WAR 10-10-2015-to-10-16-2015_____THEWINDSofWAR

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

(184) 09-19-2015-to-09-25-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...25-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(185) 09-26-2015-to-10-02-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...02-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(186) 10-03-2015-to-10-09-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...09-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

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Skip1 posted this first on his thread....http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ard-at-The-Pentagon-...&p=5803684#post5803684

A key point is that this is only related to the Russian strategic stockpile, not on their huge "tactical" nuclear weapons stockpile....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
Russia Adds 111 Warheads Under Arms Treaty

Moscow warheads above New START treaty limit

BY: Bill Gertz
October 9, 2015 4:59 am

Russia has now deployed more than 100 nuclear warheads in its strategic arsenal above the limits set by the New START arms treaty limits—two years before it must meet treaty arms reduction goals.

New START nuclear warhead and delivery system numbers made public Oct. 1 reveal that since the 2010 arms accord went into force, Moscow increased the number of deployed nuclear warheads by a total of 111 weapons for a total of 1,648 deployed warheads. That number is 98 warheads above the treaty limit of 1,150 warheads that must be reached by the 2018 deadline of the treaty.

At the same time, U.S. nuclear warheads, missiles, and bombers have fallen sharply and remain below the required levels under the New START pact.

The United States during the same period of the Russian increases cut its deployed nuclear arsenal by 250 warheads.

The Russian increases and U.S. cuts bolster claims by critics who say the arms treaty is one-sided in constraining U.S. forces while the Russians appear to be ignoring the treaty limits as part of a major strategic forces buildup of missiles, submarines, and bombers.

Additionally, nuclear analysts say recent actions and statements suggest Russia may be preparing to jettison the New START treaty.

“Russia may pull out of the New START before it requires any Russians reductions,” said former Pentagon nuclear policymaker Mark Schneider. “Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department of security and disarmament issues, Mikhail Ulyanov, said so in 2014 and 2015.”

U.S. nuclear forces in 2011 included 882 land- and sea-based missiles and bombers, 1,800 deployed nuclear warheads, and 1,124 non-deployed launchers and bombers.

The United States today has 762 ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles and heavy bombers, 1,538 warheads and 898 non-deployed weapons.

For the same categories, Russia added five missiles for a total of 526, and 12 non-deployed launchers and bombers for a total of 877.

The Air Force in August carried out the first showing for Russian nuclear inspectors of a converted nuclear-capable B-52H bomber to a non-nuclear aircraft under the treaty. The bomber exhibition took place in September and thus was not counted in the latest U.S. figures for bomber cuts.

Additionally, the Navy also showed the first nuclear missile submarine with converted launch tubes under the treaty last month.

The United States plans to eliminate 98 launchers and heavy bombers under the treaty to reach the 800 treaty level for launchers and bombers by 2018.

Plans call for converting 30 B-52H bombers and 56 submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and send 12 B-52Hs to the aircraft bone yard.

“To date, our reductions have been for inactive or weapon systems without a nuclear mission—104 ICBM launch facilities, 51 B-52Gs, and converting B-1s to conventional-only under the treaty,” said one defense official.

By contrast, Russia under Vladimir Putin is embarked on a major strategic nuclear forces buildup that includes new missile submarines, upgrading older missile submarines and adding several new strategic missiles. Moscow, like the U.S. Air Force, is also planning a new bomber.

Additionally, Russia under Putin has announced a new doctrine that places a greater emphasis on nuclear forces.

During the crisis over Russia’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, Putin made threats to use nuclear forces against the Untied States and NATO if there were intervention to reverse the annexation.

Russian officials also have made nuclear threats against the United States in response to reports that NATO plans to move military forces into Eastern Europe in response to Russian threats.

Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, said Russia “is in the business of violating treaties.”

“From the Intermediate range Nuclear Forces Treaty, to the Open Skies Treaty, to other conventional and unconventional arms control agreements—Russia violates any treaty or agreement that puts limits on capabilities that Mr. Putin and his cronies desire,” Rogers said. “Russia’s arguable adherence to the New START Treaty just indicates how bad a deal it is for the United States.”

The nuclear numbers were disclosed by the State Department’s bureau of arms control, verification, and compliance.

Blake Narendra, a State Department spokesperson for the arms control bureau, said officials are aware of the increase in Russian deployed warheads and delivery vehicles. But he sought to play down the buildup.

“The United States and Russia continue to implement the New START Treaty in a business-like manner,” Narendra said. “We fully expect Russia to meet the New START Treaty central limits in accordance with the stipulated timeline of February 2018.”

By that date, Moscow and Washington must reach limits of no more than 700 deployed treaty limited delivery vehicles and 1,550 deployed warheads.

Despite the U.S. cuts, Narendra said “our declared forces show clearly that the United States maintains a capable deterrent force capable of defending our interests and those of our friends and allies.”

The increase in Russian numbers was anticipated as Moscow replaces older weapons, Narendra said, adding “we have known for a long time about Russia’s modernization of its strategic nuclear arsenal.”

The spokesman defended the utility of the treaty despite the Russian buildup that has included unprecedented nuclear threats against NATO. The treaty provides knowledge of numbers and locations of Russian strategic forces “at a time when we need it the most,” he said.

Schneider, now a senior analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy, said Russia is now at the highest level of deployed nuclear warheads since the New START treaty went into force.

“For the last three reporting periods—18 months—Russia has moved from below New START limits in deployed warheads and deployed delivery vehicles to above them,” said Schneider.

“In all three limited categories—deployed warheads, deployed delivery vehicles and deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles—Russia is above its entry into force numbers from 2011”.

Schneider said a flaw in the treaty counting numbers allowed the Russians to under count bomber weapons so that Russia may have between 400 to 500 more bomber-delivered warheads than the United States.

“The U.S. left may not think this is very important, but the Russians do and it is their finger on the Russian nuclear trigger,” Schneider said.

Adm. William Gortney, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, which is in charge of defending the continental United States, said Russia is qualitatively building up its military forces, with a new doctrine and, in particular, new cruise missiles capable of hitting the United States from Russian airspace.

“They’ve read our play book and they’re putting in force, they’re fielding cruise missiles that are very, very accurate, very long range,” Gortney said Wednesday in remarks to the Atlantic Council, a think tank.

The new missile has been identified by other defense officials as a KH-101 air launched cruise missile that can be armed with either nuclear or conventional warheads.

The missile can reach U.S. infrastructure targets in Canada and the United States from launch points within Russian air space, Gortney said.

Gortney said the Russians have been “messaging” the United States with long-range nuclear-capable bomber flights along U.S. and Canadian borders.

War game scenarios in recent months have included simulated Russian conventional cruise missile strikes on long-range early warning radar in Alaska, he said.

The military blog Russianforces.org said the increase of 66 Russian warheads and nine launchers since March, when the last treaty numbers were released, probably reflects Moscow’s deployment of new submarine-launched Bulava missiles on the new submarine Alexander Nevsky, launched in April.

Army Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S. Strategic Command, said the treaty “continues to enhance security and strategic stability.”

“We fully expect Russia to meet the New START Treaty central limits in accordance with the stipulated timeline of February 2018,” he said.

Thomas Moore, a former professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who specialized in arms control, said he is not surprised the Russians are over treaty limits while the the United States is below them.

“But I guess we are under it early because ‘business-like’ implementation of the treaty is a way the administration can appear to be doing something, and they have a base of left-wing support which demands we go lower still, and faster,” Moore said.

Russia has been building up its forces steadily, he added.

“Its raid of Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian to targets in Syria is another sign that, along with New START warhead numbers, its nuclear-capable systems, strategic warheads, and overall nuclear capability at all ranges and with all types of weapons is building up, not down.”

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

For links see article source.....
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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151009/ml-israel-palestinians-fd2442bb26.html

Israel struggles to contain wave of stabbing attacks

Oct 9, 5:02 PM (ET)
By FARES AKRAM and IAN DEITCH

(AP) Left wing activists hold signs during a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday,...
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Unrest that erupted several weeks ago at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site spread Friday to Gaza in the form of deadly border clashes with Palestinian protesters, as Israeli security forces struggled to contain a wave of Palestinian stabbing attacks against civilians and soldiers.

For the first time since the current violence began, clashes broke out along the Gaza border after Palestinians in the territory ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas rolled burning tires and threw rocks at Israeli troops on the frontier. Six Palestinians were killed and a dozen were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said "More than a thousand rioters infiltrated the buffer zone engaging the forces at the security fence. Rioters reached the security fence- hurled a grenade, rocks and rolled burning tires at Israeli forces ... threatening to breach the fence and storm the adjacent communities." It said troops fired warning shots and then fired at main instigators to prevent their advance.

Recent days have seen a series of attacks by young Palestinians wielding household items like kitchen knives, screwdrivers and even a vegetable peeler. The youths had no known links to armed groups who have targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians at random, complicating security efforts.

(AP) Israeli security forces and civilians stand at the scene of a stabbing attack...
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The violence, including the first apparent revenge attack by an Israeli, raised fears of the unrest spiraling further out of control.

The unpredictability and brutality of the assaults, coupled with the young age of some of the attackers, have shocked Israelis and raised fears a new Palestinian intifada — or uprising — could be underway.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a 14-year-old Israeli with a vegetable peeler Friday before being arrested. In another attack near the entrance of Kiryat Arba, a West Bank settlement, a Palestinian was shot dead by a police officer after he attacked him with a knife and tried to seize his weapon, police said.

In northern Israel, a 29-year-old Arab-Israeli woman was shot and wounded while trying to stab people at a bus station in the town of Afula, where another stabbing had taken place the day before, police said.

Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh applauded the recent Palestinian stabbing attacks across Israel at a speech at Friday prayers, labeling it as an intifada.

(AP) Palestinian mourners carry the body of Muhannad Halabi, 19, who was killed after...
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Israeli officials have said the violence is not on that scale for now, but rather is of the kind unleashed periodically over the decades.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a "terror wave." He and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas have tried to lower tensions in recent days but both appear unable to contain the unrest.

Veteran commentator Ben Caspit told Channel 10 that Israel is on the "seam line" between the violence spreading and containment. One of the challenges is that there is no clear identifiable enemy, with about half of "the lone-wolf" attackers coming from east Jerusalem and the rest from the West Bank.

The acts are independent, spontaneous moments of rage, he said, noting the stabbings with the vegetable peeler and one involving a screwdriver the day before.

Household items are used as weapons because guns can be harder to get for Palestinians unaffiliated with militant groups.

(AP) Palestinian demonstrators hold a national flag during clashes with Israeli police in...
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Not much can be done from an intelligence agency point of view to prevent spontaneous attacks by an individual who "decides to take a screwdriver and stab the first Jew that passes by," said Yuval Diskin, Israel's former internal security chief, in an interview with Channel 2 TV.

Video on social media Friday showed the moments when Israeli security forces shot and wounded an Arab woman at the Afula bus station. Police said the woman, who wore a long robe and Islamic headscarf, had pulled a knife to stab a soldier and posed an "immediate threat."

The video showed the woman surrounded by several members of the security forces with their guns drawn. Israeli media said security personnel called to her in Arabic and Hebrew multiple times to put the weapon down and that she had waved it while yelling, "Death to police." The police later released video of a long-bladed kitchen knife they said she had used.

The woman was shot in her lower body and treated at a hospital.

A Palestinian stabbing attack had occurred in the same city a day before.

(AP) Palestinian relatives take a last look at the body of Muhannad Halabi, 19, who was...
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Protests spread late Friday to northern Israel where scores of people from the country's Arab minority clashed with officers in protests linked to the unrest with the Palestinians.

Arab citizens make up some 20 percent of Israel's population. They enjoy full citizenship rights but have long complained of discrimination in housing, jobs and other areas of society. They often identify with Palestinian nationalism.

The latest unrest began about three weeks ago, when Palestinians repeatedly barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, hurling stones, firebombs and fireworks at police.

It was fueled by Palestinian allegations that Israel plans to change the delicate arrangement at the hilltop compound, sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Israel has adamantly denied the allegations and accused Palestinian leaders of inciting the violence and spreading lies over the shrines in east Jerusalem. Abbas gave a hard-line speech at the U.N. last month, saying Israelis desecrate the holy site with their "dirty feet."

Non-Muslim visitors are only allowed to enter the site at specific hours and are banned by police from praying there. Many Muslims view these visits as a provocation and accuse Jewish extremists of plotting to take over the site. Israel has promised to ensure the delicate arrangement at the site and insists it will not allow the status quo to be changed.

(AP) An Israeli policeman checks identity cards outside Jerusalem's Old City Friday, Oct....
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The fate of the hilltop site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is revered to Jews as the Temple Mount, site of the two biblical Jewish temples, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, where they believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

The attacks initially were confined to east Jerusalem and the West Bank — both territories captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war and claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — but spread to Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities this week.

What began as Palestinians throwing rocks and firebombs at passing cars and police has morphed into a deadly shooting and knife attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

In what appeared to be the first revenge attack amid the violence, an Israeli man stabbed and wounded four Arabs in the southern Israeli city of Dimona, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. After his arrest, the assailant said he acted in retaliation for the numerous Palestinian attacks, Israeli media reported.

The attacker is a "mentally ill man," said Dimona Mayor Beni Bitton, telling Channel 10 that two of the victims worked for City Hall, and that passers-by quickly provided first aid to the wounded Arabs.

(AP) A Palestinian uses a sling to hurl a stone, during clashes with Israeli troops near...
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Netanyahu "strongly condemned the harming of innocent Arabs," saying that anyone who resorts to violence will be brought to justice.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby referred to the Palestinian attacks on Israelis as "acts of terror." Kirby said he had no details on the Israeli attack when asked.

It was mostly quiet Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli police banned men under 45 from the compound while women of all ages entered freely. The age limit has been imposed intermittently because authorities believe that younger Palestinians are mostly involved in the violence.

Five Palestinians have been killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis over the past week, while another three Palestinians were killed in protests and clashes in the West Bank. The Red Crescent medical service says over 500 Palestinians have been wounded in violent protests in the West Bank since the weekend, including about 100 from live fire.

Last week, Palestinians shot two Israelis to death in front of their children in the West Bank. In a separate incident, Palestinians killed two Israeli men and wounded a mother and toddler in Jerusalem.

__

Associated Press writer Mathew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151009/af--mali-violence-5139a6f05c.html

Suspected jihadists attack central Mali, kill official

Oct 9, 4:59 PM (ET)

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A mayor says a group of suspected jihadists attacked a village in central Mali, killing a local official in front of his family.

Harouna Bellem, the mayor of Dioungani municipality, says the attackers are suspected members of the radical Macina Liberation Movement, which has been blamed for other attacks this year that have targeted military and civilian authorities in south and central Mali. Dioungani lies close to the Burkina Faso border.

Bellem says the extremists came into Douna-Pene village Friday afternoon and shot Timote Kodio in front of his wife. She suffered a heart attack and was rushed to a health center.

Attacks by extremists are moving south. The group is said to have ties to the Islamic extremists who took over Mali's northern half after a 2012 military coup.

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151009/af-burkina-faso-violence-b8b6650964.html

Gunmen attack Burkina Faso police station; 3 dead

Oct 9, 11:16 AM (ET)

OUAGDOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Authorities say three police officers have been killed after some 50 armed men attacked a police station near Burkina Faso's border with Mali.

The attack took place early Friday in Samoroguan, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the border, according to a statement.

Resident Appolinaire Kam said two civilians were seriously injured in the attack.

Burkina Faso has largely been spared the attacks by Islamic extremists suffered by its neighbors Mali and Niger, but Friday's attack marks the second time in a month that a police station has been targeted by gunmen.

One officer was killed a month ago in the country's north by assailants who said they wanted to kill Christians.

