Messages In This Digest (21 Messages)

15.: Haiti: The Price Of Freedom From: Rick Rozoff

16.: [Vid] Zbigniew Brzezinski on Iran, Afgan War the 'Grand Chessboard' From: linguisticresearch

17.: Ukraine will never join military bloc, including NATO - Yanukovych From: linguisticresearch

18.: West's 200,000-Troop Afghan Force Boosts Drugs: Russian Official From: Rick Rozoff

19.: Israel To Base Nuclear-Capable German Submarine In Persian Gulf From: Rick Rozoff

20.: Heroin From NATO-Occupied Afghanistan Killed 90,000 In 2009: UN From: Rick Rozoff

21.: Georgia Hosts Third Meeting On Strategic Partnership With U.S. From: Rick Rozoff

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1.: NATO Kills Afghan Civilian, U.S. Soldier Killed

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:07 am (PST)

http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1620093.html

Trend News Agency
January 17, 2010

NATO forces kill Afghan civilian, US soldier killed in clash

NATO forces in southern Afghanistan killed one civilian on Sunday after he approached their convoy in a vehicle, while a US soldier was killed in a clash with suspected Taliban in the eastern region, the military said.

The incident happened when the civilian vehicle approached the convoy in Garmsir district in Helmand province Sunday morning, the alliance said in a statement.
.....
"One civilian received a gunshot wound to the chest," [a report] said, adding that the man died of his wounds after he was evacuated to a military hospital.
....
In a separate incident, a US soldier died of wounds after a clash with Taliban insurgents Saturday, a military statement said.

The latest death took to 19 the number of foreign soldiers killed in January. A total of 520 NATO troops were killed in the conflict in 2009, the deadliest year for international forces since 2001.
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2.: Ukraine: Frontrunner Calls For Removal Of Georgian "Observers"

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:07 am (PST)

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/01/17/3638496.html

Voice of Russia
January 17, 2010

Ukraine`s presidential candidate Yanukovich urges Georgia to recall observers

The leader of Ukraine's Party of Regions, Victor Yanukovich, urged the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to recall his citizens who had arrived in Kyiv to receive the status of observers at the ongoing presidential elections.

'We won`t allow any third country to interfere in our home affairs. We`ll perfectly do without these so-called observers", Yanukovich said during a press-conference on Sunday and also denied the reports of violence against journalists from Georgia.

Some 400 citizens of Georgia were said to arrive in Ukraine's Donetsk region where Yanukovich enjoys wide public support, and 2,000 more are expected soon.

According to some reports, they all have links with secret service in Tbilisi. Ukraine's Prime Minister Julia Timoshenko authorized the arrival of the Georgian observers. Provocations are feared in Donetsk during the run-off.
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3.: Kuwait, U.S. Armed Forces Begin Joint Military Maneuvers

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:08 am (PST)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/17/content_12827051.htm

Xinhua News Agency
January 17, 2010

Kuwait, U.S. armed forces start joint military maneuver

KUWAIT CITY: The Kuwaiti Army and the U.S. military forces on Sunday started a joint military maneuver as the country's foreign minister said the turbulence in neighboring Iraq could pose threats to Kuwait's security.

A statement from the Kuwaiti Army carried by the official KUNA news agency said the drill was aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two forces.

The exercise that will last till Jan. 26 would involve live ammunition in day and night time actions, the statement added.

Kuwait, the fourth largest exporter of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC), holds a U.S. military camp and remains a logistics base for the Pentagon to support its troops in neighboring Iraq.

The country's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah told a local daily Sunday he was worried that the unabated conflicts and terrorist attacks in Iraq would spill over to the Gulf oil-exporter.
....
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4.: U.S. Drone Missile Attack Kills 20 In Pakistan

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:09 am (PST)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116362§ionid=351020401

Press TV
January 17, 2010

US drone attack claims 20 lives in Pakistan

At least 20 people have been killed in Pakistan in the latest US drone attacks that picked up pace after seven CIA agents were killed in late December.

The Sunday attack has reportedly targeted a militant compound in an area near Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region. However, the identity of those killed in the air raid has not been confirmed.

