Messages In This Digest (13 Messages)

1.: Ottawa: Top U.S./NATO Afghan Military Chief Meets Canadian Brass From: Rick Rozoff

2a.: Afghanistan: British Death Toll Continues To Climb From: Rick Rozoff

3.: $636.3 Billion U.S. Military Budget: War Costs Top $1 Trillion From: Rick Rozoff

4.: 21st Century Iron Curtain From: Rick Rozoff

5.: Fw: History of US Votes on UN Space Treaty Resolution From: Rick Rozoff

6.: Ex-President: CIA Ran Several Secret Prisons In Lithuania From: Rick Rozoff

7.: Report: Saudis Have Fired Over 1,000 Missiles At Yemeni Targets From: Rick Rozoff

8.: Venezuela: Dutch Allow U.S. To Use Antilles For Aggression From: Rick Rozoff

9.: Ahead Of Reinforcements: Poland Loses 16th Soldier In Afghanistan From: Rick Rozoff

10.: Georgia: Prototype NATO Military Outpost In Eurasia From: Rick Rozoff

11.: Colombia To Build Military Base, Move Air Force To Venezuelan Border From: Rick Rozoff

12.: South America: France Launches Satellite For NATO Allies From: Rick Rozoff

13.: U.S.-Colombia Military Pact Provokes Tension In Latin America From: Rick Rozoff

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Messages

1.: Ottawa: Top U.S./NATO Afghan Military Chief Meets Canadian Brass

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:06 am (PST)

http://au.sys-con.com/node/1225465

Marketwire
December 17, 2009

Commander of ISAF Forces Completes Ottawa Visit

OTTAWA, ONTARIO: The Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), U.S. General Stanley A. McChrystal, concluded a visit to Ottawa this morning after two days of meetings with General Walt Natynczyk, Chief of the Defence Staff, and other senior government officials.

The general's visit was organized by NATO as part of his ongoing program to visit ISAF troop-contributing nations, and followed a standing invitation from General Natynczyk.
....
"The CF welcomes General McChrystal's leadership as head of ISAF in Afghanistan," said General Natynczyk. "During his visit we had important discussions about the challenges and way ahead in Afghanistan and I am optimistic we will see significant progress in the coming months."

During his visit to Ottawa, General McChrystal spoke to more than 400 defence experts and academics during an event hosted by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute. While in Ottawa, General McChrystal also laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in honour of fallen Canadian soldiers.
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2a.: Afghanistan: British Death Toll Continues To Climb

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:14 am (PST)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8422235.stm

BBC News
December 19, 2009

UK soldier killed in Afghanistan
The soldier is the 103rd British death in Afghanistan this year

A British soldier from 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, has been killed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

The soldier died from wounds which were sustained in a blast while on foot patrol in the Nad-e-Ali area of central Helmand on Saturday.

Next of kin have been informed of the soldier's death.

A total of 240 UK service personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001, including 103 this year.
....
On Tuesday, two UK soldiers were killed in Afghanistan as they stopped suicide bombers attacking a packed marketplace, their commanding officer said.

L/Cpl David Kirkness, 24, of West Yorkshire, and Rifleman James Brown, 18, from Kent, both of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, were killed by an explosion at a vehicle checkpoint near Sangin in Helmand.
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3.: $636.3 Billion U.S. Military Budget: War Costs Top $1 Trillion

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:19 am (PST)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXweGzTkFKyo&pos=8

Bloomberg News
December 19, 2009

Congress Approves $636.3 Billion for Defense in Fiscal 2010

Congress sent President Barack Obama a $636.3 billion spending measure for defense, including $128.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Senate passed the bill 88-10 today in an unusual weekend morning session after the House approved it 395-34 on Dec. 16.

About $65 billion of the war funding for the current fiscal year is for operations in Afghanistan. The Obama administration says it will need about $30 billion more to finance the surge of 30,000 more troops there that begins this month. That request is likely to come with the fiscal 2011 budget to be submitted in February.
....
The defense bill is the last of 12 annual spending bills to be sent to the president....
....
The defense spending would bring to more than $1 trillion the money spent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for the wars, veterans' care, embassy protection and enhanced domestic security, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

That includes $748 billion for spending related to the war in Iraq and $300 billion for Afghanistan, the research service said in a Sept. 28 report.

