NATO
NATO seeks to mend fences with Russia on missile shield
NATO and Russia have been at odds over the shield despite agreeing last year to explore ways to cooperate in the system
NATO and Russia began a fresh push on Thursday to resolve a deep rift over a European missile shield with the alliance chief insisting again that it was not pointed at Moscow.
“This system does not threaten Russia. Nor does it alter the strategic balance,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the start of talks with the former Cold War foe.
Rasmussen had urged Russia on Wednesday to refrain from wasting money on countermeasures against an “artificial enemy.” Top Russian General Nikolai Makarov warned that Moscow was “being pushed” into a new arms race.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1782385
Russia, NATO Clash Over Libya Campaign Russia and NATO have failed to narrow...
Russia, NATO Clash Over Libya Campaign
Russia and NATO have failed to narrow their differences over the Western air campaign in Libya, after Moscow accused the alliance of interpreting a United Nations resolution on military intervention any way it wished.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen defended the alliance's Libya mission Monday during a visit to the Russian city of Sochi, where he discussed Libya with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and visiting South African President Jacob Zuma. Mr. Zuma has led the African Union's efforts to help negotiate a peaceful settlement in Libya.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there is "no common understanding" about how the resolution is being implemented. He said Moscow wants the U.N. mandate to be fulfilled as worded, without expanding its interpretation.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Russia-NATO-Clash-Over-Libya-Campaign-124988199.html
Gates Blasts NATO, Questions Future of Alliance America's military alliance ...
Gates Blasts NATO, Questions Future of Alliance
America's military alliance with Europe -- the cornerstone of U.S. security policy for six decades -- faces a "dim, if not dismal" future, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday in a blunt valedictory address.
In his final policy speech as Pentagon chief, Gates questioned the viability of NATO, saying its members' penny-pinching and lack of political will could hasten the end of U.S. support. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949 as a U.S.-led bulwark against Soviet aggression, but in the post-Cold War era it has struggled to find a purpose.
"Future U.S. political leaders -- those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me -- may not consider the return on America's investment in NATO worth the cost," he told a European think tank on the final day of an 11-day overseas journey.
http://www.military.com/news/article/gates-blasts-nato-questions-future-of-alliance.html?ESRC=eb.nl
Outgoing US defence secretary slams NATO
Robert Gates says Europe's NATO members must bear more of the burden in operations or alliance faces "irrelevance".
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary who is set to retire at the end of this month, has blasted European allies for risking "collective military irrelevance" unless NATO members bear more of the burden and boost military spending in operations such as Libya and Afghanistan.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/06/2011610131027707908.html
NATO decides to take full command from U.S. NATO has decided to fully take o...
NATO decides to take full command from U.S.
NATO has decided to fully take over military operations from the U.S., and implement all aspects of the UN Security Council resolution. The decision has ended a week of heated negotiations over the military command structure for the ongoing intervention in Libya.
He said, "NATO allies have decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya under the United Nations Security Council resolution. Our goal is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat from the Gaddafi regime. NATO will implement all aspects of the U.N. resolution. Nothing more, nothing less."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-03/28/c_13801434.htm
How Afghanistan became a NATO war ...
How Afghanistan became a NATO war
Is NATO's role in Afghanistan in the best interest of the nation,or is it simply a boost for NATO's morale?
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/201114818346562.html
Karzai: NATO Reconstruction Bases to Go
Afghanistan's president said Tuesday that international military bases that run provincial infrastructure and development programs will have to close as his government takes over responsibility for the country's security -- a process starting this year.
http://www.military.com/news/article/karzai-nato-reconstruction-bases-to-go.html?ESRC=eb.nl
Russia 'to work with Nato on missile defence shield' Russia has agreed to ...
Russia 'to work with Nato on missile defence shield'
Russia has agreed to co-operate on Nato's programme to defend against ballistic missile attacks, Nato's chief has said.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a Nato summit in Lisbon that the two sides had agreed in writing that they no longer posed a threat to one another.
"For the first time the two sides will be co-operating to defend themselves," Mr Rasmussen said.
'Real importance'
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of the summit: "A period of very difficult, tense relations has been overcome."
