Stop NATO news: January 1, 2012

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Obama Signs $662 Billion Pentagon Spending Act

Global NATO’s Focus In 2011: First African, Asian Wars

Advanced Missiles, Warplanes: U.S. Arms Gulf States Against Iran

Saudi Arabia: U.S. To Sell, Upgrade 154 Warplanes, Train 300 Airmen

South Caucasus Opposes Attack On Iran: Analyst

South Caucasus: World’s Next Full-Blown War?

Afghanistan: NATO Supplies Georgian Troops With Combat Experience

Georgia’s Saakashvili On Russia: “Empire Will Inevitably Fall”

78 Soldiers Killed: French Defense Chief In Afghanistan

French Troops To Remain In Afghanistan, Tajikistan Past 2014

Ethiopian Troops Invade Somalia, Seize Town

Pakistan: Parliamentary Body To Decide On NATO Supplies

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Obama Signs $662 Billion Pentagon Spending Act

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=66640

U.S. Department of Defense
December 31, 2011

Obama Signs Defense Spending Bill Despite Reservations
By Donna Miles

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act today, while acknowledging “serious reservations” about parts of the act, particularly provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

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The $662 billion act also contains critical initiatives to control spiraling health-care costs within the Defense Department, develop counterterrorism initiatives abroad, build the security capacity of key partners, modernize the force and boost the efficiency and effectiveness of military operations worldwide, he noted.

It increases active-duty and reserve pay by 1.6 percent and governs Defense Department activities from procurement to military personnel policy.

However, “the fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it,” the president emphasized today.

Of particular concern are provisions he said restrict options available to counterterrorism professionals and interfere with operations…

Obama said the act undermines efforts within the last several years to develop an effective and sustainable framework to deal with suspected terrorists. This framework, he said, “allows us to maximize both our ability to collect intelligence and to incapacitate dangerous individuals in rapidly developing situations.”

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Obama said he opposes initiatives by some in Congress that could undermine these successes. Although he initially had threatened to veto the bill over language he said could hamper ongoing efforts, he later agreed to changes that were negotiated.

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Moving forward, Obama said his administration will interpret the provisions in a way “that best preserves the flexibility on which our safety depends and upholds the values on which is country was founded.”

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Global NATO’s Focus In 2011: First African, Asian Wars

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2211017&Language=en

Kuwait News Agency
December 25, 2911

Libya, Afghanistan remained NATO’s focus in 2011

BRUSSELS: The year 2011 is said to be one of the busiest in NATO’s history with the Alliance fully occupied with its air and sea operations in Libya.

NATO took control of all military operations for Libya…on March 13.

Operation Unified Protector consisted of..an arms embargo, a no-fly-zone…

In the seven month period, NATO planes flew over 26,500 sorties, including over 9,700 strike sorties and destroyed over 5,900 military targets of the Gaddafi regime.

NATO’s ISAF mission in Afghanistan also continued to be a top priority for the 28-member Alliance…

NATO has trained thousands of Afghan police and military personnel as part of this transition process.

However, the year is ending with ties with its key partner in the region Pakistan at its lowest ebb after a NATO air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November. In protest, Pakistan shut supply routes for NATO forces into Afghanistan through its territory and closed down an US air base.

In Iraq, NATO will end its training mission for Iraqi security forces, which began in 2004, on December 31. In Kosovo, NATO continues to keep around 7,000 troops under its KFOR mission to maintain peace and security.

In their meeting in December in Brussels NATO foreign ministers pledged to enhance partnerships in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf region following the successful Libya operation.

The NATO summit in May in Chicago, US, is expected to take forward the Alliance’s reform process. “These reforms will make NATO leaner, more flexible, and better able to deal with future challenges,” declared NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Rasmussen.

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Advanced Missiles, Warplanes: U.S. Arms Gulf States Against Iran

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ie6_uMKue3lUgA2XXz68XwdQps5g?docId=CNG.49136276ef0c52d16baf155b568a4e23.1b1

Agence France-Presse
December 31, 2011

US arms deal bolsters UAE’s missile defense
By Dan De Luce

WASHINGTON — The United States has announced a $3.48 billion arms deal with the United Arab Emirates as part of a wider American effort to build up missile defenses among Gulf allies to counter Iran.

