Messages In This Digest (18 Messages)

1.: Letter: Is The Killing Of Afghan Children Progress?

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:56 am (PST)

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20100110/SHE0601/1100302/1111/SHE06

Sheboygan Press
January 10, 2010

Letters: Is the killing of Afghan children progress?
January 10, 2010

As the old year came to an end, there was another report of the damage done in Afghanistan. NATO forces attacked a village in Kunar province.

Eight children between the ages of 12 and 14 are said to have been killed, their bodies torn to pieces by NATO shells. Obama is burned in effigy by the incensed villagers as mothers weep and fathers vow vengeance. This at a time when many of us sing our hymns of "peace on earth, good will towards men" and go on with our lives as usual.

As in Iraq, we are engaged in the brutal madness of a war that involves the killing of the innocent who are caught in our fire and in the teeth of our arrogance.

This is not the way to peace, as any school child can tell us. And it is certainly not "change we can believe in."

As the new year begins, we shall hear the politicians and militarists insist we are making "progress" But the more death we sew, the more violence we should expect in return as Obama's shameless war deepens and the costs continue to rise and we all become poorer for it.

We love to think of ourselves as a "Christian nation."

Albert Camus got it right: "What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear; that they should voice their condemnation in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could arise in the heart of the simplest person; that they should ... confront the blood-stained face history has taken on today."

Rev. Frederick Trost
Elkhart Lake
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2.: CENTCOM Chief: U.S. To More Than Double Military Aid To Yemen

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:57 am (PST)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115785§ionid=351020206

Press TV
January 10, 2010

'US to double its security funding to Yemen'

The head of the US Central Command Gen. David Petraeus has declared that Washington is to double its security assistance funding to Yemen, from $70 million to more than $150.

However the US has no plans to send ground troops to Yemen, Petraeus told CNN in an interview that will be aired on Sunday.
....
The US claims its helping Sana'a to fight al-Qaeda militants in the southern parts of the country. But the remarks by the top US military General comes at a time when the Yemeni and Saudi militaries have been fighting an all-out war against Yemen's Shia minority in the north.

Shia fighters in the north have repeatedly reported that US fighter jets have bombed the northwestern province of Sa'ada.

Petraeus also noted that Saudi Arabia has allocated $2 billion and the United Arab Emirates at least $600 million to the Yemen government to fight "terror and promote development" within its borders.

The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana'a and Houthi fighters. Relative peace had returned to the region until August 11, when the Yemeni army launched a major offensive, dubbed Operation Scorched Earth, against Sa'ada Province.

The government claims that the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, seek to restore the Shia imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 military coup.

The Houthis, however, say they are defending their people's civil rights, which the government has undermined under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists. Shia citizens of Yemen form the clear majority in the north and make up approximately half of the overall population.

The United Nations, which according to its charter is set up "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace," has failed to adopt any concrete measures to help end the bloody war.
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3.: U.S., Jordan To Advance Strategic Partnership

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:57 am (PST)

http://en.trend.az/regions/world/usa/1615260.html

Trend News Agency
January 10, 2010

Jordan, US officials to discuss strategic cooperation Monday

Officials from Jordan and the United States are to meet in Amman Monday to discuss strategic cooperation, Jordan's pro-government daily al-Rai newspaper reported Sunday.

The talks would focus on regional cooperation, regional stability, the situation in Iraq and the Middle East peace process, according to the report quoting Foreign Ministry sources, dpa reported.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met in Washington on Friday.

The Jordanian government on Sunday came under fire from the media for its avowed plan to continue to fight al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The criticism was directed against Judeh who had said Friday that Jordan would continue cooperating with the US in its endeavours to hunt leaders of the terrorist network.
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4.: Opinion: "All War Is Stupid"

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:58 pm (PST)

http://blog.nj.com/njv_ray_schroth/2010/01/all_war_is_stupid.html

Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
January 10, 2010

'ALL WAR IS STUPID.'
By Raymond A. Schroth

It was one of TIME magazine's most dramatic covers. A lone soldier stood atop a pile of rocks and rubble, a tiny dot on a landscape of rugged mountains towering into the horizon. Title: "Afghanistan: THE RIGHT WAR."