This is the first Nato summit Russia has attended since the Russia-Georgia war two years ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11803931
New tensions test old allies ...
New tensions test old allies
Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of European and Eurasian affairs, challenged Turkey to prove that it remains "committed to the National Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), Europe and the United States," while Erdogan questioned whether the US was "supporting Turkey adequately in its battle against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)".
The statements were the strongest public indication of an emerging mutual mistrust between the two allies since the crisis over an Israeli attack on a Turkish Gaza-bound aid flotilla and Turkey's vote against imposing further sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council.
'Turning its back on the West'
Washington has so far refrained from criticising Ankara, despite a growing campaign among lobbyists and the US congress targeting Turkey's governing Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). Led mainly, but not exclusively, by the pro-Israel lobby and neo-conservatives, this campaign has called for measures ranging from withholding support for the Turkish government to US backing of the opposition in the country's next parliamentary elections.
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/07/201075124551502442.html
Turkey threatens diplomatic break with Israel over raid Turkey has for the ...
Turkey threatens diplomatic break with Israel over raid
Turkey has for the first time threatened to break diplomatic ties with Israel over its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
Turkey's foreign minister said a break could only be averted if Israel either apologised or accepted the outcome of an international inquiry into the raid.
The Israeli government said it had nothing to apologise for.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10505386.stm
Lieberman: No apology to Turkey
Israel has "no intention of apologizing to Turkey "over the IDF's interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla last month, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday.
Speaking during a visit to Lithuania, Lieberman said that, "The opposite was true."
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=180491
Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai says he's talking to the Taliban Afgh...
Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai says he's talking to the Taliban
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai confirmed that he's talking to the Taliban, seeking a political settlement with the group that harbored Al Qaeda prior to and just after 9/11.
Taliban denies Afghan peace talks
Group dismisses President Karzai's claims about holding face-to-face talks with Taliban leaders as "propaganda".
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/10/20101013144022101886.html
US issues arms deal ultimatum to Turkey President Barack Obama has personal...
US issues arms deal ultimatum to Turkey
President Barack Obama has personally warned Turkey’s prime minister that unless Ankara shifts its position on Israel and Iran it stands little chance of obtaining the US weapons it wants to buy.
Mr Obama’s warning to Recep Tayyip Erdogan is particularly significant as Ankara wants to buy American drone aircraft – such as the missile-bearing Reaper – to attack the Kurdish separatist PKK after the US military pulls out of Iraq at the end of 2011.
One senior administration official said: “The president has said to Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill [Congress] . . . about whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally. That means that some of the requests Turkey has made of us, for example in providing some of the weaponry that it would like to fight the PKK, will be harder for us to move through Congress.”
Washington was deeply frustrated when Turkey voted against United Nations sanctions on Iran in June.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35d01e4e-a895-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html
Conference endorses Karzai goal for security handover A major conference on...
Conference endorses Karzai goal for security handover
A major conference on Afghanistan has endorsed President Hamid Karzai's goal that Afghan forces should lead security operations across the country by 2014.
Mr Karzai renewed his call for Afghan control over security during the one-day conference in Kabul, attended by representatives from 70 countries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10687527
Afghanistan - paths to peace ...
Afghanistan - paths to peace
History is about to take a monumental turn in the rugged, desolate hills and dales of Afghanistan where the world's sole superpower leads an alliance facing defeat at the hands of the nameless resistance fighters of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
The impact of this enormous defeat will be felt across the globe.
The bloody conflict in Afghanistan has been going on for almost nine years, since October 2001.
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/07/20107197729733150.html
Clinton defends US strategy in Afghanistan
War weariness is growing in the US.
Even allies of the Obama administration in Washington, like Senator John Kerry, are starting to ask if it is time to redefine the goals or whether it is a lost cause.
But ahead of an international conference in Kabul, Hillary Clinton vigorously defended the war effort and the US strategy, calling for strategic patience.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10692971
Ukraine says farewell to NATO, hello to Russia Ukraine'...
Ukraine says farewell to NATO, hello to Russia
Ukraine's parliament has voted to drop membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation from its foreign policy goals, supporting an initiative by the President, Viktor Yanukovych.