The spending plan includes $2.5 billion to buy 10 additional Boeing Co. C-17 transports that weren't requested by the Pentagon. Chicago-based Boeing also would benefit from $1.5 billion for 18 F/A-E/F Super Hornet fighters, nine more than the administration requested.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended April 6 that the C-17 program be terminated once Boeing delivers the last of 205 C-17s in late 2010. Boeing, the second-largest defense contractor, has said its plant in Long Beach, California, will shut down in 2011 without more orders.

The budget also includes $465 million for the backup engine of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The engine is built by Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co. and London- based Rolls Royce Plc. The administration earlier threatened to veto the entire defense bill if it contained any money for the engine.

30 More Planes

For the overall Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 program, the measure fully funds the Pentagon's $6.2 billion request for 30 additional aircraft, including 16 for the Marine Corps.

In a victory for the Obama administration, the legislation doesn't require the Pentagon to continue the canceled Lockheed VH-71 presidential helicopter, which the White House and Pentagon have sought to terminate.

The bill continues buying V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft built by Textron Inc. and Boeing, providing $2.7 billion for 35 aircraft as the Pentagon requested.
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4.: 21st Century Iron Curtain

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:46 am (PST)

Iron Curtain of the 21st century, Fragments

Belgrade Forum
December 18, 2009

IRON CURTAIN OF 21ST CENTURY
Zivadin Jovanovic

-The new Iron Curtain does not divide the world of democracy from the world of dictatorship; rather, it partitions the Eurasian plate with a transversal that extends from the North Pole to the Horn of Africa....In present-day democratic Europe, there are more foreign military bases than at the peak of the Cold War.

NATO aggression against Serbia (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) ten years ago was a turning point in international relations in Europe and in the world.

That precedent effectively undermined the international legal order established after WWII.

Europe saw a rapid expansion of NATO and proliferation of foreign military bases, in particular in its eastern and southeastern regions.

Over the past ten years, the USA established a network of new military bases, stretching from the Baltic to Anatolia, Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

In Bulgaria and Romania only, there were four new bases in each. Is that not a 21st Century Iron Curtain, unprecedented at any time, that replaced and expanded its namesake predecessor from the times of the Cold War, re-delineating it on the borders of Russia, the Caucasus, the Caspian and the Persian Gulf? In was established extremely rapidly, almost in a historic 'blink of an eye'.

The aggression of 1999 agisnt Yugoslavia (Serbia) and the American military base of Camp Bondsteel in the Serbian Province of Kosovo and Metohija were, at the same time, a test, a practical checking of a "feasibility study", and the setting up of the foundations for applying a new doctrine comprising the globalization of NATO and interventionism.

The new Iron Curtain does not divide the world of democracy from the world of dictatorship; rather, it partitions the Eurasian plate with a transversal that extends from the North Pole to the Horn of Africa.

As such, it mainly divides the countries of parliamentary democracy and market economies. Countries from both sides of the Curtain are officially treated as partners. Yet, nobody else, save for the authors of this new doctrine, believes that the New Iron Curtain is necessary for defense against terrorism or from the 'Axis of Evil'.

In present-day democratic Europe, there are more foreign military bases than at the peak of the Cold War. Why is that so? Which is the party that threatens European security, and is Europe safer when webbed by new foreign military camps?

Is this proliferation of foreign military bases on European soil a matter of interest for the OSCE, and what is the OSCE's position on this particular phenomenon of 21st century?
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5.: Fw: History of US Votes on UN Space Treaty Resolution

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:49 am (PST)

--- On Sat, 12/19/09, Global Network <globalnet@mindspring.com> wrote:

From: Global Network <globalnet@mindspring.com>
Subject: History of US Votes on UN Space Treaty Resolution
To: "GN List Serve" <globenet@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2009, 9:43 AM

Summary: The Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) treaty resolution submitted in the UN First committee yearly since 1982 has always overwhelmingly passed. United States voted "no" twice, then has abstained 21 times, each year
from 1984-2004, when it started voting *no* again (4 times), until again abstaining in 2009.

It is quite clear that the military industrial complex does not want the successful negotiation of a new treaty to ban weapons in space. They are the source of US blockage of any progress.