It was July 2008 at the height of the presidential campaign, and Barack Obama was already defining himself as a "war president" against John McCain by promising to send two additional brigades to Afghanistan - while McCain would send at least three. And Obama would seek more help from NATO allies.

On "How to Save Afghanistan," TIME offered advice from Professor Rory Stewart, who lives in Kabul and was recently named head of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard. His first rule: Don't send more troops. Nor should we increase our involvement in the government and the economy. We should focus on development assistance, agricultural irrigation, education, and roads. Our military should focus on counterterrorism, not counter-insurgency. Transforming a country of 32 million people was a task not for Westerners but for Afghans. He concludes, "We do not have a moral obligation to do what we cannot do."

In the months preceding Obama's reconsideration of American policy, good advice piled up in the press and online. Columnist William Pfaff recalled that Obama was not against all wars, only "stupid wars." Another writer pointed out that John F. Kennedy first wrote "War is stupid" from the Pacific during World War II.

Pfaff suggested Afghanistan might be a stupid war. What makes us sure, he asks, that Osama Bin Laden and his staff are still in Afghanistan or Pakistan? Maybe they have shaved their beards and are living it up in South America or Paris, while they send out rumors that he's in this or that Pakistan village so the Americans will bomb them, kill more civilians and generate more hatred of our presence.

Jerome Grossman's blog (May 23, 2009) reminded us that a war in Afghanistan would not save us from another September 11. "That attack was made by 19 people, not one of them Afghans, armed with credit cards and box cutters." Leslie Gelb (New York Times, March 13, 2009), said, increase economic aid while withdrawing troops over three years. Include the Taliban in the power structure, and ring Afghanistan with neighbors - China, India, Russia, NATO, and Iran - who would restrain the Afghan drug trade and Islamist extremism.

Several critics warned that Afghanistan could become Obama's Vietnam. As much as I admire the rhetoric of his Nobel Prize speech and accept the argument that sometimes force must be used against evil, and though Obama rejects the suggestion that Afghanistan is like Vietnam, it is.

Without asking the American upper and middle class to sacrifice, through raised taxes and a draft, we are sending young men and women to be killed and wounded to support a corrupt regime which the majority of its people oppose. Afghanistan now ranks as the fifth most corrupt country on earth. It is hard to escape the impression that Obama, having opposed the Iraq war, now feels that as a "war president" and commander of the armed forces he must strike the pose of a tough guy, in tune with the generals who have had training and experiences this young law professor never had.

Muckraking journalist I. F. Stone used to quip that the only president to stand up to generals was Eisenhower, who had five stars on his shoulders when they had only four.

But another issue looms large on whether this is a just war. Obama, in his Nobel address, committed the United Sates to the traditional principles of the just war, which include the immunity of con-combatants, which means we may not kill civilians in the course of pursuing other goals. In modern wars, Obama admits, more civilians than soldiers die. And, according to reports, he has ordered commanders to minimize civilian casualties.

But news stories for 2009 are a steady stream of maneuvers, air raids, gone wrong, which end up in the death of households invaded in the night, of bomb strikes called in to wipe out targets which turn out to not be enemy bastions. A UN report in February, 2009, said that in air strikes and village raids American led attacks had killed 828 people the previous year.

A UN May report counted a total 2000 Afghans killed the previous year, including those killed by insurgents. Two hundred had been killed that May. In one incident (NYT May 7, 2009) where as many as 130 may have been killed by us, the villagers brought in two tractor trailers full of body parts to prove that the casualties had occurred. During the last week (NYT December 31-Jan 8), nighttime raids and bombing killed approximately 17 civilians, mostly young students.