Two hundred and fifty-three MPs in the 450-strong legislature in Kiev voted in a first reading to support a law defining Ukraine as a non-aligned country, which Mr Yanukovych submitted this week. The document says Ukraine still seeks to join the European Union.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/ukraine-says-farewell-to-nato-hello-to-russia-20100604-xkn6.html
Obama on U.S. mission, corruption in Afghanistan U.S. President Barack Obam...
Obama on U.S. mission, corruption in Afghanistan
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that the United States is going to promote a political settlement in the region where Afghanistan is and make sure corruption is reduced in the country.
"We are going to work with the Afghan government to train Afghan security forces so they can be responsible for their own security, we are going to promote a political settlement in the region that can help to reduce the violence," Obama told a White House press conference.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/11/c_13489833.htm
Karzai to pursue talks with Taliban...
Karzai to pursue talks with Taliban
Afghan president announces that he has set up a negotiating body to pursue peace talks with the Taliban.
Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, has announced that he has set up a council to pursue peace talks with the Taliban.
The formation of the High Peace Council was "a significant step towards peace talks," a statement from Karzai's office said on Saturday.
The move is one of the most significant steps Karzai has taken in his oft-stated efforts to open a dialogue with the Taliban leadership aimed at speeding up an end to the country's long war.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/20109413446506473.html
Karzai condemns Russian involvement in Afghan drug bust But senior Afghan ...
Karzai condemns Russian involvement in Afghan drug bust
But senior Afghan officials, apparently unaware of the Russian participation, reacted angrily to news reports of the drug bust. Karzai called the raid a violation of sovereignty and said that "no institution has the right to conduct any such military operation inside our territory without the agreement of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."
The prospect of Russian participation in military operations recalled the painful decade-long history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which ended in 1989 but whose memory remains fresh in the minds of Afghans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/30/AR2010103001603.html
Taliban could be misleading its forces The commandant of the Marine Corps sa...
Taliban could be misleading its forces
The commandant of the Marine Corps said Tuesday that Taliban leaders may be misleading their own forces into believing that they only have to keep fighting through the middle of next year, when U.S. troops are slated to begin pulling out of Afghanistan.
"We think right now it's probably giving our enemy sustenance. . . . We've intercepted communications that say, hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long," he said.
But if it turns out the Marines are still in Afghanistan after mid-2011, Conway said, insurgent leaders based in Pakistan could be hard pressed to explain themselves to their foot soldiers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/24/AR2010082406373.html
Pakistan kept in the dark about Afghan peace contacts Pakistan is being kept...
Pakistan kept in the dark about Afghan peace contacts
Pakistan is being kept out of efforts by the Afghan government and the United States to end nearly a decade of war with the Taliban, which could be a sign of Washington's mistrust of Islamabad's intentions.
Pakistan's sway over the insurgents makes it a key ally for Washington in its attempts to stabilize Afghanistan, but Islamabad's reluctance to crack down on what it sees as insurance in any Afghan settlement has also angered the United States.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69L1MC20101022
Poles to pay tribute to lost President Lech Kaczynski The body o...
Poles to pay tribute to lost President Lech Kaczynski
The body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski is to lie in state in the capital Warsaw as the nation mourns the victims of the Smolensk air crash.
The Polish government plane was carrying leaders from across national public life who had been due to attend a memorial for the Polish victims of a World War II massacre by Soviet secret police at Katyn in the Smolensk region.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8614685.stm
Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Russian – Polish Strategic Reconciliation?
The tragic death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and nearly 100 others as they flew to a commemoration of the Katyn massacre could not have been more loaded with overtures from Russia and Poland’s troubled past. But an outpouring of sympathy from Russian politicians, media and the general public has prompted talk that the two countries might finally bury the hatchet. Will the Polish president’s tragic death lead to a strategic Russian-Polish reconciliation? Will the Russian response be noticed and appreciated by the Polish people and the Polish elites? Were such a reconciliation to take place, what kind of geopolitical consequences might it have, particularly for Russia’s relations with the EU and NATO?
http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Experts%27+Panel&articleid=a1272049492
Ex-UN official says Taliban infiltrating Afghan forces The Taliban have in...
