Stop NATO news: December 4, 2011

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Western Hemisphere Unites In Bloc, U.S. And Canada Not Invited

Syrian Opposition Pushes No-Fly Zone, Shift To GCC, West

NATO Delivers New Threat To Kosovo Serbs

$250 A Barrel Oil? West Tightens Screws On Iran

Iran Downs American Drone

Changing Warfare Forever: U.S. Test Hypersonic Weapon System

Texas Lobbying To Host AFRICOM Headquarters

AFRICOM, Canadian Expeditionary Force Command Partner In Africa

Pakistan Sends U.S. Military Packing

Pakistan: Bereaved Families Demand End To America’s War

Pakistan: U.S. And NATO Have Licence To Kill

Pakistan: NATO Lied About Deadly Attacks

NATO Attacks Unite Entire Nation: Pakistani Chief Minister

U.S. High-Handedness: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Now Pakistan, Iran

British Soldier Jailed For Bayoneting 10-Year-Old Afghan Boy

Russia Northern, Baltic, Black Sea Fleet Ships In Mediterranean

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Western Hemisphere Unites In Bloc, U.S. And Canada Not Invited

http://rt.com/news/latin-america-celac-bloc-975/

RT
December 4, 2011

Latin America unites in new bloc, US not invited

-The formation of CELAC was warmly welcomed by rising global power, China. Chavez read aloud a letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulating the leaders on forming the new bloc.

Thirty-three Latin American leaders have come together and formed a new regional bloc, pledging closer economic and political ties. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) pointedly excludes the US and Canada.

On the second day of a summit in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, all Latin American leaders, both right and left, officially signed into effect the formation of the CELAC bloc. The foundation of the bloc has been praised as the realization of the two-centuries-old idea of Latin American “independence” envisioned by Simon Bolivar.

Analysts view CELAC as an alternative to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) and as an attempt by Latin American countries to reduce US influence in the region.

“As the years go by, CELAC is going to leave behind the old and worn-out OAS,” Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said at the inauguration of the bloc on Friday.

“It’s the death sentence for the Monroe Doctrine,” said Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said.

However Washington does not see CELAC as a replacement to OAS. US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said the US will continue “to work through the OAS as the pre-eminent multilateral organization, speaking for the hemisphere.”

Political analyst Omar Jose Hassan Farinas told RT’s Spanish channel the US views CELAC as a potential threat to its hegemony in the region.

Chavez also read out statement opposing the US trade embargo on Cuba.

Havana, which is not a member of the OAS, has joined the new regional bloc.

“No more interference. Enough is enough! We have to take shape as a center of the world power and demand respect for all of us as community and for each one of our countries,” Venezuelan leader said.

The 33 leaders pledged to withstand the financial crisis that has struck Europe and other developed countries.

Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff stressed that the Latin American countries would need to rely more on their neighbors amid the global economic turmoil.
“The economic, financial crisis should be at the center of our concerns,” Rousseff said Friday night. She said Latin America should “realize that to guarantee its current cycle of development despite the international economic turbulence, it means that every politician must be aware that each one needs the others.”

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who assumed the initial rotating presidency at CELAC, expressed hopes that the bloc would help build regional cooperation despite the differences between some of the 33 member states.

The leaders also discussed cooperation in the field of drug trafficking and climate change.

CELAC should be a “political union to build a large power center of the 21st century,” the Venezuelan president said, stressing strong regional growth as many countries in the region develop closer ties with Asia or Europe and reduce their traditional reliance on the US.

The formation of CELAC was warmly welcomed by rising global power, China. Chavez read aloud a letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulating the leaders on forming the new bloc.

Hu pledged to deepen cooperation with the CELAC and underlined that in the 21st century the relations between China and Latin America have seen all-round and fast development with expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation, according to Xinhua news agency.

The countries of CELAC have a combined population of nearly 600 million people, and a combined GDP of about US$6 trillion – about a third of the combined output of the US and Canada.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-12/04/c_131287122.htm

Xinhua News Agency
December 4, 2011

New bloc embodies L. America’s global vision
By Maja Wallengren

-”The creation of CELAC is part of a global and continental shift, characterized by the decline of U.S. hegemony and the rise of a group of regional blocs that form part of the new global balance.”
-”With the advent of CELAC we have created a mechanism that we haven’t been able to do during our 200 years of independence,” said Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Cuban leader Raul Castro described the founding of CELAC as “the biggest independence event of our time.”

MEXICO CITY: When leaders of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations co-founded a new regional bloc here Saturday, they are envisioning the region as a bigger player on the world stage.

While the newly-formed Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is politically diverse with varied national aspirations, its historic importance cannot be ignored, political analysts said.

“The creation of CELAC is part of a global and continental shift, characterized by the decline of U.S. hegemony and the rise of a group of regional blocs that form part of the new global balance,” Mexican analyst Raul Zibechi wrote in his column on the La Jornada daily.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made it clear that he wants Latin America to stand stronger, more united and independent from U.S. influence, a view echoed by a number of CELAC member countries including Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Considered as strong allies of Washington, leaders of Mexico, Chile and Colombia have also enthusiastically embraced the idea of CELAC. And Brazil, South America’s leading power, refers to the grouping as being the region’s “new common voice” at many international fora.