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://johnbatchelorshow.com/schedules/friday-9-october-2015-2

Hour One
Friday 9 October 2015 / Hour 1, Block A: Josh Rogin, Bloomberg View, in re: White House Is Weighing a Syria Retreat

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcas...w-joshua-green-bloomberg-businessweek-patrick

Friday 9 October 2015 / Hour 2, Block C: Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs in re: All Change in the Middle East? Syria, Egypt Trend Positively; Saudi, Iran Transform Most international intelligence assessments of the greater Middle East are pessimistic, but while the short-term indicators show disruption, there is significant cause to believe that new areas of long-stability are emerging. The balance of power between the Maghreb and the Indian Ocean is likely to change significantly over the coming decade. As this analyst has previously noted, the Arab-Israeli War is, for now, over.1 Not so Iran’s, or Qatar’s, or Palestine’s, or Turkey’s war against Israel: just the Arab-Israel War. That, along with the new economic and political alignments of the region, opens up many prospects. The withdrawal of the US from the region opened the gates to the so-called “Arab Spring”. Now the region is developing in new ways. (1 of 2)
Friday 9 October 2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs in re: All Change in the Middle East? Syria, Egypt Trend Positively; Saudi, Iran Transform (2 of 2)

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcas...rancis-rose-federal-news-radio-gregory-copley

Hour Four
Friday 9 October 2015 / Hour 4, Block A: Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Mainland military experts said the People's Liberation Army Navy would issue warnings and there would not be collisions if foreign military vessels went within the limits. But the PLA was capable of expelling any intruders, they said. "The navy would issue verbal warnings, demanding the U.S. vessels leave," Shanghai-based naval expert Ni Le-xiong said.
Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, said the navy would send warships to intercept the U.S. vessels if they ignored the warnings. Another source close to the PLA said Beijing had several more "cost-effective" solutions to such a confrontation. "We could scramble drones to expel the vessels, or simply order the Second Artillery Corps to fire from distance," he said. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...ert-us-navy-incursion-near-artificial-islands (1 of 2)
Friday 9 October 2015 / Hour 4, Block B: Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Mainland military experts said the People's Liberation Army Navy would issue warnings and there would not be collisions if foreign military vessels went within the limits. But the PLA was capable of expelling any intruders, they said. "The navy would issue verbal warnings, demanding the U.S. vessels leave," Shanghai-based naval expert Ni Le-xiong said. . . . http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2015/10/07-avoidin... ; http://time.com/vault/issue/1936-08-24/page/32/ (2 of 2)

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcas...ns-kurt-repanshek-national-parks-traveler-and

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://nypost.com/2015/10/09/nightmares-made-real-tales-from-the-nuclear-black-market/

Nightmares made real: Tales from the nuclear black market

By Post Editorial Board

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October 9, 2015 | 7:42pm
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Modal Trigger

A Moldovan investigator examines a vial containing cesium-135, nuclear material seized during the arrest of a suspected smuggler.
Photo: AP

Ever since the Soviet Union collapsed a quarter-century ago, fears about the fate of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal and resources have given experts nightmares.

Those worries only grew with the rise of Islamist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS eager to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

The nightmares are now thisclose to reality.

A chilling Associated Press report exposes the unholy alliance between jihadism and Russian-connected crime rings peddling radioactive material on the black market.

In just the past five years, cops in one tiny nation have broken up four serious attempts to sell material that could go for Hiroshima-style atomic explosions or for “dirty bombs” that can poison several city blocks.

Thank the police in the former Soviet republic of Moldova (which has become the center of this black market), who are working with the FBI.

Make no mistake: The sellers know precisely who’ll eagerly buy their material.

“I really want an Islamic buyer because they will bomb the Americans,” one middleman told an undercover investigator.

Said another as he peddled his wares: “You can make a dirty bomb, which would be perfect for the Islamic State.”

But the four foiled schemes are surely only the tip of the iceberg. And the lack of cooperation between Russia and the West makes it all that much harder to track the smugglers’ access to Moscow’s vast radioactive stockpile.

Worse: Most of the masterminds are still at large. And the middlemen are going free after being given light sentences — then turning up in new sting operations.

Americans may be jaded by repeated warnings that this country — New York in particular — is still in the terrorists’ crosshairs. But the threat’s all too real — and the target on our backs, larger than ever.

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

Not only is this a big deal for the Indian Army, but also for the South Korean defense industry. Getting a significant foot into the defense market that is India, particularly considering the mess that their internal procurement and manufacturing system is, is a real big deal.....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/indias-newest-gun-fast-and-deadly/

India’s Newest Gun: Fast and Deadly

A new self-propelled howitzer will finally be able to keep up with the Indian Army’s tank columns.

By Franz-Stefan Gady
October 09, 2015

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The Indian Ministry of Defense has selected South Korea’s Samsung-Techwin and its local Indian private-sector partner Larsen & Toubro to supply the Indian Army with 100 K-9 Vajra 155 mm/52 caliber self-propelled tracked howitzers, IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly reports.

The selection came in late September after the completion of maintenance acceptability, high altitude, and desert trials, which took place in 2013 and 2014. A final contract is expected to be signed within the next six months. Total procurement costs for the 100 guns are estimated to be around $ 800 million.

During repeated army trials, the K-9 Vajra — a variant of the K-9 Thunder — outperformed its Russian competitor, the Russian self-propelled 2S19 Msta-S howitzer, which had been specifically modified with a 155mm/52 caliber gun to fit Indian Army requirements.

The K-9 Vajra is specially designed for arid lands such as the desert areas bordering Pakistan. Mounted on a tracked vehicle, the K-9 Vajra is ideally suited for mobile tank warfare. According to the Business Standard, the Indian Army wants to induct this new howitzer into its mechanized strike corps to offer close fire support during deep thrusts into enemy territory.

“The strike corps’ T-90S tanks currently outpace their artillery guns, which are towed by wheeled vehicles. This constrains the tank spearheads to fight without artillery support at key moments in the advance. With the K-9 Vajra mounted on a tracked vehicle that keeps up with tanks, the armor spearheads would be assured of heavy fire support,” the Business Standard notes.

The overall number of K-9 Vajra required by the Indian Army will be around 250. This is based on the creation of at least three K-9 Vajra regiments for each of the army’s three armored divisions, as well as another three regiments for the independent armored brigades within the army’s three strike corps.

Half of the parts for the guns will be built in India, despite the K-9 Vajra falling under the “Buy Global” procurement category, which allows over-the-counter sales of military hardware. The Business Standard explains:

L&T [Larsen & Toubro] plans to build 13 major sub-systems of the K-9 Vajra at its facilities in Pune, Talegaon, and Powai. This includes the fire control system, ammunition handling system, muzzle velocity radar, and the nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) system.

In addition to the K-9 Vajra, the Indian military is also expected to receive 114 out of a total of 414 Dhanush 155mm towed howitzers by 2017, which would be India’s first new artillery pieces since the 1980s. The military also plans to acquire 180 wheeled self-propelled howitzers over the next few years.

As I reported previously, the Indian army’s 1999 Field Artillery Rationalization Plan aimed to acquire 2,800-3,000 155 mm/52 caliber guns of all kinds and 155 mm/39 caliber lightweight howitzers by 2027.

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

Bomb in Ankara, Turkey
Started by KittyKatChic‎, Today 01:07 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?476914-Bomb-in-Ankara-Turkey

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http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa...ahead-of-rally-turkish-media-says_401143.html

2 explosions kill at least 20 in Ankara ahead of rally, Turkish media says

October 10, 2015, Saturday/ 10:30:40/ REUTERS / ANKARA

Two explosions have reportedly killed at least 20 people in Ankara ahead of a peace rally scheduled to be held on Saturday by several civil society organizations, according to Turkish media.

Turkish media have reported at least 20 deaths and numerous injuries from two explosions near the Ankara Train Station in the Ulus district of Turkey's capital. Ambulances have been dispatched to the scene.

Members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects' Chambers (TMMOB) and The Turkish Doctor's Association (TTB) were scheduled to meet up near the site of the explosions to hold a “Labor Peace Democracy Rally”. Organizers announced that the rally was cancelled.

Acting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will reportedly convene an urgent security meeting at his official residence in the wake of the attacks.

The explosions brought to mind two bombs that were detonated in June during an election rally in the predominantly Kurdish populated city of Diyarbakir, a few days before the general election.

The blasts occurred five minutes apart at the rally of the Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP), as party leader Selahattin Demirtaş was preparing to address the crowd of tens of thousands in Diyarbakır, the main city in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish Southeast.

Two people, 34-year-old Şeyhmuz Kaçan and 47-year-old Necati Kurul, were killed in the blasts.

Housecarl · Oct 10, 2015

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/10/us-northkorea-anniversary-idUSKCN0S404520151010

World | Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:06am EDT
Related: World, North Korea

Isolated North Korea says ready for war with U.S. as it marks anniversary

PYONGYANG | By James Pearson

Isolated North Korea marked the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party on Saturday with a massive military parade overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, who said his country was ready to fight any war started by the United States.

Thousands of troops stood at attention under a blue autumn sky in Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim Jong Un's grandfather and the founder of the nation, as Kim, appearing relaxed and confident as he leant heavily on the lectern, made his speech.

Kim was accompanied by senior Chinese Communist Party official Liu Yunshan, with whom he was seen speaking throughout the event and occasionally shared laughs, and flanked by senior North Korean party and military officials.

"The party's revolutionary armament means we are ready to fight any kind of war waged by the U.S. imperialists," Kim said in a speech strikingly more forceful than previous public comments, praising the feats of past leaders and the ruling party.

The speech was followed by troops marching in formation, first by a corps of soldiers dressed in the style of the revolutionary force that fought Japan during World War Two. To follow was a procession of tanks and other military might rolling past the square.

Impoverished North Korea and rich, democratic South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty. The North, slapped with U.N. and U.S. sanctions for its nuclear weapons and rocket programs, often threatens to destroy the South, and its major ally the United States, in a sea of flames.

In a letter delivered by Liu, the most senior Chinese official to visit Pyongyang since leader Kim came to power following his father's death in 2011, Xi said China attached vital importance to its relationship with North Korea, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

China is North Korea's chief ally and its main trading partner, although ties have been strained over the North's nuclear program.

Xi said in the letter that China had "been striving to treat the bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective". Liu reiterated China's position that it wanted an early resumption of the so-called six-party talks aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

"The Chinese side is willing to seek closer communication and deepen cooperation, pushing for a long-term, healthy and stable development of the Sino-DPRK ties," Xi said in the letter cited by Xinhua, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim, who is in his early thirties, told the visiting Chinese delegation on Friday that North Korea was also keen to bolster ties, the North's official KCNA news agency said on Saturday.

Liu is the fifth-ranked member on China's ruling Communist Party's elite Politburo Standing Committee.

On Wednesday, a high-level U.S. military official said Washington believed North Korea had the capability to launch a nuclear weapon against the U.S. mainland and stood ready to defend against any such attacks.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul, Kazunori Takada in Shanghai and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Tony Munroe and Nick Macfie)

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

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Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151010/ml--israel-palestinians-6c30fdf4d2.html

Palestinians stab Israelis in 2 Jerusalem attacks

Oct 10, 6:19 PM (ET)
By ARON HELLER

(AP) Israeli police stand near the body of a Palestinian who, according to the police,...
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians carried out two stabbing attacks in Jerusalem on Saturday before being shot dead by police, while another two Palestinians were killed during a violent demonstration near the Gaza border fence, as a weeklong bout of violence showed no signs of slowing.

Jerusalem has seen a wave of stabbing attacks linked to tensions over a sensitive holy site in the Old City that is sacred to Jews and Muslims. In recent days the attacks by Palestinian assailants have spread to the rest of Israel, while violent protests have erupted in the West Bank and along the Gaza border, where seven Palestinians were killed on Friday. The violence has unnerved a jittery Israel, and prompted the U.S. on Saturday to issue a fresh call for restraint by all sides.

In the first stabbing on Saturday, a 16-year-old Arab attacked two Israelis who were walking from the Old City toward the city center, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Police opened fire, killing the attacker. The two victims were lightly wounded, Rosenfeld said.

Later, just outside the Old City, another Palestinian stabbed two police officers, one in the neck. Rosenfeld said other police forces opened fire and killed the attacker, but also wounded one of their own. Three officers were taken to a hospital, one in serious condition.

(AP) Palestinians take cover during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank,...
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On the Gaza frontier, meanwhile, protests resumed Saturday afternoon, with dozens of Palestinians throwing stones and rolling burning tires toward Israeli troops along the border fence. Gaza health officials said Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old. The Israeli military said it fired toward protesters who approached the border.

Later, the military said dozens of Palestinians breached the border and briefly entered Israel. The military said five were detained for questioning while the others retreated.

The Gaza border has been largely calm since last summer's war between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the coastal territory. A rocket was fired late Saturday into Israel but intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system, the military said. It was the second rocket attack in 24 hours. No injuries or damage was reported.

Rosenfeld said police in an Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood also came under attack overnight and responded with gunfire, hitting a 25-year-old. Health officials later confirmed the man had died of his wounds. Violent protests broke out after the man's funeral, with rocks and firebombs hurled toward police, who opened fire and lightly wounded two people.

Protests also took place in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where demonstrators hurled rocks at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas. In the West Bank city of Hebron, thousands took part in two funeral processions for Palestinians who were killed while carrying out attacks in recent days. Late on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said a 28-year-old Palestinian man in the village of Beit Omar, near Hebron, died from wounds sustained in clashes Thursday.

(AP) A Palestinian is pushed an Israeli policemen amid clashes in Hebron, West Bank,...
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Some 1,500 people gathered in the Israeli-Arab city of Nazareth Saturday to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinians. Other protests also took place in different Arab cities, where masked demonstrators clashed with police.

Recent days have seen a series of attacks by young Palestinians wielding household items like kitchen knives, screwdrivers and even a vegetable peeler. The youths had no known links to armed groups and have targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians at random, complicating efforts to predict or prevent the attacks.

The violence, including an apparent revenge attack in which an Israeli stabbed and wounded four Arabs on Friday, as well as increasing protests by Israel's own Arab minority, has raised fears of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Since the latest wave of unrest began this month, eight Palestinians have been killed while carrying out attacks and 13 have been killed in protests and clashes in the West Bank and Gaza. The Red Crescent medical service says over 500 Palestinians have been wounded in violent protests in the West Bank, including about 100 from live fire.

At the start of the month, Palestinians shot two Israelis to death in front of their children in the West Bank. In a separate incident, a Palestinian wielding a knife killed two Israeli men and wounded a mother and toddler in Jerusalem before being shot dead.

(AP) A Palestinian slings a rock during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron, West Bank,...
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Security forces were on high alert in Jerusalem in preparation for two big events Saturday evening that were expected to draw thousands: a Euro2014 qualifying soccer match pitting Israel against Cyprus, and an open-air concert by reggae rapper Matisyahu. Both events passed without trouble.

Late on Saturday, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State John Kerry had called the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to express concern over the spate of violence at holy sites in Jerusalem.

In separate calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Kerry said the U.S. was monitoring the escalating bloodshed. The State Department says Kerry stressed the importance of preventing inflammatory rhetoric and that the U.S. would lend support where it can to restore calm.

Leaders on both sides have called for calm. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire from hard-liners within his governing coalition, as well as opposition lawmakers, for not putting an end to the surging violence. Both sides held protests outside Netanyahu's residence Saturday night.

On Saturday, Netanyahu ordered the mobilization of three reserve border police companies to offer reinforcement amid the wave of attacks. In a previous measure meant to ease tensions, Netanyahu banned Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from visiting the sensitive Jerusalem holy site, fearing any high-profile spectacle could further enflame tensions.

The Jerusalem hilltop compound includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque and is revered by Muslims as the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. It is revered by Jews because it was the site of the two Jewish biblical Temples.

Many Palestinians believe Israel is trying to expand the Jewish presence at the site, a claim Israel adamantly denies and considers incitement to violence. Under a longstanding arrangement administered by Islamic authorities, Jews are allowed to visit the site during certain hours but may not pray there.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his people had no interest in further violence and that he was committed to "peaceful popular resistance." Still, he voiced support for the protesters who have clashed with Israeli police at Al-Aqsa, hurling stones, firebombs and fireworks.

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

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Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151009/lt--mexico-torture-db50b0318f.html

UN agency says Mexican soldiers tortured 4 crime suspects

Oct 9, 5:37 PM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The United Nations Committee Against Torture has found that Mexican soldiers tortured four men they detained as crime suspects in a northern state in 2009.

A Mexican human rights group, which announced the ruling Friday, said it was the first time the U.N. committee issued a decision on an individual case in Mexico.

The committee's decision calls for release of the four men, who have been jailed since 2009 on charges of kidnapping, weapons possession and auto theft. It also demands an investigation of the torture of the four and prosecution of those found responsible. It found the Mexican government violated the convention against torture.

Mexico's government had contested the admissibility of case. It has 90 days to respond. A request for comment to the Ministry of Foreign Relations was not immediately answered Friday.

According to the U.N. finding, the four men were detained June 16, 2009, in Playas de Rosarito in Baja California state and were beaten and electrocuted. Three were taken together outside a hotel. After they were beaten and interrogated, soldiers picked up a fourth man in the street who they accused of being a lookout.

All four were taken to two houses where beatings and interrogation continued and then eventually were moved to an army base in the border city of Tijuana. They were paraded in front of journalists as a band of kidnappers. Later at the base, they were beaten, suffocated with plastic bags to the point of losing consciousness and had toenails pulled out.

They were told a detective would come the following day to take their statements admitting to kidnapping. They were held at the base for four days.

All four were charged with kidnapping, weapons possession and auto theft. They are held in a prison in the western state of Nayarit.

Jose Antonio Guevara Bermudez, executive director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, a non-governmental organization representing the men, said Friday that the U.N. decision was an opportunity for Mexico's government "to show that in this country there is the will to comply with international, constitutional obligations in the area of human rights."