The announcement late on Friday came…a day after the United States sealed a $30 billion arms deal to provide another Gulf ally – Saudi Arabia – with 84 new F-15 fighter jets.

The agreement with UAE includes two sophisticated missile defense batteries, 96 missiles, two radars, spare parts and training, Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement.

“This sale is an important step in improving the region’s security through a regional missile defense architecture,” Little said.

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The United States and Saudi Arabia unveiled a $1.7 billion deal earlier in 2011 to boost the country’s Patriot missile batteries and Kuwait has purchased 209 GEM-T missiles worth $900 million.

The regional missile defense plan pursued by President Barack Obama’s administration calls for land-based interceptors to knock out incoming missiles backed up by a detection network on US Navy Aegis-class warships.

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US officials said the United Arab Emirates is the first country to purchase the advanced anti-missile network known as Thaad, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System.

“Acquisition of this critical defense system will bolster the UAE’s air and missile defense capability and enhance the already robust ballistic missile defense cooperation between the United States and the UAE,” Little said.

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The Pentagon also said it had awarded US defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. with a contract worth $1.96 billion to supply the United Arab Emirates with the two Thaad anti-missile batteries.

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Saudi Arabia: U.S. To Sell, Upgrade 154 Warplanes, Train 300 Airmen

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123284840

American Forces Press Service
December 30, 2011

Saudi Arabia to purchase 84 F-15SA, upgrade current F-15 fleet

-Since 2007, more than 1,000 Royal Saudi Air Force students have attended U.S. Air Force training programs, including pilot, navigator, logistics, maintenance and explosive ordnance disposal training, as well as professional military education courses.
-The program, which includes the largest foreign military sales contract in U.S. history, is being led by Lt. Gen. Thomas Owen, Aeronautical Systems commander and will involve program management personnel at Robins AFB, Ga., Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Langley AFB, Va., as well as many other Air Force and Navy organizations.

WASHINGTON: Air Force officials announced the next chapter in a partnership with the Royal Saudi Air Force as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently signed a $29.4 billion Foreign Military Sales Letter of Offer and Acceptance solidifying their plans to purchase 84 F-15SA fighter aircraft and upgrade their current fleet of 70 F-15S aircraft to the SA configuration.

“We are excited about this program and the increased capability it will bring to Saudi Arabia, a strategically important partner in the Middle East region,” said Heidi Grant, the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs. “Building partner capacity is becoming even more important and the Royal Saudi Air Force is undertaking a vast effort to not only modernize their fighter fleet but to invest heavily in quality training.”

As part of the agreement, Saudi airmen will be attending Air Force technical training courses at a number of Air Force installations, including Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and Keesler AFB, Miss. Saudi airmen will train alongside their U.S. Air Force counterparts…

The Air Force will also coordinate English language training for the students at Lackland AFB, Texas, officials added.

“Air Education and Training Command offers high-quality, advanced training to our international partners in a number of skill sets,” said Brig. Gen. Tim Zadaliss, the AETC director of operations. “This agreement allows the U.S. Air Force the opportunity to assist the Royal Saudi Air Force in not only modernizing their equipment, but ensuring they will have a well trained force to maintain and operate it.”

Officials said that under the agreement, students may begin arriving this year, and in 2012, the service expects to train more than 300 Saudi airmen in Air Force technical training courses.

The U.S. Air Force has been training members of the Royal Saudi Air Force on U.S. soil for more than 25 years, officials said. Since 2007, more than 1,000 Royal Saudi Air Force students have attended U.S. Air Force training programs, including pilot, navigator, logistics, maintenance and explosive ordnance disposal training, as well as professional military education courses.

The program, which includes the largest foreign military sales contract in U.S. history, is being led by Lt. Gen. Thomas Owen, Aeronautical Systems commander and will involve program management personnel at Robins AFB, Ga., Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Langley AFB, Va., as well as many other Air Force and Navy organizations.