This is not how to wage or win a war. If there is no other way, Obama should know, by moral and international law, it's time to pull out.
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5.: After Lieberman, McCain Visit: Pakistani Army To Move To Afghan Bord

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:02 pm (PST)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/10/AR2010011001212.html

Associated Press
January 10, 2010

Senator: Pakistan army may go to North Waziristan

WASHINGTON: A senator who's just visited Pakistan says Pakistan's military may be considering a move into the militant stronghold of North Waziristan.

Sen. Joe Lieberman says the Pakistani army is on the move and there's a possibility the U.S. will see activity in that volatile northern region.

Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain recently met with Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Pakistani leaders have said they will send the military into any area where they feel the government's authority is challenged. They have not specifically outlined any future operations.

Lieberman appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."
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6.: Pentagon To Store $800 Million In Weapons In Israel

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:04 pm (PST)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141745.html

Haaretz
January 11, 2010

U.S. to store $800m in military gear in Israel
By Amos Harel

-The deal allows Israel access to a wider spectrum of military ordnance, and the U.S. official said his government was considering which forms of military supplies would be added to stores in Israel. Missiles, armored vehicles, aerial ammunition and artillery ordnance are already stockpiled in the country.

The U.S. Army will double the value of emergency military equipment it stockpiles on Israeli soil, and Israel will be allowed to use the U.S. ordnance in the event of a military emergency, according to a report in Monday's issue of the U.S. weekly Defense News.

The report, written by Barbara Opall-Rome, the magazine's Israel correspondent, said that an agreement reached between Washington and Jerusalem last month will bring the value of the military gear to $800 million.

This is the final phase of a process that began over a year ago to determine the type and amount of U.S. weapons and ammunition to be stored in Israel, part of an overarching American effort to stockpile weapons in areas in which its army may need to operate while allowing American allies to make use of the ordnance in emergencies.

The agreement was signed by Brig. Gen. Ofer Wolf, who heads the Israel Defense Forces' technology and logistics branch, and Rear Adm. Andy Brown, the logistics director of U.S. Army European Command.

The United States began stockpiling $100 million in military equipment in Israel in 1990, 12 years after it first began storing weapons within the territory of key allies, starting with South Korea.

An American defense official told Defense News that the U.S.-Israel agreement reflects the Obama administration's continued commitment to Israel's security and the understanding that changes in U.S. economic conditions and inflation have limited the weapons available to Israel.

The deal allows Israel access to a wider spectrum of military ordnance, and the U.S. official said his government was considering which forms of military supplies would be added to stores in Israel. Missiles, armored vehicles, aerial ammunition and artillery ordnance are already stockpiled in the country.

The agreement is expected to aid Israel in its effort to bolster its weapons stockpiles for use in an emergency. Israel's stores of aerial and artillery ammunition were depleted during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, nearly reaching levels the IDF considers dangerously low.
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7.: British Prince's Regiment Tortured, Murdered Iraqi Grandmother

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:07 pm (PST)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242205/Princess-Wales-Royal-Regiment-soldiers-tortured-murdered-Iraqi-grandmother.html

Daily Mail
January 11, 2010

British soldiers 'tortured and murdered Iraqi grandmother'
By Sophie Borland

British soldiers are being investigated over allegations they tortured and murdered a 62-year-old Iraqi grandmother.

The body of Sabiha Khudur Talib was found dumped by the roadside three years ago after her family home was raided by troops.

The Royal Military Police are now investigating claims from her relatives that she was led away by soldiers from the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment before being brutally tortured and shot.

It is one of the most serious charges levied against the British Army during its six-year occupation in southern Iraq.

Ministers are to be handed crime reports filed by Basra police that conclude Mrs Talib's body was dumped by a roadside in a British bodybag in November 2006.

Injuries to her face were consistent with torture and she had been shot in the abdomen.

Lawyers for Mrs Talib's family say their are preparing legal action in the High Court against the MOD.

Statements from relatives who were at home during the raid claim that they saw her being led away by British soldiers shortly before she died.