The number of CIA-operated drone strikes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has increased after a Jordanian double agent crossed into Afghanistan from the tribal lands and struck a US intelligence center in late 2009.

Over the weekend, eleven people were killed in two drone attacks in northwestern Pakistan.

The US has carried out dozens of missile strikes in northwestern Pakistan over the past twelve months. Washington claims it is targeting militants.

But reports say the attacks have repeatedly killed civilians. Last week, Pakistani officials warned US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke that the US drone attacks could endanger ties.

There have been nationwide rallies in Pakistan against high civilian casualties inflicted by the US operations.

Pakistan Islami Jamiat-e Talaba staged an anti-American rally on Saturday to show strong resentment at US drone attacks in the country.

Demonstrators demanded that the government take a strong stand against the US presence in the country.
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5.: U.S. Army To "Protect" Pakistan's Nuclear Sites

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:11 am (PST)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116374§ionid=351020401

Press TV
January 17, 2010

US Army to 'protect' Pakistan's nuclear sites

In face of a growing anti-Americanism among the Pakistan military, the US army moves to train a 'crack unit' to thwart possible attacks on the country's nuclear facilities.

The unit would be responsible to take back Pakistani nuclear weapons in the event the militants gain access to the strategic devices and materials, the Pakistani daily The Nation reported Sunday.

The measure is taken as the US military fears the possibility of an attack "from inside the country's security apparatus," added the report.

The daily notes that the rising anti-Americanism among the Pakistani military personnel, as well as a series of attacks on sensitive installations over the past two years, has prompted the US officials to take the action.

"There have been attacks on (Pakistani) army bases which stored nuclear weapons and there have been breaches and infiltrations by terrorists into military facilities,"
Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA officer who used to run the US energy department's intelligence unit, was quoted as saying.

Larssen claimed the nuclear Pakistan houses "the highest density of extremists in the world," declaring that the US has the right to be concerned over the issue.

Heated debate has been going on between the US and Pakistani officials over the security of its nuclear facilities over the past two weeks.

There have been reports that US officials' primary goal is to gain access to and disable or neutralize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, which they consider as a possible threat to US and Israeli security.

Pakistani nuclear arms have also been referred to as an "Islamic Bomb" in the American and Israeli press and political circles, highlighting their mindset regarding the country's atomic weapons, which was meant to rival India's. India's nuclear arms, however, have never been raised as a concern in
western circles.

In 2007, militants attacked military facilities at Sargodha, in Punjab, and at Kamra, in Attock district, which are thought to house nuclear weapons.

In August 2008, militants blew up the gates to the Wah weapons complex in Punjab. The attack left 63 people dead.
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6.: NATO, U.S. Levy: More Czech Troops, Warplanes To Afghanistan

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:31 pm (PST)

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/defence-minister-wants-to-reinforce-czech-mission-in-afghanistan/421869

Czech News Agency
January 17, 2010

Defence Minister wants to reinforce Czech mission in Afghanistan

Prague: Defence Minister Martin Bartak will in two weeks submit to the government several alternatives of a proposal that the Czech contingent in Afghanistan be reinforced by up to 100 people, he said in the Questions of Vaclav Moravec programme on public Czech TV today.

Bartak will thereby react to the appeal by U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO.

The approval of the number of soldiers in foreign missions is traditionally accompanied by a battle between the right and the left in parliament.

New Czech troops in Afghanistan should also train the Afghan police forces and they will have the Czech artillery hunting radar Arthur that the Czech military has not yet used abroad in their equipment.

Bartak said the deployment of the L 159 combat aircraft is also being considered.

The foreign missions have provoked sharp disputes among politicians.

The Social Democrats (CSSD) are opposed to increasing the number of Czech troops abroad.

This is why the reinforcement of the Afghan mission must be thoroughly discussed on the political scene, Bartak added.
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7.: Ukraine Election Winner: No More 'Rose,' 'Orange' Putches

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:38 pm (PST)

http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/29974

Interfax Ukraine
January 17, 2010

Yanukovych: no more "orange revolutions"

Presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych says he is certain that Ukraine will not have another "Orange Revolution."