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South Caucasus Opposes Attack On Iran: Analyst

http://news.am/eng/news/87744.html

NEWS.am
December 29, 2011

Analyst wants from Santa to bring peace for the Caucasus

The passing year of 2011 was rich with events which impacted the world, Anatoly Tsyganok, head of the Russian Center of Military Forecasts, told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“These [events] are global terrorism, the tsunami in Japan, NATO military operations in Libya, the situation in Syria, [and] the growing tension around Iran’s nuclear plans,” Tsyganok said. In his words, these developments are extremely important for the South Caucasus.

“There is truly a bizarre situation in the region. NATO, the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], and the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organisation] function here at the same time. If Armenia has warm relations with NATO and is a CSTO member at the same time, we could say Georgia and Azerbaijan have ‘become NATO members.’ Everything is neglected in the case of Georgia. They learn English there, and this will result in the country remaining outside of the general depiction of the Caucasus.

“Russian is the language of communication in South and, even more so in North Caucasus, and the young Georgian generation does not know it. As a result, Georgia cannot conduct a dialogue with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, and even with Abkhazia, and South Ossetia,” the analyst maintained.

Commenting on the situation concerning Iran, Tsyganok said everything is unequivocal. If they strike Iran, Armenia would adopt a hard position and condemn these operations, since they harm its immediate interests. By and large, South Caucasus is opposed to a strike against Iran,” he argued.

And considering the Christmas and New Year holidays, Anatoly Tsyganok wants peace from Santa Claus. “Peace in the Caucasus, Middle East, [and] the whole world,” he says.

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South Caucasus: World’s Next Full-Blown War?

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2011-12/26/c_131326753.htm

Xinhua News Agency
December 26, 2011

Is there yet another crisis on the horizon of South Caucasus?
By Gaochao Yi

-Georgia and the entire South Caucasus can serve as the bridge to Central Asia and the Middle East for NATO, once U.S.-led international forces pull their troops out of Iraq at the end of year.
The trans-Caucasian pipeline is already starting to serve as a counterweight diversion of energy to Europe…
No matter what happens as responses to whatever provocations, the South Caucasus crisis can remain a mere regional battle or develop into a full-blown war.

TBILISI: South Caucasus, after the Balkans and North Africa, is presenting itself as a hotbed for another crisis which may well involve all the three nations in the region and players from the outside.

Ethnicity-related territorial disputes that have arisen during and after the Soviet era are the direct causes of the South Caucasus crises long in the making.

Such disputes have caused a flash conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008 in the north of the region and triggered on-again-off-again border sniper warfare between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the south, which claimed thousands of victims.

The three Caucasian countries combined cover an area of slightly over 186,000 square km, accounting for 0.12 percent of the global land area. Yet on this strip sandwiched between the major and minor Caucasus mountain ranges, there are other dormant conflicts.

For example, there has been a genocidal conflict between Armenia and Turkey, but the “football diplomacy” between the two nations has done a lot to ease the tension.

Local players aside, outsiders with energy, security and strategy interests in this region are also trying to take advantage of the situation there, further complicating the Caucasus chaos.

NATO, for one, is a big player in this region. To cash in its Bucharest Summit promise of eventually allowing Georgia into the military alliance, it may have to reset and perhaps even reinvent its relations with the former Cold War nemesis, not only in the South Caucasus but in all those areas where NATO and Russia have their respective interests to claim and verify.

Georgia and the entire South Caucasus can serve as the bridge to Central Asia and the Middle East for NATO, once U.S.-led international forces pull their troops out of Iraq at the end of year.

The trans-Caucasian pipeline is already starting to serve as a counterweight diversion of energy to Europe, and the European Union needs the tally to bargain with Russia for pricing as well as for supplying its own natural gas and oil to the West.

Russia, another big player in the region, now has its farthest outpost to attend to after Georgia decided in the middle of this year to shut its airspace for Russian transport to its military base in Armenia.