The formation of CELAC has been welcomed across the region, from the most leftwing anti-U.S. Latin American nations to the most conservative pro-U.S. allies.

“With the advent of CELAC we have created a mechanism that we haven’t been able to do during our 200 years of independence,” said Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Cuban leader Raul Castro described the founding of CELAC as “the biggest independence event of our time.”

Latin American leaders want it to be a forum similar to the Organization of American States (OAS), but free of political influence from the United States.

“It’s clear that major issues in Latin America and the Caribbean will be addressed by this new regional body and the OAS will lose the little-exercised leadership it still possesses,” said an op-ed piece in the Bolivian paper La Razon with a cartoon of a sinking ship named OAS.

According to “The Caracas Declaration,” a key document signed at the new bloc’s founding summit, CELAC will take on the role as “regional spokesman” at ministerial talks at key international forums.

But there was no indication whatsoever in the declaration that CELAC would seek to replace the OAS, which welcomed the new bloc as “a new mechanism for political coordination and agreement in the region.” And OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said CELAC was certain to “enrich dialogues” in North and South Americas.

Analysts, however, will continue to debate what kind of global role of the new grouping would take, or whether it would eventually replace the OAS.

They said few CELAC countries would want to see the OAS replaced and the United States would not stand by in case of any attempt to exclude it from Latin American affairs.

“The U.S. should regard this move as a firm warning that its neglect of Latin America and the Caribbean’s development needs and issues is not in the interest of the United States,” said an analyst, adding that Washington needs to “engage in Latin America and the Caribbean” and make the countries feel like “genuine partners and neighbors.”

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Syrian Opposition Pushes No-Fly Zone, Shift To GCC, West

http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1965046.html

Trend News Agency
December 3, 2011

Post-Assad Syria would drop special Iran ties

The collapse of the 40-year-long Assad regime in Syria would radically change Mideast politics since the nat’l council, poised to take over, reiterates it will cut Iran and Hezbollah ties, Al Ahram reported.

Syria would align itself with the Arab League and the Gulf, Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun told the Wall Street Journal in an interview in France. “Our future is truly tied to the Arab world and the Gulf in particular,” Ghalioun, the main Syrian opposition leader in exile was quoted as saying in a WSJ transcript.

Damascus would have no special relationship with Iran and Hezbollah if President Bashar al-Assad lost power, he said. “The current relationship between Syria and Iran is abnormal,” Ghalioun told the daily. “Syria is the centre of the Arab Orient. It cannot live outside its relationship with the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf countries, Egypt and others.”

“There will be no special relationship with Iran. This is the core issue – the military alliance. Breaking the exceptional relationship means breaking the strategic military alliance. We do not mind economic relations.”

Syria has had close ties with Tehran since the early years of the Islamic Republic of Iran, founded in 1979.

“As our relations with Iran change, so too will our relationship with Hezbollah. Hezbollah after the fall of the Syrian regime will not be the same. Lebanon should not be used as it was used in the Assad era as an arena to settle political scores,” Ghalioun told the paper.

…

Ghalioun said the Council sought political and financial support from “the Arab League, the EU, Turkey, and the West”.

“We asked to apply pressure on Russia and China and to make use of all civilian protection measures. This is why (French) foreign minister (Alain) Juppe called for a humanitarian corridor.”

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If Russia could be convinced that Assad’s opponents and the West were not considering military intervention in Syria, as NATO did in Libya, Moscow might be persuaded not to use its U.N. Security Council veto to block humanitarian intervention.

But Ghalioun also mentioned a no-fly zone, which implies a degree of military intervention. “We will meet with the foreign minister of Turkey who is thinking of this with the Europeans to discuss the developments in what he mentioned as a no-fly zone,” Ghalioun said.

…

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NATO Delivers New Threat To Kosovo Serbs

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=12&dd=03&nav_id=77613

Tanjug News Agency
December 3, 2011

KFOR commander: We won’t tolerate violence

KFOR troops are seen in the village of Jagnjenica (Tanjug, file)

PRIŠTINA: KFOR Commander Erhard Drews has stated that troops under his command will in the future respond in kind to violence against them.

Drews said that he would not tolerate the use of force against KFOR troops, Radio Television of Kosovo has reported.

He said that KFOR would respond with the same means to those who used force in a case of escalation of violence such as the one at the village in Jagnjenica last Monday.

The KFOR commander said he expected concrete results when it came to Serbian President Boris Tadić’s call to northern Kosovo Serbs to remove the barricades.

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=12&dd=03&nav_id=77621

Tanjug News Agency
December 3, 2011

PUPS warns of possible displacement of Kosovo Serbs

BELGRADE: The Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) deputy leader Milan Krkobabić has warned of possible displacement of Serbs from Kosovo.

He has called on Serbian officials to make sure that a new displacement of Kosovo Serbs does not happen.