2009: abstain (US & Israel)

Yes: 176, No: 0, Abstentions: 2, Non-Voting: 14, Total voting

membership: 192

2008: no (US) abstain (Israel)

Yes: 177, No: 1, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 13, Total voting

membership: 192

2007: no (US) abstain (Israel)

Yes: 178, No: 1, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 12, Total voting

membership: 192

2006: no (US) abstain (Israel)

Yes: 178, No: 1, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 12, Total voting

membership: 192

2005: no (US & Israel)

Yes: 180, No: 2, Abstentions: 0, Non-Voting: 9, Total voting

membership: 191

2004: abstain (US, Israel, Haiti, Palau)

Yes: 178, No: 0, Abstentions: 4, Non-Voting: 9, Total voting

membership: 191

2003: abstain (US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia)

Yes: 174, No: 0, Abstentions: 4, Non-Voting: 13, Total voting

membership: 191

2002: abstain (US, Israel, Micronesia)

Yes: 159, No: 0, Abstentions: 3, Non-Voting: 29, Total voting

membership: 191

2001: abstain (US, Georgia, Israel, Micronesia)

Yes: 156, No: 0, Abstentions: 4, Non-Voting: 29, Total voting

membership: 189

2000: abstain (US, Israel, Micronesia)

Yes: 163, No: 0, Abstentions: 3, Non-Voting: 23, Total voting

membership: 189

1999: abstain (US, Israel)

Yes: 162, No: 0, Abstentions: 2, Non-Voting: 24, Total voting

membership: 188

1998: abstain (US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia)

Yes: 165, No: 0, Abstentions: 4, Non-Voting: 16, Total voting

membership: 185

1997: abstain (US)

Yes: 128, No: 0, Abstentions: 39, Non-Voting: 18, Total voting

membership: 185

1996: abstain (US)

Yes: 128, No: 0, Abstentions: 39, Non-Voting: 18, Total voting

membership: 185

1995: abstain (US)

Yes: 121, No: 0, Abstentions: 46, Non-Voting: 18, Total voting

membership: 185

1994: abstain (US)

Yes: 170, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 14, Total voting

membership: 185

1993: abstain (US)

Yes: 169, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 14, Total voting

membership: 184

1992: abstain (US, Micronesia)

Yes: 164, No: 0, Abstentions: 2, Non-Voting: 13, Total voting

membership: 179

1991: abstain (US)

Yes: 155, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 10, Total voting

membership: 166

1990: abstain (US)

Yes: 149, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 9, Total voting

membership: 159

1989: abstain (US)

Yes: 149, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 9, Total voting

membership: 159

1988: abstain (US)

Yes: 154, No: 1, Abstentions: 0, Non-Voting: 4, Total voting

membership: 159

1987: abstain (US)

Yes: 154, No: 1, Abstentions: 0, Non-Voting: 4, Total voting

membership: 159

1986: abstain (US)

Yes: 154, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 4, Total voting

membership: 159

1985: abstain (US, Grenada)

Yes: 151, No: 0, Abstentions: 2, Non-Voting: 6, Total voting

membership: 159

1984: abstain (US)

Yes: 150, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 8, Total voting

membership: 159

1983: no (US) abstain (United Kingdom)

Yes: 150, No: 0, Abstentions: 1, Non-Voting: 8, Total voting

membership: 159

1982: no (US) abstain (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Israel, Luxembourg,

Netherlands, United Kingdom)

Yes: 138 , No: 1 , Abstentions: 7 , Non-Voting: 11 , Total voting

membership: 157

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
globalnet@mindspring.com
www.space4peace.org
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/ (blog)

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6.: Ex-President: CIA Ran Several Secret Prisons In Lithuania

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:01 pm (PST)

http://english.ruvr.ru/2009/12/19/3100568.html

Voice of Russia
December 19, 2009

CIA had several secret prisons in Lithuania - ex-president

-[Rolandas Paksas defeated Valdas Adamkus, who had lived in the United States for almost fifty years, in the presidential election of 2003. A year later he became the first-ever European head of state to be impeached from office. The same year an amendment was made to Lithuania's election laws to prevent him from running for the presidency again.]

Ex-President of Lithuania, European MP Rolandas Paksas, has said CIA had a number of secret prisons in Lithuania.

