, Backing Libyan Rebels
http://www.arabmonitor.info/news/dettaglio.php?idnews=33210&lang=en
Arab Monitor
March 8, 2011
NATO summit to discuss backing Libyan insurgents through imposition of no-fly zone
Brussels: Considering the hurdles encountered at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), top NATO members are determined to push forward the Libyan agenda in their own way. On the eve of the summit to discuss – among other issues – the option of military intervention in Libya, scheduled to begin Thursday and to continue until Friday evening, Great Britain and France are preparing an initiative to enact a no-fly zone over the resourceful north African country. The move is aimed at keeping up the resolve of the Libyan insurgents to encroach on cities far west of Benghazi and on major oilfields, by crippling the government’s capabilities to deal with the insurgency. Libya’s Foreign Minister Moussa Kussa accused Great Britain and France, but also other NATO members of conspiring with the defectors in an attempt to push for the crack-up of the country.
Ahead of any decision on overt military action against Libya, the EU has already moved to overstep the UNSC resolution to freeze Libyan individuals’ assets and decided to freeze the assets of the Libyan sovereign wealth fund, which is managed by the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) as well as those of the Libyan central bank. LIA has significant shareholdings in companies abroad, most notably in Italy.
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13. Japanese Official: Develop Nuclear Arms In One Year Against Enemies China, Russia
The Independent
March 8, 2011
Japan must develop nuclear weapons, warns Tokyo mayor
By David McNeill in Tokyo
U.S. Supports Japan, Confronts China And Russia Over Island Disputes
-“China wouldn’t have dared lay a hand on the Senkakus [if Japan had nuclear weapons].”
-The right-wing Governor added that a nuclear-armed Japan would also win more respect from Russia, which seized four Japanese-owned islands during the Second World War.
Tokyo’s outspoken Governor says his country, which suffered history’s only nuclear attack, should build nuclear weapons to counter the threat from fast-rising China.
In an interview with The Independent, Shintaro Ishihara said Japan could develop nuclear weapons within a year and send a strong message to the world.
“All our enemies: China, North Korea and Russia – all close neighbours – have nuclear weapons. Is there another country in the world in a similar situation?
“People talk about the cost and other things but the fact is that diplomatic bargaining power means nuclear weapons. All the [permanent] members of the [United Nations] Security Council have them.”
The comments from the leader of Japan’s second-most powerful political office come amid concerns about China’s growing military muscle.
Beijing announced last week that its 2011 defence budget will be hiked by 12.7 per cent to 601.1bn yuan (£56.2bn) up from 532.1bn yuan last year. Most experts say that those figures are an underestimate.
China officially overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy last month. Despite booming bilateral trade, the relationship has regularly been shaken by disputes over territorial and historical issues. Ties are still struggling to recover from a maritime clash last year over the Senkaku Islands, which are owned by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.
Mr Ishihara said the clash, which ended when police released the captain of a Chinese ship accused of ramming Japan’s coastguard vessels, had exposed his country’s weakness in Asia. “China wouldn’t have dared lay a hand on the Senkakus [if Japan had nuclear weapons].”
The right-wing Governor added that a nuclear-armed Japan would also win more respect from Russia, which seized four Japanese-owned islands during the Second World War. And he advised his constitutionally pacifist nation to scrap restrictions on the manufacture and sale of weapons. “We should develop sophisticated weapons and sell them abroad. Japan made the best tanks in the world before America crushed the industry. We could get that back.”
Conservatives have long demanded that Tokyo ditch its postwar constitution, which was written during the American occupation of the country and renounces war as a sovereign right.
Japan’s so-called non-nuclear principles, produced during the time of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1964-72, later committed the country to never produce, possess or allow the entry of nuclear weapons. The principles were partly a response to popular revulsion over the deaths of more than quarter of a million mostly civilians in the 1945 US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mr Ishihara claimed that Mr Sato, who won the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to plans for a nuclear weapons programme, was at the same time secretly approaching the US for help in developing an atomic bomb.
“If the Sato administration had unilaterally developed weapons then, for a start North Korea wouldn’t have taken so many of our citizens,” said the Governor, referring to Pyongyang’s abduction of an unknown number of Japanese people.
Mr Ishihara is expected to step down this year after 12 years governing the city of 13 million people. He once called gay people “abnormal” and elderly women who can’t have babies “useless”. His right-wing politics and persistent warnings about the rise of China have earned him the sobriquet “Japan’s Jean-Marie Le Pen”.
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14. McCain: U.S., Australian Militaries Must “Deter Chinese Aggression”
Canadian Press
March 8, 2011
Sen. McCain says US and Australia militaries should co-operate to deter Chinese aggression
By Matthew Pennington
U.S. Expands Asian NATO To Contain And Confront China
WASHINGTON: Sen. John McCain urged Tuesday more U.S.-Australian military co-operation to deter Chinese aggression in the Asia-Pacific.
The senior Republican senator made the comments at a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who on Monday made her first visit to the White House since taking office last year.
Earlier, Gillard called for increased economic engagement in the Asia-Pacific, saying it was key both nations’ future prosperity.
“I think the United States and Australia will be working more actively to make sure that there’s not any tensions in the region,” said McCain, the lead Republican on the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
McCain voiced concern over China’s 12.7 per cent hike in defence spending for 2011. He said the communist nation was conducting a military buildup and acting assertively in disputed regions such as the Spratly islands — also claimed by several Southeast Asian nations.
….
He was speaking after touring with Gillard a photo exhibition on the 60-year-old Australia-U.S. military alliance. Their forces fought together in the Vietnam War, and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. When President Barack Obama received Gillard at the White House, he declared that the United States has “no stronger ally than Australia.”
The U.S. retains a strong military presence in the Asia-Pacific, including major bases in Japan and South Korea, and says it will do so for decades ahead, when China’s investment in missiles, navy and air force will pose an increasing challenge to its predominance.
Australia could prove an important partner in sustaining the U.S. military footprint. On Monday, Gillard alluded to that when she said alongside Obama, “there is so much more to do together in the future, including co-operating as America looks at its force posture.”
….
On Wednesday, Gillard addresses a joint meeting of Congress.
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15. U.S.-Japan-South Korea Axis: “Power Of Trilateralism”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2933075
JoongAng Daily
March 7, 2011
The power of trilateralism
By Michael Green
The writer is a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Builds Military Alliance With Japan, South Korea For War In The East
-In the 1990s, trilateral coordination began again in earnest, first with quiet trilateral defense and foreign ministerial meetings in Hawaii and then with a full-blown defense trilaterals in Seoul and Washington in 1997.
On the diplomatic side, William Perry inaugurated the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group to ensure alignment of U.S. approaches with Korea and Japan….
-[W]ithin parts of the Liberal Democratic Party and smaller conservative Japanese opposition parties there is a view that the government should take a stronger stand on Dokdo (which in Japan is called Takeshima).
***This stems not from any anti-Korean sentiment, but rather a frustration with how the DPJ government has let China and Russia push Japan around on the Senkaku and Kurile Islands disputes.***
The momentum behind trilateral U.S.-Korea-Japan security cooperation is strong.
By almost any measure we have reached the high water mark of trilateral cooperation among the United States, Korea and Japan. Japanese officers are now participating in U.S.-South Korea military exercises and South Korean officers are observing U.S.-Japan maneuvers.
The three countries’foreign ministers met Dec. 6 last year and are slated to have further meetings at the ASEAN Regional Forum this summer. The defense ministers will likely also meet on the margins of the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore around the same time. Intelligence-sharing, diplomatic coordination and military dialogue are stronger than ever before.
This makes perfect sense, given the growing North Korean threat…..
Tighter trilateral coordination also puts indirect pressure on Beijing to hold Pyongyang accountable for its actions. As senior U.S. officials have been telling their Chinese counterparts: “We and our allies have to take steps to defend ourselves…you may have objections, but that is the consequence of China’ passive response to the North’ provocations.”
Yes, Beijing has pressed Seoul and Washington to cease these measures, but we should point out to our Chinese colleagues that Beijing also engages in trilateral foreign ministerial meetings with India and Russia, and with Japan and Korea that exclude the United States. China also leads the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which excludes the United States, Korea and Japan.
Trilateralism and minilateralism are part of the fabric of regional institution-building, together with broader inclusive forums like the East Asia Summit or the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings. There is no need to apologize to Beijing and every reason to continue enhancing each of our security postures by coordinating between the U.S.-South Korea and U.S.-Japan alliances.
….
In 1969, President Richard Nixon coaxed from Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato a public agreement that the defense of Korea is important to Japan, but the Japanese government refused to act on those words. In the 1990s, trilateral coordination began again in earnest, first with quiet trilateral defense and foreign ministerial meetings in Hawaii and then with a full-blown defense trilaterals in Seoul and Washington in 1997.
On the diplomatic side, William Perry inaugurated the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group to ensure alignment of U.S. approaches with Korea and Japan after the August 1998 North Korean Taepodong launch. But then trilateralism fell into disrepair after 2005 as President Roh Moo-hyun feuded with Tokyo over history issues and the U.S. negotiators in the six-party talks emphasized direct bilateral talks with the North unencumbered by trilateral (or often internal U.S.) coordination processes.
Public opinion polls in Korea and Japan today suggest a powerful convergence of views about both North Korea and China, and the governments in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington see trilateral coordination as a strong virtue.
….
There are…potential land mines ahead. In Japan, the Democratic Party has been relatively more sensitive to Korean views on history, but within parts of the Liberal Democratic Party and smaller conservative Japanese opposition parties there is a view that the government should take a stronger stand on Dokdo (which in Japan is called Takeshima).
This stems not from any anti-Korean sentiment, but rather a frustration with how the DPJ government has let China and Russia push Japan around on the Senkaku and Kurile Islands disputes. It would be poor strategy for Japan to throw Korea in with the Russian and Chinese territorial disputes, but the current fluid political environment in Tokyo means anything is possible. Meanwhile, Russia has threatened to invite Chinese and Korean investment in the disputed Northern Territories in order to isolate Japan. Seoul should be extremely careful about enflaming Japanese nationalism by falling for this Russian ploy. Moscow, after all, benefits when Japan-Korea-U.S. ties are weaker.
In other words, the momentum behind trilateral U.S.-Korea-Japan security cooperation is strong and there are obvious benefits to all three nations -foreign and defense policies by staying on this course. But great vigilance and domestic diplomacy is necessary to ensure unwelcome irritants do not undercut the important solidarity….
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16. German Military Could Join Libyan Flight Ban
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,749678,00.html
Der Spiegel
March 8, 2011
Debate Builds Steam
West Considers No-Fly Zone for Libya
Germany: First New Post-Cold War World Military Power
How long will Gadhafi bomb rebels in Libya unhindered? NATO has warned…that the West will not “stand by” if systematic strikes continue. Western governments are still mulling plans for a no-fly zone — but Berlin and others are reserved, and all agree that a United Nations mandate is required.
….
The rebels are calling for foreign powers to impose a no-fly zone to stop the attacks. It’s a debate that many governments would prefer to avoid if possible, but the longer Gadhafi dispatches his fighter jets against the rebels, the greater the pressure in Western capitals becomes for a flight ban.
That option is now being debated with increasing intensity by Arab governments, the European Union and the United States. Great Britain and France are even trying to build support for a United Nations mandate for military intervention. A draft resolution for a no-fly zone could be introduced as early as this week at the UN Security Council in New York, a diplomat in New York told the Associated Press. The Security Council is to meet on Friday after a special Libya summit with heads of EU governments in Brussels….
Before London and Paris can present thier arguments in New York, they must also win over the support of important partners including Germany, Russia and China. German diplomatic sources said that Paris and London haven’t yet presented anything concrete. It could well be that veto-wielding China and Russia refuse to go along with a resolution in the Security Council. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has rejected the idea. “We don’t see foreign intervention, (particularly) the military one, as a means of solving the crisis,” he said, according to Russia’s state-controlled RIA Novosti news agency. “The Libyans have to solve their problems by themselves.”
‘Germany Will Not Be Able to Eschew Its Responsibility’
In Germany, the start of the debate over a no-fly zone and possible German participation has been a cautious one. The first member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government to speak publicly on the issue has been Phillip Missfelder, the foreign policy expert in parliament for the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). “Germany should agree to the creation of such a zone in the UN Security Council,” he told SPIEGEL ONLINE. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of German military participation. “If the zone is agreed to, Germany will not be able to eschew its responsibility as a member of the Security Council,” he said.
At the same time, Germany would only be able to make a limited contribution, he added. “Anyone pushing to become a permanent member of the Security Council, must also be prepared to take on additional responsiblity within the framework of the UN — militarily as well.”
However, he added, the question remains what kind of reception the debate will get from German society given the country’s difficult deployment in Afghanistan.
….
In recent days, [Foreign Minister Guido] Westerwelle provided a solid image of what might be required. The Libyan’s air defenses would have to be neutralized. “That would require a military intervention that would have considerable consequences,” he said….
In Washington, a powerful alliance of senators has formed demanding that Obama make a more concerted effort in North Africa. Former Presidential candidates John Kerry and John McCain as well as former vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman have all issued pleas for a flight ban. “We have to try and help those who are offering an alternative future to Libya,” Lieberman said. Democrat Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also a man who enjoys great respect in Obama’s party, has called for the bombing of Libya’s airports. And McCain has been beating the drum for an intervention on behalf of the Republicans.
….
Meanwhile, NATO is also making the first preparations for a possible flight ban. On Monday, NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen reiterated that the alliance would only take responsibility for a no-fly zone if the UN issued a request. But he added that NATO and the international community could not “stand by” if Gadhafi persists.
“If these systematic attacks against the Libyan people continue,” he told a press conference ahead of a two-day conference of NATO’s 28 defense ministers on Thursday and Friday, “it may amount to crimes against humanity. Then, many people around the world would be tempted to do something to prevent this massacre.”
He cautioned that a no-fly zone would be a comprehensive measure that would demand the deployment of considerable military resources. But he has asked military officials within the alliance to “conduct prudent planning for any eventuality,” he said.
NATO has already started around-the-clock monitoring of Libyan air space using AWACS reconnaissance aircraft, the US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, said. Previously, AWACS aircraft had only been deployed in the area for 10 hours each day.
On Monday, the EU dispatched a team of diplomats to Libya under the leadership of Italian crisis minister Agostino Miozzo on a fact-finding mission to prepare for a special summit this Friday. The team is expected to report back on the country’s humanitarian and evacuation needs. Miozzo said that approximately 1,300 Europeans are still believed to be in Libya.
dsl — with reporting by Carsten Volkery and Severin Weiland
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17. Afghan Senators Differ Over Permanent U.S. Military Bases
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/03/08/senators-differ-over-long-term-us-military-presence
Pajhwok Afghan News
March 8, 2011
Senators differ over long-term US military presence
by Abasin Zaheer
Timetable Abandoned: U.S. And NATO To Wage Endless War In Afghanistan
KABUL: Senators in the upper house of Parliament on Tuesday disagreed over the long-term presence of the US military, with some saying it was necessary to protect Afghanistan and others saying it would increase civilian casualties.
About two months ago, President Hamid Karzai publicly stated that the US was seeking permanent bases in Afghanistan….
If US soldiers leave, neighbouring countries would try to plunder Afghanistan, Nazar Mohammad, a senator, said in Tuesday’s session of the house.
….
Since Iran and Pakistan had sophisticated weapons, they could easily attack Afghanistan if there were no NATO or US soldiers to protect them, Munshi Ismail, another senator, said.
The presence of US soldiers also could affect development in various sectors, he said, without elaborating.
However, senator Sayed Farkh Shah Janab, said the presence of foreigners should first be legitimised, and then the issue of a long-term military presence could be discussed.
“In some places we have been shamed because of these Americans,” he said, calling for a decision to be made not on emotional grounds.
Bilqis Roshan, a female senator, said that if the US military remained, the number of civilian casualties would rise.
The presence of the US and NATO-allied military forces was never in the interest of Afghans, instead it was at the behest of some “pro-Americans” she said. “Any decision should be in favour of ordinary Afghans,” she said.
However, a senator from Khost, Arifullah Pashtun, said it was too early to discuss a long-term military presence. When the issue was officially put before the Meshrano Jirga than a poll should be set up for its approval.
Second secretary of the Senate, Mohammad Alam Ezidyar, however disagreed. He said foreigners had come to Afghanistan for their own benefit and a decision must be taken.
….
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18. Afghan Counterinsurgency: Team Petraeus Brings Body Counts Back
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/
Wired News
March 8, 2011
Team Petraeus Brings Body Counts Back
By Spencer Ackerman
Afghanistan: Global NATO’s First Ground War In Its Tenth Year
It wasn’t long ago that counterinsurgency advocates argued that the real measure of progress in a war wasn’t the number of enemies killed. Instead, it was the number of lives saved, civilians kept out of harm’s way, and attacks reduced. But that was before counterinsurgency ran up against the difficulties of the Afghanistan war. Now, the body counts are back. In a big way.
Danger Room started paying attention to the shift back in August, when newly arrived commander Gen. David Petraeus proudly pointed us to the number of insurgents killed and detained by special operations forces. The next month, we noticed NATO press releases boasting about the lethality and accuracy of anti-Taliban air strikes — strikes that Petraeus’ predecessor, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, curbed and Petraeus has surged.
Those metrics — dead insurgents — are growing in importance to Petraeus. The Washington Post reports that he and the Afghans gave reporters stats showing 2,448 insurgents have been killed over the past eight months, a 55 percent increase from the previous year’s period. USA Today adds that NATO killed or captured 900 Taliban “leaders” in the past ten months.
Contrast that with the famous Petraeus-edited counterinsurgency field manual, which called body count statistics used in South Vietnam “misleading” for only “communicat[ing] a small part of the information commanders needed to assess their operations.” It called body counts a “partial, effective indicator,” only useful when insurgents’ identities could be verified.
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19. Spokesman: Consensus On Need For NATO To Intervene In Libya
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14894181,00.html
Deutsche Welle
March 8, 2011
Libyan no-fly zone plans gather momentum
In a move aimed at nullifying the air force of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Britain and France are pushing for a no-fly zone over the country. Meanwhile reports of an offer for talks have been dismissed by both sides.
Western powers are considering their options on how to deal with the crisis in Libya in a series of high-level meetings later this week.
As the country slides into what could be a protracted civil war, NATO ministers were to hold a two-day summit starting Thursday to discuss the option of military intervention. That was to be followed by an emergency EU summit on Friday.
A joint Franco-British initiative to impose a no-fly zone is likely to dominate the agenda at the NATO summit. Their proposal could be submitted to the UN Security Council this week.
A NATO spokesman said their was general agreement on the need for action. “There is a consensus as to the need for NATO to intervene,” he said, underlining that this could not involve ground troops and that it would need the solid support of regional countries.
The fledgling Libyan opposition movement has already called for world powers to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent air forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi from launching further raids against them.
Divisive action
Libya’s Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa has accused Britain, France and the US of trying to divide the country.
“It is clear that France, Great Britain and the US are now getting in touch with defectors in eastern Libya. It means there is a conspiracy to divide Libya,” Kussa told reporters in Tripoli.
In an attempt to further tighten the noose around the regime’s neck, the EU has signed off on further repressive sanctions, most notably freezing the assets of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund which is managed by the Libyan Investment Authority. The LIA has significant shareholdings in overseas companies. Other targets include the central bank.
The EU also planned to reallocate an aid package worth 4 billion euros ($5.7 billion) designed to support the growth of democracy and boost business across the region.
Meanwhile there were conflicting reports that a Gadhafi representative offered to hold talks with the rebels on the leader’s exit. However, the rebel National Libyan Council rejected the offer, saying it would not negotiate with a leader it could not trust. The regime itself then denied that any such offer had been made.
….
Author: Rob Mudge (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)
Editor: Martin Kuebler
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20. U.S. And NATO: Four More Years Of Bloodshed In Afghanistan And Pakistan
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=34864&Cat=9
The News International
March 8, 2011
Because of the foreign troops
Rahimullah Yusufzai
Afghanistan: North Atlantic Military Bloc’s Ten-Year War In South Asia
America’s Undeclared War: Deadly Drone Attacks In Pakistan Reach Record High
NATO Expands Afghan War Into Pakistan
-[E]ven those critical of the Taliban concede that attacks by the militants would not take place if there were no foreign forces in Afghanistan. The real issue, then, is the presence of the US-led Nato forces totalling around 150,000; backed by thousands of private contractors, or mercenaries if you like, hired from scores of countries and known to use strong-arm methods and violate local laws with impunity. Those foreigners aren’t going away for the next four years if one were to believe the Western leaders, who decided at their Lisbon Summit late last year to retain their forces for four more years in Afghanistan and keep the options open beyond 2014 in line with the ground situation at that time. This means four more years of bloodshed in Afghanistan and its dangerous fallout on Pakistan.