During a visit to a refugee settlement in the Belgrade neighborhood of Krnjača, Krkobabić commented on the political situation in Kosovo and stressed that those leading the negotiations should visit the camp.

“It would be good if those people who are today leading the negotiations with Priština came here instead of going to cafes and spent a day or two, to hear and see things that are happening to you and then decide about the fate of those people at the barricades,” he stressed.

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=12&dd=01&nav_id=77586

Tanjug News Agency
December 1, 2011

NUNS condemns KFOR attack on journalists

KFOR troops and citizens are seen at the barricade in the village of Jagnjenica (Tanjug)

BELGRADE: The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) has condemned KFOR’s attack on a group of journalists at a barricade in the village of Jagnjenica.

Pointing out that violence against journalists cannot be justified, NUNS has stated that it strongly condemns the KFOR’s attack on a group of reporters that took place on Tuesday.

“NUNS will inform international journalists and media associations about this shocking attack of KFOR members on the journalists,” it is said in the announcement.

According to media reports, KFOR troops attacked journalists reporting for Belgrade-based Press and Kurir dailies, and cameramen of several Belgrade-based TV outlets.

The incident happened around 16:00 CET on Tuesday.

It took place at the new barricade in the village of Jagnjenica when KFOR troops without any reason or warning fired rubber bullets at the reporters and crews, the association stressed in its statement.

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$250 A Barrel Oil? West Tightens Screws On Iran

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/04/61497429.html

Itar-Tass
December 4, 2011

The West tightens the screws on Iran

       
If the West introduces an embargo on Iranian oil, the world oil price will rise to $250 for a barrel.

This is the opinion of an official spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of Iran expressed in an interview for the Ash-Shark newspaper.

After the IAEA report on the state of the Iranian nuclear programme was published French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for “unprecedented sanctions” against Tehran which include suspension of buying Iranian oil and blocking the foreign assets of the Central Bank of Iran.

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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/04/61506688.html

Itar-Tass
December 4, 2011

Oil price to reach 250$ if oil imports from Iran banned – Teheran

       
Imposing a ban on oil imports from Iran will lead to the increase of global oil prices up to $250 per barrel, an official with the Iranian Foreign Ministry Ramin Mehmanparsat  in an interview with the Ash Shark newspaper.

Earlier France president Nicolas Sarkozy urged “unprecedented sanctions” against Teheran including ban on oil imports from Iran.

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Iran Downs American Drone

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-12/04/c_122374136.htm

Xinhua News Agency
December 4, 2011

Iran downs U.S. drone in eastern Iran: Iranian TV

TEHRAN: Iran’s military has downed a U.S. drone in eastern Iran, Iran’s Arabic-language television network reported quoting a military source on Sunday.

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/213765.html

Press TV
December 4, 2011

Iran military downs US spy drone

A senior Iranian military official says Iran’s Army has shot down a remote-controlled reconnaissance drone operated by the US military in the eastern part of the country.

The informed source said on Sunday that Iran Army’s electronic warfare unit successfully targeted the American-built RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft after it crossed into Iranian airspace over the border with neighboring Afghanistan.

He added that the US reconnaissance drone has been seized with minimum damage.

The RQ-170 is a stealth unmanned aircraft designed and developed by the Lockheed Martin Company.

The US military and the CIA use the drone to launch missile strikes in Afghanistan and in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region.

The unnamed Iranian military official further added that “due to the clear border violation, the operational and electronic measures taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces against invading aircraft will not remain limited to the Iran’s borders.

The report comes as the United States has beefed up its military presence in and around the Persian Gulf region in recent months in the wake of a popular uprising in Bahrain.

The US Department of Defense says Washington is closely monitoring the developments in Bahrain, which is the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and holds some 4,200 US service members.

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Changing Warfare Forever: U.S. Test Hypersonic Weapon System

http://www.fortgordonsignal.com/news/2011-12-02/Front_Page/Army_successfully_launches_Advanced_Hypersonic_Wea.html

U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/ Army Forces Strategic Command
December 2, 2011

Army successfully launches Advanced Hypersonic Weapon demonstrator
Jason Cutshaw

-The conical-shaped AHW is designed to meet the demanding environments and operations of Continental United States-based systems capable of global strikes. As a precision glide body flying at supersonic speeds, the AHW can deliver a variety of payloads at medium and global ranges.
-Space, air, sea and ground platforms collected vehicle performance data during all phases of flight. The data collected will be used by DOD to model and develop future hypersonic boost-glide capabilities for Conventional Prompt Global Strike.

At the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, successes sometimes happen faster than a speeding bullet.

In a flight which lasted less than 30 minutes, USASMDC/ARSTRAT conducted the first test flight of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon concept Nov. 17. The AHW is a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle, designed to fly within the earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed and long range, was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, to the Reagan Test Site, U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.

“It is a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle that has a potential to change warfare forever,” said Lt. Gen. Richard P. Formica, SMDC commanding general. “It is a great example of how the material development function in the SMDC Technical Center is a part of ARSTRAT that is developing future capabilities for U.S. Strategic Command – for ‘the day after tomorrow.’”