The MOD confirmed that Mrs Talib was shot by British soldiers from the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment in 2006 but deny she was murdered or tortured.

Army boss admits there are not enough troops in Afghanistan to successfully take on the Taliban

But an investigation led by Lieutenant Haidar Yashaa Salman from Al-Qibla police station of the Al-Hussein Police Directorate in Iraq concluded: 'At 11 o'clock, we were informed by the police operation room of the finding of a dumped body, so went to the site and found out that the body belonged to the victim Sabiha Khudur Talib, who was arrested by the British forces on 14-15 November 2006 .

'I saw the body in a brown dish-dash [one-piece tunic], bare feet and hands with marks of handcuffs.'

Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, who is representing the family told The Independent: 'The possibility that British forces in 2006 could have tortured and executed an innocent elderly woman should shock the nation.

'Such an allegation must be immediately independently investigated as a possible murder.'
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8.: Venezuela To Reinforce Colombia Border With Russian Tanks, Copters

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:14 pm (PST)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100111/157507058.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 10, 2010

Venezuela to reinforce troops on Colombia border with Russian tanks

Mexico: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans for the deployment of new Russian-made tanks and combat helicopters on the border with Colombia.

Ties between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated last August after Washington signed a deal with Bogota allowing U.S. forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Chavez has criticized the deal and called for the Venezuelan people and army to prepare for a war.

"We are expecting the arrival of the first shipment of tanks [from Russia] which will be sent to Barracas [in the state of Barinas] to reinforce a motorized infantry brigade," Chavez said in his weekly TV program, Alo Presidente, on Sunday.

"In addition, attack helicopters arriving from Russia will be deployed along the Colombian border," he said.

Chavez secured a $2.2 loan from Russia during his visit to Moscow last September for the purchase of 92 T-72 main battle tanks, an undisclosed number of Smerch multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and a variety of air defense systems, including the advanced S-300 complexes.

Between 2005 and 2007, Moscow and Caracas signed 12 contracts worth more than $4.4 billion to supply arms to Venezuela, including fighter jets, helicopters and Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Venezuelan military already has nearly 200 tanks, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, while Colombia has no tank units.
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9.: John "Today We Are All Georgians!" McCain In Tbilisi

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:29 pm (PST)

http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=35153&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=

Rustavi2
January 10, 2010

Senator McCain expected in Georgia on Sunday

- The main issues of the agenda of McCain`s visit will be Georgia`s security, ***de-occupation*** and US military assistance....John McCain is considered the biggest lobbyist of Georgia in the US Senate and quite an influential figure in US political circles.

John McCain, the senior United States senator from Arizona is expected in Georgian on Sunday. He will arrive with his two colleagues - John Barrasso and John Tune. The US senators will meet with the Georgian president in the city of Batumi, Adjara Region. Face-to-face meetings have also been scheduled with opposition party leaders. The main issues of the agenda of McCain`s visit will be Georgia`s security, ***de-occupation*** and US military assistance.

The visit will last two days. The senators will leave Georgia on January 11.

John McCain is considered the biggest lobbyist of Georgia in the US Senate and quite an influential figure in US political circles. The member of the Republican Party and the former candidate for the president visits Georgia quite often and his visits always result in certain decisions.

One of McCain`s most known and emotional phrase is especially well remembered in Georgia. `Today we are all Georgians!` - with this phrase McCain addressed the American People when Russian tanks were moving towards Tbilisi.
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10.: Echos Of Vietnam: Expanded Guam Air Base Targets Afghanistan

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

Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:36 pm (PST)

http://www.guamnewsfactor.com/201001111784/Top-Stories/Chief-Master-Sgt-To-Guam-Airmen-Get-Ready-To-Secure-Afghanistan.html

Guam News Factor
January 11, 2010

Chief Master Sgt To Guam Airmen: Get Ready To Secure Afghanistan
Written by Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM: On the heels of the arrival of 80 members of an Oklahoma-based air refueling wing to to Andersen Air Force Base in support of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is reminding Guam-based Airmen that their job isn't done in Central Asia.