-The issue of civilian casualties has certainly aroused resentment in Afghanistan and triggered protests. The Nato forces may have scored some small military victories against the Taliban and killed some of the militants, but they have lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. It is a losing battle, and the sooner they accept this fact the better.
Protests have broken out in Kabul and other cities in Afghanistan against the US-led foreign forces, following a spate of civilian casualties in military operations and a lawmaker wept during the session of the Meshrano Jirga, the upper house of parliament, as he described the agony of the families that lost 65 members in recent airstrikes by Nato aircraft in the eastern Kunar province.
….
Every time the Nato forces, armed with the most lethal weapons and airpower, bomb targets in the hope of eliminating Taliban fighters, they end up causing civilian casualties. It is no longer “collateral damage” because that should happen once in a while. At times, so many civilian deaths, including those of children, are caused that it would be appropriate to refer to it as carnage.
On these occasions, one wishes that there were some powerful world authority which could stop a big power from committing such war crimes. Or that that power could be shamed into halting military actions on moral grounds, because those being harmed are defenceless and also among the poorest in the world. Without warning, they are condemned to death from the air and the next moment they are blown into pieces.
It is followed by the usual denials by the US and Nato authorities, which insist that those eliminated were militants, even if eyewitness accounts show that civilians were killed and injured. Invariably, it is subsequently established that civilians rather than militants were killed, though differences persist as to how many of those who lost their lives were innocent. Grudgingly and after a long delay, the US and Nato admit their mistake, offer condolences to the bereaved families and promise compensation and better judgement in their military actions in future. President Karzai issues his customary condemnation, launches vocal protests and warns about the falling support for foreign forces among the Afghan people. Before long, another such incident happens and this cycle of events is repeated.
The Taliban too cannot escape blame for causing civilian deaths in Afghanistan. As UN annual reports indicate, an increasing number of innocent civilians are killed and injured in Taliban attacks. Most such casualties are caused in suicide bombings and by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the Taliban to attack military convoys. The majority of civilians getting killed are in Pakhtun-populated south-western Afghanistan, where the insurgency is at its fiercest due to the presence of both foreign and Afghan soldiers and the Taliban militants in large numbers.
In the latest attack by the militants, 12 civilians. including five children and two women, were killed in the south-eastern Paktika province on Sunday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Such incidents have become common in southern Afghanistan where most unpaved roads have increasingly become unsafe due to the use of IEDs.
Though the hundreds of protestors who gathered in Kabul on Sunday were expressing their outrage against the foreign forces for causing civilian deaths, and in particular shouting slogans of “Death to America,” there were some among them who also condemned the Taliban for harming civilians. It is rare for Afghan women to join such public protests, but dozens were brave enough to do so, chanting slogans demanding peace, criticising both the Americans and the Taliban.
However, even those critical of the Taliban concede that attacks by the militants would not take place if there were no foreign forces in Afghanistan. The real issue, then, is the presence of the US-led Nato forces totalling around 150,000; backed by thousands of private contractors, or mercenaries if you like, hired from scores of countries and known to use strong-arm methods and violate local laws with impunity. Those foreigners aren’t going away for the next four years if one were to believe the Western leaders, who decided at their Lisbon Summit late last year to retain their forces for four more years in Afghanistan and keep the options open beyond 2014 in line with the ground situation at that time. This means four more years of bloodshed in Afghanistan and its dangerous fallout on Pakistan.
The US has already broached the subject of its military plans for Afghanistan beyond 2014 with President Hamid Karzai, who has been telling his people that the Americans want to retain military bases in the country. Obviously, the beleaguered Afghan president doesn’t want to take such a crucial decision himself and is, therefore, seeking advice from members of parliament, his political allies and religious scholars, as well as ordinary Afghans. Mostly, the response he is getting is negative and it appears that opposition to permanent US bases would grow with the passage of time.
Former Mujahideen commander and Herat provincial governor, Ismail Khan, who is now Afghanistan’s minister for water and power, was the first to publicly oppose permanent US bases. He was followed by the elected provincial council in the eastern Laghman province. Others are following suit.
Anti-government clerics led by Maulana Abdullah Zakiri had issued a statement opposing establishment of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan and stressed that the on-ongoing fight against the foreign forces was real jihad. Now pro-government clerics have taken the same stand.
The Ulema Council of Afghanistan, the pro-government body of clerics, in a meeting rejected the establishment of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan and termed it a useless attempt. A delegation of the council led by its deputy chief, Maulvi Qiyamuddin Kashaf, then met President Karzai to convey the decision. An official statement issued by the president’s office after the meeting said it was the right of the Muslim nation of Afghanistan to take decision with regard to this important issue.
President Karzai may take the issue to the Loya Jirga, a traditional assembly of elders convened at times of crisis and national emergency, because the newly-elected parliament may not be the right forum to make a decision. A referendum too isn’t an option in Afghanistan, where every recent election has been marred by allegations of electoral fraud. It is likely that the Loya Jirga may oppose giving the US the right to retain military bases in Afghanistan.
The issue of civilian deaths in Nato military operations hit the headlines as a large number of civilians were killed in Afghanistan in recent weeks. President Karzai said 150 Afghan civilians were killed in Nato military operations and other acts of violence. They included 65 in Kunar province, in one bombing raid in Ghaziabad district. A delegation sent by Karzai came up with this figure of 65 civilians: 21 boys, 19 girls, 10 women and 15 male adults. In another Nato raid a few days later, nine boys collecting firewood in Kunar province’s Manogai area were killed, followed by five men on a hunting trip in the mountains in neighbouring Laghman province.
The Afghan lawmaker from Kunar, Maulana Shahzada Shahid, said after the recent Nato bombings in his native province that he would take his complaint against Nato to the International Court of Justice. The issue became so emotional that Afghan lawmaker Rafiullah Haideri wept during the recent session of the upper house. He was unable to control his emotions as he narrated the story of his visit as part of the official delegation to Kunar to investigate the civilian deaths.
The issue of civilian casualties has certainly aroused resentment in Afghanistan and triggered protests. The Nato forces may have scored some small military victories against the Taliban and killed some of the militants, but they have lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. It is a losing battle, and the sooner they accept this fact the better.
Point Of No Return: U.S. And NATO Prepare For War With Libya
Stop NATO
March 8, 2011
Point Of No Return: U.S. And NATO Prepare For War With Libya
Rick Rozoff
March 7 was a pivotal moment in plans by Western powers to launch military operations against Libya.
After meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Washington, President Barack Obama stated “we’ve got NATO, as we speak, consulting in Brussels around a wide range of potential options, including potential military options, in response to the violence that continues to take place inside of Libya.”
In an interview she gave to The Australian newspaper immediately before her departure for the U.S., Gillard stated that she supported the “US placing more military forces on Australian soil if it believes this is necessary in the light of the growing might of China and India.” Her government is also on record as backing military action in Libya.
On the same day North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen held a press conference at the military bloc’s headquarters in Brussels and while formally disavowing plans to intervene in the North African nation said that “as a defence Alliance and a security organisation, it is our job to conduct prudent planning for any eventuality.”
He revealed his true intentions with further statements like:
“We can see a strong wind of change blowing across the region – and it is blowing in the direction of freedom and democracy.”
“This is a humanitarian crisis on our door-step that concerns us all. The civilian population in Libya is the target of systematic attacks by the regime. So we must remain vigilant. The whole world is watching events in Libya and the wider Middle East. Many of our Allies have been evacuating their nationals and helping other people in need. We strongly condemn the use of force against the Libyan people. The violation of human rights and international humanitarian law is outrageous.”
Rasmussen also announced that the defense ministers of NATO’s 28 member states, including American Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, will meet at NATO Headquarters on March 10-11 to “discuss the situation in Libya, and the longer term prospects for the region” and to “consider how NATO can do more to help partner countries in North Africa and the wider Middle East.” [1] NATO partnership nations include Libya’s neighbors to the east and west, Egypt and Tunisia, members of the Alliance’s Mediterranean Dialogue.
Almost simultaneously, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, Netherlands-born Ivo Daalder, informed reporters that on the same day NATO military planners had completed an assessment for enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in time for the defense chiefs meeting three days later and had decided to conduct around-the-clock air surveillance of the country using AWACS aircraft. The no-fly operation assessment had been presented to the ambassadors of NATO’s 28 members, who planned to meet again on March 8 and 9 to deliberate on the issue.
Daalder also stated that “In coming days, military assessments should be completed into a no-fly zone and how to enforce an arms embargo.” [2]
The U.S. envoy was the National Security Council director for European Affairs in charge of Bosnia policy in the mid-1990s in which capacity he assisted in overseeing the last days of NATO no-fly operations conducted over Bosnia, which is to say largely over the Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb Republic), from 1992-1995, Operation Sky Monitor and Operation Deny Flight.
In 1995 Operation Deny Flight gave way to Operation Deliberate Force, directed against the Republika Srpska with 400 aircraft flying 3,515 missions against 338 targets. Daalder also supported the U.S. and British no-fly zone over Iraq in the 1990s and in 2006 co-authored an article for Foreign Affairs, journal of the Council on Foreign Relations, entitled “Global NATO” in which he applauded the military alliance’s role in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Darfur region of western Sudan. [3] At the time the article appeared many in the U.S. were calling for a replication of the no-fly operations employed over Iraq, Bosnia and later Yugoslavia for Sudan.
Daalder criticized his then-former chief President Bill Clinton in 1999 for not introducing ground troops into Kosovo in conjunction with the 78-air war the U.S. and NATO mercilessly prosecuted against the nation.
Susan Rice, like Ivo Daalder a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution currently on leave, in her case as American ambassador to the United Nations, demanded in 2007 that the U.S. and NATO enforce a no-fly zone over the Darfur region of Sudan and “signal its readiness to strike Sudanese military and intelligence assets, including aircraft and airfields, if necessary.” She also called for the deployment of NATO Response Force troops to western Sudan. Rice will vote on a no-fly resolution for Libya when it is introduced in the UN Security Council. [4]
On March 6 Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the television news program Meet the Nation “that Libya’s air force could be disabled without the kind of expense and commitment required to maintain previous no-fly zones in Iraq and the Balkans,” [5] and instead “One could crater the airports and the runways and leave them incapable of using them for a period of time.” His position on grounding Libya’s air force was echoed by two of the Senate’s top Republicans, John McCain and Mitch McConnell.
Kerry also called for turning an unspecified amount of the $30 billion in Libyan assets seized by the American government over to rebel groups in the country, adding, “I assume that a lot of weapons are going to find their way there from one means or another over the course of the next weeks.”
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nation Bill Richards, too, advocated a plan to “covertly arm the rebels” (as did White House spokesman Jay Carney) and enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
George W. Bush administration national security advisor Stephen Hadley chimed in, telling CNN: “Obviously, if there is a way to get weapons into the hands of the rebels, if we can get anti-aircraft systems so that they can enforce a no-fly zone over their own territory, that would be helpful.”
Reports have circulated about Washington enlisting Saudi Arabia to airlift weapons to rebels in Benghazi.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan told Agence France-Presse that in regard to U.S. plans for Libya, “all options are being considered.”
USS Kearsarge
The New York Times on March 6 listed what those options are. They include the deployment of the USS Kearsarge amphibious assault ship, on which the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is embarked and which took on board 400 more Marines in addition to the 1,200-2,000 it arrived with on the Greek island of Crete and with the USS Ponce amphibious warfare ship is now heading for the Libyan coast in a deployment ordered by Pentagon chief Gates. USS Kearsarge is equipped to carry V-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and MH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, the largest and heaviest helicopters in the U.S. military arsenal.
“The flotilla can be seen as a modern-day example of ‘gunboat diplomacy,’ intended to embolden rebels and shake the confidence of loyalist forces and mercenaries, perhaps even inspiring a palace coup.” [6]
Gunboat diplomacy is the proper term, reminiscent as it is of the dispatching of four American warships to Tripoli in 1801 where they enforced a blockade of the harbor and where the USS Enterprise defeated the privateer ship Tripoli in a naval battle off what is now Libya’s capital.
USS Enterprise
The current USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is positioned in the Red Sea with a carrier strike group attached to it which includes the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, guided-missile destroyers USS Bulkeley, USS Barry and USS Mason, and the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic.
On February 16 Enterprise and Kearsarge, the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group and Expeditionary Strike Group 5, met up in the Red Sea leading to the Suez Canal which USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce passed through on March 1 to the Mediterranean Sea and the American naval base in Souda Bay, Crete.
The New York Times laid out further options in addition to the stationing of American warships off the shores of Libya. They include several offered by planners on the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and its field commands:
Signal jamming “aircraft operating in international air space,” thus disabling “Libyan government communications with its military units.”
“Administration officials said Sunday [March 6] that preparations for such an operation were under way.”
The aforementioned use of the Kearsarge and the Ponce amphibious assault ships, “Known as a Marine Air-Ground Task Force,” which “provides a complete air, sea and land force that can project its power quickly and across hundreds of miles, either from flat-decked ships in the Mediterranean Sea or onto a small beachhead on land.”
“In this task force are Harrier jump-jet warplanes, which not only can bomb, strafe and engage in dogfights, but can also carry surveillance pods for monitoring military action on the ground in Libya; attack helicopters; transport aircraft – both cargo helicopters and the fast, long-range Osprey, whose rotors let it lift straight up, then tilt forward like propellers to ferry Marines…across the desert; landing craft that can cross the surf anywhere along Libyas’ long coastline – and about 400 ground combat troops of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines.”
Other operations being planned are air-dropping weapons to insurgents in the country and “inserting small Special Operations teams…to assist the rebels, as was done in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban.”
Another option is to launch a “handful of strikes on valued government or military targets…as was done in the Gulf of Sidra raids in 1986,” by the Ronald Reagan administration.
“There are ample planes based in Europe and on the aircraft carrier Enterprise and its strike group, now in the Red Sea, for missions over Libya.
“Pentagon officials said Sunday that those vessels were carefully sailing in the direction of the Suez Canal, gateway to the Mediterranean.”
USS Enterprise, should it join other U.S. and NATO nations’ warships in the Mediterranean, will provide as many as 85 aircraft.
The newspaper account also detailed these actions:
“The destruction of Libyan air-defense radars and missile batteries would be required, perhaps using missiles launched from submarines or warships. A vast fleet of tankers would be needed to refuel warplanes. Search-and-rescue teams trained in land and sea operations would be on hand in case a plane went down.
“The fleet of aircraft needed for such a mission would easily reach into the hundreds. Given the size of such a mission, it would be expected that American and NATO bases in Europe would be used, and that an American aircraft carrier would be positioned off Libya.” [7]
On March 1 the Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed senior U.S. official recommending another expedient: “The best outcome for those Libyan leaders who are defecting will be (to put) two bullets into the heads of Gadhafi and his son.”
NATO’s Aviano Air Base In Italy, across the Mediterranean from Libya, hosts 42 U.S. F-16 jet fighters. Aviano is the base from which U.S. F-15s and F-16s and NATO warplanes took off for the bombing of the Bosnian Serb Republic in 1995 and Yugoslavia in 1999. In the second case over 38,000 air missions were conducted.
A Russian analyst recently wrote of the parallels between NATO’s first full-scale war in 1999 and the impending campaign against Libya:
“The old term used to describe such actions, ‘gunboat diplomacy,’ is no longer politically correct. Now ‘liberal intervention’ is preferred. But while the name may have changed, the methods have not. Libya appears to be maneuvered down the same path of action that culminated in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, which started on March 24, 1999, after a no-fly zone was announced.
“The quest for UN approval is an essentially meaningless but nevertheless indispensable political ritual that always precedes violations of international law. The same thing happened before NATO’s Operation Allied Force (Noble Anvil) in Yugoslavia.”
“The military preparations underway in the Mediterranean go beyond the simple redeployment of U.S. warships ‘just in case.’ These preparations always have a critical mass – the line beyond which war becomes unavoidable.
“USS Kearsarge is one of the world’s largest assault vessels of its kind. It has dozens of helicopters on board, missiles, landing craft, and over 2,000 Marines. The ship was used in the Yugoslavian operation in 1999 to deploy Marines, reconnaissance groups and special forces.” [8]
Associated Press reported on March 4 that “Some NATO countries are drawing up contingency plans modeled on the no-fly zones over the Balkans in the 1990s.”
The news agency cited a senior European Union official stating that “taking control of the airspace over Libya would more likely be modeled on Operation Deny Flight, a 1993-95 NATO mission in which its warplanes patrolled the skies over Bosnia as a civil war raged between government forces and Serb secessionists.”
“During Deny Flight’s 33-month duration, NATO flew more than 100,000 sorties. Roughly half were carried out by fighters and attack jets, and the others by transports, reconnaissance planes and aerial tankers. Four Serbian fighter-bombers were shot down during the operation.”
“NATO planes mostly operated from air bases in Italy and from carriers in the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean. Many of those bases, and those in Spain, Crete and Cyprus, could be used for a potential air mission over Libya.” [9]
On the first of the month the European Union scheduled a crisis summit of its 27 heads of state requested by British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for March 11, which will be the second day of the NATO defense ministers’ meeting also occurring in Brussels. Earlier in the same week the EU imposed its most stringent sanctions to date against Libya and adopted an embargo on arms and equipment to the nation.
On March 5 the Daily Telegraph revealed that the Black Watch (3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland) has been placed on heightened alert, “prepared to deploy to North Africa at 24 hours’ notice.”
The 600-troop infantry unit returned from Afghanistan in late 2009 where it fought in Operation Panchai Palang (Panther’s Claw) and before that participated in the first attack on Basra, Iraq in 2003.
The British newspaper added:
“Nato members yesterday agreed to draw up contingency plans for how their armed forces could intervene. Britain is also preparing to send diplomats and specialist advisers to the eastern city of Benghazi, where the disparate Libyan opposition is based.” The advisers were Special Air Service (SAS) and Military Intelligence (MI6) operatives “carrying espionage equipment, reconnaissance equipment, multiple passports and weapons” who were captured by Libyan rebel forces in Benghazi at the time the above-cited report appeared.
The Guardian reported that Britain was also deploying Typhoon multirole combat aircraft to its base at Akrotiri in Cyprus.
On March 1 Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in the House of Commons that he was ordering the frigate HMCS Charlottetown with 240 military personnel “to the waters off Libya to enhance its military presence in the region in response to the escalating unrest in the Northern African country.” Defense Minister Peter MacKay said it would take six days for the warship to arrive. Canada also has C-17 Globemaster and two C-130J Hercules military transportation planes as well as a military reconnaissance team of 13 soldiers based in Malta, 300 kilometers north of Libya.
The amassing of military assets – warships, warplanes, assault troops and special forces – near and in Libya means more than brinkmanship, demonstrates more than a show of strength, more than simply “sending a message.”
So does the enforcement of a no-fly zone over the country, which is not a substitute for but a prelude to war. Last week Defense Secretary Gates acknowledged that “A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses.”
It in fact demands the grounding of a targeted nation’s aircraft and the neutralization if not destruction of its surveillance systems and anti-aircraft batteries.
A no-fly regime is succeeded by war as day is followed by night. In Bosnia from 1992-1995 it led to a bombing campaign and the deployment of 60,000 NATO troops. In Yugoslavia in 1999 it was the opening move in an air war which resulted in 50,000 U.S. and NATO troops occupying part of the country’s territory. In Iraq from 1991-2003 it was the lead-up to an invasion and ongoing military occupation that will soon be eight years old.
Britain and France, in close consultation with the U.S. and Germany (collectively the NATO Quad), are jointly writing a draft resolution for a no-fly zone over Libya to be presented to the Security Council. If the resolution is supported by nine or more of the fifteen nations on the Security Council and if permanent members China and Russia don’t veto it, the stage will be set for a series of further military actions by the U.S. and NATO against Libya, which will be presented by the West as UN-sanctioned, in a manner alarmingly evocative of the process used to prepare the attack on Iraq in 2003.