Ex-UN official says Taliban infiltrating Afghan forces
The Taliban have infiltrated the Afghan army and police, a recently-retired United Nations official has warned.
Dr Antonio Maria Costa, former head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said Taliban sleeper cells had been set up inside the security forces.
They had already carried out a number of attacks and were planning further attacks on Nato-led troops, he said.
A spokesman for the coalition forces said infiltration was a rare problem and most Afghan troops were loyal.
Dr Costa's comments come as the coalition is preparing to hand over control of the country's security to Afghan forces by 2014, the BBC's Gerry Northam reports.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11464175
Afghan Taliban threaten death to all talking peace Scribbled notes from Talib...
Afghan Taliban threaten death to all talking peace
Scribbled notes from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar have surfaced in mosques all over Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtun heartland, threatening death to anyone who takes up a government offer to negotiate for peace, according to a longtime Taliban member.
Trying to quash rumors of a break in their ranks, the Taliban also have vehemently denied reports — including one by The Associated Press — that representatives of the militant group were involved in negotiations with the Afghan government.
The leadership could be worried that commanders might strike separate deals that would threaten to undermine the insurgency and cripple the morale of their rank-and-file fighters.
President Hamid Karzai has made reconciliation a top priority and recently formed a 70-member High Peace Council to find a political solution to the insurgency. At the same time, the U.S.-led coalition has ramped up its military campaign in an effort to pound Taliban commanders to the negotiating table.
There are no signs that either strategy is having much effect on the senior Taliban leadership.
Taliban offers civilian death probe ...
Taliban offers civilian death probe
A spokesman for the Taliban has offered to set up a joint committee with the United Nations and Nato to study civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
A recent UN report blamed anti-government groups, including the Taliban, for most of this year's civilian casualties. In a statement posted on its website, the Taliban called the report "biased and subjective", and called for a joint study.
"The stated committee should be given a free hand to survey the affected areas as well as people in order to collect the precise information and the facts and figures and disseminate its findings worldwide," the statement said.
It said the committee should also include representatives from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that diplomats from Nato countries were "cautiously considering" the offer.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/08/20108175382313605.html
Petraeus: No Success Without Taliban Talks
At a time when the bloodletting in Afghanistan is on the rise, the American commander there says success will mean sitting down and talking to Taliban fighters and others who have "American blood on their hands."
In an interview broadcast Sunday morning on NBC's Meet the Press, Army Gen. David Petraeus said the U.S. faces the same tough question in Afghanistan today as it did two years ago when it chose to fight the Iraqi insurgency with dialogue as well as bullets.
http://www.military.com/news/article/petraeus-no-success-without-taliban-talks.html?ESRC=eb.nl
Turkey’s Erdogan calls for diplomacy with Iran Turkey's prime minister said ...
Turkey’s Erdogan calls for diplomacy with Iran
Turkey's prime minister said diplomacy, not sanctions, is the only way to solve the current crisis over Iran's nuclear program.
The remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an interview published Tuesday by the French newspaper Le Figaro, come a day after Erdogan said that Turkey would come to the defense of Muslims around the world, according to a report by CNN-Turk.
We cannot be indifferent to the problems of the Islamic world of Jerusalem," Erdogan reportedly said Monday at a ceremony to mark the opening of an Arab-language television and radio company.
"Our task is the integration with the Western world but we did not turn our back to the East," Erdogan continued. "Arabs and Turks are brothers and we share the same values."
Israel's Foreign Ministry responded to Erdogan's statements Monday, saying it is not interested in confrontation with Turkey.
"The impression that is being created is that the Turkish prime minister is seeking to integrate with the Muslim world at Israel's expense," read a ministry statement.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/04/06/1011464/turkeys-erdogan-calls-for-diplomacy-with-iran
US Defence Secretary Gates blames EU for Turkey 'drift' Turkey's growing ho...
US Defence Secretary Gates blames EU for Turkey 'drift'
Turkey's growing hostility to Israel may have been partly caused by its effective rejection by the European Union, the US defence secretary says.