Mayra Lopez, the sister and lawyer for one of the men, Ramiro Lopez, said her brother lost hearing in one ear as the result of the beatings. She called the committee's decision "excellent."

On Wednesday during a visit to Mexico, the United Nations' top human rights official called on the government to work quickly to withdraw the military from law enforcement duties.

_____

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151009/ap-lt-mexico-army-1398dbfd0b.html

Mexican army head is unhappy with law enforcement role

Oct 8, 9:23 PM (ET)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's defense secretary said Thursday that the country's army isn't happy doing law enforcement duty, but has no other choice.

The statement by Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos comes after soldiers have been implicated in rights abuses.

Cienfuegos told local media in an interview that "none of us got into the armed forces to do this," referring to the military's role in fighting drug cartels and other criminals. But he added: "If the armed forces don't do it, there is no one else to do it."

"We are not comfortable, we didn't ask for this, we didn't study for this, but apart from obeying the president's order, society is asking us to do this," Cienfuegos said.

Local police forces in Mexico are often too week or corrupt to take on the cartels.

On Wednesday, the United Nations' top human rights official called on Mexico to start withdrawing military personnel from law enforcement duties and replace them with well-trained police.

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-tests-new-precision-guided-ballistic-missile

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/11/us-iran-military-missiles-idUSKCN0S505L20151011

Business | Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:21am EDT
Related: World, United Nations, Aerospace & Defense

Iran tests new precision-guided ballistic missile

DUBAI | By Sam Wilkin

Iran has successfully tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile, its defense minister said on Sunday, signaling an apparent advance in Iranian attempts to improve the accuracy of its missile arsenal.

The Islamic Republic has one of the largest missile programs in the Middle East, despite a United Nations arms embargo, but its potential effectiveness has been limited by poor accuracy.

State television showed what appeared to be a successful launch of the new missile, named Emad, which will be Iran's first precision-guided weapon with the range to strike its regional arch-enemy Israel.

"The Emad missile is able to strike targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them...This greatly increases Iran's strategic deterrence capability," Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said at a televised news conference.

"Our leadership and armed forces are determined to increase our power and this is to promote peace and stability in the region. There is no intention of aggression or threats in this action," he added.

The Islamic Republic is wary of a potential pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites by Israel. In turn, Israel fears that a nuclear agreement Iran sealed with world powers in July may be insufficient to stop Tehran developing an atomic bomb.

The accord curbs proliferation-prone aspects of Iran's nuclear energy program in exchange for crippling sanctions being lifted. Iran says its nuclear activity is wholly peaceful. Israel is widely presumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear weapons.

ACCURACY

Anthony Cordesman, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, wrote in January that the Emad would have a range of 1,700 km (1,060 miles), 500 meters (1,650 feet) accuracy and a 750 kg (1,653 pound) payload.

It is a variant of the liquid-fuelled Shahab-3 missile, which has been in service since 2003 and has a similar range but is accurate only to within 2,000 meters.

"The Emad represents a major leap in terms of accuracy. It has an advanced guidance and control system in its nose cone," Israeli missile expert Uzi Rubin said.

In August, Iran unveiled a new short-range missile named Fateh-313 it said also offered improved precision over its predecessor, as part of an apparent drive to boost the accuracy of its missile arsenal.

The Fateh-313 has solid fuel, allowing it to be set up and launched faster than liquid-fuelled missiles, and a range of 500 km -- enough to hit targets in Gulf Arab powers locked in a regional cold war with the Islamic Republic, but not Israel.

Improvements in accuracy could let Iran use its missiles in a wider variety of roles, for example by targeting military bases or economic assets rather than population centers.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a British-based think tank, noted in 2010 that poor accuracy meant Iran could use its missiles only as a "political weapon" to target enemy cities since their military utility was "severely limited".

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom and; Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Sam Wilkin; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

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http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2015/10/10/game-on-for-abe-in-asia/

Game On! For Abe in Asia

Peter Lee 10.10.15

On October 6, 2015, the Wall Street Journal carried this headline: “Japan Ready to Lead in Asia-Pacific, Abe Says.”

I expect that a few Japan-loving pivot-poobahs inside the Washington beltway had to spit out their breakfast sushi at that one.

“But…that wasn’t supposed to happen for decades! Ash Carter promised!”

After all, Secretary of Defense Carter had stated “We will remain the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come, ” presumably relying on the assumption that by the time his prediction was proved false he would be safely in his mausoleum and indifferent to rebuke.

Relax, poobahs. The Wall Street Journal was just funning with you.

What Abe actually said was: “Japan and the United States will together lead Asia Pacific toward the goal of turning it into an ocean of freedom and prosperity, working in partnership with countries that share values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law.”

That’s better. It’s a together-leady thing.

You know, just like when two lovers are dancing, they both lead.

I wonder what the other TPP members made of this interesting passage from the same interview:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact–agreed to by Japan, the U.S. and 10 other Pacific nations–will “allow like-minded countries to work together to create a free, fair and open economic system,” Mr. Abe said. It will also create a level-playing field for private companies competing against state-owned enterprises for major infrastructure projects, he said, such as high-speed rail systems, power plants and airports.

If I am misinterpreting this please correct me, but this appears to say that if a TPP member tries to source an infrastructure project from the PRC under terms that Japanese corporate competitors deems improperly state-subsidized, they can sue in the local courts to block procurement under the wonderful new TPP pact-wide legal protections for private corporations.

Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and other potential targets of PRC infrastructure largesse are probably thinking to themselves, Wow, what are we getting into?

A nice piece of leverage for Japan.

Another nice piece of leverage for Japan is that as a founding member it can blackball the PRC from the TPP if and when the PRC tries to apply.

So, consider the TPP a convenient way for Japan to extend its regional reach while wrongfooting the PRC…and denying the U.S. the ability to manage its PRC trade relationship unilaterally.

That’s probably worth more to Abe than the relatively minimal GDP gains expected from the agreement.

Ash Carter famously described the TPP as “important as another aircraft carrier.”

Whose, he didn’t say.

Speaking of aircraft carriers, in March of this year Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force accepted delivery of its largest ship since World War II, the JS Izumo, a helicopter carrier characterized as “an aircraft carrier in disguise” since it can accept the F-35 in its vertical take-off and landing configuration, and lacks only the catapults necessary for conventional fighter operations.

It’s designed to carry 20 aircraft. It’s an aircraft carrier.

Japan will launch a second one of these $1.5 billion vessels in 2018, to be christened the JS TPP.

Just kidding!

About the name. Not the launch.

The United States also extended a helping hand to Japan in enabling its military to operate in the South China Sea.

Amid the avalanche of piffle surrounding Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States, there was one news report of genuine significance: that the Los Angeles Times had been invited aboard a US nuclear attack submarine.

For the purposes of the exercise, war loomed in the Pacific. A nuclear-armed Jin [a Chinese class] submarine…was lurking off an imaginary U.S.-allied nation resembling Japan. The Jin was from “Churia,” not China.
…
Among them was Lt. Ray Wiggin, the sub’s weapons officer…was told to prepare to launch a salvo of cruise missiles at Churian targets on shore.

Nerves were on edge. War had not broken out. And the mock orders permitted an attack only if the Jin was clearly hostile.

“If they are [attacking] a freighter, we have authority to engage,” said Milsom, a ginger-haired graduate of Penn State.

Otherwise, they should track the Jin and await a “strike tasking,” an order from the Navy’s 7th Fleet commander confirming that war with Churia has begun.

The purpose of this junket was not merely, I believe, to provide a much appreciated thrill to the Los Angeles Times reporters; nor was it to alert Xi Jinping to the fact that the 43 out of the 71 subs in the US fleet are now in the Pacific, with 20 attack subs in Hawaii and another 4 in Guam; or that they routinely patrol near China to stalk PLAN subs and surface ships. He already knows that, I expect.

Nope, I expect the purport of the article rests in this line: “A nuclear-armed Jin [a Chinese class] submarine…was lurking off an imaginary U.S.-allied nation resembling Japan.”

“Jin class” is the new PRC nuclear missile sub that only uses the submarine base on Hainan Island. Some time in the very near future, it is expected to receive some nuclear missiles that are supposed to work, and will commence deterrent patrols…against the United States.

Not Japan.

Japan has no nuclear weapons in-country, either its own or US (supposedly), and is therefore not a target under the PRC no-first-strike doctrine.

Japan's Izumo. (U.S. Naval Institute)
Japan’s Izumo. (U.S. Naval Institute)

But that’s not the narrative that’s supposed to be picked up, especially in Japan.

To connect the dots, what we appear to have here is the U.S. declaring that the PRC subs pose a nuclear threat to Japan. These subs have to be detected and preferably bottled up near their base at Hainan in the South China Sea (which is the obsession of the US Navy, particularly as it awaits the debut of the PRC’s JL-2 sub-based ICBM). Ergo, Japan has a vital interest in joining US anti-submarine warfare activities in the South China Sea.

This assertion relieves Japan of a certain amount of embarrassment concerning its eagerness to inject itself in the South China Sea and strengthen its ties to Vietnam and the Philippines.

In a development apparently ignored by enthusiastic journalistic guzzlers of the China-bashing Kool-Aid (but pointed out ad nauseum by me), in a statement before the Diet Prime Minister Abe admitted that Japanese mine-sweeping operations in the Malacca Straits could not be justified as a vital Japanese interest since the South China Sea is only one of a multitude of sea routes available to Asian shippers.

Therefore, from a civilian/economic security perspective, there was no basis for joining US activities in the South China Sea.

But if we’ve got Chinese nukes in the South China Sea targeting Japan…Game On!

In fact, once Japanese survival is in play, there’s no reason for Japan to limit itself to operating solely under the US aegis in Asian military operations…

…what’s that, you say? It’s already happening?

In May 2015:

Japan and Malaysia agreed to bolster security ties and start talks on transfers of defense equipment and technology, their leaders said on Monday, as both separately wrangle with China over territorial spats.

“I’ve agreed with Prime Minister Najib (Razak) to raise our bilateral ties to strategic partnership,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a joint news conference…

In June 2015:

Visiting Philippine President Benigno Aquino said Friday [June 5, 2015] that Manila and Tokyo will start discussions on signing a “visiting forces agreement” that could allow Japan to use bases there to refuel aircraft and vessels.

“We will be initiating all the diplomatic requirements to come up with a visiting forces agreement,” Aquino told reporters at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, adding that he discussed initiating talks on the subject during his summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday.

The pact would enable Japan to extend its military reach to the South China Sea, where Tokyo is reportedly considering conducting joint air patrols with the United States.

And mid-September 2015:

The general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong …and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe announced a series of deals aimed at boosting bilateral trade and defense ties…

Among the agreements announced by Abe and Trong were a $1.6 million package for maritime security assistance for 2015 to help Vietnam acquire two used Japanese patrol ships, a memorandum of understanding on coast guard cooperation… The two leaders also agreed to step up collaboration on United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Maybe Japan really is “ready to lead” in Asia, after all.

The U.S. rather sordid campaign to legitimize Japanese collective self-defense over the objections of its people and against the dictates of its constitution looks to be the gift that keeps on giving…to Japan.

The U.S. might have entertained hopes that Japan could be controlled as a U.S. military asset by virtue of the fact that the current interpretation of collective self defense puts offshore Japanese military operations under the U.S. aegis.

But once the constitutional dam has been breached, there’s nothing stopping Japan from concluding “collective self defense” agreements with other “strategic partners.”

I have previously waxed incredulous at the spectacle of the United States empowering Japan to advance the anti-PRC alliance, while apparently oblivious to the fact that it is empowering Japan to operate as an independent power in Asia at the same time.

The U.S. strategy cannot even call on the comforting myth that, even if Japan feels an overpowering temptation to act unilaterally, it will resist thanks to its loyalty to the U.S. and its values.

The Abe government detests the victor’s dispensation the United States imposed on Japan, and the constitution that came with it. Absolutely without ambiguity, it seeks to restore Japan as a “normal nation” i.e. a nation with full military and constitutional freedom of motion and not beholden to the United States.

Basically, U.S. policy in Asia is becoming hostage to a Japanese government of anti-American right-wing nationalist adventurers.

Japan is not alone in its ambitions, its assertiveness, its desire to deter, its vulnerability to deterrence, and its capacity to work its way out of its military and security dilemmas.

There’s the PRC. And there’s everybody else in East and Southeast Asia. That’s a good thing, in my opinion. These burgeoning economies are robust enough to defend themselves and keep greedy and reckless neighbors from getting ideas.

So I might question the wisdom and morality of Japan’s military push into Asia. But I don’t view it as an existential threat.

But I think America is going to learn the hard way that “Asian security,” both in conception and execution, is no longer synonymous with “American leadership.”

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2015/10/12/0200000000AEN20151012000600320.html

(EDITORIAL from Korea Times on Oct. 12)

2015/10/12 07:08

Kim Jong-un hypocrisy

--Disarming N. Korea is more urgent than ever--

North Korea staged a massive military parade Saturday, involving 20,000 soldiers and displaying its latest weaponry to mark the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers Party.

It's fortunate that Pyongyang did not conduct a nuclear test or fire a long-range missile as it had threatened. Obviously, China leaned on Pyongyang, sending to the North Liu Yunshan, a very senior official, who delivered a personal letter from his boss, Xi Jinping, to Kim Jong-un, the North's young dictator. Kim tried to imitate his grandfather Kim Il-sung, founder of the communist state, and his father Kim Jong-il, to continue a form of brinkmanship based on the threat of using its military might.

The North displayed KN-08 missiles on mobile launchers, which are intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 12,000 kilometers that can theoretically hit the West Coast of the United States. The tips where payloads are positioned appeared modified from the previous version, triggering speculation that Pyongyang has achieved progress in nuclear warhead miniaturization. Batteries of 300mm-caliber guns that can hit the Armed Forces headquarters in Daejeon, south of Seoul, were also included in the parade.

Needless to say, the parade and the development of sophisticated weaponry on display against the backdrop of the mobilized crowd of 100,000 was a very costly business for any country. For North Korea, a country that can't even feed its own people and is in a state of bankruptcy, doing so is nothing short of an act of insanity.

The irony was that its leader, the third in a dynasty of tyranny, devoted a significant portion of his 25-minute speech to the welfare of its people. "Let's work to our death for the sake of our great people," he said at one point. "We should serve our people like heaven." Already on its Oct. 7 editorial, the party's mouthpiece Rodong Sinmum quoted Kim as saying, "What I must not forget even when my bones are crushed is the trust of people in me. When people's trust in me is severed, it means my lifeblood lines are severed as well."

What enormous hypocrisy! When everybody knows the Kim dynasty has survived by tyranny of terror, sending people to the perdition of gulags and executing them like swatting flies, the dictator claims that it is all for people's sake. What a tragic farce! It elevates the lies of Karl Marx to a whole new level.

Then, as Hitler made a public enemy of the Jewish people, Kim did the same with the U.S. by saying, "We are equipped with revolutionary arms to fight U.S. imperialists in any kind of war of its choosing. In front of our combined forces armed with the unbendable will, our archenemy is trembling in extreme fear." By and large, however, Kim spared South Korea, a good sign ahead of the reunions of separated families scheduled for Oct. 20-26.

Some experts also gave a positive interpretation on Kim's speech, speculating that the North wanted to resume dialogue with the outside world. That does not change the fact that the North is a bully with weapons of mass destruction and should be dealt with accordingly, with the right mix carrots and sticks. It requires our utmost level of imagination and cooperation to separate the dangerous weapons from the rogue state first. It should be insisted that the North dismantle its nuclear arsenal and stocks of missiles in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.

The international community, including South Korea, China and the U.S., has agreed not to accept the North as a nuclear-weapon state. Therefore, disarming the North is a mission that allows no wavering with no respect to whether Pyongyang changes from blackmail to a charm offensive or vice versa. This job should start on the assumption that the North won't voluntarily give up these weapons.

(END)

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

This comment is to the latest article on Arms Control Wonk.....

Decent Intervals

By krepon | 5 October 2015 | 22 Comments

http://krepon.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/4786/decent-intervals#comments

Magpie | October 11, 2015

Erm, no need for conspiracies. Assad is Russia’s man in the Levant, and it’s in the US’s interests to see him gone.

Assad is also an important link in the chain that goes (Russia, shhh, we don’t talk about Russia) -> Iran -> Assad’s Syria -> Hezbollah -> Israeli stuff gets blown up, wrecked, killed, or otherwise embarrassed (Hezbollah being the only anti-Israel force that’s worth a damn). This is not a secret (not even the Russian bit, except we don’t talk about that bit).