The Army’s Advanced Hypersonic Weapon Technology Demonstration is a cooperative effort within the Department of Defense to develop a conventional Prompt Global Strike capability. More specifically, the AHW-TD is an all endoatmospheric boost glide, non-ballistic, missile flight that will advance state-of-the art thermal protection materials, enabling and integrating systems such as controls and communications, and internal thermal management schemes.

Further, in-flight environmental data collection will advance the understanding and modeling efforts for all Prompt Global Strike concepts such as the Conventional Strike Missile being developed by the Air Force.

The conical-shaped AHW is designed to meet the demanding environments and operations of Continental United States-based systems capable of global strikes. As a precision glide body flying at supersonic speeds, the AHW can deliver a variety of payloads at medium and global ranges.

“This was a total team effort with Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M.; the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, Huntsville, and under the direction and funding of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Prompt Global Strike,” Formica said.

Hypersonic flight is defined as speeds of Mach 5, which is about 3,600 mph, or higher.

The objective of the test is to collect data on hypersonic boost-glide technologies and test range performance for long-range atmospheric flight. Mission emphasis is aerodynamics; navigation, guidance, and control; and thermal protection technologies.

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The AHW program is managed and executed by the SMDC program office in Huntsville…

A three-stage booster system launched the AHW glide vehicle and successfully deployed it on the desired flight trajectory. The vehicle flew a non-ballistic glide trajectory at hypersonic speed to the planned impact location at the Reagan Test Site. Space, air, sea and ground platforms collected vehicle performance data during all phases of flight. The data collected will be used by DOD to model and develop future hypersonic boost-glide capabilities for Conventional Prompt Global Strike.

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Texas Lobbying To Host AFRICOM Headquarters

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-vies-for-a-big-military-prize-2338798.php

Houston Chronicle
December 2, 2011

Houston vying for U.S. military’s Africa Command

HOUSTON: Houston is among the cities vying to become the next home of U.S. Africa Command, one of the Defense Department’s six regional military headquarters.

Texas lawmakers, city officials and local business leaders hope that Houston’s low cost of living and many diplomatic and economic ties to the African continent will persuade the Pentagon to move AFRICOM from its current base in Germany to Ellington Field in Houston.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has offered language in the Military Construction Appropriations Bill requiring a transparent process for the selection of AFRICOM’s permanent headquarters. Other members of the Texas congressional delegation are mobilizing behind Ellington as well. Two Republican congressmen from Houston, Pete Olson and John Culberson, are drafting a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is studying the strategic, operational and fiscal factors involved in determining where the command should be located in the long term. When the study is complete, Panetta will decide on a permanent home for AFRICOM.

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AFRICOM, Canadian Expeditionary Force Command Partner In Africa

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7464&lang=0

U.S. Africa Command
November 29, 2011

U.S. AFRICOM and Canadian Expeditionary Force Command Collaborate on African Security Issues
By Diane Cano
U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs 

-CEFCOM is considering the headquarters of Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti as a potential location where Canadian and U.S. military personnel could collaborate on CJTF-HOA’s mission…Present on the African continent since the end of the second world war, Canada has continued to be involved in Africa and is currently engaged in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan, Sierra Leone and Darfur.

STUTTGART, Germany: Commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM), Lieutenant General Stuart Beare, visited U.S. Africa Command headquarters November 28, 2011 to discuss continued partnership between CEFCOM and AFRICOM on the African continent in 2012.

During his visit, Beare met with AFRICOM leaders, which served as an opportunity to discuss mutual interests between Canadian and U.S. forces.

He mentioned that with the drawdown of CEFCOM forces in Afghanistan from 3600 to 950 soldiers, more personnel and resources are now available to support other priorities. Specifically, he wants to see an increase of CEFCOM liaisons at U.S. combatant commands, including AFRICOM, U.S. Central Command, and U.S. Pacific Command, to engage with the Joint Task Forces (JTF) in their respective regions.

“Here on the (African) continent the area for improvement we know we can continue to improve on is our ability to plug into JTFs that AFRICOM would activate for operations,” Beare said. “And we’ll do that through exercises and other things.”

According to Beare, CEFCOM is considering the headquarters of Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti as a potential location where Canadian and U.S. military personnel could collaborate on CJTF-HOA’s mission…

During a briefing to U.S. Africa Command staff, he talked about the logistical advantages of having Operational Support Hubs, the equivalent of U.S Cooperative Security Locations, in East and West Africa.

…

In order for Canadian forces to be able to deploy quickly, he added, it is important to have an arrangement in place with host nations identifying logistics facilities from which they can operate.

…

Present on the African continent since the end of the second world war, Canada has continued to be involved in Africa and is currently engaged in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan, Sierra Leone and Darfur.

Beare emphasized that the Canadian Forces aim to further their understanding of current missions and security issues in Africa. Additionally, they would like to see increased capacity to engage quickly with Africa Command.