1) NATO Defence Ministers will discuss situation in Libya and longer term
prospects in Middle East
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, March 7, 2011
2) Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2011
3) Ivo Daalder and James Goldgeier, Global Nato
Foreign Affairs, September/October 2006
http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/daalder/2006sept_oct.pdf
4) Susan E. Rice, The Genocide in Darfur: America Must Do More to Fulfill
the Responsibility to Protect
Brookings Institution, October 24, 2007
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/1024darfur_rice_Opp08.aspx
5) Washington Post, March 6, 2011
6) U.S. Weighs Options, on Air and Sea
New York Times, March 6, 2011
7) Ibid
8) Andrei Fedyashin, The Yugoslavian option for Libya
Russian Information Agency Novosti, March 4, 2011
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20110304/162866224.html
9) NATO weighing Libyan no-fly zone
Associated Press, March 4, 2011
Stop NATO News March 8, 2011
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1. U.S. To Build, Fund Military Training Center In Kyrgyzstan
2. U.S. Drone Attack Kills Five, Wounds Three In Pakistan
3. Ouattara’s Ivory Coast Ambassador To United States: “Temple Of Democracy” Should Intervene
4. Video/Text: General Petraeus “Jokes” With Gates About Bombing Libya
5. NATO Defense Chiefs To Discuss Libya, North Africa, Wider Middle East
6. NATO Chief Invokes “Crimes Against Humanity” In Regards To Libya
7. Eastern Partnership: Six Former Soviet States Targeted For Closer EU-NATO Military Ties
8. Poland’s European Union Presidency: Integrating Global Missions With NATO
9. “Arabian” Gulf: NATO Consolidates Military Ties With Persian Gulf States
10. NATO Conducts Around-The-Clock Surveillance Over Libya
11. USS Ronald Reagan Strike Group Heads To East Asia, Arabian Sea
12. Obama: U.S., NATO Military Action Against Libya Possible
13. U.S. Envoy: NATO Defense Chiefs To Plan Libya No-Fly Operation
14. U.S. Inmates Make PAC-3 Interceptor Missile Parts For 23 Cents An Hour
15. NATO Extends Control Over Libya
16. Obama To Meet Kyrgyz President On U.S. Air Base
17. Pentagon Chief Gates: US To Keep “Some Form Of Presence” In Afghanistan
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1. U.S. To Build, Fund Military Training Center In Kyrgyzstan
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16019782&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
March 7, 2011
Kyrgyz government confirms plans to build anti-terrorist centre with US help
Kyrgyzstan And The Battle For Central Asia
-“[T]he centre will include barracks buildings, a dining hall, classrooms, an obstacle course, and so on. It will be used to train crack units for all of the country’s military and security forces.”
WASHINGTON: The government of Kyrgyzstan has not given up the idea of building an anti-terrorist centre in the country with U.S. assistance, Kyrgyz caretaker President Roza Otunbayeva said.
Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peaceon Monday, March 7, Otunbayeva said this issue was on the agenda of the bilateral American-Kyrgyz security dialogue.
“We want to build this training centre in Batken,” she said.
Otunbayeva said that during her stay in Washington she would meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama’s closest aides and members of the Congress.
The Kyrgyz Defence Ministry said last year that there were plans to build a training centre for the country’s own military in the south of the country. The 5.5-million-U.S. dollar project is to be entirely financed by the American side….
In an official statement the Defence Ministry of Kyrgyzstan said that “the centre will include barracks buildings, a dining hall, classrooms, an obstacle course, and so on. It will be used to train crack units for all of the country’s military and security forces.”
….
In March 2010, the Pentagon announced plans for building in Batken an anti-terrorist training centre for Kyrgyz troops to undergo combat training. This project was estimated at 5.5 million U.S. dollars. On August 7, 2010, the Washington Post mentioned a figure of 10 million U.S. dollars. The U.S. considers this project to be part and parcel of broader security cooperation between the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan.
====
2. U.S. Drone Attack Kills Five, Wounds Three In Pakistan
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/08/c_13767353.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 8, 2011
5 killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan
Decade Of The Drone: America’s Aerial Assassins
ISLAMABAD: At least five people were killed and three others injured in a U.S drone strike launched Tuesday afternoon in Pakistan’s northwest tribal area of South Waziristan, according to local sources and local media reports.
A local Urdu TV channel Duniya report quoted official sources as saying that U.S. drones fired five missiles at two houses in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan, a place bordering Afghanistan….
Tuesday’s strike launched by the U.S. drones is the 15th of its kind in the country since the beginning of this year. Out of the 15 strikes, two took place in South Waziristan and the rest took place in North Waziristan.
A total of 71 people, most of whom believed to be militants, have reportedly been killed in such strikes since the beginning of this year.
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3. Ouattara’s Ivory Coast Ambassador To United States: “Temple Of Democracy” Should Intervene
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/ivory-coast-envoy-calls-us-help
Agence France-Presse
March 8, 2011
Ivory Coast envoy calls for US help
-Clinton, who recognizes Ouattara as the president, said Gbagbo and his forces “have shown a callous disregard for human life and the rule of law, preying on the unarmed and the innocent. He should step aside immediately in the name of peace.”
-Asked if Ouattara would accept military intervention to oust Gbagbo, [Ivorian ambassador to the U.S. Daouda] Diabate showed caution, saying “If the negotiations fail, they will use legitimate force.”
Ivory Coast’s ambassador to Washington asked the United States, which he called the “model of democracy,” to help his strife-torn West African country following disputed elections.
“The US being the temple of democracy, the model of democracy throughout the world, we want to launch an appeal to you through Congress: assist Cote d’Ivoire and its people,” ambassador Daouda Diabate said, using the country’s French name.
Diabate also asked for a strengthening of the mandate of the UN mission, saying that UN troops don’t have the authority to exert influence in the country.
….
The ambassador appointed by Alassane Ouattara…spoke after the White House announced $12.6 million in aid for refugees and others displaced by the strife in Ivory Coast.
Gbagbo, in power since 2000, rejects findings that he lost November presidential elections. He controls the port and all-important cocoa exports, as well as the armed forces and most of Abidjan, the capital.
Ouattara has been unable to gain control of the key levers of state and is holed up in an Abidjan hotel under the protection of UN forces.
On Monday, the African Union awaited a reply from Gbagbo to an invitation for talks with Ouattara to end the dispute, which has descended into deadly clashes.
Jason Small, the US State Department’s deputy director of the Office of West African Affairs, on Monday reiterated the position Washington took Friday in a statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Clinton, who recognizes Ouattara as the president, said Gbagbo and his forces “have shown a callous disregard for human life and the rule of law, preying on the unarmed and the innocent. He should step aside immediately in the name of peace.”
Small added: “One man stands in the way of a solution, and that is Laurent Gbagbo.”
Asked if Ouattara would accept military intervention to oust Gbagbo, Diabate showed caution, saying “If the negotiations fail, they will use legitimate force.”
====
4. Video/Text: General Petraeus “Jokes” With Gates About Bombing Libya
Daily Telegraph
March 8, 2011
General Petraeus jokes with Robert Gates about attacking Libya
Afghan War: Petraeus Expands U.S. Military Presence Throughout Eurasia
Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defence, has been caught joking with General David Petraeus about bombing Libya while on a visit to Afghanistan
Apparently unaware of an open microphone, Gen Petraeus greeted Mr Gates at Kabul airport joking: “Welcome back, sir, flying a little bigger plane than normal … you gonna launch some attacks on Libya or something?”
The US Defence Secretary responded to the comment by laughing and replied, “yeah, exactly”.
Gates, who arrived on Monday for a two-day trip, visited Camp Leatherneck in Helmand after issuing a public apology over a Nato air strike last week that targeted insurgents but killed nine young boys who were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan.
….
====
5. NATO Defense Chiefs To Discuss Libya, North Africa, Wider Mideast
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-12739CC5-CBC9BF27/natolive/news_71277.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 7, 2011
NATO Defence Ministers will discuss situation in Libya and longer term prospects in Middle East
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the press on Monday, 7 March that NATO Defence Ministers will soon discuss the situation in Libya, and the longer term prospects for the region. At a press conference in the NATO Headquarters, the Secretary General said that at their upcoming meeting on 10 and 11 March ministers will consider how NATO can do more to help partner countries in North Africa and the wider Middle East.
“We can see a strong wind of change blowing across the region – and it is blowing in the direction of freedom and democracy”, the Secretary General said in a press conference in Brussels .
The Secretary General stated that NATO has no intention to intervene in Libya. However, he said, “as a defence Alliance and a security organisation, it is our job to conduct prudent planning for any eventuality.” The Secretary General stressed that NATO is in close coordination and consultation with other international and regional organisations, including with the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and the African Union.
“This is a humanitarian crisis on our door-step that concerns us all. The civilian population in Libya is the target of systematic attacks by the regime. So we must remain vigilant ”, he stressed. “The whole world is watching events in Libya and the wider Middle East. Many of our Allies have been evacuating their nationals and helping other people in need. We strongly condemn the use of force against the Libyan people. The violation of human rights and international humanitarian law is outrageous.”
Looking further at the upcoming meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, the Secretary General said that discussions will take forward the decisions taken by NATO leaders in Lisbon on building capabilities to deal with emerging security challenges. Ministers will discuss a new NATO Cyber Defence Concept and arrangements for an Alliance-based missile defence capability.
Finally, the Secretary General said that the meeting of Defence Ministers this week will pave the way for Afghanistan’s future as a more stable country, taking charge of its own security.
….
On Friday, 11 March, Defence Minister Wardak of Afghanistan and all ISAF partners will be joining NATO Ministers….
====
6. NATO Chief Invokes “Crimes Against Humanity” Regarding Libya
Times of Malta
March 7, 2011
Attacks on Libyans may be ‘crimes against humanity’ – Nato
Attacks on civilians in Libya may amount to “crimes against humanity” and the world will not stand “idly by” if they continue, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today.
“These widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity,” Rasmussen said of what he termed the “outrageous” response of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime as protests evolved into full-blown civil war.
While events on the ground in north Africa were fast-moving, Rasmussen underlined that: “I can’t imagine the international community and the UN standing idly by if Colonel Gaddafi and his regime continue to attack his own people systematically.”
The Dane told a news conference at NATO headquarters that Gaddafi’s “violation of human rights and international humanitarian law” had created “a human crisis on our doorstep which concerns us all,” and reiterated his strongest condemnation.
Libyan rebels ceded ground to Gaddafi’s advancing forces today as the United States came under increasing domestic political pressure to arm the opposition and the United Nations appointed a special humanitarian envoy.
….
He said the imposition of a no-fly zone “is indeed a very comprehensive undertaking (that) will require a wide range of military assets.”
France said earlier that the Arab League backed Paris in calling for the step-change, and Rasmussen said he had spoken to the heads of both the Arab League and the chair of the African Union Commission.
“We stand ready to assist if so requested and properly mandated,” he said.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said earlier today that Malta had had no contact with Nato over Libya and would not serve as a military base. He, however, also said last week that Malta would not stand idly by if there was a genocide in Libya.
====
7. Eastern Partnership: 6 Ex-USSR States, Closer EU-NATO Military Ties
PanArmenian.net
March 7, 2011
Klich: Eastern Partnership member states should participate in EU military operations
Eastern Partnership: The West’s Final Assault On the Former Soviet Union
Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said that Poland is going to attract Eastern Partnership member states for participation in EU missions and military operations.
Only Ukraine signed a relevant agreement, while Poland wants other Eastern Partnership members states (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova) to join this activity as well, Klich said in his comments on priorities of Poland’s EU Presidency in the field of defense and security.
As for other priorities, the Minister referred to introduction of modern weapons and strengthening of EU military groups, which have been created in all states, but are not used, ITAR-TASS reported.
Besides, according to Klich, Poland is going to draw the world community’s attention to improvement of the EU-NATO relations.
On July 1, 2011, Poland will for the first time take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. It has outlines three basic directions in its activity for this period – adoption of the EU budget, development of Eastern Partnership initiative and boosting energy security.
====
8. Poland’s EU Presidency: Integrating Global Missions With NATO
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030701403.html
Associated Press
March 7, 2011
Security among Poland’s tasks for EU presidency
EU, NATO, US: 21st Century Alliance For Global Domination
WARSAW, Poland: Poland’s government says cooperation with NATO and modernization of military equipment are the top defense priorities for the country’s European Union presidency later this year.
Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said Monday that the defense priorities of Poland’s six months presidency also include turning the existing EU’s battle groups into quick reaction forces and allowing non-EU members, east of Poland, to participate in EU military missions.
Klich says stronger legal frameworks should be worked out for missions where EU and NATO forces serve side by side, like in Afghanistan or Kosovo.
Poland takes the rotating EU presidency July 1.
====
9. “Arabian” Gulf: NATO Consolidates Military Ties With Persian Gulf States
http://www.manp.nato.int/news_releases/mcnaples/pressreleases11/NR_06_11.html
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
March 7, 2011
SNMCMG2 begins Friendly Seas Deployment in Arabian Gulf
NATO In Persian Gulf: From Third World War To Istanbul
-A part of the stated mission of the Group is to demonstrate the ability of this NATO force to sustain deployment at strategic distance.
NAPLES, Italy: Following a month-long transit from the Suez Canal, the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) has entered into the Arabian Gulf on Operation INAS BAHR (Friendly Seas) where it will spend a month engaged in activities aimed at promoting practical military cooperation in the spirit of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative as well as fostering closer links with regional navies and other maritime organisations.
“It has been a slow but steady transit but we have not wasted our time at sea,” said Greek Navy Captain Georgios Pelekanakis Commander of SNMCMG2. “We have put ourselves through a tough programme of exercises both to maintain and improve our skills. Formation maneuver, damage control, helicopter MEDEVAC and response to asymmetrical attacks have all been perfected while in transit. The ships entering the Gulf today are welded into a tight group and are fully ready to carry out their mission.”
A part of the stated mission of the Group is to demonstrate the ability of this NATO force to sustain deployment at strategic distance. “We are poised to execute our mission.The planners are still finalizing our activities but we are going to be busy – even going into port is important as it is there that we will strengthen our ties with the local navy and authorities,”said Pelekanakis.
====
10. NATO Conducts Around-The-Clock Surveillance Over Libya
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030702494.html
Associated Press
March 7, 2011
NATO boosts Libya surveillance flights to 24/7
WASHINGTON: A senior U.S. official says NATO has decided to boost flights of surveillance planes over Libya as the alliance debates the utility of imposing a “no-fly zone” over the country.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder says allies agreed on Monday to increase AWACs flights from 10 to 24 hours a day. The expansion is part of contingency planning for possible military intervention in Libya beyond humanitarian efforts.
The decision came as the alliance’s governing board met to discuss what unique capabilities NATO could bring to Libya.
Daalder said other ideas being considered are retasking NATO vessels in the Mediterranean Sea along with nearby air assets….
====
11. USS Ronald Reagan Strike Group Heads To East Asia, Arabian Sea
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=58957
Navy NewsStand
March 7, 2011
USS Ronald Reagan Strike Group Deploys
By USS Ronald Reagan Public Affairs
Arabian Sea: Center Of West’s 21st Century War
PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 14, completed their pre-deployment training March 5, and departed the Southern California area of operations for its regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific and Central Command areas of responsibility.
….
Embarked aboard Ronald Reagan with CVW 14 are the “Black Knights” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 154, the “Argonauts” of VFA-147, the “Blue Diamonds” of VFA-146, the “Death Rattlers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323, the “Black Eagles” of Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, the “Cougars” of Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (VAQ) 139, the “Providers” of Carrier Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 30 and the “Black Knights” of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 4.
Ronald Reagan CSG [usually operates] within 3rd Fleet’s 50-million square mile area of responsibility in the Eastern Pacific, as well as supporting the Navy’s Maritime Strategy when forward deployed.
====
12. Obama: U.S., NATO Military Action Against Libya Possible
Associated Press
March 7, 2011
Obama: Military action against Libya possible
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama warned Libya’s leaders that the U.S. and its NATO allies are still considering military options in response to what he called “unacceptable” violence perpetrated by supporters of Moammar Gadhafi.
“I want to send a very clear message to those who are around Colonel Gadhafi. It is their choice to make how they operate moving forward. And they will be held accountable for whatever violence continues to take place,” Obama said during remarks in the Oval Office Monday.
….
White House spokesman Jay Carney said a military response was no more likely Monday than it was before the surge in violence. He said the U.S. and its partners are considering a wide variety of military actions, including a no-fly zone, but said deploying ground troops “is not top of the list at this point.”
Carney said the U.S. is also considering providing weapons to rebel forces, though he cautioned that there were still many unanswered questions about what groups comprise those forces.
….
NATO officials are meeting in Brussels this week to consider the next steps in dealing with Libya. U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder said officials would discuss the capabilities and even the purposes of a no-fly zone, noting that it was unclear how useful it would be to stop violence that is mainly occurring on the ground.
Daalder said allies agreed on Monday to increase AWACs surveillance flights from 10 to 24 hours a day. The expansion is part of contingency planning for possible military intervention in Libya beyond humanitarian efforts.
….
The U.S. and United Nations have imposed sanctions on Gadhafi’s regime, and U.S. military forces have also moved closer to Libya’s shores to back up demands that Gadhafi step down.
Obama spoke alongside Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is in Washington for meetings.
Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Bradley Klapper contributed to this report.
====
13. U.S. Envoy: NATO Defense Chiefs To Plan Libya No-Fly Action
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703883504576186710836644734.html
Wall Street Journal
March 7, 2011
NATO Defense Ministers to Weigh No-Fly-Zone Plan Thursday
By STEPHEN FIDLER
BRUSSELS: NATO military planners should have completed an assessment of a no-fly zone in Libya in time for the issue to be considered by alliance defense ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday, according to the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder.
He told reporters that NATO had decided Monday to start round-the-clock surveillance of Libya using AWACS aircraft. Until now, the aircraft have been operating 10 hours a day tracking air and ground traffic in and around Libya.
A meeting of ambassadors to NATO in Brussels received an assessment Monday from military planners on what the 28-nation alliance might do….The ambassadors will meet again Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the issue.
In coming days, military assessments should be completed into a no-fly zone and how to enforce an arms embargo, Mr. Daalder said.
He said a no-fly zone would be more useful to deal with fighter aircraft than against helicopters. “It’s not going to be the solution to every problem,” he said.
….
He said NATO defense ministers should be in a position to make a decision on a no-fly zone at a previously scheduled meeting on Thursday “if there is a consensus.” But he added that governments are watching developments on the ground and that some haven’t made up their minds.
Asked about a United Nations Security Council resolution to mandate a no-fly zone, he said: “All of us want a Security Council resolution for that eventuality. That’s a pretty clear requirement. …We would certainly seek one.”
He said that at Monday’s meeting he encouraged the use of NATO assets to help out in the humanitarian crisis, asking whether NATO’s command and control capabilities could help coordinate the exercise, whether ships currently on a NATO exercise in the Mediterranean could be repurposed and whether there is spare airlift capacity to get refugees home.
====
14. U.S. Inmates Make PAC-3 Interceptor Missile Parts For 23 Cents An Hour
Minyanville
March 7, 2011
Why are Prisoners Building Patriot Missiles?
Justin Rohrlich
Right now, federal prison inmates in correctional institutions across America are making Patriot missile components. Alarming? Sure. But it could also inform a larger debate currently underway in Washington.
They are paid $0.23 an hour to start, and can work their way up to a maximum of $1.15 to manufacture electronics that go into the propulsion, guidance, and targeting systems of Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) PAC-3 guided missile, originally made famous in the first Persian Gulf conflict.
Surprised? Me too.
Unicor, known as Federal Prison Industries until a 1977 re-branding, is a network of over 100 factories at 70 penitentiaries within the US; a self-sustaining, self-funding company owned wholly by the government, created by an act of Congress in 1934 to function as a rehabilitative tool to teach real-world work skills to federal inmates. Unicor’s mandate dictates that prison work programs not adversely affect private sector businesses.
It has always been fairly well known that prisoners make everything from street signs, park benches — and yes, license plates — to office furniture for federal agencies like the VA and DoD (this last example being to the continuing consternation of Representative Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, whose district is home to Steelcase (SCS), Herman Miller (MLHR), and Haworth), but the Bureau of Prisons’ PAC-3 missile program has gone largely unnoticed — until now.
For the record, federal prisoners are making more than missile components. Inmates also make cable assemblies for the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s laser rangefinder.
Despite repeated requests, Unicor would not disclose how many inmates are currently assigned to defense-related jobs, but public records show Unicor electronics factories located at no fewer than 14 federal correctional institutions.
Here’s how the work is described on Unicor’s website:
“Unicor supplies numerous electronic components and services for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile. We assemble and distribute the Intermediate Frequency Processor (IFP) for the PAC-3s seeker. The IFP receives and filters radio-frequency signals that guide the missile toward its target.