Then there’s the precarious Shiite government in Iraq, after we went and saddamised some guy who’s name I forget. Shiites somehow became Russia’s Muslims in the Cold War, basically, and ISIS is wrecking all sorts of illusions by reminded everyone that, actually, Iraq’s Shiites probably have more to do with Iran’s Shiites than the people who broke their country and generally show a lot more flopping about, foreign-policy-wise, than the dictatorship next door. ANYWAY, ISIS is making that painfully obvious, so again, not good. And also, not a secret.

Then there’s the quiet-never-mention-it *thing* we got going on with the (kurds, shhhhh, don’t mention the kurds), who (I would lay money) are a pet project of State, being one of those beacons of democracy and relative decency which State has always had a soft spot for, only we can’t admit it because that’d make Turkey blow a fuse, and the Other State (the one with letters) still can’t forgive them for being commie Muslims who have had the utter gall to still be alive and largely un-tortured. ISIS were wrecking the Kurds, but now
(thanks in part to the odd airstrike to make up for accidentally giving ISIS armour, whoops, sorry) some nice young Kurdish folk have said “Excuse me Mr Salafist, I believe you dropped this” and have handed over a huge pile of arses. So yay, score one for the forces of good(ish).

…is that an expression you guys have? Handing someone their arse?

Anyway, that bit’s not really properly secret either, as long as you don’t ever say (kurd, shhhhh), and mumble ‘Yazidi’ or ‘Kobane’ or something instead.

So yeah, plenty of up-front reasons to be blowing up idjits, without resorting to ham-fisted Saudi princes lurking about.

The KSA, of course, are happy about the whole situation, since their violently-minded doofuses (doofi?) have a great place to go blow off steam / die horribly without it impacting on the peace and stability of the Kingdom. Plus they want Assad gone double, and want Iraq to stay out of Iran’s little sphere triple. Same reasons as the US, minus the Kurds.

Phew. There. Slap on some references no-one will check, and you’ve got a thesis.

The article and the responses are worth a read no matter how much you agree with the opinions presented.

Housecarl · Oct 11, 2015

Hummm.......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2015/10/08/poland_rising_111493.html

October 8, 2015

Poland Rising?

By Joel Weickgenant

Poland is not a member of the eurozone, and that externality gave one of its ministers some leeway to speak frankly at the height of the currency area's crisis. In November 2011, then-Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski used that leeway to intone a passionate appeal for Germany, a country long its adversary, to assume the EU leadership mantle:

"I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity."

Sikorski's speech, full of admonishments and admonitions, introduced a maturing Poland to the global stage. As the Economist remarked, Poland's foreign policy had for years been marked by "caution, and improving relations with Germany." But:

"[T]o see a Polish foreign minister addressing a Berlin audience as a political heavyweight, with serious ideas and serious demands, is a huge change from the days when Poland was seen as a difficult and needy recipient of Western largesse."

Four years on, Germany has since grown into its role as Europe's reluctant leader. And as elections approach in Poland, Warsaw seems to have reached a crossroads of its own. In the immediate aftermath of May's presidential election, in which the centrist Civic Platform incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski lost to Andrzej Duda, at the time a member of the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) party, observers noted an immediate shift in Polish foreign policy. The theme was confrontation. Politico EU's Jan Cienski:

"Barely a week into his term, Poland's new president is moving to realize a hallmark campaign promise: To pivot central Europe's most important country to closer security ties with its immediate eastern neighbors.

"In so doing, Andrzej Duda courts confrontation with Russia and strains in Poland's recent good vibes with Berlin and Brussels. It is a risk that the 43-year-old, right-wing leader sounds eager to run.

"‘Poland's foreign policy doesn't need a revolution,' Duda said in an interview with Politico, ‘but it does need a correction.'"

ECFR agrees that Poland now is getting set to take a more confrontational stance toward Brussels and Berlin:

"Warsaw is no longer the architect of the EU Ostpolitik, it is on the collision course with Berlin and Paris on climate issues, it will not join the eurozone any time soon, it struggles to be part of the EU defence industry consolidation process and it has (because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict) specific and not widely shared security concerns."

But any confrontation should be seen in context. As much as any country, Poland sees the value of the European Union, as GMF's Michal Baranowski told RCW during an interview.

Indeed, Poland has been a major supporter of Europe's enlargement policies; has benefited greatly from EU structural funds and the institutional infrastructure of the Common Market; and has no plans to ditch its currency, the zloty. Its points of contention with Brussels and Berlin are well-established, regardless of the October winner, and shared across the leading political platforms. Differences in foreign policy will be differences in tone, especially considering fears of a confrontation with Russia.

What happens within Poland might thus be a more complex process than the euroskepticism seen in other member states. Perhaps Poland is growing more assertive, and confident in the role it can play in European politics. Witness Warsaw's surprising vote with the majority in the European Council decision to redistribute refugees across the Schengen Area. Poland went against the other countries of the Visegrad Group, an informal association of Central European states whose potential future relevance has been undercut by differing perceptions of the threat posed by Russia. That was a risky move, considering stark domestic opposition to immigration in advance of this month's vote. But it showed a Warsaw more conscious of aligning itself with the European consensus than of expressing a purely domestic concern on a vote it was going to lose regardless. In other words, a country that wants to be viewed as a power player on the European stage.

Poland is well-positioned to continue its emergence on the Continent. Its economy has grown by European standards, it has embarked on a military modernization program, and it prioritizes stable relations with Berlin. It is of a very different character from Europe's current leading powers. Four years ago, a Poland still finding its regional footing pushed Germany to lead by example. A more self-confident Poland today would be a strong advocate for a Europe less focused on soft power, and finally tuned in to the geopolitical threats facing it.

To sign up for the Europe Memo, click here.

Around the Continent

The New Fulda Gap: Here's what Polish leaders are looking at -- and the Americans too:

"The head of U.S. Army Europe is eyeing a narrow sliver of land connecting Poland with Lithuania, concerned about the Russian troops and equipment he has been watching pile up on either side.

"Dubbed the ‘Suwalki Gap' after the Polish town of Suwalki that sits in the seam between the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad to the northwest and Moscow-friendly nation of Belarus to the southeast, the area has become the latest potential flashpoint between an increasingly aggressive Moscow and NATO.

"The port city of Kaliningrad has long bristled with thousands of Russian troops and advanced weapons, while Belarus recently agreed to house a large Russian air base, making the Suwalki area a small vulnerable land bridge increasingly squeezed by Russian hardware.

"‘If the Russians did a snap exercise [near the gap] you could see, potentially, they could close that off,' U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told Foreign Policy."

Why is Europe getting tough on Spain now? Stratfor asks (£):

"It began Monday when the European Union's economic and financial affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, warned that Spain's projections for economic growth and deficit reduction were too optimistic and that Madrid could miss its deficit targets for 2015 and 2016. The European Commission usually uses its reports on member states' budgets to separate Europe's good performers from the bad; some countries are praised for their efforts to introduce economic reforms while others are criticized and asked to do more. Madrid, which Brussels often presents as one of the positive performers, was not expecting the criticism.

Spain will hold general elections Dec. 20, and the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is basing its electoral platform on the promise of strong economic growth."

Catalonia's leader spins: Artur Mas, the leader of the Catalonia region, gives his take in Politico EU on the results of the Sept. 27 plebiscitary vote:

"The result of the elections confirmed the perception that a majority of Catalans desire for us to begin a democratic, peaceful, civil and negotiated process to achieve an independent state for Catalonia. With record participation of 77 percent, the two expressly pro-independence candidacies won almost 48 percent of the popular vote and 72 out of 135 seats, giving them an absolute majority in the parliament of Catalonia. Parties directly opposed to independence received 39 percent of the vote and 52 seats. The remaining votes, which make up more than 11 percent of all ballots cast, went to two parties that advocate Catalonia's right to self-determination, but which effectively abstained from weighing in on the question of independence as groups - so much so, in fact, that members of both parties have asked repeatedly that the votes they received be counted as neither in favor of independence nor against it."

Feedback

Questions, comments, contributions? Feel free to send us an email, or reach out on Twitter @JoelWeickgenant.

Joel Weickgenant is managing editor of RealClearWorld. Follow him on Twitter @JoelWeickgenant.

(AP Photo)

almost ready · Oct 11, 2015

Gone in 15 seconds: $1.2mn system disables drones simply by blocking radio signals
Published time: 11 Oct, 2015 13:50

Engineers claim to have designed the first fully integrated system to detect, track and disrupt drones, regardless of their size. The Anti-UAV Defense System (AUDS) can spot a drone 8 km away and halt its flight in less than 15 seconds without bloodshed.

The AUDS system is said to be effective even against micro- and mini-drones at ranges of up to several kilometers. It detects a drone using an electronic scanning radar, tracks it with infrared and daylight cameras and then finally cuts short the flight using an inhibitor to block the radio signals that control it.

The AUDS has been developed and manufactured in the UK, with the production version available for £800,000 ($1.2 million). The system, designed for countering drones or remotely piloted aircraft systems in border sites or urban areas, can be operated from fixed locations and from mobile platforms. The AUDS units consist of an electronic scanning air security radar, a stabilised electro-optic director, infrared and daylight cameras, and a directional radio frequency inhibitor to track down, classify and neutralise drones.

Countering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has recently become a challenge for the military and security forces across the world, Graham Beall, managing director of one of the system's developers, Chess Dynamics, said in a statement. According to Beall, in the near future drones are expected to be increasingly used for terrorism and espionage for one simple reason – they can carry cameras, weapons, toxic chemicals and explosives.

AUDS was launched in May and developed by Blighter Surveillance Systems, Chess Dynamics and Enterprise Control Systems. It has already proved successful in counter-drone trials, detecting and disrupting a range of fixed and rotary wing drones.

READ MORE: Walking robot uses drone to help traverse tricky terrain (VIDEO)

A special quad-band inhibitor makes it possible to disrupt the different licensed telemetry bands of commercial drones, regardless of where on Earth they have been designed and licensed for use. Both the 433 and 915 MHz frequencies commonly used by drones can be disrupted, as can the 2.4 GHz control band and the global satellite (GNSS) bands, the engineers say.

The new optical disruptor can be meanwhile used for both pointing at a drone for identification and/or disrupting the automatic gain control settings in the drone's camera system so that the operator loses visibility. The team has modularised the AUDS system to reduce the single lift weight down to 25 kg, with all the different elements (radar, cameras, and radio frequency inhibitor) clipping together.

"Carefully controlled disruption of these command links – and the use of the optical disruptor - significantly impairs the operator's ability to control the drone and forms a key part of the spectrum of techniques used by the AUDS system to mitigate the malicious use of drones," CEO of Enterprise Control Systems, Colin Bullock, said.

From the caption -- anti-UAV system at www.blighter.com

Haven't gone there to look yet.

Photos at link.

Wonder how good it will really be. We'll have to wait and see reports come in.

http://www.rt.com/news/318297-system-disables-drones-radio/

Housecarl · Oct 12, 2015

Hummmm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...vant-chinese-general/articleshow/49310986.cms

Marxism faces risk of becoming irrelevant: Chinese General

By PTI | 11 Oct, 2015, 04.16PM IST

BEIJING: As China held its first world Marxism Congress, a Chinese military general has warned that Marxism would become irrelevant if the political and economic ideology that changed world failed to find answers to contemporary social problems.

In a speech read out at the World Congress on Marxism at Peking University, General Liu Yazhou, political commissar at the National Defence University, told over a 100 national and international ideologues of Marxism that "(the researchers) inability to identify and solve social problems have blocked the innovative development of Marxism in China".

His speech went on to say that while Marxism proved to be a "historical and scientific" choice for the Chinese people and remained vital, it was necessary to innovate and expand its theoretical basis to avoid being marginalised, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted him as saying.

"It is not easy for a theory to be refuted by another theory, but it could be easily defeated by social problems. But if a theory fails to address social concerns, then society will no longer need it," he said.

The World Congress on Marxism is being held amid the ruling Communist Party of China's (CPC) efforts to deepen reforms to further liberalise its economy in order to halt the slowdown.

After decades of double digit growth rates, Chinese economy is hovering around seven per cent with forecast that it would further decline in the next two years.

CPC which prides to be the communist party with longest tenure in power with uninterrupted one-party rule since 1949 describes its mix of Marxism with economic reforms as "socialism with Chinese characteristics".

More than 400 Marxist scholars from 20 countries were invited to participate in the congress with the theme of "Marxism and the Development of the Human Race".

Speaking at the Congress, Liu Wei, vice-president of Peking University said one problem that Marxists needed to answer was how to make the market-based economy work effectively under public ownership - as opposed to private ownership in capitalism.

The answer could determine the success or failure of China's economic reforms, Liu said.

The comments come as President Xi Jinping embraced Marxism and traditional Chinese values as the nation's ideological lodestar while suppressing liberal Western ideas such as democracy and civil society, the Post report said.

The party's Central Committee also issued a directive earlier this year for all mainland universities to become bases for "learning, researching, and disseminating" Marxism, and making sure Chinese socialism was not only printed in textbooks, but was also "getting into students' minds".

Xi headed the CPC's ideological school before taking over at the Party's General Secretary, President of the country and Chief of armed forces in 2013, making him the most powerful leader in recent Chinese history after Deng Xiaoping who after Party founder Mao Zedong's death in 1976 introduced widespread economic reforms diluting the socialist content of CPC's ideology.

Peking University is planning to make the World Congress on Marxism a permanent fixture, hosted every two years, while a building named after Karl Marx will soon be built on the campus.

Housecarl · Oct 12, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/12/us-afghanistan-fighting-idUSKCN0S618L20151012

World | Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:00am EDT
Related: World, Afghanistan

Taliban threaten second Afghan provincial capital as insurgency spreads

KABUL | By Hamid Shalizi

Fighting intensified around the Afghan city of Ghazni on Monday, as Taliban militants threatened to seize a second provincial capital after briefly occupying Kunduz in the north last month.

The clashes around Ghazni, some 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Kabul, underlined the worsening security situation across Afghanistan, where national soldiers and police are struggling to cope now the bulk of foreign forces have withdrawn.

Monday's violence followed days of sporadic fighting near Ghazni, and prompted most shops, schools and universities there to close.

Many residents attempted to flee to the capital Kabul or nearby districts, adding to a growing number of internally displaced people within Afghanistan.

Government officials said they still had the upper hand.

"Hundreds of Taliban attacked from two directions and the fighting is still on some 7 km away from the provincial capital," Ghazni's Deputy Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told Reuters.

"The Taliban planned to attack and seize the capital but we were on the alert and repelled them," he said.

The hardline Islamist militant movement, seeking to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and restore its regime 14 years after being toppled, also said it had blocked the highway from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.

The Taliban warned motorists to avoid the key transport corridor linking the capital to the south, which was rebuilt with the help of Western aid. There was no independent confirmation of their claim to have blocked the route.

Earlier on Monday, a local U.N. staffer was shot and killed by two gunmen on a motorbike as she was on her way to work in Kandahar.

"She was fatally wounded and later died in hospital," said Mujib ur Rahman, a UN press officer in Kandahar.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of foreign troops during Sunday morning rush hour in Kabul, wounding at least three civilians.

KUNDUZ WARNING

Since the withdrawal of international troops from most combat operations at the end of last year, the brunt of fighting has been borne by Afghan forces.

Any hopes of a negotiated settlement with the Taliban were dealt a blow earlier this year, when a power struggle broke out following confirmation that the movement's founder, Mullah Omar, had died two years earlier.

Under new leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the Taliban have mounted a wave of attacks in Kabul and beyond, culminating in the seizure of Kunduz in a carefully orchestrated offensive.

While some areas in mountainous regions near Pakistan and in the southern province of Helmand have long been under the control of the Taliban, the fall of once sleepy Kunduz, some 230 km (150 miles) from Kabul, represented a sharp escalation.

It was the first time the Taliban, which imposed harsh Islamic law when in power including public executions and denying women the right to education and work, had taken a major provincial capital since 2001. Government forces have since wrested back control of most of Kunduz.

It was also a stark warning of how far the Taliban has extended its reach into regions once thought secure, stretching government forces and piling pressure on President Ashraf Ghani's fragile national unity government.

The worsening violence has caused alarm in Washington, where President Barack Obama must decide on whether or not to stick to an earlier decision to cut U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan to a small U.S. embassy-based force after 2016.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Sarwar Amani in Kandahar; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Lilbitsnana · Oct 12, 2015

Nathan J Hunt Retweeted
The Japan Times ‏@japantimes 1h1 hour ago

BREAKING: Okinawa revokes approval for U.S. base relocation work

TerryK · Oct 12, 2015

Amid Russian airstrikes, a Putin craze takes hold in Mideast

The balance of power and influence in the middle east has shifted

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-12-14-55-15

Oct 12, 2:55 PM EDT
Amid Russian airstrikes, a Putin craze takes hold in Mideast
ZEINA KARAMVIVIAN SALAMA
Associated pressAssociated press

AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman

BEIRUT (AP) -- Amid the ornate walls of Damascus' famed Omayyad Mosque, preacher Maamoun Rahmeh stood before worshippers last week, declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin a "giant and beloved leader" who has "destroyed the myth of the self-aggrandizing America."
Posters of Putin are popping up on cars and billboards elsewhere in parts of Syria and Iraq, praising the Russian military intervention in Syria as one that will redress the balance of power in the region.