He said the Central Intelligence Agency started to open secret prisons in Lithuania before he took office and continued after he was removed from office in April 2004.

In the words of Lithuania's ex-president, CIA prisons were in the jurisdiction of the then National Security Chief Mechis Laurinkus.

The American ABC Television said in August a prison for Al Qaeda militants captured in the wake of 9/11 attacks functioned near Vilnius for several years. The prison is reported to have had 8 militants.

The results of a parliamentary hearing on the case are expected on December 22nd.
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7.: Report: Saudis Have Fired Over 1,000 Missiles At Yemeni Targets

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:06 pm (PST)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114162&sectionid=351020206

Press TV
December 19, 2009

Saudi warplanes rain '1,011 missiles' on Yemen

-The Houthis said US attacks on Thursday killed 120 civilians, among whom were women and children. Also on Saturday, a report on the Houthis' website said that three civilians, including a woman and a child, had been killed in fresh air raids carried out by US warplanes.

Houthi fighters say Saudi warplanes have fired some 1,011 missiles on the borderline with Yemen where the Shia population is already under heavy state-led and US-aided bombardment.

The fighters also said on Saturday that the warplanes had carried out nearly 60 air assaults on the residential areas in the northern Al-Jabiri, Al-Dukhan and Al-Malaheet districts.

Saudi Arabia joined Sana'a's months-long fierce armed campaign against the Shia fighters in November.

The Houthis are accused by the central government of breaking the terms of a ceasefire agreement by taking foreign visitors hostage. The Saudis, on their part, claimed that the fighters had attacked one of their border checkpoints.

The fighters denounce the offensives as a discriminatory campaign against the Shia minority under Riyadh's auspices.

The offensives, meanwhile, have been taking their toll on the locals with the Saudis reportedly venturing beyond the Houthi positions, targeting civilian areas and using unconventional weaponry including flesh-eating white phosphorus bombs.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that since 2004, the conflict has forced up to 175,000 people in the Shia-dominated northwestern province of Sa'ada out of their homes and into overcrowded camps set up by the United Nations.

The US military equipment and intelligence have reportedly entered the equation in the recent days.

The US special forces have reportedly been sent to Yemen to provide the national army with training services. The US Air Force is also said to have been sporadically pounding the northern areas since Monday.

The Houthis said US attacks on Thursday killed 120 civilians, among whom were women and children. Also on Saturday, a report on the Houthis' website said that three civilians, including a woman and a child, had been killed in fresh air raids carried out by US warplanes.
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8.: Venezuela: Dutch Allow U.S. To Use Antilles For Aggression

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:12 pm (PST)

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/12/antillean_islands_used_for_spy.php

DutchNews.nl
December 18, 2009

Antillean islands used for spying: Chavez

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has accused the Netherlands of allowing the United States to use Dutch islands off Venezuela's Caribbean coast to prepare a possible military attack against his country, news agency AP reports.

AP says Chavez claims the US has sent intelligence agents, war ships and spy planes to the Antillean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.

'They are three islands in Venezuela's territorial waters, but they are still under an imperial regime: the Netherlands,' Chavez was reported as saying during a speech at the climate change conference in Denmark.

He called on the European Union to take a stance.

Chavez has repeatedly accused the US of conspiring with Colombia to topple his government, AP said.
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9.: Ahead Of Reinforcements: Poland Loses 16th Soldier In Afghanistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:32 pm (PST)

http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n203947

Focus News Agency
December 19, 2009

Polish soldier killed in Afghanistan gun battle

Warsaw: A 22-year-old Polish soldier was killed in Afghanistan after a firefight with rebel forces, Poland's defence ministry said on Saturday, cited by AFP.

The attack happened in the early morning in the Ghazni province, some 20 kilometres (15 miles) from the Polish troops' Afghan base, the ministry added.

The solider, who has not been named, served in a joint Polish-Afghan Quick Reaction Force (QRF).

Six rebels were also killed in the attack.

Poland has 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), but plans to send another 600 next year.