“We are an important supplier of complex electrical harnesses that link initiators, primers and detonators in the guided missile warheads, and connect infrared, radar and electro-optical sensor data that provide essential threat discrimination in high-clutter environments.
“Our RF cable assemblies connect and control antenna mast groups that communicate with remote missile launching stations. We supply grounding cables and shielding to protect antenna arrays from electro-magnetic interference and pulses. In addition, Unicor produces and distributes testing and repair kits that help to ensure that guided missiles and other critical ordnance are deployment ready.”
As it turns out, this practice has been hiding in plain sight for two decades; detailed in Unicor’s annual report each year, highlighted in its brochures, and explained in depth — although buried several pages deep — on Unicor.gov. The missile components made by prisoners are needles in haystacks of thousands of parts, often contracted and subcontracted out endlessly. The organization’s annual reports aren’t exactly making any New York Times best-seller lists, and the Unicor.gov website receives so few visitors, Quantcast, the Internet metrics firm, is unable to provide traffic data.
With that in mind, the Unicor/Patriot missile connection took some of the top defense analysts in America by surprise. “It’s kind of mind-boggling and hair-raising to find out a major component of a national security system is being made in prisons,” says William Hartung, PhD, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, member of the Sustainable Defense Task Force, and author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2010).
“For one thing, just the symbolism of it, God forbid, the global publicity — I don’t think using prison labor to build missiles reflects very well not just on Lockheed Martin, but on the United States,” he says. “We’re supposed to be a beacon of freedom and holding up the values of the free market. I can’t think of an example that contrasts that more starkly than doing this kind of thing.”
While sourcing components from prisons is perfectly legal, the idea makes Hartung more than a little uncomfortable.
“It just doesn’t smell right to me,” he continues. “It’s really on the cutting-edge of questionable practices. The fact that it does an end-run around organized labor is a problem. There’s no greater restriction on a worker’s rights than being stuck in prison.”
The actual logistical arrangement between Lockheed, Unicor, and the Pentagon is quite murky. In response to a request for details, Craig Vanbebber, of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division, “did quite a bit of research into… FPI/Unicor’s role on the PAC-3 missile system,” and it “appears that they are a supplier to the US Government, not a direct supplier to Lockheed Martin.” This is even more unsettling to some, and of course, doesn’t change the fact that Lockheed PAC-3s include parts made by prisoners, whether they are on the company’s direct payroll or not.
Christopher Preble, PhD, a former commissioned officer in the US Navy, author of The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous and Less Free (Cornell University Press, 2009), and current director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, was also unaware that prisoners were being used to build weapons parts. For him, the practice raises questions about a much larger policy issue currently being fiercely debated in Washington, DC — that of maintaining the so-called “defense industrial base.”
As Preble explains, the defense industry insists keeping a highly-trained, highly-skilled workforce “warm” is vital to its very existence. But if prisoners are performing apparently vital, mission-critical tasks, it casts some doubt as to the supposed delicacy of the defense industrial base. It also may further the case that a large defense budget is, as former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote in an August, 2010 editorial, “an insane way to keep Americans employed.”
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15. NATO Extends Control Over Libya
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=269848&Itemid=1
Prensa Latina
March 7, 2011
NATO Extends Controls on Libya
Indira Santana
Washington: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) extended Monday its controls over Libya with 24-hours AWACS reconnaissance aircraft.
The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, said the military bloc decided to increase the AWACS surveillance to 24 hours to monitor air operations and surface movements on Libyan territory, which is for many an advance toward armed intervention.
NATO analyzes whether to impose an air exclusion zone at a time when the Cooperation Council of Gulf countries asked the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, according to a statement of the foreign ministers of the group.
The defense ministers of NATO will meet Thursday in Brussels, which is an opportunity that may increase actions against Libya because the imposition of an exclusion zone area, according to its promoters, including the head of the Pentagon, Robert Gates, would require a military operation.
On the other hand, the situation around Libya seems to be complicated, because NATO also analyzes using military forces for humanitarian aid, which could mask the use of naval units of the Alliance in the Mediterranean Sea and the use of military aircraft, political commentators said.
Another ingredient that heats up the air war is the option of arming those who promote the revolt against the government of Tripoli that is one among other options under consideration, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday.
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16. Obama To Meet Kyrgyz President On U.S. Air Base
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/08/c_13766265.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 8, 2011
Obama meets with Kyrgyz president on U.S. air base
Kyrgyzstan: Bloodstained Geopolitical Chessboard
WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama met on Monday with Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, expressing thanks for Kyrgyzstan’s support for the U.S. air base in Manas.
Obama said Washington had taken steps to improve transparency about the military Transit Center in Manas and payments connected to it, and pledged to maximize the benefits of the air base for the Kyrgyz people, said a White House statement.
The United States has been using the center, originally called the Manas air base, to move troops and supplies for its operations in Afghanistan since 2001.
The center has been an irritant in U.S.-Kyrgyz relations, in part because of Kyrgyz suspicion of corruption in contracts for supplying the base with fuel. Russia also has objected to a U.S. military presence so close to its borders.
Last month, Kyrgyzstan and the United States signed a 630-million-U.S.-dollar contract on fuel supply to the center.
17. Pentagon Chief: US To Keep “Some Form Of Presence” In Afghanistan
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1841622.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 7, 2011
Gates: US to remain in Afghanistan long-term in some form
U.S. Employs Afghan War To Build Global NATO
US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said Monday that his country wants to build a long-term security relationship with Afghanistan and hopes to soon start discussing a strategic partnership, dpa reported.
The US does not want Afghanistan, or any other country, to be a safe haven for terrorists to attack the United States, Gates said while addressing a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
“The specifics need to be negotiated. With the permission of the Afghan government, we want to have some form of presence here,” Gates said, without elaborating.
“There is no interest in permanent bases, but if Afghans want it, we can contemplate the idea.”
Gates was on an unannounced two-day visit to Afghanistan on Monday where he met with NATO officials and the Afghan president. This was his 13th visit to the country.
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On Sunday, Karzai harshly criticized US forces for causing civilian casualties during their operations, rejecting an apology from US General David Petraeus as “not enough” and “no longer acceptable.”
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Nearly 100,000 US soldiers are currently in Afghanistan….
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The US has prepared a number of options regarding capabilities for “a military action against Libya,” he said. But any army action should be part of international sanctions, he added.
Stop NATO News March 7, 2011
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stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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1. NATO Shells Tribal Area, Helicopters Cross Into Pakistan
2. NATO’s Libyan Intervention Threatens Malta’s Neutrality
3. Kabul: Afghans Protest Against NATO’s Slaying Of Children
4. Spratly Dispute With China: U.S. Provides Philippines With Patrol Ship
5. Wales: RAF Conducts Large-Scale Helicopter Drills For Afghan War
6. Britain Admits Special Forces Incursion Into Libya
7. American Warships Moving Closer To Libyan Coast
8. America’s Risky Game In The Middle East And North Africa
9. Reset = Overcharged: U.S. Missile Sleight Of Hand Worries Russia
10. State Department Continues To Taunt Russia Over South Caucasus
11. Echo Of Balkans In U.S. Policy Debate On Libya Intervention
12. International Suspicions Over U.S. Motives Toward Libya
13. Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Marines Train Ghanaian Troops
14. South Korean Base Targeted In Afghanistan
15. Ivory Coast: Western-Backed Rebels Outgun Government Forces, Take Town Near Liberian Border
16. Afghans Protest Against Permanent U.S. Military Bases
17. White House Chief Of Staff Daley: U.S. Mulls Using Strategic Oil Reserves
18. Is NATO in Libya?
19. Otpor’s Popovic Appropriates Credit For Libyan Uprising
20. Push For Japan To Broaden War Options
21. Obama: Return Military Recruiters To All College Campuses
22. Senator Kerry Calls For “Cratering” Libyan Airfields
23. Libya: U.S. Weighs Air, Sea Attack Options
24. Karzai: NATO Apology For Afghan Civilian Killings Not Enough
25. Australia Welcomes More U.S. Military Forces In Face Of Rising China And India
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1. NATO Shells Tribal Area, Helicopters Cross Into Pakistan
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=4443&Cat=13&dt=3/7/2011
The News International
March 7, 2011
Nine mortar shells fired from Afghanistan land in NWA
MIRAMSHAH: Nato forces in Afghanistan reportedly fired nine mortar shells into North Waziristan after their four helicopters intruded into the same area, official and tribal sources said on Sunday.
The sources said that the nine mortars fell in the Mir Ali tehsil, Spinwam tehsil and Titi Madakhel area at 7:00pm. There was no word about the losses because of disrupted communication system in the area.
It may be added here that eight persons were killed in such an incident last month when five mortar shells were fired by the Nato forces from across the border into North Waziristan.
Meanwhile, late on Saturday night four Nato choppers violated Pakistan airspace and entered into Powara Mandi area in Miramshah, agency headquarters of North Waziristan.
The Nato choppers intruded about five kilometres into Pakistan, the sources said. An official, pleading anonymity, confirmed that the Nato choppers violated the Pakistani airspace and returned after flying over the area for 10 minutes without taking any action.
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2. NATO’s Libyan Intervention Threatens Malta’s Neutrality
http://www.arabmonitor.info/news/dettaglio.php?idnews=33190&lang=en
Arab Monitor
March 7, 2011
NATO interference in Libyan conflict threatens to erase Malta’s traditional neutrality
Tripoli: Amid fierce fighting between government and insurgent forces in Libya, in Brussels and Washington an ideological battle is under way over the extent of involvement of NATO in the Libyan civil war. While France and Great Britain, together with parts of the US legislative bodies, are pushing for the imposition of a no-fly zone to cripple the government’s main defence capabilities against the insurgency, the US administration, Germany and other NATO partners are reluctant and suggest the extension of financial and commercial sanctions.
In an interview to Al Jazeera, Mohammad Ali, spokesman of the Libyan insurgents in Misurata, called on what he considers his Western allies to impose a no-fly zone and to carry out “surgical air strikes” against the government’s forces. However, the Interim Transitional Council, set up in Benghazi to represent the entire alliance of insurgent tribes, declares it would not accept foreign interference in the armed stand-off with the government.
In this context the capture by insurgents of seven British special forces, well armed with weapons, maps of the territory and passports from four different countries, together with the London diplomat they were escorting, caused a major embarrassment to Great Britain as well as to the Transitional Council in Benghazi.
While the presence of members of the British Special Air Service (SAS) forces on Libyan territory gave proof of the growing involvement of NATO powers in the north African country, the fact that SAS forces ventured out on a “secret diplomatic mission” without the knowledge of, let alone coordination with the Transitional Council of the rebel forces prompted the question about the real extent of control the Council has over the forces moving on the territory it claims to have “liberated”.
In order to close the embarrassing incident, the seven British soldiers and the escorted diplomat were released in Benghazi later in the day and left Libya heading to Malta.
Meanwhile in La Valletta concerns are growing that the heavy military build-up of NATO, for which the island and its port have become a hub, would definitely undermine Malta’s status as a neutral country. Malta’s former Prime Minister, 77-year old Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, has criticised the Maltese government and the opposition for being ‘accomplices’ in the political and media build-up against Muammar Ghadafi’s regime by Western governments.
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3. Kabul: Afghans Protest Against NATO’s Slaying Of Children
Agence France-Presse
March 6, 2011
Afghans protest over child deaths in NATO raid
Afghanistan: War Without End In A World Without Conscience
KABUL: About 500 people poured onto the streets of Afghanistan’s capital to protest over the deaths of nine children killed in a NATO air raid on a remote rebel stronghold.
The protesters chanted “Death to America — death to the invaders” while marching through central Kabul.
The protest follows similar demonstrations in the northeast province of Kunar following the deaths on Tuesday of the nine children who were killed while collecting firewood in the province’s Dar-e-Pech district.
President Hamid Karzai angrily condemned the killings and US President Barack Obama and General David Petraeus, the commander of the US-led troops in Afghanistan, apologised for the incident.
“We don’t want the invading forces,” chanted one demonstrator carrying posters of the dead children. Another shouted: “Death to the government of President Hamid Karzai.”
“When I saw it (the demonstration) and realised it is against the Americans I joined,” Azizullah, one of the protesters, told AFP. He uses only one name.
The protesters carried banners with anti-US slogans. One banner carried by a veiled woman read: “Occupation = killing + destruction.”
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Karzai says the deaths of civilians in military operations turn people against his pro-US administration. Civilian casualties have been a key source of tension between Kabul and its Western backers, the US and NATO.
The killing of the nine children in a helicopter raid followed an insurgent rocket attack on a US-led military outpost in the mountainous region.
….
A week earlier, Karzai said the troops had killed 65 non-combatants during operations in Kunar province’s Ghaziabad district.
That was followed by another incident in which Afghan authorities said troops killed six civilians in neighbouring Nangarhar province, also in an air raid.
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4. Spratly Dispute With China: U.S. Provides Philippines With Patrol Ship
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/philippine-navy-acquires-us-patrol-ship
Agence France-Presse
March 7, 2011
Philippine navy acquires US patrol ship
–Equipped with a retractable hangar, a helicopter flight deck and powered by a dual engine or gas turbines, the Hamilton is described as a high endurance cutter with close-in weapons systems.
Washington considers the Philippines a major non-NATO military ally and the two countries are bound by a 1951 mutual defence treaty.
The Philippine navy has said it had bought a large Hamilton-class patrol craft from the United States to help it guard its waters, amid tensions over territorial claims, notably with China.
The announcement was made by the new Philippine military chief of staff, Air Force Lieutenant-General Eduardo Oban, as he assumed his post.
“As I speak, Philippine navy officers are now in the United States… preparing to sail our first Hamilton class navy (vessel) to the Philippines,” he said in a speech to troops.
“We shall sustain efforts to modernise our armed forces,” he added.
Details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the navy said in January that acquiring the refurbished, 380-foot (115-metre) vessel was aimed at boosting its border patrol capability.
Monday’s announcement came amid fresh tensions between Manila and China over allegations that Beijing’s patrol vessels harassed a Philippine oil exploration boat in disputed waters in the South China Sea last week.
After lodging a formal protest, President Benigno Aquino ordered coast guard escorts for the oil exploration vessel, which was conducting a seismic survey in the Reed Bank, which is close to the disputed Spratly islands.
China has brushed the protest aside, reasserting that the Spratlys, which it calls the Nansha islands, and adjacent waters have always been part of its territory.
The reputedly oil-rich chain are claimed — in whole or in part — by China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The new ship will replace the Philippine navy’s flagship, Raja Humabon, a Cannon-class destroyer escort, which is probably one of the world’s oldest warships, the navy has said.
Equipped with a retractable hangar, a helicopter flight deck and powered by a dual engine or gas turbines, the Hamilton is described as a high endurance cutter with close-in weapons systems.
Washington considers the Philippines a major non-NATO military ally and the two countries are bound by a 1951 mutual defence treaty.
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5. Wales: RAF Conducts Large-Scale Helicopter Drills For Afghan War
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12659241
BBC News
March 7, 2011
RAF helicopters join week-long rural Wales air exercise
A large-scale military air exercise mostly involving helicopters takes place over rural Wales this week.
The RAF says tactical changes in Afghanistan have prompted the switch in emphasis although fast jets will also be flown.
Flying is expected to take place daily from Monday to Friday and is likely to include night flying.
….
The issue of low-flying military exercises over rural Wales has divided opinion.
In July 2010 Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary leader, called for an end to the practice claiming it was damaging some of his constituents’ hearing.
….
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6. Britain Admits Special Forces Incursion Into Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/06/47035552.html
Voice of Russia
March 6, 2011
UK admits SAS incursion
British Defense Secretary Liam Fox has confirmed media reports about eight members of the SAS commando unit made their way into Libya.
A report in The Sunday Times earlier claimed the unit had been seized by rebel forces in Libya as they tried to put UK diplomats in touch with rebels out to topple the Gaddafi regime.
The report also said that eight SAS men, in plain clothes but armed, were captured and are now in Banghazi – the stronghold of the opposition forces out to topple Moammar Gaddafi.
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7. American Warships Moving Closer To Libyan Coast
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/06/47028778.html
Voice of Russia
March 6, 2011
US warships en route to Libya
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered two ships to move towards the Libyan coast, including the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, with 2,000 Marines on board, helicopters and fighter planes.
Washington says this is being done with humanitarian considerations in mind, but President Barack Obama earlier said he was not ruling out a military intervention in the strife-torn North African nation.
News coming in from London says a British army battalion based in Scotland has been placed on stand-by to deploy to Libya within hours.
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8. America’s Risky Game In The Middle East And North Africa
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/06/c_13764203.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 6, 2011
America’s risky game in Middle East
-Over the years, America has been trying hard to sell U.S. values and political systems to people in that region, in hopes of undermining anti-U.S. forces and bolstering new regimes there.
BEIJING: As unrest is rattling the nerves of some Middle Eastern and North African countries, the United States seems eager to step into the limelight and is banging the drum for “democracy.”
However, is America’s high-profile intervention in that region’s affairs really what it asserts is it for, the purpose of “promoting democracy?”
Just a cursory look at America’s track record would easily lead to an obvious conclusion: No matter if it is under the excuse of “fighting terrorism” or “promoting democracy,” what the U.S. is going after is its sole but its eternal goal — pursuing the maximization of its own interests.
The Middle East and North Africa are of vital importance to Washington.
In a political and security sense, after the world-shaking 9/11 terror attacks, the U.S. launched two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in a bid to crush the al-Qaida terrorist network and its affiliates and foil any attempt to launch similar terror attacks on American soil.
Over the years, America has been trying hard to sell U.S. values and political systems to people in that region, in hopes of undermining anti-U.S. forces and bolstering new regimes there.
Economically, the Middle East and North Africa are America’s crucial energy sources. The region’s crude oil and natual gas reserves account for 60 percent and 45 percent of the world’s total, respectively. Currently, the U.S. imports more than 4 billion barrels of oil annually, of which 45 percent comes from the Middle East and North Africa.
Therefore, safeguarding America’s oil interests in the region has always been a priority of its foreign policy. As former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan once put it, the U.S.-led war in Iraq was to a large extent related to oil.
Now, the U.S. is strongly urging Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down. People have every reason to doubt America’s motives, as Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa.
By promoting American-style values and political systems, Washington wants to seize the moral high ground. By the so-called democracy-building effort, it aims to gain the initiative and maintain and consolidate its vested interests there.
However, as it always does, the U.S. this time also has a double standard in advocating “democracy” in the region. To countries which are traditionally not on good terms with Washington, such as Iran and Libya, the U.S. is sharply lashing out at their governments; while to those who have maintained closer ties with it over the years, Washington is far less vocal.
A truth hard to ignore is that U.S. interference in other countries’ domestic affairs under the excuse of democracy will only lead to turbulence in the region.
Iraq is a case in point. The U.S. launched the Iraq war in 2003 and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. But the country and the Iraqi people have suffered a lot since the outbreak of the war.
The turmoil in some Middle Eastern and North African countries has already had a negative impact on political stability and economic development in the region and the world at large.
History shows that any foreign interference based on self-interest, no matter how high-sounding the promises and declarations are, will in the final analysis do no good for stability in the region and other parts of the world.
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9. Reset = Overcharged: U.S. Missile Sleight Of Hand Worries Russia
http://rt.com/politics/us-russia-missile-defense/
RT
March 6, 2011
Despite NATO invitation, Russia still waiting to join Euro missile defense
Robert Bridge
NATO Provides Pentagon Nuclear, Missile And Cyber Shields Over Europe
-Although the White House has named the signing of a missile defense cooperation agreement with Russia one of its top priorities in its relations with Moscow in 2011, things do not seem to be heading in that direction.
In her recent talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Clinton said the US was committed to deploying in Poland new divisions of the US Air Force, complete with F-16 fighter jets, in addition to the already announced missile defense shield.
-Rogozin said Russia does not want some hypothetical threat of a missile attack on Europe from the south “to be translated into practical plans for neutralizing our strategic nuclear potential.”
-[As] anti-government protests rock the Middle East and North Africa, hhe US announced it would dispatch a radar-equipped warship to the Mediterranean Sea next week, the first step in the development in the missile defense.
-Russia…has said that any missile defense system that has the capability of compromising its own missiles will be viewed as a potential threat to its security.
Two years ago, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow where they announced a “reset” in relations between their respective nations.
During their press conference, Clinton presented Lavrov with a mock “reset” button, symbolizing the renewed relationship between the two countries, which had been seriously strained during the two-term presidency of George W. Bush. With the coming to power of the Democrat Barack Obama, a new dawn, it seemed, was on the horizon as far as US-Russian relations were concerned.