The Russian leader is winning accolades from many in Iraq and Syria, who see Russian airstrikes in Syria as a turning point after more than a year of largely ineffectual efforts by the U.S.-led coalition to dislodge the Islamic State militants who have occupied significant parts of the two countries.

The reactions underscore that while the West may criticize Putin for supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad, there is some relief in the region at the emergence of a player with a coherent - if controversial - strategy.
"Putin does more than just speak," said Sohban Elewi of Damascus, summing up the views of Syrians on opposing camps who regard U.S. policy in Syria and Iraq as fumbled and confused.

Russia began its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, joining the fray of those bombing Syria at a critical time for Assad and his embattled troops. The Syrian army's loss of the northern province of Idlib opened the way for rebels to come dangerously close to the coastal Alawite heartland, leaving his soldiers there vulnerable and dejected.
Russia insists it is targeting the Islamic State group and other "terrorists." But Syrian rebels and opposition activists say Moscow's warplanes in recent days have focused on Idlib and the central province of Hama, hitting U.S.-backed rebels in areas with no IS militants.
The planes also have provided air cover for Syrian ground troops who launched an offensive in central Syria, reinforcing the belief that Russia's main aim is to shore up Assad's forces.

In addition to the warplanes taking off from a base in Latakia, Russian ships in the Caspian Sea have fired cruise missiles that fly nearly 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) over Iran and Iraq to strike Raqqa and Aleppo provinces, in what many see as a show of force meant to portray muscle more than serve a specific military goal.
Among Assad's war-weary and frustrated supporters, such elaborate displays of support provide a much-needed psychological boost, and have injected new hope that their flailing battle against rebel factions and the Islamic State group can still be won.
"The (Russian) intervention has raised the morale of the Syrian army and the Syrian people alike," said Dr. Samir Haddad from the central city of Homs.
"President Putin has a distinguished personality and charisma, and it has become clear that world leaders have gradually started approving, openly or secretly, of this intervention," he said.

In Iraq, where the U.S.-led war against IS has stalled, many say they want Russian airstrikes against IS to extend to their country.
Buried between paintings of Baghdad architecture, mosques and landscapes, some art shops in Baghdad have begun selling portraits of Putin, a tribute to his intervention in what Iraqis see as the new military front against IS.

"Russia does not play games. They are problem solvers, and they do it quietly and efficiently, not like the Americans who prefer to do everything in front of the cameras," said Hussein Karim, a 21-year-old medical student from Baghdad.

In one cartoon widely distributed among Iraqis on Facebook and Twitter, U.S. President Barack Obama is dressed as a Sunni sheikh, while Putin as a Shiite imam, suggesting the two are taking sides.

Another cartoon shows a bare-chested Putin holding IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by the collar of his jalabaya, looking very intimidating. He says to al-Baghdadi: "Where do you think you're going? I'll flatten you like flour," a popular Iraqi expression.
Al-Baghdadi, holding a cellphone, shouts: "Obama, save me!"

Most of the cartoons portray Putin as muscular - a perception that echoes the one at home in Russia, where he has cultivated an image as a man of action.
In addition to conducting his official duties, he often is shown on Russian TV doing such activities as playing ice hockey - as he did last week on his 63rd birthday - or climbing into a submersible to explore the sea.

T-shirts with his image are sold at shopping malls, souvenir stores and even from vending machines in Moscow airports. Some depict him looking tough in dark sunglasses, while others show him riding a horse to the words from a pop song: "They are not going to get us."

The military intervention in Syria is viewed by many as a sign of shifting alliances in the region as Russia takes a greater role in the fight against IS.
Russia has had strong ties with the Mideast for years. The fascination with Putin is driven largely by a longstanding suspicion of the West and anger about decades of U.S. intervention in the region that many say has led to more wars and sectarianism. Many hope a stronger Russia would lead to a more balanced approach.

Iraq's prime minister said last month that his government also entered a joint intelligence sharing agreement with Russia, Iran and Syria, opening an operations center in the heart of Baghdad.

In Egypt, Russian flags and posters of Putin's face hung across Cairo during his visit in February. At the time, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper profiled him, with photos showing Putin shirtless and holding various weapons, headlined, "A hero of our times."
His appeal has extended to Lebanon, where some demonstrators - Christian allies of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group - wore T-shirts bearing Putin's face at a protest Sunday calling for Lebanese presidential elections.

"Putin considers the Syrian crisis an excellent opportunity to erode America's standing in the region," said Ghassan Charbel, editor of the London-based Arabic daily newspaper Al Hayat.
In a front-page editorial Monday, he warned that while Syria presents Moscow with an opportunity to exact revenge from the West, it may transform quickly into an Afghanistan-like quagmire that threatens to erode Putin's image as a "czar."
But the Russian airstrikes also have drawn the ire of rebels in Syria who have formed a joint operations room to fight the new foe.
At a recent demonstration in the northern city of Idlib, armed rebels set fire to a Russian flag. "We will trample on your heads," read one banner, addressing the Russians.
---

Lilbitsnana · Oct 13, 2015

Nathan J Hunt Retweeted
China Xinhua News ‏@XHNews 17m17 minutes ago

#BREAKING: #Iran parliament OKs #IranNuclearDeal, insists inspectors have only limited access to military sites: IRNA
Embedded image permalink

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

Lilbitsnana said:
Nathan J Hunt Retweeted
China Xinhua News þ@XHNews 17m17 minutes ago

#BREAKING: #Iran parliament OKs #IranNuclearDeal, insists inspectors have only limited access to military sites: IRNA
Embedded image permalink

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/13/us-iran-nuclear-parliament-idUSKCN0S70F220151013

World | Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:18am EDT
Related: World, Davos

Iranian parliament passes bill approving nuclear deal

DUBAI

Iran's parliament passed a bill on Tuesday supporting the government in implementing a nuclear deal with world powers, state news agency IRNA said, in a victory for the government over conservative opponents of the deal.

Some lawmakers have opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that President Hassan Rouhani's government reached with world powers on July 14, and Tuesday's vote removes a major obstacle to putting the agreement into practice.

However, the bill insists that international inspections of military sites under the nuclear pact should be approved by a top Iranian security body, leaving the possibility that disagreements could still arise.

"The bill to implement the JCPOA ... was passed in a public session on Tuesday with 161 votes in favor," IRNA said. There were 59 votes against and 13 abstentions.

The bill had passed a preliminary vote on Sunday by a smaller margin, and will now be submitted to a clerical body for final approval and passage into law.

(Reporting by Sam Wilkin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

_____

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...ament-approves-nuclear-deal-with-world-powers

Iran's parliament approves nuclear deal with world powers, though they could discuss again

Associated Press
Oct 13, 2015, 2:45 am EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's parliament has voted in favor of a nuclear deal struck with world powers.

In a vote Tuesday carried live by state radio, 161 of 250 lawmakers present at the session voted in favor of the landmark accord. However, Iran's 12-member Guardian Council could refer the bill back to parliament for more discussion.

The bill allows Iran to withdraw from the agreement if world powers do not lift sanctions, or impose new sanctions or restore previous ones.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on key policies, has said it is up to parliament to approve or reject the deal. However, the bill needs to be ratified by a constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

_____

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=73648

First Published: 2015-10-13

Iran nuclear deal with six world powers gets parliament approval

Approval ends debate among Iranian lawmakers over nuclear agreement, paves the way for its formal implementation.

Middle East Online

TEHRAN - Iran's parliament approved a historic nuclear deal with world powers on Tuesday, effectively ending debate among lawmakers over the agreement and paving the way for its formal implementation.

The motion to approve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was passed with 161 votes in favour, 59 against and with 13 abstentions, the official IRNA news agency and other media said.

An early tally of the vote said 250 of Iran's 290 MPs were present, with the numbers suggesting 17 members who attended did not vote at all.

The nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers was struck on July 14 after almost two years of diplomacy but lawmakers in the United States and Tehran insisted on voting on it.

The deal, which will lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its atomic activities -- the Islamic republic denies seeking a bomb -- has received a rocky ride in the US and Iran.

Members of the US Congress failed in September to torpedo the deal.

And in Tehran ultraconservative lawmakers repeatedly warned of holes in the text of the agreement and criticised President Hassan Rouhani for suggesting MPs were deliberately delaying the deal.

In selling the agreement to sceptics, Rouhani's government said its negotiators protected the future of Iran's nuclear programme while ensuring sanctions, that have ravaged its economy, would end.

However, as late as Sunday parliament was the scene of fiery clashes over the deal.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, went on the attack for the government after he and other officials were accused by lawmakers of having capitulated to the West.

So-called red lines for the talks were laid down by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Supreme National Security Council that he oversees.

Tuesday's motion, titled "Iran's Plan for Reciprocal and Proper Action in Implementing JCPOA" allows the government to proceed, IRNA reported.

Iranian officials have said sanctions should be lifted by the end of the year or January 2016 at the latest.

However Iran also has to satisfy the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, of the exclusively peaceful nature of its atomic programme.

The IAEA faces a December 15 reporting deadline to resolve what it had termed "ambiguities" over Iran's past nuclear activities.

_____

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/ml--iran-nuclear-6d26eb90ea.html

Iran lawmakers vote to implement nuclear deal

Oct 13, 6:57 AM (ET)
By NASSER KARIMI

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's parliament voted Tuesday to support implementing a landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers despite hard-line attempts to derail the bill, suggesting the historic accord will be carried out.

The bill will be reviewed by Iran's 12-member Guardian Council, a group of senior clerics who could return it to lawmakers for further discussion. However, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on key policies, has said it is up to the 290-seat parliament to approve or reject the deal.

Signaling the nuclear deal's likely success, a spokesman for moderate President Hassan Rouhani's administration welcomed the parliament's vote and called it a "historic decision."

"Members of parliament made a well-considered decision today showing they have a good understanding of the country's situation," Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said. "We hope to see acceleration in progress and development of the country from now on."

The European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who helped facilitate the nuclear talks, also praised the vote as "good news" in a message on Twitter.

In the parliamentary session carried live by state radio, 161 lawmakers voted for implementing the nuclear deal, while 59 voted against it and 13 abstained. Another 17 did not vote at all, while 40 lawmakers did not attend the session.

A preliminary parliamentary vote Sunday saw 139 lawmakers out of the 253 present support the outline of the bill. But despite getting more support Tuesday, hard-liners still tried to disrupt the parliament's session, shouting that Khamenei himself did not support the bill while trying to raise numerous proposals on its details.

"This decision has no link to the leader!" shouted Mahdi Kouchakzadeh, a hard-line lawmaker who rushed toward the front of parliament to yell at speaker Ali Larijani. "It is a decision by Larijani and we oppose it!"

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that Ali Aghar Zarei, another hard-line lawmaker, broke down weeping after the vote. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led Iran's nuclear negotiation team, left the session when it grew tense, the state-run IRNA news agency said.

The bill grants responsibility for implementing the deal to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the top security body of the country, which Rouhani heads. It allows Iran to withdraw from the agreement if world powers do not lift sanctions, impose new sanctions or restore previous ones.

"The government is obligated to stop its voluntary cooperation if the other side fails to remain committed," the bill says.

The bill also requires the Iranian government to work toward the nuclear disarmament of Israel, which has the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal. The bill also says the government should take "necessary measures" to prevent the U.S. and the West from penetrating the country through the deal, a worry mentioned by Khamenei himself in recent weeks.

Hard-liners had hoped to stall the deal in order to weaken Rouhani's moderate administration ahead of February's parliamentary elections. But many in Iran applauded the final nuclear deal, struck July 14 in Vienna, as it would lift crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limits on the nuclear program.

The U.N. Security Council previously approved the deal on July 20 and the U.S. Congress blocked efforts by Republicans to derail the accord in September. That left Iran to approve the deal, which came after nearly two years of negotiations between it and the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday when the Guardian Council would issue its own decision. However, it usually approves bills in a short span after a decision by parliament. While Khamenei himself has neither supported nor rejected the deal in public, he frequently praised Iran's negotiators during the talks.

Saeed Leilaz, a Tehran-based political analyst, told The Associated Press that he believed the Guardian Council would approve the bill. He dismissed the hard-liner anger as a "domestic maneuver" ahead of the February election.

"The entire system has been supporting the deal," Leilaz said. "The case is over. The deal should be implemented."

---

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/lt-guatemala-mob-kills-mayor-aed5eed9da.html

Guatemala: Mob kills village mayor over attack on rival

Oct 12, 9:26 PM (ET)

(AP) A man cries over the coffin of Mayor Bacilio Juracan who was killed by a mob on...
Full Image

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A mob killed a village mayor in western Guatemala in reprisal for an attack on a political rival that resulted in the death of two teenage girls, authorities said Monday.

Prosecutors' office spokeswoman Julia Barrera confirmed the death of 43-year-old Mayor Bacilio Juracan of Concepcion, a town about 110 miles (180 kilometers) west of Guatemala City and near the popular tourist destination of Lake Atitlan.

Villagers blamed Juracan for an attack Sunday on former mayoral candidate Lorenzo Sequen, who was riding in a pickup with relatives when about 10 armed and masked men opened fire. Sequen's daughter and niece, both 17, were shot dead, and at least five others, including Sequen, were wounded.

Hours later, hundreds of people surrounded city hall and a home where Juracan had sought refuge, and burned him to death.

(AP) Soldiers patrol past the burnt remains where a vehicle was torched, during the...
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They also torched vehicles and at least six buildings including a restaurant and an Internet cafe.

Sequen told police he had been threatened on multiple occasions by civic authorities after he called for an audit of the village government.

According to a police report, another former candidate urged neighbors to attack the mayor.

Vigilante killings are common in rural parts of Guatemala, where there's often scant police presence.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into the incidents. National Police spokesman Jorge Aguilar said 50 officers were deployed to patrol the village, where burned cars remained in the streets Monday.

Juracan was re-elected as mayor Sept. 6, and Sequen was a candidate for a rival party.

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/cb-haiti-us-missionary-killed-48ccfcf0ab.html

In Haiti capital, gunmen kill US missionary in her car

Oct 12, 8:04 PM (ET)
By DAVID McFADDEN

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An American missionary who had been working in Haiti for many years was fatally shot by gunmen in the impoverished country's capital as she sat behind the wheel of her car on a residential street, colleagues and police said Monday.

Haitian National Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said the attackers also kidnapped a 4-year-old child from missionary Roberta Edwards' car after shooting her at close range. It was not immediately clear if the child was one of the roughly 20 youngsters who received foster care at the children's home that she ran in Port-au-Prince.

"Investigators are working to find the killers and the kidnapped child," said Lerebours, adding the incident occurred Saturday evening in the Croix-des-Bouquets district.

The Estes Church of Christ, based in Henderson, Tennessee, said the missionary's car was intentionally blocked Saturday evening by another motorist. Armed men got out of the car, fired into Edwards' vehicle and killed her.

The slain American ran the Sonlight Children's Home since 2002, according to the Tennessee church that oversaw her work in Haiti. She also directed a nutrition center that provided two meals a day, five days a week, to 160 poor youngsters, who also received funding for school fees.

Elders from the Estes Church said Edwards was a "light" to many and dedicated her life to bringing hope to the hopeless.

"It is our intention to honor her memory by continuing the battle against Satan in Haiti and pressing on in the work of God's kingdom," the group said in a statement posted on their website.

Friends say she was originally from North Carolina, but she had a home in Henderson and regularly returned to the United States from her Haiti base.

Burt Nowers, president of the Healing Hands International religious group in Nashville, said in a phone interview that Edwards was well aware of the challenges of working in Haiti's capital and owned a handgun for protection.

"She knew it was a dangerous place and she took precautions. It just didn't work out for her this time," Nowers said, adding that Edwards first moved to Haiti roughly two decades ago with her Haitian husband, but the marriage didn't last.

Nowers, whose organization worked with Edwards on projects over the years, said he was told that two older boys who received care at the children's home were in the car with the missionary when she was attacked but they escaped harm.

In May 2014, another U.S. missionary was stabbed to death in Haiti's capital. George Knoop, a 77-year-old elder with the Quisqueya Chapel in Haiti, was attacked inside his rental home and a computer was apparently stolen during the attack. The killing of the retired teacher from Chicago remains unsolved.

For decades, missionaries from across the globe have run hospitals, orphanages, schools and food-distribution sites in Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country.