Robert Gates said Turkey may have been "pushed by some in Europe" away from the EU and into closer partnerships with states like Iran.
Turkey has been put on the path to EU membership, but countries like France and Germany are openly opposed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10275379.stm
Turkey: Apology From Israel Is Sought Before Envoy Post Is Filled, Official Says
Turkey will not appoint a new ambassador to Israel unless the Israeli government formally apologizes for the killing of nine Turkish citizens, including one who also had American citizenship, who were aboard a boat that tried unsuccessfully in May to breach the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, a Turkish senior Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday. The Turkish government is also demanding compensation for relatives of the dead and the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the Israeli military operation against the flotilla that tried to run the blockade.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/world/europe/30briefs-TURKEY.html
Petraeus would study uses of U.S. force if confirmed Gen. David Pet...
Petraeus would study uses of U.S. force if confirmed
Gen. David Petraeus said Tuesday that he will examine whether the implementation of rules to limit U.S. firepower in Afghanistan might place troops at greater risk.
Petraeus, President Obama's nominee to lead U.S. troops in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that if he is confirmed he will "look very hard" at how the rules and directives are put into practice.
"I am keenly aware of concerns by some of our troopers on the ground," Petraeus said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-06-29-Petraeus_N.htm
Curbs on US-led military 'reduce' Afghan rebel attacks
Restrictions imposed on US-led forces in Afghanistan to reduce civilian casualties have also led to a decline in insurgent attacks, a report says.
The document by America's National Bureau for Economic Research analysed incidents involving more than 4,000 civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
The curbs on aerial bombing and mortar fire were introduced last year by the recently-sacked Gen Stanley McChrystal.
Gen McChrystal's successor, Gen David Petraeus, is reportedly considering loosening the restrictions on international forces.
The report concludes that civilian deaths frequently motivate villagers to join the ranks of insurgents.
"In Afghanistan, when Isaf units kill civilians, this increases the number of willing combatants, leading to an increase in insurgent attacks."
"Local exposure to violence from Isaf appears to be the primary driver of this effect."
The curbs were imposed by Gen McChrystal in an effort to win more Afghan hearts and minds.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10746832
Nato takes over Libya no-fly zone Nato has agreed to take command of enforci...
Nato takes over Libya no-fly zone
Nato has agreed to take command of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya from the US.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12856665
Responsibility to protect or right to meddle?
The Libya no-fly zone is either a humanitarian mission or an excuse to meddle, depending on who you ask.
While the Western-led military coalition in Libya continues to debate the exact goals of its offensive there, a broader discussion is playing out in some foreign capitals: did the United Nations even have the authority to authorise the action?
The week-old bombing campaign in Libya has prompted a debate over what's known as "responsibility to protect," or R2P, the convention that the world has a responsibility to prevent war crimes and protect vulnerable populations.
Supporters of the no-fly zone over Libya like to call it a humanitarian operation, and argue that days of sorties - mostly by American, British and French planes - have prevented wider civilian casualties. Refugees International, for example, praised the no-fly zone as "international intervention to protect the people of Libya."
Critics have reached exactly the opposite conclusion: The Chinese government said on Tuesday that the no-fly zone would lead to a "humanitarian disaster," and warned against "causing even more civilian casualties through the use of armed force." (China was one of five UN Security Council members to abstain from voting on resolution 1973, which authorised the no-fly zone and bombing campaign.)
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/2011324121253913547.html
North Korea Suggests Libya Should Have Kept Nuclear Program
A North Korean statement that Libya’s dismantling of its nuclear weapons program had made it vulnerable to military intervention by the West is being seen by analysts as an ominous reinforcement of the North’s refusal to end its own nuclear program.
North Korea’s official news agency carried comments this week from a Foreign Ministry official criticizing the air assault on Libyan government forces and suggesting that Libya had been duped in 2003 when it abandoned its nuclear program in exchange for promises of aid and improved relations with the West.
Calling the West’s bargain with Libya “an invasion tactic to disarm the country,” the official said it amounted to a bait and switch approach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/world/asia/25korea.html