Even though it may use the bypass via Azerbaijan or Iran or even Turkey, Russia will have to sacrifice or at least trade some of its key interests to secure the passable air route to Armenia, its major ally in the region.

This year saw another variable in the South Caucasus: Georgia, the one and only of the 153 World Trade Organization members up to now which has barred Russian accession. Yet now Georgia has signed an agreement with Russia which facilitated the conclusion of Russia’s 18-year efforts to get into the world trade club.

The West, be it the European Union or NATO or the United States, may have used quite a few IOU’s to get Georgia to sign the accord with Russia in Geneva in November.

And when the time has come to pay back these debts, and when the timing is not right nor convenient, things can go wrong.

The scheduled elections in South Caucasus are a case in point.

Both Georgia and Armenia will hold their parliamentary elections next year and presidential elections the following year. For the election campaigns, both the ruling and opposition parties may resort to strong rhetorics and even symbolic acts, which may also lead to turmoil in the region.

During his brief visit to South Caucasus in October, French President Nicolas Sarkozy brought forth something which may be the South Caucasus part of his foreign policy manifesto for his French presidential election campaign.

The “take-for-granted” policy toward the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region may cause another round of heated arguments between Armenia and Azerbaijan and renewed sniper border skirmishes.

Though Azerbaijan held its parliamentary elections in late 2010, the country will still hold its presidential elections in 2013, which will have to have the incumbent president and potential vying opponent align their foreign policy in and outside the region to strive for a better footing on both regional and international issues.

No matter what happens as responses to whatever provocations, the South Caucasus crisis can remain a mere regional battle or develop into a full-blown war.

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Afghanistan: NATO Supplies Georgian Troops With Combat Experience

http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=299653

Interfax
December 31, 2011

Georgian defense minister discusses extra battalion deployment in Afghanistan

TBILISI: Georgian Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaya has visited his country’s military contingent deployed in Afghanistan.

He presented the highest military awards to eight Georgian servicemen for their contribution to the operation in Afghanistan, the Rustavi-2 television station reported.

“The NATO command in Afghanistan has told me once again about the highest marks given to the Georgian contingent’s actions. Certainly, it inspires pride in the country and our servicemen,” the Georgian defense minister said.

Akhalaya held meetings with International Security Assistance Force commanders, as well as the commanders of the U.S. contingent, which one more Georgian battalion of 750 servicemen will join in 2012.

The Georgian Parliament has already agreed to send these servicemen to Afghanistan, bring the size of Georgia’s contingent in this country to 1,650 people and making Georgia the largest contributor to the Afghan operation among non-NATO member countries.

Eleven Georgian servicemen have been killed during the operation in Afghanistan.

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http://www.mod.gov.ge/index.php?page=77&lang=1&type=1&Id=1246

Ministry of Defence of Georgia
December 31, 2011

Visit to Afghanistan

A delegation from the Ministry of Defence of Georgia led by Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia paid a visit to Afghanistan.

The Defence Minister visited bases where the Georgian peacekeeping troops are stationed and wished them a Happy New Year. In the framework of the visit the Georgian Defence Minister held meetings with the representatives of the US army command.

“We arrived to see our soldiers and congratulate them with the coming New Year. I am very glad that again, I have heard the words of gratitude and positive evaluation of our servicemen from the American colleagues. This once more indicates that these battalions are doing a very good job for our country and at the same time they are gaining invaluable experience,” stated Bacho Akhalaia.

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Georgia’s Saakashvili On Russia: “Empire Will Inevitably Fall”

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=24327

Civil Georgia
January 1, 2012

Saakashvili’s New Year Address

Tbilisi: In his New Year message to the nation President Saakashvili said he was sure that “the empire will inevitably fall” and the entire Georgia would be “liberated.”

He said like Jews had been wishing each other to meet ‘next year in Jerusalem’, Georgians too should be telling each other “next year in Sokhumi [Abkhazia].”

“I am absolutely sure that the empire will inevitably fall, Georgia will eventually be liberated and I want us to establish the tradition of congratulating each other [on New Year] by saying ‘next year in Sokhumi’,” Saakashvili said in his televised address aired few minutes before the midnight on December 31.