Read the Guam News Factor story, "Air Units Fly To Guam To Support Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan, January 9, 2009.

In a written commentary to Airmen that was posted on the Andersen Air Force Base website recently, Chief Master Sgt. James A. Roy commended U.S. Airmen for a job well done in the Central Command Area of Responsibility (CENTCOM AOR), which includes Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the high-ranking official absolves noone of any imminent responsibility.

Recognizing that while plans may be in the works to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq in 2011, Roy said President Obama's recent deployment of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan underscores the critical role the Air Force will play in the region for the foreseeable future.

Roy is the official in charge of the U.S. Air Force's enlisted men and women and represents their interests on multiple fronts.
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11.: Impoverished Georgia Awards "National Hero" McCain Honor, Prize

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:56 am (PST)

http://en.trend.az/news/politics/foreign/1615798.html

Trend News Agency
January 11, 2010

U.S. Senator can get solid cash prize to Georgia's National Hero title
N. Kirtzkhalia

Georgia, Tbilisi: Based on Georgian legislation, U.S. Senator John McCain may get a bonus in addition to Georgia' National Hero order.

The Georgian parliament's resolution, under the presidential order, provides a cash prize worth 500 minimum salaries (minimum salary is about $100) for Georgia' National Hero order.

The law "On Georgia's State Awards" does not specify how the bonus should be calculated for a foreigner.

Today Georgian President Mikheil Sakashvili awarded U.S. Senator John McCain Georgia's National Hero Order in Batumi.
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12.: First Anniversary Of U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:02 am (PST)

http://messenger.com.ge/issues/2020_january_11_2010/2020_news_in_brief.html

Georgian Headline News
January 11, 2020

One year since US-Georgia Partnership Charter signed

One year has passed since the Georgia-US Charter on Strategic Partnership was signed. The bilateral charter was signed by ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze in Washington DC on Januray 9, 2009.
....
According to its basic points, partnership between the two countries is based on the common national values and interests of the Georgian and American people, including respect for democracy, economic freedom, security and territorial integrity, rule of law and human rights and the return of all internally displaced people, including their right to voluntary and secure return. The document also promotes innovation and technological achievement and strengthening energy security in Eurasia.

According to the charter, the common goal of the sides is Georgia's full integration into European and Euro Atlantic structures.
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13.: U.S., NATO Levy: Czechs Spend Billions On Armored Vehicles

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:08 am (PST)

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czechrep-to-pay-for-armoured-vehicles-more-than-claimed-press/418816

Czech News Agency
January 11, 2010

CzechRep to pay for armoured vehicles more than claimed - press

Prague: The Czech Defence Ministry might pay a total of almost five billion crowns for Iveco light armoured vehicles, though last year the ministry signed a contract for the supply of 90 Ivecos for over 3.6 billion crowns, including logistics and ammunition, the daily E15 writes today.

"The total price will exceed 4.8 billion crowns," the E15´s sources agreed, saying Defence Minister Martin Bartak would have to ask the Finance Ministry to approve a higher price of the project.

E15 recalls that last October Bartak even claimed the Ivecos would cost up to two billion crowns.

But closely before Christmas, the Defence Ministry announced it had signed a contract on the supply of 90 Iveco vehicles for over 3.6 billion with the Praga-Export company.

"The price of two billion crowns is roughly the price of the vehicles alone. The rest is spent on arms systems, ammunition and logistics. And VAT is about 600 million crowns," Jan Pejsek, from the Defence Ministry´s press section, said previously.

However, it seems that this price is not final since the ministry plans to buy another 30 vehicles, along with the 90 Ivecos, and wants to equip all the vehicles with radio and navigation systems from the United States, E15 writes.

Consequently the total price will be over 4.8 billion crowns, according to experts.