“It’s about having a better understanding of the continent today, increasing our capacity to plug into Africa Command’s commanding control systems, its intelligence systems and its logistics framework should we find ourselves in other missions on the continent in the future beyond those we are doing today, ” he stated. “We still are in those missions today in the Sudan and the Congo which continue to evolve, in Sierra Leone, and again, we want to make sure what we’re doing in those missions is well understood to this command.”

Speaking on the relationship between AFRICOM and CEFCOM, Beare stated that the Canadian Forces will continue to use the current liaison officer based in Stuttgart to help them “be smart on the American military perspective on Africa” and participate in exercises to improve military readiness. In the future, Beare said he would like to see the positioning of a Canadian military officer into one of the JTFs.

“That’s still be to determined but that’s certainly an ambition I’d like to realize,” he concluded.

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Pakistan Sends U.S. Military Packing

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/nato-drone-attacks-us-begins-pull-out-from-pakistans-shamsi-airbase/articleshow/10980516.cms

Indo-Asian News Service
December 4, 2011

NATO drone attacks: US begins pull out from Pakistan’s Shamsi airbase

ISLAMABAD: The US Sunday began to pull out from Pakistan’s Shamsi airbase that had been used by NATO to launch drone attacks in the country’s restive northwest, a media report said.

A US aircraft landed at the Shamsi airbase to bring back American officials deployed there, Geo News reported.

Pakistan had set a Dec 11 deadline for the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase following a NATO airstrike that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead.

NATO helicopter gunships had targeted two border posts in Mohmand Agency Nov 26, killing two dozen soldiers and sparking outrage in the country.

Islamabad has stopped the passage of NATO supplies through the country to protest the NATO attack.

It has also decided not to attend the Dec 5 Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Wednesday: “The US will vacate the airbase by Dec 11.”

The US has been using the airbase for nearly a decade for military operations in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/04/61497320.html

Itar-Tass
December 4, 2011

Pakistan sends US packing

       
The US has begun evacuating its servicemen from the Shamsi air base.

According to the Pakistani satellite Geo-TV channel, this decision was taken after Islamabad demanded that the US forces should vacate the air base.

NATO combat helicopters dealt a blow to a roadblock on the territory of Pakistan on the 26th of November, as a result of which over 20 border guards were killed.

In response Islamabad announced reconsideration of relations with Washington, cancellation of permission for the US Air Force to use the air base in Shamsi and closure of transport corridors across its territory for delivering supplies to the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-12/04/c_131287412.htm

Xinhua News Agency
December 4, 2011

U.S. starts to evacuate from Shamsi air base in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The United States has started evacuation from an air base in Pakistan on Sunday on the order of the Pakistani government to leave the air base before December 11, reported local Urdu TV channel Geo.

According to the report, the evacuation kicked off Sunday morning when a U.S. plane arrived at the Shamsi air base to take U.S. personnel back.

They started loading the luggage and equipment when the plane arrived, the report quoted unidentified sources as saying.

In order to ensure a safe evacuation, security around the air base has been beefed up, said the sources.

The evacuation came eight days after the Pakistani government ordered the U.S. to vacate its air base in the Shamsi area in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province within 15 days following a NATO cross-border air strike at two Pakistani army check posts in the Mohmand tribal area near the Afghan border on Nov. 26, which killed 24 Pakistani troops and wounded 13 others.

Shamsi air base is located some 320 km southwest of Balochistan’s capital city Quetta. The U.S. has reportedly been using the air base since 2001 for military operations in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan…

The order for the U.S. to vacate the Shamsi air base is one of three steps taken by the Pakistani government in retaliation for the Nov. 26 NATO incident, which the Pakistani government described as a blatant violation of its sovereignty.

The other two steps include closure of two border checkpoints for NATO supplies entering Afghanistan from Pakistan and the boycott of the Dec. 5 Bonn Conference on Afghan issue.

Following the decision to order the U.S. to vacate the Shamsi air base within 15 days, the UAE foreign minister paid a visit to Pakistan, persuading Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to reconsider the decision or to postpone the vacate deadline until NATO has completed its investigation into the November 26 incident, but the request was turned down by the Pakistani president.

Regarding the boycott of the Bonn Conference, Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has rejected requests both from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reconsider the boycott decision. Prior to this, the Pakistani prime minister also rejected the request by the Afghan President Karzai to reconsider the boycott decision.

The three steps so far taken by the Pakistani government has not brought even an official apology from the U.S. and NATO apart from condolences and the promise of investigation into the incident.

More steps could be taken by the Pakistani side as it has threatened to reconsider the overall arrangement with the U.S., NATO and ISAF in the fight against terrorism, said local watchers.

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Pakistan: Bereaved Families Demand End To America’s War

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/04/bereaved-families-demand-end-to-americas-war.html

Agence France-Presse
December 4, 2011

Bereaved families demand end to ‘America’s war’

-“This is bringing destruction to our country. I want peace for the sons of other mothers. This war serves nobody and our government must come out of it.”

BHAGWAL: In a muddy courtyard next to the cemetery where a Pakistani flag flutters over her husband’s grave, Mussarrat Bibi sits sobbing with the mourners still coming to pay their respects.