Although Clinton’s gesture was meant to be entertaining, it contained a small translation error that is interesting in light of present events. Above the red reset button, the Americans had written the word “peregruzka,” which in Russian means “overloaded” or “overcharged,”, as opposed to the intended word for “reset”.
In some ways, however, the oversight has been quite prophetic to the true state of US-Russian relations today, which could certainly be described as “overloaded.”
Now, the man who first coined the “reset” phrase, US Vice President Joe Biden, is scheduled to be in Moscow on March 9-10, where he will be meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and other high-ranking officials.
One of the main topics of discussion will be Russia’s involvement – thus far wholly hypothetical despite a promise delivered to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the NATO Summit in November – in the US missile defense shield in Europe, a system that Moscow says poses a security threat without Russia’s unconditional participation.
Where is the “party” Russia was invited to?
Although the White House has named the signing of a missile defense cooperation agreement with Russia one of its top priorities in its relations with Moscow in 2011, things do not seem to be heading in that direction.
In her recent talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Clinton said the US was committed to deploying in Poland new divisions of the US Air Force, complete with F-16 fighter jets, in addition to the already announced missile defense shield.
Dmitry Rogozin, the Russia’s special envoy to NATO, said the statement by the US Secretary of State has raised fresh concerns in Moscow.
“I think this statement will not be left without Russia’s most close attention,” Rogozin told Interfax on Friday.
In earlier comments made to Interfax, the NATO envoy said Russia would not “join an already finished product.”
“We will not tolerate a situation in which we would have to join an already finished product developed without our participation and without our opinion considered. This is not going to happen,” Rogozin said after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and US Permanent Representative to NATO Ivo Daalder on Tuesday.
Russia proceeds from “an invitation sent to us by the NATO secretary-general on taking part in building a European missile defense system,” Rogozin continued. “We would like to know where we have been invited. Are they inviting us to pass by a house where some party is going on? Or are we invited to attend this party?”
Rogozin said Russia does not want some hypothetical threat of a missile attack on Europe from the south “to be translated into practical plans for neutralizing our strategic nuclear potential.”
According to an article by Kommersant, the Russian daily, Moscow will demand an explanation over Washington’s plans to deploy fighter jets inside of Poland. After all, the explicit reasoning for the US military buildup in the former Warsaw nation is to protect Europe from a rogue attack, ostensibly from Iran.
“These missile defense plans are not new,” a source told the newspaper. “We know them and hope to reach an agreement [over Russia’s cooperation] within the European missile defense project. However, the wish to deploy an air base must be explained.”
The source told Kommersant the subject will be raised during President Medvedev’s meeting with Biden on March 9.
Will reset collapse over missile defense?
Meanwhile, as anti-government protests rock the Middle East and North Africa, hhe US announced it would dispatch a radar-equipped warship to the Mediterranean Sea next week, the first step in the development in the missile defense.
The Pentagon announced that the USS Monterey, is a guided missile cruiser equipped with a sophisticated Aegis radar system, will leave next week for a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean, the first phase in the unfolding missile defense system.
The missile shield will begin with ship-based anti-missile interceptors and radars, with land-based radars added in southern Europe later this year. The Pentagon has failed to announce the exact location of those radars.
The next phase of the missile shield will see land-based interceptors deployed in Romania in 2015, followed by interceptor batteries in Poland by 2018. Again, the declared goal of the missile defense system is to protect NATO nations against medium-range missile attacks, presumably Iran.
Russia, however, has said that any missile defense system that has the capability of compromising its own missiles will be viewed as a potential threat to its security.
“We should go ahead with our plans for reducing strategic arms as well as in the field of missile defense,” President Dmitry Medvedev said. “Since a missile defense shield may be an element of the strategic nuclear arsenal, Russia wants security guarantees. We`ve unveiled our proposals and are ready for cooperation.”
White House aide Michael McFaul said on Friday that missile defense was high on the agenda of the forthcoming talks between Biden and the Russian leadership in Moscow.
Referring to the question of US-Russian cooperation on the European missile defense shield, McFaul said the Obama administration was trying to “take an issue that used to be extremely contentious between the United States and Russia, and to try to see if we can make this an area of cooperation.”
“We believe that without some kind of cooperation on missile defense, it will be difficult for us to get on to the other negotiations about reducing strategic nuclear weapons further and non-strategic weapons that are in Europe,” he said, adding “we hope that at some time this year we have agreement on that.”
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the European missile defense system at the Lisbon summit in November 2010. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system that is open and transparent to both sides at all times.
Joe Biden will arrive in the Russian capital on March 9, Russian Presidential Aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.
“We consider this visit a landmark event in the preparations for the US president’s upcoming visit to Russia, which is scheduled for this year,” he said.
The date of the US president’s visit has not been determined yet.
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10. State Department Continues To Taunt Russia Over South Caucasus
http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=40565&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=
Rustavi 2
March 6, 2011
Gordon on US relations with Russia, Georgia
The U.S. disagrees with Russia about the issue of Georgia, Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon said when answering questions at the Global Security 2011 Forum in Bratislava.
“We respect Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We believe that Russia is currently in violation of it. We raise it with the Russians at every level pretty much every time we see them. President Obama has raised it with President Medvedev. Secretary Clinton raises it with Minister Lavrov. We have real disagreements”, he said.
“We strongly support Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the status quo we believe is a violation of that. We are active in our bilateral relationship with Russia and through the Geneva talks in efforts to change that status quo, but we haven’t made the progress we would like to see”, he added.
….
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11. Echo Of Balkans In U.S. Policy Debate On Libya Intervention
http://www.brecorder.com/world/north-america/5835-echo-of-balkans-in-us-policy-debate-on-libya.html
Agence France-Presse
March 6, 2011
Echo of Balkans in US policy debate on Libya
Eleven Years Later: NATO Powers Prepare Final Solution In Kosovo
At a Senate hearing earlier this week, Clinton compared the policy dilemmas on Libya to the conflict in the Balkans when her husband was commander-in-chief.
The most serious policy battles over the Balkans focused on whether to escalate beyond a no-fly zone and take military action, including bombing raids, against Serb forces in Bosnia, and later in Kosovo.
-The United States and its NATO allies eventually opted for air strikes after years of debate, but military commanders initially were deeply reluctant, including top officer General Colin Powell.
Frustrated with Powell’s stance, the then UN ambassador Madeleine Albright once famously asked him, “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”
-“It’s likely Russia and China would oppose a US or NATO-led no-fly zone. So the US would have to decide whether to go ahead without a UN mandate.”
-“[W]e have an interest in this uprising succeeding not just because of Libya but because of the ripple effects it will have elsewhere….”
WASHINGTON: As US President Barack Obama weighs possible military action in Libya, there are echoes of another policy debate that raged in the 1990s over the wars in the Balkans.
The parallels include senators demanding bold action from the air to protect civilian life, a growing humanitarian crisis and a cautious US military warning about the risks of intervention.
The Pentagon and White House at times have sent mixed signals about the likelihood of a possible no-fly zone in Libya, but US officials insist there is no military-civilian rift like the one that marked Bill Clinton’s presidency over former Yugoslavia.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the US military’s top officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, showed little enthusiasm for a no-fly zone over Libya this week, with Gates castigating “loose talk” about military action.
Their remarks came only days after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said a no-fly zone was under consideration, but officials played down any possibility of discord and said there was no bid by the Pentagon to box in the White House.
“They were just being honest about what it involves,” a defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
At a Senate hearing earlier this week, Clinton compared the policy dilemmas on Libya to the conflict in the Balkans when her husband was commander-in-chief.
The most serious policy battles over the Balkans focused on whether to escalate beyond a no-fly zone and take military action, including bombing raids, against Serb forces in Bosnia, and later in Kosovo.
The United States and its NATO allies eventually opted for air strikes after years of debate, but military commanders initially were deeply reluctant, including top officer General Colin Powell.
Frustrated with Powell’s stance, the then UN ambassador Madeleine Albright once famously asked him, “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”
Robert Hunter, who served as NATO ambassador under President Clinton, believes the no-fly zone over Bosnia was largely a failure….
NATO air strikes, however, proved decisive, he said.
….
[T]he United States and its partners need to look for ways to push Kadhafi from power by possibly arming opposition forces, jamming communications or reaching out to members of the regime along with other Arab states.
Citing the danger posed to civilians, Senator John McCain has led calls in Congress for swift action in Libya, urging a no-fly zone and possible covert operations.
“If you want Kadhafi to go, then one of the steps among many would be to establish a no-fly zone…,” McCain said Friday.
Taking action in Libya raises similar diplomatic headaches that bedeviled world powers over the Balkan conflict, as securing a UN mandate for a no-fly zone could prove elusive, said Richard Fontaine, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
“It’s likely Russia and China would oppose a US or NATO-led no-fly zone. So the US would have to decide whether to go ahead without a UN mandate,” Fontaine said.
The no-fly zones set up in Bosnia and in Iraq in the 1990s succeeded in shutting down air power but the operations had to be sustained with numerous aircraft for years and in both cases ground forces moved with impunity.
The open-ended nature of a no-fly zone also carries the potential of gradually drawing the countries enforcing them into more direct military action, as was the case in both Bosnia and Iraq.
Unlike the Balkans, intervention in Libya carries higher strategic stakes, with unrest sweeping the oil-rich region.
Launching military action could backfire and sow anti-US sentiment in the Arab world…, Fontaine said.
“So it’s a hard balance to walk on the one hand we don’t want to take any counterproductive actions. But on the other we have an interest in this uprising succeeding not just because of Libya but because of the ripple effects it will have elsewhere, one way or the other,” he said.
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12. International Suspicions Over U.S. Motives Toward Libya
http://www.euronews.net/2011/03/05/tensions-over-us-motives-towards-libya/
euronews
March 5, 2011
Tensions over US motives towards Libya
A delegation of mostly Latin countries has given their backing to a plan for an international peace mission in Libya. The ALBA group, which is made up of several left-leaning South American nations and founded by Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, support the leader’s proposal on Libya, though there is no concrete plan.
However, Chavez is unequivocally against any NATO actions in Libya. Speaking at ALBA’s meeting on Friday, he took a shot at western countries – accusing them of only being interested in oil: “After a review of the international situation, the representatives of the ALBA member nations expressed their wholehearted rejection of the interventionist intentions that currently hang over the Libyan people with the main purpose of appropriating its natural resources.”
Two US warships have already moved closer to Libya, and one has arrived on the Greek island of Crete, where there are NATO naval and air bases.
However, protests show that some in Greece are equally suspicious of US motives, like this woman at a demonstration in Crete: “Once again we see that imperialists won’t hesitate to cause bloodshed for their profits. No one believes their claims of caring for the human rights of people in Africa. The same people who supported Gaddafi now condemn him. It’s exactly the same thing that happened with Egypt and Mubarak.”
….
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13. Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Marines Train Ghanaian Troops
Ghana News Agency
March 4, 2011
GAF and USMC starts military exercise
Militarization Of Energy Policy: U.S. Africa Command And Gulf Of Guinea
Accra: The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and the United States Marine Corps (USMC) started a joint Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2011 training programme at the Jungle Warfare School, Akim-Achiase from March 3- March 19.
The APS 2011 training programme is aimed at building the skills, expertise, and capacities of the participating soldiers.
A statement issued in Accra on Thursday by Lieutenant Commander A La-Anyane of the Public Affairs Directorate of the GAF, said the training would focus on lectures, exercises and range work.
It said: “Already, a Navel exercise in which a detachment of the Ghana Navy participated in has taken place in Togo. The coming exercise is therefore the land engagement.”
The APS is an international security co-operation initiative between the GAF and the USMC.
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14. South Korean Base Targeted In Afghanistan
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1840999.html
Trend News Agency
March 6, 2011
S. Korean base targeted in Afghanistan
U.S. And NATO Drag Asia Into Afghan Quagmire
South Korea’s provincial reconstruction team base in northern Afghanistan has been targeted by militants’ rockets, the foreign ministry and Afghanistan’s local police say, Press TV reported.
According to the South Korean Foreign Ministry, two rocket-propelled grenades fell near the base of South Korean aid workers at 1:44 a.m. Friday (Korean time) in the northern Afghan city of Charika.
Local police say no casualties were reported, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said the rockets had hit the facility.
The site had come under two more similar attacks in the past, one in June last year and the other in January, though none were hurt in the attacks.
In 2007 Taliban militants had taken hostage 23 South Korean nationals and killed two of them but set the others free after an agreement with the South Korean government to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
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15. Ivory Coast: Western-Backed Rebels Outgun Govt Forces, Take Town
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/fighting-flares-western-ivory-coast
Agence France-Presse
March 6, 2011
Pro-Ouattara forces seize town in western I Coast: sources
Ivory Coast: Testing Ground For U.S.-Backed African Standby Force
Former rebels now loyal to presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara on Sunday wrested control of a town in western Ivory Coast from forces backing his rival, Laurent Gbagbo, sources from both sides said.
“There has been bitter fighting at Toulepleu,” local politicians told AFP.
“The New Forces (FN, ex-rebels) have taken the town,” they added.
“The rebels outnumbered our young people who are defending the town and who had to pull back.”
A source at the ex-rebels’ command confirmed the news.
“The town is entirely controlled by the FN,” he said.
And a source in Gbagbo’s Defence and Security Forces (FDS) also spoke of “heavy fighting with the use of heavy weapons” in Toulepleu Sunday.
Toulepleu is a large town near the border with Liberia, in an area that remained under the control of Gbagbo forces after a foiled 2002 coup bid against Gbagbo.
Since late February, fighting has resumed in western Ivory Coast between Gbagbo’s Defence and Security Forces, backed by militiamen, and ex-rebels of the New Forces now allied with Ouattara.
….
Five African leaders have been trying to find a way out of the standoff between to the standoff between the two rivals.
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16. Afghans Protest Against Permanent U.S. Military Bases
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/06/47047619.html
Voice of Russia
March 6, 2011
Afghans protest against US bases
U.S. And NATO To Wage War 15-Year War In Afghanistan And Pakistan
A demonstration against US’s plans to create permanent military bases in Afghanistan took place in Kabul on Sunday.
“For Afghans, these bases would mean slavery,” the Chairman of the People’s Solidarity Party Daud Razmak says.
The demonstrators also demanded a trial of those guilty of killing civilians in the Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan.
From February 18 till March 1, 72 civilians, including 40 children, were killed by American air strikes in Kunar.
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17. White House Chief Of Staff Daley: U.S. Mulls Using Strategic Oil Reserves
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/06/47045966.html
Voice of Russia
March 6, 2011
US mulls dipping into strategic oil reserves
US officials are discussing whether to use the country’s strategic oil reserves to hold back the growth of oil prices.
This was revealed by the White House Chief of Staff William Daley.
The US’ strategic oil reserves stands at 727 mln barrels.
On Friday, the oil price at the New York Exchange topped over $104 per barrel, the highest since September 2008.
The demand for energy resources has grown up because of unrest in Northern Africa – one of the world’s main oil-producing regions.
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18. Is NATO in Libya?
Pravda.ru
March 6, 2011
Is NATO in Libya?
After NATO’s acts of terrorism in recent years, after the blatant disregard for human rights and human life when depleted uranium rendered swathes of Yugoslavia uninhabitable and destroyed the futures of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, would it surprise anyone to learn that Libya is a NATO campaign?
What NATO is capable of, we have already seen in Yugoslavia, what the West is capable of, we saw in Georgia. We have seen the blatant barefaced lies, we have seen indiscriminate acts of murder, war crimes and crimes against humanity, all glossed over by the controlled media. So would it surprise anyone that NATO is indeed operating in Libya?
The defeated look of the nine-year-old Iraqi boy who had just been told his entire family had been literally obliterated by a NATO bomb was as unforgettable as the brave smile sported by the six-year-old Iraqi “terrorist” whose limbs and face had been blasted off by a heroic NATO pilot. The victims of NATO, as it perpetrated unspeakable acts of terrorism against unarmed civilians.
Interestingly, the “rebels” in Yemen are not “revolutionaries”, but “terrorists”: The State Department has raised the security threat level for the country to “extremely high due to terrorist activities and civil unrest”. Interesting it is that President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the friend of Washington, has promised to defend his Government against the rebels “with every drop of blood” yet nobody speaks out against him. Where are the referrals to the international penal court? Where are the calls for him to “go now”?
Interesting it is, that in Libya things are so wholly and totally different. Interesting it was that the eastern and western borders were secured (Tunisia and Egypt) over which equipment and men poured, interesting it is that already two teams of NATO special forces have been captured inside Libya (Dutch Navy Force and British SAS), interesting was SKY News’ interview with a “front-line rebel” speaking in a broad Canadian accent.
Interesting it is that the professionalism of the western media which supports NATO’s terrorist campaigns spread lies, half-truths and mistruths against Muammar Al-Qathafi and his government and expect their viewers and readers to swallow this bilge hook, line and sinker. How many of them referred to the fact that Libya has the highest life expectancy of the African Continent? How many of them have bothered to research and inform their viewers and readers that Muammar Al-Qathafy’s “regime” started to distribute the oil wealth directly to the people to combat corruption, giving Libya’s people the highest Purchasing Power Parity in Africa?
How many stated that the under-nourished are 5 per cent, lower than many European Union States, how many informed us that to combat rising food prices, the Libyan government abolished all taxes on food, how many of them said that the infant mortality rate in Libya is the lowest in all of Africa?
Interesting it is that amid their anti-Qathafi diatribes, they forgot to tell us that Libya’s Human Development Index is the highest of any of Africa’s 54 States (counting both Sudans and the Western Sahara, illegally annexed by Morocco), interesting it is that the poverty rate in Libya ranks below that of the Netherlands, and that they declined to explain what Jamahiriya (the Libyan system of Government) means, namely “a state of the masses”, governed by the populace through local councils.
Interesting it is that the “revolutionaries”, aka “terrorists” are allowed by NATO to mount an armed insurrection yet the same countries which deployed depleted uranium on the children of Iraq and Yugoslavia call for Muammar Al-Qathafi not to fight back.
What is he supposed to do? Give his oil to the West on their terms?
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
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19. Otpor’s Popovic Appropriates Credit For Libyan Uprising
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/05/2700423/serbia-arms-dealer-to-libya-silent.html
Associated Press
March 5, 2011
Serbia, arms dealer to Libya, silent on rebellion
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
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Western nations like Britain and Italy have armed and cooperated with Gadhafi’s regime, but the issue is particularly sensitive for Serbia as it tries to join the European Union and possibly NATO….
….
A liberal Serb group has demanded that Belgrade stop arming the Gadhafi regime, even as Serbia’s defense ministry claims it has suspended all ties with the Libyan military since the uprising began.
[T]he leaders of a youth movement that toppled Serb dictator Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 have supplied Middle East protesters with inspiration, and in some cases advice.
Veterans of Serbia’s Otpor movement went on to create an organization that trains would-be rebels in the art of peaceful revolution. They trained one of the main youth groups at the center of Egypt’s revolution, and believe that influenced the Libyan rebellion.
“It is likely that some Libyan youth groups got the idea on how to oust Gadhafi from the Egyptian activists whom we have trained,” said former Otpor leader Srdja Popovic.
Serbia’s Defense Ministry also rejected Arab media reports that Serb “mercenaries” had piloted Libyan jets that bombed protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi.
….
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20. Push For Japan To Broaden War Options
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/a-push-for-japan-to-broaden-war-options-1.136843
Stars and Stripes
March 6, 2011
A push for Japan to broaden war options
By Erik Slavin and Chiyomi Sumida
U.S. Enlists Japan As Global Military Partner
U.S. Builds Military Alliance With Japan, South Korea For War In The East
-A 10-year defense plan unveiled in December announced that Japan’s newly termed “dynamic defense” would make its force more mobile and ready to respond to regional hot spots. The plan included deploying five more submarines off coastal waters and moving resources closer to the Senkaku Islands, whose ownership is actively disputed by China.
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan: The gunmetal-gray ships of the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces share the same harbor and train for combat in the same Pacific waters.
Whether they would fight together, if a U.S. ship came under fire, is surprisingly unclear.
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution — a document designed by the United States after WWII to curb any Japanese military ambition — preserves Japan’s right to self-defense of its own ships and territory, yet bars Japan from “collective defense” with other nations.
….
“Even if a U.S. military ship is attacked in Japanese waters, unless their operation is for the protection of Japan, the SDF cannot provide them with armed support,” said Masahisa Sato, a member of the Japanese Diet’s upper house, and a retired colonel who led Japan’s noncombatant forces into Iraq in 2004.