This latest death brings the total number of Polish fatalities to 16.
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10.: Georgia: Prototype NATO Military Outpost In Eurasia

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:57 pm (PST)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/20/2776763.htm?section=justin

Agence France-Presse
December 19, 2009

Grateful Georgia sends troops to Afghanistan

Georgia is dispatching nearly 1,000 troops to Afghanistan as a sign of gratitude towards the West, President Mikheil Saakashvili wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Saturday.

Mr Saakashvili, who is keen for Georgia to join NATO, stressed that Tbilisi was "firmly allied to the values of the US and the trans-Atlantic community".

Georgia "has been grateful for the extent to which the US and Europe have stood alongside us over recent years. Now we are proud to stand - and fight - alongside you," he wrote.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) froze its ties with Russia after its conflict with Georgia in August 2008. Ties were restored about four months later.

The troop commitment - a heavy battalion and two light companies - makes Georgia the largest per capital contributor to the war effort, Mr Saakashvili wrote.

An infantry company of about 170 Georgian troops is already in Afghanistan, serving under French command, and nearly 800 Georgian troops will be deployed with US Marines to Helmand province.

Georgia was also a key contributor to US-led forces in Iraq, where 2,000 of its soldiers served near the Iranian border until 2008, the second-largest presence among US allies in Iraq after Britain.
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11.: Colombia To Build Military Base, Move Air Force To Venezuelan Border

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:05 pm (PST)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h3Jh48PPt3wwe5h0A0u1QdhMyLuw

Agence France-Presse
December 19, 2009

Colombia to build new military base on Venezuelan border

BOGOTA: Colombia has announced it will build a new military base near its border with Venezuela, in a move likely to further strain its tense ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said Friday that the base, located on the Guajira peninsula near the city of Nazaret, would have up to 1,000 troops. Two air battalions would also be activated at other border areas.

"It is a strategic point from a defense point of view," Silva said.

The 1.5-million-dollar facility [is] paid for with Colombian tax funds....

Army Commander General Oscar Gonzalez meanwhile announced Saturday that six air battalions were being activated, including two on the border with Venezuela.

Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia have been spurred by a US deal with Bogota allowing US forces to run anti-drug operations [sic] from Colombian bases.

Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 28 in response to the US-Colombian military base deal.

The agreement, signed on October 30, involves seven Colombian bases and sparked consternation throughout the region, particularly irking Caracas.

Venezuela shares a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) border with Colombia and has denounced the deal, saying it poses a military threat to the sovereignty of Latin American countries.

In November Chavez called on his countrymen to "prepare for war" and Colombia's defense minister said Friday that "for the first time in decades, the defense ministry must study how to prepare to face a foreign threat."
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12.: South America: France Launches Satellite For NATO Allies

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:21 pm (PST)

http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/sci-edu/world/2009-12/492930.html

Xinhua News Agency
December 19, 2009

French military satellite shot into space

["The satellite is to be made available to Germany's military and to the NATO alliance."
The Syracuse satellites "cover an area extending from the eastern United States to eastern China and would multiply the existing transfer capacity by ten…of France and the European Union to act."
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/stop-nato ]

-The military spy satellite will be the first such launch under French President Nicolas Sarkozy and is part of the second-generation observation system for security and defense applications developed by France in collaboration with Belgium, Spain, Italy and Greece....As to the intelligence information captured by the new satellite, France has signed sharing contracts with Italy and Germany....

The delayed French observation satellite Helios 2B was finally launched atop Arianne 5 rocket into space on Friday by Ariane space center from Kourou launch site in French Guiana, Southern America.

The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the military satellite lifted off at 1626 GMT Friday. The mission, initially scheduled to be launched on Dec. 9, has been postponed two times. The latest on Thursday halted the countdown during the final minutes as an incoherence of records emerged.

The 4.2-ton Helios 2B satellite, heading into sun-synchronous polar orbit, will enable French Defense Ministry to access to better images and identification on sites, areas of military interest during its around the clock service.

A French official at the launch site said that the satellite would be "eyes of our defense system" and reinforce France's capability to develop new intelligent system in the future.

Nearly an hour after the lift-off, the satellite, separated from the last segment of the carrier rocket, was confirmed having reached the right temporary orbit successfully, guaranteeing its final destination.

The military spy satellite will be the first such launch under French President Nicolas Sarkozy and is part of the second-generation observation system for security and defense applications developed by France in collaboration with Belgium, Spain, Italy and Greece.