---

David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcfadd

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151012/lt--mexico-governor_shot-3ed50f3f01.html

Former governor of Mexican state shot multiple times

Oct 12, 2:48 PM (ET)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A former governor of the Mexican Pacific Coast state of Colima has been shot in a restaurant.

State Health Secretary Agustin Lara says that Fernando Moreno Pena was shot six times Monday and was in delicate, but stable condition.

Lara says that Moreno arrived at the hospital conscious and alert.

State security coordinator Felix Humberto says two men entered a restaurant in the state capital and shot Moreno before fleeing. The motive is unclear.

The 52-year-old governor held office from 1997 to 2003 for the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party. He also served as a federal congressman and head of the state university.

Moreno's successor in office was Gustavo Alberto Vazquez Montes, who died in a plane crash in 2005. Vazquez's own successor Jesus Silverio Cavazos Ceballos was assassinated in 2010.

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

Hummm.........

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/eu--france-warships-ef961540a5.html

French president is looking to sell new ships to Russia

Oct 13, 1:09 PM (ET)

SAINT-NAZAIRE (AP) — France is looking to sell new ships to Russia in the future despite the cancellation of a controversial deal for two Mistral-class warships this year, French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday.

"Things went well with Russia, which has agreed to cancel the contract. And I even think we'll get partnerships for new ships," Hollande said during a visit to the shipyard of Saint-Nazaire in western France. He didn't specify whether they could be military ships.

Hollande came aboard one of the warships that was originally named the Vladivostok, in reference to the Russian port. The inscription on the hull has been erased and replaced by grey paint.

The Mistral sale was supposed to be the biggest arms sale ever by a NATO country to Russia, until the deal fell apart because of the Ukraine crisis. France refunded the 950 million euros ($1 billion) already paid by Russia and sold the ships to Egypt, which signed a 950 million-euro contract last week.

"I had to sell them to a country that needed to ensure its own security but didn't threaten anyone," Hollande said.

Egypt is increasing its military capabilities as the country tries to assume a more prominent role against Islamic State militants.

The assault ships can each carry 16 helicopter gunships, 700 troops and up to 50 armored vehicles. They are due to be delivered to Egyptian authorities in March 2016.

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

Playing both ends while the deals can be made and the money's there.....

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/ml--saudi-france-82817285a6.html

France, Saudi Arabia deepen alliance with 10B euros in deals

Oct 13, 2:01 PM (ET)
By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI and AYA BATRAWY

(AP) In this image released by the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al...
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — France has signed deals worth 10 billion euros ($11.4 billion) with Saudi Arabia, said French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday, underscoring the shared foreign policy stances that have helped deepen the two countries' military and economic ties.

Valls, who announced the deals on his official Twitter account, is in Saudi Arabia with a large delegation of French business representatives and top officials, including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the deal includes the start of negotiations to provide Saudi Arabia with its own communication and observation satellites — something the kingdom has been coveting as it expands its regional military reach and fights a war against Shiite rebels in Yemen.

The two sides also signed deals in Riyadh for $2 billion worth of Saudi public investment in French private funds with a focus on renewable energy and signed a letter of intent for cooperation in that sector. They also signed a cooperation agreement to establish a naval research center and to increase joint military training exercises.

(AP) In this image released by the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, Saudi's Second Deputy Prime...
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The two countries agreed to hold another joint session in Paris next March.

The visit to Saudi Arabia is part of a regional tour that included stops in Jordan and Egypt, where a $1.1 billion deal for two French Mistral amphibious assault ships was signed.

The French delegation, which arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, held talks with King Salman, Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman in the capital, Riyadh.

A French official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media, says a military helicopter deal is also expected to be signed in Riyadh. In June, Saudi Arabia signed agreements worth billions of dollars to buy 23 helicopters for the Interior Ministry, 50 Airbus jets and two possible nuclear reactors from France.

The alliance between France and Saudi Arabia has grown stronger in recent years as ties between Washington and Riyadh cooled under President Barack Obama, particularly following his administration's strong backing of a nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers.

Though France was a part of the nuclear negotiations, its position has more strongly reflected Saudi concerns that the deal could bolster Iran's influence in the region if economic sanctions are not lifted gradually. Iran and Saudi Arabia back opposite sides in the civil war in Syria.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in a press conference Tuesday with his French counterpart "there is no future" for President Bashar Assad in Syria, who is backed by Iran and Russia.

Valls, meanwhile, also met Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company — which owns or manages several iconic landmarks in France, including The Four Seasons Hotel George V and the Le Royal Monceau Hotel.

The French delegation additionally took part in a business forum. According to Saudi media, France is the third largest investor in Saudi Arabia and has more than 80 companies operating in the kingdom, employing around 11,000 Saudi nationals.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil and to create more jobs in the private sector for its growing young population. A slump in oil prices has gutted the kingdom's most important source of revenue, forcing it to run a budget deficit and draw from its large foreign currency reserves.

John Sfakianakis, the Middle East director for British fund manager Ashmore Group, participated in the Saudi-French business forum and said it was more than just "empty words."

"It's actually based on contracts that will materialize," he said. "The Saudi-French business ties are very deep and old, and quite extensive and cover many sectors ranking from defense, security, health care, retail, food sector. It's very important for Saudi's diversification efforts."

The visit to Saudi Arabia comes after Paris expanded its airstrikes against the Islamic State group by targeting IS militants in Syria last month for the first time. France had previously targeted IS militants in Iraq, where the group also holds territory. France and Saudi Arabia are both part of the U.S.-led coalition bombing IS.

The strong alliance between France and Saudi Arabia was highlighted in May when French President Francois Hollande met with the heads of state of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh for a meeting in his honor. And in November, France and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to provide the Lebanese army with $3 billion worth of weapons paid for by Riyadh. The Lebanese military is widely considered much weaker than the Shiite Hezbollah militant group, which is armed and funded by Iran.

---

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/as--south_china_sea-880208589a.html

Philippines backs US plan to sail ship near Chinese island

Oct 13, 9:33 AM (ET)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines on Tuesday backed a reported U.S. plan to challenge China's territorial claims by deploying an American Navy ship close to a Chinese-built island in the South China Sea, saying it was important for the international community to safeguard freedom of navigation in the disputed waters.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said the reported U.S. plan to send a ship within 22 kilometers (14 miles) of the artificial island in the Spratly Islands "would be consistent with international law and a rules-based order for the region."

The U.S. newspaper Navy Times reported last week that the Navy may soon receive approval for the mission to sail close to the island.

Such a move would bolster Washington's stance that the artificial islands being constructed by China do not constitute sovereign territory and build a legal case under international law for the U.S. position, the newspaper said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said "failure to challenge false claims of sovereignty would undermine this order and lead China to the false conclusion that its claims are accepted as a fait accompli."

"It is important for the international community to safeguard freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea," it said. "This is of paramount concern to all countries."

Aside from China and the Philippines, four other governments lay claim to part or all of the South China Sea, a busy passageway for commercial and military vessels. Washington has a policy of not taking sides in the territorial disputes, but says it's in its national interest to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of the conflicts.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed serious concern last week over the planned U.S. Navy deployment.

Former Philippine national security adviser Roilo Golez called on President Benigno Aquino III to convene a meeting of top security officials to discuss what the country should do in case Chinese and U.S. forces get entangled in an armed confrontation.

"This is a situation where a world superpower and an emerging one are about to go on a collision course," Golez said. "We should not be caught by surprise."

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

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China September imports plunge in new sign of weakness

Oct 13, 6:01 AM (ET)
By JOE McDONALD

(AP) A crane moves a shipping container in the container pool of a seaport in Qingdao in...
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BEIJING (AP) — China's imports fell by an unexpectedly wide margin in September in a new sign of weakness in the world's second-largest economy.

Imports plunged 20.4 percent from a year earlier to $145.2 billion, customs data showed Tuesday, worse than August's 5.5 percent decline and analysts' expectations of about 15 percent. Exports shrank 3.7 percent, though that was an improvement from the previous month's 13.8 percent decline.

Weakness in trade has fueled doubts Beijing can hit its economic growth target this year of about 7 percent.

Much of China's slowdown over the past five years was self-imposed as the ruling Communist Party tries to steer the economy to more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption instead of exports and investment. But the past year's unexpectedly deep decline has raised fears of politically dangerous job losses.

(AP) A truck hauls shipping containers in the container pool of a seaport in Qingdao in...
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Beijing has cut interest rate five times since November and boosted spending on public works construction. Economic growth held steady in the quarter ending in July at 7 percent. But that was the lowest rate since the 2008 global crisis and analysts said a Chinese stock market boom that pushed up activity in financial industries concealed weakness in other sectors.

"Import growth appears to have come in weaker than expected," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.

"This suggests that domestic demand may have softened," though the decline partly reflects lower prices for imports, he said. "Import volumes are holding up much better."

IHS Global Insight economist Yating Xu noted that iron ore imports, a key input for manufacturing and construction, rose 1.7 percent, compared with a 1 percent contraction the previous month. Crude oil imports rose 1.4 percent, compared with August's 5.6 percent decline.

China's global trade surplus nearly doubled from a year earlier to a record-high $60.3 billion.

The country's trade surplus with the European Union was $14 billion and that with the United States $26.5 billion.

Communist leaders want to reduce reliance on exports, but their plans call for trade to hold steady to protect millions of manufacturing jobs.

For the first nine months of the year, exports were down 1.9 percent and imports by 15.3 percent. That makes it unlikely Beijing can meet its trade growth target of about 6 percent for the year.

The year-to-date decline in trade suggests "this sector is in recession," Citigroup economist Minggao Shen said in a report. "However, there is a better chance that we're probably near the trough level of growth and may expect better readings" in the current quarter.

Some analysts had suggested September trade would improve over August because that month's activity was disrupted by an explosion in Tianjin, one of China's busiest ports, and government-ordered factory shutdowns for a military parade in Beijing.

---

General Administration of Customs of China (in Chinese): www.customs.gov.cn

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151013/cb-guantanamo-moving-prisoners-95d364808f.html

Pentagon team scouts Colorado sites for Guantanamo prisoners

Oct 13, 11:35 AM (ET)

MIAMI (AP) — A team of Pentagon officials began scouting sites in Colorado on Tuesday as potential alternatives to hold prisoners from Guantanamo Bay as part of the long-stalled effort to close the controversial detention center on the U.S. base in Cuba.

The team planned to assess facilities at the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence and the state penitentiary in Canon City as alternatives for a "limited" number of detainees from Guantanamo, said Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman.

They are looking at what changes would be needed to the facilities in Colorado to detain the prisoners and to hold proceedings for those facing trial by military commission, Ross said.

The Pentagon team also has also surveyed the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina.

President Barack Obama has sought to close Guantanamo since taking office but has been thwarted by Congress, which has banned transferring prisoners to the U.S. and placed restrictions on sending them abroad.

The Obama administration is seeking to lift the ban but faces opposition in Congress, including from members opposed to moving prisoners to their districts. Human rights groups and detainee advocates say they also object to continuing to hold prisoners indefinitely without charge at any location.

Among the sites that are being assessed by the Pentagon team is the Supermax in Florence, Colorado, which has been dubbed "Alcatraz of the Rockies," and already holds convicted terrorists.

The U.S. holds 114 prisoners at Guantanamo, including 54 who have been cleared for release. The rest are either facing trial by military commission or have been determined by the government to be too dangerous to release but are not facing charges.

Housecarl · Oct 13, 2015

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http://atimes.com/2015/10/say-hello-to-my-cruise-missiles-escobar/

Say hello to my cruise missiles: Escobar

By Pepe Escobar on October 12, 2015 in AT Top Writers, Empire of Chaos, Middle East, Pepe Escobar

The New Great Game in Eurasia advanced in leaps and bounds last week after Russia fired 26 cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea against 11 ISIS/ISIL/Daesh targets across Syria, destroying all of them. These naval strikes were the first known operational use of state-of-the-art SSN-30A Kalibr cruise missiles.

All it took for the Pentagon was a backward look over the shoulder at the flight path of those Kalibr missiles – capable of striking targets 1,500 km away. Talk about a crisp, clear, succinct message from Moscow to the Pentagon and NATO. Wanna mess with us, boy? With your big, bulging aircraft carriers, maybe?

Moreover, on top of the creation of what is a de facto no-fly zone over Syria and southern Turkey, the Russian Navy cruiser Moskva, carrying 64 S-300 ship-to-air missiles is now docked in Latakia.

The proverbial anonymous US sources could not but go on overdrive, spinning the Russians had four wayward missiles that landed in Iran. The Russian High Command ridiculed them; all missiles landed within eight feet of their targets.

The Pentagon didn’t even know the Kalibr could be fired from small ships — as Tomahawks require much larger ships.

The best the Pentagon could muster, apart from widespread apoplexy, was NORAD commander Adm. William Gortney telling the Atlantic Council Russian long-range aviation and long-range cruise missiles present a new “threat” for US strategic homeland defense.

The Russian cruise missile threat is a “particular challenge for NORAD and for Northern Command.” Oh, really?

Talk about a New Great Game-wide understatement. A case can be made that Russia’s military development over the past few years has put Moscow generations ahead of the US. In case of a Hot World War 3.0 – and nobody, apart from the usual Dr. Strangeloves, could possibly want that — missiles and submarines will be the key weapons, not US-style monster aircraft carriers.

The Pentagon is apoplectic because this display of Russian technology revealed the end of the American monopoly over long-range cruise missiles. Pentagon analysts were still working under the assumption their range was around 300 kilometers.

Moreover, NATO has been warned; Russia can crush them, in a flash — as I witnessed in conversations in Germany last week. Fiery rhetoric of the “you’re violating my air space!” variety also won’t cut it.

Once again, assuming the Dr. Strangelove scenario, the only possible US response if the going gets tough would be to launch nuclear ICBMs; but then Russia’s air space will be sealed by S-500 anti-missile missiles, carrying ten inceptor missiles each and unable to miss on any American ICBM.

Dumb and moderately dumber

So, after the initial shock, the Pentagon reverted to … inanity, complementing the jolly mood of these dumb and dumber headlines, here and here.

Pentagon supremo Ash Carter swore Washington would not cooperate with Moscow in Syria because the Kremlin’s strategy is “tragically flawed.” We should read “flawed” as Russia in a few days killing more assorted Salafi-jihadi goons than the US-led Coalition of the Dodgy Opportunists (CDO) in over a year. Does anybody remember the CDO is officially called Operation Inherent Resolve?

And then there’s an additional problem with the Pentagon’s “I don’t want to play in the same garden with you” so-called “strategy”; the Russian Defense Ministry explained it was actually the Pentagon that requested to coordinate actions in Syria in the first place.

To add irrelevancy to inanity, the Pentagon announced it was shelving its latest spectacular fail; the $500 million program to “train and equip” Syrian “moderate” rebels, which yielded a whopping “four or five” diehards ready to fight ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.

So there will be no more “training”; rather the molding of “enablers” — code for local intel — with a mission to identify fake “Caliphate” targets for CDO strikes. They will be “advised” on how to interact with the Pentagon “at a distance.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

“Equipping,” for its part, will be vastly downgraded; what’s left will be a bunch of assault rifles to be handed out to some 5,000 “moderate” rebels, which will be, of course, instantly seized by Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, or “Caliphate” goons.

Ash Carter was very pleased with his new masterfully conceived strategy, which is bound to help “increase the combat power” of those elusive “moderate” rebels. And he swears Washington “remains committed” to training those “moderate” rebels, now on “different ways to achieve basically the same kind of strategic objective” mode.

It fell to the astonishingly mediocre Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, to expand on the new focus of the masterfully conceived “strategy”; “developing relationships with leaders and units [among Syrian armed groups], and being able to get them supplies and equipment.” Why not develop these “relationships” via a Facebook page? It’s cheap and way more effective.

Deconflict me, babe

Even though “deconflicting” between Washington and Moscow remains as conflicted as ever, there’s at least one issue where they may converge; working with the Kurds in northeast Syria, as admitted by members of the PYD (Democratic Union Party). PYD co-chair Salih Muslim is adamant that “we will fight alongside whoever fights Daesh.”

The PYD analysis though remains anathema to the Pentagon and the White House. And the PYD does know one or two things about fighting jihadis/”moderate” rebels on the ground. PYD considers ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra or Ahrar a-Sham “no different” from one another. Translation: “moderate” rebels are non-existent. PYD also accepts Bashar al-Assad staying in power for a while, but only during a “transitional” period.

The PYD has perfectly read the meaning of Russia’s Syria offensive. They fiercely oppose a Turkish-controlled no-fly zone and now rest assured there will never be one. They are also perfectly aware of a Turkmen “Sultan” brigade, trained by Ankara – Turkish-style “moderate” rebels — which defected, en masse, to ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.

Meanwhile, in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin met — again — with Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as in the warrior prince who’s smashing civilians in Yemen. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Energy Minister Alexander Novak were also there.