While commenting on the arrival of a large number of Georgian citizens for the alleged monitoring of the Ukrainian presidential election, he said: "If the people [Georgian alleged observers] who have come here would have respected themselves, they would have gone home long ago. They should not be doing this.

"The revolution of roses" will never [continue] in Georgia, and Ukraine will not have another "Orange Revolution"," Yanukovych said.
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8.: NATO Troops Slay Civilians In Afghan North, South

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:49 pm (PST)

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1526056.php/Two-civilians-killed-by-NATO-forces-in-Afghanistan-Roundup

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 17, 2010

Two civilians killed by NATO forces in Afghanistan (Roundup)

Kabul" Two civilians were killed and another wounded in separate incidents Sunday by NATO forces fearing suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan, officials said.

German soldiers operating in the northern city of Kunduz killed one civilian and wounded another....

German military authorities confirmed that their troops opened fire on the speeding vehicle.
....
Meanwhile in a similar incident, troops opened fire on a civilian vehicle that approached a NATO convoy in Garmsir district in Helmand province Sunday morning, the alliance said in a statement.
....
In a separate incident, a US soldier died of wounds after a clash with Taliban insurgents Saturday, a military statement said.

The latest death took to 19 the number of foreign soldiers killed in January. A total of 520 NATO troops were killed in the conflict in 2009, the deadliest year for international forces since 2001.
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9.: Bush, Obama War Policies Not Similar - They're Identical

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 5:00 pm (PST)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0114chapmanjan14,0,32500.column

Chicago Tribune
January 14, 2010

Obama: A hawk?
Steve Chapman

-As it is, the United States spends more on defense than all the other countries on Earth combined. Yet we persist in thinking of ourselves as endangered by foreign countries that are military pipsqueaks.
Obama shares this view. He thinks the only problem with the American military is there isn't enough of it. He's expanding the size of both the Army and the Marine Corps. That's right: After we begin leaving Iraq, the biggest military undertaking in two decades, we won't need a smaller force. We'll need a bigger one.

Anyone who was hoping the current administration would bring a modest downsizing of the nation's defense establishment and global military role has to be feeling like Bernard Madoff's investors. Escalation is under way in Afghanistan, the Army is expanding, and the Pentagon is on the all-you-can-eat diet.

The American political system is set up to persuade citizens that they must choose between starkly different policies. In reality, campaigns are mostly a showy exercise in what Sigmund Freud called the "narcissism of small differences."

When it comes to defense, history suggests that the two major parties offer a choice on the order of McDonald's and Burger King. Anyone looking back 50 years from now at objective indicators would have trouble identifying a meaningful difference between the current president and the last one.

For that matter, it's easy to assume that when President Barack Obama began addressing national security policy, he accidentally picked up John McCain's platform instead of his own. Critics suspect Obama is a closet Muslim. But maybe his real secret is that he's a closet Republican.

The administration and its opponents both make much of its plan to withdraw all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by this summer and to pull the rest out by 2012. What both prefer to forget is that the previous president agreed to the same timetable. Obama's policy on the war he once opposed is not similar to Bush's: It is identical.

Afghanistan? Dick Cheney faults the president for allegedly failing to "talk about how we win," as if Obama were doing far less than the Bush administration. In fact, Obama has agreed to more than triple the U.S. troop presence in a war that his predecessor only talked about winning. McCain called for a "surge" in Afghanistan like the one in Iraq. Obama has given it to him.

Republicans nonetheless entertain the fantasy that at heart, Obama is a pacifist, bent on gutting our military might and naively trusting the good faith of our adversaries. Bush White House adviser Karl Rove recently complained that under this administration, "defense spending is being flattened: Between 2009 and 2010, military outlays will rise 3.6 percent while nondefense discretionary spending climbs 12 percent."

Read that again: Rove believes that when defense spending rises 3.6 percent, it's not really rising. Why? Because the rest of the budget is growing faster. By that logic, if I gained 10 pounds over the holidays but Rove gained 20, I'd need to have my pants taken in.