Sergeant Mumtaz Hussain was one of 24 Pakistani soldiers killed by Nato air strikes when he was deployed to fight the Taliban on the Afghan border, leaving behind a devastated mother, widow and two young children.

They say their anguish is all the more bitter because he died in an American war they don’t believe Pakistan should be fighting.

“This is not the first time that the US attacked our soldiers, but our government is not responding,” shrieked Mussarrat. “It’s not enough to kill innocent soldiers who are breadwinners for their children.”

A widow at just 24, she says her priority is her children.

“On the day he died, the kids missed him so much. They told me they didn’t want to go to school, they just wanted to see him and wouldn’t go to school until they had. My son still doesn’t believe he’s dead,” she said.

The killings at two border posts in the early hours of November 26 brought Pakistani-US relations to a fresh low and elicited a furious response from Islamabad, although there has been little outpouring onto the streets.

Pakistan will boycott Monday’s international conference on Afghanistan in Germany, has shut the Afghan border to Nato convoys and ordered Americans to leave an air base, reportedly used as a hub for covert CIA drone strikes, by December 11.

Angry with the government for allying with the US, bereaved relatives say the only answer is ending the relationship and banning the covert CIA drone war against Taliban commanders in the border region.

“India is our enemy and if we have to sacrifice our sons against India, we would be proud. But what’s the use of sacrificing our sons for this meaningless war, which is not our war?” asked Hussain’s uncle, Muhammad Nazeer.

“If our government decides to come out of the US alliance, everything will be OK. The Taliban won’t attack us and we will grow. These drone strikes are fuelling terrorism and strengthening the Taliban,” said Nazeer.

…

“This war should end now,” said Said Beguman, Hussain’s 70-year-old mother, a shawl covering her grey hair, sitting in her humble home deluged by mourners in Bhagwal village, 120 kilometres south of Islamabad.

“This is bringing destruction to our country,” she added. “I want peace for the sons of other mothers. This war serves nobody and our government must come out of it,” said Beguman.

Her son lies in the graveyard behind the house, a mound of fresh earth covered in rose petals and bouquets from President Asif Ali Zardari, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.

Thirty kilometres east of Bhagwal, lies the village of Natowala that like the rest of Chakwal district is a premier recruiting ground for the army where scores of families depend on military salaries and pensions.

Tasleem Akhter says she is more upset by the government than the death of her 20-year-old son, Rizwan Abbas, who was recruited last year.

“This was his desire and mine that he sacrifice his life for the nation. I can sacrifice my three other sons for my homeland but our government should change their policies,” said the 35-year-old.

On his previous trip home, childhood friend Jameel Akhter said Abbas had a premonition that it might be his last.

“While we were out walking in the streets, he told me this might be his last trip to the village and asked me to change the national flag on his grave regularly after his death,” Akhter told AFP.

“He always told stories about fights against the Taliban. I never expected the Americans to kill him,” he said.

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Pakistan: U.S. And NATO Have Licence To Kill

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\124\story_4-12-2011_pg3_3

Daily Times
December 4, 2011

Licence to kill
Andleeb Abbas

The more corrupt the government, the weaker the economy, and greater the US control. Thus, the present PPP rule was tailor-made for a US takeover

-The vision of the US as a superpower is based on exercising its might on smaller countries and making them powerless. Grenada, Panama and Vietnam in the past, and Iraq and Afghanistan more recently, have been experimental laboratories for its war games.
-[T[he US makes sure that the threats it renders are taken very seriously. The recent souring of the relationship between the two countries over Pakistan not taking action against the Haqqani network resulted in a US warning of military action. Thus, the NATO attack on our forces is a result of not giving in to their warnings.
-The US mocked Pakistani outrage and retaliatory measures with further NATO skirmishes along the border. Another discovery was that aside from Shamsi, the Shahbaz airstrip was also under US control. How many other bases are available to the US to bomb Afghanistan and Pakistan is a mystery nobody seems to have a clue about. When asked about Shahbaz, our defence minister said that Shahbaz would be dealt with later. Later? After hundreds more of our innocent men are gunned down?

Talk about target killing, and you think of Karachi. However, the founding member of this horrible form of inhumanity is the US. If we consider drones and the so-called target hunts for terrorists, we understand the origins of this extrajudicial atrocity.

The US has traditionally been a master of this ‘art’. It actually does strategic planning sessions on this art. The vision of the US as a superpower is based on exercising its might on smaller countries and making them powerless. Grenada, Panama and Vietnam in the past, and Iraq and Afghanistan more recently, have been experimental laboratories for its war games.

The fact that the US has never succeeded in these countries is immaterial, as the country’s actual objective of this war is to boost sales of its mega-industrial multinationals and to get access to resources to feed its economy.

The CIA and its allied departments create profiles of target countries. The profiles have qualification criteria that include political and economic prerequisites for a country to be included in the hit-list. Politically, it needs to be unstable with a government whose credibility is marred by corruption and mismanagement. The leadership of such countries is obsessed with personal gains and is ready to negotiate anything for perpetuating its power, and therefore not endangered by its lack of performance.