Diplomatically, this was all about Moscow and Riyadh agreeing ISIS/ISIL/Daesh cannot be allowed to take over Syria. The devil is in the details. Much spin centered on a “political solution.” Putin once again could not be sharper; the current offensive is meant to “stabilize the legitimate authorities and create conditions for finding a political compromise.” The House of Saud got the message; it’s the Russian way or the highway.

They still flirt with the highway though — as in the proverbial unnamed “Saudi officials” confirming those working under Putin-friendly Prince Salman delivered 500 TOW antitank missiles to the “moderate” rebels of the former Free Syrian Army (FSA). Bets can be made these TOWs will be captured by assorted Salafi-jihadis in no time.

All this frenzied action was taking place in parallel to the freshly operational Russia-Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hezbollah intel coordination center in Baghdad showing it means business. This is how you run on the ground intel. A strike may have missed “Caliph” Ibrahim but sent to paradise a few other “Caliphate” notables. The bottom line: the Pentagon was not invited and knew about the Iraqi strike by watching CNN. After all, the record shows the Pentagon does not exactly excel in on the ground Iraq intel.

Baghdad Shi’ite sources confirmed to me once again that the talk of the town is the Pentagon and the Obama administration not only being not interested in really fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh but at best dragging their feet in a sort of “reluctant support” mode. And this because the Obama administration’s “strategy” – ask pitiful Ben Rhodes – remains hooked on “Assad must go,” whatever semantic variations about it.

And what about Turkey? Here’s the short answer. Sultan Erdogan simply can’t handle the Kurds — either in Syria or in Turkey. He can’t handle Syria. Not to mention he can’t handle Moscow. There’s a running joke from Syria to Iraq and Iran that one does not need to attack Turkey; you just let it fall apart by itself. Sultan Erdogan is making sure that happens.

The Sultan’s myriad impasses explain why Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu – he of the former “zero problems with our neighbors” doctrine — is now saying Ankara is ready to talk to Moscow and Tehran about Syria, as long as that does not mean “legitimizing” Assad. Davutoglu is also developing the warped logic that Russian airstrikes increase the flow of Syrian refugees into Turkey. So expect Ankara to release another wave of refugees kept on “holding camps” all the way to Fortress Europe. And then blame it on Putin. And Putin’s missiles.

Copyright 2015 Asia Times Holdings Limited

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/14/us-britain-eu-idUSKCN0S80O520151014

World | Wed Oct 14, 2015 3:56am EDT
Related: World

Without deep change, case for UK to stay in EU weak: Lloyds chairman

LONDON

The chairman of Lloyds Banking Group has said that there was no "compelling economic argument" for Britain to stay in the European Union without a significant change in its relationship with the bloc.

The comments by Norman Blackwell, who was addressing parliament's House of Lords in a personal capacity rather than as Lloyds chairman, are a boost to those campaigning for Britain to quit the EU in a referendum due by the end of 2017.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership and has promised that once he has obtained a new settlement he will put the question of whether to stay in or leave to British voters.

Both the "in" and "out" camps have been seeking support from senior business figures in an effort to bolster the economic credibility of their stances. A campaign to keep Britain in the bloc launched on Monday, led by Stuart Rose, a former boss of quintessentially British retailer Marks & Spencer.

"I do not agree that remaining in the European Union without a significant change in the current treaty arrangements is ultimately sustainable from a political and constitutional perspective," Blackwell told the House on Tuesday.

"Nor do I believe that there is a compelling economic argument to override those considerations," he said during a debate on the government's referendum bill, in comments published on Hansard, parliament's official record.

Opinion polls suggest voters are split, and that crises in the EU over Greek debt and a surge of migrants may be turning some Britons against staying in the 28-nation bloc.

Blackwell dismissed concerns, often put forward by those opposed to a referendum, that the uncertainty over whether Britain would stay in the EU or not would inflict severe economic damage.

"While uncertainty may mean that some business investment is held back in the short term, there are many reasons why the UK is likely to remain an attractive global location whatever the outcome, and ignoring the democratic process may be even more costly," he said.

Blackwell, who was a senior adviser to then Conservative Prime Minister John Major from 1995 to 1997, argued that Cameron's renegotiation process should not be about winning or losing a few concessions from fellow member states.

"Rather it should be about whether we can get agreement across Europe to a new settlement that suits everyone: a new kind of treaty relationship between the UK and the eurozone members that makes it sustainable for us to become and remain a member of a wider but looser European Union club, alongside but apart from the eurozone core."

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Kate Holton)

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/14/us-china-southchinasea-usa-idUSKCN0S80LP20151014

World | Wed Oct 14, 2015 3:23am EDT
Related: World

China says has not militarized South China Sea

BEIJING

China has not militarized the South China Sea, but there are certain countries which keep flexing their muscles who should stop hyping up the issue, China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the comments at a daily news briefing after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the United States military would sail and fly wherever international law allowed, including the disputed South China Sea.

(Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...oves-draw-neighbors-closer-to-u-s-carter-says

China's Island Moves Draw Neighbors Closer to U.S., Carter Says

by Nicole Gaouette, David Tweed
October 13, 2015 — 2:53 PM PDT
Updated on October 13, 2015 — 11:46 PM PDT

- Australian, U.S. defense and foreign ministers meet in Boston

- Conference comes as U.S. weighs challenging 12-mile claims

China’s island-building in the South China Sea is driving Asian nations to seek closer cooperation with the U.S., Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.

The American defense chief made the comment Tuesday in response to a question -- which he didn’t answer -- about plans being weighed by the Obama administration to sail U.S. Navy ships inside the 12 nautical miles that China claims around man-made islands it created in the sea north of Australia.

“Uncertainty in the South China Sea is having the effect of increasing our interaction with other partners in the area,” Carter said at a Boston news conference with Secretary of State John Kerry and their Australian counterparts. "It’s having the effect of increasing the desire to cooperate with the United States.”

Carter cited as examples Vietnam, India, the Philippines and Japan, “which is doing more in general in this part of the world to support the rules-based order in East Asia,” he said. Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the same point on Sept. 21, a week after becoming leader, as he pledged to continue Australia’s surveillance flights over the South China Sea.

‘Same Page’

Carter and Kerry appeared alongside Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne and Foreign Minister Julie Bishopat the end of two days of talks on topics from the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to cyber-defense, cooperation in Afghanistan, maritime security and trade.

“We are on the same page with the United States when it comes to the claims in the South China Sea,” Bishop said. “We urge all parties to not act unilaterally, to not act in a way that escalates tensions, with primacy given to the principles of freedom of navigation, freedom of flight.”

New Minister

Bishop, who has been foreign minister since 2013, was joined by Payne, a newcomer at the annual conference with Australia’s most important defense ally. Payne became defense minister last month after Turnbull unseated Tony Abbott in a leadership challenge.

The comments in Boston triggered a rebuke from the Chinese Embassy to Australia, which said it was “seriously concerned” and that the remarks were “neither responsible nor constructive.”

"It would be more helpful if they could honor their commitment of not taking sides on relevant disputes and do more to promote regional peace and stability in the true sense of the words rather than light a fire and add fuel to the flames," the embassy said in a statement, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The U.S. says it doesn’t take sides in the dispute over the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan, but American officials have repeatedly said that they will act to protect freedom of navigation in one of the world’s busiest commercial waterways.

“The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows as we do around the world, and the South China Sea is not -- and will not be -- an exception," Carter said.

Chinese Map

China claims more than 80 percent of the waters north of Australia, basing its claim on the so-called nine-dash line in a 1947 map that doesn’t give precise coordinates. Under President Xi Jinping, China has been dredging and dumping tons of sand to build out reefs below sea level since December 2013.

Visiting Obama in September, Xi said islands in the South China Sea have been China’s territory “since ancient times.”

“We have the right to uphold our own territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime rights and interests,” Xi said, through a translator, at a press conference with Obama. He added that China“does not intend to pursue militarization” of the islands.

Airstrips

But China has almost completed an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef capable of handling “most if not all” Chinese military aircraft, according to Gregory Poling, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Two other airstrips may be under construction, one each on Subi Reef and Mischief Reef, he said in a report for the group’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, citing satellite photos taken in September.

Three of the reefs that have been turned into islands -- Mischief, Subi and Gaven -- were formerly submerged at high tide and wouldn’t generate a 12-nautical-mile exclusion zone under international law, according to Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University in Canberra.

He said one of those reefs may be where the U.S. would challenge China’s claims in a potentially tense confrontation at sea. While the New York Times reported that the U.S. has told Asian allies it plans such a challenge, defense officials say the Pentagon hasn’t yet been told by the White House to initiate such a Navy patrol.

Land Reclamation

While China isn’t the only country that has tried to bolster its claims by establishing a presence, the four officials made clear that they were addressing China. China has reclaimed more than 2,900 acres of land as of June, more than all the other claimants combined, according to a Pentagon report released in July.

“It doesn’t matter how big a country is,”’ Kerry said. “The principle is clear: the rights of all nations are supposed to be respected with regard to international law.”

Carter and Kerry also discussed Russia’s presence in Syria, with Carter announcing plans for Pentagon officials to meet again with their Russian counterparts Wednesday to discuss air safety.

“Russia must act professionally in the skies above Syria,” Carter said. He said that he expected an agreement on air safety “in very short order,” but emphasized that the U.S. would engage with Russia only on this aspect of its involvement in Syria. Russian officials have made clear their aim is to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who U.S. officials accuse of butchering his own people and intensifying the conflict by drawing extremists into the fight.

"We can’t associate ourselves" with Russia’s approach to Syria, Carter said. "It’s wrongheaded and strategically short-sighted," he said.

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

Besides the French, Germans and Russians the Japanese getting in on this pretty much seals things.....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/14/iran-nuclear-japan-idUSL3N12E0E920151014

Markets | Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:56am EDT
Related: Stocks, Markets, Basic Materials, Cyclical Consumer Goods

Japan, Iran agree on investment pact after sanctions end

TOKYO

Oct 14 Japan and Iran have reached agreement on an investment accord, which may give a boost to Japanese investments into the Islamic Republic once sanctions are lifted as early as next year, the countries' foreign ministers said in a statement.

Japan is keen to boost ties with Iran and invest in resource projects there, as well as increase crude imports from the Middle Eastern country.

Japan's crude imports from Iran plunged more than 40 percent from 2011 levels before tough Western sanctions were introduced in 2012 over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Foreign business delegations from Italy, France and others have flocked to Tehran ahead of the expected opening of markets in the oil-rich nation of 80 million people.

Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida reached an agreement on the investment pact during a meeting with the Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran on Monday.

"Both sides affirmed that further efforts will be made for the earliest possible conclusion and entry into force," the statement from the ministers said.

The Japanese government wants the agreement to come into force around the middle of next year, Japanese media reported.

Japan's top oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp, which in 2010 was forced to give up a stake in Iran's Azadegan oil field because of the sanctions, was among dozens of companies that visited Iran in August.

Iran's chief negotiator for new oil contacts said last week the country would introduce more than 50 exploration and production projects to investors in the near future.

Iran's conservative-dominated parliament passed a bill on Tuesday approving its nuclear deal with world powers, signalling victory for the government over hardline opponents who worry the accord opens a door to wider rapprochement with the West. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Aaron Sheldrick and Shri Navaratnam)

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

For those old enough to remember the Rapid Deployment Force and the REFORGER Exercises.....AAI's light tank, Teledyne Expeditionary Tank, the Cadillac Gage Stingray along with the M8 were looked at as replacements for the M551 Sheridan.

There are programs in Europe looking at this again seriously from mounting a 120 mm gun on CV90 vehicles to things like Poland's WPB Anders blurring the line between an IFV and a tank and even Russia is doing this with a new IFV armed with a coaxil 100 mm gun and a 30 mm cannon on the BMP-3 and heavy APC/Support tanks along the model of IDF heavy APCs/IFVs......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.defenseone.com/news/2015/10/russia-mind-bae-revives-light-tank-90s/122731/?oref=d-river

With Russia in Mind, BAE Revives Light Tank from the ’90s

October 12, 2015 By Marcus Weisgerber

U.S. military brass say Russia is the top threat, so companies are pitching arms for a new European battlefield…even if there is no money to buy them.

As the Army steps up the complexity of its combat training, companies are looking at new, futuristic arms tailored for high-end war with Russia and China. But some old ideas are being revived as well.

As the Army steps up the complexity of its combat training, companies are looking at new, futuristic arms tailored for high-end war with Russia and China. But some old ideas are being revived as well.

That’s how a small tank, built and tested in the 1990s, found its way back to the exhibit hall at the largest military trade show in the United States.

“The intent of what we have out here is a conversation starter,” said Deepak Bazaz, BAE Systems’ director of New and Amphibious Vehicles, standing by his company’s M8 Armored Gun System.

Army leaders of yesteryear envisioned a tank that could be dropped onto the battlefield by a C-130 cargo plane. Now Army brass is considering a fleet of lighter, more agile vehicles that could reach the battlefield faster, from the sky instead of from ships.

The Army does not a formal requirement yet for what it calls a mobile protected firepower unit, but it could soon, prompting BAE to bring the unit to the Association of the U.S. Army annual gathering in Washington.

The Army suspended work on a similar project in the mid-1990s, “but the need really remains,” Bazaz said. “It’s emerging again with the changing world that we live in.”

Next to the tank, a flat-screen television played grainy two-decade-old video clips. Unlike armored vehicles and tanks now on the battlefield, the light tank here has no bells and whistles yet. The plan is to put modern electronics and sensor gear on after the Army figures out what it wants.

“There’s a lot of interest that’s starting to form,” Bazaz said. The “82nd Airborne still sees this as a very valid requirement that has remained unmet.”

The tank essentially would replace soldiers on the battlefield. It could destroy enemy tanks or larger vehicles that can withstand handheld weapons.

“The intent would be to drop this behind enemy lines to take an airfield,” Bazaz said. “[Then] you could start bringing in your heavier equipment.”

The Army practiced this type of combat assault of a guarded airfield during a major exercise at the National Training Center in August.

BAE built six of these tanks back in the ’90s. They all still exist, but the condition of each prototype varies with the testing they received. Some have been dropped from cranes, others C-130s to make sure they could withstand the force of an airdrop.

The new tank, the M8, is similar to the Sheridan tanks that the Army used in the Vietnam War.

The tracked tank sports a 105-millimeter cannon, carries a three-man crew, and weighs 35,000 pounds. With additional armor, its weight can pass 50,000 pounds. It can speed along at 45 miles per hour. One can fit in a C-130 airlifter; three can fit inside a larger C-17.

Company officials say more modern equipment could reduce the tank’s weight. For example, the M8 has an older-model 500-horsepower Detroit Diesel engine. A more modern engine could free up hundreds or even a thousand pounds, Bazaz said.

The Army has asked companies how they could fill its needs for a light tank. But whether it could afford the project is a different story.

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

Hummm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentary/566037-the-obama-doctrine-mimic-china

Hussain Abdul-Hussain

Published: 12/10/2015 09:27 AM | Updated: 13/10/2015 01:49 PM

The Obama Doctrine: mimic China

Comments 4

President Obama has undermined the post-1945 world order as envisioned by the legendary President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR). Amateurism, nonchalance and apathy have all been cited as Obama's motives. But to understand his foreign policy, one has to delve into Obama's economic understanding of the world.

Unlike tested-and-failed, trickle-down, small-government economics, Obama correctly believes that technology is changing economies the same way it transformed nations from agrarianism to industrialism in the early 20th century. In the president's mind, the meteoric rise of the American superpower, back then, was not only due to industrial and financial entrepreneurship, but also because of federal policies such as the New Deal and the Great Society, which accompanied the technological and economic transformation.

And because economic supremacy requires an active US government that pries foreign markets open and supervises domestic transformation, Barack Obama believes that his mission is to keep America economically strong and thus militarily powerful.

Remember that when Obama was campaigning for the presidency, American power was in free fall. The economy had taken a hit, the military was bogged down in two brutal wars, and China was overtaking America in almost every economic indicator, becoming the world's top exporter, importer and consumer of natural resources. Obama also saw America's allies cozying up to the new rising power, as Beijing seemed determined to transform its newfound wealth into military and technological power.

Obama's plan, therefore, has been to regain the top spot. He has sometimes tumbled, like when he bankrolled the downfall of the solar venture Solyndra. But in general, Obama's economic policies have proven effective. And even though US growth has remained anemic at an average of two percent, unemployment has fallen from 10 to five percent, the deficit has been cut drastically, debt is growing at a slower pace and America has regained its confidence as the world's economic leader.

Obama also seems to have internalized a fundamental Chinese policy. While America, Russia and Europe were fighting over the Middle East, China's companies were mining Africa and extending railroads across South America. Yet for all its economic might, China's record in leading on world issues — whether resolving conflicts or funding development — has been abysmal.