As it is, the United States spends more on defense than all the other countries on Earth combined. Yet we persist in thinking of ourselves as endangered by foreign countries that are military pipsqueaks.

Obama shares this view. He thinks the only problem with the American military is there isn't enough of it. He's expanding the size of both the Army and the Marine Corps. That's right: After we begin leaving Iraq, the biggest military undertaking in two decades, we won't need a smaller force. We'll need a bigger one.

Conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity accuses the president of "cutting back on defense," but he must be holding his chart upside down. The basic Pentagon budget (excluding money for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars) is scheduled to go up every year.

Over the next five years, defense spending, adjusted for inflation, would be higher than it was in the last five years, when Fox News commentators did not complain about inadequate funding. That's not counting the increases requested by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to provide an additional boost of nearly $60 billion over those five years.

What all this suggests is that Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us nothing about the folly of invading other countries and trying to turn them into modern democracies. The essential theme of the administration's national security policy is reflexive continuity. Why else would we need a bigger military except to do more of the same?

So we are stuck with the consensus that has ruled Washington for decades - the expensive, aggressive policy that has inflated the federal budget and bogged us down in two unsuccessful wars while furnishing an endless, priceless recruiting message for Islamic terrorists.

Too bad. None of this would have happened if Barack Obama had been elected.
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10.: Ukraine: End To U.S.'s Global "Rainbow" Subversion

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:21 pm (PST)

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/18/stories/2010011853981400.htm

[George W. Bush, May 28, 2005:

"In the last 18 months, we have witnessed a Rose Revolution in Georgia, an Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, a Purple Revolution in Iraq, a Tulip
Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, and a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon – and these are only the beginning."

February 24, 2006:

"In our time, we've witnessed revolutions of Rose and Orange and Purple and Tulip and Cedar, and these are just only the beginnings. Across the world freedom is on the march, and we will not rest until the promise
of freedom reaches people everywhere across the globe. It's in our national interest."]

The Hindu
January 18, 2010

President faced with defeat in Ukraine polls
Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: The former Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovich, captured an early lead in Ukraine's presidential election, which looks set to bring a crushing defeat for incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko.

Two exit polls sited by Russian news agencies gave Mr. Yanukovich between 36 to 40 per cent of the votes, with Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko coming in second with 21 to 24 per cent, and ex-Governor of the National Bank Sergei Tigipko trailing them with 10 to 15 per cent. These results, if confirmed, mean that a runoff will have to be held on February 7.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yanukovich has already taken revenge on his archrival, Mr. Yushchenko, who was swept into power five years ago by the West-orchestrated "orange revolution," which overturned Mr. Yanukovich's election victory. Mr. Yushchenko's popularity has since tumbled to less than 5 per cent over his failure to honour election promises, his patently anti-Russian policies and bitter infighting in the "orange" camp.
....
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11.: NATO: No Russian Role In Eastern Europe, South Caucasus

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:45 pm (PST)

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-17/nato-to-rebuff-russian-bid-for-separate-treaty-officials-say.html

Bloomberg News
January 18, 2010

NATO to Rebuff Russian Bid for Separate Treaty, Officials Say
By James G. Neuger

-Western governments have been cool to the Medvedev initiative, a product of the Kremlin's desire to overhaul European security arrangements after NATO's eastward enlargement put western troops on Russia's borders.
"There can be no doubt whatsoever that NATO will remain our framework for Euro-Atlantic security," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last month.

NATO is likely to rebuff a Russian proposal for a bilateral security treaty, seeing it as a ploy to regain lost influence over eastern Europe [sic], four allied officials said.

The initiative marks a Russian bid to...halt the Brussels-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization's expansion. The proposal, made last month, would have effectively given Russia a veto over allied military planning, especially in eastern Europe, said the officials, who declined to be named because the alliance hasn't issued a formal response.