Economically, these countries are beset with huge deficits, are dependent on US-sponsored aid and are constantly on the verge of bankruptcy. An added attraction might be scarce natural resources that serve as fuel for American industries.

Pakistan fits admirably this profile. For decades, governments, autocratic and democratic, were formed with the consent of the White House and then obediently sustained the target profile criterion as per the US’s requirements.

From General Zia ul Haq to General Musharraf, and from Benazir Bhutto to Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s fate has been tied to the moods of Capitol Hill.

The excuse given by our leaders for this subservience has ranged from benefit to the country in the long run to being forced by threats of not cooperating with the US. Whatever the reason, each successive government gives the impression that life without the US is impossible. The more corrupt the government, the weaker the economy, and greater the US control.

Thus, the present PPP rule was tailor-made for a US takeover. The last year has seen an amazing deterioration in governance and the performance of the government. State enterprises have gone downhill, trade and business have been badly hit and law and order are non-existent. The US has been taking increasing liberties to increase its encroachment on Pakistan starting with Raymond Davis being whisked away under the nose of our legal system and Osama killed on our territory to NATO killing 24 of our soldiers. Its incursions have been greatly encouraged by the government’s haplessness.

The Pak-US relationship has become extremely one-sided. The US has demanded more and more from Pakistan. Musharraf gave Shamsi air base to the US and Google map pictures show a base that has a very well-developed strip, one that is good enough to accommodate sophisticated bombers, etc.

The mystery of the base being let to the UAE, and then sublet by the UAE to the US is an example of dubious deals that are bound to lead to unfair advantages to the exploiter. The government has now given a deadline to the US to vacate the base by December 11. However, as we know, such deadlines are not going to impress the US as it is used to empty threats from the government and treats the threats with scant regard.

In contrast, the US makes sure that the threats it renders are taken very seriously. The recent souring of the relationship between the two countries over Pakistan not taking action against the Haqqani network resulted in a US warning of military action. Thus, the NATO attack on our forces is a result of not giving in to their warnings.

The incident shows the complete confidence of the US in its ability to get away with murder, given the special licence to kill by the leaders of this country. The US mocked Pakistani outrage and retaliatory measures with further NATO skirmishes along the border. Another discovery was that aside from Shamsi, the Shahbaz airstrip was also under US control. How many other bases are available to the US to bomb Afghanistan and Pakistan is a mystery nobody seems to have a clue about. When asked about Shahbaz, our defence minister said that Shahbaz would be dealt with later. Later? After hundreds more of our innocent men are gunned down?

This helplessness of our government is frightening. They have always jumped onto the US bandwagon with the expectation of being paid handsomely for services rendered, but the payment is peanuts compared with the amount being spent on fighting a completely futile war of terror.

Pakistanis have seen innocent people become victims of the greed of the men in charge of public money. They are fearful now that this encroachment of the US might turn into random invasions to teach Pakistan a lesson for work underperformed.

The philosophy of the government seems to be that if you cannot handle a crisis, create a bigger one. To pale something as horrific as Memogate into insignificance, you needed something on the scale of the NATO attack to divert attention and focus. However, people have an elephant’s memory. They may have got a new topic to ponder, but will never forget the anguish of being embarrassed globally by the (alleged) immaturity of our leaders’ rushed and reactive approach to crisis. For the US to take us seriously, we need to have a sincere leadership with a single point agenda of reviving the economy and educating the masses to become independent economically, mentally and spiritually. And such freedom of thought and soul will lead to the biggest cancellation of any licence that the US has to create political and economic havoc in Pakistan.

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Pakistan: NATO Lied About Deadly Attacks

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\124\story_4-12-2011_pg1_6

Daily Times
December 4, 2011

NATO gave wrong information about operation area: ISPR

* Athar Abbas says no treaty exists between Pakistan, NATO for launching joint operations or moving to each others’ areas

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the NATO claim that the Pakistan Army was informed in advance about the area of operation, Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that the location given by NATO ahead of the attack with reference to its operation was far from Salala.

Talking to a private TV channel, ISPR DG Maj Gen Athar Abbas said that no treaty existed between Pakistan and NATO forces that allowed the launching of joint operations or moving into each others’ areas.

“However, border coordination centres are functioning on the borders and when any operation is conducted at any place near the borders, then information is given in advance in this respect,” he said.

The ISPR DG said that NATO officials had told a border coordination centre that NATO forces would conduct a operation in the Gorapria area of Afghanistan, to which Pakistani forces said that no army deployment existed in the Goraprai area on the Pak-Afghan border. He went on to say that NATO forces conducted the operation in Salala instead, which was far from the area mentioned by NATO forces for clearance.

He said the border coordination centres were installed at four separate spots on the Pak-Afghan border in order to inform officials of both countries about operations and the presence of army personnel on either side of the border in case of an operation and that it had also been decided that the forces of the two countries would not enter the territory of the other country.

He said that Pakistani authorities informed NATO that the post was being shelled by their forces and added that NATO helicopters came back and again targeted the post, which was beyond comprehension.