China has a mercantile government that uses its power to advance its economic interests worldwide, oblivious to global problems. If the world is at war, China will sell the contending parties bullets. If the world is on fire, it will sell firetrucks and extinguishers.

Germany, the world's third-largest exporter next to the US and China, also sees countries as markets rather than democracies or autocracies. When Iran suppressed the Green Revolution in 2009, Germany's Siemens sold the regime equipment to decode secure communications between protesters.

Turkey, too, has maintained trade links with troublemaking governments, such as its rival, Iran. When America was leading a UN effort to impose sanctions on Iran, Turkey and Brazil used their membership in the Security Council to take Iran's side, perhaps hoping to cash in on their position later with lucrative Iranian contracts.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) Movement has been successful in getting many big European and American groups to cut Israel out economically as a means of pressuring the country to end its settlement building. But boycotting Israel has proven ineffective, especially with China's trade with Israel growing while Turkey and Russia buy Israeli drones.

Perhaps Obama realized that with America's share in the world economy shrinking from one-third to one-fifth, the US risks annihilation if it insists on tying its principles — enshrined in the post-war new world order — to its economic policies. Instead, Obama has used American power to advance its economic interests, which are the mainstay of its power in the first place.

Obama has signed at least five treaties: three bilateral with South Korea, Myanmar and Cuba; one nuclear multilateral with Iran; and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Obama’s treaties give American exports new markets, but often at the expense of human rights and democracy. If China looks at Iran and sees a market rather than a nuclear threat, why should America see differently?

When FDR constructed the UN, he wanted to replace old empires and their brutal rivalries with a new world order. With Obama, America is neither an empire nor a sponsor of a world order that ensures peace and prosperity.

The effects of the Obama Doctrine are still unknown. Early indicators show that while China's rise is leveling off, America is growing, though not roaring. Obama has decoupled the new world order from American power. The result, so far, shows a world plunging into chaos, and that cannot be good for America or any other country.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief Kuwaiti newspaper Alrai. He tweets @hahussain

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.stripes.com/news/north-korea-likely-to-dominate-park-obama-talks-1.373192

North Korea likely to dominate Park-Obama talks

By Ashley Rowland
Stars and Stripes
Published: October 14, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea — Just months after frictions along the Demilitarized Zone rose to a boiling point, North Korea is once again expected to dominate summit talks Friday between the leaders of the United States and South Korea.

The meeting with President Barack Obama will cap South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s three-day visit to Washington, which will include a Wednesday wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial and a Thursday visit to the Pentagon. Park will also have lunch with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss trade issues, according to South Korea’s presidential Blue House.

The possibility of another provocation by the North — which has a long history of them to wring aid and other concessions from the West — is expected to dominate discussion with Obama. Some analysts thought Pyongyang might conduct its fourth nuclear test or carry out a rocket launch that most see as a test of ballistic missile capabilities in conjunction with the 70th anniversary celebrations of its ruling Workers' Party last Saturday.

While there were no provocations, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced at a mass rally that his country is prepared to go to war against the U.S. and called the North “an impenetrable fortress and a global military power,” The Associated Press reported.

Park might also want to dispel Washington’s concerns that South Korea is falling unduly under the influence of neighboring China, said Yoo Chan-yul, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Duksung Women’s University in Seoul. The talks will serve as an affirmation that relations between the U.S. and South Korea are strong, he said.

Park and Obama are likely to skirt sensitive issues regarding Seoul’s relationship with Washington’s other key Asian ally, Japan, particularly the forced prostitution of South Korean women during its occupation of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century, he said.

The meeting comes more than two months after a land mine planted by the North maimed two South Korean soldiers on routine patrol of the DMZ. That sparked a quickly escalating crisis that was defused after three days of rare inter-Korean negotiations. Park vowed to retaliate forcefully to North Korean aggression during that incident, which led the U.S. and South Korean militaries to take the unusual step of temporarily halting a major joint exercise.

“Our response was appropriately calm and resolute because of the trust and confidence that we built through our close coordination and President Park’s strong leadership,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.

Park’s visit, initially scheduled for earlier this year, was postponed after the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea.

Stars and Stripes staffer Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.

rowland.ashley@stripes.com

Twitter: @Rowland_Stripes

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002492400

North Korea should realize futility of flexing its military muscle

6:58 pm, October 14, 2015
The Yomiuri Shimbun

North Korea was recently busy flexing its military muscle while provoking the United States by showing Pyongyang’s will of not hesitating to get into confrontations. We wonder why Pyongyang does not understand such futile tactics only deepen North Korea’s isolation from the international community.

North Korea held a massive military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party. Kim Jong Un, the North’s leader and the first secretary of the party, praised the party’s policy of simultaneously developing the economy and national defense in his speech. He claimed that the policy has resulted in improving the lives of the people while reinforcing North Korea’s military power.

But the reality is that the party’s history shows a record of wrecking its economy and putting citizens into poverty. North Korea is nowhere near such words as “stability” or “prosperity.”

Kim said North Korea is “capable of fighting any type of war the United States opts for.” We assume that the North Korean leader has the aim — or indiscretion — of forcing the United States to the negotiating table by creating a threat through the development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

U.S. President Barack Obama has made it clear the United States “will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.” As long as Pyong-yang does not rectify its obsession with nuclear weapons, economic sanctions based on resolutions of the U.N. Security Council will continue, diminishing the North Korea’s hopes for economic recovery.

There is one thing that cannot be overlooked. North Korea revealed a weapon believed to be an improved version of the KN-08, a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile under development, during the military parade.

North Korean media reported that the weapon is a “strategic rocket loaded with miniaturized nuclear warheads.” It is unclear whether nuclear warheads are actually loaded on the weapon, but Pyongyang’s move to miniaturize nuclear weapons is a clear threat that can shake the foundations of the international community.

China needs to do more

Among the attendees of the military parade was Liu Yunshan, a member of China’s Politburo Standing Committee who is ranked No. 5 in Xi Jinping’s regime. He became the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the reclusive state since the relationship between the two nations became strained, mainly because of Pyongyang’s nuclear testing in 2013.

We believe China had the intention to restrain North Korea from test-firing a long-range ballistic missile, which would have been claimed as a launch of a satellite.

Liu met Kim ahead of the military parade, telling him that China is willing to create a new future for the bilateral relationship, an apparent move to showcase the improvement of the two countries’ strained relations. However, the path to full-fledged improvement of relations is still unclear.

Liu urged Kim to accept calls for the early resumption of six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear development, which are chaired by China.

In response, Kim stressed the necessity to promote friendly relations between the two countries. However, there are no reports on whether the North Korean leader gave a concrete reply to Liu’s request. We assume Kim has refrained from making a definite commitment that could lead to the North’s abandonment of nuclear weapons.

If China wants to play a role in maintaining stability in East Asia, Beijing must build up its pressure against North Korea to urge Pyongyang to take concrete actions.

It is also important for Japan, the United States and South Korea to join hands to reinforce deterrence against North Korea to prevent the reclusive country from further military provocations.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 14, 2015)

Housecarl · Oct 14, 2015

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/blowback-saudi-arabia-vs-russia-syria-14058

Blowback: Saudi Arabia vs. Russia in Syria [1]

"If Riyadh wants to arm the next wave of jihadists to target Russia, armed they shall be. "

Jonathan Schanzer [2]Boris Zilberman [3] [4]
October 13, 2015
Comments 205

After deploying its ground and air assets across Syria, Russia entered into an agreement with the Shiite leaders of Iran and Iraq to coordinate military efforts. At the podium of the United Nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin looked as if he had pulled off a masterful power play in the Middle East. But Putin seems to have forgotten the dangers of the neighborhood he seeks to dominate. More importantly, he is ignoring Russia’s recent history of meddling in the Muslim world. If past is prologue, things could get bloody.

US President Barack Obama, who has arguably looked weakest as a result of Putin’s muscling into Syria, recently warned that the Kremlin may be heading for a quagmire [5]. There is unquestionably an element of sour grapes here, but Obama has a point. The scores of Sunni factions already fighting in Syria—both jihadis and moderates—are now nearly unanimous in their fury over Russian attempts to bolster the Assad regime. And so are the traditional financial patrons of militant Islam in the Middle East. The Saudis have now openly called [6] for an end to Russian airstrikes.

On the surface, things between Russia and the Saudis appear friendly enough. In July, Saudi Arabia announced [7] that it would invest up to $10 billion in Russian agricultural projects, medicine and logistics and the retail and real estate sectors. This summer, the two countries inked [8] a nuclear power cooperation deal, accompanied by reports [9] of potential upcoming arms deals.

At the same time, a Saudi economic war against Russia is also underway. While Iran is their primary target, the Russians are feeling the brunt of it. In 2014, as it became increasingly clear that Russia and Iran were committed to propping up the Assad regime in Syria, the Saudis refused to mitigate oversupply in the market. This has hammered both Moscow and Tehran, as their budgets were based on $80-90 [10] and $72 [11] per barrel, respectively. Currently, oil is at $45 [12].

As one Saudi diplomat said about this economic strategy, “If oil can serve to bring peace in Syria, I don’t see how Saudi Arabia would back away from trying to reach a deal.” It is unlikely that Russia, reeling from the low cost of oil, now compounded by international sanctions after their invasion [13] of Ukraine, view the Saudi maneuver so charitably.

Oil profits, not oil poverty, was always the Saudi play in the past. In the 1970s, for example, the Saudis cashed in on their enormous oil wealth to counter Russian-backed communist governments and political movements. They did so with more than $10 billion [14] in foreign and military aid to countries like Egypt, North Yemen, Pakistan, and Sudan. Saudi funding was particularly instrumental in supporting [15] anti-Soviet (and anti-Libyan [14]) operations and alliances in Angola, Chad, Eritrea, and Somalia.

But theirs wasn’t only a strategy of bulwarks. The Saudis fueled a generation of zealous Islamist fighters. The Saudis, who were particularly opposed to the godless communist ideology, ultimately financed and organized up to 250,000 [16] mujahedin fighters after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. Thanks to Saudi inspiration and cash, Pakistani logistics, and additional US assistance, Arab mujahideen poured into Afghanistan.

The Soviets lost an estimated [17] 14,500 soldiers in the Afghan war (1979-1989), with many more maimed and wounded. The horrors of the front lines did not reach the Russian population for some time, as the Soviet Union kept many of the details and deaths secret in the first years. But ultimately the Kremlin was forced to concede. After a decade of heavy losses, the Red Army withdrew, and their puppet government in Kabul fell soon thereafter.

In short, the last time the Saudis made it their business to scuttle Russian policies in that part of the world, they bloodied the Russians rather badly. And in the process, a generation of jihadi fighters was born in Afghanistan, planting the seeds for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Today, those actors are still wreaking havoc three decades later, and their progeny – notably, the Islamic State – is even more radical than the generation before it.

Fast-forward to today and jihadi forces are already targeting the Russians in Syria. We have already witnessed a string of mortar [18] attacks on the Russian Embassy in Damascus over the past several months [19], as well as a number [20] of reported rocket attack [21]s on the Russian airbase south of Latakia.

Are the Saudis behind any of this? We don’t know. What we do know is that the Saudis have been sending [22] sophisticated weapons [23] to the Syrian opposition since at least 2012 [24] by way of Sunni tribal allies in Iraq and Lebanon. The beneficiaries of Saudi largesse are not exactly filing taxes in Syria, but amidst the fog of war, it appears that groups such as Jaish al-Islam and Jaish al-Fatah may be in the Saudi camp.

Jaish al-Islam has claimed a number of high profile attacks against the Syrian regime, including the 2012 attack on the National Security building that killed Assad’s Defense Minister, Deputy Defense Minister, and National Security Advisor. The group also recently released a video [25] declaring war on the Russian soldiers in Syria. The leader of one group in Jaish al-Fatah, not to be outdone, warned [26] Russia that they looked forward to “slaughtering” their troops.

For any proxy group to succeed they will need to raise the cost of strikes from Russian and Syrian warplanes. U.S.-backed rebels have requested [27] anti-aircraft weapons to do just that. It’s unclear whether their requests will be met, but it’s important to note that it was exactly this type of weapon that ultimately turned the tide of war for the mujahideen in the 1980s, when Russian helicopters began to tumble from the sky. The Saudi government or those close to the ruling family may be less concerned by U.S. opposition to sending such weapons to Syria. After all, Russia’s is basically on its doorstep.

Meanwhile, Saudi religious figures are weighing in. 52 Saudi clerics [28] issued a statement condemning the Russian intervention on religious grounds. Abdullah al-Muhaysini, a Saudi cleric in Syria linked to the Nusra Front, explicitly warned [29] that Syria will be a “graveyard” and another Afghanistan for Moscow.

In other words, some Saudi preachers are casting this conflict as a religious one. And as if Sunni jihadis needed more of an excuse to view the Syrian theater as the next jihad, the Russian Orthodox Church has come out in support of the Russian intervention in Syria, calling [30] it a “holy battle.” The Saudi clerics’ denounced this new Christian “crusade.”

To be sure, there is no shortage of Sunni Arab states that wish to target the Russians. Many of those states, including Qatar and Kuwait, already have groups on the ground they can work with. It is hard to believe that they are not mobilizing further assets to do so, particularly as Russian ground operations [31] take shape.

But it is the Saudis who have done this before on a grand scale. If Riyadh wants to arm the next wave of jihadists to target Russia, armed they shall be. Whatever shape the anti-Russia jihad takes, it will follow in the footsteps of the Afghan jihad by making the world a far more dangerous place.

Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism analyst at the U.S. Treasury, is Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @JSchanzer

Boris Zilberman is deputy director of congressional relations at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he is also a Russia analyst. Find him on Twitter: @rolltidebmz

Tags
Russia [32]Saudi Arabia [33]Syria [34]
Topics
Security [35]
Regions
Middle East [36]Russia [37]
[4]36

Source URL (retrieved on October 14, 2015): http://nationalinterest.org/feature/blowback-saudi-arabia-vs-russia-syria-14058

Links:
[1] http://nationalinterest.org/feature/blowback-saudi-arabia-vs-russia-syria-14058
[2] http://nationalinterest.org/profile/jonathan-schanzer
[3] http://nationalinterest.org/profile/boris-zilberman
[4] http://twitter.com/share
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/world/middleeast/syria-russia-airstrikes.html?_r=0
[6] http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/lates...ia-says-deeply-concerned-Russia-attacks-Syria
[7] http://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-to-invest-up-to-10-billion-in-russia-1436198674
[8] http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/19/uk-saudi-russia-nuclear-idUKKBN0OZ10R20150619
[9] http://www.themoscowtimes.com/busin...rst-foreign-buyer-in-saudi-arabia/527833.html
[10] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...longest-recession-in-decades-with-oil-near-50
[11] http://www.newsweek.com/how-iran-coping-sagging-oil-prices-303298
[12] http://www.oil-price.net/
[13] http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/ukraine-invasion-one-year-later
[14] https://books.google.com/books?id=w...21bwxk#v=onepage&q=saudi angola 1970s&f=false
[15] http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/27/saudi-arabia-is-arming-the-syrian-opposition/
[16] https://books.google.com/books?id=s...mTDg#v=onepage&q=peter bergen 175,000&f=false
[17] http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/
[18] http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/russia-decries-shelling-embassy-syria-150921160048570.html
[19] http://news.yahoo.com/un-us-condemn-russian-embassy-attack-damascus-014004144.html
[20] http://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...tacks-on-airbase-where-russians-stationed.php
[21] http://warmonitor.net/news/2015/09/14/syria-rebels-attack-russian-air-base/
[22] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/w...a-is-stepping-up-weapons-deliveries.html?_r=0
[23] http://www.voanews.com/content/saud...ticated-weapons-to-syrian-rebels/1861892.html
[24] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...l-forces-armed-by-wealthy-exiles-7320510.html
[25] http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/j...ar-against-russians-fighting-syria-1042505891
[26] https://twitter.com/AbuJamajem/status/640526910682996736
[27] https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...e6dfcc-6866-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html
[28] http://www.almoslim.net/node/242646
[29] http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae...he Latest/id-387b91e6c46e4fd28665112746d7518b
[30] http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...ays-Russia-fighting-holy-battle-in-Syria.html
[31] http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/politics/russia-ground-campaign-syria-isis/
[32] http://nationalinterest.org/tag/russia
[33] http://nationalinterest.org/tag/saudi-arabia
[34] http://nationalinterest.org/tag/syria
[35] http://nationalinterest.org/topic/security
[36] http://nationalinterest.org/region/middle-east
[37] http://nationalinterest.org/region/eurasia/russia

WAR 10-10-2015-to-10-16-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

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WAR 10-10-2015-to-10-16-2015_____THEWINDSofWAR