"It's a way of trying to put into treaty an acceptance of a Russian sphere of influence," said Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO who is now managing director of Johns Hopkins University's trans-Atlantic relations center in Washington. "It essentially gives Russia a veto over countries that are not yet members of NATO."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov handed the proposed "Agreement on Basic Principles Governing Relations Among NATO- Russia Council Member States in Security Sphere" in Russian and English versions to allied officials without publicity at a NATO-Russia meeting in Brussels Dec. 4

NATO-Russia Cooperation

While NATO aims to boost cooperation with Russia on the war in Afghanistan, fighting piracy and stemming nuclear proliferation, there is little appetite for a new treaty, said the four NATO officials.
,,,,
Asked if NATO-Russia ties need a new legal basis, the alliance's supreme military commander, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, said his focus is on practical steps such as expanding the supply lines through Russia for the 100,000-plus western troops in Afghanistan.
....

Obama 'Reset'

The Lavrov paper, coming as President Barack Obama seeks to "reset" relations with the Kremlin, is distinct from a wider East-West security treaty also floated last year by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Western governments have been cool to the Medvedev initiative, a product of the Kremlin's desire to overhaul European security arrangements after NATO's eastward enlargement put western troops on Russia's borders.

"There can be no doubt whatsoever that NATO will remain our framework for Euro-Atlantic security," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last month.

NATO absorbed former Soviet allies starting in 1999, when a Russia shorn of its Cold War satellites was struggling to regain its economic footing after defaulting on $40 billion of debt.
....
Russia pushed back against further NATO enlargement by ***invading western-leaning Georgia in August 2008 and trying to reassert control over Ukraine***, which held the first round of presidential elections yesterday.

No Choice
....
Putin has accused NATO of violating a 1998 pledge not to permanently station "substantial combat forces" on former Warsaw Pact territory. The new treaty would potentially allow Russia to weigh in on NATO defense policies such as the air policing mission over the three Baltic republics, once part of the Soviet Union.

NATO has pointed to the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an East-West forum created in 1975, as the best arena for discussing Russia's security concerns.

--Editors: James Hertling, Steve Rhinds
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12.: Poland: U.S. Client Regime To Boost Afghan War Troops To 3,000

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:53 pm (PST)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/7011289/Poland-ready-to-increase-Afghan-troops.html

Sunday Telegraph
January 17, 2010

Poland ready to increase Afghan troops
Poland's foreign minister has said his country is willing to commit more troops to Afghanistan and criticised other European nations for excluding their forces from combat missions
By Matthew Day in Warsaw

-"The issue of national caveats is something I've been banging on about ever since I became defence minister," said Mr Sikorski.
"I've coined the phrase 'Who gives without caveats gives double', and I think we need a mechanism for fair burden sharing, both within Nato and the EU.
-"I have defended the principle that the government can send troops on missions abroad without the need for extended parliamentary debates," he said. "When our allies are in need they don't expect long debates.

Radek Sikorski said Poland "wants to be seen as a nation that stands by its allies" and was ready to expand its presence if asked.

"We will be at 2,600 by April and 400 additional troops on standby, which we will deploy if there is a need to strengthen security," he said.

Mr Sikorski expressed his frustration over caveats used by other nations, including Germany, that often exclude their forces from combat operations in Afghanistan.

"The issue of national caveats is something I've been banging on about ever since I became defence minister," said Mr Sikorski.

"I've coined the phrase 'Who gives without caveats gives double', and I think we need a mechanism for fair burden sharing, both within Nato and the EU.

"If countries can't commit troops then they should contribute money because these operations are very expensive."

Some 15 Polish soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and the mounting body count has begun to unsettle a country unfamiliar with a foreign war taking the lives of its soldiers.

An opinion poll last month showed that as much as 76 per cent of Poles favoured a withdrawal, with many seeing little hope for a successful conclusion.

Mr Sikorski, however, while conceding that the decision to fight was "unpopular", argued that an ally's call for help should be answered promptly and unfettered by exhaustive discussion at home.

"I have defended the principle that the government can send troops on missions abroad without the need for extended parliamentary debates," he said. "When our allies are in need they don't expect long debates.

They want troops. That is what we would expect from our allies if we were in need."

The foreign minister added that Polish history had influenced the country's decision to send forces to Afghanistan.

Poland's government is hoping its commitment to Afghanistan will give it greater clout and influence in Europe.