When the NATO forces had conducted an operation in Salala, a female major appointed at a coordination center later regretted that she made the mistake of giving the Pakistani coordination center the name of the wrong area.

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NATO Attacks Unite Entire Nation: Pakistani Chief Minister

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=80802&Cat=7&dt=12/4/2011

The News
December 4, 2011

Nato attacks united entire nation, says CM
 

MARDAN: Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti said on Saturday that the Nato attack on checkposts in Mohmand Agency was against the solidarity and independence of Pakistan and it united the entire nation.

“The halt to Nato supplies, evacuation of the Shamsi Airbase and boycott of the Bonn Conference are very important,” he told a public meeting at Pakhtunkhwa Circuit House.

…

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U.S. High-Handedness: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Now Pakistan, Iran

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/12/us-highhandedness/

Pakistan Today
December 4, 2011

US high-handedness

NATO’s brutal and unprovoked attack on Pakistani posts at Mohmand on 26 Nov killed and injured many soldiers and has put the whole nation into grief, shock and of course anger. The statement of Gen Dempsey that “the attack wasn’t deliberate and what in the world would we gain by attacking a Pakistani border post” can’t be used as defence for the cold-blooded murder. A mistake is for a minute and not for hours.

Two hours of continuous bombing and killing of soldiers, despite clear knowledge of the posts and hearing Pakistani voices on the wireless, are proof that the Americans are lying. What did Raymond Davis gain by killing two Pakistanis? What did the Americans gain by killing thousands of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan and through drone attacks in Pakistan? It is time they answered “what we would’ve gained?” It seems that world has been hijacked by the Americans due to its status as the sole superpower and its military might.

The other so-called superpowers, except China perhaps, also dovetail their agendas with the US’ due to economic, social, religious and some other reasons. Now, the big question is, how long the rule of “might is right” will prevail.

Destroying Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya (and now they are hovering over Iran) are but a few examples of American high-handedness. The American leaders have always told lies to their nation and the world for their misadventures.

Bush and Colin Powell destroyed Iraq on the pretext of Weapons of Mass Destruction; Afghanistan has become a country of widows, orphans, and graveyards…

Now, they are killing their own allies, who have suffered the most in the war, who have sheltered more than 6 million Afghan refugees, and who have been plunging deep into poverty due to hefty economic losses. The world needs to take note of American aggression and exert whatever influence they have to ask it to desist.

SHAHID ZAHUR
Rawalpindi

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British Soldier Jailed For Bayoneting 10-Year-Old Afghan Boy

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\124\story_4-12-2011_pg7_7

Agence France-Presse
December 4, 2011

British soldier jailed for bayoneting Afghan boy

-Britain’s military police have investigated 99 incidents in which British troops have been accused of killing or wounding Afghan civilians between January 2005 and March 2011…

LONDON: A British soldier has been jailed for 18 months for bayoneting a 10-year-old boy in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

Grenadier Guardsman Daniel Crook stabbed Ghulam Nabi in March last year while on a patrol in the Nad e Ali district of the restive southern Helmand province, where Britain’s 9,500 troops in Afghanistan are based.

At his court-martial in June this year, Crook was jailed and dismissed from the British Army. He will serve his sentence in a military prison. The guardsman had drunk a “considerable quantity of vodka” the night before the incident in March last year, so much so he had to be treated by medics, his court-martial heard.

He came across two Afghans on bicycles, one of whom was Nabi, who had been sent to fetch a bottle of yoghurt. Prosecutors said the boy pestered Crook for chocolate. The guardsman then “took hold of the boy’s shoulder and stabbed him in the region of his kidneys with his bayonet”, they said.

…

The boy’s father Haji Shah Zada told The Guardian newspaper that he had received $800 in compensation but no apology. He said his son is still suffering. Britain’s military police have investigated 99 incidents in which British troops have been accused of killing or wounding Afghan civilians between January 2005 and March 2011, according to The Guardian.

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Russia Northern, Baltic, Black Sea Fleet Ships In Mediterranean

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20111204/169315994.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
December 4, 2011

Russia sends Black Sea Fleet ship to Mediterranean

Moscow: The Ladny patrol ship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has left its home port of Sevastopol and headed to the Mediterranean Sea to join a group of ships of the Russian Northern and Baltic Fleets, the Russian Black Sea Fleet spokesman said on Sunday.

“The Ladny has left Sevastopol and headed for the Mediterranean. The ship’s voyage began a day ahead of the schedule due to unfavorable weather forecasts,” Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev said.

The spokesman said the ship was scheduled to make calls at the ports of Cyprus, Malta, France and Spain.

…

The Russian daily Izvestia reported in late November that the frigate was scheduled to meet in the Mediterranean Sea with the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and the Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine ship, which would turn around the European continent from the west and enter the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar.

The daily also said that in the spring of 2012, the group of Russian naval ships would enter the Syrian port of Tartus.

A source in the Russian Defense Ministry denied this information, saying the Russian aircraft carrier naval group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov did not plan to call at Syria during winter exercises in the Mediterranean Sea.

…

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