French defense procurement agency DGA takes the responsibility to run the program and missioned the space segment to French space agency CNES, which is the biggest shareholder of Arianespace center.

As to the intelligence information captured by the new satellite, France has signed sharing contracts with Italy and Germany, local media reported.
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13.: U.S.-Colombia Military Pact Provokes Tension In Latin America

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:29 pm (PST)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/19/content_12668064.htm

Xinhua News Agency
December 19, 2009

Colombia-U.S. military agreement provokes tension in Latin America
by Alejandra del Palacio and Zhou Jianxin

MEXICO CITY: The military cooperation agreement between Colombia and the United States that allowed the latter to expand its military presence in Colombia has provoked tension and controversy in Latin America, making it one of the big regional issues in 2009.

U.S.-COLOMBIA MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT

On Oct. 30, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez and U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield signed the agreement, despite opposition from Colombia's neighboring countries.

According to the agreement, 800 U.S. soldiers and 600 U.S. civilian contractors from the Pentagon or U.S. security organizations could serve at Colombian bases for as long as 10 years.

The agreement also included 5 billion U.S. dollars in aid to Colombia.
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Colombia has emphasized this agreement will be an extension of Plan Colombia, which has used U.S. monetary aid on the fight against drug terrorism and thorny guerilla problems, particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The guerilla group has been present in the country for more than 50 years and the Colombian government has not been able to control it.
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[R]eaction from other Latin American countries has been largely negative, despite a tour by Uribe before signing the agreement in an effort to allay their fears.

LATIN AMERICAN OPPOSITION AGAINST U.S MILITARY BASES

Since the plan emerged in July, tensions have flared in Latin American countries, who fear the bases will threaten their national security and intensify regional instability.

Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia said the planned U.S. military deployment was suspiciously large for its stated purpose.

Venezuela, bordering Colombia to the north, is the most vehement opponent of the plan.

In August, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the foreign ministry to prepare to sever ties with Bogota.

Chavez said the bases were "a threat" to his country and Colombia was conducting "a war policy", adding that the planned agreement "could generate a war in South America".

Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil asked the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) to intervene.

In August, at an Extraordinary Summit in Bariloche, Argentina, many leaders of the 12 member countries of Unasur - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Ecuador - voiced their concerns over the intended military agreement.

At the gathering, Chavez said he would "go to war with Colombia if the agreement is signed".

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said the planned agreement was "an issue that concerns all of us, because it can destabilize the region."

Bolivian President Evo Morales asked Unasur to strongly condemn the possible deployment of U.S. troops in Colombian bases.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez expressed her concern for what she called "an untold and unacceptable state of belligerence" in the region.

Fernandez told Uribe that the main problem with this issue was the lack of trust. "Before we can imagine reaching a consensus, we must build trust."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva demanded guarantees from Colombia that the activities of the U.S. troops in Colombia would be restricted to the latter's territory.

Lula told Uribe U.S. troops had been in Colombia for more than 50 years and if five decades of military presence had not solved the issue of drug trafficking, then the efficiency of this strategy must be questioned.

Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said his country was against the establishment of foreign military bases in any part of Latin America. He said his country shared the need of keeping South America "as a land of peace."
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The Extraordinary Summit ended with a joint call for strengthening South America as "a zone of peace".

The Unasur leaders agreed to respect each other's territorial integrity and promised "to establish a mechanism of mutual trust regarding defense and security" in the region.

Unasur stressed that "the presence of foreign military forces cannot, with its means and linked resources to goals, threaten the sovereignty and integrity of any South American nation and, in consequence, the peace and security of the region."

POST-AGREEMENT SITUATION
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On Dec. 14, the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) strongly condemned the U.S. political and military activities in the region and the military cooperation agreement.

The body said that U.S. military bases in Colombia imposed a great threat on the peace, security and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean region.

The leaders of ALBA member countries also urged Colombia to reconsider the establishment of military bases.

Morales said Latin America would be the "second Vietnam" of the United States if the U.S. government continued its "military aggression" in the region.

Morales suggested that a continental referendum be held to show the region's rejection of the Colombia-U.S. agreement.

Although the military deal has been signed, controversy over the issue and tensions caused by the agreement remain in the region.
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