The country assumes the presidency of the EU next year, and has made strengthening Europe's common security and defence policies a priority.
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13.: Pentagon Courts India To Counter China, Russia In Asia

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:58 pm (PST)

http://www.livemint.com/2010/01/17213649/Gates-aims-to-extend-India-US.html

Bloomberg News
January 17, 2010

Gates aims to extend India, US military cooperation

-Gates' trip follows secretary of state Hillary Clinton's diplomatic mission to India in July and the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in November.
Joint military exercises with the US have increased steadily since 2002, the US defence official said.

Washington: US defence secretary Robert Gates heads to India this week in his first visit in almost two years as he seeks to expand the Barack Obama administration's ties to the country through military cooperation.

Gates will highlight India's growing role as a regional power and emerging global player and explore further joint military efforts, a US defence official said. The defence chief, who will arrive in New Delhi on 19 January, will draw on the interest that India and the US share in ensuring stability in South Asia, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Gates described India, China, Russia and Indonesia, as new and re-emerging centres of power in a speech in Singapore in May. "Cooperation with India has reached levels unthinkable in the recent past," he had said.

"In coming years, we look to India to be a partner and net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond," Gates told an audience at an annual Asian security conference.

Obama has called India, the world's largest democracy and fastest-growing economy after China, a critical partner on issues from climate change to combating terrorism. India is also helping with development in Afghanistan, and participates in more far-flung ventures such as a multinational anti-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa.

Gates' trip follows secretary of state Hillary Clinton's diplomatic mission to India in July and the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in November.

Joint military exercises with the US have increased steadily since 2002, the US defence official said.

Gates will look for new areas of cooperation and how the two militaries might be involved in joint counter-terrorism efforts, the official said.

He said the two countries will also seek ways to improve operations, such as with common equipment.
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14.: Massive German-Israeli Naval Arms Deal In The Works

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:08 pm (PST)

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4458174

Defense News
January 17, 2010

Israel Seeks German Arms-Aid Deal
1B Euro Package To Include Surface Ships, Submarines
By Barbara Opall-Rome

-The proposed acquisition, Israeli defense and industry...depends not only on significant German funding, but on Washington's permission to use annual military aid to pay for raw materials, subsystems and engine parts destined for the non-U.S. ships.
-Israel has asked Germany to finance one-third of the new surface-undersea package under terms similar to a 2005 deal that allowed Israel to acquire two new air-independent propulsion Dolphins for only two-thirds of the 1 billion euro program.
-Aside from the proposed arms-aid package, the two governments are expected to discuss nonproliferation initiatives and new bilateral as well as international means of rolling back Iran's nuclear program. The two governments also will attempt to clarify and, where possible, harmonize respective policies regarding Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, including Israel's perceived use of disproportionate force in its Cast Lead...campaign early last year.

Tel Aviv: Germany and Israel are intensifying negotiations over a nearly 1 billion euro ($1.45 billion) naval procurement package, a considerable portion of which Israel hopes to fund from a combination of German and U.S. aid.

The Israeli-proposed arms-aid deal - to be discussed Jan. 18 in Berlin at a special joint meeting of the German and Israeli cabinets - involves an additional Dolphin diesel-electric submarine, torpedoes and two German-built warships.

The ships - stretched, 2,200-ton versions of the Meko A-100 - are the Israel Navy's preferred alternative to the U.S.-built Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which the service rejected last year as unaffordable because of cost growth. At first, Israel lobbied to build the German ships under license at home, with the Israeli Treasury footing initial costs to establish a local warship-building industry.

But under the latest incarnation of the deal, Israel is proposing to build the ships in Germany, where they will be outfitted with Israeli radar and a comprehensive combat weapons suite. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), the Hamburg-based consortium building submarines for the Israeli Navy, is to be prime contractor, with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) the likely lead integrator.

The proposed acquisition, Israeli defense and industry sources here say, depends not only on significant German funding, but on Washington's permission to use annual military aid to pay for raw materials, subsystems and engine parts destined for the non-U.S. ships.