Saakashvili said that 2011 was “an important year for Georgia”.

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“In 2008 our enemy thought that [Georgia] was leveled to the ground, but in recent years an opinion has been firmly established throughout the entire post-Soviet space – in Ukraine, in Central Asia, among our neighbors and even in Russia – that Georgia is an absolute leader in terms of carrying out reforms and fighting corruption.”

“This is a very important response to the aggression, which was carried out against us,” Saakashvili said.

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He said, that in 2011 “everyone in the European Union seriously started talking that Georgia should become in following years full-fledged member of the EU and this is a real geopolitical revolution.”

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Georgia had not built so many things “in the last eight centuries” than…have been built simultaniously than in recent years.

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78 Soldiers Killed: French Defense Chief In Afghanistan

http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/12/31/strategic-pact-france-january-end

Pajhwok Afghan News
December 31, 2011

Strategic pact with France by January end
By Mir Agha Samimi

KABUL: President Hamid Karzai and the visiting French defence minister on Saturday discussed a strategic cooperation pact between Kabul and Paris.

At a meeting with Gerard Longuet, currently on a two-day visit to the Afghan capital, Karzai hinted at concluding the strategic deal with France by the end of the next month.

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Karzai condoled Thursday’s killing of two French troops by a man in the Afghan National Army (ANA) uniform in the Tagab district of central Kapisa province.

He also thanked France, which has 3,600 troops fighting insurgents in Kabul and Kapisa, for training the Afghan army. Since 2001, 78 French soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

During his visit, Longuet will meet Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Gen. John Allen, the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

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French Troops To Remain In Afghanistan, Tajikistan Past 2014

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120101/170588258.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 1, 2012

French troops to serve in Afghanistan after 2014

DUSHANBE: French armed forces will stay in Afghanistan after withdrawal of coalition troops in 2014, France’s Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said on Sunday.

Longuet told his Tajik counterpart Sherali Khairullaev that the two countries would widen its cooperation in security improvement at the Tajik-Afghan board.

France’s airpower forces unit is being based in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe since 2001 to provide services for coalition armed forces in Afghanistan.

The unit included 250 troopers and six Dassault Rafale jet fighters till 2008 when the fighters were redeployed to the Kunduz region in northern Afghanistan. Current number of French troopers in Dushanbe equals 100.

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Ethiopian Troops Invade Somalia, Seize Town

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=201211\story_1-1-2012_pg4_4

Agence France-Presse
January 1, 2012

Ethiopian troops enter Somalia, control border town

NAIROBI: Hundreds of Ethiopian troops poured into a western Somalia border town on Saturday, opening a new front against the militant group al-Shabab, which now faces hostile militaries on three sides.

Resident Mohammed Abdi said hundreds of residents fled Beledweyne on Saturday after hundreds of Ethiopian and Somali troops moved in. Capt Hashi Nor of the Somali military confirmed that Somali and Ethiopian troops had moved in.

“I saw Ethiopian troops standing at the doors of neighboring homes. Somali soldiers are also searching the homes,” Abdi said. “Al-Shabab retreated back to Bulo Burte and also many of the residents fled, and those who remained are in their homes.”

…Kenyan troops moved into Somalia in mid-October in a push against the militants in the country’s south. African Union troops from Uganda, Burundi and most recently from Djibouti have mostly pushed al-Shabab fighters out of the capital, Mogadishu.

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Pakistan: Parliamentary Body To Decide On NATO Supplies

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-30/news/30572868_1_nato-supplies-drone-strikes-mohmand-agency

Indo-Asian News Agency
December 30, 2011

Pakistan’s parliamentary body to decide on NATO supplies

ISLAMABAD: The government will make a decision regarding NATO supplies passing through the country on the basis of recommendations of the parliamentary committee on national security, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Addressing journalists at a ceremony to pay tribute to security personnel who were killed in the war against terror, Malik said, “We have left the matter to the parliamentary committee, which is led by Senator Raza Rabbani, and the government will implement its recommendations, whatever these will be.”

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