Japan drew up legislation in 2007 that would have explicitly allowed a ship to defend an ally, but political instability that led to the resignation of three prime ministers in two years killed the measure.
However, recent changes to Japan’s defense posture, borne out of Chinese confrontations and North Korean belligerence, could draw its ships closer to potential conflicts and symbolically further from its antiwar constitution, analysts and lawmakers told Stars and Stripes.
A 10-year defense plan unveiled in December announced that Japan’s newly termed “dynamic defense” would make its force more mobile and ready to respond to regional hot spots. The plan included deploying five more submarines off coastal waters and moving resources closer to the Senkaku Islands, whose ownership is actively disputed by China.
In January, Defense Department Secretary Robert Gates met with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, who then expressed willingness to strengthen a 1999 law that allows the SDF to provision U.S. ships in case of a security threat to Japan.
Days later, Japanese media widely reported plans later this year for legislation that would allow SDF vessels to supply U.S. ships in international waters during a Korean Peninsula conflict.
The moves suggest to lawmakers in favor of a stronger alliance that Japan is ready to support collective defense when an ally is threatened.
Some analysts, such as former deputy director-general Masataka Suzuki, believe that the spirit of the 1999 law allows Japan broad discretion to defend a U.S. ship, equating an attack on the U.S. in the region as a threat to Japan’s security.
“It is the utmost importance of Japan to avoid a scenario that Japan cannot do anything when U.S. needs Japan’s backup,” said Suzuki, who helped craft the 1999 law.
….
Opponents of a stronger alliance believe that its backers are overestimating support for Japan’s expanded defense role.
“The Japanese public will never allow a change to the Article 9 provision to make it possible for Japan to attack another country,” said Asaho Mizushima, a constitutional and military law professor at Waseda University. A stronger alliance — especially one with an explicit right to combat — would only provide China with more reason to ratchet up its increasingly assertive military strategy, Mizushima said.
However, Mizushima concedes that alarming changes are under way. The government’s 10-year plan and its successive moves were swiftly made without national debate, he said.
Kan won’t be able to address defense reform at the legislative level until later this year, because he needs support from leftist parties to pass his domestic agenda, said Tsuneo Watanabe, director of foreign and security policy research at the Tokyo Foundation, a think tank.
“Nevertheless, it is necessary for Japan to face the problem at some point,” Watanabe said. “It is a matter of the core of the Japan-U.S. security alliance.”
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21. Obama: Return Military Recruiters To All College Campuses
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63043
U.S. Department of Defense
March 4, 2011
Obama Spokesman Applauds ROTC Return to Harvard
Obama Doctrine: Eternal War For Imperfect Mankind
WASHINGTON: Harvard University’s decision to formally welcome the return of the Reserve Officer Training Corps to its campus honors the contributions of service members, the White House press secretary said today.
Jay Carney issued a statement in support of Harvard’s announcement today that the Naval ROTC will return to Harvard.
“It’s an important step in moving past the old divisions that often kept many Americans from seeing what we share with one another, including love of country and a profound respect for our brave men and women in uniform,” Carney said in the news release.
After signing legislation last year ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that prevented gays from serving openly in the military, President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to call on all college campuses to open their doors to military recruiters and the ROTC, Carney said.
“With our nation at war, this sends a powerful message that Americans stand united and that our colleges, society and armed forces are stronger when we honor the contributions of all our citizens, especially our troops and military families who sacrifice for our freedoms,” the statement says. “As the president said in the State of the Union [address], it is time to move forward as one nation.”
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22. Senator Kerry Calls For “Cratering” Libyan Airfields
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/06/AR2011030603404.html
Washington Post
March 6, 2011
Congressional leaders push Obama administration for more aggressive Libya response
By Joby Warrick and Scott Wilson
Congressional leaders prodded the Obama administration on Sunday for a more aggressive U.S. response to Libya’s increasingly brutal attacks on opposition groups – calling for a no-fly zone and other military measures – but White House officials cautioned against being drawn into a potentially protacted and costly military campaign.
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, for the first time raised the possibility of bombing military airfields in Libya to deny the use of runways to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s air force. Two of the Senate’s top Republicans, Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and John McCain (Ariz.), also argued forcefully for U.S. military involvement to keep Libyan warplanes grounded.
….
Kerry and other senators argued Sunday that Libya’s air force could be disabled without the kind of expense and commitment required to maintain previous no-fly zones in Iraq and the Balkans. The Massachusetts Democrat also called for turning over to rebel groups some of Gaddafi’s estimated $30 billion in frozen assets.
A no-fly zone is “not the only option for what one could do,” Kerry said.
“One could crater the airports and the runways and leave them incapable of using them for a period of time,” he said.
….
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23. Libya: U.S. Weighs Air, Sea Attack Options
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/world/middleeast/07military.html
New York Times
March 6, 2011
U.S. Weighs Options, on Air and Sea
By THOM SHANKER
-The flotilla can be seen as a modern-day example of “gunboat diplomacy” — intended to embolden rebels and shake the confidence of loyalist forces and mercenaries, perhaps even inspiring a palace coup.
-Should Mr. Obama opt for direct intervention, he has a range of choices short of what Mr. Gates cautioned could be an expensive, exhausting “no-flight” zone — though that might be simpler than he portrayed, if the United States proved willing to attack Libyan runways, missiles and radars outright.
-Other options include inserting small Special Operations teams…to assist the rebels, as was done in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban.
-A handful of strikes on valued government or military targets could be ordered, as was done in the Gulf of Sidra raids in 1986….
-The destruction of Libyan air-defense radars and missile batteries would be required, perhaps using missiles launched from submarines or warships. A vast fleet of tankers would be needed to refuel warplanes. Search-and-rescue teams trained in land and sea operations would be on hand in case a plane went down.
-The fleet of aircraft needed for such a mission would easily reach into the hundreds. Given the size of such a mission, it would be expected that American and NATO bases in Europe would be used, and that an American aircraft carrier would be positioned off Libya.
WASHINGTON: American military planners are sifting through a range of options as the United States, like other Western nations, weighs the response to…Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Rebel commanders have begged for American strikes on troops and weapons that have…assaulted strongholds of the resistance. And on Sunday, three influential members of the United States Senate, from both parties, renewed the call for a no-flight zone to ground the Libyan Air Force and prevent it from attacking its people.
[M]ilitary planners on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff and in its field commands are offering a broad range of approaches to choose from, depending on how events play out in Libya and how tough the United States and its allies want to be.
Even without firing a shot, a relatively passive operation using signal-jamming aircraft operating in international air space could muddle Libyan government communications with its military units. Administration officials said Sunday that preparations for such an operation were under way.
The latest military force to draw within striking distance of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, is the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard two muscular amphibious assault ships, the Kearsarge and the Ponce. Known as a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, this unit provides a complete air, sea and land force that can project its power quickly and across hundreds of miles, either from flat-decked ships in the Mediterranean Sea or onto a small beachhead on land.
In this task force are Harrier jump-jet warplanes, which not only can bomb, strafe and engage in dogfights, but can also carry surveillance pods for monitoring military action on the ground in Libya; attack helicopters; transport aircraft — both cargo helicopters and the fast, long-range Osprey, whose rotors let it lift straight up, then tilt forward like propellers to ferry Marines…across the desert; landing craft that can cross the surf anywhere along Libya’s long coastline — and about 400 ground combat troops of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines.
….
Already, a military airlift of refugees is under way. Four more flights of propeller-driven C-130s carrying international refugees back to their home nations were planned for Sunday. Earlier military flights carried relief supplies for refugee camps just beyond Libya’s border and then carried out Egyptians who had escaped into Tunisia.
But the firepower arriving off Tripoli could prove convenient, and not only to protect the expedition from coming under attack. The flotilla can be seen as a modern-day example of “gunboat diplomacy” — intended to embolden rebels and shake the confidence of loyalist forces and mercenaries, perhaps even inspiring a palace coup.
Should Mr. Obama opt for direct intervention, he has a range of choices short of what Mr. Gates cautioned could be an expensive, exhausting “no-flight” zone — though that might be simpler than he portrayed, if the United States proved willing to attack Libyan runways, missiles and radars outright.
Another tactic would be to air-drop weapons and supplies to rebels, an idea floated Sunday by Stephen Hadley, who served President George W. Bush as national security adviser.
“If there is a way to get weapons into the hands of the rebels, if we can get antiaircraft systems so that they can enforce a no-fly zone over their own territory, that would be helpful,” Mr. Hadley said on “State of the Union” on CNN.
Other options include inserting small Special Operations teams…to assist the rebels, as was done in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban.
The teams are specially trained to turn ragtag rebel groups almost overnight into more effective fighters, with a modest infusion of know-how, equipment and leadership.
A handful of strikes on valued government or military targets could be ordered, as was done in the Gulf of Sidra raids in 1986….(An American plane was shot down, and residential areas were blasted, showing the many risks of even a limited operation.)
There are ample planes based in Europe and on the aircraft carrier Enterprise and its strike group, now in the Red Sea, for missions over Libya.
Pentagon officials said Sunday that those vessels were carefully sailing in the direction of the Suez Canal, gateway to the Mediterranean.
Support for a no-flight zone was voiced Sunday by Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as two Republicans — Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, and Senator John McCain of Arizona.
….
Gen. John P. Jumper, who served as Air Force chief of staff from 2001 to 2005 and commanded all Air Force missions in the Middle East from 1994 to 1996, said past flight-denial missions over Iraq proved that requirements reach far beyond the jet fighters and bombers that are the most obvious instruments of carrying out a presidential order.
The destruction of Libyan air-defense radars and missile batteries would be required, perhaps using missiles launched from submarines or warships. A vast fleet of tankers would be needed to refuel warplanes. Search-and-rescue teams trained in land and sea operations would be on hand in case a plane went down.
The fleet of aircraft needed for such a mission would easily reach into the hundreds. Given the size of such a mission, it would be expected that American and NATO bases in Europe would be used, and that an American aircraft carrier would be positioned off Libya.
Joseph Berger contributed reporting from New York, and David E. Sanger from Washington.
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24. Karzai: NATO Apology For Afghan Civilian Killings Not Enough
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/03/06/civilian-deaths-intolerable-karzai
Pajhwok Afghan News
March 6, 2011
Civilian deaths intolerable: Karzai
by Javed Hamim Kakar
West’s Afghan War: From Conquest To Bloodbath
KABUL: President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday civilian deaths in NATO operations were intolerable and a rare public apology by the ISAF commander would not be enough to placate angry Afghans.
“The main problem between Afghanistan and the US is civilian casualties and saying sorry will not work,” Karzai told a National Security Council (NSC) meeting at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
The meeting was also attended by ISAF commander Gen. Petraeus and high-ranking Afghan officials. Karzai told participants the killing of ordinary people in military operations was intolerable.
Seventy-four civilians, including children and women, were killed in two separate offensives by ISAF soldiers in eastern Kunar province in less then two weeks.
The deaths, which unleashed public fury against foreign forces, were strongly condemned by Karzai and Parliament. Days later, Gen. Petraeus issued a rare public apology.
US President Barack Obama also conveyed “deep regrets” to his Afghan counterpart over the incidents. The NATO-led force says those responsible could face disciplinary action.
At Sunday’s meeting, participants expressed deep regrets over the casualties, a statement from the Presidential Palace said.
Petraeus said they would try to avoid such accidental deaths. Karzai replied a mere apology was not enough and that Afghans would no longer tolerate losing their loved ones in foreign forces’ operations.
“Condemnation and apologies cannot heal the wounds of Afghans. On behalf of Afghans, I ask America to put a stop to civilian killings,” the statement quoted Karzai as saying.
“Winning the trust of the Afghan government and people by foreign soldiers is closely linked to (avoiding) civilian fatalities and if the killings continue, there will be huge problems for foreigners,” he warned.
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25. Australia Welcomes More U.S. Military Forces In Face Of Rising China And India
The Australian
March 7, 2011
Gillard open to more US forces
Matthew Franklin
Obama, Gates And Clinton In Asia: U.S. Expands Military Build-Up In The East
Washington: Julia Gillard says she is “all ears” about the possibility of the US placing more military forces on Australian soil if it believes this is necessary in the light of the growing might of China and India.
The Prime Minister has told The Australian she will use her meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington this week to discuss his nation’s ongoing force posture review and how Australia could co-operate with any changes in the deployment of its military resources.
She made the comment in an interview with The Australian before leaving for her week-long visit, during which she will visit the White House and key US administration officials and will also address congress.
“We are looking to further co-operation on the contemporary defence challenges of our age,” said Ms Gillard, who arrived in Washington yesterday for briefings from local Australian officials, including ambassador Kim Beazley.
“We’ve got discussions to have about the contemporary engagement of America in our region, including its defence engagement as it goes through its defence posture review.”
The discussions would also cover the US’s diplomatic engagement, particularly with China and India.
The Prime Minister said she could not pre-empt what the US might want to do with the distribution of its military forces throughout the Asia-Pacific area.
“But clearly we can be engaged and discussing what is possible in terms of collaboration with their defence force,” she said.
Describing the relationship between Australia and the US as the equivalent of “great mates”, Ms Gillard said she would also discuss with Mr Obama the conduct of the war in Afghanistan as well as security concerns and regional concerns such as security on the Korean peninsula. Ms Gillard’s official program will begin late tonight, Australian time, when she visits the Lincoln Memorial and is due to announce a $3 million Australian contribution to the US’s official Vietnam memorial.
The Australian-funded component will feature details of the 521 Australian Vietnam War casualties as well as displays and temporary exhibitions on Anzac Day, Long Tan Day and other significant Australian milestones.
She will then visit Mr Obama at the White House ahead of meetings with US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and various other officials.
On Wednesday, Australian time, she will continue talks with officials, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She will then wind up the Washington leg of her trip with an address to congress.
Stop NATO News March 6, 2011
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1. Pentagon In Europe Forever, NATO’s Global “Mission Creep”
2. U.S. Air Force Launches Secretive Space Plane
3. U.S. To Sell Cash-Strapped Romania F-16s, F-35s To Follow
4. Ex-NATO Commander, National Security Advisor James Jones On Broader Middle East
5. NATO Loses Soldier In Southern Afghanistan From:
6. NATO Scenario: U.S., UK Troops Train For Counterinsurgency, Fighting Militias
7. “Sounds Of Freedom”: Stryker Brigade Artillery Rattles Washington State
8. Crete: Residents Protest Against U.S. Military Build-Up
9. U.S., NATO Allies Continue To Discuss Libya Intervention
10. U.S. Warships Dock In Crete For Libyan Intervention
11. South Ossetia Fears Repetition Of Georgian Aggression
12. Russia Blasts U.S. For Deploying F-16s, SM-3 Interceptor Missiles To Poland
13. “U.S. Missile System In Disguise” Potential Threat To Russia
14. Military Returns To Harvard After 42-Year Absence From:
15. Several Dead As Explosion Targets NATO Convoy In Northern Afghanistan
16. Georgia: Day In The Life Of Soldier Saakashvili
17. European Union Can Deploy Warships To Enforce Libya Blockade
18. Pakistani Victims’ Families Reject Blood Money For CIA Killings
19. Obama, Australian Prime Minister To Intensify Military Ties; Discuss Afghan War, China, Libya
20. Report: U.S. Warships Leave Crete For Libyan Shores
21. Over 50 Burundian, Ugandan Troops Killed In Somali Fighting
22. Indian Army Chief To Visit U.S. To Boost Strategic Military
23. Action Against Libya: U.S. Military Assets In The Region
24. ALBA Rejects NATO Intervention In Libya
25. Venezuela Denounces U.S. War Plans Against Libya
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1. Pentagon In Europe Forever, NATO’s Global “Mission Creep”
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14834833,00.html
Deutsche Welle
March 5, 2011
NATO allies warn US on too much defense scrimping
Lisbon Summit: NATO Proclaims Itself Global Military Force
-[W]hile the Article 5 contingency of defending member-states from a conventional attack remains relevant, a policy of actively securing Western interests around the globe has taken on new importance. NATO’s strategic concept – adopted last November – emphasizes conflict-prevention outside of Europe, combating terrorism, controlling nuclear proliferation, and securing trade routes as well as energy sources.
-“It’s now about crisis reaction or combating new risks in the arch of instability in North Africa, the Mideast and Afghanistan, which are the deployment areas for US troops.”
-Although further reductions of US troops in Europe may be on the horizon, the American military will remain on the continent in some capacity for the indefinite future….
-“The military footprint we have is the cornerstone of the transatlantic relationship.”
While the Pentagon tightens its financial belt, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has hinted at reducing American troop levels in Europe. However, Washington must reconcile a smaller force with traditional NATO obligations.
….
After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, then-President George W. Bush began to restructure the US armed forces to facilitate interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the geopolitical stage had definitively shifted from Europe to the Mideast and Central Asia.
“For decades, America’s armed forces abroad have essentially remained where the wars of the last century ended,” Bush said in an August, 2004 address to veterans in Cincinnati, Ohio….
According to Washington, radical Islam had replaced Soviet communism as the existential threat to American interests. To combat this new enemy, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld initiated an exodus of US soldiers from historic posts in western Europe. But critics warned that the restructuring would undermine NATO’s ability to live up to its security responsibilities both inside and outside of Europe.
“The Rumsfeld plan … was the decision to reduce US force levels – then at 100,000 – down to 60,000,” Ian Brzezinski told Deutsche Welle. Brzezinski, an analyst with the Atlantic Council, is a former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy.
“While the plan was being implemented, European Command weighed in … and said if we execute this plan we’re going to have trouble living up to currently defined responsibilities, including Article 5 responsibilities,” he said.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty requires the Alliance to come to the aid of member-states if their territory comes under attack.
‘Mission Creep’
In response to the concerns expressed by commanders, Gates – Rumsfeld’s successor – put the plan on hold in 2007. However, newly announced budget cuts at the Pentagon could put troop reductions back on the table. Experts believe the changing role of NATO in a post-Cold War world will ultimately dictate the number and structure of US soldiers in Europe.
“It’s a different NATO, but still NATO,” Michael Cox, an expert on US foreign policy and transatlantic relations with Chatham House in London, told Deutsche Welle.
“NATO has ‘mission creep,'” he added. “Institutions are founded to do one thing well in one context and then one finds them to be useful in another context.”
And while the Article 5 contingency of defending member-states from a conventional attack remains relevant, a policy of actively securing Western interests around the globe has taken on new importance. NATO’s strategic concept – adopted last November – emphasizes conflict-prevention outside of Europe, combating terrorism, controlling nuclear proliferation, and securing trade routes as well as energy sources.
“The American troops now have other assignments than during the Cold War,” Henning Riecke, an expert on transatlantic security policy with the German Council on Foreign Relations, told Deutsche Welle.
“It’s now about crisis reaction or combating new risks in the arch of instability in North Africa, the Mideast and Afghanistan, which are the deployment areas for US troops,” Riecke said.
Lingering fears
Many Europeans are concerned that conventional territorial defense will fall by the wayside as America’s strategic eye gazes increasingly upon the Mideast and Central Asia. For the new NATO members, American troops continue to act as a hedge against what they see as Moscow’s unpredictable foreign policy.
“The nations that have been most concerned about the credibility of Article 5 are the Central Europeans,” Brzezinksi said.”People remember that Estonia had a cyber attack that originated in Russia, and which most believe was organized by the Russian government.”
….
Transatlantic cornerstone
Although further reductions of US troops in Europe may be on the horizon, the American military will remain on the continent in some capacity for the indefinite future, especially in lieu of an independent European defense capability.
….
Riecke believes that the emergence of an independent European defense capability will likely require some degree of American participation.
“The American presence on European soil acts as an important component of the European security and defense policy,” Riecke said. “I can’t say whether the Europeans would move slower or faster if the Americans weren’t here, but it’s an important element.”
And according to Brzezinski, the continued presence of the American military on European soil demonstrates the importance of a security relationship that benefits countries on both sides of the Atlantic ocean – even in the 21st century.
“The military footprint we have is the cornerstone of the transatlantic relationship,” he said.
Author: Spencer Kimball
Editor: Rob Mudge
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2. U.S. Air Force Launches Secretive Space Plane
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/usa/1840884.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 6, 2011
US Air Force launches secretive space plane
Prompt Global Strike: World Military Superiority Without Nuclear Weapons
A secretive unmanned US Air Force “space plane” was launched Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, dpa reported.
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle blasted off aboard an Atlas V rocket at 5:48 pm.