"The main problem is that no tender has been launched in this case," Chamber of Deputies defence committee deputy head Antonin Seda (Social Democrats, CSSD) said, adding that the ministry has not released its exact requirements for the supply.

Seda reminded that Bartak had stressed in the autumn that the supply of Ivecos would be advantageous since the Czech military would buy them along with Slovakia. However, Slovaks have not bought a single vehicle yet, he added.

The Iveco M65E light personnel armoured carriers are to replace some of the originally planned Pandur II wheeled armoured personnel carriers and to complete the number of the wheeled armoured vehicles in the Czech military´s mechanised brigades.

The Czech-Slovak Battlegroup that is being formed reckons with using them for the EU needs.

($1=18.436 crowns)
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14.: Prague: Albright Presides Over NATO Strategic Concept Conference

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:14 am (PST)

http://praguemonitor.com/2010/01/11/conference-new-nato-strategy-be-held-prague

Czech News Agency
January 8, 2010

Conference on NATO strategy to be held in Prague

Prague: A conference on the strategy of NATO with a Czech contribution to the discussion on the New NATO Strategic Concept drafted by an expert team headed by former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright will be held in Prague on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry told CTK Friday.

The conference in the Cerninsky palace, seat of the Czech Foreign Ministry, will be opened by Foreign Minister Jan Kohout and senator Alexandr Vondra, former Czech EU affairs minister.

The conference will also be attended by other members of the expert group for the preparation of the new strategic document of NATO.

The New NATO Strategic Concept is to be submitted at the next NATO summit to be held in Lisbon at the end of the year.

The valid NATO strategy, passed in 1999, is considered largely obsolete. It was drafted after the end of Cold War and it took into account the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s.

The new concept is to react not only to the danger of terrorism as shown by the 9/11 attacks in the USA, but also to new threats, the cyber attacks and security impact of climate change and provision of energy.

The question of NATO-Russian relations is to be debated as well.
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15.: Caspian: NATO Delegation To Visit Azerbaijani Capital

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:17 am (PST)

http://www.news.az/articles/6232

News.Az
January 11, 2010

Group of NATO experts to visit Baku

NATO flag Azerbaijani servicemen will attend several courses and trainings.

Under the plan on bilateral military cooperation as well as the individual partnership actions plan signed between the representatives of the Azerbaijani armed forces and several countries, the sides will hold several events to be attended by Azerbaijani servicemen.

Thus, courses on Legal aspects of combat with terrorism will be held in Ankara on January 18-22. The event will be held at the anti-terror center of the Turkish armed forces.

The statement of the center says that the courses to involve 40-50 people will be attended by OF-3 and OF-5 rank officers, policemen, delegations of the defense ministries and foreign ministries of the NATO member-states and partners. The event is aimed at studying legal bases of combat with terror.

The participants will discuss international law and organizations functioning in this sphere as well as principles of application of force in fighting terrorism and problems.
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16.: NATO War Council To Meet In Turkey

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:18 am (PST)

http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/01/11/nato-stamboul

Aysor
January 11, 2010

NATO Defense Ministers to meet in Istanbul

28 NATO states´ Defense Ministers will hold informal meetings in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday 04 and Friday 05 February 2010, under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, according to issued news on organization´s site.

The situation in Afghanistan and sending military reinforcements´ to join the International Security Assistance Force are expected to be the key matters of the meetings.

The previous informal meeting took place on October 2009 in Bratislava.
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17.: Afghanistan: U.S. Headed For Another Deadliest Year

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

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:20 am (PST)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/11/content_12791713.htm

Xinhua News Agency
January 11, 2010

3 U.S. soldiers killed in S Afghanistan

KABUL: American soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in the restive southern Afghanistan Monday.

"Three ISAF service members from the United States were killed this afternoon in an engagement with enemy forces in southern Afghanistan," said a statement issued by the ISAF.

The statement added that five soldiers of the NATO-led force have been killed in the war-plagued country since Saturday and more than a dozen killed since the start of this year.
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