Altogether, U.S.-produced content could reach $200 million for the estimated $650 million, two-ship program, which the Navy hopes to fund with Foreign Military Financing (FMF). In parallel, the program will draw on so-called U.S. Offshore Procurement funding - the portion of annual aid authorized for conversion into local shekels - to outfit the ships with Israeli technologies.

Hitting Germany Up for One-Third

Israel has asked Germany to finance one-third of the new surface-undersea package under terms similar to a 2005 deal that allowed Israel to acquire two new air-independent propulsion Dolphins for only two-thirds of the 1 billion euro program.

Both submarines contracted under the 2005 deal are still under construction in Germany, with first deliveries planned for 2012. They will join Israel's three-Dolphin fleet, operational since 2001; two of the Dolphins were fully funded by Germany, and costs for the third were shared evenly by the two countries.

The Israel Navy formally submitted its request for the new submarine-surface ship package last autumn, and representatives from the two countries have been meeting to hammer out details at the working level ever since. Berlin's consent to elevate the matter for discussion this week by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their respective defense ministers indicates progress toward reaching some kind of agreement, Israeli sources here said.
....
Shimon Stein, a former Israeli ambassador to Germany who was heavily involved in negotiations leading up to the 2005 submarine deal, declined to discuss specifics of the new Israeli-proposed package. In general, however, he said the prospect of new Israeli orders would benefit a German shipbuilding industry hard-hit by economic crisis.

Similarly, he said the Merkel-led government has demonstrated political goodwill toward Israel in numerous areas, including its condemnation of Iran's nuclear weapons drive and mediating efforts to secure the release of an Israeli soldier held in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

"Merkel is positively disposed to Israel's security needs and will be understanding of the escalating threat situation," Stein said.
....
Several key Israeli ministers will accompany Netanyahu to the cabinet meeting in Berlin, each with a staff of experts prepared to address specific issues that may arise in bilateral efforts to upgrade political, economic and security ties. This week's summit follows a joint meeting in Jerusalem of the Israeli and German cabinets held in 2008 to mark Israel's 60th year of statehood.

Aside from the proposed arms-aid package, the two governments are expected to discuss nonproliferation initiatives and new bilateral as well as international means of rolling back Iran's nuclear program. The two governments also will attempt to clarify and, where possible, harmonize respective policies regarding Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, including Israel's perceived use of disproportionate force in its Cast Lead anti-rocket campaign early last year.
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15.: Haiti: The Price Of Freedom

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

Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:16 pm (PST)

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100117/cleisure/cleisure3.html

Jamaica Gleaner
January 17, 2010

Haiti - the price of freedom
Carolyn Cooper

-It is still not widely known that Haiti was forced to pay 90 million gold francs in reparations to France for freedom. This vast sum is equivalent to more than US$21 billion today. Haiti had to borrow the money from French banks. Repayment of the reparations debt stretched out over decades and had a devastating impact on the Haitian economy. By the end of the 19th century, 80 per cent of Haiti's national budget was being spent on debt repayment and interest. Sounds like an IMF agreement, a truly devilish pact.

In the days when BWIA used to fly to Haiti, I once sat next to a man who asked me to fill out his immigration form. François' occupation was painter, and as he was about to get off the flight, he gave me an unexpected gift - one of his paintings. I'd mistakenly assumed he was a house painter. To be honest, I thought the painting rather touristy. It was a landscape, with clouds, birds, trees and houses all lined up symmetrically. Only the people were out of order.

All the same, I was touched by the gesture. The painter's generosity far exceeded the small service I had rendered. It took me more than a decade to frame the painting which I'd dismissively set aside. I was amazed to see how the defining border transformed into vibrant art what I'd thought of as paint-by-numbers work. By investing in a frame, I'd decided that the painting was art. It makes you wonder about how perception is altered by the ways in which we frame reality.

Take, for instance, Pat Robertson's lunatic perspective on the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. Founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson, a former Republican candidate for the US presidency, makes Sarah Palin look like a 'bonafide' intellectual. In an interview on January 13, Robertson made a preposterous declaration:

"You know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti and the people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. Ah, you know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' And ah they kicked the Frenc