An earlier test flight by another X-37B lasted seven months, on a mission that the Air Force hoped would prove the viability of reusable drone access to space.
The Air Force said the second test flight would allow them to fine-tune the vehicle and try to replicate the initial results.
The secretive nature of the project has led to speculation about its role in the military – some say it can be used to spy on communications or to deploy small satellites. Some have expressed concerns it could mark the beginning of the weaponization of space, a notion the Air Force flatly rejects.
The spacecraft has a wingspan of 4.5 metres, is 8.9 metres long and weighs 4,990 kilogrammes.
The vehicle is designed to remain in low orbit for up to 270 days. Built by Boeing’s secretive Phantom Works division, the plane is powered by batteries and solar cells.
The X-37 programme began in 1999 under NASA’s guidance before being transferred in 2004 to the Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), before winding up in the hands of the Air Force.
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http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20110306/162884514.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 6, 2011
U.S. Air Force launches second prototype space plane
The X-37B project has been in development for about a decade, involving the Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Washington: The U.S. Air Force launched its second prototype unmanned space mini-shuttle under a classified X-37B program, the Los Angeles Times said Sunday.
The experimental vehicle, known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (OTV-2), lifted off aboard an Atlas V carrier rocket at 5:46 p.m. EST (22:46 GMT) on Saturday from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The robotic OTV, which resembles a miniature space shuttle, is about 29 feet long with a wingspan of about 15 feet. The spacecraft draws solar power for energy using unfolding panels.
The first X-37B prototype completed its first mission in December last year, landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, after 220 days in space.
The X-37B project has been in development for about a decade, involving the Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Both prototypes have been built by the California branch of Boeing’s Phantom Works in Huntington Beach.
According to Air Force officials, the unmanned mini-shuttle could be used for a variety of missions including reconnaissance, in-space service and repair of satellites, deploying and retrieving spacecraft, and testing new technologies.
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3. U.S. To Sell Cash-Strapped Romania F-16s, F-35s To Follow
http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?issue=4879&page=detalii&categorie=homenews&id=20110304-15133
Mediafax
March 4, 2011
US likely to make new bid to sell F16s to Romania
U.S. And NATO Accelerate Military Build-Up In Black Sea Region
-[T]he F16 acquisition strategy is based on the country’s goal of carrying out air defence missions and meeting its commitments within NATO.
The United States will send Romania a document mapping out a possible payment in instalments for the purchase of used F16 jets, military sources told Mediafax news agency. If the Romanian side agrees to the proposal, a new official offer will be made. The document detailing instalment payments will most probably reach Bucharest in April or early May, the sources added.
Romania’s Supreme Defence Council (CSAT) approved the purchase of 24 used F16 jets in March last year. The acquisition was estimated to cost about USD 1.3 bln. But in early August last year, Prime Minister Emil Boc said the government does not have any money for the project, an answer given two days after the deadline expired for Romania to make the first payment for the purchase.
Later on, the US Ambassador to Romania, Mark Gitenstein, said Bucharest decided to give up buying F16s solely on economic grounds. When asked whether Romania might resume the programme, Gitenstein said this was a difficult problem and an answer could be offered in six months, based on how the country’s credit rating develops.
Meanwhile, in response to a MPs’ request for comment, PM Boc underlined that the F16 acquisition strategy is based on the country’s goal of carrying out air defence missions and meeting its commitments within NATO.
The prime minister also underlined that the F16 purchase is the first phase of the strategy, having as the final objective the acquisition of F35 JSF jets, according to Mediafax. Boc’s answer, given to Liberal Deputy George Scutaru’s request, was dated early February and also notes that the acquisition last year received the approval of all structures with relevant duties in the field, including Parliament’s committees for defence, public order and national safety.
“This strategy was based on Romania’s need to carry out air defence missions and meet requirements within NATO, and the implications of the fact MiG-21 LanceR planes currently used by the Romanian Air Forces are becoming obsolete,” the response reads, underlining that the country does not have at the moment the necessary financial resources to purchase new multirole fighters.
….
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4. Ex-NATO Commander, National Security Advisor James Jones On Broader Middle East
http://www.acus.org/news/general-james-l-jones-middle-east-stability-herzliya-conference
Atlantic Council
February 7, 2011
General James L. Jones on Middle East Stability at the Herzliya Conference
Atlantic Council: Securing The 21st Century For NATO
Global Energy War: Washington’s New Kissinger’s African Plans
General James L. Jones, former National Security Advisor, Atlantic Council Chairman from 2007-2009, and current member of the Council’s Board of Directors Executive Committee, recently gave a speech at the 11th Annual Herzliya Conference in Herzliya, Israel. In the speech, General Jones discussed the recent Middle East turmoil and its relation to Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The Broader Middle East Game: The U.S., Europe and regional stability
Ladies and gentlemen, before I begin I would like to recognize the previous speaker, General Gabi Ashkenazi, who has not only been a great leader of the Israeli Defense Force, but a true and valued friend to me and to the United States as well. I join all my American colleagues present at the conference in congratulating him on his great success as the leader of Israel’s Armed Forces and in wishing him and his family the very best of all the good things life has to offer as he takes off the uniform.
It is great to be here at the internationally renowned IDC conference and the beautiful city of Herzliya, a city named after the father of modern political Zionism (Theodor Herzl who died in 1904 at age 44)….
My own experience with Israel started in the 1980s as a Marine officer assigned to the U.S. Senate, a time in which I accompanied numerous congressional delegations to the Middle East, and I remember full well the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. In the 1990s I commanded at several levels and my units visited Israel frequently for NOBLE SHIRLEY training exercises with the IDF and for friendly port calls to the beautiful city of Haifa.
During the next decade, I commanded NATO’s operational forces, tried to revitalize the Mediterranean dialogue at NATO, and worked for the Bush Administration for almost two years (2007-2009) on Middle East regional security, with emphasis on combining security, government/rule of law, and economic development in places like Jenin in the West Bank. Our goal was to show Palestinians everywhere the better alternative to Hamas.
….
I was very happy to be here yesterday to hear the wise counsel of President Shimon Peres who correctly sees opportunity in the moment, one in which momentum reversal can be achieved if we demonstrate our resolve to not be deterred from the goals that have been before us, unresolved, for far too long. The toppling of Prime Minister Hariri in Lebanon, and the rise of his replacement supported by Hezbollah — still today an Iranian and Syrian supported terrorist organization — represents a clear strategic challenge to the security of the region.
The unrest in Egypt, following the events in Tunisia, has gripped the attention of policy makers the world over, and for good reason. Could the peace that has existed for so long between Israel and Egypt be in jeopardy?
….
May I suggest that this is not the time to be a passive spectator to history, especially if you are an American or an Israeli, an Arab, or a European? While it still may be too soon to speculate on the outcome of the unrest in Egypt, we all know that, unlike in Las Vegas, what happens in Egypt will not stay in Egypt!
….
If any of you here this evening want to get a sense of the strategic thinking and direction of the United States, I would recommend re-reading three speeches made by President Obama: the inaugural address, the Cairo speech, and his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Those three speeches have served to inform the strategy and objectives of the United States under this president’s leadership.
….
Ladies and gentlemen, Egypt’s current problems are just the latest example of the potential for further change in the region.
One and a half years ago, the compelling demonstrations by the Iranian people were clear indications that no matter how strong the regime, or how crippling its policies on basic human rights, the oppressed people of today have more opportunities to amass information and to express themselves than their tyrannical regime ever thought possible. This is a good thing, but the momentum needs to be maintained. It is ironic that Iran has unintentionally unified the global community in opposition in ways that no one could have imagined just two years ago. We should capitalize on this unity, while it lasts.
I don’t need to tell this audience of the danger posed by the current direction of Iran’s nuclear program. Its continued defiance of the will of the international community is a clear and growing danger. I reaffirm my strong personal conviction that President Obama was very clear and very precise, almost two years ago, when he declared that the United States is prepared to “use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.”
….
Today, Iran remains at the epicenter of the problems confronting the Middle East. The question we face is what, if anything, can we do about it?
This past weekend at the Munich Security Conference, we heard from many leaders on the subject of the demonstrations in Egypt. Most seem to feel that there was only a limited amount of things any of us could do, but that continued engagement was necessary, especially if we wished to avoid a less than favorable outcome for the Egyptian people.
I will leave it to our leaders to find the right words to articulate their precise position for events in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon.
….
I would propose four points to illustrate why a working and observable Middle East peace plan would offer the best chance to reverse the current trends and offer a better chance for the generations who will follow us:
1. The status quo is the greatest threat to Israeli and regional security.
Demographic: Trends are not in Israel’s favor. Left unaddressed, the region will be beset by increasing friction and diminishing opportunities for peaceful resolution.
Political: A failed peace process undermines Arab moderates and encourages extremism.
Economic: It will further constrain economic development and will further incite the young “hopeless” class.
Security: Historically, “walls” have proven themselves to be temporary solutions. In Israel’s case a respite from suicide bombers, but not from rockets.
….
Certainly, time is not on our side; failure to act may trigger other “Egypt-like” demonstrations in other countries….
….
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand here before you tonight to also remind you that the United States has enormous security equities in this region as well; you are most definitively not alone! This is a fact that is not always fully appreciated.
….
Many of my Israeli friends have told me, many times, that “Israelis live in a dangerous neighborhood.” I agree, but the truth is that in the “globalized” world we all live in a dangerous neighborhood, and we need to do the one thing that will positively change the neighborhood for the better. In other words we need to regain the momentum, and we need to do it soon.
….
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5. NATO Loses Soldier In Southern Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/05/AR2011030500277.html
Associated Press
March 5, 2011
Bomb kills NATO service member in Afghanistan
U.S. And NATO Escalate World’s Deadliest War On Both Sides Of Afghan-Pakistani Border
KABUL, Afghanistan: NATO says a bombing in southern Afghanistan has killed one of its service members.
The international military coalition said on Saturday that the service member died after a bomb attack on Friday. It did not provide the victim’s nationality or any other details.
NATO typically waits for the relevant national authorities to confirm deaths of service members.
The death was the third in March. A total of 70 NATO service members have been killed so far this year.
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6. NATO Scenario: US, UK Troops Train For Counterinsurgency, Militias
http://www.fox4kc.com/news/sns-ap-ks–army-ukexercise,0,5100464.story
Associated Press
March 2, 2011
American, British officers renew military exercises at Fort Leavenworth
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — British and U.S. military officers are conducting their semi-annual training exercise at Fort Leavenworth.
Through March 10, officers from the Army’s Command and General Staff College will conduct military exercises with about 200 faculty and students from the British Intermediate Command and Staff College.
The exercise is known as Eagle Owl. Using a fictional NATO-developed scenario, the officers must plan and execute operations for stability, counterinsurgencies and fighting armed militias.….
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7. “Sounds Of Freedom”: Stryker Brigade Artillery Rattles Washington State
News Tribune
March 4, 2011
Army increasing artillery practice at JBLM
CHRISTIAN HILL
-The base’s four 155mm howitzer battalions – one assigned to each of the three Stryker combat brigades and another assigned to the 17th Fires Brigade – will split time at the range for the first time in two years after returning from combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan last year.
TACOMA, Wash. – The howitzer greets the soldier’s command of “fire” with a deafening roar, propelling a 90-pound round over scenic prairie that serves as Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s artillery range.
Three seconds and 1,200 meters later, the round explodes with the energy of a quarter-stick of dynamite. There’s a puff of smoke, but no sound – not immediately, anyway.
One one-thousand. Two one-thousand. Three one-thousand. The blast wave breaks over the Stryker artillerymen of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at their observation post.
In about an hour, 20 rounds – with one dud – are fired by the two next-generation 155mm howitzers manned by 10-soldier sections.
Each time, the sound carries perhaps as far as Parkland-Spanaway to the east, Yelm to the south and Lacey to the west. Weapons noise has been known to travel even as far as Fox Island.
The Army’s newest howitzer is thousands of pounds lighter due to its titanium construction, making it easier for soldiers to maneuver. But those advances do not extend to its decibel level.
“There’s nothing quiet about it,” said Lt. Col. JP Moore, who commands the 386 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, during Thursday morning’s training exercise.
The joint base is turning up the volume on the “sounds of freedom” in a big way after a period of relative quiet for surrounding communities.
Officials say the booms will be a weekly occurrence throughout the spring and summer. Units are ramping up their training schedule now following delivery of refurbished equipment and the completion of individual training.
“As the weather gets nice, and we got more and more units going out to the ranges, the likelihood of the communities hearing more booms from the field artillery is going to increase,” said Joe Piek, a Lewis-McChord spokesman.
The base’s four 155mm howitzer battalions – one assigned to each of the three Stryker combat brigades and another assigned to the 17th Fires Brigade – will split time at the range for the first time in two years after returning from combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan last year.
The base is advising residents of late-night firing, including demolitions and plastic explosives, Monday through Friday of next week.
The deployment of some 18,000 soldiers through last fall was notable as Lewis-McChord’s public affairs office logged just six noise complaints in 2010, its lowest number since tracking began more than a decade ago.
That could very well change this year.
A 2009 Army noise study included in an analysis of growth at Lewis-McChord examined the effects of demolitions and large-caliber weapons during simultaneous training of the three Stryker brigades.
It found that the noise zone defined as being highly annoying to more than 15 percent of the population would expand to encompass the Nisqually Indian Reservation and City of Roy and the northern part of Yelm.
The study concluded “that an increase to a full-up training component of three (Stryker brigades) could result in an increase in the number of complaints received from residents who were previously unexposed or infrequently exposed to noise from military training.”
….
Lewis-McChord is also preparing to receive additional aircraft….
….
The four howitzer battalions at Lewis-McChord have all changed over to the M777 Lightweight Field Howitzer, which the Army began fielding in 2006. It is at least 5,700 pounds lighter than its predecessor, the M198 Towed Howitzer, which has been in service since the 1960s.
It’s been two years since C Battery had fired its cannons. The U.S. military had little need for big guns during its counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq….
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8. Crete: Residents Protest Against U.S. Military Build-Up
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/05/46984905.html
Voice of Russia
March 5, 2011
Crete residents want no US naval units at local base
According to the Russia-24 TV channel, Crete island residents took to the streets and held major rallies of protest on learning about the transfer of US Navy units to the local naval base due to the events in Libya.
The protesters urged that the Greek government should provide no assistance for Washington and should clear the base of the US military at once.
The US amphibious assault ship USS Ponce and USS helicopter carrier Kearsarge with some 4,000 Marines and more than 80 choppers arrived at Crete on Friday.
Also on Friday US President Barack Obama again mentioned the possibility of US interference in Libya.
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9. U.S., NATO Allies Continue To Discuss Libya Intervention
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/05/46983133.html
Voice of Russia
March 5, 2011
US discusses interference in Libya
The United States continues discussing with its allies, including NATO allies, a likely interference in the situation in Libya.
US State Department official Philip Crowley said Friday that the imposition of a no-fly zone is being considered, among other things.
Earlier Senior Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the US National Security Council Michael McFaul told a news briefing that the United States is discussing the situation in Libya with Russia and that the issue will come under discussion during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Moscow on the 9th and 10th of this month.
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10. U.S. Warships Dock In Crete For Libyan Intervention
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/usa/1840795.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 5, 2011
US warships docked in Crete amid Libyan tensions
Two US warships carrying 1,200 Marines were docked at the US military base on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete Saturday as the US increased its military presence in the region amid escalating tensions in Libya, dpa reported.
The amphibious assault ship with a fleet of helicopters, and the attack destroyer arrived at Souda Bay the previous day, carrying a total of around 4,000 personnel including the Marines.
The arrival of the vessels, the Kearsage and USS Ponce, coincided with a demonstration in the nearby city of Hania by about 100 supporters of Greece’s Communist Party who are opposed to the presence of US forces.
Earlier in the week, around 400 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina arrived at the US military base on Crete.
….
The US and Europe are considering the use of NATO air power to impose a no-fly zone….
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11. South Ossetia Fears Repetition Of Georgian Aggression
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/05/46980649.html
Voice of Russia
March 5, 2011
South Ossetia fears repetition of Georgian aggression
Washington To Rearm Georgia For New Conflicts
South Ossetia has once again drawn the attention of the world community to the lack of guarantees on the non-use of force by Georgia the head of the South Ossetian delegation to the recent talks in Geneva, Boris Chochiyev, told the INTERFAX News Agency following the fifteenth round of talks in Geneva.
In late 2010, Tbilisi, Tskhinvali and Sukhumi were to sign a unilateral declaration on the non-use of force. However, as noted Chochiyev, threats from the regime of Georgia and calls for President Mikhail Saakashvili “to celebrate the New Year in South Ossetia’s capital Sukhumi”, have again caused reason for concern.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that Moscow was ready to act as guarantor on the non-use of force by Georgia on Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
On the night of August 8th 2008, Georgian troops invaded South Ossetia and in the violent attack almost destroyed the capital city of Tskhinvali.
Moscow, was forced to move in to defend the South Ossetians, many of whom have Russian citizenship, and sent troops into the country. After five days of fighting they were able to clear the invading Georgian troops from the region.
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12. Russia Blasts U.S. For Deploying F-16s, SM-3 Missiles To Poland
http://rt.com/politics/us-poland-air-defense/
RT
March 5, 2011
Russia blasts US for pushing to deploy missile defense in Poland
White House Intensifies Military Buildup In Poland
Moscow has demanded an explanation from the US about its plans to station an air force base with F-16 fighters and build a missile defense system in Poland.
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has confirmed Washington’s intention to deploy a rotating US squadron of F-16s in Poland. Last December, leaders of the two countries announced the plans to establish a new permanent US air detachment. The US also intends to “build missile defenses in Poland,” Clinton said after talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.
The previous administration of President George Bush was planning to deploy elements of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. President Barack Obama scrapped the plans, but nevertheless promised to expand co-operation with Poland in missile defense and air defense areas.
Clinton made it clear that NATO countries support the new US plans regarding Poland. However, Russia will oppose any moves to deploy air detachments in that country.
Washington and Warsaw are continuing military co-operation “despite their reset of the relations with Russia that took place last year,” Kommersant daily said, citing Russian diplomats.
It is not known when Washington will start deploying the squadron of F-16s. But the plan will complicate US talks with Russia about the creation of a joint European missile shield, Moscow’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said. Even now the prospects of such talks do not look bright, he told the paper.
President Dmitry Medvedev and US Vice President Joseph Biden may discuss the deployment of F-16s on March 9. Anyway, the issue “will not be left without Russia’s most close attention,” Rogozin warned.
The idea of deploying an air base in Poland was first mentioned by US military officials in March 2009. However, the White House did not announce the plans until quite recently.
Clinton’s statement runs counter to the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and Russia signed in 1997, Rogozin told Interfax on Friday. The document emphasizes the alliance’s commitment to exercise restraint on strengthening its military infrastructure near Russia’s borders, he said.
Moscow has become seriously concerned over Clinton’s statement, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant. “The plans on missile defense are not new, we know them and intend to discuss them as part of our European missile defense project,” he said. “But the idea of the air base requires additional explanation.”
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13. “U.S. Missile System In Disguise” Potential Threat To Russia
Polish Radio
March 5, 2011
European missile system ‘a potential threat to Russia’
Lisbon Summit: NATO To Retain Nuclear Arms, Build Missile Shield In Europe
Russia’s ambassador to NATO has criticised plans to site US missiles in Poland and Romania as being “a potential threat to Russia”, calling the planned system “a US anti-missile system in disguise”.
“The third and the fourth phases of the proposed U.S. missile shield in Europe bear a potential threat to Russia,” NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin said, Friday, after Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski confirmed this week that the US will be stationing a defensive rocket system in Poland as part of Barack Obama’s European missile shield.
The ambassador said that Russia agreed at the NATO summit in December to cooperate with a fully integrated European missile system, but not two different systems – run by Russian and NATO separately – one of which would be a “US missile shield in disguise”.
Moscow bitterly opposed the original plan by the then US president George W. Bush to host an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic as being a threat to Russia.
Rogozin also criticized the recent deployment of a battery of US Patriot missiles in Poland, just 60 km from Kaliningrad – “a very sensitive area,” he said.
Poland…hosts the Patriots and accompanying US troops from the 7th Air Defence Artillery Regiment, which are permanently stationed in Germany.
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14. Military Returns To Harvard After 42-Year Absence
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/harvard-welcomes-us-military-back-campus
Agence France-Presse
March 5, 2011
Harvard welcomes US military back to campus
-“With our nation at war, this sends a powerful message that Americans stand united and that our colleges, society and armed forces are stronger when we honor the contributions of all our citizens.”
-[Harvard President Drew] Faust disputed suggestions that hostility to the military still runs high among students. She told CNN that Harvard has an important role in “making sure that the individuals who are making decisions about war have been exposed to the widest range of education.”
Harvard welcomed back a US military officer training program that was booted off campus more than 40 years ago during the anti-war ferment at the height of the Vietnam War.
Harvard President Drew Faust and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus signed an agreement clearing the way for the reestablishment of a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program on the campus of America’s oldest and most prestigious university.
The agreement will fully restore the relationship when the repeal of a ban on gays openly serving in the military, known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” goes into effect later this year.
White House press secretary Jay Carney called it “an important step in moving past the old divisions that often kept many Americans from seeing what we share with one another, including love of country and a profound respect for our brave men and women in uniform.”
He added: “With our nation at war, this sends a powerful message that Americans stand united and that our colleges, society and armed forces are stronger when we honor the contributions of all our citizens.”
Faust said the renewed relationship “affirms the vital role that the members of our armed forces play in serving the nation and securing our freedoms, while also affirming inclusion and opportunity as powerful American ideals.”
“It recognizes military service as an honorable and admirable calling, a powerful expression of an individual citizen’s commitment to contribute to the common good,” she said in her prepared speech, posted on Harvard’s website.
Mabus called ROTC’s return “good for the university, good for the military, and good for the country.”
The ROTC program was kicked off the Ivy League campus in 1969 amid protests over the war in Vietnam.
Small numbers of Harvard students continued in ROTC but had to enroll in a program at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1995, Harvard withdrew funding for its share of the MIT program in response to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
But with the repeal, a number of elite universities have been reconsidering the ROTC programs, and allowing military recruitment on campus.
Yale has expressed strong interest in hosting a ROTC program, and debate over whether to open its doors has intensified at Columbia, scene of some of the biggest campus protests during the Vietnam War.
Faust said the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” underscored “the importance that all of us place on opportunity and inclusion — on opening pathways for students to pursue their ambitions, to cultivate their capacity for leadership, to lead lives of value to others.”
Faust disputed suggestions that hostility to the military still runs high among students. She told CNN that Harvard has an important role in “making sure that the individuals who are making decisions about war have been exposed to the widest range of education.”
The agreement was signed in an afternoon ceremony, said Harvard spokesman Kevin Galvin.
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15. Several Dead As Explosion Targets NATO Convoy In Northern Afghanistan
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n243782
Focus News Agency
March 5, 2011
Powerful explosion goes off in Afghanistan on way of NATO military convoy
Kabul: A powerful explosion has gone off on Saturday on the path of a NATO military convoy in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, an administrative center of the northern Afghan province of Balkh, the local Tolo television station reported.
The television says the blast exploded on a bridge in the city.
No injured or killed people have been reported so far. Eyewitnesses say there are dead civilians and troops and the region is cordoned off.
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16. Georgia: Day In The Life Of Soldier Saakashvili
http://messenger.com.ge/issues/2309_march_4_2011/2309_saakashvili.html
The Messenger
March 4, 2011
A day in the life of a soldier of Saakashvili
Georgia: Simulating War Or Provoking It?
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his five-year old son Nikoloz visited a Special Forces unit on Wednesday.
Saakashvili trained together with the soldiers. First he went for a morning run and later moved to the training hall. Mikheil Saakashvili and his son Nickoloz dined together with the soldiers at the dining hall.
During his visit to the base, Mikheil Saakashvili stressed his focus on the importance of the Georgian army and the Georgian mission in Afghanistan.
“As I see you have two and three times more training and it is not a show, it is real, daily training. It is necessary to have discipline and special aspirations in the army and aspiration is created exactly by training. I want all of you to know that it is a great honor for me to serve our country together with you, because all of us are the soldiers of our motherland. We never stop thinking, caring and supporting as much as we can our Armed Forces. Our country knows that it can have hopes in you. Unfortunately we had victims in Afghanistan.
“We had a funeral of our soldier who died in Afghanistan yesterday in Vani, but we must understand that each victim should become a reason for aspiration and getting stronger. Finally all of us serve one and the same aim and we mustn’t be afraid. Our aim is fair and everyone knows it very well. It is not my first time here and I think that there are pretty good conditions here. Every time I visit Special Forces unit I see that the situation is improving more and more. As a rule, you must fulfill the most challenging tasks and you need special aspiration, mood and what’s more important special training for it”, Mikheil Saakashvili stated.
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17. European Union Can Deploy Warships To Enforce Libya Blockade
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5868893&c=MID&s=TOP
Agence France-Presse
March 4, 2011
EU Could Deploy Ships to Enforce Libya Arms Ban
BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union could deploy warships near Libya to enforce an arms embargo on the strife-torn north African country, a senior EU official said Friday.
The potential weapons blockade will be among a package of measures that EU leaders will debate during an emergency summit on the Libyan crisis next Friday in Brussels, the official said.
The United Nations and the European Union decided earlier this week to ban the sale of weapons to Libya as part of a set of sanctions….
The 27-nation EU’s security and defense policy provides “the possibility of some sort of naval surveillance” to enforce the embargo, the EU official said.
….
The United States, Britain and France have deployed warships toward Libya amid debate among NATO allies about whether to use military power….
The United States and Britain have evoked the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, which would mean bombing Gadhafi’s air defenses on the ground and shooting down hostile jets.
Several governments, including France, insist that such an operation would require a UN mandate. Russia, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, has voiced deep reservations about it.
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18. Pakistani Victims’ Families Reject Blood Money For CIA Killings
Associated Press
March 5, 2011
Lawyer suggests ‘blood money’ to free US man
By Chris Brummitt
-While the United States insists Raymond Allen Davis, the detained CIA contractor, has immunity from prosecution, his lawyer said Friday that “bloody money” was “not just a good way, but the best way” to resolve the issue.
-“There is America on the other side, and there is the pressure of 180 million Pakistanis on the other. There is no doubt he killed those guys. It seems likely he will be found guilty.”
LAHORE, Pakistan: Since his brother was shot and killed by an American CIA contractor last month, scores of Islamist politicians have met with Waseem Shamzad in his bare sitting room to bring sympathy, offers of help and a stark message: if U.S. envoys come offering “blood money” to get their man out of jail, tell them to go away.
Shamzad and two other families mourning a dead relative because of the shooting say America has not offered compensation yet, but Pakistani officials have suggested such payments could help end a crisis that has exposed the fragility of ties between the two nations.
While the United States insists Raymond Allen Davis, the detained CIA contractor, has immunity from prosecution, his lawyer said Friday that “bloody money” was “not just a good way, but the best way” to resolve the issue. The United States has not commented on whether it intends to try that approach, either formally or as a way of cooling popular anger if Davis is freed on other grounds.
The families, meanwhile, say they want justice, not money.
Davis was driving on a busy street in this eastern city when he says two men….He shot them dead. Minutes later, an American vehicle speeding to the scene on the wrong side of the road ran into a motorcyclist, killing him.
The United States is demanding the 36-year-old Virginia native, currently on trial for murder, be released.
The Islamabad government has yet to say whether Davis has immunity, apparently paralyzed in the face of media outrage and protests….So far, all it’s said is that the matter was up for the Lahore High Court, which may rule on the immunity issue this month.
….
Shamzad, the brother of one of the shooting victims, said he needed help, but not from United States.
“Look at the state of this house,” he said, pointing to the concrete floor, whitewashed walls and muddy lane outside the door where cows chewed on piles of grass. “People from all over Pakistan have come here. They only want to help.”
….
Pakistani law allows killers to walk free if they admit their crime and pay compensation or “diyat” to the heirs of the victim, who must forgive them. Firmly rooted in Islamic tradition, the practice is quite common but is criticized by human rights groups, which say it encourages impunity.
The United States regularly pays money to the families of innocent people it kills in Afghanistan, but may baulk at doing so in this case, even if the families wanted it. Davis’s lawyer, Zahid Bokhari, said any such deal would involve the U.S. consulate directly, and he would draw up the legal papers to certify it.
“When they settle with them, then my domain will start,” said Bokhari, who was appointed on Wednesday.
When it was pointed out that the families did not want to deal, he said: “To my mind, they are affected by the pressure of the public and the parties.”
The families say no government or American officials have visited them….
“I’m not anti-American or anything. I have looked up to the American judicial system since I was a child, but I haven’t seen anything from them. It’s like we have done something wrong and they are angry with us,” said [Ibad-ur-Rehman, whose brother was killed by the speeding car], who recently returned from the United Kingdom where he got a law degree.
Unlike relatives of the other two families, he does not completely dismiss the idea of “blood money”.
“I can’t straight away accept money, its a question of family honor. There has to be something toward justice first,” he said.
But that looks likely to be fruitless – American officials say the drivers of that vehicle have already left Pakistan.
….
The irony of America possibly resorting to Islamic laws to free a CIA contractor is not lost on the Jaamat Islami, Pakistan’s most-organized anti-U.S. political party that has demanded stern punishment for Davis and routinely condemns U.S. drone attacks.
“They ridicule our laws and don’t accept them and now they want to use them,” said Farid Paracha, a senior party member in Lahore. “The families have made it very clear they do not want to sell their blood.”
He said the party may raise funds through its vast national network of mosques for the families, something that would be discussed with them at a meeting at its headquarters on the outskirts of Lahore later this month. “There should be a fund, to overcome U.S. pressure,” he said.
….
“There is America on the other side, and there is the pressure of 180 million Pakistanis on the other,” said Rana Sanaullah, the law minister in the province….
“There is no doubt he killed those guys. It seems likely he will be found guilty.”
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19. Obama, Australian Prime Minister To Intensify Military Ties; Discuss Afghan War, China, Libya
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703300904576178271152549468.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal
March 4, 2011
Australia’s Gillard Faces Test in U.S. Visit
By ENDA CURRAN
Australian Military Buildup And The Rise Of Asian NATO
-Australia plans to spend as much as 275 billion Australian dollars (US$276 billion) over the next 20 years on updating its military with equipment including submarines, naval frigates and ships called air warfare destroyers, as well as the latest F-35 joint strike fighters.
CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard expects to discuss China’s growing might and the situation in Afghanistan with President Barack Obama next week during a U.S. visit as she battles perceptions of foreign-policy weakness at home.
In an interview Thursday, Ms. Gillard said she will push for greater defense cooperation between the two longtime allies, in her first state visit to the U.S. since she became prime minister last year.
“We have a strong and enduring defense partnership, so I do anticipate that a major feature of my discussions with President Obama will be our shared mission in Afghanistan, as well as our defense cooperation in the modern age,” she said.
The unfolding political turmoil in the Middle East, where Australia has pledged its support to United Nations sanctions against Libya’s regime and to any further international response, is expected to be a major issue.
Dealing with the growing economic and military power of China will also be on the agenda, she said.
“China’s rise obviously is something the world is responding to. Obviously China’s rise does also cause discussion of its rise as a military power, and those discussions will continue,” Ms. Gillard said.
Ms. Gillard is set to meet with Mr. Obama on Monday on the nine-day visit, which begins Saturday. She is also scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. She is also expected to hold meetings with Wall Street banking and financial executives.
….
Discussions on Afghanistan will likely center on whether progress is being made in the assault on the Taliban. Australian defense officials have said this year is a pivotal one, and Ms. Gillard said last year she doesn’t expect a drawdown of Australian troops until 2014.
China complicates Australia’s international policy. China’s factories depend on the coal and iron ore from Australia’s mines, and that demand is fueling the Pacific nation’s growth. At the same time, China has ramped up military spending and become more assertive in the Asia-Pacific region, where it claims jurisdiction over large parts of the South China Sea. In response, Australia plans to spend as much as 275 billion Australian dollars (US$276 billion) over the next 20 years on updating its military with equipment including submarines, naval frigates and ships called air warfare destroyers, as well as the latest F-35 joint strike fighters.
….
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20. Report: U.S. Warships Leave Crete For Libyan Shores
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n243815
Focus News Agency
March 5, 2011
US warships sent to Libyan shores
Athens: US naval ships USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce have left Suda military base in Crete and are moving to Libyan shores, Souda Bay navy base spokesman Paul Farley said, cited by the Vzglyad newspaper.
Earlier the Pentagon sent the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier to Libya from Somalia to enforce a no-fly zone in the North African country.
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21. Over 50 Burundian, Ugandan Troops Killed In Somali Fighting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030406494.html
Washington Post
March 5, 2011
At least 50 African Union peacekeepers dead in Somalia clashes
By Sudarsan Raghavan
AFRICOM’s First War: U.S. Directs Large-Scale Offensive In Somalia
NATO: AFRICOM’s Partner In Military Penetration Of Africa
NAIROBI: About 50 African Union peacekeepers based in Somalia have died in clashes with militants …over the past two weeks, suggesting a dramatic escalation in the fight for the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The high death toll raises questions as to whether Burundi and Uganda, the two nations contributing the bulk of troops to the force, known as AMISOM, will remain committed to keeping their soldiers in Somalia in the months and years ahead.
The 8,000-member force is widely considered to be the main bulwark preventing Somalia’s al-Shabab militants from ousting the nation’s weak transitional government. An additional 4,000 troops are scheduled to arrive over the next several months.
The toll, reported by diplomats and U.N. security officials, is far higher than the handful of deaths confirmed so far by AMISOM, which appears to be concerned about political backlashes in Burundi and Uganda. Opposition leaders in Uganda for months have urged their government to pull its troops out of Somalia after al-Shabab orchestrated bombings in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, last year during the World Cup, killing more than 70 fans. It was the group’s first international attack.
The Associated Press, citing two unnamed diplomats in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, reported a death toll of 53 peacekeepers since Feb. 19, when a major offensive against the Islamist militants began.
Two U.N. security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that as many as 50 peacekeepers have been killed. Most of the peacekeepers killed over the past two weeks were Burundian.
….
AMISOM spokesmen declined to discuss the deaths.
“I am not in a position to comment,” said Gaffel Nkolokosa, an AMISOM spokesman in Nairobi.
Maj. Barigye Bahuko, AMISOM’s spokesman in Mogadishu, also declined to comment, saying a news conference on the matter was scheduled for Saturday in Nairobi.
….
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22. Indian Army Chief To Visit U.S. To Boost Strategic Military Ties In Eurasia
Times of India
March 4, 2011
Army chief to visit US next week; howitzer deal to figure in talks
India: U.S. Completes Global Military Structure
-The Indian armed forces also want to engage more deeply with US military’s Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the crucial Af-Pak and Iraq-Iran regions, rather than being just restricted to ties with the Pacific Command (Pacom), which looks after the Asia-Pacific region.
NEW DELHI: Army chief General V K Singh will be visiting the US next week to further enhance the already robust bilateral military ties between the two countries.
During the six-day visit, the Indian Army’s proposed procurement of 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers, which India is to buy from the US in a direct government-to-government deal worth $647 million, will figure high on the agenda.
The Indian armed forces also want to engage more deeply with US military’s Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the crucial Af-Pak and Iraq-Iran regions, rather than being just restricted to ties with the Pacific Command (Pacom), which looks after the Asia-Pacific region.
….
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23. Action Against Libya: U.S. Military Assets In The Region
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0111287420110301
Reuters
March 1, 2011
FACTBOX: U.S. military forces in Europe, Middle East
United States is moving ships and planes closer to Libya, drawing on a network of bases in Europe and the Middle East, as Western governments prepare for possible military and humanitarian action.
Here are details about the military resources Washington can call on in the region:
AREA/STATIONS
* BAHRAIN: U.S. Central Command
— Home to the Fifth Fleet. The small kingdom also hosts land-based Patriot missile installations.
* DJIBOUTI: U.S. Africa Command
— Nearly 1,200 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. One naval air base.
* GREECE: U.S. European Command
— Two naval bases, at Makri and Soudha Bay, and one air base at Iraklion.
* ITALY: U.S. European Command
— 3,015 Army and 2,328 Navy personnel.
— Also headquarters for the Sixth Fleet.
— The Aviano air base south of the Alps has 42 F-16s assigned to it.
* KUWAIT: U.S. Central Command
— Operations centered around outfitting troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
— Two air defense batteries with advance capability Patriot missiles.
* QATAR: Refueling station and Central Command’s forward headquarters
* SPAIN: U.S. European Command
— Around 1,270 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. One airbase at Moron and one naval base at Rota, which provides support for U.S. and NATO ships.
* TURKEY: U.S. European Command
— Around 1,500 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel.
— One airbase at Incirlik and support facilities at Ankara and Izmir.
— U.S. Strategic Command also has one Spacetrack Radar at Incirlik.
SIXTH FLEET
— Sixth Fleet’s area of operation, which includes the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean, usually is patrolled by frigates and destroyers. It has two aircraft carriers further southeast in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
— The fleet is headquartered at Gaeta, Italy.
— Its command ship, the USS Mt Whitney, is the only vessel permanently assigned to the Sixth Fleet area. It can carry a crew of over 300 and transport supplies to support an emergency evacuation of 3,000 people.
— As of Tuesday, there were three U.S. ships — two destroyers and the Mt Whitney — in the Mediterranean.
FIFTH FLEET
— The commander of the Fifth Fleet is responsible for an area of about 2.5 million sq miles (6.5 million sq km) of water area, including the Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.
— Countries in the fleet’s zone are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
— The Fifth Fleet includes aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships that deploy on rotation from the United States, plus a few smaller ships based in the Gulf for longer periods.
— The Fifth Fleet protects shipping lanes in the Gulf and nearby waters. It is the naval arm of Central Command, responsible for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its aircraft fly missions over both countries.
— The Fifth Fleet has around 30,000 personnel across the region. About 4,500 U.S. military and civilian staff work at the port and base in Bahrain, at Juffairare just southeast of the capital Manama.
— On Monday, the destroyer USS Barry moved through the Suez Canal and is now in the southwestern Mediterranean.
— Two amphibious assault ships, the USS Kearsarge, which can carry 2,000 Marines, and the USS Ponce, are in the Red Sea heading to the Suez Canal.
Sources: Reuters/ http://www.cusnc.navy.mil/ globalsecurity.org/ http://www.gettingaround.net/IISS Military Balance
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Additional reporting by Missy Ryan in Washington; Editing by John O’Callaghan and Eric Beech)
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24. ALBA Rejects NATO Intervention In Libya
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=269355&Itemid=1
Prensa Latina
March 5, 2011
ALBA Confirms Interest for Peace in Libya without Interference
By Heidy Morin Rueda
Rumors Of Coups And War: U.S., NATO Target Latin America
Caracas: The Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) ratified the regional bloc’s interest to achieve peace in Libya, without foreign interference and respecting its sovereignty.
After a meeting in this capital, the foreign ministers of ALBA expressed in a statement that the integration mechanism supports the Venezuelan government’s proposal to form a peace commission to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict in this North African country.
The Foreign Ministers also supported the mediation initiative proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who called for not losing a minute to stop the advance of imperial threats.
The diplomats rejected interference attempts and a possible intervention of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), encouraged by the United States to justify a war of conquest of the Libyan people’s heritage.
In this regard, they denounced the imperialist pretensions to take over natural and oil resources of this North African country and also shared the global concern about the situation in Libya and warned about the loss of human lives.
On the other hand, they indicated that the entity will monitor the situation in Honduras in view of the persistent pattern of repression against the popular resistance movement and the systematic violation of human rights in that Central American nation.
The ministers also agreed to implement plans to support the Haitian people, in order to recover from the situation left by the earthquake a year ago and the cholera epidemic.
ALBA, composed of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will continue deepening mutually supportive initiatives, they added.
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25. Venezuela Denounces U.S. War Plans Against Libya
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=269044&Itemid=1
Prensa Latina
March 4, 2011
Chavez Slams US Warmongering Plans for Libya
By Ileana Ferrer Fonte
Caracas: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned threats of military interference promoted by the United States and other powers against Libya to take control of its oil.
“There is a civil war in Libya that Washington and its allies want to use to satisfy their geopolitical ambitions,” Chavez stated.
“No to imperialist intervention in Libya, no to aggression that seeks oil for the blood of innocents, that is our stance,” the Venezuelan statesman said at the Teresa Carreño Theater during an event of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela on Thursday.
According to Chavez, peace should prevail over any attempt to repeat warmongering adventures such as the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Chavez said he talked about the initiative with Latin American and African leaders, including Muammar Gaddafi himself.
Chavez’ accusation of the danger of U.S. interference in the Arab nation and his call for peace coincided with reports of a military deployment by the Pentagon.
